After a brutal savaging from Max Suffridge two rounds ago, Francisco Rome is back at the feature match table. This time, he’s up against Kyle Hintze, a two-time Shonen Jump Top 8’er. At eighteen years of age, Hintze is one of Virginia’s top duelists, and a star member of Team Outphase.
“Hopefully I’ll last more than ten minutes this time,” remarked Rome as he took his seat. Resilience and a sense of humor tend to go hand-in-hand.
“I’ll go first,” announced Hintze, opening the first duel with Destiny Draw to discard Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. He used another Destiny Draw moments later, this time discarding Destiny Hero – Dasher. He set a monster, set two cards to his spell and trap zone and ended.
Rome summoned Card Trooper, declined to use its effect, and activated Machine Duplication! He then sent a grand total of nine cards to the graveyard to pump all the Troopers to 1900 ATK! Nobleman of Crossout removed Hintze’s set Destiny Hero – Fear Monger from play, but when Rome attacked he ran into Scapegoat! The Troopers destroyed three of Hintze’s Sheep tokens and Rome ended his turn.
Hintze stole one of the Card Troopers with Brain Control, using the Trooper’s effect and sending Destiny Hero – Malicious to the graveyard as the third and final card. He then removed Malicious to bring another to the field. He tributed Trooper and Malicious for Dark Magician of Chaos, took back his Brain Control, and then attacked through one of the Troopers for 2400 damage. “It’s your turn.”
Rome played Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying Hintze’s Mystical Space Typhoon in turn. He then sent three cards from his deck to his graveyard, including Limiter Removal, to pump his Trooper. Premature Burial brought back Destiny Hero – Dasher, and Brain Control stole Dark Magician of Chaos! Card Trooper destroyed Hintze’s remaining Sheep, and Dark Magician of Chaos and Destiny Hero – Dasher attacked directly. The life totals were now 4000 to 2300 in Rome’s favor. He then tributed Dark Magician of Chaos to Dasher.
Hintze special summoned Cyber Dragon, took control of Dasher with Brain Control, and revealed Jinzo: the first duel was over in a matter of minutes! Francisco Rome was not having good luck with feature matches.
He opened the second duel with Destiny Draw, discarding Destiny Hero – Dasher. A set card to each zone followed. Kyle Hintze blasted his set monster, Disk Commander, with Nobleman of Crossout, a massive tactical blow! He then summoned Snipe Hunter and attacked for 1500 damage before setting a spell or trap.
Rome used Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the set Torrential, and attacked over Snipe with Card Trooper. Hintze set two cards to his back row knowing that Rome had lost his Heavy Storm to Card Trooper’s effect.
Card Trooper attacked for 1900 damage, but Hintze used Call of the Haunted to get Disk Commander in the end phase. Hintze activated Destiny Draw on his turn, discarding Malicious and bringing out another with his effect. He activated Metamorphosis, but Rome chained Hallowed Life Barrier, discarding Malicious himself! Hintze turned Disk Commander to defense and ended.
“I remove Malicious,” announced Rome, bringing another to the field in defense. He used Card Trooper’s effect to raise it to 1900 ATK, and then summoned Exiled Force. He used its effect with priority, destroyed Ryu Senshi, and sent Card Trooper to destroy Disk Commander. In main phase 2 he activated Pot of Avarice to draw two cards and then activated Metamorphosis to bring out a Ryu Senshi of his own. “Go ahead,” said Rome, setting one card to his spell and trap zone.
Hintze didn’t seem fazed. He removed his second Malicious to special summon a third, and then summoned Elemental Hero Stratos to destroy Rome’s set Brain Control. Hintze had Brain Control and Snatch Steal in hand; he just needed to decide how to play them. He had 6200 life points, while Rome had 6500. It wasn’t time yet.
Stratos attacked over Card Trooper to drop Rome down to 5100 life points. Hintze needed to soften him up first before going in for the kill.
Rome pressed on, activating Reinforcement of the Army and searching his deck for Stratos. Predictably, he summoned him and then searched for Destiny Hero – Dasher. Ryu Senshi attacked Hintze’s Stratos, Hintze flipped Mirror Force and it was negated by Senshi. Stratos fell to Ryu Senshi, and Rome’s Stratos destroyed Malicious. Rome set a card to his back row to finish up.
Hintze opened his next turn with Pot of Avarice, drawing into Scapegoat and another Brain Control. He set the Scapegoat and ended, clearly hoping for a third attacker on Rome’s side of the field to steal away.
Rome special summoned Dark Magician of Chaos with Dasher’s effect, and took back Metamorphosis from his graveyard! He used Metamorphosis to turn the Magician into Cyber Twin Dragon, and then summoned Card Trooper and pumped it up. Senshi attacked and Hintze took the damage, but when Card Trooper attacked he flipped Scapegoat. Rome opted not to attack. With all the monster stealing cards Hintze had, Rome had just saved his own life.
Hintze continued. Heavy Storm blew away Rome’s set Mirror Force, and Hintze took Cyber Twin Dragon with Brain Control, dropping to 2200 life points. The Dragon ran over Card Trooper, then Senshi, dropping Rome to 900 life points. Hintze set a card to the spell and trap zone and ended, giving back the Cyber Twin.
Rome set a back row card himself, and then took out three Sheep. Hintze summoned Dark Magician of Chaos with Dasher, taking back Heavy Storm. Rome flipped Torrential. It didn’t matter though, as the Torrential left Hintze free to normal summon Snipe Hunter and attack for game!