We’re almost at the end! In our Top 4 Feature Match, we have two Duelists that are very familiar with competing at a high level; both Julian Kehon and Gabriel Soussi have made it to the Top Cut of multiple YCS events in the past. This time, they’re competing for a chance to play in the finals! For this Feature Match, we have Soussi playing the Dracotail Deck and Kehon playing the Vanquish Soul K9 Deck. It’s time to Duel!

Duel 1

Kehon won the die roll and chose to go first! During the Standby Phase, Soussi activated the effect of Mulcharmy Purulia. In the Main Phase, Kehon activated Stake Your Soul!, revealing Vanquish Soul Heavy Borger, and Soussi Chained the effect of Mulcharmy Fuwalos! Kehon Special Summoned Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love, but when he activated its effect, it was met by Soussi’s Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Next, Kehon Normal Summoned Vanquish Soul Razen and searched for Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue. He activated Mad Love’s effect, returning Razen to his hand, and then returned Mad Love to hand since it was Special Summoned with Stake Your Soul!. Kehon ended his turn with no cards on the field!

Soussi started his turn by Normal Summoning Dracotail Lukias and searching for Dracotail Faimena. He next activated Performapal Odd-Eyes Dissolver in his Pendulum Zone, then activated its effect, using Dracotail Urgula, Faimena, and another Lukias from hand to Fusion Summon Dracotail Arthalion! He returned Ash, Faimena, and Lukias from his Graveyard to his hand, and Set Ketu Dracotail, Rahu Dracotail, and Dracotail Horn to his backrow. Next, Soussi activated Rahu, using Dracotail Mululu from his Deck and Ash from hand to Fusion Summon Dracotail Gulamel, then Set Dracotail Sting to his backrow. He followed up by activating the effect of Faimena in hand, discarding it, and used Lukias from his hand and Arthalion from the field to Fusion Summon Secreterion Dragon! He activated Secreterion’s effect, returning Lukias to the Deck and Special Summoning back Dracotail Mululu.

Here, Kehon activated the effect of Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue, Special Summoning it, then activated its effect, but Soussi Chained the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! Kehon then Special Summoned Vanquish Soul Heavy Borger by returning Hollie Sue to hand, then activated Borger’s effect to draw a card. Afterwards, he Special Summoned Vanquish Soul Jiaolong from hand. Soussi activated the effect of Urgula in his Graveyard, returning Faimena to hand, and Chained the effect of Gulamel to destroy Kehon’s Jiaolong; meanwhile, Kehon used Jiaolong’s effect to turn Secreterion Dragon to Defense Position. Soussi followed up by activating Ketu Dracotail and searching for Dracotail Pan, then used Pan and Faimena to Fusion Summon Mysterion the Dragon Crown, while also Setting Dracotail Flame to his backrow and destroying Heavy Borger. 

Kehon had done what he could to defend his Life Points, but he looked at Soussi’s board and knew it wouldn’t be enough, so he conceded.

Duel 2

Kehon chose to go first again, and once again, Soussi activated the effect of Mulcharmy Purulia during the Standby Phase! Kehon Normal Summoned K9-04 Noroi, activating its effect, and Soussi Chained the effect of Mulcharmy Fuwalos! Kehon Special Summoned K9-17 Izuna from the Deck and sent K9-ØØ Lupis to the Graveyard, then Special Summoned back the Lupis. On resolution, Soussi activated the effect of Dracotail Faimena, using Dracotail Urgula and Dracotail Pan from hand to Fusion Summon Dracotail Arthalion! He activated Arthalion’s effect, targeting his own Pan and Kehon’s Lupis, while also Setting Dracotail Horn and Dracotail Sting to the backrow and destroying Kehon’s Noroi. 

Afterwards, Kehon activated “A Case for K9”, searching for K9-66b Lantern, then activated its effect to Special Summon it from hand and Noroi from the Graveyard. He used Izuna and Lantern to Xyz Summon K9-17 “Ripper”, then activated Ripper’s effect to search for another copy of Noroi and Set K9-X Forced Release to his backrow. Kehon then activated the effect of Noroi, sending Case to the Graveyard and revealing Soussi’s hand of Shaddoll Squamata, Dracotail Mululu, Dracotail Faimena, Rahu Dracotail, and Dracotail Pan. Finally, Kehon Set 3 cards to his backrow and ended his turn. 

Soussi started his turn by activating Ketu Dracotail, and Kehon Chained Forced Release! Kehon used his Ripper to Xyz Summon K9-X “Werewolf” and destroy Soussi’s Arthalion, as Soussi searched for Dracotail Lukias, then used Dracotail Pan and Dracotail Mululu to Fusion Summon another Arthalion! Soussi used the effect of the Arthalion on the field to return Lukias and Urgula to his hand, and activated Pan’s effect as Chain Link 2. Here, Kehon activated Werewolf’s effect as Chain Link 3, but Soussi activated Faimena’s effect as Chain Link 4! Soussi used the last two monsters in his hand to Fusion Summon Secreterion Dragon, as Kehon resolved Werewolf’s effect to banish the Rahu from Soussi’s hand. However, Soussi was still able to Set another copy of Rahu from his Deck while destroying Kehon’s Werewolf. In the following Chain, Soussi Special Summoned back Arthalion from the Graveyard, and used the effect of Squamata to send Shaddoll Hedgehog to the Graveyard, allowing him to search for Shaddoll Beast.

On resolution, Kehon activated Infinite Impermanence, negating the effect of Soussi’s Secreterion Dragon. Soussi then Normal Summoned Dracotail Lukias. Here, Kehon knew that he would not be able to stop Soussi from building up his board even more and attacking for game, and chose to concede. 

Soussi is moving on to the finals of the 2025 North America Remote Duel YCS!