There were some very cool looking Decks here in the Top 64, and Kobe Short was running one of the coolest: a 60-card Adventure combo deck starring a cast of Zombies like Mezuki and Uni-Zombie. This round he was up against Darian Hahn, flying high off his success so far with Sky Strikers.

Short won the roll and opened with a hand of PSY-Framegear Gamma, Effect Veiler, Rite of Aramesir, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, and Wandering Gryphon Rider. He played Rite, Summoned his Adventurer Token in defense mode, and searched his Deck for Fateful Adventure. He activated it, Special Summoned Gryphon Rider and used Fateful to search Dracoback, the Rideable Dragon, then Water Enchantress of the Temple. He pitched his Gamma and Special Summoned the Water Enchantress. He Normal Summoned Veiler, Linked it to Water Enchantress and Link Summoned Crystron Halqifibrax.

Its Special Summon effect resolved, letting Short Special Summon Red Rose Dragon. Hahn activated Nibiru, the Primal Being, Short tried to negate it with the effect of Gryphon Rider, and lost out to Hahn’s Infinite Impermanence. Hahn Special Summoned the Nibiru, and Short got a Primal Being Token with 6500 ATK and 6600 DEF. 

Short activated Water Enchantress’s effect from the Graveyard, Hahn dropped Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, and Short equipped Dracoback to his Token. He used its effect to bounce the Nibiru off the field. Short was left with just a single card in his hand.

Hahn drew to four cards, one of which was of course Nibiru. He activated Mystic Mine and ended. 

Short bounced the Mine away with Dracoback next turn, then used his Fateful Adventure to get another Water Enchantress.  He sent Roxrose Dragon to the Graveyard, Normal Summoned the Enchantress, and swung with Enchantress and his gigantic Primal Being Token for game! 

Kobe Short’s deck basically fails to fire, but he wins anyways as Darian Hahn tries to lean on Mystic Mine and eats the punish. It looked like Hahn’s hand was well equipped for counterplay, but just didn’t offer him any options for aggression. He’d be looking for a little more luck than that in Game 2. In the meantime he dove for his Side Deck.

Two minutes later, with siding and shuffling complete, Hahn got Game 2 started with Pot of Prosperity, banishing three cards from his Extra Deck to reveal three cards from the top of his Main Deck: Effect Veiler, Sky Striker Mecha Modules – Multirole, and Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor. He took the Multirole. Hahn activated it, Set two cards to his backrow, Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Raye and made Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku. He moved to the End Phase, lost Shizuku’s effect to Infinite Impermanence and ended.

Short was holding Effect Veiler, D.D. Crow, Fairy Tail – Snow, Mezuki, and Jet Synchron. He Normal Summoned Mezuki, moved to the Battle Phase, and attacked Shizuku. He played D.D. Crow’s effect in the Battle Step, targeting Raye, and Hahn Chained Shared Ride, then Widow Anchor. Now outmatched by Shizuku, Mezuki hit the Graveyard and Short passed turn. 

Hahn switched out Shizuku for Sky Striker Ace – Hayate, attacked for 1500 damage, and sent Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! to the Graveyard. In Main Phase 2 he tagged in Kagari, tried to get the Engage, and Short negated the effect with Effect Veiler. Hahn played another Shizuku and got Sky Striker Mecha – Shark Cannon in the End Phase, activating it to banish Mezuki. Multirole let him Set his Widow Anchor again, ending.

Hahn drew Noh-P.U.N.K. Ze Amin. “You got this one.” 

Short did a little more Side Decking before moving to Game 3. The pressure was on: one more loss here would mean the end of the road for one of these Duelists; that meant no Top 32 Black Luster Soldier mat, and no chance at the rest of the prize pool. 

Short went first, with a hand of Noh-P.U.N.K. Ze Amin, Rite of Aramesir, Twin Twisters, Mezuki, and Uni-Zombie. Short moved to his Main Phase and got going with Rite. He summoned his Token, searched Fateful Adventure, played it, and used it to search Gryphon Rider. He loaded Mezuki to the Graveyard, Special Summoned Gryphon Rider, and got Dracoback, the Rideable Dragon with Fateful. He Normal Summoned Uni-Zombie, Tuned it to Gryphon Rider and Synchro Summoned Baronne de Fleur.

He continued, banishing Mezuki to bring back Uni-Zombie. Hahn dropped Nibiru, the Primal Being, Short responded with Baronne, and Hahn pushed it through with Infinite Impermanence! Short’s Token came out with 4400 ATK and 6300 DEF in defense mode. He equipped it with Dracoback, bounced the Nibiru and ended. That went from looking pretty good to pretty not-good-at-all, in the span of a few heartbeats! This one might be done!

Hahn searched Raye with Reinforcement of the Army. He Summoned her, sacked her off for Sky Striker Ace – Hayate and attacked for 1500 direct, then sent Engage! to his Graveyard. He tagged her out for Kagari, used Kagari to get Engage, and Special Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Roze. He Linked both for Sky Striker Ace – Zeke, banishing the Primal Being Token! Engage got him Multirole, he Set a card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone, and he tagged out Zeke for Shizuku to get Shark Cannon. He used it to banish Uni-Zombie, Set a card with Multirole and ended.

Short now had Twin Twisters, Crow, and Ze Amin, with Fateful Adventure on the field: not looking great, but not down and out just yet. He used Fateful to search his Deck for Water Enchantress, sent it to the Graveyard and banished her to get another Rite of Aramesir. He passed.

Hahn snapped into action: he swapped out Shizuku for Hayate, attacked, and kicked Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero to the Graveyard with Hayate’s ability. He Set it, Multiroled it away, and brought out Kagari trying to get Engage: Short denied him with D.D. Crow, banishing Engage on the Chain before Hahn could recover it. Hahn tagged out Kagari for Shizuku, moved to his End Phase and searched Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners! to finish. 

Short drew Crusadia Arboria. He took a moment to check Hahn’s Graveyard, then used Fateful Adventureto get another Water Enchantress, dumping it to the Graveyard. He banished it to get another Rite – his last copy – then used Twin Twisters, pitching a Rite to target Sky Striker Mecha Modules – Multirole and Hahn’s Set Widow Anchor; both were destroyed, and Widow Anchor was banished. On resolution, Hahn flipped Shark Cannon to Special Summon Baronne de Fleur from Hahn’s Graveyard. Ouch.

Short activated his last Rite to Special Summon a Token. He Special Summoned Crusadia Arboria to Tune for Shooting Riser Dragon, and when he went to use its effect, Hahn predictably activated Baronne to shut it down. That drew the handshake, and it was all over! 

Darian Hahn moves on to the Top 32, ready for takeoff with Sky Striker!