Robert Morgan has made it to three Shonen Jump Championship Top 8s thus far, and this was his fourth: an impressive achievement. But never before had he made it past the quarterfinals—today was a breakthrough success already, and if he could carry his momentum from the quarterfinals through the last few rounds of the tournament, he could win it all.
But John Jensen stood in his way, eager for a second (arguably third) Shonen Jump Championship title. One of the white-hat stars of Team Nexus, he hasn’t tasted gold since last year’s SJC Atlanta.
Morgan opened the first duel by setting a monster and ending his turn. Jensen special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Spirit Reaper, attacked with Cyber Dragon and hit Magician of Faith! Morgan’s opening hand was either terrible, or so good that it was worth a sacrificial play. Reaper hit directly and robbed Morgan of Chaos Sorcerer! Jensen set a spell or trap and passed.
Sure enough, Morgan had set Magician of Faith as a sacrificial play to carry himself through Jensen’s turn. He was packing Cyber-Stein. He summoned it, activated its effect with priority, and brought out Cyber Twin Dragon. He attached Megamorph onto Cyber Twin, attacked Spirit Reaper with the Dragon, and Jensen needed to pull out something big to save himself. He had one set spell or trap card.
“5600 ATK? And you have three cards?” Morgan nodded in response, and Jensen activated Enemy Controller, turning Cyber Twin Dragon to defense and preventing the Dragon’s attacks! Morgan set a spell or trap and ended, briefly stymied.
It was 8000 to 2700, with Jensen leading.
Jensen activated Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying Morgan’s set Last Will. Cyber Dragon attacked Cyber-Stein, Morgan dropped to 1300, and in main phase 2 Jensen summoned Tsukuyomi. It turned down Reaper, and then Jensen traded the Tsukuyomi to Morgan for his Cyber Twin Dragon with Creature Swap!
There was nothing Morgan could do. He revealed a hand of monsters: Magician of Faith, Zaborg, and Exiled Force. He conceded the first duel and Jensen took his first breath in four minutes. Both duelists set to side decking.
Morgan opted to go first again, and opened with Graceful Charity to discard Treeborn Frog! His second discard was Skelengel, and he then activated Confiscation! It’s the dream opening every duelist prays for.
“Wow” said Jensen, heaving a sigh and revealing his hand: Return from the Different Dimension, Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Magician of Faith, Enemy Controller, and Smashing Ground. Morgan discarded the Controller, summoned Sangan, set a spell or trap, and passed. One couldn’t ask for a more incredible start to a duel.
Jensen set a spell or trap and passed. Morgan summoned Spirit Reaper, and when Jensen flipped Torrential Tribute Morgan chained Royal Decree. Both monsters hit, and Jensen lost his in-hand Magician of Faith to Morgan’s Spirit Reaper.
Jensen was holding Smashing Ground, and it was a dead card—if Jensen activated it, it would just hit Sangan, not the Reaper that was causing him such trouble. Worse yet, he’d drawn into a second Smashing this turn, leaving him with two copies, plus Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and Return. All dead cards.
He set two spell or trap cards and passed. Morgan blasted one of them with Mystical Space Typhoon, Smashing, summoned Cyber-Stein, and Jensen scooped.
“Graceful, Con, Frog,” noted Jensen, a bit discouraged. Morgan had all the cards, and he knew exactly how to use them to dominate his title-bearing opponent. The match moved to a third duel.
Jensen was feeling the pressure, sighing as he opened. Morgan folded his hands in front of his face, his hand on the table, almost praying for luck. Jensen summoned Sangan, set a spell or trap, and ended.
Morgan activated Confiscation, and Jensen revealed Tsukuyomi, Chaos Sorcerer, D. D. Warrior Lady, and Premature Burial. He lost the Sorcerer. Morgan set a card to each zone and passed. Now that he knew what Jensen had, all he had to do was wait to close the trap so long as he still had Stein.
D. D. Warrior Lady hit the table and nailed Morgan’s set Magician of Faith, which got him back Confiscation. Sangan hit directly. Jensen set another spell or trap and passed. Morgan took the D. D. Warrior Lady with Snatch Steal and attacked into Sangan—it was lose-lose for Jensen. If he lost Sangan, Morgan would remove it from play and Jensen would be down two monsters to Morgan’s one non-monster. If he spent a card to destroy D. D. Warrior Lady, he was still losing out. He went for the latter, activating Mirror Force, but Morgan chained Royal Decree. D. D. Warrior Lady removed herself and Sangan, Morgan set a spell or trap, and play was to Jensen.
He set a card to his back row and passed. Morgan summoned Sangan and poked Jensen with it. Jensen’s body language was not positive—he looked beaten as he took the Sangan hit.
But he special summoned Cyber Dragon, and normal summoned Tsukuyomi to turn Sangan face down. Tsukuyomi attacked Sangan, Morgan pulled Apprentice Magician with its effect, and the Dragon hit directly. Morgan was down to 3900, below Cyber-Stein range!
He summoned Apprentice Magician and activated Creature Swap! This was a move we’d seen from Morgan all day on Saturday, but Jensen had the answer. He chained Scapegoat! Jensen was forced to take Apprentice Magician, but at least he kept his Dragon, giving Morgan a Sheep token. Morgan had no follow-up and just passed.
Apprentice Magician laid out the Sheep, and Cyber Dragon hit directly to lower Morgan to 1800. He fearlessly summoned Exiled Force, attacked his own Apprentice Magician, pulled Magician of Faith to the field in defense with Apprentice’s effect, then tributed Exiled Force to destroy Cyber Dragon. He then activated Confiscation to drop to 800, revealing Jensen’s Premature Burial, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Tsukuyomi. Morgan set a spell or trap, and Jensen was feeling good again, shuffling his cards and moving quickly.
He took a moment to think things out and summoned Banisher of the Radiance. He then activated Premature Burial, dropping to 5100 life points and bringing back Cyber Dragon. Banisher attacked the Magician of Faith, Morgan took the hit, lost Magician, and took back Snatch Steal —Magician was removed from play. Cyber Dragon attacked and Morgan revealed his last set card.
It was Mirror Force, and it was locked down by his only Royal Decree. Morgan was out of options, and had no choice but to resign.
Paul Levitin poked his head into the Duel Dome from the sidelines. “Wow! Rob Morgan opens with the best hands ever, and John Jensen still manages to come back.” It was a nice summation of the match, and Jensen cracked a small grin as he scooped up his cards for a break before the finals!