“You don’t play Catapult Turtle, do you?” asked Suffridge, taking his seat. The former American National Champion’s one loss here today was to, of all things, Catapult Turtle in a time situation. Ouch.

“I’ll side one in just for you,” quipped Jones with a smile.

“That’s okay. Me and Pat Smith are having a competition today: it’s called ‘Who Can Lose To The Most Random Machine.’” The former American National Champion gave a smirk, and both duelists rolled off to see who would go first.

Both of these widely-recognized duelists are on the bubble in round 8. They’ll each need to win this duel, and the next, in order to make Top 8. Having playtested together earlier, they knew each other’s decks inside out.

Jones won the roll and opened with Stratos, searching another from his deck. “You win,” said Suffridge, half-joking. Jones set two to his back row and ended. Suffridge summoned his own Stratos, lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole, and searched another from his deck. “You got the tempo,” he noted, setting two spell or trap cards.

Another Stratos came down, and Jones declared that he was searching for his other — he lost the summoned one to Bottomless Trap Hole, and the other attacked directly. Stratos hit Suffridge for 1800, and Jones nailed Suffridge in main phase 2 with Confiscation to follow up! It revealed Reinforcement of the Army, Pot of Avarice, Last Will and Stratos in Suffridge’s hand. Jones then activated Graceful Charity, discarding two copies of Cyber Dragon before setting a second back row card to end.

Suffridge activated his Reinforcement of the Army to rifle his deck for Stratos. He summoned it, Jones flipped Bottomless Trap Hole, and Suffridge chained his set Enemy Controller to tribute his Stratos and take Jones’. He searched his deck for Destiny Hero — Malicious, attacked directly with Stratos, and, in main phase 2, activated Monster Gate to tribute Stratos before Jones could get it back! He went through half a dozen non-monsters before hitting another Malicious.

“Thank god!” remarked Jones. Suffridge’s in-hand Malicious had just become a bit less useful.

Suffridge activated Last Will and special summoned Treeborn Frog from his deck. “Go ahead.”

Jones summoned his third (and last) Stratos, searched his deck for Elemental Hero Wildheart, and attacked Malicious. Suffridge activated Brain Control, took Jones’ Stratos, hit him with it, and Jones took the damage. He then tributed the Stratos for a face down monster and ended.

“Hydro!” predicted Jones, right before he took his draw for the turn. Sure enough, he topdecked into Hydrogeddon, attacked the set monster (Malicious) and special summoned a second one! That Hydrogeddon destroyed Suffridge’s Treeborn Frog, and the third resulting Dinosaur hit directly for 1600. Jeff Jones was sitting pretty with a loaded field.

Suffridge special summoned Treeborn Frog, removed a Malicious from his graveyard to special summon the last one from his deck, and then tributed Frog for Jinzo!

“I knew it!” exclaimed a frustrated Jones

“You don’t have a Solemn Judgment? For real?” Jones did not.

Suffridge tried to activate Pot of Avarice, but found himself without the necessary five monsters in his graveyard. Jinzo hit a Hydrogeddon, Jones sent one Hydro after Malicious and the other went to defense. Suffridge had clearly regained his footing.

He now had five monsters in his graveyard too, and he shuffled them all back with Pot of Avarice on the following turn. He drew two cards, activated Reinforcement of the Army to fetch Stratos from his deck, summoned it, and then searched for another. He activated Graceful Charity next, a killer set of plays that got some looks of disbelief from the audience. He discarded Stratos, Malicious, and activated Premature Burial to bring back Stratos and destroy Jones’ set Sakuretsu Armor. He then removed Malicious from his graveyard again, special summoned the last Malicious from his deck, and sent Jinzo into the attack position Hydrogeddon. One Stratos attacked the remaining Hydrogeddon, and Malicious and the other Stratos hit directly for game.

A bit of luck and some brilliant play decisions let Max Suffridge claim the first duel!

Both duelists shuffled their side decks into their main desks to mask their actions as they sided. The siding went quickly, and the second duel began. Jeff Jones was one duel loss away from being knocked out of this tournament.

Graceful Charity opened the second duel for Jones, who discarded Premature Burial and Bottomless Trap Hole. He set one monster, set two back row cards and ended. Suffridge immediately matched Jones, setting two spell or trap cards but no monster. Jones flipped his set Magician of Faith, took back Graceful Charity and summoned Stratos.

“Search,” he declared.

Suffridge considered his hand and set cards, made no response, and Jones searched his deck for another Stratos. He activated Graceful again, discarded Stratos and Exiled Force, and attacked directly with both Stratos and Magician of Faith. He set Trap Dustshoot, activated it immediately on the turn that followed, and bounced Dark Magician of Chaos back to Suffridge’s deck. He also saw Suffridge’s hand: Pot of Avarice, Enemy Controller, Brain Control, and Ring of Destruction.

Magician of Faith went to defense, and, when Stratos attacked, Suffridge flipped Scapegoat. Stratos destroyed one Sheep token. Jones ended, Suffridge passed, and Jones summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior — Bottomless Trap Hole destroyed it, but Max was now devoid of a back row, so Magician of Faith went to attack position. Jones cleared two Sheep with Stratos and Magician, and then ended his turn with distinct control over the duel.

Suffridge set two more back row cards and passed. Jones summoned another Stratos, searched his deck for Elemental Hero Wildheart, and attacked the last token with Magician of Faith. Suffridge tributed it away to Enemy Controller, taking control of Jones’ Stratos. Jones went to main phase 2, turned his Stratos to defense, and took the other back from his opponent.

Brain Control targeted the defense position Stratos — Suffridge seemed to want to ram it into Jones’ other Stratos, but activated Destiny Draw first, discarding Destiny Hero — Dasher to draw two cards. He then normal summoned Sangan, turned Stratos to attack and wiped out both of Jones’ monsters! Sangan attacked Magician of Faith and Suffridge ended.

Jones summoned his Wildheart on the next turn and attacked over Sangan, sending Suffridge to his deck to dig for Snipe Hunter. Jones set a third back row card and ended.

The Snipe Hunter came down for Suffridge, who opted to use its effect with priority. He discarded Dasher, chose the newest set spell or trap, and Jones flipped it — Torrential Tribute! Suffridge had no way of countering it, so he lost both his discarded card and his Snipe Hunter while Jones’ Wildheart (immune to traps) remained on the field. Suffridge activated Premature Burial targeting Sangan, and chained Call of the Haunted to bring up Dasher. He tributed away Sangan for Dasher’s effect, searched his deck for Treeborn Frog, and attacked into Wildheart. Jones had no response and Wildheart was destroyed. Jones dropped to 5700 life points as Dasher turned to defense because of its own effect. Suffridge gestured that he was finished with his turn.

Jones activated Pot of Avarice, shuffled five monsters back into his deck and drew two: Cyber Dragon and Mystical Space Typhoon. He used the latter to target Suffridge’s set Ring of Destruction, which Suffridge didn’t chain. Jones special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Don Zaloog, and hit directly with both, but the discarded card from Suffridge’s hand was Treeborn Frog — not exactly a glorious victory for Don Zaloog.

Suffridge tried to use Pot of Avarice on his following turn, leaving Frog in his graveyard to shuffle it back (he needed to do so as it was his fifth monster), but Jones activated Solemn Judgment! Suffridge scooped, and both duelists sided quickly with 12 minutes remaining in the match.

“No Threatening Roar,” said Jones. “You’re not allowed to play Threatening Roar.”

“Well, you’d just have Catapult Turtle anyway.” Suffridge gave another smirk, reliving his own stinging loss yet again.

He opened the third duel with Reinforcement of the Army, seeking out Stratos and then searching his deck for another to add to his hand. He played Graceful Charity next, discarding Dark Magician of Chaos and Royal Decree. He then set one spell or trap card and ended.

Jones set one monster, and four cards to his back row. Suffridge drew, Jones flipped Trap Dustshoot, and Suffridge revealed his hand: Treeborn Frog, Sangan, Stratos, Monster Gate, Heavy Storm, and Bottomless Trap Hole. Jones sent Stratos back to his opponent’s deck, and then activated another Dustshoot to send Sangan back as well! Suffridge set Treeborn Frog, tributed it for Monster Gate, and immediately flipped Jinzo off his deck to special summon it. Stratos attacked Jones’ set monster, Gravekeeper’s Spy, and bounced off harmlessly. Jones summoned another, Jinzo ran over the first, and Suffridge ended his turn.

Smashing Ground came down on for Jones, but Enemy Controller let Suffridge trump his opponent’s play: he tributed the Jinzo that Smashing Ground would have destroyed to take Jones’ Spy. When the chain resolved, the Spy was destroyed instead of Jinzo, and Jones gave a wince. Next turn Suffridge activated Heavy Storm, destroying his opponent’s Sakuretsu Armor and Bottomless Trap Hole, attacked with Stratos, and passed with two cards left in his hand.

Thinks looked bad for Jones. He had nothing of use on his next turn and passed without doing anything. “Go.” He just shook his head.

Suffridge special summoned his Treeborn Frog, tributed it again for another Monster Gate, lost Destiny Draw from his deck, and then special summoned Destiny Hero — Malicious in defense position. Stratos hit directly, and it was 7800 to 4400 with Suffridge leading.

Jones drew Stratos, summoned him, took another from his deck, and then attacked Suffridge’s Stratos to try and limit Suffridge’s potential damage on the following turn. He ended with no back row, Malicious went to attack position, and Suffridge sent him into Jones’ life points for some small-time damage. Jones special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Stratos, searched his deck for his third and activated Premature Burial! It brought back the Stratos from Last Turn and let him search for Elemental Hero Wildheart. It appeared as if the tables had turned on Max Suffridge! Jones attacked Malicous, and then swung directly with both copies of Stratos. Three minutes remained in the round. It was 2900 to 2800 in Suffridge’s favor.

He special summoned Treeborn Frog in defense, and removed Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another in attack. He activated Brain Control, took one Stratos, crashed it into the other, and ran Malicious into the Cyber Dragon to send a monster to his graveyard. He then activated Last Will, searched his deck for Snipe Hunter in defense position and discarded Destiny Draw to try and destroy Cyber Dragon.

He rolled a four! Cyber Dragon was destroyed and Suffridge was still alive in this tournament. He set his last card to his back row and ended.

Jones activated Heavy Storm, destroyed Suffridge’s set Royal Decree, and attacked Snipe Hunter with Stratos. Max set a monster, Jones used Graceful Charity and summoned Exiled Force. He tributed it to destroy the set monster, winced again when he found it was Sangan, and Suffridge searched his deck for another Snipe Hunter. Jones didn’t bother attacking. Suffridge was down to 800 life points while Jones was at 2800.

Suffridge summoned Snipe Hunter, and didn’t use its effect with priority. It was a mistake, and he lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole without ever getting to use its effect. He removed Malicious from his graveyard, special summoned his last one in defense position and ended his turn after setting his last card to his back row.

Jones summoned Wildheart, attacked into Treeborn Frog with it, and attacked Malicious with Stratos. Mirror Force destroyed Stratos. Suffridge drew for his turn and just didn’t have an out.

“I had to play to my outs,” said Suffridge, reaching across the table to give Jones a hearty handshake of congratulations. What a match!

Max Suffridge was left hoping for incredible tiebreakers while Jeff Jones would move on to play for a spot in Day 2!