Sixteen year-old Samuel Tse hails from right here in Toronto, and came here this weekend equipped with what may be a groundbreaking build of Bushi Control. He also came equipped with the longest shout-out list of all time . . . “Oh man . . . I need to give a lot of shout-outs . . . Kareem O’Brien, Guang Yang, Alexander Poon, Rodney, Jamil, Ken, Harrison, and all the other Dollies people. Oh! And Joseph Leung!”

Challenges just don’t come bigger than this. Chris Bowling is coming in hot from his Day 2 showing at SJC Hawaii, and won the American National Championship just five weeks ago. Once again, he’s playing Gladiator Beasts, a deck he’s taken to greater heights than perhaps any other duelist. When it came to proven tournament records, Tse was clearly outmatched. Were we about to see an unforgettable spectacle, or an unbridled slaughter?

Game 1

Tse opened the match with Zombyra the Dark in attack mode, then set a spell or trap. Bowling took a brief moment to ponder that, and then set a monster, and finished his turn by setting two cards to his back row. He activated Trap Dustshoot next turn, revealing Tse’s hand after Tse chained his in-hand Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Bowling’s Bottomless Trap Hole. Tse was holding Mirror Force, Swords of Revealing Light, Shrink, and Blast with Chain! Bowling borrowed Blast with Chain for a moment to read what it did, then let play continue. Tse flipped Skill Drain, activated Swords of Revealing Light, and then attacked Bowling’s revealed Sangan. Sangan got him Gladiator Beast Hoplomus, and Tse set another spell or trap card. Skill Drain would negate all the drawback effects of Zombyra the Dark so long as it remained on the field. Meanwhile, Bowling’s Gladiators would be useless.

He drew, and set a monster — his only move. Play was back to Tse, who attacked to destroy Gladiator Beast Laquari, then set a second face-down spell or trap card. Bowling set a card to each zone, still stuck playing total defense. He had one, maybe two outs to Skill Drain main decked, and Tse wasn’t interested in giving him any room to breathe.

He summoned Gearfried the Iron Knight, attacked with Zombyra, and then tried to pump Zombyra with Blast with Chain. Bowling had to activate Solemn Judgment to negate the Blast, rendering the attack a draw. Bowling passed his next turn, and Swords was destroyed.

Tse flipped his set card, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and discarded Mirror Force to spin away Gladiator Beast Hoplomus. Zombyra and Gearfried both made direct attacks, dropping Bowling to just 100 life points! He set a spell or trap and Bowling set a monster.

Zombyra attacked into Hoplomus again, and Tse set another spell or trap card. Bowling passed yet again. Tse shook his head, stuck holding another copy each of Gearfried and Skill Drain. He couldn’t get over that Hoplomus. Next turn, Bowling searched out Elemental Hero Prisma with Reinforcement of the Army, but didn’t summon it.

Tse finally drew Exiled Force, and when he revealed it Corn conceded! The American National Champion beaten by Gearfried the Iron Knight?

Samuel Tse takes Game 1 over Chris Bowling with authority, playing the early Skill Drain and pressing as hard as possible to end the duel. Needless to say, this was one heck of a surprise. Could he really beat the National Champion? He was one duel away from doing so, not to mention a near-guaranteed seat in Day 2.

Game 2

Bowling was up. He opened the second duel with Reinforcement of the Army, grabbed Elemental Hero Stratos from his deck, summoned him, and got Prisma. He set a spell or trap card to finish out: “Your go.”

Tse blasted him with Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying Bowling’s My Body As A Shield. He then activated Swords of Revealing Light, set two cards to his back row, and finished by setting one more. His remaining in-hand card was Exiled Force. Play was to Bowling, who summoned Prisma and activated Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Swords of Revealing Light. Stratos attacked for 1800 damage, Prisma for 1700, and Bowling set one card to his back row.

Gearfried the Iron Knight came off the top of Tse’s deck and hit the field after a moment’s thought, attacking Prisma to destroy it. Bowling activated Smashing Ground to destroy Gearfried, and then summoned another Prisma. He attacked with both of his Heroes again, Stratos first, then Prisma, and when Prisma’s attack was announced Tse had to think a bit before agreeing to take the damage. He did, and dropped to 1000 life points.

Tse drew The Immortal Bushi! He discarded him in his draw phase for Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, spinning away Bowling’s back row card, and then summoned him in defense position. He summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy Stratos, and ended. Bowling tried to activate Monster Reborn next turn, but was denied by Royal Oppression! Tse was down to 200 life points!

He topdecked Gearfried next turn and summoned it. Bowling flipped Torrential Tribute, but Tse chained Solemn Judgment! Gearfried took out Prisma and Bowling had just one in-hand card left! He passed his next turn, took 1800 damage from Gearfried, and Tse summoned Zombyra the Dark. Bowling set a spell or trap and ate another 1800 the next turn. Tse passed with one card left in his hand.

But Bowling activated Cold Wave next turn! He summoned Gladiator Beast Laquari, special summoned Test Tiger, and tagged out Laquari for another Laquari with 2100 ATK! Laquari attacked over Gearfried and it was over.

Chris Bowling just barely manages to fight back from a game he slowly lost control of, pushing this match to a third duel. Tse would have the advantage of opening in Game 3.

“I was thinking of saving that Typhoon,” remarked Bowling. “And then I thought, ‘you know what? I’m just going to beat you down. You have one card in hand!’ There was no point in waiting for the Swords to destroy itself.” Tse remained silent, quickly side decking again and presenting his deck.

Tse opened with no monsters. He set four traps to begin the third duel and ended. This was going to be rough.

Bowling summoned Gladiator Beast Bestiari, and lost it instantly to Bottomless Trap Hole. He set one back row card, ended, and Tse summoned Zombyra the Dark! He flipped Skill Drain, paying 1000 life points, but Bowling threatened the Drain with Dust Tornado on the chain. Tse flipped Solemn Judgment though, and attacked for 2100 damage!

Smashing Ground cleared the Zombyra, and Bowling summoned Elemental Hero Prisma for a direct attack — Tse was down to 1800 life points. Bowling set a spell or trap, Tse summoned Exiled Force, and he tributed it to destroy Prisma. Next turn Bowling tried to summon D. D. Warrior Lady, but lost out to another Solemn. Tse summoned The Immortal Bushi, attacked, and Bowling was left to set a monster next turn, shaking his head. Tse drew, set his topdeck to his back row, and then attacked with Bushi. He flipped Blast with Chain attaching it to Bushi in order to stop some of the damage he’d suffer as Bushi bounced off of Hoplomus. Tse was down to 500 life points, while Bowling had 4700.

Bowling set another monster and ended, not yet ready to try and press for a win. Tse topped Exiled Force, summoned it, and blew away Hoplomus. Bushi attacked, Bowling flipped Mirror Force, and Tse ended.

It was all over a turn later. Bowling flip summoned Morphing Jar, got a new hand, summoned Gladiator Beast Bestiari and swung for game.

Chris Bowling narrowly escapes defeat at the hands of Immortal Bushi and Gearfried the Iron Knight, moving on with a near-guaranteed Day 2!