You really can’t ask for a better Top 16 match than this one. Theerasak Poonsombat, or “T” as most people know him, is appearing in his 7th day 2. He’s made it to day 2 in every single format since the Shonen Jump Championship circuit began, but he has yet to come up with a win. Emon Ghaneian on the other hand has had plenty of SJC wins, but hasn’t been around nearly as long. Emon is mainly known for his fondness for Return from the Different Dimension. However he’s brought a version of Overdose’s burn deck here today. T is playing an aggressive deck powered by Destiny Hero cards and Card Troopers.
T won the opening roll. He started off with a set monster and quickly passed over to Emon, who set a spell or trap and summoned Mystic Tomato for an attack. Card Trooper was revealed and destroyed, and T drew for its effect. Emon passed and play was back to T, who used Snatch Steal to take the Tomato and tribute it for Jinzo, a crushing blow to Emon who would now need Level Limit — Area B or Messenger of Peace to stave off the beatings. He had the Level Limit, and he played it to switch Jinzo to defense before setting a monster and passing. T was having a spot of bad luck, having drawn into his third Malicious with two already in hand, but he summoned Card Trooper and activated it, ordering the Trooper to take down Emon’s set Stealth Bird. Emon set a new monster to replace it, and T activated his Trooper once more. This time, Spirit Reaper blocked the way, forcing T to end.
Play was back to Emon, and he set a second monster, which T quickly attacked with Card Trooper after pumping it. He lost Giant Trunade and a Snipe Hunter to the Trooper eliciting a slight sigh, but Pot of Avarice came down next and gave him a chance to get back the lost Hunter. He drew his two for the Pot, but found no help. If Emon’s set was Des Koala, he’d be in for some serious damage if he simply took a swing, but he did it anyway and revealed Gravekeeper’s Spy! Emon searched out a second Spy giving him a sizeable wall of defenders versus T’s Trooper and Jinzo. Jinzo was still locked down, however, and wouldn’t be doing anything until T could find some spell or trap removal. He two spells or traps and passed over to Emon who simply passed his turn. T finally drew into Heavy Storm, but he first flipped Reinforcement of the Army to fetch out Elemental Hero Stratos and Brain Control to destroy Emon’s Reaper. Heavy Storm obliterated Level Limit — Area B and Emon’s useless Sakuretsu Armor. The game was afoot. Card Trooper was tributed for Cyber Dragon, and both of Emon’s Spies fell. Emon had no way out against the Jinzo except more stall, but the best he could muster was a set to each zone. Cyber Dragon took down Emon’s Mask of Darkness allowing him to get back his useless Sakuretsu Armor, and Jinzo hit directly. During the end phase, T had to discard down to six, and he did so, pitching Destiny Hero — Dasher. Emon set three cards to his back field and then set a monster. It was all for naught though, as T summoned Elemental Hero Stratos and swung for the fences to end game 1! T obliterates Emon’s defensive capability with Jinzo to take a quick game 1!
Both players side decked between games with Emon seeming particularly perturbed by the situation he found himself in. He would likely have to side in his Monarchs and find his counters to stay in the match. T sided in his Royal Decrees intending to duplicate the success of Jinzo from game 1, and, after a rather long period of side decking, we were ready to begin. It was Emon’s turn to start, and he opened up with a set to each zone. T had five spells and a Cyber Dragon, but he merely set Mystical Space Typhoon and passed. Emon added a pair of spell or traps to his field and set a second monster before flipping Morphing Jar. T dropped Cyber Dragon, Limiter Removal, Giant Trunade, Destiny Draw, and Metamorphosis, and Emon attacked with his Jar before setting a fourth spell or trap and passing. During the end phase, Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed the last card Emon set, Solemn Judgment. T summoned a Card Trooper and activated its effect, losing Snipe Hunter, Premature Burial, and Sangan. Emon was displeased to see that it didn’t reveal his opponent’s side deck choices, and Card Trooper attacked the Jar. Jar went down, and T activated Confiscation to reveal Emon’s hand of double Cyber Dragon, Mirror Force, and Pot of Avarice. Emon jokingly threw his Mirror Force in the graveyard, but in the end T chose to relieve him of Pot of Avarice before passing. Emon drew his card and flipped Mask of Darkness to retrieve Solemn Judgment before summoning a freshly drawn Mystic Tomato and attacking with both. T dropped to 4400 life points, and Emon set a fourth spell or trap.
T visibly winced as he drew a duplicate of Destiny Hero — Malicious, but he activated Brain Control to steal away Emon’s Mystic Tomato anyways. Emon allowed it and the Tomato attacked Mask of Darkness. T tributed it to set a Malicious, and Emon summoned Cyber Dragon attacking the Malicious next turn and filling his last spell or trap slot. T drew into Pot of Avarice and activated it intending to try and get Emon to blow his Solemn, but he didn’t fall for it. T shuffled all of his graveyard monsters into his deck and drew 2, picking up Zaborg and Jinzo. He set a monster and passed with a tribute monster filled hand over to Emon, who simply attacked into his set Card Trooper. Card Trooper found Dasher for T, and he drew for his turn. T picked up Snipe Hunter, and he attempted to summon him. Emon considered his Solemn Judgment, and ended up playing one. It wasn’t one of the outside cards though, and it was an ultra rare Judgment. The one Emon had brought back from Mask of Darkness was a super, betraying the fact that Emon still had another Judgment down! It was all over next turn though, as Emon attacked with Cyber Dragon and then flipped Ring of Destruction for game!
The players side decked once more, and the choice to start the final game was up to T. He opened up with a set spell or trap and passed over to Emon, who came up with a set to each zone. T summoned Cyber Dragon and tributed it for Zaborg to blow away Emon’s Morphing Jar! Without the option to reset his hand, Emon needed to have the goods already. Mirror Force blew away Zaborg and play was back to Emon. He set three spell or trap cards along with a monster and passed back to T, who had started the game with Heavy Storm in hand. Emon would almost certainly have to spend half his life points to stop it, and he did, dropping to 4000. T passed his turn, and Emon flipped Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive to draw a new card. He attacked with the train and set a card to each zone before passing back to T, who picked up Scapegoat. He had Torrential Tribute set, and could potentially lure Emon into a huge swing with it. He set Scapegoat and summoned Snipe Hunter, first asking if Emon wanted to blast it with Solemn Judgment. He passed priority, and Emon flipped Ring of Destruction. The Ring would knock him down to 2500 to T’s 5100 if it went though, but T chained with Torrential Tribute. Emon checked the life points very carefully, considering a Solemn Judgment. Solemn would leave him at 500 life points once all the dust cleared, but he did it anyway. Without Mirror Force or Torrential, T had a potential game winning play on his hands if he summoned back Zaborg with Premature Burial and swung over the attack position Dekoichi. T shuffled through his graveyard and activated Premature Burial, but he brought out Snipe Hunter instead! This could cost him in the long run, but he discarded Metamorphosis to target and destroy Emon’s set Gravekeeper’s Spy. He then declared an attack against Dekoichi, and Emon used Sakuretsu Armor to block it! Zaborg wouldn’t have won the game, and T’s decision was validated. Emon still had only 500 life points though, so another opportunity was likely forthcoming.
Emon activated Heavy Storm, but T chained his set Scapegoat to put a roadblock in the train’s path. Dekoichi was switched to defense and Emon passed his turn. T was stuck with a pair of currently useless Destiny Draws, and play was back to Emon who set a monster. Elemental Hero Stratos was T’s next draw, and he summoned him, fetching out Destiny Hero — Malicious with his effect. With newfound fuel for Destiny Draw, T activated one, drawing into Card Trooper and Zaborg. It would likely be game next turn, but, for now, Stratos took down Dekoichi. Play was back to Emon, and he set a spell or trap before passing back to T, who summoned his Zaborg. Emon took one look at him, and scooped it up. Seven time Top 8 qualifier Theerasak Poonsombat takes down Emon Ghaneian in an excellent three game match!