Alessandro is one of the four Italians to make the Top 8. Hailing from Pescara, he’s a part of Team Italian Odyssey, and he has done exceedingly well today, coming back from a rough Day 1 to take today by storm with a 5-0 record. He’s 17 years old and is a rising star on the Yu-Gi-Oh! scene.
Michael was the German national champion last year, and he’s back this year at the European stage to try and make an impact, with a strong showing throughout the Swiss. He’s here now to try and win his trip to Worlds. Oh, and did I mention he’s one of four Germans in the Top 8? That’s right, with four Italians and four Germans, this playoff is bound to be full of tense, action-packed drama, rivalry, and great games.
Both players were slightly taken aback by the mass amount of attention they’d received since making the Top 8 today. The player briefing from the UDE event staff took a good half hour, and the players had rules, codes of conduct, and policies told to them enough times and in enough languages that they had to remember them. They arrived inside the feature match cage eventually and took their seats, shuffling up and concentrating on the duels to come.
They decided who would go first with a die roll, with Michael’s roll topping Alessandro’s. He began play with a Sangan in attack position, and two set cards in the back row before passing his turn. After Alessandro drew, Michael flipped Trap Dustshoot, and saw two copies of Card Trooper, Morphing Jar, Cyber Phoenix, Heavy Storm, and a Trap Dustshoot. Michael took his time before deciding on Cyber Phoenix, and Alessandro’s deck was shuffled thoroughly.
Alessandro shuffled the cards in his hand and leaned forward slightly while deciding on his move. He summoned Card Trooper and lost Limiter Removal, Snatch Steal, and Trap Dustshoot before attacking Michael’s Sangan. Michael flipped Ring of Destruction on the Card Trooper, allowing Alessandro to draw a card for its effect. Alessandro set two cards to his back row before passing straight back to Michael.
Trap Dustshoot was flipped in the draw phase, and Jinzo was selected as the only monster in Michael’s hand and shuffled back to the deck. Sangan poked directly for 1000 damage and Michael set a back row card and flipped Trap Dustshoot after the draw. Alessandro had drawn into Machine Duplication! Card Trooper was sent back to the deck and Alessandro was left with Brain Control, Morphing Jar and Machine Duplication. Alessandro set a card to each zone before passing.
Heavy Storm was Michael’s first play, and he set a card to each zone before attacking into the Morphing Jar with Sangan. Both players drew brand new hands and Michael ended.
Alessandro had the Mystical Space Typhoon for Michael’s set Pot of Avarice, and he followed up with Cyber Dragon and Hydrogeddon. He set two cards and Hydrogeddon attacked Sangan and Alessandro searched for another Hydro while Michael found Card Trooper from his Sangan search. The second Hydrogeddon tore through Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Michael took 3700 damage from the resulting Hydrogeddon and Cyber Dragon attacks.
Alessandro flipped his Confiscation in main phase 2, and stared into a seven card hand that included Card Trooper and Machine Duplication. Card Trooper was discarded, and the life points stood at 4100 for Alessandro and 1800 for Michael.
Cyber Dragon came down on the German’s side of the field and he thought for a while before activating Brain Control to target his opponent’s Cyber Dragon, which resolved.
He tributed it for Raiza the Storm Monarch and chose to put the back row card on the top of Alessandro’s deck. Cyber Dragon and Raiza tore through two Hydrogeddons and Michael set a back row card before passing. Alessandro could only set a card to each zone and then switch his last remaining Hydrogeddon to defense before passing back to Michael, and he once again took his time considering his move. Alessandro was down to 2800 life points, but now he received a warning for slow play.
He summoned a Cyber Phoenix and sent his monsters into battle, with Cyber Dragon being switched to defense mode first. Cyber Phoenix ran over the defense mode Hydrogeddon while Raiza took out a face down Card Trooper. Michael ended his turn there.
Cyber Phoenix was summoned by the Italian, and it knocked heads with Michael’s Cyber Phoenix, allowing both players to draw. Premature Burial on Cyber Phoenix ended Alessandro’s turn.
Michael summoned yet another Cyber Phoenix and the resulting attacks were enough to finish game 1!
Michael gets the first game against the Italian, Alessandro.
At this point, 25 minutes had already expired on the round, with 15 left to play; there was everything to play for on Alessandro’s side of things. They both used the full three minutes to side deck and, once the decks were presented, Alessandro decided he would go first for the second game.
A set card to both zones was Alessandro’s opening move, and Trap Dustshoot was revealed during the draw phase. The choices were Cyber Dragon, Legendary Jujitsu Master, Raiza the Storm Monarch, and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Cyber Dragon was sent back to the deck. A set card to each zone was also Michael’s play, and he passed back.
Alessandro flipped his face down Card Trooper and knocked three cards off his deck before summoning Hydrogeddon. Hydrogeddon bounced off the face down Jujitsu Master, and it bought a small cheer from the crowd before Alessandro ended his turn.
Michael drew and checked that Alessandro had three cards in his hand before setting a second spell of trap card and passing his turn.
“You drew Hydrogeddon?” asked Michael with a smirk.
Card Trooper took three cards from the top of Alessandro’s deck, including Chain Disappearance and Trap Dustshoot. Alessandro simply switched his Trooper to defense and ended his turn, while Michael considered his options and switched the Jujitsu Master to attack mode, attacking through Card Trooper. Alessandro drew a card for the effect and Michael set a third back row card before passing.
Cyber Dragon was special summoned by Alessandro, and he flicked through his hand methodically. He had five cards in his hand to Michael’s three and the Cyber Dragon met Widespread Ruin when it tried to attack. Alessandro set a monster to conclude his turn and play was back with the German ex-champion.
He tried to tributed for Raiza the Storm Monarch but ran into Torrential Tribute, and it destroyed Alessandro’s set Hydrogeddon in the process. Alessandro passed with no play and Michael set his Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive.
Another Cyber Dragon hit Alessandro’s side of the field, and it was tributed away for Raiza the Storm Monarch. It targeted one of Michael’s set back row cards, Torrential Tribute, and he declined to chain it. Nobleman of Crossout took out the Dekoichi, and both players examined each other’s decks in order to confirm that no further copies were there. Raiza attacked and saw nothing but fluff when Scapegoat was flipped. He chose not to attack one, and passed to Michael, who simply set a monster before ending his turn.
Pot of Avarice came down from the Italian, and he summoned Hydrogeddon before setting a second back row card and sending the Hydrogeddon into the set Dekoichi. Another hit the field and two Sheep tokens went down. Play was back with Michael.
Brain Control took the Raiza away from Alessandro, and he attacked through a Hydrogeddon before becoming a Cyber Dragon in main phase 2.
Alessandro drew and considered his hand, checking his set cards. Another Raiza the Storm Monarch came down and got rid of a Sheep token, attacking through the Cyber Dragon. Alessandro ended with two set spell or traps and Raiza, with two cards in his hand.
Michael drew and summoned his Cyber Phoenix. He attacked into Raiza the Storm Monarch and asked for a response, with the intention of activating Enemy Controller. It was ruled however that he would not be allowed because when Alessandro declined to respond it entered the damage step immediately.
Cyber Phoenix had to continue its attack in to Raiza, and was destroyed, taking 1200 of Michael’s life points with it. He was able to draw a card. There were 90 seconds left on the round. Michael set two cards to his back row before activating Pot of Avarice. Time was called now, and at the end of Michael’s turn it would be three more turns. He did indeed end his turn and Alessandro took his turn card. He flipped Brain Control for the lone Sheep token, and the life stood at 6200 to 5700 in Alessandro’s favor.
Michael responded with Enemy Controller to take Raiza, causing the Brain Control to fizzle. Heavy Storm was the next play from Alessandro, taking out his own Pulling the Rug and having Ring of Destruction chained on Raiza the Storm Monarch. Michael was up again and he was facing down a clear field, although Alessandro was 500 life-points ahead and had another turn. He summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and attacked for 1400 to put him 900 ahead. On the next turn however a Cyber Dragon and Hydrogeddon were enough to push this epic match to game 3, where the end of match procedure would be in effect!
Michael decided that Alessandro would be the player to begin the final game, and both players shuffled up and drew their opening hands.
Alessandro set a card to each zone and passed, while Michael looked over his hand and decided to mirror the play, and then added a second spell or trap card to the mix. The Italian was back up and another two spell or traps and monster hit his side of the field, bringing him up to three and two respectively.
Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive was flipped on Michael’s last turn of the match before the first life point change came into effect, and he set a third spell or trap before adding another set monster.
It was now first change in life points, and Card Trooper was flipped. Alessandro retained priority to put three cards in his graveyard, including Heavy Storm and Cyber Phoenix. Card Trooper went into battle with the attack position Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Ring of Destruction was flipped to destroy it, but Call of the Haunted bought up the discarded Cyber Phoenix and negated it! Michael wanted to activate Torrential Tribute but it was over-ruled, being that you can’t use it in a resolving chain, and the damage went through to force Michael to take the first damage in the game!
Alessandro Nunziato advances to the semifinals, and is going to the World Championships 2007 to represent Europe!