The Belgian Wim Eliano was now up against Italy’s Donato Mancini, a duelist who’s made waves here this weekend by playing main decked copies of Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World along with Card Destruction. The deck looks like a straight Perfect Circle until Mancini decides to go all-out, and it’s a strategy that’s paid off for him here this weekend.
Would Wim fall for it? We were about to find out.
He opened with a set card to each zone. Mancini summoned Cyber Phoenix, but Wim responded with Torrential Tribute, destroying his own set Card Trooper for a free draw! Mancini set a spell or trap, Wim did the same, and play was back to Mancini.
He set a monster, passed, and Wim passed back, with a hand full of tribute monsters and multiple Brain Controls. Mancini summoned Card Trooper and activated Card Destruction, special summoning Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World as a result! Wim lost a Malicious in the process. Mystical Space Typhoon targeted Wim’s set Typhoon, which in turn was activated to target Mancini’s set spell or trap card. But it was Limiter Removal, and Mancini chained it!
He flip summoned his other card, another Card Trooper, and then buffed up both of his Troopers by 1500 ATK. He attacked, and Wim took 2300 from one Trooper, 1900 from the one that was face down when Limiter went off, and another 2300 from Goldd. “I’m at 1500,” announced Wim. Mancini ended.
Wim removed Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another in attack. He summoned Elemental Hero Stratos and used his effect to destroy Mancini’s set Dark World Lightning. Malicious attacked one Card Trooper and Stratos attacked the other, leaving Wim to set two cards to his back row and hope for the best.
Mancini dropped Heavy Storm; not what Wim had been hoping for. He immediately scooped, revealing that he had set Heavy Storm and Mirror Force.
Italy’s Donato Mancini destroys Wim Eliano in a matter of turns, claiming the first duel with authority! Both duelists set to side decking, and I’m relatively certain Mancini rotated out his Goldds. That trick only works once, but in a tournament like this, that’s all you need.
Wim opened the second duel with Confiscation, prompting Mancini to drop his hand to the table: Machine Duplication, Card Trooper, Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, Cyber Phoenix, and Snipe Hunter. Wim was not happy, and was forced to discard his opponent’s Machine Duplication. He set a card to each zone and ended.
Mancini summoned Cyber Phoenix and swung into Wim’s set Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. Mancini ended, Wim passed, and Mancini attacked him with Cyber Phoenix for 1200 damage. He set a monster and play was back to Wim.
He summoned Elemental Hero Stratos and searched his deck for Destiny Hero – Fear Monger; he already had Malicious and Dasher in his hand. Stratos attacked Cyber Phoenix, but Mancini flipped Magic Cylinder! Wim indicated a pass of his turn with a quick gesture.
Snipe Hunter came down for Mancini, and he discarded Thestalos to target Stratos for destruction; he was destroyed. Snipe Hunter attacked, but Wim blocked with Scapegoat; Mancini let him keep all four tokens.
Snatch Steal let Wim take Mancini’s Snipe Hunter, and he discarded his Destiny Hero – Malicious to destroy Mancini’s set card. He tributed Snipe Hunter to summon Destiny Hero – Dasher, then attacked with him. Mancini set two cards to his back row and then set a monster.
Dasher ate a Sheep token, Wim set a monster, and he sent Dasher to attack Mancini’s set monster; Mirror Force destroyed the Dasher. Wim set a card to his back row and ended. Mancini set another back row card, and then flipped Morphing Jar! Each duelist got a new hand, and Mancini was able to activate Pot of Avarice. He drew two, and then sent Morphing Jar to destroy one of Wim’s Sheep. Confiscation followed in main phase 2, revealing Wim’s hand of Snipe Hunter, Dark Magician of Chaos, Card Trooper, Cyber Dragon, and Brain Control. Taking a brief moment to think and memorize Wim’s hand, Mancini forced the discard of Brain Control. Nobleman of Crossout then removed Wim’s set Fear Monger from play. Mancini just kept cutting off Wim’s intended moves. He set a monster and ended, while Wim shook his head.
Still, Wim trudged on. He removed Destiny Hero – Malicious from his graveyard to summon another in defense mode. He gave a sigh as he summoned Card Trooper. He fed it three cards, and then attacked with it over the Morphing Jar.
Mancini activated Snatch Steal to try and take Wim’s Card Trooper, but Ring of Destruction from Wim destroyed it before that was possible. Mancini tributed his set Snipe Hunter for Raiza the Storm Monarch, bounced Wim’s Malicious to the top of his deck and attacked a Sheep.
Next turn Wim activated not one, but two copies of Destiny Draw, both discarding copies of Malicious! He summoned Snipe Hunter, discarded another Destiny Draw to destroy Raiza, and then attacked directly with the Hunter. The duel stood at 3600 to 3900, and Mancini was up.
He flipped Heavy Storm, losing his own Machine Duplication but costing Wim his set Royal Decree. He activated Premature Burial, special summoned Raiza, and attacked Snipe Hunter with him. He then tributed for Raiza to discard Wim’s in-hand Mirror Force, leaving Wim with Cyber Dragon, Dark Magician of Chaos, and Metamorphosis. Next turn all Wim did was draw Limiter Removal and pass.
Thestalos attacked the last Sheep, and Wim drew D.D. Crow once Mancini had ended his turn. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked Thestalos, and activated Limiter Removal in the damage step, blowing away Thestalos. Then, in main phase 2, Wim activated Metamorphosis, trading his doomed Cyber Dragon for Dark Balter the Terrible. Good one.
Mancini special summoned Cyber Dragon! More head-shaking from Wim, whose worst fear (that Balter would be destroyed) was now coming true. In fact, it was worse; Mancini tributed Cyber Dragon for Raiza and bounced Dark Balter back to the top of the deck, attacking directly. Wim had only one chance to draw an out.
He drew Premature Burial instead, and was down to 300 life points, unable to pay its activation cost. It was all over.
Donato Mancini moves on with a 9-1 record! Two more wins and he’d be on his way to the Top 8!