Welcome to Day 1! After all of the excitement of the World Qualifying Points Playoffs, it’s hard to believe we haven’t even started the Main Event! With record breaking attendance, we have 779 Duelists today all vying for an invitation to the World Championship. For Round 1, we have last year’s WCQ Champion Abraham Roger Guzman Garcia with pure Thunder Dragon facing off against Joshua Josue Rivera Escalante and his Sky Striker Deck.

With 10 Rounds of Swiss as well as a Top Cut, Guzman has a long tournament ahead if he wants to defend his title, but he has to take it one Round at a time!

Guzman won the roll and chose to go first.

Duel One:

Guzman began with Allure of Darkness, drawing two cards and banishing Thunder Dragondark from his hand. This triggered the effect of Thunder Dragondark, letting him add Thunder Dragonhawk to his hand. He activated the effect of Thunder Dragon next, ditching it to add two copies from his Deck to his hand. He Normal Summoned Thunder Dragonmatrix next, and followed it up with Instant Fusion to Special Summon Kaminari Attack and used both to Link Summon Some Summer Summoner. With the effect of Thunder Dragonmatrix he added another copy to his hand, then ditched Thunder Dragonhawk to Special Summon Thunder Dragondark. He used it to Special Summon Thunder Dragon Colossus  and followed that up with Thunder Dragon Fusion to Special Summon Thunder Dragon Titan! He activated the Thunder Dragon in his hand to add the copy of Thunder Dragon he shuffled back into his Deck, then tributed  Some Summer Summoner for another Thunder Dragon Colossus  before ending his turn!

Rivera Normal Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Raye and used it to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Hayate, then moved to Battle Phase and declared a direct attack to activate her effect. He sent Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners! to his Graveyard before moving to Main Phase 2, where he Link Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Kagari to add back the Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners!. He followed that up with Sky Striker Mecharmory – Hercules Base then activated Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners!. Guzman used the effect of his Thunder Dragon to prevent its destruction by banishing Thunder Dragondark, using its effect to add Thunder Dragonroar. Rivera Set three cards to his back row then Link Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku, forgetting the effect of Thunder Dragon Colossus . During the End Phase, Guzman activated the effect of Thunder Dragonmatrix so he could trigger the effect of Thunder Dragon Titan to destroy Rivera’s Set  Sky Striker Maneuver – Jamming Waves!.

Guzman drew for turn and banished Thunder Dragon Fusion  to activate its effect, adding Thunder Dragonduo to his hand. He followed it up with the effect of Thunder Dragon Titan, ditching Thunder Dragonroar to destroy Rivera’s Set Infinite Impermanence. He followed it up with Thunder Dragon Fusion  to Special Summon another copy of Thunder Dragon Titan and Special Summoned Thunder Dragonduo from his hand! He banished Thunder Dragonmatrix to Special Summon Dragonduo, so he added another copy from his Deck to his hand. Guzman moved to Battle Phase and declared an attack with Thunder Dragonduo over Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku, using the effect of Thunder Dragonduo to banish Allure of Darkness and add Thunder Dragondark to his hand. Rivera used the effect of Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku to Special Summon Sky Striker Ace – Raye, and when Guzman declared an attack on it with his Thunder Dragon Colossus , Rivera responded with her effect to Special Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kaina and lock down a Thunder Dragon Titan. Guzman pressed on and continued his attack, destroying the Kaina, and declaring a direct attack with the other Thunder Dragon Titan to leave Rivera with 2300 Life Points.

Rivera drew and couldn’t find an out to Guzman’s impressive field, so he conceded!

After a massive turn one, Guzman takes an impressive victory in the first Duel.

Rivera chose to go first for game two.

Duel Two:

Rivera began with Sky Striker Modules – Multirole and then Normal Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Raye to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kaina. He Set three cards to his back row, then during the End Phase activated the effect of Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku to add Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor to his hand, which he activated so he could Set with Sky Striker Modules – Multirole.

Guzman drew for turn and started with Pot of Desires, banishing ten cards to put his hand size to seven. He activated Twin Twisters next, destroying the Set Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor along with Infinite Impermanence. Next he Normal Summoned Batteryman Solar, activating its effect to send Thunder Dragonroar from his Deck to the Graveyard. He discarded Thunder Dragonhawk next, using it to Special Summon the Thunder Dragonroar, but once it hit the field Rivera activated Set Rotation! He gave Guzman Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero while he got Mystic Mine. Batteryman Solar triggered to Special Summon a Token, then Guzman Link Summoned  Some Summer Summoner with the Token and Thunder Dragonroar. He activated the effect of Thunder Dragonroar to Special Summon Thunder Dragondark, then sent it to the Graveyard so he could Special Summon Thunder Dragon Colossus. From there Thunder Dragondark let him add a copy of Thunder Dragon Fusion  to his hand, which he quickly activated, shuffling back three Thunder Dragons from his Graveyard, to Special Summon Thunder Dragon Titan. He activated the effect of Thunder Dragonmatrix so he could trigger Thunder Dragon Titan, which Rivera responded to with Sky Striker Mecha – Eagle Booster. Guzman destroyed the Set Mystic Mine and went to Battle Phase. He declared attacks with his monsters, while Rivera used Sky Striker Ace – Raye to bring herself back and then Special Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kaina to block one monster. After all of the damage Rivera was left with 3500 Life Points. During the End Phase he tried to activate the effect of Sky Striker Modules – Multirole, but Guzman had Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit to destroy it!

Rivera drew to a single card and activated Foolish Burial Goods to send Metalfoes Fusion and immediately shuffled it back to draw another card. He looked through his Graveyard before ending his turn.

Guzman drew and immediately moved to Battle Phase declaring an attack with Thunder Dragon Titan and activated the effect of Thunder Dragonmatrix to increase its ATK and end the Duel!

Abraham Roger Guzman Garcia takes a one-sided victory in the first round! Can he continue his success and become a back-to-back Central America WCQ Champion?