Trent Kittle and Jesus Rico hail from Prescott Valley, Arizona and Los Angeles, California respectively. Both are 17 years old, and both are playing Light and Darkness Dragon Destiny Hero variants. So what made this matchup interesting enough for a feature match? Kittle’s running a ton of cool tech thanks to his friend Alex Elmdanat, including stuff like Dragon Ice and Back to Square One. Considering we haven’t actually had someone successfully play Light and Darkness Dragon yet, I’ll take Dragon Ice as a flashy second choice!
Rico opened the duel with Reinforcement of the Army, searching out Elemental Hero Stratos, summoning him, using his effect to grab Destiny Hero – Malicious, and then giving up Malicious for Destiny Draw — pretty much the same opening every Destiny Hero player wants. He set a spell or trap to conclude his turn, and moments later Kittle did pretty much the same thing. He activated Reinforcement, searched out Stratos, used him to grab Malicious, and then fired off a Destiny Draw. He then sent his Stratos to attack Rico’s and both were destroyed.
Kittle activated Foolish Burial in main phase 2, and sent Treeborn Frog to the graveyard. He set two cards to his back row and ended.
Another Destiny Draw let Rico discard Destiny Hero – Disk Commander, and he set a card to each zone. Trap Dustshoot revealed Kittles’ hand in his next draw phase: Malicious, Destiny Hero – Dasher, Raiza the Storm Monarch, and Jinzo. Rico sent Raiza back to his opponent’s deck and Kittle passed.
Destiny Hero – Malicious was removed by Rico to special summon another from his deck, and he tributed for Light and Darkness Dragon! Hey, we finally get to see one! The Dragon attacked, Kittle activated Mirror Force, then chained Phoenix Wing Wind Blast . . . But mistakenly declared Rico’s back row card as the target of Wind Blast instead of the Dragon! Rico chained D.D. Crow to target Kittle’s Treeborn Frog.
What ensued was a swirling vortex of pain and regret for Mr. Kittle. The Crow took his Frog out of the game, Wind Blast spun Rico’s back row card, the Dragon negated Mirror Force, and it struck for 2300 damage. Kittle had done the move in reverse: he should have made the Wind Blast chain link 1, and then chained Mirror Force to destroy the Dragon. Alternatively he could have just targeted the Dragon with Wind Blast after responding with Mirror Force first, another optimal move. As soon as he declared his erroneous Wind Blast target he knew his mistake and face palmed. Kittle’s mistake would cost him.
He removed Malicious next turn to degrade the Dragon even more, set a spell or trap, and next turn took attacks from Snipe Hunter and the Dragon. A turn later he was scooping up.
“I misplayed beyond belief,” moaned Kittle. Play began again after Kittle regained his composure.
He set one card to each zone, Rico summoned Snipe Hunter, discarded Malicious to destroy Kittle’s face down Sangan, and Kittle used Sangan’s effect to search out Disk Commander. Snipe Hunter hit for 1500 damage and Rico activated Foolish Burial to send Treeborn Frog to his graveyard. Kittle was up.
He activated Destiny Draw to discard Disk Commander, then special summoned Cyber Dragon. He activated Brain Control to take Snipe Hunter, tributed it for another Cyber, then attacked with both for 4200 damage. He added another spell or trap card to his back row and passed.
Rico brought back his Treeborn Frog next turn, then removed Destiny Hero – Malicious from his graveyard to bring out another in defense mode. He tributed both his monsters for Light and Darkness Dragon, but Kittle responded with Forced Back! “Wow,” exclaimed a shocked Rico. It was a play so sweet you could taste it. Rico couldn’t believe what had happened, and with the two Cyber Dragons breathing down his neck he had no chance to regain his footing. He conceded and both duelists began siding for game 3.
Trent Kittle mounts a comeback, redeeming himself from his hideous mistake in game 1 and keeping himself alive in the match! Could he win out?
Rico opened with a set monster and Trap Dustshoot, which he activated in Kittle’s draw phase. It revealed his hand of Sangan, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Premature Burial, Cyber Dragon, Reinforcement of the Army, and Mirror Force, costing him the Cyber Dragon. Kittle pressed on, searching his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos with Reinforcement of the Army, summoning him, and then searching for Disk Commander. He set a card to his back row, attacked, and hit Rico’s Sangan, sending him to his deck to search out Marshmallon. Rico special summoned Cyber Dragon, but Phoenix Wing Wind Blast returned it to the top of Rico’s deck when the Dragon went to attack. That left Rico to set a monster, making a displeased expression. “Go ahead.”
Premature Burial fell from Kittle’s hand next turn, getting him his Disk Commander and thus two more cards. He tributed the Commander for Raiza the Storm Monarch, spun Rico’s set monster and attacked directly with both of his monsters. Rico set a card to each zone and passed, seeming to not like his chances.
Kittle activated Destiny Draw, discarded Destiny Hero – Dasher, and contemplated the field. He tributed his Stratos, targeted Rico’s last monster, and attacked with both Raizas directly; there was nothing Rico could do, and the match was over!
Trent Kittle comes back from easily the worst misplay we’ve seen this year to dominate his opponent in games 2 and 3, moving on undefeated.