Over 1,900 Duelists are reduced to just the Top 32! Logan Kite, from Greenville, TN, finished in 1^st place in the Swiss rounds with his Sinful Spoils Rescue-ACE Deck. He’s facing Kailyn Cooksey, from Kansas City, MO, who just won on the live stream with his unique Horus Bystial Deck! It’s single elimination from this point on, so only one of these Duelists can move on!

Duel 1

Kite won the roll and played first. He led with EMERGENCY!, and Cooksey negated it with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Kite then played Triple Tactics Talent to draw two cards. He Special Summoned Kashtira Fenrir, which added a new Fenrir to his hand. He Set two back row cards.

Cooksey had a hand of Crimson Gaia, another Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Black Metal Dragon, and Imsety, Glory of Horus, and he drew Starliege Seyfert. He started with Crimson Gaia, and Kite had an Ash Blossom of his own. Cooksey used Imsety, ditching Seyfert. He added King’s Sarcophagus to his hand, then drew Vision Resonator. He activated King’s Sarcophagus, then Special Summoned Imsety. He used King’s Sarcophagus, pitching Vision Resonator to send Hapi, Guidance of Horus to the Graveyard. He Special Summoned Hapi, then moved to the Battle Phase. Imsety destroyed Fenrir in battle, and Hapi attacked directly. In Main Phase 2, Cooksey Xyz Summoned The Zombie Vampire in Defense Position, but its effect was negated by Kite’s Infinite Impermanence. Cooksey Normal Summoned Black Metal Dragon, using it to Link Summon Striker Dragon. Black Metal added Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to his hand. He banished Striker Dragon to Special Summon Red-Eyes, which Special Summoned Black Metal. He used both Dragons to Link Summon Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres.

Kite Special Summoned the Fenrir in his hand, and searched out his third Fenrir. He moved to the Battle Phase, and at the start of the Battle Phase, Cooksey used Heavenly Spheres, Tributing it to bounce away Fenrir. Then Heavenly Spheres’s second effect Special Summoned Bystial Magnamhut. Magnamhut’s effect activated to add a Bystial to the hand in the End Phase. In Main Phase 2, Kite Special Summoned Fenrir, then Normal Summoned Ash Blossom. He Synchro Summoned Baronne de Fleur, which destroyed King’s Sarcophagus. In the End Phase, Cooksey searched for The Bystial Lubellion.

Cooksey drew another The Bystial Lubellion. He used Crimson Gaia to add Vision Resonator to his hand, then used The Bystial Lubellion’s effect in his hand to search for Bystial Druiswurm. He Special Summoned Vision Resonator and Synchro Summoned Scarred Dragon Archfiend! He Tributed Scarred to Special Summon The Bystial Lubellion from his Graveyard, and Scarred’s effect Special Summoned Red Dragon Archfiend! Cooksey then activated The Zombie Vampire, and Kite negated and destroyed it with Baronne de Fleur. That triggered Crimson Gaia to revive Scarred Dragon Archfiend! Kite saw there was enough ATK on the field to finish him off, and conceded!

Duel 2

Kite started first once again, leading with Diabellstar the Black Witch, sending EXTINGUISH! to the Graveyard. He tried using Diabellstar’s effect, but Cooksey had Infinite Impermanence. Kite followed up with Pot of Prosperity, banishing 6 cards from his Extra Deck to add Rescue-ACE Hydrant to his hand. He Normal Summoned Hydrant which added Rescue-ACE Preventer to his hand. He used Hydrant to Link Summon Linkuriboh, then banished Hydrant to Special Summon Preventer. He used Linkuriboh and Preventer to Link Summon S:P Little Knight, and Preventer’s effect Special Summoned Hydrant. He banished EXTINGUISH! and Preventer to Special Summon Rescue-ACE Turbulence, which Set EMERGENCY!, CONTAIN!, RESCUE!, and ALERT! all on the field. He flipped EMERGENCY! without waiting a turn thanks to the effect of Hydrant, and it Special Summoned Rescue-ACE Air Lifter. Air Lifter added Rescue-ACE HQ to his hand. He used Air Lifter and S:P Little Knight to Link Summon Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights, adding Rescue-ACE Impulse to his hand. Then he used Isolde’s other effect, sending “Infernoble Arms – Durendal” to the Graveyard to Special Summon Infernoble Knight Ricciardetto. Ricciardetto Special Summoned Air Lifter from the Graveyard. He used Ricciardetto and Turbulence to Synchro Summon Baronne de Fleur, then Isolde and Hydrant for a new S:P Little Knight. He played HQ, putting four of his Rescue-ACE cards back in the Deck to draw a card.

Cooksey had a hand of Seyfert, Hapi, Triple Tactics Talent, and Druiswurm. He drew… Nibiru, the Primal Being, just a moment too late. He Normal Summoned Serfert and used its effect, sending Druiswurm to the Graveyard. Kite responded with Impulse to Special Summon Preventer from the Deck. Seyfert’s effect put Bystial Saronir in Cooksey’s hand. He Special Summoned Saronir, banishing Diabellstar from Kite’s Graveyard. Preventer then flipped Saronir face-down. Staring down a full back row and Baronne de Fleur, Cooksey didn’t see a way out of this. He chose to concede and move on to a third and final Duel!

Duel 3

Cooksey played first this time, with a hand of Ash Blossom, Magnamhut, Vision Resonator, King’s Sarcophagus, and Foolish Burial. In the Draw Phase, Kite used Artifact Lancea to prevent any cards from being banished this turn. Cooksey played King’s Sarcophagus, ditching Vision Resonator to send Imsety to the Graveyard. Vision Resonator’s effect added Crimson Gaia to his hand. He Special Summoned Imsety, then used Crimson Gaia to search for a new Vision Resonator. He used King’s Sarcophagus to discard that Resonator too, sending Hapi to the Graveyard. He Special Summoned Hapi and Xyz Summoned The Zombie Vampire. He used its effect, and both players sent four cards to the Graveyard, and Cooksey chose to Special Summon Bystial Saronir from among them. He played Foolish Burial next, sending another Saronir to the Graveyard, which sent The Bystial Lubellion as well. He Tributed his on-field Saronir to Special Summon The Bystial Lubellion, which put Branded Regain on the field. He used The Bystial Lubellion and The Zombie Vampire to Link Summon S:P Little Knight.

Kite Special Summoned Kashtira Fenrir, which added another Fenrir to his hand. He sent Fenrir to attack S:P Little Knight, and Fenrir’s effect banished King’s Sarcophagus. Cooksey Chained Little Knight’s effect to temporarily banish itself and Fenrir. Branded Regain triggered to put Little Knight back in the Extra Deck and let Cooksey draw Triple Tactics Thrust. In Main Phase 2, Kite Special Summoned his second Fenrir. He Set one back row card, and in the End Phase Cooksey Special Summoned Bystial Magnamhut, banishing his Saronir. Magnamhut’s effect added Seyfert to Cooksey’s hand. The banished Fenrir returned to the field.

Cooksey drew Chaos Space. He used Crimson Gaia to add his last Vision Resonator to his hand. He Normal Summoned Seyfert, using it and Magnamhut to Synchro Summon Chaos Angel! It tried to banish Kite’s face-down card, but Kite responded with Artifact Lancea to keep it in play. Cooksey used Triple Tactics Thrust next, adding Triple Tactics Talent to his hand. He played Talent to steal one of the Fenrir, sending it to attack the other Fenrir and destroy both monsters. Chaos Angel attacked directly.

Kite drew his card and thought a moment… then offered the handshake!

Kailyn Cooksey is headed to the Top 16 with Horus Bystials!