Esala Wathuthantrige is a star competitor from Los Angeles, boasting tons of Regional Qualifier success and Top Cut finishes at events like YCS Salt Lake, YCS Seattle, and YCS Atlanta over the past three years. Koty Angeloff is a hugely successful Duelist from Tuscaloosa Alabama, with lots of Regional Top 8’s himself and huge YCS finishes at events like YCS Minneapolis, YCS Dallas, YCS Columbus, and the UDS Invitational.

Despite their mutual successes and widely respected track records, these two duelists have never actually Dueled eachother.  Wathuthantrige is playing Thunder Dragons, while Angeloff is playing Dark Goukis.  We haven’t seen Goukis in action yet this weekend, and it’s going to be interesting to see how this matchup plays out.

Angeloff opened the Match with Dark Grepher, discarding Destiny Hero – Malicious to Special Summon it.  He banished Malicious to Special Summon another copy, then discarded his third Malicious for Grepher’s second effect! Harsh.  Angeloff sent The Phantom Knights of SilentBootsto the Graveyard and banished it to search his Deck for The Phantom Knights of ShadeBrigandine.  He Link Summoned Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights, searched BlueMountain Butterspy, and tossed Divine Sword – Phoenix Bladeto the Graveyard to Special Summon Gouki Octostretch.  He quickly Link Summoned Summon Sorceress.

He Summoned Gouki Suprex, Special Summoned Armageddon Knight, banished two monsters to recover his Phoenix Blade and Link Summoned Knightmare Phoenix.  He got Gouki Headbatt, played The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandineand Link Summoned FirewallDragon.  He went into Knightmare Mermaid next, brought out Gouki Headbatt and KnightmareCorruptor Iblee on either side of Firewall, and used them to Link Summon Underclock Taker.  “Firewall 1, Headbatt 2.”  He searched Gouki Re-Match with Headbatt, got Gouki Twistcobra, and activated Firewall’s effect to get back Iblee and Armageddon Knight.

Angeloff used Underclock Taker and Gouki Twistcobrato Link Summon Knightmare Unicorn, Summoned Armageddon Knight to send Destrudo the Lost Dragon’s Frisson to the Graveyard, and briefly maligned his position: “Opening two Mali makes this really weird.”  He shuffled his hand a bit as he considered his options, then activated Destrudo’s effect to revive it.  He Tuned it to Armageddon Knight to Synchro Summon Yazi, Evil of the Yang Zing, didn’t use Firewall, and activated Gouki Re-Match to bring back Gouki Octostretch and Gouki Headbatt.

Angeloff now controlled Firewall Dragon, Knightmare Unicorn, Yazi, Evil of the Yang Zing, and Knightmare Mermaid.  He banished Twistcobra and Armageddon Knight to get back his Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade, then combined Headbatt and Octostretch to Link Summon BinarySorceress.  Firewall let him Special Summon Iblee, he Link Summoned Topologic GumblarDragon, sent Iblee to Wathuthantrige’s side of the field, used Yazi to pop Iblee and itself, and Special Summoned Mare Mare from his Deck.  He Set one card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone, activated Mare Mare to Summon a Mini Mare Mare Token, and when Angeloff activated Gumblar’s effect, Wathuthantrige chained the effect of Thunder Dragondark.  Angeloff blocked him with Called by the Grave and cost Wathuthantrige two cards: Thunder Dragonmatrix and Thunder Dragon Fusion.

Angeloff made Linkuriboh, combined it with Binary Sorceress to Link Summon Tri-Gate Wizard, and got another Mini Mare Mare Token.  He banished Blue Mountain Butterspy and DarkGrepher to retrieve his Phoenix Blade again, combined Mare Mare and Tri-Gate Wizard to make Knightmare Cerberus and ended.

Wathuthantrige drew to have a hand of Thunder Dragonhawk, Batteryman Solar, and ChaosDragon Levianeer, down to three cards off of Gumblar’s effect.  He Normal Summoned Solar used its effect to send Thunder Dragonroar to his Graveyard, prompting Angeloff to use Linkuriboh’s effect to trigger Gumblar again, costing Wathuthantrige his Thunder Dragonhawk.  Wathuthantrige banished Thunder Dragon Fusion to search his Deck for Thunder Dragonduo.  Angeloff saw the Chaos Dragon Levianeer coming and he used Called by the Grave to banish Thunder Dragonroar, Wathuthantrige’s only Dark in the Graveyard.

Wathuthantrige pressed on, attacking Linkuriboh with Batteryman Solar, but ended with nothing else to do.

Angeloff took back hisDivine Sword – Phoenix Blade for a fourth time, banishing Headbatt and Octostretch.  He attacked Batteryman Solar with Knightmare Mermaid to destroy it, then made direct attacks to drop to Wathuthantrige to 400 Life Points.  He Summoned another Knightmare Mermaid in Main Phase 2 to trigger Gumblar and discard the rest of Wathuthantrige’s hand.

Wathuthantrige drew the original Thunder Dragon and thumbed through his Graveyard.  He conceded.  He’d need a lot more than two extra Thunder Dragons to get this one back on track.

Koty Angeloff opens with two copies of Destiny Hero – Malicious in hand, and still manages to pull out a huge win off Firewall Dragon and Topologic Gumblar Dragon!  The pressure was on, and Wathuthantrige Wathuthantrige would need to play perfectly – and maybe catch a little luck – to pull this one out of the fire.

Wathuthantrige opened with a hand of Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning; InfiniteImpermanence; Book of Eclipse; Thunder Dragonroar; and Gold Sarcophagus.  He activated Sarcophagus to banish a Dragonroar, Special Summoning Thunder Dragondark from his Deck, then Tributed it to Tribute Summon the Thunder Dragonroar in his hand.  That triggered Dragondark’s ability and let Wathuthantrige search his Deck for Thunder Dragonhawk.  He pitched it to bring his other Dragonroar back into play, Tributed that to Special Summon Thunder Dragon Colossus, Set Eclipse and Impermanence, and ended his turn.

Angeloff Special Summoned Junk Forward, activated Instant Fusionto Special Summon Invoked Raidjin, and used its effect to target Thunder Dragon Colossus.  Wathuthantrige flipped it face-down, then flipped his Book of Eclipseto flip everything else too.  Angeloff continued with Dark Grepher, pitching The Phantom Knights of Silent Bootsfor Grepher’s ability: Wathuthantrige chained Infinite Impermanence. Angeloff banished Boots to search his Deck for The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine, took a moment to read Dragonroar, then ended and flipped his two monsters to draw with Book of Eclipse’seffect.

Wathuthantrige drew for his turn and now had Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, Chaos Dragon Levianeer, and Instant Fusion.  He banished Thunder Dragondark, ThunderDragonhawk, and ThunderDragonroar to Special Summon Levianeer, used its effect of destroying two cards to target Angeloff’s Raidjin and Junk Forward, and Angeloff chained Invoked Raidjin’s effect to turn Levianeer face-down (both his monsters were then destroyed).  Wathuthantrige Special Summoned Thunder Dragonmatrix, searched his deck for ThunderDragonhawk, and Flip Summoned Thunder Dragon Colossus.

He combined Thunder Dragonmatrix and Colossus to Link Summon Some Summer Summoner, searched his Deck for another Dragonmatrix, Flip Summoned Thunder Dragonroar, pitched Thunder Dragonhawk to Special Summon back his other Thunder Dragonroar, Tributed it for Thunder Dragon Colossus, and Tributed the other for a second copy.  He banished Colossus and Dragonhawk from his Graveyard to Special Summon Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of theBeginning and that was enough for game!

Wathuthantrige Wathuthantrige evens the score with twelve minutes remaining in the Match, shutting down Angeloff’s advance with Book of Eclipse and quickly unleashing a stream of attackers to finish him off.  Could he survive Angeloff going first in the last Duel?  Or would we see Angeloff shut him out entirely with a U-board?

Angeloff wished Wathuthantrige luck and began: he Special Summoned Dark Grepher by discarding Destiny Hero – Malicious, Instant Fusion for Invoked Raidjin, Special Summoned The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine to make Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights, searched his Deck for Blue Mountain Butterspy, then Special Summoned Gouki Octostretch sending Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade to the Graveyard.  He pitched Butterspy for DarkGrepher to send The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots to the Graveyard, banished it to get another Brigandine, banished Destiny Hero – Malicious to Special Summon another from his Deck, Link Summoned Summon Sorceress pointing to Gouki Octostretch, Special Summoned Armageddon Knight with Sorceress, traded Gouki Octostretch for Linkuriboh, went into Knightmare Phoenix, made another Destiny Hero – Malicious, then gave up Grepher and Summon Sorceress for Firewall Dragon.

He banished Blue Mountain Butterspy and Invoked Raidjin for his Divine Sword – PhoenixBlade, and moments later he controlled Knightmare Mermaid, Binary Sorceress, Malicious, Firewall Dragon, and Gouki Twistcobra.  He combined Mali and Twistcobra for UnderclockTaker, brought out Gouki Headbatt, and returned three monsters to his hand with FirewallDragon.  He Link Summoned Knightmare Unicornnext to Firewall Dragon, by the time it was over Angeloff had an Extra Linked field with Topologic Gumblar Dragon, forcing Wathuthantrige to discard two cards: Instant Fusion and Thunder Dragonroar.  He Set The Phantom Knights of ShadeBrigandine.

Wathuthantrigedrew Thunder Dragondark, holding Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of theBeginning, BatterymanSolar, and Gold Sarcophagus.  Angeloff flipped and Special Summoned The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine.  That let him Gumblar away two more cards, costing Wathuthantrige his Batteryman Solar and Gold Sarcophagus, while Angeloff lost DivineSword – Phoenix Blade and Gouki Octostretch.  Wathuthantrige had Iblee on his side of the field, which he Tributed to Summon Thunder Dragondark, and he banished Thunder Dragonroar and Batteryman Solar to Special Summon Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of theBeginning.  He tried to use Dragonroar’s effect, but Angeloff negated it with Tri-Gate Wizard.

That meant Wathuthantrige had nothing but Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning and Thunder Dragondark.  There was nothing he could do to escape Angeloff’s incredibly dug-in Extra Link, and he swiftly offered the handshake.

Koty Angeloff certainly had to work for his wins, but it looks like Dark Goukis are alive and well here at YCS Niagara!  A brave effort from Esala Wathuthantrige runs straight into an immovable barricade with just no way through, and Angeloff moves on witha 5-0 record.