Welcome to the Top 32! We’ve got Jason Zimmerman, from New York, piloting one of the few Floowandereeze Decks to make it into the top cut. He’s up against Cameron Neal, from Dallas, TX, playing the new Deck-to-beat: Tearlaments Bystial.

Duel 1

Zimmerman won the die roll and started with a hand of 2 Pot of Prosperity, Pot of Duality, Floowandereeze & Stri, and Floowandereeze and the Advent of Adventure. He played Prosperity, banishing 6 cards to reveal several cards from his Deck, taking Floowandereeze & Robina. He then played Pot of Duality, revealing Dimension Shifter and… two more copies of Pot of Duality. He took a Duality. He played Advent, banishing Stri and adding Floowandereeze and the Magnificent Map to his hand. He played Map, banishing Floowandereeze & Eglen. He Normal Summoned Robina, returning Eglen to his hand and searching out Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds. He Normal Summoned Eglen, adding Stri back to his hand and searching for Floowandereeze & Empen. He Tribute Summoned Empen, adding Floowandereeze and the Dreaming Town to his hand. He Normal Summoned Barrier Statue, Set Dreaming Town, and passed the turn.

Neal started off playing Keeper of Dragon Magic, discarding Ad Libitum of Despia for its effect to add Instant Fusion to his hand. Zimmerman responded with to Map, playing Robina, then Eglen. He added Raiza the Mega Monarch to his hand, then tributed both new monsters for Raiza. He returned Neal’s Keeper and Ad Libitum to top of the Deck the Deck, and bounced Raiza itself back to his hand. Neal played Frightfur Patchwork, searching for Edge Imp Chain and Polymerization. He passed.

Zimmerman drew a new Robina. He played Pot of Duality to get Floowandereeze & Toccan. He used Map, revealing Robina and banishing Floowandereeze and the Unexplored Winds from his Deck. He played Robina, and added D.D. Crow and Eglen to his hand. He played Eglen, adding Mist Valley Apex Avian to his hand. He Tribute Summoned it. He played Stri and Toccan, getting Unexplored Winds back to his hand. He then Tribute Summoned Raiza, and sent his monsters to attack and wipe out Neal’s Life Points in a single Battle Phase!

Duel 2

Neal started off the second Duel with Primeval Planet Perlereino. He added Tearlaments Reinoheart to his hand, and Zimmerman activated Droll & Lock Bird. Neal played Reinoheart, sending Tearlaments Merrli, and Zimmerman banished Merrli with D.D. Crow. Neal played Branded Fusion, sending Fallen of Albaz and The Bystial Lubellion from his Deck to Fusion Summon Albion the Branded Dragon. He used Albion’s effect, banishing Fallen of Albaz from his Graveyard and Bystial Saronir from his hand, to play Lubellion the Searing Dragon. He used that to play Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon! He then Tributed Albion to Special Summon The Bystial Lubellion from his Graveyard. Its effect put Branded Beast on the field. He Set his last card in his back row. Albion’s effect Set Branded Banishment on the field.

Zimmerman’s starting hand was Barrier Statue, Dark Ruler No More, and Called by the Grave. He drew Evenly Matched! He moved to his Battle Phase and activated it, and Neal Chained Mirrorjade’s effect, sending Alba-Lenatus the Abyss Dragon for its effect. Then he tried to use Branded Banishment to get back Albion, and Zimmerman played Called by the Grave to banish it first. Mirrorjade resolved, banishing Neal’s own The Bystial Lubellion. Then Evenly Matched resolved: Zimmerman controlled Evenly Matched and Called by the Grave, so Neal banished everything except Mirrorjade and his unknown Set card. In the End Phase, he searched for Instant Fusion with Alba-Lenatus’s effect. Zimmerman knew it was over, with no Floowandereeze cards to mount a comeback, and conceded here!

Duel 3

Zimmerman started off first for the final Duel, with a hand of Pot of Duality, Unexplored Winds, Empen, Dreaming Town, and Harpie’s Feather Storm. He played Duality, revealing Solemn Judgment, Apex Avian, and Eglen. He took Eglen, and Normal Summoned it. Neal Chained Tearlaments Havnis, sending three cards from his Deck to the Graveyard, including one Tearlaments monster. Eglen resolved, adding Mega Raiza to Zimmerman’s hand. Neal’s Tearlaments fused into Tearlaments Kitkallos. Its effect put Reinoheart into his hand. Zimmerman continued, playing Unexplored Winds and Setting Dreaming Town and Harpie’s Feather Storm.

Neal activated Tearlaments Scheiren in his hand, and Zimmerman used Harpie’s Feather Storm. He then used Dreaming Town, tributing Eglen and Kitkallos to play Empen. He added Advent of Adventure to his hand, and returned Eglen to his hand as well. Neal Set a monster.

Zimmerman drew Barrier Statue. In the Draw Phase he played Advent, searching for Robina, banishing Eglen. He played Robina, Chained the banished Eglen, and Neal Chained Bystial Magnamhut from his hand to Special Summon it. Zimmerman resolved his effects, adding D.D. Crow to his hand. He Normal Summoned Eglen, which added another Empen. He tributed the two monsters for the new Empen, searching for Map and returning Robina to his hand. He then Normal Summoned Barrier Statue. Empen destroyed Magnamhut, then the second Empen destroyed Neal’s Set Reinoheart. Barrier Statue attacked directly. In Main Phase 2, Zimmerman used Unexplored Winds to shuffle away two cards, drawing Dimension Shifter and a second Map. In the End Phase, Neal’s Magnamhut let him get Albion the Shrouded Dragon. Zimmerman passed, forgetting to play Map! He immediately realized his mistake, but he’d already committed to the action.

Neal used Albion the Shrouded Dragon’s effect, putting Branded Retribution in the Graveyard and drawing a new card. Neal played The Winged Dragon of Ra – Sphere Mode! He Special Summoned Tearlaments Scheiren, sending cards from his Deck, including Tearlaments Merrli. Merrli’s effect let him Fusion Summon Tearlaments Rulkallos. Neal played Polymerization, fusing Scheiren, Keeper of Dragon Magic, and Lava Golem for Guardian Chimera! Scheiren’s effect put Kitkallos on the field, and Chimera destroyed Sphere Mode with its effect. Zimmerman offered the handshake!

Cameron Neal moves on to the Top 16 with Tearlaments Bystial!