It all comes down to this! Can Jefferson Salas win on his home turf of Peru, using the underdog Pendulum Magician Deck? Or will Chile’s Diego Venegas pilot his Sky Striker Trickstar Deck to the World Championship? It’s time to Duel!

Duel 1

Salas began with Timegazer Magician, Supreme King Dragon Darkwurm, Dragon Shrine, Pendulum Call, and Abyss Actor – Curtain Raiser. He played Timegazer in his Pendulum Zone, then discarded Darkwurm for Pendulum Call. He added Harmonizing Magician and Oafdragon Magician to his hand. He Special Summoned Darkwurm and added Supreme King Gate Zero to his hand as well. He Normal Summoned Curtain Raiser and Link Summoned Heavymetalfoes Electrumite. It placed Mythical Beast Master Cerberus in his Extra Deck. He activated Gate Zero, destroying it with Electrumite. He added Darkwurm back to his hand, then drew Chronograph Sorcerer. He played Oafdragon and Pendulum Summoned! He played Gate Zero and Master Cerberus from his Extra Deck, along with Harmonizing Magician and Chronograph from his hand. Harmonizing brought Xiangke Magician to the field. He stacked Chronograph and Cerberus for Norito the Moral Leader, then Gate Zero and Xiangke for Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon. He used Absolute and Harmonizing to play Underclock Taker, and Absolute Special Summoned Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon! Oafdragon added Harmonizing back to his hand, and he Set Dragon Shrine to finish.

Venegas played Trickstar Light Stage, adding Trickstar Lilybell to his hand. He Special Summoned it, then played another Light Stage to get Trickstar Lycoris. He Normal Summoned Trickstar Candina and got Trickstar Reincarnation. Light Stage targeted the Set Dragon Shrine. Venegas used Lilybell and Candina to play Knightmare Cerberus, discarding Reincarnation to destroy Norito, but Salas used Vortex Dragon to negate and destroy the Knightmare. Venegas banished Reincarnation to bring Lilybell back to the field, attacking directly to add Candina back to his hand. He bounced Lilybell to Special Summon Lycoris, and had it attack Underclock Taker. Venegas Set one back row card. In the End Phase, Dragon Shrine was sent to the Graveyard.

Salas drew Wisdom-Eye Magician. He Pendulum Summoned Darkwurm and Harmonizing Magician from his hand, and Harmonizing Special Summoned Purple Poison Magician. He used both Magicians to play Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer! He used Oafdragon to add Harmonizing back to his hand, and Venegas flipped Trickstar Reincarnation. Salas decided to negate that with Norito. Venegas knew it was over, and conceded the first Duel!

Duel 2

Venegas started things this time, with Terraforming, into Light Stage, into Candina. He played another Light Stage and got Lycoris. He played Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage!, getting Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones, and used that to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kagari. Kagari returned Engage to his hand. He now had three Spell Cards in the Graveyard – he played Engage again, getting Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor and drawing a card. He Normal Summoned Candina and searched for Trickstar Reincarnation. He then activated two Lycoris in his hand, returning Candina to Special Summon them both. Kagari was used to play Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku, which added Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners! to his hand.

Salas had a hand of Harmonizing Magician, Oafdragon Magician, Wisdom-Eye Magician, Chronograph Sorcerer, and Black Fang Magician. He drew Pot of Desires, taking 800 total damage from the Trickstars, and Venegas flipped Reincarnation! Salas drew a new hand of Red Reboot, Wisdom-Eye Magician, Harmonizing Magician, Curtain Raiser, Xiangke Magician, and Effect Veiler, and dropped to 4400 Life Points. He Special Summoned Curtain Raiser, then played Harmonizing and Wisdom-Eye in his back row. Wisdom-Eye brought Oafdragon to the field, which returned Wisdom-Eye to the hand. Salas lost even more Life Points. He Normal Summoned Wisdom-Eye and Link Summoned Heavymetalfoes Electrumite, which put Harmonizing Magician in the Extra Deck. Electrumite destroyed Oafdragon to add Harmonizing to his hand, and he drew Foolish Burial. He put Xiangke Magician in his Pendulum Zone, and Pendulum Summoned Oafdragon, Wisdom-Eye, and Harmonizing; Harmonizing also Special Summoned Purple Poison Magician. Wisdom-Eye and Purple Poison were used to play another Electrumite, which put Chronograph in the Extra Deck. Electrumite destroyed Xiangke to add Chronograph to Salas’s hand, and he Special Summoned it. He stacked Chronograph and Oafdragon for Norito the Moral Leader, and finally moved to the Battle Phase. Norito destroyed Shizuku in battle first. The two Electrumite destroyed the two Lycoris. In Main Phase 2, he used both Electrumite to play Zefra Metaltron. He Set Pot of Desires to finish his turn.

Venegas used Light Stage on the Set Pot of Desires. He tried using Afterburners, and Salas negated it with Norito. Venegas then stole Metaltron with Widow Anchor! He played Lilybell and used both monsters to Link Summon Topologic Bomber Dragon! Salas used Effect Veiler to negate the dragon’s explosive burn effect, and Venegas flipped Called by the Grave to negate Effect Veiler! With Bomber Dragon’s effect, he had enough damage to even the score!

This is it… everything rides on this final Duel!

Duel 3

Salas started first, with Harmonizing Magician, Xiangke Magician, Wisdom-Eye Magician, Oafdragon Magician, and Abyss Actor – Curtain Raiser. He Special Summoned Curtain Raiser and Normal Summoned Harmonizing, letting him play Heavymetalfoes Electrumite. It put Supreme King Gate Zero in his Extra Deck. He played Xiangke and destroyed it with Electrumite, adding Curtain Raiser to his hand. He drew Supreme King Dragon Darkwurm. Oafdragon and Wisdom-Eye Magician were played in the Pendulum Zones, and Wisdom-Eye brought Black Fang Magician to the field. Oafdragon then added Wisdom-Eye to his hand. He Pendulum Summoned Gate Zero, Xiangke, and Harmonizing – that brought Purple Poison Magician along with it. He stacked Gate Zero and Xiangke for Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon, and used that with Electrumite to play Zefra Metaltron. Absolute Special Summoned Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon. Then, he used his Magicians to play Tornado Dragon.

Venegas played Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor to negate Vortex, then went to the Battle Phase to activate Evenly Matched! Just like that, Salas’s huge opening was dismantled! Salas banished everything except Vortex Dragon. Venegas continued, using Trickstar Light Stage to get Trickstar Candina, then another Light Stage to get Lycoris. He played Candina to search for Lilybell, and Special Summoned it. He bounced Candina back to his hand to Special Summon Lycoris, then used his two Trickstars to play Knightmare Cerberus. Cerberus discarded Trickstar Reincarnation to destroy Vortex Dragon!

Salas drew Pot of Desires. He Special Summoned Curtain Raiser (Neither player realized until later, but Curtain Raiser’s effect can only be used once per Duel, and Salas already used it last turn. By the time it was noticed, the gamestate had advanced too far), then Normal Summoned Darkwurm. He added Gate Zero to his hand, then played Pot of Desires. He drew Wisdom-Eye and another Curtain Raiser. He Link Summoned Electrumite and activated its effect, but Venegas had Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit! Electrumite was destroyed, but its effect still added Harmonizing Magician to his Extra Deck. He played Gate Zero and Curtain Raiser in his Pendulum Zones. He Pendulum Summoned Darkwurm and Wisdom-Eye, using them to play another Electrumite. It put Rescue Hamster in his Extra Deck, then destroyed Curtain Raiser to put Hamster in Salas’s hand, and he drew Dragon Shrine. Dragon Shrine sent another Darkwurm to the Graveyard. He played Rescue Hamster in his Pendulum Zone, banishing it to add two copies of Wisdom-Eye Magician to his hand. Those would be a big help, but he only had Electrumite and Gate Zero on the field.

Venegas Normal Summoned Candina, searching out Trickstar Reincarnation. He had Candina collide with Electrumite, then used Reincarnation to revive Lilybell. It attacked directly, adding Lycoris to his hand. He Special Summoned Lycoris by returning Lilybell, then Special Summoned Lilybell. Both monsters attacked directly, this time with Lilybell getting back Candina. Venegas Set two back row cards, and Link Summoned Trickstar Holly Angel.

Salas drew Harmonizing Magician, and Venegas immediately flipped Trickstar Reincarnation to get rid of the Magicians Salas got last turn. He drew a new hand of two Chronograph and Mythical Beast Jackal King. He played Chronograph in his Pendulum Zone, then Special Summoned Darkwurm from his Graveyard. He Pendulum Summoned another Darkwurm and his Jackal King, then Xyz Summoned Supreme King Dragon Dark Rebellion! Its effect stole the ATK of Holly Angel and wiped it out in battle. Jackal King attacked directly as well. Venegas flipped Scapegoat in the End Phase.

Venegas used a Sheep Token for Link Spider, then two more Tokens for Space Insulator. He Normal Summoned Ash Blossom, and Link Summoned Borreload Dragon! It attacked and destroyed Jackal King in battle. Then he banished Reincarnation to Special Summon Lilybell, and attacked directly to add Lycoris to his hand. Venegas Special Summoned Lycoris by returning Lilybell to his hand, and Special Summoned Lilybell to attack once more. It added Candina to his hand. Salas had 1600 Life Points to Venegas’s 3300.

Salas drew Mythical Beast Master Cerberus. He Pendulum Summoned Chronograph, then moved to the Battle Phase. Dark Rebellion attacked Borreload Dragon, and Venegas had no way to stop it!

Jefferson Salas is your South American WCQ winner!