Round 4 Feature Match: Benjamin McDow vs. Chandler Morrow
Benjamin McDow, hailing from British Columbia in Canada is here today piloting his Dragon Link Deck and is currently has 2 wins and a draw. He’s facing off against Chandler Morrow from Atlanta, GA using his Dragon Link Deck as well! Both players are using different variations of the same strategy, so it’ll be interesting to see who emerges victorious.
It’s time to Duel!
Duel 1
McDow began Duel 1 with a hand of Starliege Seyfert, Bystial Magnamhut, Bystial Druiswurm, Dark Ruler No More, and Triple Tactics Thrust. He Normal Summoned Seyfert, Tributing it to grab a copy of Black Dragon Collapserpent. From there he Summoned his newly acquired Dragon before Link Summoning Striker Dragon and added White Dragon Wyverburster to hand thanks to Black Dragon. Next, he Summoned the White Dragon by banishing Black Dragon, and linked his 2 Dragons into Dragunity Knight – Romulus, adding Dragon Ravine to hand with its effect.
McDow activated Dragon Ravine, discarding Dark Ruler No More to send The Bystial Lubellion to the Graveyard, and activated Bystial Magnamhut to banish White Dragon Wyverburster. Magnamhut was activated to add a Dragon Monster in the End Phase, and he Tributed it to Summon The Bystial Lubellion from his Graveyard, which he promptly activated to place Branded Beast on the field from the Deck. Lubellion and Dragunity Knight – Romulus were used to Link Summon Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres, and in the End Phase he resolved Bystial Magnamhut to add Bystial Baldrake to hand.
Morrow fired back on his turn with The Bystial Lubellion’s effect as well, adding Bystial Magnamhut to his hand and after a moment of consideration he entered his Battle Phase. At the start of the Battle Phase, Morrow activated Magnamhut to banish McDow’s copy of The Bystial Lubellion from his Graveyard. After activating Magnamhut’s effect, he declared an attack on Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres, which was Tributed to return Morrow’s Magnamhut to hand. McDow Summoned his own Magnamhut with the effect of his Heavenly Spheres, and activated its effect with a chuckle, noting how many times Bystial Magnamhut was being activated in this intense Duel.
Morrow pressed on, and in Main Phase 2, he Normal Summoned Rokket Caliber which was immediately met by McDow’s Branded Beast, Tributing Bystial Magnamhut to destroy Morrow’s Rokket Caliber. Morrow Set 1 facedown, activated Branded Regained, and in his End Phase, he added Bystial Druiswurm to hand thanks to his Magnamhut. McDow added a copy of The Bystial Lubellion to his hand with his own Magnamhut effect, and play was back to McDow.
McDow drew Bystial Saronir, adding it to his fistful of Bystials, and activated The Bystial Lubellion to add Bystial Magnamhut. He quickly activated his Magnamhut banishing Morrow’s Lubellion from the Graveyard, and in response to McDow’s monster’s effect to add a Dragon in the End Phase, Morrow chained his Branded Regained, attempting to draw a card, which was destroyed by McDow’s Branded Beast! Then, McDow activated the Saronir he drew to banish Morrow’s Rokket Caliber, and Morrow activated his Magnamhut to banish McDow’s Lubellion again, activating Magnamhut to search in the End Phase.
McDow activated his Triple Tactics Thrust to add Triple Tactics Talent to hand saying, “I just want to draw some cards!” and continued. The Talent drew him Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and Nibiru, the Primal Being, then McDow activated his Bystial Druiswurm targeting Bystial Magnamhut which forced Morrow to chain his own Druiswurm effect, only to be stopped by McDow’s Bystial Baldrake’s effect, which he Summoned by ultimately banishing the initially targeted Magnamhut. McDow took a moment to consider his options while checking his Extra Deck, then activated Dragon Ravine’s effect, discarding Nibiru to send Ringowurm, the Dragon Guarding the Hundred Apples to the Graveyard! Then, Bystial Baldrake was banished to Summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, prompting Morrow to flip his Set Book of Eclipse, Setting both of McDow’s monsters. In the End Phase, McDow resolved his Magnamhut to add Chaos Dragon Levianeer to hand, Morrow added Black Metal Dragonthanks to his Magnamhut, and McDow drew another Nibiru and Starliege Seyfert thanks to the Book of Eclipse.
Morrow Normal Summoned his Black Metal Dragon, then Link Summoned Striker Dragon, activating both his Dragon’s effects, adding Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and Boot Sector Launch to hand, the classic combo enablers Dragon Link Decks are known for. After confirming that McDow had 4 cards in hand, he Flip Summoned his Set Bystial Magnamhut, then banished his Striker Dragon to Summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon whose effect tried to Summon his in-hand Rokket Tracer, and McDow fired back by activating his Bystial Druiswurm targeting Morrow’s Black Metal Dragon, only to be stopped by Morrow’s copy of Druiswurm! After Summoning it, Druiswurm and Rokket Tracer were used to Synchro Summon Baronne de Fleur, and Morrow’s Druiswurm sent McDow’s Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to the Graveyard. Morrow activated Baronne de Fleur to target Branded Beast which was chained, Tributing Bystial Saronir, targeting Baronne de Fleur forcing the negation effect from the Baronne, and Saronir sent McDow’s Branded Regained to the Graveyard from his Deck.
When Morrow attempted to move to the Battle Phase, McDow activated Nibiru, the Primal Being, wiping out Morrow’s field and Summoning a Primal Being Token to Morrow’s field! That passed his turn.
McDow was up and drew his third copy of The Bystial Lubellion, kicking off his turn by banishing 2 DARK monsters and a LIGHT monster for Chaos Dragon Levianeer, which he used to Destroy Morrow’s Primal Being Token and Set Dark Ruler No More. He followed that by discarding Lubellion for the effect of Dragon Ravine sending Starleige Seyfert to the Graveyard from the Deck, then tributing Levianeer for Lubellion, Summoning his monster. Seyfert was banished by its effect to add back Levianeer, which he Summoned again, and that was the game!
Despite a ton of back and forth grinding, really showing how good the Dragon Link Deck is at staying in the game, McDow comes out with the victory in Game 1.
Duel 2
Morrow began Duel 2 by activating Chaos Space, discarding Bystial Baldrake and adding The Bystial Lubellion to hand, which was immediately discarded to add Bystial Magnamhut. He Summoned Magnamhut by banishing his previously discarded Baldrake, and when he activated his effect to add a Dragon in the End Phase, McDow banished Morrow’s Lubellion with his copy of Bystial Magnamhut and would be adding his own Dragon in the End Phase as well. Chaos Space was banished by Morrow to place the banished Lubellion to the bottom of his Deck, granting him a draw, and additional resources. He Set 1 backrow, then in the End Phase added Bystial Saronir to hand, and passed over to McDow who added Black Metal Dragon to hand from his Magnamhut’s effect.
McDow was up with a hand of Dragon Ravine, Dark Ruler No More, Black Metal Dragon, Chaos Dragon Levianeer, Starliege Seyfert, and The Bystial Lubellion. He activated Lubellion, adding Bystial Magnamhut to hand, before Tributing his on-field Mangamhut to Summon Lubellion from the Graveyard, and placed Branded Beast from his Deck onto the field with Lubellion’s effect. He activated the effect of Branded Beast, Tributing Lubellion to target Morrow’s Set Book of Eclipse and activated the previously added Magnamhut to banish another copy of Magnamhut from his Graveyard, declaring the effect to add a Dragon Monster in the End Phase, really keeping up the pressure.
Black Metal Dragon was Summoned next, then used with Bystial Magnamhut to Link Summon Dragunity Knight – Romulus, and he added Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to hand with Black Metal Dragon’s effect. He paused, before banishing 3 monsters to Summon Chaos Dragon Levianeer and destroy Morrow’s Magnamhut. Dragon Ravine was activated after that, discarding Starliege Seyfert to send Ringowurm, the Dragon Guarding the Hundred Apples to the Graveyard, before he banished Romulus to Summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. In response to McDow’s effect, Morrow chained his Bystial Saronir effect, as well as Bystial Druiswurm, banishing both of McDow’s Dragons, leaving him with nothing to Summon since he had no Dragons in hand. McDow attacked Saronir with Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, allowing Morrow to send The Bystial Lubellion to the Graveyard with Saronir’s effect, before McDow Link Summoned Hieratic Dragon of Heavenly Spheres, and added Bystial Druiswurm to hand with the previously resolved Magnamhut, which he Summoned banishing Morrow’s Lubellion in the End Phase.
Morrow activated Book of Eclipse in his Draw Phase, and then Flip Summoned his Bystial Druiswurm. In the Batttle Phase, he had his Druiswurm attack Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres, which McDow Tributed to return Dragon Ravine, and Heavenly Spheres Summoned Bystial Magnamhut which was activated so that McDow could add a Dragon to hand in the End Phase. The Magnamhut was attacked by Morrow’s Druiswurm. Then, In Main Phase 2, Morrow activated Chaos Space discarding Starliege Seyfert to add Black Dragon Collapserpent from his Deck, Summoning the Black Dragon, and Link Summoning Striker Dragon, adding both Boot Sector Launch and White Dragon Wyverburster to hand thanks to Striker Dragon and Black Dragon’s effects. From there, Black Dragon Collapserpent was banished to Summon the White Dragon, and Chaos Space was banished to place the Black Dragon Collapserpent to the bottom of his Deck and draw Morrow another card. After a moment, he used Striker Dragon and White Dragon to Link Summon Dragunity Knight – Romulus, adding both Black Dragon Collapserpent and Dragon Ravine.
Dragon Ravine wasn’t in hand long, as Morrow activated it and discarded Black Dragon Collapserpent to send Absorouter Dragon to the Graveyard, whose effect added Rokket Tracer from the Deck, pushing him further ahead before using the 2 Dragons to Link Summon Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy. Quickly Summoning McDow’s Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, then Summoning back his own Bystial Magnamhut (for another add in the End Phase!) with the Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon’s effect and Normal Summoning Rokket Tracer before Synchro Summoming Bystial Dis Pater. Dis Pater Summoned a banished Starliege Seyfert, then Morrow linked Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and Dharc to Summon Triple Burst Dragon which was combined with Starliege Seyfert to Summon his own Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres. During the End Phase, he added Bystial Druiswurm to hand and that was time in the round.
Unfortunately, Morrow couldn’t do any damage and McDow emerged victorious, despite a ridiculous number of Bystial Magnamhut effects being activated by both Duelists and showcasing the flexibility and power of the Dragon Link strategy. With a handshake and some friendly banter, they were off to their next round.