Keanson Ye took second at Shonen Jump Championship Los Angeles in April. Coming incredibly close to taking the win, he lost out to Erik Wu in the finals after a nigh-unstoppable Day 1 run.

Tony Lee is a veteran member of Team Savage, and one of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG’s definite all-stars. Still, he’s always narrowly missed making the Top 8 in Shonen Jump Championships. “I’ve come close infinite,” he said. ‘Infinite’ is actually an understatement.” Both of these duelists has his own reasons to be hungry for a win.

Lee won the die roll and opened with a single set to his spell and trap zone. Ye matched him, ended his turn, and promptly lost his Scapegoat to Dust Tornado. Lee set another spell or trap and passed. Ye set two, passed back, and Lee passed right back at him. Ye passed, Lee set a second spell or trap to match Ye, and passed.

Ye set a monster as well and declared the end of his turn. Lee drew, flipped Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and drew again before summoning D. D. Warrior Lady. Lee used Dust Tornado on the chain, hit a face down Dust Tornado, and lost his other set, as Ye then used Bottomless Trap Hole to remove D. D. Warrior Lady. “I’m getting owned in this chain.” Dekoichi swung and took out Magician of Faith. A turn later Lee was protected behind Swords of Revealing Light and Ye had activated Scapegoat. A turn after that Ye brought out Mobius the Frost Monarch and attacked, but Lee took it with Snatch Steal, tributed for Airknight Parshath, and tried to punch through a Sheep. Enemy Controller blocked the attack, Lee set a card, and D. D. Assailant was summoned to attack and destroy the Airknight.

Ye set a card, Lee drew, played Premature Burial, brought back Airknight, and slammed it into a Sakuretsu Armor. But, he brought it back with Call of the Haunted without ending the battle phase, so the attack still went through. Smashing Gorund wasted D. D. Assailant, and Lee passed after setting another spell or trap.

Reinforcement of the Army brought Don Zaloog to Ye’s hand, and he tried to Snatch Steal the Airknight, but it was to no avail as Lee flipped Book of Moon on it. Dark Hole wiped the field and that Don Zaloog came down, attacking Lee and costing him his Cyber Dragon.

Lee summoned another Cyber Dragon as soon as he began his turn and then set another spell or trap, but the Dragon ate Zaloog. Ye brought out his own Cyber Dragon and the pair clashed, destroying both of them in the process. Ye set a monster, Lee set a spell or trap, Ye set another monster, and Lee special summoned Chaos Sorcerer. The Sorcerer attacked one of Ye’s two face-down monsters (Magical Merchant), which in turn fetched him Premature Burial. The life point totals were 5400 to 4800 in Ye’s favor as he considered using Premature Burial.

He brought out his own Sorcerer, and used its effect to remove Lee’s. He then activated Swords of Revealing Light, Lee used Confiscation to rob him of the Premature, and Smashing Ground wrecked the Sorcerer. Mystic Swordsman LV2 then swung at Lee directly for two turns, flip summoned from its set position. Lee hit it with his third set a turn after: Widespread Ruin. He drew, set the rest of his hand (one card went to each zone) and passed.

The face down monster on Lee’s side of the table was removed by Nobleman of Crossout—it was revealed to be Old Vindictive Magician. Ye then used Reinforcement of the Army to bring out D. D. Survivor, and attacked with it straight into a Sakuretsu Armor. Next turn he summoned Sangan, but Lee used Solemn Judgment to stop the summon. Next turn Lee used Heavy Storm, clearing out Ye’s Smashing Ground before setting one more spell or trap. Ye summoned Spirit Reaper, attacked directly with it to hit Airknight Parshath, and both players started setting cards and playing defensively. It was 5400 to 700, with Lee in a hard spot.

He kept setting cards, fighting to keep himself on the table, and a turn later he had two set cards in each zone to Ye’s three set spells or traps and face up defense position Spirit Reaper. Ye used Book of Moon on his Spirit Reaper, flip summoned it, and then flipped Torrential Tribute. It was a nice trick that cleared out Lee’s set monsters. Unfortunately, one of them was Sangan, and Lee used its effect to get himself Magician of Faith. Lee then summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior on the following turn, broke a Sakuretsu Armor, and attacked directly. Ye pressed Lee by summoning D. D. Assailant, and took Breaker the Magical Warrior with Snatch Steal. D. D. Assailant hit Magician of Faith, Lee took back Snatch Steal with her effect, and Breaker ran into a Sakuretsu Armor. Lee took the Breaker with Snatch Steal, but it ran into yet another Armor.

A short while later, Lee had a full-fledged draw engine going: he flip summoned Dekoichi, flipped it down with Tsukuyomi, and was going to flip it back up next turn if Ye allowed him to do so. Ye special summoned Cyber Dragon though, and attacked Dekoichi with it to end the cycle. Lee set Tsukuyomi and a turn later Cyber Dragon attacked it. The Dragon was turned face down, and Lee smote it with Slate Warrior. Ye used Exiled Force to do some spring cleaning, but he was getting incredibly low on cards. A turn later Lee used Solemn Judgment on Ye’s final card, and Ye was forced to admit defeat.

Tony Lee steals the first duel of the match!

Ye began game 2 by setting a card to each zone, and Lee ripped into him with Confiscation to take his Chaos Sorcerer. He left Book of Moon, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and D. D. Warrior Lady. Lee then set a card to each of his zones and passed, but lost his Dust Tornado to Ye’s Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase. D. D. Warrior Lady attacked his face down Old Vindictive Magician took out the D. D. Assailant.

Lee used Dark Hole to get rid of D. D. Warrior Lady, set two spell or traps, and passed. Ye summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Lee’s set Heavy Storm, and attacked. Lee summoned Cyber Dragon next turn, ran over Breaker, and lost the Dragon to Smashing Ground on the successive turn. Spirit Reaper then attacked him directly two turns in a row, and he was left with no hand. He kept setting spell or traps as he drew them, but managed to flip a Widespread Ruin on Spirit Reaper’s third attack.

Ye set a monster, curbing his offense, and a turn later he flipped it to reveal Magical Merchant. Lee chained Mystical Space Typhoon to the Merchant’s effect and targeted Ye’s single face down spell or trap. The face down was Book of Moon, and Ye chained it in turn to put the Merchant face down again. It was an interesting chain that unfortunately ended up backfiring on Lee. Merchant’s effect got Ye an Enemy Controller, and a turn later it appeared to pull him another spell that was simply revealed and pulled faster than anyone but Lee could see.

The field became a flurry of monster exchanges, uninhibited by traps thanks to Ye’s Royal Decree. He brought out Exiled Force and tried to use its effect to destroy Lee’s face down monster, but Lee tributed the set Magician of Faith to Enemy Controller to take Ye’s other monster—D. D. Assailant. It held Ye off for a turn, but it still wasn’t enough and two turns later Lee was simply overwhelmed by Ye’s monsters.

Play moved to game three. Lee began, setting a card to each zone. Ye set a Mystic Tomato, two spells or traps, and then passed. Lee flipped Dust Tornado in Ye’s end phase and destroyed Royal Decree.

Lee flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, dropped Tsukuyomi, flipped Dekoichi down, set a spell or trap and passed. Ye attacked the Dekoichi with Mystic Tomato next turn, cutting off Lee’s draw engine as he had in the previous duel. He set another spell or trap and Lee managed a two-for-one trade with Heavy Storm. Lee set another spell or trap, his D. D. Warrior Lady removed Mystic Tomato from play, and Sangan hit Ye’s side of the field, attacking. Lee set a monster, Ye summoned Mobius the Frost Monarch by tributing Sangan, used Sangan’s effect to dig out a Magical Merchant, and Mobius destroyed Lee’s Call of the Haunted. Nobleman of Crossout took out Lee’s set Apprentice Magician, and Mobius attacked directly.

Lee summoned Tsukuyomi to flip Mobius face down, and he then sent Tsukuyomi to attack and destroy it. Lee set one spell or trap and passed. Ye set Magical Merchant, Lee summoned Sangan and attacked it, and the Merchant nabbed Ye a copy of Snatch Steal. Ye removed a Light and a Dark monster from his graveyard, summoned Chaos Sorcerer, and used its effect to remove Sangan from the game. Lee had only one spell or trap set, and Ye set Magician of Faith. Tsukuyomi dropped from Lee’s hand again, turned down Ye’s Chaos Chaos Sorcerer and then attacked the Magician. Lee set one spell or trap before passing. Ye flipped the Sorcerer back up and looked to attack with it, but Lee nuked it with Sakuretsu Armor. Stymied ,Ye set a card to each zone and ended his turn.

Lee summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked with it, and ran it smack into Ye’s set Newdoria to destroy both. Lee set a monster, Ye brought out his own Cyber Dragon to attack the set, and was repelled by Sakuretsu Armor.

Lee flip summoned Magician of Faith, took back Heavy Storm, and used it to clear out Ye’s Torrential Tribute. He then activated Confiscation to rob Ye of Premature Burial. Tsukuyomi then hit the field, turning Magician of Faith face down and attacking. Lee was able to pass his turn, knowing he was relatively safe from the threat of monsters next turn.

Ye defied the odds though, and topdecked Don Zaloog, immediately using it to attack Magician of Faith. Lee took back Confiscation, and Ye set both of his remaining cards. Lee went on to summon Breaker the Magical Warrior. “Alright, which one’s the Snatch Steal?” he asked rhetorically. He rolled a die to decide which of the two spells or traps to break, and managed to pick the one he’d wanted! Snatch Steal was sent to the graveyard. He set a spell or trap and passed.

Ye set a monster, passed, Lee sent Breaker the Magical Warrior to attack Mystic Tomato and the Tomato was destroyed: Ye pulled Spirit Reaper with its effect. Lee set a monster and ended.

Smashing Ground was flipped from Ye’s spell and trap zone, and he summoned D. D. Warrior Lady to attack Lee’s face down. The attacker was intercepted by Enemy Controller.

Lee flipped Old Vindictive Magician, targeted D. D. Warrior Lady with its effect, and then tributed the Magician to summon Airknight Parshath. The Airknight’s lance pierced through Ye’s Spirit Reaper, and Lee set spells or traps until he had three on his field.

Ye set another monster and passed. Lee hit the new set, and it turned out to be another Reaper. He set another monster. Ye activated Reinforcement of the Army, took Exiled Force with its effect, and brought it to the table with the intent of using its effect: Lee used Solemn Judgment to negate the summoning. Lee kept cycling the Old Vindictive Magician with Tsukuyomi, while poking with the Airknight, and he was working Ye into a very tough position. After a short while Lee was ready to strike the finishing blow.

“If I run into Magic Cylinder, I swear to god I’m gonna cry,” remarked Lee. He flipped the Old Vindictive again, took down the Spirit Reaper, and summoned Mystic Tomato—“just in case.” Ye immediately offered the handshake, and the match went to Tony Lee!