Round 4 Feature Match: Jesse Kotton vs. Reinaldo Lainez Diaz
Jesse Kotton from Toronto, Canada is no stranger to the Feature Match table. He has won 4 Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series tournaments and competed in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Championship 3 times. Now he’s back with his Kashtira Deck, facing off against Reinaldo Lainez Diaz from Malden, Massachusetts and his Branded Despia Deck. Both of these Duelists are currently 3-0, but only one of them can advance with a perfect 4-0 record. It’s time to Duel!
Duel One
Lainez activated Branded Fusion to start his turn, but lost out to Kotton’s Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring!
He Set a monster and a card to his back row before passing his turn.
Kotton drew Scareclaw Kashtira and added it to his hand of 2 copies of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Triple Tactics Talents, and Kashtira Unicorn. He Special Summoned Unicorn and used its effect to add Kashtiratheosis to his hand. Next, he activated Kashtiratheosis by targeting his Unicorn, but lost out to Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Kotton used the effect of his Unicorn to banish Albion the Branded Dragon from Lainez’s Extra Deck face-down. Next, Kotton activated Triple Tactics Talents to draw Kashtira Fenrir and Book of Eclipse from his deck. He Special Summoned Scareclaw Kashtira from his hand by banishing the Kashtiratheosis. He combined his monsters to Xyz Summon Number 89: Diablosis the Mind Hacker and then attacked and destroyed Lainez’s face-down Fallen of Albaz. At the end of the Battle Phase, Kotton used his Number 89’s effect to try to banish the Fallen of Albaz face-down, and Lainez flipped Branded in Red to return Fallen of Albaz to his hand and fuse it with the Dark Magician in his hand and Summon Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon. In Main Phase 2, Kotton used his Number 89’s effect to banish another Albion from Lainez’s Extra Deck face-down. Number 89’s other effect triggered to banish the top 2 cards of Lainez’s Deck face-down. Kotton Xyz Summoned Divine Arsenal AA-Zeus – Sky Thunder in Main Phase 2 and used its effect to send Dragoon to the Graveyard. Since Lainez had no cards in his hand, he couldn’t stop any of Kotton’s plays with his Dragoon! Kotton Set a card to his back row and then passed his turn.
Lainez drew a card and passed his turn.
Kotton drew and activated Pressured Planet Wraitsoth, but lost out to its effect from Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.
Lainez drew and activated Foolish Burial, but lost out to Kotton’s second Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.
Kotton activated another Wraitsoth next turn and used it to add Kashtira Riseheart to his hand. He Special Summoned it in Attack Position and used its effect to banish Kashtira Big Bang from his Deck and the top 3 cards of Lainez’s Deck face-down. Direct attacks from Zeus and Riseheart dropped Lainez down to 100 Life Points!
Lainez drew a card and conceded.
Jesse Kotton wins the first Duel of the Match with three copies of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring in his opening hand!
Duel Two
Lainez started off Duel 2 by activating Branded Opening in his Draw Phase, and Kotton Chained Dimension Shifter! Lainez banished Despian Tragedy from his hand to Special Summon Aluber the Jester of Despia from his Deck. He used the effects of Tragedy and Aluber to add Branded Expulsion and another Aluber to his hand and then activated Branded Fusion. Kotton Chained Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to negate its effect. Next, Lainez activated Allure of Darkness to draw 2 cards and banish an Aluber from his hand. Lainez Set a card to his back row and then passed his turn.
Kotton drew Kashtira Riseheart and added it to his hand of 2 copies of Book of Eclipse and a Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion. He Set both copies of Book of Eclipse and passed his turn. Lainez flipped Branded Opening in the End Phase. Still under the effect of Dimension Shifter, he banished Nibiru, the Primal Being from his hand to Special Summon another Aluber. He used Aluber’s effect to add Branded Fusion to his hand and then began his turn.
Lainez activated Branded Fusion and sent Fallen of Albaz and Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous from his Deck to his Graveyard to Summon Albion the Branded Dragon. He activated Albion’s effect, but lost out to Kotton’s Ghost Belle. Lainez attacked directly with all 3 of his monsters, dropping Kotton down to 1900 Life Points.
Kotton drew his third Book of Eclipse and Set it. He passed his turn with 3 copies of Book of Eclipse face-down. Lainez flipped Branded Expulsion in the End Phase and Tributed his Albion to Summon Blazing Cartesia and Albion. He added Branded Fusion to his hand with the effect of Aluber and added Branded in Red to his hand with Albion’s effect.
Lainez started his next turn by activating Fusion Deployment! He revealed Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon from his Extra Deck to Special Summon the Dark Magician from his Deck! He tried to end the Duel with an attack from Dark Magician, but Kotton flipped Book of Eclipse, Setting all of Lainez’s monsters face-down. Still in his Battle Phase, Lainez used Branded in Red to Summon Lubellion the Searing Dragon. He used its effect to Fusion Summon Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon. Kotton flipped a second Book of Eclipse when the Dragoon attacked, and after Lainez negated it with his Dragoon’s effect, Kotton flipped his third Book of Eclipse to Set all of Lainez’s monsters face-down! In the End Phase, Lainez flipped all of his monsters face-up and drew 5 cards thanks to the effect of Book of Eclipse!
Kotton drew Kashtira Birth. He added it to his hand of Kashtira Riseheart and conceded, unable to make any meaningful play.
Reinaldo Lainez Diaz wins Duel 2 after Summoning the Dark Magician to his field! The Match is going to a third and final Duel!
Duel Three
Kotton opened up Duel 3 with 2 copies of Pressured Planet Wraitsoth, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Pot of Prosperity, and Book of Moon.
He started by activating Wraitsoth and adding Kashtira Unicorn to his hand. Next, he Special Summoned it and activated its effect to add Kashtiratheosis to his hand. He activated the Kashtiratheosis to Special Summon Kashtira Fenrir from his Deck and then used Fenrir’s effect to add Kashtira Riseheart to his hand. He Special Summoned Riseheart and then used Fenrir and Unicorn to Xyz Summon Kashtira Shangri-Ira. He used Riseheart’s effect next, banishing Big Bang from his Deck to banish the top 3 cards of Lainez’s Deck face-down. He activated Big Bang’s effect as Chain Link 1 and Shangri-Ira’s effect as Chain Link 2. He blocked a Monster Card Zone on Lainez’s field with Shangri-Ira and Special Summoned a Unicorn. Next he Xyz Summoned Kashtira Arise-Heart over Shangri-Ira and then used his Riseheart and Unicorn to Xyz Summon Number 89: Diablosis the Mind Hacker. He activated Pot of Prosperity by banishing 6 cards from his Extra Deck next. He revealed 2 copies of Ash Blossom, 2 Unicorns, a Kashtiratheosis, and a Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion. He added the Ghost Belle to his hand and returned the other 5 cards to his Deck. Arise-Heart’s effect activated to gain a banished Infinitrack Goliath as an Xyz Material and then Kotton used Number 89’s effect to banish Rindbrumm the Striking Dragon from Lainez’s Extra Deck face-down. Kotton attached his banished Fossil Warrior Skull Knight to his Arise-Heart and then used Number 89’s effect to banish the top 4 cards of Lainez’s Deck face-down. Kotton attached a banished Big Bang to his Arise-Heart as an Xyz Material and then Set Book of Moon before ending his turn.
Lainez activated Dark Ruler No More! Kotton Chained Book of Moon targeting Number 89, and then Chained Arise-Heart’s effect to banish Dark Ruler No More face-down. He detached Goliath, Big Bang, and Shangri-Ira in doing so, and used his banished Big Bang’s effect to add the Kashtira Fenrir attached to his Arise-Heart as an Xyz Material to his hand and then Special Summon it in Defense Position. Lainez activated Branded Opening next. He sent Tragedy to the Graveyard and Special Summoned Aluber. He used the effects of Tragedy and Aluber to add another Aluber and a Branded Fusion to his hand and then activated Fusion Deployment. He revealed Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon from his Extra Deck to Summon Fallen of Albaz and used the Fallen of Albaz’s effect to fuse it with Arise-Heart and Summon Mirrorjade. Kotton used his Fenrir’s effect to banish Mirrorjade, and Lainez Chained Mirrorjade’s effect. He sent Albion the Branded Dragon to his Graveyard to banish Fenrir and then Summoned Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous. Blazing Cartesia attacked and destroyed the face-down Number 89. Lainez Set a card to his back row and tried to use Albion’s effect in the End Phase, but Kotton used Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to stop it.
Kotton drew Dimension Shifter and then activated another copy of Wraitsoth. He added a Kashtira Unicorn to his hand and then Special Summoned it. He used Unicorn’s effect to add Kashtira Birth to his hand and then activated the Birth. He used its effect to Special Summon Kashtira Fenrir and then used Fenrir’s effect to add Scareclaw Kashtira to his hand. As Kotton tried to leave his Main Phase, Lainez activated his Blazing Cartesia’s effect to fuse his monsters together into Despian Quaeritis. Kotton entered his Battle Phase next, and attacked Quaeritis with Fenrir. He used Fenrir’s effect to banish the Quaeritis before attacking directly instead, and then attacked directly with Unicorn. Unicorn’s effect banished Guardian Chimera from Lainez’s Extra Deck face-down. Next, Kotton Special Summoned Scareclaw Kashtira from his hand and banished Kashtiratheosis from his Graveyard. He added Unicorn to his hand with Kashtiratheosis’s effect and then Xyz Summoned Number 89. He banished another card from Lainez’s Extra Deck face-down with the effect of Number 89, and then banished 13 more cards from Lainez’s Deck face-down, leaving him with just 9 cards left in his Deck. Finally, Kotton Normal Summoned Ghost Belle and Synchro Summoned Baronne de Fleur, causing Lainez to promptly concede.
Jesse Kotton is advancing with a 4-0 record here at YCS Philadelphia!
