Round 2 Feature Match: Ed Acepcion vs. Charles Morton
We have Ed Acepcion, from Las Vegas, NV, playing a Mikanko Deck, featuring a ton of new tech from Age of Overlord. There’s a Sinful Spoils package to help him get to Infernoble Knight – Renaud, as well as a mix of Ken the Warrior Dragon and Gen the Diamond Tiger, which enable Triple Tactics Talent and Triple Tactics Thrust, Change of Heart, and a Geonator Transverser + Number 30: Acid Golem of Destruction combo!His opponent is Charles Morton, from Lexington, KY, rocking a Floowandereeze Deck! He’s got some cool tech like Simorgh, Bird of Perfection and Time-Tearing Morganite. Floowandereeze are basically immune to the Acid Golem combo, so Acepcion will have to fight through Morton’s birds the hard way.
Duel 1
Acepcion won the dice roll and chose to play first. He had a hand of Gen the Diamond Tiger, Ohime the Manifested Mikanko, Hu-Li the Jewel Mikanko, Triple Tactics Talent, and Preparation of Rites. Morton immediately used Dimension Shifter in the Draw Phase! Acepcion Normal Summoned Gen, and activated its effect to Special Summon Ken the Warrior Dragon to Morton’s field. Ken’s effect activated, and Acepcion drew Ha-Re the Sword Mikanko and Mikanko Reflection Rondo, discarding Preparation. He played Talent next, looking at Morton’s hand of three Floowandereeze and a Pot of Duality, shuffling Pot of Duality back into the deck. Acepcion revealed Ohime next, adding Mikanko Fire Dance to his hand and discarding Ohime. He played Fire Dance to Special Summon Ha-Re, equipping it. That triggered Ha-Re’s effect to add Mikanko Water Arabesque to his hand. He equipped it to Ken, then used it to Special Summon Hu-Li and return Ken to the hand. Hu-Li’s effect added Mikanko Spiritwalk to his hand. He used Ha-Re and Gen to play S:P Little Knight.
Morton Normal Summoned Floowandereeze & Robina, which add Floowandereeze & Toccan to his hand. He Normal Summoned Floowandereeze & Eglen, and Acepcion Chained S:P Little Knight, banishing itself and Eglen for the turn. Eglen’s effect added Floowandereeze & Empen to Morton’s hand. He Normal Summoned Toccan which returned the banished Eglen to his hand, then Tribute Summoned Empen. Toccan returned to his hand, and Empen searched for Floowandereeze and the Dreaming Town. He Normal Summoned Floowandereeze & Stri next, banishing his Dimension Shifter with its effect, and Tribute Summoned another Empen. Empen added Floowandereeze & the Unexplored Winds to his hand, and the banished Robina and Stri returned to the hand. He activated Unexplored Winds, returning Stri to the Deck to draw a card. He had no safe attack due to the equipped Hu-Li, and passed the turn. S:P Little Knight returned to the field at the end of the turn.
Acepcion drew Ha-Re. He played Mikanko Reflection Rondo on Empen, and Morton responded with Dreaming Town to play Eglen. Acepcion stole Empen, and then Eglen activated in a new Chain to search for Raiza the Mega Monarch. Morton then Normal Summoned Toccan, returning his banished Empen to his hand. Then he Tributed Eglen and the stolen Empen (thanks to Unexplored Winds) for a new Empen. Empen’s effect searched for Floowandereeze and the Advent of Adventure, and Acepcion flipped Spiritwalk to equip the new Empen to Hu-Li. Morton then Normal Summoned Robina, which searched for Simorgh, Bird of Perfection. He Tributed S:P Little Knight and Toccan for Mega Raiza, which put Empen on top of his Deck and Robina in his hand. This also triggered the Dreaming Town in his Graveyard, flipping Hu-Li face-down. After everything, Acepcion finally continued his turn. He Flip Summoned Hu-Li, then banished Spiritwalk from his Graveyard to Special Summon Ha-Re. He Normal Summoned Ken the Warrior Dragon, using it with Ha-Re to Link Summon Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights. Isolde’s effect added Gen the Diamond Tiger to his hand. Then Isolde’s second effect sent Mikanko Dance – Mayowashidori to the Graveyard to Special Summon Infernoble Knight – Renaud. Renaud returned Mikanko Water Arabesque to his hand. He equipped it to Renaud, then Special Summoned Ha-Re from the deck, re-equipping Arabesque to it. Ha-Re added another Arabesque to his hand. He banished Mayowadoshi from his Graveyard to Special Summon another Ha-Re, equipping it. He moved to the Battle Phase, sending all his Mikanko monsters attacking Mega Raiza! The damage was reflected, wiping out Morton’s Life Points!
Duel 2
Morton chose to play first. He led with Pot of Duality, and Chained Dimension Shifter! Duality revealed Robina, Terraforming, and Pot of Prosperity. He took Robina. He Normal Summoned Robina, getting Eglen, which then got Empen. He Tribute Summoned Empen, returning his first two monsters to his hand. Empen searched for Dreaming Town. He Set two cards in his back row.
Acepcion had Gen the Diamond Tiger, Jet Synchron, Interrupted Kaiju Slumber, Triple Tactics Thrust, and Preparation of Rites. He drew Droll & Lock Bird, a moment too late. He started with Preparation of Rites, getting Ohime. He Normal Summoned Gen next, using it to Special Summon Ken to Morton’s field. Acepcion drew Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and Triple Tactics Talent, discarding Droll & Lock Bird. He played Triple Tactics Thrust, searching for Harpie’s Feather Duster! Duster came down, and Morton Chained Dreaming Town to play Robina. Duster then destroyed the Set Called by the Grave. Robina’s effect started a new Chain, searching for Stri. Then he played Eglen, getting Mega Raiza. He Tributed Ken and Eglen for Raiza, returning itself to the hand and putting Gen on top of the deck. Acepcion played Interrupted Kaiju Slumber, wiping the field! He Special Summoned Dogoran, the Made Flame Kaiju to his side, and Jizukiru, the Star Destroying Kaiju to Morton’s. He played Triple Tactics Talent next, drawing Change of Heart and Triple Tactics Thrust! He used Ohime’s effect to add The Great Mikanko Ceremony to his hand, discarding Jet Synchron. Ceremony Special Summoned Ohime. Acepcion wanted to Normal Summon his Ash Blossom so he could Link Summon, but he’d already Normal Summoned this turn! He’d made so many plays that he’d forgotten, and that left him unable to deal enough damage to win here! Knowing Morton had more than enough stuff in his hand to end things, Acepcion conceded.
An unfortunate mistake, but it means we get to see a third Duel!
Duel 3
Acepcion chose to play first. He had Mikanko Water Arabesque, Mikanko Reflection Rondo, The Great Mikanko Ceremony, Ha-Re the Sword Mikanko, and Gen the Diamond Tiger. Morton started things off with Dimension Shifter once again. Acepcion played Gen and handed over Ken. Ken’s effect let him draw Reinforcement of the Army and WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils, discarding WANTED. He played Arabesque on Ken, which let him Special Summon Ha-Re from his Deck and return Ken to the hand, re-equipping to Ha-Re. Ha-Re searched for Mikanko Fire Dance. He used Gen and Ha-Re to Link Summon Isolde, adding another Ha-Re to his hand. He couldn’t use Isolde’s other effect, since he couldn’t pay the cost due to Dimension Shifter. He played Fire Dance to Special Summon Ha-Re, then played Reinforcement of the Army to search for Infernoble Knight – Renaud. He Special Summoned Renaud, then used his three monsters for Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess! The round timer was running out, and Apollousa would help keep the birds in line.
Morton played Pot of Duality, revealing Advent, Pot of Prosperity, and Evenly Matched. He took Advent. He played it, banishing Raiza from his hand to search for Floowandereeze and the Magnificent Map and gain 500 Life Points. He played Map, banishing Robina to search for Eglen. He played Eglen, triggering it and Robina, and Apollousa negated Robina. Eglen searched for Empen. Morton played Time-Tearing Morganite, then Set a card in his back row.
Acepcion drew Mikanko Spiritwalk. He Normal Summoned Ken, which Special Summoned Gen to Morton’s field. Gen forced Morton to discard the Empen he’d searched, as it was his only card. Acepcion played Ceremony to Special Summon Ha-Re, then played Reflection to steal Eglen. He Link Summoned I:P Masquerena. He banished Ceremony from his Graveyard to send Mikanko Dance – Mayowashidori to the Graveyard. He tried to use Mayowashidori to Special Summon Ha-Re, but Morton flipped Called by the Grave to banish Ha-Re. Acepcion used I:P Masquerena and Ken to play S:P Little Knight, banishing the Gen on Morton’s field. He attacked directly with Apollousa and S:P Little Knight, and Set Mikanko Spiritwalk.
Morton drew two cards thanks to Time-Tearing Morganite. Unfortunately, neither was helping right now, and he passed.
Acepcion Normal Summoned Ken and attacked with everything once more.
Morton drew two cards via Morganite, and played Pot of Duality. It revealed another Duality, Terraforming, and Dimension Shifter. He took another Duality, then Tributed all of Acepcion’s monsters for The Winged Dragon of Ra – Sphere Mode!
Acepcion drew Preparation of Rites. That let him get Ohime, which searched for and discarded a Mikanko. With the Mayowashidori still in his Graveyard, he was able to attack and take out Morton’s last Life Points!
Ed Acepcion takes the Match with Mikanko! He lamented not being able to pull off the “Mikombo” with Acid Golem, but if he keeps winning with this unique Deck, maybe he’ll be back in the Feature Match seat. Stay tuned!
