Houston’s own Leonardo Arias is here for our Feature Match, playing a Dogmatika Stun Deck. This Deck uses monsters with powerful lockdown effects, specially chosen to attack the expected top Decks. His opponent is Yizhou Qian, from Orlando, using one of those top Decks – Ryzeal! Arias has planned specifically for this kind of matchup, but Ryzeal is on top for a reason. Let’s see who emerges when the dust settles!

Duel 1

Arias won the crucial dice roll, and started with a hand of Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, two copies of Moon Mirror Shield, Decisive Battle of Golgonda, and Time-Tearing Morganite. He Normal Summoned Fossil Dyna, followed by Decisive Battle and Morganite. He equipped Fossil Dyna with Moon Mirror Shield to finish.

Qian began with Bonfire, adding Ice Ryzeal to his hand. He Set one back row card and passed.

Arias drew two more copies of Fossil Dyna, thanks to Time-Tearing Morganite! He Normal Summoned them both and attacked directly with all his monsters.

Qian Normal Summoned Ice Ryzeal and attacked one of the unequipped Fossil Dynas. Arias considered using his one Decisive Battle protection for the turn, but declined in case this was a bait. Qian played Bonfire to get another copy of Ice.

Arias drew Solemn Strike and Barrier Statue of the Drought. He Normal Summoned the Statue, then equipped Moon Mirror Shield to his second Fossil Dyna. He attacked over Ice Ryzeal, then attacked directly with his other monsters. He Set Solemn Strike.

Qian Normal Summoned Sword Ryzeal, which put the last copy of Ice Ryzeal in his hand. He attacked the Barrier Statue, and Arias protected his monster with Decisive Battle, sending Titaniklad the Ash Dragon to the Graveyard. Qian Set another back row card. In the End Phase, Titaniklad put Dogmatika Ecclesia, the Virtuous in his hand.

Arias drew There Can Be Only One and another Decisive Battle. He Normal Summoned Ecclesia, which put Dogmatika Punishment in his hand. Fossil Dyna attacked over Sword Ryzeal, and that opened the way for his other monsters to end the first Duel!

The Duelists moved to their Side Decks. Qian now had an opportunity to modify his Deck to better attack Arias’s offbeat strategy, but Arias could also lean even more into anti-Ryzeal cards.

Duel 2

Qian started the second Duel, this time with a chance to make some plays before Arias’s monsters could shut him down. He began by Special Summoning Ext Ryzeal, sending Eclipse Twins to the Graveyard. Ext put Node Ryzeal in his hand. He then Special Summoned Sword Ryzeal, which found an Ice. He Xyz Summoned Ryzeal Duo Drive, using its effect to add Ryzeal Cross and another Ext to his hand. He played Cross, then Special Summoned Node. Node sent a Crossout Designator to the Graveyard to revive Sword. Then he stacked both monsters for Ryzeal Detonator, which attached Eclipse Twins as a material. He sent Duo Drive to the Graveyard to Special Summon Ice Ryzeal, then played Ryzeal Plugin. That let him revive Ext and attach another material to Detonator. He stacked Ice and Ext for Starliege Photon Blast Dragon in Defense Position. He used Cross to put back Plugin and Duo Drive, drawing a new card. He played Seventh Tachyon, revealing Number C102: Archfiend Seraph from his Extra Deck to add Artifact Lancea to his hand! He put a card from his hand on top of the Deck to finish Seventh Tachyon’s effect.

Arias opened with a hand of Solemn Strike, Solemn Judgment, Inspector Boarder, Barrier Statue of the Drought, and Evenly Matched. He drew Fossil Dyna. He moved to the Battle Phase and tried using Evenly Matched, and this was exactly why Qian had grabbed Lancea! With Evenly Matched counteracted, Arias Set Fossil Dyna and his Trap Cards.

Qian Special Summoned Ext by sending another Eclipse Twins to the Graveyard, and added Sword to his hand. He Special Summoned Sword to get a copy of Ice. He Xyz Summoned Tornado Dragon – Arias negated the summon with Solemn Judgment, paying half his Life Points. Qian used Cross to recycle his Ryzeals and draw a card. He moved to the Battle Phase, sending Detonator to attack Fossil Dyna. Dyna’s effect activated, and Qian used Detonator’s protective effect, detaching a material to save his Xyz Monsters.

Arias drew Decisive Battle of Golgonda. He Normal Summoned Inspector Boarder, then activated Decisive Battle. Qian Chained Detonator, targeting Boarder to try destroying it before Decisive Battle resolved. Arias flipped Solemn Strike to negate the Detonator, dropping to just 2500 Life Points. Boarder attacked Detonator, and was saved thanks to Decisive Battle sending Titaniklad to the Graveyard. In the End Phase, Titaniklad’s effect brought Dogmatika Ecclesia to the field in Defense Position.

Qian used Cross to draw a card. He Normal Summoned Ice, which Special Summoned Sword from the Deck. He Xyz Summoned Duo Drive, and turned his Starliege to Attack Position. He sent Detonator to attack over Inspector Boarder, and Arias chose not to protect it with Decisive Battle – doing so would only allow Qian to attack it again with Duo Drive. Qian’s other monsters couldn’t defeat Ecclesia due to its effect. In Main Phase 2, he used Duo Drive to detach Starliege’s materials and get two more Ryzeal monsters in his hand.

Arias drew Solemn Judgment. Ecclesia was protecting him for now, but he knew it would inevitably fall to Qian’s non-Xyz Monsters. With the round timer ticking down, he conceded here to have a better shot in the final Duel.

Duel 3

Arias started this time with Fossil Dyna, Barrier Statue, Ecclesia, Moon Mirror Shield, and Time-Tearing Morganite. He Normal Summoned Fossil Dyna, then played Morganite. That let him also Normal Summon Ecclesia, and Qian hit it with Effect Veiler. Arias equipped Moon Mirror Shield to Fossil Dyna.

Qian played Bonfire to get Ice Ryzeal. He Normal Summoned it, sending it to destroy Ecclesia. He Set one back row card.

Arias drew Inspector Boarder and Solemn Strike thanks to Morganite. Fossil Dyna destroyed Ice in battle. He then Set Boarder, Normal Summoned Barrier Statue, and Set Solemn Strike.

Qian Normal Summoned Sword Ryzeal and tried using its effect, but lost it to Solemn Strike. He Set a back row card.

Arias drew Inspector Boarder and Moon Mirror Shield. He Flip Summoned his first Boarder and attacked with everything. He equipped the Shield to his Barrier Statue, then Set the second Boarder.

Qian breathed a sigh of relief as he drew and played Lightning Storm! Arias lost all his face-up monsters! Arias was forced to use the effects of the Shields, paying 500 Life Points for each and putting them on the bottom of his Deck. Qian Special Summoned Sword and added Ice to his hand. Then he Normal Summoned Ice to bring Ext to the field, and Ext let him get Node. He stacked Ext and Ice for Duo Drive, which put Cross and Plugin in his hand. He played Cross, using it to draw a card. He Special Summoned Node, which sent Seventh Tachyon to the Graveyard to bring back another Sword. He used Node and a Sword to play Number 60: Dugares the Timeless. Then he used Plugin to Special Summon Ice and attach a material to Duo Drive. He Xyz Summoned Detonator, and Dugares doubled Detonator’s ATK! Duo Drive attacked and destroyed the face-down Inspector Boarder. Detonator and Dugares attacked, wiping out the last of Arias’s Life Points!

Yizhou Qian has overcome the obstacles to take the Match with Ryzeal!