Florida’s own Kamal Crooks is facing off against Canada’s Justin Delhon! Both Duelists are familiar names on the YCS circuit, and both are extremely successful: Crooks is a multi-time YCS winner and Delhon has finished in the Top Cut of 9 events himself, still looking for his first win. With a record of 7-2 for both men here at YCS Pasadena, a loss here is the end of their tournament run. It’ll be an exciting match, full of intensity and skillful play.

Crooks won the roll and decided to go first, opening with a hand of Tearlaments Scheiren, 2 Primeval Planet Perlerino, Tearlaments Sulliek, and Keldo the Sacred Protector. He started by activating Planet and adding Tearlaments Reinoheart to hand. He followed up with a Normal Summon of Keldo, then activated Scheiren sending Reinoheart from hand and sending Agido the Ancient Sentinel, Tearlaments Havnis and Herald of Orange Light to the Graveyard with her effect.

In a new chain, Havnis was Chain Link 1, Reinoheart was Chain Link 2, and Crooks decided to activate Agido as Chain Link 3.  Agido sent Nimble Angler, Havnis, Scheiren, and Kelbek! Delhon hit a Tearlaments Sulliek of his own. Reinoheart was Summoned sending Sulliek to Graveyard from hand, and Havnis was fused with itself and another Tearlaments to Summon Tearlaments Kitkallos. 

A new chain happened again, with Chain Link 1 being Scheiren, Kitkallos Chain Link 2, Angler Chain Link 3, and Reinoheart Chain Link 4. Chain Link 5 was Crooks’s Sulliek, and then Delhon’s Sulliek was Chain Link 6! Delhon added a copy of Reinoheart to hand, Crooks got Merrli, sent Havnis with Reinoheart, Special Summoned a Nimble Beaver with Angler’s effect, searched Sulliek with Kitkallos. He combined Scheiren with Havnis to Summon Garura, Wings of Resonant Life.

Keldo and Reinoheart were overlaid to make an Abyss Dweller, then Kitkallos was activated targeting herself to Summon Tearlaments Merrli. Crooks sent 8 cards to the grave, including his Spright Smashers and Mudora, but no live effects were hit either. Garura and Beaver were linked together into Spright Elf and Garura drew crooks another Kelbek. He activated his Mudora, to send back Smashers, Scheiren, and Spright Jet, effectively resetting that engine after the previous flurry of effects. Elf targeted Beaver, Special Summoning it, and Beaver was overlaid with Merrli to Xyz Summon Gigantic Spright. Gigantic’s effect Summoned Spright Blue who added Spright Jet, then Jet was summoned and added Spright Smashers showing the level of flexibility this strategy has. Gigantic and Blue were Linked together to make I:P Masquerena, with 2 face-downs and Crook’s passed play to Delhon!  What a stellar turn.

Delhon was up next, taking a moment to consider how to proceed into such a powerful field. He kicked off his turn with Terraforming, grabbing his own Primeval Planet Perlerino, which was activated to add Tearlaments Scheiren to hand. “You have no shuffle back effects, right?” questioned Delhon, which Crooks then corrected pointing to the Dweller that had a Keldo under it. He then activated the Dweller, placing the Keldo in the GY for later, and locking Delhon out of the GY effects for the turn.

Next up was Delhon’s Instant Fusion to bring him to 7000 LP to Summon Tearlaments Kitkallos. When he activated Kitkallos’s effect, Tearlaments Sulliek was activated by Crooks. Delhon chained Tearlaments Heartbeat, shuffling back Sulliek and discarding Herald of Orange Light. Kitkallos added Tearlaments Scream to hand and Crooks activated Kelbek to target Delhon’s Kitkallos sending back to the Extra Deck. Delhon followed up with Tearlaments Scheiren sending a Reinoheart, Havnis and Scheiren to grave but couldn’t use them thanks to Abyss Dweller. Delhon activated Tearlaments Scream, Normal Summoned another Reinoheart and used both effects! 2 Agido were sent to the grave by Scream and a Scheiren was sent by Reinoheart.

When Delhon attempted to end the Main Phase, crooks activated his I:P Masquerena with Kelbek to make a Knightmare Unicorn! Unicorn targeted the Scheiren which caused Delhon to concede!

After an incredible opening salvo, Crooks takes a decisive Game 1 victory.

Delhon decided to lead Game 2, hoping to establish as powerful of a turn as Crooks did in Game 1. Crooks opening hand was 2 Herald of the Orange Light, Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard, Tearlaments Scheiren and Spright Smashers. Delhon activated Instant Fusion paying 1000 to Summon Tearlaments Kitkallos, adding himself a copy of Tearlaments Merrli. From there, Primeval Planet Perlerino was activated, which added Tearlaments Reinoheart to hand as well. After sculpting his hand, Kitkallos was activated by Delhon, Summoning Merrli. 8 cards were sent thanks to Merrli and Kitkallos, including 2 more Merrli and a Keldo. Merrli in grave was activated and shuffled back itself and Kitkallos to make Garura, Wings of Resonant Life.

Tearlaments Reinoheart was Normal Summoned, and sent Scheiren to the grave, giving Delhon another Summon! This time Delhon made Mudragon of the Swamp by sending back a Bystial Magnamhut and followed up by linking the Merrli and Garura together to Summon Spright Elf. Garura was used to get Delhon yet another card, really showing the power of the strategy, and he activated Elf to Summon back Merrli once again before Xyz Summoning Abyss Dweller using Mudragon and Reinohheart. He set a facedown and passed play over to Crooks.

Crooks Drew a third Herald of Orange Light, and in response to Delhon activating his Dweller, Crooks used a pair of Oranges to attempt to negate it, but Delhon had Tearlaments Cryme to negate that and discard his Tearlaments Havnis! Havnis was activated, and Crooks considered using the third Herald, before conceding knowing he couldn’t keep up with the power of Delhon’s field.

Delhon takes a decisive victory in Game 2, taking us to Match point!

While siding, both Duelists laughed at how powerful the Ishizu Tearlaments openings have been, and how hard the deck is to counter when it’s piloted well. Crooks chose to go first in Game 3, and opened with a hand of Merrli, Angler, Scheiren, Beaver, and Planet which is a significantly better hand than he had in Game 2.

He activated Tearlaments Scheiren discarding Nimble Angler, sending 2 Havnis and another Beaver to the grave. Havnis was activated as Chain Link 1, with Angler being Chain Link 2, but Delhon had Bystial Magnamhut to banish the Havnis that activated. Magnamhut was activated by Delhon which Crooks gave a nod to before continuing. Primeval Planet Perlerino was activated next, adding Tearlaments Reinoheart that was swiftly Summoned and Crooks sent Tearlaments Scherien, activating its effect to Summon, but Delhon had Bystial Druiswurm to stop that as well!

Crooks sent Nimble Beaver and Scheiren to the grave to Link Summon Spright Sprind, sending Merrli to the grave and finally getting to Fusion Summon for Tearlaments Kitkallos thanks to her effect. Kitkallos was Chain Link 1 to search, with Primeval Planet as Chain Link 2 to destroy Delhon’s Magnamhut. Crooks considered his options for a moment, knowing that his tournament life was on the line. He settled on adding Tearlaments Sulliek to hand. Kitkallos activated her effect next, targeting Sprind and Summoning Merrli from his hand! Merrli then sent another Angler, Druiswurm and another Planet to grave, ouch.

Merrli and Reinoheart were linked for Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy and Crooks Summoned back Delhon’s Bystial Magnamhut and activated the effect to add! Then, Dharc and Magnamhut were used to Link Summon Spright Elf, who Summoned Nimble Angler, which then was overlaid into Gigantic Spright. Gigantic Summoned Spright Blue adding Spright Jet, which was Summoned, adding Spright Smashers to hand. Gigantic and Blue were linked together Summoning Crooks’s second Spright Elf and with 2 face downs, Crooks passed play after adding back Bystial Druiswurm from the grave thanks to Magnamhut.

Delhon started his turn by thinking carefully, knowing Crooks had a wealth of options. He decided to Normal Summon Diviner of the Herald, and in response to its effect Crooks used Tearlaments Sulliek sending his Kitkallos to grave. Kitkallos’s effect sent 2 Keldo the Sacred Protector, 1 Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard, 1 Mudora the Oracle Sword, and a Primeval Planet Perlerino! Crooks used Kelbek to send 5 cards from both players Decks and Delhon as turn player used Agido from hand as Chain Link 1, Tearlaments Havnis as Chain Link 2, and his Sulliek as Chain Link 3. Crooks added Chain Link 4 with his Havnis, Chain Link 5 was Mudora targeting Keldo, Delhon’s activated Havnis, and Merrli, and Delhon responded with a Chain Link 6 of his own; Keldo, to target Crooks’s Havnis and 2 copies of Keldo! After all of that, Delhon searched Tearlaments Scheiren and Summoned his Agido.

Crooks’s Planet activated next, targeting Delhon’s Diviner of the Herald and destroying it. Delhon thought for a moment, knowing Crooks had the Bystial Druiswurm in hand. At the attempt to end Main Phase 1, Crooks used Elf to target Merrli, which prompted Delhon to activate Bystial Magnamhut from his hand. Crooks considered his next move carefully and chained his Druiswurm targeting the same Merrli to stop Delhon from Summoning Magnamhut. Delhon continued his Main Phase by activating Tearlaments Scheiren and sending Merli from hand, then sending Havnis and Kelbek from Deck. Merrli sent back itself and Havnis to Fusion Summon his own Tearlaments Kitkallos, using its effect to add Tearlaments Scream to hand.

Scream was activated, and Delhon Xyz Summoned Abyss Dweller using Agido and Scheiren, sending Reinoheart, Agido and Mudora thanks to Scream. He used Agido next, chaining Dweller to cut Crooks off from the Graveyard. Delhon hit double Kelbek, with Crooks hitting nothing. Delhon then sent a Keldo thanks to Kelbek’s effect as well.

Crooks activated Spright Smashers after all the chains, banishing Delhons Kitkallos and his Spright Elf. Delhon finally entered his Battle Phase and attacked over Crooks’s monsters leaving him at 6600 to Delhon’s 8000. Delhon checked Crooks’s grave and used his Mudora to put back Crooks’s Fairies, leaving him unable to disrupt Delhon’s GY next turn, then he Xyz Summoned Zeus with Dweller and cleared the field!

Croooks drew Kelbek for turn, adding it to his hand of Nimble Beaver and passed.

Delhon Drew for turn, switched Zeus to Attack Position, and took a moment to consider his options. Magnamhut was activated targeting Crooks’s Druiswurm and Delhon Summoned Havnis for Game!

After an intense back and forth, Justin Delhon emerges victorious!