Glenn Schumann’s deck is one of my top picks here today, and is an excellent example of the Dimension Fusion strategies that appear to be finding some popularity here in the South. A native of New Orleans who relocated to McKinney here in Texas, he was now up against Jake McNeeley in a match that pitted Team GG against Team Outphase!
McNeeley stole the show at Shonen Jump Championship Arlington, taking an authoritative second place after debuting his innovative Banisher of the Radiance deck. Now he’s back and gunning for first place.
“I told my friends that if I Top 8’d, I’d come here tomorrow with nothing but my boxers on,” declared McNeeley with a sheepish grin. He didn’t seem to be feeling much pressure.
Schumann was, however. “This is the part where if I lose, my team disowns me,” he noted.
“Yep!” confirmed a cheery McNeeley.
Schumann won the opening roll and set a card to each zone to start the match. McNeeley special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked, and hit Lady Assailant of Flames! The Lady peeled three monsters from the top of Schumann’s deck: Bazoo the Soul-Eater, Jinzo, and another Lady! It put Schumann in a great position for Dimension Fusion. McNeeley set a card to each zone and ended, playing defensively in case of Dimension.
Mystical Space Typhoon cleared out his Magic Cylinder, and Drillroid attacked into his set monster: Gravekeeper’s Spy. It went down, and McNeeley brought another out in attack position from his deck. “Attack position?” asked Schumann. McNeeley just nodded. Schumann was holding Brain Control and two Smashing Ground, and ended his turn.
McNeeley spent some time contemplating the field, and attacked the Drillroid with Cyber Dragon — Book of Moon flipped to block the attack, but Drillroid was destroyed in main phase 2 by a Smashing Ground from McNeeley. He then activated Swords of Revealing Light to conclude his turn.
Heavy Storm was Schumann’s draw: he was still holding nothing but spells, and passed with an open field. McNeeley punished him for it, activating Reinforcement of the Army to bring Don Zaloog to his hand. Don hit the field, Cyber Dragon flipped, and all three monsters attacked. Schumann went down to 3300 life points and lost a Smashing Ground from his hand to Don. McNeeley passed, looking supremely confident.
Schuman activated Heavy Storm to clear the field, activated Brain Control to steal Don Zaloog, and ran over the Spy with Don to discard a third Spy from McNeeley’s hand! McNeeley was pumped: “Woo-hoo! Hit the dead card!” Still, Schumann played strongly with the goal of minimizing his opponent’s field presence. Smashing Ground destroyed Cyber Dragon, and Schuman set a monster to empty his hand.
Control of Zaloog returned to McNeeley, who topdecked into Graceful Charity. He activated it, drew Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, and showed Schumann Zaborg and Premature Burial. It was over. Zaborg would clear Schumann’s one set monster, Sangan, and then both the Monarch and Cyber Dragon (courtesy of Premature Burial) would attack unopposed.
Jake McNeeley takes a decided win in the first duel with an authoritative sense of aggression! Schumann drew nothing but spells for three turns and McNeeley just didn’t give him the breathing room to recover.
“I’m going to side out Graceful,” declared McNeeley as both duelists smoke-screened and sided for the second game. He actually did it, showing Schumann that Graceful was in his side deck before beginning the game. Ouch.
“Oh, this is going to look bad if I lose,” moaned Schumann. “People are going to say, ‘Oh, you’re the guy who lost to the kid who sided out Graceful.’” He was already writing his own loss, and McNeeley was eating it up.
Schumann opened the second game with Confiscation, revealing McNeeley’s hand of Sangan, Don Zaloog, Swords of Revealing Light, Ceasefire, and Smashing Ground. “Well, you’re not hitting Graceful off this!” McNeeley grinned as Schumann made his choice and Sangan was discarded. Schumann set Magical Merchant and passed, this time with a hand of all monsters. More rough beats in the draw department.
McNeeley special summoned Cyber Dragon, activated Swords of Revealing Light to flip the Merchant (it fetched Schumann Smashing Ground), and then normal summoned Don Zaloog. Dragon took out the Merchant, Zaloog attacked directly to discard Schumann’s Cyber Dragon, and McNeeley concluded his turn. Schumann normal summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, used its token to break Swords of Revealing Light and attacked Don Zaloog to press through 200 damage. Smashing Ground dropped from Schumann’s hand in main phase 2 to destroy Cyber Dragon, and Schumann passed with nothing on the field but Breaker.
“I guess I’ll just set Ceasefire and end,” said McNeeley, doing so. Schumann tributed Breaker for Jinzo and smacked McNeeley for 2400 directly. He ended his turn, again leaving himself with nothing in his spell and trap zone.
McNeeley drew and shuffled his hand, giving a grunt of displeasure. He summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy Jinzo, and ended. Schumann summoned Bazoo the Soul-Eater, removed Cyber Dragon and Jinzo from his graveyard to pump Bazoo to 2200, and hit directly. He set his only spell card, Brain Control as a bluff, and ended. Bazoo was nailed by Smashing Ground and McNeeley passed back. Schumann set a second spell or trap, McNeeley set a second himself, Schumann set a monster, and play was to McNeeley.
He activated Nobleman of Crossout, removing Schumann’s D. D. Warrior Lady from the field. He set a monster to finish his turn and Schumann was up. He set Morphing Jar and passed, but lost his set Mirror Force to McNeeley’s flipped Mystical Space Typhoon in his end phase. He lost the Jar to McNeeley’s second Exiled before becoming the turn player again.
Schumann set a monster, McNeeley set one too, and Schumann flip summoned Magical Merchant. It discarded two monsters before netting him Enemy Controller, which he then set. McNeeley flip summoned Spirit Reaper, but lost it to Sakuretsu Armor when he attacked. He set a monster and passed.
Schumann tributed his Merchant for Blowback Dragon! He activated its effect, targeted McNeeley’s freshest set monster, and flipped a disappointing pair of tails. The Dragon attacked, hit Magician of Faith, and McNeeley took back Mystical Space Typhoon. “Your go,” announced Schumann.
Mystical Space Typhoon hit the field immediately, destroying Schumann’s set Brain Control. McNeeley then tributed his set Sand Moth for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroyed Blowback Dragon, and attacked for 2400 damage. Schumann set two cards to his back row and passed.
McNeeley set a monster, activated Heavy Storm, and Schumann flipped his set Sakuretsu Armor and Enemy Controller to reveal them. “You got it,” he announced, knowing McNeeley had Ceasefire set to chain to Heavy Storm. The successive attacks would lay him out, and Schumann knew it. He offered the handshake to his opponent and scooped.
Jake McNeeley takes a 2-0 victory over Glenn Schumann, winning after side decking out his Graceful Charity!