Kenny So has come a long way. Packing a successful Burn deck built by Hugo Adame and Erik Wu that no one was ready for, he’s the odds-on favorite for victory here in the Final Four. His opponent this round sides only a single Des Wombat, and it seems as if the only duelist with a chance to bring So down is Guy Israel, who might not even make it to the Finals.

But that won’t stop Amjad Ibrahim from giving this match his all! Hailing from Detroit, he’s packing Machine Beatdown and will be looking to out-speed So in the next few duels. He’ll need So to draw pretty roughly for two games if he’s to move on to the Finals.

So set two spell or trap cards and passed, activating Trap Dustshoot to reveal Ibrahim’s hand of Machine Duplication, Heavy Storm, Brain Control, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, Jinzo, and Mystic Tomato next turn. Jinzo was the obvious pick and it was sent back to Ibrahim’s deck. He set a monster and ended.

Scapegoat hit So’s back-row face down, and Ibrahim flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive next turn. Dekoichi attacked directly, So dropped to 6600 life points, and Ibrahim set another monster. “I’ll end my turn.”

A pass was So’s only move, and Ibrahim activated Heavy Storm! So chained Scapegoat and lost Dimension Wall, and Ibrahim lost Call of the Haunted. He flip summoned Mystic Tomato, attacked two Sheep, and announced that he was finished with his turn. So had six cards in his hand: Card Trooper, Wall of Revealing Light, Giant Rat, Skill Drain, Level Limit - Area B, and Torrential Tribute. He summoned Giant Rat, attacked Dekoichi to trade, and special summoned Card Trooper from his deck. He set two cards to his back row to conclude his turn.

Ibrahim set a monster, attacked Card Trooper with Tomato, and destroyed it. So dropped to 5600 life points, and Ibrahim still didn’t have a scratch on him.

So set a monster and a third spell or trap. Ibrahim set two cards to his back row and attacked a Sheep token with Mystic Tomato. Play was to So, who set a fourth spell or trap, Trap Dustshoot, and flipped it in Ibrahim’s draw phase to shuffle back his only in-hand monster, Card Trooper. Mystic Tomato attacked a Sheep token, but Magic Cylinder sent the damage back at Ibrahim! So passed, and Ibrahim tributed Mystic Tomato for Raiza the Storm Monarch. Its effect targeted the face-down monster So controlled, but he chained Skill Drain in response! Raiza’s effect was negated, and Raiza attacked So’s face-down monster: Card Trooper. So still got to draw his card for its effect since it triggers in the graveyard. “Your turn,” stated Ibrahim, ending.

Level Limit - Area B came down for So, who proceeded to pass. Ibrahim flip summoned Card Trooper, then activated Machine Duplication to bring out two more! He activated the effect of all three—knowing he could pay the cost but not get the ATK boost—and then cleared out a Sheep token with the first Trooper. The remaining Troopers attacked directly, which dropped So to 3800 life points. In main phase 2, Ibrahim set a spell or trap card to finish.

Another spell or trap card was set by So, and Card Trooper attacked against next turn: this time So flipped his newly-set Wall of Revealing Light, paying 1000 life points to block the three Troopers. In main phase 2, Ibrahim switched the other two Troopers to defense mode.

A set monster was placed by So. Ibrahim turned his third Trooper to defense next turn and set a third spell or trap. So set Trap Dustshoot, activated it next turn, and sent Cyber Phoenix back to Ibrahim’s hand, revealing Jinzo, Limiter Removal, Machine Duplication, and Pot of Avarice in the process. Skill Drain made Jinzo useless, and Ibrahim passed. So set a third monster, Ibrahim set a fourth back-row card, and play passed to So again. Next turn he revealed his hand to Trap Dustshoot: Gravity Bind, Solemn Judgment, Smashing Ground, and Wall of Revealing Light. No monsters. So passed.

Ibrahim passed, So passed back, and Ibrahim passed. So passed, Ibrahim passed and discarded Machine Duplication in his end phase. So did the same, discarding Wall of Revealing Light. Ibrahim set another Trap Dustshoot, and this time it cost So his Gravekeeper’s Spy. Ibrahim passed and discarded Widespread Ruin, and So discarded Gravity Bind. Ibrahim discarded Brain Control, So set a monster, and Ibrahim discarded Cyber Dragon.

So activated Wave-Motion Cannon! Ibrahim set a fourth spell or trap again, So discarded Dimension Wall, and Ibrahim tributed Card Trooper for Jinzo. Ibrahim responded to his own Jinzo with Torrential Tribute, a rather rare move permitted by Skill Drain! The field was cleared of monsters and So searched Gravekeeper’s Spy with Sangan’s effect, then drew for the Card Trooper Torrential Tribute had destroyed. Ibrahim took his draws for his Troopers, then activated Pot of Avarice to shuffle back two copies of Raiza the Storm Monarch, and all three copies of Card Trooper to draw two.

Ibrahim set a fourth card to his spell and trap zone, then ended, discarding Confiscation and Cyber Phoenix to reduce his hand count to six. So passed his turn, discarding Smashing Ground and Skill Drain.

A set monster was Ibrahim’s only move, and he shook his head a bit as he perused his hand. So launched Wave-Motion Cannon to drop his opponent to 3600 life points, then played another! Ibrahim needed a Raiza, but he needed its effect too, so taking out Skill Drain was crucial.

He tributed his set Cyber Phoenix for Cyber Dragon on the following turn, and activated Ring of Destruction to destroy it. He chained Limiter Removal, Cyber Dragon exploded for 4200 damage, and both duelists took damage that dropped them below 0 life points!

Amjad Ibrahim forces a draw in the first game! Twenty-three minutes remain in the match!

So began the second duel with Confiscation, revealing a hand of Sangan, Snatch Steal, Raiza the Storm Monarch, Sakuretsu Armor, and Snipe Hunter. The latter was discarded, and So set a monster, then a spell or trap to end. He flipped Trap Dustshoot on the next turn, revealing Ibrahim’s draw of Torrential Tribute and sending Sangan back to his deck! Ibrahim could do nothing but set a card to his back row and pass.

So had Level Limit - Area B, Morphing Jar, Book of Moon, and Dimension Wall in hand once he drew next turn. He flip summoned Gravekeeper’s Spy, special summoned another in attack mode, and lost them both to Torrential Tribute. He set Morphing Jar and Book of Moon to finish his turn. Ibrahim just set a spell or trap.

So set his topdeck to the back row, then flip summoned Morphing Jar, giving up Level Limit - Area B and Dimension Wall to get a new hand. Morphing Jar attacked for 700 damage, and So had Ring of Destruction, Solemn Judgment, Wall of Revealing Light, Ceasefire, and Dimension Wall. He set Ring, Solemn, and Dimension Wall.

Cyber Dragon came down for Ibrahim, and he set a monster, smelling that Book of Moon. He didn’t even attack: he just ended his turn, leaving So as the turn player. The Comic Odyssey owner flipped Book of Moon next turn, turned Morphing Jar face down, flipped Ring of Destruction to destroy Cyber Dragon, and proceeded to set both Ceasefire and Skill Drain. He then flipped Morphing Jar, costing Ibrahim four cards to his one.

He ended, and Ibrahim flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. So chained Skill Drain, dropping to 3900 life points. Ibrahim set another spell or trap, then ended his turn. Morphing Jar went to defense mode, and So flipped Ceasefire to dish out 1000 damage. He ended, and Ibrahim blasted him with Heavy Storm: Solemn Judgment negated it and So went to 1950. A set monster ended Ibrahim’s turn and So was up. “Your turn.”

A set card to each zone was So’s play. “Go ahead.” Ibrahim set a monster and turned Dekoichi to defense, and So set a card to each zone again, leaving himself with three monsters, Skill Drain, and four set cards in his spell and trap zone. Ibrahim set a fourth monster, then So flip summoned Card Trooper and responded with TT, destroying his two copies of Card Trooper as well as two of Ibrahim’s. Both duelists drew two cards each. So activated Wave-Motion Cannon and passed.

Pot of Avarice came down for Ibrahim, sending Banisher of the Radiance, Snipe Hunter, Raiza the Storm Monarch, and two copies of Card Trooper back to his deck. He set a monster, set two cards to his back row, and ended. So was up, and with Wave-Motion now at 1000 damage, he passed, discarding Mind Crush. Ibrahim had 4200 life points remaining.

He tributed his set Gravekeeper’s Spy for Jinzo. He responded with Mystical Space Typhoon, targeting Skill Drain, but Solemn Judgment negated it! So dropped to 975 life points. Ibrahim set a spell or trap and ended, not attacking due to the risk of Dimension Wall.

Smashing Ground destroyed Jinzo next turn, and So played another Wave-Motion Cannon! In two turns he’d have enough damage to win the duel. Ibrahim set a monster and ended: So added 2000 more damage to his Cannons.

He launched one for 3000 damage, dropping Ibrahim to 1200 life points. Less than four minutes remained in the match: if Ibrahim couldn’t win here, there was no way he could win the next duel fast enough. So set Trap Dustshoot, and flipped it next turn to reveal a hand of Mobius the Frost Monarch, Banisher of the Radiance, Snipe Hunter, Card Trooper, and Machine Duplication. He sent Trooper back to Ibrahim’s deck, and Ibrahim needed to win this turn or stop Wave-Motion Cannon.

He tributed for Mobius the Frost Monarch, targeting Wave-Motion Cannon and the set spell or trap next to it. Skill Drain was on the field, but Ibrahim could still activate effects, just not resolve them. So had no response, but Ibrahim had nothing to remove Skill Drain. He attacked, and ran right into the Dimension Wall he’d read for several turns: his Call of the Haunted could bring back Jinzo, but it wouldn’t help.

Kenny So wins game 2, the first victory of the match! Time was called as both duelists sided for game 3, and as per the latest end-of-match procedure, the duelist with a game win between duels was declared the winner.

Kenny So moves on to the finals!