Both Jerry Wang and Phillip Anthony are repeat Top 16 players; while Phillip is a one-time SJC Champion, Jerry Wang has yet to win an SJC, although he has come close with a second place finish back at San Mateo. Today, there’s no doubt that both of these players are hungry for an SJC Championship title.

Both players shuffled up each other’s decks and exchanged a little pleasant small talk before starting the game. Jerry won the roll 5-2 and opted to go first.

Jerry started with Allure of Darkness, sending out Jinzo to start his move. He then played Destiny Draw discarding Dasher and set two to the back row with a set monster to end. Phillip drew and Jerry played Trap Dustshoot to send back a Cyber Valley. Phillip then activated Reinforcement of the Army to get Elemental Hero Stratos to his hand and summoned him to the field to fetch a Dasher from his deck. He proceeded to discard that Dasher for Destiny Draw, then played Allure of Darkness removing Dark Grepher. He attacked but was stopped by Spirit Reaper! He set a back row and ended his turn. Jerry drew and played Allure removing Darklord Zerato and set another back row to end his turn.

Phillip summoned Cyber Valley and removed both the Valley and Stratos with priority to draw two cards. Phillip activated Destiny Draw discarding Disk Commander to draw two more cards and went into deep thought concerning his next move. Phillip activated his face-down Return from the Different Dimension to bring back Stratos and Cyber Valley! He used Stratos’ effect to get a Malicious to his hand and followed up by summoning Dark Grepher. He activated Allure of Darkness and removed Dasher for the effect. Phillip then proceeded to activate Destiny Draw, discarding the newly obtained Malicious to draw two more cards yet again! He activated Premature Burial targeting Disk Commander and with no response from Jerry, Phillip drew yet another two cards! Phillip activated Mystical Space Typhoon to take out Jerry’s set Heavy Storm and then proceeded to activate Dark Grepher’s effect to discard Dasher to send Darklord Zerato to the graveyard. Phillip removed a Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another and then used Cyber Valley’s effect to remove itself and Disk Commander to draw two cards! With eight cards in his hand at the moment, he summoned Dark Armed Dragon! He used the effect to remove a monster to destroy Reaper but was hit with Crush Card Virus!!! Jinzo was the only card in Phillip’s hand that was taken out by the Virus, but all of his monsters on the field were destroyed except for Malicious, shutting down a possible victory! He set two to the back row. Monster Reborn was played to bring out Reaper and both monsters attacked! Jerry drew and set a back row to end his turn. Phillip drew and simply attacked with both and discarded Dark Armed Dragon from Jerry’s hand! He then activated his face-down Return from the Different Dimension to bring back two Dashers and a Cyber Valley! He attacked with both Dashers for 4200! He removed Valley and Dasher to draw two and then used Dasher’s effect to tribute itself for the 1000 ATK boost.

It was 1600-1600 for both players as Jerry drew for his turn. After careful deliberation, Jerry simply passed and ended his turn. Phillip drew and summoned a Card Trooper! He tossed only two cards from his deck and attacked with Trooper but Jerry cut him off with Return from the Different Dimension! He brought back Zerato and Jinzo and Phillip withdrew his attack, shifted his other monsters to defense, and ended. Jerry drew and set a back row to simply end his turn, Phillip drew and summoned a Dark Grepher, and he sent it to attack but was cut off yet again with another Return from the Different Dimension! Phillip once again withdrew his attack and ended his turn. Jerry drew his card and entered his scoop phase!

Phillip Anthony takes the first duel after a massive turn of drawing 10 cards! It was 1-0 in Phillip Anthony’s favor.

Both players side decked quietly as they both smokescreened. “That Dustshoot really helped a lot!”

Jerry took the right to start first as he played Allure to remove Jinzo. He summoned Cyber Valley and set a back row, as he noted that he made a, “dumb play.” Phillip started off with Destiny Draw discarding Dasher to draw two cards. He summoned Card Trooper and lost a Cyber Valley, Return from the Different Dimension, and Reinforcement of the Army off the top. He attacked into Jerry’s Valley who removed it for its effect to end the battle phase and negate the attack. Phillip set a back row and ended his turn. Jerry drew and activated Gold Sarcophagus to remove Dark Magician of Chaos from play! He quickly activated his Dimension Fusion to bring back Cyber Valley, Jinzo and the Magician! Dark Magician of Chaos got back Dimension Fusion. He removed Dark Magician of Chaos and Cyber Valley to draw two cards and played Allure to draw and remove Dark Grepher and then played Reinforcement of the Army to get Stratos, and summoned him to get Disk Commander. He then followed with a Destiny Draw to discard that same Commander to draw two. He then played Allure to draw two and removed Sangan from play. Jerry played Dimension Fusion again, to get Dark Magician of Chaos, Dark Grepher, and Cyber Valley to the field and Dark Magician of Chaos got back Dimension Fusion again! He removed Dark Magician of Chaos and Cyber Valley to draw two then played Draw discarding a Malicious to draw two! He plays Heavy Storm and Phillip scooped!

Jerry Wang retaliates with his own turn of massive drawing and pushes the match to a third and final game! The players were tied 1-1.

Both players smokescreened and side decked quietly once more as Phillip exercised his right to start first for the third and what would most likely be the final duel of the match. A handshake was given as both players wished each other good luck as the third game began.

Jerry Wang takes the match sending out two Dark Armed Dragons and moving on to the Top 8!