It all came down to this. Crowd favorite Fili Luna was up against relative unknown Hooman Farahbakhsh, a duelist who had actually considered scooping at one point yesterday! Luna greeted Farahbakhsh with a friendly smile and a confession. “Tell you the truth kid, you were the one person I didn’t want to play today.” Though Luna had beaten Hooman Farahbakhsh earlier in the tournament, he’d taken an incredibly rough loss in the process.

Both competitors shuffled up. Luna had plenty of sided tech for this matchup, and cheerily discussed it. “I’m so glad I sided Survivor and Dimensional Fissure! Thank youuuu, Seattle.” The Fissures could wreak havoc with Treeborn Frog, which was (needless to say) an integral card for Farahbakhsh’s deck.

Luna won the roll and opened with one set back-row card. Farahbakhsh fired back the same, and Luna searched his deck with Reinforcement of the Army. He made the easy call of Don Zaloog, went for the attack and was blocked by Scapegoat! Zaloog attacked one Sheep, Luna set a second back-row card and play was to Farahbakhsh. Luna must’ve loved seeing Scapegoat out of the way so early, since it would make playing Creature Swap later on much easier.

He set a card to each zone and passed. Luna activated Graceful Charity, attacked a Sheep with Don and then used Exiled Force to destroy his opponent’s set monster: Dekoichi. Farahbakhsh activated Brain Control to start his turn, took control of Don and attacked. But it was Luna’s turn to flip Scapegoat! Don hit a Sheep and Farahbakhsh tributed it for Cyber Dragon. “Go.”

“Cards in hand?” asked Luna.

“Three” replied Farahbakhsh. Luna summoned Sangan, attacked with it to destroy a Sheep, then blew away Cyber Dragon with Smashing Ground. Farahbakhsh set a spell or trap as his only move, and Luna took some time to consider the field. Sangan attacked the last Sheep, Luna ended, and Farahbakhsh set a monster. Luna turned a Sheep to attack, activated Creature Swap and opened Farahbakhsh to an attack. Unfortunately for him, the monster he took from Farahbakhsh was Sangan. His own Sangan attacked through the Sheep for 1000 damage, and it was 6200 to 8000 with Fili leading.

Soul Exchange hit the field from Farahbakhsh’s side and he tributed his own Sangan for Thestalos. Thestalos discarded D. D. Assailant from Luna’s hand and Sangan nabbed Treeborn Frog! But Luna activated Heavy Storm a turn later, chaining Ring of Destruction to destroy Thestalos! Farahbakhsh lost his two set cards, and when Luna summoned Cyber-Stein, it was against an empty field. He paid 5000, special summoned Cyber Twin Dragon and the game was over.

Fili Luna captures the first duel of the finals!

Both duelists smokescreened when they sided, so it was unclear to each duelist whether their opponent had sided anything. It was fair to assume that Luna probably rotated in his Survivor and Dimensional Fissure, but other strong possibilities included Trap Dustshoot and Confiscation. Farahbakhsh had sided out several of his Monarchs for Burn material.

“I’m gonna beat you the next two,” declared Farahbakhsh.

“No. Don’t say such things,” said Luna with a smile.

Farahbakhsh opened with Confiscation, and revealed Graceful Charity, Mystical Space Typhoon, Reinforcement of the Army, Sangan, and Mystic Tomato! Fili moaned as he lost his Graceful, and Farahbakhsh set a card to each zone. Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed Farahbakhsh’s set card (also a Typhoon), and Reinforcement of the Army fetched D. D. Warrior Lady from Luna’s deck. He summoned her, attacked, and ran into Farahbakhsh’s Sangan. Both monsters were removed and Luna passed with a naked field.

Farahbakhsh set a monster, Luna summoned Tomato and sent it to attack his opponent’s set monster, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Farahbakhsh activated Brain Control to tribute Fili’s Tomato for Thestalos. Luna discarded Sangan for Thestalos’s effect and Thestalos hit directly. Farahbakhsh ended, Fili set a spell or trap, and when Thestalos attacked again, Luna flipped Scapegoat. Thestalos destroyed a Sheep, Farahbakhsh set a monster and play was to Luna.

The former Champ summoned Asura Priest and attacked the face-down monster, hitting Apprentice Magician. Farahbakhsh special summoned another from his deck in order to remove the chance of it being a dead draw later, and it too was summarily destroyed. The final monster in the chain was Old Vindictive Magician, and when Asura Priest attacked it, both monsters hit the graveyard. Farahbakhsh attacked another Sheep with Thestalos and set another monster.

Luna passed with nothing but two Sheep out, and Farahbakhsh took a considerable amount of time to consider his move. He summoned Spirit Reaper, flip summoned his set monster (Old Vindictive Magician) and destroyed a Sheep with the flip effect. The Magician then attacked the last Sheep, and Thestalos swung directly. Reaper followed up, but the card that Luna was forced to discard was Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World! Reaper and Thestalos were both destroyed by Goldd’s effect!

Farahbakhsh passed and sighed, his Vindictive stuck in attack position and an easy mark for Goldd. Goldd attacked it and hammered home a whack of damage, leaving Farahbakhsh at 4350. Luna set a spell or trap, Farahbakhsh set one too. and play was back to Luna. He looked through his opponent’s graveyard a bit, and then set a second spell or trap. He opted not to attack. Farahbakhsh was briefly confused, but then moved onto his turn. He special summoned Cyber Dragon and considered his options: his hand consisted of Zaborg, Mobius, and Thestalos. He eventually settled on Mobius, destroying Royal Decree and a spell card on Luna’s side before running over Goldd in battle. Oof. Luna’s entire field had been wiped away by a single play.

Luna special summoned Cyber Dragon but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole. He normal summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, activated Smashing Ground to clear the way and hit directly for 1900! Farahbakhsh set a spell or trap and Luna looked to break it with Breaker’s token, but the card Breaker targeted was chained: Scapegoat! Breaker attacked one of the resulting Sheep tokens, Luna set a monster, and Farahbakhsh set a spell or trap. Breaker hit another Sheep, Luna set a spell or trap, and Farahbakhsh set a monster. Luna summoned Don Zaloog but Farahbakhsh flipped Torrential Tribute, continuing to keep his opponent off the field! Luna’s last in-hand card was set to his back row.

“Good card,” remarked Farahbakhsh as he activated his topdecked Pot of Avarice. He returned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, both Apprentice Magician cards and both Old Vindictive Magician cards to his deck! He drew into Cyber Dragon and Soul Exchange—both dead cards—and passed. Luna drew and passed back, but Farahbakhsh topdecked into Heavy Storm! He activated it, wiped the field, and set a spell or trap. Luna set one to his back row Farahbakhsh passed, Luna passed, and Farahbakhsh set Mystic Tomato. Luna flipped Reinforcement of the Army to search his deck for Exiled Force, then used it to destroy the set Tomato. Luna set a spell or trap and ended.

Farahbakhsh set another monster and Luna passed. Farahbakhsh considered tributing for Thestalos, hesitated for a moment and then went for it! Thestalos’s effect discarded discarding Luna’s Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. It was all over, as Thestalos swung for game!

“That’s even more ironic,” remarked Luna, siding. “You’re playing my teammate’s deck.” Ryan Spicer and Fili Luna are both members of Team Outphase. Spicer’s deck in Austin was the template for the build that Farahbakhsh was now using.

“I’ll go first,” announced Luna. He drew for his turn and set a card to each zone. “Go ahead.” Farahbakhsh dropped Confiscation, revealing a hand of Creature Swap, Magician of Faith, Exiled Force, and Cyber Dragon. He considered briefly before discarding Exiled, then set a card to each zone himself.

Reinforcement of the Army hit Luna’s side of the field, searching out D. D. Assailant. Luna flip summoned Mystic Tomato, then activated Creature Swap, but Farahbakhsh chained Scapegoat, and all Luna got was a token! Still, D. D. Assailant was summoned to attack the Tomato and Luna pulled another from his deck. The Tomato then attacked Farahbakhsh’s set monster and revealed it to be Spirit Reaper. “I end.”

Farahbakhsh tributed his Reaper for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, targeting the Assailant for destruction. Zaborg then attacked the Sheep token on Luna’s side, and when Farahbakhsh set two spell or trap cards and tried to end his turn, Luna took the opportunity to immediately flip his set Royal Decree. Tomato ate a Sheep, Luna set a monster, and Zaborg was tributed for Mobius to destroy Decree. Mobius then attacked into Luna’s set Magician of Faith, allowing Luna to take Reinforcement of the Army back from his graveyard. Tomato went to defense and Luna set two back-row cards: he was trying to force the unwilling Farahbakhsh to attack the Tomato. But in the end phase Farahbakhsh flipped Ring of Destruction, dodging Luna’s gambit by destroying the Tomato without resorting to battle!

Mobius attacked directly and Luna lost 2400 life points. “Go.” He drew for his turn and activate Reinforcement of the Army, searching his deck for Don Zaloog. He activated Graceful Charity, discarded Ring of Destruction and Zaborg, and then special summoned Cyber Dragon. He flipped Torrential Tribute in response to his own summon to wipe the field! He then normal summoned Don Zaloog and attacked with it. Farahbakhsh flipped Sakuretsu Armor, but Luna flipped Decree on the chain to negate it! The blow hit, and Farahbakhsh was forced to discard Cyber Dragon from his hand. It was a brilliant setup from Luna, and it left him with Don, Decree, and one card in hand to Farahbakhsh’s single remaining card. The game stood at 4200 to 3900 with Fili maintaining a narrow lead.

Farahbakhsh summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, attacked over Don and then broke Royal Decree. He set a spell or trap, Fili set a monster, and Breaker attacked into it: Spirit Reaper. Farahbakhsh set a monster, Fili set one too, and Farahbakhsh flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Soul Exchange then destroyed Luna’s Reaper, and Farahbakhsh set his last card, a monster.

Luna set a card to each zone, expending his entire hand to end his turn. Farahbakhsh flip summoned his set Magician of Faith, and chose between Soul Exchange, Scapegoat, and Confiscation. He took Soul Exchange, activated it on one of Luna’s set monster, and tributed it for Mobius the Frost Monarch—Morphing Jar was the card Luna lost to Soul Exchange, and Mobius destroyed Luna’s set Pot of Avarice. Farahbakhsh couldn’t attack due to Soul Exchange’s effect, but he was in a great position to do so on his next turn.

Luna drew and activated Reinforcement of the Army, searching for Exiled Force. He summoned it, attacked into Magician of Faith, and then tributed it off to destroy Mobius the Frost Monarch. Farahbakhsh turned Dekoichi to attack position and pushed with Breaker, but hit D. D. Warrior Lady. Breaker bounced off harmlessly, and Farahbakhsh had no way to punch through the wall.

It didn’t seem as if Luna liked what he saw. He drew, and then took a long time to consider his move. He eventually activated Premature Burial to bring back Exiled Force, and Farahbakhsh took some time to consider his one possible response: Torrential Tribute, which he had set. D. D. Warrior Lady went to attack and ran over Dekoichi, and Exiled was then tributed to destroy Farahbakhsh’s set monster: another Dekoichi. Breaker ran over D. D. Warrior Lady and both monsters were removed from the game. Farahbakhsh had the Torrential set, and used it next turn to stop Luna from attacking with Asura Priest. Farahbakhsh set Apprentice Magician, Luna set a spell or trap, Farahbakhsh did the same, Luna set a monster, and Farahbakhsh flip summoned Old Vindictive Magician to destroy one of Luna’s set monsters: he hit Sangan!  Luna searched his deck for Mystic Tomato, and Old Vindictive poked him for 450. It was 3100 to 2350, with Farahbakhsh leading. He set a monster and ended.

Luna summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole. He just couldn’t stay on the field. Farahbakhsh activated Graceful Charity and inspected both graveyards before making his discard decisions. He discarded Tomato and Cyber Dragon, then activated Pot of Avarice! Two Mobius cards, a Zaborg, Magician of Faith, and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive returned to Farahbakhsh’s deck, and Luna pulled his hoodie over his head.

“Gimme Mobius,” said Farahbakhsh as Luna cut the deck. Sure enough, he drew it off the top! He tributed it to destroy Luna’s one set card, Smashing Ground, and then attacked directly for game by 50 life points! Graceful into Pot of Avarice into Mobius wins the game!

Hooman Farahbakhsh is the weekend’s victor here at Shonen Jump Championship Anaheim!