“I play with a team, but I can’t remember our name. We’ve changed it like, five times.”

Team name or not, he’d won his way through a slew of duelists this weekend to earn his seat at the finals, and a fifty-fifty shot at the new Shonen Jump prize card, Shrink. A win here would definitely be an upset, and it would be an amazing start to his high-level dueling career.

Yetter won the roll and opened with a set card to each of his zones. Baxter hit him with Nobleman of Crossout, removing Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive from the field, and stripping two more from Yetter’s deck. Baxter lost just one from his, set a spell or trap, and passed.

Play passed back to him again, and he summoned D. D. Assailant. Yetter flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from play, and Baxter passed play to Yetter, who seemed eager to take advantage of the opening Baxter might have been giving him: he had only one card on his field, a spell or trap. Yetter activated Graceful Charity, discarding Scapegoat and Tsukuyomi. He then started the beating, summoning Sangan and attacking for 1000 damage. He set one card to his spell and trap zone and ended.

A second back row set was Baxter’s only move, and Yetter hit him with Sangan again. “I’m gonna do that six more times” he joked, passing. Baxter passed back, as Yetter noted that he had fgive cards in hand. Sangan struck again, lowering Baxter to 5000 life points! Yetter set another back row card, putting both players at two set cards each in their spell and trap zone, and passed.

Baxter set a third spell or trap, and ate another Sangan attack: he was down to 4000 life points. Yetter set a monster and ended his turn. Baxter activated another Nobleman of Crossout, removing Yetter’s Night Assailant from the field: Baxter didn’t play one. He summoned Exiled Force, attacked into Sangan, and both monsters were destroyed.

Sangan ran off to Yetter’s deck and he thumbed through it, checking both graveyards before settling on D. D. Warrior Lady. Yetter had managed to juice 4000 damage and an extra card out of that Sangan. Baxter set a fourth back row card and ended.

D. D. Warrior Lady hit the field on Yetter’s side of the table, but Baxter flipped Torrential Tribute to destroy it. Yetter set a third spell or trap card and passed, leaving Baxter to set a monster and pass back. Yetter special summoned Cyber Dragon, Baxter had no response, and Nobleman of Crossout removed his one set monster from the game: Magician of Faith. Baxter removed one copy from his deck and Yetter did the same. Baxter had three cards in his hand and three on the field, so Yetter started looking to force card exchanges. He attacked with Cyber Dragon, and Baxter blocked it with Enemy Controller, turning it to defense position. Call of the Haunted brought back Yetter’s Sangan, and it hit for another 1000 damage! Baxter dropped to 3000 remaining life points and Yetter set a monster, ending a very satisfying turn.

Premature Burial bought Baxter his Exiled Force again, and he tributed it to destroy Yetter’s set monster: Magician of Faith. He then brought the Exiled back again, this time tributing it for Jinzo: Jinzo attacked Cyber Dragon and destroyed it.

“You’re at 22?” asked Yetter. Baxter confirmed.

Yetter tributed his Sangan for Jinzo, taking Spirit Reaper with Sangan’s effect, and then shuffled his hand, thinking. He special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, used Smashing Ground to destroy his opponent’s Jinzo, and that was game! With Baxter down to just 2200 life points, and without Scapegoat to defend himself, Jinzo swung for game.

Brent Yetter wins the first duel with authority, dishing out an utter beating to Baxter with a viciously aggressive play style. Both duelists decided to make use of their side decks, and Yetter, having learned that smokescreening was legal just last round, did so by shuffling his entire side deck into his main deck and then removing fifteen cards.

Baxter opened the second duel with a quick set of two cards, one to each zone. Yetter played it risky, setting one monster, and paid for it: Baxter tributed his set monster, Sangan, for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroying Yetter’s set Treeborn Frog. He wouldn’t lose card presence, but he would lose 2400 life points. Sangan fetched Baxter Exiled Force, Zaborg attacked, a second back row card hit Baxter’s field, and played passed to Yetter.

He drew, and brought his Frog back to the field. He played Snatch Steal on Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, but Baxter chained with Enemy Controller, tributing his Zaborg to take Yetter’s Frog. Yetter set a monster and ended, retrieving the Treeborn Frog from Baxter’s side of the field.

Baxter activated Reinforcement of the Army, taking Mystic Swordsman LV2 from his deck. He summoned it, and then special summoned Chaos Sorcerer. Mystic Swordsman LV2 destroyed the set Spirit Reaper, and Frog was removed from play by Sorcerer. Yetter special summoned Cyber Dragon, but Bottomless Trap Hole swalloed it up! He set a spell or trap and passed.

Baxter laid him out with Mystic Swordsman LV2 and Sorcerer on the following turn, setting a monster before passing. Yetter’s only move was to set another spell or trap, and he looked visibly unhappy with his options. Baxter attacked with the Sorcerer on the following turn, and then poked the Mystic Swordsman LV2 forward:

“Attack for game?”

“Yeah,” said Yetter, a bit quietly. His face had made that second set spell or trap an easy read, and was clearly bluffing.

He opted not to side deck anything, and Baxter followed suit. The championship came down to this: One final game that would decide victory for Team Rampage and the long overdue Yetter, or glory for a relative unknown!

Yetter began the duel with two cards, one to each zone. Baxter special summoned Cyber Dragon, Yetter responded with Bottomless Trap Hole, but Book of Moon kept it out! Baxter set two back row cards and passed.

Magical Merchant flipped to get Yetter Mystical Space Typhoon, discarding four monsters in the process: Cyber Dragon, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, Zaborg, and Treeborn Frog! Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed Baxter’s set Enemy Controller, and Yetter summoned Tsukuyomi to turn Merchant face down. He attacked with the Tsukuyomi into the Cyber Dragon, flipping it face up and taking a little damage in order to destroy it with Smashing Ground! He set a spell or trap and passed.

Baxter set another spell or trap card and passed. Yetter flipped Merchant again, and hit Graceful Charity immediately! He discarded another Dekoichi, discarded Book of Moon, and then special summoned Chaos Sorcerer! The Sorcerer attacked, hit, and the Merchant attacked too! Yetter passed.

Smashing Ground cleared out Yetter’s Chaos Sorcerer, and Baxter set a third spell or trap card, again without a monster. The life point totals were 5500 to 7500, with Yetter leading. He summoned Spirit Reaper, but lost it and Merchant to Baxter’s set Torrential Tribute. He passed, Baxter passed, and Yetter summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior. Baxter responded with Bottomless Trap Hole, removing Breaker from the game, and Yetter ended his turn.

Baxter set a monster finally, and Yetter summoned Mystic Tomato, attacking into Tsukuyomi. Tomato bounced and was turned face down, and Yetter removed another Light and a Dark to bring out a second Sorcerer: it removed Tsukuyomi from the game. Yetter was playing really aggressively, and it was paying off.

Baxter summoned Mystic Swordsman LV2, attacked the set Tomato with it, but lost it to Sakuretsu Armor. Call of the Haunted brought the Swordsman back up though, and a second attack nailed the Tomato and sent it to the graveyard!

Yetter did not take back his Treeborn Frog, instead opting to use Premature Burial to take back Dekoichi. He used Snatch Steal to take Baxter’s Mystic Swordsman LV2, summoned Tsukuyomi to turn it face down, flip summoned it, and attacked with all four monsters for game!

Brent Yetter defeats Adam Baxter, bringing home a Shonen Jump Championship for Team Rampage! For Rampage, this is a huge accomplishment heading into Nationals. For Yetter, it’s the end of a long journey and the beginning of many more.

Brent Yetter is your newest Shonen Jump Champion!