Roberto Martinez has made two Shonen Jump Championship Top 8s, scoring Day 2 finishes in New Jersey and Orlando in past years. He’s a member of the new Team Etcetera, the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! super team featuring players like Jeff Jones, John Labounty, and Jessy Samek. He’s playing an innovative Beast deck here today that could make a big impact if it does well.
He’s playing Rob Cedar, former member of the now-disbanded Team Xtreme and a well-known Shonen Jump regular and veteran of the game. He was one of the few competitors this weekend that knew what Martinez was playing, and that could give him an edge.
Martinez opened the match with a set card to each zone, and flipped Trap Dustshoot in Cedar’s draw phase to reveal two Gravekeeper’s Spy, Raiza the Storm Monarch, Jinzo, Card Trooper, and Brain Control. He sent Card Trooper back to Cedar’s deck, forcing Cedar to set Gravekeeper’s Spy and end. Martinez set a monster on the following turn and passed back.
Gravekeeper’s Spy flipped on Cedar’s side next turn, bringing another Spy to the field in attack mode. One was tributed for Raiza the Storm Monarch to send Martinez’s first set monster to the top of his deck, but when Spy attacked it hit Giant Rat. Cedar passed without attacking with Raiza. “I pass.”
Giant Rat went to attack mode, Martinez summoned Trooper and sent Giant Rat, Cyber Dragon, and Nimble Momonga to the graveyard for its effect. Giant Rat crashed into Raiza, searched out Neo-Spacian Grand Mole which ran into, and bumped away, Raiza, and Card Trooper ran over Gravekeeper’s Spy. Martinez ended with nothing in the back row.
Cedar special summoned Cyber Dragon, took Card Trooper with Brain Control and sent three cards to the graveyard to increase its ATK to 1900. Then he tributed Trooper for Jinzo, and attacked Martinez directly for a whopping 4500 damage! Cedar ended, and Martinez was clearly in trouble. He activated Premature Burial next turn, paying 800 life points to special summon Cyber Dragon. He summoned Neo-Spacian Grand Mole, crashed his Cyber Dragon into Cedar’s, then bumped away Jinzo with the Mole. In main phase 2 he activated Pot of Avarice, sent all five monsters in his graveyard back to the deck, drew two, and ended with an empty field. Ouch.
Cedar summoned Gravekeeper’s Spy from his hand and attacked, lowering Martinez to just 500 life points! Martinez summoned Berserk Gorilla, ran over the Spy, and set a spell or trap to defend himself. Next turn it was Cedar’s chance to activate Pot of Avarice, and as he shuffled five monsters back into his deck Martinez was forced to confess that it seemed as if the game was a lost cause. Cedar drew his two cards, set a monster, then set a card to his spell and trap zone to finish.
Martinez summoned Snipe Hunter! He discarded Des Koala to destroy Cedar’s set monster, but it was Sangan, and Cedar searched his deck for a Snipe Hunter of his own with Sangan’s effect. Martinez discarded Giant Rat and Snipe Hunter targeted Cedar’s back row card, but it was chained: Cedar flipped Call of the Haunted and targeted Sangan. Sangan came up, Call was destroyed, and Sangan fetched Cedar Treeborn Frog from his deck, yet another rough beat for Martinez. Snipe Hunter and Berserk Gorilla attacked directly in succession, lowering Cedar to 1950.
Heavy Storm fell from Cedar’s hand, destroying Martinez’s set Machine Duplication! Brain Control ended the duel, and it was all over in just a few minutes.
Rob Cedar decimates Roberto Martinez, taking a decisive victory in the first duel! Martinez would be hard-pressed to pull this match out of the fire, and both duelists dove into their side decks to swap out multiple cards.
The second duel began with Martinez setting Nimble Momonga. Cedar special summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked the squirrel, letting Martinez gain 1000 life points and bringing two more Momongas to the field in face-down defense! Cedar set a monster, set a spell or trap, then set Trap Dustshoot. He activated it next turn.
It revealed Martinez’s hand of: Cold Wave, Premature Burial, Scapegoat, Des Koala, Cyber Dragon, and Neo-Spacian Grand Mole. Cedar sent the latter back to Martinez’s deck, and Martinez set another monster as his only move. Cedar summoned Card Trooper, sent Ring of Destruction, Gravekeeper’s Spy, and Brain Control from the top of his deck to the graveyard to boost its ATK, then smashed it into Martinez’s face-down Des Koala to take 800 damage from the Koala’s effect. Cyber Dragon hit a Momonga and Cedar ended.
Martinez flip summoned the last Momonga and used it to run over Card Trooper. He activated Confiscation next, revealing Card Trooper, Brain Control, and Machine Duplication in Cedar’s hand. The second Card Trooper hit the graveyard, and Martinez set a card to his back row. Cedar attacked with Cyber Dragon next turn, hitting the attack mode Momonga and dropping Martinez to 8900 life points before setting a monster. Cedar had 6600 life points remaining, and was plodding through Martinez’s defenses in a methodical, stable fashion.
A pass was Martinez’s only play next turn. He flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, then Treeborn Frog, and attacked with Treeborn. When Dekoichi attacked Martinez flipped Scapegoat, and Cyber Dragon and Dekoichi each attacked a token. Martinez activated Premature Burial next turn, bringing back Nimble Momonga. It attacked Treeborn Frog, destroying it, and Martinez ended up back at 8000 life points.
Cedar activated Brain Control, took Nimble Momonga, then tributed it for Raiza the Storm Monarch. It was a huge blow, because Martinez had Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest in his hand and had been depending on the Momonga being destroyed. One token was blown away by Raiza’s effect, Dekoichi attacked one, and that left Cyber Dragon and Raiza to attack directly. Cedar set Trap Dustshoot.
It robbed Martinez of Giant Rat next turn, another big blow, as Giant Rat was Martinez’s last in-hand Beast to use with Green Baboon. Martinez activated Cold Wave, special summoned Cyber Dragon, and attacked Dekoichi. It was a valiant effort, but it wasn’t enough: another Raiza next turn was enough to seal the deal, and Martinez offered Cedar the handshake.
Rob Cedar takes a dominating victory over Roberto Martinez and his Beasts, moving on with a first round win under his belt!