I participated in the 3v3 side event with my team on both days and placed 2nd both times. However, Sunday’s side event was much bigger and felt more rewarding. I picked up a playset of Magicians’ Souls and wanted to try it out. For the event, I decided to play Lunalight. It is clearly a meta deck, but this build catered to going second and did not run any Psy-Frame or Danger! cards. I was Player B; Player A played Block Burning Abyss and Player C played Spyrals.

Here is the deck I used.

I wasn’t too comfortable with the build because I threw in Magicians’ Souls with no playtesting. The best card in the deck is Number 39: Utopia Double; it is very much worth the brick. I personally did not like Evenly Matched in the main deck.

Rounds and Matchups

Round 1: Salamangreat (2-0)

This match convinced me to never side out Double or Nothing!. I win the die roll and let my opponent go first. He starts with summoning Jack Jaguar into Balelynx. He then activates Monster Reborn to revive the Jaguar. I had the Crow in my hand, but for some reason, I didn’t activate it then. He then makes his Sunlight Wolf and activates Jack Jaguar targeting Balelynx. I Crow the Jaguar at this moment and force him to shuffle back the Balelynx. He passes turn after setting one Rage. I open Chick, Tiger, and Twin Twisters, so it was game over. I start by popping both his field spell and his set card with Twin Twisters. Then I normal Lunalight Kaleido Chick, dump Marten, scale Tiger, revive Marten and proceeded to slap his Wolf for 8200 damage with Utopia.

Game two, he opts to go first and managed to end his board on two traps and a Wolf. I start again with Twin Twisters discarding Serenade Dance but Salamangreat Roar negated it. I use Dance’s effect and send Perfume to Special Summon a Lunalight monster. Then, I activate Tenki but it couldn’t resolve due to his set Rage. However, his Wolf wasn’t reincarnated, so he discarded a Salamangreat monster to destroy Tenki. I then activate Perfume, discarding my other Twin Twister and bait the Ash Blossom. With my last card in hand, I normal summon Chick and Utopia Double him again.

This match was finished with 30 minutes remaining, so I got to help my teammates beat their opponents. My Spyral mate beat Mekk-Knight Invoked by stealing a 6000 ATK BLS Link with Borreload and swinging for massive damage. My BA partner OTK’d his Salamangreat opponent under Abyss Dweller, which was amazing but unnecessary.

Round 2 Gren Maju Stun (2-1)

These decks are why I hate building blind second decks. My opponent starts with Inspector Boarder and sets three cards and passes. My hand was not really playable under Boarder, but I did open double Mystic Mine. I didn’t think this would work because I saw him excavate Heavy Storm Duster on Duality’s resolution. I try it anyways. He decides to Solemn Judgment it. Easy 4k life points. I place my second Mystic Mine and pass, hoping he doesn’t get to his Heavy Storm Duster. It worked. For some reason, he walled up with set monsters. I summon Exciton Knight and force the Solemn Strike. Eventually, the Mine was destroyed, but he was left with one set monster and nothing else. I make Unicorn, spin his set, and attack his remaining life points with it and Bagooska.

He goes first again for game two and grabs There Can Be Only One off of Duality. I had the Twisters in hand but Judgment negated it. I was not living for long with his Border and Maju so I concede.

Game three, I end on I:P, Tornado Dragon, Tiger in scale, and a set Heavy Storm Duster. He uses Evenly Matched. I chain Tornado, pop my Lunalight Tiger, and banished all but my Duster. On resolution, I revive Lunalight Yellow Marten. My Duster destroys his Mystic Mine and set Judgment.

On my turn I should have had it, but it was impossible to OTK without Tiger. I was low on resources, so I summon Exciton and direct attack. Exciton won me the game because he couldn’t find a beater in his deck and took repeated hits. He even had to sacrifice his 0 defense Gren Maju to live. When he outed it with Border, I Mystic Mine him. Time was called, and I had walled up with monsters to prevent attacks. My BA partner cheeses his Spyral opponent with Barbar. I don’t remember the result, but my Spyral teammate dueled Shaddoll Invoked.

Round 3: Spyral (2-1)

My next opponent was a teenager playing Spyral, although I only saw Spyral cards in one of the three games. I win the die roll and ask my opponent to go first. He looks at his hand and passes turn. I OTK easily with Borrelsword and Bagooska.

Game two I side for going 1st, and I see Full Force Virus in my hand. This was cool, except he went first and set up a pretty cool board of Apollousa, Tri-Gate with three co-links, Sleeper, and a set Appointer of the Red Lotus. I scoop immediately when he flips the trap to hide my spicy side deck card.

I decided to try going first this time because I wanted to guarantee more disruptions while he built his board. The board turned out decent and ended on I:P, Dweller, a Lunalight monster for I:P fodder, and a D.D. Crow in hand. In his draw phase, I resolve Dweller. He proceeds to Monster Reborn my Lunalight Emerald Bird in Attack mode. Then he attempts to enter battle, forcing my I:P to link into Borreload Dragon. He sets 3 and passes turn. I worried those were genuine traps until he told his teammate he screwed up by summoning Emerald Bird in attack position. It reminded me to keep it simple, and I OTK with Utopia Double. I finished fairly quickly, but my Spyral teammate lost to Salamangreat, so it was up to my B.A. partner. He manages to kill his Altergeist opponent with overwhelming pressure from Gizmek Orochi.

Round 4: Altergeist (2-1)

This was the finals of the 3v3 side event and I was okay with losing. However, I still wanted to try to beat my opponent. My opponent starts and sets three and passes turn. I normal Kaleido Chick, dump Marten and enter battle because I knew I couldn’t even play through one disruption with my hand. He activates Personal Spoofing and searches Multifaker, triggering it to summon Silquitous as well. I force the Silquitous by attacking Multifaker and Evenly Match him for two cards at the end of the Battle Phase. He keeps one Trap card. I tried to come back, but I have already used up my normal summon and couldn’t make anything. The game turns into a stall fest and I lose.

Game two, I decided to go first and made quite an interesting board. I knew Altergeist had no natural outs to Borreload, so I summon Borreload using I:P for some added protection. Marten’s effect summoned herself and I set Full Force Virus. I got too greedy to see what Full Force could have done. I foolishly decided to wait on it, then Lava Golem was dropped on both my Marten and Borreload Dragon. However, he couldn’t normal summon, and he passes without even setting anything. I use Lava Golem and a fresh Borrelsword to wipe out his life points.

For game three, he summons Inspector Boarder, sets traps, and passes. I use Tenki to search for Yellow Marten and set it. Luckily, my opponent didn’t seem to know that Marten packed 2000 defense, so he summons Silquitous and attacks my set with Border. Next turn I summon I:P and Tornado Dragon thanks to Tiger and Perfume and chip his Border for 100 life points. I leave one extra material on the field to make Borreload on his turn. Meluseek then forced me to make Borreload when he attempted to enter the battle phase. He makes Linkurboh to wall up instead of trying to find a way to deal some damage and passes. Time called during my main phase, and that concluded the match. My Spyral partner had already lost to Dinosaurs, and my B.A. teammate was lower in life points against his Shaddoll opponent, finishing us at 2nd place.

Conclusion

Both 1st and 2nd place ended up receiving secret rare uncut sheets from Ignition Assault, so it ended up better than expected. Unsurprisingly, Lunalight Tiger is incredibly good, and Utopia Double carried me throughout the whole weekend. I was satisfied with my performance and I hope to improve the build once I playtest with Magicians’ Souls.