Jeff Paura has made a name for himself as of late, taking a respectable finish at Shonen Jump Minneapolis and making Top 8 at both U.S. Nationals and Shonen Jump Philadelphia. At sixteen years of age, he hails from Kenosha, Wisconsin, and has been one of the most consistent players this format despite never making it past the Top 8.

Today, he was up against Fili Luna, possibly his biggest challenge ever. A win here would work wonders for Paura’s reputation, but it wasn't going to come easy.

He opened the match with a set card to each zone. Luna summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, searched his deck for Destiny Hero - Disc Commander with its effect, and set a spell or trap. Stratos attacked and hit Card Trooper, and Paura drew for its destruction. “Go ahead.”

Play was back to Paura, who summoned another Trooper to send Morphing Jar, Limiter Removal, and Destiny Hero - Malicious to the graveyard for its effect. It attacked Stratos, destroying it and dealing 100 damage to Luna. Paura set a second spell or trap card to finish his turn. Luna set a monster and passed, and Paura fingered his set cards: Heavy Storm and Scapegoat. He had clearly been trying to get Luna to commit to the spell and trap zone, but he gave up promptly, flipping Heavy Storm: Luna chained Scapegoat! This put Paura in a rough situation: if he locked up his field with Sheep, he’d risk giving Luna time to build combos in the complicated game state. Still, he chained his own Scapegoat anyways, then boosted Trooper and attacked a Sheep token.

Luna set a card to each zone and ended. Paura boosted Trooper again, and swung on another Sheep. Luna passed, taking advantage of Paura’s inability to present an offense, just as Paura seemed to fear. Next turn Paura searched his for Destiny Hero - Disc Commander with Reinforcement of the Army, then discarded Disc Commander for Destiny Draw, which he’d been holding since his opening hand. Trooper hit another Sheep, this time not boosted, and Paura discarded another copy of Malicious in his end phase to reduce his hand size to six.

A pass was Luna’s only move, and Trooper cleared out his remaining Sheep token next turn. Paura discarded Jinzo, and Luna was up. He set another monster and ended. Paura had multiple monsters in-hand and Malicious at his disposal, but couldn’t use them due to his Sheep tokens. He boosted Trooper, attacked, and hit Mystic Tomato. Luna special summoned Sangan from his deck and Paura ended, discarding another copy of Malicious.

Luna turned Sangan to defense and set a second card to his back row. The way Paura was going, deck-out was almost a viable win condition for Luna. He had all the time in the world to build his field before going for the win. Paura sent another three cards to the graveyard to power up Trooper and swung on Sangan. What was he trying to send to the graveyard? Was he aware of how few cards he had in his deck? Sangan grabbed a monster from Luna’s deck—too quickly to be seen by any but Paura—and Luna’s turn consisted of a set card to each zone.

“How many cards left?” asked Luna.

Paura counted his deck: just eight cards remaining. He set three cards to his back row, then a fourth, and pumped Trooper just once this time, losing Torrential Tribute from the top of his deck. It attacked and hit Luna’s set Trooper, and Luna drew a card.

He set two more to his spell and trap zone and passed. Paura tributed Card Trooper for Destiny Hero - Dasher, and activated its effect with priority to eat a Sheep token! He was back in the game, but could he win in just six turns? Dasher attacked, hitting Mystic Tomato, and Luna pulled Snipe Hunter from his deck. Dasher went to defense mode.

Luna flipped his set Destiny Draw, discarded Malicious, and drew two. He flipped another Destiny Draw, discarded another Malicious, and drew two more. Luna then flipped Heavy Storm! Paura chained Ring of Destruction, targeting Snipe Hunter, while Luna chained Call of the Haunted for Sangan in response. Luna took Treeborn Frog form his deck and contemplated the field. He counted Paura’s remaining in-deck cards, searched his graveyard counting out copies of Brain Control and Snatch Steal, then set a monster, a spell or trap, and two more cards to his back row.

Dasher ate another Sheep, and Paura contemplated summoning Snipe Hunter. Missed rolls would spell absolute failure, but he had no choice: he had a hand full of monsters. He discarded Fear Monger to target a monster, missed, and the judge ruled that once Snipe Hunter’s effect had resolved, Luna could not activate an effect immediately. That let Paura discard Stratos to target the set monster, Morphing Jar. It would be destroyed, but Luna chained Crush Card Virus, tributing his other set monster, Disc Commander, to cost Paura his entire hand. Luna set a monster, Paura passed, and Luna set a card to each zone. Paura lost his draw, Cyber Dragon, and play was back to Luna. Paura appeared to have just three cards left in his deck, and nothing but Destiny Draw in his hand.

Luna activated Pot of Avarice, shuffling back two copies of Malicious, Snipe Hunter, Morphing Jar, and Card Trooper. He drew two and set another monster, leaving Paura to draw and reveal his useless Crush Card Virus. Luna just had to survive two turns.

But Luna activated Premature Burial instead. He special summoned Stratos, flip summoned Card Trooper, boosted its ATK, removed Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another, then tributed his set Treeborn Frog for Raiza. He sent one of his own cards back to the top of his deck, flip summoned Spirit Reaper, and attacked directly for game!

“You’re whack, Fili,” commented Anthony Alvarado from the gallery. “Winning the entire game with one attack?!”

A regrettable Scapegoat gives Fili Luna complete control of the duel, leading to an academic disassembly of his opponent and a game 1 victory! Both duelists sided and shuffled carefully.

Paura opened the second duel with a set card to each zone, and Luna fired back with the same. “Your move.” Paura summoned Snipe Hunter, and activated its effect with priority—discarding Malicious to destroy Luna’s set Card Trooper and giving Luna a draw but getting Malicious into the graveyard. Snipe Hunter attacked directly and Paura ended.

Luna flipped Heavy Storm, destroying Paura’s set Mirror Force! He activated Destiny Draw, discarding Malicious, and then removed the Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another. He tributed it for Raiza the Storm Monarch, bounced away Paura’s set monster and then ran over Snipe Hunter in battle. Paura was down to three cards in hand, while Fili had five. He set a spell or trap to end.

Paura drew, activated Brain Control, and attacked: Fili took the damage, and Paura tributed his opponent’s Raiza for one of his own, sending Luna’s set spell or trap back to the top of his deck. Paura controlled Raiza and had two cards in hand to Fili’s four.

A fifth card hit Fili’s hand next turn as he drew for his draw phase, and after brief consideration, he removed another Malicious. His third was special summoned, and he tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to destroy Raiza! Zaborg attacked directly and Luna set a back row card.

It was Paura’s turn to remove a Malicious and special summon another. He set two back row cards, then set his last one, a monster. “Go.”

“Is it a Crush . . . ?” mused Fili.  He set a spell or trap and attacked with Zaborg, hitting Malicious. He summoned Snipe Hunter next and discarded his Sangan to try and destroy Paura’s set monster, but it was Sangan too! Paura searched his deck for Card Trooper and Luna shook his head, unhappy. He activated Destiny Draw, sent Destiny Hero - Fear Monger to the graveyard, and drew two. Card Trooper was discarded to target Paura’s spell or trap, but the shot missed! A second shot, and another Card Trooper missed as well! Suddenly Paura was back in the game!

He drew, placing himself at two cards in hand and two set in his back row to Fili’s Snipe Hunter, Zaborg, and set spell or trap. He finally had something akin to momentum, but he was far from out of the woods, facing down two monsters that both demanded action this turn. He removed his Malicious from the graveyard and special summoned another, while Luna went to get a new die from his bag.

Paura summoned Stratos, destroyed Luna’s set Brain Control with its effect, and attacked over Snipe Hunter. Luna had nothing but Zaborg left! He drew, set a monster, and then attacked Stratos with Zaborg: Ring of Destruction blocked the attack. Paura summoned Card Trooper, boosted it to 1900 ATK, attacked, and hit Mystic Tomato. Another took its place, and Paura attacked through it with Stratos: Luna pulled Spirit Reaper.

Reaper went to defense mode next turn and Luna set a spell or trap, his topdeck. Paura boosted Card Trooper, flipped Pot of Avarice, and shuffled back Cyber Dragon, Sangan, Snipe Hunter, Disc Commander, and Raiza.

“No Snipe! No Snipe, no Raiza!” hoped Fili aloud. Paura drew Snipe Hunter. He activated Heavy Storm, but Fili chained Crush Card Virus! He lost his field, but Paura lost Card Trooper, Stratos, and his in-hand Snipe Hunter! Stymied, he set a spell or trap to end.

Luna set a card to his back row, and Paura discarded his drawn Raiza. Malicious attacked, Luna set a monster, and Paura revealed Card Trooper, his draw for the next turn. Nobleman of Crossout on Disc Commander, Malicious attacked, and Mirror Force repelled it. Luna drew for the next turn but scooped: there was no way to stop Card Trooper.

“Man . . . Snipe Hunter in feature matches . . . ” Fili was unhappy about the way he had lost control of the match, but visibly bounced back as he sided and shuffled.

Jeff Paura capitalizes on a Snipe Hunter gone wrong, pressing the match to a third game!

Luna began the game with a set card to each zone. Paura answered the move with Heavy Storm, destroying Crush Card Virus, which Fili couldn’t chain! Cyber Dragon hit the field and attacked, destroying Luna’s set Mystic Tomato, sending him off to the deck to special summon Sangan. It was a great read by Paura, who followed it up with a set card to his back row.

Play was back to Luna, who tributed Sangan for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, searched his deck for Card Trooper, and attacked, hitting for 2400 damage. A set card to the back row finished things out. Paura set another spell or trap, and Zaborg attacked again: this time Paura flipped his set Mirror Force, which he had had set last time: always a painful thing to have to do. Luna set a monster, Paura passed, and Luna set another.

A second set card to the back row was Paura’s only move. He was drawing dead, and Luna was going to take advantage of it. He set a third monster and passed, and Paura was up again. This time, he at least had a monster to set. Luna flip summoned Gravekeeper’s Spy, special summoned another from his deck, and flip summoned Card Trooper. He sent Mystical Space Typhoon, Confiscation, and Snipe Hunter from the top of his deck to power it up, then attacked with Gravekeeper’s Spy to destroy Paura’s set Card Trooper: a great read on the set monster! Spy and Card Trooper then attacked directly, bringing Paura down to 2500 life points! Another set monster finished Luna’s turn, and Paura passed.

Trooper was powered up again, eating Trap Dustshoot, Raiza the Storm Monarch, and another Trooper. It attacked, but Paura flipped Scapegoat, promptly losing three tokens. Next turn, he looked at his draw and flopped his hand, conceding: Cyber Dragon, Limiter Removal, two copies of Malicious, Raiza the Storm Monarch, Jinzo, and Dark Magician of Chaos.

Fili Luna dominates, moving on to the Top 8!