Neither of these duelists is well known, but both were undefeated and each had a very strong deck. John Hack is playing an updated version of Perfect Circle Monarch, with Caius the Shadow Monarch and Limit Reverse. His opponent is Dustin Lawson, a Prisma Gladiator Beast duelist playing, of all things, Fairy Box.
Seriously: Fairy Box. Think about that, and languish in the wonder of the fact that hey, it’s actually kind of a good call!
Hack opened with a set Trap Dustshoot and a set monster. Dustshoot revealed his opponent’s hand next turn: two Test Tiger, Gladiator Beast Darius, Monster Reborn, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Fairy Box! Darius was sent back to his deck and he was forced to set just one card. “Go.” Hack jotted down his hand and drew for his turn.
He tributed his set Treeborn Frog for a set monster, set a spell or trap, and Lawson set Trap Dustshoot himself: next turn it revealed Hack’s hand of Morphing Jar, Cyber Dragon, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Premature Burial — Morphing Jar was shuffled back, and Hack ended his turn.
Darius hit the field for Lawson! He special summoned Test Tiger, tributed it to tag out Darius, and brought out Gladiator Beast Bestiari — Hack chained Crush Card Virus, tributing away his set Destiny Hero – Malicious! Bestiari was destroyed but Lawson brought it back with Monster Reborn, attacking for 1500 damage and then tagging Bestiari out for Laquari. He ended his turn, setting Fairy Box alongside his previous set spell or trap, and had one card left in his hand.
Hack special summoned Treeborn Frog, and then played Foolish Burial to send Destiny Hero – Disk Commander from his deck to his graveyard. He brought it up with Premature Burial, drew two cards, and activated Heavy Storm! “I’ll chain Fairy Box!” announced Lawson, with mock-bravado. “. . . Just so I can do something with it.” Both duelists laughed. Hack tributed for Cyber Dragon, rammed Laquari, and ended.
Lawson drew Torrential Tribute, set it, and lost it next turn to Mystical Space Typhoon. Limit Reverse let Hack take back Disk Commander for another two draws, and he summoned Elemental Hero Stratos to search out Destiny Hero – Plasma. He discarded it for Destiny Draw, drew two more, and set one spell or trap before attacking for 2100 damage.
Smashing Ground came off the top of Lawson’s deck, destroying Stratos, and he passed again with nothing but his second Test Tiger left in his hand. Next turn he took damage from Disk Commander and a freshly-summoned Destiny Hero – Fear Monger.
He drew into Gladiator Beast Secutor, summoned it, and special summoned Test Tiger! But Hack had Torrential Tribute, and he activated it to clear the field — Lawson was left with no cards. Hack activated Monster Reborn, brought back Disk Commander in defense mode, drew two, and ended. Lawson set one card to his back row and ended. Hack brought back Treeborn Frog, tributed it for Caius the Shadow Monarch, and lost him to Solemn Judgment. Lawson set his topdeck to his back row, Hack special summoned Treeborn Frog, and then discarded Malicious for Destiny Draw. He set one more card to his back row and ended.
Lawson drew Test Tiger and passed, eating 1000 damage from Hack’s Sangan next turn. Lawson drew, set his topdeck to his back row, and lost it to Phoenix Wing Wind Blast in the end phase. That left Hack open to turn Disk Commander to attack mode next turn, swinging with Commander and Sangan for game!
John Hack controls game 1 from the outset with Crush Card Virus, and chalks up a win in the first duel! Lawson set to doing some side decking and some serious shuffling. “It would be nice if I could draw something,” he remarked.
“I was actually going to play that deck in this tournament,” noted Hack, nodding to Lawson’s Gladiator Beasts. “But then someone on Metagame had an article on Limit Reverse,” (that’d be me), “and I just had to test PC.” Looks like it paid off! Game 2 began swiftly.
Lawson opened with two set spell or trap cards, and then set a monster. He flipped Trap Dustshoot next turn to make Hack show his hand: Destiny Hero - Malicious, two Divine Wrath, Monster Reborn, Treeborn Frog, and Limit Reverse, “I’ll go with Frog,” announced Lawson, not feeling particularly threatened by anything in Hack’s hand. Hack set one card to his back row, ended, and Lawson flip summoned Sangan. He normal summoned Laquari, attacked, and tagged out for Bestiari — Hack negated and destroyed it with Divine Wrath, discarding Destiny Hero – Malicious. Hack summoned Elemental Hero Stratos next turn, activated his effect to search his deck, and Lawson chained Torrential Tribute. Hack got Disk Commander from his deck and the field was cleared, leaving Hack to set another spell or trap and end.
Gladiator Proving Ground searched out Gladiator Beast Laquari for Lawson. He summoned it, attacked for 1800 damage, and tagged out for Bestiari yet again — once more, Hack played Divine Wrath, this time getting rid of Disk Commander for its cost. Still, Lawson was wearing down his opponent’s card presence, and set a spell or trap to finish out.
But Hack had Monster Reborn! He activated it, brought back Disk Commander, drew two, and tributed for Mobius the Frost Monarch, destroying Lawson’s set Mirror Force! “Nice.” Mobius swung for 2400 damage and Hack set two cards to his back row.
Lawson summoned Gladiator Beast Darius, activated Premature Burial, and brought back Bestiari! He sent both back to his deck for Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, targeting a spell or trap and Mobius for destruction. Hack chained Scapegoat. Gyzarus attacked one Sheep Token, and Lawson brought out Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and Gladiator Beast Murmillo, destroying another Sheep. It was a questionable move — a second Hoplomus would’ve left him with a much stronger game position against a possible Caius.
Sure enough, Hack flipped Limit Reverse next turn to get back Disk Commander again, tributed for Caius to remove Hoplomus, and ran over Murmillo. He set a spell or trap, and Lawson summoned Elemental Hero Prisma. He sent Laquari to the graveyard with its effect, special summoned Test Tiger, and lost his field to Torrential Tribute. He ended, pretty much out of cards. Hack had plenty: he set one to each zone, passed, and Lawson set two cards to his back row. Hack set a monster, Lawson flipped Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy one of Hack’s cards (things moved too quickly for me to see what the card was), set another spell or trap, and Hack flipped Morphing Jar! Both players got new hands, and Hack activated Mystical Space Typhoon himself to destroy his opponent’s set Solemn Judgment.
Hack activated Reinforcement of the Army, searched his deck for Destiny Hero – Fear Monger, and discarded it for Destiny Draw. He removed Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another in defense mode, tributed Morphing Jar and Malicious for Light and Darkness Dragon, then attacked for 2800 damage. Lawson was locked.
He drew Solemn Judgment, set it, then set Gladiator Beast Murmillo and another spell or trap, just fighting to shield himself. Light and Darkness Dragon attacked Murmillo next turn and Hack ended, in total control of the match. Lawson activated Heavy Storm next turn to wear down the Dragon, set Test Tiger, and ended. The Tiger was destroyed next turn by another attack from the Dragon.
Lawson summoned Darius and attacked his opponent’s set monster, opting not to use his effect at the end of the battle phase — he had to play Smashing Ground in main phase 2 instead, to wear the Dragon down to a tactical threshold. When the Dragon attacked Darius next turn, Lawson played D.D. Crow in response to bring the Dragon down to 1300 ATK. It crashed against Darius, and brought back Disk Commander after wiping the field. Hack special summoned Spell Striker, tributed him and Disk Commander for Light and Darkness Dragon, and Lawson chained Waboku. The Dragon chained in response, and Lawson played Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it! But Hack kept the beats coming, wiping the field with Heavy Storm, then Lightning Vortex before passing. He did so with four cards in hand. Lawson was topdecking.
He drew Prisma and attacked for 1700. Hack special summoned Treeborn Frog, set Sangan and Crush Card Virus next turn, and ended. He flipped the Virus next turn, tributing Sangan, fetching Legendary Jujitsu Master with its effect, and forcing Lawson to reveal his draw: Spirit Reaper, which he set. Hack set Jujitsu Master; Lawson drew D.D. Crow and passed. Hack activated Premature Burial next turn, targeting Disk Commander, but D.D. Crow was chained to stop it. Lawson drew Fairy Box, set it, and passed, losing his Spirit Reaper to Caius next turn. Caius attacked, Lawson flipped Fairy Box, and Caius dealt no damage thanks to a successful flip! The assembled crowd laughed and cheered — if Lawson was going down, he was at least going down in style.
He ditched Fairy Box next turn by refusing to pay for it, drew Monster Reborn, and inspected both graveyards. He took back Laquari with Reborn’s effect, attacked into Legendary Jujitsu Master and scooped when he was revealed — he’d had a fifty-fifty chance and had chosen the wrong face-down monster to attack.
He smiled and shook Hack’s hand. “Hey, at least I flipped Fairy Box, and it worked!” I’ll give the guy credit — it’s a shame such valiant acts can’t be rewarded with some tie-breaker points or something.
Jon Hack takes Gladiator Beasts for another 2-0 ride, and moves on undefeated with an updated version of Perfect Circle!