Dragon Duels are for Duelists age 12 and under. Jarryd Kainz and Danny Rambo are both 12 years old, turning 13 years old in August. Both of them had battled through other Dragon Duelists this weekend to reach the final round. Both Duelists here will receive the same prize, but are Dueling for the glory of winning this Feature Match. Here’s a picture of the Top 4 Duelists from this weekend:

Kainz is running a Quickdraw Dandywarrior Deck, and his opponent, Danny Rambo, is running Machina Gadgets!

Kainz won the dice roll and chose to go first. He opened up with Brain Control, Quickdraw Synchron, Plaguespreader Zombie, Caius the Shadow Monarch, Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, and Starlight Road. He Set Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and ended his turn.

Rambo Summoned Red Gadget to the field and activated its effect, grabbing a Yellow Gadget from his Deck and adding it to his hand. Then he attacked the face-down Hamster with Red Gadget. Rambo lost 500 Life Points and Kainz Special Summoned Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter from his Deck in face-down Defense Position. Rambo Set a back row and ended his turn.

Kainz drew Giant Trunade next turn. He activated it to send Rambo’s Set card back to his hand, and then discarded Plaguespreader Zombie to Special Summon Quickdraw Synchron to the field. Then he Tributed Super-Nimble Mega Hamster to Summon Caius the Shadow Monarch, and activated Caius’s effect to remove Red Gadget from play. Then he flipped Ryko and sent 3 cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard without destroying any cards. He Tuned Ryko to Quickdraw Synchron in order to Synchro Summon Junk Archer! Caius and Junk Archer both attacked directly, dropping Rambo to 2800 Life Points. In Main Phase 2, Kainz Set Brain Control and Starlight Road to his back row.

Rambo Summoned Machina Gearframe next turn and activated its effect to search his Deck for Machina Fortress and add it to his hand. Then he pitched Jinzo and Machina Fortress to Special Summon the Fortress back from the Graveyard. Fortress attacked Junk Archer and it was destroyed. Rambo Set a back row and ended his turn.

Kainz drew Card Trooper next turn. He activated Brain Control by paying 800 Life Points and took control of Rambo’s Fortress. Then he attacked with the Fortress and destroyed Machina Gearframe with it. Next, Caius scored a direct attack, ending the Duel!

Danny Rambo will be going first in Duel 2! He Summoned Red Gadget to the field and activated its effect to search his Deck for a Yellow Gadget and add it to his hand. Then he Set 2 back rows and ended his turn.

Kainz opened up with Giant Trunade, Dimensional Prison, Quickdraw Synchron, Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Charge of the Light Brigade, and Cyber Valley. He activated Giant Trunade to send both of Rambo’s cards to his hand. Then he Set Dimensional Prison and discarded Cyber Valley to Special Summon Quickdraw Synchron. Next, he activated Charge of the Light Brigade and sent Lonefire Blossom, Solemn Judgment, and Debris Dragon from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard to grab a Ryko from his Deck and add it to his hand. Then he Normal Summoned Ryko and Tuned it to Quickdraw Synchron to Special Summon Junk Archer from his Extra Deck! Junk Archer attacked Red Gadget, destroying it and dropping Rambo to 7000 Life Points. “Your move,” Kainz said.

Rambo Summoned Machina Gearframe next turn and activated its effect to Special Summon Machina Fortress from his deck. Then he activated Solidarity to boost all of his machines by 800 ATK. Next, he attacked Junk Archer with his 2600 ATK Gearframe, but Kainz flipped Dimensional Prison to remove Machina Gearframe from play. In Main Phase 2, Rambo discarded Yellow Gadget and Machina Fortress to Special Summon the Fortress back to the field. Rambo Set 2 cards and ended his turn.

Kainz drew a card and Set Ryko next turn, along with a Bottomless Trap Hole. Then he removed Machina Fortress from play with Junk Archer and declared an attack, but lost his Archer to Dimensional Prison. Fortress came back to the field in the End Phase.

Rambo activated Nobleman of Crossout next turn to remove Kainz’s Set Ryko from the game along with a copy from his Deck. Next, Rambo Normal Summoned Scrap Recycler and activated its effect to send Shreddder from his Deck to his Graveyard. Then he used Recycler to send Shreddder and Red Gadget from his Graveyard to his Deck and draw a card. Next, Rambo played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Kainz’s Set Bottomless Trap Hole. Then, he attacked directly with his 1700 ATK Recycler and 3300 ATK Fortress.

Kainz drew Caius next turn and ended his turn, unable to make a play. Rambo played Solidarity next turn and Kainz was taken out by Rambo’s two Machines.

Kainz chose to go first in Duel 3! He opened up with Mirror Force, Dimensional Prison, Giant Trunade, Quickdraw Synchron, Cyber Valley, and Pot of Avarice. He Set Dimensional Prison and Mirror Force. Then he Normal Summoned Cyber Valley and ended his turn.

Rambo played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Kainz’s Mirror Force next turn, and then activated Heavy Storm to destroy Dimensional Prison. Next, he Summoned Yellow Gadget and activated its effect to search his Deck for Green Gadget and add it to his hand. Yellow Gadget attacked Cyber Valley, but Kainz removed Cyber Valley from the game to draw a card and end the Battle Phase. Kainz drew Caius with Cyber Valley’s effect and Rambo ended his turn.

Kainz drew Mystical Space Typhoon next turn and Set it before passing back to Rambo.

Rambo Tributed his Yellow Gadget to Summon Jinzo next turn and attacked directly with it. He ended his turn without a back row.

Kainz drew Heavy Storm next turn. He had plenty of Spell and Trap Card destruction, but Rambo had no Spells or Traps Set. Kainz passed, unable to make a play.

Rambo Summoned Green Gadget next turn and activated its effect to add a Red Gadget from his Deck to his hand. Then he attacked directly with Jinzo and Green Gadget, dropping Kainz to 1800 Life Points. Kainz drew Solemn Judgment next turn, but Jinzo was still face-up on the field so he couldn’t activate it. Desperate to survive, he discarded Caius to Special Summon Quickdraw Synchron in Defense Position. Then he Set Solemn Judgment and ended his turn.

Rambo Summoned Jinzo – Returner next turn. He attacked directly with it thanks to its effect, dropping Kainz to 1200 Life Points. Then he attacked Quickdraw Synchron with Jinzo, destroying it, and Rambo finished Kainz off with a direct attack from Green Gadget!

Danny Rambo takes a 2-1 victory over Jarryd Kainz to become the Dragon Duel Champion for the weekend!

Post-Event Analysis!
See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over. 

Jason Grabher-Meyer (The Old Man of Dueling)
Game 1 saw some deceptively sharp play from Jarryd Kainz. Early in the Duel, Kainz used Giant Trunade and Caius the Shadow Monarch to clear the field. He Flip Summoned Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter without using its destruction effect, and Tuned it to Quickdraw Synchron for Junk Archer. He attacked for 4700 Battle Damage that turn. That whole turn seemed completely overzealous from Rambo’s side of the table: it looked as if Kainz had used Trunade when he could have just destroyed Rambo’s 1 Set card with Ryko, then wasted his Ryko’s effect anyways. That impression led Rambo to try and capitalize with Machina Gearframe and Machina Fortress, and that’s exactly what Kainz wanted to see. With Machina Fortress and Caius still on the field, Kainz would take Fortress with Brain Control and go for the win.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 3, Rambo activated Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy one of Kainz’s Set Trap Cards and then followed up with Heavy Storm to destroy the other one, instead of just starting off with Heavy Storm. This was a calculated decision for Rambo. He knew that Kainz played Starlight Road in his Deck and expected Kainz to have it face down. He was unable to take down a Stardust Dragon and wanted to make sure he didn’t trigger the Starlight Road. He also knew that he’d be Summoning Jinzo next turn, making it so that all Trap Cards Kainz Sets in future turns wouldn’t be a threat. Because of this, he knew that he didn’t need to hold on to his Mystical Space Typhoon. This type of foresight displayed by Danny Rambo is the mark of a Dragon Duel Champion!

P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
In a Machina Gadget Deck, pretty much all of your monsters are Machine-Type. That makes Solidarity a powerful tool to use. With Solidarity, your monsters will always get an 800 ATK boost, since you’re only using 1 Type of monster in your Deck. Gadgets and Machinas are tough enough to deal with when they have their original ATK, but 2200 ATK Red Gadgets that search for 2000 ATK Yellow Gadgets can strike fear into almost any opponent.