Top 8 Feature Match: Gerardo Varela vs. Christopher Torres
Christopher Torres from the Bronx, NY has made the Top Cut of 3 YCS events and now is playing in his first WCQ! He made it into the Top 8 this weekend and is now Dueling against Gerardo Varela is from Stockton, California! Varela has made the Top Cut at 2 YCS events in the past, and made it into the Top 64 of the WCQ in 2019. He’s doing even better this year, looking to qualify for the World Championship! Both of these Duelists are using Kashtira Decks, and they’re about the play in the highest stakes mirror-Match of their lives – the winner will make it into the Top 4 and earn an invitation to compete at the 2023 North America World Championship Qualifier, while the other Duelist will be eliminated. It’s time to Duel!
Duel One
Varela won the die roll and elected to go second.
Torres started off the Duel by activating Terraforming to add Pressured Planet Wraitsoth to his hand and activated it; but Varela Chained Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring’s effect from his hand to negate it.
Next, Varela Special Summoned Kashtira Fenrir and activated Pot of Prosperity by banishing 6 cards from his Extra Deck face-down. He excavated Kashtiratheosis, Kashtira Birth, Kashtira Riseheart, Kashtira Unicorn, Kashtira Fenrir, and Kashtira Big Bang from the top of his Deck. He chose to add the Kashtira Birth to his hand and then used Fenrir’s effect to add Kashtira Unicorn from his Deck to his hand. He activated Kashtira Birth, allowing him to Normal Summon the Unicorn without Tribute. Next, he activated the Unicorn’s effect to add Kashtiratheosis from his Deck to his hand. He activated the Kashtiratheosis targeting his Unicorn and Special Summoned Kashtira Riseheart from his Deck. He activated Riseheart’s effect by banishing Kashtira Fenrir from his Deck and banished the top 3 cards of Varela’s Deck face-down. Next, Torres combined his 3 monsters to Xyz Summon Kashtira Arise-Heart in Defense Position. He activated Birth’s effect to Special Summon a Fenrir from his Graveyard in Defense Position and ended his turn.
Varela drew Kashtira Fenrir and added it to his hand of Kashtira Unicorn, Pressured Planet Wraitsoth, Kashtiratheosis, and Pot of Prosperity. He activated Pot of Prosperity by banishing 6 cards from his Extra Deck face-down and added Dark Ruler No More to his hand. Arise-Heart’s effect activated to attach a banished Garura, Wings of Resonant Life to Arise-Heart as an Xyz Material. Next, Varela activated Dark Ruler No More to negate the effects of Arise-Heart and Fenrir. He activated Wraitsoth and used its effect to add Kashtira Riseheart to his hand and then Special Summoned Kashtira Unicorn. He used its effect to add Kashtira Birth to his hand, activated it, and then Normal Summoned Fenrir without Tribute thanks to Birth’s effect. He used Fenrir’s effect to add a Scareclaw Kashtira from his Deck to his hand and then Special Summoned Kashtira Riseheart in Attack Position. He banished Fenrir from his Deck to activate its effect and banish the top 3 cards of Torres’s Deck face-down while raising Riseheart’s Level to 7. Next, he combined Riseheart with Unicorn to Xyz Summon Number 11: Big Eye! Torres activated the effect of Arise-Heart by detaching 3 materials including Garura, and it was negated because of Dark Ruler’s effect from earlier in the turn, but Torres drew a card by using the effect of his detached Garura. Varela activated the effect of his Fenrir to banish Torres’s Kashtira Birth face-down. Next, he activated Big Eye’s effect to take control of Arise-Heart. He used Birth’s effect to Special Summon a Fenrir next, and then Special Summoned a Scareclaw Kashtira from his hand. He entered his Battle Phase and destroyed Torres’s Fenrir in battle, but couldn’t inflict damage with the rest of his monsters due to the effect of his Dark Ruler No More that he activated earlier in the turn.
In Main Phase 2, he combined three monsters to Xyz Summon Kashtira Arise-Heart and then used Kashtiratheosis to Special Summon a Fenrir from his Deck. He used his Arise-heart’s effect to give it an Xyz Material of Infinitrack Goliath and used his Kashtiratheosis’s effect to return a Unicorn to his hand. He upgraded the Big Eye into Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS – Sky Thunder and then ended his turn.
Torres activated Pot of Prosperity by banishing 3 cards from his Extra Deck face-down. He excavated two copies of Triple Tactics Talent and a Wraitsoth. He added a Talent to his hand and Varela activated the effects of his two Arise-Hearts and his Birth. He added an Xyz Material to each of the Arise-Hearts (a Garura and a PSY-Framelord Omega) and banished 3 cards from Torres’s Graveyard face-down with Birth’s effect. Torres Special Summoned Lava Golem to Varela’s field next by Tributing both Arise-Hearts. Varela used the effect of Garura to draw a card when it went to the Graveyard. Torres activated Triple Tactics Talent next and took control of Zeus, and Varela was forced to Chain its effect to send all cards on the field to the Graveyard so that Torres couldn’t do it! Zeus attacked directly to drop Varela down to 5000 Life Points and then Xyz Summoned his own Zeus over the one he took from Varela. Next, Torres activated Kashtira Birth and used its effect to Special Summon Riseheart from his Graveyard. He activated its effect by banishing Kashtira Big Bang from his Deck and banished the top 3 cards of Varela’s Deck face-down.
Varela drew Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and then Special Summoned Kashtira Unicorn from his hand! He activated its effect to add Kashtira Birth to his hand and then activated the Birth. Varela used the effect of Birth to Special Summon Fenrir and Torres conceded.
Gerardo Varela is just 1 Duel away from his invitation to the World Championship!
Duel Two
Torres chose to go second in Duel 2.
Varela opened up Duel 2 with Destructive Daruma Karma Cannon, two copies of Book of Moon, and 2 copies of Pot of Prosperity.
He activated Pot of Prosperity and banished 3 cards from his Extra Deck face-down to excavate Wraitsoth, Evenly Matched, and another Karma Cannon from his Deck. He added Wraitsoth to his hand and activated it. He used its effect to add Kashtira Unicorn to his hand and then Special Summoned it. He used the Unicorn’s effect to add Kashtiratheosis to his hand and then activated Kashtiratheosis to Special Summon Fenrir from his Deck. He used Fenrir’s effect to add Kashtira Unicorn from his Deck to his hand. He Set a Book of Moon and a Karma Cannon before ending his turn.
Torres activated his own Wraitsoth and used its effect to add Kashtira Fenrir to his hand. He Special Summoned it to his field, prompting Varela to flip Book of Moon to put Fenrir face-down. Torres Chained Forbidden Lance to try to make Fenrir unaffected by Book of Moon, but Varela Chained Destructive Daruma Karma Cannon to put all monsters on the field, including Torres’s Fenrir, face-down! Torres Set 2 cards to his back row and then ended his turn.
Varela drew Terraforming and then Flip Summoned Kashtira Unicorn. Torres immediately flipped Book of Moon to put it face-down. Varela flipped Fenrir next and Torres flipped Book of Moon to put that face-down too. Varela Tributed his 2 face-down monsters to Summon Kashtira Unicorn next and activated its effect, but lost out to Torres’s Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Kashtira Unicorn attacked, and he used its effect to banish a card from Torres’s Extra Deck face-down. The Unicorn destroyed Torres’s face-down Fenrir in battle. Next, Varela activated Terraforming to add Pressured Planet Wraitsoth to his hand and activated it to add Kashtira Fenrir to his hand. He used Pot of Prosperity next, banishing 3 cards from his Extra Deck face-down to excavate a Fenrir, Kashtira Birth, and Riseheart from the top of his Deck. He added the Birth to his hand and returned the other 2 cards to his Deck. He activated the Birth and used its effect to Special Summon Kashtira Fenrir. Next, he used Fenrir’s effect to add Kashtira Riseheart to his hand. He Special Summoned it from his hand and activated its effect by banishing Fenrir from his Deck. He banished the top 3 cards of Torres’s Deck face-down to raise Riseheart’s Level to 7 and then combined his 3 monsters to Xyz Summon Kashtira Arise-Heart in Defense Position. He Set a card to his back row and then passed his turn.
Torres activated Terraforming to add Wraitsoth to his hand and Varela used the effects of Birth and Arise-Heart. He banished 3 cards from Torres’s Graveyard and added an Xyz material to Arise-Heart with Arise-Heart’s effect. Torres activated Triple Tactics Talent next. Varela Chained Arise-Heart’s effect to banish his own Arise-Heart and Torres drew 2 cards off of Triple Tactics Talent. Next, Torres Special Summoned Kashtira Unicorn, and Varela immediately flipped Book of Moon to put it face-down.
Varela drew a Kashtira Birth and then used his on-field Birth’s effect to Special Summon a Unicorn. He Normal Summoned Fenrir from his hand without Tribute thanks to the effect of Birth and then used Fenrir’s effect to add Scareclaw Kashtira to his hand. He Special Summoned Scareclaw Kashtira by banishing Kashtiratheosis from his Graveyard and used the effect of Kashtiratheosis to add a banished Riseheart to his hand. He Special Summoned it from his hand and used its effect to banish a Birth from his Deck along with the top 3 cards of Torres’s Deck face-down while boosting Riseheart’s Level to 7. Next, he combined Fenrir with Riseheart to Xyz Summon Number 11: Big Eye and used its effect to take control of Torres’s face-down Fenrir. Varela Flip Summoned the Fenrir and Torres conceded, realizing he was defeated!
Gerardo Varela takes a 2-0 win and advances to the Top 4, earning his invitation to the 2023 Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Championship!