Welcome to Round 4 of YCS Portland! We have Elmerande Santos, from Seattle, WA, packing a True Draco Deck. He’s up against Wesley Rouse, from Eugene, OR, using Sky Strikers. Santos has a lot of ways to completely shut down Rouse’s Deck, but Rouse could come out ahead if he can take control of the tempo of the Duel first.

Duel 1

Rouse won the dice roll and chose to play second. Santos started with a hand of Solemn Judgment, Disciples of the True Dracophoenix, True Draco Heritage, Pot of Duality, and Pot of Desires. He played Duality, grabbing Card of Demise immediately. He Set his whole hand and played Card of Demise to draw Ignis Heat, the True Dracowarrior; Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter; and Inspector Boarder. He Normal Summoned Inspector Boarder, then flipped Pot of Desires to draw Disciples and Dragonic Diagram. He activated Diagram and used it to destroy his Set Disciples, adding True Draco Apocalypse to his hand. He Set it, then played Disciples. He used Disciples’s effect to Tribute Summon, using Apocalypse to play Ignis Heat. He flipped Heritage to draw a second Pot of Duality and Summon Limit, then used Heritage to Tribute Summon Dinomight Knight. He used the effect of Disciples to shuffle his True Draco cards from the Graveyard back into his Deck and draw his third Pot of Duality. He Set his whole hand in his back row to finish the turn, losing nothing to Card of Demise in the End Phase.

Rouse played Foolish Burial Goods to send Metalfoes Fusion to the Graveyard. He activated Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero, then Set Terraforming. He used Area Zero to add Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor to his hand, sending the Terraforming to the Graveyard. That gave him three Spell Cards in the Graveyard. He Normal Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Raye, and Link Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Hayate. Santos flipped Summon Limit, leaving Rouse stuck with only Hayate in his Extra Monster Zone. Rouse used Widow Anchor to take Dinomight Knight, but first Santos used its effect to add True Draco Apocalypse to his hand. Rouse sent Dinomight to destroy Inspector Boarder, then Hayate attacked directly to drop Santos to 5700 Life Points. Hayate’s effect sent Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! to the Graveyard. In Main Phase 2, Rouse used Metalfoes Fusion’s effect in the Graveyard to draw a new card, and Santos’s Ignis Heat let him add True Draco Heritage to his hand. Rouse Set three cards in the back row. In the End Phase, Dinomight returned to Santos.

Santos drew Crackdown. He flipped up a Pot of Duality, adding another Dragonic Diagram to his hand. He activated his on-field Diagram, destroying Disciples to add True Draco Apocalypse to his hand. Disciples targeted Rouse’s Set Infinite Impermanence, which he Chained to lock down Santos’s remaining Set Pot of Duality for the turn (which he couldn’t use anyway, but Rouse didn’t know that). That allowed Santos to use Ignis Heat to add another Disciples to his hand. He activated his second Diagram, destroying Apocalypse to add another Ignis Heat to his hand, and Apocalypse’s effect destroyed Hayate. Rouse Special Summoned Raye from the Graveyard. Santos played Heritage, and Rouse used another Infinite Impermanence to negate both Heritage and Dinomight Knight. Santos played Disciples, then tributed Heritage to play Ignis Heat. Heritage destroyed Rouse’s Set Double or Nothing!. Finally, Santos moved to the Battle Phase. He sent Ignis Heat to attack, and Rouse used Raye’s effect to Special Summon a new Hayate. Ignis Heat attacked it and destroyed it, and Rouse used Hayate’s effect to send an Area Zero to the Graveyard. Dinomight Knight and the second Ignis Heat attacked directly, leaving Rouse with 2300 Life Points. Santos Set his traps.

Rouse was left with only Area Zero on the field. He drew his card and Normal Summoned Raye, and Santos flipped Solemn Judgment to secure the Duel in his favor.

Duel 2

Rouse chose to play first this time. He used Foolish Burial Goods to send Metalfoes Fusion to the Graveyard, then used it to draw a new card. He Set three back row cards.

Santos had a hand of Dinomight Knight, Ignis Heat, Crackdown, Solemn Judgment, and Heavy Storm Duster. He drew Card of Demise. He Set Crackdown and tributed it for Ignis Heat. It attacked directly. He Set Heavy Storm Duster and Solemn Judgment, then used Card of Demise to draw another Solemn Judgment and Disciples of the True Dracophoenix. He activated Disciples, Rouse flipped his own Heavy Storm Duster, and Santos used Ignis Heat to add True Draco Heritage to his hand. Santos lost Disciples and Solemn Judgment to Heavy Storm Duster. Disciples was destroyed and targeted Rouse’s second Set Heavy Storm Duster, which destroyed Santos’s Heavy Storm Duster – both players could do nothing but laugh. Santos played Heritage and lost it to Rouse’s Mystical Space Typhoon! Santos Set his Solemn Judgment, and discarded Dinomight Knight in the End Phase. He had nothing left but Ignis Heat and Judgment.

Rouse used Widow Anchor to negate Ignis Heat, and Santos Chained it to search for Disciples. Rouse now had three spells, and tried to use Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners!, but Santos flipped Solemn Judgment! Rouse Set one back row card.

Santos drew Inspector Boarder. He played Disciples and shuffled some cards back to draw Majesty Maiden, the True Dracocaster. He used Disciples to Tribute Summon Majesty Maiden, and Disciples destroyed Rouse’s Set White Howling. Ignis Heat and Majesty Maiden attacked directly. Rouse looked at his next card and offered the handshake!

Elmerande Santos takes the Match with True Draco!