Round 7 Feature Match: Ryan Yu vs. Thomas Reber
Ryan Yu is coming into YCS Niagara Falls hot, fresh off his win at the 2024 Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championships, where he won the Master Duel World Championships with his teammates and fellow Canadians Jesse Kotton and Raymond Dai. He’s 5-1 here today with Sky Striker, a deck few Duelists would see coming in today’s field, but one that’s proving to be a surprisingly good call thanks to current tournament trends. And oh, that’s right: Dominus Impulse.
His opponent this round is Thomas Reber, a Tenpai Dragon Duelist who traveled here this weekend from Reading, Pennsylvania. With two explosive, battle-oriented Decks in the mix this Match could go either way, but whoever takes it, it probably won’t take long.
Reber won the die roll and opted to go second. As soon as Yu started his turn, Reber dropped Mulcharmy Purulia. Yu seemed fine with that, since he had a hand of Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor, Sky Striker Mecha – Shark Cannon, two copies of Sky Striker Ace – Raye, and a Triple Tactics Thrust, which he could now conveniently use to its full potential thanks to the Purulia. Yu activated Thrust, searched his Deck for Infinite Impermanence, and Set everything but the Rayes. It might not’ve been what Reber was hoping for, exactly.
But Reber was up and it was time to make an impact: he Normal Summoned Tenpai Dragon Chundra, attacked, and Yu blanked its effect with Infinite Impermanence, taking 1500 damage. “Still in Battle Phase,” Reber activated Sangen Kaimen, searching his Deck for Tenpai Dragon Genroku. That made a direct attack next, and Reber tagged it out for Tenpai Dragon Fadra. He made another direct attack, and Yu flew to Neuron to look up Tenpai Dragion Bident. “Thanks, Policy Docs!” Yu flipped Widow Anchor in response to the attack.
“I’m thinking if I want to Chain to that,” responded Reber. He Tuned his two monsters together in response, brought out Sangenpai Bident Dragion, and targeted the Fadra. Yu cut him off with Sky Striker Mecha – Shark Cannon cut him off. The Bident hit Yu for 2600 damage but it was nowhere near enough to take him out, just dropping Yu to 3900 Life Points.
“Main Phase 2.” Reber Special Summoned a Chundra from his hand and Linked it with Bident for Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres. Play was to Yu.
Yu drew Lightning Storm and played it to blow away Hieratic Seal, then Summoned Raye. He made a direct attack. “Here’s my ace monster that does 1500 damage,” he quipped. Yu Link Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Kagari, took back his Widow Anchor, attacked for another 1800 damage, moved to Main Phase 2, tagged in Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku, Set the Widow Anchor, and searched Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage!in his End Phase.
Reber cleared Shizuku with Dark Hole and Set a card to his back row, but it wasn’t enough. Yu drew Pot of Prosperity, and Reber was conceding the first Duel moments later.
Ryan Yu fends off a slew of Tenpai Dragons and survives Thomas Reber’s onslaught, then battles his way back to a stable position to force the handshake! Yu had all the options and all the know-how to navigate a dangerous situation, and he was now just one more win away from a great position in Round 8 – the final Round of competition here in Day 1.
Reber elected for Yu to go first, and this time he opened with Upstart Goblin, Sky Striker Ace – Raye, Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones, and two copies of Dominus Impulse. He activated Upstart to get Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! and played it, got Sky Striker Mobilize – Linkage!, and activated Drones to Special Summon a Sky Striker Ace Token. He traded it for Sky Striker Ace – Kagari, used her effect to bring back Engage, used Linkafge to tag in Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku, played Engage again to get Widow Anchor, and remarked that it was, “a lot of work to get to three spells.” Engage drew him Dimensional Barrier. He set it, Set Widow Anchor, and searched Sky Striker Mecha Modules – Multirole in the End Phase.
Reber hit him with Harpie’s Feather Duster and Yu Chained Dimensional Barrier, calling Synchros! Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor was destroyed. Reber cleared the field with Lightning Storm, activated Sangen Summoning, used its effect to search Paidra, and sent Paidra to the Graveyard. He Normal Summoned Tenpai Dragon Genroku, activated its effect, and lost out to Dominus Impulse. With two cards left in hand, Reber activated Pot of Prosperity, banished six cards from his Extra Deck and revealed six cards off the top of his Main: Twin Twisters, Mulcharmy Purulia, Terraforming, Triple Tactics Thrust, Forbidden Droplet, and Mulcharmy Fuwalos. He took Twin Twisters, Set a card and ended.
Yu drew a Threatening Roar. He Summoned Raye, Link Summoned Sky Striker Ace – Kagari, targeted and retrieved Engage and activated Multirole: Reber borrowed it for a moment to read it. Yu followed up with Engage, searched a Widow Anchor, and drew another Roar. He made a direct attack with Kagari to drop Reber to 7000 Life Ponts, and in Main Phase 2 brought in Shizuku. He Set Roar and Anchor, and ended his turn to use Multirole’s effect – Reber countered with Twin Twisters to blow it away, discarding Dora Dora, and Yu used Shizuku’s effect to get Sky Striker Maneuver – Afterburners!
Reber activated the effect of Sangen Summoning next turn, got Tenpai Dragon Paidra, and discarded Lightning Storm. He Summoned Paidra to get Sangen Kaimen, then used it to search Tenpai Dragon Chundra. He used its effect to try and Summon it, and lost it to another Dominus Impulse! Reber’s tank was completely out of gas and he offered a friendly handshake.
Ryan Yu wins the Match, and moves on 6-1 heading into Round 8! Only one more Round of competition remains here in Day 1 of YCS Niagara Falls, and another win today would be a huge help in Yu’s journey to the Top Cut tomorrow.