We have Shunping Xu from Philadelphia, facing off against Michael Thomas from Chicago. Both duelists are 6-2 in this round, so a loss means they’re out of the tournament. They’re both extremely accomplished, with Michael finishing top 4 of a Remote Duel Invitational and Shunping being both a YCS and UDS Champion!

Xu’s hand was Crossout Designator, Primeval Planet Perlerino, Instant Fusion, Tearlaments Havnis, and Mudora the Sword Oracle. Thomas started off game 1 with Tearlaments Scream, then activated Instant Fusion to summon Tearlaments Kitkallos. He used Kitkallos as Chain Link 1, and Scream as Chain Link 2. Scream sent Mudora, Tearlaments Scheiren, and a Tearlaments Reinoheart to Graveyard, a stellar way to start the game, and Kitkallos added Tearlaments Cryme to hand from the Deck.

Thomas then used only Reinoheart from grave, summoning it by discarding another Reinoheart from hand. Reinoheart’s on field effect activated (ended up sending Havnis), but Xu had a Tearlaments Havnis, sending Mudora, Keldo, and a Kelbek of his own.

After a laugh from everyone at the table over the absurdly good cards Xu sent, Thomas used Havnis effect as Chain Link 1, and Xu took a moment to ponder his effects. Ultimately, he used Kelbek as Chain Link 2, Thomas used Mudora as Chain Link 3 targeting Xu’s grave and his Scheiren. Xu fired back with his Mudora, targeting Thomas’s Reinoheart and Havnis.

Once Kelbek resolved, both Duelists sent several powerful effects to the grave, as turn player Thomas used Scheiren as Chain Link 1, Xu responded with Havnis, and then Nimble Angler was used as Chain Link 3, Thomas used Keldo to target the activated Havnis, his own Planet, and nothing else.

After all that, Xu had 2 Nimble Beaver on the field, and a Tear Havnis, to Thomas’s Muddragon, Reinoheart, and Kitkallos. All on the first turn of the game!

Thomas used Kitkallos’s effect to swap it out for Tearlaments Merrli, Sending 8 cards to the grave afterwards. He activated the effects Sulliek and Merrli; with the Sulliek adding Havnis, and Merrli sending itself and another monster for Garura, Wings of Resonant Life! Thomas link Summoned Spright Elf using Garura and Merrli, drawing a bonus card thanks to Garura’s effect. He then activated Elf targeting Diviner of the Herald, which used her effect to send Mudora and become a level 6 Tuner Monster. Bystial Magnamhut was summoned next, before being overlaid with the Diviner to Summon Beatrice Lady of the Eternal. Beatrice activated, sending Keldo to the grave.

Thomas wasn’t done though, as he Xyz Summoned Abyss Dweller using Reinoheart and Mudragon. During the End Phase Thomas added a Bystial Druiswurm with Magnamhut’s effect. With that, Xu was up!

Xu drew Tearlaments Sulliek and mulled over activating an effect as turn player before Thomas could. He chose to let Thomas use his Abyss Dweller, meaning his key Graveyard effects were turned off for the turn. Xu Normal Summoned a Mudora from his hand, prompting Thomas to ponder all the options at his disposal. Thomas used Elf targeting his in GY Merrli, which made Xu use his Mudora from field to target the Merrli, Thomas’s Mudora in grave, and Keldo. Thomas had no response but made sure to clarify he was considering any plays on resolution of the chain. He then chose to activate Beatrice’s effect, sending Tearlaments Havnis to the Graveyard, using its effect. Xu fired back instantly with Crossout Designator calling Tearlaments Havnis, and Thomas realized he couldn’t use his Tearlaments Cryme!

Xu took a moment to think over his plays, and both players chuckled about how complex this mirror match can be given both Duelists have access to their most powerful cards all the time. After some consideration, Xu activated his Primeval Planet Perlerino, adding Scheiren to hand. Instant Fusion was activated next, summoning Mudragon of the Swamp. The Nimble Beavers from before were overlaid to Xyz Summon Gigantic Spright next, then Xu Normal Summoned Scheiren and overlaid for an Abyss Dweller of his own!

Abyss Dweller then attacked over the Spright Elf, then Xu used Abyss Dweller in the Battle Phase to lock Thomas out of his Graveyard effects for the rest of the turn. Gigantic Spright was activated, and Thomas used Tearlaments Havnis to send Kelbek, Planet and Merrli to the grave. (The Havnis shouldn’t have been activated due to Crossout Designator, once the players realized this the judge ruled it as an accepted gamestate.)

 Spright Blue was summoned from the Gigantic, declared Blue’s effect, Thomas considered his options carefully, and chose not to respond. Spright Jet was added to hand, and then Summoned, and this time Tearlaments Cryme was able to be activated to stop the Jet from adding, with Thomas losing a Herald of the Orange Light in the process.

Once Xu Link Summoned his Spright Elf, Thomas used the effect of Tearlaments Scream, to send even more cards to the grave, and Elf summoned back Spright Red.

Thomas drew for turn and considered his options. Xu activated his Abyss Dweller, prompting Thomas to chain his as well. Xu then activated his Tearlaments Sulliek to target Thomas’s Dweller and sending his on field Havnis. From there, Havnis was activated, Thomas chained Bystial Druiswurm, but Spright Red negated and destroyed it by tributing Spright Elf. Kitkallos was summoned thanks to the Havnis, and the Chain Links were Chain Link 1 Thomas’s Scream, Xu’s Kitkallos as Chain Link 2, and Planet as Chain Link 3 to target the Havnis on Thomas’s field.

Kitkallos sent Scheiren to the Graveyard next, and Thomas sent double Mangamhut and a Keldo to the grave with Scream’s effect. In a new chain, Xu activated Scheiren to Fusion Summon, sending itself and Mudragon of the Swamp into the Deck for Predaplant Dragostapelia.

“Okay, I will proceed to my standby phase.” Thomas laughed.

Beatrice was switched to Attack Position in the Main Phase, and Thomas considered his options. Despite the Abyss Dweller, the Tearlaments Deck can do a number of crushing plays. He Normal Summoned Tearlaments Merrli, and considered carefully the value of activating her effect, which he chose against. Merrli and Abyss Dweller were linked together to make a Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy which then Summoned Gigantic Spright. He attacked over Kitkallos with Beatrice, and Spright Red was destroyed by Gigantic Spright, leaving Xu at 6800 LP to Thomas’s 6200. He then passed play to Xu.

Xu drew Keldo for turn, scratching his head as he contemplated what to do. Keldo was Normal Summoned, and Xu went to the Battle Phase, his Dweller attacked the Gigantic Spright Thomas had taken, with Dragostapelia attacking over Beatrice. Still in the Battle Phase, Xu used his Keldo to target Thomas’s Keldo, his own Spright Elf, and his Kitkallos. Thomas fired back with a Keldo of his own, targeting 2 copies of Primeval Planet and his Terraforming, all from his grave to refuel his Deck. Because a card was shuffled into the Deck, Xu was able to use his copy of Primeval Planet to destroy his own Sulliek to add Havnis to his hand, very heads up play. In Main Phase 2, Xu Summoned his own Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy and targeted Thomas’s Kitkallos. With that, Thomas conceded.

 After a grueling Game 1 where both Duelists saw a large portion of their Decks, Xu wins Game 1.

Game 1 finished and there were less than 15 minutes on the clock, meaning everything had to be done efficiently as every second counts. With all the powerful effects being slung by both Duelists, and some excellent play in Game 1, it’s no surprise that it took so long.

Thomas was up first, and Xu opened with a hand of 2 Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries, 2 Tearlaments Scheiren, and a Forbidden Droplet. Thomas activated Primeval Planet Perlerino to add Tearlaments Reinoheart, Summoning it and using it’s effect to send Havnis to the grave. In response to Havnis, Xu activated his Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries, revealing  his Kitkallos. Because of the Cherries banishing his copies of Kitkallos, Thomas couldn’t legally resolve his Havnis and had to set 1 facedown and pass turn.

Xu drew ANOTHER Forbidden Droplet for turn, sighed, scratched his head, but pressed on. Tearlaments Scheiren was activated by sending another copy from hand and sending 2 Merrli and a Mudora to the grave! His Graveyard fully loaded, Xu activated Scheiren to Fusion Summon Kitkallos, and used Kitkallos to add Tearlaments Reinoheart to hand.

Next, Xu’s Kitkallos targeted itself, and Thomas chained Super Polymerization discarding Mudora to Fusion Summon his own Predaplant Dragostapelia using Xu’s field. Xu Summoned back his Merrli, and used its effect as Chain Link 1, Kitkallos as Chain Link 2, and Mudora as Chain Link 3, then Thomas chained his Mudora as link 4, ultimately placing the Kitkallos back in the extra Deck. After sending 8 cards to the grave, Xu hit 2 Nimble Angler and Havnis as well.

Havenis was used as Chain Link 1, while Chain Links 2 and 3 were the Nimble Anglers, Perlerlino was Chain Link 4, targeting Xu’s Tearlaments Merrli. Xu Summoned his 2 Nimble Beavers and resolved Havnis to send itself and Cherries back to the Deck to summon Mudragon of the Swamp.

In a new chain, Merrli was link 1 to fusion, and Mudragon was link 2 calling DARK, to prevent Thomas from targeting DARK monsters. Tearlaments Kaliedo-Heart was summoned from Merrli and Shuffled back Thomas’s Dragostapelia. Then Xu Normal Summoned his last Cherries, made a Spright Elf, which brought back Nimble Angler, and then he made a Gigantic Spright! In response to using Elf’s effect, Thomas chained Nibiru, the Primal Being, clearing the entire field and summoning a token of 8400 Attack, and a colossal 8400 defense. That ended Xu’s turn.

Thomas Normal Summoned Tearlaments Reinoheart, and in response to Reinoheart’s effect xu used his Forbidden Droplet, sending another Forbidden Droplet to negate the Reinoheart. With nothing else to do Thomas set 1 card facedown and passed play to Xu.

Xu drew Keldo, switched the Primal Being Token to Attack Position, and attacked the Reinoheart for 6400 damage before passing. Thomas drew for turn and immediately activated Super Polymerization, to make Garura, the Resonant Wings before passing back again.

Xu drew Tearlaments Havnis for turn setting it and passing.

Thomas activated Bystial Mangamut targeting Nibiru in the grave, and Keldo was chained by Xu to prevent the Summon!

Thomas drew, and Garura attacked and play was back to Xu, who drew Sulliek and passed.

Thomas drew, and activated Bystial Magnamhut again, but Xu used Mudora to shuffle the target back again, Garura attacked once more and play was again back to Xu.

Xu drew Merrli, and activated it’s effect, chaining Sulliek to negate the Garura and preventing Thomas from using the Magnamhut again as he had no monsters. Afterwards, he fusion summoned a Dragostapelia and swung for game!

After a grueling and long mirror match, Shunping Xu emerges victorious!