Lazaro, like Shane, had managed to totally avoid the feature match table all throughout Day 1. Now though, it’s his time to shine. Today, he’s playing a new Monarch build featuring Card Trooper, Gravekeeper’s Spy, and Legendary Jujitsu Master.

Lazaro won the opening roll, 4 to 1, and opted to start us off. He started with a set Gravekeeper’s Spy, while Scurry set a Spy of his own and ended. Lazaro flipped his Spy during the next turn and brought out a second one in defense. He then tributed the flipped Spy for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to blast Shane’s Spy and score some quick damage before passing without a backfield. Shane had a Cyber Dragon next turn and he followed it up with Brain Control on Zaborg. Zaborg was tributed for Thestalos, knocking a Mobius out of Lazaro’s hand. Cyber Dragon struck down the Spy and Thestalos hit directly before Shane passed without a backfield once more. Smashing Ground came down on Lazaro’s side of the field to get rid of Cyber Dragon, and he set Sangan before passing. Thestalos hit the Sangan, prompting Lazaro to fetch Treeborn Frog from his deck, and Shane set a card to each zone before passing.

Lazaro set a card to each zone and passed back to Shane, who flipped Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and attacked into the set Frog with his Locomotive. Thestalos fell to Ring of Destruction, and Shane set a monster before passing. Lazaro drew and thought for a bit before deciding against bringing back Frog. He activated Heavy Storm and summoned Cyber Dragon and Legendary Jujitsu Master. Brain Control stole Dekoichi, and Lazaro swung through Shane’s smaller defense monster with the Dekoichi while the rest of his monsters swung for game! Lazaro makes a great play at a critical moment to take game 1!

Both players smoke-screened between games, keeping silent while making their decisions. It was Shane’s turn to start and he opened with Confiscation, revealing a Spy, Thestalos, Pulling the Rug, Mystic Tomato, and Soul Exchange. A great hand for a Monarch mirror match. Soul Exchange was chosen for the discard, and Shane set a card to each zone before ending. Lazaro set a card to each zone and passed back to Shane who flipped Dekoichi and set a monster before passing. No attacks were conducted, and Shane passed to Lazaro who simply set another monster and ended. Lazaro really didn’t want to lose a Pulling the Rug to an end phase Mystical Space Typhoon. Shane set another monster and switched his Dekoichi to defense position, opting to wait things out. This gave Lazaro an opportunity to flip Gravekeeper’s Spy to fetch another one out in defense position. The attack position Spy defeated Dekoichi and was tributed for Zaborg to destroy Shane’s fresh set — his own Gravekeeper’s Spy!

Lazaro ended his turn with no further plays and Shane was up. He set a monster and passed over to Lazaro, who swung at one of Shane’s set monsters. Dekoichi was destroyed, and Lazaro tributed his second Spy for Thestalos, forcing Scurry to discard Heavy Storm! He ended his turn and action was back to Shane, who continued to defend by setting another monster. Lazaro attacked the least recent set with Thestalos, and Shane allowed another Spy to fall in battle, but not before it brought the third to the field. The last Spy was summarily dispatched by Zaborg, and Lazaro set a monster before ending. Shane counted out five monsters from his graveyard and activated Pot of Avarice, shuffling all three Spies and two Dekoichis into his deck and allowing him to draw 2 cards. He activated Brain Control on Thestalos and ran it into Zaborg, depleting Lazaro’s field of Monarchs. He set one more monster and passed to Lazaro, who flipped his own Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and set a second Dekoichi before passing. Soul Exchange came down to tribute Lazaro’s set Mystic Tomato for Thestalos, but it turned out that Lazaro’s set card was a Pulling the Rug all along, and Thestalos was obliterated! Lazaro flipped his other Dekoichi and set two spells or traps to the field, one of which was another Pulling the Rug. Shane passed without playing, and Lazaro switched his Locomotives to defense position before setting a third monster. Soul Exchange came down for Scurry tributing yet another Tomato for yet another Thestalos, but the second Pulling the Rug flipped from Lazaro’s back row, negating and destroying the Monarch.

Lazaro tributed a Dekoichi for Cyber Dragon and attacked into Shane’s set Spirit Reaper before ending. Shane then flipped Gravekeeper’s Spy to fetch another one in defense position and tributed the attack position Spy for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch! Zaborg destroyed Cyber Dragon with his effect, and then tried to attack Dekoichi. It was thwarted by Ring of Destruction, however, and Shane was forced to pass. Lazaro drew and tributed his Dekoichi for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch forcing Shane to discard Premature Burial, but the Monarch was flipped down by Book of Moon before it could attack. Brain Control destroyed the Reaper in main phase two, and Lazaro set a card and passed. Shane had a Hydrogeddon next turn, but it was wiped by Mirror Force, and Shane set a Sakuretsu Armor. The Armor was destroyed by Mystical Space Typhoon in the next turn and Shane’s Spy finally fell to Thestalos. Shane was on the defensive, and he special summoned Cyber Dragon in defense position and set a monster before passing back to Lazaro. Lazaro attacked his set Sangan, allowing Scurry a Treeborn Frog, and set two spells or traps before ending. Shane set a card to each zone and passed over to Lazaro who attacked into a set Morphing Jar! Shane now had a chance to get back in this game, and Lazaro set a monster before passing. Shane flipped his Frog and activated Torrential Tribute, clearing the field but allowing Lazaro to get his own Frog via the effect of Sangan!

Shane checked Lazaro’s graveyard before setting a card to each zone and passing. Lazaro now had plenty of Monarchs in hand, but nothing to tribute, and he set his Frog before passing. Shane flipped Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and set another monster. Lazaro tributed his set Frog for Zaborg to blow away Shane’s freshly set Gravekeeper’s Spy and attacked Dekoichi with the Monarch. He passed without further plays, and Shane summoned Cyber Dragon and dropped Snatch Steal to take the Monarch away! Both monsters attacked, but only the stolen Zaborg survived due to Sakuretsu Armor blowing away the Dragon. Lazaro thought he would have game next turn, but he was down to 2400 life points due to Zaborg’s attack, and Ring of Destruction from Scurry was just enough to end the game! Shane Scurry comes back from an almost hopeless game to force this semifinal match to game 3!

Lazaro had the option to start the final game of this match, and he took it, leading off with a set to each zone. Shane started things off with Cyber Dragon attacking into Lazaro’s set Mystic Tomato. Tomato brought out Sangan, and Scurry activated Confiscation. Confiscation revealed Brain Control, Zaborg, Thestalos, and Legendary Jujitsu Master, and Shane decided that he didn’t want to deal with Thestalos next turn. Still, aware of the threat from Zaborg, Scurry set a card to each zone and passed. If that monster was anything important, anything at all, this could go really badly for Shane. Lazaro realized, however, that if the set monster was Sangan, summoning Zaborg was tantamount to using his own resources just to give Shane Treeborn Frog. He thought long and hard on his next play and eventually decided to set a card to each zone before switching Sangan to defense and ending. Cyber Dragon attempted an attack on Shane’s turn, but it was denied by Sakuretsu Armor.

Shane passed, and Lazaro added another card to his back field before ending. Shane simply passed his turn, content to wait Lazaro out, but Lazaro had drawn into another Thestalos. He summoned it, using Sangan as the tribute, and fetched out his Treeborn Frog while forcing Shane to discard Soul Exchange. Thestalos attempted to attack the mysterious set monster, but it was destroyed by Sakuretsu Armor! Shane set a second monster to his field and passed with no back row cards. Lazaro flipped Soul Exchange to tribute the mystery monster, Treeborn Frog, to summon Zaborg and wipe Scurry’s set Spirit Reaper. The Frog returned to Scurry next turn, and Heavy Storm blew away Lazaro’s set Pulling the Rug. Zaborg came down for Scurry, blowing away Lazaro’s Zaborg with his effect and his set Legendary Jujitsu Master with his attack. Zaborg bounced to the top of the deck, and Scurry passed.

Scurry set a card and passed, and Lazaro set two monsters over the next turns while Scurry continued to pass. Finally, Scurry set a monster and Lazaro set a spell or trap. Now Scurry was faced with a choice: Summon Zaborg and risk a Pulling the Rug, or wait till he could find more removal. He went for the latter and set a monster before passing back to Lazaro. Lazaro set a third monster and passed back to Scurry who flipped Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Dekoichi attacked Lazaro’s first set and ran headlong into a Legendary Jujitsu Master! He set a new monster and passed back to Lazaro who flipped a Dekoichi of his own, only to draw another off the effect. He activated Nobleman of Crossout on Scurry’s latest set and removed Morphing Jar from play! Lazaro set a fourth monster and passed once more. Scurry had Torrential Tribute face down, and he activated it next turn in response to his own flip summon of Gravekeeper’s Spy! That’s two killer moves with Torrential in two games for those of you who are counting.

The Spy fetched another copy of itself in defense position, and Scurry checked the graveyards before setting a spell or trap and ending his turn. Lazaro checked his graveyard before activating Pot of Avarice, shuffling 2 Monarchs, Sangan, and 2 Dekoichis into his deck to draw 2 cards. He got Mystic Tomato and Gravekeeper’s Spy, and he set a monster before passing. Scurry summoned Hydrogeddon next turn and attacked into Lazaro’s set Spy, allowing Lazaro to fetch a second Spy from the deck. Shane passed his turn, and Lazaro picked up Thestalos, tributing a Spy to summon it. He picked the bounced Zaborg out of Shane’s hand and dealt a little damage in the process. He then passed his turn without attacking, allowing Shane to steal his Thestalos with Brain Control! The disloyal Monarch took down Gravekeeper’s Spy, and Lazaro took 1600 damage before Shane tributed the Monarch for his own Thestalos. Torrential cleared the field, but Lazaro lost Premature Burial. In the next turn, Treeborn Frog came back to the field and Lazaro set a card to each zone before passing. Shane played out his next Hydrogeddon and attacked Treeborn Frog, but Lazaro blew it away with Mirror Force. Shane passed without setting anything else, and Lazaro simply set a monster before passing, content to wait for removal before trying to press. Shane summoned a Cyber Dragon and attacked into Lazaro’s freshly set Dekoichi before setting a spell or trap and passing. Lazaro needed a Mobius right now, but, in the meantime, he stole away Cyber Dragon with Snatch Steal and attacked. The treacherous Dragon was destroyed by Sakuretsu Armor, and Lazaro tributed his Frog to set a Cyber Dragon. The Dragon was eliminated by Soul Exchange and Scurry dropped Thestalos, forcing Lazaro discard another Cyber Dragon. Lazaro drew, returned his Frog to the field and activated Brain Control on Thestalos. He attacked with the pilfered Monarch, and Shane opted to take the damage, dropping to 2500 life points to Lazaro’s 5100. In main phase 2, Treeborn Frog was tributed for Zaborg to destroy the Thestalos before he could go back home. Scurry simply passed without doing anything, and Zaborg attacked him next turn. Mirror Force blocked the attack, and Lazaro passed. Shane set Dekoichi but lost it to another Zaborg next turn. This Zaborg fell to Ring of Destruction, leaving Shane at 100 life points!