Sorosh made waves yesterday by taking down two well known players in feature matches in his first two rounds. He kept going strong, and is now in the Top 8 with his Dark Creator Turbo. Ervin So is an up-and-coming player from Toronto whose fallen just short of the spotlight in premier tournaments. Both players have been itching to make a name for themselves and a win here today would do just that.

Game 1

Ervin won the die roll and opened with Reinforcement of the Army for Elemental Hero Stratos and searched for Elemental Hero Prisma. He set a spell or trap card, which was revealed to be Trap Dustshoot in Sorosh's standby phase. Destiny Hero - Malicious was returned to the deck over a pair of Dark Armed Dragons. Sorosh played Allure of Darkness and removed one of the Dragon's before flopping Reinforcement of the Army. Reinforcement allowed Stratos to hit the field and Destiny Hero - Plasma to be searched from the deck. Stratoses bumped heads. Sorosh set two spell or traps and flipped Mind Crush to rob Ervin of Prisma during his main phase.

Ervin played Mystical Space Typhoon next to destroy Torrential Tribute and summoned Spirit Reaper to take Destiny Hero - Plasma.  Ervin passed with no cards other than the Reaper, and next turn Sorosh drew into Dark Grepher! He played it and used its effect to make Dark Armed Dragon happen. Reaper was taken out along with a chunk of Ervin's life. Sorosh passed with just the two monsters. Ervin drew and with no way out scooped up his cards.

Game 2

Ervin started the second game with two set spell or trap cards and a set monster. He flipped Trap Dustshoot again on Sorosh's turn, revealing two copies of Destiny Hero - Malicious, Destiny Hero - Disk Commander, Dark Magician of Chaos, Premature Burial and Destiny Draw. The Magician made a surprising return to Sorosh's deck, telegraphing D.D. Crow from Ervin. Sorosh played Destiny Draw discarding the Commander and went into the tank to decide his next move. He played Heavy Storm and Ervin heaved a big sigh before sending Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror to his graveyard. Turns out that was the answer, as Premature Burial brought the Commander back for two new cards. Prohibition came down next calling Gladiator Beast Bestiari and Sorosh passed.

Ervin was up and he flipped Spirit Reaper before thinking about his next moves. He played Gladiator Beast Darius and attacked over the Disk Commander before plucking a Destiny Hero - Malicious from Sorosh's hand with Reaper. Ervin set a spell or trap, then passed. Sorosh special summoned Dark Grepher and tributed it for Jinzo! Ervin had the Book of Moon though and Jinzo went face down. Darius beat up Jinzo after Reaper went to defense mode and Ervin tagged out for Gladiator Beast Laquari. He set another spell or trap before passing.

Sorosh top decked Torrential Tribute and set it, allowing Ervin to make no plays other than an attack. Sorosh set his next top deck to the trap zone again and Ervin attacked once more. In his second main phase Ervin played D.D. Crow to remove the Disk Commander to take Sorosh off of The Dark Creator top deck, and Sorosh flipped Dust Tornado during his end phase to rid Ervin of a bluffed Mind Crush. Sorosh drew into the Magician of Chaos again and flipped a face-down Trade-In. He played Phantom of Chaos to remove the Magician and hit Laquari. Ervin summoned Elemental Hero Prisma next turn and Sorosh flipped the Torrential.

Next turn Sorosh drew into Monster Reborn! He played it for Jinzo and hit Ervin's monster. Ervin blocked with what was clearly a fresh D.D. Crow, and next turn drew the Gladiator Beast he needed for his two in-hand Test Tigers. He used one to tag out for Gladiator Beast Murmillo to destroy Jinzo, then tagged Murmillo out for a 2100 Laquari to finish Sorosh off.

Game 3

Sorosh began the third and final duel. The first two had been pretty crazy, so both players shuffled up nervously. Sorosh opened with Elemental Hero Stratos via Reinforcement of the Army. He searched for Destiny Hero - Plasma with his effect and passed. Ervin drew for his turn and looked very unimpressed with his hand. He set a spell or trap and a monster before saying "go" very quietly. He was either giving away big tells or was making a huge bluff. Either way Sorosh went all out. He decided to special summon his Dark Grepher by discarding a Malicious and pitched Plasma to dump Jinzo into his grave. Next he played Premature Burial in an attempt to bring back Jinzo.

In response to this Ervin went into the tank. "I'm pretty sure I lost," said Ervin, before flipped Solemn Judgment to negate it. "Dark Armed Dragon?" Sorosh wasn't holding it, but he did have a means to win the match. He special summoned a copy of Malicious before normal summoning Phantom of Chaos. He removed Plasma to absorb the face-down and his remaining monsters were able to take out the 4000 life points Ervin left himself with.

Sorosh Saberien takes a wild one 2-1!