Welcome to Round 1 of YCS Vancouver! For the first feature match of the event, we have a couple of Duelists that live fairly close to the Vancouver area. On one side, we have Jesse Swynar, from Kelowna, British Columbia, piloting the Vanquish Soul K9 strategy, aiming to use the brand new K9 cards that debuted recently in Justice Hunters. On the other side, we have Christopher Peake, from Seattle, Washington, playing his beloved Sky Strikers, a strategy that received a couple of powerful new cards in Duelist’s Advance. Which of these Duelists will start off their YCS Vancouver experience with a win in the first round? Let’s find out! It’s time to Duel! 

Duel 1

Swynar won the die roll and chose to go first! His opening hand consisted of Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue, Mulcharmy Purulia, K9-66a Jokul, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, and Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion. He started by activating the effect of K9-66a Jokul, Special Summoning it and Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue to the field. Next, he activated Jokul’s effect, searching for K9-66b Lantern. On the resolution of Jokul’s effect, Peake activated the effect of Droll & Lock Bird! Swynar then activated Hollie Sue’s effect, revealing Lantern and Ash in his hand to Special Summon Vanquish Soul Jiaolong from his Deck, then used Jiaolong and Jokul to Xyz Summon N.As.H. Knight, and ended his turn. 

During Peake’s Draw Phase, Swynar activated the effect of Hollie Sue again, Special Summoning Vanquish Soul Razen from the Deck and searching for Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius! Peake started his turn by activating Raigeki, destroying all of Swynar’s monsters. He then activated Reinforcement of the Army, adding Sky Striker Ace – Raye to his hand, and on resolution, Swynar activated the effect of Mulcharmy Purulia! Peake Normal Summoned Raye, and Swynar drew a copy of Mulcharmy Fuwalos, which he immediately discarded to activate its effect! Peake entered the Battle Phase and attacked directly with Raye, then activated Raye’s effect, Tributing it to Special Summon Sky Striker Ace = Zero, but when he activated its effect, Swynar Chained the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! Peake attacked directly with Zero, then went to Main Phase 2. He Set a card to his backrow and ended his turn. 

Swynar drew Vanquish Soul Razen for turn! He started by Normal Summoning Vanquish Soul Razen and searching for another copy of Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue. He then Special Summoned Hollie Sue by revealing the Caesar Valius in his hand, and activated Hollie Sue’s effect to try and take control of one of Peake’s monsters; Peake responded by activating the effect of Zero, but Swynar Chained the effect of Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion, negating Zero’s effect! Swynar then activated the effect of K9-66b Lantern, targeting the Jokul in his Graveyard, but Peake responded with Sky Striker Mecha – Shark Cannon, banishing Jokul and preventing Lantern from being Special Summoned out. Swynar then activated his own copy of Reinforcement of the Army, searching for another Razen. He used the Razen on the field to Link Summon Rock of the Vanquisher, then activated Rock’s effect to add Vanquish Soul Jiaolong back to his hand. He Special Summoned Caesar Valius by returning Hollie Sue to hand, then proceeded to the Battle Phase. He attacked Peake’s Life Points directly with Caesar Valius, then ended his turn. 

Peake began his turn by activating Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! He added Sky Striker Mecha – WIdow Anchor to his hand, then drew a card. Next, he activated Widow Anchor, targeting Swynar’s Caesar Valius; Swynar Chained Caesar’s effect, attempting to make it unaffected by Peake’s card effects, but Peake responded with a second copy of Widow Anchor! Swynar activated Rock’s effect, adding Razen back to his hand, as Peake took control of Swynar’s Caesar Valius. On resolution, Swynar activated the effect of Jiaolong, Special Summoning it, then activated its effect to add Vanquish Soul Heavy Borger to his hand. Swynar then Special Summoned Hollie Sue, and activated its effect to Special Summon Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love from his Deck and search for Vanquish Soul, Start! He Special Summoned Heavy Borger, returning Hollie Sue to hand, then activated Borger’s effect and drew K9-17 Izuna. Peake continued his turn by Normal Summoning Sky Striker Ace – Roze, then used it to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kagari, adding Engage back to his hand. Peake entered the Battle Phase and attempted to attack Borger with Caesar, but Swynar Chained the effect of Mad Love to return Caesar to his own hand! In Main Phase 2, with his Main Monster Zones now free, Peake activated Engage, adding Sky Striker Special Maneuver – Lemnisgate! to his hand, then drew a card. He used Kagari to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Hayate, used Hayate to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kaina, then used Kaina to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku! He then activated Lemnisgate, returning 4 monsters and 4 Spell Cards from his Graveyard to the Deck to return Rock of the Vanquisher and Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love to Swynar’s hand. During the End Phase, Peake activated Shizuku’s effect to add Sky Striker Mecha – Shark Cannon to his hand, then activated Shark Cannon to Special Summon N.As.H. Knight to his side of the field. 

Swynar drew Vanquish Soul Jiaolong for turn! He activated the effect of the Jiaolong on his side of the field to search for Vanquish Soul Snow Devil, then used Borger’s effect to draw a copy of Called by the Grave! Next, Swynar Special Summoned Hollie Sue, then used Hollie Sue and Jiaolong to Xyz Summon K9-17 “Ripper”! He activated Ripper’s effect to search for Jokul, then Normal Summoned Vanquish Soul Razen and used it to Link Summon Rock of the Vanquisher. He activated Vanquish Soul, Start! and searched for another Hollie Sue, then activated Rock’s effect to Special Summon Hollie Sue from hand, and used Hollie Sue’s effect to take control of Shizuku. Swynar returned Hollie Sue to the hand and Special Summoned Caesar Valius, then proceeded to the Battle Phase. Facing down several large monsters on Swynar’s side of the field, Peake conceded the first Duel. 

Duel 2

Peake chose to go second this Duel, so Swynar will be going first again! His opening hand contained Vanquish Soul Jiaolong, K9-17 Izuna, K9-ØØ Lupus, Reinforcement of the Army, and Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion. He started by activating Reinforcement of the Army, searching for Vanquish Soul Razen, then Normal Summoned Razen and searched for Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue. He Special Summoned Hollie Sue by revealing Jiaolong, then Special Summoned Jiaolong. Next, he used Jiaolong and Hollie Sue to Xyz Summon K9-17 “Ripper”, and activated RIpper’s effect to search for K9-66a Jokul. He activated Jokul’s effect, Special Summoning it and Lupis from his hand, then activated Jokul’s effect to search for K9-66b Lantern. He used Jokul and Lupis to Xyz Summon N.As.H. Knight, then used Razen to Link Summon Rock of the Vanquisher and add Razen back to his hand, then ended his turn. 

Peake started his turn by activating the effect of Mulcharmy Fuwalos in the Draw Phase! Next, he activated Dark Hole to destroy all monsters on the field; Swynar Chained the effect of Rock to add Hollie Sue back to his hand. Here, Peake Chained Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor to try and negate Rock’s effect, but Swynar responded with the effect of N.As.H. Knight! Rock was attached to N.As.H. Knight as Xyz Material, so Swynar was able to resolve Rock’s effect to add Hollie Sue back to his hand. Next, Peake activated Reinforcement of the Army, searching for Sky Striker Ace – Raye. He Normal Summoned Raye, and here, Swynar activated the effect of Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue, Special Summoning it. Peake activated Raye’s effect, Tributing it to Special Summon Sky Striker Ace = Zero! He activated Zero’s effect, as Swynar Chained the effect of Hollie Sue to Special Summon Vanquish Soul Razen from his Deck. Peake drew a card, then resolved Zero’s effect to search for Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor. On resolution, Swynar activated Razen’s effect to search for Vanquish Soul Heavy Borger. 

Peake then activated Triple Tactics Thrust, searching for Triple Tactics Talent. Swynar activated the effect of K9-17 Izuna, Special Summoning it. Swynar activated Izuna’s effect, and Peake Chained Widow Anchor, negating Izuna’s effect and taking control of it, as Swynar Chained the effect of Razen, destroying Zero! Peake activated the effect of Raye in his Graveyard, but Swynar responded with the effect of Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion! Finally, Swynar Special Summoned Heavy Borger, returning Hollie Sue to his hand, then activated its effect to inflict 1500 damage to Peake’s Life Points. 

Peake entered the Battle Phase, but at this point, time in the round was called. Peake was unable to deal damage to Swynar’s Life Points, and Swynar was ahead in Life Points, and was declared the winner. 

With that, Swynar starts off YCS Vancouver with a win!