Heriberto Calderon hails from Downey, California, and at 18 years of age he’s a student attending the California School of Culinary Arts. This is his first-ever premier tournament, and what a way to start a tournament career!

He’s up against fan favorite Chris Moosman, representing Team YugiohETC and yugiohetc.com. Moosman is running an innovative new Exodia deck that’s similar to many Exodia builds being run here this morning, but that incorporates a killer double draw engine that might set his deck apart from the crowd.

He won the roll and opened with Cyber Valley, two Destiny Hero – Plasma, Destiny Draw, Trade-In, and Upstart Goblin. He activated Trade-In to discard Plasma and draw two cards. He then activated Upstart Goblin and followed it up with Destiny Draw, this time pitching Destiny Hero – Dogma. He drew into two pieces of Exodia.

Allure of Darkness let him trade Destiny Hero – Plasma for two more cards, and

Destiny Draw with the last Plasma got him two more — including Spell Economics. Moosman had Elemental Hero Stratos, two Cyber Valley, Spell Economics, Dimension Fusion, and Exodia pieces in his hand. He summoned one Valley and ended, out of steam for the moment.

He’d drawn Machine Duplication, and he summoned Cyber Valley to use it. It brought his third and final Valley to the field! With Spell Economics and Dimension Fusion at his disposal, and one more Valley out of play, he had the loop, but did Calderon have Dust Tornado set? If he did then the Economics (and the Loop) would be useless.

Moosman removed his two Valleys to draw two cards, and then flopped another Upstart Goblin. He went for it, activating Spell Economics! Calderon had no response, and Moosman activated Dimension Fusion! It brought back his three Cyber Valley for free.

“I’ll use the third effect to remove one Valley and a card from my hand,” Stratos, “to send Dimension Fusion back to the top of my deck.” He then drew into Fusion and one more card by removing the last two Cyber Valleys. He activated Dimension Fusion again, this time bringing out three Valleys and Stratos to search his deck for Destiny Hero – Dogma.

Allure of Darkness got him two more cards, and he removed Dogma for its effect. At this point everything was academic — Moosman could draw through his deck at no life point cost thanks to the three Cyber Valleys, and moments later he was declaring his win condition: Exodia the Forbidden One!

Calderon dove into his side deck, while Moosman considered his options and decided not to side. Play proceeded quickly.

Game 2 began with Calderon setting two cards to his back row, summoning Card Trooper, and activating it to send Giant Rat and two D.D. Crow to his graveyard. He shook his head, disappointed when he lost the Crows. “I think I win,” grinned Moosman.

He activated Destiny Draw, discarding Disk Commander, and then discarded Dogma for another. Trade-In let him pitch Plasma, and he followed it up with Premature Burial on Disk Commander. He drew his two cards, but Calderon had Torrential Tribute to wipe the field. Allure of Darkness with another Plasma got Moosman two more draws, and Destiny Draw ditched another Dogma. Moosman was just shredding through his deck!

Upstart Goblin was next, and his graveyard was almost as tall as his deck at this point. He set one card to his back row, likely Reckless Greed, and ended.

Calderon activated Call of the Mummy and special summoned Despair from the Dark. He then normal summoned Pyramid Turtle and attacked to lower Moosman to 3200 life points. “It’s your turn.”

Moosman drew, and then activated Reckless Greed to draw two more. It was now or never. He activated Allure of Darkness, drew two cards, and then removed Plasma. “Finally!” He had drawn into the Cyber Valley he needed to match his in-hand Machine Duplication, and it brought out two more Valleys! He was already holding four of his five Exodia pieces!

He removed two Cyber Valley and drew into Spell Economics and Allure of Darkness. He shook his head: he was holding two more Machine Duplication, another Reckless Greed, and nothing of real use. His only hope was to set the Greed and activate it in his opponent’s turn, drawing into Exodia the Forbidden One before Despair from the Dark and Pyramid Turtle could get an attack. He’d only be able to stall for one more turn, even if that Valley could stay on the field. In his end phase he discarded his dead Machine Duplications. “End my turn.”

Calderon attacked with Pyramid Turtle and Moosman removed his last Cyber Valley to draw and keep himself in the game. He drew one: not Exodia. But he flipped the Greed and drew into Dimension Fusion and Dark Magician of Chaos. Moosman was back in business!

He removed Dark Magician of Chaos with Allure, drawing two, and then drew one more with Upstart Goblin. He only had six cards left in his deck, and one was the head of Exodia. He had 3200 life points remaining.

He summoned Stratos, thinning his deck by searching out his last copy of Destiny Hero – Dogma. He activated Trade-In to ditch the Dogma, and still didn’t draw Exodia the Forbidden One! Just three cards remained in Moosman’s deck. Monster Reborn got him Disk Commander, and two more draws were his

“Please don’t be the last card,” hoped Moosman, who drew into two non-Exodia cards and laughed. “Oh well.” He activated Upstart Goblin, drew his last card, and revealed all five pieces of Exodia for the win.

Chris Moosman obliterate! Moosman captures his first match with authority, moving on with a 1-0 record!