North American WCQ 2014 Special: Yugi vs. Astral

North American WCQ 2014 Special: Astral vs. Yugi was a scripted Duel that took place during the second day of the North American World Championship Qualifiers in Detroit, Michigan on July 13, 2014. Dan Green and Marc Thompson reprised their roles as Yami Yugi and Astral, respectively. Several of the characters used cards they have never used in the anime or manga canon. As with all previous scripted duels, an announcer recites the turn and Life Point counts throughout the duel at the end of each turn. However, throughout the official video of this event (shown below), the announcer is nearly inaudible until after turn 6, leaving great lulls in the dialogue between turns.

Synopsis

Yugi Muto greets the crowd at the qualifiers, praising the quality of Duelists present. Astral attempts to speak with him, but Yugi cannot hear him. Astral makes "World Championship Qualifier Observation Number 1," mimicking his habit from the anime: "Even amongst a large crowd, it is possible to feel all alone." The spirit of Yami Yugi responds to Astral, and Astral asks if they can help him find Yuma Tsukumo. Yuma had been attempting to win a playmat, but failed ten times, prompting Astral to wander off to watch the other Duels. He now cannot make his way to him. Both Yugis agree to help him and Astral declares his second observation: "These two duelists share a bond similar to my bond with Yuma. However, they also share one body, something I've never seen in the human world." Astral suggests that if they Dueled, Yuma would come to them; an exciting Duel would surely attract him to their location.

As the duel begins, Yugi is able to see and hear Astral. Astral takes the first turn and picks up card advantage quickly, observing that "Spectating duelists consider summoning 'Card Car D' on the first turn of a duel an exceptional maneuver." Astral ends his turn without leaving any monsters to defend his Life Points, prompting Yami Yugi to swiftly summon his ace monster, "Dark Magician", to attack. However, Astral defends the attack and retaliates with his own ace monster: "Number 39" Utopia". Yugi is shocked that "Dark Magician" was unable to destroy "Utopia" in a double KO. Astral makes his fourth observation: "Duelists at this tournament are unfamiliar with the power of "Number" monsters. They have lost their memories, just like myself." Astral explains "Numbers'" invincibility in battle against non-"Numbers", giving Yugi worry. Yugi manages to summon a retrained Chaos monster, "Dark Magician of Black Chaos", but Utopia increases its ATK and destroys this Spellcaster as well. Yugi declares a World Championship Qualifier Observation of his own: "Drawing two cards is good, but drawing five is better!" After drawing a total of twelve cards in a single turn, Yugi activates the effect of "Dark Magician Knight" to destroy "Utopia" and summons his second retrained Chaos monster: "[[Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning". Astral remarks: "World Championship Qualifier Observation Number Five: Duelists here are excited to see Black Luster Soldier. I have never heard cheering this loud, even for Miguel Cabrera." Astral uses "Pinpoint Guard" and summons "Flelf". Yugi attacks with both "Black Luster Soldier" and "Dark Magician Knight" and is surprised to discover "Pinpoint Guard" protects "Flelf" in battle. Since Astral drew four cards from Yugi's "Card of Sanctity", Astral declares he is "Feeling the flow." Astral assembles three "Gagaga" monsters and uses them for a "Double Xyz Summon." Astral summons "Number 61: Volcasaurus" and "Number 11: Big Eye", as well as taking control of Yugi's powerful "Black Luster Soldier". Although Yugi uses a single card to destroy this offense, Astral successfully reduces Yugi's Life Points to 0 with effect damage. However, Yugi is able to prevent loss with "Relay Soul". With the help of "Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight", Yugi is able to muscle through Astral's defense and reduce Astral's Life Points to 0.

After the Duel, Astral confirms that Yuma is nearby, so he thanks both Yugis and goes to rejoin him. Both Duelists agree that other Dueled impressively and little Yugi himself looking forward to being able to Duel Astral himself someday. Astral ends with his sixth and final World Championship Qualifier Observation: "No matter which universe we come from, duelists depart, always triumphant."

Featured Duel: Astral vs. Yami Yugi

Turn 1: Astral
Astral has the first Draw Phase and Normal Summons "Cardcar D" (800/400) in Attack Position. He activates its effect, Tributing it to draw two cards, but preventing him from Special Summoning this turn. Astral Sets a Spell or Trap Card.

Turn 2: Yami Yugi
Yugi Normal Summons "Skilled Dark Magician" (1900/1600) in Attack Position. Yugi activates "Card Destruction", forcing both players to discard their hands and draw an equal amount of cards. Yugi discards "Brain Control", "Mystical Elf", "Burning Land" and "Gaia the Fierce Knight". Astral is only shown to discard "Rai Rider", although it is later revealed "Interceptomato", "Flelf", and "Rainbow Kuriboh" were discarded as well. As Yugi activated a Spell Card, "Skilled Dark Magician" gains a Spell Counter. Yugi activates "Pot of Greed", drawing two cards and giving "Skilled Dark Magician" another Spell Counter. Yugi then activates "Graceful Charity", drawing three cards and discarding two. He discards "Summoned Skull" and "Feral Imp", while "Skilled Dark Magician" gains a third Spell Counter. As it has three Spell Counters, Yugi Tributes it via its effect to Special Summon "Dark Magician" (2500/2100) from his Deck in Attack Position. "Dark Magician" launches a direct attack, but Astral activates the effect of the "Gagaga Gardna" in his hand, Special Summoning it (1500/2000) in Attack Position. A replay occurs and "Dark Magician" attacks "Gagaga Gardna". Astral activates the effect of "Gagaga Gardna", discarding "Gagaga Girl to prevent it from being destroyed by battle (Astral: 4000 → 3000). Yugi Sets a card.

Turn 3: Astral
Astral Normal Summons "Gogogo Golem" (1800/1500) in Attack Position. Astral overlays his two Level 4 monsters to Xyz Summon "Number 39: Utopia" (2500/2000) in Attack Position. "Utopia" attacks "Dark Magician", but Yugi activates "Spellbinding Circle", targeting "Utopia". Astral chains "Xyz Reflect", negating "Spellbinding Circle" and inflicting 800 damage to Yugi (Yugi: 4000 → 3200). The attack continues and "Dark Magician" is destroyed. "Utopia's" effect prevents it from being destroyed by battle against non-"Number" monsters. Astral Sets a card.

Turn 4: Yami Yugi
Yugi activates "Monster Reborn" Special Summoning "Dark Magician" (2500/2000) in Attack Position. He then activates "Dedication Through Light And Darkness", Tributing "Dark Magician" to Special Summon "Dark Magician of Chaos" (2800/2600) from his Deck in Attack Position. "Dark Magician of Chaos'" effect activates, letting Yugi add a Spell Card from his Graveyard to his hand. He adds "Brain Control". He activates it, to take control of "Utopia" until the End Phase. "Dark Magician of Chaos" attacks directly, but Astral activates his "Impenetrable Attack", reducing all battle damage inflicted to him this turn to 0. Yugi Sets a card and activates "Shard of Greed". At the End Phase, control of "Utopia" returns to Astral.

Turn 5: Astral
Astral activates "Blustering Winds", increasing the ATK and DEF of "Utopia" by 1000 until his next Standby Phase (2500/2000 → 3500/3000). "Utopia" attacks "Dark Magician of Chaos", but Yugi activates "Magic Cylinder", negating the attack and inflicting damage to Astral equal to "Utopia's" ATK. Astral activates "Interceptomato" from the Graveyard, banishing it to reduce the damage to 0. As an attack was negated, Astral activates "Double or Nothing!" from his hand, doubling the ATK of "Utopia" (3500/2000 → 7000/2000) and letting it attack again. "Utopia" attacks and destroys "Dark Magician of Chaos", which is banished via its own effect as it left the field. Yugi discards "Kuriboh" to reduce the battle damage to 0. Astral Sets a card. The effect of "Double or Nothing!" ends, returning Utopia's ATK to 3500.

Turn 6: Yami Yugi
During Yugi's Draw Phase, "Shard of Greed" gains its first Greed Counter. Yugi draws and activates "Card of Sanctity", drawing six cards while allowing Astral to draw five cards. Yugi Normal Summons "Kuribandit" (1000/700) in Attack Position. Yugi activates its effect, Tributing it to draw five Spell Cards: "Knight's Title", "Premature Burial", "Swords of Revealing Light", "Emergency Provisions", "Makiu, the Magical Mist". Yugi activates "Premature Burial", paying 800 Life Points (Yugi: 3200 → 2400) to Special Summon "Dark Magician" (2500/2000). He then activates "Knight's Title", Tributing "Dark Magician" to Special Summon "Dark Magician Knight" (2500/2100) from his Deck in Attack Position. "Dark Magician Knight's" effect activates, destroying "Utopia". Yugi banishes the DARK "Kuriboh" and the LIGHT "Mystical Elf" from his Graveyard to Special Summon "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning" (3000/2500) in Attack Position. "Black Luster Soldier" attacks directly, but Astral activates "Pinpoint Guard", Special Summoning "Flelf" (800/1300) from the Graveyard in Defense Position. A replay occurs, and Yugi attacks "Flelf" with "Black Luster Soldier", although "Flelf" is not destroyed due to "Pinpoint Guard". Yugi attacks "Flelf" against with "Dark Magician Knight", but "Flelf" is still not destroyed due to "Pinpoint Guard". Yugi activates "Swords of Revealing Light" and Sets three cards.

Turn 7: Astral
Astral activates the effect of "Flelf", discarding the Level 3 "Achacha Archer" to have "Flelf's" Level increase by that of the discarded monster's (2 → 5). Astral Normal Summons "Gagaga Magician" (1500/1000) in Attack Position. As Astral controls a "Gagaga" monster, he Special Summons "Gagaga Child" (800/1200) from his hand in Defense Position. He then activates "Gagagarevenge", Special Summoning "Gagaga Girl" (1000/700) from the Graveyard. Astral activates the effect of "Magician", changing its Level to 7 (4 → 7). He then activates the effect of "Girl", copying "Magician's" Level of (3 → 7). Astral activates "Star Light, Star Bright", changing "Child's" Level to copy "Flelf's" Level 5 since both have 800 DEF (3 → 5. Astral overlays his two Level 5 monsters to Xyz Summon "Number 61: Volcasaurus" (2500/1000) in Attack Position and his two Level 7 monsters to Xyz Summon "Number 11: Big Eye" (2600/2000) in Attack Position. Due to "Child's" effect, "Volcasaurus" cannot attack this turn. The effect of "Gagagarevenge" increases "Big Eye's" ATK by 300 (2600/2000 → 2900/2000). Astral activates "Xyz Gift", drawing two cards. Astral activates "Tornado", destroying "Swords of Revealing Light". Yugi chains "Emergency Provisions", sending "Swords of Revealing Light" and his face-down "Makiu" to increase his Life Points by 2000 (Yugi: 1400 → 4400). Astral activates the effect of "Big Eye", detaching "Gagaga Girl" to take control of a monster Yugi controls until the End Phase, though "Big Eye" cannot attack this turn. He takes control of "Black Luster Soldier". Astral activates the effect of "Volcasaurus", detaching "Gagaga Child" to destroy "Dark Magician Knight" and inflicting damage equal to its ATK (Yugi: 4400 → 1900). As his monster was destroyed, Yugi activates "Soul Rope", paying 1000 Life Points (Yugi: 1900 → 900) to Special Summon "Obnoxious Celtic Guardian" (1400/1200) in Defense Position. Astral activates the effect of "Black Luster Soldier", banishing "Celtic Guardian", but "Black Luster Soldier" cannot attack this turn.

Turn 8: Yami Yugi
During the Draw Phase, "Shard of Greed" gains a second Greed Counter. As "Shard of Greed" has two Greed Counters, Yugi sends it to the Graveyard to draw two cards. Yugi activates "Dark Hole" to destroy Astral's "Volcasaurus", "Big Eye", and "Black Luster Soldier". Yugi Normal Summons "Beta the Magnet Warrior" (1700/1600) and attacks directly (Astral: 3000 → 1300). Yugi Sets a card.

Turn 9: Astral
NOTE: Due to an oversight by the duelist portraying Astral, Astral skips his Draw Phase. This mistake becomes apparent later in the turn when Astral activates "Monster Slots". Astral activates "Gagagadraw", banishing "Gagaga Girl", "Gagaga Child" and "Gagaga Magician" from his Graveyard to draw two cards. Astral Normal Summons "Ganbara Knight" (0/1800) in Defense Position. He then activates "Monster Slots", banishing "Gogogo Golem" and targeting "Ganbara Knight"; the duelist portraying Astral draws and reveals "Stinging Swordsman", which was intended to have been drawn by "Gagagadraw". To rectify this, the duelist portraying Astral draws again and reveals "Gogogo Gigas", which is Special Summoned in Attack Position since it shared the same Level as "Gogogo Golem" and "Ganbara Knight". Astral activates "Thunder Short", inflicting 400 damage for each monster Yugi controls (Yugi: 900 → 500). Astral overlays his two Level 4 monsters to Xyz Summon "Gagaga Cowboy" (1500/2400) in Defense Position. He activates the effect of "Cowboy", detaching "Gogogo Gigas" to inflict 800 damage (Yugi: 500 → 0). As his Life Points have been reduced to 0, Yugi activates "Relay Soul", Special Summoning "Dark Magician Girl" (2000/1700) in Attack Position and preventing his loss as long as "Dark Magician Girl" remains on the field. Although not mentioned, it can be assumed that "Dark Magician Girl's" effect increases its ATK and DEF (2000/1700 → 2300/2000).

Turn 10: Yami Yugi
Yugi draws and activates "The Eye of Timaeus", sending "Dark Magician Girl" to the Graveyard and Fusion Summoning "Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight" (2600/2100), which now carries the lose condition of "Relay Soul". "Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight" attacks and destroys "Gagaga Cowboy". "Beta" attacks directly, but Astral activates the effect of the "Rainbow Kuriboh" in his Graveyard, Special Summoning it in Defense Position (100/100). A replay and Yugi activates the effect of "Dark Magician the Dragon Knight", discarding "Book of Secret Arts" to destroy "Rainbow Kuriboh". "Beta" attacks directly (Astral: 1300 → 0).

Video

File:NAWCQ Yugioh Duel Yugi vs Astral

335 px

Featured cards (in order of appearance)

Cards in italics debuted here prior to an anime or manga appearance. Cards in bold have never been used by the character before in any canon series.

"Astral"

Main Deck Monster Cards Effect Monsters Cardcar D Rai Rider Gagaga Gardna Gagaga Girl Gogogo Golem Interceptomato Flelf Achacha Archer Gagaga Magician Gagaga Child Ganbara Knight Stinging Swordsman Gogogo Gigas Rainbow Kuriboh Spell Cards Blustering Winds Double or Nothing Gagagarevenge Star Light, Star Bright Xyz Gift Tornado Gagagadraw Monster Slots Thunder Short Trap Cards Xyz Reflect Impenetrable Attack Pinpoint Guard Extra Deck Xyz Monsters Number 39: Utopia Number 61: Volcasaurus Number 11: Big Eye Gagaga Cowboy

"Yugi"

Main Deck Monster Cards Normal Monsters Mystical Elf Gaia the Fierce Knight Summoned Skull Feral Imp Dark Magician Beta the Magnet Warrior Effect Monsters Skilled Dark Magician Dark Magician of Chaos Kuriboh Kuribandit Dark Magician Knight Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning Obnoxious Celtic Guardian Dark Magician Girl Spell Cards Card Destruction Brain Control Burning Land Pot of Greed Graceful Charity Monster Reborn Dedication Through Light And Darkness Shard of Greed Card of Sanctity Knight's Title Premature Burial Swords of Revealing Light Emergency Provisions Makiu, the Magical Mist Dark Hole The Eye of Timaeus Book of Secret Arts Trap Cards Spellbinding Circle Magic Cylinder Soul Rope Relay Soul Extra Deck Fusion Monsters Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight

Trivia

• In scripted Duels, cards usually follow their effects as portrayed in the anime as opposed to their TCG/OCG counterparts. Although this is also followed to a large part during this duel, a large amount of cards deviated from this tradition. They include: "Blustering Winds", "Gagaga Girl", "Pinpoint Guard", "Xyz Reflect". Only one other duel broke this tradition more than once in one duel.
  • During the course of this duel, it was demonstrated that "Kuribandit" could be Normal Summoned, whereas it is implied to be Nomi in the anime. Similarly, it is implied that "Dark Magician of Chaos" does not banish itself when it leaves the field in the anime, whereas it does so during this duel. Also, it is implied that "Gagaga Child" did not skip the player's Battle Phase as it does in the anime; however, as Astral controlled no monsters that could attack at the end of his Main Phase 1, this distinction was not exemplified.

• This is the only scripted Duel that features a character outside of the second series anime or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.

• This is the only scripted Duel where Yugi does not use "Sage's Stone" or summons his "Dark Magician Girl" before his "Dark Magician".

• This is the only scripted Duel in which "Monster Reborn" is used to Special Summon a monster that had been previously destroyed by the opponent.