Corbin Diez from Layton, Utah earned his invitation to compete this weekend from a Regional Qualifier in Las Vegas a few months ago with his Abyss Actor Deck. Now he’s back with another off-the-wall strategy: Valkyries! Valkyries are a fan-favorite strategy used by Zigfried von Schroeder in the original animated Yu-Gi-Oh! series, but the strategy hasn’t seen much use at the competitive level. That may allow Diez to take Duelists by surprise this weekend as he presents them with his new take on an old Deck.

Diez’s opponent, Theron Lee from Dallas, Texas earned his invitation to compete in a Regional Qualifier in Fort Worth, Texas using his Live Twin Deck. Lee has changed his Deck since he earned his invitation to this event, and is now competing with a Marincess Deck made possible by the recent release of Legendary Duelists: Duels From the Deep. Who will prevail in this Round 1 Feature Match? It’s time to Duel!

Duel One

Lee started off Duel 1 by Normal Summoning Marincess Blue Tang and using its effect to send Marincess Sea Horse to the Graveyard.

Next, he Link Summoned Marincess Blue Slug and used the effects of Blue Tang and Blue Slug to add the Sea Horse to his hand and excavate the top 3 cards of his Deck. He excavated a Marincess Pascalus and added it to his hand. Next, he Special Summoned Marincess Sea Horse and sent it to the Graveyard to Link Summon Marincess Sea Angel. He used its effect to add Marincess Dive to his hand. He activated Marincess Battle Ocean next, and then sent his two monsters to the Graveyard to Link Summon Marincess Coral Anemone. He used its effect to Special Summon Blue Tang from his Graveyard and then sent both of his monsters to the Graveyard once more to Link Summon Marincess Coral Triangle. He used Anemone’s effect to return Blue Tang from his Graveyard to his hand. Next, he activated Marincess Dive to Special Summon Marincess Pascalus from his Deck and used Pascalus’s effect to Special Summon Marincess Blue Tang from his hand. He used Pascalus and Blue Tang to Xyz Summon Bahamut Shark and then used its effect to Special Summon Toadally Awesome from his Extra Deck. Next, he used Coral Triangle’s effect to discard Pascalus from his hand and add Marincess Wave from his Deck to his hand. He sent Bahamut Shark and Marincess Coral Triangle to the Graveyard to Link Summon Marincess Aqua Argonaut and used the Battle Ocean’s effect to equip it with 3 Link Monsters in his Graveyard: Sea Angel, Anemone, and Blue Slug. He Set a card to his back row before passing his turn.

Diez opened Duel 1 with Ride of the Valkyries, One Day of Peace, Valkyrie Dritte, Diviner of the Herald, and Mystic Mine. He drew Valkyrie Vierte and then Normal Summoned Diviner of the Herald. He activated its effect and Lee activated Marincess Wave from his hand to negate the effect of the Diviner and make his monsters unaffected by his opponent’s card effects for the turn. Next, Diez used One Day of Peace and drew another Valkyrie Vierte. Lee drew a card too, and neither player could take damage until the end of Lee’s turn due to the One Day of Peace’s effect. Next, Diez activated Ride of the Valkyries! Lee activated the effect of his Argonaut to Special Summon Coral Anemone from his Spell & Trap Card Zone and negate Ride of the Valkyries. Diez banished Ride of the Valkyries from his Graveyard next, adding Mischief of the Time Goddess from his Deck to his hand with its effect. He passed his turn, still protected by One Day of Peace.

Lee drew a card and then banished Marincess Pascalus from his Graveyard to return Marincess Wave from his Graveyard to his hand. Next, he activated Marincess Dive to Special Summon Marincess Springirl from his Deck. He then used Coral Anemone’s effect to Special Summon Blue Tang from his Graveyard and used Blue Tang’s effect to send Marincess Sleepy Maiden from his Deck to his Graveyard. He destroyed Diviner of the Herald in battle and then Xyz Summoned Number 4: Stealth Kragen in Main Phase 2 before ending his turn.

Diez drew another Diviner of the Herald and Summoned Valkyrie Vierte. He entered his Battle Phase, but then ended it and used Mischief of the Time Goddess to skip to the Battle Phase of a new turn. He then attacked Aqua Argonaut with Vierte, losing 2300 Life Points. Vierte was destroyed in battle, and he used its effect to Special Summon Valkyrie Sechste from his Deck. He used Sechste’s effect to Special Summon Valkyrie Dritte from his Deck and then used Dritte’s effect to add Ride of the Valkyries to his hand. In Main Phase 2, Diez sent Sechste to the Graveyard to Link Summon Relinquished Anima linked to the Argonaut. He tried to use its effect, but lost out to Marincess Wave. Next, he banished Ride of the Valkyries from the Graveyard and lost out to Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. He Link Summoned Knightmare Phoenix next and discarded Valkyrie Dritte to activate its effect. He targeted Lee’s face-down card, and Lee Chained the effect of Effect Veiler to negate it. Next, he Normal Summoned Diviner of the Herald and activated its effect, but Lee Chained the effect of his Toadally Awesome to negate the effect and Set the Diviner to the field. (Reminder: He was allowed to Normal Summon Diviner of the Herald because Mischief of the Time Goddess brought him into a new turn in which he hadn’t yet Normal Summoned.) With Toadally Awesome’s effect used, Diez activated Mystic Mine and Lee couldn’t stop it! Diez hoped that resolving Mystic Mine would buy him enough time to ultimately win with Ride of the Valkyries and Mischief of the Time Goddess. In the End Phase, Ride of the Valkyries returned Lee’s monsters to the Deck so that he had no monsters on the field.

Lee drew and passed, stopped in his tracks by Mystic Mine.

Diez drew and passed.

Lee drew and Set a card to his back row.

Diez drew and passed.

Lee drew and passed.

Diez drew and Set a card to his back row.

Lee drew and passed, discarding a card in the End Phase.

Diez drew and passed, discarding a card in the End Phase.

Lee drew and passed, discarding a card in the End Phase.

Diez drew and passed, discarding a card in the End Phase.

Lee drew and passed, discarding a card in the End Phase.

Diez drew and passed, discarding a card in the End Phase.

Lee drew Cosmic Cyclone! He used it to target and banish Mystic Mine and then Diez conceded, destined to be wiped out by Lee’s full field of monsters!

Corbin Diez prolongs the Duel with Mystic Mine while he tries to draw the cards he needs to win with Ride of the Valkyries, but runs out of time when Theron Lee draws Cosmic Cyclone to banish Mystic Mine!

Duel Two

Diez opened up Duel 2 with Reasoning, Valkyrie Fuente, Final Light, Mystic Mine, and Cauldron of the Old Man.

He activated Reasoning and Lee called Level 4. Diez revealed Goddess Urd’s Verdict followed by the Level 4 Valkyrie Dritte, sending both of them to the Graveyard. Next, he activated Cauldron of the Old Man and added a counter to it. He used its effect to gain 500 Life Points and Set a monster before ending his turn.

Lee drew a card for his turn and then Normal Summoned Blue Tang. He used its effect to send Springirl to the Graveyard and then sent Blue Tang to the Graveyard to Link Summon Blue Slug. He used Blue Tang and Blue Slug’s effects. Next, he Special Summoned Sea Horse from his hand and sent it to the Graveyard to Link Summon Marincess Sea Angel. He added Marincess Dive to his hand with Sea Angel’s effect and then activated Marincess Battle Ocean. He used Marincess Dive to Special Summon Marincess Pascalus from his Deck and then activated its effect to Special Summon Springirl from his hand. He sent both of his Link Monsters to the Graveyard to Summon Marincess Coral Anemone and then combined Springirl with Pascalus to Xyz Summon Bahamut Shark. He used its effect to Special Summon Toadally Awesome from his Extra Deck and then used Coral Anemone’s effect to Special Summon Blue Tang from the Graveyard. Next, he sent Anemone and Blue Tang to the Graveyard to Link Summon Coral Triangle and used Anemone’s effect to return Sea Horse to his hand. He then used Coral Triangle’s effect. He discarded Sea Horse to add Marincess Wave from his Deck to his hand. He sent Bahamut Shark and Coral Triangle to the Graveyard to Link Summon Aqua Argonaut and equipped it with 3 Link Monsters in his Graveyard, raising its ATK to 4300 in total. Toadally Awesome attacked and destroyed a face-down Valkyrie Fuente and then a direct attack from Aqua Argonaut dropped Diez’s Life Points down to 4200 Life Points. Lee Set a card to his back row and then ended his turn.

Diez added a counter to his Cauldron of the Old Man and then gained 1000 Life Points with his Cauldron. Next, he activated Final Light, but Lee negated it with Aqua Argonaut by Special Summoning Coral Anemone from his Spell & Trap Card Zone. Diez activated Mystic Mine next, and Lee let it resolve.

Lee activated Cosmic Cyclone on his next turn, targeting the Mystic Mine, and Diez extended the handshake, realizing his imminent defeat.

Theron Lee advances 1-0 with his Marincess Deck!