FIRE Takes the Trophy
Chapa's road to the Win a GGP 9 title: recruiter battles, recycled resources, and the damage that kept adding up.
A 100-ATK monster becomes the target of a winning attack. A discarded Solar Flare Dragon comes back to hand, only to pay for another board-clearing effect. And a Thunder Dragon in the opponent's hand becomes the last 500 damage of a duel. Chapa's Win a GGP 9 run had plenty of moments that explain why this FIRE deck is more than a collection of monsters sharing an Attribute.
His first-round win was administrative: Arena did not arrive in time. The action covered here begins in round two, with seven saved games across the matches against Nikito, Costeño, and KrlosPollo. Some of those games were played in player-created manual rooms, so their room labels alone do not tell the whole tournament story.
The winning list
The published list has 40 Main Deck cards: 18 monsters, 16 Spells, and 6 Traps. Its threats range from Spirit of Flames and Blazing Inpachi to Solar Flare Dragon, Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, and the Lonefire Blossom–Sylvan Hermitree package. UFO Turtle, Bonfire, Unexpected Dai, and Oil keep those threats accessible or help rebuild after removal.
On the decklist page, choose Download Deck to save the .ydk and test the list in NeoGoat Pro. The page also lists one Extra Deck card and six reconstructed Side Deck cards; the latter are not proof that the original sideboard contained only six.
The route to the title
| Round | Opponent | The story |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arena | No-show win; no played duel is credited to this round. |
| 2 | Nikito | Three games against Dragons and a demanding Trap lineup. |
| 3 | Costeño | FIRE's recovery tools against Chaos and hand pressure. |
| 4 | KrlosPollo | A grinding fight against Plants, EARTH threats, and Monarchs. |
Replay coverage: three of the seven files reproduce through a recorded win. Four stop before a terminal result, so the descriptions below stop at the last recoverable action. Chapa's title and the first-round no-show are organizer-confirmed; incomplete recordings are not used to invent finishing turns.
Round 2 — Nikito: finding a way through the back row
Game 1: FIRE under pressure
Nikito's opening game put Chapa on the defensive. Luster Dragon and Giant Orc supplied pressure, while Bottomless Trap Hole interfered with Chapa's summons. A later direct attack by Tribe-Infecting Virus left Chapa at just 100 LP. His next Tenkabito Shien was met by Solemn Judgment. The recoverable sequence reaches an Oil activation, but not a terminal win message—an important limit on what this file can tell us.
Game 2: a vanilla monster does the finishing
The second game showed another side of the deck. Nikito brought out Luster Dragon and Goblin Attack Force, then established Skill Drain. Chapa answered the developing board with Torrential Tribute and used Molten Destruction to make his ordinary FIRE bodies much more threatening. UFO Turtle attacked for 1,900, and a sided-in Bottomless Trap Hole removed Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast.
After a later Fusilier hit back, Chapa used Bonfire and Smashing Ground, then summoned Blazing Inpachi. With the Field Spell boosting it to 2,350 ATK, Inpachi landed a direct attack that left Nikito at 1,250 LP. Its next direct attack ended the game. This was not a complicated combo finish: removal plus a large Normal Monster was enough.
Game 3: the slow burn, then the swap
The deciding recording is the most distinctive of the match. Early exchanges included UFO Turtle and Masked Dragon recruiting replacements, followed by Chapa using Lonefire Blossom to reach Sylvan Hermitree. Nikito's Mirror Force answered that threat, but Chapa rebuilt with Charcoal Inpachi and Solar Flare Dragon.
Solar Flare delivered six separate 500-damage End Phase hits before Nikito finally removed it. A key chain along the way involved Solar Flare, Dust Tornado, Royal Decree, and Solemn Judgment. Nikito survived that exchange, but paying for Solemn and absorbing more burn left little room for error.
With another Royal Decree established, Chapa changed Charcoal Inpachi to Attack Position and activated Creature Swap. Nikito received the 100-ATK Inpachi; Chapa received Twin-Headed Behemoth, tributed it for Thestalos, and attacked his own former monster. The resulting 2,300 battle damage ended the duel.
Round 3 — Costeño: Oil keeps the engine running
Game 1: rebuilding after Torrential
Costeño's Chaos deck interrupted Chapa's first attempt to establish two Solar Flare Dragons with Torrential Tribute. Chapa shifted immediately to a different threat: Spirit of Flames attacked directly for 2,000, and Blazing Inpachi later added another 1,850.
The game continued through Book of Moon, Heavy Storm, and Don Zaloog. Chapa rebuilt again, this time with Tribe-Infecting Virus and Breaker the Magical Warrior. Their direct attacks reduced Costeño to 750 LP, while Chapa still had 8,000. That is where the available reconstruction stops; it preserves the pressure, not the final action.
Game 2: one Solar Flare, two discard costs
The second game was less comfortable. Chaos Sorcerer and Don Zaloog gave Costeño both field presence and hand pressure, and Chapa fell to 3,400 LP. His response was a particularly good demonstration of why Oil belongs in this list.
Chapa summoned Tribe-Infecting Virus, discarded Solar Flare Dragon, and destroyed Chaos Sorcerer. He then activated Oil, recovering that Solar Flare Dragon and Blazing Inpachi. Discarding the recovered Solar Flare paid for a second Tribe activation, this time removing Don Zaloog. Tribe followed with a direct attack. Oil had turned a spent monster into another removal effect while also replenishing Chapa's hand.
Later, Solar Flare Dragon supplied the damage. Two turns of direct attacks and End Phase burn took Costeño from 4,200 LP to just 200. Chapa then tributed Solar Flare for Thestalos. The Monarch discarded Thunder Dragon, and the resulting 500 effect damage ended the duel without requiring another attack.
Round 4 — KrlosPollo: recovering from 1,900 LP
Game 1: both players have the Plant engine
The final-round opponent appears as krlos in the replay files. His list combined Plant access with EARTH threats and Monarchs, creating a matchup in which Chapa was not the only player able to turn Lonefire Blossom into a much larger monster.
One striking exchange came when KrlosPollo used Brain Control to take Chapa's Lonefire Blossom, then used it to access his own recruiter sequence. Chapa answered on the following turn with Oil and another Lonefire line into Sylvan Hermitree. Later, Torrential Tribute reset the field, and another Oil helped Chapa rebuild with Blazing Inpachi.
Neither player escaped the grind untouched. The recording eventually reaches a Ring of Destruction exchange involving Legendary Jujitsu Master, leaving Chapa at 1,800 LP and KrlosPollo at 2,000. The file does not preserve a reproducible finish beyond that position.
Game 2: Breaker reopens the game
Chapa established an early Thestalos, but KrlosPollo fought back with Royal Decree, Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, and then direct attacks from D.D. Survivor and Gigantes. By the end of that assault, Chapa was down to 1,900 LP.
Breaker the Magical Warrior was the turning point in the preserved sequence. Chapa first used its boosted ATK to defeat D.D. Survivor, then spent the counter in Main Phase 2 to destroy Royal Decree. His Traps were available again: when KrlosPollo summoned his own Breaker on the next turn, Chapa answered with Bottomless Trap Hole.
Chapa rebuilt with Thestalos and Solar Flare Dragon. A direct Thestalos attack and Solar Flare's End Phase damage brought KrlosPollo down to 2,600 LP. Chapa then added a second Solar Flare, and Thestalos attacked over Hydrogeddon for another 800. The last recoverable position has Chapa still at 1,900 and KrlosPollo at 1,800, with Chapa's two Solar Flares and Thestalos established.
The recording stops there, before those End Phase effects or a final result can be reconstructed. What it does show is the recovery: from facing lethal pressure to rebuilding a field that threatened damage through both battle and effects. Chapa went on to take the tournament title; the missing final actions are not filled in here.
What this run says about FIRE
The memorable finishes came from different cards, but the games shared a few recurring patterns:
- Recovery mattered as much as the opening. Oil repeatedly helped Chapa keep playing after removal or turn discarded monsters into fresh resources.
- The deck could change its plan. It won a recorded game with a Molten Destruction–boosted Normal Monster, another with Creature Swap and Thestalos, and another with Thestalos's effect damage.
- Small amounts of burn changed the endgame. Solar Flare's 500-damage increments narrowed the opponent's options and made later attacks or discard damage decisive.
- Sideboard tools had visible impact. Bottomless Trap Hole and Royal Decree appear in the post-side games, helping Chapa contest large summons and demanding back rows.
That is the appeal of Chapa's winning build: it is a FIRE deck with several ways to finish a game, and enough recovery to keep looking for one after its first threat is answered.
Watch the run & try the deck
Watch the recorded games below, then download the list and test it in NeoGoat Pro. Pay particular attention to the Creature Swap finish against Nikito and the Oil–Tribe sequence against Costeño: they show how much work a seemingly modest card can do in this deck.
If the embedded player is unavailable, watch the video directly on YouTube.
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