Roberto Cerna is from right here in Houston. 19 years old, he’s a student studying at the University of Houston playing Apprentice Monarchs, banking on the success that deck saw at Shonen Jump Championship Orlando. Normally a basic Monarch build is a good bet for an unknown metagame, but this time around, it seems Monarchs just might not be powerful enough.
. . . Especially because Cerna is up against the unstoppable Cedric Sequerra! Coming in hot off his Championship title win in Orlando four weeks ago, Sequerra represents Montreal’s Face2Face store, and he may have the best Dark Armed Dragon build of the weekend. After thumping Fili Luna around in playtesting last night, Luna himself decided to play the deck, and both competitors are now 2-0. Armed with new-school tricks like Darklord Zerato and Allure of Darkness, as well as some old-school unbelievables like Soul Release, this could be the deck to beat this weekend.
“I’ve been having such a hard time!” complained Sequerra with a smile. He was victorious in the past two rounds despite that fact, but both of his match wins to this point had admittedly been close calls, and both were 2-1 finishes. Would this match finally be the one that would break him?
Sequerra won the roll and set a monster. “I’ll pass.” Cerna considered his hand a moment, matched Sequerra’s set monster and ended. Sequerra set a spell or trap, ended, and Cerna summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior. He activated Breaker to attempt to destroy Sequerra’s back row card, but he promptly chained it — Raigeki Break. Sequerra discarded Dark Armed Dragon to destroy Cerna’s face-down Legendary Jujitsu Master! Ouch: that was a pretty big sacrifice, and Sequerra wasn’t too pleased with having to make it.
Breaker attacked Sequerra’s face-down monster, Sangan, and Sequerra fetched Destiny Hero – Disk Commander from his deck. Cerna ended, still not playing any cards to his spell and trap zone. Sequerra set a card to each zone and play was back to Cerna.
The Houston native summoned Hydrogeddon and attacked, destroying Sequerra’s Disk Commander! He brought out another Hydrogeddon, made a direct attack for 1600 damage, and then made another with Breaker. Cerna set a spell or trap, ended, and Sequerra brought back Disk Commander with Call of the Haunted to draw two cards.
He drew again to start his turn, and then searched his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos with Reinforcement of the Army. He activated Destiny Draw, discarding Destiny Hero – Dasher and then special summoned Dark Armed Dragon! He removed Dasher to try to destroy Cerna’s set spell or trap with the Dragon’s effect, but it was Compulsory Evacuation Device — Cerna chained it and bounced Dark Armed Dragon back to Sequerra’s hand. It was Sequerra’s only mistake in the entire match, but it was a significant one: he should have summoned Stratos first, used his effect to target the Compulsory for destruction, then brought down the Dragon. Sequerra didn’t see it until it was too late. He summoned Stratos and searched his deck for Fear Monger. Stratos attacked over a Hydrogeddon and Sequerra ended by setting two back row cards.
He flipped Crush Card Virus next turn, tributing Destiny Hero – Disk Commander, and stripped three cards from Cerna’s hand: Mobius the Frost Monarch, Hydrogeddon, and Cyber Dragon! The Virus also cost Cerna his on-field Hydrogeddon and Breaker the Magical Warrior. That left him with only two cards, Crystal Seer and Mirror Force, and he set both.
Dark Armed Dragon came back down on the following turn to destroy Crystal Seer. Sequerra summoned Armageddon Knight, sent Dark Magician of Chaos to his graveyard with the Knight’s effect, and removed him to destroy Cerna’s set Mirror Force. Return from the Different Dimension brought back Dark Magician of Chaos and Dasher, and it was way beyond over: Sequerra swung with five monsters to sweep the duel!
“There goes Crush Card,” grimaced Sequerra. “Everyone’s gonna say I only won cause of Crush.” He shook his head, bashful. “Hey, at least I drew well this time!” That duel had indeed gone better than his last two matches, and both players did some light side decking before continuing with the match.
Cerna opened game 2 with a set card to his spell and trap zone. Sequerra activated Allure of Darkness, removed Destiny Hero – Dasher for its effect, and then summoned Card Trooper. He sent three cards to his graveyard for Card Trooper’s effect, losing Sangan and Mirror Force. “I’m losing everything I want to draw!” He swung with Trooper, set one card to his back row, and passed. Cerna set a monster and passed right back.
Another Allure of Darkness hit Sequerra’s side of the field, and this time he removed Destiny Hero – Fear Monger. Card Trooper sent three more cards to the graveyard, including Breaker the Magical Warrior, but Sequerra only had two Dark monsters loaded. No Dragon yet. Card Trooper attacked, Cerna flipped Sakuretsu Armor in a desperate bid to destroy it, and Sequerra got a free draw for Card Trooper. Sequerra suspected Morphing Jar (what else could be so important to protect that Cerna would give up a card by playing Sakuretsu Armor?) so he activated Raigeki Break on the face-down monster next turn — it was Treeborn Frog, and Sequerra discarded Disk Commander only to see Cerna bring the Frog back. Still, Sequerra pressed on, and when Cerna brought back Treeborn Frog he chained Call of the Haunted to bring back Commander!
Cerna tributed Frog for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, but Sequerra chained his last card on the field — Crush Card Virus! He lost his own Torrential Tribute, but cost Cerna Cyber Dragon and another Thestalos from his hand, as well as the on-field copy of Thestalos. Cerna was left with nothing but Nobleman of Crossout, Lightning Vortex, and Apprentice Magician. He passed.
Sequerra brought out Dark Armed Dragon next turn against an open field! He special summoned Disk Commander again with Premature Burial, drew two, then summoned Armageddon Knight to send Darklord Zerato to his graveyard. He attacked for over 4000 damage and ended.
Cerna drew into Marshmallon and everything continued to slide. He discarded Apprentice Magician for Lightning Vortex, set Marshmallon and ended. Sequerra was simplifying the duel from a far superior position, and Cerna had no choice but to play into the trend. His own Vortex was destroying him, but it was better than the alternative of falling victim to the Dragon’s rampage.
Next turn Sequerra removed Darklord Zerato, Armageddon Knight, and Sangan with Soul Release! That brought his graveyard back down to three Dark monsters, and it let him bring out not one, but two Dark Armed Dragons! One of them wiped Cerna’s field clean and then both attacked for game.
Cedric Sequerra devastates Roberto Cerna with dual Dark Armed Dragons, cleaning house 2-0 for yet another match win! Is Sequerra on his way to back-to-back Championships?