Paul McCann is from Livonia, Michigan and works at the Apple Store and credits Vincent Tundo for his deck. He’s playing for Team Metro and this is his first Top 16 appearance at an SJC. Scott Happel is from Fort Wayne, Indiana and he plays for Team Lockdown. He’s a student and is a very avid poker player claiming he plays all throughout the weekends. This is also his first Top 16 SJC appearance. Both of these players have only attended one previous SJC and making Top 16 today could very well start a breakthrough performance as either of these players could become a rising star!
Both players shuffled up and Paul rolled a 4 while Scott rolled a 6! A friendly handshake was given out while both players engaged in some small talk before starting the match. Scott took the right to start and played Allure of Darkness and removed Dark Magician of Chaos from play. He summoned Armageddon Knight and dumped a Darklord Zerato to his graveyard for the effect.
“I don’t want you to go!” Scott remarked as he set a back row and ended his turn.
Paul started his turn by playing Toon Table of Contents and cycled through only two, not playing his 3rd.
“Yes! That’s one less card to cycle through!”
Paul played Allure of Darkness and removed Dark Magician of Chaos from play for the effect. He played Machine Duplication to bring out two more Valleys to the field then played Upstart Goblin to draw one, then played Allure to draw two and removed Toon Cannon Soldier from play. He then proceeded to discard Thunder Dragon to get 2 more to his hand, and played another Upstart Goblin to draw another card as Scott gained another 1000 life points. Paul played Card Destruction and Paul discarded 6 while Scott discarded 4, two of which were Dark Armed Dragon! He then played Reinforcement of the Army to get Disk Commander to his hand and played Destiny Draw to discard that same Commander. He did it again, this time with Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude! Paul removed Machine Duplication to special summon Spell Striker! He removed them both via Cyber Valley’s effect to draw two and played another Upstart Goblin, bringing Scott up to 11000 life points! Paul played Magical Mallet to send 4 of his 6 cards away and drew another 4. Paul plays his Economia de Spells (Which is Spell Economics in Spanish) then played Premature Burial to bring back a Disk Commander to draw two. He played yet another Magical Mallet to shuffle away 4 out of 5 cards in his hand and drew a fresh new 4 cards. Paul activated his Dimension Fusion! “Game?” Scott picked up all his cards and Paul took the first duel!
Paul fires off the first turn KO to snag away game 1!
“Can we play like this? With our side decks in our decks?” asked Scott jokingly, slightly flustered from being beaten.
Both players side decked happily as more small talk was occurred between both players. Head Judge Jerome McHale commented how that turn took 15 minutes as Scott said that that move was epic.
Scott chose the right to start the duel yet again, hoping to build some sort of counter or defense to Paul’s combo-oriented deck. Scott started off his turn by summoning Strike Ninja and setting 3 cards to his back row to end his turn. He was either trying to bluff at having a defense or he really did have one.
Paul started by playing Allure of Darkness and removed Diamond Dude for its effect. He followed up with Giant Trunade but was cut off by a Solemn Judgment! Paul then played Reinforcement of the Army for D.D. Survivor! He wasn’t playing the FTK! He played Dimensional Fissure but was cut off by Solemn Judgment yet again! He summoned D.D. Survivor anyway and attacked but was stopped by Mirror Force! He ended with a clear field as Scott drew and attacked for 1700, setting a back row card to end. On Paul’s draw, Scott activated Trap Dustshoot and revealed Spell Economics, Brain Control, Machine Duplication, and Spell Striker! Spell Striker was sent back and Paul sighed; he ended with no move. Scott drew and attacked for another 1700, set a back row, and ended. Paul passed and Scott tributed off his Strike Ninja for Destiny Hero – Dasher to strike for 2100! He set a back row and ended his turn. Paul drew and played Brain Control to take Dasher, bringing him down to 1700 life points while Scott stood at 2000. He attacked but was cut off with Raigeki Break! He set all his cards and ended. Scott drew and brought out Dark Armed Dragon! He removed three monsters to destroy three of Paul’s set back row cards but they were all bluffs! When he attacked, he was cut off by Mirror Force! A shock of amazement hit the crowd and both players as Dark Armed Dragon was sent to the graveyard! He ended with a back row set. Paul did the same but it was taken out by Scott’s Dust Tornado! Scott drew and set a back row as Paul summoned Cyber Valley to end his turn. Scott set another back row to end his turn. Paul began his turn by summoning D.D. Survivor but this time, Scott activated Torrential Tribute! Both monsters were destroyed. Scott showed Return from the Different Dimension and Paul scooped up his cards!
Scott wins game 2 after having horrible luck with Dark Armed Dragon and pushes the match to a 3rd game!
Both players once again started a friendly conversation, commenting on the pleasantness of the previous duel as they side decked and prepared for the final duel of the match.
Paul started off the duel with Reinforcement of the Army to get a Spell Striker to his hand. “I should mention that Dimension Fusion should be banned!” said Scott as he kicked back waiting for his turn to arrive, assuming it actually would.
Paul played Magical Mallet to shuffle back 4 out of 5 cards and drew 4 cards. He plays Toon Table of Contents to cycle through all 3 to obtain Toon Cannon Soldier. He discarded Thunder Dragon to get two more with the effect, summoned Cyber Valley, and followed up with a Machine Duplication, but only bringing out one more from the deck! Both Valleys were removed and Paul drew two for the effect. He played Magical Mallet again and shuffled back all 5 of his cards and got a fresh new hand! Thunder Dragon was discarded to fetch one more from the deck. Paul pondered his next move and played Card Destruction! Scott tossed down his cards, shaking his head as Scott discarded 5 while Paul discarded 4. Paul played Upstart Goblin and drew a card while Scott gained 1000 life points. Destiny Draw was played, discarding Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude to draw two more cards. Paul counted his deck and then proceeded to check his graveyard as he contemplated his next move. Premature Burial was played to get back Dark Magician of Chaos! The Magician fetched back Toon Table of Contents and he played it to get a Toon Cannon Soldier from his deck. Allure of Darkness was dropped and Paul removed that freshly obtained Toon Cannon Soldier. Paul played Dimensional Fissure and ended his turn.
Scott finally got to start his turn and started off with Destiny Draw, discarding Disk Commander, to the removed from play area thanks to Dimensional Fissure, to draw two. After careful deliberation of checking graveyards, removed from play piles, and hands, Scott summoned Armageddon Knight, sending Dark Magician of Chaos out of play.
“Anything else?” Asked Paul? “No . . . No! I don’t want you to play anything else!!!”
Scott played Monster Reborn and brought back the Destiny Hero – Dasher that was discarded for Card Destruction. He tributed his Armageddon Knight to boost up Dasher by 1000 and he ran over the Dark Magician of Chaos for 300. He set two back row cards and ended his turn.
Paul’s turnstarted with Cyber Valley and Scott activated his face-down Raigeki Break discarding Destiny Draw to destroy it! Paul passed with no other moves. Scott drew, shifted his Dasher back to attack mode, attacked for 2100, and set another back row to end his turn. Paul drew and played Dimension Fusion to try and go for game but was cut off by Solemn Judgment! He passed once again and Scott drew and hit him with another 2100. Scott set a spell or trap to end his turn. It was 4500-700 in favor of Scott as he hoped for Paul to end his turn as he drew for his turn. Diamond Dude was summoned and he used the effect to knock Reinforcement of the Army off the deck. He then ran over the Dasher to end his turn. Paul revealed his face-down cards and his hand: Raigeki Break, Return from the Different Dimension, and Dimension Fusion. Paul scooped up his cards!
Scott Happel wins a close match expressing his love for Solemn Judgment and moves on to the Top 4 to face Jerry Wang in the semifinals!