We’re down to just the Top 32! Raymond Dai, from Detroit, MI, is the only remaining Labrynth Duelist. He’s facing Adrian Gonzalez, from Chicago, IL, playing a Snake-Eye Deck. It’s time to Duel!

Duel 1

Dai won the die roll and played first. He had Absolute King Back Jack, Called by the Grave, Arianna the Labrynth Servant, Labrynth Chandraglier, and Labrynth Stovie Torbie. He Normal Summoned Arianna, and Gonzalez didn’t hesitate to use Infinite Impermanence. Dai used Chandraglier, discarding it and Stovie Torbie to Set Big Welcome Labrynth. He Set Called by the Grave.

Gonzalez started with Divine Temple of the Snake-Eye. Dai responded with Big Welcome to Special Summon Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle from the Deck, then returned Arianna to his hand. Gonzalez’s Temple then put Snake-Eyes Poplar in his back row. In a new Chain, Dai activated the effects of Chandraglier and Stovie Torbie in his Graveyard, and Lovely on the field. Stovie hit the field, Chandraglier went to the hand, and Lovely destroyed Temple. Gonzalez played WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils, adding Diabellstar the Black Witch to his hand. Dai then used Chandraglier’s effect, discarding it and Back Jack to Set Welcome Labrynth. Then he used Back Jack’s effect, putting Trap Trick on top of his Deck. Gonzalez continued, Special Summoning Diabellstar by sending Poplar to the Graveyard. Diabellstar’s effect Set Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye on the field, and Poplar’s effect returned it to the Spell/Trap Zone. He flipped up Original, sending Poplar to the Graveyard once again, and Special Summoned Snake-Eye Ash. Ash added Snake-Eye Oak to his hand. Then, he banished WANTED from the Graveyard to return Original to his Deck and draw a card. He used Ash and Diabellstar to Link Summon Knightmare Phoenix, discarding a Ghost Mourner & Moonlit Chill to destroy Called by the Grave. Dai Chained his Spell to banish Poplar from Gonzalez’s Graveyard. Gonzalez thought a moment, and activated Crossout Designator to banish his own Called by the Grave, negating’s Dai’s card. He used Triple Tactics Talent to gain control of Stovie Torbie, then used it and Knightmare Phoenix to Link Summon S:P Little Knight! Little Knight banished Lovely. He Normal Summoned Oak next, reviving Poplar, and Poplar added Original to his hand – he’d already used one this turn, but it would help for later. He used Oak’s effect, sending itself and Poplar to the Graveyard to Special Summon Snake-Eyes Flamberge Dragon from his Deck. He activated Flamberge’s effect to put Oak in his back row, and Set two more back row cards.

In the End Phase, Back Jack’s effect put Trap Trick on Dai’s side of the field. He used it immediately, putting another Welcome Labrynth on the field. He activated Welcome to Special Summon Arianna, adding Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle to his hand. He Special Summoned Lady, then moved to his own turn.

Dai drew Chandraglier. He turned Lady to Attack Position, then Normal Summoned Arianna. Gonzalez responded to Arianna’s effect with Little Knight, banishing itself and Arianna, and Dai then added Arias the Labrynth Butler to his hand. He used Chandraglier, discarding it and Arias to Set Labrynth Labyrinth, then flipped it up immediately. He activated Welcome Labrynth, and Gonzalez Chained Flamberge’s effect to Special Summon Oak. Dai’s Welcome Special Summoned Arias, and thanks to his Field Spell, destroyed Oak before it could activate its effect. Stovie, Chandraglier, Arias, and the previous Welcome all activated in the Graveyard. He Set Welcome, Special Summoned Stovie and Arias, and added Chandraglier to his hand. He used Arianne and Arias to Synchro Summon Chaos Angel, banishing Flamberge! Then he used Stovie Torbie and Chaos Angel to Link Summon Muckraker From the Underworld. He tried to bring Chaos Angel back to the field, and Gonzalez negated Muckraker with Infinite Impermanence. Lady’s effect let him Set Dogmatika Punishment. Gonzalez didn’t see a way out of this Duel, and conceded here.

Duel 2

Gonzalez played first this time, with Diabellstar pitching Ghost Mourner. Its effect Set Original, and he used that, sending away Diabellstar, to Special Summon Ash. Ash found Poplar, and he Special Summoned it to add Divine Temple to his hand. He activated Temple to put Snake-Eyes Diabellstar in his back row, then used Ash’s effect, sending itself and Snake-Eyes Diabellstar to the Graveyard to Special Summon Flamberge. He used Flamberge and Poplar to Link Summon I:P Masuerena. Poplar put Snake-Eyes Diabellstar in the back row, and Flamberge Special Summoned Ash and Poplar. He used all his monsters to Link Summon Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess. He Special Summoned Snake-Eyes Diabellstar, placing Flamberge in his back row, then Normal Summoned Oak, which revived Ash. He used Oak, Ash, and Diabellstar to Link Summon Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames, which revived Oak. Oak’s effect sent itself and Princess to the Graveyard to Special Summon a new Flamberge Dragon. Flamberge put Masquerena in his back row, and he finally Set one more back row card. At the end of the Main Phase, Dai used Stovie Torbie’s effect, discarding a second Stovie Torbie. Gonzalez Chained with Apollousa’s effect, and Dai responded to that with the effect of Arias. Arias let Dai Set Destructive Daruma Karma Cannon, then Apollousa negated Stovie Torbie. Now that he knew about Karma Cannon, Gonzalez Set another back row card. In the End Phase, Dai used Karma Cannon to flip Flamberge face-down and send Apollousa to the Graveyard.

Dai’s only remaining card was Trap Trick. He drew Welcome Labrynth and Set both cards.

Gonzalez played Harpie’s Feather Duster! Dai flipped Welcome Labrynth and Trap Trick. He banished Big Welcome to Set another Big Welcome, then Special Summoned Lovely Labrynth. Harpie’s Feather Duster then destroyed the newly Set Big Welcome. Divine Temple let Gonzalez Special Summon Flamberge from his back row. Dai banished Big Welcome from his Graveyard, trying to bounce Flamberge, and Gonzalez used Forbidden Droplet to send the Flamberge to the Graveyard and negate Lovely! Dai was left with nothing but a negated monster, and knew this would be the end of the Duel – he conceded here.

Duel 3

Dai went first for the final Duel, a huge boon for a Deck focused on Trap Cards. He had Stovie Torbie, Absolute King Back Jack, Anti-Spell Fragrance, Arianna, and Chandraglier. He played Arianna, and Gonzalez had Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Dai used Chandraglier, discarding Stovie to Set Big Welcome. He Set Anti-Spell.

He wasted no time flipping Anti-Spell in the Draw Phase, and Gonzalez responded with WANTED to add Diabellstar the Black Witch to his hand. He Special Summoned Diabellstar by sending Triple Tactics Talent to the Graveyard, and Diabellstar Set Original. He sent Diabellstar to attack Arianna. Dai tried using Big Welcome, but Gonzalez had another Ash Blossom! Arianna went down, and Gonzalez Set the last two cards from his hand in his back row.

Dai drew Infinite Impermanence. He Normal Summoned Back Jack, then banished Big Welcome from his Graveyard to bounce Back Jack. That let him Special Summon Stovie and add Chandraglier to his hand. He used Chandraglier, discarding Back Jack to Set a new Big Welcome. Back Jack put Karma Cannon on top of Dai’s Deck. He finished by setting Infinite Impermanence in the column with Gonzalez’s Original.

In the Draw Phase Dai activated Big Welcome, and Chained Back Jack to Set Karma Cannon on the field. Big Welcome brought Lovely to the field, returning Stovie Torbie to the hand. He activated Chandraglier and Lovely, but Gonzalez had Forbidden Droplet. He correctly guessed that Dai had Set Infinite Impermanence, so he sent Original to the Graveyard for Droplet. To prevent his Lovely from being negated, Dai flipped Karma Cannon! Karma Cannon flipped everything face-down, Droplet had nothing to negate, and Lovely destroyed a Bonfire from Gonzalez’s hand. Finally, after everything else, Chandraglier returned to the hand. Gonzalez continued his turn, using WANTED’s effect in the Graveyard, returning Original to draw a card. He Flip Summoned Diabellstar, sending it to destroy Lovely in battle. In Main Phase 2, he flipped Harpie’s Feather Duster to destroy Anti-Spell and Infinite Impermanence. Dai used Chandraglier in the End Phase, setting Welcome Labrynth.  

Dai drew Back Jack. The timer was running out, so he went directly to the Battle Phase. He flipped Welcome to Special Summon Lady, then used Big Welcome’s Graveyard effect to bounce Diabellstar. Lady attacked directly, giving Dai the Life Points lead he needed to win the Match!

 Raymond Dai is moving on to the Top 16 with Labrynth!