Adam Corn has done it again, going undefeated in the Swiss rounds and winning his first match here today. “I need to give a shout-out to John Luca, and definitely Alonzo Peters, because he lost.” Adam paused. “Sad. I’m dedicating this to him!”

His opponent is Vinh Nguyen, a nineteen year-old student of Portland State University. Both of these competitors were playing TeleDAD, but Adam Corn was carrying a ton of momentum going into this match. A win here from Nguyen would be a big surprise.

“I’ll go first,” stated Corn, setting a card to each zone to open the match. Nguyen had Reinforcement of the Army, and used it to search out Elemental Hero Stratos. He summoned him, searched for Destiny Hero – Malicious, and added him to his hand of Emergency Teleport, Snipe Hunter, Sangan, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and Solemn Judgment. He attacked into Corn’s Mystic Tomato, Corn fetched Sangan, and Nguyen set two cards to his back row; he lost one of them, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, to Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase.

Corn shifted Sangan to defense position and set another back row card. Nguyen summoned Sangan, sent it to attack Corn’s Sangan, and Corn got Malicious from his deck. Stratos made a direct attack and Corn was up.

He activated Destiny Draw, discarding Malicious to draw. He removed his Malicious to special summon another in defense mode, then activated Emergency Teleport to special summon Krebons. Allure of Darkness let him trade Dark Grepher for two more cards, and a second Allure got him another two draws in return for his Destiny Hero – Doom Lord.

A Synchro summon brought Thought Ruler Archfiend to the field, and Nguyen let it go, not activating his Solemn Judgment. Corn sent Thought Ruler to destroy Stratos in battle, jumping back up to 8000 life points and lowering Nguyen to 7100. He finished his turn by setting one more card to his back row.

Allure of Darkness got Nguyen D.D. Crow and Destiny Draw next turn, and he removed D.D. Crow for Allure’s effect. It was an interesting decision, considering the fact that Corn still had one Malicious left in his deck. That Tomato seemed like a better card to remove. But he moved on, discarding Malicious for Destiny Draw, drawing two more cards, and getting Reinforcement of the Army and Krebons. He removed Malicious to summon another, normal summoned Krebons, and then Synchro summoned Colossal Fighter. Corn had no response.

Colossal Fighter attacked Thought Ruler Archfiend, and Corn responded by activating Phoenix Wing Wind Blast — he discarded Heavy Storm to target Colossal Fighter. Nguyen chained Solemn Judgment, but Corn chained a Solemn of his own, and Colossal Fighter was blown back to the Extra deck! Nguyen was left looking at Mystic Tomato, Snipe Hunter, Teleport, and Reinforcement in his hand, with Sangan on the field — since he’d already normal summoned this turn there was nothing he could do. He turned Sangan to defense, set Teleport and ended. I bet he wished he’d kept that Crow now!

Corn summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, and used his effect to target Nguyen’s face-down Emergency Teleport. Nguyen chained it, bringing out Krebons in defense mode. Corn was just knocking out Nguyen’s legs one by one, and Nguyen knew it. Sure enough, Corn removed his second Malicious to summon his third, and then activated Emergency Teleport to bring out another Krebons! With both of Nguyen’s monsters in defense position Corn Synchro summoned Red Dragon Archfiend!

Red Dragon attacked Sangan and cleared the field with its effect! That left Corn’s remaining monsters to finish the duel, and it was all over. Both competitors quickly moved to side decking.

A bungled Allure call leads to ruin for Vinh Nguyen in the first duel, and Adam Corn takes a surprising win with Red Dragon Archfiend! One more duel like that and he’d be in the Top 4 again.

Nguyen activated Allure of Darkness to start Game 2, and set a single spell or trap; He was holding Brain Control, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and three Solemn Judgment! Why didn’t he set them?! Corn searched out Stratos with Reinforcement of the Army, summoned it, got Destiny Hero – Malicious from his deck, and discarded him for Destiny Draw. This wasn’t looking good for Nguyen. Another Reinforcement got Corn Destiny Hero - Doom Lord, and he special summoned Malicious from his deck in attack mode before removing Doom Lord for another Allure. He attacked with both monsters, set two cards to his back row and lost one to Mystical Space Typhoon: Crush Card Virus! Corn shook his head, visibly disappointed.

Nguyen drew Allure of Darkness, and set Phoenix Wing Wind Blast: he lost it in the end phase to Corn’s own Wind Blast, which Corn fueled with Mirror Force. Nguyen had just 5400 life points left.

Corn contemplated tributing for Caius the Shadow Monarch next turn, going so far as to show it to Nguyen, but instead just attacked with Malicious and Stratos. He set another card to his spell and trap zone and Nguyen drew his Wind Blast again. He set the three Solemns, set Brain Control, and then activated Allure; he drew Destiny Hero – Doom Lord and Breaker the Magical Warrior! He removed Doom Lord and kept Breaker and his Wind Blast.

Breaker hit the field and Corn chained Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarding Brain Control to spin away Breaker. Nguyen was out of monsters yet again, a fact Corn was likely aware of. Nguyen flipped Brain Control, targeted Stratos, and Corn flipped Solemn Judgment! Nguyen set Wind Blast next to his three Solemns, ended, and had nothing left in his hand. There was no way he could get out of this. Since Corn already did so much damage, Nguyen’s Solemns were practically a non-factor.