This is it. The final round of the Swiss pairings before the Top 8 of the European Championships, and in the feature match area we have Darren Walsh, the Irish National Champion vying for a position in the Top 8 with Swede Sam Sendani-Sedghi, one of only two players to go undefeated on Day 1 of the competition. The winner has a good shot at the Top 8, while for the loser, a loss now would sting more than any other.
Sam led off with a Confiscation to take Mirror Force on turn one, and a set monster, while Walsh had no monster, and just a set. When Sam tributed his Treeborn Frog for a Cyber Dragon, the only response from the Irishman was a Scapegoat, followed by Snatch Steal on the following turn.
Sam had a Heavy Storm to get rid of the Snatch Steal, but it wasn’t long before it came back to Walsh’s hand, thanks to Magician of Faith. It didn’t get played immediately though, as Walsh instead elected to set a monster and pass. The monster was a Gravekeeper’s Spy, who replaced himself when he was attacked, and was joined by a Chaos Sorcerer, who ate Treeborn Frog, on the very next turn.
Sam used Tsukuyomi to flip down the Sorcerer, allowing Cyber Dragon to kill it. At this point, Walsh felt it was worth it to Snatch once more, this time using the Cyber Dragon in tribute to bring out Airknight Parshath. The Airknight had little opportunity to beat in, though, as a Sakuretsu Armor finished it off.
Sam played Mobius the Frost Monarch, who was quickly hit by an Enemy Controller to move to defense position before he could also take out Walsh’s Torrential Tribute or attack.
On Walsh’s turn, he used Premature Burial to get back his Airknight, who was big enough to take down the monarch. Unfortunately for Walsh, he was soon at the mercy of Chaos Sorcerer though, which forced a Night Assailant activation from the Irishman, followed by a Chaos Sorcerer of his own.
Without monsters to attack into, the sorcerer tried to go to the face, only for a Scapegoat to present some defence position monsters. The sorcerer slowly beat through these, with the last two getting eaten by the chaos wizard, then killed by Zaborg respectively. Unfortunately though, there would be no direct attacks, with Mirror Force ending any straightforward attack plans the Irishman might have had.
He tried to regroup with Cyber Dragon, which seemed a more powerful plan than the Cyber-Stein blocker of Sendani-Sedghi’s. D. D. Warrior Lady from Sam was summoned and attacked, to clear the way, then Return from the Different Dimension came, looking to be lethal, but for a Waboku from Walsh.
With Sam having paid himself down to very low endurance, he was suddenly very succeptible to anything Walsh had. A Brain Control was enough to do it, and it was on to game two.
Sam once again started out with a Confiscation, this time taking a Bottomless Trap Hole from an Irish hand containing only a single monster, in the form of Cyber Dragon. Following this there were a few awkward smiles, as neither player had a play for a while. The first monster on the board was Breaker the Magical Warrior from Walsh, who broke a Creature Swap in two, then attacked.
He was duly attacked back by a Cyber Dragon the following turn, only for Brain Control to allow for a set tribute monster from Walsh. Wary of what it could be, Sam took the cautious approach, playing a Cyber Dragon, then tributing it to play Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. A Last Will also found a Spirit Reaper in this exchange, and though Zaborg’s attack got through okay, Waboku was used to stop the Reaper from decimating Walsh’s hand.
The reason that the Irishman wanted to protect his hand quickly became clear. He played a Chaos Sorcerer from it in order to get rid of Sam’s Thunder Monarch, then passed, using a Mystical Space Typhoon to take out Torrential Tribute at just the right moment.
For Sam, things seemed a little tougher. He flipped up a Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive in order to draw a card, then tribute summoned Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, only to have him hit with a Book of Moon. From here, Walsh started working some magic with a Dekoichi of his own, who drew him a card, and attacked the face down Zaborg.
It seemed that Zaborg was getting all the attention though, as Premature Burial returned him to play. While the Monarch didn’t stay there for long, it did suck up a Mirror Force before again hitting the graveyard. Sam seemed to have seen this coming, as he played a Chaos Sorcerer post-combat, and passed. Walsh had one of his own, though, thanks to Premature Burial, and removed the first from play.
Sam could afford to be a little cagey with his plays, as he sat behind a Mirror Force, which he eventually popped to kill two of Walsh’s monsters. Following this, he summoned Mobius, who was immediately exhausted by Enemy Controller. With the board like this, there was ample position for Walsh to make a big turn’s summons with Cyber Dragon and a Gravekeeper’s Spy filling his board sufficiently for him to attack for the win.
Darren Walsh wins 2-0, advancing to 9-3 where he must pray that his tiebreakers are good enough to get into the Top 8!