It’s Day 2 here at YCS Pittsburgh, and Duelists are hoping that they’ll make it into the Top 8 for a chance to be crowned winner of the event! For this Round 11 Feature Match, we have two Duelists with 8-2 records: Clifton Scott Land, playing the Vanquish Soul K9 Deck, and Rashad Franklin Jones, using the Dracotail Deck. These Duelists will have to keep on winning in order to keep their hopes alive, so let’s see who will come out on top!

Duel 1

Land won the die roll and chose to go first! He opened with Vanquish Soul Jiaolong, Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue, K9-04 Noroi, “A Case for K9”, and Pot of Prosperity. He began by Normal Summoning K9-04 Noroi and activating its effect, and Jones Chained the effect of Mulcharmy Fuwalos! Land Special Summoned K9-66a Jokul from the Deck and activated its effect to search for K9-66b Lantern, then used Jokul and Noroi to Xyz Summon K9-17 “Ripper”. Next, he activated Ripper’s effect, but it was met with the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! Land then activated “A Case for K9”, searching for K9-17 Izuna, and followed up by activating Pot of Prosperity. He excavated Mulcharmy Fuwalos, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue, Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love, K9-17 Izuna, and Vanquish Soul Razen from the top of his Deck and chose to add his own copy of Ash Blossom to hand, then ended his turn. 

Jones started his turn by Normal Summoning Dracotail Mululu and activating its effect, using Mululu from the field and Dracotail Pan from hand to Fusion Summon Dracotail Arthalion! He activated Arthalion’s effect to add Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring back to hand, then Set Ketu Dracotail and Rahu Dracotail from the Deck and destroyed Land’s Ripper! Next, Jones activated Rahu, but Land Chained the effect of Ash Blossom. Jones activated Ketu, searching for Dracotail Urgula, then activated the effect of Dracotail Faimena, discarding it and using Urgula and Dracotail Lukias to Fusion Summon Dracotail Gulamel! He Set Dracotail Horn and Dracotail Flame to his backrow. Afterwards, he activated Branded Fusion! He sent Dracotail Phryxul and Fallen of Albaz from his Deck to the Graveyard to Fusion Summon Albion the Branded Dragon, then used Albion’s effect to Fusion Summon Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon while Setting Dracotail Sting from the Deck. 

Here, Land activated the effect of K9-17 Izuna, Special Summoning it, but its effect on the field was met by Jones’ Ash Blossom! Land then Special Summoned Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue from hand and activated its effect, Special Summoning Vanquish Soul Razen from the Deck and searching for Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius! On resolution, Jones activated the effect of Mirrorjade, sending another copy of Albion to the Graveyard to banish Land’s Hollie Sue. Jones entered the Battle Phase, and Land activated Razen’s effect to destroy Mirrorjade, but Jones attacked Izuna and Razen with Arthalion and Gulamel. Jones proceeded to Main Phase 2 and activated Dracotail Urgula’s effect, returning it to the bottom of the Deck to add Dracotail Faimena back to hand. He Set The Fallen & The Virtuous to his backrow during the End Phase and ended his turn. 

Land drew Vanquish Soul, Start! for turn! He started by activating the effect of K9-66b Lantern, but Jones Chained Dracotail Sting, banishing Lantern’s target. With that, Land chose to concede the first Duel. 

Duel 2

Land chose to go first once again, and this time opened with Vanquish Soul Jiaolong, Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue, K9-66a Jokul, and two copies of K9-04 Noroi. He started by Normal Summoning K9-04 Noroi and activating its effect, but Jones responded with the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! Next, Land activated the effect of K9-66a Jokul, Special Summoning it and the second Noroi from hand, then used the two copies of Noroi to Xyz Summon K9-17 “Ripper”. Land activated the effects of Jokul and Ripper to search for K9-17 Izuna and K9-66b Lantern to hand, then Special Summoned Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue from hand by revealing Vanquish Soul Jiaolong! He activated Hollie Sue’s effect, Special Summoning Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love and searching for Vanquish Soul Snow Devil, then used Hollie Sue to Link Summon Rock of the Vanquisher and add Hollie Sue back to hand. Next, Land activated the effect of K9-66b Lantern, Special Summoning it from hand and Noroi from the Graveyard, then used Lantern’s effect to search for “A Case for K9”. He activated Case, searching for another copy of Jokul, then activated Noroi’s effect; he sent Jokul to the Graveyard and revealed Jones’ hand of Dracotail Mululu, Dracotail Horn, Rahu Dracotail, and The Fallen & The Virtuous. Finally, he used Lantern and Noroi to Xyz Summon K9-66X “Jacks”, Set a card to his backrow, and ended his turn. 

Jones began his turn by activating Rahu Dracotail, using Dracotail Mululu and Mulcharmy Fuwalos from his hand and Dracotail Urgula from his Deck to Fusion Summon Dracotail Arthalion! He added Dracotail Mululu and Ash Blossom back to hand and Set Ketu Dracotail and Dracotail Sting from the Deck while also negating the effect of Ripper, and Land Chained Vanquish Soul Snow Devil to prevent his Vanquish Soul monsters from being destroyed by card effects this turn. Next, Jones activated Ketu Dracotail and Chained The Fallen & The Virtuous, sending Albion the Branded Dragon to the Graveyard to destroy Jacks. He then resolved Ketu, searching for Dracotail Lukias, then using Lukias and Dracotail Mululu to Fusion Summon Dracotail Gulamel. Here, Jones activated the effect of Lukias to Set another copy of Rahu Dracotail to his backrow, and Land responded with the effect of Mad Love, returning Ripper to the Extra Deck and preventing Jones from activating the effect of Dracotail Gulamel! 

Afterwards, Land Special Summoned K9-17 Izuna and sent K9-ØØ Lupis to the Graveyard, Special Summoned back Lupis, and used the two to Xyz Summon K9-17 “Ripper”. He followed it up by Special Summoning Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue from hand and activating its effect; Jones Chained the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, but Land responded with the effect of K9-17 “Ripper”! Land resolved Hollie Sue’s effect to Special Summon Vanquish Soul Razen and search for Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius, then activated Razen’s effect to destroy the Gulamel in its column. From here, Jones activated the effect of Dracotail Urgula in his Graveyard, adding Dracotail Lukias back to hand. He Normal Summoned Dracotail Lukias, but after looking at his Deck and realizing he didn’t have enough resources to defend his Life Points, chose to concede. We’re moving on to game 3! 

Duel 3

Land’s opening hand contained Mulcharmy Fuwalos, Harpie’s Feather Duster, K9-17 Izuna, Vanquish Soul Jiaolong, and Reinforcement of the Army. 

Jones chose to go first, and began by Normal Summoning Dracotail Mululu! He activated Rahu Dracotail; Land Chained the effect of Mulcharmy Fuwalos, and Jones followed up by activating the effect of Dracotail Mululu! Jones resolved Mululu’s effect by using Mululu on the field and Dracotail Phryxul and Dracotail Faimena in hand as Fusion Material to Fusion Summon Dracotail Arthalion. Jones used all of the monsters in his hand, so he wasn’t able to resolve the effect of Rahu; however, he activated the effects of his Dracotail monsters to Set Dracotail Flame, Dracotail Horn, and Dracotail Sting to his backrow. 

Before Jones could end his turn, Land activated the effect of K9-17 Izuna in hand, Special Summoning it and sending K9-ØØ Lupis to the Graveyard. He Special Summoned back the Lupis, then used Lupis and Izuna to Xyz Summon K9-17 “Ripper”! Seeing Ripper now on the board, Jones decided it was worth allowing Land to draw an additional card, and chose to activate Branded Fusion, sending Dracotail Arthalion and Fallen of Albaz to Fusion Summon Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon! He activated Mirrorjade’s effect, sending Albion the Branded Dragon to the Graveyard to banish Ripper, then Set The Fallen & The Virtuous to his backrow during the End Phase, and ended his turn. 

Land drew Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring for turn! He started by activating Harpie’s Feather Duster; Jones attempted to negate it with Dracotail Flame, but it was met by Land’s Ash Blossom! Jones still activated Dracotail Horn, returning his own Mirrorjade to the Extra Deck; Dracotail Sting to banish Land’s Lupis from the Graveyard; and The Fallen & The Virtuous to send Rindbrumm the Striking Dragon to the Graveyard to destroy Dracotail Sting. This allowed him to return Sting to the Deck with Dracotail Horn as the Chain resolved! 

From here, Land activated Reinforcement of the Army, searching for Vanquish Soul Razen. He Normal Summoned Razen and searched for Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue, then Special Summoned Hollie Sue by revealing Jiaolong. Here, Land activated the effect of Hollie Sue, Special Summoning Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love from the Deck and searching for Vanquish Soul, Start!. He activated Start!, and Jones activated the effect of Rindbrumm, banishing it to summon Fallen of Albaz from the Graveyard. He activated its effect, discarding Ketu Dracotail, and used Albaz and Mad Love to Fusion Summon Lubellion the Searing Dragon. From there, he used Lubellion’s effect to return Rindbrumm and Albaz to the Deck to Fusion Summon Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon! Land activated the effect of Start, targeting his Razen, but Jones Chained the effect of Mirrorjade to banish it; Land activated Razen’s effect, and although it was still banished, this allowed him to Special Summon the Vanquish Soul Jiaolong from his hand. Land used Jiaolong and Hollie Sue to Xyz Summon N.As.H. Knight, then activated N.As.H. Knight’s effect, attaching Mirrorjade to it as Xyz Material. However, Jones activated the effect of Dracotail Faimena in hand; Land knew that he had run out of resources, and had no way to stop Jones from building a board full of Dracotail cards, and conceded. 

With the victory, Jones improves to a 9-2 record, and keeps his hopes of making the Top 8 alive!