Jacob Medley is another of the undefeated Zombie duelists here this afternoon, packing a more conventional build with Il Blud, Dark Armed Dragon, and multiple copies of Book of Life main decked. It was a far cry from Jon Moore’s riskier build we looked at earlier, but it was also more successful: Moore had lost in Round 3, while Medley was 3-0 so far.
His opponent is Canada’s Hsoros Nairebas, the explosive new duelist who erupted into the Shonen Jump circuit just weeks ago at Shonen Jump Championship Toronto. Hsoros couldn’t get the cards he wanted to play his own Zombie deck here this weekend, so he’s sticking with the Dark Creator turbo strategy that took him all the way to the Top 4 of the last Jump.
Hsoros won the die roll and opened the match with Destiny Draw, discarding Destiny Hero - Malicious. He set one card to his spell and trap zone: “Go ahead.” Medley drew and his opening hand was Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Goblin Zombie, Allure of Darkness, D.D. Crow, Zombie Master, and Premature Burial. He set Ryko and ended, and Hsoros passed. Medley needed to press hard and fast while Hsoros was setting up, but it wasn’t clear if he understood that or not.
He summoned Goblin Zombie on the turn that followed, then attacked for 1100 damage—it sent Hsoros’s Destiny Hero - Disk Commander off the top of his deck, to his graveyard. Medley set a spell or trap card and announced that he was finished. “Your turn.”
Premature Burial hit the field from Hsoros’s hand, and Medley chained D.D. Crow to remove its target: Disk Commander. Hsoros discarded The Dark Creator for Trade-In, drew two cards, then summoned Elemental Hero Stratos. Its effect let him get Destiny Hero - Plasma from his deck, and he had two Dark monsters in his graveyard.
He discarded Plasma for Destiny Draw, then activated Allure of Darkness, drawing two more cards and removing Jinzo from the game for its effect. He activated D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation, discarding Phantom of Chaos to try and special summon Jinzo, but lost out as Medley flipped Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Reincarnation on the chain. Hsoros whipped out his calculator and started running numbers.
He removed Destiny Hero - Malicious from his deck to special summon another copy in attack mode, then special summoned Dark Armed Dragon! He removed Destiny Hero - Plasma from his graveyard to destroy Medley’s face-down Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter with Dark Armed’s effect, then removed Phantom of Chaos to destroy Goblin Zombie. That sent Medley to his deck, to search out Zombie Master with Goblin Zombie’s effect.
Dark Armed Dragon, Stratos, and Malicious all attacked for a combined total of 5400 damage. Medley dropped to 2600 life points, and Hsoros set a second spell or trap card to finish his turn.
Medley activated Allure of Darkness, and Hsoros chained Crush Card Virus! He tributed Destiny Hero - Malicious for it, and Medley revealed his hand: two Zombie Master cards, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Premature Burial. He lost both copies of Zombie Master and couldn’t draw another monster, so he lost his entire hand! There was no way he was winning out of that, and Medley conceded Game 1.
Hsoros Nairebas takes total control over the first duel, taking the Game 1 win in mere minutes! Both competitors began side decking.
Medley opened Game 2 with Allure of Darkness, Mind Crush, Card of Safe Return, Zombie Master, Solemn Judgment, and Crush Card Virus. He activated Allure of Darkness, drew Dark Armed Dragon and another Card of Safe Return, then removed Dark Armed Dragon from the game. He set Mind Crush as his only move, and seemed well on his way to a devastating series of draw effects. He just needed another monster.
Hsoros summoned Stratos, and used its effect to search his deck for Destiny Hero - Malicious. He attacked and set one card to his back row, and then Medley was up. He summoned Zombie Master, attacked into Stratos, then set Solemn Judgment. He needed to find some monsters fast. He got a reprieve though, as Hsoros passed his next turn. It did him little good, as he topdecked Torrential Tribute. “Your turn.”
Monster Reborn let Hsoros return his Stratos to the field, which let him search his deck for Plasma in turn. Stratos attacked, and in the end phase Hsoros discarded down to six cards, dropping Malicious to the graveyard.
Medley finally hit a monster! He activated both copies of Card of Safe Return, then activated Premature Burial to bring back Zombie Master and draw two cards! He summoned Pyramid Turtle, hoping to draw out Torrential Tribute from his opponent: he was holding Book of Life.
Sure enough, Hsoros flipped Torrential, but Medley chained Solemn Judgment?! What was he doing? Letting his field go would leave him with more room to juice draws out of his deck, and more importantly, a shot at winning this very turn. Maybe he was playing around D.D. Crow? If Hsoros did have Crow, Medley’s one Book of Life wouldn’t let him go off either way, and he’d be left with a blank field if he didn’t negate Torrential. But really, what was that one Pyramid Turtle going to do if it was left on its own?
He attacked with Pyramid Turtle to destroy it, and used its effect to search out Spirit Reaper. He sent Zombie Master to attack Stratos again, then made a direct attack with Reaper. That cost Hsoros a copy of Dark Armed Dragon. In main phase 2, Medley special summoned Zombie Master with Book of Life, removing Hsoros’s Destiny Hero - Malicious and drawing two cards. He then discarded Goblin Zombie for Zombie Master’s effect—drawing twice again—and set a spell or trap.
He activated another Book of Life to bring back Pyramid Turtle in defense mode, removing Hsoros’s Stratos. He finished his turn by activating Prohibition—calling “Heavy Storm”—and ended.
In Hsoros’s draw phase Medley activated Crush Card Virus! He tributed Spirit Reaper, and Hsoros lost everything in his hand save D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation and Trade-In. He lost four monsters total, and Mind Crush robbed him of Reincarnation moments later. He set Trade-In, and next turn Medley discarded to special summon Mezuki.
He drew two cards for it, then turned Pyramid Turtle to attack position and summoned another Mezuki. The resulting attacks left Hsoros with just 200 life points and absolutely no way to win.
A questionable play from Jacob Medley pans out into a win, pressing this match to a third duel! The two duelists tweaked their main decks for a few moments before presenting their decks for Game 3. Hsoros was up.
“That Crush wrecked me,” he remarked, perusing his opening hand. He activated Allure of Darkness, drew two cards, and removed Dark Grepher for its effect. He followed it up with Reinforcement of the Army, searched out Elemental Hero Stratos, and summoned it to get Malicious from his deck. A second Reinforcement got him another Dark Grepher, and he set one card to his back row to end.
“Standby: Dustshoot,” announced Hsoros. Medley revealed his hand: D.D. Crow, Allure of Darkness, two copies of Mezuki, Card Trooper, and Zombie Master. Hsoros sent back his Crow. He summoned Card Trooper, sent Premature Burial, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Pyramid Turtle to the graveyard to power it to 1900 ATK, and then activated Allure of Darkness. Allure got him Ryu Kokki and Card of Safe Return, and he removed Kokki to pay for it. Card Trooper ran over Stratos, and Medley ended his turn.
Hsoros special summoned Dark Grepher, pitching Destiny Hero - Malicious to his graveyard to do so. He then discarded Dark Armed Dragon to get Dark Magician of Chaos to his graveyard, and he special summoned another Dark Armed Dragon! He removed one Dark Armed Dragon to destroy Card Trooper, activated Monster Reborn to bring back Dark Magician of Chaos, and brought back his Monster Reborn.
But he didn’t even need it! He activated the effect of Destiny Hero - Malicious, removed it to special summon another in attack position, and it was all over! Dark Magician of Chaos, Dark Armed Dragon, Grepher, and Malicious all attacked for a combined total of 8100 damage.
Hsoros Nairebas takes two crushing wins over Zombie duelist Jacob Medley! Chalk up another impressive showing from Hsoros’s unique Dark turbo deck, as he moves forward with a 4-0 record.