For Paul Levitin and Eric Blum, it all came down to this. Both of these duelists were on the bubble: one of them would make it to Day 2, and the other would fall in defeat.

Levitin recognized his opponent as he took his seat. “Oh, I know where I remember you from! You beat me in the Regionals in Delaware. It was like, a season and a half ago.”

“It was a year ago, yeah,” agreed Blum. They quickly rolled off, and Blum won the right to go first. He opened with Shining Angel, set a spell or trap, and passed. Levitin special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroyed the Angel, and attacked into Scapegoat. He took out a Sheep, set a spell or trap, and passed. The game was already moving at a wicked pace.

Blum was up. He summoned Tsukuyomi, turning Levitin’s Zaborg face down, but lost the Tsukuyomi to Sakuretsu Armor. He set a spell or trap, Zaborg ate a Sheep, Levitin set a spell or trap, and passed. Chaos Sorcerer came down for Blum, but Levitin’s Bottomless Trap Hole cleared the field. Blum set a spell or trap, Levitin summoned D. D. Warrior Lady to attack the third Sheep, and Blum passed. D. D. Warrior Lady attacked the last Sheep, and Blum special summoned Cyber Dragon. It attacked into Mirror Force, but in main phase 2 Blum cost Levitin his in-hand Tsukuyomi with Confiscation. A turn flew by, Breaker the Magical Warrior was summoned by Blum, it broke Ceasefire, which was chained, and it attacked Levitin directly. It was clear that Blum was playing for monster presence, and the resulting momentum was just wiping Levitin out.

Levitin set a spell or trap, and next turn got smacked by Breaker and Spirit Reaper, losing Zaborg. Levitin set a second spell or trap, and got nailed by Breaker and Reaper again next turn, discarding his last in-hand card, Mobius the Frost Monarch. He set a monster, lost his set Creature Swap to Mystical Space Typhoon and Blum tributed Reaper for Cyber Dragon. Breaker the Magical Warrior attacked Levitin’s set Old Vindictive Magician, Levitin used its effect to destroy Blum’s Cyber Dragon, and Blum brought it back with Call of the Haunted. The Dragon attacked directly, and a turn later Levitin scooped, unable to topdeck anything of use.

Levitin takes a brutal, high-speed beating while Eric Blum captures the first duel!

The Los Angeles SJC Champ opened the second duel with a set card to each zone. Blum summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole. He set a spell or trap and passed. Levitin flipped Magical Merchant, lost six monsters in the process of digging for a spell or trap that was snapped off his deck too fast to see, and Merchant attacked. Levitin set a card to each zone and passed. Blum summoned Sangan, ran over Merchant, and set a spell or trap.

Chaos Sorcerer came down on Levitin’s side, but Blum chained Torrential Tribute to its effect to destroy his own Sangan on the chain, netting himself Mystic Tomato with Sangan’s effect. Levitin set a monster and passed. Blum activated Graceful Charity, discarded Shining Angel, and Sakuretsu Armor, and special summoned Cyber Dragon. He tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroying Levitin’s set D. D. Warrior Lady and attacking for 2400 damage. He set a spell or trap and Paul was up.

Levitin set a card to each zone and passed. Blum summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and Enemy Controller turned away Zaborg’s attack when it went after Levitin’s set monster. D. D. Warrior Lady hit Levitin’s set Magician of Faith, he took back Enemy Controller with its effect, and Blum again used Call of the Haunted to press through an attack with Cyber Dragon, just like the first game. Blum set another spell or trap card and passed with one card in hand. Though his hand presence was slim, Blum’s field presence was constantly mounting and Levitin couldn’t compete. It was 2700 for Levitin to 7800 for Blum.

Levitin special summoned Cyber Dragon, and examined his hand. He didn’t seem to see a way out of his predicament. He summoned Cyber-Stein, and sent it to attack D. D. Warrior Lady. Mirror Force repelled the attack, prompting Levitin to look at the set card in his set spell and trap zone, then the two in his hand. He looked at them and after a moment’s consideration scooped. Paul Levitin loses out on the bubble, yet again coming so close to breaking Theeresak Poonsombat’s record.

Eric Blum defeats the four-time SJC Top 8 vet, pulling the upset to place himself in a superb position for a Day 2 qualification!