This Round 3 Feature Match is showcasing a veteran of the Konami Judge Program! We have Nathan Lawder, from right here in Indianapolis, and he’s swapped out his black-and-white shirt for an Adventure Horus Deck. He’s facing Adam Najarbashi, a Toronto Duelist using Branded! Will Lawder’s judging knowledge carry him to victory, or will Najarbashi’s fearsome Fusions foil his plans?

Duel 1

Lawder began with King’s Sarcophagus, Illegal Knight, Pot of Desires, Infinite Impermanence, and Hapi, Guidance of Horus. He started with King’s Sarcophagus, using its effect twice, sending Hapi and Illegal Knight from his hand to the Graveyard to send both Qebehsenuef, Protection of Horus and Imsety, Glory of Horus from his Deck. He then used Desires to draw Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and Walls of the Imperial Tomb. He Special Summoned Imsety, Hapi, and Qebehsenuef. He thought about making more plays, but not knowing what his opponent was playing, he chose to keep his three Horus monsters. He Set Impermanence.

Najarbashi began his first turn by activating Albion the Shrouded Dragon, sending Branded Retribution to the Graveyard for its cost, and Chained Branded in High Spirits. With High Spirits he sent the same Albion from his hand to the Graveyard, and Albion the Branded Dragon from his Extra Deck to the Graveyard, which let him add Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous to his hand. Albion the Shrouded Dragon then failed to resolve, since it was no longer in his hand. Since Albion the Shrouded Dragon counts as Fallen of Albaz in the Graveyard, he activated Cartesia’s effect to Special Summon it from the hand. He Chained to Cartesia with Branded Opening, discarding Gimmick Puppet Nightmare to Special Summon Aluber the Jester of Despia. Aluber’s effect put Branded Lost in his hand. He played Branded Lost, then Branded Fusion! He sent Fallen of Albaz and Despian Tragedy to the Graveyard to Fusion Summon Lubellion the Searing Dragon. He used Lubellion’s effect, discarding Book of Eclipse, and also used Lost and Tragedy. Those effects put Tri-Brigade Mercourier and Guiding Quem, the Virtuous in his hand, then he Fused Lubellion with Albion the Shrouded Dragon into Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon!

In response to Mirrorjade’s Summon, to continue taking advantage of the protection from Branded Lost, Najarbashi activated Cartesia’s effect to Fusion Summon. He Chained to that with Mirrorjade, sending Titaniklad the Ash Dragon to the Graveyard to banish Hapi. Cartesia resolved, fusing it with Aluber for Despian Quaeritis! Since Quaeritis was just Fusion Summoned, Branded Lost prevented Lawder from activating his Horus monsters, despite Hapi being banished! Quaeritis’s effect put all of Lawder’s monsters down to 0 ATK. Najarbashi Normal Summoned Quem, and Lawder used Ash Blossom to negate it – the first thing he could reasonably respond to. Mirrorjade attacked Imsety, and Lawder used King’s Sarcophagus to send Mirrorjade to the Graveyard. Quem destroyed Imsety in battle, and Quertus destroyed Qebehsenuef. In the End Phase, Lawder had no monsters for Mirrorjade to destroy. Najarbashi used Titaniklad’s effect to add Fallen of Albaz to his hand, then used Albion the Branded Dragon to add Branded in Red to his hand. Then he added Blazing Cartesia to his hand. Still in the End Phase, he used Branded in Red to add Aluber to his hand, fusing it with Quaeritis and Cartesia for Guardian Chimera! Quem revived Mirrorjade, then Guardian Chimera destroyed King’s Sarcophagus and let him draw two cards.

Lawder drew another Walls of the Imperial Tomb. He flipped Impermanence to negate Mirrorjade, then played Walls. He Special Summoned Imsety. Najarbashi activated his Mirrorjade, since even though it was negated he could still pay the cost to activate. He sent Rindbrumm the Striking Dragon to the Graveyard. Quem activated and Special Summoned Fallen of Albaz, and Najarbashi used its effect, discarding Cartesia to activate. Lawder knew he was basically done for at this point, and conceded the first Duel.

Duel 2

Lawder started off with Torrential Tribute, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, King’s Sarcophagus, Pot of Desires, and Water Enchantress of the Temple. He played King’s Sarcophagus, sending Water Enchantress to the Graveyard to put Imsety in the Graveyard. He banished Water Enchantress to add Rite of Aramesir to his hand. He Special Summoned Imsety, then activated Rite to Special Summon an Adventurer Token and place Fateful Adventure on the field. He played Desires to draw Skill Drain and another Ash Blossom. He’d banished Dracoback, the Rideable Dragon with Desires. He used King’s Sarcophagus to send a spare Ash Blossom to the Graveyard and put Hapi in the Graveyard. He Special Summoned Hapi and Set his Trap Cards.

Najarbashi Normal Summoned Albaz, discarding Branded Retribution for its effect, and Lawder flipped Skill Drain! Najarbashi thought a moment, and played Branded Fusion. When Lawder revealed the Ash Blossom in his hand, Najarbashi conceded! He had no way to play through Skill Drain, and Lawder would easily get enough damage next turn to end the Duel.

Duel 3

Najarbashi played first in the final Duel, starting with Blazing Cartesia and using it to fuse with Tragedy in his hand, putting Granguignol the Dusk Dragon on the field. It sent Bystial Saronir to the Graveyard, which in turn sent Branded Fusion to the Graveyard. He banished Tragedy from the Graveyard to put Branded Fusion in his hand, and played it into Lawder’s Ash Blossom. Najarbashi used Triple Tactics Talent to look at Lawder’s remaining cards: Mudora the Sword Oracle, Terraforming, and two copies of Walls of the Imperial Tomb. Mudora was returned to the Deck.

Lawder drew Pot of Desires. He started with Walls, adding Imsety to his hand and putting his Terraforming on the bottom of his Deck. He used Desires to draw Hapi and Skill Drain. He activated Imsety, sending itself and Hapi to get King’s Sarcophagus in hand and draw another Imsety. He played King’s Sarcophagus and Special Summoned Hapi. He moved to the Battle Phase, sending Hapi to attack Granguignol and have King’s Sarcophagus send it to the Graveyard. In Main Phase 2, Lawder used King’s Sarcophagus, sending Imsety from his hand to put Qebehsenuef in the Graveyard. He Special Summoned Imsety and Qebehsenuef, stacking them into Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy, and Set Skill Drain. Najarbashi returned Cartesia to his hand in the End Phase.

Najarbashi played Fusion Deployment, and Lawder negated it with Titanic Galaxy. Najarbashi played Cartesia and tried to use its effect, but Skill Drain shut him down once more. Najarbashi had no answer to Skill Drain, and conceded the Match!

Adam Najarbashi took a crushing first Duel, but Nathan Lawder used his Side Deck for the perfect answer! Lawder takes the Match with Adventure Horus!