Michael Kohanim is from Long Island, and is one of the weekend’s most successful independent competitors. Armed with a somewhat mainstream Chaos Return deck, he’s up against Kyle Duncan’s Chaos Recruiter.

Duncan opened the match with a summoned Mystic Tomato and a set spell or trap card. Kohanim blasted him with Confiscation, revealing D. D. Warrior Lady, Magician of Faith, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Cyber Dragon. Kohanim discarded Breaker, set a card to each zone, and passed. Duncan summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, attacked with it into Kohanim’s set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and hit directly with Mystic Tomato.

Kohanim activated Graceful Charity, discarding Asura Priest and Morphing Jar. He summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, attacked Duncan’s Tomato, and removed it from the game. He then special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, used its effect to remove Duncan’s D. D. Warrior Lady from the game, and passed.

Cyber Dragon came down for Duncan, and he summoned Tsukuyomi to turn Sorcerer face down. Kohanim tried to activate Torrential Tribute, but Royal Decree chained to negate it! Cyber Dragon attacked the Sorcerer, Tsukuyomi hit directly, and Duncan passed. All Kohanim could do was set a monster.

Duncan attacked it with the Dragon. It was Sangan, and Kohanim pulled Spirit Reaper. Duncan set a monster and ended. Kohanim set a monster and passed. Cyber Dragon attacked, hitting Spirit Reaper, and Duncan passed back. Kohanim activated Heavy Storm, set a monster, set a spell or trap, and passed. Cyber Dragon attacked his set monster, another Dekoichi, and Kohanim got a card with its effect. Duncan set a spell or trap to conclude his turn.

Kohanim flipped his set Call of the Haunted to special summon Chaos Sorcerer. He used its effect to remove Duncan’s Cyber Dragon from the game, set a monster, set another spell or trap, and ended. Duncan drew, checked his set spell or trap card, set another, and ended. He lost the freshly-set card in the end phase: it was Royal Decree, and it was destroyed by Mystical Space Typhoon.

Kohanim flip summoned Magician of Faith, took back Graceful Charity, discarded Metamorphosis and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and eyed his hand. He was holding Breaker the Magical Warrior, Nobleman of Crossout, Tsukuyomi, and Sakuretsu Armor. He summoned Tsukuyomi, turned his Magician of Faith face down, activated Nobleman of Crossout to remove Duncan’s Shining Angel from the game, and attacked with Tsukuyomi. It hit Scapegoat, and Sorcerer and Tsukuyomi each destroyed a Sheep token in battle. He ended after setting the Sakuretsu Armor.

Duncan swung right into it, attacking the Magician of Faith with Shining Angel and losing the Angel to Sakuretsu Armor. Kohanim flip summoned Magician of Faith again on the turn that followed to bring up Nobleman of Crossout, and turned it down once more with Tsukuyomi. Chaos Sorcerer and Tsukuyomi each ate a Sheep, and Spirit Reaper hit directly to force the discard of Sangan.

Duncan set a monster, set a spell or trap, and passed. Kohanim activated Nobleman of Crossout, removed Duncan’s on-field Magician of Faith from the game, and stripped his deck of one more.

He flipped Magician of Faith again, retrieving Mystical Space Typhoon. He activated it, destroyed Duncan’s set Royal Decree, and again employed the Tsukuyomi loop. Chaos Sorcerer and Reaper attacked, leaving Duncan with just one card in hand, and he scooped after his next draw.

Michael Kohanim drills Kyle Duncan with a Tsukuyomi loop, leaning on him with Spirit Reaper to run him straight out of game 1!

Both duelists did some side decking and smoke-screening, and the second duel began mere moments after the first. Duncan opened again with a summoned Mystic Tomato and a set spell or trap card.

Kohanim summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and broke Duncan’s set Mirror Force! He then attacked the Tomato, and Duncan special summoned Sangan to the field. Kohanim set two cards to his back row to end his turn.

Sangan went to defense and Duncan set another monster. If he was going to be going defensive, why did he choose Sangan over another Tomato? Kohanim summoned Banisher of the Radiance, flipped Ceasefire to turn over Duncan’s set Shining Angel and dish out 2000 damage, and then wiped his field. Both Sangan and Angel were removed from play by Banisher’s effect, and Kohanim set a second spell or trap again.

Duncan hit him with Heavy Storm, destroying Enemy Controller and Mirror Force! He summoned Tsukuyomi to turn Breaker face down, attacked it, and took it out of the game. Tsukuyomi bounced back to Duncan’s hand and he ended with an open field.

Banisher hit him directly and Kohanim set a spell or trap card. Duncan set a card to each zone, ended, and Kohanim summoned Mystic Swordsman LV2. The Swordsman destroyed Duncan’s set D. D. Warrior Lady, Banisher hit direct, and play was to Duncan.

He summoned Tsukuyomi, turned Mystic Swordsman LV2 face down, attacked it, Kohanim flipped Sakuretsu Armor, and Duncan blocked it with Royal Decree! He then traded his Tsukuyomi for Banisher with Creature Swap, and ended. Kohanim could do nothing but set a spell or trap and pass back.

Duncan attacked with both Tsukuyomi and Banisher and then used Confiscation to reveal Kohanim’s two in hand Chaos Sorcerer. He discarded one, and ended. Kohanim drew, set his topdecked monster, passed, and Duncan activated Nobleman of Crossout to remove his opponent’s set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Duncan attacked again with Tsukuyomi and Banisher.

Kohanim set a monster, now just trying to topdeck his way out of the predicament he was trapped in. Duncan set a monster, Kohanim set a monster, and Duncan took the game a turn later, using Zaborg to blow away Kohanim’s one defender. Zaborg and Banisher both attacked directly, and our match was headed to a third duel!

Each duelist took a bit more time side decking for the final duel. They talked over the last duel as competitors in this situation often do, finding some relief from the stress in each other’s conversation. It’s an ironic little anomaly — for the three minutes spent side decking, the guys are the best of friends. Then, it’s back to tearing each other apart.

It was Kohanim’s turn to start, and he opened with two set spells or traps and a set monster. Duncan activated Graceful Charity, discarded Chaos Sorcerer and Magician of Faith to load himself for a Sorcerer down the line, and set two back row cards and a monster. In the end phase he lost his set Creature Swap to Mystical Space Typhoon. Kohanim was up.

He summoned Mystic Swordsman LV2, attacked, and destroyed Duncan’s set Magician of Faith. He set a second spell or trap and flipped Morphing Jar, losing himself two cards and costing Duncan three: Kohanim lost Cyber Dragon and Chaos Sorcerer, while Duncan lost Cyber Dragon, Chaos Sorcerer, and Cyber-Stein. “That was so big,” he said, mourning the loss of his killer hand. Kohanim ended.

Duncan summoned Tsukuyomi, turned the Jar face down, set two back row cards, and attacked it! Kohanim flipped Sakuretsu Armor, but Duncan chained Royal Decree to press the attack through! He’d turned the tables on Kohanim with his own Morphing Jar.

Kohanim had drawn into Graceful Charity thanks to the Jar, and activated it. He special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, attacked with Mystic Swordsman LV2, and then scored a big direct hit with Chaos Sorcerer. “Out of Stein range,” noted Kohanim, setting a second spell or trap card. He set a monster to finish his turn.

Duncan checked his two set spell or trap cards, then inspected his opponent’s graveyard. He activated Snatch Steal, targeting Chaos Sorcerer, and Kohanim gave it over. Duncan used its effect to remove Mystic Swordsman LV2 from the game, then tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to destroy Kohanim’s set Magician of Faith. He then attacked with it directly to score 2400 damage. Duncan set a third spell or trap and ended.

Kohanim summoned Banisher of the Radiance and then flipped Smashing Ground to remove Zaborg from play. The Banisher attacked, hit directly, and it was 5600 to 3200 with Kohanim leading. He set one spell or trap and passed, leaving himself with two. He had Banisher, two spell or trap cards set, and two cards in hand to Duncan’s four cards in hand, Royal Decree, and three set spell or trap cards. It was close.

Cyber Dragon was special summoned by Duncan on the following turn, and he normal summoned Tsukuyomi to turn Banisher face down. Tsukuyomi attacked and destroyed it, Cyber Dragon attacked directly, and Duncan set another spell or trap, filling his row.

Kohanim set a card to each zone and passed. Duncan brought out Tsukuyomi again, turned down Cyber Dragon, flip summoned it, and special summoned Chaos Sorcerer. He then activated Creature Swap, threatening to trade his Tsukuyomi for Kohanim’s set monster. Kohanim had Mirror Force set, but Duncan’s Royal Decree was making this a game-winning play if Kohanim couldn’t get it off the table, or flip Scapegoat.

He searched his set cards and seemed to be doing some math. He tributed for Enemy Controller on the chain, took control of Tsukuyomi, and when Swap resolved Duncan traded his Cyber Dragon for his Tsukuyomi. It was a great play.

It wasn’t good enough: Duncan had Enemy Controller too! He tributed his Tsukuyomi to take back his Cyber Dragon, attacked with Dragon and Sorcerer, and that was enough!

Kyle Duncan moves on to the finals of the biggest Shonen Jump Championship in history!