
Dragon Duel Championship Round 3 Feature Match: Cole L. vs. Claire S.
Welcome to Round 3 of the NA Dragon Duel Championship! We’ve got a Cole L. here from Philadelphia, PA, playing Mitsurugi Ryzeal! This is the most popular strategy in the tournament, with an incredible blend of Xyz Monsters and Ritual Summons. He’s facing Claire S., from Ft. Wayne, IN, using Ancient Gears! Claire comes from an Ancient Gear dynasty – in this very Convention Center in 2011, her dad made the Top 8 of YCS Indianapolis using Ancient Gear Malefics! Claire’s still new to competing, with this tournament being her first major event. What an awesome way to start your Dueling journey!
Duel 1
Cole won the dice roll and played first. Claire had a hand of Ancient Gear Statue, Time-Tearing Morganite, Mulcharmy Fuwalos, Super Express Bullet Train, and Mulcharmy Purulia – she activated the Purulia right away. Cole Normal Summoned Ice Ryzeal, and Claire drew with her Mulcharmy. Ice brought Ext Ryzeal to the field, and Claire activated Mulcharmy Fuwalos. Ext put Sword Ryzeal in Cole’s hand, and Cole decided to take the Mulcharmy challenge! He Special Summoned Sword, and Claire drew again. Sword put another Ext in Cole’s hand. He Special Summoned that Ext by sending Mereologic Aggregator to the Graveyard, and Claire drew. Cole Xyz Summoned Ryzeal Duo Drive, and Claire drew. Duo Drive put Node Ryzeal and Ryzeal Cross in Cole’s hand. He played Cross, then Special Summoned Node. Claire drew. Cole used Node’s effect, sending Duo Drive to the Graveyard to revive Sword. He used all four of his monsters to Xyz Summon Ryzeal Detonator, and Claire drew Derricrane. Detonator attached Mereologic Aggregator as a material.
Cole activated Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi in his hand to Special Summon Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Saji and Tribute the same Saji – Claire drew. Saji’s effect put Mitsurugi Prayers in Cole’s hand. He activated Prayers, Tributing Habakiri to add Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi to his hand. Habakiri put Mitsurugi Ritual in his hand. He activated Mitsurugi Ritual to Ritual Summon Murakumo from the hand, Tributing Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Kusanagi and Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Aramasa from the Deck. Claire drew yet again. Kusanagi put Mitsurugi Ritual back in his hand, and Aramasa added a Habakiri to his hand.
After everything, thanks to the Mulcharmies, Claire had a hand of 11 cards! She had to shuffle some two back, ending up with Ancient Gear Statue, Super Express Bullet Train, Urgent Schedule, 2 copies of Ancient Gear Gadget, Ancient Gear Fortress, Time-Tearing Morganite, Succumbing-Song Morganite, and Triple Tactics Talent.

Claire began her turn by drawing Clockwork Night. She played Urgent Schedule in the Standby Phase, and Cole responded with Murakumo’s effect, forcing her to discard a card or have Urgent Schedule negated. Claire discarded an Ancient Gear Gadget, and Special Summoned Ancient Gear Statue and Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon with their effects negated. She played Clockwork Night, and Cole Chained Detonator to destroy it. Claire banished Clockwork Night from the Graveyard and discarded Super Express Bullet Train to add Ancient Gear Wyvern to her hand. She then activated Triple Tactics Talent to draw two cards – Cole’s Detonator destroyed Statue in response. Claire drew Foolish Burial Goods and Geartown. She activated Geartown, then Special Summoned a new Statue from her hand. She played Ancient Gear Fortress. She followed that up with Time-Tearing Morganite, and then with Succumbing-Song Morganite! Cole responded with Detonator to destroy the Fortress. The destroyed Fortress let Claire Special Summon Ancient Gear Gadget from the Graveyard. She tried using its effect, but Cole negated it with Ryzeal Cross. She Normal Summoned another Ancient Gear Gadget and activated its effect, and Detonator destroyed Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon. With Gadget’s effect, she declared Spell Cards. In a new Chain, Mereologic Aggregator negated Geartown.
Claire used the two Gadgets to Link Summon Ancient Gear Ballista. Ballista’s effect put another Fortress in Claire’s hand. She then used Ballista’s other effect, destroying Geartown to drop Detonator to 0 ATK. Geartown’s effect activated in the Graveyard to Special Summon Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon from the Deck! She played Fortress, then used her bonus Normal Summon from Time-Tearing Morganite to play Ancient Gear Wyvern. Wyvern’s effect put Ancient Gear Advance in her hand. She played Advance to add another Fortress to her hand. She activated that as well, and finally moved to the Battle Phase! Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon attacked Detonator, dealing 6000 damage thanks to Succumbing-Song Morganite! Reactor Dragon’s effect destroyed one copy of Ancient Gear Fortress, which let her Special Summon another Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon from the Graveyard. She wasn’t able to overpower Murakumo, so she passed here.
Cole Normal Summoned Star Ryzeal, then activated Ryzeal Cross to return Node and Ext into his Deck to draw a card. He Link Summoned Dyna Mondo, which shuffled Habakiri from his Graveyard and Ballista from Claire’s side of the field back into the Extra Deck. Dyna Mondo attacked and destroyed Ancient Gear Wyvern.

Claire drew another Advance and Ancient Gear Catapult. She activated the second Advance, and Cole Chained Dyna Mondo to revive Murakumo. Advance had no cards remaining to put in the hand, and Murakumo destroyed all of the Ancient Gears. Claire played Ancient Gear Catapult, destroying Fortress to Special Summon Ancient Gear Dark Golem from the Deck, and Fortress’s effect activated – but Cole had Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion to negate it! Claire used Ancient Gear Dark Golem’s effect, adding Geartown and a third Advance to the hand, discarding Advance. She played Geartown, then played Foolish Burial Goods to send Clockwork Night to the Graveyard. With Advance, she Tributed Ancient Gear Dark Golem to draw another Foolish Burial Goods. She activated Clockwork Night’s Graveyard effect, discarding Foolish Burial Goods – Cole activated Murakumo’s effect, while Claire had no cards to discard, so her effect was negated.
Cole used Ryzeal Cross to draw a new card, then played Bonfire to add Ice Ryzeal to his hand. He Normal Summoned Ice, which Special Summoned Ext, and Ext put Sword in his hand. He Special Summoned Sword, which put a new Ice in his hand. He Special Summoned a second Ice by sending Mulcharmy Fuwalos to the Graveyard. He stacked two Ryzeals for Ryzeal Duo Drive, which put Sword and Node in his hand. He Special Summoned Node and Xyz Summoned Eclipse Twins, and finally moved to the Battle Phase. He attacked with everything, ending the first Duel with just 6 minutes remaining on the clock!
Duel 2
Claire played first, with a hand of Ancient Gear Dark Golem, Ancient Gear Hydra, Mulcharmy Fuwalos, and two copies of Ancient Gear Advance.
In the Draw Phase, Cole used Mulcharmy Fuwalos. Claire played Advance to add Ancient Gear Catapult to her hand. She played Catapult, destroying Advance and Special Summoning Ancient Gear Dark Golem from the Deck, and Cole drew with his Mulcharmy. Dark Golem’s effect put Geartown and Ancient Gear Fortress in her hand, and she discarded a spare Advance. She played Fortress, then Geartown.
Cole Special Summoned Ext Ryzeal by sending Mereologic Aggregator to the Graveyard. Aggregator negated Fortress, and Ext put Sword in his hand. He Special Summoned Sword, putting Ice in his hand. He Special Summoned Ice by sending D.D. Crow to the Graveyard. He Xyz Summoned King of the Feral Imps, and used that to find Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi. He detached one of his Xyz Materials to Special Summon Star Ryzeal, which put Ryzeal Cross on the field. He flipped up Cross, then used his three Ryzeals to Xyz Summon Duo Drive. He added Node and Sword to his hand, then Special Summoned Node. Node sent King of the Feral Imps to the Graveyard to revive Ext. Habakiri bought Saji to the field, and Tributed Ext. Saji put Prayers in his hand. He played Prayers, Tributing Habakiri to add Murakumo to his hand. Habakiri put Mitsurugi Great Purification in his hand. He played Mitsurugi Ritual, Tributing Aramasa and Kusanagi from the Deck to Ritual Summon Murakumo from his hand. He added Habakiri and Mitsurugi Ritual to his hand with his Tributed monsters, and Murakumo’s effect destroyed Ancient Gear Dark Golem.
While Cole had plenty of ATK on the field, the round timer had ended during his turn. With even Life Points, the second Duel was forced into a draw. Since Cole took the first Duel, he won this Match!