This was it! The most anticipated match of the quarterfinals pitted Emon Ghaneian, who some have called the hottest player of 2006, against an incredible underdog. Austin Kulman stunned yesterday’s crowd not just with his display of amazing dueling prowess, but also with his age. At only eleven years old, he’s by far the youngest Nationals competitor this country has ever seen on Day 2, and his appearance has fooled his opponents on many occasions. Emon isn’t fooled—he’s admitted to dreading this match. Only time will tell if his fear is justified.
On the deck level, this is a very even matchup. Only eight different card selections vary between both duelists, and most of those are just variations in quantities (two Smashing Ground versus one, and such). A handful of monsters might make the difference. While Emon is running Asura Priest, Mystic Tomato, and Treeborn Frog, Kulman is running Jinzo, Magical Merchant, and Night Assailant. Expect these six cards to be pivotal, and the Frog especially so: I’ll go out on a limb and say that it will either be the key to Emon’s success, or the beginning of his end.
While both of these duelists would be superb representatives of the United States this summer at Worlds, only one can win, and only one can move on to compete in Tokyo this summer. In mere moments, we’ll know who’s going to Japan and who’s going home disappointed.
Emon won the roll and both duelists drew their opening hands, awaiting the announcement that the round had begun.
“Want to play Rock, Paper, Scissors?” asked Kulman.
“ . . . what, just for fun?”
“Yeah, I’m bored.” Kulman grinned.
The round would have a time limit of 120 minutes, and Emon began the duel as the round was opened by head judge Julia Hedberg!
He set a monster and passed, leaving his spell and trap zone empty. Kulman brought out Cyber Dragon and Kycoo, attacked with the Dragon into Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and attacked directly with Kycoo, removing the Dekoichi! He set a back row card and ended his turn.
First blood goes to Austin Kulman!
Emon special summoned his own Cyber Dragon, attacked the Kycoo, and lost his Cyber Dragon to Sakuretsu Armor! He special summoned another in main phase 2, tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to destroy Kulman’s Cyber Dragon with its effect, and then set a spell or trap.
Kulman blasted him with Heavy Storm, destroying Torrential Tribute! He summoned Tsukuyomi, turned Zaborg face down, attacked the Zaborg with it, and hit directly with Kycoo, removing Zaborg and Cyber Dragon from Emon’s graveyard. Emon brought back his remaining Dragon with Premature Burial, attacked Kycoo, set a monster, and ended.
Kulman used Nobleman of Crossout to remove Emon’s set monster, which was Treeborn Frog. He set a monster himself and finished his turn, passing play to Emon!
He summoned Asura Priest, attacked with it, and lost it to D. D. Warrior Lady. The Cyber Dragon attacked directly and the life point totals were 3600 for Emon to 5600 for Kulman.
Kulman examined Emon’s graveyard, and nothing remained but Torrential. He used his own Premature Burial to bring up Cyber Dragon, brought down Tsukuyomi to turn down Emon’s Cyber Dragon, hit it with his Cyber Dragon, and attacked with Tsukuyomi, but Call of the Haunted brought back Emon’s Cyber for the block. Next turn, Emon butted Cyber Dragons together to destroy them both, and set a monster. Kulman set a monster, Emon flipped his, Magician of Faith, took back Premature, brought out Dragon again, and used Nobleman of Crossout to remove Kulman’s Magical Merchant from the field! He then attacked with both the Magician of Faith and Cyber Dragon directly, for 2400 damage. He ended his turn after setting his last card, which was a spell or trap.
Kulman brought out Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Premature to destroy Cyber Dragon, and attacked the Magician of Faith! He passed with an empty back row.
Emon topdecked Graceful Charity, and flopped it. “Nice draw,” said Kulman politely. Emon discarded Heavy Storm immediately, and considered his last discard. He shuffled his hand and thought it over, and while he did so, Kulman examined Emon’s graveyard yet again. Emon discarded Breaker the Magical Warrior next, then played Smashing Ground on Breaker the Magical Warrior, summoned Sangan, and attacked with it for 1000.
Kulman drew, set a card to each zone, and passed. Emon summoned his topdecked Mystic Tomato, Kulman had no response, and Emon attacked with Sangan. It hit Tsukuyomi, which turned itself face down. Emon passed, taking damage from the failed attack against Tsukuyomi.
“You’re at 11?” asked Kulman.
“Yeah,” confirmed Emon.
Kulman tributed his set Tsukuyomi for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroyed the Tomato with its effect, and then attacked Sangan! The resulting 1400 damage was more than Emon could handle, and Kulman won the first duel!
“What did you have set in your spell and traps?” asked Emon.
“I’ll tell you after,” said Kulman.
“I just want to know if it was a bluff or not,” Emon explained.
“I dunno, man,” said Kulman, with a little shrug. He wasn’t going to let Emon have any information for free. Smart kid.
Both duelists side decked, counting out their side decks carefully before shuffling. Emon began the second duel.
He shuffled his hand and dropped Mystical Space Typhoon on the table by mistake. “Nice . . . you didn’t see that!” He summoned Mystic Tomato and that was all. Kulman special summoned Cyber Dragon, hit Tomato with it, Emon pulled another, and Kulman blasted him with Confiscation, revealing two Creature Swap, Cyber Dragon, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Cyber Dragon!
“Oooh, you side decked in Creature Swap. That’s a good hand.” He discarded Chaos Sorcerer from Emon’s hand, set two back row cards, and passed. “I made a mistake,” he said, as soon as he passed. “A bad mistake.”
Emon played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Kulman’s set Call of the Haunted, then used Creature Swap to take Cyber Dragon. Cyber Dragon hit Emon’s Tomato, which had been traded to Kulman, and he pulled Spirit Reaper with its effect. He attacked, but Kulman flipped Mirror Force, a hugely intelligent play knowing that Emon would go for the card advantage hit with Spirit Reaper. Emon ended his turn with an open field!
Kulman shuffled his hand: Kycoo, Magician of Faith, and Tsukuyomi. He set Tsukuyomi and passed with no back row cards. If Emon used Creature Swap on it, it would be of no use to him. Smart.
Emon didn’t though: he special summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked the Tsukuyomi, getting his Dragon turned face down and destroying the Spirit. Emon set a spell or trap and concluded his turn. Kulman summoned Kycoo, destroyed the Cyber Dragon in battle, and set a spell or trap. In the end phase, Emon flipped Scapegoat.
“Side decked in Goats,” Kulman observed.
Emon summoned Spirit Reaper, shifted a Scapegoat to attack, Creature Swapped it for Kycoo, but lost the Kycoo to Sakuretsu Armor. Smashing Ground destroyed the Reaper next turn, which had done nothing but attack for 300 damage, and Kulman set a monster.
Graceful Charity dropped from Emon’s hand, which he said he had for several turns. He passed with an open field, save his three Sheep tokens. Kulman drew, activated Confiscation, and saw Chaos Sorcerer and Breaker the Magical Warrior: he discarded Chaos Sorcerer.
A turn later, Torrential cleared the field, and Kulman was swinging directly with D. D. Warrior Lady. But Emon brought down Cyber Dragon, then Breaker the Magical Warrior, and attacked with the Dragon to take out D. D. Warrior Lady! Breaker attacked directly.
Kulman couldn’t topdeck anything of use, but had 2500 life points remaining: Emon’s Breaker wouldn’t end it in one turn. Emon didn’t hve a monster to add to his lone attacker’s ranks, but he did have Rush Recklessly! He attacked with Breaker, played Rush, and his attack dished out 2600 damage, just enough to push the match to a third duel!
Emon Ghaneian makes the comeback, but Kulman has the advantage of going first in the third and final game! Emon offered him a handshake and a wish of good luck for the next game.
Kulman opened the game with a summoned Sangan and a set back row card, but Emon special summoned Cyber Dragon. He attacked, but Kulman flipped Mirror Force to destroy it, perhaps a costly move considering the fact that it didn’t gain field advantage: Emon set a monster and passed.
But Kulman had a plan! He tributed his Sangan for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, blew away Emon’s set Spirit Reaper, and pulled Newdoria with Sangan’s effect! Zaborg hit directly for 2400 against Emon’s open field! In main phase 2, Kulman set a spell or trap card, and it was 8000 to 5600!
Emon had a hand full of monster,s but special summoned Chaos Sorcerer to remove Zaborg with priority. He summoned Spirit Reaper, attacked directly with it, and forced Kulman to discard Newdoria! He passed, again with no cards in his spell and trap zone. He had three cards in hand.
Kulman summoned Magician of Faith, attacked the Reaper to destroy it, and then removed it for Chaos Sorcerer in main phase 2! He removed Emon’s Sorcerer with its effect, and passed.
Emon played Reinforcement of the Army, searched for Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy Kulman’s Sorcerer, and attacked again with Reaper: Kulman lost D. D. Warrior Lady. Emon again ended, again with no spell or traps set.
Premature Burial brought back Kulman’s D. D. Warrior Lady, and he summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. He attacked Reaper with D. D. Warrior Lady, removed her and the Reaper form play, hit with Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and then activated Return from the Different Dimension. He brought back all his monsters from his removed from game area and attacked to win the match!
Austin Kulman beats out Emon Ghaneian in the third duel of a fast-paced match, moving on to Japan and the semifinals! The assembled crowd erupted in cheers for Kulman, and the feature match area flooded with duelists wanting to congratulate him and shake his hand.
Austin Kulman will represent the United States at the World Championships in August, the youngest duelist to ever compete at Worlds!