“I’m 1-0 in recent feature matches,” said Peddle, jokingly ignoring his older feature match records.

“Hey, I’m still undefeated in feature matches!” retorted Dalit. “ . . . with my 0-0 record.” He flashed a grin.

“Good luck, man,” said Peddle.

“Good luck,” replied Dalit. He won the roll and opened with a set spell or trap.

Peddle set a card to each zone and ended his turn, not trusting Dalit to give him an opening. “You know you want to pass,” said Peddle, joking as Dalit took his turn. Dalit summoned Newdoria and attacked into Peddle’s set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Now he passed.

His opponent drew and special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacking into Newdoria to destroy both monsters and dish out 900 damage. Peddle then set a monster.

Dalit set a second spell or trap. Peddle flip summoned Magical Merchant, getting Graceful Charity right off the top! Merchant attacked and Peddle held the Charity for a later turn. “I’m just gonna assume you’ll screw this turn up, and I won’t have to play anything,” Peddle remarked. Dalit passed, grinning from Peddle’s zing.

Peddle topdecked Treeborn Frog for his Graceful Charity, which he requested be put into the feature match coverage. “Make sure they know I topdecked it.” He used Graceful, sacked Jinzo and Frog, and attacked again with the Merchant. He set a monster and ended. Dalit drew, and mouthed a silent curse. “This Graceful Charity is about to go back into my hand,” warned Peddle with a smile. Dalit summoned Spirit Reaper, attacked the Merchant, but Peddle had the answer: “I’ll brickwall.” He flipped Book of Moon, turned down Merchant, and got Mirror Force off of its effect while blocking Spirit Reaper’s attack. Next turn he flip summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, attacked the Spirit Reaper, and removed lady and Reaper from the game. He set two cards to his back row, matching Dalit’s two, and ended.

“Dexter Dalit sets one card face down in defense mode,” said Dalit, narrating his own moves. He passed.

“I’m gonna assume I’m walking into a Torrential bluff,” said Peddle, summoning Breaker the Magical Warrior. No Torrential, and Breaker broke Dalit’s Scapegoat. It was chained, and Merchant and Breaker each took out a Sheep. Dalit was up.

He activated Graceful Charity, discarding Sakuretsu Armor. “He tossed a Sakuretsu Armor, and he continued to think,” narrated Dalit with a wry smile. He discarded Creature Swap next, set a card to each zone, and passed. Merchant and Breaker cleared out the Sheep, Creature Swap traded Peddle’s Amazing Aggro Magical Merchant™ for Dalit’s set Magician of Faith, and Peddle ended.

Zaborg the Thunder Monarch came down on Dalit’s side, destroying Magician of Faith and attacking Breaker the Magical Warrior to clear the field! Peddle passed without making a move, flipped Scapegoat to block Zaborg, and Dalit attacked one of the Sheep. Peddle topdecked Snatch Steal, Dalit chained Dust Tornado, but Peddle chained Call of the Haunted to bring up Jinzo and negate the Tornado! He attacked for 4800 with Zaborg and Jinzo, passed, and admired his hand of six cards.

“I’ll gain 1000 like a champ,” said Dalit, taking his life points for Snatch Steal. He used his own Steal to take back Zaborg, crashed it into Jinzo, and set a monster. He set a second spell or trap card and finished his turn. “Peddle takes a deep breath as he looks at his cards, so disappointed he didn’t draw a Heavy Storm.” Can you tell that Dalit reads Metagame.com? Peddle set a card to each zone and passed, completely robbed of momentum from Dalit’s kamikaze play on the previous turn.

Dalit summoned Mystic Tomato, but ran it into Sakuretsu Armor. Next turn Peddle got the Heavy Storm. “Guess what I topdecked!” He tributed his Night Assailant for Zaborg, destroyed a Sheep with its effect, and swung for game.

Matt Peddle takes a decisive game 1!

“Dexter Dalit is devastated going into game 2,” narrated Dalit. I typed his commentary, eliciting a, “Yeah that’s right! You’d better write that down!” He grinned again, side decking.

Game 2 opened with a summoned Sangan and a set spell or trap from Dalit. Peddle set a card to his back row and passed. “Yeeeeeeeah, you’re taking Sangan beats!” Sure enough, the furball knocked him for 1000 on the following turn, Dalit’s only play. Peddle set a spell or trap and Sangan attacked, but this time Peddle activated Sakuretsu Armor.

“What happened to ‘I take Sangan ‘til I lose?’” asked Dalit.

“Yeah . . . we’re done with that,” replied Peddle.

“You liiiiiiaaaar!” exclaimed Dalit with great glee. Sangan got Dalit Treeborn Frog, and he set a monster.

Peddle activated Nobleman of Crossout, but removed Spirit Reaper, not Frog. Peddle summoned his own Frog, attacked, and Peddle passed. Dalit used his Graceful Charity, which he had saved from earlier, and summoned Tsukuyomi. It turned Frog face down, Nobleman of Crossout removed it, and Tsukuyomi attacked directly before bouncing from play. Peddle set a spell or trap, Dalit set one as well, Peddle passed back, and play was again to Dalit. It was 5900 to 7900.

The reigning champ set a monster and ended. Peddle special summoned Cyber Dragon, lost it to Sakuretsu Armor, and set a card to each zone. Dalit played Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase to destroy the freshly set spell or trap card, which was Heavy Storm.

Dalit brought up his Treeborn Frog from the graveyard, tributed it for Mobius the Frost Monarch to target Peddle’s one set spell or trap, and watched as it was flipped: Book of Moon turned Mobius face down, and Dalit ended his turn. “Why didn’t I see that?” Dalit chastised himself. “I’m so stupid. No, don’t type that one down! Dexter Dalit did not Mobius a Book of Moon!” Oh yes, he did.

Peddle flip summoned Magical Merchant, got Scapegoat with its effect, and tributed for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to destroy Dalit’s set Tsukuyomi. Zaborg then attacked the face down Mobius to destroy it, and Peddle set a spell or trap card.

The Frog came back up for Dalit, and he set a monster. Zaborg attacked it, destroying Mystic Tomato, and Dalit pulled Spirit Reaper to the field with the Tomato’s effect. Peddle ended his turn, and Dalit tributed his Frog for Zaborg to destroy Peddle’s. Zaborg and Reaper attacked but Scapegoat was flipped, and two Sheep tokens were destroyed.

Peddle was stuck looking at a hand of pure monsters and Torrential Tribute. He set the Torrential and passed. When Frog came back in Dalit’s standby phase Peddle flipped Torrential. “That’s cause Dexter Dalit’s bad.” Dalit brought back the Frog again, tributed it for Cyber Dragon, attacked directly, and then set a spell or trap card. Peddle set a monster and ended: he had a Sorcerer in hand, but no Dark monster in the graveyard.

Cyber Dragon attacked Peddle’s set monster, Sangan, and Peddle pulled Magician of Faith with its effect: he had a Dark monster in his graveyard now. Dalit ended his turn, and Peddle removed Sangan and Zaborg to special summon Chaos Sorcerer. Calling priority, he removed his opponent’s Cyber Dragon from play before setting a card to each zone and concluding his turn.

Dalit brought out a Sorcerer of his own, and removed Peddle’s from the game. He summoned Asura Priest, Creature Swapped it for Magical Merchant, set a spell or trap, and then took his Priest back. In the end phase he lost Sakuretsu Armor to Peddle’s Mystical Space Typhoon.

Peddle summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, attacking the pilfered Magical Merchant and netting Dalit a free card: Scapegoat. Secure in the knowledge that he wasnn’t going to walk into a chained ‘Goat, Peddle played Creature Swap, trading Dekoichi for Chaos Sorcerer, and using the Sorcerer to remove Dekoichi from the game! He passed with no back field.

Dalit looked over his hand carefully.

“You got me?” asked Peddle. “Snatch Steal and D. D. Warrior Lady?”

Dalit thought for a moment. “Yeah!” His face brightened visibly. “I’m so bad at the math. I’m like a fake Asian or something!” He played Snatch Steal, took the Sorcerer, and summoned Asura Priest for game.

“That’s ok,” said Peddle. “I didn’t want to 2-0 Dexter Dalit anyway.”

“Pleeeeeeease! You didn’t have a choice!” Dalit laughed and both duelists shuffled up for the final duel.

Peddle opened with one set to each zone, and Dalit summoned Asura Priest to attack Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. He set a spell or trap and ended. Peddle set another and passed back. Dalit summoned Asura again, but Peddle stopped it with Torrential. Dalit activated Last Will, brought out Spirit Reaper, and attacked, but lost it to Enemy Controller.

Peddle brought down Sangan and attacked for a grand. Dalit brought out Chaos Sorcerer, removed Sangan from the field, and hit with Spirit Reaper to discard Zaborg. Peddle played Snatch Steal, took the Sorcerer, and used it to remove Spirit Reaper. He set a card to each zone and passed. Nobleman of Crossout removed his face down monster from the field on the following turn, Magician of Faith, and both duelists stripped copies from their deck. Dalit played Confiscation, discarding Peddle’s Chaos Sorcerer over Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, and ended.

Chaos Sorcerer hit directly, Peddle set another back row card, and play passed to Dalit. He passed again without any move. Peddle flipped Mystical Space Typhoon, destroyed Sakuretsu Armor, and then activated Return from the Different Dimension. He tributed one returned Magician of Faith to summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroyed his other Magician of Faith with its effect to keep his bit attackers on the board, and swung for game!

Matt Peddle defeats the reigning Canadian champion Dexter Dalit and moves on with a 2-0 record! Four more wins and he’ll be a lock for the Top 8!