One of the things that people constantly ask me is “Why wasn’t (enter name here) covered in (insert round number here)?” Many times I miss out on a really good feature due to the fact that I don’t even know it’s going on. It’s a hectic time at the start of the round for the entire event staff, and it is for me as well. There were some technical difficulties at the start of round 1 today that prevented me from doing a regular feature match, so what I’ve decided to do this round is bring you coverage from a variety of matches from all around the tournament. There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on if you know where to look, so let’s check in with a few of the players I’ve been keeping an eye on.

Let’s start in the front part of the room at Table 36 where Jeff Jones is in game 1 facing off against Julien Regis-Wilkins. Julien is running Demise OTK today, but he’s hit a bit of a tough spot and is currently below 2000 life points, preventing him from using the effect of Demise, King of Armageddon. This is big problem for him, especially considering that Jeff Jones, who is piloting a Big City variant today, already has Elemental Hero Stratos, 2 copies of Elemental Hero Ocean, a set spell or trap, and Skyscraper 2 — Hero City on the field already. Julien’s one last shot is to try to win without clearing the field. He first summons Senju of the Thousand Hands to fetch Demise from the deck and uses Advanced Ritual Art to summon him. Metamorphosis changes Demise into a Cyber Twin Dragon and Megamorph pumps it up to 5600! Swinging across both Oceans will win it, but Jeff flips Mirror Force to wipe his opponent out and takes the game in the next turn! It’s interesting to see that a high-profile player like Jones has chosen to bring Big City to the event today, but it’s a clear indication that players are seeing the power of Elemental Hero Ocean and are intent on using it!

Moving over to Table 200, Vincent Tundo is in game 1 against Robert Fraser. In a highly uncharacteristic move for the one person who didn’t laugh at Life Equalizer when it first came out, Tundo has brought a Gadget deck to the event today. Inspection of the field doesn’t make clear what his opponent is playing, but he has a face up Gravity Bind and a set spell or trap limiting the options to Demise OTK, a burn deck, or some sort of rogue deck that needs some extra stall power. Tundo has a Gadget, a set Mask of Darkness and a set Bottomless Trap Hole. The Gravity Bind is a bit of a problem, but Tundo draws into Heavy Storm and plays it! Mask of Darkness recovers his Bottomless Trap Hole and Tundo summons a Red Gadget to fetch a Yellow one before attacking. With the turn of a single card, Tundo goes from being locked out of the game to being in complete control! Reliance on stall power is a huge weakness in slow burn decks and combined with the prevalence of Demise OTK it looks like Chain Strike burn is probably the better call to make.

At this point we’re getting late in the round, so let’s finish with a trip to visit Dale Bellido at Table 318 where he’s facing off against Jeff Wigdor’s Big City deck. Dale won game 1 and lost game 2, so he’s about to start things off in game 3. He opens up with Confiscation revealing a hand full of spells with only one monster, a Card Trooper! Dale pitches the Trooper, then sets a card to each zone and passes. Play passes to Jeff who immediately activates E — Emergency Call to fetch Elemental Hero Stratos. Stratos moves to the hand, but Mind Crush strips the key card away from Jeff! Not to be outdone, Jeff activates The Warrior Returning Alive to return Stratos to his hand and summons him to fetch Elemental Hero Wildheart from his deck. Stratos attacks into the face down monster, but is bounced to the top of the deck when the defender is revealed to be Legendary Jujitsu Master! Jeff Wigdor needs to hold out for a while longer if he wants to get back in this match!

How’s that for a highlight reel? Some of the best matches in these events happen during round 1, and it’s a shame I can’t catch them all. Regular features will return next round . . . right after the lights turn back on!