We’re approaching the end of YCS Houston’s first day, but there’s no resting yet! We’ve got Justin Franklin, from Baker, Louisiana, who just finished winning on the live stream with his Tombkeeper Blue-Eyes Deck! Franklin is also one of our Bounty Duelists, and the second Bounty Duelist in a row for his opponent William Nguyen. Nguyen is a Houston Duelist, using the tried and true Fiendsmith Ryzeal strategy.

Duel 1

Nguyen won the dice roll and played first. Franklin had a hand of Temple of the Kings, Anubis the Last Judge, Mulcharmy Purulia, Sage with Eyes of Blue, and Book of Eclipse – he activated Purulia immediately. Nguyen Normal Summoned Ice Ryzeal, and Franklin drew Apophis the Swamp Deity. Ice’s effect let Nguyen Special Summon Ext Ryzeal, and that put Sword Ryzeal in his hand. He Xyz Summoned Evilswarm Exciton Knight, and used it to Link Summon Fiendsmith’s Requiem. Requiem let him Special Summon Fiendsmith Engraver, and he equipped it with Requiem. He then used both cards to Special Summon Necroquip Princess. He returned Exciton to the Extra Deck to Special Summon Engraver, and Xyz Summoned D/D/D Wave High King Caesar! He Set two cards in his back row.

Franklin drew another Anubis. He activated Anubis, sending it to the Graveyard to add The Man with the Mark to his hand. He played Book of Eclipse to remove the threat of Caesar, and then Normal Summoned The Man with the Mark. Nguyen negated it with Infinite Impermanence! Franklin Link Summoned Spirit with Eyes of Blue, which put Mausoleum of White in his hand. He activated it, then used his additional Normal Summon to play Sage. Sage’s effect put Maiden of White in his hand. He activated Mausoleum targeting his Spirit, sending a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to the Graveyard. Then he used Spirit’s effect to bring Blue-Eyes White Dragon to the field, and Synchro Summoned Lightstorm Dragon! It destroyed Nguyen’s Set Crossout Designator. Franklin then used Maiden’s effect to put True Light on the field. He Set Apophis, then activated Temple of the Kings. He used True Light’s effect to Set Wishes for Eyes of Blue, then activated it by discarding his second Anubis, adding Effect Veiler and Roar of the Blue-Eyed Dragons to his hand. He attacked with Lightstorm Dragon to destroy Caesar. In Main Phase 2, he used Roar to Special Summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and then Special Summoned Maiden from the Graveyard. He banished Wishes to equip Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to his Blue-Eyes. Then, he Synchro Summoned Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon in Defense Position.

Nguyen played Ryzeal Cross, using it to return Ice and Ext to his Deck and draw a fresh card. He then played Crossout Designator, banishing Effect Veiler to block Franklin’s Veiler for the turn – it seemed like he did this preemptively to get a reaction from Franklin, but no such luck. He returned Requiem to activate Engraver’s Graveyard effect, and Franklin negated it with Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon. Then Franklin Tributed Spirit Dragon to bring Blue-Eyes Ultimate Spirit Dragon to the field! Nguyen Normal Summoned Lacrima the Crimson Tears and activated its effect to send Fiendsmith in Paradise to the Graveyard. He Link Summoned Requiem, and used it to Special Summon Engraver. He equipped Requiem to Engraver, and tried using Engraver’s effect on Ultimate Spirit Dragon – Franklin negated it with the Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon in his Graveyard. Nguyen Special Summoned Ext by sending Mereologic Aggregator to the Graveyard. He activated Ext and Aggregator targeting Ultimate Spirit, and Franklin Chained Apophis the Swamp Deity to negate Ext. Nguyen Special Summoned his last card, the Sword Ryzeal he got last turn. That put Ice in his hand. Franklin used True Light to Set Majesty of the White Dragons. Nguyen continued, using Ext and Sword to Xyz Summon Ryzeal Duo Drive. Franklin flipped Majesty, able to use it the same turn it was Set thanks to Temple of the Kings! Duo Drive was destroyed, and Nguyen had no gas left!

Duel 2

Franklin began this Duel with a hand of Apophis the Serpent, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Xyz Encore, Infinite Impermanence, and Mausoleum. Nguyen started by Normal Summoning Fabled Lurrie. He Link Summoned Requiem, which brought Lacrima to the field. Lacrima sent Fiendsmith in Paradise to the Graveyard. He Special Summoned Ext Ryzeal by sending Ryzeal Detonator to the Graveyard, and Ext put Sword Ryzeal in his hand. He Xyz Summoned Duo Drive, which attached Detonator as a material. He tried using its effect, Franklin Chained Infinite Impermanence, and Nguyen had Crossout Designator to protect his monster! Duo Drive resoled, detaching two materials to put Node Ryzeal and Ice Ryzeal in his hand. He activated Cross, then Special Summoned Sword, which let him add Ext Ryzeal to his hand. He Special Summoned Node, then used Node’s effect sending Duo Drive to the Graveyard to revive an Ext. He stacked all three monsters for Detonator, attaching Lurrie for a fourth material. He used Cross to recycle his two Ryzeal Xyz Monsters in the Graveyard and draw a card. He played Bonfire to add another Ice Ryzeal to his hand for next turn.

Franklin drew Maiden of White. He played Xyz Encore, replacing Nguyen’s Detonator with a field full of monsters with the wrong Levels! He Normal Summoned Maiden, then Link Summoned Spirit with Eyes of Blue. He activated Mausoleum, but had its effect negated by Nguyen’s Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Franklin used Spirit to Special Summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon from his hand, and activated Maiden’s effect. Nguyen activated Fiendsmith in Paradise’s Graveyard effect, sending Fiendsmith’s Desirae to the Graveyard. Desirae’s effect returned Requiem to send Maiden to the Graveyard. Franklin sent Blue-Eyes to attack Lurrie. In Main Phase 2, he used Blue-Eyes to Xyz Summon a Defense Position Super Starslayer TY-PHON – Sky Crisis, then Set Apophis the Serpent.

Nguyen used Sword and Ext to Link Summon Moon of the Closed Heaven, and that to Link Summon Requiem. He used Requiem to Special Summon Engraver, and equipped Requiem to it. Engraver used its effect to destroy TY-PHON. He then used Node’s effect, sending Engraver to the Graveyard to revive Sword. He Special Summoned Engraver from the Graveyard by returning Desirae to the Extra Deck. He used Engraver and Node to Link Summon Fiendsmith’s Sequence. Franklin flipped Apophis the Serpent, which Set Apophis the Swamp Deity. Nguyen Normal Summoned Ice, which Special Summoned Sword. He activated Sword’s effect to get an Ext. He used Sword and Ice to Xyz Summon Detonator, and Franklin knew this Duel was over. With just over 14 minutes left on the clock, the Duelists needed to move quickly into the final Duel.

Duel 3

Franklin went first in the final Duel, with a hand of Triple Tactics Talent, Book of Eclipse, Wishes, Dominus Purge, and Sage with Eyes of Blue. He Normal Summoned Sage, and Nguyen hit it with Infinite Impermanence. Franklin Link Summoned Spirit with Eyes of Blue, which added Mausoleum of White to his hand. He played Mausoleum, then activated Wishes by discarding Eclipse. He added Maiden and Roar to his hand. He activated Maiden’s effect to put True Light on the field. Then he used Mausoleum to send a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to the Graveyard. He used Spirit to Special Summon the Blue-Eyes, and brought Maiden along with it. He Synchro Summoned Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon in Defense Position. He used True Light to Special Summon Blue-Eyes once more, and then used Roar to Special Summon Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon! He used both monsters to Link Summon Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres.

Nguyen played Metaltronus, targeting Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon. Franklin Chained True Light’s effect to Special Summon, and then Chained Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon, Tributing it to Special Summon a new Synchro Monster. Franklin’s effects put Blue-Eyes Ultimate Spirit Dragon and Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field, and Metaltronus had nothing to reference for its Special Summon. Maiden then hit Franklin’s field as well. Nguyen activated Engraver’s effect in his hand, and Franklin negated it with Dominus Purge. Nguyen Normal Summoned Lacrima and activated its effect to send another Engraver to the Graveyard. He Special Summoned one Engraver by returning the other to the Deck. Franklin Tributed Hieratic Seal to return Lacrima to Nguyen’s hand. Then, Hieratic Seal’s other effect let Franklin Special Summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon with 0 ATK and DEF. Nguyen used Engraver to Link Summon Requiem. He activated its effect, and it was negated by Ultimate Spirit Dragon. Nguyen sent Lacrima to the Graveyard to Special Summon Ice in Defense Position, and Set a card in his back row. In the End Phase, the Ultimate Spirit Dragon was destroyed since it was Special Summoned by Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon. Its effect brought Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon back to the field, and Jet Dragon returned to the field as well.

Franklin drew Maiden. He tuned Maiden to the 0 ATK Blue-Eyes White Dragon for Lightstorm Dragon, targeting Nguyen’s back row. Nguyen Chained the targeted Metaltronus, targeting Lightstorm so he could Special Summon Golden Cloud Beast – Malong in Defense Position. Franklin banished Wishes to equip Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Nguyen used the Graveyard effect of Lacrima, returning it to the Deck to revive his Requiem. Then he used Requiem to Special Summon Lacrima from the Deck in Defense Position, which sent an Engraver to the Graveyard. Franklin continued, using his equipped Blue-Eyes to Special Summon Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon! Tyrant attacked and destroyed each of Nguyen’s monsters, opening the way for the rest of his monsters to end the Match!

Justin Franklin is victorious with Tombkeeper Blue-Eyes!