YCS Indianapolis is underway, and both Eric Arroyo and Oliver Desmond have gotten off to a hot start, winning their first Duels. Desmond is piloting Voiceless Voice, a relatively new strategy that just received additional support in Legacy of Destruction, while Arroyo is using the classic HERO strategy!

Which of these Duelists will remain hot and stay undefeated? Let’s find out!

Duel One

Arroyo won the dice roll and decided to go first! However, he chose to Set a single card to his Spell/Trap Zone, and then ended his turn.

Desmond looked down at an opening hand of Lo, the Prayers of the Voiceless Voice, Diviner of the Herald, Triple Tactics Talent, Refrain the Melodious Songstress, and Saffira, Dragon Queen of the Voiceless Voice. He Drew Ostinato for turn, and started off by activating it, sending two copies of Refrain from his Deck to the Graveyard to Fusion Summon Bacha the Melodious Maestra. He activated Bacha’s effect and Arroyo responded with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, but Bacha’s effect prevents the activated effects of Melodious Fusion Monsters from being negated, and so Desmond Special Summoned Couplet the Melodious Songstress from his Deck. 

Next, Desmond activated Talents to look at Arroyo’s hand, and shuffled Foolish Burial back into the Deck. Desmond used Bacha and Couplet to Link Summon Lyna the Light Charmer, Lustrous, and used Bacha’s effect to Special Summon Refrain out of the Graveyard. Next, he used Lyna and Refrain to Link Summon Exceed the Pendulum, but when he attempted to add a monster from his Extra Deck back to his hand, Arroyo responded with his Set Infinite Impermanence! Desmond activated his Saffira’s effect, discarding it and sending Prayers of the Voiceless Voice to the Graveyard to add Skull Guardian, Protector of the Voiceless Voice to his hand, and then banished the Saffira from his Graveyard, Tributing the Lo in his hand to Ritual Summon the Skull Guardian! He activated Skull Guardian’s effect to search for Sauravis, the Ancient and Ascended, as well as Lo’s effect to Special Summon it out of the Graveyard and place Barrier of the Voiceless Voice face-up on his field. He then Normal Summoned Diviner of the Herald. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to follow up next turn through all of the monsters on Desmond’s field, Arroyo conceded the first Duel. 

Duel Two

Arroyo chose to go first. He started by activating A Hero Lives, paying half of his Life Points to Special Summon Elemental HERO Stratos from the Deck. He activated its effect to add Destiny HERO – Malicious from his Deck to his hand. Upon resolution, however, Desmond activated Droll & Lock Bird, preventing Arroyo from adding cards from his Deck to his hand for the rest of the turn. Arroyo then activated the effect of Vision HERO Faris, discarding Malicious to Special Summon it, and then used it to place Vision HERO Increase to his Spell/Trap Card Zone. Next, he activated the effect of Increase, Tributing Faris to Special Summon it. When Arroyo tried to activate the effect of Increase to Summon another HERO from his Deck, Desmond responded with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! Arroyo then activated the effect of the Malicious in his Graveyard, banishing it to Special Summon another Malicious from his Deck, and then used all three monsters as Link Material to Link Summon Xtra HERO Dread Decimator! He then Set two cards to his backrow and ended his turn. 

The remaining cards in Desmond’s hand were Ash Blossom, Infinite Impermanence, and Skull Guardian, Protector of the Voiceless Voice. He then drew Radiance of the Voiceless Voice for turn. Unable to Ritual Summon Skull Guardian, he Set two cards to his backrow and ended his turn. 

However, during the End Phase, Arroyo activated his set Favorite Contact, returning one Malicious from his Graveyard and one from his banished pile to the Deck to Special Summon Destiny HERO – Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer! He then activated its effect, destroying itself and Desmond’s set Impermanence, and activated the Enforcer’s Graveyard effect to Special Summon itself back in the following Standby Phase. 

On Arroyo’s turn, he Special Summoned Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer back to the field. Next, he Normal Summoned Stratos, searching for a Malicious that he had just shuffled back! He then activated the effect of another Faris in his hand, discarding the Malicious, and used Faris to place Increase to his Spell/Trap Zone. Arroyo proceeded to the Battle Phase, and with 4 HERO monsters on his field, attacked and reduced Desmond’s Life Points to zero! 

Duel Three

Desmond chose to go first, and his opening hand consisted of Sauravis, the Ancient and Ascended, Solemn Judgment, Pre-Preparation of Rites, Triple Tactics Talent, and Trias Hierarchia. He started by activating Pre-Preparation, but Arroyo responded with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. This allowed Desmond to activate Talents to draw 2 cards, and he drew Saffira, Dragon Queen of the Voiceless Voice and his own Ash Blossom! He discarded Saffira to send Prayers of the Voiceless Voice to the Graveyard and add Skull Guardian, Protector of the Voiceless Voice to his hand. Then, he banished Saffira from his Graveyard to conduct a Ritual Summon, Tributing Trias from his hand to Summon the Skull Guardian! Desmond activated Skull Guardian’s effect to get a card from his Deck, and although Arroyo activated Infinite Impermanence to negate Skull Guardian, Desmond responded by discarding Sauravis. This allowed Desmond to resolve Skull Guardian’s effect successfully and add Lo, the Prayers of the Voiceless Voice to his hand. He Normal Summoned it to place Barrier of the Voiceless Voice from his Deck to his field, then used the effect of Barrier to search for Radiance of the Voiceless Voice. Finally, he Set two cards and ended his turn. 

Arroyo started by Normal Summoning Elemental HERO Stratos, but Desmond negated the Summon with Solemn Judgment! Arroyo then activated Forbidden Droplet, discarding Vision HERO Faris from his hand to negate the effect of Desmond’s Skull Guardian. Arroyo then activated the last card in his hand, Fusion Destiny, but Desmond responded with Ash Blossom! With no cards left to activate and seeing Desmond’s established field, Arroyo conceded the Duel. 

Desmond wins the Duel and will be moving on to the next round here at YCS Indianapolis undefeated!