I really wanted to feature a Magical Explosion match, since there are still a lot of duelists out there who might not be sure about how the deck works. With that in mind, selecting a Top 16 feature match came down to one of two possibilities: Jonathan Moore with Six Samurais versus Brian Maass, or Russell Duminuco with Dark Armed Dragon against James Reed.
I chose to go with Duminuco versus Reed because I think this may go on to be an important matchup come March 1st. While I think Duminuco’s Dark Armed build is slower than the other eight decks present here today, that’s not necessarily a bad thing from an academic standpoint — if this match winds up being an example of how Magical Explosion victimizes a slower Dark Armed Dragon build, then it’s an interesting study and a strong point for Dark Armed Dragon players heading into Costa Mesa. But if Duminuco can defeat Reed, then I think it’s a big blow to the competitive reputation of Magical Explosion.
Either way this is a formative match for the next six months, and I’m eager to see how it turns out. Let’s get to it.
Duminuco plays for Team Untouchable, representing Earth2Comics in Pembrooke Pines, Florida. Reed is playing to represent Team C-Squared, and he won the first major victory of the match: the die roll.
He opened up with E – Emergency Call, searching for Elemental Hero Stratos and searching for Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. “Got game?” joked Duminuco.
“Not yet,” smiled Reed. “Your turn.”
“Wow! I get a turn!” Duminuco was a bit relieved. He activated Reinforcement of the Army, searched out Armageddon Knight, summoned it, and used its effect to send Jinzo to the graveyard.
“You have Premature?” asked Reed.
“I’d better,” replied Duminuco. He activated it and brought back Jinzo! Jinzo swung over Stratos, Armageddon Knight made a direct attack, and Duminuco set a spell or trap to end.
Reed activated Destiny Draw, discarded Disk Commander and drew two. He activated Reasoning and Duminuco called Level 8 — Dark Magician of Chaos came right off the top, into the graveyard! Reed activated another Reasoning.
“Well, Stratos is gone, so I’m gonna call 3.” Reed flipped Diamond Dude right off the top. He wasn’t loading his graveyard at all. He activated Diamond Dude’s effect, whiffed, but followed up with Premature Burial to bring back Dark Magician of Chaos! He activated Reasoning again, Duminuco called 3, and after sending five spells to his graveyard Reed special summoned Cyber Valley. Business was picking up for Reed, and Duminuco winced — he’d managed to get briefly confused, thinking Valley was a Level 3 when it’s not.
Reed activated E – Emergency Call, finding nothing in his deck — he was just burning cards for Magical Explosion at this point. He then tributed all three of his on-field monsters for Destiny Hero – Dogma! Dogma attacked over Jinzo, dropped Duminuco to 6200, and Reed set two cards to his back row.
He flipped them both in his opponent’s standby phase: two copies of Explosion, each one dealing 3400 damage — 600 more than Reed needed to claim the first duel, even without halving his opponent’s life points with Dogma.
“You siding in those Rainbow Lifes now?” asked Reed. Duminuco nodded and dove into his side deck.
“I should’ve known it wasn’t going to be as easy as just getting out Jinzo.” Game 2 began quickly. Each duelist knew what they would side for this match.
Duminuco activated Allure of Darkness, removing Dark Magician of Chaos, then activated another to remove Destiny Hero – Dasher. He activated Gold Sarcophagus, sent Jinzo out of play, and set one back row card to end.
Reed drew. “Got game?” asked Duminuco. “Yup,” stated Reed. He activated E – Emergency Call, searched out Stratos, and summoned him to find Disk Commander. He discarded the Commander for Destiny Draw, drew two, discarded Dasher for another Destiny Draw, and followed it up with an attack from Stratos. Reed set one card to his back row and ended.
Brain Control let Duminuco assume control of Stratos, dropping him to 5400 life points. He tributed Stratos for Jinzo, attacked, and Reed flipped Scapegoat! Jinzo attacked a Sheep Token and Duminuco ended. “Your turn.”
Reed set another card to his back row, ended, and on the following turn Duminuco took the Jinzo he had removed with Gold Sarcophagus. His on-field Jinzo attacked another Sheep, and Duminuco set a card to each zone. Reed activated Reasoning next turn and Duminuco was a bit more careful considering his choice this time.
He called Level 3 again, and once more Diamond Dude flipped right off the top. Diamond Dude got Reed a free Monster Gate with his effect, setting up a huge threat for the next turn! Reed then tributed his three on-field monsters and brought down Dogma! Dogma attacked over Jinzo to press through 1000 damage and Duminuco dropped to 4400 life points.
“I’ll end.” Duminuco drew. “In your standby phase, Dogma’s effect . . .” Duminuco flipped Rainbow Life and discarded Jinzo, but since Dogma halves life points and doesn’t deal damage per se, it was ruled that Rainbow Life would not interact with Dogma’s effect. Duminuco dropped to 2200 life points.
He summoned Armageddon Knight and sent Dasher to his graveyard with its effect. He then special summoned Dark Armed Dragon, removed a Dark to destroy Dogma, and removed another Dark to target Reed’s set spell or trap. It was Call of the Haunted and Reed tried to chain it, but Duminuco had a response: his own Call of the Haunted! It brought up Jinzo to negate Reed’s Call. Dark Armed Dragon, Armageddon Knight, and Jinzo all attacked directly, and a turn later Reed was scooping up! The match would move to a third and final duel.
“Rainbow Life was just the plus,” explained Duminuco. “I just needed that third Dark to get Dark Armed Dragon out.” Smart play.
Russell Duminuco captures the second duel, still alive in this match! But Reed would go first in game 3, a huge advantage; Duminuco would need more than a little luck to pull this one out of the fire.
Both duelists wished each other good luck, shook hands, and settled in for the last game.
Reed opened up with Reinforcement of the Army, seeking out Stratos to get Disk Commander yet again. “Your turn.” Reed had to have been disappointed with that.
Duminuco certainly wasn’t though. He summoned Stratos right off the bat, fetched Dasher, and discarded him for Destiny Draw. He then activated Allure of Darkness, removed Dark Magician of Chaos from play, and activated another. The second Allure cost him Breaker the Magical Warrior, and he sent his Stratos to attack Reed’s. Duminuco set two cards to his back row and ended.
Reasoning hit Reed’s side of the field immediately on the following turn. Duminuco called Level 8, Reed sent away seven spells and Magical Explosion before hitting Card Trooper, then sent two spells and a Diamond Dude to his graveyard with Trooper’s effect. Card Trooper attacked directly, but Duminuco responded with Escape From the Dark Dimension to bring back Dark Magician of Chaos! The Magician let Duminuco return Allure of Darkness to his hand. Reed set one spell or trap in main phase 2 and activated Card Destruction: Duminuco chained D.D. Crow to remove Reed’s Magical Explosion from his graveyard in response, and each player drew four new cards. Reed’s graveyard was now taller than his deck.
He activated Monster Gate and tributed Card Trooper, pulling Cyber Valley off the top of his deck: he normal summoned another, then removed both from play to draw two cards. “Your turn.” Reed was close, but couldn’t seem to finish the deal.
Destiny Draw and Dasher bought Duminuco two more cards next turn, and he summoned Armageddon Knight to send Dark Armed Dragon from his deck to his graveyard. Armageddon Knight attacked, Reed flipped Scapegoat, and two Sheep went down.
Reed activated Destiny Draw, pitching Diamond Dude, and then activating A Feather of the Phoenix. He discarded E – Emergency Call, sending Premature Burial back to the top of his deck. He set one card to his back row and ended. The duel still stood at 8000 life points for each duelist.
Next turn Duminuco summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer. “No responses,” announced Reed. Dark Magician of Chaos and Armageddon Knight attacked Sheep, and when Kycoo attacked Reed flipped Call of the Haunted to bring back his own Magician. “And using his effect, I shall grab . . .” he riffled his graveyard for a few moments and thought . . . “Let me see . . .” He settled on Trunade, but in response, Duminuco activated Torrential Tribute to wipe the field. Duminuco set a spell or trap to finish his turn, ending with three cards set in his back row, and play was back to Reed.
Premature Burial brought back Disk Commander and Reed drew two cards. He tributed the Commander for Jinzo, attacked for 2400 damage, and time was called. Duminuco would have two turns to make up the gap. The duel stood at 7200 life points to 5600 in Reed’s favor.
Duminuco activated Reinforcement of the Army to get Disk Commander, set him, and ended his turn. His only remaining in-hand card was Heavy Storm, and Jinzo was locking down his three set spell or trap cards. Reed appeared to have Duminuco exactly where he wanted him.
He played Reasoning next turn and Duminuco called 1. Reed lost three spells and Dogma on his way to Cyber Valley, which was promptly sent to the graveyard. He ran some numbers for about 60 seconds, fingering three of his four in-hand cards. He went for it, activating Magical Stone Excavation and discarding two cards to take back Dimension Fusion! He activated it, dropping to 5200 life points — 400 lower than his opponent! He brought back two Cyber Valleys and Dark Magician of Chaos, while Duminuco brought out Breaker and his Magician in defense mode. Duminuco took back Allure of Darkness with his Magician’s effect and Reed selected Giant Trunade.
He sent Dark Magician of Chaos to attack his opponent’s face-down Disk Commander, removing him, and then activated Giant Trunade in main phase 2. He removed a Valley and Jinzo, drew two cards, and was left with just one card in his deck — he reeled and groaned — was his second Magical Explosion the last card in his deck?! If it was, he wouldn’t be able to use his other Valley and Dark Magician of Chaos to get to it.
Sure enough, he activated Emergency Call and flipped his last card — Explosion. But he activated Reinforcement of the Army next, stacking his graveyard with one more spell, and on the following turn he flipped a single Explosion for game! The match was over!
James Reed moves on to the Top 8 with Magical Explosion!