Welcome to Round 1 of YCS Secaucus! We’re starting off the tournament featuring Jerome Hills Jr. from Linden, NJ and his Deck Fur Hire playing against Jose Martin Yanez from Bradenton, FL and his Trickstar Deck. The monsters Fur Hire are new to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, and were released about a week ago in Dark Saviors. Trickstars are a tried and true Deck that wasn’t adversely affected by the most recent Forbidden & Limited List update, making it an attractive pick for the YCS. It’s time to Duel!

Hills won the roll and elected to go first. He started off by activating Reasoning with Yanez calling Level 4. Seal, Strategist Fur Hire came off the top of the Deck. Because it’s a Level 4 monster, Seal was sent to the Graveyard. He then Normal Summoned a Seal, Strategist Fur Hire from his hand and used its effect to Special Summon another monster Fur Hire from his hand. He Special Summoned Rafale, Champion Fur Hire from his hand, and he used Rafale’s effect, excavating the top card, Mayhem Fur Hire which was added to his hand. He Set Called by the Grave and Back to the Front directly behind his monsters and passed. (If Yanez had any Mekk-Knight monsters, the placement of Hills’s Set cards was inviting Yanez to freely play them.)

Yanez drew for turn and activated Terraforming to add Trickstar Light Stage to his hand, which was activated adding Trickstar Candina to his hand. He then Normal Summoned Candina and used its effect to add Trickstar Reincarnation from his Deck to his hand. He then activated a second copy of Trickstar Light Stage using its effect to add Trickstar Lycoris from his Deck to his hand. Trickstar Candina attacked and destroyed Hills’s Seal, Strategist Fur Hire, sending Hills down to 7600 LP. In the Battle Phase, Yanez used 2 copies of Trickstar Lycoris, Special Summoning both of them and returning Trickstar Candina to his hand. He Set Trickstar Reincarnation and then activated Pot of Desires, banishing the top 10 cards of his Deck to draw 2 more cards. He Set another card and passed.

Hills drew Bravo, Fighter Fur Hire and took 800 points of damage from the 2 copies of Trickstar Lycoris and Trickstar Light Stage. Yanez then activated Trickstar Reincarnation, forcing Hills to banish Bravo, Fighter Fur Hire and Mayhem Fur Hire, drawing Reinforcement of the Army and Donpa, Marksman Fur Hire, reducing Hills’s Life Points once more. Hills activated Reinforcement of the Army and Yanez Chained Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to try to negate it, but Hills flipped the Set Called by the Grave to negate Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! The Chain resolved and Hills added Beat, Bladesman Fur Hire to his hand, taking another 800 points of damage from the Trickstars and the Light Stage. Hills tried to Normal Summon Beat, Bladesman Fur Hire, but Yanez used Solemn Warning to negate the Summon! Hills then activated his Set Back to the Front to Special Summon Beat, Bladesman Fur Hire back to the field in Defense Position! Beat, Bladesman Fur Hire’s effect let Hills add Rafale, Champion Fur Hire from his Deck to his hand, taking another 800 points of damage, sending him to 4800 Life Points to Yanez’s 6000. Hills then used Donpa, Marksman Fur Hire’s effect to Special Summon the Rafale, Champion Fur Hire he just added, then in a new Chain, Donpa, Marksman Fur Hire’s effect destroyed one of Yanez’s Trickstar Lycoris. Then Rafale, Champion Fur Hire’s effect excavated another Rafale, Champion Fur Hire and Mayhem Fur Hire. Hills took another 400 points of damage, going down to 4400 LP. Rafale, Champion Fur Hire attacked into Trickstar Lycoris, destroying it, and Donpa, Marksman Fur Hire and the other Rafale, Champion Fur Hire attacked directly, reducing Yanez to just 1500 LP. In the Battle Phase, Hills activated Mayhem Fur Hire to Special Summon Seal, Strategist Fur Hire from his Graveyard in Defense Position. In Main Phase 2, Hills sent Donpa, Marksman Fur Hire, Beat, Bladesman Fur Hire and Seal, Strategist Fur Hire to the Graveyard to Link Summon Decode Talker.

Yanez drew to 4 cards in hand. He Normal Summoned Trickstar Candina and used the effect to add Trickstar Narkissus to his hand! He then used Terraforming to add another Trickstar Light Stage then activated the second copy to add another Trickstar Lycoris from his Deck to his hand. He then banished the Trickstar Reincarnation in his Graveyard to Special Summon the Trickstar Lycoris from his Graveyard. He then Special Summoned the Lycoris from his hand in Defense Position by returning Candina back to his hand.

Hills drew Recon, Scout Fur Hire. He took 800 points of damage from the Trickstars. Yanez then activated the effect of the Trickstar Narkissus in his hand, but Yanez chained Rafale, Champion Fur Hire, discarding Recon, Scout Fur Hire to negate the effect; but Yanez Chained Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit to destroy Rafale! Hills’s Rafale and Decode Talker destroyed both of Yanez’s Lycoris in battle.

Yanez Set a monster and a Spell/Trap Card and passed.

Hills drew Helmer, Helmsman Fur Hire fur turn. Yanez activated Trickstar Reincarnation forcing Hills to banish Helmer and draw Dyna, Hero Fur Hire. Decode Talker attacked and destroyed the Set Narkissus then Rafale, Champion Fur Hire attempted to attack directly but Yanez banished Trickstar Reincarnation to Special Summon the Narkissus to block the attack. Rafale then destroyed it in battle.

Yanez Set another monster and another Spell/Trap and passed.

Hills drew Mayhem Fur Hire and activated it to Special Summon Beat, Bladesman Fur Hire from the Graveyard in Defense Position. Beat’s effect Special Summoned Helmer from Hills’s hand then Beat’s other effect added another Rafale, Champion Fur Hire from Hills’s Deck to his hand. Helmer’s effect then Special Summoned Rafale, Champion Fur Hire from Hills’s hand. Rafale, Champion Fur Hire’s effect excavated Wiz, Sage Fur Hire and Donpa, Marksman Fur Hire with Hills adding Donpa, Marksman Fur Hire to his hand. Yanez scooped up his cards as we’re going to the second Duel with about 13 minutes left in the round.

Duel 2

Yanez elected to go first. He started off by Normal Summoning Trickstar Candina and used it effect to add Trickstar Light Stage which was activated and added Trickstar Lycoris from his Deck to his hand. Trickstar Lycoris swapped in for Trickstar Candina and then Yanez Set a card to the back row and passed.

Hills drew and took 400 points of damage from Lycoris and Light Stage. His starting hand was  Helmer, Helmsman Fur Hire, Dyna, Hero Fur Hire, Called by the Grave, Mayhem Fur Hire, Monster Reborn and another Called by the Grave. He tried to Normal Summon Helmer, Helmsman Fur Hire but Yanez negated the Summon with Solemn Warning! Hills followed up with Monster Reborn to Special Summon Helmer from the Graveyard! He used its effect to Special Summon a monster Fur Hire from his hand, prompting Yanez to Chain Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit; but Hills Chained Called by the Grave from his hand to negate Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit! Dyna, Hero Fur Hire came down from Hills’s hand and Hills used Helmer’s effect to draw a card, and when Yanez Chained Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Hills Chained the second Called by the Grave! He drew Rafale, Champion Fur Hire and took another 400 points of damage from Lycoris. Dyna attacked over the Trickstar, leaving Yanez at 5100 LP.

Yanez Normal Summoned Trickstar Candina and used its effect to Trickstar Lilybell to his hand whose effect let him Special Summon it to the field. Trickstar Lilybell attacked directly for 800 plus the additional 200 damage from Trickstar Light Stage. Lilybell’s effect added Lycoris from Yanez’s Graveyard back to his hand. Trickstar Lycoris was Special Summoned in Defense, returning Trickstar Lilybell to his hand.

Hills drew Donpa, Marksman Fur Hire fur turn. He took 400 points of damage, then Yanez activated Trickstar Reincarnation to force Hills to banish 2 cards and draw 2 more, taking another 600 points of damage from the Trickstars. Hills then Normal Summoned Recon, Scout Fur Hire. Time was called in the Main Phase and Life Points were Hills’s 5200 to Yanez’s 5100. Hills had the ability to bring Yanez’s down even further if they had the additional time, but with the new end of round procedures, the Duel stops at the end of the Phase! With Hills having more LP, he won the Duel, and with 2 wins, he won the match!

Hills starts the tournament with the monsters Fur Hire and a 1-0 record!