Dave Trepanier from Quebec City, Canada and Stefan Basamac from Montreal, Canada each won Round 1 with their unique Decks enhanced by Soul Fusion. Trepanier is using a bizarre Artifact Deck that focuses on several cards from Structure Deck: Lair of Darkness and techs a copy of Trap Trick from Soul Fusion, while Stefan Basamac is using a Thunder Dragon Deck made possible by Soul Fusion. Thanks to Artifact Sanctum and Back to the Front, Trepanier’s Deck is capable of Summoning Artifact Scythe many turns in a row in order to continuously stop his opponents from Special Summoning monsters from the Extra Deck. That could be trouble for Stefan Basamac, since his Deck relies on two big Fusion Monsters: Thunder Dragon Colossus and Thunder Dragon Titan. Which Duelist will prevail? We’re about to find out. It’s time to Duel!

Duel One

Trepanier opened up Duel 1 with Pot of Duality, Artifact Sanctum, Ahrima, the Wicked Warden,Tour Guide From the Underworld, and Paleozoic Dinomischus.

He Summoned Tour Guide and tried to activate her effect, but lost out to Basamac’s Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. He Set Sanctum and Dinomischus to his back row and passed.

Basamac Summoned Batteryman Solar and used its effect to send Thunder Dragonroar from his Deck to his Graveyard. He then discarded Thunder Dragonhawk from his hand to Special Summon Thunder Dragonroar from his Graveyard. Next, he activated the effect of Batteryman Solar, and Trepanier Chained Artifact Sanctum to Special Summon Artifact Scythe from his Deck, stopping Basamac from Special Summoning from his Extra Deck for the rest of the turn. Trepanier Special Summoned a Batteryman Token and then banished Dragonhawk from his Graveyard to Special Summon Black Dragon Collapserpent from his hand. He attacked Scythe with Dragonroar to destroy it and then attacked Tour Guide with Collapserpent. Solar attacked directly next, dropping Trepanier down to 5500 Life Points.

Trepanier drew Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and then used Pot of Duality to reveal Artifact Moralltach, Effect Veiler, and Back to the Front from the top of his Deck. He added Back to the Front to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. He Set it to his back row and then passed his turn.

Basamac drew a card for his turn, prompting Trepanier to activated Back to the Front and Special Summon Artifact Scythe from his Graveyard, once again causing its effect to kick in. Trepanier Tributed his Batteryman Token to Summon Thunder Dragondark and then used Solar’s effect to Special Summon another Token to the field. He attacked Scythe with Solar to destroy it, and then Dragondark attacked directly, dropping Trepanier down to 3900 Life Points. Collapserpent attacked directly next, and Trepanier activated Dinomischus and discarded Scarm to banish it. Dragonroar attacked directly next, dropping Basamac down to 1500 Life Points. In the End Phase, Trepanier added Lilith, Lady of Lament from his Deck to his hand with Scarm’s effect.

Trepanier discarded Ahrima, the Wicked Warden to add Lair of Darkness to his hand and then activated Upstart Goblin to draw a Trap Trick and give Basamac 1000 Life Points. He activated the Lair of Darkness and then Normal Summoned Lilith. He entered his Battle Phase and then activated Lilith’s effect. He Tributed Basamac’s Dragonroar to reveal 2 copies of Artifact Sanctum and a Back to the Front from his Deck. He randomly Set the Sanctum and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. Basamac used the effect of his Dragonroar to Special Summon Thunder Dragondark from his Deck. Trepanier continued his Battle Phase by attacking and destroying the Batteryman Token with Lilith. He Set a card to his back row and then Special Summoned a Torment Token to his field with Lair of Darkness in the End Phase.

Basamac drew a card and then Trepanier activated Sanctum to Special Summon Artifact Scythe to his field in Attack Position, once again locking down Basamac’s Extra Deck. Basamac activated Gold Sarcophagus to banish Thunder Dragondark from his Deck and used its effect to add Thunder Dragonhawk from his Deck to his hand. He discarded Dragonhawk to use its effect and Special Summon Dragonroar from his Graveyard. He used Solar’s effect to Special Summon a Batteryman Token next. In his Battle Phase, Dragondark attacked Lilith, and Lilith’s effect activated to Tribute Basamac’s Dragonroar and reveal Dinomischus, Sanctum, and Infinite Impermanence from his Deck. He randomly Set the Infinite Impermanence to his field and Basamac used his Dragonroar’s effect to Special Summon Thunder Dragonmatrix. Dragondark’s attack destroyed Lilith, dropping Trepanier down to 900 Life Points, and then Solar attacked and destroyed the Torment Token. In the End Phase, Basamac Special Summoned a Torment Token, and Trepanier activated Trap Trick to banish a Back to the Front from his Deck and Set a Back to the Front on the field. He activated the Back to the Front to Special Summon Lilith before it was his turn again.

Trepanier drew Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair! He switched Lilith into Attack Position and then entered his Battle Phase. He attacked a Batteryman Token with Lilith to destroy it, and then attacked Solar with Scythe to destroy Solar. He used Lilith’s effect to Tribute Scythe and reveal Sanctum, Impermanence, and Dinomischus from his Deck, randomly Setting the Dinomischus to his field and returning the other 2 Traps back to his Deck. He then Special Summoned Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair from his hand with its effect! It attacked and destroyed Thunder Dragondark, and Dragondark’s effect activated to allow Basamac to add Thunder Dragonduo from his Deck to his hand. In Main Phase 2, Trepanier used Darkest Diabolos’s effect to Tribute Dragonmatrix and force Basamac top put a card back into his Deck. Basamac then used Dragonmatrix’s effect to get another copy of Dragonmatrix to his hand. In the End Phase, Trepanier Special Summoned 2 Torment Tokens to his field.

Basamac Special Summoned Thunder Dragonduo by banishing Dragonroar and Dragonhawk from his Graveyard. He activated the effects of his 2 banished Thunder Dragons and used Dragonroar’s effect to Special Summon Dragonmatrix and Dragonhawk’s effect to shuffle 2 cards from his hand back into his Deck and draw 2 cards. Basamac Summoned Batteryman Solar next, and used its effect to send another Solar from his Deck to his Graveyard. He activated Thunder Dragon Fusion next in the middle column, and Trepanier Chained Infinite Impermanence in the same column, negating the effect of Thunder Dragonduo andthe Thunder Dragon Fusion! In the Battle Phase, Dragonduo attacked, and Trepanier used Lilith’s effect to Tribute Thunder Dragonduo and randomly Set Artifact Sanctum from his Deck.

Trepanier drew Ties of the Brethren and then Tributed Dragonmatrix with Diabolos’s effect, prompting the Dragonmatrix’s effect to activate and grab another copy after Diabolos’s effect resolved. Trepanier then switched his Torment Token into Attack Position, attacked Solar with Diabolos, attacked a Token with Lilith, and used Lilith’s effect to Tribute his Torment Token and Set Infinite Impermanence from his Deck. He Special Summoned 2 Torment Tokens in the End Phase with Lair of Darkness.

Basamac banished a Thunder Dragon Fusion from his Graveyard to add Thunder Dragon from his Deck to his hand and then banished Dragonduo from his Graveyard to Special Summon White Dragon Wyverburster from his hand. He combined both of his monsters to Link Summon Knightmare Phoenix and discarded a card to activate its effect and destroy Lair of Darkness. He activated Dragonroar’s effect by discarding it from his hand next, adding Thunder Dragon Fusion from his banished zone back to his hand. He activated the effect of the Thunder Dragon in his hand by discarding it next, adding 2 more Thunder Dragons from his Deck to his hand. Next, he Tributed Phoenix to Tribute Summon Thunder Dragon and activated Thunder Dragon Fusion – this time in a column that wasn’t across from a face-down card. He returned Dragonroar, Dragonhawk, and Dragonduo from his banished zone to his Main Deck to Fusion Summon Thunder Dragon Titan! He attacked Lilith with Titan, and Basamac activated Dinomischus and discarded a card to banish Titan. In the End Phase, Basamac activated Artifact Sanctum to Special Summon Artifact Moralltach from his Deck! He used Moralltach’s effect to destroy Thunder Dragon.

On the next turn, Trepanier’s field of monsters finished Basamac off!

Duel Two

Trepanier opened up Duel 2 with Lair of Darkness, Artifact Scythe, Scarm, Lilith, and Artifact Sanctum. He activated the Lair, Normal Summoned Lilith, and then Set 2 cards to his back row. In the End Phase, Lair of Darkness’s effect activated, allowing Basamac to destroy it with Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit! Trepanier Chained Lilith’s effect to Tribute Lilith and Set Paleozoic Dinomischus from his Deck.

Basamac Normal Summoned Batteryman Solar and activated its effect to send Thunder Dragonroar from his Deck to his Graveyard.

He activated Gold Sarcophagus next, banishing Thunder Dragondark from his Deck. He used Dragondark’s effect to add Thunder Dragonhawk from his Deck to his hand and then discarded Dragonhawk to Special Summon Dragonroar from his Graveyard. He used Solar’s effect to Special Summon a Batteryman Token and then used the Token and the Dragonroar to Link Summon Some Summer Summoner. He used Dragonroar’s effect to Special Summon Thunder Dragonmatrix from his Deck and then Tributed the Thunder Dragonmatrix to Special Summon Thunder Dragon Colossus from his Extra Deck. He used the Dragonmatrix’s effect to add another copy from his Deck to his hand and then discarded Thunder Dragon to add 2 more copies from his Deck to his hand. Solar attacked directly, and Trepanier dropped down to 6500 Life Points. Some Summer Summoner attacked directly next, dropping Trepanier down to 4900 Life Points. When Colossus attacked, Trepanier flipped Dinomischus and discarded a card to banish the Colossus. In Main Phase 2, Trepanier Tributed his Solar to Special Summon another Colossus to his field and Trepanier conceded, defeated with Lair of Darkness no longer on his field.

Stefan Basamac takes a quick victory in Duel 2!

Duel Three

Trepanier opened up Duel 3 with 2 copies of Ahrima, the Wicked Warden, Back to the Front, Pot of Duality, and Lilith. He discarded Ahrima to add Lair of Darkness to his hand and activated it. Next, he activated Pot of Duality, revealing 3 cards from the top of his Deck and adding Back to the Front to his hand. He Summoned Lilith and Tributed it to reveal 3 Sanctums from his Deck, randomly Setting 1 to his field. He Set 2 more cards to his back row and passed.

Basamac entered his Battle Phase and Trepanier flipped Sanctum to Special Summon Scythe. At the end of the Battle Phase, Trepanier activated Evenly Matched! Trepanier Chained Back to the Front to Special Summon Lilith and then banished all other cards on his field face-down. In Main Phase 2, Basamac Summoned Thunder Dragonmatrix. He discarded Thunder Dragon to add 1 more copy from his Deck to his hand and then ended his turn, unable to Summon Colossus due to Scythe’s effect from earlier in the turn.

Trepanier discarded Ahrima to grab Lair of Darkness from his Deck, activated it, and switched Lilith into attack position. He entered his Battle Phase and used Lilith’s effect to Tribute Dragonmatrix, but lost his monster to Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit! He randomly Set Trap Trick from his Deck with Lilith’s effect and Special Summoned a Torment Token to his field in the End Phase.

Basamac Summoned Armageddon Knight and used its effect to send a Dragonroar from his Deck to his Graveyard. He banished it to Special Summon Wyverburster, used Dragonroar’s effect, and then time in the Round was called! Both Duelists had 8000 Life Points left, and Basamac was unable to deal any damage to Trepanier before the end of the Main Phase! The Duel – and the Match – was declared a draw!

Dave Trepanier and Stefan Basamac each advance with a 1-0-1 record!