Top 16 Feature Match: Dominic Couch Versus Koby Gyamfi
Dominic Couch and Koby Gyamfi are playing off here in the Top 16, in a Match that pits Couch’s Floowandereeze Deck against Gyamfi’s Bystial Spright build.
Before this round, Gyamfi had been issued a Deck Error infraction that placed him with a Game Loss for this Match, as his Side Deck was found to be missing a card. That meant this Match was effectively beginning in Game 2, but neither player was permitted to Side Deck before playing the second Duel. An unfortunate turn of events, but Gyamfi was still looking to recover and could still move on if he could win both remaining Duels back-to-back. He’d get to choose to go first.
Gyamfi opened with Nimble Angler, and Special Summoned Spright Jet to search his Deck for SprightStarter. He activated it, Special Summoning Spright Blue to go get Spright Red. He overlaid Blue and Jet to Xyz Summon Number 65: Djinn Buster, Special Summoned Spright Pixies, and Linked with Angler to Link Summon Spright Sprind. He used it to send Spright Carrot to the Graveyard.
“Two in hand, right?” asked Couch.
Gyamfi confirmed and played on, and Linked Sprind and Red for Gigantic Spright. He Special Summoned Swap Frog, sent another Swap to the Graveyard and bumped his Swap Frog back to his hand. He Special Summoned it by pitching the Angler, and Special Summoned two copies of Nimble Beaver.
“Now you have one in hand?”
“Yup.” Gyamfi Linked the two Beavers for Spright Elf, and used its effect to bring back the other Swap Frog. He overlaid both to Xyz Summon Toadally Awesome, then ended his turn.
Play was to Couch. Gyamfi used Toadally Awesome’s effect in Couch’s Standby Phase to bring back Swap Frog, and Couch activated Pot of Duality. He revealed Dimension Shifter, Mist Valley Apex Avian, and Floowandereeze and the Magnificent Map, taking the Map. Couch activated it, drawing out Gyamfi’s Toadally Awesome effect to negate it. Gyamfi took the Map, then used Toad’s effect to get back a Beaver.
“I’ll activate Advent, banishing Eglen,” declared Couch, playing Floowandereeze and the Advent of Adventure. He gained his 500 LP and took another Map from his Deck. Couch activated it, and on resolution Gyamfi used his Spright Elf’s effect, bringing back his Carrot. Couch took a moment to read it, then Normal Summoned Floowandereeze & Robina, making its effect Chain Link 1 and Eglen’s effect Chain Link 2. The Chain resolved: Couch got back his Eglen and searched Floowandereeze & Stri, summoning it and targeting his Pot of Duality. Gyamfi Chained the effect of Number 65: Djinn Buster to negate it and burn Couch for 500.
“Uhhh…” Couch thought a moment, and found himself out of Summons. “I’m good to go to next game.”
Koby Gyamfi battles back from his Game 1 loss to even up the score! With 40 minutes left in the Round, this Match was going to have a decisive winner. Since Couch and Gyamfi couldn’t Side Deck before playing the previous game, both were eager to get into their Side Decks now.
The final Duel would decide who was going to the Top 8, and who was going home.
Couch opened with Dimension Shifter! He activated Magnificent Map to use its effect, revealing Robina and banishing Eglen from his Deck; he got back Eglen, Summoned Robina, and searched his Deck for Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds. Couch Summoned the Eglen, activated its effect, and Chained Advent of Adventure banishing Floowandereeze & Empen from his hand. That got him Floowandereeze & Toccan and Mist Valley Apex Avian from his Deck, gaining him 500 LP.
He summoned Toccan, got back Empen, banished Robina and Toccan to Tribute Summon Empen, and the resulting Chain got back both of his banished cards, plus Floowandereeze and the Dreaming Town from his Deck. He Summoned Toccan, then Tributed Toccan and Eglen for Apex Avian. Couch Set one card to his backrow and ended, looking like he was in a great spot.
But Gyamfi had answers. He took a moment to double check the effect of Mist Valley Apex Avian, thenactivated Cosmic Cyclone targeting Couch’s Set card. Couch Chained the effect of Avian to negate the Cyclone, but Gyamfi Chained Book of Eclipse! Apex Avian and Empen went face-down, and Couch lost his Set Dreaming Town to Cyclone. Then Gyamfi activated another Cosmic Cyclone, banishing Couch’s Magnificent Map! Gyamfi used
He followed up, Normal Summoning Nimble Beaver to get Nimble Angler, then Special Summoned Spright Jet to get Spright Starter, and used it to Special Summon Spright Blue. That got him Carrot from his Deck, and Gyamfi considered his next move very carefully.
He eventually settled on Special Summoning Carrot in defense mode, then Link Summoned Spright Sprind. The materials were banished under Shifter’s effect. Gyamfi Special Summoned Spright Red, then overlaid Blue and Jet for Onibimaru Soul Sweeper, and detached Jet to target Apex Avian to banish it until the End Phase. He sent Onibimaru to attack into the face-down Empen, but Couch used its effect, banishing his Barrier Statue from his hand. That halved the 1900 ATK of Onibimaru to just 950 ATK, keeping Empen on the field! Gyamfi moved to Main Phase 2 and passed.
Dominic had 8500 Life Points, while Gyamfi had 4850. Couch drew for turn with 3 cards in hand and Empen on the field. Gyamfi had Onibimaru, Spright Carrot, and Spright Sprind.
Couch shifted Empen to attack mode, attacked to destroy Spright Red, and moved to Main Phase 2 to Normal Summon Robina! He made Eglen Chain Link 2 in the resulting Chain, got it back, and searched his Deck for Floowandereeze & Stri. He Normal Summoned Eglen, used its effect and searched his Deck for Raiza the Mega Monarch.
Couch Summoned Stri to target Shifter in his Graveyard, then activated Toccan’s effect as Chain Link 2. He Summoned Toccan, activated its effect targeting Dreaming Town, retrieving it. He Tributed Robina and Eglen for Raiza, making Raiza’s effect Chain Link 1 and Robina Chain Link 2. He spun Spright Red and Spright Carrot to the top of Gyamfi’s Deck, then bounced away Onibimaru Soul Sweeper. He got his Robina back and Set one card to his backrow.
Gyamfi drew for his turn and Special Summoned Spright Red. Upon Summon Couch flipped Dreaming Town. He made Robina Chain Link 1 and Eglen Chain Link 2. He Tributed Robina and Toccan for Mist Valley Apex Avian, then used Dreaming Town as Chain Link 1 and Robina as Chain Link 2.
“I’ll scoop it up from here,” replied Gyamfi, cordial. “GGs!”
Dominic Couch pulls out all the stops in the third and final Duel of the Match, opening with Dimension Shifter, giving up his Barrier Statue to keep himself on the field when his opponent rallies, and then floods the table with birds to take the win! Couch is moving on to the Top 8.
