We are here, at the Finals of our Asia Championship Winter 2019. Let’s welcome both players back to the Feature Match Spotlight.

Espiritu Angelino from Philippines had just won the previous match. This is his third time at our Feature Match table today.

Joing us from the other semi-finals bracket is Huang Cheng Yao from Taiwan, having earned his reappearance from his victory in the Semi-Finals.

This is a rehash of Swiss Round 3. Would Cheng Yao get his revenge? Or will Angelino carry on his winning streak and emerge as the champion?

The Champion title is on the line. Let the game, begin!

Game 1

Cheng Yao started things off with Dark Grepher, Special Summoning itself. It discarded Orcustrated Knightmare to mill Destiny HERO – Malicious. Malicious‘ effect goes off without a hitch, and the second copy is special summoned onto the field.

Orcustrated Knightmare milled Orcust Harp Horror, which in turn brought Knightmare bck to the field.

Orcustrated Knightmare + Grepher ⇒ Galatea, the Orcust Automaton

Using its effect, Galatea recycled Harp Horror to set a trap, but was met with Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit from Angelino. Galatea had to go, but Cheng Yao checks his grave before deciding to set Orcustrated Climax directly onto the field.

A third copy of Malicious was summoned out, and was used along with a Normal Summoned Knightmare Corruptor Iblle to summon The Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche.

This allowed Cheng Yao to fetch Phantom Knights’ Fog Blade by milling The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots. He ended the turn after setting four cards, concealing his Fogblade within them, leaving his hand empty.

Cheng Yao looks please with his board. It does indeed seem like a huge hurdle for Angelino to clear.

Angelino calmly approched the situation, checking the effects of his opponent’s Link Monster. He Normal Summoned Fairy Tail-Snow and summoned Knightmare Phoenix with Knightmare Libre, escaping the lockdown.

Phoenix‘s summon prompted a response from Cheng Yao who proceeded to use Fog Blade on it. But since Calcab was discarded by Phoenix, Angelino was still able to remove another face-down card from the field. He chose Orcustrated Climax.

Sekka’s Light was used. Gallis the Star Beast was summoned next, milling Scarm with its summon.

Cheng Yao 7400 – Angelino 8000

Gallis + Phoenix ⇒ Knightmare Unicorn

Unicorn‘s effect dropped Graff, and a second Fog Blade revealed itself, this time binding Unicorn.

Angelino opted to Special Summon Fairy Tail – Snow by banishing Unicorn. This allowed Unicorn to resolve and dodge the effect of Fog Blade and resolve successfully. This came at the hefty cost of emptying his own grave.

Graff summoned Libic, which self-destructed due to Snow‘s presence. Libic‘s effect brought out Barbar.

A second copy of Gallis was summoned, this time milling Farfa, chipping away another 600LP away. Farfa banished The Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche. Angelino has dedicated his resources onto the board. He had no more cards in hand.

Cheng Yao 6800 – Angelino 8000

Barbar + Gallis ⇒ Cherubini

Cherubini milled Rhino Warrior, which in turn milled Cir, reviving Barbar.

The final set card revealed itself to be Infinite Imperance. Cheng Yao cleverly targeted it on Cherubini. With its effect negated, it could not protect Barbar from destruction, even though Barbar was in a Link Zone that Cherubini pointed to. By its own effect and since Snow was on the field, Barbar destroyed itself.

The ATK boosted Cherubini attacked with Snow. Cheng Yao’s LP is slowly being chipped away.

Cheng Yao 3050– Angelino 8000

Main Phase 2, Angelino Link Summoned and ended his turn.

Cherubini + Snow = PSY-Framelord Lambda.

Cheng Yao drew and paused to think, not making plays for a while. His wagged his finger as he thinks, trying to picture his game plan. Tapping his index finger on the mat, he finally reached towards the grave and pulled out Orcustrated Knightmare, shifting it to the banished pile.

Through Orcust Cymbal Skeleton he was able to revive Harp Horror. Both monsters on field attacked to clear Angelino’s field, reducing the LP difference.

Angelino now has no cards on the field and hand!

Cheng Yao 3050 – Angelino 5100

At the End Phase, Angelino banished his entire graveyard except Cherubini, to summon Snow, flipping Orcust Cymbal Skeleton face down.

Angelino drew into Cir and summoned it, drawing a deep breath from Cheng Yao. It was a powerful move that could extend into plenty of plays. Self-destructing due to Snow’s presence, Cir revived Cherubini.

With Cherubini‘s effect, Fiendish Rhino joined Cir in the graveyard and milled Scarm.

Battle! Angelino attacked Orcust with Cherubini and swapped Snow to Defense Position. Tour Guide was added by Scarm‘s effect.

Cheng Yao rebuilt his field, accessing his Orcust cards in the graveyard and banished zone to bring out Sheorcust Dingirsu. An Xyz Material was added and it eliminated Cherubini by battle.

Cheng Yao 2500-Angelino 5100

Emptying his hand again after entering a series of special summons, Cheng Yao ended his turn with three set cards on the field. Angelino conceded on the following turn, seeing no outs to Cheng Yao’s established board, even with the prepared Tour Guide.

It was an aggresive first duel from both duelists. Cheng Yao started off with an impressive field while Angelino struggle to make sub-optimal plays with his limited resources. While his deck answered him with decent topdeck-draws, it could only delay the inevitable as Cheng Yao continued to generate resources using cards in the graveyard and banished pile.

game 2

The game started with the ‘Time Call’ procedure. Both players have two turns each to end the game. At the end of the final turn, the LP of both players will be compared and the one with the higher points will berewarded with the win.

Angelino went ahead first, activating two Galis the Star Beast. Rubic & Ghost Ogre were milled.

Cheng Yao 6800 – Angelino 8000

Cheng Yao activated Maxx “C”, prepared for the special summons. But it was negated by Ash Blossom.

Dante was Xyz Summoned and Angelino manages to mill Graff. This gave him the chance to bring Cir onto the field. Sekka’s Light was used after all the deck-thinning.

Dante + Cir ⇒ Lambda.

Dante was revived and was used to summon Beatrice the Eternal Lady. Angelino then tributed Lambda for Vanity’s Fiend. Cheng Yao is mercilessly locked out of Special Summons!

Cheng Yao dug into his deck using Allure of Darkness, forfeiting Grepher. Setting four cards, he ended his turn.

Beatrice milled Snow at the End Phase.

Beatrice was changed to Attack Mode and attacked directly alongside Vanity’s Fiend. To everyone’s surprise, Cheng Yao had no response and suffered from the massive drop in his LP.

Angelino set a monster before ending his turn.

Cheng Yao 1900 – Angelino 8000

Cheng Yao drew. it is now the third and final turn of the duel. Can he achieve what Angelino did in the semi-finals?

Cheng Yao thought hard, seemingly running imaginary simulations in his head, considering which moves to make. Cheng Yao proceeded to activate the set Fog Blade on Vanity’s Fiend. Now able to special summon, Cheng Yao tapped into his Sky Striker engine, extending into his deck’s Knightmare Link toolbox and Orcust monsters.

Angelino attempted to interrupt with Snow but Call by the Grave prevented that. The remainder of the long turn was uninterupted, with Cheng Yao managing to clear Beatrice with Sheorcust Dingirsu and also summoned Borrelsword Dragon.

Mind Control was used to shift Angelino‘s face down monster away from the opposing field. This would prevent any special summons during the Battle Phase.

However, despite his efforts, it then dawned on Cheng Yao that Fog Blade prevented him from attacking Vanity’s Fiend. Ironically, his out to Vanity’s Fiend made the it into a wall. One he could not clear.

Battling against a time limit and having to start second with an opening hand of traps, Cheng Yao lost the game.

The match now proceeds to the third game on a turn-time limit.

Game 3

Under the ‘Time Call’ procedure, Angelino leads the game, having rolled a higher dice number.

Terrortop was special summoned onto the empty and it searched Taketomborg. Cheng Yao was quick to preemptively drop Maxx “C”, preparing to leverage on every special summon Angelino would perform. Unfazed, Angelino opted to tribute summon Vanity’s Fiend!

Cheng Yao greeted the card by rolling his eyes. It was the greatest hurdle of his previous game, and it has now reappeared itself in the concluding moments of the Finals, definitely sooner than he would prefer.

When his turn came, Cheng Yao could only set a monster and two cards to end his turn.

Here comes Angelino’s final turn. He Normal Summoned Fairy Tail – Snow and proceeded to the Battle Phase.Vanity’s Fiend cleared the face down monster (Orcust Umbral) while Snow attacked directly, drawing first blood.

(Cheng Yao 6150 – Angelino 8000)

Angelino ended the turn with no additional moves, betting on the 1850LP damage to win him this game.

Here comes Cheng Yao’s final turn. He looked at the board and approached the situation calmly. The deciding moment in nearing, and the duel could end in an instant.

Flipping one of his face down cards, he revealed Fog Blade and targeted Vanity’s Fiend. If this were to go through, Cheng Yao could escape the lockdown and proceed to make his plays. Angelino remained determined to prevent this from happening, protecting Vanity’s Fiend with Sauravis, the Ancient and Ascended.

Cheng Yao refused to back down, adding onto the chain of events by activating Call by the Grave, targeting Sauravis, attempting to nullify the protection. It would seem that Fogblade‘s effect would go through…..

BUT Angelino had a final trick up his sleeve – Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion!

This war of Hand Traps had soaked up all the applause from nearby spectators. Cheng Yao gasped but smiled. He sat up, looking more surprised than Pikachu itself.

Reaching out his hand, he congratulated Angelino.

“He had the right cards at the right time.” Cheng Yao lamented, looking more impressed than defeated, after his plays were rebutted at every attempt.

Conclusion

Vanity’s Fiend proved to a challenge for our Orcust player to overcome, especially under the ‘Time Call’ situation where Cheng Yao had limited turns to secure victory. While he did have answers, Angelino had counters ready for them, more than Cheng Yao was prepared for.

With that, Angelino is our Asian Championship Winter 2019 Champion!