The Top 8 can only be described in three words: Germany versus Italy! Four Italian duelists and four German duelists are going head-to-head, and each country has one match that will see two countrymen battling for their survival in this tournament. For Germany, this is that match.
Max Hömig and Oliver Schmidt-Voss had already played against each other here today. In Round 11, Hömig beat Schmidt-Voss in a close 2-1 match, but now it was Schmidt-Voss’s chance to earn redemption. The winner here will be going on to the Top 4, and will represent his country at the World Championships in August. The stakes just don’t get any higher.
Hömig opened the match, beginning with Reinforcement of the Army. He activated it, searched his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos, summoned him, and used his effect to search for Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. What it lacked in creativity, it made up for in generally favorable mathematics and negative portents for Oliver. Hömig set a spell or trap and ended.
Oliver began the game with Card Trooper, Widespread Ruin, Brain Control, Mystical Space Typhoon, Mobius the Frost Monarch, and Cyber Phoenix. He summoned Card Trooper, sent three cards to the graveyard for its effect and attacked into Widespread Ruin. He drew Trap Dustshoot from Card Trooper’s effect and set it, along with two more spell or trap cards. He flipped the Dustshoot and revealed Hömig’s hand: Cyber Dragon, Morphing Jar, Snatch Steal, Destiny Hero - Malicious, Disk Commander, and Torrential Tribute. It was a tough choice: Cyber Dragon and Malicious were dead cards unless Hömig wanted to tribute for them, while Morphing Jar was inopportune and Disk Commander was a poor summon or set now that he had knowledge of it. In the end he decided to shuffle back Morphing Jar.
Stratos attacked, and Oliver dropped to 6200 life points. Hömig set a card to each zone, ended, and Oliver drew Cyber Dragon. He special summoned it, normal summoned Cyber Phoenix and drew out Hömig’s set Torrential Tribute: Hömig had set the Disk Commander, and everything was destroyed. Oliver ended, Hömig set a back row card, and Oliver set a monster and passed. Hömig special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked, but lost it to Widespread Ruin. He ended his turn with a set monster.
Oliver now had Raiza, Brain Control, and Mobius the Frost Monarch in hand. He flip summoned his set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and debated what to do with it. He’d gotten Trap Dustshoot off the Dekoichi draw, and eventually decided to tribute for Raiza. His effect bounced Hömig’s set monster, and Raiza then attacked directly for 2400 damage. Another set spell or trap ended Oliver’s turn.
Hömig flipped his set Brain Control, taking control of Raiza, attacking with him, and tributing him to set a monster. Oliver special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked Malicious, and Hömig tried to take Cyber Dragon with Snatch Steal. Mystical Space Typhoon denied him, destroying Snatch Steal on the chain.
Hömig was left to set another back row card and considered special summoning Malicious. He went for it, removing one from his graveyard to bring another to the field in defense. He was down to 4800 life points, while Oliver had 3800 remaining. Hömig ended, clearly on the defensive.
Brain Control let Oliver take the Malicious, and he tributed him immediately for Mobius the Frost Monarch; Hömig responded by flipping the set card, Ring of Destruction, to destroy Mobius. Cyber Dragon attacked directly, and the duel stood at 300 life points to 600, in Oliver’s favor.
Just barely.
Hömig removed his in-graveyard Malicious to special summon his last, and then set a monster. He set his last card to his back row. “Go.” Oliver set his topdecked card to his back row, attacked Malicious with Cyber Dragon and ended. “Go.” Hömig set another monster, and Oliver summoned Card Trooper.
He flipped Ring of Destruction! Card Trooper was his declared target, and when it exploded Oliver was left with 200 life points while Hömig was below 0! What an unorthodox finish.
Oliver Schmidt-Voss takes the first duel in a very offbeat finish.
The second duel began with Hömig setting a card to each zone. Oliver summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked Hömig’s set Cyber Phoenix, and then set a card in his back row to reinforce his field presence.
Hömig special summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked, but lost his Cyber Dragon to Widespread Ruin. Cyber Phoenix attacked Hömig, but it was his turn to flip Widespread, and Oliver set a card to each zone. Hömig set a spell or trap, Oliver flip summoned Card Trooper and sent three cards to the graveyard; Scapegoat blocked it and Trooper hit a Sheep, leaving Hömig with three.
He turned one Sheep to attack and activated Creature Swap. Hömig pumped the Trooper to 1900 ATK, attacked the Sheep, and set a spell or trap. Oliver fired back with Cyber Dragon, tributing it for Raiza to bounce away his opponent’s set spell or trap. He attacked his own Card Trooper and ended. It was 6100 to 6000.
Hömig took Raiza with Brain Control and attacked for 2400 damage. He then tributed his opponent’s Raiza for a Raiza himself, sending Oliver’s set back row card to the top of his deck. Oliver set two cards but lost them to Heavy Storm: Torrential Tribute and Mirror Force! He took another 2400 from Raiza and Hömig set a monster to finish up.
Oliver activated Overload Fusion, removing four Machines from his graveyard! He brought out Chimeratech Overdragon and attacked to destroy Raiza, both Sheep tokens, and finally Hömig’s set card, Treeborn Frog. But next turn Hömig had Snatch Steal, and activated it to take Chimeratech and win the duel!
Max Hömig presses this match to a third duel!
Play began quickly, with Oliver eyeing his hand: two Mobius the Frost Monarch, Treeborn Frog, Trap Dustshoot, Widespread Ruin and Card Trooper. He set a monster and two spell or trap cards. He flipped Trap Dustshoot in Hömig’s draw phase, revealing Hömig’s hand of Snipe Hunter, Destiny Draw, Reinforcement of the Army, Call of the Haunted, Sangan, and Card Trooper. He shuffled back Snipe Hunter, and Hömig activated Reinforcement of the Army to search his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos. He summoned him, searched out Disk Commander, discarded him with Destiny Draw, and drew two more cards. He set a spell or trap and attacked with Stratos.
“Attack.”
Oliver let it go, and lost his Treeborn Frog. He summoned Card Trooper, ditched three cards for it, and attacked over Stratos with Trooper. In his end phase Hömig special summoned Disk Commander by flipping Call of the Haunted, drawing two for his effect!
Hömig summoned Sangan, turned Disk Commander to defense and attacked to destroy Trooper. Oliver summoned Cyber Phoenix, attacked Disk Commander and passed.
Sangan was tributed for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, and Hömig selected the Cyber Phoenix as its target! Cyber Phoenix was destroyed and Hömig searched his deck for Snipe Hunter with Sangan’s effect. Widespread Ruin destroyed Zaborg when he attacked.
Oliver brought back Treeborn Frog, but when he tributed it for Mobius the Frost Monarch, Mobius’ target was chained: Scapegoat. The Frost Monarch destroyed a Sheep and Oliver ended. Hömig took it with Brain Control, attacked, and tributed Mobius for a set monster. He set a spell or trap and ended.
Treeborn Frog came up yet again, and Oliver tributed it for another Mobius the Frost Monarch. Hömig flipped Torrential Tribute in response! He lost his Sheep, but his set monster was Destiny Hero – Malicious. Oliver activated Pot of Avarice, still in his first main phase, and drew Raiza and Machine Duplication, both useless. He already had a Machine Duplication in hand, as well as Overload Fusion — with no Machines in his graveyard. Snatch Steal was his only remaining card, and with no monsters on the field it wasn’t exactly winning him the game yet. He ended.
Hömig removed one Malicious to special summon another, activated Metamorphosis to tribute him away, and special summoned Dark Blade the Dragon Knight. He then normal summoned Card Trooper, sent three cards to the graveyard for its effect, and knocked Oliver down to 900 life points. Dark Blade removed Treeborn Frog from Oliver’s graveyard, and he ended with nothing in his back row.
Oliver drew into Torrential Tribute, making his hand that, Snatch Steal, Raiza, and two Machine Duplications, plus Overload Fusion. He used Snatch Steal to take Hömig’s Card Trooper and activated Machine Duplication! He had the game! He brought out two more Card Troopers from his deck, but he special summoned them in defense position! He wasn’t going to win the game like that, and he realized his mistake just a moment too late. He activated his second Machine Duplication, already pained over his mistake: he could have tributed one Trooper for Raiza, bounced Dark Blade, and attacked with three Troopers and Raiza for game. Ouch.
Still, he pressed on. He sent twelve cards total to his graveyard, and counted the number of Machines hopefully: only four, not enough for a game-winning Chimeratech. He tributed Hömig’s Card Trooper for Raiza, bounced Dark Blade, and attacked for 2400. Oliver Schmidt-Voss had just passed on a ticket to Worlds.
He set one back row card to end.
Hömig summoned Snipe Hunter. He discarded Cyber Dragon to target Raiza with priority, but missed! He discarded Card Trooper to target it again, and this time it hit, destroying Raiza. Snipe then attacked a Trooper and Hömig ended.
Oliver had another chance! He sent six cards to his graveyard with the two remaining Card Troopers, and hit three Machines in the process! He counted: seven Machines in his graveyard! He tributed one Card Trooper for Cyber Dragon, flashed the Overload Fusion and Hömig knew it was over! He conceded the match in the face of a 5600 ATK Chimeratech Overdragon!
Oliver Schmidt-Voss moves on to the semifinals, and a guaranteed seat at the World Championships!
He quickly explained his error: “I looked at my life points and saw that I had 900, so I thought I had to go on defense. I brought out the Troopers then. But then I saw the second Duplication and I realized I’d made a mistake!” A bullet dodged and a nasty fate narrowly avoided: Oliver Schmidt-Voss was going to San Diego!