I don’t want to seem like I’m only focusing on Overdose this weekend, but I’ll be honest: there was no must-cover feature match this round, and Matt Peddle’s playing three copies of Doomcaliber Knight. I just had to see this.

His opponent, Ramon Mera, is playing a very interesting deck centered on Spell Economics. At 18 years of age, the student of East Hartford is aiming to abuse Autonomous Action Unit with a playset of Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch. His deck builds huge amounts of momentum out of nowhere and can really dish out some cool plays.

Peddle won the roll and opened with a single card set to his back row. Mera set a card to each zone and play was back to Peddle. He summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, attacked into Mera’s Treeborn Frog and ended. “Your move.”

Mera flipped his set Heavy Storm, and destroyed Peddle’s set Enemy Controller. He then summoned D.D. Survivor, attacked Kycoo, and both monsters traded off. Mera passed with nothing in his back row.

Peddle activated Monster Reincarnation next turn, discarding Dark Magician of Chaos to bring Kycoo back to his hand! He activated Monster Reborn to bring back Dark Magician of Chaos, and then took it back with the Magician’s effect. Both attacked directly, and Kycoo removed Survivor and Treeborn from Mera’s graveyard. A set spell or trap finished his turn. With his life points threatened by Peddle’s pair of monsters, Mera would have to do something big.

He activated Spell Economics and then activated Dimension Fusion for free. He brought back Treeborn Frog in defense mode and D.D. Survivor in attack. The Survivor attacked Kycoo again, and Peddle spent some time debating his response before letting him through. Before the end of the battle phase, Peddle activated Raigeki Break to discard Brain Control and destroy the Treeborn Frog. Mera set a monster, set a spell or trap, and ended.

Mystical Space Typhoon let Peddle destroy Mera’s face-down bluff, Nobleman of Crossout. He then summoned Strike Ninja, activated Monster Reborn to special summon Kycoo, and attacked with Dark Magician of Chaos! Peddle had made the right read: Mera had Mystic Tomato set, and the Magician kept it from being sent to the graveyard and claiming its effect. From there it was academic: Strike Ninja attacked, and one more hit from Kycoo ended the first duel.

Matt Peddle takes Game 1, but we have yet to see a single copy of Doomcaliber Knight! Mera spent a good amount of time shuffling between games, maligning his last hand without dwelling on it too much. “I’ll go first,” he announced.

He set a card to each zone and ended. “Go ahead.” Peddle set two cards to his spell and trap zone: “Your move.” Mera shuffled his hand a bit, passed, and Peddle was up.

Armageddon Knight hit the field, and Peddle used its effect to send Spirit Reaper to his graveyard — he riffled past Doomcaliber Knight in the process. “What stays face down these days?” he mused aloud. “Treeborn Frog?” Armageddon Knight swung, and its attack bounced off Mera’s revealed Drillroid! Peddle ended, folding his arms and leaning back in his seat.

Mera activated Spell Economics, and then flipped his set Brain Control to swipe Armageddon Knight. The Knight attacked directly, Peddle took the damage, and, in main phase 2, Mera tributed it for a face-down monster. He wasn’t seeing those copies of Thestalos.

Play was back to Peddle, who had Jinzo, Legendary Jujitsu Master, and a dead copy of Dark Armed Dragon in hand. He set the Master and ended. Next turn Mera tributed his face-down Cyber Dragon for Jinzo, turned Drillroid to attack mode and attacked with it, destroying Jujitsu Master! Jinzo then attacked directly, and Mera set another card to his back row.

Peddle was holding Jinzo, Monster Reincarnation, Dark Armed Dragon, Escape from the Dark Dimension, and Cyber Dragon. With two Darks in his graveyard alongside the Master he could discard another Dark for Monster Reincarnation, bring Jujitsu Master back to his hand, and bring out Dark Armed Dragon. He chose an alternate play though, discarding Jinzo to bring back Armageddon Knight. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Armageddon Knight, and sent Necro Gardna to his graveyard for its effect. He then special summoned Dark Armed Dragon! He removed Jinzo to destroy Mera’s set Swords of Revealing Light, and Spirit Reaper was then removed to blow away Jinzo. Dark Armed Dragon attacked Drillroid, Cyber Dragon attacked directly, and Armageddon Knight followed suit. Peddle had opted to leave the Gardna in his graveyard, since he couldn’t finish Mera off. Mera was left with 3300 life points, and Peddle had a tremendous amount of control over the game.

Mera drew. He summoned Snipe Hunter, discarded D.D. Survivor with priority to draw a bead on Dark Armed Dragon, and destroyed it. Dimension Fusion was then discarded to destroy Cyber Dragon, and Mera fingered his last in-hand card, considering pitching it too. He did (it was D. D. Warrior Lady), and Snipe Hunter destroyed Armageddon Knight. Snipe Hunter then attacked directly, dropping Peddle down to 2500 life points.

He drew for his turn and set one card to his back row. Mera activated Premature Burial, targeting Jinzo, and Peddle chained Raigeki Break to discard Trap Dustshoot and destroy Premature on the chain. Snipe Hunter attacked, but Peddle defended himself with Escape from the Dark Dimension, bringing out Jinzo to trigger a replay. Mera refused to attack and ended his turn.

Peddle summoned Legendary Jujitsu Master! Jinzo attacked, Jujitsu Master followed up for direct damage, and a turn later it was all over.

Matt Peddle fails to flop one of his three Doomcaliber Knights, but moves on with two wins to his name anyway!