Almost every competitor remaining in the tournament has had a Feature Match today, one of the exceptions being Austin Colling, who traveled here this weekend from Ohio.  With Cyber Dragon variants all over the Top 8 bracket we decided to check in again with David Mendoza, the last Gren Maju Duelist left in the tournament.  In his Top 32 Feature Match this morning Mendoza cleaved through his opponent in minutes; would luck be on his side once again, or was Austin Colling about to punch his ticket to the Top 4?

Time to find out.

Colling opted to play second.  Mendoza opened with a hand of Gren Maju Da Eiza, Danger! Ogopogo!, Danger! Thunderbird!, Hey, Trunade! and Card Destruction.  “Pass.”

Colling drew to six and searched Cyber Dragon Core with Cyber Emergency.  He Normal Summoned it, used its effect to get Cyber Repair Plant from his Deck and activated Machine Duplication!  He Special Summoned two copies of Cyber Dragon from his Deck, used Core to Link Summon Salamangreat Almiraj and overlaid his two Cyber Dragons for Cyber Dragon Nova.

He used its effect to revive one of the two Cyber Dragons and upgraded Nova into Cyber Dragon Infinity.  He Linked Almiraj and the revived Cyber Dragon for Knightmare Phoenix, used that to Link Summon Knightmare Mermaid, sent Orcust Harp Horror to his Graveyard from his hand and Special Summoned Orcust Knightmare.

He used Knightmare Mermaid and Orcust Knightmare to Link Summon Galatea, the Orcust Automaton, activated the effect of Harp Horror to Special Summon Orcust Cymbal Skeleton, and Linked it with Galatea for Longirsu, the Orcust Orchestrator.  He brought back Galatea with the Skeleton, traded Longirsu for Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star, attached Skeleton to Dingirsu with Dingirsu’s effect, and used Galatea’s effect to return Harp Horror to his Deck and Set Orcust Crescendo.

He activated Repair Plant to search Cyber Dragon Herz, tried to discard it to Special Summon Galaxy Soldier and was reminded of his Orcust restriction for the turn.  He did some math, activated Orcust Knightmare’s effect, targeted Cyber Dragon Infinity and sent Gizmek Orochi, the Serpentron Sky Slasher to his Graveyard.

Colling moved to the Battle Phase and swung with Galatea, Dingirsu, Cyber Dragon Infinity, and finally activated the effect of his Gizmek Orochi to Special Summon it and attack for game!

David Mendoza passes his first turn leaving himself wide open, and Austin Colling combos out to take advantage!  A slew of big boss monsters make victory academic for Colling in the first Duel, now just one win away from the Top 4.

Mendoza chose to play second.  Colling Set one card to his backrow, then another, and finally one more.  He activated the effect of Danger! Nessie!, lost his Galaxy Soldier, Special Summoned Nessie and drew Cyber Emergency to get Cyber Dragon Core.  He Normal Summoned it, used it to search Cybernetic Overflow and Link Summoned Knightmare Phoenix.  Mendoza Special Summoned Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay. Cyber Repair Plant got him Cyber Dragon Herz and he Link Summoned Knightmare Mermaid with Knightmare Phoenix.  He gave up the Herz to Special Summon Orcust Knightmare, triggered Herz’s effect to get Cyber Dragon from his Deck and Link Summoned Galatea, the Orcust Automaton.

Colling used Orcust Knightmare to target Galatea, sending Orcust Harp Horror to his Graveyard and banishing it to Special Summon Orcust Cymbal Skeleton.  That let him Link Summon Longirsu, the Orcust Orchestrator and he banished Skeleton to bring back Galatea.  He used Longirsu to Xyz Summon Dingirsu, sent Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay to the Graveyard, and used Galatea’s effect to target Skeleton and Set Orcust Crescendo to finish out.

Mendoza had Danger! Bigfoot!, Danger! Response Team, Pot of Desires, Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju, Super Polymerization, and Danger! Chupacabra!.  He moved to his Main Phase and activated Super Polymerization, discarding Response Team to fuse Dingirsu and Galatea for Starving Venom Fusion Dragon.  He followed up with Pot of Desires, banishing ten cards to draw Monster Reborn and Card Destruction.  He Set Reborn and activated Card Destruction: Colling discarded his Cyber Dragon, while Mendoza discarded Chupacabra, Bigfoot and Gameciel.  He drew Danger! Ogopogo!, Pot of Desires, and another Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju.

He activated Chupacabra targeting Bigfoot and Colling responded with Called by the Grave banishing Bigfoot on the Chain.  Mendoza activated the effect of Response Team, discarding Ogopogo to draw Danger!? Tsuchinoko?.  He activated Ogopogo’s effect to return Response Team to the Graveyard, then flipped Reborn to take Longirsu.  Mendoza attacked with Longirsu to dish out 2500 Battle Damage, then 2800 more with Starving Venom.  “Pass.”

Colling had another shot at this.  He drew to two cards in hand with three more Set in his backrow and banished Cyber Dragon Core from his Graveyard to Special Summon Cyber Dragon Nachster and revive his Dingirsu.  He used Dingirsu’s effect to attach Harp Horror to it, then Contact Fused Nachster and Starving Venom for Chimeratech Megafleet Dragon before moving to his Battle Phase.  Dingirsu destroyed Longirsu with an attack and Megafleet Dragon knocked Mendoza down to 5500 Life Points.  Colling had 2700 LP himself.  He Linked Megafleet Dragon and Dingirsu for Galatea in Main Phase 2, used her effect to recycle Orcust Knightmare and Set Orcustrated Return to his backrow.  He flipped it, discarded Orcust Knightmare and drew two cards.  He banished Orcust Knightmare targeting Galatea, loaded Gizmek Orochi, the Serpentron Sky Slasher to the Graveyard, drew a card with Upstart Goblin and Set one card. to his backrow.

Mendoza drew Danger! Ogopogo!.  He Tributed Colling’s Galatea to Summon Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju, banished ten for Pot of Desires, drew Gizmek Orochi, the Serpentron Sky Slasher and Hey, Trunade! and played it.  Colling Chained Called by the Grave to banish Mendoza’s Chupacabra from his Graveyard.  Mendoza activated the effect of Ogopogo to discard Gizmek Orochi, Special Summoned Ogopogo to draw Danger! Nessie! and activated Response Team, pitching Nessie and getting Danger! Thunderbird!.  He activated that next and discarded Response Team, Special Summoning Thunderbird and drawing again.

Mendoza activated Danger!? Tsuchinoko? to discard it, brought it back and activated his last card, Danger! Response Team, targeting Tsuchinoko and Gameciel.  Both cards were bounced back to his hand and he used Tsuchinoko again, discarding Gameciel and Summoning Tsuchinoko.  Mendoza drew Gizmek Orochi, then spent some time looking through both Graveyards and his Extra Deck before launching his attacks.

He sent Thunderbird to attack, Colling Special Summoned his Gizmek Orochi by banishing eight cards, and Thunderbird ran it over.  Tsuchinoko made a direct attack, then Ogopogo followed and Colling survived with 200 Life Points!  Mendoza moved to Main Phase 2, overlaid Ogopogo and Thunderbird and Xyz Summoned Number 68: Sanaphond the Sky Prison, detaching Thunderbird for the Sky Prison’s effect.

Play was to Colling.  He banished Harp Horror to Special Summon Orcust Cymbal Skeleton from his Deck, Normal Summoned another Harp Horror and tried to Link Summon with Skeleton and Horror… “I don’t have a Dark to go into…” Colling received a warning for the mistake – he didn’t realize he was out of Galateas – and returned his two monsters to the field. He entered his Battle Phase, knocked out Tsuchinoko with Harp Horror and Mendoza fell to 6100 LP. He only had one card left in his Deck.  Colling Set three cards to his backrow to finish his turn.

Mendoza drew Gren Maju Da Eiza, the last card in his Deck!  Colling flipped Cybernetic Overflow, banishing Cyber Dragon Herz to destroy Number 68: Sanaphond the Sky Prison, but Mendoza Summoned the Gren Maju.  Colling had no recourse and Mendoza attacked Harp Horror with an 8400 ATK Gren Maju for game!

David Mendoza squeaks out the win at the last possible second, drawing the final card in his Deck and playing a massive Gren Maju Da Eiza to capture a tremendously back-and-forth Duel!  One more game will now decide who’s going to the Top 4, and who’s going home.

Mendoza opened with Gren Maju, Tsuchinoko, two Thunderbirds and a Super Polymerization. He activated the effect of Tsuchinoko, discarded Gren Maju and Special Summoned the snake to draw Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay.  “End Phase.”

Colling searched Cyber Dragon Core with Cyber Emergency, Normal Summoned it to get Cybernetic Overflow from his Deck and Set a card to his backrow.  He activated Danger!? Jackalope? and discarded it, searching his Deck for Danger! Nessie! and Special Summoning it.  He Link Summoned Knightmare Phoenix, used it to Link Summon Knightmare Mermaid and tossed Orcust Cymbal Skeleton to Special Summon Orcust Knightmare from his Deck.  He Linked both Knightmares for Galatea, banished Orcust Knightmare targeting the Galatea to load up Orcust Harp Horror, banished THAT and brought another Orcust Knightmare to the field.

“Is that good?”

“Yep,” confirmed Mendoza.

Colling played on: hands shaking, he banished to Special Summon Gizmek Orochi, the Serpentron Sky Slasher from his hand.  He returned Orcust Knightmare to his Deck with Galatea to Set Orcust Crescendo and Linked away all three of his monsters for Borrelsword Dragon!  He banished Skeleton to revive Galatea and Mendoza dropped Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay!  He picked up Card Destruction, Nessie and another Phantazmay, putting back Destruction and Phantazmay to keep Nessie.  Colling moved to the Battle Phase.

Borrelsword Dragon attacked Phantazmay, Colling used its effect, and he attacked with Galatea to destroy Mendoza’s Tsuchinoko.  He moved to Main Phase 2, Set a card to his backrow and ended.

Mendoza drew another Tsuchinoko.  He discarded Nessie for Super Polymerization, wiping the field and Special Summoning Starving Venom Fusion Dragon.  Nessie got him Danger! Bigfoot! and he activated its effect; Mendoza discarded Thunderbird, Special Summoned Bigfoot and drew Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay.  Thunderbird’s effect targeted Colling’s Set Called by the Grave and Colling Chained it to banish Gren Maju from Mendoza’s Graveyard.

Mendoza activated his Thunderbird to discard the Phantazmay, Special Summoned the Thunderbird and drew another Bigfoot.  He used that, discarded it and moved to his Battle Phase.  He attacked with Bigfoot first and Colling blocked by bringing out his Gizmek Orochi. Bigfoot attacked it, Thunderbird attacked next and Starving Venom struck next.  Colling had 2400 Life Points left.

Colling drew for his turn and played Cyber Emergency to get Cyber Dragon Herz from his Deck.  He Set Herz and fused it with Starving Venom for a Chimeratech Megafleet Dragon, then used Herz’s effect to search Cyber Dragon. That left him with nine cards left in his Deck.  Colling flipped Cybernetic Overflow, banished two cards and destroyed Mendoza’s Bigfoot and Thunderbird!  He banished Orcust Knightmare targeting Chimeratech Megafleet Dragon and sent Orcust Harp Horror to his Graveyard, then attacked with Megafleet Dragon to end.

Mendoza drew Danger! Zone, Set it and passed!

Colling drew leaving seven cards in his Deck.  He revealed Danger!? Tsuchinoko? for its effect, discarded Upstart Goblin, Special Summoned Tsuchinoko and drew a card.  He moved to his Battle Phase, attacked with Tsuchinoko and Mendoza flipped Danger! Zone as time was called!  He discarded Nessie and Tsuchinoko, making Nessie’s effect Chain Link 1 and Tsuchinoko’s effect Chain Link 2.  This was the last Phase of the Duel and Colling could not bring Mendoza down from 5200 Life Points so the Match was over!

Austin Colling offers the handshake, and David Mendoza wins his way to the Top 4!