2006 National Champion Austin Kulman was not having an easy day. After being paired off against Matt Peddle in Round 1, and winning game 3 with just 100 life points left, he was now up against Comic Odyssey’s Kenny So. While Kulman was running Light and Darkness Dragon, So was piloting a highly metagamed build of Macro Cosmos. It was a deck specifically designed to defeat strategies like the one Kulman was running.
“This is Robert Lim’s deck,” noted Kulman, wanting to give credit where it was due. Robert was also in contention this weekend, and had also won his first round. But the odds seemed stacked against the young National Champ.
He opened the match with Destiny Draw, discarding Destiny Hero - Malicious. He set a card to his back row and ended with a cheerful, “Go ahead!” So activated Dimensional Fissure, set two cards to his back row, then a third, and passed. He lost his Fissure to Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase, but in Kulman’s draw phase he flipped Macro Cosmos! So was off to an amazing start.
“Darn, you would have a foil one,” quipped Kulman, noting that So had a Dark Revelations 4 Cosmos as he set a spell or trap to end.
So set another spell or trap, and next turn Kulman attacked with Sangan for 1000 damage, seeing that So seemed to have no options. Next turn So brought down Cyber Dragon though, and booted Sangan right out of the game thanks to Macro Cosmos. Kulman fired back with a Cyber Dragon of his own, attacked, and So flipped Mirror Force, leaving Kulman to set a monster. So summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy Kulman’s set Marshmallon and then attacked into Scapegoat. Cyber Dragon ate a Sheep Token and So passed play to Kulman.
He set a monster and ended, stymied by So’s strategy but still secure for the moment. So summoned Banisher of the Radiance, attacked Kulman’s face down Magician of Faith with Cyber Dragon, and Kulman debated between retrieving his Mystical Space Typhoon or Destiny Draw (Scapegoat had been removed from play and thus wasn’t an option). He took back the Typhoon. Banisher took a Token, and next turn Kulman destroyed Macro Cosmos with Mystical Space Typhoon; So just flipped another on the chain. Kulman set a monster, So attacked it next turn with Cyber Dragon, and Kulman dove into his deck! The attacked monster was Apprentice Magician, and he got Kulman Crystal Seer. Banisher attacked the Seer, Kulman picked a card from the top two off his deck, and So ended.
Brain Control targeted So’s Cyber Dragon, but So shut it down with Dark Bribe. Kulman drew, shuffled his hand, and set a spell or trap. Cyber Dragon and Banisher cleared his field of Sheep Tokens next turn.
That let Kulman bring down another Cyber Dragon on the turn that followed, but So activated Solemn Judgment to negate the summon: So dropped to 3500 life points. Premature Burial fell from Kulman’s hand targeting Malicious, his only in-graveyard monster, and he tributed him for Raiza the Storm Monarch! Would he have Light and Darkness Dragon if So hadn’t used Solemn? It didn’t matter, as another Solemn followed to negate the Raiza. So had every answer.
Cyber Dragon and Banisher attacked next turn, and after checking his life points and fingering his set spell or trap Kulman took the damage. Next turn he set a card to each zone, and So attacked with Cyber Dragon. Kulman activated Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarded Malicious to try and bounce the Dragon, but lost out to Dark Bribe; Cyber Dragon destroyed Kulman’s Disk Commander in battle. Banisher of the Radiance attacked directly and the match was over!
A blazing flurry of Dark Bribes and Solemn Judgments let Kenny So claim the early win, controlling the game from the first turn thanks to his remove from play effects!
After much side decking Kulman opened game 2 with a set spell or trap. So had a good opening hand, but nothing to protect his infrastructure; he activated Dimensional Fissure and set a card to each zone, deprived of Dark Bribe and Solemn Judgment.
Kulman activated Reinforcement of the Army next turn, and searched out D.D. Survivor! He summoned him and attacked, destroying So’s face down Morphing Jar and sending a ton of monsters in each player’s hand out of play. Each duelist got a new hand, and Kulman set another card to his back row — if he could keep that Survivor out he’d be in good shape.
Another D.D. Survivor was summoned next turn, this time by So, who filled his back row with spell and trap cards. Kulman flipped Book of Moon in main phase 2 to flip So’s D.D. Survivor face down, then activated Royal Decree in the end phase! So reeled as much as he ever does, which is to say not much, and Kulman followed up next turn with Breaker the Magical Warrior. He destroyed So’s set Pulling the Rug. Breaker attacked the face down D.D. Survivor so that he couldn’t come back, and Kulman’s Survivor attacked directly! He’d done a perfect job of turning So’s own strategy against him. “Go ahead.”
Reinforcement of the Army let So search his deck for another Survivor. He summoned him, used him to attack Breaker the Magical Warrior, and passed back to Kulman. Kulman’s Survivor was tributed next turn for Raiza the Storm Monarch, and his effect targeted Dimensional Fissure! That meant that if Raiza could take down So’s Survivor he’d lose yet another. Sure enough, Raiza attacked the Survivor and So had no response. Two of So’s Survivors were out of commission, and Kulman brought back his own in the end phase.
So summoned Exiled Force next turn and tributed it to destroy Kulman’s Survivor. He had three set cards and two cards in hand to Kulman’s four cards, Raiza, and Decree. Kulman drew for his turn, attacked for 2400 damage, and set a monster, seemingly inches away from victory! The duel stood at 3200 to 7800 in Kulman’s favor.
So activated another Dimensional Fissure, summoned D. D. Assailant, and attacked Kulman’s set Crystal Seer. Kulman took a card with her effect and then activated Heavy Storm! It cost So four cards total, while Kulman lost his Decree. He summoned Snipe Hunter, activated Lightning Vortex, and discarded Marshmallon to wipe what remained of So’s field! Two direct attacks ended the second duel.
A surprise side decking plan by Austin Kulman lets him dominate game 2! So would either have to get very creative, or very lucky to win his way out of this one.
“Boooo, Austin Kulman,” shouted Matt Peddle, joking from the sidelines as he arrived at the feature match table with a big grin. Peddle’s tiebreakers were riding on Kulman, who laughed as he smokescreened. So was too focused on his siding to appreciate the humor.
He started the third and final duel with two cards to his back row, and flipped Trap Dustshoot in Kulman’s draw phase to reveal Torrential Tribute, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Raiza the Storm Monarch, Cyber Dragon, Spirit Reaper, and Snipe Hunter in his opponent’s hand. “Reaper,” he announced, sending it back to Kulman’s deck. “Man, I wish you hadn’t gotten that,” remarked Kulman. He set two cards to his back row, not summoning the Snipe Hunter.
So set three cards to his back row, then set a monster. Kulman bounced one of the set cards in the end phase with Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarding Raiza to do so. He summoned Snipe Hunter next turn, activated its effect by discarding Cyber Dragon and blew away So’s Morphing Jar! Kulman gave a pump of his fist and attacked clean through for 1500 damage!
Yet another fourth back row set was So’s only move, and he took 1500 damage from Snipe Hunter yet again. He passed next turn, Kulman attacked with Snipe Hunter again, and this time So flipped Scapegoat. Kulman hit a Sheep token and set a spell or trap, but lost it in the end phase: both duelists traded Mystical Space Typhoons. So set another card to his back row, Kulman attacked another Sheep, and ended. So had four cards set, two Sheep Tokens, and one card in hand to Kulman’s three cards, one set spell or trap, and Snipe Hunter. So drew, passed, and Kulman destroyed another Sheep with Snipe Hunter. He set a monster, finally developing his field.
So summoned Snipe Hunter himself. He discarded Raiza the Storm Monarch to target Kulman’s Snipe, but missed the roll! He then discarded Cyber Phoenix to destroy Kulman’s face down Crystal Seer. The Snipe Hunters were both destroyed in battle at So’s command and he passed play to Kulman.
“No cards in hand?” asked Kulman. He had four cards in hand to So’s none, and he had one card set in his back row to So’s four. He talked himself through his possible moves, and then activated Reinforcement of the Army: So had no response, and Kulman fetched D.D. Survivor from his deck! “You’re at 5000, correct?” So nodded. Kulman summoned the Survivor, attacked So’s last Token and ended his turn.
So topdecked into Hammer Shot! He activated it to destroy D.D. Survivor and passed. Kulman set another spell or trap and passed back. So set a fifth, and Kulman went for Royal Decree in the end phase; So had no response! This duel was over! So leaned back in his chair with a knowing smile.
Kulman pounded him next turn with 1000 damage from a freshly-summoned Exiled Force, and So passed his next turn. Exiled attacked again, So passed, and Exiled attacked once more. So only had 2000 life points remaining.
A turn later he had only 1000 points remaining, but he topdecked into Breaker the Magical Warrior. Breaker ran over Exiled Force, then destroyed Royal Decree with his spell counter. With Decree gone So was back in the duel!
Kulman set a monster and time was called. Three more turns would remain. So needed to get Kulman to 1000 life points or less in just two turns.
He activated Dust Tornado, destroying Kulman’s set Torrential Tribute! He activated Call of the Haunted and special summoned Raiza the Storm Monarch to try and stack on the damage — if he could hit directly with Raiza twice, he’d have a chance.
So looked confident and sent Breaker to attack . . . right into Marshmallon! Shades of little Yugi as Kulman gave a bashful grin. There was nothing So could do, and Kulman’s Marshmallon burned away his final 1000 life points!
Austin Kulman comes back from a game 1 defeat to take two straight duels and an epic victory!