Two days of competition has been reduced to only the Top 8 Duelists. Texas Duelist Luis H. finished in 1st Place after the Swiss rounds with his Sky Striker Deck. He’s facing Gregory C., from Ohio, playing DoomZ. Only one of these Duelists can advance in the Dragon Duel Championship, with the grand prize of a trip to Jump Festa in Japan!

Duel 1

Gregory won the dice roll and played first. Luis’s first Top 8 hand was Radiant Typhoon Vision, Pot of Desires, Sky Striker Ace – Raye, Forbidden Crown, and Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor.

Gregory began by moving directly to Main Phase 2 and passing the turn! He’d drawn an entirely reactive hand.

Luis drew Sky Striker Mobilize – Linkage! to kick off the turn. He played Vision to draw Sky Striker Special Maneuver – Lemnisgate! and The Fallen & The Virtuous, discarding Lemnisgate. He Normal Summoned Raye and attacked directly. Then, he used Raye’s effect to bring Sky Striker Ace – Hayate to the field, and attacked again. Hayate’s effect sent Sky Striker Ace – Roze to the Graveyard. Still in the Battle Phase, he played Linkage to tag Hayate out for Sky Striker Ace – Kagari. Kagari returned Linkage to his hand, and he attacked once more to drop Gregory to 3300 Life Points. He played Linkage, and Gregory used Bystial Magnamhut! He banished Raye and Special Summoned his monster in Defense Position. Linkage tagged Kagari out for Sky Striker Ace = Zero. Luis used The Fallen & The Virtuous to destroy Magnamhut, sending Albion the Branded Dragon to the Graveyard. Zero attacked directly. He tried using Zero’s effect, but Gregory had Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to negate it. In Main Phase 2, Luis used Pot of Desires to draw Ash Blossom and another Desires. He Set Widow Anchor and Crown. In the End Phase, Magnamhut’s effect put DoomZ V Five – Amalthe in Gregory’s hand.

Gregory Normal Summoned Amalthe, and Luis hit it with Forbidden Crown. Gregory played Prohibited Power Patron Portal – Terminus, and Luis used Ash Blossom to negate it.

Luis drew Raye and Normal Summoned it. He moved to the Battle Phase and used Raye’s effect, then Chained Widow Anchor to take control of Amalthe! Raye’s effect brought Zero to the field, and it attacked directly to end the first Duel!

Duel 2

Luis started this time with The Fallen & The Virtuous, The Winged Dragon of Ra – Sphere Mode, Upstart Goblin, Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage!, and Roze.

Gregory began by Normal Summoning DoomZ VII Seven – Elara, which Set DoomZ Command “A.D.R.A.S.T.E.I.A.”. He equipped it to Elara, and used Elara’s effect to bring forth DoomZ Break – Diactorus. He then ranked up into DoomZ XIII – Graflareio. He used Graflareio’s effect to add DoomZ Raiders to his hand, and played it. Raiders let him destroy Graflaireio to Special Summon Amalthe. Amalthe put DoomZ XII Zero – Drastea in his hand, and Graflaireio let him Special Summon Power Patron DoomZ. He equipped it with A.D.R.A.S.T.E.I.A., and used its effect to destroy the Power Patron and Special Summon Elara. Power Patron DoomZ put DoomZ Change in his hand. He Xyz Summoned Exosister Mikailis. He used Drastea’s effect, destroying Raiders to Special Summon it, and equipped DoomZ Command “D.O.O.M.D.U.R.G.” to it. He activated DoomZ Change, and Chained the effect granted by D.O.O.M.D.U.R.G. to destroy it. That let him use both effects of Change. First, he destroyed DoomZ Destruction from his Deck. In a new Chain, Change returned DoomZ Destruction to his hand, while Destruction’s effect equipped Jupredo the Shademachine Power Patron from his Deck to one of his monsters. He used Drastea to bring down DoomZ XII End – Drastrius. He activated Mikailis’s effect to add Exosister Arment to his hand. He used another effect to destroy Jupredo, and its effect put another DoomZ Change in his hand. He Set four cards in his back row.

Luis drew Mulcharmy Fuwalos. He played Upstart to draw a second Fuwalos. He activated Fuwalos’s effect, Gregory responded with Arment, and Luis used his second Fuwalos. Gregory’s spell brought Karmael to the field, and Luis drew Linkage with his Fuwalos. He played Engage, Gregory flipped DoomZ Destruction, and Luis responded with The Fallen & The Virtuous, sending Albion the Branded Dragon to the Graveyard to destroy DoomZ Destruction. However, Gregory had Solemn Accusation! He paid 3000 Life Points to negate and banish all copies of The Fallen & The Virtuous. DoomZ Destruction then prevented Engage from resolving successfully. Luis Normal Summoned Roze, and Gregory had his own The Fallen & The Virtuous to destroy it and secure this Match in his favor!

Duel 3

Luis began the final Duel with The Fallen & The Virtuous, Solemn Judgment, Engage, and two copies of Raye.

He began with Engage to add Linkage to his hand, and Gregory had Droll & Lock Bird. Luis Normal Summoned Raye, Set The Fallen & The Virtuous and Judgment, and passed.

Gregory went directly to the Battle Phase to play Evenly Matched, and Luis hit it with Solemn Judgment. Gregory moved to Main Phase 2 and played DoomZ Change to destroy Elara from his Deck, which Set DoomZ Raiders. He activated Raiders, and Luis used The Fallen & The Virtuous to destroy it, sending Albion the Branded Dragon to the Graveyard. Gregory Set one card in his back row to finish, and Albion let Luis add another copy of The Fallen & The Virtuous to his hand.

Luis drew Roze. He used Raye to Link Summon Kagari, getting Engage back to hand, and Special Summoned Roze. He used Kagari to Link Summon Prototype Sky Striker Ace – Amatsu, then used Amatsu and Roze to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Azalea. It destroyed a Set copy of DoomZ Change, which added Elara to Gregory’s hand and let him Special Summon it. Elara let Gregroy Set another Change. Luis used The Fallen & The Virtuous to send Ecclesia and the Dark Dragon to the Graveyard and destroy Elara, and then Ecclesia and the Dark Dragon’s effect sent the Set DoomZ Change back to the Deck. Luis played Engage, and Gregory used Ash Blossom. Azalea attacked, and Linkage let it tag out for Zero. Zero attacked, and then its effect brought Raye and Roze to the field. Both monsters attacked, and Raye’s effect brought Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku to the field. It attacked to end the Match!

Luis H. is heading to the Top 4 with Sky Strikers!