After the unfortunate turn of events we witnessed in the feature match coverage earlier today, Karl Davidson appears to have hung up his Demise OTK deck. Now he’s trying to qualify through the final Last Chance Regional of the day with a heavily-teched Monarch build, packing tricks like 4-Starred Ladybug of Doom. It’s the kind of last-ditch effort that you see at this type of event.
Unfortunately for him, he’s up against someone with a well-practiced deck. Torontonian Natalie Leduc is well-known in the local TCG community, judging for and playing competitively in at least three games that I know of. Today the 19 year-old barista has set her sights on Horus the Black Flame Dragon, Reasoning that if her Destiny Hero-wielding opponent’s can’t use spells, they probably can’t win either.
She might be right.
Davidson opened the first duel with one set back row card and ended. Leduc dropped Mirage Dragon, attacked, and ran into Shrink, dealing 800 damage. She set two cards to her spell and trap zone and ended. It was a move that betrayed Davidson’s desperation.
Cyber Dragon came down for Davidson, and Ring of Destruction blew it away when he tried to attack. He set two back row cards and passed, prompting Leduc to bluff an end phase possibility before drawing for her turn. Davidson used Call of the Haunted in main phase 1 to bring back Cyber Dragon as a wall, but Leduc stole it with Snatch Steal. She tributed it away for Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 and the duel was officially on!
Leduc attacked with Horus LV6 and Davidson made a huge mistake, targeting it with Shrink! He accomplished nothing, as Horus LV6 is unaffected by spell cards. Leduc pressed with Mirage Dragon to drop him down to 1800. Davidson drew for his turn, set a monster, and passed.
Horus attacked the face down monster, Twin-Headed Behemoth, and Mirage Dragon followed up to drop Davidson to 200 life points. Leduc briefly chastised herself for not attempting the immediate win, then set two back row cards and brought out Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 with the effect of its smaller version! Davidson was getting stomped in short order, and brought up Twin-Headed Behemoth to try and defend himself. Still, it wasn’t enough, and after he saw his draw for the following turn he scooped.
Natalie Leduc sweeps the first duel in a matter of moments, thanks to Horus the Black Flame Dragon!
“Side decking?”
“Nope,” replied Leduc, not even bothering to smokescreen. She shuffled her deck carefully, making the cards into meticulous little piles at a relaxed pace. “I have small hands, so this takes a minute.” She grinned a rare smirk from beneath the brim of her hat. “You’re going first?”
“Yeah,” nodded Davidson. He set a monster and ended.
“Special,” said Leduc, playing Cyber Dragon and then tributing for Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 to run over Davidson’s set Dekoichi. She set two back row cards and ended, bringing out Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8!
Davidson set a card to each zone, then set another spell or trap — he lost one of them to Mystical Space Typhoon in his end phase, Brain Control. Horus swung at Davidson’s set monster, but it was Legendary Jujitsu Master, and Horus bounced to the top of Leduc’s deck, a ruinous occurrence! The tables turned, and Leduc set a second spell or trap. Davidson set one, Leduc passed, and Davidson set a monster, unable to pressure Leduc for her mistake. She set a monster, ended, passed to Davidson, and Davidson flipped Soul Exchange. He tributed Leduc’s monster for Mobius the Frost Monarch, destroyed Royal Decree and Shrink, and ended after setting a second spell or trap. Things looked bad for Leduc.
She fired back with Smashing Ground to destroy Mobius, and Nobleman of Crossout to remove Davidson’s set 4-Starred Ladybug of Doom from the game. Leduc then set her last non-Horus card from her hand to her back row. She had nothing left but Horus LV8.
Davidson passed back, and it was still 8000 all. Leduc set another spell or trap, Davidson set another, and Leduc summoned Twin-Headed Behemoth to swing for 1500 damage. The Jujitsu Master had wrecked her control over the game, but Davidson just couldn’t follow up. He seemed to be waiting for monsters, and had all the symptoms of someone with a hand full of Brain Controls.
Sure enough, Brain Control stole the Twin-Headed and it was tributed for Jinzo. Davidson sent it to attack directly, and Leduc was forced to special summon Cyber Dragon in defense position on the next turn. Davidson tributed Jinzo for Zaborg, targeted Cyber Dragon with his effect and tried to attack, but Leduc flipped Ring of Destruction. He chained Seven Tools of the Bandit to force the attack through and ended.
Leduc set a monster and play was back to Davidson. He tributed Zaborg for Raiza the Storm Monarch, bounced Leduc’s spell or trap to the top of her deck and then attacked over her set Mirage Dragon. She was outdrawn.
She set a spell or trap, but lost it to a second Raiza. She had 2300 life points left and scooped. “I’m just going to draw the same card.” The match moved to a third game.
Leduc refused to side yet again, and opened with a set monster and Scapegoat in her back row. Davidson set two to his back row and then set a monster, playing defensively — lesson learned from game 1. Leduc summoned Masked Dragon, attacked into Spirit Reaper, and activated Smashing Ground to clear it in main phase 2. She needed to keep her opponent off the field until she could take control with Horus.
Davidson passed and Leduc attacked into Scapegoat with Masked Dragon, destroying one of the tokens in battle. “I’ll end.” Davidson set a monster, passed, and Leduc considered her hand: Nobleman of Crossout, Smashing Ground, and three copies of Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6. Brutal. Nobleman of Crossout removed Davidson’s set 4-Starred Ladybug of Doom from the game, and Leduc tributed her set Exploder Dragon for Horus LV6! Two tokens were destroyed in battle, and Leduc pulled Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 from her deck in exchange for LV6!
“I feel bad for the guy I played in the last qualifier. He tried to Snatch Horus 4, he tried to Shrink Horus 6, tried to play Pot of Avarice against 8 . . .” It’s a fact: a lot of people can’t play against Horus.
Davidson passed with one card in his back row. Masked Dragon attacked the last Token and Horus attacked directly for 3000 damage! All Davidson could do next turn was pass.
Leduc nailed him for 4400 damage on the following turn, and Davidson had only 600 life points remaining. He revealed his hand: a mitt full of Monarchs and spells, the latter of which were useless due to Horus.
Natalie Leduc takes a daring 2-1 victory over repeat hopeful Karl Davidson!