Jerome McHale is no stranger to our readers. His weekly column on Metagame.com is a favorite for much of the online Yu-Gi-Oh! community, and he’s an active member of several message board forums. Zak Bishop is no stranger to Jerome McHale. They’ve played each other before, and I myself have judged many events that Bishop has competed in. With both players running Treeborn Monarch decks, albeit with different tech selections, this one was irresistible!
McHale opened with one set card to each zone. Bishop set Magical Merchant, a back row card, and passed. “Sure, I’m an aggressive kind of guy . . .” McHale summoned D. D. Warrior Lady and attacked into Sakuretsu Armor. Bishop drew, set another back row card, and set. McHale set one card to each zone and passed.
Bishop set another monster and ended. McHale used Mystical Space Typhoon to blow away Bishop’s one back row card, Chain Disappearance, and then tributed Magician of Faith for Zaborg to blow away Merchant. He flip summoned Sangan, and sent Zaborg into the facedown, revealing another Merchant! It discarded Bishop’s Treeborn Frog, and got him a Smashing Ground. Sangan pegged him for 1000 and McHale ended.
Bishop played Smashing Ground after bringing back the Frog, and set one card to each zone. McHale again did the same, turning Sangan to defense position. Bishop set another spell or trap, Jerome hit it with Mystical Space Typhoon it, revealing Sakuretsu Armor, and next turn flipped Old Vindictive Magician to destroy Bishop’s set monster, which was Spirit Reaper. The Magician attacked the Frog, Sangan hit directly, and McHale ended.
Bishop set a monster, played Smashing Ground to destroy Vindictive, and ended. McHale tributed his Sangan for Zaborg, and Bishop used Enemy Controller to take Zaborg on the chain. McHale took Exiled Force with Sangan’s effect, ended his turn, and got back the Zaborg. Bishop special summoned his Frog, tributed for a Zaborg of his own, but McHale flipped Torrential Tribute to clear the field. Bishop set a card and ended.
McHale played Heavy Storm, clearing away Book of Moon. He then summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and hit directly, removing the Frog and Zaborg from Bishop’s graveyard. Bishop set two cards, and lost them both to Mobius on the following turn. McHale had five cards to Bishop’s one, and everything was over a turn later.
“I had everything to beat him,” admitted McHale. Both players side decked and shuffled up for game 2.
“Okay, you got your one little lucky game there, Jerome,” joked Bishop. He opened with a set card to each zone, making quick selections before passing. McHale set one monster and ended. Zaborg came down on Bishop’s side, tributing away Mystic Tomato, and destroying McHale’s face down Treeborn Frog before attacking directly for 2400. On the following turn, McHale set a card to each zone after bringing back his Frog in defense positon and passed.
Bishop set one card to his back row and passed, not attacking with Zaborg. McHale summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, but Bishop responded with Bottomless Trap Hole. McHale was forced to pass. “You have five in hand?”
“Yes.”
“Oh man, I can count!”
“Maybe you’re just a good guesser,” proposed Bishop with a grin. Bishop attacked the Frog with Zaborg and passed.
“I’ll do the ‘pry-or-itay’ thing” announced McHale, as he dropped Exiled Force to the field to destroy Zaborg. He ended and passed to Bishop. Bishop special summoned Cyber Dragon and ran it straight into McHale’s set Old Vindictive Magician, destroying the Dragon. He drew for his turn set one monster, and play was back to Bishop.
“I’m gonna go risky and over-extend . . . ” he grinned, and set one card to his back row. “I hope you don’t have Heavy Storm!” McHale did, and dropped it next turn for a 2-for-3 exchange. He summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, attacked with it, and removed Cyber Dragon and Zaborg from the graveyard.
Bishop played Dark Hole, but had no followup. He set a card to each zone, and ate Zaborg next turn. McHale took back his frog, brought out the Zaborg, and destroyed the set monster, revealing Treeborn Frog. Zaborg attacked into Sakuretsu Armor and McHale set one card to his back row. Bishop drew, summoned his Treeborn Frog back to the field, and set a card to each zone. McHale set another spell or trap on his turn and passed back. Bishop flipped Dekoichi, drew for its effect, attacked with it, and was stopped by Sakuretsu Armor. But he chained Book of Moon to turn the Dekoichi face down!
McHale played Dark Hole to clear out the Dekoichi and set a spell or trap. Bishop took back his frog from the graveyard, summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, and sent it straight into Bottomless Trap Hole. A turn later he summoned Zaborg, but when he attacked directly with it, it smashed into Sakuretsu Armor.
McHale took back his Treeborn Frog, passed, and Bishop did the same. Bishop set one monster, Jerome set a monster and a spell or trap, and Bishop flipped his Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. The Locomotive attacked McHale’s Treeborn, he set a monster, and ended.
Magician of Faith flipped on McHale’s side of the field, and he took back Dark Hole to equalize the field. He set one card and ended.
Bishop set a card to each zone, and Mystical Space Typhoon blasted his set Scapegoat in his end phase. Nobleman of Crossout cleared out his set monster, Magical Merchant, but McHale didn’t have an offensive option to press. He set one spell or trap and ended.
“Did you topdeck Pot of Avarice?” McHale asked.
“Nope, I had it in hand!” Bishop brought back his Frog and played Pot. He set a spell or trap, set a monster, and ended. Both players were lacking the ability to capitalize on any advantage they could gain.
That would change though. McHale drew, set a card to his back row, and passed. Bishop flipped Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the freshly set card, which was Ceasefire, drew for his turn, and played Heavy Storm. He then pressed with Zaborg and Spirit Reaper, taking a commanding lead on the field!
McHale played Smashing Ground, and summoned Zaborg himself, blowing away Bishop’s Zaborg and Spirit Reaper and then attacking directly. Bishop had only a set back row card. Next turn he special summoned Cyber Dragon, flipped the set card, Smashing Ground, and attacked directly. McHale drew, set a monster, and passed.
Bishop summoned brought back Treeborn Frog, summoned Tsukuyomi to turn down Cyber Dragon, turned the Dragon face up again, and sent Cyber Dragon into the face down, revealing Apprentice Magician! It grabbed another copy of itself before being hit by Tsukuyomi. The second Apprentice pulled an Old Vindictive.
McHale pulled back his Treeborn Frog, and flipped it to destroy Cyber Dragon. He set another back row card and passed. Both players started turtling, setting as many monsters as possible. After two turns of that McHale had two set cards in his back row, and a defense position Frog and Old Vindictive. Bishop had two set monsters and one Frog, plus two cards in hand. He flip summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and attacked with her, losing her to Sakuretsu Armor. He set and ended his turn.
“Oh! I’m a noob!” declared McHale, topdecking Pot of Avarice. He shuffled back Exiled Force, two Apprentice, and two Zaborg. “I’m a nooooob, I’m a noooooooooooob!” Jerome was singing happily.
He drew his two cards. “I fail. That was really bad.” He set another spell or trap and ended.
“Mobius for the win?” asked Bishop, drawing his card hopefully.
“Mobius for the fail is more like it!”
Bishop played Snatch Steal on the Vindictive Magician, but McHale chained Book of Moon to turn the Vindictive face down! “Dude, that’s going to cause me problems.” Bishop played Premature Burial, and then debated what he’d take. “I vote for Spirit Reaper!” said Jerome. “Come on, it’s a great card! You play three!” Bishop laughed and took D. D. Warrior Lady.
He flip summoned Spirit Reaper, but feared that McHale had a set Torrential Tribute. He debated playing another monster, and opted not to do so. Spirit Reaper attacked the Frog, and D. D. Warrior Lady swung into the Vindictive Magician—it destroyed D. D. Warrior Lady. Bishop summoned Tsukuyomi to turn his Reaper face down, but McHale flipped the set Torrential Tribute that he’d been riding for ages!
He summoned D. D. Warrior Lady and sent it into Bishop’s life points. Bishop was down to a Frog and topdecking. He brought back the Frog and set a monster.
“If I could play this Premature, I could win here,” stated Jerome, who was down to 800 life points. Bishop was at 1500. McHale summoned Apprentice Magician and sent D. D. Warrior Lady into the face down. “Please be Sangan!” It was. “Get out of here, Sangan!” D. D. Warrior Lady removed it from play. Apprentice hit the Frog, McHale set a card to his spell and trap zone, and play moved to Bishop.
Bishop brought back his Frog and set another monster. McHale set a monster, turned Apprentice to defense, and ended. Bishop set another monster and was again forced to end his turn. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the era of tiny monsters that can’t deal damage.
Bishop drew, set a back row card, McHale drew and passed, and Bishop flip summoned Dekoichi. It got him a copy of Enemy Controller. He sent Dekoichi into the Frog, and McHale moved to send it to the graveyard.
“Wait a sec.” Bishop played the Controller, turned the Frog to attack position, and there was nothing McHale could do! He flipped his one set spell or trap, showing it to be Trap Hole. If he’d cut off the Dekoichi, the duel would have continued.
With just minutes remaining, both players side decked and shuffled.
McHale set a card to each zone. Bishop played Sangan, activated Nobleman of Crossout, and set one back row card. He attacked with Sangan for 1000 life points. McHale set another back row card and another monster and ended.
Bishop summoned Mystic Swordsman LV2 and attacked with it, straight into Sakuretsu Armor. He turned Sangan to defense. McHale set another monster, passed, and that prompted Bishop to set a card to each zone.
“This is a horrible move, but I have to do it.” McHale played Smashing Ground to clear out Sangan, and Bishop took Spirit Reaper. McHale flipped Magician of Faith, took back the Smashing Ground, tributed summoned it away for Zaborg, destroyed Dekoichi with Zaborg’s effect, flip summoned Sangan, and attacked as time was called. Bishop flipped Scapegoat, and McHale was forced to just pick off two Sheep. Bishop was up 1000 life points, and just needed to hold out for one more turn.
He set a monster, and played Smashing Ground to destroy McHale’s Zaborg.
McHale had one shot at evening out, or played Dark Hole, destroying his own Sangan in the process. He pulled Exiled Force, since he’d already taken D. D. Warrior Lady. Bishop had two set spell or trap cards. McHale summoned Exiled Force, and attacked with it, but Bishop had the Sakuretsu Armor. With his last turn expended, McHale had no way to even out the single hit from Bishop’s Sangan, and Bishop won the match by 1000 life points!
Zak Bishop defeats Jerome McHale and moves on undefeated!