Ben Walters was the reason for this feature match; he’s running a successful Gadget build today that packs tricks like Monster Gate, Magical Stone Excavation, and Dark Magician of Chaos. An 18 year-old student of Baker College, he’s from Davisburg, Michigan, and this is his first Shonen Jump Championship.

This is Cody Miller’s fourth Shonen Jump, and the 17 year-old native of Cincinnati just came off a big win over Paul Levitin. “He used Crush Card on me in the first game, hitting five monsters. I’m not sure how I managed to win out of that.”

Unfortunately, a deck check revealed that Miller had not listed all the cards in his Fusion deck. Under the current penalty guidelines he was issued a game loss, the appropriate penalty for his infraction. Miller reeled; he couldn’t believe he had made such a simple error. Still, he took his game loss in stride: “I’ll be honest: I’m just hoping to luck-sack you at this point.” Walters laughed.

Walters opened game 2 with Card Trooper, sent three cards to the graveyard, and ended with nothing set. Miller fired back, summoning Card Trooper himself and activating Machine Duplication! He boosted the ATK of all three by sending nine cards total to his graveyard, and then attacked with all three. He set two back row cards and passed.

He flipped Trap Dustshoot, sending Jinzo back to his opponent’s deck over Red Gadget. Walters summoned Red Gadget, searched his deck for Yellow Gadget with its effect, and activated Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Miller’s set card: another Mystical Space Typhoon. Premature Burial brought back the Card Trooper he had used a turn before, and he used its effect immediately to boost its ATK. Brain Control then brought him down to 1100 life points and Walters ran the math; he attacked over Miller’s Trooper with his own, traded the stolen Trooper with the other, and ended his turn after setting a spell or trap. He’d forgotten to attack with Red Gadget.

Miller took Red Gadget with Brain Control, and then summoned Cyber Phoenix. Miller scooped.

Trooper Duplication and a terrible misplay result in Cody Miller taking the second duel! The match stood at one-all, and both duelists started side decking.

“You’re going first?” asked Miller.

“Yup,” confirmed Walters. “I’ll start off by playing Red Gadget.” He summoned it, searched his deck for Yellow Gadget, and then set Mystical Space Typhoon. Miller special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Cyber Phoenix, and attacked with both. He set one spell or trap, Trap Dustshoot, and lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon in his end phase.

“Special,” declared Walters, special summoning Cyber Dragon. He then normal summoned another Red Gadget, searching his deck for another Yellow. He had two Yellow, Premature Burial, Machine Duplication, and Card Destruction in his hand. He pitched them all for Card Destruction, looking for Overload Fusion. He didn’t find it, and as he topdecked into Card Trooper he must have regretted not setting the Duplication. He ran his Cyber Dragon into Miller’s, and then attacked over Phoenix with Red Gadget.

Miller summoned Card Trooper, and brought out two more with Machine Duplication. He pumped them all, took Walter’s Red Gadget with Brain Control, and attacked with everything directly for game.

It was over in minutes.

A vicious couple of misplays and some poor hands cost Ben Walters his undefeated record, and Cody Miller glides through his game loss with ease!