Round 8 Feature Match: Jose Rivera vs. Daniel Nguyen
The first day of Dueling is nearly complete here at the NA WCQ! We have two Duelists with a single loss for this Feature Match. That means they’re eager for a win to lock in their place in Day 2. Here from Houston, Texas, we have Jose Rivera using Kashtira Snake-Eyes. He’s up against Daniel Nguyen from Hamilton, Ontario, with a Gimmick Puppet Deck! Rivera’s got a more traditional strategy trying to establish a powerful field to start the Duel, while Nguyen is looking to put together a burn damage combo to win on the first turn!
Duel 1
Nguyen won the dice roll and decided to play first. He started with a hand of Triple Tactics Talent, Mansion of the Dreadful Dolls, Forbidden Droplet, Gimmick Puppet Scissor Arms, Gimmick Puppet Little Soldiers. He played Mansion, and Rivera used Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to prevent Nguyen from finding a new card. Nguyen used Talents to look at Rivera’s hand, revealing Snake-Eyes Poplar, Kashtira Unicorn, Forbidden Droplet, and WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils, shuffling WANTED back into the Deck. Now he knew there was nothing more to interact with his moves this turn! Nguyen Normal Summoned Little Soldiers, using it to send Gimmick Puppet Rogue Doll to the Graveyard. Rogue Doll’s effect put the Doll in his hand. He used Rogue Doll’s other effect, revealing Gimmick Puppet Fantasix Machinix. He Special Summoned Rogue Doll and brought forth Gimmick Puppet Cattle Scream from the Deck. He used Little Soldiers and Cattle Scream to Xyz Summon Fantasix Machinix. Its effect added Rank-Up-Magic Argent Chaos Force to his hand and granted him an additional Normal Summon. He used Argent Chaos Force to rank-up Fantasix into CXyz Gimmick Puppet Fanatix Machinix! Fanatix added Service Puppet Play to his hand. He Special Summoned Cattle Scream from the Graveyard, letting him Xyz Summon Number 40: Gimmick Puppet of Strings.
Strings hitting play let him revive Fantasix from the Graveyard and return Argent Chaos Force to his hand with it. Strings then put String Counters on the field. Fanatix’s effect Special Summoned Cattle Scream to Rivera’s side. He used Argent Chaos to rank-up Strings into Number C40: Gimmick Puppet of Dark Strings! It destroyed Fanatix to burn Rivera for 3100 damage. Mansion let him detach Strings and Special Summon it to Rivera’s side of the field. He used Fantasix and Dark Strings to Link Summon Gimmick Puppet Chimera Doll, adding Gimmick Puppet Terror Baby to his hand, then Special Summoned Scissor Arms. With his additional Normal Summon, he Normal Summoned Terror Baby, which revived Fanatix. Its effect destroyed the Cattle Scream on Rivera’s field to deal 2000 damage, and let Nguyen draw Gimmick Puppet Dreary Doll. He banished Little Soldiers from the Graveyard to modify the Levels of Terror Baby and Scissor Arms. That let him use those monsters for Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder, destroying the Strings on Rivera’s side and burning away Rivera’s final Life Points!
Duel 2
Rivera began with Pressured Planet Wraitsoth, adding Kashtira Unicorn to his hand. He Special Summoned Unicorn in Defense Position, which added Kashtira Birth to his hand. He used Bonfire to put Snake-Eye Ash in his hand. He Normal Summoned it to add Snake-Eyes Poplar to his hand, and he Special Summoned Poplar to add Divine Temple of the Snake-Eye to his hand. He played Divine Temple to place Snake-Eye Oak as a Continuous Spell. He used Ash’s effect, sending itself and Oak to the Graveyard to Special Summon Snake-Eyes Flamberge Dragon. He used Poplar and Flamberge to Link Summon I:P Masquerena. Poplar put Flamberge in the back row, and Flamberge’s effect revived Oak and Ash. Oak Special Summoned Poplar. He used Ash, Oak, and I:P Masquerena to Link Summon Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess. Then he used Oak’s effect, sending itself and Flamberge to the Graveyard to Special Summon a new Flamberge from his hand. Flamberge put I:P Masquerena in his back row. Rivera used WANTED next, finding Diabellstar the Black Witch. He activated Kashtira Birth, then Special Summoned Diabellstar by sending Unicorn to the Graveyard. Diabellstar Set Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye on the field. He used the effect of Birth to revive Unicorn. He flipped Original, sending Birth to the Graveyard to Special Summon another Snake-Eye Ash. He banished WANTED from the Graveyard to return Original to the Deck and draw a card. He Set one card in his back row.
Nguyen started with Triple Tactics Thrust, Rivalry of Warlords, Evenly Matched, Scissor Arms, and Harpie’s Feather Duster. He drew Phantom Knights’ Rank-Up-Magic Force. He started with Harpie’s Feather Duster, and Rivera responded with Flamberge’s effect to Special Summon I:P Masquerena. Duster destroyed Divine Temple and a Forbidden Droplet. He moved to the Battle Phase next, and activated Evenly Matched. Rivera had to banish all but one card, choosing to keep Apollousa. In Main Phase 2, Nguyen played Triple Tactics Thrust to put Triple Tactics Talent in his hand. He played Talents to steal Apollousa, then Normal Summoned Scissor Arms. It sent Rogue Doll to the Graveyard, and Rogue Doll went to Nguyen’s hand. He used Rogue Doll’s effect, revealing Gimmick Puppet Gigantes Doll, then Special Summoned Rogue Doll and Little Soldiers. Little Soldiers let him send Cattle Scream to the Graveyard to change its Level. He used Little Soldiers and Rogue Doll to Xyz Summon Fantasix, detaching Little Soldiers to add Argent Chaos Force to his hand. He used it to rank-up into Fanatix, which put Service Puppet Play in his hand. He Special Summoned Cattle Scream from the Graveyard by detaching an Xyz Material. He banished Little Soldiers to make Scissor Arms Level 8. He stacked it with Cattle Scream for Strings, and Argent Chaos Force returned to his hand. Strings put String Counters on all other monsters. After that, he used Fanatix to Special Summon Scissor Arms to Rivera’s side. Then he used Argent Chaos Force again, ranking up Strings into Dark Strings. Argent Chaos Force returned, and Fantasix returned to play. Dark Strings destroyed everything with String Counters and let Nguyen draw Mansion, then dealt 3100 burn damage.
Dark Strings put a String Counter on Rivera’s gifted Scissor Arms. Nguyen played Mansion and added Dreary Doll to his hand. Mansion let him detach Strings as a material to Special Summon Strings to Rivera’s side of the field. He used both his CXyz monsters to Link Summon Chimera Doll. Its effect put Terror Baby in his hand, and he Special Summoned Dreary Doll. He Normal Summoned Terror Baby thanks to his additional Normal Summon from Fantasix. Terror Baby brought Rogue Doll to the field. He used Rogue Doll and Dreary Doll to Xyz Summon Giant Grinder, destroying Strings and dropping Rivera to 1900 Life Points. Argent Chaos Force once again let him rank-up, turning Giant Grinder into Fanatix. Finally, Nguyen Set the rest of his hand in his back row.
In the Draw Phase, Nguyen flipped Rivalry of Warlords. Rivera still controlled Scissor Arms, locking him out of other Types! Rivera used Forbidden Droplet, sending Scissor Arms to the Graveyard to negate Fanatix for the turn, halving its ATK. He Special Summoned Kashtira Fenrir, and Nguyen flipped Service Puppet Play to steal it! Rivalry forced the Fenrir to the Graveyard, and Rivera offered the handshake!
Daniel Nguyen takes the Match with Gimmick Puppets!
