It’s Round 11 – we’re halfway through the Swiss Rounds for today’s portion of the tournament. Brian Chen from San Jose is here playing a Pendulum Magician Deck. While Magicians have proven to be the most popular strategy after YCS Atlanta, we’ve got a lot of variety in the Top 32. Khuram Haroonsuleman, here from Montreal, is an example of that variety. He’s playing a SPYRAL Deck, and he’s even using SPYGAL Misty – a card most players wrote off since it isn’t technically a SPYRAL monster. Both Duelists have two losses currently, so a win here will go a long way towards getting them into the Top 8.

Duel 1

Chen won the die roll and played first.

He played Timegazer Magician in the Pendulum Zone, then played Dragon Shrine; but Haroonsuleman negated it with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Chen played Foolish Burial anyway, sending Supreme King Dragon Darkwurm to the Graveyard. Haroonsuleman had another Ash Blossom, but couldn’t use it since its effect can only be used once per turn. Chen Special Summoned Darkwurm and added Supreme King Gate Zero to his hand. He Normal Summoned Harmonizing Magician and played Heavymetalfoes Electrumite, activating its effect. Haroonsuleman destroyed it with Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, but Chen still was able to put Purple Poison Magician in his Extra Deck. He played Gate Zero in his Pendulum Zone. He wanted to Pendulum Summon, but had forgotten that Timegazer’s effect made its Pendulum Scale reduce to 4. He passed his turn.

Haroonsuleman had a hand of another Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, SPYRAL Tough, and SPYRAL Master Plan. He drew SPYGAL Misty. He played Misty, and tried calling “monster” with its effect, but Chen had Pot of Desires on top of the Deck. He attacked with Misty.

Chen played another Dragon Shrine to put a Darkwurm in the Graveyard. He Special Summoned it and added a Gate Zero to his hand. Pot of Desires came next, and Haroonsuleman negated it with Ash Blossom. He attacked with Darkwurm, destroying Misty.

Haroonsuleman drew SPYRAL GEAR – Last Resort. He Normal Summoned Tough and used its effect, calling “monster” again – it was Purple Poison on top of Chen’s Deck, so Darkwurm was destroyed. Tough attacked directly, and in Main Phase 2 Haroonsuleman equipped Tough with Last Resort.

Chen Set a monster.

Haroonsuleman drew Pot of Desires and immediately played it, drawing Misty and Ash Blossom. He Normal Summoned Misty, and called “monster” again with its effect – Chen had Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit on top of the Deck, so Haroonsuleman drew SPYRAL MISSION – Rescue. He then had Misty bounce Tough and Chen’s Set monster to the hand (Last Resort became unequipped and went to the Graveyard) and attacked with Misty. In Main Phase 2 he Set Rescue.

Chen played Purple Poison and attacked Misty, using Poison’s effect to destroy Misty. In Main Phase 2 he Pendulum Summoned Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit in Defense Position. Haroonsuleman flipped up Rescue to get Last Resort back, and Chen knew he wasn’t going to be winning this Duel – he moved directly to his Side Deck for the next game.

Duel 2

Chen chose to play first again. He played Pot of Desires, but had no followup.

Haroonsuleman had a hand of Rescue, Scapegoat, Monster Reborn, Dark Hole, and Mind Control. He drew Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries and Set Scapegoat.

Chen played another Pot of Desires. He activated Dragon Shrine to send Darkwurm to the Graveyard. He Special Summoned it to get Gate Zero to his hand, and he had only eight cards left in his Deck after that. He Normal Summoned Timegazer Magician, and Haroonsuleman used Ghost Reaper! He banished Heavymetalfoes Electrumite from both players’ Extra Decks! Chen discarded Gate Zero for Pendulum Call, adding Oafdragon Magician and Xiangke Magician to his hand. He played Chronograph Sorcerer and Purple Poison Magician in his Pendulum Zones, and Pendulum Summoned Gate Zero and Xiangke from his hand. He used Gate Zero and Timegazer for Supreme King Dragon Starving Venom, and moved to the Battle Phase. Starving Venom and Darkwurm attacked directly. When Xiangke attacked, Haroonsuleman flipped Scapegoat to defend himself. Xiangke took out a Sheep Token.

Haroonsuleman drew SPYRAL Resort, but lost it immediately to Chen’s Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit! He used two Sheep Tokens to play Link Spider and Linkuriboh, then used Monster Reborn to Special Summon Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries. He used all of his monsters to play Saryuja Skull Dread, and Chen negated its effect with Ash Blossom! Haroonsuleman played Dark Hole and Set Rescue.

Chen Pendulum Summoned Darkwurm from his Extra Deck and Black Fang Magician from his hand, and attacked to take the Duel!

Duel 3

Haroonsuleman played first this time. He had two Cosmic Cyclones, Soul Charge, Rescue, and Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit. He Set both Cosmic Cyclone and Rescue.

Chen started with Pendulum Call, discarding Gate Zero to add Purple Poison and Harmonizing Magician to his hand. He activated Timegazer and Purple Poison in his Pendulum Zones, and Haroonsuleman flipped Cosmic Cyclone to banish Timegazer. Chen played Black Fang in the Pendulum Zone now, and Cosmic Cyclone banished that too! Chen passed.

Haroonsuleman drew Monster Reborn. He passed.

Chen played Pot of Desires. He put Harmonizing Magician in the Pendulum Zone, and Pendulum Summoned Astrograph Sorcerer from his hand. It attacked directly.

Haroonsuleman drew Effect Veiler and Set it. He just couldn’t draw any SPYRALs this Duel.

Chen played Black Fang Magician. It attacked and destroyed Effect Veiler. Astrograph Sorcerer attacked directly, and Purple Poison’s Pendulum effect boosted Astrograph’s ATK, wiping out Haroonsuleman’s Life Points!

Brian Chen wins with Pendulum Magicians!