Over 2,600 Duelists have been reduced to only the Top 64! From here it will be single elimination – no mistakes allowed! Renee Gonzalez made history at her home at YCS Guadalajara, with her Top 8 placing making her the highest placing woman in YCS history. She’s back again with a Sky Striker Trickstar Deck, looking for the win this time. She’s facing Jorge Matu, from Cancun, using a Sky Striker Deck. We’ve seen a lot of Sky Striker Decks this weekend, and a big part of the strategy in this format is learning how to effectively play that mirror match.

Duel 1

Gonzalez won the roll, and started with Scapegoat, Infinite Impermanence, Trickstar Reincarnation, Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners!, and Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage!. She played Engage to get Sky Striker Ace – Raye and Normal Summoned it. She Link Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Kagari and got back Engage, using it to get Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor. She Set Widow Anchor, Scapegoat, Impermanence, and Reincarnation. Then, she Link Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku, which added Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones to her hand.

Matu started with Terraforming for Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero. Engage came next, getting Sky Striker Maneuver – Jamming Waves! – Gonzalez flipped Trickstar Reincarnation to banish Matu’s hand, hitting his only copy of Hornet Drones in the process. He played Twin Twisters, discarding Sky Striker Mecharmory – Hercules Base to target Gonzalez’s Scapegoat and Widow Anchor – she Chained Scapegoat. She also lost Widow Anchor. Matu played Engage to get Raye, playing it alongside Area Zero, and used both of their effects. Raye put Kagari into play, but Area Zero failed to hit anything. He tried using Kagari’s effect, and it was negated by Infinite Impermanence. He attacked with Kagari, but forgot about the lingering effect of Impermanence! Kagari lost the battle, but Matu was able to Special Summon Raye from the Graveyard. Raye attacked a Sheep Token. He Set two cards in his back row.

Gonzalez drew Trickstar Light Stage and played it, adding Trickstar Candina to her hand. She used Light Stage on Matu’s Set Infinite Impermanence, and he Chained to negate her Shizuku. She simply used Shizuku to Link Summon Kagari, adding Engage to her hand. Then, she used Kagari to play Sky Striker Ace – Hayate. She used a Sheep Token to play Link Spider, then that and another token for Knightmare Phoenix. Its effect discarded Hornet Drones to target Matu’s remaining Set card, Sky Striker Mecha – Shark Cannon – he Chained it to banish Raye from Gonzalez’s Graveyard. She used her last token to play Linkuriboh, then used all her monsters to play Borrelsword Dragon! She activated Engage, and Matu negated it with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. She Normal Summoned Candina and added Trickstar Lycoris to her hand. Borrelsword attacked Raye, using its effect, and Matu responded with Raye’s effect to play Kagari and get Engage to his hand. Borrelsword continued its attack against Kagari, wiping it out. Matu Special Summoned Raye from the Graveyard. Candina attacked Raye, then Gonzalez bounced Candina to Special Summon Lycoris. Lycoris attacked directly, then Borrelsword used its effect on Lycoris to gain a second attack! Matu looked at his next card and conceded!

Duel 2

Matu started with three Set cards in the back row.

Gonzalez began with a hand of two Shared Ride, Infinite Impermanence, Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Mind Control. Mystical Space Typhoon hit Matu’s Shared Ride, and she Set her own copies of Shared Ride and Impermanence.

Matu Set a monster.

Gonzalez drew a second Mind Control and passed.

Matu passed.

Gonzalez drew Twin Twisters and passed.

Matu activated Sky Striker Mecha Modules – Multirole and passed.

Gonzalez drew Candina. She started with Mind Control, taking Matu’s Set Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit. She Flip Summoned it, then used Twin Twisters (discarding her own Ghost Ogre) to destroy Matu’s two copies of Mind Crush. She played Candina, and Matu used Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to negate it. In Main Phase 2, she Link Summoned Knightmare Phoenix.

Matu played Hornet Drones and Link Summoned Hayate. It attacked directly, sending Engage to the Graveyard. He played Widow Anchor to take Gonzalez’s Phoenix, attacking with it as well. Multirole got rid of Phoenix, and he used Hayate to play Kagari, returing Engage. In the End Phase, Multirole Set Widow Anchor.

Gonzalez drew Engage, and immediately used Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the Widow Anchor. She played Engage to get Raye and draw Mind Crush. Mind Control took Kagari, and it was used to play Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku. She then immediately used that for her own Kagari, returning Engage to her hand, but lost Kagari to Ghost Ogre. She used Engage to get Widow Anchor and draw Twin Twisters. Raye returned to the field with its effect and attacked directly. She then used Raye to play Hayate, and attacked with that as well. Hayate’s effect sent Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners! to the Graveyard. She Set Widow Anchor and Mind Crush.

Matu Set Eagle Booster, tried to use Multirole, but lost both to Twin Twisters. Matu played Engage, and Gonzalez flipped Shared Ride! Matu got Afterburners and drew a card, and Gonzalez drew Ash Blossom. Afterburners destroyed Hayate and Widow Anchor, and Gonzalez Special Summoned Raye. Matu only had an Infinite Impermanence left after all that, and knew he wouldn’t survive in the face of Gonzalez’s overwhelming advantage!

Renee Gonzalez is going to the Top 32 with Sky Striker Trickstars!