Evangelos Panagiotakis hails from nearby Bethesda, Maryland, and at age 18, he works for a computer research firm. He’s here today piloting Gladiator Beasts, and so far he’s undefeated.
But his opponent this round will look to change that. Matt Peddle is playing a stunning build of Lightsworn here today, and the three Charge of the Light Brigade are far from the most impressive part of the deck. His build is studded with tech, some of it very surprising, and if we’re lucky — Panagiotakis will live long enough for us to see it.
We’ve seen Teleport Dark Armed walk all over Gladiator Beasts — will Lightsworn do the same?
Peddle opened the match with a hand of Judgment Dragon, Monster Reborn, Honest, two Solar Recharge, and Charge of the Light Brigade! He activated Brigade, sending Necro Gardna, Beckoning Light, and Cold Wave off the top of his deck to the graveyard so he could search his deck for Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior. It was the perfect choice to go with his Solar Recharges, not to mention the Reborn — an early Lumina would be killer. He drew two cards, and sent Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress and another Necro Gardna to the graveyard to finish Recharge’s effect! “These are some friendly mills,” Peddle remarked, cheerful.
He’d drawn into Jain, Lightsworn Paladin and Monster Reincarnation, and took a moment before deciding to summon Jain. Jain sent Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner and Wulf, Lightsworn Beast to the graveyard in the end phase, and Wulf was special summoned by its own effect! Life just kept getting better for Matt Peddle.
Panagiotakis summoned Gladiator Beast Darius, activated Book of Moon to turn Wulf face down, and tried to attack: Peddle blocked with Necro Gardna. Two set spell or trap cards finished out Panagiotakis’ turn. “Go.”
“I will draw,” announced Peddle politely. He got Celestia, Lightsworn Angel, and tributed Wulf to summon her. “Is she legal?” Panagiotakis confirmed that Celestia had been summoned successfully, and Peddle sent Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Reinforcement of the Army, Judgment Dragon, and another Recharge to the graveyard to pay for her effect. He sent her to destroy both of Panagiotakis’ back row cards, Shrink and Mystical Space Typhoon, and Panagiotakis chained Shrink to halve Celestia’s ATK. He had just two cards remaining in hand. Peddle had five, and had two monsters to his opponent’s one.
He activated Monster Reincarnation, discarding Solar Recharge to bring back Judgment Dragon. He special summoned it, special summoned a second copy, and flopped Monster Reborn for game! Panagiotakis immediately scooped up his cards.
Matt Peddle scores a crushing win, sweeping the first duel in mere moments! A strong testament to the power of Charge of the Light Brigade.
“My opening hand was terrible,” remarked Panagiotakis.
“My opening hand was amazing!” Peddle replied, happy to be honest about the ridiculously good opening hand he’d been gifted with. Both competitors smokescreened and sided to prepare for the second duel.
Panagiotakis opened Game 2 with Gladiator Beast Darius, and then set four cards to his back row. “Go.”
“Draw.” Peddle had Heavy Storm, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Mobius the Frost Monarch, Bottomless Trap Hole, Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, and Jain, Lightsworn Paladin. He activated Heavy Storm and drew out Solemn Judgment — Panagiotakis dropped to 4000 life points, a dangerous place to be against Lightsworn. Peddle summoned Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, sent him to attack Darius, and was repelled by Book of Moon. He set Wind Blast and Bottomless Trap Hole to end.
When Panagiotakis summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior Peddle flipped Bottomless Trap Hole, but lost out to Solemn Judgment. Breaker’s Spell Counter was then removed by Panagiotakis in an attempt to target Peddle’s Wind Blast. He chained it, discarding his soon-to-be-useless Mobius the Frost Monarch to spin away Gladiator Beast Darius. Breaker destroyed Garoth in battle and Peddle was back up.
He drew, and was left with Jain and Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress. He summoned Jain, took a deep breath, and pressed — Jain’s attack destroyed Breaker, and in the end phase she sent Reinforcement of the Army and Celestia off the top of Peddle’s deck to the graveyard. Next turn Panagiotakis summoned Darius again, tagged it out with Test Tiger, and brought in Murmillo to destroy Jain. Murmillo made a direct attack and then tagged in Gladiator Beast Laquari with 2100 ATK. Panagiotakis passed with one card set in his back row and nothing left in hand.
Peddle summoned Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress and activated her effect, but was countered by Gladiator Beast War Chariot! Peddle needed to hit a Wulf to pull out of this, but the Chariot deprived him of Lyla’s end phase effect. Laquari made a direct attack next turn, and Panagiotakis tagged it out for Gladiator Beast Equeste! Equeste’s effect returned Panagiotakis’ Chariot back to his hand, and he special summoned Test Tiger in main phase 2.
He played very aggressively, tributing Tiger to tag out Equeste for Laquari again. He set the Chariot to end his turn and Peddle was up.
He drew Judgment Dragon and counted his graveyard monsters — four Lightsworn! He brought down Judgment Dragon, normal summoned his last card, Ehren, Lightsworn Monk, and attacked over Laquari with the Dragon. Ehren then attacked to finish the duel and the match!
Matt Peddle cuts through Gladiator Beasts like a hot knife through butter, destroying Evangelos Panagiotakis to move on with a 3-0 record!