Eric Gideon from Dallas, TX is the owner of the Official Tournament Store Epik Cards & Games in Dallas, TX. He hosts Yu-Gi-Oh! events regularly, including Regionals, now he’s here this weekend as a competitor, Dueling with one of the most interesting Decks we’ve seen this weekend! Gideon is using a Nekroz Deck that features a full 3 copies of Impcantation Talismandra and 3 copies of Impcantation Candoll, as well as 3 copies of Zaborg the Mega Monarch. Ideally, Gideon opens up with one of his Impcantations and uses its effect to Special Summon it along with the other Impcantation from his Deck. Then, by Tributing both of them for Zaborg the Mega Monarch, he can use Zaborg’s effect to have it destroy itself. By doing so, he can decimate his opponent’s Extra Deck by choosing 8 cards from it to send to the Graveyard. Plus, he can send 8 of his own cards from his Extra Deck to his Graveyard. With PSY-Framelord Omega, Toadally Awesome, Elder Entity N’tss, and Herald of the Arc Light all in his Extra Deck, he’s able to gain a lot of awesome effects from them if he manages to pull off his Impcantation/Zaborg combo. In this Round 5 Feature Match, Gideon is Dueling against Joshua Forbis from St. Louis, Missouri. Forbis is using a Sky Striker Deck. Gideon and Forbis both have a 2-2 record and wish they were doing better; but with a total of 8 Swiss Rounds being played today, both are also far from eliminated. It’s time to Duel!

Duel One

Forbis opened up Duel 1 by activating Terraforming to add Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero to his hand.

He activated Upstart Goblin to draw a card and give Gideon 1000 Life Points and then activated Area Zero. He Set a back row and then used Area Zero to add Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones from the top of his Deck to his hand and destroy his face-down Called by the Grave. He activated Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! next, allowing him to add Sky Striker Mecha Modules – Multirole to his hand and draw a card. He activated Multirole and then activated Hornet Drones to Special Summon a Sky Striker Ace Token to his field. He used the Token to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kagari, and used Kagari’s effect to add Engage to his hand. He used it to add Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor to his hand and draw a card. He activated another Engage to add another Widow Anchor to his hand and then draw a card. He Set 3 cards to his back row and then used Kagari to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku. He Set Engage with the effect of Multirole and added Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners! to his hand with Shizuku’s effect in the End Phase.

Gideon opened up with Nekroz Mirror, 2 copies of Preparation of Rites, Impcantation Candoll, Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, and Nekroz Cycle. He revealed Nekroz Cycle from his hand to Special Summon Impcantation Candoll, and used its effect to Special Summon Impcantation Talismandra from his Deck. He activated its effect to add Nekroz of Brionac to his hand and Forbis flipped Mind Crush, forcing him to discard the Nekroz of Brionac. Next, Gideon activated Preparation of Rites to add Cyber Angel Benten to his hand. He activated Nekroz Cycle next, Tributing Benten from his hand to Special Summon Nekroz of Brionac from his Graveyard. He used Benten’s effect to add Archlord Kristya from his Deck to his hand and then used Nekroz of Brionac’s effect, targeting Shizuku to return it to the Extra Deck; but Forbis Chained Widow Anchor to negate the Nekroz of Brionac’s effect, opting not to gain control of the monster. Next, Gideon Normal Summoned Manju and used its effect to add Nekroz of Trishula to his hand. He attacked Shizuku with Nekroz of Brionac to destroy it and then attacked directly with Manju, dropping Forbis down to 6400 Life Points. During the End Phase, Forbis Set a Widow Anchor to his field with the effect of Multirole.

Forbis activated Hornet Drones to Special Summon a Token and then used Multirole to destroy the Token so that Gideon would be unable to respond to his Spell Cards for the rest of the turn. He activated Afterburners next, destroying Nekroz of Trishula. He used Area Zero’s effect next, but revealed 3 cards from the top of his Deck that weren’t Sky Strikers. Next, he flipped his face-down Engage, banishing it from the Duel, and added Sky Striker Ace – Raye to his hand before drawing a card. He Summoned Raye and Tributed it to Special Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kagari from his Extra Deck. He used Kagari’s effect to return Engage to his hand and then used Engage to add Sky Striker Mecharmory – Hercules Base to his hand and draw a card. He equipped Kagari with Hercules Base and then attacked both Impcantations, drawing a card with Hercules Base each time one was destroyed. In Main Phase 2, he used his Kagari to Link Summoned Shizuku and activated Engage. He added Afterburners to his hand and drew a card. He Set a card to his back row and then used the effects of Multirole and Shizuku to Set Engage from his Graveyard and add Multirole from his Deck to his hand. He discarded Metalfoes Fusion and Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries from his hand in the End Phase in order to bring his hand size back down to 6.

Gideon drew Zaborg the Mega Monarch and then activated Preparation of Rites; but Forbis discarded Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring from his hand to negate it. Gideon switched Manju to Defense Position and then ended his turn.

Forbis flipped and banished his face-down Engage.

Gideon immediately conceded, realizing that he was completely outmatched by the number of cards Forbis had, and wishing to save time for the next Duel.

Duel Two

Gideon opened up Duel 2 with Nekroz Mirror, Preparation of Rites, Archlord Kristya, Nekroz of Clausolas, and PSY-Frame Driver.

He activated Preparation of Rites to add Nekroz of Unicore to his hand. Next, he discarded Nekroz of Clausolas to add Nekroz Kaleidoscope from his Deck to his hand. He activated the Kaleidoscope to send Herald of the Arc Light from his Extra Deck to his Graveyard and Special Summon Nekroz of Unicore from his hand, and then used Arc Light’s effect to add Nekroz of Trishula to his hand.

Forbis activated Foolish Burial Goods to send Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! to his Graveyard and then activated Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones to Special Summon a Sky Striker Ace Token to his field. He then used the Token to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Hayate. He activated Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! next, allowing him to add Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners! to his hand and draw a card. He activated Afterburners to try to destroy Unicore, and Gideon discarded Nekroz of Trishula to negate the activation of the Afterburners; but then Forbis activated another Afterburners to destroy the Unicore! Next, Forbis activated another Engage to add Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero to his hand and draw a card. He activated the Area Zero, Set a card, and then used Area Zero to add Widow Anchor from the top of his Deck to his hand and destroy the Metalfoes Fusion he had just Set. He then shuffled the Metalfoes Fusion from his Graveyard into his Deck to draw a card. He attacked directly with Kagari, dropping Gideon down to 5900 Life Points. Forbis Set 2 cards to his back row before passing.

Gideon drew Nekroz of Clausolas and Set a card to his back row.

Forbis flipped his face-down Foolish Burial Goods to send Metalfoes Fusion from his Deck to his Graveyard and then shuffled the Metalfoes Fusion back into his Deck to draw a card. He used Kagari to Link Summon Hayate and then used Hayate to Link Summon Kagari. He used Kagari’s effect to add Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! to his hand and then activated it to add Sky Striker Maneuver – Jamming Waves! to his hand and draw a card. He used Area Zero next, destroying Kagari and adding Hercules Base to his hand. He activated Jamming Waves to destroy Gideon’s face-down Nekroz Mirror. He then activated Multirole and used its effect to destroy Area Zero. He used Area Zero’s effect to Special Summon Raye from his Deck. He attacked directly with Raye, and then used Raye’s effect to Tribute it, allowing him to Special Summon Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair from his hand. He Special Summoned Shizuku from the Extra Deck with Raye’s effect, and then direct attacks from Shizuku and Darkest Diabolos ended the Duel and the Match!

Joshua Forbis takes the victory and advances with a 3-2 record!