What an epic. Both of these duelists are former members of Team Xtreme, the group from Windsor, Ontario, that broke up mere weeks ago due to personal differences. Now they were fighting for a spot in tomorrow’s Top 8. One of them would make it to Day 2, while the other would taste bitter defeat.
Morgan opened the match with Graceful Charity, discarding Creature Swap and Cyber Dragon before summoning Sangan and setting a spell or trap. Pittao set a card to each zone and passed, but lost his monster (Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive) to Nobleman of Crossout immediately. He stripped one more from his deck and Morgan’s turn progressed.
Sangan swung for 1000. “I’ll take it,” said Pittao. He set Spirit Reaper and ended. Morgan turned Reaper to defense and passed. Pittao summoned Banisher of the Radiance and attacked, but lost Banisher to Mirror Force. Morgan set a monster, set a spell or trap, and passed.
Pittao summoned Mystic Swordsman LV2, and used it to destroy Morgan’s set monster: Nimble Momonga. He ended, Morgan turned Sangan to attack, and took out Mystic Swordsman LV2. He set a spell or trap and ended. Pittao passed, Morgan summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and broke Pittao’s Scapegoat, and Pittao didn’t chain it. Breaker attacked into Pittao’s set monster, Spirit Reaper, and flipped it. Morgan set a second back row card and passed.
Pittao blasted him with Heavy Storm, destroying Mystical Space Typhoon and Scapegoat! He set a monster, set a back row card, and passed. Morgan summoned Apprentice Magician, gave Breaker a counter, and shot it off. Pittao chained Ceasefire, dishing out 2500 damage, but flipping and negating his set Magician of Faith. It was 5500 to 6900 with Pittao leading.
Megamorph blew out Pittao’s Reaper. Sangan destroyed the Magician of Faith, and Breaker and Apprentice swung for 2000 damage directly. Morgan passed with nothing in his back row, banking on his superior field presence to carry him through Pittao’s next turn.
He special summoned Chaos Sorcerer.
“Remove Sangan?” asked Morgan.
“No. Attack.” Morgan attacked Breaker with the Sorcerer, and set a monster. He concluded his turn with a set spell or trap card.
Morgan summoned Asura Priest, turned Apprentice to defense, and took Sorcerer with Snatch Steal. An attack flipped Pittao’s set Spirit Reaper, and Sorcerer removed it in main phase 2. Pittao set a second spell or trap and ended.
Morgan kept the pressure up, attacking next turn with Sorcerer and Sangan. Both attacks hit. Pittao activated Graceful Charity.
“What a topdeck,” said Morgan with a sneer.
“I had it for turns,” retorted Pittao. He had Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Creature Swap, Sangan, and Nobleman of Crossout in his hand. He pitched the Swap first, then debated his other discard, eventually settling on Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. He set Sangan and ended.
Morgan summoned Asura Priest and attacked with it. Pittao let the attack go, then took direct shots from Sangan and Sorcerer. He searched out Tsukuyomi with Sangan’s effect, and it was 300 to 4800 with Morgan in the lead. Morgan set a spell or trap, took back his Priest, and Pittao was up.
He activated Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying Snatch Steal to take back his Sorcerer! The Sorcerer removed Morgan’s Sangan from play, and after some debate Pittao summoned Tsukuyomi to turn Apprentice Magician face down. Nobleman of Crossout removed the Magician from the game, but when Tsukuyomi attacked, it was destroyed by Sakuretsu Armor. Still, Pittao made the best of the situation, flipping his set Last Will to special summon D. D. Warrior Lady in defense position. It was a strong defensive play.
Morgan special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, using priority to activate its effect and target Sorcerer. Pittao chained Book of Moon, keeping his Sorcerer on the field! “What are the life points?” inquired Morgan of the table judge. It was 4800 to 1300 in his favor.
He summoned Asura Priest and attacked D. D. Warrior Lady, resulting in both being removed from the game. He set a spell or trap and passed, and Pittao flip summoned his Chaos Sorcerer. It removed Morgan’s Sorcerer, Pittao set his one in-hand card to his spell and trap zone, and play was again to Morgan.
You could feel the tension.
Morgan special summoned Cyber Dragon, then normal summoned Nimble Momonga. He ran the Momonga into Pittao’s Chaos Sorcerer, losing 300 LP overall. He pulled another Momonga, activated Last Will to special summon Exiled Force and summoned it, but Pittao responded with Torrential Tribute! Morgan passed, out of cards save the one set in his back row!
Pittao drew, but couldn’t do anything! Play passed to Morgan, who passed back! Pittao activated Reinforcement of the Army, dug for Exiled Force, and summoned it. He attacked, and cleaved 1000 LP off of Morgan’s total!
Morgan activated Pot of Avarice, returning Cyber Dragon, Exiled Force, and three Momonga back to his deck. He got Cyber Dragon, brought it out to whack Exiled Force, and then used Confiscation to discard Pittao’s last card—another Cyber Dragon! Things looked bad for Pittao.
He drew a monster and set it. “I end.” It was 200 to 2500.
Morgan attacked the set monster with Cyber Dragon, destroying Pittao’s Breaker the Magical Warrior. Pittao set his topdecked spell or trap, but Morgan had Giant Trunade and it was game.
“The Sorcerer killed me,” said Morgan.
“It killed me too!” replied Pittao.
Both duelists opted to set up a little smokescreen while side-decking. When they were finished, Pittao began the second duel. He’d sided into Burn, and set a card to each zone.
Morgan summoned Apprentice Magician, then activated Nobleman of Crossout to remove Pittao’s set D. D. Warrior Lady from the game. Apprentice attacked directly and Morgan passed, with nothing else on the field. Pittao special summoned Cyber Dragon and smacked the Apprentice, allowing Morgan to search his deck for Old Vindictive Magician and set it. Pittao set another spell or trap and ended.
Morgan summoned Sangan, flip summoned Old Vindictive to destroy Cyber Dragon, and attacked with both monsters. Pittao cleared them both out on the turn that followed, attacking each with Asura Priest. It was 4350 to 6350.
There was much hand-shuffling from Morgan’s side of the table. He set a monster and passed. Did he have nothing but monsters in his hand? Pittao summoned Banisher of the Radiance, attacked, and destroyed Skelengel, triggering its draw effect. He passed.
Morgan special summoned Cyber Dragon, summoned Apprentice Magician, and activated Creature Swap. “Good job,” said Pittao, sending over the Banisher. Banisher attacked the Apprentice, Morgan fetched a Magician of Faith with its effect, and Cyber Dragon attacked. Pittao blocked the damage with Magic Cylinder!
He summoned Asura Priest, attacked Magician of Faith, and then destroyed Banisher of the Radiance. Pittao set another spell or trap and passed.
Cyber Dragon attacked him, and he flipped Mirror Force. Morgan set a card to each zone and ended. Pittao summoned Asura Priest, activated Nobleman of Crossout, and attacked for 1700 damage directly. Morgan seemed to have a response, and fingered his set card—Enemy Controller—then flipped it to block the damage and turn Asura to defense. Pittao set another spell or trap and passed.
Morgan brought down an Asura of his own, attacking for 1700. He used Confiscation to discard Pittao’s Asura, set a back row card, and passed. Morgan was down to 1150, and Pittao had had Poison of the Old Man set for ages. Pittao set a monster, set two more back row cards, and passed.
Morgan summoned Asura Priest. He activated Nobleman of Crossout to remove Pittao’s set Magician of Faith—if he’d attacked it, Pittao could’ve gotten a double use out of Poison of the Old Man and won! Asura Priest attacked, but was destroyed by Sakuretsu Armor. Morgan brought out Chaos Sorcerer in main phase 2 and passed.
Pittao passed back, but when Chaos Sorcerer attacked, it was deflected by Scapegoat! It ate one Sheep, Morgan set one monster, and play was to Pittao. He had Morgan by the throat forever and just couldn’t seem to finish the job. He set a monster and passed.
He lost the set monster, Sangan, to Nobleman of Crossout next turn, and lost a Sheep to Sorcerer. Morgan set another monster and passed. Tsukuyomi turned Sorcerer down, but when it attacked it hit nothing but Spirit Reaper.
Morgan flip summoned Chaos Sorcerer. He then tributed his Reaper for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, and destroyed a Sheep token. There was nothing Pittao could do. Cyber-Stein attacked a Sheep, Zaborg attacked directly, and Pittao went down to a final attack from Chaos Sorcerer.
Robert Morgan claims his fourth SJC Top 8, knocking his former teammate out of the tournament!