Over 3,000 Duelists have battled it out here at the North America World Championship Qualifier, and the Swiss rounds are over! Only 64 Duelists remain, and it’s single elimination from this point on. With us now are Omar Jones, from Baltimore, MD, and Charley Futch, from Indianapolis, IN. Jones is playing a Spright Deck with a twist – it’s packing Gishki! The Gishki cards have many Level 2’s to pair with the Sprights, and Evigishki Neremanas is a powerful card to stop his opponents. Futch is the 2018 Dragon Duel World Champion, and has quickly become a mainstay of competitive Dueling. He’s using a Dragon Link strategy, which chains Dragons after Dragons to get powerful Link and Synchro Monsters on the field.

Duel 1

Futch won the dice roll and chose to play first. He Normal Summoned Rokket Tracer, then Special Summoned Absorouter Dragon. He used Tracer to play Striker Dragon, which added Boot Sector Launch to his hand. He then used Striker and Absorouter to play Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres, and Absorouter’s effect added Rokket Recharger to his hand. He Special Summoned Bystial Saronir by banishing Absorouter, then played Quick Launch to Special Summon another Tracer. He tuned Tracer to Saronir to Synchro Summon Baronne de Fleur, and Saronir’s effect sent The Bystial Lubellion to the Graveyard. He played Boot Sector Launch, and used it to Special Summon Recharger from his hand. Then he used Recharger and Heavenly Spheres to play Dragunity Knight – Romulus, which searched out Dragon Ravine. He played Ravine, using it to discard Infinite Impermanence and send Starliege Seyfert to the Graveyard. Jones finally interrupted the sequence by activating Nibiru, the Primal Being! Futch tried to negate Nibiru with Baronne, but Jones had Infinite Impermanence to negate Baronne! All of Futch’s monsters were Tributed, and Futch got a 4200/2400 Primal Being Token in Defense Position. Futch banished Seyfert from the Graveyard to get The Bystial Lubellion from the Graveyard to his hand. He activated Lubellion’s effect, but Jones had Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! Futch passed with only his token in play.

Jones had Focused Aquamirror and Triple Tactics Talent, and drew another Nibiru. He started with Focused Aquamirror to get Gishki Abyss, and Normal Summoned it to add Gishki Grimness to his hand. He used Abyss and Nibiru to Link Summon Spright Sprind. Sprind sent Nimble Angler to the Graveyard, which then Special Summoned two copies of Nimble Beaver. He stacked the Beavers for Gigantic Spright. Its effect Special Summoned Spright Blue, which added Spright Jet to his hand. He played that to add Spright Starter to his hand. He used Blue and Jet to play Number 2: Ninja Shadow Mosquito! Mosquito attacked the Primal Being Token, putting a Hallucination Counter on it. Then Gigantic attacked the Token, and Mosquito’s effect dealt 4200 damage directly to Futch! Sprind attacked as well, and Mosquito dealt another 4200 damage, ending the first Duel!

Duel 2

Futch began the second Duel with Rokket Recharger into Striker Dragon, adding Boot Sector Launch to his hand. He used Striker’s effect to destroy itself and get Recharger back to his hand. He played Chaos Space, discarding Recharger to find White Dragon Wyverburster. He Special Summoned it, banishing his Striker from the Graveyard. Then he used it to play Guardragon Pisty, and Wyverburster added Black Dragon Collapserpent to his hand. He Special Summoned that, banishing Wyverburster. Then he banished Chaos Space from the Graveyard, returning Wyverburster to the bottom of the Deck and letting him draw a card. He used Pisty and Collapserpent to Link Summon Dragunity Knight – Romulus, which added Dragon Ravine to his hand. Collapserpent added Wyverburster back to his hand as well. He banished Collapserpent to Special Summon Bystial Magnamhut, activating its effect. Then he used Magnamhut and Romulus to Link Summon Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres. He played Dragon Ravine, discarding a second Chaos Space to send Absorouter to the Graveyard. Absorouter added Rokket Tracer to his hand. He replaced his Field Spell with Boot Sector Launch, and used it to Special Summon Tracer and Recharger. He Synchro Summoned Borreload Savage Dragon! It equipped Romulus and gained 2 Borrel Counters. He Set two cards in his back row, and in the End Phase, his Magnamhut effect added The Bystial Lubellion to his hand.

Jones had a hand of Spright Carrot, Swap Frog, Triple Tactics Talent, Spright Blue, and Nimble Beaver. He drew a second Beaver and Normal Summoned it, but Futch flipped Infinite Impermanence to negate it. Then, Futch bounced it back to the hand with Heavenly Spheres, trying to keep any Level 2 monsters off the field and prevent any Sprights from coming down. Heavenly Spheres’s effect Special Summoned Magnamhut from the Deck (with 0 ATK/DEF) which activated its effect. Jones played Triple Tactics Talent, and it was negated by Borreload Savage Dragon. Jones Special Summoned Swap Frog next, discarding Beaver, and Swap’s effect sent another Swap to the Graveyard. After that resolved, Futch flipped Book of Eclipse to turn everything face-down, still keeping the Level 2’s in check. In the End Phase, Futch added Chaos Dragon Levianeer to his hand through his lingering Magnamhut effect. The effect of Book of Eclipse flipped Swap Frog face-up and Jones drew Harpie’s Feather Duster – a little too late.

Futch banished Chaos Space from the Graveyard, returning Collapserpent to the Deck and drawing a card. He Special Summoned Levianeer, banishing all DARK monsters, but declined to use its effect – doing so would prevent it from attacking this turn. He Flip Summoned Borreload Savage Dragon and Magnamhut, then Special Summoned Wyverburster. He moved to the Battle Phase, sending Wyverburster to destroy Swap Frog in battle. The rest of Futch’s monsters attacked, wiping out Jones’s Life Points and evening the score!

Duel 3

Jones played first for the final Duel, with a hand of Spright Jet, Spright Blue, Triple Tactics Thrust, Nimble Angler, and Gishki Abyss. He Normal Summoned Abyss and added Gishki Vision to his hand. He Special Summoned Blue next, adding Spright Carrot to his hand. He Special Summoned Carrot, then Special Summoned Jet to add Spright Double Cross to his hand. He stacked Abyss with Blue for Gigantic Spright in Defense Position, and used its effect to Special Summon Swap Frog. Swap sent another Swap to the Graveyard. He stacked Jet and Swap for Herald of Pure Light. He used it to add Swap Frog back to his hand and return Nimble Angler from his hand to the Deck. He then used his Xyz Monsters to play Spright Sprind, which sent Angler to the Graveyard. Angler Special Summoned two copies of Nimble Beaver. He used both to play Bujinki Ahashima, which Special Summoned two copies of Swap Frog. He used the Frogs to play Toadally Awesome! He Set Double Cross and passed the turn.

In the Standby Phase, Toadally Awesome Special Summoned a Swap Frog. Futch started with Dark Ruler No More! He Normal Summoned Black Metal Dragon, and Jones flipped Double Cross to steal it, attaching it to Toadally Awesome. Futch continued with Chaos Space, discarding Magnamhut to add The Bystial Lubellion to his hand. He discarded Lubellion to add Bystial Druiswurm to his hand. He Special Summoned it by banishing Gigantic from Jones’s Graveyard. He Tributed Druiswurm to bring Lubellion to the field, and Druiswurm destroyed Toadally Awesome. Lubellion’s other effect put Branded Regained on the field. He Special Summoned White Dragon Wyverburster next, banishing his Magnamhut. Then he used Regained to get Magnamhut back to his hand. He used Wyverburster to play Striker Dragon, and added Boot Sector Launch to his hand. Wyverburster added Black Dragon Collapserpent to his hand as well. He Special Summoned Collapserpent, banishing Wyverburster, then used Chaos Space from the Graveyard to recycle Wyverburster. He used Striker Dragon and Collapserpent to Link Summon Romulus, which added Dragon Ravine to his hand. Ravine let him discard Starliege Seyfert to send Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to the Graveyard. He played Quick Launch to Special Summon Rokket Tracer. Then he used Lubellion and Romulus to Link Summon Triple Burst Dragon. He used Tracer to play Guardragon Pisty, which revived Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon! Red-Eyes Special Summoned Seyfert. Then he used Red-Eyes, Pisty, and Triple Burst for Borrelend Dragon! It negated Seyfert to Special Summon Tracer. Then he used Seyfert and Tracer for Borreload Savage Dragon! It equipped Triple Burst and gained 3 Borrel Counters. Finally, Borrelend attacked and destroyed Jones’s entire field of monsters! Borreload Savage Dragon attacked directly. Futch used Seyfert to get The Bystial Lubellion back to his hand.

Jones drew Evigishki Neremanas – no use after Futch was already set up! He offered the handshake!

Charley Futch is going to the Top 32 with Dragon Link!