One-time team members Brian Long and Shane Scurry were pitted against each other, each currently undefeated in the tournament. Both of these players have tasted championship gold, Scurry having won Baltimore and Long being the champion of Boston. Scurry’s deck was relatively well-known here today: he was playing a Bazoo Return variant. Long’s deck, however, was a mystery.
Scurry won the roll and opened with a set card to each zone, prompting Long to draw his hand. He shuffled it, moving with his signature quickness. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Cyber Phoenix, thought a moment, and then attacked into Scurry’s set Magical Merchant. It fetched Scurry Mirror Force right off the bat, not allowing him to discard any monsters. Phoenix swung for 1200. Long set a spell or trap and play was to Scurry.
The Baltimore champ fired back with a Cyber Dragon of his own, then normal summoned Snipe Hunter. “Priority?” asked Long. Scurry went for it, targeting Cyber Dragon, but rolling a six: Snipe Hunter missed, and Scurry lost Cyber Phoenix as his discard. Long flipped Ring of Destruction to destroy the Hunter afterwards, and Scurry had to let it go. He sent his Cyber Dragon to destroy Long’s Cyber Phoenix, hammering through 900 damage and giving Long a draw with the Phoenix’s effect. Scurry then set a second card to his back row and ended. He seemed primed for Heavy Storm.
Long seemed to agree, and immediately activated Heavy Storm after drawing for his turn. Scurry had been playing possum, and chained Call of the Haunted! It brought back Cyber Phoenix, which then negated the Call’s destruction effect to stay on the field. Scurry’s other set card, Sakuretsu Armor, was lost in the exchange, but all in all he’d succeeded in what he appeared to have planned. Long summoned Red Gadget, searched his deck for Yellow, sent his Cyber Dragon to destroy Scurry’s Cyber Phoenix in battle, and then set two cards to his back row. Scurry drew for his turn.
He summoned another Snipe Hunter! He targeted Cyber Dragon with Snipe’s effect, discarding D. D. Warrior Lady, and blew the Dragon away! Snipe Hunter attacked Red Gadget, but Long flipped Sakuretsu Armor to destroy it. Cyber Dragon then attacked, but Long took it out with Widespread Ruin.
The innovative champ wasn’t finished. He activated Future Fusion, sent two Cyber Dragons to his graveyard from his deck and set aside Cyber Twin Dragon. He set a spell or trap card to finish. Drawing out that Heavy had left him with the ability to securely set Mirror Force, knowing he probably wouldn’t lose it.
Long played into the Mirror Force the next turn, summoning Yellow Gadget, searching for Green, and attacking. Predictably, he lost both of his monsters to Mirror Force. Scurry set a monster, Long summoned Chiron the Mage, discarded Fissure to blow away Scurry’s almost-ready Future Fusion and attacked into Magical Merchant. Scurry got Dimension Fusion with its effect. Long set a spell or trap to end his turn.
Scurry tugged on his cap a bit, clearly not happy with his lot in the duel. He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and, after claiming its token, attacked Chiron — Enemy Controller blocked the move. “Go ahead,” said Scurry, now feeling even worse about his chances. Long summoned Green Gadget on the following turn, fetched a Red, and hit the Breaker with Green. Chiron then attacked directly and Long set a card to his back row. Scurry had nothing he could do, and scooped on the turn that followed.
Brian Long takes a commanding victory in the first duel, slamming Scurry’s offbeat Return deck with what seems to be a Machine-oriented Gadget build!
Both duelists smokescreened and shuffled up. “You’re going first?” asked Long. Scurry nodded and drew his opening hand after both duelists presented and shuffled their decks. He activated Future Fusion right off the bat, sending two Cyber Dragons to his graveyard. He was trying for Cyber Twin Dragon again. He then activated Graceful Charity, discarding Snipe Hunter and Return from the Different Dimension, and set a card to each zone.
Long activated Heavy Storm, and Scurry lost his set Sakuretsu Armor and his Future Fusion; a grievous blow! He shook his head as Long special summoned Cyber Dragon, and attacked into Gravekeeper’s Spy. Scurry brought out another from his deck in defense. Long set a card to his back row and ended. Scurry’s trademark creativity didn’t seem to be paying off.
However, on his following turn he summoned Bazoo the Soul-Eater, and removed three monsters! He then activated Dimension Fusion, bringing back his Snipe Hunter and two Cyber Dragons! He discarded another Fusion to target Long’s set card with Snipe Hunter, but Long chained it: Limiter Removal. It shut down Scurry’s offensive ability for the turn by increasing the ATK of Long’s Cyber Dragon so that Scurry couldn’t attack over it. Scurry failed in trying to destroy the Dragon with Snipe Hunter, discarding his own Dragon in the process, and ended his turn, briefly stymied.
Long summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and attacked over the Snipe Hunter: his only hope was to hold off Scurry with spell and trap cards, and his hand consisted of Fissure, Smashing Ground, and Ring of Destruction, so taking down the Snipe was necessary. Unfortunately all three of his remaining cards were only capable of creating card for card trades, something that would be in Scurry’s favor at this point. Still, he had no choice. He activated Smashing Ground to take out Spy, and downed one of the Cyber Dragons with Fissure. He set the Ring and ended.
Mirage Dragon came down on Scurry’s side, the same monster that won him SJC Baltimore. He activated Bazoo’s effect, Long let it resolve, and then activated Ring of Destruction to dish out 2500 damage both ways. The duel stood at 3100 life points to 5500 life points. Cyber Dragon ran over Long’s Breaker and Mirage Dragon hit Long directly. Long drew, set a spell or trap, and when Scurry attacked on the following turn it was all over! Long had topdecked into Mirror Force, but Mirage Dragon kept him from activating it.
Shane Scurry’s combo-oriented strategy pays off, earning him a win and giving him a new lease on life in this duel!
The third and final duel began quickly, with Long activating Graceful Charity right off the bat to discard Red Gadget and Green Gadget — he had another of each in his hand, and it seemed questionable to activate Graceful before summoning a Gadget to thin one out of the deck. Sure enough, Long summoned Red Gadget to search for Yellow and then set a spell or trap card to end.
Scurry brought out Cyber Dragon and Cyber Phoenix, but lost them both to Mirror Force! Long summoned Green Gadget to search for his last Red and then swung directly for 2700. “Go,” he said, setting another spell or trap card. Scurry set a card to each zone and passed right back.
Long summoned Cyber Phoenix and attacked with his biggest monster, Green Gadget. It hit Magical Merchant, which discarded 3 monsters from Scurry’s deck before he got Fissure with its effect: Morphing Jar, Gravekeeper’s Spy, and Bazoo. Red Gadget attacked directly, as did Cyber Phoenix, and Scurry was down to 2800. Long announced that he was finished.
Scurry started running numbers. He summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy Cyber Phoenix, and then flipped Skull Lair! He used the Lair to remove four monsters from his graveyard, blowing away Green Gadget. He then activated Dimension Fusion, bringing back Spy and Cyber Phoenix in defense, plus Bazoo and Cyber Dragon in attack position. Bazoo and Cyber Dragon attacked (Scurry opted not to pump Bazoo), and Long went to 5700. Scurry was back in the game, and concluded his turn by setting a back row card.
His opponent looked at both graveyards: Scurry only had three more monsters to use for Skull Lair. Long flipped his set Hammer Shot, destroying Scurry’s Cyber Dragon, and weighed his options: he had Overload Fusion, Mystical Space Typhoon, Fissure, Chiron the Mage, Yellow Gadget and Red Gadget in his hand. The Hammer Shot gave Scurry a fourth monster, effectively shutting down all of Long’s summoning options: Skull Lair could blow away Chiron if it hit the field, and neither Gadget had sufficient ATK because of how Scurry had decided to position his monsters! Long had to use Mystical Space Typhoon, but he didn’t target the Lair: instead he destroyed Scurry’s set card, Return from the Different Dimension, which seemed to be a mistake. Long had just dug his hole even deeper.
He activated Fissure, destroying the Cyber Phoenix. He set a card, set Red Gadget and ended, now clearly on the defensive.
Bazoo attacked it on the following turn, destroying it. Scurry set a spell or trap and ended. Long set another monster, Yellow Gadget, after drawing into another Chiron. Bazoo slammed Yellow Gadget and Scurry peeked at his set card, seeming to want to activate it, but hesitating before doing so. He went for it, flipping Call of the Haunted to bring Cyber Dragon back to the field for an attack.
Long set another spell or trap card and another monster, and Scurry clearly read the Overload Fusion, counting his opponent’s graveyard monsters. He summoned another Bazoo, fearing Torrential, but Long just removed it with Bottomless Trap Hole. Long lost his Chiron in battle to the other Bazoo, and Cyber Dragon hit directly again. The duel stood at 1500 life points for Long, to Scurry’s 800.
Long had just one card in his hand and one card set: Chiron the Mage and Overload Fusion respectively. He had a graveyard chock full of Gadgets, but couldn’t activate Overload Fusion because he didn’t have a Cyber Dragon for Chimeratech. Things looked grim, but his draw for the turn was Enemy Controller and he saw his one chance.
He summoned Chiron the Mage and tributed it for Enemy Controller, taking control of Scurry’s Cyber Dragon. He then flipped his last card, Overload Fusion, and removed seven Machines from his graveyard! Chimeratech Overdragon hit the field and attacked Bazoo, and Long extended his hand for a shake, breathing a sigh of relief . . .
. . . But Scurry wasn’t finished yet! In a bizarre and creative move, he used his Skull Lair to destroy his own Bazoo, keeping Chimeratech from dealing damage! It had to attack the Spy, so Long had no way to win the duel. Scurry had bought himself one more draw.
He had a hand of spells and traps, but he topdecked into another Bazoo! He had both Fissure and Smashing Ground to deal with the Chimeratech, but he’d needed a monster to follow through. He flopped both cards, gave a huge smile, and the crowd behind him exploded!
Shane Scurry tops a brilliant desperation play to mount an even more amazing comeback, stealing the match from Brian Long!