“Been a while!” said Fredella with a smile, as he sidled up to the feature match table, a place he hadn’t been for quite a while. Johnson took a seat soon after, and both duelists introduced themselves. While Fredella was playing a conventional Chaos Return, Johnson had been ripping up all comers today with a Cyber-Stein build that’s highly reminiscent of the one that Igor Kharin piloted to the finals of UK Nationals.

Fredella won the roll and opened with Confiscation, revealing Johnson’s hand of Nimble Momonga, Spirit Reaper, Magic Cylinder, Cyber-Stein, and Mystic Tomato. He opted to discard the Momonga, and set a card to each zone before ending his turn. Johnson fired back with the same, two set cards, and passed. His opponent set another monster and play was back to Johnson.

He too set a second monster and quickly ended his turn. Fredella flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, set a back row card and ended. Johnson set a third monster, ended his turn, and play was to Fredella.

He flip summoned Mystic Tomato, and activated Torrential Tribute to clear the field: Johnson lost Spirit Reaper, Tomato, and Sangan, and pulled another Reaper with Sangan’s effect. Fredella attacked with Spirit Reaper, but the attack was repelled by Magic Cylinder! With one set card still in his back row, Fredella ended his turn.

Johnson again set a card to each of his zones, one monster and one spell or trap. Fredella special summoned Cyber Dragon, ran it into his opponent’s set Spirit Reaper, and set a monster without managing to get rid of the Reaper he flipped in battle. Johnson set Gravity Bind and ended: he had Cyber-Stein, Megamorph, and Swords of Revealing Light in hand.

Fredella summoned Asura Priest, and used Creature Swap to exchange it for Johnson’s Reaper. He ended his turn, took back his Asura Priest, and passed. It was still 6700 to 8000. Johnson played Swords of Revealing Light, flipping Fredella’s last set monster (Spirit Reaper) and passed. Fredella played Heavy Storm: normally this matchup sees that play coming from the other side of the table. Johnson chained Poison of the Old Man to gain 1200 life points, and he then took direct attacks from Cyber Dragon, Asura Priest, and two Spirit Reaper. He went down to 4800, while Fredella still sat at his comfy 6700.

Johnson drew, and set his two remaining cards: first one monster, then one spell or trap. Fredella turned one Reaper to defense, summoned Asura Priest, and attacked into Gravity Bind. He was obviously concerned about Mirror Force, but the Bind was arguably worse news in the long-term sense. Johnson was still within manageable territory, as another Poison or Nimble Momonga would bump him back over the five grand he’d need to use Cyber-Stein. He drew, set another spell or trap, and passed.

Fredella set a monster and ended. Johnson drew, set his card to his back row, and ended. Fredella flip summoned Night Assailant, used it to destroy Johnson’s set monster, Cyber-Stein, and then attacked with both Reapers and Assailant, scooting them beneath the Bind. A turn later Fredella did the same trick, sending his midget monsters under the Bind for three more tiny direct swings. It was 3200 to 6700.

A set monster was Johnson’s only move, and Fredella attacked it with Spirit Reaper: Nimble Momonga. Johnson went to 4200 and pulled another squirrel to the field in defense position. Night Assailant attacked it, Johnson went to 5200, and the second Reaper attacked for another 300, bringing Johnson down to 4900.

He drew, and set a fifth spell or trap card. Fredella attacked again, but this time lost his entire field to Mirror Force! He set a monster, Johnson set one too, and play passed back to Fredella. He flip summoned Magical Merchant, caught Graceful Charity with its effect, and activated Graceful to discard two Cyber Dragon. He was digging like mad to find Magician of Faith or a piece of spell and trap removal. He needed to get rid of that Gravity Bind.

He special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, normal summoned Asura Priest, and flipped Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Gravity Bind. He attacked with Asura Priest, hit Morphing Jar, and both players drew new hands, and instant gain of five cards for Johnson! Magical Merchant attacked directly, and Johnson was then forced to take the hit from Chaos Sorcerer. He was down to 2400 life points, while Fredella was still sitting pretty at 6700.

Johnson drew, and looked at his hand. Cyber-Stein, Poison, Spirit Reaper, Ceasefire, Limiter Removal, and Giant Trunade. He activated the Trunade, both duelists scooped their spell and trap zones, and he then summoned Cyber-Stein. He strapped a Megamorph to it, attacked the Merchant with it, and then played Limiter in the damage step: Fredella was brought down to 4100. Johnson set three back row cards, and Limiter took its toll on Cyber-Stein, destroying it in the end phase.

Fredella summoned Asura Priest and attacked with Chaos Sorcerer. In response Johnson flipped Ceasefire for 1000 damage, Secret Barrel for 2000, and Poison of the Old Man for 800, but he was 300 damage short of the win. Sorcerer and Asura Priest both struck directly, and Fredella won the first duel!

Team Nexus’s Andrew Fredella claims game 1, winning by the skin of his teeth!

Fredella side decked without smokescreening, while Johnson just shuffled his deck. Johnson opened the second duel, setting Nimble Momonga and Ceasefire. The Ceasefire would chain to Nobleman of Crossout to flip Momonga and keep it on the field if Fredella played it.

He didn’t. Instead he special summoned Cyber Dragon and then normal summoned Spirit Reaper. Cyber Dragon hit the Momonga, and its destruction brought out two more. Reaper hit one, and Johnson was at 10000 life points. In main phase 2, Fredella played Confiscation, revealing Spirit Reaper, Gravity Bind, Mystic Tomato, and Megamorph: Megamorph was discarded. He passed and Johnson set a second monster, prompting Fredella to turn Reaper to defense and set another monster too.

Johnson set a third monster, passed play to Fredella, and watched as his opponent turned a set Sangan into Jinzo. With Sangan’s effect Fredella pulled Kuriboh from his deck. Jinzo attacked the freshest set monster on Johnson’s side, Mystic Tomato, and Johnson used its effect to pull Sangan to the field form his deck. Cyber Dragon attacked the second newest set monster, revealed it to be Spirit Reaper, and Fredella passed.

Johnson’s Sangan went to defense, and he briefly fingered his now useless Ceasefire. Fredella tributed one Cyber Dragon for another, used the tributed Dragon as a Light to bring out Chaos Sorcerer, and removed Johnson’s Sangan from play. He didn’t attack, opting to play around the set Nimble Mom0nga Johnson still controlled instead of attacking through it. At 10000 life points, Johnson could only use a Cyber-Stein effect once this game without using a Poison of the Old Man to boost himself up. Fredella wasn’t about to give him two shots at victory across the course of this duel.

Johnson drew, and looked at his hand: Poison, Cbyer-Stein x 2, Gravity Bind, and Megamorph. He summoned the Cyber-Stein . . .

“You got Poison?” asked Fredella.

He did, and activated it to gain 1200 life points. He then paid 5000 life points to bring Cyber Twin Dragon to the field with the Stein. It was 6200 to 7000, in Fredella’s favor. Johnson paid himself down to 1200, brought out Cyber End Dragon, and gave Cyber Twin Megamorph. It hit Jinzo first, and Fredella lost 3200 life points. Johnson didn’t even need to attack again. He flipped Ceasefire, blasted Fredella for 4000 damage, and captured the second duel!

Fredella quickly began the third duel with eleven minutes remaining in the match. He set a spell or trap, did not set or summon a monster, and ended. Johnson played Swords of Revealing Light, set a monster, and passed back.

Cyber Dragon came down for Fredella. Nobleman of Crossout removed Johnson’s set Nimble Momonga. Mystical Space Typhoon wiped the opposing field, and Cyber Dragon hit directly. Fredella set a monster and another back row card, and passed.

Johnson set a monster and two spell or trap cards. Fredella drew, flip summoned Magician of Faith, and played Nobleman of Crossout yet again to remove yet another Momonga! Magician of Faith and Cyber Dragon both attacked directly, dropping Johnson to 3500. Fredella set a third card to his back row and passed.

Johnson again set a card to each zone. Next turn he lost the face down, Cyber-Stein, to Cyber Dragon, and Spirit Reaper and Magician of Faith attacked directly: he was down to 2900 when Fredella passed.

Things looked bad for Johnson. He flipped two Secret Barrel, Poison of the Old Man, and revealed United We Stand, his only in-hand card. “I can’t do it” he said, resigning.

“I play Feroze way too much,” Fredella mentioned, pumping his opponent’s hand eagerly, glad to have escaped with the win.

Andrew Fredella moves on, needing only one more win in the next two rounds to clinch his spot in the Top 8!