I figured out Ben's deck theme when I re-read the earlier chapter and noticed Australia. This duel didn't impress me actually.

The main reason for that was while the combos were definately strategic, they were also overused. Everyone uses the Oz/De-Fusion combo. To tell you the truth, it was way too reminicent of Chad and Chumley, making almost nothing I hadn't seen before.

Monarchs, while definately a good choice of deck theme for the opponent in question, was also rather lackluster. The cards that were not Monarchs seemed too random. (though I do appreciate the rejection of the Treeborn/Monarch combo) The new m onarch didn't help things either.

I'm sorry to say, I found this chapter as a low point, but it looks like the next few will start to pick up speed. I'll be there.