When we heard there was an undefeated Paleozoic Frog Duelist it really caught our attention.  Deylan Pitkin wound up taking a draw last round, so his record’s no longer immaculate, but we were still eager to see what kind of Frog Deck could thrive in today’s Championship metagame.  Pitkin’s from Buffalo, New York just on the other side of the Falls, so it was a short trip.

His opponent is from South Korea, which is the opposite of a short trip.  Hyuk Chang is actually a seasoned OCG player now completing his studies in Boston.  He’s one of the many Duelists playing pure Thunder Dragons, a strategy that’s been back in action since it won the UDS in Indianapolis five weeks ago.

Both competitors have three wins and a draw, and had perfect records until Round 4.  Now we’ll see which one can recover from that brief stumble and capture another win here in Round 5, the mid-point of our 8 Round competition in Day 1.

Pitkin opened with a hand of Lilith, Lady of Lament, Crackdown, Solemn Strike and two copies Swap Frog.  He Special Summoned a Swap Frog to send Ronintoadin from his Deck to his Graveyard, banished Swap Frog and revived the Ronintoadin.  He Xyz Summoned Toadally Awesome, Normal Summoned Lilith and revealed three copies of Trap Trick for her effect, setting one of them as the only possible random choice.  He Set Crackdown and Solemn Strike to end.

Chang started his turn and Pitkin used Toadally Awesome to Special Summon Dupe Frog in Chang’s Standby Phase.  Chang entered Main Phase 1 and Normal Summoned Batteryman Solar. When he tried to use its effect Pitkin negated it and destroyed it with Solemn Strike.  He activated Instant Fusion dropping to 7000 Life Points – Pitkin had 6500 after the Solemn Strike – and Pitkin Chained Trap Trick, banishing a Paleozoic Canadia from his Deck to set another copy.  Chang’s Instant Fusion resolved to Special Summon Thousand-Eyes Restrict, he used its effect to target Toadally Awesome, and Pitkin used Toadally Awesome to negate it, destroy it, and then take it to his side of the field face-down.

Chang pressed on, discarding Thunder Dragon to search two more copies from his Deck.  He activated Gold Sarcophagus next to banish Thunder Dragonroar from his Deck, using its effect to Special Summon Thunder Dragondark.  Chang then Tributed Dragonroar to Special Summon Thunder Dragon Colossus. He activated Thunder Dragondark’s ability and lost out when Pitkin took Colossus with Crackdown on the Chain.  Chang activated Thunder Dragon Fusion using Dragonroar, Thunder Dragon and Thunder Dragondark to Fusion Summon Thunder Dragon Titan.  He tossed his last Thunder Dragon to activate Titan’s effect, destroying Crackdown, getting one of his recycled Thunder Dragons and taking back Thunder Dragon Colossus.

“Battle Phase.” Change sent Titan over Toadally Awesome, destroying it and giving Pitkin back his Swap Frog via Awesome’s effect.  Chang then destroyed his pilfered Thousand-Eyes Restrict with Thunder Dragon Colossus.

Pitkin drew another Ronintoadin.  He flipped Canadia to put Thunder Dragon Titan face-down, then Normal Summoned Swap Frog to send another Swap Frog to his Graveyard.  Pitkin returned Swap Frog to his hand and Special Summoned it, discarding Ronintoadin to load Dupe Frog to his Graveyard from his Deck.  Pitkin revived his Ronintoadin with the Dupe Frog and Linked it with Swap Frog to Link Summon Security Dragon!  Chang responded with Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay, drawing for its effect.  Pitkin brought back Ronintoadin again, then revivied his second copy, and used both with Security Dragon to Link Summon Borrelsword Dragon! He brought back a Ronintoadin again, activated Borrelsword Dragon to turn his own Ronintoadin to defense mode so he could make two attacks, then attacked over Phantazmay to destroy it. The second attack followed to destroy Titan (its effect can’t protect it from battle).

Play was to Chang, who drew to four cards in hand with Thunder Dragon Colossus on the field.  Pitkin controlled Borrelsword Dragon and Ronintoadin with a hand of zero cards.  Chang needed to figure his way around it to win this Duel.  He banished Thunder Dragon Fusion from his Graveyard to fetch Thunder Dragondark from his Deck, then banished Colossus and Thunder Dragondark for another Thunder Dragon Titan, triggering Thunder Dragondark’s effect to search Thunder Dragonhawk. Chang had 4000 Life Points to Pitkin’s 5500.  Chang discarded Thunder Dragon to search another copy, then used the effect of Thunder Dragonhawk, chaining Titan’s ability to blow away Borrelsword Dragon.

Chang followed up with Thunder Dragon Fusion, fusing two copies of Thunder Dragon and the first Titan to make another Titan, returning the materials to his Decks.  Another Thunder Dragon activation destroyed Ronintoadin with Titan and it was all over moments later as Chang Tributed his defense mode Titan to Tribute Summon a regular Thunder Dragon, making enough damage for game!

Deylan Pitkin’s Frog engine leaps to a strong start, but Hyuk Chang battles back and shuts him down, taking an assertive win in the first Duel!  One more like that and Chang would be in a good position heading into Round 6 with his Thunder Dragons.  But let’s see what difference Side Decks might make.

Both competitors wished each other good luck.  Pitkin had Crackdown, Swap Frog, Paleozoic Dinomischus and two copies of Canadia. He Normal Summoned Swap Frog, used its effect and Chang Chained Dimension Shifter!  There’s that Side Deck relevance we were looking for. Pitkin’s Dupe Frog was banished from the game, leaving Pitkin to return Swap Frog to his hand.  He Set Dinomischus, Crackdown and a Canadia to end his turn.

Chang activated Pot of Desires to banish ten cards, drawing two more; very helpful in a resource driven grind game as this might be.  Chang Normal Summoned Batteryman Solar into Pitkin’s three backrows, Pitkin couldn’t stop it and Chang sent Thunder Dragondark to his Graveyard, banishing it with Dimension Shifter to trigger it is effect and getting Thunder Dragonroar.  Chang used Dragonroar’s effect and Special Summoned Thunder Dragon Colossus, made a direct attack to drop Pitkin to 5400 Life Points and Set one card to his backrow.

Pitkin flipped Crackdown in the End Phase in a bid to take Thunder Dragon Colossus, but Chang Chained Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy it on the Chain!  Pitkin drew Infinite Impermanence, flipped Paleozoic Dinomischus in his Draw Phase and discarded Paleozoic Canadia to banish Colossus. He Normal Summoned Swap Frog to load his Graveyard with Ronintoadin, made a direct attack with Swap Frog and bounced it back to his hand in Main Phase 2.  He Set Impermanence to end his turn.

Chang activated Allure of Darkness and drew two, banishing the next Dragondark to complete Allure’s effect.  That got him another Dragonroar.  He activated a second Allure, drew two more and this time banished Dimension Shifter.  He Normal Summoned Denko Sekka, locking down Pitkin’s backrow of Trap Cards!  Chang discarded Thunder Dragonhawk to get Thunder Dragonroar, then used Colossus, Dragonhawk and Dragondark for Thunder Dragon Fusion, unleashing another Thunder Dragon Titan!  Pitkin immediately extended the handshake.

Hyuk Chang moves on with a 4-0-1 record, capturing another win with pure Thunder Dragons! Stay tuned to find out if Deylan Pitkin’s Frogs can survive to Day 2.