Is Jesse Kotton the greatest Canadian Duelist of all time? Probably. Is he the greatest Yu-Gi-Oh! player in the world? It’s possible! A three-time competitor at the World Championship and a two-time YCS winner, Kotton’s the poster boy for the Worlds Qualifier Point grind and one of the most innovative, respected Duelists in any room he walks into. He’s also a UDS Winner, and as a belt-carrying Ultimate Duelist he had two byes to start his day. That means he’s only now entering this tournament, entirely fresh with a 2-0 record.

His opponent is no slouch: David Creti hails from Montreal, and if you follow tournament coverage you might remember that he topped YCS Hartford just this year, piloting a Synchro P.U.N.K. deck. But if you’re a veteran Duel fan or just a Canadian, you may also remember his 2016 Top Cut appearance at YCS Toronto, where Creti piloted Blue-Eyes White Dragon to the Top 32. He wasn’t going to make this easy, and he’s a definite threat to Kotton’s Day 1 record.

Creti opened up with Tearlaments Merrli, using her effect to mill three cards: Infinite Impermanence and two copies of Tearlaments Scheiren. He activated Scheiren’s effect and Fusion Summoned Tearlaments Kitkallos, inspecting his hand for a moment before searching his Deck for a third Scheiren. He activated her from his hand, Summoned her, and pitched Tearlaments Havnis, milling Primeval Planet Perlereino, Swap Frog, and another Scheiren.  Creti used the Havnis to Fusion Summon Garura, Wings of Resonant Life, then Link Summoned Spright Elf, used Kitkallos’s effect on itself, got back Scheiren, and milled five cards including Paleozoic Dinomischus. 

He used Spright Elf to bring back Swap Frog, used that to load Ronintoadin to his Graveyard, and Xyz Summoned Toadally Awesome. He Set one to his Spell and Trap Card Zone and ended.

Kotton had a hand of Instant Fusion, Primeval Planet Perlereino, Nibiru, the Primal Being, Tearlaments Scheiren, Pot of Desires, and Danger! Mothman!

He activated Primeval Planet to search his Deck, getting Tearlaments Havnis. He activated Scheiren’s effect, Creti considered a response, and fired back with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Kotton continued, Setting his two Spell Cards and activating the effect of Danger! Mothman! Creti disarded the Mothman. Kotton drew Merrli and discarded Scheiren; Creti discarded D.D. Crow. 

Kotton flipped Instant Fusion, Special Summoning Tearlaments Kitkallos and activating her effect; Creti negated it with Toadally Awesome, and took control of the Kitkallos face-down. He searched his Deck for Swap Frog, adding it to his hand. Kotton flipped Pot of Desires, banished 10 cards off the top of his Deck and drew two cards: Danger! Nessie! and Eradicator Epidemic Virus. He revealed Nessie for its effect, discarded Nibiru, the Primal Being, and Summoned Nessie to draw Super Polymerization.

Play moved to the Battle Phase. Kotton attacked with Nessie, and Creti flipped Super Polymerization to fuse Kotton’s Nessie and Scheiren, bringing out Tearlaments Kitkallos. He made Kitkallos Chain Link 1 and Scheiren Chain Link 2. He Fusion Summoned Predaplant Dragostapelia, then searched Tearlaments Havnis with Kitkallos’s effect. Kotton took a moment to examine Creti’s Graveyard and played on.

Kotton activated a Super Polymerization of his own! He fused Creti’s Dragostapelia and Kitkallos for Mudragon of the Swamp, and Creti milled five cards for Kitkallos’s ability. Creti sent three Tearlaments to his graveyard in total, reviving Tearlaments Reinoheart. He Fusion Summoned Tearlaments Kaleido-Heart, and used Reinoheart to send Merrli to his Graveyard. He made a new Chain with Kaleido-Heart at Chain Link 1 and Merrli at Chain Link 2; he Fusion Summoned HIS Mudragon of the Swamp, and shuffled Kotton’s Primeval Planet away with Kaleido-Heart’s effect. 

Still in Battle, Kotton ran over Creti’s Spright Elf with Mudragon. He moved to Main Phase 2, Summoned Tearlaments Merrli and milled Danger!? Jackalope?, Danger! Mothman! and a Reinoheart. He used Reinoheart to send Tearlaments Havnis to the Graveyard: “I’ll go Chain Link 1 Havnis, Chain Link 2 Reinoheart.” Creti Chained Mudragon’s effect to make it a DARK Attribute monster. Kotton sent Scheiren to the Graveyard with Reinoheart, then Fusion Summoned Garura, Wings of Resonant Life with Havnis and Scheiren.

Kotton changed his Mudragon of the Swamp to DARK, then Link Summoned Curious, the LightswornDominion! That sent his Fairy Tail – Snow to the Graveyard from his Deck, and he drew a card with Garura: Danger! Nessie! He sent three more cards to the Graveyard with Curious, then Linked off Reinoheart and Curious for Topologic Zeroboros!  He banished seven cards to revive Fairy Tail – Snow, stuck it in front of one of Zeroboros’s Link Markers and wiped the field! 

Creti drew for his turn, and Kotton revived his Topologic Zeroboros with a whopping 7800 ATK! Creti had three cards to try and deal with it. He Summoned Tearlaments Merrli, and he milled Spright Blue and two copies of Primeval Planet Perlereino. He banished Swap Frog to Special Summon Ronintoadin, confirmed there were 25 minutes left in the round, and swiftly conceded. 

David Creti creates a decent set-up on Turn 1, and manages to make some significant plays on Jesse Kotton’s turn, but Kotton peels him apart. Knowing he’d need to win two games back-to-back, Creti makes the smart call of conceding the first Duel to maximize the time he’d have to win the next two. 

Creti started the second Duel by activating Instant Fusion, and Kotton responded with the effect of Ghost Sister & Spooky Dogwood! That meant for the rest of the turn,  Kotton would gain Life Points equal to the ATK of any monsters Creti Special Summoned; kind of a bold gambit with so much time left in the round. Creti played through it, Special Summoning Tearlaments Kitkallos and giving Kotton 2300 Life Points.

Creti confirmed how Dogwood’s effect worked, searched his Deck for Tearlaments Reinoheart, and used Tearlaments Scheiren to pitch Ronintoadin and send three cards to his graveyard: he whiffed hard, hitting Anti-Spell Fragrance and two copies of Appointer of the Red Lotus. What a beat. He Summoned Reinoheart, sent Merrli to the Graveyard with Reinoheart’s effect, and blew away his Kitkallos to bring Merrli back, triggering eight mills in the process: he hit Paleozoic Dinomischus and Tearlaments Scheiren. 

He used Scheiren to Fusion Summon Garura, Wings of Resonant Life! Creti Link Summoned Spright Elf, drew with Garura, and Xyz Summoned Abyss Dweller. Creti Set a card to his backrow to end. Kotton now had more than 18,000 Life Points.

Kotton’s hand was Pot of Desires, Danger! Nessie!, Danger!? Tsuchinoko?, Tearlaments Reinoheart, and Tearlaments Havnis. Creti detached for Abyss Dweller’s effect in the Standby Phase. Kotton moved to Main Phase 1, banished 10 cards for Pot of Desires, and drew Instant Fusion and Fairy Tail – Snow. He set Instant Fusion, activated the effect of Danger! Nessie! and discarded Snow! He summoned Nessie, drew another Nibiru, the Primal Being, and inspected Creti’s Graveyard.

Kotton revealed Danger!? Tsuchinoko?, discarded Reinoheart, Summoned Danger!? Tsuchinoko?, and drew PSY-Framegear Gamma. He moved to battle, attacked with Nessie, and Creti flipped Super Polymerization again, fusing for Mudragon of the Swamp to clear Kotton’s field. He activated Mudragon’s effect to make it a FIRE monster, but Kotton responded with PSY-Framegear Gamma! Mudragon was destroyed and Kotton got to Special Summon PSY-Frame Driver from his Deck. He attacked Abyss Dweller to destroy it with PSY-Frame Driver, then moved to Main Phase 2.

Kotton flipped his Set Instant Fusion. He brought out Kitkallos, searched Tearlaments Sulliek, used Tearlaments Kitkallos’s effect on itself to get back Reinoheart, and Creti responded with Spright Elf’seffect to revive Merrli. He Fusion Summoned another Kitkallos, sent Tearlaments Scheiren to the Graveyard and used it to Fusion Summon Tearlaments Kaleido-Heart. He targeted Gamma with Kaleido-Heart’s effect, Kotton chained, Special Summoning Havnis, and his Gamma went back to his Deck. He Linked for Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy, Special Summoned Creti’s D.D. Crow, and used it as part of the Link Summon for Topologic Zeroboros again! Kotton passed.

Creti moved to take his turn, and in the Draw Phase Kotton banished seven cards from his Graveyard to Special Summon back Fairy Tail – Snow, triggering Topologic Zeroboros’s effect to clear the field. Creti brought out Tearlaments Scheiren, fused, and brought out another Tearlaments Kitkallos. It got him Reinoheart, Creti Summoned it, and he sent Tearlaments Merrli to the Graveyard. He Fusion Summoned Predaplant Dragostapelia next, Xyz Summoned Time Thief Redoer, banished to Special Summon Ronintoadin, and Link Summoned. He took Kotton’s Merrli, and when he Special Summoned it, Kotton dropped Nibiru, the Primal Being on him!

With fewer than 30 seconds remaining before time was called, and with Kotton sitting at that stunning 18,000 Life Points thanks to Ghost Sister & Spooky Dogwood, Creti knew it was time to give it up. He offered Kotton the handshake, it was graciously accepted, and this Match was over.

Kotton wins a hard fought first Duel, then hand traps his way to the win in Game 2, courtesy of Nibiru and Ghost Sister & Spooky Dogwood!

People used to talk about card advantage versus Life Points, and which one of them really won games. The old saying was always, “Life Points are nice, but I only need one to beat you.” But the first person to coin that phrase clearly didn’t know that one day in the future, Jesse Kotton would win a YCS Feature Match by having 18,000 Life Points, making himself impossible to kill.