Yannick Dubeau is the duelist who made a huge splash in his hometown of Montreal, when he made Day 2 of a Shonen Jump Championship with Cyberdarks. At nineteen years of age he’s brought a new build of his signature deck to Nationals here today.
He’s up against Hamilton’s Richard Clegg, who’s armed with Destiny Hero beatdown and the know-how to use it. The amount of sheer damage Dubeau can churn out should give him an edge, but Destiny Hero beatdown is still an incredibly deadly, versatile archetype.
“I must say, I’ve never played this deck before,” remarked Clegg. “Jason (Luckhardt) played it once at my local but it wasn’t the same.” Dubeau nodded in a friendly fashion and shuffled his deck, promptly losing the roll.
“I’ll go first.” Clegg opened with Destiny Draw, discarding Destiny Hero — Malicious, and then activated another to discard Destiny Hero — Dasher! He set a card to each zone and ended. This would be a real proving ground for Dubeau’s deck.
He set a card to each zone and then activated Future Fusion! “Target Five-Headed Dragon,” he announced, sending three Masked Dragon and two Exploder Dragon to his graveyard: an explosive start that threatened Clegg from two angles! “Your turn.” Dubeau had a huge Dragon on layaway, plus his graveyard was primed and ready for Cyberdarks.
Clegg summoned Snipe Hunter and used its effect with priority to discard Destiny Hero — Dasher and target Dubeau’s monster, but Dubeau chained Torrential Tribute. Both players had set Card Troopers! Unless Clegg had some other way to deal with the Future Fusion, that could be a game-losing mistake.
He removed one Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another, telegraphing a Raiza he didn’t have — Clegg just attacked for 800 damage before passing. Yannick activated Premature Burial, took back his Card Trooper, and trooped three cards, losing Cyberdark Edge and two Cyber Dragon. He summoned Twin-Headed Behemoth from his hand and attacked with it into Malicious!
Clegg gulped, and was forced to flip Mirror Force! Dubeau drew for his Card Trooper, ended his turn and brought back Twin-Headed Behemoth. Clegg turned Malicious to defense, set a spell or trap, set a monster, and ended.
Future Fusion brought out Five-Headed Dragon! “Do you have Mirage Knight?” asked Dubeau with a grin.
“Can’t say I do,” replied Clegg. Dubeau summoned Cyberdark Horn next, but Clegg flipped Torrential Tribute! Dubeau passed with an open field. Reinforcement of the Army fetched Elemental Hero Stratos for Clegg, which in turn hit the field and searched out Destiny Hero — Disk Commander. Stratos hit directly, Clegg set a spell or trap and Dubeau was up again.
He special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Card Trooper, and pumped it to 1900. Trooper took down Stratos and Cyber Dragon hit directly, slamming Clegg down to 5800 life points. Dubeau had 4600 life points remaining.
Clegg activated Brain Control and Dubeau forked over his Cyber Dragon. Metamorphosis let Clegg exchange it for Dark Balter the Terrible and Balter cleaned Card Trooper’s clockworks! “I didn’t think all that would happen!” declared an elated Clegg, who had succeeded in cutting off Card Trooper’s effect. Dubeau drew, set a card to each zone, and passed.
Nobleman of Crossout flipped from Clegg’s back field and removed Dubeau’s Sangan from the field. Another shot from Balter dropped Dubeau to 1000 life points and Clegg set a monster. Dubeau was in trouble.
He set his last two cards to the field, one to each zone, and actually prayed. Clegg tributed his set Card Trooper for Malicious, tributed him for Metamorphosis, and brought out Ryu Senshi. “Yeah, that’s game,” confirmed Dubeau, scooping his cards and diving into his side deck.
Richard Clegg overcomes Five-Headed Dragon to take an authoritative first duel!
Clegg relaxed visibly, and made some idle conversation while siding: “It’s too bad you didn’t win a Crush Card. That’d be good in there.”
“Well, I had one for a while,” remarked Dubeau. “But it didn’t work as well as I thought it would. And having an apartment was more impressive than having a card at the time.” The conversation was friendly, but both duelists were focused on the task at hand. Decks were presented, shuffled thoroughly, and the second duel began.
“Alright, I’ll go first,” announced Dubeau, who opened with Future Fusion yet again! He sent Twin-Headed Behemoth, three Masked Dragon and one Exploder Dragon to the graveyard, declaring Five-Headed Dragon as his intended Fusion. Dubeau set a monster: “Go.”
Clegg topped into Destiny Draw and activated it to discard Malicious. Then he summoned Snipe Hunter, targeted his opponent’s set monster with its effect and pitched Disk Commander! Snipe Hunter’s roll hit, but the monster it destroyed was Sangan, and Dubeau fetched D. D. Crow with its effect. Clegg was so concerned about the complexity D. D. Crow created that he forgot to attack! He set two spell or trap cards and Dubeau kept his mouth shut until Clegg ended his turn.
“That’s sad that you didn’t attack,” mentioned Dubeau offhandedly. Cregg face-palmed, realizing his error.
Dubeau brought out Card Trooper, ground away three cards, and attacked over Snipe Hunter. Clegg removed one Malicious from his graveyard to bring another to the field, and then inspected his opponent’s graveyard. “I wish I had Don Zaloog in here, so much. I need to get that Crow out of your hand.” He activated Reinforcement of the Army, brought Stratos to his hand and summoned him, then searched his deck for Destiny Hero — Fear Monger. He then played Metamorphosis to tribute Malicious for Dark Blade the Dragon Knight! He removed Malicious from his graveyard and special summoned another.
Stratos took out Dubeau’s Card Trooper and Dark Blade the Dragon Knight attacked directly. Clegg removed Dubeau’s Twin-Headed Behemoth, Cyber Dragon, and Card Trooper from his graveyard and ended.
Dubeau brought out Five-Headed Dragon! Clegg’s graveyard had no monster removal in it yet, and, while Destiny Hero Beatdown doesn’t run a ton of it, Dubeau still recognized that he was about to take a risk. “I’ll risk everything on this,” said Dubeau. He summoned Cyberdark Edge, attached Masked Dragon to it, and attacked over Elemental Hero Stratos! Dubeau thought he was safe, but when he sent Five-Headed Dragon into battle Clegg responded with Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Future Fusion! Five-Headed Dragon went to the graveyard!
Premature Burial brought back Dubeau’s Masked Dragon in main phase 2. “You can go. It’s basically just a Metamorphosis deck,” Dubeau reflected, boggled by the efficiency of Destiny Hero beatdown.
Clegg activated Call of the Haunted and mulled over his options before targeting Stratos. “I’ll bet anything you have a Premature, but I’ll remove the Stratos you are targeting,” stated Dubeau. D. D. Crow stole Stratos from the graveyard before Call could bring it back. Dark Blade the Dragon Knight attacked Masked Dragon, and Clegg removed another Masked Dragon, Exploder Dragon, and Sangan from Dubeau’s graveyard. He still had one Dragon left though, as the Masked Dragon defeated in battle was sent to the graveyard after the resolution of Dark Blade’s effect. Dubeau pulled Exploder Dragon with Masked Dragon’s effect, Clegg set a monster, and play was to Dubeau.
He summoned Cyberdark Horn! It equipped Masked Dragon and Dubeau’s demeanor underwent a visible shift. “Okay! Let’s start the party.” He sent Exploder Dragon to attack Dark Blade, and Cyberdark Edge and Cyberdark Horn cleared Clegg’s remaining field. The duel stood at 2800 to 5800 and Dubeau set a spell or trap to finish out.
Clegg drew and Dubeau immediately tributed Cyberdark Edge for Deck Devastation Virus! Clegg revealed his hand and lost both Morphing Jar and Disk Commander. He needed to draw something major, and he had Destiny Draw, but using it would come with the risk of drawing more monsters that could be destroyed by the Virus! Still, he had to go for it. He activated Destiny Draw, discarded Destiny Hero — Dasher and dodged the Virus bullet. Clegg special summoned Cyber Dragon, and used Premature Burial to bring back Disk Commander! He drew Card Trooper and Snipe Hunter, and lost both to the Virus! Still, he had Heavy Storm in his hand, which he used to destroy the Masked Dragon attached to Cyberdark Horn. That let Cyber Dragon attack and destroy it, and Clegg was able to finish his turn with one card left in his hand. He set it as his last action.
Another Cyberdark hit Dubeau’s field! Cyberdark Keel stomped over Clegg’s Cyber Dragon for a total of 400 damage thanks to its effect. That’s right; someone actually got to use Cyberdark Keel’s effect in a feature match! Dubeau passed, Clegg drew Sangan and lost it to Deck Devastation Virus! He had to keep taking risks though, and flipped his set Pot of Avarice, his last card. He shuffled back Morphing Jar, Cyber Dragon, Fear Monger, Snipe Hunter, and Card Trooper, four cards that would be dead draws against Deck Devastation Virus.
He shuffled his deck thoroughly, let Dubeau do the same, and then took a deep breath before he drew.
Snipe Hunter and Destiny Draw came off the top, no help at all. Snipe Hunter was discarded and Destiny Draw remained useless in Clegg’s hand, who was forced to pass.
Another Cyberdark Edge came down for Dubeau, grabbing Masked Dragon and pounding through Clegg’s life points. Revealing his draw on the following turn Clegg flashed Torrential Tribute, useless since Dubeau knew Clegg had it and thus wouldn’t summon another monster! Clegg scooped.
Yannick Dubeau pulls out of a losing game to push the match to a third duel!
Clegg opened the final game with a set card to his spell and trap zone in quick fashion. “Go.”
Dubeau summoned Twin-Headed Behemoth, attacked, and hit for 1500 damage. He set a spell or trap and lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon in his end phase: Heavy Storm. Clegg brought out Cyber Dragon, tributed it away for Metamorphosis to bring out Dark Balter the Terrible, and ran over Twin-Headed. He then set one spell or trap.
Future Fusion came off the top for Dubeau, who sent three Cyber Dragon to his graveyard for Cyber End Dragon! He activated Premature Burial, targeting and special summoning one of the Cyber Dragons to try and destroy Balter. He attacked into Mirror Force though, and Balter remained on the field. He ended his turn with one set card to his back row.
Clegg activated Destiny Draw, discarded Dasher, and then used another Destiny Draw, this time discarding Disk Commander! Balter attacked for a quick 2000 damage and Clegg set a monster. Dubeau set another spell or trap and passed back.
Card Trooper was flip summoned and Clegg fed it three cards. He turned Balter to defense and attacked with the Trooper, drawing a pained laugh from Dubeau. “I take 1900.” He was down to just 2800 life points, and Clegg set a card to each zone. In his end phase Dubeau flipped Dust Tornado to take out Clegg’s set Ring of Destruction!
Clegg moaned: “That would have been game!” If Dubeau hadn’t been able to circumvent the Ring, Clegg would have used it to destroy Cyber End Dragon and end the match. As it stood, he’d earned himself a reprieve. Cyber End Dragon was summoned and Dubeau immediately sent it after Balter, piercing for 2800 damage and dropping Clegg to 3700 life points. Dubeau set a card to each zone and ended.
Clegg set a spell or trap and then flip summoned Morphing Jar! “This is such a risk!” He had no choice but to give Dubeau free cards: Clegg discarded two cards from his hand, but Dubeau only discarded one, meaning that if Clegg couldn’t finish off Dubeau this turn he was actually probably helping him,
It seemed to pay off. He summoned Snipe Hunter and discarded Malicious, but rolled a six, trying to target Dubeau’s most recent set spell or trap. Clegg removed the Malicious he discarded to bring out another, then pumped Trooper to 1900 ATK. Metamorphosis tributed Malicious for Ryu Senshi and everything went to attack position. Brain Control sealed the deal, and Clegg took control of Dubeau’s own Cyber End Dragon, striking him with it to end the game!
Richard Clegg defeats Yannick Dubeau in a tight three duel match! The Cyberdark duelist’s job here today just got a lot harder.