David Piercy is from Reno, Nevada, and at nineteen years of age he’s running the last remaining legacy of Mike Powers’ Machine deck in this tournament. He’s running a very similar deck, with just one or two cards differentiating his build from Powers’. He plays for Team Amp.
His opponent, Kevin Wang, is a local from here in Seattle. He’s 18 years old and plays for Team Fusion. Both of these players had a 6-1 record going into this round, so the winner here would go on to the Top 8 for sure.
“Best of luck to you,” said Piercy, offering his opponent a handshake. Wang accepted it and prepared to begin the duel.
He opened with Graceful Charity and inspected his hand after the initial draw: he had Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, two Enemy Controller, Pot of Avarice, Apprentice Magician, Last Will, Brain Control, and Morphing Jar to choose from. He discarded the Will and one of the Enemy Controllers before setting a card to each zone to finish his turn.
Piercy fired back another Graceful Charity, immediately discarding Jinzo and then discarding D. D. Warrior Lady almost as quickly. He special summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked with it, hitting Apprentice Magician. Wang searched his deck for Old Vindictive Magician, special summoned it in face-down defense and Piercy set a card to his back row. Play passed back to Wang.
He activated Brain Control to hijack Piercy’s Cyber Dragon, exactly the kind of play that Piercy’s deck would ideally rule out. The Dragon attacked and Piercy labored over the possibility of responding. “I know you’ve got a Thestalos,” he muttered. Still, he opted to take the damage. Sure enough, Wang tributed the pilfered Cyber Dragon for Thestalos in his second main phase. The discard hit Piercy’s Cyber Phoenix, and Piercy took 400 damage.
Piercy summoned Sangan and activated Smashing Ground to destroy Thestalos. Sangan then attacked, hitting Old Vindictive Magician. Magician destroyed the Sangan, Piercy pulled Treeborn Frog with its effect and Piercy ended. Wang set Morphing Jar, Threatening Roar, and Scapegoat, keeping Pot of Avarice in his hand. Piercy summoned Cyber Phoenix and tried to enter the battle phase, but Threatening Roar was used to fend off the Phoenix. Piercy set a second spell or trap and ended.
Wang set his Pot of Avarice and flipped Morphing Jar, discarding his topdeck for the turn: Night Assailant! Each player took five more cards and the Assailant gave Wang back his Old Vindictive in addition! He tributed the Jar for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroyed the Phoenix with its effect, and attacked into Mirror Force. Piercy activated Pot of Avarice, shuffled back Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, Sangan, D. D. Warrior Lady, Cyber Phoenix, and Cyber Dragon. He drew his two cards and then summoned UFO Turtle. The Turtle attacked and Wang took the 1400 damage — it was 5500 to 6000. Piercy dropped by another 1000 in main phase 2, activating Confiscation to rob Wang of his Cyber Dragon.
Wang set a monster and ended. Piercy summoned Sangan, activated Nobleman of Crossout and removed Wang’s set Old Vindictive from the game. The Turtle attacked, but this time Wang responded by activating Scapegoat. Two of the tokens were destroyed in battle and Piercy concluded his turn. Wang summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, destroyed Piercy’s set Sakuretsu Armor with its effect and then attacked Sangan. Piercy pulled another Cyber Phoenix with its effect and Wang was finished.
The Phoenix came down and Wang lost both his Sheep tokens to attacks. Piercy set two more cards to his back row, leaving himself with three total, and play was to Wang. He sent Breaker to attack the UFO Turtle and Piercy pulled another Cyber Phoenix! Wang set a card to each zone, but he lost his freshly — set Mirror Force to Piercy’s Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase.
Piercy activated Premature Burial and brought back the Jinzo he had discarded back at the beginning of the game! Jinzo attacked Breaker, dropping Wang to 5200 life points. The first Phoenix attacked Wang’s set Old Vindictive Magician, which flipped to destroy the other Cyber Phoenix. Play passed to Wang, who flipped his set Pot of Avarice and shuffled back Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Breaker the Magical Warrior, Apprentice Magician, and Old Vindictive Magician back into his deck. He then special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to destroy Cyber Phoenix, and considered his options. He had Heavy Storm in his hand, and the Premature Burial was now free of Phoenix’s protection. Still, he attacked the Jinzo and then used Enemy Controller to turn the Jinzo to defense. Zaborg stuck around while Jinzo went down. Wang passed, Piercy set a monster, and Wang activated Heavy Storm! Piercy chained Call of the Haunted to target his fallen Jinzo, bringing it back and losing his Scapegoat. Brain Control let Wang take control of Jinzo.
“That’s the only card I did not want to see,” admitted Piercy. Zaborg attacked, hitting Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and Jinzo hit directly. Wang then tributed the Jinzo for Cyber Dragon, which he set in face-down defense position.
Piercy special summoned a Dragon of his own, and it attacked Wang’s to destroy it. He set a card to each zone to conclude his turn, and Wang attacked with Zaborg the Thunder Monarch — Widespread Ruin destroyed Zaborg in response. Wang set a monster and passed.
Piercy brought back his Treeborn Frog in attack, activated Creature Swap to trade it for Wang’s set monster and then pressed through 2000 damage with Cyber Dragon! It was 500 to 2400, with Piercy just barely hanging on in life points but maintaining superior field presence.
Wang summoned Sangan and ran over his own Apprentice Magician, the one Piercy had stolen last turn. It brought out another Apprentice on Wang’s side of the field: “Go ahead.”
Piercy brought back his Frog in defense position, set a monster, and then set a spell or trap, his last in-hand card. Wang drew, turned Sangan to defense, and did the same, dumping all but his last card by setting one card to each zone. Piercy flipped Call of the Haunted, but Wang chained Ring of Destruction to target Piercy’s Cyber Dragon! “You’re at 500 and I’m at 2400,” Wang stated. There was nothing Piercy could do, having no way of turning the Dragon face down or tributing it on the chain. The resulting damage reduced him to negative life points.
Kevin Wang takes the first duel, a twenty-five minute ordeal that ends with game by Ring!
“I’m not even going to smokescreen cause I don’t want to waste time,” mentioned Piercy. Wang did opt to smokescreen, and took his time siding and shuffling after Piercy had already presented his deck. Wang wasn’t stalling, but he wasn’t about to give Piercy any free information either.
Piercy offered the quick handshake and then began the duel by summoning Cyber Phoenix and setting a spell or trap. Wang took the Phoenix for a moment to give it a careful read, and then activated Mystical Space Typhoon. It destroyed his opponent’s Call of the Haunted, and Wang then special summoned Cyber Dragon to run over the Phoenix. He activated Dimensional Fissure, set a second spell or trap card and passed.
Piercy blasted him with Heavy Storm, costing Wang Mirror Force and the Fissure! He special summoned Cyber Dragon and normal summoned Cyber Phoenix, trading the Dragons off in battle and hitting directly with Phoenix. Wang summoned D.D. Survivor, attacked the Phoenix, and set Torrential Tribute. He activated another Fissure to end his turn. Piercy summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, Torrential flipped to clear the field and Piercy set a spell or trap. Wang set a spell or trap, Piercy set a monster and Wang passed. Percy flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, attacked for 1400 and set another monster. Wang set a monster, Piercy flip summoned Treeborn Frog and tried to send it to Wang by flipping his set Creature Swap! Wang chained Ring of Destruction though, hitting the Frog and forcing Piercy to send over the Dekoichi instead of the Frog. Piercy summoned Asura Priest, hit his Dekoichi with it, and took back his Priest to end his turn.
Wang passed, Piercy summoned Asura Priest for another 1700 damage poke, set a spell or trap and ended. Wang set a spell or trap, Piercy hit him for another 1700 with Asura and Wang took it. He was down to 1600 life points. Wang set a third spell or trap card, but the Asura came down yet again. Piercy attacked with the Asura but was blocked by Scapegoat! All the tokens were destroyed, but Piercy couldn’t attack directly with the Asura after it attacked monsters — the Sheep had done their job. Piercy ended his turn, Wang passed, and Piercy tribute summoned for Cyber Dragon. Wang had Threatening Roar to fend Piercy off for one turn, but he didn’t get anything on his draw that could help him. He conceded, and the match moved to a third game!
Both duelists pressed the time limit of the siding/shuffling period as long as the table judge would allow. Wang opened the third duel, and just three minutes remained in the round as he set two spell or trap cards. “Go ahead.” No monster from Wang.
Piercy set a card to each zone and ended. Wang summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke his opponent’s set Call of the Haunted, then removed his set Nimble Momonga from the game with Nobleman of Crossout. Breaker hit directly and Piercy was up.
He special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked with it, and Wang flipped Ring of Destruction to destroy the Dragon. Piercy set a card to each zone and ended, but in the end phase Wang flipped Scapegoat to claim four Sheep. He turned one to attack, gave it over with Creature Swap, and attacked the attack position Sheep with Breaker, but lost Breaker to Widespread Ruin. Wang set a monster, set two back row cards and passed.
Time was called just as Piercy started his turn. His turn would count as “turn zero” in end of match procedure, and three turns would follow: one for Wang, one for Piercy, and another for Wang. He summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, turned the Sheep to defense position, and attacked right into Mirror Force.
“After this turn it’s him, me, him, right?” asked Piercy. The table judge confirmed that that was correct. Piercy looked at Wang and offered the handshake. It was all over.
Kevin Wang of Team Fusion moves on to the Top 8!