World Championship 2022 Feature Match: GeistD vs InsiDS

Losers finals begins between GeistD and InsiDS. Both of these players have made it incredibly far and are skilled enough to win and move on to face Dingosig in grand finals, but which one will it be?

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Game One

InsiDS wins Rock paper scissors. He begins the match with Thunder Dragon (TD) to search two more copies. He sets a monster and a backrow and passes to Geist.

GeistD replies by setting five spell/trap cards and passing! I thought he was on Goat Control!

InsiDS flip summons Spirit Reaper which prompts Geist to take a moment to think. This would be a good time to activate a Torrential Tribute -- and he does it! After Torrential resolves, Geist continues by flipping Trap Dustshoot, an interesting hold. He notes "sorcerer, bls, faith, serpent, and two thunder dragons". He returns the Black Luster Soldier (BLS), perhaps like any sane man would, and InsiDS ends his turn with nothing left to do.

Geist draws for turn and flips Jar of Greed. It resolves, and he follows up with another. This is then followed by his third jar of greed, clearing his backrow, and replenishing his hand to full. You can't make this stuff up!

Geist sets one backrow and passes. InsiDS does the same. Then Geist does it again! This is surely turning into the control mirror it was meant to be. The pattern is broken by InsiDS, who summons a Breaker the Magical Warrior, who attacks without spending his counter on either of Geist's two backrow cards. It hits for 1900. With his opponent now at 6100, InsiDS is content enough to spend the Breaker counter now. It targets a facedown Scapegoat, which is quickly activated in response. 

InsiDS passes and GeistD draws Pot of Greed -- a useful card to have. He summons Tsukuyomi, targeting InsiDS's Breaker. His attempt to destroy the monster through battle is met with Book of moon, though. With nothing else to do, Geist passes.

InsiDS wastes no time flip summoning his sleeping Breaker and attacks the face down Tsukuyomi, destroying it and putting his breaker back face-down. He then sets another monster and passes to Geist.

GeistD draws for his turn and then plays Metamorphosis on one of his sheep tokens to summon Thousand Eyes Restrict (TER). InsiDS's only facedown spell/trap remains unactuated, and TER sticks. Geist uses the effect, sucking up the recently set Magician of Faith. The face down Breaker still blocks his path, though. So, with nothing else to do he passes turn back to InsiDS.

InsiDS passes back as well. The cards Geist left him with aren't doing much it seems, and Geist knows he can use his TER to take his time, stalling until a game-breaking series of plays come to him. Both players spend a couple of turns drawing, setting cards, and passing, until Geist decides to finally break the ceasefire. He activates his newest set, Ring of Destruction, and targets his own Thousand Eyes Restrict. This is followed up with a potentially back-breaking Delinquent Duo. His first hit? InsiDS's Chaos Sorcerer! Luckily for InsiDS, though, a Sinister Serpent follows. Geist flips his set Magician of Faith to activate Pot of Greed for a second time this game, then draws into Graceful Charity, discarding Magical Merchant and Scapegoat. That's all three of the holy trinity in one turn! After setting two more spell/traps, he finally ends his turn.

InsiDS draws and adds back his Serpent, which prompts Geist to use yet another trap Dustshoot, revealing Serpent, two Thunder Dragons, D.D. Warrior Lady (DDWL), and Tsukuyomi. Geist returns the DDWL. InsiDS flip summons Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive to draw a card, partially concealing the Dustshoot - the only new card is Tsukuyomi. Dekoichi attacks into the recently flipped Magician of Faith, killing it and smacking Geist for 1100 damage. This is followed by a new backrow set, as well as a summoned Tsukuyomi, who targets Dekoichi before the turn ends.

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Geist summons his own DDWL and attacks the old set Breaker. InsiDS lets it go -- no banish. Geist then summons an intimidating Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning in defense position! He's quick to banish the Dekoichi, a power play if I've ever seen one. Another backrow is set and the turn is passed. InsiDS is helpless to answer this BLS without a good draw. He begins his plays before his turn does, activating Mystical Space Typhoon (MST) on Geist's end to hit the newest backrow, a Solemn Judgment! With the counter trap out of the way, he continues by activating a Raigeki Break, targeting the BLS -- I'm sure he's glad he saved that.

It's finally InsiDS' turn, but he doesn't make too much use of it. He draws, grabs his Serpent, plays Upstart Goblin, sets a monster and passes. 

Looking for blood after losing his largest monster, Geist activates Premature Burial, trying to bring it back George A. Romero style! Rather than attack with it, though, he chooses to banish the opposing set monster: a Magician of Faith. DDWL is not held back, however. It swings in directly for 1500 while Geist's remaining three goats look on. InsiDS takes the damage, neglecting to activate his one backrow card. knowing that all InsiDS has Serpent and Tsukuyomi, Geist passes turn.

InsiDS finds a Metamorphosis. The play is obvious. He sets his Serpent,  turning it into a TER to take BLS. Or so he thought! Geist Solemns the Meta, paying 2100 and ruining InsiDS' big play. With three known cards in hand (Tsuku and two Thunder Dragon) and only a single backrow card, InsiDS is forced to pass. Things aren't looking good for the blue player. 

Geist wastes no time swinging directly with BLS and DDWL, bringing InsiDS to 2000 LP. InsiDS draws for turn -- what can get him out of this? He sets one more backrow and passes back to GeistD, who is eager to win the game. He begins his turn with a pro-set Heavy Storm! This will destroy his own Premature Burial (and BLS as a result), but InsiDS has no response! With a clear path to victory, GeistD summons Tribe-Infecting Virus in BLS's place and attacks to win game one! Well drawn and well played, Mr. Geist! 

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Game Two

InsiDS starts game two with a TD activation, finding for two more. He then sets a backrow card and ends his first turn of the game.

Geist starts with Graceful Charity -- awful hand, or incredible one? He draws three, then discards Serpent and... Cyber Jar?! He T-sets and passes back to InsiDS, who uses Scapegoat in the End Phase.

InsiDS plays Metamorphosis on one of his freshly summoned sheep tokens, summoning an early TER to take the set monster from Geist's control. It resolves, revealing a Magical Merchant. Having serves its use, InsiDS tributes the TER for Thunder Dragon, which attacks Geist for 1600 before the end of the turn. 

Geist flips his set spell/trap, a Jar of Greed. With seven cards in hand this is looking very different from his opening plays last game. He sets a monster and two backrows and sends it back to InsiDS.

Our blue player enters the standby phase only to get hit with Trap Dustshoot. Geist writes down the hand -- "serp sorc breaker mc meta td" -- sending the Chaos Sorcerer packing. InsiDS summons the revealed Breaker, smashing Geist's set Solemn Judgment. InsiDS then Metas his TD into Dark Balter the Terrible. With the coast clear, he runs over a set Magician of Faith with it and passes. 

Geist summons Abyss Soldier for the turn, discarding its favorite fodder Sinister Serpent to bounce Balter -- what a comeback play! He attacks over Breaker with the 1800ATK Aqua monster, sets a backrow, and passes. 

InsiDS sets a monster and passes -- not what you want to be doing in the face of the dreaded Abyss Soldier + Sinister Serpent combo. Geist discards Sinister to bounce the lone defender, as expected, and hits one of the three remaining sheep tokens. He passes, leaving InsiDS to desperately look for a real answer to the killer whale. 

Someone's looking out for InsiDS, though, as he top decks Pot of Greed! Maybe his answer lies in the next two cards? It looks like it! He normal summons DWDL and attacks into the soon-to-be-banished Abyss Soldier, bringing him down to 7500 LP, with GeistD sitting at 4800. Free from the terror of the whale, he activates Delinquent Duo, ripping Magical Merchant and Creature Swap from his opponent. What a punish for this Abyss Soldier! He passes back to Geist.

Geist sets a backrow and passes, prompting InsiDS to do the same. Geist sets a monster this time. InsiDS normal summons Dekoichi and activates Nobleman of Crossout -- an interesting line. It hits Sinister Serpent, and the attack brings Geist to 3400 LP. L Seems like InsiDS is looking to widen the LP gap even more. 

GeistD sets a backrow and passes, apparently not able to do much to the Dekoichi. InsiDS top decks Graceful Charity -- his turn to have fun this game it seems! He checks for Solemn, as one must, and Geist okays the activation. He draws a fresh three cards, then discards Thunder Dragon and his own Serpent, effectively gaining three cards for free! He attacks with Dekoichi, but Geist sheilds his precious few life points with a Scapegoat activation. InsiDS hits one token and passes it to the German duelist.

Still not much to do, Geist sets one backrow and passes. Playing it safe, insiDS opts not to get too aggressive and simply attacks with his lone Dekoichi into one of the tokens, destroying it. He then sets another monster and passes. 
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Geist activates Metamorphosis, tributing one of his last two tokens to summon another TER, this time in defense. He absorbs the newest set monster -- a Kycoo -- and takes a long think. He eventually flips Jar of Greed, finding him Breaker the Magical Warrior. Now InsiDS takes a moment to think, and Geist obliges. InsiDS chains Ring of Destruction to target the TER, meaning that this Breaker is going to be able to keep its counter! Maybe a premonition of Snatch Steal? GeistD seems to think so, saying "smells like snatch man". He removes the counter to target his own backrow, as InsiDS has none! It's another set Jar of Greed, which he chains to the effect. He attacks Dekoichi, bringing InsiDS to 6300, and sets a backrow. He passes, after a long turn

InsiDS T-sets and passes. Geist gets himself ready for another big turn, summoning BLS in defense to banish the monster... and it's a Magician of Faith! He swings into a token with Breaker, which insiDS accepts, sets another monster, and passes.

InsiDS draws for turn and thinks for a rather long time. We know he has Mind Control to deal with this BLS, but what else could be in store? He activates Snatch Steal -- good read Geist! -- which is met with Solemn Judgment, bringing Geist down to 1700 LP. InsiDS uses his third and final Meta to tribute his last token, and attempts to take suck up BLS... and it works! He attacks the Breaker and it goes through! Geist is now at a dangerously low 300 LP! InsiDS passes back to Geist, who is still walled behind a token and set monster for the time being. 

Geist sets another monster, unable to flip his current one due to TER, and passes. InsiDS has the Tsukuyomi though, and could begin picking off Geist's sets one by one. He waits though, and uses Mind Control on the newest set instead -- Morphing jar! InsiDS sets all but one card in his hand (the Serpent Remains) and flips the jar. They both discard one for five, Geist pitching a Dark Magician of Chaos (DMoC). InsiDS follows up with a second Mind Control, taking the set DDWL. He returns Tsuku to the hand without flipping his TER, and gives the monsters back to Geist.

Geist plays Pot of Greed, then enters his battle phase with his attack position Jar and DDWL. Jar attempts to bring down the TER, but is stopped in its tracks by Book of Moon! DDWL attacks and she too is halted, this time by Raigeki Break discarding Magician of Faith. TER lives another turn, but Geist sets three more backrow before passing. 

InsiDS flips TER and takes the set Morphing Jar. I guess he doesn't want another flip happening. He then sets another backrow and passes, apparently in fear that one of Geist's four set cards is a Torrential Tribute. Geist draws for turn and passes, comfortable with four backrow even on his low LP count. 

InsiDS uses this turn to summon Tsukuyomi and set the TER, but Geist had the Torrential! With a clear field and nothing else to do, InsiDS passes back to Geist.

Still on the defensive, Geist sets a monster and passes back. InsiDS draws for turn and instantly banishes a TER and TD from his grave to drop BLS. He opens the line up to Solemn Judgment -- none present -- and banishes the set monster, which is a faith. InsiDS summons Tsukuyomi to set his BLS (aware that Snatch Steal is a still live in Geist's deck?) and attacks Geist directly. Geist flips Scapegoat -- set the whole time -- and survives with three tokens. 

Geist doesn't seem to have the snatch, but he does activate Nobleman of Crossout on on the BLS and passes. seemingly out of gas, both players spend the next couple of turns drawing, setting, and passing. Eventually, in his standby InsiDS flips Raigeki Break, hitting a set Delinquent Duo that Geist is unable to even use. He then grabs his Serpent back from the graveyard. He summons the Serpent and flips Torrential to clear the goat tokens, but Geist uses his final Solemn Judgment to negate it, and brings himself to 150 LP. Serpent attacks a token before the turn passes. 

Geist flips a set Heavy Storm, which destroys his own Ring of Destruction, and InsiDS chains Scapegoat, filling his board. Geist summons Tribe Infecting Virus, discarding Premature Burial (yet another card he's too low to play) to declare beast. He attacks the Serpent, bringing InsiDS to 5000 LP, sets two backrow, and passes.
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InsiDS greturns Serpent again and summons Chaos Sorcerer in defense, banishing Tribe. He then summons Tsukuyomi to set the Chaos Sorcerer, and attacks into Geist's Mirror Force. He sets a backrow and passes it back.

Geist has his second Nobleman for the Chaos Sorcerer and sets a monster. With only four cards left in his deck to InsiDS's five though, things aren't looking good for our red player. InsiDS banishes from his graveyard to summon the third Chaos Monster from his side. He then normal summons Sangan and attacks with Sorcerer into a set Tsukuyomi, which sets the Sangan to avoid a lethal attack. He sets another backrow and passes to Geist, who top decks Snatch Steal!

Geist takes Chaos Sorcerer and flips his set Metamorphosis to turn it into Ryu Senshi. He attacks into the Sangan, hoping to put InsiDS on the deck out, but is met with Mirror Force. With no LP to pay for its effect, Geist scoops it up, and our players move on to game three. 

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Game Three

Geist goes first and opens Pot of Greed -- Oh boy! Great start! He sets two backrow and passes. 

InsiDS draws for turn, but is met with Trap Dustshoot before he can make his first play. Geist types it out: "ddwl tsuk book mc mst snatch" and returns DDWL to the deck. InsiDS passes his turn, not wanting to give away any more information to Geist.

Geist draws for turn and flips his Jar of Greed. He plays Graceful, discarding Serpent and DMoC, and then hits InsiDS with the Duo on top of it! Talk about a four card combo! Random luck hits MST, and InsiDS elects to discard the Mind Control. Geist reminds himself of the hand -- tsuk, book, snatch -- and T-sets.

InsiDS draws for turn, setting a backrow and passing. Geist adds his Serpent back and flips Magician of Faith, targeting Delinquent Duo. Oof, things are looking rough for InsiDS already. Book of Moon and Tsukuyomi hit the bin, leaving him with just Snatch and an unknown card. After swinging for 300, Geist sets another monster and spell/trap and passes. 

InsiDS sets another backrow, not much else to do. Geist flip summons Magical Merchant, which finds a Scapegoat. He switches Faith to defense, swings for 200 with Merchant, and sets another monster.

InsiDS finds Thunder Dragon off the top and wastes no time activating it. Not a lot to do with the dragons here, though, so he passes, just as he was before.

Geist flips his second Magical Merchant, this time finding Trap Dustshoot. He turns his other Merchant to defense and hits with the new one for 200 more damage. 

InsiDS draws for turn and gets Dustshot, revealing a Tsukuyomi that gets returned to the deck, as well as a Nobleman of Crossout, which tells Geist that Snatch Steal is set.

He passes, and Geist flips Jar of Greed on his own turn. He summons Breaker, popping a set backrow, which turns out to be a Scapegoat that is quickly is chained. Now he knows what the other is, but InsiDS can protect his LP for a little longer.

Geist turns all his monsters to attack and clears all four of the tokens. He then sets another backrow and passes. InsiDS draws and summons Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and attacks Breaker. It walks, and Geist takes 200 damage. InsiDS banishes the buried DMoC and passes. 

Geist uses Creature Swap, taking Kycoo by force and giving InsiDS a measly Magical Merchant! He turns his smaller monsters to defense and hits for 1600 over the Merchant, banishing Tsuk and TD in the process. 

InsiDS top decks Pot of Greed -- something that's happened a lot today -- and Geist okays it. He doesn't ever seem to want to use a Solemn. InsiDS flips the known face down Snatch Steal and opts to target Magician of Faith. the reason is soon made clear as he then uses Metamorphosis tributing the mage to call out TER, which takes Kycoo. It's a strong play. Could InsiDS be back in this game? He attacks the Geist's Merchant, his last monster, and passes.

As strong as InsiDS's previous turn was, it seems Geist was more than prepared! He normal summons Abyss Soldier and discards Sinister Serpent to bounce the TER, a play that is going to haunt insiDS for the entire match. He attacks for 1800 and puts insiDS to 3900 LP, then passes.

InsiDS is down five cards to Geist's eight (along with a Serpent in the yard). InsiDS discards a TD for nothing,  then summons BLS! He's definitely putting up a fight! Geist okays the summon and, in a rather risky play, InsiDS decides to attack rather than banish. The Abyss Soldier dies and deals 1200 to GeistD, but the second attack is met with Scapegoat. With Geist now at 4800, InsiDS sets a monster and a backrow and passes. 

It feels like it's all coming down to this turn. Does Geist have an answer, or will InsiDS ride the BLS to victory? Geist adds his Serpent back and activates Snatch Steal! This is followed with Nobleman of Crossout on InsiDS's set monster (Faith) and a normal summoned Cyber Jar. With 3900 damage on board, InsiDS's exact life total, GeistD enters his battle phase and InsiDS admits defeat, ending his world championship run at third place.

Congratulations to GeistD for making it to grand finals where he will face off against Dingosig for the title! 

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​Cameron Saunders is a long winded Goat duelist who knows everything about Yugioh except how to play it. You can find him hanging out in the goatformat.com and Format Library Discord servers complaining about formats no one plays.