The second and final day of the Yu-Gi-Oh! National Championships is underway. The first place player of the Swiss rounds, who has become the first person at a U.S. National Championship to go through Day 1 undefeated, was Miguel Flores. He was going up against Benjamin Sirichotiratana for the quarterfinals. Miguel already had a solid Shonen Jump Championship finish to his record thanks to his second-place finish during the very first SJC at Gen Con SoCal 2004. Benjamin is a relative unknown in Shonen Jump Championships, but he has had his share of success at his regional events.

Both players quietly readied their side decks and main decks. The players remained silent as they shuffled up and got ready for their first game of the day.

Miguel won the die roll and chose to go first. The two players wished each other luck and shook each other’s hand. Miguel opened with a first turn Confiscation, revealing Benjamin’s hand of Enemy Controller, Return from the Different Dimension, Book of Moon, Scapegoat, and Tsukuyomi. After some deliberation, Miguel chose to discard Scapegoat. He set one card in his spell/trap zone and ended his turn.

Benjamin simply mirrored Miguel’s play and passed back. Miguel set one monster and ended his turn. Benjamin once again mirrored Miguel’s play from last turn. Miguel, however, had Magician of Faith to flip summon, which returned Confiscation. The Spellcaster was tributed for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, which destroyed Benjamin’s Tsukuyomi. After attacking Benjamin directly with Zaborg, Miguel played the Confiscation and revealed the Return and Book he saw earlier, along with the two new cards Benjamin had drawn: two not very useful copies of Chaos Sorcerer. Ouch. Miguel discarded one of the Chaos Sorcerers and ended his turn.

Benjamin had nothing once again, and simply ended his turn. Miguel attacked with Zaborg, bringing Benjamin to 3200. Miguel set a monster and ended his turn. Benjamin, however, had Nobleman of Crossout to remove Miguel’s face-down Magical Merchant from the game. Benjamin set one more card face down in his spell/trap zone and ended his turn. Miguel summoned Sangan and attacked for 1000. Zaborg, however, ran into Benjamin’s Sakuretsu Armor. Benjamin sighed as he drew his next card, setting only one more card in his spell/trap zone.

Miguel tributed his Sangan for Cyber Dragon, and added D. D. Warrior Lady from his deck to his hand. Miguel, going for the win, special summoned Chaos Sorcerer. The Chaos Sorcerer was switched to defense position with Enemy Controller, and Cyber Dragon brought Benjamin down to 100 life points. Benjamin could not find an answer on top of his deck and was forced to concede the first duel.

Miguel: 1  Benjamin: 0

Miguel chose not to add any cards to his side deck, leaving Benjamin with time to debate over adding cards to his main deck while Miguel pile shuffled his deck for the second game.

“I’m going to shuffle really good now,” muttered Ben, a bit annoyed over his bad draw from the last game.

Benjamin opted to go first, and opened the second game with a set card in his spell/trap zone. Miguel opened with Graceful Charity, and, with a roll of his eyes, Benjamin allowed it to resolve. To make things worse, Miguel discarded Treeborn Frog and Jinzo, getting a couple of hysterical laughs out of the crowd. Benjamin’s situation wasn’t looking good already.

Miguel set a card in each zone and ended his turn. Benjamin played Nobleman of Crossout and removed Miguel’s Magical Merchant from play. Benjamin set a card in each zone and ended with two set spell/traps, a monster, and three cards in hand. Miguel special summoned Cyber Dragon, and then tributed it to summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, blowing up Benjamin’s face-down Tsukuyomi. Zaborg attacked into Sakuretsu Armor. Miguel followed up this battle phase with Confiscation, revealing a Zaborg, Return from the Different Dimension, and Dust Tornado from Benjamin. The Zaborg was discarded. This match was looking really similar to the last one!

Benjamin set one card in his spell/trap zone and ended his turn. Miguel continued to put the pressure on Benjamin with Chaos Sorcerer, removing a Zaborg and Jinzo from his graveyard. The Chaos Sorcerer attacked Benjamin for 2300 damage, but not before Benjamin’s Dust Tornado took out Miguel’s face-down Bottomless Trap Hole. Benjamin sighed once again and simply ended his turn. It would be his last turn, as Miguel swung in for another 2300 with Chaos Sorcerer, flipped Return from the Different Dimension, and summoned two big beaters to finish Benjamin off.

“Man, no real monsters either game!” said a frustrated Benjamin, picking up cards from the top of his deck and flopping them on the table. A horrible run of bad luck from Benjamin and continuous pressure from Miguel left Miguel Flores entering the semi-finals. With a guarantee to attend Tokyo later this year, Miguel must be happy.

Out of a 120-minute round, only fifteen minutes had passed by the time Miguel was out of his seat and preparing for the next round.

Miguel: 2  Benjamin: 0