Dragon Duel Championship Top 4 Feature Match: Diego M. vs. Tomas Z.
14-year-old Diego M. from California is Dueling against 13-year-old Tomas Z. from Kentucky in a Match that will determine which young Duelist makes it into the Finals of the 2024 Dragon Duel Championship! There are some incredible prizes on the line, including a trip to Japan for the winner of the tournament and a parent or guardian to attend Jump Festa, so the pressure is on in this Top 4 Feature Match! Diego is on a Branded Despia strategy, while Tomas is using the Tenpai Dragon strategy that we saw earlier in the Top 16. It’s time to Duel!
Diego won the die roll and chose to go second, knowing that Tomas was on a Tenpai Dragon strategy.
Duel One
Tomas started off the Duel by Special Summoning Kashtira Fenrir and using its effect to add another Fenrir from his Deck to his hand.
He Normal Summoned Dora Dora next and used its effect to add Tenpai Dragon Genroku from his Deck to his hand. He Special Summoned the Genroku from his hand and then Tributed it to Special Summon Tenpai Dragon Paidra from his Deck. He used Paidra’s effect to add Sangen Kaimen from his Deck to his hand. He sent Paidra and Dora Dora from his field to his Graveyard to Link Summon Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres and then Set 2 cards to his back row.
Diego opened up Duel 2 with Forbidden Droplet, Triple Tactics Thrust, Branded in High Spirits, Gimmick Puppet Nightmare, and Aluber the Jester of Despia. He drew Branded Fusion and then Normal Summoned Aluber. He activated its effect, and when Tomas Chained Infinite Impermanence, Diego Chained Forbidden Droplet and sent Aluber from the field to his Graveyard and sent Gimmick Puppet Nightmare from his hand to his Graveyard to negate the effect of Fenrir and Hieratic Seal. He added Branded Opening to his hand with the effect of Aluber and then activated it. He discarded Branded in High Spirits to Special Summon Guiding Quem, the Virtuous. He activated its effect, and Tomas Chained the effect of his negated Hieratic Seal. Guiding Quem sent Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous from his Deck to his Graveyard and in a separate Chain, Hieratic Seal Special Summoned Tenpai Dragon Fadra. Tomas used Fadra’s effect to Special Summon Dora Dora. He used Dora Dora’s effect to add a Genroku from his Deck to his hand and Special Summoned it. Next, Diego activated Triple Tactics Thrust and added a Triple Tactics Talent to his hand. He activated it to return an Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring from Tomas’s hand to his Deck. Next, Diego activated Branded Fusion! He sent Fallen of Albaz and another Blazing Cartesia from his Deck to his Graveyard to Special Summon Albion the Sanctifire Dragon. He used Guiding Quem’s effect to Special Summon Fallen of Albaz from his Graveyard and then fused Fallen of Albaz with all of Tomas’s Dragons to Special Summon Alba-Lenatus the Abyss Dragon from his Extra Deck! Next, Tomas used Sangen Kaimen to add a Fadra to his hand and Special Summon it. Diego attacked Fenrir with Alba-Lenatus to destroy it and passed his turn, unable to destroy Fadra in battle due to its effect.
Tomas drew a card and Diego used the effect of Sanctifire Dragon to Special Summon the Gimmick Puppet Nightmare to Tomas’s field and Aluber to his own field. The Puppet’s effect prevented Tomas from Special Summoning any more monsters that turn other than Gimmick Puppet monsters. Diego used Aluber’s effect to add Branded Fusion to his hand. Tomas Set a card to his back row and then ended his turn.
Diego drew a card and activated Fusion Deployment. He revealed Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon from his Extra Deck to Special Summon Fallen of Albaz from his Deck and then activated Branded Fusion. He sent Fallen of Albaz and The Bystial Lubellion from his Deck to his Graveyard to Summon Albion the Branded Dragon, prompting Tomas to concede.
Diego M. is up a game and just one win away from the Finals! Tomas chose to go second in Duel 2!
Duel Two
Diego opened up Duel 2 with Fallen of Albaz, Aluber the Jester of Despia, Albion the Shrouded Dragon, Forbidden Droplet, and Branded in High Spirits.
In his Draw Phase, Tomas activated the effect of Dimension Shifter, and Diego Chained Branded in High Spirits. He revealed Fallen of Albaz from his hand and sent Albion the Branded Dragon to his Graveyard. He sent Fallen to the Graveyard to add Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous to his hand. He Special Summoned Blazing Cartesia with Cartesia’s effect and then Normal Summoned Aluber. He used Aluber’s effect to add Branded Retribution to his hand and then Set it along with a Droplet to his back row. In the End Phase, he Set Branded in Red from his Deck with Albion’s effect.
Tomas Special Summoned Kashtira Fenrir. He used its effect to add another Fenrir from his Deck to his hand and then Normal Summoned Tenpai Dragon Genroku. He Tributed it to Special Summon Tenpai Dragon Paidra from his Deck and activated Paidra’s effect to add Sangen Summoning from his Deck to his hand. He activated it, and Diego Chained Branded in Red. He returned Fallen of Albaz to his hand and then fused it with the 2 monsters on his field to Summon Guardian Chimera. He used its effect to destroy Fenrir and Sangen Summoning and draw Guiding Quem, the Virtuous from his Deck. Tomas Tributed Guardian Chimera to give Diego Santa Claws and then Tomas activated Sangen Kaimen to add a Chundra from his Deck to his hand. He Special Summoned it and then entered his Battle Phase. He attacked Santa Claws with Chundra and used Chundra’s effect to Special Summon Tenpai Dragon Fadra from his Deck. He activated Chundra’s effect to Tune it with Fadra and Synchro Summon Black Rose Dragon. He activated its effect and destroyed all cards on the field! They were all banished due to the effect of Dimension Shifter! In Main Phase 2, Tomas Special Summoned Fenrir and ended his turn.
Diego activated the effect of the Albion the Shrouded Dragon in his hand. He sent Branded Fusion from his Deck to his Graveyard as a cost, then returned Albion to the bottom of his Deck and drew Tri-Brigade Mercourier. He Normal Summoned Guiding Quem, Set Fusion Duplication, and then ended his turn.
Tomas drew a card and Diego activated Fusion Duplication in the Main Phase. He copied Branded Fusion from his Graveyard to send Blazing Cartesia and Fallen of Albaz from his Deck to his Graveyard and Fusion Summon Albion the Sanctifire Dragon. He then used Quem’s effect on his field to Special Summon Blazing Cartesia. On resolution, Tomas used Fenrir’s effect to try to banish Blazing Cartesia, but Diego send Mercourier from his hand to his Graveyard to negate Fenrir’s effect. Next, Diego used Albion’s effect to Special Summon Gimmick Puppet Nightmare to Tomas’s field and Albion the Branded Dragon to his own field. The Nightmare’s effect stopped Tomas from Special Summoning any monsters other than Gimmick Puppets for the rest of the turn! Tomas Set a card to his back row and passed.
Diego drew Fusion Deployment and switched his monsters into Attack Position. Albion the Sanctifire Dragon attacked and destroyed Fenrir and then Granguignol attacked and destroyed Gimmick Puppet Nightmare. Next, Albion the Branded Dragon attacked a face-down Fadra, but it couldn’t be destroyed in battle.
Tomas drew a card and Diego used his Sanctifire Dragon’s effect in the Draw Phase to Special Summon Blazing Cartesia and give Tomas Gimmick Puppet Nightmare once again, locking him into only Special Summoning Gimmick Puppets once again. Tomas used the effect of his Sangen Summoning to get a Paidra and discard a Lightning Storm, and Diego used the effect of Blazing Cartesia to Fusion Summon Predaplant Dragostapelia. Tomas Normal Summoned Paidra and added Sangen Kaimen to his hand. He Set it and passed. In the End Phase, Diego used the effect of the Albion in his Graveyard to add Branded Fusion from his Deck to his hand.
Diego drew another Branded Fusion and then activated one of them. He fused Fallen of Albaz and Despian Tragedy from his Deck to Summon Lubellion the Searing Dragon and then used the effects of Lubellion and Tragedy. He discarded Fusion Deployment and added Aluber to his hand with Tragedy’s effect. He Fusion Summoned Mirrorjade and then Normal Summoned Aluber. He added Branded Lost from his Deck to his hand and activated it. Next, he used Blazing Cartesia’s effect to Fusion Summon a Granguignol and used the effects of Granguignol and Branded Lost. He added a Springans Kitt to his hand with Branded Lost’s effect and sent an Alba-Lenatus to his Graveyard with Granguignol’s effect. He Special Summoned Kitt with its own effect and used it to get a Branded in Red. He activated it to grab a card from his Graveyard and then Fusion Summon Despian Quaeritis. He used Dragostapelia’s effect to negate the activated effects of Fadra. Granguignol attacked and destroyed Gimmick Puppet Nightmare. Next, Mirrorjade attacked Paidra and used its effect to banish Fadra. Quaeritis attacked next, and Tomas flipped Sangen Kaimen to add Genroku from his Deck to his hand and Special Summon it. Diego tried attacking it, and Tomas activated its effect by Tributing it to Special Summon a Paidra. He activated Paidra’s effect, and Diego banished his Granguignol to Special Summon a Guiding Quem. Quaeritis attacked and destroyed the Paidra and then direct attacks from Guiding Quem, Dragostapelia, and Albion the Sanctifire Dragon dropped Tomas down to 200 Life Points.
Tomas drew a card and when Diego used the effect of Albion the Sanctifire Dragon to give Tomas Gimmick Puppet Nightmare back from the Graveyard so that he couldn’t Special Summon, Tomas finally conceded.
Diego M. is moving on to the Finals with his Branded Despia Deck!
