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Top 64 Playoff Match:
Leroy Battles vs Jerry Wang
With 64 players advancing to the playoff rounds of the U.S. National Championship, any given competitor needed to win 4 finalist matches in a row in order to claim one of the trips to Tokyo and compete for the title of 2009 World Champion. After an 8-2 finish in the Swiss rounds, former SHONEN JUMP Championship winner Jerry Wang found himself up against Leroy Battles in the first round of the playoffs. Like many Duelists, Battles played a Lightsworn Deck. Unlike many Duelists, he chose to use more Trap Cards than just “Beckoning Light” and “Crush Card Virus.” Jerry played Synchro Cat using the popular “My Body as a Shield” as a way to protect his monsters from “Bottomless Trap Hole” and “Mirror of Oaths.”
The Duelists wished each other luck before the Match began, and the opening move fell to Leroy. He started out with “Threatening Roar,” “Lumina Lightsworn Summoner,” “Monster Reborn,” “Charge of the Light Brigade”,” “Gold Sarcophagus,” and “Solar Recharge.” He activated “Gold Sarcophagus” to remove “Judgment Dragon” from his Deck, intending to claim it during his second Standby Phase thereafter. He sent “Heavy Storm,” “Crush Card Virus,” and “Beckoning Light” to the Graveyard to activate “Charge of the Light Brigade” and searched “Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior” from his Deck. “Solar Recharge” came down next discarding the Garoth and sending “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress” and another “Solar Recharge” to the Graveyard.
Leroy Summoned Lumina and discarded “Celestia, Lightsworn Angel” to Special Summon Garoth. He Set one Spell or Trap Card and sent 5 cards to his Graveyard during the End Phase. Garoth’s effect sent Lumina to the Graveyard, so Leroy got to draw 1 more card, a “Necro Gardna.” Jerry was up next, and he Set 3 Spell or Trap Cards before ending his turn. Not playing a monster was a dangerous move considering the explosive potential of Leroy’s Lightsworn Deck. Leroy switched his Lumina to Defense Position before attacking with Garoth just in case Jerry had “Mirror Force.” The attack was successful, and Leroy Set one more Spell or Trap Card before sending 5 more cards to his Graveyard in the End Phase. Garoth caught another Lightsworn, so Leroy got to draw another card: his second “Necro Gardna.”
Jerry didn’t have any plays on his turn, and during Leroy’s Standby Phase, “Judgment Dragon” was added to his hand. He activated Lumina’s effect by discarding “Necro Gardna”.” His target was Lyla, and when she was Summoned Jerry briefly considered his Set cards before activating “Bottomless Trap Hole” to remove her from play. “Monster Reincarnation” was next for Leroy, and he discarded his second “Necro Gardna” to get back Celestia! It was a serious blow to Jerry’s strategy, as he would be forced to negate Celestia’s Summon instead of “Judgment Dragon’s” if he wanted to survive this turn. Leroy Tributed his Lumina for Celestia, and sure enough Jerry flipped “Solemn Judgment” to negate the Summon! Jerry dropped to 3075 Life Points to his opponent’s 8000, and Leroy tried to Summon “Judgment Dragon”! “You only have 2 different Lightsworn,” remarked Jerry. It was true. Leroy only had copies of Celestia and Lumina in the Graveyard, so “Judgment Dragon” was still on ice. He attacked directly with Garoth, then activated “Monster Reborn” in Main Phase 2 to revive his Lumina.
During the End Phase, Jerry Chained to the effect of Lumina with “Book of Moon” to stop Leroy from getting any more Lightsworn monsters in his Graveyard. Jerry either didn’t have any monsters or didn’t want to play them, as he drew his card and heaved a heavy sigh. He activated “Allure of Darkness,” looked at his cards, and immediately scooped up his cards! Leroy Battles wins the first Duel while Jerry Wang offers almost no opposition!
The only advantage Jerry had from the first game is the fact that Leroy had not seen any of his monsters. Without knowing what monsters were in Jerry’s Deck, Leroy would have to guess at what Jerry was playing if he wanted to bring in cards like “Mirror of Oaths” from his Side Deck.
Jerry was up first for the second Duel, and he started with no monsters again! He Set a Spell or Trap Card and passed over to Leroy who discarded Celestia to play “Solar Recharge.” He drew two then sent Lumina and “Mirror Force” to the Graveyard. He Summoned “Ehren, Lightsworn Monk,” but Jerry destroyed it with “Torrential Tribute.” Leroy Set a Spell or Trap Card, but it was destroyed by Jerry Wang’s “Heavy Storm”! Leroy lost his “Bottomless Trap Hole,” and Jerry Summoned “Summoner Monk”! He discarded “Allure of Darkness” to Special Summon another “Summoner Monk,” then discarded “My Body as a Shield” to Summon “Rescue Cat.” Next, “Rescue Cat” was sent to the Graveyard to Summon 2 copies of “X-Saber Airbellum,” and Jerry quickly performed two Synchro Summons! Jerry’s Airbellums and Monks turned into two copies of “Dark Strike Fighter” and the Duel was over just like that! Both “Dark Strike Fighters” attacked for 2600 damage each and were then Tributed to deal another 1400 damage a piece. The end result? Exactly 8000 damage pushing this Match to a third and final Duel!
Leroy started the final Duel with “Charge of the Light Brigade” sending “Threatening Roar,” Lyla, and “Monster Reborn” to the Graveyard and searching Lumina from his Deck. He played another Charge, this time sending “Jain, Lightsworn Paladin,” “Bottomless Trap Hole,” and “Threatening Roar” to the Graveyard to search out Ehren from his Deck. He Summoned Lumina and discarded a “Necro Gardna” to Summon Lyla. During the End Phase he sent six cards to his Graveyard including “Mirror of Oaths” and a number of other Traps, but he failed to Summon any copies of “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast,” largely owing to the fact that there weren’t any in his Deck. Jerry focused intensely on his cards before Summoning “Mystic Tomato.” He attempted to attack Lumina, but Leroy removed his “Necro Gardna” to keep it on the field. Leroy drew another monster, and had 2 copies of “Judgment Dragon,” Ehren, another “Necro Gardna,” and “Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter” in his hand. The only Lightsworn monster Leroy had in his Graveyard was Jain, and he discarded his second “Necro Gardna” to Special Summon her to the field. He then Normal Summoned Ehren and went to his Battle Phase. Ehren struck down the “Mystic Tomato” and Jerry Summoned “Sangan” from his Deck.
Leroy decided not to attack the “Sangan” for fear that his opponent would be able to search for “Rescue Cat” or “Summoner Monk” and try for a repeat of the previous Duel. Instead, he ended his turn, sending 11 cards to the Graveyard in the End Phase including another Lyla and Lumina. Jerry drew for his turn and had six cards in hand. Leroy’s Deck looked a little thin, so if Jerry could hold out for just another turn or two Leroy would run out of cards. Jerry tried to attack but was again denied by “Necro Gardna.” He Summoned “Cyber Valley” in Main Phase 2 and passed, secure unless his opponent could lay hands on a copy of “Celestia, Lightsworn Angel”! Leroy had only 12 cards left in his Deck, so he could hang on for one more turn with the monsters he currently had on the field. He tried to Summon “Judgment Dragon,” but again had to put it back in his hand because he only had 2 Lightsworn (the Lyla and Lumina that were sent last turn). “I’m about to make the worst play in history,” remarked Leroy as he sent Lumina to attack Jerry’s “Sangan.”
Jerry fetched “D.D. Crow” from his Deck, and Leroy Set his Ryko before sending 8 cards to the Graveyard, finally finding the Lightsworn monsters he needed… including all of his Celestias! Still, if Jerry didn’t have an adequate defense for both Ryko and the “Judgment Dragons,” Leroy would easily claim victory on the next turn. Jerry pitched his “D.D. Crow” to remove Leroy’s Aurkus in the Graveyard from the game, leaving him with only 3 different Lightsworn in the Graveyard. Jerry Summoned a second “Cyber Valley” and then Set 2 Spell or Trap Cards to finish out his turn. It was now or never for Leroy, as time was running out both literally and figuratively! Time was up in the round, and Leroy would lose next turn due to his own Lightsworn effects. He turned Lyla to Defense Position to destroy Jerry’s Set “Heavy Storm,” then flipped Ryko to destroy his other Set card, a “Pot of Avarice.” Leroy had enough Lightsworn to Summon “Judgment Dragon” now, but it was all for naught! Two “Judgment Dragons” was only 6000 damage, leaving Jerry with 2000 Life Points left while his Deck was completely gone. With no cards left in his Deck, Leroy simply conceded.
Jerry Wang pulled through despite having access to none of his Deck’s signature cards in 2 out of 3 Duels! Leroy Battles was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, lamenting his decision to let “Sangan” survive for so long.
reported by
Jerome McHale
