We’re in Round 8 here at YCS Pittsburgh, and the Duelists are competing to see if they have a chance of making it to Day 2! They’ll need a 7-2 record at the end of Day 1 in order to make it there, so these last couple of rounds are extremely important. In this Feature Match, we have Avery Nicholas Sukienik playing the Vanquish Soul K9 Deck, and his opponent is Felix Cornelius Hamm playing the Branded Dracotail Deck. Each of these Duelists have a 6-1 record, so a win this round will guarantee them a spot on Day 2!

Duel 1

Sukienik won the die roll and chose to go first! Hamm’s opening hand consisted of Dracotail Faimena, Dracotail Mululu, Ketu Dracotail, Dracotail Pan, and Mulcharmy Fuwalos. 

Sukienik started off by activating “A Case for K9”, searching for K9-66a Jokul. He then activated Stake Your Soul!, revealing the Jokul, as Hamm Chained the effect of Mulcharmy Fuwalos. Sukienik resolved Stake to Special Summon Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love, and activated Mad Love’s effect to search for Vanquish Soul, Start!. He activated Start!, then activated the effect of K9-17 Izuna in hand, Special Summoning it and sending K9-ØØ Lupis to the Graveyard. Next, Sukienik activated Start!’s effect, targeting Mad Love and searching for Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius. Sukienik then activated the effect of Lupis in the Graveyard, but Mann chose to respond with the effect of Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion! Next, he activated the effect of Jokul in hand, attempting to Special Summon it and Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue from hand, and Mann Chained the effect of Dracotail Faimena, using Dracotail Mululu and Dracotail Pan to Fusion Summon Dracotail Arthalion. In the resulting Chain, he used Arthalion’s effect to return Mululu and Faimena to hand, Set Rahu Dracotail and Dracotail Horn to his backrow, negated the effect of K9-66a Jokul, and attempted to destroy Sukienik’s Hollie Sue, though Sukienik used the effect of Start! to prevent it from being destroyed. 

Next, Sukienik used Jokul and Izuna to Xyz Summon K9-17 “Ripper”, then activated Ripper’s effect to search for K9-66b Lantern and Set K9-X Forced Release to his backrow. He then Special Summoned Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius by returning Hollie Sue to hand, and activated its effect to destroy the face-down Rahu. Next, he activated Lantern’s effect, Special Summoning it from hand and Lupis from the Graveyard, then activated Lantern’s other effect to search for another copy of “A Case for K9”. He used Mad Love to Link Summon Rock of the Vanquisher, activated Rock’s effect to Special Summon Vanquish Soul Razen from hand and search for Vanquish Soul Heavy Borger, Special Summoned Borger by returning Razen to hand, drew a card, and ended his turn. 

Mann drew The Fallen & The Virtuous for turn! He started by activating Ketu Dracotail, and Sukienik responded with the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! Next, Mann Normal Summoned Dracotail Mululu, then activated its effect; Sukienik responded by activating the effect of Borger to draw a card, as well as Caesar Valius’ effect to destroy a card on the field, and Mann activated Dracotail Horn as Chain Link 4! Rock of the Vanquisher was returned to the Extra Deck, Mululu was destroyed, and Mann resolved Mululu’s effect to use Arthalion on the field and Fallen of Albaz and Dracotail Pan from hand to Fusion Summon another Arthalion! He used Arthalion’s effect to return Pan and Mululu to hand, as well as Faimena’s effect to Set Rahu Dracotail to his backrow. On resolution, Sukienik activated K9-X Forced Release, but Mann Chained The Fallen & The Virtuous, sending Albion the Branded Dragon to the Graveyard to destroy Ripper! 

Mann then activated Rahu Dracotail, using Dracotail Lukias from the Deck and Dracotail Pan from hand to Fusion Summon Dracotail Gulamel! He Set Dracotail Flame and Ketu Dracotail from his Deck and destroyed Sukienik’s Lantern. Mann then activated the effect of Faimena, and Sukienik Chained the effect of Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue, Special Summoning it as Mann used Dracotail Gulamel and Dracotail Mululu to Fusion Summon Secreterion Dragon! Mann used Mululu’s effect to Set Rahu Dracotail from the Deck to his backrow and negate the effect of Hollie Sue. On resolution, Sukienik activated the effect of Lupis, using it and Hollie Sue to Xyz Summon N.As.H. Knight! He activated its effect, attaching Secreterion Dragon to it as Xyz Material. Mann entered the Battle Phase and attacked the N.As.H. Knight with Arthalion. In Main Phase 2, Sukienik Special Summoned Lupis from the Graveyard. In the End Phase, Mann used the effect of Albion to Set another copy of The Fallen & The Virtuous to his backrow before ending his turn.

To begin his turn, Sukienik activated the effect of Vanquish Soul, Start!, searching for Vanquish Soul Jiaolong. He activated Borger’s effect to draw a card, then Special Summoned Jiaolong from hand! In response to the summon, Mann activated The Fallen & The Virtuous, sending Rindbrumm the Striking Dragon to the Graveyard to destroy Sukienik’s Lupis. Sukienik next activated the effect of Caesar Valius, and Mann Chained Dracotail Flame, attempting to return Borger to Sukienik’s hand. Sukienik responded with the effect of Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue, and Mann followed up by activating Dracotail Sting, wanting to get value out of his cards before Caesar Valius could destroy them. Sukienik used Caesar’s effect to destroy Arthalion as Ripper was banished from his Graveyard, and with the draws from Sting and Flame, Mann drew two copies of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! 

Sukienik next activated “A Case for K9”, searching for K9-66a Jokul, then Normal Summoned K9-04 Noroi. Here, Mann banished Rindbrumm to Special Summon Fallen of Albaz from his Graveyard, then discarded one of his Ash Blossoms to fuse Albaz, Borger, and Caesar Valius into The Dragon that Devours the Dogma! Mann Special Summoned back Dracotail Gulamel from the Graveyard, and used Dragon’s effect to return Secreterion Dragon and Caesar Valius to the Extra Deck and Deck, respectively. He used Jiaolong and Noroi to Xyz Summon another K9-17 “Ripper”, then activated its effect to search for K9-17 Izuna. Here, Sukienik activated the effect of Hollie Sue; Mann attempted to respond with the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, but Sukienik Chained the effect of Ripper, negating the effect of Ash Blossom and allowing him to Special Summon Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius from the Deck. 

Sukienik then activated the effect of K9-66a Jokul, Special Summoning it and Izuna from hand, then used Jokul’s effect to search for another Izuna. He used Izuna and Hollie Sue to Xyz Summon Vallon, the Super Psy Skyblaster, then Special Summoned Izuna from hand and proceeded to the Battle Phase. He attacked Dragon with Ripper, attacked Gulamel with Jokul, then attacked directly with Caesar, Vallon, and Izuna, leaving Mann with only 200 Life Points remaining! In Main Phase 2, Sukienik used Caesar Valius to Link Summon Rock of the Vanquisher, then added Borger back to hand. He used Ripper and Izuna to Link Summon S:P Little Knight and banish Mann’s face-down Ketu, as Mann Special Summoned back Arthalion. Sukienik then used Vallon’s effect to flip Arthalion face-down, then used 3 of his monsters to Link Summon Saryuja Skull Dread! Sukienik used the effect of Vallon to destroy Mann’s face-down Rahu, then used Saryuja’s effect to Special Summon Vanquish Soul Razen and search for Hollie Sue. Finally, Sukienik Special Summoned Borger by returning Razen to hand. During the End Phase, Mann used the effect of The Dragon that Devours the Dogma to search for another copy of The Fallen & The Virtuous. 

Mann drew Ketu Dracotail for turn! However, during the Standby Phase, Sukienik activated the effect of Borger, inflicting direct damage to Sukienik’s Life Points and reducing them to zero!

Duel 2

Mann started by activating Branded Fusion, and Sukienik responded by activating the effects of both Mulcharmy Fuwalos and Retaliating “C”! Sukienik Special Summoned Retaliating “C” and drew a card as Mann banished Fallen of Albaz and Albion the Shrouded Dragon from his Deck to Fusion Summon Lubellion the Searing Dragon. Mann then activated Lubellion’s effect, discarding Dracotail Pan and returning Lubellion and Albaz to the Deck to Fusion Summon Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon! Finally, Mann Set a card to his backrow and ended his turn. 

Sukienik began his turn by Special Summoning Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue from hand! He activated its effect, but Mann responded with the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Sukienik then activated “A Case for K9”, searching for K9-ØØ Lupis, then activated K9-66a Jokul’s effect to Special Summon it and Lupis from hand. He used Jokul’s effect to search for K9-66b Lantern, then used Lupis and Jokul to Xyz Summon K9-17 “Ripper”. He activated Ripper’s effect, searching for K9-X Forced Release, then activated it, using Ripper to Xyz Summon K9-X “Werewolf” and destroy Mirrorjade! Finally, he Tributed the Hollie Sue to Tribute Summon K9-66b Lantern, and proceeded to the Battle Phase. With his monsters’ Attack Points boosted by “A Case for K9” and Werewolf able to attack multiple times, Sukienik wiped out all of Mann’s Life Points in one turn! 

With that, Sukienik moves on with a 7-1 record, and is guaranteed a Day 2 spot here at YCS Pittsburgh!