Kevin sat down against his Italian opponent with a little smirk on his face. Emilio Rizzo could have no clue of what was coming.

Rizzo started with a monster and a trap, both face down. Kevin tried a Cyber Dragon, which met a Bottomless Trap Hole, but had more luck with Reckoning, which got him a Nimble Momonga to tribute, allowing Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, who got to beat in for first blood.

Rizzo played Cyber Dragon and Breaker the Magical Warrior, using the latter to take out Kevin’s set trap. He then used Book of Moon to make Zaborg less scary in defense position, and swung with his team. The life totals were 5600 to 5900 for the Englishman. On his turn, Kevin looked to get an advantage, while hurting his life, using Premature Burial to get back Zaborg, and Snatch Steal to take Cyber Dragon, and swing.

At the start of his turn, Rizzo went to 3700, but was facing down a formidable board. He played a Heavy Storm, getting back his Dragon and killing of Zaborg, who was only in play thanks to Premature Burial. All Kevin had left on the board was a set monster. After a little thought, Emilio tributed his Dragon in order to play Zaborg, allowing for a big swing.

The following turn, an empty-handed Kevin simply set and passed, going down to 300 from subsequent attacks. He appeared unconcerned, setting a monster, and again passing. Rizzo was a little rattled. What could the Englishman have up his sleeve?

Zaborg attacked into what turned out to be Treeborn Frog. Kevin had bought another turn, which again he used for a set and pass, this time a trap. When Rizzo attacked again, Kevin simply scooped up his cards. He had nothing, and went on to game two.

Without side decking, Kevin was happy to play first, and each player began with a set trap. The first ‘play’ of the game was for Kevin to discard at the end of his second turn—a Treeborn Frog.

Rizzo tried to take the initiative with Breaker, who went for Kevin’s only card in play. This card was a Scapegoat though, which was immediately flipped to create four tokens. The following turn Kevin used Brain Control to take Breaker, as a suitable tribute for Jinzo. The powerful tribute monster did not get to attack to the face though, as Rizzo too had a copy of Scapegoat ready at hand to stymie the attack step for a while.

The game took on a brief lull as Kevin worked his way through a congregation of Sheep tokens on the other side of the board with Jinzo. This was swiftly broken though, as Kevin tributed Treeborn Frog to play The End of Anubis. He completed his turn with Swords of Revealing Light, and passed, looking to be in dominant board position.

A stoic Rizzo simply set a monster and passed. Staring down multiple tribute monsters was far from an ideal position to be in, and all he had was a Sheep token and his set monster to work with. Luckily, that set monster was Spirit Reaper, who would be quite an effective blocker in the short term against the English force.

Rizzo played Snatch Steal on Kevin’s Jinzo, then tributed the monster to play Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to take out Kevin’s other large man. Kevin simply used Soul Exchange to take down Spirit Reaper, set a monster, and passed.

The set monster did not last long, though, as a Nobleman of Crossout came from Rizzo to reveal that it was a Giant Germ. Kevin remained safe for this final attack step thanks to his Swords of Revealing Light, and after it popped he had another Soul Exchange to take out one of Rizzo’s smaller monsters, and then tributed Dark Magician of Chaos, getting a Brain Control for his trouble. He then used Metamorphosis to fetch Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and passed shortly after getting rid of his opponent’s Zaborg.

Smashing Ground and Sakuretsu Armor won back board position for Rizzo, and Arathoon sat back, waiting for his opponent to do something, still safe with two Sheep tokens and a set monster.

Rizzo played Cyber Dragon, and attacked the monster, which revealed itself to be Giant Germ. Kevin used Brain Control to take Cyber Dragon briefly, and attacked with his team, to take Rizzo to 4400, to Kevin’s busty 6600.

Rizzo used Last Will, then Heavy Storm, before playing out a Chaos Sorcerer, which ate Giant Germ as if it were a pygmy microbe. Kevin tried to use a Brain Control to take the Sorcerer, but couldn’t make it past Rizzo’s Book of Moon, which made the target illegal. Rizzo played Zaborg, to empty Kevin’s board, and swung Arathoon down to 1100.

The Englishman shrugged, set a monster and a trap on his turn. Rizzo went to the tank. The poker face from Arathoon remained strong, but in the face of Rizzo’s Creature Swap, he had few outs.

When another attack came from the Italian, Arathoon graciously extended his hand. His tribute monsters had fallen at the hands of Zaborg, and he would now have to battle back from 1-1.