Top 16 Feature Match: Steven Santoli vs. Luke Parkes
Steven Santoli from Hamilton, Ontario made it into the top cut using a Spright Deck that doesn’t just include Frogs, but also uses Live Twin and Runick cards. All of the Live Twin monsters are Level 2 monsters, giving them a natural synergy with the Spright cards. The Runick cards from Tactical Masters give Santoli additional power by allowing him to deal with a variety of different situations and draw a ton of cards with the incredibly strong Runick Fountain. Luke Parkes from Sheffield, England is using a Tearlaments Danger! Deck, but there’s a twist to his Deck too – he’s using Branded in High Spirits and Albion the Shrouded Dragon in his Deck. He uses Branded in High Spirits to send D.3.S. Frog from his Extra Deck to his Graveyard and send Scheiren, Merrli, or Havnis from his hand to his Graveyard and trigger their effects. There are two cool Decks in this Top 16 Match, but only one of them can prevail. One of these Duelists will advance to the Top 8, while the other will be eliminated. It’s time to Duel!
Duel One
Parkes started off Duel 1 by activating Primeval Planet Perlereino and used it to add Tearlaments Reinoheart to his hand.
He Summoned it and activated its effect to send Tearlaments Scheiren to his Graveyard. Next, he used Scheiren’s effect to fuse it with the Reinoheart on his field and Summon Tearlaments Kitkallos. He used Kitkallos’s effect to add Tearlaments Merrli to his hand and then used Kitkaloss’s effect to Special Summon Merrli from his hand and then send Kitkallos to his Graveyard. He sent the top 8 cards of his Deck to his Graveyard with their effects and then used the effects of the Havnis, Merrli, and Sulliek he sent to the Graveyard. He added Scheiren to his hand with Sulliek and Fusion Summoned Mudragon of the Swamp and Garura, Wings of Resonant Life with the effects of Havnis and Merrli. Next, he activated the effect of Danger! Bigfoot! And randomly discarded Havnis. He Special Summoned Bigfoot and then drew a card. He activated the effect of Danger! Mothman! next and randomly discarded Reinoheart. He Special Summoned Mothman and drew a card. Next, he sent Garura and Merrli to his Graveyard to Link Summon Spright Elf and used Garura’s effect to draw a card. He used Elf’s effect to Special Summon Merrli and then used Mudragon’s effect to make it LIGHT. Next, he used the effect of Danger!? Tsuchinoko? to Special Summon it to his field and draw a card by discarding a card at random. He Link Summoned Curious, the Lightsworn Dominion next, but lost out on its effect to Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Then he Link Summoned Knightmare Gryphon and used its effect to Set Eradicator Epidemic Virus to his field by discarding Perlereino from his hand. In the End Phase, he used the effect of a Branded in High Spirits in his Graveyard to return it to his hand.
Santoli drew Live Twin Ki-sikil Frost and added it to his hand of Runick Flashing Fire, Runick Tip, and two Spright Starters. Parkes flipped Eradicator Epidemic Virus and Tributed Bigfoot to destroy all Spells, and Parkes Chained Spright Starter, followed by Runick Flashing Fire and Runick Tip. Tip Special Summoned Hugin the Runick Wings, Flashing Fire destroyed Spright Elf, and then Spright Starter Special Summoned Spright Blue from the Deck. Eradicator Epidemic Virus took down the Spright Starter that remained in Santoli’s hand. Santoli Link Summoned Spright Elf by sending Blue and Hugin to the Graveyard, and then Normal Summoned Frost. He then used Elf to Special Summon Blue from his Graveyard and added Spright Jet to his hand with Blue’s effect. He Special Summoned Spright Jet next and then combined his Spright Blue with Spright Jet to Xyz Summon Number 29: Mannequin Cat. He used its effect to Special Summon Merrli to Parkes’s field and then Special Summoned Live Twin Lil-la from his Deck with Mannequin Cat’s effect. Next, he Link Summoned Evil Twin Lil-La and activated its effect to destroy Knightmare Gryphon. He combined Spright Elf with Frost to Xyz Summon Gigantic Spright next and used its effect to Special Summon Spright Jet from his Deck. He used Jet’s effect to add Spright Starter to his hand. Next, he Link Summoned Spright Elf and used his Evil Twin’s effect to Special Summon Frost from his Graveyard. He Link Summoned Evil Twin Ki-sikil next and then Set his Spright Starter before ending his turn. His Battle Phase was skipped due to the effects of the Runick cards he previously activated.
Parkes drew a card and then activated Branded in High Spirits. Santoli Chained Spright Starter to Special Summon Spright Red from his Deck. Parkes revealed and discarded Scheiren from his hand and sent D.3.S. Frog from his Extra Deck to his Graveyard and added Albion the Shrouded Dragon to his hand. He used Scheiren’s effect, but lost out to the effect of Santoli’s Spright Red. Parkes Special Summoned Havnis and used its effect, then Fusion Summoned Kitkallos using the effect of Tearlaments Merrli. Santoli had seen enough – he conceded, realizing that he wouldn’t be able to mount a comeback.
Steven Santoli is almost able to fight back against Eradicator Epidemic Virus, but falls short and ultimately loses the first Duel to Luke Parkes!
Duel Two
Santoli opened up Duel 2 with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Nibiru, the Primal Being, Spright Carrot, Runick Fountain, and Runick Flashing Fire.
He activated the Fountain and then used Flashing Fire to Special Summon Hugin from his Extra Deck. He returned the Flashing Fire to his Deck with his Fountain’s effect to draw a card and then Special Summoned Spright Carrot. Next, Parkes activated the effect of Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries to banish all three copies of Spright Elf from Santoli’s Extra Deck. Santoli Special Summoned Spright Red and then Xyz Summoned a Gigantic Spright using Carrot and Hugin. He activated its effect to Special Summon Swap Frog from his Deck. He used Swap Frog’s effect to send Ronintoadin to his Graveyard and then returned the Swap Frog to his hand by activating its effect. He Summoned it again and sent Swap Frog from his Deck to his Graveyard. He Special Summoned Ronintoadin and then Xyz Summoned Toadally Awesome.
Parkes drew a card and Santoli Special Summoned Swap Frog from his Deck in the Standby Phase using Toadally Awesome’s effect. Parkes activated Super Polymerization! He discarded a Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries and sent Toadally Awesome and Swap Frog to the Graveyard to Summon Garura. Santoli used his Toadally Awesome’s effect to return Swap Frog from his Graveyard to his hand. Next, Parkes activated the effect of the Danger! Nessie! in his hand, but Parkes negated it with Spright Red by Tributing Gigantic Spright. Parkes Normal Summoned Reinoheart and activated its effect, but lost out to Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Next, Parkes Link Summoned Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy and used its effect to Special Summon Gigantic Spright from Santoli’s Graveyard. Parkes used Nessie’s effect to randomly discard Reinoheart, Special Summon Nessie to the field, and draw a card. Santoli activated the effect of the Nibiru in his hand to Tribute all monsters! He Special Summoned Nibiru in Attack Position, and Parkes got a Primal Being Token in Defense Position with 6250 ATK and 6200 DEF.
Santoli Summoned Swap Frog and then Special Summoned Spright Blue from his hand. He activated its effect to add Spright Jet to his hand and then used Jet’s effect to add Spright Smashers to his hand. He combined Jet with Blue to Summon Number 29: Mannequin Cat and then Parkes conceded.
Steven Santoli wins Duel 2 thanks to Nibiru and pushes the Match to a third and final Duel!
Duel Three
Parkes started off Duel 3 by activating Terraforming to add Perlereino to his hand and used Perlereino to add Tearlaments Reinoheart to his hand. He Normal Summoned it and activated its effect to send Tearlaments Scheiren to the Graveyard and used Scheiren’s effect to fuse it with Reinoheart and Summon Kitkallos. He used Kitkallos’s effect to add Merrli to his hand and then used Kitkallos’s other effect. He Special Summoned Merrli from his hand and sent Kitkallos to his Graveyard. He sent the top 8 cards of his Deck to his Graveyard and activated the effects of the Merrli and Havnis he sent to the Graveyard with their effects. He Fusion Summoned Garura and Predaplant Dragostapelia and then Link Summoned Spright Elf, drawing a card for Garura’s effect after it was sent to the Graveyard. Parkes Set 2 cards to his back row and then Santoli used Nibiru’s effect at the end of the Main Phase! Parkes Chained his Elf’s effect to Special Summon Merrli and then Nibiru cleared the field. Santoli Special Summoned the Nibiru in Attack Position and Parkes got a Token with 4900 ATK and 3900 DEF. Parkes used the effect of Danger! Bigfoot! next. He randomly discarded the Bigfoot, and used its effect to destroy Nibiru. Next, he activated the effect of Mothman, and randomly discarded Danger! Chupacabra!. He Special Summoned Bigfoot from his Graveyard with Chupacabra’s effect after Special Summoning Mothman and drawing a card.
Santoli drew a card and added it to his hand of Ronintoadin, two copies of Spright Starter, and Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion. He Summoned Ronintoadin and then used Spright Starter to Special Summon Spright Blue. He used Blue’s effect to add Jet to his hand and Parkes flipped Deck Devastation Virus! Santoli lost his whole field and the Ghost Belle from his hand. He Set a Spright Starter and Infinite Impermanence before ending his turn.
Parkes Special Summoned Blackwing – Zephyros the Elite from his Graveyard with its effect and then used Mothman’s effect. He discarded Scheiren randomly to Special Summon Mothman and draw a card. Then, he used Scheiren’s effect to Fusion Summon Kitkallos and used Kitkallos’s effect to add Tearlaments Havnis to his hand. He Normal Summoned Reinoheart and lost out on its effect to Infinite Impermanence. Next, Parkes Link Summoned Dharc and used its effect to Special Summon Spright Blue from Santoli’s Graveyard. He then entered his Battle Phase and attacked directly with Spright Blue. Santoli immediately offered the handshake, realizing he was defeated.
Devastated by Deck Devastation Virus, Steven Santoli is unable to recover in Duel 3. Luke Parkes is moving on to the Top 8!
