Welcome to Round 1 of the Ultimate Duelist Series Invitational – Winter 2019! We’re kicking things off with Californian Duelist Jacob Kuskin, using the newest Salamangreat strategy. He’s facing Corbin Diez, from Layton, Utah. He’s packing a Subterror Deck with some card choices we don’t often see in Subterror Decks these days, including Subterror Behemoth Stygokraken and Performapal Five-Rainbow Magician!

In requesting this Feature Match, he made this lovely diagram of Subterror Behemoth Umastryx:

Truly, this man is heading for the top.

Duel 1

Kuskin won the dice roll and chose to play first. He led with Salamangreat Circle, and Diez used Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Kuskin played Salamangreat Foxy, and Diez used Effect Veiler. Using Foxy, Kuskin played Salamangreat Balelynx, adding Salamangreat Sanctuary to his hand. He then used Balelynx to play another Balelynx, and Set one card face-down.

Diez had a hand of Subterror Behemoth Umastryx, Subterror Cave Clash, and The Hidden City. He drew Subterror Fiendess. He played The Hidden City, and Kuskin flipped Salamangreat Roar. Diez Normal Summoned Fiendess and used its effect, and Kuskin used Effect Veiler to negate it. Fiendess attacked Balelynx, and Kuskin banished the Balelynx in his Graveyard to protect it. Diez Set Cave Clash.

Kuskin used Balelynx to play his third Balelynx, then Set Salamangreat Roar from his Graveyard. He Set another card in his back row.

Diez drew The Hidden City. He knew he had to bait out Salamangreat Roar to get anything going. He used Fiendess’s effect, and Kuskin flipped up Salamangreat Roar again, this time banishing it. Now Diez played The Hidden City and added Subterror Guru to his hand. He Set it, then had The Hidden City flip up Guru, which added Subterror Final Battle to his hand. He flipped up Cave Clash and moved to the Battle Phase. Guru attacked Balelynx, and Kuskin used Enemy Controller to block the attack. Diez Set Final Battle.

Kuskin used Foxy in the Graveyard, discarding another Foxy to Special Summon it. He destroyed The Hidden City with its effect. Diez used Guru’s effect to flip itself and Foxy face-down, then Special Summoned Umastryx from his hand in Defense Position. He flipped up Subterror Final Battle next, and Kuskin conceded!

Duel 2

Kuskin began with Salamangreat Spinny. He used it to play Salamangreat Balelynx, adding Salamangreat Sanctuary to his hand. He activated Sanctuary, then used Balelynx to play another Balelynx. He Set four cards in his back row.

Diez had Subterror Guru, Performapal Five-Rainbow Magician, Subterror Nemesis Archer, Solemn Judgment, and Twin Twisters. He drew Dinowrestler Pankratops. He Special Summoned Pankratops and used its effect, Tributing it to destroy one of Kuskin’s Set cards. Kuskin flipped up another card, Called by the Grave, to negate Pankratops. Diez played Twin Twisters, discarding Five-Rainbow Magician, and Kuskin used Salamangreat Roar to negate that. Diez Set Solemn Judgment, and activated Five-Rainbow Magician from his Graveyard, placing it in his Pendulum Zone. He Normal Summoned Subterror Nemesis Archer and attacked Balelynx, and Kuskin banished Balelynx from his Graveyard to protect the one on his field.

Kuskin Special Summoned Spinny from his Graveyard. He then flipped Enemy Controller, Tributing Spinny to take control of Nemesis Archer. He used it with Balelynx to Link Summon Hiita the Fire Charmer, Ablaze, and Diez flipped Solemn Judgment to negate the Summon. Diez now had no Set cards, locking himself down under Five-Rainbow Magician! Kuskin Set a second back row card.

Diez drew Fiendess. He Normal Summoned Guru and passed.

Kuskin Normal Summoned Foxy and used its effect, adding Salamangreat Gazelle to his hand. He used Foxy to play Balelynx, then activated Gazelle in his hand. Diez used Subterror Fiendess from his hand to negate Gazelle and flip his Guru face-down.

Diez drew another Guru. He Normal Summoned it and Flip Summoned his second copy. He couldn’t use their effects, but he could Xyz Summon Number 41: Bagooska the Terribly Tired Tapir! He played it in Defense Position, hoping to wait out a few turns and draw something to Set and turn off Five-Rainbow Magician.

Kuskin flipped Infinite Impermanence to negate Bagooska, then played Gazelle to send Salamangreat Spinny to the Graveyard. He Special Summoned Spinny and used it with Gazelle to play Salamangreat Miragestallio, which Special Summoned Salamangreat Jack Jaguar. Then, he used Balelynx and Miragestallio to play Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf. Miragestallio bounced Bagooska back to the Extra Deck. Kuskin then used Jack Jaguar and Sunlight Wolf for a second Sunlight Wolf. He used Jack Jaguar’s effect to Special Summon it, and Sunlight Wolf added Gazelle to his hand. Then, he used Sunlight Wolf to get Salamangreat Roar to his hand, and Diez knew it was all over! Despite his low monster count he just kept drawing monsters when he needed something to Set under his Five-Rainbow Magician’s effect, and Kuskin capitalized!

Duel 3

Diez began the final Duel with a hand of two copies of The Hidden City, Solemn Judgment, Effect Veiler, and Called by the Grave. He played The Hidden City to get Subterror Guru. He Set Guru and used City to flip it up. Kuskin used Infinite Impermanence to negate Guru. Diez Set Solemn Judgment and Called by the Grave.

Kuskin Special Summoned Dinowrestler Pankratops and attacked, destroying Guru. He then Normal Summoned Gazelle and Special Summoned Salamangreat Fowl. Diez tried used Effect Veiler to negate Gazelle, but Kuskin had Called by the Grave to negate Veiler! Gazelle resolved and sent Salamangreat Spinny to the Graveyard. He then used Fowl’s effect, sending itself to the Graveyard and locking down Diez’s Set Solemn Judgment. Kuskin used his Pankratops to destroy Called by the Grave, and Diez Chained it to banish Salamangreat Spinny. Kuskin used Gazelle to play Salamangreat Balelynx, adding Salamangreat Sanctuary to his hand. He played it and Link Summoned another Balelynx.

Diez drew Artifact Lancea. He played his second copy of The Hidden City to get another Guru. He Set it, and City flipped it up; Guru added Subterror Final Battle to his hand. Guru attacked Balelynx, which was protected by banishing the Balelynx in the Graveyard. Diez Set Final Battle.

Kuskin played Lady Debug and lost it to Solemn Judgment. Kuskin used Balelynx to play his third Balelynx and Set his last card in his back row. Diez used Final Battle to flip Guru face-down.

Diez drew Pot of Duality. He flipped Final Battle to prevent his Subterror effects from being negated this turn. He then flipped Guru to add Fiendess to his hand. He used Pot of Duality to add another Guru to his hand, and Normal Summoned it. He attacked with a Guru, and Kuskin used Enemy Controller to block the attack. The second Guru attacked Balelynx, and Kuskin banished Balelynx from the Graveyard to keep it alive. Kuskin had nothing but Sanctuary and Balelynx now. Diez Set Lancea.

Kuskin passed. Diez used his Guru’s effect to flip both Gurus face-down. He then used Final Battle to flip one of them up, adding another Final Battle to his hand.

Diez drew Called by the Grave. He Flip Summoned Guru and got Subterror Nemesis Archer. He Normal Summoned the Archer and moved to the Battle Phase. All his monsters attacked, and he used Final Battle to gain an ATK boost and finish the Duel!

Corbin Diez emerges victorious with Subterrors!