After a devastating feature match loss yesterday (which actually cost him a deck profile at the time), Jeff Baumgartner has recovered and made it all the way to the semifinals! Playing for Team Kamikaze Krew, his Nouveau Ratbox deck has made a big impact here this weekend.
“I’m going to side Kycoo to stop him from removing anything,” noted Glass, before Baumgartner arrived at the table. If Baumgartner didn’t see that coming, his Bazoos would be in serious trouble.
Baumgartner took his seat. “Just so you know, I’ve never beaten that deck before in testing.” If Glass didn’t like his opponent’s chances, Baumgartner seemed to like them even less. Still, Baumgartner was bringing a healthy dose of optimism to the match.
One of these duelists was winning a copy of Crush Card Virus here and now. The other would go on to duel for third place.
Glass won the roll and opened with Graceful Charity. He discarded Malicious and Phoenix Blade, removed Malicious to special summon another, and Baumgartner gave a groan. “I’ve definitely already lost.”
The second Malicious came out in attack and was quickly tributed for Monster Gate: Glass lost Destiny Draw and brought out Diamond Dude. The second Malicious was removed from play to special summon a third from Glass’ deck in defense position, and he then summoned Stratos to search his deck for another copy of the new Elemental Hero.
“I really just want a turn.”
“Uno momento, por favor.”
Diamond Dude flipped the top card off of Glass’ deck, but it was only Divine Sword — Phoenix Blade, so it was sent to the bottom of Glass’ deck. He set one spell or trap to finish his turn.
Baumgartner special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Giant Rat, and then sent Cyber Dragon into Stratos. Giant Rat smashed into Diamond Dude, destroying both monsters, and Baumgartner pulled another Rat from his deck to destroy Malicious. For all Glass’ fancy footwork, Baumgartner now had card advantage. He set one card to his back row and passed.
Glass returned Divine Sword to his hand, and then special summoned Stratos and Diamond Dude, plus two Malicious. Stratos destroyed Baumgartner’s set Return from the Different Dimension, and Monster Gate tributed Malicious to special summon another Diamond Dude. That’s why Dimension Fusion’s going to one, folks.
Two Malicious were removed from Glass’s graveyard so he could retrieve his second Phoenix Blade. Each Diamond Dude’s effect was used, and while the first one hit nothing of use, the second hit Destiny Draw. Glass would get to claim its effect next turn and draw two cards without expending any to do so.
Diamond Dude and Stratos each got a Phoenix Blade, and a second Stratos came down to let Glass search his deck for the third Stratos. Diamond Dude slashed Giant Rat with Divine Sword — Phoenix Blade, and Baumgartner brought out another Rat. Stratos attacked the next one, and Baumgartner pulled Injection Fairy Lily! Stratos traded off with Cyber Dragon in battle, and Glass seemed to be giving some careful consideration as to the threat Lily presented. He moved to main phase 2, took back his Phoenix Blade by removing one Stratos and one Diamond Dude, and ended.
Lily attacked Diamond Dude, in an attempt to eliminate one of the outs Glass had to the little Fairy: Lightning Vortex. Lily pumped and nailed Glass for a whack of damage. Baumgartner set a card to each zone and ended. Glass drew for his turn, drew two more for his Destiny Draw that Diamond Dude flipped Last Turn, and considered his massive hand of seven cards. He activated Magical Stone Excavation, discarded Stratos and Dasher, and targeted Dimension Fusion. He returned it to his hand, removed Dasher and Stratos from his graveyard to take back Divine Sword — Phoenix Blade again, and then activated Heavy Storm: it destroyed his own Waboku and his opponent’s Mystical Space Typhoon. He tributed Malicious for Jinzo, activated Dimension Fusion to bring back Dasher and two Stratos, and used both of their effects to search his deck. He took one Dasher and one Diamond Dude for the search effects.
He tributed Stratos for Dasher, gave it two copies of Divine Sword — Phoenix Blade, and attacked over Lily! Baumgartner pumped to take less damage anyway, but Lily was still destroyed. Jinzo attacked the set monster next as Glass looked for a win this turn, but he was blocked by Spirit Reaper! Baumgartner was still alive, and Glass passed his turn.
Baumgartner set one back row card and ended. “Go ahead.”
Glass topdecked into exactly what he needed: “Lightning Vortex”. He revealed it, and the game was over.
“Well, that was better than I thought it would be,” admitted Baumgartner. “For game 1 at least.” Both duelists set to side decking.
Baumgartner opened the second duel with Graceful Charity, and briefly pondered his discards before settling on Mobius the Frost Monarch and Last Will. He set a card to each zone and ended.
Reinforcement of the Army let Glass search for Elemental Hero Stratos, who was immediately summoned to search for another Stratos. He gave the first Stratos Divine Sword — Phoenix Blade, and it attacked into Baumgartner’s set Giant Rat. Baumgartner used it to special summon another Rat from his deck, and he seemed very upbeat about things. Perhaps a prelude to the Duplication combo?
“Go ahead,” invited Glass.
“Sure. What’s your life?”
“I still have 8000.”
Baumgartner set to thinking, and ran the numbers. “That’s good.”
He activated Premature Burial to bring back Mobius the Frost Monarch. He then summoned Injection Fairy Lily, played Smashing Ground, attacked for 1400 with Rat, attacked for 2400 with Mobius, and then hit with Lily for 3400, dropping Glass to 1800. He ended his turn.
Glass blasted him with Heavy Storm, and then summoned Stratos to search out Malicious. “I was waiting for that Mirror Force draw,” he said, bluffing disappointment. His draw for the turn had indeed been Mirror Force. He activated Lightning Vortex, discarded Malicious for its cost, removed Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another one, and then set Mirror Force before attacking with Stratos. Baumgartner was down to 3400.
He special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Bazoo the Soul-Eater and removed two monsters from his graveyard — he was playing right into Glass’ bluff —removing Giant Rat and Lily. Bazoo attacked and Baumgartner lost his field to Mirror Force. He special summoned another Cyber Dragon in main phase 2, his last card.
Glass tributed Malicious for Monster Gate, discarding Divine Sword on his way to special summoning Dasher. He normal summoned Diamond Dude, gave Divine Sword to Dasher, activated Diamond Dude’s effect to flip Graceful, tributed Diamond Dude to boost Dasher’s ATK with its own effect, and then attacked to lower Baumgartner to 300 life points. Glass had 800 life points left himself.
Baumgartner summoned Bazoo, removed three monsters from his graveyard, and then attacked Dasher to destroy it. “Show me a Lightning Vortex,” he said, inviting his own doom.
Glass brought back his Phoenix Blade, used Graceful’s effect thanks to Diamond Dude Last Turn, and returned Magical Stone Excavation to his hand. He used it, got back his Lightning Vortex, and activated it to destroy Bazoo! A direct attack was all he needed to finish the duel, and the match.
Marc Glass moves on to the finals!