Kyle Duncan took sixth at the recent Canadian Nationals. He made the trip down to Charlotte with three other teammates and is representing Team NANA—“Non-Asian, Non-American” he explained with a sly smirk. So Canadian.

Dwayne Nunez is best known for his Top 4 finish at SJC Columbus. Representing Team Comic Odyssey, the sixteen year-old Nunez was looking to extend his 4-0 lead.

Nunez won the opening die roll—“I haven’t won a die roll like, ever” he admitted.

Nunez opened with Pot of Greed and gave his hand a quick fanning and riffle to look at his options. He set a monster face down and then set Dust Tornado, going for the classic bluff opening. Duncan set two cards to his spell and trap zone and immediately lost his Torrential Tribute to the Dust Tornado in his end phase.

Next turn Nunez flipped his set Magician of Faith, used Pot of Greed again, and then flipped the Magician with Tsukuyomi, attacking with it. This was going to be hard for Duncan. Nunez played Swords of Revealing Light, set a card, and passed.

Duncan made a comeback, though, activating Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the Swords, taking out Magician of Faith with Blade Knight, and then using Delinquent Duo to take out Nunez’s Magic Cylinder and Tsukuyomi. A turn passed and suddenly Nunez was on the defensive, hiding behind some sheep.

One of those sheep grew into a Thousand-Eyes Restrict on the next turn, quickly eating the Blade Knight and attacking. Duncan flipped a Scapegoat of his own to hold off the Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Nunez passed and Duncan shuffled his hand—he had two in-hand cards, one set spell or trap, and three sheep to Nunez’s three cards on field, three cards in hand, and three sheep—and was outmatched by virtually double his own worth in hand count.

Nunez wiped out Duncan’s sheep and pressed his offensive while Duncan struggled for control of the game. Monsters went down left and right on Duncan’s side, sheep, Breaker, and more, until Thousand-Eyes Restrict’s rampage was ended by Ring of Destruction. Nunez set Spirit Reaper, still packing three sheep, and passed to Duncan.

Duncan quickly used Nobleman of Crossout to remove the Reaper from play, but he had no offensive to push . . . at least, not one that would be worth pressing, given Nunez’s wall of Scapegoat tokens. Both competitors began playing defensively and neither attacked for several turns.

Nunez was the first to break the standoff, using a Sinister Serpent for tribute for Metamorphosis tribute. He brought up Thousand-Eyes Restrict, used its effect to take out Duncan’s single face-down monster, and then tributed the Thousand-Eyes Restrict for Jinzo to attack directly. Duncan fought back, though, summoning Tribe-Infecting Virus and discarding twice to destroy Jinzo and the sheep. Things were looking brighter.

However, Nunez had played his cards carefully, and had a Snatch Steal at the ready. He took control of the Tribe-Infecting Virus and chanced a direct attack against Duncan’s field of two set spell or traps. Neither helped him, and that was the end of game one.


Game Two

Duncan side decked in two cards while Nunez side decked four—rather dramatic, given the fact that he’d won the previous game.

Game two got off to a quick start as Nunez set himself up defensively, since Duncan would be attacking first, and though Duncan had a Nobleman of Crossout to remove Nunez’s Cyber Jar from the field, his attempt at an attack was cut short. He summoned D. D. Assailant, but had no answer when it ran headfirst into Nunez’s Ring of Destruction. A turn later, Nunez had out Thousand-Eyes Restrict, which suddenly slowed the game to a grinding halt.

After having one of his monsters eaten by Thousand-Eyes Restrict, Duncan set a spell or trap and a monster. Nunez used Heavy Storm, clearing his Thousand-Eyes Restrict for another use of its effect. That part of the trick worked, but Duncan’s face down spell or trap was a Scapegoat, which he chained to the Heavy Storm. Though he was definitely losing on the field, he was protecting his life points well.

Next turn Nunez started up the Tsukuyomi and Thousand-Eyes Restrict destruction engine. He used Graceful Charity to get himself Tsukuyomi, turned his Thousand-Eyes Restrict face down with Tsukuyomi’s effect, and then flipped Magician of Faith to reuse Graceful Charity. Tsukuyomi and Magician each attacked a sheep and Thousand-Eyes Restrict grabbed another as Duncan was left with only one token defending him.

Duncan took some time to think. He was nearly matching Nunez in card count, but he needed to play carefully to disrupt his opponent’s board. He settled on a plan of action and executed it.

He removed a Light monster and a Dark monster to special summon Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning. Calling priority, he removed Thousand-Eyes Restrict from play with the Soldier’s effect. He then summoned Mystic Tomato and attempted to attack Magician of Faith. Nunez had the perfect answer. though, and had no doubt planned to bait Duncan with the Magician. He played Book of Moon to turn the Magician face down, got its flip effect, and again took back Graceful Charity.

Next turn Nunez activated Graceful Charity, then used another Scapegoat token to pay for Metamorphosis and bring out Thousand-Eyes Restrict. It sucked up Black Luster Soldier, Thousand-Eyes Restrict smacked Mystic Tomato, and Duncan summoned Sangan with its effect. Nunez set two cards to his spell and trap zone and passed. Duncan passed play right back, having nothing to do and apparently wanting Nunez to attack Sangan, as he didn’t turn it to defense position.

Nunez topdecked Pot of Greed and immediately played it, taking his two cards. Thousand-Eyes Restrict then smacked into Sangan, dropping Duncan to 2700. Nunez had 6300 life points remaining, so he set a monster and passed as Duncan took Sinister Serpent for Sangan’s effect.

Lightning Vortex wiped out Thousand-Eyes Restrict and Duncan set a monster—he had that and a sheep protecting him. Nunez was ready with a Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning of his own and summoned it. He activated Nobleman of Crossout on Duncan’s face down card, summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, flipped up Tribe-Infecting Virus, and that was the game!

Dwayne Nunez continues his undefeated streak!