Welcome to YCS Memphis! We have 749 players in attendance today, and in our first round we’re going to be looking at a Deck centered around the new cards from Lair of Darkness. Thomas Leward Opsal from St. Louis, Missouri is here with the aforementioned DARK Deck and he’s paired against Michael Anthony Sexton from Mayfield, Kentucky with an anti-meta stun Deck based around restricting the opponent’s actions. These types of Deck use monsters like Inspector Boarder, Thunder King Rai-Oh and Denko Sekka. It’s time to Duel!

Duel 1

Sexton won the roll and elected to go first. He started off with Pot of Desires, banishing the top 10 cards to draw 2 more. He then Normal Summoned Inspector Boarder, Set 2 to the back and passed.

Opsal drew and started with a hand of 2 Armageddon Knights, Monster Gate, Mind Crush and 2 copies of Allure of Darkness. He activated one copy of Allure of Darkness, drawing Lair of Darkness and Lilith, Lady of Lament, banishing one of his Armageddon Knights. He then activated Lair of Darkness, then activated Monster Gate, Tributing Sexton’s Inspector Boarder! The top cards of his Deck were another Lair of Darkness and Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! He Summoned Ash Blossom in Defense Position. Opsal then Normal Summoned the second Armageddon Knight and tried to use its effect but Sexton chained Solemn Strike to negate and destroy the knight! He Set Mind Crush and in the End Phase, Lair of Darkness gave him a Darkness Token.

Sexton Normal Summoned Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo! It attacked over the token.

Opsal drew Raigeki! He Normal Summoned Lilith, Lady of Lament. He activated the effect, using Lair of Darkness to Tribute Sexton’s Fossil Dyna, and Sexton chained Ring of Destruction, destroying Lilith, Lady of Lament and inflicting 2000 damage to both players LP. Opsal resolved Lilith, Lady of Lament’s effect revealing Eradicator Epidemic Virus, Mind Crush and Full Force Virus. Full Force Virus was Set. In the End Phase, Opsal Special Summoned a Darkness Token thanks to Lair of Darkness’s effect.

Sexton Normal Summoned another Fossil Dyna! He then activated Card of Demise to draw 2 more cards. Fossil Dyna attacked and destroyed the Darkness Token. He Set one and passed, discarding Denko Sekka.

Opsal drew Duke Shade, the Sinister Shadow Lord. He Normal Summoned it. He then activated Full Force Virus, Tributing Duke Shade, the Sinister Shadow Lord (which has 2000 DEF), destroying Sexton’s Fossil Dyna. In the Extra Deck Phase, Opsal Summoned a Darkness Token.

Sexton drew and revealed Thunder King Rai-Oh and it was destroyed by Full Force Virus’s effect.

Opsal drew Grinning Grave Virus, Sexton switched the Darkness Token to Attack Position and attacked.

Sexton drew Solemn Judgment. He Set it and passed.

Opsal drew a Ahrima, the Wicked Warden and tried to Summon it and Sexton used Bottomless Trap Hole to destroy and banish it. Opsal attacked with the Darkness Token again.

Sexton drew Bottomless Trap Hole. He Set it and passed.

Opsal drew Evenly Matched. He attacked for another 1000 with the Darkness Token.

Sexton Normal Summoned Inspector Boarder. He went into the Battle Phase and Opsal activated Grinning Grave Virus, Tributing Sexton’s Inspector Boarder and Sexton chained Cosmic Cyclone to banish Lair of Darkness. (Grinning Grave Virus’s cost still had to be paid before Cosmic Cyclone could be activated, so Inspector Boarder was still Tributed anyway.)  Sexton destroyed Solemn Strike, Solemn Warning, another Cosmic Cyclone and Pot of Desires from the Deck to resolve Grinning Grave Virus.

Opsal drew Foolish Burial. He activated it, sending Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair to the Graveyard. Opsal attacked with the Token and that was the end of the first Duel.

Duel 2

Sexton elected to go first. He Set 3 cards to the back then Normal Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh then activated Card of Demise to draw 3 cards. Opsal activated Droll & Lock Bird to prevent further searching or drawing this turn. Sexton Set 2 more cards to the back and discarded Denko Sekka in the End Phase.

Opsal drew Ahrima, the Wicked Warden to add to his hand of double Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju, Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair and Dragon Shrine. He Tributed his opponent’s Thunder King to Special Summon Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju to Sexton’s field! Opsal then activated Dragon Shrine, but Sexton chained Solemn Judgment! He went down to 4000 LP! Opsal then Special Summoned the second Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju to his own field but Sexton activated Bottomless Trap Hole to banish it! Opsal then Normal Summoned Ahrima, the Wicked Warden but Sexton negated the Summon with Solemn Warning! He was down to just 2000 LP from just his own cards!

Sexton drew and attacked with Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju for 2800 damage.

Opsal drew Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. He passed.

Sexton drew and Set the monster he drew before attacking for another 2800 with Radian.

Opsal drew Mind Crush. He Set Mind Crush and Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. In the End Phase, Sexton activated Heavy Storm Duster to destroy Opsal’s Set Mind Crush.

Sexton drew. He Flip Summoned Inspector Boarder, then attacked the Set Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring with Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju and attacked directly with Inspector Boarder.

Opsal drew Monster Reborn but it was no help here. He conceded and we’re going to the third Duel.

Duel 3

Opsal elected to go first. He started with a hand of Ahrima, the Wicked Warden, Cosmic Cyclone, 2 copies of Mind Crush and Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair.  He Normal Summoned Ahrima, the Wicked Warden, using its effect to Tribute it to draw Grinning Grave Virus. He then activated Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair’s effect to Special Summon itself from the hand. He Set his hand and passed.

Sexton Normal Summoned Zaphion the Timelord! Uh oh! Zaphion attacked into Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair, taking no damage and not being destroyed thanks to the Timelord’s effect. At the end of the Battle Phase, Zaphion’s effect made Opsal shuffle his backrow back to his Deck!

Opsal drew Foolish Burial, activating it to send Supreme King Dragon Darkwurm from the Deck to the Graveyard.

Sexton drew for turn and Zaphion was shuffled back into Sexton’s Deck. He Normal Summoned Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo and activated the Set Moon Mirror Shield equipping it to Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo. The fossil attacked over Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair for 100 damage. Sexton Set a card to the back and passed.

Opsal drew Destrudo the Lost Dragon’s Frission. He passed.

Sexton Normal Summoned a second Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo. He attacked with both of them and passed.

Opsal drew Monster Gate. He passed.

Sexton activated Pot of Duality, revealing Heavy Storm Duster, Dark Hole and Thunder King Rai-Oh. He took Thunder King to add to hand which was immediately Normal Summoned. All three monsters attacked, putting Opsal at 1200 LP. Sexton then activated Card of Demise to draw 2. Then he activated Dimensional Fissure, Set some cards to the back and banished Inspector Boarder from his hand in the End Phase.

Opsal drew Cosmic Cyclone and that was it!

Sexton starts with a win with his stun Deck against one of the newest Decks in the field!