The 2024 North America World Qualifying Points Playoff is about to begin! Kody Manabe from Aiea, Hawaii is the only Labrynth Duelist in the tournament, and he’s using 3 copies of the high-impact Simultaneous Equation Cannon in his Deck to try to wipe out all of his opponent’s cards at once. Now he’s paired up against Seven Santoli from Hamilton, Ontario, who is the only Tenpai Dragon Duelist competing today. Santoli’s Deck is improved by the new Tenpai Dragon Genroku from The Infinite Forbidden. Santoli is a 2-time YCS Championship winner and competed in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Championship in 2023 as a result of making it to the top 2 of last year’s World Qualifying Points Playoff. Manabe is an accomplished Duelist, falling just short of a YCS victory with second and third place finishes. He’s looking to attend the World Championship this year for the very first time. One of these Duelists will advance to the Top 8, while the other will be eliminated. It’s time to Duel!

Duel One

Santoli won the die roll and chose to go second.

Manabe opened up Duel 1 with Big Welcome Labrynth, Dogmatika Punishment, Arias the Labrynth Butler, and 2 copies of Skill Drain. He Set two copies of Skill Drain and the Big Welcome Labrynth and then passed his turn.

Santoli activated Sangen Summoning and then Normal Summoned Tenpai Dragon Paidra. He activated its effect, and Manabe Chained Skill Drain by paying 1000 Life Points. Santoli Chained Cosmic Cyclone to banish it, and Manabe Chained a second Skill Drain by paying another 1000 Life Points. Santoli used the effect of Sangen Summoning to add Tenpai Dragon Chundra to his hand and discard Burning Draw. He Special Summoned it to his field in Attack Position. He tried to enter his Battle Phase, but Manabe used his Arias’s effect while still in the Main Phase and Set Dogmatika Punishment to his field. Still in Main Phase 1, Santoli used his 2 monsters to Link Summon Hiita the Fire Charmer, Ablaze. He attacked, and Manabe flipped Big Welcome Labrynth. He Special Summoned Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle and returned it to his hand, then Special Summoned it to his field with its effect to protect his Life Points.

Manabe drew Solemn Strike. He switched Lady Labrynth into Attack Position and banished Big Welcome from his Graveyard to return Hiita to the Extra Deck. He attacked directly with Lady Labrynth to drop Santoli down to 4000 Life Points. He Set Solemn Strike before ending his turn.

Santoli activated the effect of Sangen Summoning to add Tenpai Dragon Chundra to his hand and then discarded a Raigeki from his hand. He Normal Summoned Tenpai Dragon Genroku and then Special Summoned Chundra from his hand. He Tuned Chundra with Genroku to Synchro Summon Black Rose Dragon, and when Manabe negated its Summon with Solemn Strike, Santoli conceded.

Santoli chose to go second in Duel 2!

Duel Two

Manabe opened up Duel 2 with Dimensional Barrier, Solemn Judgment, Solemn Strike, Destructive Daruma Karma Cannon, and Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle. He Set all 4 of his Trap Cards and then ended his turn.

Santoli activated Lightning Storm to try to destroy all of Manabe’s back row cards, but Manabe negated its activation by paying 4000 Life Points with Solemn Judgment! Santoli Normal Summoned Chundra and then entered his Battle Phase. He attacked directly for 1500 points of damage, and then activated its effect in the Damage Step; but Manabe flipped Solemn Strike! He paid 1500 Life Points to negate the activation of its effect and destroy it. Next, Santoli activated Sangen Kaimen to add Tenpai Dragon Fadra to his hand and Special Summon it. He used its effect to Special Summon Chundra from his Graveyard, and Manabe Chained Destructive Daruma Karma Cannon to put Fadra face-down. Chundra was Summoned to the field in Attack Position, and Manabe then activated his Lady Labrynth’s effect to Special Summon it from his hand. In Main Phase 2, Santoli activated Triple Tactics Thrust to add Triple Tactics Talent to his hand, but couldn’t use it since Manabe didn’t activate a monster effect in the Main Phase. Santoli Set a card to his back row and then ended his turn. In the End Phase, Manabe flipped Dimensional Barrier, declaring Synchro, and Chained his Lady Labrynth’s effect to Set Big Welcome Labrynth from his Deck.

Manabe drew Trap Trick and then activated Big Welcome Labrynth in his Main Phase. Santoli Chained Sangen Kaimen to add Tenpai Dragon Genroku to his hand, blocking Lady Labrynth from using its effect. Manabe Special Summoned Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle and returned Lady Labrynth to his hand. He used Lovely Labrynth’s effect and Santoli Chained Genroku’s effect to Special Summon it from his hand. Lovely Labrynth’s effect destroyed Genroku and then Manabe used Lovely Labrynth’s other effect to Set Dimensional Barrier back from his Graveyard to his field.

Santoli Flip Summoned Fadra and then entered his Battle Phase. Manabe banished Big Welcome from his Graveyard to try to return Chundra to Santoli’s hand and Santoli Chained Forbidden Droplet by sending Chundra to the Graveyard. He negated the Lovely Labrynth’s effect and halved its ATK. On resolution, Manabe activated Dimensional Barrier declaring Synchro, and Chained his Lady Labrynth’s effect to Set Ice Dragon’s Prison from his Deck. Next, he flipped Trap Trick to banish a Destructive Daruma Karma Cannon from his Deck and Set a copy to his field. He immediately flipped it, turning all monsters on the field face-down. In Main Phase 2, Santoli activated another Triple Tactics Thrust and used it to add Terraforming from his Deck to his hand. He activated it to add Sangen Summoning to his hand and then used Sangen Summoning to add Fadra to his hand and discard Triple Tactics Talent. He used Fadra’s effect to Special Summon Genroku to his field and then used Genroku’s effect to Special Summon Paidra from his Deck. He used Paidra’s effect to add Sangen Kamen from his Deck to his hand. He activated the Sangen Kamen to add Tenpai Dragon Chundra from his Deck to his hand and then Special Summoned it. He sent it to the Graveyard to Link Summon Striker Dragon and then sent Striker Dragon and Paidra to the Graveyard to Link Summon Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres.

Manabe drew Dogmatika Punishment and then Flip Summoned his Lady Labrynth. He Set the Punishment and then activated Ice Dragon’s Prison targeting Paidra in Santoli’s Graveyard. Santoli Chained the effect of his Hieratic Seal to return Fadra to his own hand, and Manabe Special Summoned Paidra to his field in Defense Position. In a new Chain, the effect of the Hieratic Seal activated to Special Summon Paidra from Santoli’s Deck. Santoli used its effect to add Sangen Summoning from his Deck to his hand. Next, Manabe Flip Summoned Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle and used its effect to Set Dimensional Barrier from his Graveyard to his field.

Santoli drew a card and Manabe flipped Dimensional Barrier in the Draw Phase declaring Synchro. He Chained Lady Labrynth’s effect to Set Big Welcome Labrynth from his Deck. Manabe Normal Summoned Denko Sekka in his Main Phase and Flip Summoned Fadra! He attacked Paidra with Fadra to destroy the Paidra, and then attacked Lady Labrynth with Chundra. He used Chundra’s effect to Special Summon Paidra from his Deck and used Paidra’s effect to add Sangen Summoning to his hand. In Main Phase 2, he sent Fadra and 2 Paidras to the Graveyard to Link Summon Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames and used its effect to Special Summon Fadra from his Graveyard in Attack Position.

Manabe drew Torrential Tribute and then – unable to activate Set cards due to the effect of Denko Sekka – entered his Battle Phase. Santoli Synchro Summoned Sangenpai Bident Dragion in the Battle Phase and used its effect to Special Summon Fadra back from his Graveyard. He then used Chundra’s effect to Tune it with Fadra and Synchro Summon Black Rose Dragon! He used Black Rose Dragon’s effect to destroy all cards on the field – but Lady Labrynth survived due to its effect. Lady Labrynth attacked directly and Manabe Set Torrential Tribute before ending his turn.

Santoli Normal Summoned Fadra and activated its effect. Manabe Chained the effect of the Big Welcome Labrynth in his Graveyard by banishing it, returning the Sangen Summoning to Santoli’s hand. Santoli Summoned Chundra with Fadra’s effect, and Manabe flipped Torrential Tribute. He Chained Lady’s effect to Set Welcome Labrynth from his Deck, and then Torrential Tribute cleared the field! But with his field wide open, Santoli Special Summoned Bystial Magnamhut from his hand by banishing Lady Labrynth from Manabe’s Graveyard! A direct attack from Magnamhut wiped out Manabe’s remaining Life Points!

Santoli wins Duel 2 with some help from Denko Sekka! Manabe chose to go first in Duel 3!

Duel Three

Manabe opened up Duel 2 with Skill Dragon, Ice Dragon’s Prison, Runick Flashing Fire, Torrential Tribute, and Solemn Strike. He Set all 5 cards to his back row and passed his turn.

Santoli activated Sangen Summoning and then Normal Summoned Paidra.

He activated its effect, and when Manabe flipped Skill Drain by paying 1000 Life Points, Santoli Chained Cosmic Cyclone and gave up 1000 Life Points to banish Skill Drain. Santoli added Sangen Kaimen to his hand with Paidra’s effect and then used the effect of Sangen Summoning to add Chundra to his hand and discard Triple Tactics Thrust. He Tuned his two monsters together to Synchro Summon Black Rose Dragon and activated its effect. Santoli Chained Runick Flashing Fire to Special Summon Hugin the Runick Wings from his Extra Deck. He wanted to protect his back row cards with Hugin’s effect, but because Hugin was marked for destruction by Black Rose Dragon, he was unable to do so! Manabe sent all of his cards to his Graveyard, disappointed to see that he could have used Solemn Strike on the Black Rose Dragon’s Summon if he had known how the interaction with Hugin would work. Santoli entered the Battle Phase and then activated Sangen Kaimen to add Fadra to his hand. He Special Summoned it and then Manabe conceded, realizing he would be defeated that turn.

Steven Santoli wins a close Match to advance to the Top 8 with his Tenpai Dragon Deck!