Marco Cesario is the owner of Card Masters, the number-one dueling hub in Toronto. Matt Peddle, Lazaro Bellido, Dale, and the rest of the Canadian superstars? They’re at these events largely because of Cesario’s support. Today though, it’s his chance to be in the spotlight. He’s made it all the way to the Top 16 with a revamped version of the deck Paul Levitin played at Shonen Jump Championship Philadelphia—Little City.
His opponent is Teriq Patel, one of three duelists who brought Dark Armed Dragon to Day 2. This is a rough matchup for him: Royal Oppression and Skill Drain are going to make Game 1 exceptionally difficult, and even when he hits Game 1 and can use his side deck, he’s got very few outs to Cesario’s controlling traps. Effective use of Caius the Shadow Monarch will be integral to Patel’s success, barring hideous luck for Cesario.
Cesario won the roll and opened with two copies of Solemn Judgment, Elemental Hero Stratos, Elemental Hero Captain Gold, Reinforcement of the Army, and the all-important Royal Oppression! Stratos, a search card for Skyscraper, Oppression, and two copies of Solemn to protect it with—Cesario would have to work pretty hard to lose this duel.
He summoned Stratos and searched Elemental Hero Neos Alius from his deck. He set Oppression, then set both Solemns to keep it safe. “I’ll pass.” Patel was in trouble.
He activated Allure of Darkness and Cesario let it go: Patel removed Dark Armed Dragon for its effect. He set one card to his back row and ended. “Go ahead.” In Cesario’s draw phase (he drew Skyscraper) Patel flipped Trap Dustshoot, and laughed: his choice was pretty much irrelevant with that Skyscraper now in Cesario’s hand, not to mention Reinforcement of the Army. Whatever he sent back Cesario could just fetch again, though sending back Captain Gold at least ensured that he wouldn’t be facing two copies of the 2100 ATK behemoth over the next two turns.
Cesario made the low-commitment play and summoned Neos Alius. He attacked with both Heroes to drop Patel to 4300 life points, keeping Reinforcement a live option. Patel set a card to each zone next turn and ended, seemingly having no action.
The Reinforcement hit the field next turn, letting Cesario dig for the answer: Ehren, Lightsworn Monk. He summoned her, attacked with her to send Patel’s face-down D.D. Crow back to his deck, then made direct attacks with Stratos and Neos Alius. Patel had just 600 life points left.
He drew for his next turn and activated his topdeck: Heavy Storm. When Cesario negated it, Patel flopped his hand, conceding the match. He had nothing but dead monsters and Destiny Draw, with no Destiny Hero in sight.
Marco Cesario sweeps Game 1 in mere minutes, opening with an exceptional hand and playing it like a pro! One more win like that and we’d see Little City in the Top 8. Both competitors did some side decking, and Patel was clearly taking his time, trying to find a way out.
Patel opened the second duel with nothing but a set spell or trap card. “Go.” Cesario summoned Neos Alius, holding Ehren, Lightsworn Monk, Royal Oppression, Solemn Judgment, Exiled Force, and another Alius. He attacked for 1900 damage, moved to main phase 2 and ended without playing anything else. It was a gutsy move, but it probably looked pretty daunting from Patel’s side of the table. He passed right back.
Cesario attacked with Alius, and this time Patel flipped his face-down Dimensional Prison—it had to sting, giving up that first shot. Cesario set Mirror Force, Solemn Judgment, and Royal Oppression, now free of the worry that Patel had set Dust Tornado. He didn’t use his normal summon for the turn.
Patel activated Prohibition, and called Elemental Hero Stratos for its effect. He set another spell or trap next to it and ended. Royal Oppression seemed like a better call over the long term—if Patel was going to get creative with his siding, he’d need to be more effective than that.
“Summon Ehren,” announced Cesario, playing Ehren, Lightsworn Monk to the field. Ehren attacked and scored 1600 damage, and Cesario set a fourth spell or trap. In the end phase, Ehren’s effect sent Reinforcement of the Army, Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror, and My Body as a Shield to the graveyard.
Patel activated Brain Control, targeting Ehren. If Patel was holding Caius, this would be his one big shot at making a move here in the early game. He opted to make the safe play, attacking with Ehren to try and draw out two cards for his one Brain Control: Cesario committed and played into it hard, activating Mirror Force. That saved him from having to use his Solemn on Caius the Shadow Monarch, and saved him a ton of life points, but it left Patel free to set a monster. He did, ending his turn.
Cesario summoned Neos Alius again, and sent it to attack Patel’s face-down monster: Sangan. Sangan’s effect got Patel Destiny Hero - Malicious from his deck, and Cesario had no response and ended his turn. Was the tide turning?
Patel pitched Malicious for Destiny Draw and Cesario fingered his Solemn. He opted not to activate it: “That’s fine.” Patel got his two cards, and he followed up with Allure of Darkness, removing Dark Armed Dragon. It was all building to nothing this turn—with only one card set that might not even be Solemn Judgment, Patel would have no answer to any chain that started with Cesario’s Royal Oppression. If he tried to Solemn Cesario’s Oppression, he’d lose out to Cesario’s own Solemn and then find himself precariously low on life points.
He knew it, and was forced to play a blind Mystical Space Typhoon, hoping for luck: he got it, randomly picking Royal Oppression out of Cesario’s three set cards! “That’s fine,” replied Cesario, losing Oppression. Cesario was clearly banking on the fact that Patel had already lost one of his Dark Armed Dragon cards.
Patel special summoned Destiny Hero - Malicious by removing his first from his graveyard. Malicious came out in defense position. He tributed Malicious for Caius the Shadow Monarch, and was still holding four cards in hand: “do you want to Solemn that?” It was a tough question for Cesario, but he chose to activate Solemn. Dark Armed Dragon now would ruin him.
Patel didn’t have it! He ended his turn with one set spell or trap, taking a shot from Neos Alius on the following turn. He was down to 1800 life points. “Your turn.” Cesario’s gambit seemed to be paying off. He set one spell or trap card to end.
But next turn Patel summoned Dark Armed Dragon! He passed priority and Cesario activated Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror, perhaps a little too quick on the trigger. Patel took a moment to inspect Cesario’s graveyard, then opted not to negate the Imprisoning Mirror. He’d regret it.
Patel sent Dark Armed Dragon to attack, and when the Dragon tangled with Neos Alius Cesario discarded Honest! The resulting damage was more than Patel could handle, and the duel was over.
Patel shook Cesario’s hand and then revealed his set cards: one of them was Solemn Judgment. But Cesario flipped his last remaining card, his own Solemn, sending a bittersweet message: it didn’t matter what Patel had done. He just wasn’t going to win.
“Hey! Hey!” Paul Levitin appeared at the side of the feature match area. “Great deck? Great deck! I think so!” Cesario and Paul both laughed, trading a handshake as Cesario left the feature match area, victorious.
Elemental Heroes move on to the Top 8 for the first time ever!