Arthur Rogers is the only Lightsworn player in the Top 16, and he just came off a huge win over Adam Corn. His Lightsworn build is very similar to ones we’ve seen in the past save one decision: he’s not playing Crush Card Virus. Representing Team Total Anarchy here today, he gives a great deal of credit for his success so far to his teammates: “I wouldn’t have gotten this far if it weren’t for them. This deck is actually inspired by Matt Tuxford’s build.” You might remember Matt Tuxford from his Day 2 finish at the last Shonen Jump Championship Orlando.
His opponent is Justin Arnwine, who we featured yesterday in a feature match against his long-time friend and deck-building collaborator Jerome Baisey. Arnwine won that match, defying Baisey’s advantage with Oppression Gadgets in the TeleDAD matchup to win his first feature. Success here today would do a great deal for his reputation.
Arnwine opened the match summoning Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, activating its effect and missing on it, flipping Mirror Force off the top of his deck. He sent it to the bottom, set a spell or trap card, and ended.
Rogers opened with Charge of the Light Brigade, sending Celestia, Lightsworn Angel, Card of Safe Return, and Card Destruction to his graveyard to search out Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner. He added it to his hand of two Wulf, Lightsworn Beast cards, another Lumina, Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress, and Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior. All monsters: not good. He summoned Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress, ran over Diamond Dude, then activated Lyla’s effect to destroy Arnwine’s Solemn Judgment. Lyla’s effect sent Beckoning Light, another Celestia, and Heavy Storm to the graveyard in the end phase. Rogers was stuck with an all-monster hand and was sending cards to the graveyard that he really would’ve rather drawn.
But Arnwine wasn’t doing much better. All he did next turn was set a monster. Rogers ripped and activated another Charge to shave his third Celestia, Lightsworn Angel to the graveyard along with Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter and another Beckoning Light. That brought Lumina’s effect online.
Rogers opted not to play her though, and instead searched for and summoned Ehren, Lightsworn Monk. Ehren kicked Mystic Tomato back to Arnwine’s deck, and in the end phase Beckoning Light, Solar Recharge, two copies of Honest, and another Lumina were sent to the graveyard along with Wulf, Lightsworn Beast! Wulf came up and play was to Arnwine.
He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, then brought out Krebons from his deck with Emergency Teleport. He Synchro summoned Goyo Guardian, then special summoned Dark Armed Dragon! He removed all three Darks in his graveyard to destroy all of Rogers’s monsters, then attacked for 5600 damage. Rogers had just 2400 life points left.
He drew Solar Recharge and activated it, discarding Wulf, Lightsworn Beast and sending Judgment Dragon and Necro Gardna to his graveyard. He drew a useless Foolish Burial and another Charge. His last Judgment Dragon was really his only out here, so he activated Foolish Burial to send another Necro Gardna to his graveyard—it bought him a little time and eliminated one more non-Dragon card from his potential draws. He summoned Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, discarded Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior to special summon it, and sent five cards to his graveyard in the end phase . . . including his last Judgment Dragon and his last Honest. Not only was he devoid of outs, he was low on cards and if Arnwine was keeping track he’d know that his opponent no longer had any copies of Honest to defend himself with. Rogers only had five cards left in deck.
Arnwine played Allure of Darkness, removed Dark Grepher, and set a spell or trap. He was going to deck Rogers out. Rogers drew Monster Reborn—not much help given the huge size of Dark Armed Dragon and Goyo Guardian. He activated Reborn to bounce Honest to the field, then activated its effect to get it back to his hand. He sent Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior over Dark Armed Dragon with Honest’s effect, but still had to send all five of his cards to the graveyard in his end phase.
“I milled both Judgments, all three Honest cards, and three copies of Beckoning,” stated Rogers with a laugh.
“It looks like you had a really bad hand,” commented Arnwine, “but I thought you had Judgment. I had Teleport, Dark Armed Dragon, and everything from turn 1, but I was playing conservatively because I thought you had it.” The extra bit of caution didn’t seem to hurt him, and Justin Arnwine is now just one game away from a spot in the Top 4 and a shot at a Doomcaliber Knight!
Rogers opened with Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, Charge of the Light Brigade, Honest, and three Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner cards! He activated Charge, sent Royal Decree, Monster Reborn, and Beckoning to his graveyard, then grabbed a copy of Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress from his deck. He summoned Lyla, sent Phantom of Chaos, Necro Gardna, and Solar Recharge to his graveyard in the end phase, but then lost the Gardna to D.D. Crow.
Arnwine activated Allure of Darkness, paying for it by removing Breaker the Magical Warrior. He activated a second Allure and removed Snipe Hunter, then searched his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos with Reinforcement of the Army. He summoned Stratos, got Destiny Hero - Doom Lord from his deck with its effect, then attacked into Honest. Stratos went down, but Rogers still didn’t have a Lumina-compatible Lightsworn in his graveyard. It might have been jumping the gun to play that Honest so early. Arnwine set two cards in his back row to end.
Rogers drew a second Garoth. He summoned one, lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole, and attacked with Lyla for 1700 damage. Arnwine activated Light-Imprisoning Mirror and Rogers ended. This match looked like it was over, and thanks to the Mirror it wouldn’t have mattered if Rogers had let Stratos’s attack go or not.
Arnwine activated another Reinforcement, this time searching for Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude. He discarded Destiny Hero - Malicious to special summon Dark Grepher, normal summoned Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, and missed with its effect. He sent another Malicious to the bottom of his deck. Grepher traded with Lyla in battle, Diamond Dude made a direct attack, and Rogers was up.
He topdecked yet another near-useless Foolish Burial. Rogers summoned Garoth, attacked over Diamond Dude, and ended. Arnwine only had one card in hand—could Rogers pull this one out on sheer ATK alone?
Arnwine removed Malicious next turn—summoning another in defense mode—then discarded Doom Lord for Destiny Draw. He drew into Teleport, activated it, special summoned Krebons, and Synchro summoned Colossal Fighter! It had 3400 ATK, so when it attacked Rogers removed Necro Gardna from his graveyard to block. “Go ahead.”
Rogers was up. He set a monster and ended, and Arnwine removed his second Malicious to special summon his third. He normal summoned another Krebons and Synchro summoned Stardust Dragon, completing the classic Synchro duo that shatters Lightsworn in this matchup! Colossal Fighter had 3300 ATK and stomped on Garoth—Rogers was holding Honest but opted not to use it. Stardust then destroyed Rogers’ face-down Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner.
He topdecked Lightning Vortex! He summoned Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, sent her over Stardust with Honest, then discarded his last card (another Lumina) for Lightning Vortex!
“Sacking,” confessed Arnwine, drawing Krebons and attacking over Lumina. Rogers drew dead, passed, and took 1200 from Krebons next turn. He had just 3700 life points left, though Arnwine was even lower with 3100 points remaining.
Rogers drew Judgment Dragon, but only had two different Lightsworn in his graveyard! He had Monster Reincarnation too, and clearly wanted to trade the Dragon for his Phantom of Chaos. He passed, took 1200 from Krebons, and drew Charge of the Light Brigade.
He activated it, sending Solar Recharge, Royal Decree, and Wulf, Lightsworn Beast to his graveyard. Light-Imprisoning Mirror negated Wulf’s effect, and Rogers searched out Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress. He discarded Lyla for Monster Reincarnation, brought back Phantom of Chaos, and special summoned Judgment Dragon with Lyla in the graveyard. He activated the Phantom’s effect to mimic Lyla, used the borrowed Lyla effect to destroy Light-Imprisoning Mirror, and paid 1000 life points to clear the field with Judgment Dragon’s effect! Rogers attacked for 3000 damage and scored a free Wulf off Judgment Dragon’s effect in the end phase. That might just be enough to save this duel!
Arnwine set three cards to his back row, Rogers activated Judgment Dragon’s effect next turn, and Arnwine chained Threatening Roar, losing Teleport and Destiny Draw. Rogers set his last card to his back row and shaved another four cards. A turn later he was attacking for game!
Arthur Rogers mounts a huge comeback thanks to Monster Reincarnation and some clever play, pushing this match to a third duel! Lightsworn could be headed to the Top 4.
“I just want to note I do own a Crush Card Virus, but I opted not to use it,” grinned Rogers. Kind of him to clarify: I was definitely wondering. Game 3 began moments later.
Arnwine activated Allure of Darkness, drew two, and removed Dark Armed Dragon. He played another Allure, removed D.D. Crow for it, and summoned Elemental Hero Stratos to get Destiny Hero - Malicious. He discarded that for Destiny Draw, then played his third Allure of Darkness, removing Breaker the Magical Warrior! This was getting pretty nuts. He removed Malicious, special summoned another, then set four cards to his back row—did he have Crush Card Virus? If he did, this match was over.
He had it. Arnwine activated Crush Card Virus immediately next turn, costing Rogers his Lyla and Wulf. Rogers was left with Charge of the Light Brigade, two Solar Recharge cards he couldn’t comfortably play under Crush, and Necro Gardna. He set Necro Gardna and ended.
Arnwine summoned Sangan, brought out his third Malicious, and attacked for a total of 1800 damage. Rogers drew Wulf, Lightsworn Beast next turn—a real kick in the teeth since he’d opted not to play Charge last turn. He lost Wulf to Crush Card Virus and activated Charge of the Light Brigade. It got negated by Solemn Judgment, but he still sent Necro Gardna and two other cards to the graveyard for the cost. He lost the Gardna in the end phase to another D.D. Crow. This was officially unwinnable for Rogers.
Arnwine summoned Krebons and Synchro summoned Stardust Dragon with his last Malicious. He attacked, and when Rogers lost yet another monster to Crush Card Virus next turn (he topped Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior), he extended the handshake with a smile and a hearty congratulations.
Justin Arnwine moves on to the Top 4 to face Alonzo Peters!