Round 1 Feature Match: Chris Boudaloudis vs Chris Alibaboudis

After a considerable amount of delay the National championship is finally starting!

We will begin covering the event with a strong start. On one side of the table we have one of the most successful players in Greece at the moment with 2 top 32s in the previous ycs in Milan and Paris, where in the latter he went 10-0 in swiss before losing in the elimination rounds. On the other side we have Alibaboudis who is running Six Samurai, one of the meta decks of the format.

Boudaloudis runs the same deck that he played in Paris, Gravekeepers, whose moves we will watch on our 1st feature.

Boudaloudis wins the dice as Alibaboudis rolled a 1!

Boudaloudis opened with Mirror Force, Necrovalley, 7 tools, Solemn Warning, and Dimensional Prison.

He draws Pot of Duality for his turn and activates it, revealing Solemn Judgment, Mystical Space Typhoon and Royal Tribute! He grabs Tribute without putting much thought into it and sets everything, activates Necrovalley and Tribute, dropping 2 kizans off Alibaboudis' hand! It also reveals Bottomless Trap Hole, Solemn Judgment, and Shien's Smoke Signal. Boudaloudis ends his turn.

Alibaboudis draws and activates Signal to search Kagemusha, summons Kageki (the card he topdecked) and uses its effect to special summon Kagemusha. Attack with Kageki for 1700 damage and in main phase 2 he synchro summons for Shi En, but it gets negated by Solemn Warning (Boudaloudis drops to 4300 lp)! He sets 2 set spell or traps and ends his turn.

Boudaloudis draws Commantant that he summons, making his opponent activate Bottomless, Boudaloudis chains 7 tools to the trap but it gets negated by Solemn Judgment! LP at the moment are 4000-3300 with Alibaboudis leading, who is now topdecking.

Draw and set 1 spell or trap.

Draw Descendant that Boudaloudis summons and attacks for 2000 damage.

Alibaboudis draws for his turn, and sets one more spell or trap.

Boudaloudis topdecks Gravekeeper's Spy and trys to attack for game but is met by Mirror Force! He sets Spy and ends his turn.

Alibaboudis draws Signal and activates it to get kageki in his hand, then set it.

However, Boudaloudis draws Gravekeeper's Stele and after he flips Spy to get recruiter, he uses it to get Descendant and Commandant from his graveyard. He summons Descendant that breaks his opponent's whole board, and attacks for game.



Very fast game, the course of which got determined to a big extent by that 1st turn Royal Tribute.

Fast side decking from both players and we move on to the next game.



Boudaloudis' starting hand: Solemn Warning, Book of Moon, Gravekeeper's Spy, Gravekeeper's Descendant and Dust Tornado.

Alibaboudis starts with Upstart Goblin, giving his opponent 1000 life points to draw a card. Next up, Reinforcements to the Army is played to get Kagemusha in his hand. He normal summons Kageki, and uses its effect to bring Kagemusha in defense. He then special summons Grandmaster of the Six Samurai and synchro summons for Shi En. He then sets 2 spell or traps, and ends his turn with 1 card in hand. Typical opening for Six Samurai decks.

Boudaloudis draws 7 tools. He sets Spy and all his spell/traps.

Alibaboudis is up, and tries to normal summon Hand of the Six Samurai, but Boudaloudis negates the summon with Solemn Warning. He enters his Battle Phase and attacks the set Spy with Shi En. Spy gets flipped, activates its effect and Alibaboudis chains Solemn Warning, but it gets negated by 7 tools! Spy's effect lets Boudaloudis special summon Gravekeeper's Recruiter from his deck. Grandmaster attacks next and destroys Recruiter, which lets Boudaloudis get Commandant in his hand. Alibaboudis ends his turn.

Boudaloudis draws Mystical Space Typhoon. He activates Dust Tornado, targeting the backrow, but Shi En negates it. But he insists by activating mystical, and he manages to destroy the opponent's set Book of Moon! Next, he discarded Commandant to get Necrovalley from his deck, that he activates. He then summons Descendant, uses his own copy of Book Of Moon on Shi En, attacks on the Synchro but Grandmaster gets tributed to protect the Shi En.

Its Alibaboudis' turn, he starts his turn off by special summoning another Grandmaster from his hand, and connects attacks with his 2 monsters (one on Descendant). The life points are standing at 7000-5400, With Alibaboudis leading.

Boudaloudis draws Dimensional prison, but the situation is too desperate for him and he scoops next turn.

This match will be decided in Game 3! Side decking is done in a more relaxed manner.

Boudaloudis opens with 7 tools, Gravekeeper's Recruiter, Mystical Space Typhoon, Gravekeeper's Spy and Torrential Tribute.

He draws Fossil Dyna Pachycefalo for his turn, sets 3 spell/traps and recruiter.

Alibaboudis is up, and starts off by special summoning Cyber Dragon. Next, he activates Six Samurai United and summons Kagemusha, but Torrential Tribute clears the field in fear of Black Rose Dragon. Boudaloudis gets Commandant with Recruiter. Alibaboudis then sends United to the graveyard to draw 1 card, and sets 2 backrows. An endphase Mystical destroys his set smoke signal.

Boudaloudis draws Book of Moon, discards Commandant for Necrovalley, and activates it. He sets Spy and book of moon.

Alibaboudis draws and activates another United! He Normal summons Kizan, sends United to the graveyard to draw 1 card. He then sets 1 spell/trap and ends his turn.

Boudaloudis topdecks Pot of Duality, and activates it to reveal Solemn Judgment, Mirror Force and Gravekeeper's Commandant, adds Solemn to his hand without much thought, and sets it to complete his turn.

Alibaboudis draws for his turn, and its a very critical point for him in the duel. After much thought, he attacks the face down monster (spy), and chains Warning to Spy's effect, but it gets negated by 7 Tools! 'You have everything!' Alibaboudis says as Spy brings Recruiter in defense mode. Life points are at 5300-7000 for Boudaloudis. Alibaboudis checks both graveyards and decides to normal summon Kagemusha in main phase 2, special summon another kizan, and synchro summon for Naturia Barkion! He ends his turn.

Boudaloudis is up and draws Cyber Dragon. He uses Book of Moon on his Spy and flip summons it to get Descendant from his deck. He then uses Descendant's effect to tribute Recruiter and destroy Barkion, and Recruiter in turn allows him to get Necrovalley off a Commandant. He attacks Kizan with Descendant for 200 damage, and Spy attacks directly to bring Alibaboudis down to 2300 life points. With the Solemn Judgment he had in store, Boudaloudis is in a very secure position at this point!

Alibaboudis draws and sets a monster.

Boudaloudis topdecks Dark Hole, tributes Spy with Descendant's effect to destroy the set Kageki, normal summons Fossil Dyna and attack with both monsters for game!


(special thanks to stefanos katopodis for translating this one for us )