Both of these players are fighting to represent Italy here this weekend, and both were undefeated at Table 2. Walter Kratochvil is 15, and Abelghani Finti is 19. Neither speaks a great deal of English, but I wasn’t here for the conversation. I was here to see Abelghani’s deck. He was undefeated with a deck built partly around Winged Rhynos.
Kratochvil won the opening roll and set a spell or trap to begin. Finti got right into it, summoning Winged Rhynos and attacking directly for 1800 damage! He set two cards to his back row, one of which was Trap Dustshoot, and, naturally, he activated it in his opponent’s draw phase. Kratochvil spread his hand across the field: Nobleman of Crossout, Elemental Hero Stratos, Metamorphosis, Limiter Removal, Destiny Hero - Malicious, and Jinzo. He pondered the cards briefly, and then shuffled back the only live one: Stratos. Unless his set card was some kind of miracle, Kratochvil wouldn’t be doing anything this turn. Sure enough, he passed shortly thereafter.
Abelghani attacked with the Rhynos again, scoring another 1800 damage and setting a card to each zone to develop his field. Nobleman of Crossout ripped through his set monster, Morphing Jar. Abelghani was just working to simplify the game, and probably didn’t care. Kratochvil set a monster, and then set two cards to his back row.
Another spell or trap hit Abelghani’s side of the field, and he attacked with Winged Rhynos, reading that Kratochvil had Morphing Jar. He was right, and when Rhynos hit the Jar both players got new hands (Abelghani couldn’t set his last two in-hand cards, since they were both Cyber Dragons). He summoned Cyber Phoenix in main phase 2 and passed.
Premature Burial was activated by Kratochvil next turn, targeting Jinzo, but Abelghani chained Call of the Haunted to bring back his Cyber Dragon before Jinzo could negate Call — he triggered Winged Rhynos’ effect in the process. Kratochvil brought up his Jinzo, then removed his in-graveyard Malicious to special summon another, flipped Metamorphosis to tribute Malicious and special summon Steam Gyroid, and then normal summoned Card Trooper. Abelghani took it with Enemy Controller on the chain, tributing his Cyber Dragon to do so. This prompted Kratochvil to special summon his last Malicious, this one in attack position.
Jinzo attacked over Card Trooper and Kratochvil activated Limiter Removal in the damage step! Steam Gyroid attacked Cyber Phoenix next, and it was over! The audience was left wondering why Abelghani had taken control of Card Trooper instead of Jinzo. He later explained that he was afraid of Machine Duplication; he’d made the wrong read.
Walter Kratochvil takes the first duel with the quintessential explosive turn T-Hero has come to be known for!
Abelghani opened up with Elemental Hero Stratos, searching his deck for Elemental Hero Wildheart. He set three back row cards and ended. In Kratochvil’s draw phase he flipped Macro Cosmos. Kratochvil special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked, and sent Stratos out of play. He set a spell or trap to end.
A Cyber Dragon was special summoned by Abelghani, too, but he lost it when it tried to attack; Kratochvil flipped Ring of Destruction, leaving Abelghani to set a monster and end. Kratochvil activated Destiny Draw, sent Malicious out of play, drew two, and attacked Abelghani’s set Morphing Jar; both duelists got new hands.
Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed Kratochvil’s set Mirror Force, and he special summoned Cyber Dragon. Reinforcement of the Army searched out D.D. Survivor, and he summoned him! The Cyber Dragons traded off and Survivor attacked directly. Abelghani set two more cards.
One was Trap Dustshoot, which he flipped as soon as possible; Disk Commander, Limiter, Snatch Steal, Morphing Jar, Dark Magician of Chaos, and Nobleman of Crossout constituted Kratochvil’s hand. He sent the Jar back to Kratochvil’s deck. Kratochvil activated Snatch Steal to try and take the D.D. Survivor, but Solemn Judgment negated it! Kratochvil set Disk Commander and ended.
Another Survivor came down for Abelghani! One cleared the Disk Commander and the other attacked directly. A turn later Kratochvil conceded; it was a textbook example of a D.D. Survivor / Macro Cosmos side deck ruining a T-Hero player.
Watching Abelghani side deck was impressive. He shuffled his side into his main, no surprise there, but then sat and sorted the deck into two piles card by card. It was the speed with which he did this that was impressive. There was no hesitation and no time spent actually thinking about the decisions, only reflex, and it was over in a flash. I’ve been tableside at hundreds of different duels, and I’ve never seen that from anyone but Japanese players.
Both duelists shook hands before the game began, and Kratochvil opened with a set spell or trap immediately. He set a second and ended. Abelghani summoned Banisher of the Radiance, then activated Confiscation. Kratochvil chained Ring of Destruction in response, destroying the Banisher, then revealing his hand of Card Trooper, Torrential Tribute, Metamorphosis, and Malicious. Trooper was sent to the graveyard and Abelghani passed with no field.
Kratochvil topped into another one. He summoned that Card Trooper, and used its effect to send three cards to the graveyard; one of them was Malicious. He removed him, special summoned another, and tributed the second Malicious for Metamorphosis to bring out Ryu Senshi. Both attacked and he set another spell or trap.
Abelghani special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Elemental Hero Wildheart, and tried to use Snatch Steal on Card Trooper, but Mystical Space Typhoon was chained to destroy it. Wildheart attacked Trooper, Cyber Dragon attacked Senshi and Abelghani ended.
Another Cyber Dragon came down for Kratochvil, and it ran over Wildheart. Next turn Abelghani summoned a second Wildheart, traded his Cyber Dragon for his opponent’s and attacked with Wildheart.
But Kratochvil had Brain Control, and it was all over! Abelghani realized it was time to throw in the towel, and offered his opponent a handshake of concession.
Walter Kratochvil overcomes Abelghani Finti’s unique Winged Rhynos stylings to move on undefeated!