This time we're covering the clash between Shoto's bird deck and Yao's Crystal Sea Palace deck.

Since Shoto can't include Zephagamon in his deck, he's made some modifications from his previous bird deck. It'll be interesting to see what strategies he has up his sleeve this time.

He'll be facing Yao, who'll be using a newly released deck.
Her deck does have a previous incarnation, namely her aquatic deck that specializes in playing and attaching digivolution card Digimon to activate their effects. However, its playstyle has been transformed by the addition of the ocean sovereign Ryugumon and its followers.
Given the nature of these decks, what we're about to witness will feel familiar yet unfamiliar.
The stage is Lapis Marine's soaring Stadium Tower, with a backdrop of brilliant blue skies and sparkling waves.
If Shoto can prove he has what it takes, he'll be accepted onto the debugging team.
These are the players' starting hands.

Going first, Shoto hatches a Fluffymon and digivolves it into Muchomon.

Next, he calls upon Pteromon and utilizes its [On Play] effect to add two cards to his hand: a Muchomon and his Tamer card that has a cost of 4.

With the memory gauge at 3, Yao begins her first turn by hatching Puyoyomon, before performing a string of digivolutions: first into Sangomon, then into Shellmon, and finally MarineBullmon.

She ends up with an imposing level 5 in her breeding area while shifting the memory gauge to 2 on Shoto's side.

Beginning his second turn, Shoto opts not to deploy Muchomon from the breeding area into the battle area. This is most likely because Yao has a level 5 in her breeding area, making it preferable to continue digivolving in his own.

In the early stages, when both players are performing multiple digivolutions, it's often advantageous to be the second player to move your Digimon from the breeding area, taking advantage of a [When Digivolving] effect that gets rid of an opponent's Digimon. And as it happens, Shoto's deck contains plenty of level 6 Digimon with such effects. Deciding not to be overly offensive here is not cowardly, but cunning.
He sends Pteromon in the battle area to attack, but it loses the security battle.
Rounding out his turn, he digivolves Muchomon into Kokatorimon in the breeding area, and plays his 4 cost Tamer card, ensuring he'll start his next turn with 3 memory.
Despite losing a Digimon and giving Yao 4 memory, things could be worse, since he's set up to digivolve up to level 6 next turn.

Yao's begins her second turn by commanding the gigantic MarineBullmon to move from the breeding area to the battle area.
The Main Phase then arrives, and she plays her Tamer card for 4 memory, before attacking Shoto's security with MarineBullmon.
Upon attacking, she gets to use her Tamer card's effect to place Swimmon as MarineBullmon's digivolution card, giving it <Jamming> as an inherited effect. MarineBullmon would have had to face a 12000 DP Eaglemon from the security, but it strides ahead unfazed.
And it gets to use its [End of Attack] effect to boot. The inherited effects of Sangomon and Shellmon increase Yao's memory, allowing her to make one final move: playing Xiquemon for a cost of 5. We're only two turns in, but Yao has already made clear how she attained GM status. Her bold yet efficient use of memory has put her in a strong position, with her Tamer card in play and only 3 memory granted to Shoto.

Shoto begins his third turn with Kokatorimon in his breeding area and Parrotmon and Eaglemon in his hand. What should he do...?

"Suppose I suspend Xiquemon with Parrotmon's [When Digivolving] effect and then attack it. I have [Piercing] from an inherited effect, too. After the security battle, I'll be able to use Eaglemon's [When Digivolving] effect to return MarineBullmon to the hand. Then I'd be ahead in terms of both field strength and remaining security cards.

There's a risk of Parrotmon losing the security battle, but to have any hope of beating Yao I'll have to take it on."

With a plan decided, he starts to go through the steps, digivolving Kokatorimon in the battle area into Parrotmon and attacking Xiquemon...

But that's when he hits a snag, losing Parrotmon due to Puyoyomon's inherited effect.

This is a blowback-type effect and causes both players to lose a Digimon. The drawback for the user is that only the opponent gets a card back in hand, but MarineBullmon's <Decode (Blue Lv. 4)> covers for this.

When a Digimon with <Decode> has to leave the field, you can play a Digimon from its digivolution cards with a certain level. And so in this scenario, with MarineBullmon about to leave the field, its effect lets Yao play Shellmon from the digivolution cards.

When all is done and dusted, Shoto loses the Digimon on his playing field, while Yao ends up with two level 4s. But even though his initial plan fell apart, Shoto looks far from put out. As a final move, he plays Muchomon in preparation for his next turn.

At the beginning of Yao's third turn, she has a strong field and no obstacles in her way—it's about as good an opportunity as any to attack.
In the Breeding Phase she hatches Puyoyomon, and then in the Main Phase she attacks Shoto's security with the Xiquemon and Shellmon in the battle area. Xiquemon doesn't survive the initial security battle, but she's able to bestow Shellmon with <Jamming> by placing Swimmon as its digivolution card through her Tamer card's effect.
However, when Shellmon attacks, Galemon emerges from security. This is bad news, since its [Security] effect allows Shoto to play another Galemon with a cost of 4, thus turning the tables in the battle area, numerically at least.
Yao follows up with another chain of digivolutions in her breeding area, ending up with MarineBullmon again and giving Shoto 3 memory to start his fourth turn.

He has two Digimon, the same number as Yao, but they're level 3 and 4, and much weaker than hers.
A poorly planned turn here would seal his defeat, and so he pauses to think.

A few seconds of intense concentration later, he breaks the silence, declaring that he'll hatch a Digi-Egg and digivolve Fluffymon into Pteromon in preparation for his next turns.

And then, keeping up the pressure, he attacks Yao's security with Muchomon—successfully, as the card revealed is another of the Tamer card Yao already has in play.
Next, he digivolves Galemon into Deramon, and uses it to make another security attack, bringing them level in terms of number of cards remaining.
Shoto is still at a disadvantage on the playing field, but that's about to change too—he finally manages to bring out Eaglemon and use its [When Digivolving] effect to return Shellmon to Yao's hand.
It looks like he could just be in a winning position here thanks to this aggressive play, although he has granted Yao 4 memory for her fourth turn.

As before, Yao begins by moving MarineBullmon out of the breeding area. This time though, she's not stopping at level 5... Paying a cost of 4, she declares a digivolution.
The Crystal Sea Palace is named after a location in the Eastern Digital World under a certain Digimon's rule.
And now, this Digimon arrives in Lapis Marine, its splendorous form sparkling in several shades of blue.

Yao wastes no time, using Ryugumon’s [When Digivolving] effect to play the digivolution card Sangomon. With Sangomon's [On Play] effect, Yao adds two cards from the top of her deck to her hand: Xiquemon and the Option card Wadatsumi Purification.
She then attacks Shoto's security with Ryugumon, which allows her to place Huankunmon as its digivolution card through her Tamer card's effect. Shoto's security card is his Tamer card with a cost of 3. This is fortunate, since it means he'll start his next turn with one more memory.
But before that, Ryugumon has two [End of Attack] inherited effects to resolve. The first is Shellmon's, giving Yao one more memory. Following this is MarineBullmon's, which allows Yao to play that same Shellmon.
She then uses the other card she just drew with Sangomon; Wadatsumi Purification. By placing the Sangomon on her field at the bottom of her deck, she gets to sweep away Shoto's Eaglemon, returning it to his hand. Eaglemon's <Fortitude> is no help here, as it doesn't protect against effects that return a card to the hand or deck.

Playing a Digimon from digivolution cards and then immediately using it as the cost for a removal effect—it's a combination that hits like a rushing wave. A Crystal Sea Palace deck is truly formidable when in full flow, and Shoto is at risk of being dragged under.

With one security card left and only Pteromon in his breeding area and Muchomon on his playing field, his chances of victory are looking slim.
Will 4 memory on his fifth turn be enough to take down the deep-sea sovereign?

According to Cool Boy, losing wouldn't necessarily sink his hopes of being accepted on the debugging team.
But what true card game player is ever okay with taking an L, even when on the ropes in a "friendly" match? The old Shoto's fighting spirit would have been extinguished by the Crystal Sea Palace's majesty, but not now.

He sends Pteromon out from the breeding area. Since Yao has Digimon on her field, this increases his memory to 5 through his Tamer card's [Start of Your Main Phase] effect.
Paying 1 and then 3 memory, he digivolves Pteromon into Galemon and then GrandGalemon.
The latter's [When Digivolving] effect renders it unaffected by the opponent's effects by suspending itself, meaning it won't face any trouble from Ryugumon's inherited effect from Puyoyomon.
And then, for another 3 memory, another digivolution...

The serenity of the great sea is torn apart by enchanted gusts of wind.

And with this, MedievalGallantmon appears, wielding Dynas, a magic lance as tall as its swinger. This hero from another dimension is Shoto's new ace card, and it stands fearlessly before the Crystal Sea Palace's sovereign.
And then, with a flash of crimson...

MedievalGallantmon's [When Digivolving] effect suspends Shellmon. At this point, the turn would normally pass to Yao, as the memory gauge is at 2 on her side.
However, a Vortex Warrior is at work here.
With an [End of Your Turn] effect, Shoto's Tamer card with a cost of 3 unsuspends MedievalGallantmon, and also grants it <Piercing> and <Blocker>. And since it has <Vortex>, it can attack Shellmon.

On top of this, its <Alliance> ability comes into play, allowing it to suspend Muchomon to gain 1000 DP and granting it <Security A. +1>. And when Muchomon is suspended, it confers a further boost of 3000 DP. Furthermore, MedievalGallantmon won't stay suspended after attacking either, thanks to its inherited effect from GrandGalemon.
With Dynas bearing down on Shellmon, Yao turns to the inherited effect of Puyoyomon, returning Muchomon to Shoto's hand.
Since MedievalGallantmon can't be returned to the hand, her alternate strategy is to play Huankunmon through <Decode> and then use its [On Play] effect.
This would prevent Shellmon's deletion, thereby negating MedievalGallantmon's <Piercing>. And with that, Shoto's turn would end.

However, thanks to MedievalGallantmon's [All Turns] effect, its [When Digivolving] effect comes into play a second time.
Shoto suspends Huankunmon, and then, he opts for the effect he didn't use earlier, deleting a Digimon whose DP is sufficiently low, in this case 11000 or less, due to there being two Digimon suspended.

According to the Digimon Card Game rules, the turn player's Digimon card effects resolve before their opponent's. This means that deleting an opponent's Digimon straight after it's played prevents the resolution of its [On Play] effect.

And that's exactly what happens with Huankunmon here, an outcome brought about by clever forward-thinking from Shoto.

The path is clear for Dynas' strike, and Shellmon is deleted. In one fell swoop, Shoto has taken down two security cards and gained 3 memory through inherited effects, shifting the gauge to 1 on his side.
The fearsome gale has parted the waters, leaving Yao with no security. And as MedievalGallantmon stands ready to land the decisive blow, Shoto shouts out in triumph.

Although complicated, this battle was fascinating to watch, with the tide turning back and forth each turn.
In the end, the scales of victory tipped in Shoto Kazama's favor, with his pluckiness and trust in his deck winning through.