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Round 5 Feature Match:
Charles Easton versus Jarel Winston
After capturing the Canadian National Championship a few weeks ago, Charles Easton is here today playing Blackwings. He’s one of several Torontonian Duelists here this weekend running triple Sirocco with double “Deck Devastation Virus,” fast becoming a popular choice in this sunset format.
His opponent is Jarel Winston, runner up at SHONEN JUMP Championship Anaheim. He’s running an innovative and ambitious Lightsworn Control build with “Thunder King Rai-Oh” and “Royal Oppression.”
Winston won the roll and opened the match with “Solar Recharge,” “Necro Gardna,” “Celestia, Lightsworn Angel,” “Honest,” “Bottomless Trap Hole,” and “Beckoning Light.” He activated Recharge (discarding Celestia) and drew “Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter,” then “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress.” He sent “Plaguespreader Zombie” and “Charge of the Light Brigade” to his Graveyard. Scoring the Ryko was a nice boon that promised a strong opening. He Set it, Set Bottomless and ended.
Easton Normal Summoned “Blackwing - Bora the Spear,” and Winston responded with “Bottomless Trap Hole” to remove it! Easton Set one card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone, Winston drew “Jain, Lightsworn Paladin,” and he Flip Summoned Ryko to destroy Easton’s face-down “Mystical Space Typhoon.” That sent “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner,” “Honest,” and “Cold Wave” to the Graveyard, and he Normal Summoned Jain. He attacked with both monsters for 2000 damage total and set Beckoning. In his End Phase he sent “Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior” and “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast” to his Graveyard, Special Summoning the Wulf. Easton needed to pull something big out to battle back.
He Normal Summoned another Bora, attacked Ryko, and got blown away by “Honest”! Easton dropped to 5800 Life Points and he Set one card to his back row. Winston drew “Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid.”
He turned Ryko to Defense Position and swung with Wulf and Jain into “Mirror Force.” Both were destroyed. He Normal Summoned Aurkus, sent Celestia and Recharge to his Graveyard in the End Phase, and ended with that “Beckoning Light” ready to punish Easton, courtesy of “Honest.”
Easton Normal Summoned “Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North,” Special Summoned Bora, and Special Summoned “Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind” from his hand. He Tuned Gale to Bora, Synchro Summoned “Blackwing Armor Master,” and was left with two cards in hand. Easton moved into his Battle Phase, and Winston discarded “Necro Gardna” and Lyla with “Beckoning Light” to take back “Honest” and Celestia! “Honest” and “Necro Gardna” would keep Aurkus on the table, and Celestia would destroy both Blackwings next turn. Easton still had 5800 Life Points left, but regardless, that Celestia could mean game across two turns if Winston could find another monster.
Armor Master attacked Aurkus and Winston dropped the “Honest.” Blizzard was left to destroy Ryko, and Easton ended. Winston drew “Royal Oppression.”
He tributed Aurkus for Celestia, sending “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner,” “Judgment Dragon,” “Ehren, Lightsworn Monk,” and “Cold Wave” to the Graveyard. Celestia’s effect destroyed Armor Master and Blizzard, and Celestia attacked to drop Easton to 3500 Life Points. Winston Set “Royal Oppression,” his last card.
Easton drew to three cards in hand. His field was bare, but he activated “Monster Reborn” – Winston shut it down with Oppression. Easton passed. Celestia swung for another 2300 damage next turn, and Easton Special Summoned Gorz and an “Emissary of Darkness Token,” with 1200 Life Points remaining. He sent Gorz to attack Celestia, and Winston removed “Necro Gardna” to stop it. The Emissary Token was traded for Celestia in battle, and Easton Set one Spell or Trap to end.
Winston drew to two in hand and discarded Aurkus for “Solar Recharge”; no help there, as he drew “Mystical Space Typhoon” and a second Oppression. He Set the second Oppression (not the “Mystical Space Typhoon”), and ended. Easton quickly thumped him with Gorz for 2700 damage. Winston drew “Bottomless Trap Hole” next turn – the Duel stood at 4500 Life Points to 1200. Winston was still winning, but he was losing control of the game. He set Bottomless and “Mystical Space Typhoon.”
Easton activated “Allure of Darkness,” drew two, and removed “Dark Armed Dragon” for Allure’s effect. Another Allure got him two more cards, and Easton removed “Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn.” Gorz made another attack and Winston was down to 1800 Life Points. Easton Set two more cards to his back row, and Winston flipped “Mystical Space Typhoon” in the End Phase to destroy his freshly-set “Solemn Judgment.”
His next draw was “Judgment Dragon,” but Easton still had 1200 Life Points – enough to negate the Dragon’s Summon with “Royal Oppression” if Winston went for it. He Special Summoned it, Easton destroyed it with Oppression, and Winston conceded.
Jarel Winston’s “Royal Oppressions”s backfire, causing dead draws and an eventual defeat in a Duel he had complete control of for so long! Both competitors dove for their Side Decks. “That Gorz was a lifesaver,” groaned Winston. He couldn’t get over the fact that Easton had appeared to have taken two hits before actually summoning the Gorz. “I thought I had you at Oppression – you didn’t even see that.”
“Yeah, I was gonna go “Monster Reborn” into Dark Strike, but I couldn’t.” Duel 2 began swiftly, just moments later.
Winston opened with “Mystical Space Typhoon,” “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress,” two “Solar Recharges,” “Charge of the Light Brigade,” and “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner.” He activated Charge, searching his deck for “Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior” after sending “Necro Gardna,” “Monster Reincarnation,” and “Honest” to his Graveyard. He discarded Garoth for “Solar Recharge,” drew “Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter” and another “Necro Gardna,” then sent “Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid” and “Bottomless Trap Hole” to his Graveyard. He discarded Lyla for his next Recharge, drew a third Necro, another Lyla, and sent “Mind Crush” and “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast” to his Graveyard. He Special Summoned Wulf, then set “Mystical Space Typhoon,” set Ryko, and ended. He opted not to Summon Lumina and discard “Necro Gardna” for Garoth, a relatively standard move. With the removal power of “Mystical Space Typhoon” and Ryko, it looked like he was planning a really big early push.
Easton Normal Summoned “Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow,” then Special Summoned “Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind.” He activated Gale’s effect, halved the ATK and DEF of Wulf, then sent Kalut to attack Wulf. Winston let it go, taking 350 damage. Easton didn’t attack with Gale, but Set two cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone to finish out. Winston flpped “Mystical Space Typhoon” in the End Phase, destroying Easton’s face-down “Light-Imprisoning Mirror.”
He drew “Honest,” and Flip Summoned “Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter” to destroy Easton’s face-down “Bottomless Trap Hole.” He sent Recharge, Celestia, and “Trap Dustshoot” to his Graveyard. Winston Normal Summoned “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner,” discarded “Necro Gardna,” Special Summoned Garoth, and sent Garoth after Blackwing – Kalut.
“Pass priority?” asked Easton.
“Man… why are you doing this to me?” Winston was clearly fearing the chance of a Kalut. “Is that what you’ve got, another Kalut?’ Out of paranoia, he dropped “Honest” to boost Garoth over a possible Kalut, and Easton took the damage. Winston sent five cards to his Graveyard in his End Phase, sending “Plaguespreader Zombie” to the Graveyard but not drawing anything with Garoth.
Gale attacked Lumina and Winston removed “Necro Gardna” to keep her on the field. Easton then Set all three of his remaining cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone – he hadn’t had that Kalut that Winston had tried to play around. Winston drew “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress.” He didn’t have the Kalut! He turned Ryko and Lumina to Defense Position as Easton grinned about his bluff, and slammed Garoth into “Mirror Force.” In Main Phase 2 Winston discarded another Gardna for Lumina’s effect, brought up Garoth, and sent five more cards to the Graveyard – still no draws, and he lost a “Judgment Dragon.” He was also getting dangerously low on cards.
Easton Normal Summoned “Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame,” halved Garoth’s ATK and DEF with Gale’s effect, and attacked Lumina with Gale. He needed to work around that “Necro Gardna” in the Graveyard. Lumina was destroyed, Shura attacked Garoth, and Winston removed “Necro Gardna” to deprive Easton of his search with Shura. Easton controlled Shura, Gale, and two Spell or Trap Cards. Winston had Ryko in Defense Position, his halved Garoth in attack, and in-hand copies of Lyla and Aurkus. “Your move,” stated Easton.
He drew “Judgment Dragon” with eight cards remaining in his Deck, and returned Lyla to the top of his Deck to Special Summon “Plaguespreader Zombie.” He Normal Summoned Aurkus, then Tuned it with “Plaguespreader Zombie” and Ryko for “Black Rose Dragon”! Easton responded with “Bottomless Trap Hole,” but lost his “Mystical Space Typhoon” and the rest of his field. Winston Special Summoned “Judgment Dragon,” attacked for 3000 damage, and ended with an empty hand. Both Duelists were now top-decking. The Duel stood at 3150 Life Points to 7650, with Winston leading.
Easton drew and passed. Winston drew, had only four cards left in his Deck… and conceded! His draw was Gorz, and he wasn’t able to finish off Easton this turn – Easton would still have 150 Life Points left if “Judgment Dragon” attacked, and “Judgment Dragon” would eat the last four cards in Winston’s Deck.
Charles Easton claims a quick victory over Jarel Winston, as Winston’s strategy just seems to implode from the get-go! Painful.
reported by
Jason Grabher-Meyer
