Top 8 Feature Match: The Ultimate Time Wizard TEAM Tournament
One of the greatest things about the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG is that it’s got more than two decades of competitive pedigree, spanning some of the most beloved formats in all of card gaming. Normally, a Time Wizard Format tournament les competitors relive one of their favorite eras of Dueling. But this weekend’s all about Team Dueling, and the YCS main event isn’t the only team tournament in the mix! The Ultimate Time Wizard TEAM Tournament here in Las Vegas pits teams of 3 Duelists each against each other, with each pair of Duelists competing in a different era.
The first format uses the April 2005 Forbidden & Limited List, with the last legal set being Dark Beginnings 2. That means Scapegoat, Metamorphosis, and Thousand-Eyes Restrict. If your heart beats in hyperdrive, good news, because the second format uses the March 2010 List, where the last legal set was Duelist Pack: Kaiba. Get ready for Lightsworn, Blackwings, and Quickdraw Synchron. And the third format will use the September 2011 List, ending at Generation Force. Think Reborn Tengu, Tour Guide from the Underworld, and Maxx “C”.
Yesterday more than 300 Duelists competed in these 3 formats to make the Top Cut. Today those last 24 Duelists will play off in a final Team Top 8 to crown 3 final winners. And as Day 1 of the Ultimate Time Wizard TEAM Tournament kicks off, we’re featuring Giovanni Vega of Team TMT and Yosef Negussie of Team Central Valley Duelists, as they go head-to-head in the 2005 format! This Match will pit Vega’s Chaos Deck with triple Phoenix Wing Wind Blast against Negussie’s Dimension Fusion Reasoning Monster Gatestrategy, in what’s sure to be an explosive Top 8.
Negussie opened with a bit of a rough hand: Brain Control, Dimension Fusion, Metamorphosis, Dark Magician of Chaos, Premature Burial, and Call of the Haunted. None of these cards were useful this early in a Duel, so he Set Call and ended.
Vega activated the effect of Thunder Dragon to search two more copies from his Deck. He drew two cards with Pot of Greed, Normal Summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, and destroyed Call of the Haunted. Vega swung with Breaker for 1600 damage and he Set a card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone to finish out.
Negussie drew Chaos Sorcerer. He activated Brain Control to take Breaker, and Vega spun it back to the top of his Deck with Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarding Sinister Serpent to pay Wind Blast’s cost as efficiently as possible. Negussie passed.
Vega took back his Sinister Serpent, Summoned Breaker again and attacked for 1900 . He Set one more card to his backrow.
Negussie drew Jar of Greed and Set it. He was down to 3700 Life Points.
Vega Normal Summoned Sinister Serpent, attacked with Breaker, and swung for an additional 300 damage with the Serpent. In Main Phase 2 he popped Negussie’s Jar of Greed with Breaker’s token, Negussie Chained it to draw Reasoning, and Vega Set another backrow.
Negussie drew another Reasoning. Vega blasted him with Trap Dustshoot to reveal his hand:
Vega sent Negussie’s Chaos Sorcerer to his Deck to resolve Dustshoot. Play was back to Negussie, who activated the first copy of Reasoning! Vega thought a moment, called Level 4, and Negussie immediately flipped and Special Summoned Jinzo! Negussie activated another Reasoning, Vega declared Level 4 again, and this time Negussie lost his Sacred Crane to Vega’s spot-on call.
But Negussie pressed on. He Special Summoned the Crane from the Graveyard with Premature Burial and drew Chaos Sorcerer with the Crane’s effect – not much help now with no monsters in the Graveyard, but that could change if Negussie could survive long enough. With 700 Life Points left that wasn’t guaranteed. Negussie ran over Breaker with Jinzo, then attacked over Serpent with the Sacred Crane. “Your turn.”
Vega took back his Sinister Serpent, going to six cards in hand. “You have 700 Life Points, right?” Negussie confirmed. Vega activated Snatch Steal, took control of Jinzo, and it was all over as he sent Jinzo to attack over the Sacred Crane to end the Duel!
Yosef Negussie opens with a slow hand, and the early pressure of Giovanni Vega’s tight, skilled play lets him control most of the Duel from the get-go. It was a methodical win for Vega, but with two more Duels left Negussie still had time to make a comeback.
Negussie opened Duel 2 with a hand of Royal Decree, Chaos Sorcerer, Snatch Steal, , Dark Magician of Chaos, and Metamorphosis, and… Blowback Dragon!? That’s a spicy pick. He Set Decree to start.
Vega had the Thunder Dragon again! He pitched it to get two more copies from his Deck, then Set a monster and a Spell or Trap Card.
Negussie topped Reasoning. He activated it, Vega called Level 4 again, and Negussie lost a pile of Spell Cards before losing his Sacred Crane. “Pass.”
Vega Set a second monster and a second backrow card.
Negussie drew Dimension Fusion and passed.
Vega Set a third monster.
Negussie drew another Royal Decree and Set it. He passed turn, and Vega flipped Mystical Space Typhoon in the End Phase to destroy the fresh Decree.
Vega Flip Summoned Gravekeeper’s Spy to Special Summon another from his Deck. He made direct attacks with both.
Negussie drew another Chaos Sorcerer. He took control of one Gravekeeper’s Spy with Snatch Steal, and when Vega tried to counter with Phoenix Wing Wind Blast Negussie cut him off with Decree! He Tribute Summoned the Spy for Blowback Dragon! Negussie used its effect to target Vega’s third Set monster, flipping two heads to destroy it: Magician of Faith.
Negussie continued, playing Metamorphosis to trade his Blowback Dragon for Dark Blade the Dragon Knight. He Special Summoned Chaos Sorcerer by banishing Sacred Crane and Blowback, then brought back both with Dimension Fusion. the Crane drew him Jar of Greed and he used the Blowback’s effect again, this time destroying Vega’s set Night Assailant! Blowback Dragon, putting in work.
Negussie sent Chaos Sorcerer to attack over Gravekeeper’s Spy, attacked for 2200 damage with Dark Blade, and used its effect to remove both copies of Spy and the Assailant from Vega’s Graveyard. He attacked with Sacred Crane, then Blowback Dragon to drop Vega to 800 Life Points. He then passed, not setting the Jar of Greed since he had Decree on the field.
Vega drew to five cards in hand, looked at his options, and conceded immediately: “It’s game.”
Yosef Negussie evens up the store, and suddenly we were headed to a third and final Duel. With 25 minutes left on the clock there was plenty of time for what could be a banger of a Game 3. After lots of shuffling the competitors cut each other’s Deck and wished each other good luck.
Vega got it started with Thunder Dragon, one more time! He took his two Dragons from his Deck, paused a moment, and then Set a backrow card.
Negussie’s hand was Torrential Tribute, Monster Gate, Reasoning, Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, Dimension Fusion, and Mirror Force. He led with Reasoning, Vega called Level 4, and Negussie ran over a Chaos Sorcerer on his way to losing Sacred Crane. Disciplined calls were paying off for Vega. Negussie Set Torrential and Vega spun it with Phoenix Wing Wind Blast in the End Phase, discarding Thunder Dragon.
Vega immediately Set another backrow and passed.
Negussie drew his Torrential Tribute again, Set it, and this time Vega End Phased it with Mystical Space Typhoon.
Vega drew for turn, Set another card to his backrow and passed again.
Negussie drew Lightning Vortex and passed.
Vega passed back.
Negussie drew Dark Magician of Chaos and passed.
Vega Set a monster.
Negussie drew Premature Burial. He activated it, paid 800 Life Points and brought back his Sacred Crane, drawing with its effect. He used the Crane to fuel Monster Gate, immediately topped another Crane, and drew Call of the Haunted. He Special Summoned Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning and used its effect on Summon to banish Vega’s face-down monster: Vega lost his Gravekeeper’s Spy!
Negussie Tributed both monsters for Dark Magician of Chaos, used its ability to get back Monster Gate. He activated it to Tribute the Magician, and after running through more than a dozen cards he Special Summoned Blowback Dragon. He was starting to run out of cards in his Deck. Negussie used Blowback’s effect targeting Vega’s backrow card… and this time he missed. Vega got to keep his Set card, the last one he had on the field.
Negussie activated Dimension Fusion, Special Summoned Dark Magician of Chaos and Sacred Crane to his side of the field, and Vega got back his Gravekeeper’s Spy. The Dark Magician of Chaos got Negussie back his Premature Burial and he drew Upstart Goblin with the Crane. He used the Upstart to give Vega 1000 Life Points… and he drew another copy of Upstart. Not the best. Would he activate that one too, giving Vega even more LP?
He ran some numbers and shuffled his hand a bit, before deciding to play Premature Burial. That brought back his Black Luster Soldier, he didn’t use its effect, and he attacked… straight into Mirror Force! That Blowback Dragon missing was everything!
Desperate for an out, Negussie now played that Upstart Goblin. He drew Snatch Steal, which was not going to get him out of this. He Set his own Mirror Force, plus Royal Decree.
Vega blasted Negussie’s Set cards with Heavy Storm for a back breaking 2-for-1! He conferred with his teammate for a moment, then settled on a line of play: he Tributed Gravekeeper’s Spy to Summon Thunder Dragon, banished Thunder Dragon and Spy for Chaos Sorcerer, then attacked with both to knock Negussie down to 500 Life Points. It looked like Negussie was getting at least one more turn, but Vega wouldn’t be un-defended: he played Swords of Revealing Light to end his turn. That could be a problem as Negussie continued to run out of cards. At this point Vega didn’ even have to beat him: he just had to outlast him.
Negussie toped Graceful Charity, drawing Jinzo and two copies of Scapegoat. He discarded the ‘Goats, took Chaos Sorcerer with Snatch Steal, banished Vega’s on-field Thunder Dragon with its effect and Tributed the Sorcerer for Jinzo. He Set his last card to end.
The timer turned on Vega’s Swords of Revealing Light as he drew. Vega activated Card Destruction! Negussie drew another card and was now down to just two cards left in Deck! Vega set a monster, seemingly planning to deck Negussie out!
Negussie drew Chaos Sorcerer, his second to last card. His remaining card in hand was Jar of Greed and he knew he was out of gas. Negussie immediately gave the handshake!
Giovanni Vega wins the 2005 Match for his team, and with his teammate Emmanuel Penaranda Mendoza having won his 2010 Match as well that was the Team Match win. Team TMT are moving on to the Top 4 of the Ultimate Time Wizard Team Tournament!
