Neither Frank Schifano nor Eric Taylor has made waves in the past, but what better place to start than with a Day 2 appearance at the National Championships? These two players with no prior day 2 experiences are just two match wins away from representing the United States at the 2008 World Championships in Berlin. Frank hails from New York and he’s the last player in the tournament running Lightsworn. His build is very reminiscent of the Overdose build from St. Louis, containing all of the tricks that the Bellido brothers popularized, but it also has one thing that they didn’t: a way to get back Judgment Dragon. One Monster Reincarnation could make the difference between success and defeat for Frank as he faces off against Eric Taylor and his Dark Armed Dragon deck in a repeat from round 2!
Taylor has a naturally bad matchup against Gladiator Beast decks, but the lack of Solemn Judgment and resistance to said Solemn Judgment in Schifano’s deck gives him a golden opportunity to break through into the quarterfinals. In addition, a timely Crush Card Virus could all but end the match at any time. Schifano’s side deck also seems almost tailor made to further improve this matchup, and also his matchup against Gladiator Beasts, so Frank will need to strike first and then dig for his Cold Waves and Royal Decrees to keep his guys alive in games 2 and possibly 3. Eric feels that his side decking was the issue that caused a loss last time around, but this time he says he’ll definitely throw in his Fossil Dyna Pachycephalos to go with all the negation and protection. Overall, the matchup looks to be tremendously skewed in Taylor’s favor, but with the results of their previous match in mind it’s anyone’s game!
Frank won the opening roll 6 to 1 (the Snipe Hunter special) and opted to start the game. His opening hand was largely unplayable at the moment with a pair of Judgment Dragons along with Honest, Premature Burial, Solar Recharge, and Heavy Storm. He set a card to each zone and passed over to Eric who started off with an Allure of Darkness. The Allure resolved, and Eric removed Dark Armed Dragon after drawing two. A set spell or trap was the only other play from Eric, and Frank took the opportunity to flip his set Honest and bounce it to his hand. Solar Recharge pitched Lumina into the ‘yard, and Ehren and Ryko went to the ‘yard during resolution. Frank had unfortunately drawn into two copies of Wulf, but he pitched one of them to Lumina to revive Ehren after first pulling back Ehren with Premature Burial. He swung directly with each, but lost his Crush Card Virus in the end phase to Lumina’s effect and nothing of note to Ehren’s.
Eric normal summoned Dark Grepher and swung on Lumina, but Honest swept in to save the day and deal 1000 damage over Grepher. Eric set three cards to the back row, and passed to Frank who dumped Lyla to the graveyard with Foolish Burial before pitching Wulf to revive her. Torrential wiped the field, and both of Frank’s Judgment Dragons were negated by Solemn Judgment, dropping Eric to 1100. Eric set a monster as did Frank, and Eric set another which was revealed to be D.D. Crow and destroyed by Frank next turn. He had drawn the third Wulf, but Ryko knocked a Necro Gardna into the graveyard to help give the puppy some staying power. Ryko swung into Eric’s set Spirit Reaper, and play passed back to Eric. Eric switched his Reaper to attack position and swung over Ryko before setting a spell or trap and passing. Reinforcement of the Army came off the top of the deck for Frank, and he fetched his singleton Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior and summoned him. Eric warned him off, but Frank didn’t fall for the bluff and swung through Spirit Reaper for game! Frank gets past the double Solemn Judgment to take game 1!
Between games, Eric commented that this was very much like one of their previous games that also involved two Solemn Judgments and an attack position Spirit Reaper. Frank was one game away from the quarterfinals, but Eric now had access to his plethora of side deck options. If Frank drew as many Wulfs as he did in the first game, which was all of them, it was going to take a Judgment Dragon miracle to pull him through. Eric started out the second game with Destiny Draw pitching Destiny Hero - Disk Commander! He followed up with two spell or trap cards and a set monster before passing to Frank who matched all of Eric’s sets. Reinforcement of the Army grabbed Elemental Hero Stratos for Eric, and he summoned him to search out Destiny Hero – Malicious. Stratos swung at Frank’s set monster, and Necro Gardna went off to the graveyard.
On the end phase, Royal Decree was activated by Frank, but Crush Card Virus was chained, tributing a set Crow to do so. Frank lost his in hand Celestia and revealed his draw, an Honest. Foolish Burial sent Wulf to the graveyard, and Eric burned his Divine Wrath to put Malicious in the graveyard. Wulf came out and whacked Stratos, and play was back to Eric! A set to each zone was Eric’s play, and Frank revealed his freshly drawn Necro Gardna before checking the graveyard for Darks. Frank summoned Honest and swung on Eric’s set, but Fossil Dyna flipped and obliterated Wulf! Honest couldn’t beat the Dyna; Frank’s mistake in attack order had cost him the ability to destroy Dyna! Honest ran away, and Card Trooper came down for Eric pumping to 1900. Dyna went to attack position and swung along with the Trooper, and Frank took some damage before revealing his last draw for Crush Card, a Solar Recharge.
Necro Gardna came down for Frank, and he swung over Card Trooper giving Eric a draw. After drawing for his turn, Frank had five cards in hand and tried to remove Malicious to special summon another. With Fossil Dyna on the field, it was unclear if this was an allowed move, and after consultation with the head judge the removal was not allowed. Instead, he tributed Fossil Dyna for Mobius and wiped out Frank’s backfield of Royal Decree and My Body as a Shield. Eric now removed his Malicious to get another one and move the Dark count to three allowing for a summon of Dark Armed Dragon. The Dragon swung over a Gardna, Malicious swung directly, and Necro Gardna kept Frank in the game. Frank finally drew a Lightsworn monster in Ryko, and he pitched it to play Solar Recharge. With Phantom of Chaos in hand, a Judgment Dragon in the graveyard would be ideal. He didn’t get it though, and Lumina and Honest went to the graveyard after he drew his two. With 1700 life points left, Frank summoned Ehren, Lightsworn Monk to attack Malicious instead of using his in hand Honest to smack Dark Armed Dragon! He set a spell or trap and passed losing three non-Judgment Dragon cards to the graveyard. Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo joined the Dark Armed crowd, and Eric removed Malicious to destroy Frank’s bluff. Eric didn’t remove to destroy the monster, however, and Frank simply scooped without waiting to see if his opponent would play the turn right. He did have Honest in hand after all.
Frank was up first for the final game of the match, and he was hoping for a much better hand than he had been seeing today. He got it with Jain, Lightsworn Paladin, Necro Gardna, My Body as a Shield, Judgment Dragon, Royal Decree, and Garoth. Jain and a set spell or trap was the play, and Wulf and Lumina hit the graveyard. Wulf hit the ‘yard and popped back up in the end phase, and Eric fought back with Elemental Hero Stratos to fetch Disk Commander. “Nothing fair ever starts with Disk Commander,” remarked Frank. Commander was pitched for Destiny Draw, and Eric threw down Monster Reborn to bring back Disk and draw another two cards. He set two spell or trap cards and passed over to Frank, who flipped Decree in the end phase! Frank was in business now, and he pitched Garoth to Solar Recharge dumping Judgment Dragon and Monster Reincarnation into the graveyard! He drew into a Celestia and checked his graveyard before pitching the Celestia to another Solar Recharge and drawing into Celestia and the third Recharge while dumping Heavy Storm and the third Celestia! Lyla came down, and battle was declared.
Jain beat down Stratos, Lyla hit Disk Commander, and Wulf swung directly to put Eric at 5600, and in main phase two Lyla targeted a set Divine Wrath. Frank set a spell or trap and dumped Ryko, Ryko, Phantom of Chaos, Necro Gardna, and Premature Burial in the end phase. It was now or never for Eric, but he didn’t know that any monster he played was going to be obliterated by Celestia next turn. Grepher was summoned, and Fear Monger was pitched to his ability to send Dark Magician of Chaos to the graveyard. Frank looked like he was set for victory almost no matter what, but Dark Armed Dragon came down to stymie him! My Body as a Shield was wiped out by Dark Armed Dragon, and the game was on!
Two Darks remained in Eric’s graveyard, and he paid 800 life points for Premature Burial to pull back Dark Magician of Chaos and recur Monster Reborn with his ability. One removal remained for Eric, but he went to battle phase instead and swung with Dark Magician of Chaos into Wulf. Frank considered Necro Gardna, and Wulf got kicked out of play. Possibly not the right play from Frank who had two methods of disallowing this, but when Grepher attempted to kamikaze into Jain, Frank used Necro Gardna to keep Frank at one potential removal. Dark Armed Dragon swung into Lyla, and she went to the ‘yard. Eric kept himself out of Honest’s way, and in main phase 2 he destroyed Royal Decree with Disk Commander and pulled back Eric’s Phantom of Chaos in defense mode to use with Crush Card Virus! Frank lost his freshly drawn Judgment Dragon in addition to the Celestia he’d been holding and his on field Jain! Left with Solar Recharge, Necro Gardna, and Honest, Frank set a monster and passed.
Card Trooper came down and knocked exactly one Dark into the graveyard to give Eric exactly what he needed to force through one of his 2800 ATK behemoths, and Frank dropped to 900 life points before drawing Lumina and pitching her to Solar Recharge. Solemn Judgment shut that down, and the game was over! Crush Card Virus triggered by his pilfered Phantom of Chaos steals victory away from Frank Schifano and Eric Taylor moves on to the quarterfinals, 2-1!