“I have never met the Princess,” remarked Kim, taking a seat at the feature match table for the first time in ages. Kim is back from a hiatus that has lasted from US Nationals until now. “I played Lightsworn with Robbin’ Goblin at Nationals and failed miserably.” Today he was playing TeleDAD, as was his opponent — the most consistent Day 2 competitor in the game right now, Cesar Gonzalez. While Cesar was undefeated, Kim had taken one loss, and had been paired up. He was fighting for his life in this tournament.

Gonzalez started the match, setting a spell or trap and ending. Kim opened with Destiny Hero – Malicious, Destiny Draw, Torrential Tribute, Brain Control, and two Dark Armed Dragon. He traded his Destiny Draw and Malicious for Allure of Darkness and Destiny Hero - Doom Lord, and then removed one Malicious to summon his second. He set Torrential Tribute and ended.

Cesar wasn’t buying it, and was not reading Crush Card Virus; he summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, forcing Kim to activate Torrential Tribute. “Go.” Kim drew Solemn Judgment, activated Allure, and removed Doom Lord; he ended his turn with six cards in hand and nothing on the field. “Go.” Cesar summoned Mystic Tomato, attacked for 1400 damage, and ended.

“Cards in hand?”

“Five.”

“Just Breaker in the yard?”

“Yup,” confirmed Cesar.

Kim gave a sigh, and set two cards to his back row next turn. He activated Reinforcement of the Army next, searched his deck for Dark Grepher, and counted his graveyard: still just one Dark monster for his two Dark Armed Dragons. He normal summoned Dark Grepher, discarded Snipe Hunter for its effect, and sent Necro Gardna to his graveyard: “Gee, I wonder if he has Dark Armed,” quipped Cesar. Kim summoned Dark Armed Dragon, passed priority, and removed Snipe Hunter from his graveyard to destroy Mystic Tomato. He was left with Gardna and Malicious in his graveyard, both of which were assets on their own. He didn’t want to feed them to Dark Armed Dragon.

He pressed through Cesar’s face down, attacked with Dark Grepher, then attacked with Dark Armed Dragon, dishing out 4500 damage. He ended his turn.

Cesar drew for his turn and flipped his face-down Heavy Storm — pro Heavy! Kim had another Dark Armed Dragon and Brain Control in hand, and he gave up both of his set Solemn Judgments! He still had that Necro Gardna in his graveyard though, and both duelists were well aware of that fact. Cesar brought out Krebons from his deck with Emergency Teleport, tributed it for Destiny Hero – Malicious, and special summoned Dark Armed Dragon! He removed Krebons and Malicious to clear the field, attacked for two direct shots, and set two cards to his back row.

Kim drew Trap Dustshoot — a totally dead card. He activated Brain Control, dropping to 1750 life points — Cesar flipped Solemn Judgment! Kim removed Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another copy in attack position, then special summoned Dark Armed Dragon. “Priority?” asked Cesar. Kim removed his first Dark Armed Dragon to destroy Cesar’s, then removed Dark Grepher to target Cesar’s spell or trap.

It was Phoenix Wing Wind Blast! Cesar discarded Mystical Space Typhoon to chain it, and each duelist had nothing but one Malicious on the field. Kim had one card in hand while Cesar had none, but Cesar would draw next turn and had more Malicious left in his deck. Kim ended.

Cesar drew Reinforcement of the Army, searched for Elemental Hero Stratos, and summoned him to get Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude. He turned his Malicious to defense mode and ended, leaving Malicious on Kim’s field. Kim turned his to defense mode, set a spell or trap, and ended. “Go.”

Cesar summoned Krebons, Synchro summoned with Malicious to bring out Stardust Dragon, and attacked Malicious with Stratos! Kim removed Necro Gardna to block the attack, and then lost Malicious to Stardust. “I’ll end my turn.” Play was to Kim, who had 2200 life points. He set a spell or trap and ended.

Cesar removed Malicious from his graveyard to summon another, and Kim scooped it up! A rough beat: he’d have to win two straight now to stay healthy in this tournament.

“I was so afraid he had double Dark Armed!” remarked Cesar, gleefully siding. Both of these duelists were very focused on the matter at hand, but Cesar was making no effort to hide his relief. “Hey, make sure everyone knows I’m not main decking Gorz!” Cesar was very pleased with that fact, too. Kim was up for Game 2.

He opened with Allure of Darkness, drawing two for a total hand of Destiny Hero – Plasma, Mystical Space Typhoon, Necro Gardna, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Krebons, Crush Card Virus, and Armageddon Knight. He removed the Plasma for Allure’s effect, the obvious choice. He set Gardna, set Crush, and passed — this one might be over quickly. Cesar played Reinforcement, got Stratos, and Kim flipped Crush Card Virus, costing Cesar Stratos and Dark Armed Dragon! He discarded Destiny Hero - Doom Lord for Destiny Draw, and drew into his own Sangan and Crush Card Virus! “I’ll take that!” He summoned Sangan, set Crush, and ended. “That’s not gonna look good in the feature match! Everyone on the internet is going to say I stacked, watch!”

Kim laughed — Cesar had two cards in hand, and Kim drew to five. He summoned Armageddon Knight, sent Destiny Hero – Malicious to his graveyard with Armageddon’s effect, and attacked; Cesar flipped Crush Card Virus and tributed Sangan, revealing Kim’s hand and destroying his Thunder King Rai-Oh. Cesar then searched for Mystic Tomato with Sangan’s effect. “I do not like seeing that,” commented Kim. Armageddon Knight attacked for 1400 damage, and Kim removed Malicious to summon another in defense mode. He set a spell or trap.

“I’m gonna make him play that Gardna,” remarked Cesar, determined. He summoned Mystic Tomato, sent it at Armageddon Knight, and Kim let it through; he lost Armageddon Knight, Cesar special summoned Krebons with Tomato’s effect, and it attacked Malicious in turn. Cesar set one card to his back row to finish out.

Kim drew Solemn Judgment, revealing it for Crush Card Virus. He had Krebons, Destiny Hero - Doom Lord, and Solemn in hand with one card face down in his spell and trap zone. He flipped it, Mystical Space Typhoon, to destroy Cesar’s face-down Torrential Tribute, and then summoned another Malicious from his deck. He summoned Krebons, Synchro summoned Colossal Fighter, and both duelists had four Darks in their respective graveyards. Colossal Fighter attacked Krebons, Cesar paid 800 life points to negate the attack, and Kim set one card to his back row.

Cesar drew for his last turn under Crush: Exchange! Kim couldn’t believe it; Cesar had been convinced by his best friend to side deck Exchange for the mirror match, adding it to his side just days before this tournament. Cesar set a spell or trap, Kim swung with Colossal Fighter for another 800 damage after topping Allure of Darkness, and Cesar activated Exchange on the turn that followed! He revealed his hand of Krebons and Emergency Teleport, while Kim flopped Allure of Darkness and Destiny Hero - Doom Lord. Kim would have to declare his choice first.

He chose Krebons, and Cesar took Destiny Hero - Doom Lord. He summoned it, removed Colossal Fighter with its effect, and ended. Kim drew Reinforcement of the Army, a pretty big draw with his in-hand Allure. He activated Reinforcement, searched out Dark Grepher (Stratos was a dead pick since Kim had nothing left to take with his effect), and he activated Allure. Allure got him Heavy Storm and Krebons, and he removed Krebons for Allure’s effect.

He normal summoned Grepher, activated Emergency Teleport to special summon Krebons, and then Synchro summoned Goyo Guardian! Goyo went after Doom Lord and Cesar reluctantly passed it over, a huge blow! Kim set his remaining two cards to his back row and ended.

Krebons took down Kim’s borrowed Doom Lord, and Cesar passed with two cards in hand. He was officially behind in this duel. Kim drew, attacked Krebons, and Cesar paid 800 life points to drop to 2000. Kim still had 7000 life points remaining, and he got his Colossal Fighter back next turn.

Monster Reborn returned Cesar’s Stratos to the field, getting him Destiny Hero – Malicious. He discarded Malicious for Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, targeted Colossal Fighter, and Kim pondered the copy of Solemn Judgment he had set. He eventually activated it, dropping to 3500 life points. Cesar brought out another Malicious from his deck.

He tuned Krebons to it and Synchro summoned his own Colossal Fighter: Kim still had that Necro Gardna in his graveyard from the early game, and it was going to make all the difference here. Cesar sent Colossal Fighter at Kim’s Goyo, Kim removed Gardna, and Cesar set a spell or trap to finish out. Not the best of turns.

Kim flipped his face-down Heavy Storm, and Cesar chained his one threatened card: Emergency Teleport, summoning Krebons from the deck in defense. Kim would make short work of Stratos: he sent Goyo to attack it, took it, and used it to search out his own Stratos! Cesar was in major trouble. Colossal Fighter destroyed Krebons, Kim set Wind Blast, and ended holding Stratos and Scapegoat. There was no way he was losing this now.

Cesar removed his second Malicious for his third, bringing it out in attack. He activated Brain Control, targeted Colossal Fighter, and attacked Goyo Guardian with it; Kim took 500 damage, but when Cesar tried to make a direct attack Kim reeled a bit. “I should have set the other card. Man, I should have set it . . .” He lost Stratos to Malicious, Colossal attacked directly, and Kim had to flip Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarding his Scapegoat to spin Cesar’s Colossal Fighter. Everything looked good — Kim would get back his Colossal Fighter and swing for game.

But Cesar had one more card — he tributed Malicious and Colossal Fighter for Gorz! Kim was blown away, but if Cesar had really been on the ball, he would’ve set Gorz instead.

. . . And then Kim topdecked Brain Control. He took Gorz, attacked Cesar with it and ended.

Jae Kim takes a hard-fought Game 2, with just a few minutes remaining in the match. “That’s the kind of play I can’t make anymore,” remarked Kim, referring to the Brain Control into Gorz sequences as he shuffled. “I respect that play.” Siding and shuffling was a quick affair for Cesar, while Kim took a bit more time. The third duel began.

Cesar summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, searching out Destiny Hero - Doom Lord and setting a single spell or trap. Kim had Malicious, Brain Control, Gardna, Krebons, Mirror Force, and Bottomless Trap Hole, a huge defensive suite! He took Stratos with Brain Control, attacked for 1800 damage, and tributed Stratos for Malicious. He set Mirror Force and ended. This looked like it was over.

It was all on Cesar. He activated Destiny Draw, discarded Malicious, then brought out another along with Krebons via Emergency Teleport. He Synchro summoned Stardust Dragon. He then pitched another Malicious for Destiny Draw, normal summoned Sangan, and attacked with it, knowing it could clear Malicious. Kim waited a bit, thinking, then flipped Mirror Force; Cesar negated it with Stardust, attacked Malicious with Sangan, and ended by setting a single spell or trap. Kim drew and time was called on his turn. Cesar would get two more turns. Kim just had to hold out.

He summoned Malicious in defense mode from his deck, and then normal summoned Krebons. He Synchro summoned Thought Ruler Archfiend and Cesar flipped Solemn Judgment, dropping to 3100 life points. Kim still had 7200.

He removed another Malicious to bring another to the field, and had Necro Gardna, Destiny Draw, and Bottomless Trap Hole. He set Bottomless and ended. Play was to Cesar.

Cesar activated Monster Reborn, targeting Krebons and bringing it to the field. He summoned his own Krebons, and attacked with Sangan. Stardust attacked for 2500 damage, the two Krebons attacked for a combined 2400, and Cesar was in the lead! He Synchro summoned Magical Android, Kim flipped Bottomless Trap Hole, and Cesar negated it with Stardust! He set one spell or trap, ended, and brought back Stardust with its effect. Kim drew.

. . . And extended the handshake. “That’s game — you’ve got it.”