Pojo's Pro Player Draft Match Three: Billy Brake vs. Agustin Herrera

Billy Brake has now defeated two players and is threatening to sweep the entire roster. Let's look at the third member of the roster.

Agustin Herrera- Agustin is an old school duelist who has been around since the beginning of competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! monsters. I first met him at the very first Gencon Indy, where I lucksacked him in round 8 on time with Black Luster Soldier (with my Dark Magician deck!).

Agustin has recently put up incredible results while using Caliber Cat and X-Sabers. He constantly works on his game with members of Team Kamikaze including Billy Brake, Ryan Spicer, and the original members of the team from Chicago.

The man is respected by all top players for being one of the most respectful and cleanest duelists in the game. I have literally never heard of any negative story involving the man in half a decade of dueling. If he keeps up the great pace and results,I predict a premier event win in his near future.

*A note about coverage*: I was not aware that Austin Kulman was recording footage of the first four matches. So I'm not putting Match 3 and Match 4 on YVD. But I will do it for Match 5 (because there is no live footage).

Brake versus Herrera- Game One.

LIVE FOOTAGE:                         http://www.youtube.com/natsboy06

Billy Brake's Youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/havok41

Herrera Turn One:  Agustin wins the dice roll and starts this X-Saber mirror match. The duelists are intimately familiar with each others decks and playstyles.

Gold Sarcophagus

Rai-Oh

Darksoul

Gottoms' Emergency Call

Summoner Monk

Book of Moon

Agustin plays Sarc for Cold Wave. This is a good play with Summoner Monk in hand. He then summons Thunder King instead of Darksoul and sets GEC.

I defer to his experience with Sabers and ask him why Rai-Oh is the play over Darksoul. He says later that both players are running far too many copies of Rai-Oh to open with a set Darksoul and that Rai-Oh is very difficult for the X-Saber opponent to deal with.

After speaking with him, I agree Rai-Oh is the better play. He is threatening to blow the game open with Monk in two turns so a closed game state is obviously preferable for him.

Brake Turn Two: Billy sets a s/t and passes. Very little info on his hand to Agustin here.

H3:  Agustin draws and attacks for 1900 into Trap Dustshoot dropping Gorz. Dustshoot removes Monk from his hand and he is suddenly in huge trouble. The Cold Wave is nearly worthless and he is staring down a field of 2700 Gorz, 1900 token, and his entire hand revealed versus his two Book of Moon, dead Darksoul, and weak setup. Incredibly unlucky for him and great play by Billy. 8000 6100 Herrera.

Agustin then sets Darksoul and Book of Moon.

B4: Billy moves everything to attack position. He summons Fulhelm and attacks Darksoul. He then passes with Gorz, intending to negate it with Rai-Oh. I'm fairly sure the play is optimal here. Brake has the chance to deal 2700 extra damage but it's probably better for him to negate the Darksoul.

At the end phase, Agustin Books his own Rai-Oh to get a Darksoul search. He finds Pashuul.

H5:  Agustin draws Trap Stun. He flips Rai-Oh and syncs for Goyo. Goyo attacks and gets negated. Agustin could have Booked the Fulhelm but opts to save it, secure with his Goyo on the board. Sabers play very few face-up removal cards; they require a Brionac to deal with most monsters and Book of Moon protects against that.

B6: Billy summons Darksoul to sync. It is Booked. He sets a backrow.

H7:  Agustin draws Airbellum. He has Cold Wave in hand with Trap Stun set. He attacks Goyo into Fulhelm, it is Booked.  Agustin is now in big trouble. He summons Airbellum and plays GEC for Darksoul and Pashuul. All 3 monsters turn into an Android then a Colossal Fighter.

I'm not sure if I like this play. Billy has the Fulhelm out so he has an easy Brionac play next turn based on math probabilities alone. The GEC had to be used to try to get the Fulhelm off the board. End phase he grabs Emmersblade off the Darksoul search.

B8: Billy flips Darksoul and special summons Faultroll with Fulhelm on the board as well along with a Gorz and a Gorz token. Billy syncs a Hyunlei and pops the Trap Stun. This is a clear misplay; he should have gotten Brionac and used priority to bounce Colossal Fighter and Goyo Guardian. Then, with no response from Agustin, he would have ended the game by bouncing and swinging with everything.

Brake's field is Hyunlei, 1900 token, Gorz, and Faultroll.  

Instead, he crashes the token into Colossal (to make room), attacks the face-down Goyo with Gorz, and summons Darksoul to synch Brionac in main phase 2 bouncing both of Agustin's monsters. He gets a Darksoul effect for Emmersblade and is in control of this game. 8000 5100 Herrera.

H9:  Agustin draws Airbellum with Emmersblade and Cold Wave in hand. He has no plays so he t-sets and loses next turn to Brionac.

Billy Brake Takes Game One!

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Herrera opens Game Two:

LIVE FOOTAGE:                         http://www.youtube.com/natsboy06

Billy Brake's Youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/havok41

Raioh

Boggart Knight

Raioh

Book of Moon

Torrential Tribute

Airbellum

This is a very ugly hand for Agustin. His best play is to go incredibly aggressive by summoning a beatdown monster each turn.

He summons TKR and sets Moon.

B2: Billy plays Sarc for Rescue Cat and sets 4 backrow and a monster (his entire hand). Agustin is in big trouble.

H3: Agustin draws Darksoul. Billy Dustshoots his hand and chooses to send back Thunder King. Agustin then attacks into Darksoul. At the end phase, Billy Books TKR to get Fulhelm.

B4: Billy summons Fulhelm and attacks into Agustin's Book of Moon. Billy plays Solemn Judgment on it.  8000 4000 Herrera.

Fulhelm special summons Darksoul. Darksoul attacks for 100. Billy then summons Faultroll in main phase 2, syncs Goyo, and uses Faultroll on Fulhelm. He searches Emmersblade with Darksoul.

H5: Herrera draws Pashuul. He sets Torrential Tribute.

B6: Billy plays his drawn MST. It didn't really matter since he had so much card advantage without even playing Rescue Cat. He synchs Brionac for game.

Billy Brake Defeats Agustin Herrera 2-0 to Advance! Three down for Jeff Jones's Team!