What a way to begin the tournament! Kyle Andrews has made Day 2 at two Shonen Jump Championships, and earned a seat in the Top 8 of the 2005 Canadian National Championships. After a recent hiatus from tournament competition he’s up against Hsoros Nairebas, an up-and-coming duelist from the suburbs of Toronto. Alongside his brother Sepehr, he’s quickly earned respect from duelists in his area. Right now, Nairebas may have one of the most feared decks in Toronto, an explosive Dark Armed Dragon / Dark Creator Turbo build that I myself have lost to on multiple occasions. But incredibly poor draws laid Nairebas low four weeks ago at Canadian Nationals — could he find better luck here today?

Game 1

Nairebas won the roll and opened with a hand of: Snipe Hunter, D.D. Crow, Dark Grepher, Premature Burial, Trade-In, and Heavy Storm. It was virtually unplayable on all fronts. “I’ll go all out,” remarked Nairebas, pausing for a moment: “Pass.” Andrews summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo and attacked for 800 damage, and tagged out to Gladiator Beast Laquari to finish his turn.

“This is so ugly,” remarked Nairebas, topdecking Mind Crush. This was the same type of ridiculously unplayable string of cards that had crippled him in the early rounds of Canadian Nationals. He set Mind Crush, Laquari made a direct attack, and when Andrews tagged out to Gladiator Beast Bestiari Nairebas made a desperate play: he chained Mind Crush, and called D.D. Crow: he needed to take the risk, because at this point one of his few hopes rested on Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. Andrews reluctantly revealed his one copy of Crow and discarded it! He ended his turn as Nairebas breathed a sigh of relief.

He drew Brain Control, summoned Dark Grepher, discarded Snipe Hunter for its effect to send Destiny Hero – Disk Commander to the graveyard, then brought him back with Premature Burial for two draws. Still nothing playable. Grepher swung over Bestiari, Disk Commander made a direct attack, and Nairebas still had nothing to do. He passed, and Andrews immediately dropped Cold Wave. Now Nairebas was in trouble — even if he did draw something to get his spell-dependent draw engine going, he wouldn’t be able to use any of it. Andrews had a hard time capitalizing though, and had to summon Bestiari again. Bestiari ran over Disk Commander, tagged out to Gladiator Beast Laquari, and Nairebas was up yet again.

Sure enough, he drew into Allure of Darkness — now useless thanks to Cold Wave. He set a monster, turned Grepher to defense mode, and passed to his opponent. Andrews summoned Elemental Hero Prisma, used its effect to send Bestiari to the graveyard, and special summoned Test Tiger. Tiger tagged out Laquari, Andrews brought Gladiator Beast Darius to the field, and when Darius went to special summon Bestiari Nairebas denied the move with D.D. Crow.  Andrews kept the pressure coming though, contact Fusing Darius and Prisma for Gladiator Beast Gyzarus!

Gyzarus’ effect destroyed both of Nairebas’s copies of Dark Grepher, made a direct attack, and a few tags later turned into Gladiator Beast Heraklinos. Andrews ended with three cards in hand — Nairebas was in big trouble.

He activated Allure of Darkness, and Andrews let it through! Nairebas drew two, removed Destiny Hero – Plasma from play, then discarded Destiny Hero – Malicious for Destiny Draw — Andrews pitched Smashing Ground to negate it with Heraklinos’ effect. “Show me a monster and it’s over,” requested Nairebas.

Andrews revealed Gladiator Beast Bestiari from his hand, and Nairebas scooped it up!

Shades of Canadian Nationals, as a totally unplayable opening hand cripples Hsoros Nairebas once again. Kyle “Tanooki” Andrews takes Game 1! Nairebas began side decking immediately.

Game 2

Nairebas’s second hand was only marginally better than his first — Destiny Draw, Destiny Hero – Malicious, two Dark Armed Dragon, Premature Burial, and Mind Crush. He activated Destiny Draw, discarded Destiny Hero – Malicious, and drew two cards. He set Mind Crush and ended. Andrews attacked with Murmillo again, prioritizing the task of getting it back into his deck, and tagged out to Gladiator Beast Laquari. “Why didn’t you get Bestiari?” asked Nairebas. Andrews set two cards to his back row.

“Cause . . . last time it was a Mind Crush.” Andrews gave a sheepish grin, but had made the correct read.

Nairebas set a monster, ended his turn, and immediately flipped Mind Crush: “Bestiari?” Andrews winced and discarded three copies of Gladiator Beast Bestiari! Andrews’ hand was forced to bring out the big guns. He special summoned Test Tiger, tagged out to Gladiator Beast Darius, and brought up one Bestiari for Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and destroyed Nairebas’s face-down Phantom of Chaos. Gyzarus attacked, tagged out to two copies of Darius, and Andrews brought both of his remaining Bestiaris to the field! He ended, his hand now totally played out.

Nairebas needed to make a move; in fact, he needed to make many moves if he wanted to have any chance to survive. Moving with surprising speed, he first removed Malicious from his graveyard, special summoned his second copy from his deck, and sent it into Bestiari. Andrews had no response and Malicious was destroyed. Nairebas then played D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation, discarding Dark Armed Dragon, to bring his removed Malicious back to the field. That discard put him at three Dark monsters!

He summoned Dark Armed Dragon, and Andrews flipped Solemn Judgment. Nairebas wasn’t done.

He activated Premature Burial, brought back Phantom of Chaos, and then special summoned another Dark Armed Dragon! He removed two Dark monsters from his graveyard to blow away both copies of Darius, taking both copies of Bestiari with them. He then removed a Dark to destroy his own Malicious, removed the Malicious to destroy Phantom of Chaos, and finally removed Phantom of Chaos to finish wiping Andrews’ field, destroying his set Phoenix Wing Wind Blast! With Malicious and Phantom of Chaos no longer presenting direct paths to his life points, and with his opponent out of cards, Nairebas was in clear control. He ended his turn with Dark Armed Dragon on the field and one more card in hand. What a turn!

Andrews drew a card and set it to his back row. Nairebas swung through it next turn for 2800 damage, and Andrews summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, searching his deck for Elemental Hero Prisma while shielding himself as best as he could. Nairebas drew for his next turn — Dark Grepher. He had Dark Magician of Chaos and Destiny Draw in hand.

“If that’s a Torrential, you probably win,” Nairebas remarked. He summoned Dark Grepher, discarded Dark Magician of Chaos, and Andrews immediately scooped.

Hsoros Nairebas fights back, making a huge Mind Crush and a massive series of plays in a single big turn to press the match to a third and final duel! Andrews would get to start for the first time.

Andrews immediately opened with two set cards to his back row, and then set a monster.

“Heavy,” remarked Nairebas. He activated Heavy Storm, forcing Andrews to flip Solemn Judgment. Nairebas played Reinforcement of the Army to search his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos, summoned him to search Destiny Hero – Malicious, then activated Allure of Darkness — he was holding D.D. Crow, two Dark Armed Dragon, Malicious, and Plasma, and removed Malicious. Stratos attacked into Andrews’ face-down Spirit Reaper and Nairebas ended.

Andrews passed, and Nairebas special summoned Dark Grepher by discarding Destiny Hero – Plasma. He discarded D.D. Crow for Grepher’s effect, sent Dark Magician of Chaos to his graveyard, and was left with three Dark monsters in his graveyard. After much thought, Andrews discarded D.D. Crow to remove the Dark Magician of Chaos.

Nairebas couldn’t’ve been happier. He discarded Dark Armed Dragon for D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation, brought back Dark Magician of Chaos, returned Heavy Storm to his hand with the Magician’s effect, then activated the Heavy Storm to destroy Andrews’s Mirror Force at the cost of his own Dark Magician of Chaos.

“Another Dark Armed Dragon?” asked Andrews.

Nairebas played it to the field. “Yup.” Andrews shook his head and scooped it up.

No appearances by The Dark Creator, but Hsoros Nairebas manages to play out of two poor hands to steal the match anyway, redeeming his performance from Canadian Nats!