It’s Round 6, and we’ve got Jackson Rauch, from Prescott, AZ, playing Magical Musketeers! These new cards from Spirit Warriors have some awesome gunfighting tricks that let them play Magical Musket cards and Spell & Trap Cards from the hand at any time, and have effects when a Spell or Trap Card is activated in the same column as them. His opponent is Avery Foster, from San Antonio, TX, playing SPYRAL. The strategy was uncontested as the number one strategy a few weeks ago, but a new Forbidden & Limited List has put them in check. Will the previous top Deck win, or will a brand new contender take the victory?

Duel 1

Foster won the dice roll and played first. He played Dragon Ravine, discarding his PSY-Frame Driver to send Destrudo the Lost Dragon’s Frisson to the Graveyard. He Special Summoned Blackwing – Gofu the Vague Shadow, and Special Summoned two Vague Shadow Tokens. He used the effect of SPYRAL Super Agent in his hand, calling monster, but revealed Magical Musket – Desperado from the top of Rauch’s Deck. He Normal Summoned the Super Agent, then Special Summoned Destrudo by paying 4000 Life Points! He used his two tokens to play Proxy Dragon, then used that and Gofu for Decode Talker. He tuned Destrudo to Super Agent for Ancient Fairy Dragon, and had it destroy Dragon Ravine to get SPYRAL Resort to his hand. Rauch used Droll & Lock Bird from his hand to shut down any further searching – Foster ended his turn.

Rauch had a hand of Lost Wind, Solemn Strike, Magical Musketeer Caspar, Magical Musket – Cross-Domination, and drew the Magical Musket – Desperado we saw earlier. He Normal Summoned Caspar in his middle zone, then played Desperado behind it, targeting Ancient Fairy Dragon. Foster negated the activation with Decode Talker, Tributing Ancient Fairy Dragon. Rauch sent Caspar to attack Decode Talker, and used Cross-Domination in the Damage Step to win the battle (Caspar wasn’t able to activate during the Damage Step – the only cards usable in the Damage Step are effect negation, ATK/DEF modifiers, and cards that specifically say that can.). He Set Strike behind Caspar, and also Set Lost Wind.

Foster played SPYRAL Quik-Fix, adding SPYRAL GEAR – Big Red to his hand. He played it to get Agent to the field. It activated its effect to destroy the Set Strike, and Rauch flipped it to destroy Super Agent. Caspar’s effect then added Magical Musket – Last Stand to Rauch’s hand. In the End Phase, SPYRAL Resort shuffled Gofu back into the Deck.

Rauch drew Pot of Duality, and activated it behind Caspar. He revealed Desperado and two copies of Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries, and added Ghost Reaper to his hand. Caspar’s effect put Desperado in his hand as well. Caspar attacked Quik-Fix, and Rauch passed his turn.

Foster used Resort’s effect, and Rauch used Desperado to destroy it. He activated Caspar’s effect, but Foster used PSY-Framegear Gamma! He negated and destroyed Caspar, and Special Summoned PSY-Frame Driver. He played another Resort and put SPYRAL Tough in his hand, and used its effect calling monster: Rauch had Pot of Duality. He discarded a Droll & Lock Bird to bring Quik-Fix back, but Rauch used Lost Wind to negate it (The players forgot about Resort’s effect to prevent this), then used Ghost Reaper to banish all of Foster’s copies of SPYRAL Double Helix. Foster had no cards left in his hand, and no back row – just his monsters. He attacked with Quik-Fix, Tough, Gamma, and Driver, dropping Rauch to 850 Life Points. Foster had 3100. In Main Phase 2, Foster Synchro Summoned PSY-Framelord Omega and didn’t use the effect.

Rauch drew his Pot of Duality, using it to reveal some unhelpful Spell & Trap Cards – he conceded!

Duel 2

Rauch began with a hand of Magical Musketeer Doc, Pot of Desires, Magical Musket – Cross-Domination, Magical Musket – Desperado, and Ties of the Brethren. He played Doc and Ties, but Foster had Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! Pot of Desires came next, and he drew and another Pot of Desires. He Set everything, with Pot of Desires behind Doc.

Foster drew, and Rauch flipped Anti-Spell Fragrance. Foster Special Summoned Gofu along with two tokens, and used all three monsters for Gaia Saber, the Lightning Shadow. It attacked Doc, and Rauch flipped Cross-Domination to win the battle. Foster Set a card in his Field Spell Card Zone, and one to his back row in the same column as Doc.

Rauch drew Magical Musketeer Caspar, then flipped Pot of Desires to draw Solemn Strike and Ties of the Brethren. With Doc, he got Cross-Domination back. He Normal Summoned Caspar and attacked with both it and Doc. He Set Strike behind Caspar and Cross-Domination behind Doc.

Foster drew for his turn, and conceded! With Anti-Spell Fragrance locking him down and Rauch’s full back row, he had no way to play through this situation.

Duel 3

Foster began with a Set card in his back row.

Rauch had Pot of Duality, Dark Hole, Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, Solemn Strike, and two Desperado. Duality revealed Droll & Lock Bird, Rivalry of Warlords, and Last Stand – he took Rivalry. Still with no usable monsters, he Set Rivalry and Strike. In the End Phase, Foster flipped Twin Twisters, discarding SPYRAL Master Plan to destroy both cards!

Foster played Terraforming to get SPYRAL Resort. He played Resort, Rauch used Ghost Ogre, and Foster used PSY-Framegear Gamma! He Special Summoned Gamma and Driver, and added Quik-Fix to his hand with Resort. He played it to get Big Red, and used that to revive Master Plan. That searched out SPYRAL MISSION – Rescue. He used Master Plan and Quik-Fix to play SPYRAL Double Helix, adding another Resort and SPYRAL Sleeper to his hand. He played the new Resort to add SPYRAL GEAR – Drone to his hand. He discarded Rescue to bring back Quik-Fix, searching for SPYRAL Gear – Utility Wire. He Special Summoned Sleeper, and moved to the Battle Phase. He attacked with everything, taking the Duel and the Match!

Avery Foster is victorious, with SPYRAL!