Top 4 Feature Match: Dakota Angeloff vs. Mike Zimmitti
It’s almost time! This Match will determine who moves on to the grand finals! Dakota Angeloff and Mike Zimmitti are both playing Sky Striker Trickstar Decks today. The strategy has been a breakout success this weekend, with most of the Top 32 using it. Only one of these Duelists can move on, however. It’s time to Duel!
Duel 1
Zimmitti won the die roll and played first, with Terraforming.
He got Trickstar Light Stage, which got Trickstar Candina, and played Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones. He Link Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Kagari and got Hornet Drones back to his hand. He played Candina and added Trickstar Lycoris to his hand. He Link Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku, and Set one card in his back row. Lycoris came down in Defense Position, bouncing Candina. In the End Phase, Shizuku added Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! to his hand.
Angeloff had a hand of Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Scapegoat, Trickstar Light Stage, and Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones; he drew Candina. He started with Light Stage, getting Lycoris. He used Light Stage on Zimmitti’s Set card, and Zimmitti Chained the targeted Trickstar Reincarnation, but Angeloff negated it with Ash Blossom. He played Hornet Drones and Link Summoned Kagari, getting Hornet Drones back. He played Drones again, then Normal Summoned Candina to add another Lycoris to his hand. He used Kagari and the Token to play Knightmare Goblin, discarding Widow Anchor for its effect. He activated both of his Lycoris, bouncing Candina to his hand. He used his extra Normal Summon to play Candina, and added Trickstar Lilybell to his hand. He Special Summoned it with its effect. The entire turn, Zimmitti’s Lycoris had been damaging Angeloff, dropping him to 5600 Life Points now. Angeloff sent Lycoris to attack Zimmitti’s Shizuku, destroying both monsters in the battle. When Lilybell attacked directly, he added Lycoris back to his hand. He Special Summoned Lycoris by bouncing Lilybell. Candina destroyed Goblin in battle. He attacked with Lycoris, and Zimmitti banished Reincarnation to Special Summon his own Lycoris. Angeloff crashed the two Lycoris into each other. His own Goblin and other Lycoris attacked directly. In Main Phase 2, he used Candina and Goblin to play Topologic Trisbaena! He Set Scapegoat.
Zimmitti Set four cards in his back row… then used Light Stage on the Set Scapegoat. Angeloff Chained it, and Trisbaena banished all of Zimmitti’s back row cards, dealing 2500 damage! Zimmitti was down to just 300 Life Points, with two cards in hand. He played Hornet Drones and Link Summoned Kagari, not using the effect since Angeloff’s Lycoris was still in play. Kagari attacked Lycoris, then in Main Phase 2 Zimmitti played Candina. He added Trickstar Reincarnation to his hand. He thought a moment, but knew it was game over no matter what he did.
After the Duel, Zimmitti said he played so heavily into Trisbaena because he had expected Angeloff’s Set card to be Trickstar Reincarnation. That’s why he Set all his cards before activating Light Stage. Unfortunately for him, he set himself up exactly into Angeloff’s plan.
Duel 2
Zimmitti began with Hornet Drones, playing Kagari and getting Drones back to his hand. He played Hornet Drones again, Set a back row card, and used Kagari to play Shizuku. He added Engage to his hand in the End Phase.
Angeloff had 2 Infinite Impermanence, Mind Crush, Trickstar Reincarnation, and Ash Blossom. He drew Terraforming. He played Terraforming to get Light Stage, and Zimmitti activated Droll & Lock Bird. Angeloff Set all his Trap Cards. In the End Phase, Zimmitti flipped Scapegoat.
Zimmitti used Shizuku to play Kagari, which got Hornet Drones, and he played it immediately. Kagari and the Sky Striker Ace Token were used to play Knightmare Phoenix, and Zimmitti discarded Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners! to target the Set Mind Crush. Angeloff flipped it, forcing Zimmitti to discard Engage. Zimmitti used Phoenix and a Sheep Token to play Knightmare Cerberus, then that with a Sheep Token for Missus Radiant. The remaining Sheep Tokens became Link Spider and Linkuriboh. All three monsters were used to play Borreload Dragon! Zimmitti played Sky Striker Maneuver – Jamming Waves!, destroying Infinite Impermanence. He played Hornet Drones next, and used the Token to play Shizuku. He attacked with Shizuku and Borreload. Angeloff used Infinite Impermanence to negate Shizuku’s effect in the End Phase.
Angeloff drew Pot of Desires. He started with Light Stage, getting Candina, and Zimmitti flipped Trickstar Reincarnation. Angeloff negated it with Ash Blossom, then played Pot of Desires to draw Trickstar Lycoris and another Desires. He played Candina, searching out Lilybell, and Special Summoned it. He Special Summoned Lycoris, returning Lilybell, then used Lycoris and Candina to play Knightmare Cerberus. He discarded Pot of Desires to destroy Shizuku.
In the Draw Phase, Angeloff used Trickstar Reincarnation, banishing Heavy Storm Duster from Zimmitti’s hand. Borreload attacked Knightmare Cerberus, taking control of it, and Cerberus attacked directly. Angeloff banished Reincarnation to Special Summon Candina and blocked the attack. Borreload weakened Candina’s ATK with its effect.
Angeloff drew Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage!, and played Lilybell. It attacked directly, adding Lycoris to his hand. He bounced Lilybell to play Lycoris, then Special Summoned the Lilybell again. The Life Points stood at 5300 to 3500, with Zimmitti leading. In Main Phase 2, Angeloff used all three of his Trickstars to play Topologic Trisbaena. He activated Engage, getting Hornet Drones and drawing another Engage!. He played that, getting Afterburners and drawing Hornet Drones. He played Afterburners to destroy Borreload, and Zimmitti responded with its effect to weaken Trisbaena. Angeloff Set both copies of Hornet Drones.
Zimmitti played Afterburners to destroy Trisbaena and one copy of Hornet Drones. In the End Phase, Angeloff flipped the other copy.
Angeloff drew Ash Blossom. He used his Token to play Kagari, getting Engage to his hand. He activated it, adding his final copy of Hornet Drones to his hand, and drawing Candina! He played Candina to get Lycoris, and moved to the Battle Phase to end the Match!
Dakota Angeloff is headed to the finals with Sky Striker Trickstar!