It’s Round 9, the final Round of Swiss before the Day 2 cut. We’re at Table 126 in which Robert Kenny III from Orlando, Florida and Yoon Jae Jio Kim from Urbana-Champaign, Illinois are on the bubble. A win will secure a Day 2 spot while a loss will knock them out of the tournament. Kim is running Sky Striker, a popular pick this weekend while Kenny has with him 60-card Pendulum Magician. Who will make it to Day 2? It’s time to Duel!

Duel 1

Kim won the roll and elected to go first. He started with Reinforcement of the Army to add Sky Striker Ace – Raye from his Deck to his hand. Next, he Normal Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Raye then used her to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku. He Set 2 to the back and in the End Phase he used Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku’s effect to add Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! from his Deck to his hand.

Kenny drew Dragonpit Magician, Mythical Beast Master Cerberus, Wisdom-Eye Magician, Magical Abductor, Dragon Shrine and Odd-Eyes Arc Pendulum Dragon. He activated Dragon Shrine, sending Supreme King Dragon Darkwurm to the Graveyard. He used its effect to Special Summon itself from the Graveyard and activated the effect to search, adding Supreme King Gate Zero from his Deck to his hand. He placed Mythical Beast Master Cerberus in the Pendulum Zone and used its effect but Kim chained Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to negate the effect. Kenny then Normal Summoned Magical Abductor. He used both monsters to Link Summon Heavymetalfoes Electrumite. He used its effect to destroy Mythical Beast Master Cerberus but Kim chained his Set Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor to negate Heavymetalfoes Electrumite’s effect. He then activated Dragonpit Magician in the other Pendulum Zone, then Pendulum Summoned Supreme King Gate Zero and Odd-Eyes Arc Pendulum Dragon from his hand. He used the 2 Level 7 monsters to Xyz Summon Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon then used it and Heavymetalfoes Electrumite to Link Summon Zefra Metaltron. Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon came out with Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon’s effect. Kenny then used the effect of Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon to send Kim’s Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku back to the Extra Deck. Sky Striker Ace – Raye’s effect let Kim Special Summon it from the Graveyard. Vortex Dragon attacked and Kim used Sky Striker Ace – Raye’s effect to Special Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kagari from the Extra Deck. Sky Striker Ace – Kagari’s effect tried to add Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! from the Graveyard back to the hand but Kenny negated it with Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon, sending Magical Abductor from the Extra Deck to the Deck to negate and destroy Sky Striker Ace – Kagari. Vortex and Zefra Metaltron attacked directly, leaving Kim at 3000 LP.

Kim drew to 3 cards in hand and 1 card Set on the field. He activated Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! but Kenny negated it with Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon’s effect, sending Supreme King Dragon Darkwurm from the Extra Deck back to the Main Deck. Kim then used Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners! to destroy Kenny’s Zefra Metaltron and Dragonpit Magician. Kim then activated another Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! which added another Sky Striker Ace – Raye and drew a card. He then used Sky Striker Ace – Raye to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kagari which picked up Afterburners which was activated to clear Kenny’s Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon and Mythical Beast Master Cerberus. Sky Striker Ace – Kagari was used to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Hayate. Kim attacked directly then used Sky Striker Mech – Jamming Waves! to the Graveyard. In Main Phase 2, Sky Striker Ace – Hayate came out for Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku took her place. In the End Phase, Kim added Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones from his Deck to his hand with Shizuku’s effect.

Kim drew Amorphage Sloth to add to his hand of Wisdom-Eye Magician. He passed.

Kim used Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kagari which picked up Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! which was activated to add Sky Striker Mecha Modules – Multirole to hand and draw a card. Kagari attacked directly to drop Kenny to 4400 LP. Kim then activated Sky Striker Mecha Modules – Multirole in Main Phase 2, then sent Sky Striker Ace – Kagari to the Graveyard to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku. Kim Set a card to the back, searched for Area Zero, then used Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones in the End Phase to Special Summon a Token, then used Sky Striker Mecha Modules – Multirole’s effect to Set Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor from the Graveyard to the field.

Kenny drew a card and conceded the Duel.

Duel 2

Kenny elected to go first. He started with a hand of 2 copies of Sky Iris, Dragonpit Magician, Dragonpulse Magician and Wisdom-Eye Magician. Sky Iris came down first, then Dragonpit Magician, then Wisdom-Eye Magician. He used Wisdom-Eye Magician’s effect, destroying itself to put Oafdragon Magician in its place. Oafdragon Magician’s effect let Kenny add Wisdom-Eye Magician from the Extra Deck back to his hand. He then used Sky Iris to destroy Oafdragon Magician to add Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon from his Deck to his hand. He activated Wisdom-Eye Magician then used the effect to destroy it to place Purple Poison Magician from the Deck in its place. He then Pendulum Magician Wisdom-Eye Magician from the Extra Deck along with Dragonpulse and Dragonpit from his hand. He used Wisdom-Eye Magician and Dragonpulse to Link Summon Heavymetalfoes Electrumite. Kenny used the effect to send Amorphage Sloth from the Main Deck to the Extra Deck. He then used Heavymetalfoes Electrumite to destroy Dragonpit and add Wisdom-Eye Magician to his hand and draw a card (Pendulum Call).

Kim went straight to the Battle Phase and activated Evenly Matched. Kenny chose to keep Heavymetalfoes Electrumite and banish everything else face-down, which let him draw a card (Odd-Eyes Arc Pendulum Dragon) thanks to Heavymetalfoes Electrumite’s effect. Kim then activated Reinforcement of the Army to add Sky Striker Ace – Raye from his Deck to his hand. He then activated Mind Control to take control of Heavymetalfoes Electrumite. He Normal Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Raye and used both monsters to Link Summon Knightmare Unicorn. He passed there.

Kenny drew Chronograph Sorcerer. He activated the second Sky Iris, then activated Pendulum Call, discarding Odd-Eyes Arc Pendulum Dragon, adding Harmonizing Magician and Oafdragon Magician from his Deck to his hand. He placed Chronograph Sorcerer and Oafdragon Magician. He then Pendulum Summoned Oafdragon Magician from the Extra Deck and Harmonizing Magician and Wisdom-Eye Magician from his hand. He used Harmonizing Magician’s effect to Special Summon Black Fang Magician from the Deck. He used Wisdom-Eye Magician and Oafdragon Magician to Link Summon LANphorhynchus. He then used Sky Iris to destroy Chronograph Sorcerer to add Performapal Odd-Eyes Synchron from his Deck to his hand. He Normal Summoned it, using its effect to Summon the Oafdragon Magician in the Pendulum Zone and immediately Synchro Summoned PSY-Framelord Omega. Then, Black Fang Magician and Harmonizing Magician were used to Xyz Summon Supreme King Dragon Dark Rebellion. He used Supreme King Dragon Dark Rebellion’s effect to shrink Kim’s Knightmare Unicorn to zero ATK and have Supreme King Dragon Dark Rebellion gain that much attack. PSY-Framelord Omega and LANphorhynchus attacked directly to send this match to a third and final Duel!

Duel 3

Kim elected to go first. He started off with Upstart Goblin to draw a card and give Kenny 1000 LP. He then activated Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero and Set a card, using the field to reveal Sky Striker Mecha Modules – Multirole, Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit and Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor. Called by the Grave was sent to the Graveyard. Sky Striker Mecha Modules – Multirole was activated, sending Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero to the Graveyard whose Graveyard effect Special Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Raye from the Deck. Sky Striker Ace – Raye was used to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kagari whose effect added Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero from his Graveyard to his hand. next, Sky Striker Ace – Kagari was used to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku. Kim Set 2 and in the End Phase, Kim added Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! from his Deck to his hand.

Kenny activated Mythical Beast Master Cerberus and used the effect, destroying it to add Mythical Beast Jackal King to his hand which was placed in the Pendulum Zone and destroyed to Special Summon Mythical Beast Master Cerberus from the Extra Deck to the Main Monster Zone Kim’s Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku was pointing to. He then Normal Summoned Supreme King Dragon Darkwurm and used the effect to add Supreme King Gate Zero from his Deck to his hand. Mythical Beast Master Cerberus attacked into Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku. In the Damage Step, Kenny used Performapal Odd-Eyes Dissolver to Special Summon itself and protect Mythical Beast Master Cerberus from battle destruction. Sky Striker Ace – Raye was brought back. Dissolver attacked Sky Striker Ace – Raye and Kim used Sky Striker Ace – Raye’s effect to bring in Sky Striker Ace – Hayate. Dissolver attacked that and Sky Striker Ace – Hayate died by battle but not before sending Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor from the Deck to the Graveyard. Supreme King Dragon Darkwurm attacked directly for 1800. Leaving Kim at 4600 LP. In Main Phase 2, Supreme King Dragon Darkwurm and Mythical Beast Master Cerberus were used to Link Summon Heavymetalfoes Electrumite and its effect was activated but Kim chained the Set Infinite Impermanence to negate the effect. Kenny then activated Mythical Beast Jackal King then used Dissolver’s effect to Fusion Summon using itself and cards in the Pendulum Zone as Fusion Materials, bringing out Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon!

Kim activated Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero but Kenny used Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon to negate it and destroy the card. he activated a second copy, then activated Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! to add Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor and draw a card. He then used Multirple’s effect, then used Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero’s effect to Special Summon Sky Striker Ace – Raye from the Deck. Sky Striker Ace – Raye was used to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kagari whose effect added back Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! which was activated to add another Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor from his Deck to his hand. He activated Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones and both copies of Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor in a chain! He took control of both Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon and Heavymetalfoes Electrumite to go along with a Token. He used the Token to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Hayate, then used Sky Striker Ace – Hayate, Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku and Heavymetalfoes Electrumite to Link Summon Borrelsword Dragon. he then switch Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon to Attack Position, then in the battle phase, Vortex attacked, the Borrelsword’s effect switched Vortex to Defense Position to allow Borrelsword Dragon to attack twice and that was enough to end the match!

Kim secures the win and has enough points to make Day 2!