We’re in the penultimate Swiss Round, and the remaining competing Duelists are eager to see who will make it to the Top 8 of the YCS Montréal Advanced Format Main Event. Ali Bader Ahmad Alwethaiqi and Humza Zafar Minhas each have 9-2 records, so they’re each hoping to make it to the Top 8. They’re each using the brand new Light and Darkness Ritual Deck, with Minhas choosing to incorporate the Fiendsmith and Mitsurugi engines, while Alwethaiqi has opted to run the Azamina engine. 

Duel 1

Minhas won the die roll and chose to go first! He opened with Dominus Spark, Mitsurugi Prayers, Mulcharmy Fuwalos, Infinite Impermanence, and Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. He started in the Draw Phase by activating Mitsurugi Prayers and searching for Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi. He then proceeded to the Main Phase and activated Habakiri’s effect, Special Summoning and Tributing Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Saji, then searching for Mitsurugi Ritual. He activated Ritual, Tributing Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Kusanagi and Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Aramasa from his Deck to Ritual Summon Habakiri; Alwethaiqi Chained the effect of Mulcharmy Purulia, but Minhas responded with the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! Minhas added Ritual back to hand and searched for Futsu no Mitama no Mitsurugi, then activated Ritual once again, but this time, Alwethaiqi responded with Dominus Impulse! Minhas Set two cards to his backrow, then ended his turn. 

Alwethaiqi also started his turn in the Draw Phase, activating the effect of Griffoh to Set Mind Shuffle to his backrow. He activated Mind Shuffle right away and used its effect to search for and discard Skull Archfiend of Chaos, allowing him to send Light and Darkness Ritual from his hand to the Graveyard and search for Magician of Dark Chaos – Black Chaos. Alwethaiqi proceeded to the Main Phase, where he sent Black Chaos from his Deck to the Graveyard to Special Summon Magicians’ Souls. He added Light and Darkness Ritual and Black Chaos from the Graveyard back to hand, then activated Light and Darkness Ritual, banishing Griffoh from his Graveyard to Special Summon Magician of Dark Chaos – Black Chaos! Alwethaiqi added Light and Darkness Ritual back to hand. On resolution, Minhas activated Dominus Spark, targeting Alwethaiqi’s Magician of Dark Chaos, but Alwethaiqi Chained Mind Shuffle’s effect, returning Magician of Dark Chaos to hand and Special Summoning Black Chaos! 

Alwethaiqi activated Souls’ effect, sending Light and Darkness Ritual to the Graveyard, but Minhas Chained Infinite Impermanence to negate Souls’ effect. Alwethaiqi followed up by Special Summoning Skull Archfiend from the Graveyard, returning Griffoh, Mitsurugi Ritual, and Infinite Impermanence to their respective Decks, then used Souls to Link Summon Relinquished Anima. He used Anima and Skull Archfiend to Link Summon S:P Little Knight and banished Minhas’ Habakiri, then ended his turn.

Minhas drew Fiendsmith’s Tract for turn! He activated it, searching for and discarding Fabled Lurrie, then Special Summoned Lurrie back to the field. He used Lurrie to Link Summon Fiendsmith’s Requiem, then used Requiem’s effect to bring out Lacrima the Crimson Tears and send Fiendsmith Engraver to the Graveyard! He Normal Summoned Mulcharmy Fuwalos, then Special Summoned Engraver from the Graveyard, as Alwethaiqi used S:P’s effect to banish both it and Lacrima until the end of the turn. Minhas used Engraver and Fuwalos to Link Summon Fiendsmith’s Sequence, then activated its effect to Fusion Summon Aerial Eater and send Skull Archfiend of Chaos to the Graveyard. This allowed him to send Light and Darkness Ritual to the Graveyard and search for Black Luster Soldier – Soldier of Light and Darkness. Minhas added Light and Darkness Ritual and Skull Archfiend of Chaos back to hand, then activated Skull Archfiend’s effect, returning Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi, as well as Alwethaiqi’s Light and Darkness Ritual and Skull Archfiend of Chaos, to the bottom of their respective Decks. He used Skull Archfiend and Aerial Eater to Xyz Summon D/D/D Wave High King Caesar, then activated Light and Darkness Ritual, Tributing Futsu no Mitama no Mitsurugi to bring out Black Luster Soldier – Soldier of Light and Darkness! He used the effect of Black Luster Soldier to banish Mind Shuffle, so Alwethaiqi Chained Mind Shuffle’s effect to search for Black Chaos and discard Black Luster Soldier – Soldier of Light and Darkness. Meanwhile, Minhas used the effect of the Tributed Futsu to search for another copy of Mitsurugi Prayers. Minhas proceeded to the Battle Phase, where he used Black Luster Soldier to destroy Black Chaos in battle, then attacked directly with all of his monsters to wipe out Alwethaiqi’s Life Points!

Duel 2

Minhas opened with Griffoh, Pre-Preparation of Rites, Called by the Grave, Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi, and Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Aramasa. 

Alwethaiqi chose to go first this time! He activated Heat Wave at the start of Main Phase 1, preventing both players from Normal or Special Summoning Effect Monsters until the end of the next turn. He then activated the effect of Black Chaos, placing Mind Shuffle to his backrow. He used Mind Shuffle’s effect to search for and discard Skull Archfiend of Chaos, then sent Light and Darkness Ritual to the Graveyard to search for Magician of Dark Chaos – Black Chaos! He added Light and Darkness Ritual and Black Chaos back to hand, then proceeded to end his turn. During the End Phase, Minhas activated the effect of Griffoh! He followed the same line of play as Alwethaiqi, setting up Mind Shuffle in his backrow and searching for his own copy of Magician of Dark Chaos – Black Chaos. 

Minhas drew Dominus Impulse for turn! He activated Pre-Preparation of Rites, searching for Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi and Mitsurugi Mirror. He then Set a card to his backrow, Set a monster in face-down Defense position, and ended his turn. During the End Phase, Alwethaiqi used the effect of Mind Shuffle once again, searching for and discarding Skull Archfiend of Chaos, then sending Light and Darkness Ritual from his hand to the Graveyard to search for Black Luster Soldier – Soldier of Light and Darkness.

Alwethaiqi began his turn by returning Black Luster Soldier – Soldier of Light and Darkness to the Deck to Special Summon Black Chaos! He activated its effect, banishing Minhas’ face-down monster and Mind Shuffle, as Minhas Chained Called by the Grave to banish Skull Archfiend of Chaos from Alwethaiqi’s Graveyard, as well as the effect of Mind Shuffle to search for Black Chaos and discard Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi. Alwethaiqi then activated Mind Shuffle, searching for Griffoh and discarding another copy of Heat Wave. He followed up by Normal Summoning Griffoh, used it to Link Summon Relinquished Anima, then added Light and Darkness Ritual and Skull Archfiend of Chaos back to hand. Alwethaiqi activated Light and Darkness Ritual, but Minhas Chained Dominus Impulse, shutting it down! Alwethaiqi used Black Chaos to Special Summon Dark Magician of Destruction and search for Magicians’ Souls, then Special Summoned Souls by sending Diabellstar the Black Witch to the Graveyard. Alwethaiqi used the effect of Souls, sending The Hallowed Azamina to the Graveyard to draw a card, then used Souls and Anima to Link Summon Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy! He used Dharc’s effect to Special Summon Griffoh, used the two to Link Summon Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians, then used Selene’s effect to bring back Diabellstar the Black Witch! With Alwethaiqi able to put up a huge field of monsters, Minhas conceded.

Duel 3

Minhas opened the third Duel with Ragged Records of Rites, Mitsurugi Mirror, Futsu no Mitama no Mitsurugi, Dominus Impulse, and Called by the Grave.

He started by activating Ragged Records of Rites and searching for Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi. Afterwards, Alwethaiqi activated the effect of Mulcharmy Fuwalos, but Minhas Chained Called by the Grave! Next, Minhas activated the effect of Habakiri, Special Summoning and Tributing Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Saji, then searched for Mitsurugi Ritual. He activated Ritual, Special Summoning Habakiri by Tributing Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Kusanagi and Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Aramasa, then added Ritual back to hand. He activated Ritual once again, this time Tributing Habakiri to bring out Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi. He activated the effect of the Tributed Habakiri, searching for Mitsurugi Prayers, then brought back Habakiri. From there, he activated Mitsurugi Mirror, Tributing Murakumo to Special Summon Futsu no Mitama no Mitsurugi, then brought Murakumo back to the field and searched for Mitsurugi Great Purification. From there, Minhas activated Prayers, Tributing Futsu and searching for Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Aramasa, then Special Summoned Saji from the Graveyard. He returned Mirror to the Deck, searched for another copy of Prayers, then Special Summoned Futsu from the Graveyard.

Minhas followed up by Normal Summoning Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Aramasa, then used Aramasa to Saji to Xyz Summnon Evilswarm Exciton Knight! He used Exciton to Link Summon Fiendsmith’s Requiem, used Requiem to bring out Lacrima the Crimson Tears and send Fiendsmith Engraver to the Graveyard, then used Lacrima and Habakiri to Link Summon .Fiendsmith’s Sequence  He used Sequence’s effect to Fusion Summon Fiendsmith’s Lacrima and Special Summon back Fiendsmith Engraver from the Graveyard, then used the two to Xyz Summon D/D/D Wave High King Caesar. Finally, he Set three cards to his backrow and ended his turn. 

Alwethaiqi began his turn by activating Ragged Records of Rites; Minhas Chained the effect of Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi, and Alwethaiqi didn’t discard a card, so Ragged Records was negated. Alwethaiqi then activated Pot of Sloth, but Minhas Chained Mitsurugi Great Purification, Tributing Murakumo to negate Pot of Sloth! Alwethaiqi Special Summoned Lava Golem to Minhas’ side of the field, Tributing Futsu and Caesar. Minhas activated the effect of Futsu, Special Summoning it back from the Graveyard and searching for Mitsurugi Prayers. Finally, Alwethaiqi activated The Hallowed Azamina, but Miinhas responded with Dominus Impulse. Unable to make any other plays, Alwethaiqi conceded.

With the victory, Minhas improves to 10-2 at YCS Montréal!