Esala Wathuthantrige from Los Angeles and Thanh Nguyen from Detroit are both currently 7-2 at the 200^th YCS in Columbus, Ohio. Now, they’re facing off in a Match that could determine their fates in the tournament. Both Duelists are using combo-oriented Decks that make big fields, with Nguyen’s Deck focusing on Gouki monsters, and Wathuthantrige’s Deck focusing on DARK Warriors. There are just three more Swiss Rounds before the Top 64 cut begins. It’s time to Duel!

Duel One

Nguyen started off Duel 1 by Setting a card to his back row and activating Card Destruction!

He discarded Gouki Twistcobra, Called By the Grave, and Magical Mid-Breaker Field to draw 3 new cards, and Wathuthantrige discarded his hand to draw Foolish Burial, 2 Dark Grephers, Vision HERO Vyon, and Droll & Lock Bird. He sent the Droll & Lock Bird from his hand to his Graveyard to activate its effect. Nguyen Set a monster and passed.

Wathuthantrige drew Destiny HERO – Malicious and then Special Summoned Grepher by discarding Malicious. He used Grepher’s effect to discard another Dark Grepher and send The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak from his Deck to his Graveyard. He banished Malicious from his Graveyard to Special Summon another copy from his Deck and then used Grepher and Malicious to Link Summon Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights! He activated its effect and sent four Equip Spell Cards from his Deck to his Graveyard to Special Summon Elemental HERO Shadow Mist from his Deck and used its effect to add Mask Change to his hand.  He banished another Malicious from his Graveyard to Special Summon the third Malicious from his Deck, and then activated Mask Change to transform Malicious into Masked HERO Dark Law! He combined Isolde with Shadow Mist to bring out Summon Sorceress and used its effect to Special Summon The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots. He banished Ancient Cloak from his Graveyard next, adding a Silent Boots to his hand. He Special Summoned the Silent Boots and then used Foolish Burial to send Destrudo the Lost Dragon’s Frisson to his Graveyard, and used its effect to Special Summon it to the field by giving up 4000 Life Points. Next, Wathuthantrige combined Silent Boots and Destrudo to Summon Yazi, Evil of the Yang Zing. He used Yazi’s effect to destroy the Yazi along with Nguyen’s face-down Living Fossil. Next, Wathuthantrige used Yazi’s effect to Special Summon Mare Mare and used Mare Mare to Special Summon 2 Mini Mare Mare Tokens. Then he Link Summoned Knightmare Phoenix by combining a Token with Silent Boots. He used Mare Mare’s effect to Special Summon another Token and then Link Summoned Firewall Dragon. He returned a Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade from his Graveyard to his hand and then used Firewall’s effect to return Dark Grepher from his Graveyard to his hand. He Link Summoned Knightmare Unicorn next, and used its effect to return the card on Nguyen’s field to his Deck and draw a card. Finally faced with over 8000 points of damage on Wathuthantrige’s side of the field, Nguyen conceded.

Esala Wathuthantrige wins the first Duel of the Match on his very first turn!

Duel Two

Nguyen started off Duel 2 by Setting a card to his back row and passed.

Wathuthantrige opened up with PSY-Framegear Gamma, Dark Grepher, 2 copies of Armageddon Knight, Silent Boots, and The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine.

He Set his Shade and flipped it to Special Summon it, and then Special Summoned Silent Boots from his hand. He combined both to Link Summon Isolde and used Isolde’s effect to send 4 Equip Spell Cards to the Graveyard and Special Summon Elemental HERO Shadow Mist from his Deck. He used Shadow Mist’s effect to add Mask Change from his Deck to his hand and then activated Mask Change; but Nguyen flipped Imperial Order to negate it! Wathuthantrige Summoned Armageddon Knight next, and activated its effect to send Destrudo from his Deck to his Graveyard. He then combined Isolde with Shadow Mist to Link Summon Summon Sorceress and used her effect to Special Summon Destiny HERO – Malicious from his Deck. He combined Malicious with Armageddon Knight to Summon Knightmare Phoenix and then banished Malicious from his Graveyard to Special Summon another copy from his Deck. Wathuthantrige paid half of his Life Points to Special Summon Destrudo from his Graveyard next, and Tuned it with Malicious to Synchro Summon Yazi. He used Yazi’s effect to destroy it along with Imperial Order and then Special Summoned Mare Mare from his Deck with Yazi’s effect. He used Mare Mare’s effect to Special Summon 3 Tokens to the field and then combined the Sorceress with a Token to Link Summon Firewall Dragon. He combined a Token with Mare Mare to Link Summon Knightmare Cerberus next, and used Firewall’s effect to Special Summon Armageddon Knight from his hand. He used Armageddon Knight’s effect to send The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak from his Deck to his Graveyard and then combined Cerberus with the last Token to Link Summon Knightmare Unicorn. He used Firewall’s effect to Special Summon Dark Grepher from his hand, and then Wathuthantrige’s 5-monster field attacked directly to finish Nguyen off!

Esala Wathuthantrige wins the Match to advance with an 8-2 record!