Calvin Tsang needs no introduction — a former Canadian National Champion, as well as a former member of the suspended list due to bone-headed antics gone wrong, he’s a familiar sight so close to his home town of Toronto. Today he’s playing a TeleDAD variant that’s borrows elements of Diamond Dude Turbo. It’s packed with really cool tech, much of which is owed to Toronto’s Ervin So. Tsang named the deck Irwin Dot Deck (complete with meticulously-selected spelling errors) in tribute.

His opponent this round is Team Lockdown’s Robbie Kohl, a nineteen year-old duelists from Indiana. Kohl is playing Gadgets, teched with a pair of Doomcaliber Knight and side decked for the big matchups in this format. Both of these decks were highly innovative — this was anybody’s game.

“I play for Team Lockdown,” noted Kohl, making sure his team name got in the coverage.

“I play for Calvin Tsang,” grinned Calvin. “I got kicked off of Cardmasters cause I suck!”

Tsang opened the match with Krebons, ending immediately. Kohl special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Red Gadget, and added Yellow Gadget to his hand; he had two Yellow Gadget, another Red Gadget, and two Book of Moon. He attacked with both monsters, Tsang paid 1600 life points to keep Krebons on the field, and Kohl set both Books.

That was a huge mistake — he lost both to Heavy Storm! Now stuck with a hand of Gadgets, things did not look good. They got worse; Tsang summoned Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, activated his effect to net a free Allure of Darkness for next turn, then Synchro summoned Goyo Guardian!

Goyo destroyed Cyber Dragon in battle, then snatched it to Tsang’s side of the field! “I’ll pass play.” Kohl topdecked Mirror Wall, summoned Yellow Gadget, and got Green from his deck. He set Mirror Wall and ended, now clearly on defense.

“Activate Allure,” announced Tsang, removing Prometheus, King of the Shadows in a heartbeat. Goyo Guardian slammed Red Gadget, took control of it, and Tsang set three cards to his back row — a dramatic move after not setting anything for so long.

Kohl summoned another copy of Yellow and pulled yet another Green from his deck. He set Dark Bribe and ended. Goyo attacked Yellow Gadget, Kohl flipped Mirror Wall, and still took 200 damage; Tsang took that Gadget, too. Kohl paid for Mirror Wall next turn, summoned Green, had nothing left to search for, and sent Green Gadget to attack and destroy Yellow Gadget. Play was to Tsang.

He took a moment to consider his options. He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Mirror Wall, and attacked Green Gadget with Goyo Guardian; he didn’t take it, keeping one monster zone open. Breaker destroyed Yellow Gadget and Kohl had just 1800 life points remaining.

Smashing Ground let him destroy Goyo Guardian, and he set a monster. Tsang activated Mind Control, lost out to Dark Bribe, but then activated Dark Eruption to bring Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude back to his hand! He pitched it for Destiny Draw, drew two cards, and then summoned Snipe Hunter. Two discards later he was attacking directly . . . he swung with Red Gadget first.

Kohl dropped Gorz! There had been some confusion on life points, and Tsang thought he would have game with any of his attackers. Gorz stopped Tsang from making further direct attacks, though Gorz’s Token was destroyed by Cyber Dragon in battle. Kohl attacked next turn, Tsang flipped Threatening Roar, and Kohl set a card to each zone.

Tsang discarded Lightning Vortex to destroy Kohl’s face-down Dimensional Prison, and then searched his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos with Reinforcement of the Army. He summoned him, searched for Malicious, discarded him for Snipe Hunter’s effect, and targeted his own Red Gadget instead of Gorz — he missed, but discarded another card to destroy it. He flipped two copies of Reckless Greed, drew four cards, blew away Kohl’s face-down Green Gadget with Snipe Hunter, then took Gorz with Brain Control! Tsang slammed it into Kohl with a direct attack for game!

Calvin Tsang’s downright peculiar TeleDAD deck devastates Robbie Kohl in Game 1! Both duelists smokescreened and sided in preparation for the second duel.

Kohl opened up big with Thunder King Rai-Oh, and set Enemy Controller. He had Red Gadget, Smashing Ground, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, and another Thunder King in hand. Tsang discarded Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude for Destiny Draw, normal summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, and shot Breaker’s counter — Kohl chained the targeted Enemy Controller, turning Breaker to defense mode. Tsang had to discard Reinforcement of the Army to destroy Thunder King with Lightning Vortex, and had no other moves for the turn.

Kohl summoned another Thunder King and ran over Breaker! He set another spell or trap card, Tsang summoned Krebons (looking perturbed), and Kohl blasted him with Kycoo and Smashing Ground next turn. Tsang dropped to 4300 life points once Thunder King attacked, and Kycoo removed Diamond Dude and Breaker from his graveyard.

Tsang drew to four cards in hand. He normal summoned Snipe Hunter, discarded Allure of Darkness, and destroyed Kohl’s face-down Royal Oppression. He discarded Elemental Hero Stratos, missed, and destroyed nothing — he was gunning for Thunder King. He had just one card left in hand and he discarded it to destroy Thunder King — Emergency Teleport. There was nothing Tsang could do to recover this.

Kohl summoned Red Gadget, searched Yellow Gadget from his deck, and ran over Snipe Hunter with Kycoo. Red Gadget made a direct attack and Tsang was down to 2700 life points. Tsang scooped a turn later after seeing his next draw.

Robbie Kohl evens the score, destroying one-time Canadian Champion Calvin Tsang with a flurry of tech cards! Tsang immediately started riffling through his side deck, laboring over his choices. He started Game 3 moments later.

Reinforcement of the Army got him Elemental Hero Stratos, which in turn searched Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude when he was summoned. He discarded Destiny Hero – Malicious for Destiny Draw, drew two, and passed with no back field. “Go ahead.”

“Summon Breaker,” announced Kohl. He attacked over Stratos, set one card to his back row, and ended. “Come ooooon,” pleaded Tsang as he drew for his turn. “Ooh! Great card!” He activated Allure of Darkness, removing his Diamond Dude for two more draws. He had seven cards in hand, while Kohl had two cards on the field (Breaker and Torrential Tribute) with four cards in hand (Green Gadget, Solemn Judgment, Fissure, and Gorz). Tsang activated Heavy Storm to destroy the Torrential. He removed one Malicious to summon another, played Emergency Teleport to get Krebons from his deck, and normal summoned another Diamond Dude! He activated his effect, missed (hitting Mirror Force), and riffled through his Extra deck. Tsang spent a little time running numbers, but eventually settled on Thought Ruler Archfiend; he tuned Krebons to Malicious. Thought Ruler smashed Breaker, Diamond Dude made a direct attack, and the duel stood at 5800 to 9500 life points in Tsang’s favor, but Kohl summoned Gorz as a result of Diamond Dude’s attack! “Pass play.”

Kohl drew, and normal summoned Green Gadget, searching his deck for Red. Kohl tried to move to his battle phase, but Tsang flipped Threatening Roar — Kohl set a single spell or trap card to finish his turn.

Tsang summoned Snipe Hunter! He discarded Reinforcement of the Army for Snipe Hunter’s effect, invoking his right to priority, and Kohl chained Bottomless Trap Hole. “Come onnn, dice roll!” Tsang rolled a five, and Gorz was destroyed! Snipe Hunter was removed. Diamond Dude’s effect failed to net Tsang a free card, but he turned him to defense position and sent Thought Ruler to attack Green Gadget; the attack was good and Green hit the yard. Tsang now had 10900 life points.

Kohl summoned Red Gadget, got Yellow Gadget from his deck, and turned Gorz’s Token to defense position. Tsang flipped Allure of Darkness with Diamond Dude’s effect on the turn that followed, Thought Ruler attacked Red Gadget, and Tsang was at a whopping 12200 life points.

Yellow Gadget was Kohl’s next summon, fetching Green Gadget from his deck. He was holding Fissure and Smashing Ground, and activated both to clear Tsang’s field of monsters. He shifted his Gorz Token to attack position and attacked with both. “Am I over 8000 still?!”

He was indeed — Tsang still had 9600 life points left. Kohl ended, and Tsang drew. He activated Allure of Darkness’s effect, drew to five cards in hand, and removed Diamond Dude. He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, lost it to Kohl’s Solemn Judgment, and activated Teleport. He removed one Malicious to summon another, Synchro summoned Stardust Dragon, and ran over the Gorz Token. A second set spell or trap card finished Tsang’s turn — he had Stardust Dragon, two set spell or trap cards, and one card in hand.

Kohl turned Yellow Gadget to defense position and set a card to each zone; he too had three cards on the field and one card in hand. Tsang took Red Gadget with Mind Control, flip summoned it, and normal summoned Prometheus, King of the Shadows! He removed three Darks to boost Prometheus up, and Kohl knew he was beaten; he gave the handshake and Tsang moved on undefeated!

As the feature match area was flooded with Cardmasters players and a t-shirt was thrown at Tsang, he clearly had some explaining to do: “I didn’t get kicked off Cardmasters,” he confessed. “I actually quit! I just showed up again yesterday!”