Hunter Lloyd is ready to continue his winning streak at YCS Philadelphia. Not only did he win his previous 4 matches, he hasn’t even dropped a single Duel yet!

Now he’s taking his Labrynths into a match-up we’re seeing pretty often here at YCS Philadelphia: Kashtira. Michael State is Lloyd’s opponent this Round, bringing the hugely popular Kashtira strategy to an undefeated record so far. We saw Kashtira take the win in an earlier feature today, but this is a new Round with new players, and anything could happen!

State won the dice roll and decided to go first. He activated Terraforming and searched for Pressured Planet Wraitsoth, then used it to get Kashtira Unicorn from his Deck. He searched Kashtira Birth off Unicorn, then activated Kashtiratheosis by targeting Unicorn. He Special Summoned Kashtira Fenrir from his Deck with Kashtiratheosis, and Fenrir’s effect found him Kashtira Riseheart. 

State Xyz Summoned Kashtira Shangri-Ira using Fenrir and Unicorn, then Special Summoned Riseheart. He banished Kashtira Big Bang with Riseheart’s effect, but Lloyd chained Effect Veiler to stop cards from being banished. Big Bang’s effect went off, eventually returning Fenrir back to the field. State activated Kashtira Birthand Set 2 cards. During the End Phase Lloyd activated Labrynth Chandraglier, discarding Arianna the Labrynth Servant to Set Big Welcome Labrynth to his field. 

Lloyd drew for his turn, and in Lloyd’s Standby Phase State State activated Kashtira Shangri-Ira, attempting to Summon a Kashtira from the Deck. Lloyd chained PSY-Framegear Gamma to negate it. Gamma resolved, Summoning PSY-Frame Driver from the Deck, but the Shangri-Ira stuck around on the field since State detached to save it. State activated Pressured Planet Wraitsoth in response to destroy the PSY-Frame Driver, but Lloyd chained Big Welcome Labrynth. 

Big Welcome bounced Driver back to the hand to Summon Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle from the Deck. Its effect activated, with Labrynth Chandraglier activating as Chain Link 2. State responded with Book of Moon, targeting Lovely Labrynth. It was flipped face down, Chandraglier went back to the hand, and Kashtira Fenrir was destroyed by Lovey Labrynth.

Lloyd Normal Summoned Arianna the Labrynth Servant and used its effect to search Labrynth Cooclock. He then activated Cooclock, and discarded Chandraglier and PSY-Frame Driver to Set Welcome Labrynth from his Deck to his field. Labrynth Cooclock returned to the hand with its own effect following the discard. Lloyd activatedWelcome Labrynth, Summoning Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle from the Deck. State responded to the Summon with Nibiru, the Primal Being! The Primal Being Token hit the field at 7100 ATK and 8200 DEF. Lloyd passed, left only with his face-down Lovely Labrynth and the Primal Being Token.

State activated the effect of Kashtira Birth to Summon Kashtira Fenrir from the Graveyard, then activated Fenrir’s effect to get Kashtira Riseheart. Lloyd responded with Droll & Lock Bird, shutting off the rest of State’s Deck-searching effects. State changed his plans and Normal Summoned Kashtira Unicorn with Kashtira Birth. He Special Summoned Riseheart with its effect, then it to banish Kashtiratheosis from his Deck. Three cards were banished face-down from the top of Lloyd’s Deck.

State then used the effect of Kashtiratheosis to return Kashtira Big Bang to his hand. State Xyz Summoned Dark Armed, the Dragon of Annihilation with Riseheart and Unicorn. He used Dark Armed’s effect to destroy Lloyd’s Set Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle, but Lloyd responded with Big Welcome Labrynth in his Graveyard to return Lovely Labrynth to his hand. Then, Lloyd activated Labrynth Chandraglier, followed by Welcome Labrynthin his Graveyard. Labrynth Cooclock, Chandelier, and Lovely Labrynth all ended up back in Lloyd’s hand, while Welcome Labrynth was Set again to the field. State targeted the Set Welcome Labrynth with Dark Armed, destroying it, and banished Kashtira Riseheart from his Graveyard in the process.

State tributed Dark Armed the Dragon of Annihilation with Enemy Controller to take Lloyd’s Primal Being Token. He entered the Battle Phase and declared an attack with Kashtira Fenrir. He attacked with the Primal Being Token next, but Lloyd discarded Chandraglier, discarding Lovely, to Set Welcome Labrynth. Cooclock was Summoned from the Graveyard since another Labrynth was pitched, and Lloyd chained Big Welcome Labrynth. He Summoned Labrynth Stovie Torbie from the Deck with Big Welcome Labrynth, and Kashtira Fenrirbanished Labrynth Cooclock. The Primal Being Token attacked and destroyed Stove Torbie, bringing Lloyd down to 2200 Life Points. State ended his turn, returning the Primal Being Token to Lloyd.

Lloyd drew for his turn before realizing that he couldn’t make a comeback against State’s monsters, even with the Primal Being Token.

Nibiru, the Primal Being swings the Duel decisively in State’s favor, turning Lloyd’s Labrynth monsters into dust and bringing his Deck to a screeching halt! Both players dove into their Side Decks and prepared for the next Match.

Lloyd started the Duel with Infinite Impermanence, Labrynth Stovie Torbie, Arianna the Labrynth Servant, and 2 copies of Gozen Match. He Normal Summoned Arianna the Labrynth Servant and activated its effect. State responded with Dimension Shifter. Lloyd chained Labrynth Stovie Torbie, discarding Gozen Match to Set Big Welcome Labrynth. Finally, he searched Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle with Arianna the Labrynth Servant. He activated the Lady’s effect to Summon it from his hand, then Set Gozen Match and Infinite Impermanence.

State skipped straight to his Battle Phase and activated Evenly Matched. Lloyd chained Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle’s effect to Set Infinite Impermanence from his Deck, purely to remove the possibility of drawing into it in the future. Eventy Matched resolved to banish everything but the Set Gozen Match. In Main Phase 2 State Summoned Kashtira Fenrir and activated its effect to search Scareclaw Kashtira. He Special Summoned Kashtira Riseheart and activated its effect to banish Kashtira Birth while banishing 3 cards off the top of Lloyd’s Deck face-down. He Xyz Summoned Kashtira Shangri-Ira with Riseheart and Fenrir, then tried to Summon Scareclaw Kashtira from his hand. Lloyd responded with Gozen Match, and the Scareclaw stayed in the hand.

Lloyd drew Droll & Lock Bird for his turn, and during the Standby Phase State activated Kashtira Shangri-Ira, Summoning Kashtira Riseheart from his Deck. Lloyd passed his turn.

State drew and activated Pressured Planet Wraitsoth. He added Kashtira Fenrir with its effect, then Set 1 card to his backrow and ended.

Lloyd drew Dogmatika Punishment during his turn. He Set it and passed.

State drew for his turn, and during the Draw Phase Lloyd activated Dogmatika Punishment by sending Albion the Branded Dragon to the Graveyard, to destroy Kashtira Riseheart. State then activated Pot of Prosperity, excavating 6 cards before adding Dimensional Shifter to his hand. He tributed Kashtira Shangri-Ira to Set a monster, then Summoned Scareclaw Kashtira from his hand. He attacked directly, bringing Lloyd down to 6500 Life Points. During the End Phase Lloyd added Branded Fusion to his hand with the effect of Albion.

Lloyd started his turn by drawing and activating Pot of Prosperity. He banished 6 cards from his Extra Deck to excavate 6 cards, getting Arianna the Labrynth Servant. He Summoned the Arianna and activated its effect, searching Labrynth Cooclock. He discarded Cooclock and Droll & Lock Bird to Set Big Welcome Labrynth.

State drew for turn and entered the Main Phase. Realizing that he was on the losing end of a long grind game, he conceded and the Match moved on to Game 3!

State’s early Evenly Matched tilted the Duel in his favor, but Gozen Match kept Lloyd in the game long enough to make a comeback! With the last game of the Match now up for grabs, both players consulted their Side Decks to make critical adjustments.

State opted to go first in Game 3. He opened with Pot of Prosperity, banishing 6 cards from his Extra Deck. He grabbed Kashtira Fenrir and Special Summoned it in Defense Position. Fenrir’s effect searched Scareclaw Kashtira. State activated Kashtiratheosis, Summoned Kashtira Unicorn from the Deck and activated its effect to get Kashtira Birth. He Special Summoned Kashtira Riseheart and used it to banish Kashtira Big Bang from his Deck along with 3 cards face-down from Lloyd’s Deck. Lloyd responded by discarding Labrynth Stovie Torbie and Big Welcome Labrynth to Set another Big Welcome Labrynth with Stovie’s effect. State’s Unicorn triggered, ripping a monster out of Lloyd’s Extra Deck.

State Xyz Summoned Kashtira Arise-Heart, then used its ability to banish Big Welcome Labrynth. Arise-Heart’s effect attached the banished copy of Infinitrack Goliath. State Set 1 card and entered the End Phase; Lloyd Summoned Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle. He bounced Arise-Heart with Big Welcome Labrynth, then Summoned Labrynth Stovie Trobie from the Graveyard.

Lloyd had started the Duel with Big Welcome Labrynth, Labrynth Stovie Torbie, Pot of Prosperity, Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle, and Gozen Match. He drew and attacked with Lady Labrynth. During his Main Phase 2 he activated Pot of Prosperity, which State negated with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. During the End Phase Lloyd used Trobie, discarding Lady Labrynth, to Set a Big Welcome.

State entered his Main Phase and activated Kashtira Birth. He used it to Summon Kashtira Fenrir from the Graveyard, and used its effect to search Kashtira Unicorn. He Normal Summoned Unicorn, then searched for Kashtiratheosis. State activated it, but Lloyd flipped Gozen Match.  He sent Unicorn to the Graveyard thanks to Gozen. He activated Scareclaw Kashtira to banish Kashtiratheosis, and that got him back a Kashtira card. Lloyd activated Big Welcome Labrynth and Summoned Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle, and Stovie hit the board alongside it. State cleared both monsters and attacked directly.

Lloyd Summoned Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle and attacked over Fenrir. 

State drew for his turn, Summoning Fenrir and attacked over Stovie Trobie. Lloyd flipped Skill Drain and that was it for State!

Labrynth brings Kashtira to a halt in Round 5, delivering decisive blows with cards like Skill Drain and Gozen Match. Hunter Lloyd is headed forward with another match win, bringing him another step closer to Day 2.