With 2 Swiss Rounds already flying by, some heavy hitters will be playing their first Swiss Round of the day here at YCS Vancouver! The VIP Duelists enter the tournament with a 2-0 record that they earned by claiming their VIP title.

Among those VIP Duelists is Zhenting Liu from Canada, who is facing off against Ding Khang Pham from Germany! Liu won a VIP qualifier to get his VIP status at this event, but his opponent is no stranger to top-level play. The players roll and, despite winning the die roll, Pham interestingly opts to let his opponent start Duel 1 of Round 3!

Duel 1

Liu opened up Duel 1 with Nibiru, the Primal Being, Pot of Extravagance, Escape of the Unchained, Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle, and Big Welcome Labrynth. He started off by activating Extravagance, banishing 6 cards from his Extra Deck face-down to draw 2 copies of Skill Drain! He Set 2 cards to his back row and passed his turn.

Pham went straight into the Main Phase and activated Hey! Trunade! Liu Chained Big Welcome Labrynth as Chain Link 1 and the effect of Lady Labrynth as Chain Link 2 to Special Summon Lady Labrynth from his hand. Big Welcome Special Summoned Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle and returned Lady Labrynth back to his hand. Lovely Labrynth triggered its effect to destroy Nimble Beaver from Pham’s hand. Pham activated Triple Tactics Talent to look at Liu’s hand and send Nibiru back to Liu’s Deck. Next, Pham Normal Summoned Nimble Angler so that he could Special Summon Spright Jet and used Spright Jet’s effect to add Spright Gamma Burst from his Deck to his hand. He used both monsters to Link Summon Spright Sprind, which then used its effect to send an Angler from his Deck to his Graveyard. He used the Angler’s effect to Special Summon 2 Beavers from his Deck. Beaver and Sprind were used to Xyz Summon Gigantic Spright. Gigantic used its effect, detaching a Beaver to Special Summon Spright Blue. Blue’s effect added Spright Red from his Deck to his hand. He Special Summoned Red next, and then used Blue and Beaver as Xyz Materials to Xyz Summon Onibimaru Soul Sweeper. Onibimaru used its effect to banish Lovely Labrynth. Pham entered the Battle Phase and activated Gamma Burst, allowing his monsters to deal enough damage to take the Duel!

Duel 2

After a shocking first Duel where Pham shows off his blind go-second strategy, Liu opted to start the second Duel. Liu opened up with Big Welcome Labrynth, Escape of the Unchained, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Labrynth Stovie Torbie, and Labrynth Chandraglier. Liu started with Stovie’s effect, discarding Escape and itself to Set Welcome Labrynth. He then Set Big Welcome and Normal Summoned Chandraglier before passing turn.

In the Draw Phase, Liu flipped Welcome Labrynth to Special Summon Lady Labrynth and after that resolved activated Big Welcome. Pham Chained Spright Starter to Big Welcome, which was met with Ash Blossom. Big Welcome Special Summoned Arianna the Labrynth Servant and added Lady Labrynth back to his hand. Arianna triggered its effect to draw 1 card and Stovie Special Summoned itself from the Graveyard with its effect. In the Main Phase, Pham used Lightning Storm to destroy Chandraglier. Next Nimble Beaver was Normal Summoned and Pham used its effect to Special Summon Nimble Angler from his Deck. Since there was a Level 2 monster on his field, Spright Blue could be Special Summoned from Pham’s hand. He Special Summoned it and used its effect to add Spright Red to his hand. He Special Summoned Red next. He used Angler and Beaver to Link Summon Knightmare Cerberus,_, discarding an Angler to destroy Stovie with is effect. The discarded Angler’s effect triggered to Special Summon 2 more Beavers from his Deck. Cerberus and Beaver were used as Xyz Materials to Xyz Summon Gigantic Spright. Before Gigantic used its effect and locked both Duelists into only Summoning Level 2 monsters for the rest of the turn, Liu used the effect of Lady Labrynth in his hand to have it Special Summon itself. Next, Gigantic Spright used its effect to Special Summon Soul Scissors from Pham’s Deck. Spright Jet came down next from Pham’s hand and used its effect to add a copy of Gamma Burst from his Deck to his hand. Pham saw that there was a clear path to victory and stated that he would go for the “coolest line.” He used Soul Scissors and Nimble Beaver to Xyz Summon Number 2: Ninja Shadow Mosquito! Pham entered the Battle Phase and that was all Liu needed to see!

Ding Khang Pham takes a decisive victory against Labrynth with his blind-second Spright strategy and moves on with a confident 3-0 record!