Round 7 Feature Match: Guillermo Soto Beltran vs. Bryan Salvador Mar Berumen
Welcome Day 1’s final Swiss round! We’ve got Guillermo Soto Beltran, from Culiacan, Sinaloa, packing a Paleozoic Frog Deck. He’s up against Bryan Salvador Mar Berumen, from Tampico, Tamaulipas, who’s using Pendulum Magicians. Paleozoics have a strong matchup against Pendulum strategies, since the Paleozoic Deck can so easily Main Deck or Side Deck Anti-Spell Fragrance. However, Pendulum Magicians didn’t get to be so strong by simply losing to a single card – with careful play, Mar could still win this one. It’s time to Duel!
Duel 1
Mar chose to play first after winning the dice roll. He played Double Iris Magician and Astrograph Sorcerer in his Pendulum Zones, and Pendulum Summoned Harmonizing Magician. Its effect brought Black Fang Magician to the field, and he Xyz Summoned Tornado Dragon. He detached Harmonizing Magician from it to destroy Double Iris, letting him add Time Pendulumgraph to his hand. He played another Double Iris in his Pendulum Zone, and Set two cards in his back row.
Soto began with 2 Paleozoic Canadia, Paleozoic Olenoides, Solemn Warning, Spellbook Magician of Prophecy, and Ronintoadin. He started with his Magician, adding Spellbook of Secrets to his hand, and used that to get Spellbook of Knowledge. He played it, and Mar responded with Time Pendulumgraph! He destroyed Double Iris and Spellbook Magician, causing Spellbook of Knowledge to fail to resolve! Double Iris put Star Pendulumgraph in Mar’s hand. Soto Set all his Trap Cards to finish his turn.
Mar activated Star Pendulumgraph, then attacked directly with Tornado Dragon. Soto flipped Paleozoic Canadia, and Mar responded with Tornado Dragon to destroy Solemn Warning!
Soto drew Swap Frog! He Normal Summoned it, sending a Ronintoadin to the Graveyard, then returned Swap to his hand. He discarded his other Ronintoadin to Special Summon Swap back to the field, sending another Swap Frog to the Graveyard. He banished that Frog to Special Summon Ronintoadin, and Mar flipped Cosmic Cyclone. He targeted Paleozoic Olenoides, and Soto flipped it to destroy Star Pendulumgraph. Then, he Special Summoned Paleozoic Canadia from his Graveyard. He stacked Canadia with Swap Frog for Toadally Awesome! It destroyed Tornado Dragon in battle.
In Mar’s Standby Phase, Toadally Awesome Special Summoned a Dupe Frog in Defense Position. Mar passed his turn.
Soto drew Pot of Desires, and used Toadally Awesome to Special Summon Swap Frog. Swap sent a Dupe to the Graveyard. He played Pot of Desires to draw Dimensional Barrier and Reckless Greed. He used Toadally Awesome and Swap Frog to Link Summon Mistar Boy, opening up space for more Extra Deck monsters! When Toadally Awesome went to the Graveyard, it returned Spellbook Magician of Prophecy to Soto’s hand. He stacked Ronintoadin and Dupe for another Toadally Awesome, then Normal Summoned his Spellbook Magician to get Spellbook of Knowledge. He activated it, sending the Magician to the Graveyard to draw Solemn Strike and Paleozoic Olenoides. He filled his back row by Setting everything from his hand.
Mar played Star Pendulumgraph, and Soto had no response. Mar played Black Fang in his Pendulum Zone, Soto Tributed Mistar Boy for Toadally Awesome, Mar played Wavering Eyes, Soto flipped Paleozoic Olenoides, then Special Summoned Paleozoic Canadia! The Chain resolved, with Olenoides destroying Star Pendulumgraph, then Wavering Eyes destroying Astrograph Sorcerer and Black Fang to add Performapal Skullcrobat Joker to Mar’s hand. Mistar Boy’s effect activated, targeting Dupe Frog, then Soto flipped Dimensional Barrier, and activated Olenoides in his Graveyard! Mar conceded!
Soto put together an impressive field, leaving Mar unable to play through Dimensional Barrier, Toadally Awesome, and a variety of Paleozoics!
Duel 2
Mar began with Pot of Desires, then Performapal Skullcrobat Joker. He added Purple Poison Magician to his hand, then played it and Wisdom-Eye Magician in his Pendulum Zones. He used Wisdom-Eye’s effect to put Double Iris Magician in the Pendulum Zone, and Pendulum Summoned Wisdom-Eye back to the field. He stacked it with Joker for Timestar Magician, adding another Joker to his hand with its effect. He Set two cards in his back row.
Soto had a hand of Swap Frog, Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju, Solemn Warning, Storming Mirror Force, Paleozoic Marrella, and Paleozoic Leanchoilia. He Tributed Timestar to give Gameciel to Mar, then played Swap Frog to put Ronintoadin in the Graveyard. He bounced Swap back to his hand, and Set all his other cards in his back row.
Mar Normal Summoned Denko Sekka, paid 2000 Life Points for Solemn Warning – a Denko Sekka would completely shut him out of the game! Mar played Star Pendulumgraph. Soto flipped Paleozoic Marrella, and Mar flipped two copies of Cosmic Cyclone to banish Soto’s Paleozoic Leanchoilia and Storming Mirror Force! Mar Pendulum Summoned Joker, then used Double Iris’s effect on it. That let him add Time Pendulumgraph to his hand, and Star Pendulumgraph also searched for Black Fang. He played it in his Pendulum Zone, and went to the Battle Phase. Gameciel attacked, followed by Joker. Before damage calculation, Mar used Purple Poison to boost Joker’s ATK, letting it deal 3000 damage (Double Iris’s effect doesn’t apply to direct attacks). When Purple Poison was destroyed, it destroyed Mar’s own Black Fang. With Black Fang’s effect, he revived Timestar Magician to end the Duel!
Mar evens the score with just two turns, dealing massive battle damage and forcing a big Life Point payment from Solemn Warning. Soto chose to play first in the final Duel.
Duel 3
Soto began with Pot of Desires, Chaos Trap Hole, Anti-Spell Fragrance, Dupe Frog, and Reckless Greed. He played Pot of Desires first, unfortunately banishing two of his Swap Frogs, and drew Chaos Trap Hole and another Anti-Spell Fragrance. He Set every card in his hand.
Mar drew his card, and Soto immediately flipped Anti-Spell Fragrance. If Mar can’t find an answer, that one card could mean the end of him. He Normal Summoned Denko Sekka, and lost it to Chaos Trap Hole. He only Set one card to his back row.
Soto drew Paleozoic Marrella and Set it.
Mar played Performapal Skullcrobat Joker, losing it to the second Chaos Trap Hole. He Set one more to his back row. In the End Phase, Paleozoic Marrella sent Paleozoic Canadia to the Graveyard.
Soto drew Spellbook of Secrets. He flipped Reckless Greed, then used Paleozoic Marrella in the Graveyard, and Mar used Maxx “C”. Reckless Greed gave him Cosmic Cyclone and Paleozoic Dinomischus, and he Set everything. Marrella attacked directly.
Mar flipped up Pot of Desires, then flipped Time Pendulumgraph. He Normal Summoned Denko Sekka, and this time it stuck! It attacked Marrella.
Soto simply passed his turn.
Mar played Black Fang Magician, and used Time Pendulumgraph to destroy it and Anti-Spell Fragrance! Finally, he could unload all the cards he’d been saving for the whole Duel. He played Wisdom-Eye Magician in his Pendulum Zone, then activated Duelist Alliance to get Double Iris. He played it in his Pendulum Zone, and used Wisdom-Eye to get Oafdragon Magician on the field. He Pendulum Summoned Black Fang from his Extra Deck and Wisdom-Eye from his hand, and Xyz Summoned Timestar Magician. It detached Black Fang to add Skullcrobat Joker to his hand. Timestar destroyed Dupe Frog in battle, and Soto got Swap Frog to his hand. Denko Sekka attacked directly.
Soto still was unable to draw due to Reckless Greed. He Normal Summoned Swap Frog to put Ronintoadin in the Graveyard. He banished Dupe to bring Ronintoadin to the field. Mar used Time Pendulumgraph, targeting Ronintoadin and his Black Fang, then used Timestar to protect Black Fang from destruction. Thus,Time Pendulumgraph then wiped out both Ronintoadin and Swap Frog! Soto conceded!
Soto started with a huge Anti-Spell Fragrance opening, but Mar turned it around with a Denko Sekka! Bryan Mar is victorious with Pendulum Magicians!
