“Marc Glass is on fire yet again!” shouted an onlooker.
Glass gave a humble smile. “I believe Matt Peddle is the one on fire today, actually.” Both duelists began shuffling their decks. Glass had just come from beating a Zombie deck last round, in which his heavily-teched side deck destroyed his opponent. He’s running Gadgets, and if he wins here he’s a shoe-in for the Top 16.
But Peddle wasn’t interested in lying down. Already locked in for Day 2, he now wanted an undefeated record and a desirable spot in tomorrow’s bracket. He was in no way willing to relent.
Glass opened with Drillroid and set a spell or trap card. And a shiny new Drillroid from the Syrus Truesdale Starter Deck, at that. Marc Glass always has the most blinged deck at any tournament he attends. Peddle activated Mystical Space Typhoon, destroyed Sakuretsu Armor, and attacked over Drillroid. “I was gonna man up and do this, but I’m glad I didn’t,” remarked Peddle. He set a spell or trap and ended.
Glass special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked into Widespread Ruin, and activated Hammer Shot to clear the field. He set a spell or trap, Matt set one too, and Glass summoned Green Gadget to search his deck for Red Gadget. A shiny parallel ultra rare Green Gadget, in fact.
Green Gadget attacked, Peddle passed, and Red Gadget was summoned to let Glass search for Yellow. Both Gadgets attacked directly, dropping Peddle to 3900 life points.
He struggled back, activating Lightning Vortex and discarding Il Blud. He summoned Card Trooper, activated its effect, and sent Ryu Kokki, Zombie Master, and Card of Safe Return to the graveyard to pump Trooper for a direct attack. Glass summoned Yellow next turn, searched his deck for another glittery Green Gadget and attacked, destroying Trooper and dropping Peddle to 3100. Dust Tornado destroyed Glass’ set Torrential Tribute in the end phase!
“I think I needed to draw Turtle for game,” noted a somewhat disappointed Peddle. Still, he activated Book of Life, special summoning Ryu Kokki, and removing Cyber Dragon from Glass’ graveyard. He summoned Sangan, ran over Yellow Gadget with Kokki, and attacked directly with Sangan. Glass was up.
He activated Future Fusion. “Twin,” he announced, declaring Cyber Twin Dragon and sending two Cyber Dragons from his deck to the graveyard. He summoned Green Gadget, searched out a copy of Red, and activated Hammer Shot to destroy Kokki. Green Gadget attacked Sangan and Peddle chastised himself as he searched for Sangan’s effect: “I should have got Il Blud.” If he had brought Il Blud back with the Book he could have used Blud’s effect to bring up Ryu Kokki, mitigating the impact Hammer Shot would have had (Kokki would have absorbed it). He selected Giant Rat from his deck and moved on.
He summoned it, ran it into Green Gadget, and pulled Pyramid Turtle from his deck for a direct attack. Glass was down to 2400 life points, while Peddle had 2700 remaining. He set a spell or trap to finish out. Glass summoned Neo-Spacian Grand Mole and ended, not wanting to attack. Yes, it was an ultimate rare Grand Mole.
Peddle summoned Zombie Master, discarded Il Blud to special summon another Zombie Master, and it was over! Turtle attacked Grand Mole and the two Zombie Masters attacked directly for game.
Matt Peddle takes the first duel, but Glass would get a chance to use his side deck. In went three Banisher of the Radiance and two Royal Oppression.
Glass opened game 2 with Yellow Gadget, searching his deck for Green and setting a card to his back row. “Go ahead.” Peddle summoned Giant Rat, but lost it to Torrential Tribute, leaving him to set one spell or trap. He lost it, his own Torrential Tribute, to Mystical Space Typhoon on the next turn. Glass had a hand full of monsters: a rainbow of Gadgets, Drillroid, and Cyber Phoenix. He summoned Green Gadget, dug for Red, and attacked for 1400 damage. “Go ahead.”
Pyramid Turtle hit the field and Peddle crashed it into Green Gadget, special summoning Il Blud to attack and destroy Green. Peddle set a spell or trap, Glass summoned Yellow Gadget, and fetched Green from his deck; he’d drawn Banisher of the Radiance this turn, which was of no help.
“That’s no good,” remarked Peddle, sympathetic to at least some degree. He normal summoned Il Blud, brought back Pyramid Turtle, crashed it into Yellow Gadget and both monsters were destroyed. Pyramid Turtle special summoned Spirit Reaper from his deck, and it attacked alongside Il Blud for 2400 damage and to force the discard of Drillroid.
Glass drew yet another monster, and he sent Drillroid to attack into Spirit Reaper. “Please don’t pass,” said Peddle. Glass had to, still stuck with nothing but monsters.
Il Blud brought out Pyramid Turtle, Brain Control stole Drillroid, and Peddle tributed it for Vampire Lord! The oft-maligned tribute monster struck for game moments later, vaunting Peddle to an undefeated record and placing him in a tiebreaker situation where he could, theoretically, wind up facing Dale Bellido in the finals!