Both of these duelists were 8-1 and on the bubble going into the final round. Though both claim good tiebreakers, they will need to win this round in order to secure their place in the Top 16. It’s been a long day here in Philadelphia but neither of these guys looks in the least bit fatigued. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Corn and Josh Everly are here to duel.
Game 1
Josh won the die roll, 6 to 3. Adam announced that he knew what his opponent was running: Pacman. Josh had the same sort of advantage though as it was no secret that Adam was running Monarchs today (surprise, surprise). Josh started with a Level Limit – Area B and Stumbling; he wasn’t going to slow-roll anything. He finished up with a set spell or trap and a set monster.
Adam fired back with Allure of Darkness, removing Gravekeeper’s Spy. Left with Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, Mask of Darkness, Prime Material Dragon, Bottomless Trap Hole, Reckless Greed, and Raiza, he opted to set the Mask, Bottomless, and Reckless, ending his turn.
Josh flipped a Stealth Bird, dishing out 1000 damage to Corn’s life points. He then flipped it down and set a monster alongside the face-down Stealth Bird.
Corn drew for his turn. He flipped up Reckless Greed and drew two cards. He flipped up Mask of Darkness nextand targeted the Reckless: absolutely brutal. His hand now consisted of: Cyber Valley, Reckless Greed, Thestalos, Spy, Raiza the Storm Monarch, Book of Moon, Prime Material Dragon, and Solemn Judgment — a rather sizable hand. He set Solemn and Reckless. He tributed the Mask for Thestalos, discarding Josh’s in-hand Swords of Revealing Light. Corn ended his turn, unable to get by the Level Limit.
Josh flipped Swarm of Scarabs, targeting Thestalos. Adam let it through. Josh flipped Stealth Bird next, dishing out 1000 damage. He flipped both of his monsters down. In Josh’s end phase, Corn activated the Reckless. He couldn’t follow up though and was forced to pass back to Josh who flipped Stealth Bird as soon as he could. That Bird was putting in a lot of work. Josh ended his turn.
Locked down by his own Reckless Greed and unable to attack Josh’s monsters, Corn was forced to end his turn.
Sure enough, Josh flipped Stealth Bird again.
Corn was finally released from the lock of Reckless Greed but drew a relatively useless Mirror Force. He set it and ended.
And Josh flipped Stealth again!
Corn drew Mystical Space Typhoon. He set the Typhoon and Spy, virtually conceding the match to Josh and his parade of weenie monsters.
Josh flipped Stealth, dealing another 1000. When Josh flipped Scarabs, Adam Solemn’d — Josh retorted with a Solemn of his own, dropping the life point totals to 1000 to 4000, with Josh in the lead. Too many things happened for this reporter to take note of but, in the end, Adam Corn lost. This is not a sight we see all that often and Adam was understandably bothered by the game. Corn would need more than his slow-tempo flip effect monsters if he wanted to get by Josh’s wild combination of main deck tech, though.
Game 2
Both duelists shuffled up and took their time in doing so — not too good considering the battery on my laptop dies quickly, a fact I was quick to remind them of.
Corn started us off with Allure of Darkness again, removing Mask of Darkness. He set a Gravekeeper’s Spy and ended his turn.
Josh activated Stumbling, set a monster, and passed to Adam.
Adam drew Book, flipped Spy and searched out Gravekeeper’s Guard — after a lot of deliberation, Corn tributed his Guard for Caius, targeting Josh’s set monster. It was Stealth Bird and Josh took 1000 damage. Caius was turned to defense because of Stumbling. Corn ended his turn after setting Book of Moon.
Josh drew, activated Messenger of Peace, Wave-Motion Cannon, set a monster, and ended.
And Adam Corn drew Heavy Storm! He chained Book of Moon on his Spy — Josh just scooped up his cards.
Corn topdecks his way out of Game 2 and pushes this match to a third and final game!
Game 3
Adam was feeling a lot better because — unlike after Game 1 — victory was now nearly in his grasp. He would either need to get lucky or show us some of his fine dueling talent to pull out a win in this match; Josh’s deck had already demonstrated an ability to cause Corn’s deck a great deal of problems. Shuffling was quick. The room was silent. It was the last game of the day that either of these duelists would play — it’s kind of heartwarming if you think about it.
Josh started off with a set monster and set spell or trap. He ended his turn.
Corn opened with Allure again, this time removing Gravekeeper’s Spy. Left with Reckless, Mask, Spy, Prohibition, Caius, and Thestalos, he activated Prohibition, calling Wave-Motion Cannon. He set Spy and Reckless and passed to Josh.
Josh set another monster, a back-row card, and activated Messenger of Peace.
Corn drew Soul Exchange. He tributed the most recent monster that Josh set — it was Sangan. He tributed it for Thestalos, discarding Level Limit. He passed, stymied by Messenger of Peace.
Josh drew, set a monster and ended, comfortable with his position in the game.
But then Corn drew Dark Armed Dragon . . . He flipped Gravekeeper’s Spy. His opponent responded by flipping and activating the effect of Royal Oppression, paying 800 to negate the special summon of Gravekeeper’s Spy. That Royal Oppression was going to play a bigger part in this game than Josh probably realized. Corn set a Mask of Darkness.
Josh flipped Stealth Bird and set a monster.
Corn drew Prime Material Dragon. He activated Reckless Greed and quickly flipped Mask of Darkness, targeting the very same Reckless Greed. Corn now had: Mystical Space Typhoon, Dark Armed Dragon, Prime Material, Reckless, and two copies of Caius the Shadow Monarch. He activated Typhoon on Josh’s face-down back-row card which was revealed to be Solemn Judgment. He tributed Mask for Caius, targeting one of Josh’s face-down monsters — it was a grave error on Corn’s part; he should have targeted the Messenger of Peace which kept him locked down. (Ultimately, it would not matter, though.) The monster was revealed to be Wall of Illusion and Josh lost a 1000 life points via Caius’ effect.
Josh drew and activated Stumbling. He flipped two Stealth Birds, dealing 2000 damage to Adam’s life points. In Josh’s end phase, Corn activated his face-down Reckless Greed.
Corn was forced to skip his draw phase but that didn’t stop him from tributing his on-field Caius for another Caius, targeting Oppression. With 3 Darks in his graveyard, he special summoned two Dark Armed Dragons, both in defense mode because of Stumbling. He demolished Josh’s field with the Dark Armed Dragons. Adam ended his turn, confident that the match was his to win at this point.
Josh almost conceded the match in his draw phase but after a quick check of Corn’s graveyard, he realized that it was absent of any more Dark monsters. So he instead set a back-row card and ended his turn.
Adam took a moment to breathe — he was taking solace in knowing that this would be the final turn of the game. He tributed Caius for Prime Material and in-so-doing put a Dark monster in his graveyard; he removed it to destroy the face-down Gravity Bind that Josh had rested his hopes on. Unable to do anything versus Corns fully-developed field, Josh scooped up his cards.
Corn guarantees a place in the Top 16, something we’ve come to expect from him, considering this is his fifth Top 16 in a row. Josh Everly, however, has to keep high hopes of his tiebreakers carrying him onto tomorrow — only time will tell, though.