Zaki Said had been bothering me for a feature match all day long, which isn’t normally a good way to get a feature match, but to his credit, he is undefeated with a deck built by Shane Scurry. Described as Dark Armed Dragon Turbo, the deck had taken Said to plenty of turn 2 and turn 3 victories here today.
“I need to thank the deckbuilding master Shane Scurry for building my deck,” stated Said. Since this had to be said word for word at Said’s behest, I assume Scurry had made some sort of licensing agreement in which he received props in return for decklists. “I also need to give a shout-out to Moms, my mother.” There was probably no previous agreement on that one.
His opponent Adam Corn is as much of a household name as one can be in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. Love him or hate him, the one-time US National Champion has defined himself as one of the greatest players of the game, and has racked up Day 2 after Day 2 this year. Today he’s playing the same strategy that got him to the Top 8 in the recent US Nats.
Game 1
Corn won the opening roll and opened things up with two set cards to his back row. He set Sangan, and was left holding Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, Gravekeeper’s Guard, and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive.
Said activated Heavy Storm! “Figures you’d open up with that,” replied Corn, responding with Solemn Judgment. Said set a card to each zone and ended.
“Cards?” asked Corn.
“Three,” replied Said. Corn set another card to each zone and ended. “Go.” He had set the Dekoichi, and was still holding Guard and Thestalos.
Said drew, activated Reckless Greed, and drew two more. He drew another card with Upstart Goblin, and then drew two more by discarding Dark Magician of Chaos for Trade-In! Premature Burial targeted Dark Magician of Chaos, and Corn chained Royal Oppression to negate the special summon! Said was in trouble.
He discarded Destiny Hero – Dreadmaster for Destiny Draw and drew two more. Another Upstart Goblin got him another card, and he set two cards to his back row before ending, shaking his head. “Go.”
Corn drew, then immediately flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive to draw again. He had Soul Exchange, two Thestalos, and Gravekeeper’s Guard. He tributed Dekoichi for Thestalos, forcing Said to discard Destiny Hero – Fear Monger, then flip summoned Sangan.
Sangan attacked and Said flipped Crush Card Virus, tributing his face-down Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. That dealt with both copies of Thestalos, and Sangan struck for 1000 damage. He ended, Said was up, and he activated another Reckless Greed. He then summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, activated his search effect, and Corn chained Bottomless Trap Hole to remove him.
Stratos’ effect got Said Destiny Hero – Malicious, and he discarded him for Destiny Draw. He then activated Allure of Darkness, pitching another Dreadmaster, and followed it up with Reinforcement of the Army. He had five Dark monsters in his graveyard, so he searched out Strike Ninja.
He activated another Allure and was forced to remove the Ninja. A set spell or trap ended his turn.
Corn topdecked into Caius the Shadow Monarch, lost it to Crush Card Virus’ effect, and attacked for 1000 damage before setting Gravekeeper’s Guard. Said flipped Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Royal Oppression on the turn that followed.
He then removed Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another in defense mode. Brain Control let him take Corn’s Sangan, and he tributed both of his monsters for Light and Darkness Dragon! The Dragon immediately negated Sangan’s effect, then dropped another 500 ATK and 500 DEF after destroying Gravekeeper’s Guard in battle. Next turn Corn activated Soul Exchange to drop down the Dragon’s stats one more notch, then set a spell or trap card.
Light and Darkness Dragon attacked, Corn set another spell or trap, and Said drew for his turn. The Dragon attacked again. Corn set his topdeck, activated Book of Moon to wear out the Dragon, then activated Allure of Darkness. He drew into Mask of Darkness and Allure, removed the Mask, and activated the next Allure to net Reckless Greed. He set it, and next turn he took damage from Light and Darkness Dragon and a freshly-summoned Dark Grepher.
Corn drew for his turn, and then drew two more with Reckless Greed. He set a monster, set a spell or trap, and ended. He’d set Morphing Jar. Said activated Destiny Draw, discarded Dreadmaster, and drew two more. Corn had just 100 life points left to Said’s 4000.
Said activated D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation, discarding Upstart Goblin to special summon Strike Ninja. It was a big investment for a guy with a degraded Light and Darkness Dragon on the field. But then it hit — he tributed the Dragon and the Ninja for another Light and Darkness Dragon!
Light and Darkness Dragon attacked, Corn flipped Royal Oppression, Light and Darkness Dragon chained, and Mirror Force destroyed it and Grepher! Oppression stayed on the field, but Said got to special summon Dark Magician of Chaos.
That got him back Premature Burial, and he attacked into Morphing Jar! Both duelists got new hands, and Said had only four cards left in his deck. He set two cards to his back row in main phase 2, and then announced that he was finished. Corn flipped Reckless Greed in the end phase to draw two more cards.
He set two more cards to his back row, and set a monster. He had Cyber Valley, Caius the Shadow Monarch, and his signature Prime Material Dragon in hand. Said activated Monster Reborn, and when Said targeted Strike Ninja Corn flipped Solemn Judgment. When the Magician attacked, Corn turned it face down with Book of Moon, leaving Said to set a third spell or trap and end.
Corn flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, then tributed for Caius! Caius removed Dark Magician of Chaos from play for 1000 damage, swung for 2400 more, and play was back to Said. Corn had just 50 life points to Said’s 1800.
He activated Reinforcement of the Army from his spell and trap zone, searched his deck for Dark Grepher, then conceded, unable to finish Corn off.
Adam Corn takes game 1 with just 50 life points remaining! Play proceeded to game 2 after some brief side decking. Said’s deck had fallen totally flat — it had performed consistently better than this through the rest of the day.
Game 2
Said opened with a set spell or trap, and Corn summoned Spirit Reaper for a direct attack — it forced Said to discard Destiny Draw, and Corn set a spell or trap to end. Said discarded Dark Magician of Chaos for Trade-In, then activated Allure of Darkness to draw two more: he removed Dark Grepher from his hand. He set a card to each zone to end.
Corn had an all-monster hand: two D.D. Crow, Thestalos, Prime Material Dragon, and Snipe Hunter. He tributed Reaper for Thestalos, discarded Allure of Darkness from his opponent’s hand and swung straight into Crush Card Virus — Said tributed his attacked Fear Monger and Corn lost Thestalos, Snipe Hunter, and Prime Material.
Said summoned Dark Grepher, lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole, and set another spell or trap. Corn drew, revealed his draw, and set it to his back row. Said passed, Corn drew Morphing Jar, and passed again. Said passed back.
Corn escaped Crush Card Virus’ effect and drew Caius. He set D.D. Crow and Said fell for it, passing his turn.
Caius came down next turn and targeted Said’s set Reckless Greed. It was chained and Said got two more cards. Caius attacked and Corn set another spell or trap. Said activated Heavy Storm next turn, Corn chained Reckless Greed, then chained another! He drew four cards total and Said was up.
He searched his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos with Reinforcement of the Army, summoned him, and got Destiny Hero – Disk Commander from his deck. “I think Adam Corn might win this.” Said continued, setting a single card to his back row, and ending. Caius cleared the Stratos next turn, dropping Said to 4700 life points. He set Trap Dustshoot and flipped it next turn, revealing Said’s hand of Disk Commander, Dark Armed Dragon, Malicious, and Light and Darkness Dragon: Disk Commander was shuffled back, Said passed, and Corn swung for 2400 damage with Caius yet again.
Said drew and was totally stuck with nothing but high-level monsters — his topdeck had been another Dark Armed Dragon, and it was no help given the number of Dark monsters in his graveyard.
Poor Zaki Said’s deck bombs out for the first time today, and Adam Corn takes a 2-0 victory to move on undefeated! Again!