Matthew McRae from Toronto, Canada is Dueling against World Championship competitor Gabriel Vargas, also from Toronto, Canada, in this Round 11 Feature Match! Both Duelists currently have 8-1-1 records in the tournament, and are looking for a couple more wins to secure a spot in the top cut. Vargas is using the pure Thunder Dragon Deck that we saw in yesterday’s Round 9 Feature Match, and McRae is using a Gouki Deck reminiscent of the old days with Firewall Dragon. Gouki Decks haven’t been too popular recently, but Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess from Rising Rampage gave the theme a big enough boost to inspire McRae to use it in this weekend’s tournament. It’s time to Duel!

Duel One

McRae opened up Duel 1 with Trickstar Corobane, Living Fossil, Gouki Twistcobra, Instant Fusion, and Mystic Mine.

He activated the effect of Corobane to Special Summon it and then gave up 1000 Life Points to activate Instant Fusion and Summon Invoked Raidjin from his Extra Deck. He Normal Summon Twistcobra and then Link Summoned Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights. He used the effects of Twistcobra and Isolde to add Gouki Suprex and Gouki Headbatt to his hand and then used Isolde’s effect to send Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade from his Deck to his Graveyard and Special Summon Gouki Octostretch. He Special Summoned Headbatt by discarding Suprex and then Link Summoned Knightmare Cerberus by sending his 2 Gouki monsters to the Graveyard. He used their effects to add 2 copies of Gouki Re-Match to his hand and activated one to Special Summon Headbatt and Octostretch. Then, he Link Summoned Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess by sending 4 of his monsters to the Graveyard. He banished 2 Warriors from his Graveyard to return his Divine Sword from his Graveyard to his hand, and then used the Cerberus to Link Summon Knightmare Mermaid. He activated its effect by discarding the Divine Sword from his hand to Special Summon Orcust Knightmare from his Deck and draw a card. He sent Mermaid and Orcust Knightmare to the Graveyard to Link Summon Galatea, used its effect, and after a flurry of plays involving Orcust cards, ended his turn with a Set Orcust Crescendo and with Galatea, Apollousa, and Dingirsu, Orcust of the Evening Star on his field.

Vargas drew a card and then Normal Summoned Batteryman Solar. He used its effect, but McRae negated its activation with the effect of Apollousa. Vargas Chained Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit to try to destroy Apollousa, but Dingirsu’s effect protected it. Vargas activated Instant Fusion next by giving up 1000 Life Points, but McRae negated its activation with Crescendo. Vargas used another Instant Fusion to Special Summon Kaminari Attack and then used Solar’s effect to Special Summon a Batteryman Token to the field. Vargas banished Thunder Dragonroar from his hand and Kaminari Attack from his field to Special Summon Thunder Dragon Titan. He activated Dragonroar’s effect, but McRae negated its activation with Apollousa. Next, Vargas activated the effect of Thunder Dragon in his hand by discarding it, but McRae negated its activation with Apollousa too! Vargas attacked Apollousa to destroy it with Solar and then attacked Dingirsu, inflicting 600 points of damage to McRae. McRae protected Dingirsu by detaching an Xyz Material from it. Vargas sent all of his monsters to the Graveyard to Link Summon Black Luster Soldier – Soldier of Chaos and conceded, seeing no way to win the Duel.

Vargas chose for McRae to go first in Duel 2.

Duel Two

McRae opened up Duel 2 with Cosmic Cyclone, Instant Fusion, Gnomaterial, and 2 copies of Infinite Impermanence. He passed his turn with no play!

Vargas activated Instant Fusion and gave up 1000 Life Points to Special Summon Kaminari Attack, prompting McRae to use the effect of Gnomaterial to target the Kaminari Attack; but Vargas banished it from his field along with a Dragonroar from his hand to Special Summon Thunder Dragon Titan! He Special Summoned Thunder Dragondark from his Deck with Dragonroar’s effect and then Link Summoned Some Summer Summoner. He used Dragondark’s effect to add Thunder Dragon Fusion to his hand and then discarded Thunder Dragonhawk to Summon Thunder Dragonroar back to his field. He Tributed it to Summon Thunder Dragon Colossus from his Extra Deck and then used Thunder Dragon Fusion to Summon another Thunder Dragon Titan, and then Tributed Some Summer Summoner to Summon another Colossus to the field. Direct attacks from Titan and both copies of Colossus wiped out McRae’s 8000 Life Points!

A weak hand for Matthew McRae allows Gabriel Vargas to take a quick victory in Duel 2! McRae chose to go second in Duel 3!

Duel Three

Vargas started off Duel 3 by giving up 1000 Life Points and activating Instant Fusion to Summon Kaminari Attack.

He banished it from his field along with a Dragonroar from his Deck to Summon Titan and then used Dragonroar’s effect to Special Summon Thunder Dragondark from his Deck. McRae discarded Gnomaterial from his hand to target Dragondark. Next, Vargas activated Pot of Desires. He banished the top 10 cards of his Deck face-down to draw 2 cards. He discarded Thunder Dragon from his hand to get another copy from his Deck next, and then used Allure of Darkness to draw 2 cards and banish Dragonroar from his hand. He Set a card to his back row and then ended his turn, returning Dragondark to his hand in his End Phase.

McRae drew Infinite Impermanence and added it to his hand of Gouki Riscorpio, Gouki Suprex, Mystic Mine, and Gouki Twistcobra. He activated Mystic Mine, but Vargas Chained the effect of Dragondark to discard it and get another copy from his Deck, using Titan’s effect to destroy Mystic Mine. Next, McRae Summoned Suprex and activated its effect, but lost out to Infinite Impermanence. McRae Set his own Impermanence before ending his turn.

Vargas discarded Dragonhawk from his hand to activate its effect and used Titan’s effect to destroy Infinite Impermanence. He Special Summoned Dragondark with Dragonhawk’s effect and then combined both monsters to Link Summon Some Summer Summoner. He used Dragondark’s effect to add Thunder Dragon Fusion to his hand and then activated it. He sent Thunder Dragon, Titan, and Dragondark back to his Deck to Fusion Summon a Thunder Dragon Titan linked to the Summoner. He then Tributed his Summoner to Summon a Colossus and activated the effect of Thunder Dragon to grab another copy from his Deck, using Titan’s effect to destroy Suprex. He attacked directly with Titan and Colossus, dropping McRae down to 2200 Life Points.

McRae drew a card and conceded, unable to get through Vargas’s field.

Gabriel Vargas advances with a 9-1-1 record using his pure Thunder Dragon Deck!