Welcome to Day 2 of TEAM YCS Las Vegas! We’ve got 2 more Swiss rounds before we finally cut to the Top 16 teams. For this Match we have a YCS Champion, Team Honorary Members’ Shunping Xu, playing an Adventure Kashtira Deck. He’s facing a WCQ winner, the Kentucky Boyz’ Chester Henson, playing Branded Despia. These are two first class Duelists, so we should be in for a great Match!

Duel 1

Henson won the die roll and played first. He started with Branded Opening in his Draw Phase, discarding Branded in Red to Special Summon Aluber the Jester of Despia. Aluber added Branded Fusion to his hand. In his Main Phase, he played Branded Fusion, and Xu negated it with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Henson played Fusion Deployment, revealing Granguignol the Dusk Dragon, and Special Summoned Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous. He used Cartesia’s effect to fuse it with Aluber for Granguignol in Defense Position in the Extra Monster Zone. Granguignol sent Bystial Saronir to the Graveyard, and Saronir’s effect sent Branded Retribution to the Graveyard as well. He then activated The Bystial Lubellion from his hand, adding Bystial Magnamhut. He Special Summoned it, banishing Saronir, and activated its effect. He then tributed Magnamhut to Special Summon Lubellion from his Graveyard in Defense Position. Its effect put Branded Beast on the field. He used Retribution from his Graveyard, adding Branded in Red to his hand. He Set one card and passed the turn with one card in his hand. In the End Phase, Magnamhut’s effect searched out Bystial Druiswurm.

Xu had another Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, 2 Pot of Prosperity, and Rite of Aramesir. He drew Kashtiratheosis. He played a Prosperity, banishing 6 cards, and revealed several Kashtira cards, but ended up taking Evenly Matched. He moved to his Battle Phase and played Evenly Matched. Henson flipped Branded in Red to get Aluber back to his hand. Then, he banished everything except Branded Beast. Xu went to Main Phase 2, thought for a while, and passed the turn with no other plays.

Henson Normal Summoned Aluber, getting Branded Fusion to his hand. He played it, and it was negated by Xu’s second Ash Blossom. Aluber attacked directly.

Xu drew Pressured Planet Wraitsoth. He played his second Prosperity, banishing just 3 cards, revealing Dark Ruler No More, Kashtira Fenrir, and Water Enchantress of the Temple. He took Fenrir, and Special Summoned it. Henson responded to the Summon with Druiswurm, banishing his Magnamhut. Fenrir activated, banishing Branded Beast. Henson Chained Beast, tributing Druiswurm to destroy Fenrir, and then Beast was banished. Xu played Wraitsoth and added Kashtira Unicorn to his hand. He Special Summoned it, and it added Kashtira Birth to his hand. He played Rite of Aramesir and created an Adventure Token, then put Fateful Adventure on the field. Xu then played Kashtira Birth, which Special Summoned Fenrir. That triggered Fateful Adventure to add Dracoback, the Rideable Dragon to his hand. He then activated Fateful Adventure’s effect to search for Wandering Gryphon Rider, sending Dracoback to the Graveyard. Dracoback activated in the Graveyard, equipping to the Adventure Token. The newly Summoned Fenrir added another Unicorn to his hand. He moved to his Battle Phase. His Adventure Token destroyed Aluber in battle. Fenrir attacked, then Unicorn. All his damage was halved from playing Pot of Prosperity earlier. He Set Kashtiratheosis.

When Henson saw his next card, he conceded the Duel!

Duel 2

Henson played first for the second Duel, and started with Aluber again. He searched for Branded Lost. He activated it, then played Branded Fusion. Just like last game, Xu had Ash Blossom to negate it! Xu was able to do this despite Branded Lost because Ash Blossom only negates the effect, not the entire activation. Henson played Branded Opening next, discarding Tri-Brigade Mercourier to search for Ad Libitum of Despia. He activated The Bystial Lubellion from his hand, adding Bystial Magnamhut. He banished Mercourier to Special Summon Magnamhut, and activated both of their effects. Mercourier searched out Albion the Shrouded Dragon. He activated Albion, sending Branded Retribution from his Deck to draw a new card and put Albion back in the Deck. He Tributed Magnamhut to Special Summon Lubellion, which put Branded Beast on the field. He activated Retribution from his Graveyard, targeting Branded Opening, but Xu negated it with Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion. Henson’s lingering Magnamhut effect added Druiswurm to his hand.

Xu had a hand of Kashtiratheosis, Rite of Aramesir, and Evenly Matched. He drew Fateful Adventure. He moved to his Battle Phase and played a first turn Evenly Matched once again! Same as last time, Henson banished everything except Branded Beast. In Main Phase 2, Xu played Fateful Adventure, using it to search out Wandering Gryphon Rider, sending Kashtiratheosis to the Graveyard. He activated Rite of Aramesir, then responded with Wandering Gryphon Rider to Special Summon itself. He put Wandering Gryphon Rider and his Adventure Token in Defense Position. Fateful Adventure equipped Dracoback, the Rideable Dragon to his token. Henson responded with Druiswurm, targeting his Magnamhut in the Graveyard. Xu responded with Wandering Gryphon Rider, shuffling it back in the Deck to negate and destroy Druiswurm. Dracoback bounced Branded Beast to the hand.

Henson Special Summoned another Magnamhut from his hand, banishing the first one. He Set one back row card. In the End Phase, his Magnamhut searched for The Bystial Lubellion.

Xu drew Pot of Prosperity, his only card in hand. He activated Fateful Adventure, and Henson responded with Branded Beast, Tributing Magnamhut to destroy Fateful Adventure and prevent it from resolving. Xu played Prosperity, banishing 6 cards. He added Kashtira Unicorn to his hand. Dracoback bounced Branded Beast. The Adventure Token attacked directly, dealing half damage due to Prosperity.

Henson used Lubellion’s effect to search for Magnamhut. He Special Summoned it, banishing another Magnamhut, and followed up with Fusion Deployment to bring Fallen of Albaz to the field, but found he couldn’t fuse it with the Adventure Token for anything. He sent it to attack the Adventure Token, destroying his own monster. Then he played Branded in Red to get it to his hand, and fused it with Magnamhut for Lubellion the Searing Dragon! Lubellion’s effect then fused Fallen of Albaz with The Bystial Lubellion for Albion the Branded Dragon! Albion’s effect fused Lubellion with a monster in the Graveyard for Predaplant Dragostapelia! All this was still in the Battle Phase, and he attacked to destroy the Adventure Token, then attacked directly.

Xu drew Ash Blossom, with Kashtira Unicorn as his only other card. He Special Summoned Unicorn and Dragostapelia negated it. Xu knew it was over and we move on to the next Duel. Just as this was happening, Koty Angeloff of Team Honorary Members defeated Elijah Green of the Kentucky Boyz. A win here from Xu would secure the Match for the team.

Duel 3

The final Duel started with just over 3 minutes remaining in the round.

Xu chose to play second. Henson played Aluber to start, just like the last Duels, and added Branded Fusion to his hand. He activated it, and for the first time, it actually resolved! It sent Fallen of Albaz and The Bystial Lubellion to the Graveyard to Fusion Summon Albion the Branded Dragon. Albion’s effect fused Aluber with another Aluber (from the hand) to play Masquerade the Blazing Dragon. He then Tributed Albion to bring The Bystial Lubellion to the field, which put Branded Lost on the field. Albion’s effect Set Branded in Red.

Xu had a hand of Dark Hole, Kashtira Fenrir, Ghost Belle, Fateful Adventure, and… Evenly Matched again! But with the timer running out and Henson’s Masquerade on the field, he couldn’t afford to pay any LP to activate his cards! He drew Wandering Gryphon Rider for the turn. He Special Summoned Fenrir and attacked Masuerade, not using Fenrir’s effect. The time ran out just now. Henson used Branded in Red to bring Lubellion the Searing Dragon to the field, which then used its effect to further bring forth Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon! Mirrorjade banished Fenrir. Xu couldn’t activate anything without losing LP to Masquerade, but couldn’t do any damage this phase either. That meant this Duel ended in a draw!

The final score for the team comes down to Team Honorary Members’ Pakawat Pamornsut and Kentucky Boyz’ Michael Gold, who were finishing up their third Duel (with a time extension due to a previous Deck check). The Duelists focused on their teammates, offering advice where they could. In the end, Pamornsut defeated Gold to take the Match for his team!

Team Honorary Members are victorious!