Stephen Chin’s next opponent was 20 year-old Russell Melia, a native of Kingston, Ontario attending school in Peterborough. Melia’s demeanor was friendly and unassuming, and he greeted Chin with a handshake. The friendly, civil manner did nothing to betray the vicious duels that were to follow.

Melia won the roll and opened with Reinforcement of the Army, searching for Elemental Hero Stratos and take Destiny Hero — Malicious with his effect. He then activated Destiny Draw, discarding Malicious and drawing two cards. A set spell or trap ended an outstanding first turn!

Card Trooper came down for Chin, eating Reinforcement of the Army, Sakuretsu Armor, and Ring of Destruction before running over Stratos. Chin set a spell or trap to end, but lost his Card Trooper to Brain Control moments later. Card Trooper sent Melia’s Disk Commander and two more cards to the graveyard. Card Trooper attacked Chin and Melia then tributed it for Cyber Dragon.

Chin shook his head, but then used Snatch Steal to take the Dragon. It was clearly earlier than he had wanted to use it. He attacked directly, set a monster, and ended with the life points sitting at 6000 to 6100. Melia special summoned another Cyber Dragon, crashed it into the pilfered one to clear the field of face up monsters, and then set another monster to conclude his turn.

“Let’s hope this works!” Chin summoned Snipe Hunter and discarded Malicious to destroy Melia’s set monster — Fear Monger! The use of Snipe Hunter’s effect had saved Chin a world of trouble. He flip summoned Sangan, swung directly for 2500, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Melia drew, set a card to each zone to place himself at two back row cards, and ended. Chin discarded Brain Control to destroy Melia’s set Sangan with Snipe Hunter and Melia searched his deck for another Fear Monger. Snipe and Sangan hit directly again, lowering Melia to 1000 life points.

Destiny Draw let Melia discard the Fear Monger for two more cards, and he set a third card to his back row! Still, Chin kept the pressure on with an end phase Mystical Space Typhoon, and, before it could resolve, Melia conceded the duel, smartly refusing to give away free information in a losing game.

Stephen Chin nabs a victory over a Destiny Hero beatdown build sharing tech with his own Monarch deck, pulling out of what looked to be a bleak situation! Both duelists smoke-screened, and very few words were exchanged.

Melia went first for the second duel, opening by setting one card to his spell and trap zone. He flipped it at the first opportunity: Trap Dustshoot!

Dustshoot revealed a hand of Cyber Dragons and Monarchs, all useless save a lone Sangan. “Wow, that really shut you down,” noted Melia. Chin was on the receiving end of his own tricks and lost his in-hand Sangan.

Chin fired back with a Dustshoot of his own, revealing Fear Monger, two Raiza, Cyber Dragon, Premature, and Destiny Draw. “You can’t do anything either!” Chin grinned and shuffled back Fear Monger to cut Melia off from Destiny Draw. It was an intriguing sequence of plays that left both duelists immobilized! Melia passed.

The stasis didn’t last long though: Chin topped into Destiny Draw, using it to ditch Malicious, draw two cards, and bring another Malicious to the field. He tributed Malicious for Thestalos, discarded Melia’s Premature Burial, and attacked directly for 2400 damage before setting another spell or trap.

Another Cyber Dragon came to hand for Melia, a completely unhelpful play. He special summoned it, tributed it for Raiza the Storm Monarch, and sent Chin’s back row card to the top of his deck. He then sent Raiza the Storm Monarch to attack and destroy Thestalos, prompting Chin to set a back row card and pass. Melia set one spell or trap too, passed, Chin passed, and Melia activated Destiny Draw to discard Malicious.

Malicious was removed from Melia’s graveyard to bring out another, and he tributed him for Raiza to yet again spin Chin’s back row card. Chin activated Brain Control, but Melia activated Ring of Destruction to destroy his Raiza on the chain! It was 3200 to 2400 in favor of Melia! Chin set a spell or trap and passed.

Melia brought out another Malicious, tributed for a third Raiza the Storm Monarch, and Chin was helpless! This match was going to a third game, a duel between two different Destiny Hero builds with a few striking similarities.

Side decking at this point took a laborious amount of time — both duelists had played deep into this Last Chance Regional, and one of them was about to be kicked Back to Square One. Neither wanted to accept that fate.

Chin opened the game with Elemental Hero Stratos, searching for Malicious, and set a spell or trap. Melia activated Heavy Storm, destroyed Sakuretsu Armor, and then summoned Elemental Hero Stratos! He too searched for Malicious, but followed it up with Destiny Draw to discard the Destiny Hero he had just searched. He then removed the Malicious he discarded for another, bringing him into play in defense position before activating Metamorphosis to trade Malicious for Ryu Senshi! Senshi ran over Stratos, and Melia’s own Stratos hit his opponent directly. A total of 2000 damage was dealt, and Chin was in trouble.

Snipe Hunter bailed him out again! He summoned it, discarded Malicious to destroy Senshi, discarded Disk Commander to destroy Stratos, and then attacked for 1500 damage! Chin ended his turn with a set spell or trap, now playing far behind in card presence.

Melia activated Brain Control, took control of Snipe Hunter and then removed his second Malicious to summon his last. Another Metamorphosis brought out yet another Ryu Senshi, and the Snipe Hunter was tributed for Raiza the Storm Monarch to spin Chin’s back row card. Both monsters attacked directly and Chin was down to 1600 life points.

He brought out another Malicious, took Raiza with Brain Control and attacked over Senshi. He set a card to each zone and ended, clearly in a bad, bad way. Stephen Chin was watching his qualifying efforts slip away.

Melia summoned Destiny Hero — Fear Monger and tried to activate Premature Burial, but lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon on the chain. Still, Fear Monger destroyed Malicious and Raiza attacked Chin’s set Sangan, his last card, which searched out his last chance: Spirit Reaper. Chin brought out a third Malicious in defense, set Spirit Reaper, and ended with one card remaining in his hand. It was a valiant effort, but it seemed as if the match was nothing short of academic now.

Fear Monger hit Chin’s last Malicious and Raiza attacked into Spirit Reaper. Melia set a monster and Chin took control of Raiza with Snatch Steal. Raiza attacked through Melia’s Fear Monger and Chin set a monster.

The Fear Monger’s effect allowed Melia to special summon Malicious next turn, and he continued on to flip his set Morphing Jar! Snatch Steal destroyed Chin’s Spirit Reaper, Morphing Jar was tributed for Raiza, and Malicious went to attack position. Melia traded his Raiza for Chin’s and Malicious swung for 800 damage, exactly the amount that Chin had remaining!

Stephen Chin is knocked out of the first Last Chance Regional, forced to make a second attempt later in the day. Russell Melia moves on undefeated!