I followed Mark Vazquez into his next match, against Chris Evans. Chris was feeling good, coming off of his previous win. He yelled over to some of his friends — “Hey! Jason’s good luck now! The curse is broken! I’m sitting next to Jason from now on!”  Both players shuffled their own decks thoroughly, before handing them off to their opponent. “You don’t look happy,” Chris observed, taking Mark’s deck from him. “He always looks like that,” I said, “I noticed it last match. He’s got a good poker face.” Mark smiled slightly, confessing, “The sad thing is I can’t play poker.” Table judge Jeff interjected, “Hey, in that case, you should come down to our store!” drawing a laugh from everyone at the table as talk turned to poker.

Mark won the high roll, and decided to go first. “Good luck,” said Chris, holding out his hand. Mark gave it a brief clasp and they got down to business.

Mark drew, and shuffled his hand as he considered his opening move. He set a monster and a spell or trap, and ended his turn. Chris picked up his hand, drew and looked it over. He surveyed the field, then activated Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying Mark’s Sakuretsu Armor. Chris then summoned Yellow Gadget, took a Green from his deck to his hand, and attacked Mark’s set — D. D. Warrior Lady. He set a spell or trap and ended his turn.

Mark drew, turned D. D. Warrior Lady to attack, and attacked the Yellow Gadget. Chris checked his set card, and then took the attack. Mark activated Swords of Revealing Light, and ended his turn. Chris drew, and shuffled through his hand for a moment, thinking. He summoned Green Gadget, and took a Red one from his deck to his hand. Mark drew, summoned Spirit Reaper, and promptly lost it as Chris responded with Torrential Tribute.

Chris summoned a Red Gadget, brought a Yellow one to his hand, set one spell or trap card, and ended his turn. Mark summoned Cyber Dragon, and attacked the Red Gadget — alas, Chris was packing a Sakuretsu Armor. Mark then set a monster, a spell or trap, and ended his turn. Chris drew, and activated Graceful Charity. Thinking over his choices, he set one card aside, and then reviewed the life points — he had 7300 to Mark’s 8000. He discarded Sakuretsu Armor and Snipe Hunter, and then summoned Chiron the Mage. Discarding Last Will to pay for Chiron’s effect, he wiped out Mark’s set Mirror Force. Chris set a spell or trap and ended his turn.

Mark drew, and then flip summoned Magician of Faith to take back Swords. He tributed the Magician for Mobius the Frost Monarch, nailing Chris’ set Ring of Destruction, which he chained, dealing 2400 damage to each of them. Mark set two spell or trap cards and ended his turn.

Chris drew, and discarded Fissure for Chiron’s effect, hitting Call of the Haunted. He summoned a Yellow Gadget, taking a Green to his hand, and then attacked with Chiron — Mark responded by activating Scapegoat. Chris picked off three Sheep tokens, set a spell or trap, and ended his turn. Mark drew, and ended his turn. Chris drew, and summoned a Green Gadget, bringing a Red one to his hand. He attacked first with Chiron, then with Yellow, then Red — and flipped up Limiter Removal for game. Gadgets took game 1 in just under eight minutes!

Game 2

Mark again went first, setting two spell or trap cards and one monster. Chris summoned Yellow Gadget, taking Green to his hand, and attacked, hitting a Gravekeeper’s Spy. Mark brought out another one, as Chris set a spell or trap card and ended his turn. Mark drew, and tributed one Spy for Cyber Dragon. He attacked the Yellow Gadget — right into Mirror Force! Mark flipped up Royal Decree in response, and the attack went through.

Chris summoned Green Gadget, searching out a Red, and then used Smashing Ground to get rid of the Spy. Mark summoned Twin-Headed Behemoth, and then attacked the Green Gadget with Cyber Dragon. Chris responded with Limiter Removal, and after doing some math to figure out what damage he’d be taking, Mark chained Enemy Controller to turn the Green into defense.

Chris set a monster, then used Smashing Ground to take out Mark’s Cyber Dragon. Mark attacked the set with Twin-Headed Behemoth — Cyber Phoenix — then set a monster and ended his turn. Chris summoned Red Gadget, and brought a Yellow to his hand. He attacked Mark’s face down monster with Red, revealing Magician of Faith. Mark took back Enemy Controller.

Mark drew, and attacked Cyber Phoenix with Twin-Headed Behemoth. Chris drew, and summoned Green Gadget, taking a Yellow to his hand. Life points were now at Mark — 7900 and Chris — 4500. Chris turned the Red to defense, and ended his turn.

Mark drew, looked at his hand, and did some quick math. He activated Brain Control, taking the Red Gadget, and attacked the Green with Cyber Dragon. Chris responded with Rush Recklessly, putting Mark at 6500. Mark tributed the Red for Cyber Dragon, set a spell or trap, and returned Twin-Headed Behemoth in defense to the field, and ended his turn.

Chris drew, and looked through his hand and graveyard. He summoned a Yellow Gadget, took a Green from his deck, and attacked Twin-Headed Behemoth with the Yellow. Then, he activated Fissure to destroy the Cyber Dragon, and ended. Mark drew, and activated Soul Exchange, sending Green to the graveyard to bring out Mobius and destroy Chris’ set Rush Recklessly.

Chris summoned Red Gadget, took out a Yellow, and ended his turn. Mark looked through his graveyard, and then activated Premature Burial to bring back Cyber Dragon. He attacked Red with the Dragon, and then attacked directly with Mobius — but Chris had an Enemy Controller to turn the monster to defense instead. Chris summoned Snipe Hunter, selected Cyber Dragon, discarded Bottomless Trap Hole, and rolled a three to send it to the graveyard. Yellow Gadget then attacked Mobius, and Snipe Hunter attacked directly, bringing the life point total to Mark — 4200 and Chris — 3700.

Mark summoned Banisher of the Radiance, and attacked Snipe Hunter. Chris drew and summoned Red Gadget, but had no more Yellow left in his deck. Mark drew, and paid 1000 life points to activate System Down, stripping Chris’ field and graveyard of all Machines, and then attacked directly with Banisher. Chris summoned Exiled Force, tributing it to destroy Banisher. Mark drew, and passed. Chris summoned Green Gadget, and attacked directly. Mark drew, and summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, attacking the Green Gadget. Life points were now at the critical level — Mark had 1800 and Chris 1900.

Chris set a monster and ended his turn. Mark attacked the set — Magician of Faith — and Chris returned Smashing Ground to his hand. Chris drew, summoned Yellow Gadget, and then activated Smashing Ground to destroy D. D. Warrior Lady. Mark responded by chaining Enemy Controller, discarding the D. D. Warrior Lady to take control of the hapless Yellow Gadget, which took the hit from Smashing Ground.

Mark summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and attempted to attack directly. Chris flipped up Enemy Controller to turn it to defense and survive another turn. Chris drew, looked at his card, and conceded.

Game 3

Chris decided to go first, drawing his card and immediately summoning Yellow Gadget. Taking a Green from his deck, he then activated Graceful Charity. After discarding a Yellow Gadget and Brain Control, he activated Confiscation. Mark laid out his hand, revealing Hand of Nephthys, Spirit Reaper, Banisher of the Radiance, Cyber Dragon, and Graceful Charity. Chris selected Graceful, and ended his turn.

Mark drew, and looked at his hand. He activated Heavy Storm, taking out Chris’ Torrential Tribute, then special summoned Cyber Dragon, followed with a normal summon of Spirit Reaper. He attacked Yellow with the Cyber Dragon, then directly with Reaper, taking Chris’ Enemy Controller from his hand.

Chris summoned Green Gadget, took a Red from his deck, and set a spell or trap. Mark summoned Hand of Nephthys, then tributed it and Cyber Dragon to bring out Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys. He attacked the Green Gadget with Phoenix, smacking right into Mirror Force. Chris drew, summoned Red Gadget, and pulled a Yellow from his deck. He attacked directly with both, bringing the life point total to Mark — 5300 and Chris — 5800.

Mark returned his Phoenix to the field, and attacked the Green, then set one spell or trap and ended. Chris drew, summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, and broke Mark’s set Royal Decree. After turning Red to defense, he ended his turn.

Mark attacked Breaker with the Phoenix, then set a monster and ended. Chris drew, summoned Yellow Gadget, and took a Green from his deck. He attacked the face down monster with Yellow — D. D. Warrior Lady — and Mark opted to remove both. Mark drew, and attacked the Red with Phoenix.

Chris drew, looking troubled. He summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed it for Mobius, sacrificed Mobius in an attack on the Phoenix, then set a spell or trap card and ended his turn. Mark drew, summoned Banisher of the Radiance, and attacked directly for 1600. He activated Swords of Revealing Light, and ended his turn.

Chris drew, and activated Heavy Storm. He summoned Green Gadget, pulling a Red from his deck, and then activated Smashing Ground to destroy Banisher and attack directly with Green. He set a spell or trap and ended his turn.

Mark drew, and special summoned Cyber Dragon, followed by a normal summoned Banisher of the Radiance. He picked off the Green with Banisher, and then delivered the killing blow with a direct attack from Cyber Dragon to take the game. He was now guaranteed a copy of Crush Card Virus, and would move on up to the finals!