I wanted to slip an interview with Cesar Gonzalez into our early morning lineup, and that meant sacrificing our Round 1 feature match. In lieu of that I wanted to take a look at some of the cool decks being played by top West Coast players, and I wanted to start with Tomas Mijares. Again!

Last time we caught up with Mijares in this situation he was breaking the Kycoo / King Tiger anti-meta strategy that started showing up at Shonen Jump Seattle. That deck went on to be a constant force in future Shonen Jump metagames, though it’s never made it to Day 2. Today Mijares is playing a totally different strategy; it’s probably too unique and out there to become a well-played metagame presence, but it sure is cool looking! Check it out:

If you’re reading this coverage live you won’t be able to see Mijares’ decklist until Day 1 is over, but you can probably take an educated guess at what he’s playing thanks to the name (not to mention the picture). Mijares is aiming to combine Geartown with Demise, King of Armageddon, dropping massive monsters all over the place in unexpected ways. The deck is fast — often faster than TeleDAD, and with Demise clearing the way Mijares can take full advantage of his enormous beatsticks.

And this deck packs a lot of them. Three copies of Demise, King of Armageddon are matched with three Manju of the Ten-Thousand Hands, one Advanced Ritual Art, and one copy of End of the World — a card we almost never see in Demise decks. From there Mijares packs two Dark Armed Dragon, two Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon, and a shocking pair of Tri-Horned Dragon. Yes, that Tri-Horned Dragon: the normal monster Secret Rare from Legend of Blue Eyes.

It’s an intriguing choice that accomplishes more than one might first suspect. As a Level 8 monster it’s fodder for the three copies of Trade-In Mijares is running, and its Dark attribute means it can be removed for his three Allure of Darkness. It’s no Cosmo Queen, clocking in with 50 fewer ATK points than the card Hugo Adame played in his Demise deck at Shonen Jump Houston, but it’s a stylish choice nonetheless.

Phantom Skyblaster helps Mijares fuel his tricks, giving him Ritual fodder for Demise and tribute fodder for Tri-Horned Dragon on the off chance he wants to summon it. Skyblaster’s pair of effects can also rack up damage pretty quickly. With its own 1100 ATK, and the combined 1000 ATK of the two Skyblaster Tokens it summons, it can make beefy direct attacks. From there its burn effect can deal another 900 damage, a total of as much as 3000 life points stolen from the opponent in a single turn. “Phantom Skyblaster is one of the best techs in the deck,” explained Mijares. “Being able to burn, and use End of the World despite being under Crush Card Virus is great!”

Those Skyblaster Tokens would be vulnerable to attack in many decks, but here they’re protected by three copies of Threatening Roar. Mijares is borrowing a page out of Calvin Tsang’s book, running not just the three Roars Tsang played in Detroit, but also the three Reckless Greed that let him put together combos so deftly. Mijares is playing nine cards total that let him draw two cards each, along with a strong defensive lineup geared towards shutting down attempted OTK’s. If his opponent presses with a big offensive and gets rejected by Threatening Roar, Mijares will crush them with Demise.

Mijares is playing this weekend for his ailing grandfather in the Philippines, and making Day 2 again here would be a worthy tribute to a man that’s very important to him. Mijares is driven, not just for his family, but for the game itself: “I want to change things up a bit, and create something other people can play.” If he makes Day 2 this weekend, he’ll definitely be emulated by duelists across the globe.