Two of the day’s top competitors were now pitted against one another with 5-1 records: National Champion Austin Kulman was up against Jake McNeely.

“I have not won a die roll the whole day,” remarked Kulman, as McNeely rolled a six over his three. McNeely opened the first duel with Confiscation, revealing an all-monster hand for Kulman: Old Vindictive Magician, Magician of Faith, Cyber Dragon, Twin-Headed Behemoth and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. McNeely scanned the hand a few times before discarding the Twin-Headed and setting a card to each zone.

Kulman special summoned the Cyber Dragon and attacked, losing the Dragon to Ring of Destruction. He set a monster and passed. McNeely flip summoned Exiled Force and used its effect expecting to hit the Vindictive, but destroyed Kulman’s set Treeborn Frog instead! McNeely searched his deck for Don Zaloog with Reinforcement of the Army, but was clearly stinging from the Treeborn play. Zaloog hit directly and discarded Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive from Kulman’s hand. McNeely set a spell or trap and passed.

Another Cyber Dragon came out on Kulman’s side and smacked the Don into the graveyard! Kulman set a monster and ended, still without playing a spell or trap. McNeely set Mystic Tomato and passed play to Kulman.

Kulman brought back his Treeborn Frog, but lost his field to Torrential Tribute. He set a monster and ended, still dictating the tempo of the game. McNeely set a spell or trap, Kulman brought back his Frog and set a third monster to his side of the field. “Go ahead.”  McNeely could do nothing but pass yet again.

Kulman scanned his graveyard, summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and attacked McNeely directly. McNeely had to flip his set card, Sakuretsu Armor, to fend off the Lady. He set a spell or trap for his turn and ended yet again, this time drawing into a dead Zaborg. Kulman set a spell or trap and ended.

McNeely special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and eyed Kulman’s two set monsters. “Let’s see your graveyard?”  He inspected it briefly, and then destroyed Kulman’s set Old Vindictive with Zaborg’s effect. He’d managed to read the right monster to destroy with Zaborg, because when Zaborg attacked it hit Magician of Faith: a useless card since Kulman didn’t have any spells in his graveyard.   

Smashing Ground fell from Kulman’s hand to destroy Zaborg, and he summoned Exiled Force. Kulman attacked with Exiled and set a spell or trap card. McNeely set a spell or trap, Exiled attacked again into Scapegoat, Exiled hit a Sheep. Confiscation took McNeely’s in-hand Creature Swap from him: all he had were two Swaps. “So the Goats were a pretty good draw, huh?” asked Kulman. McNeely flipped his set Enemy Controller, ditched a Sheep to take Frog, then used Swap to take Exiled Force and trade Kulman the Frog.  Exiled ran over the Frog and McNeely passed. Both duelists were practically down to topdecking.

Kulman drew, passed, and McNeely flipped his set Heavy Storm. He’d topdecked into Breaker, which he quickly summoned. Both his monsters swung for game.

“Well, that was unfortunate,” remarked Kulman as he set to smokescreening. Both duelists had drawn pathetically, but Kulman’s opening had been far worse than McNeely’s. While he’d fought back valiantly, there was just no coming back from that all-monster opener.

He opened the second duel with a card to each zone. McNeely had sided into his Dimensional Fissure / D.D. Survivor build, and matched Kulman’s play with set cards of his own. Kulman flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, took a card for its effect, and then debated what to do with it. He wound up tributing it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, but hit into McNeely’s Sangan! It fetched McNeely Exiled Force, and when Zaborg attacked McNeely had the Ring of Destruction one more time. Kulman set another spell or trap and ended.

McNeely activated Mystical Space Typhoon, and destroyed Kulman’s set Pot of Avarice. Reinforcement of the Army allowed McNeely to search his deck for Don Zaloog, which he then summoned. Zaloog attacked, but this time Kulman had Sakuretsu Armor to stop it. McNeely set another spell or trap and play was to Kulman.

He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Sakuretsu Armor and attacked for 1600. He set a spell or trap and ended. McNeely summoned Asura Priest, attacked Breaker and the Magical Warrior went down. McNeely passed with an open field, and Austin punished him for it by summoning and attacking with Twin-Headed Behemoth. McNeely was on the defensive and set a monster.

Kulman took it with Creature Swap! McNeely was forced to take the Behemoth, and Kulman got his set D. D. Warrior Lady. He tributed it away for Cyber Dragon, and the Dragon hit the Behemoth for more damage. Kulman set a spell or trap card, and took his Behemoth back in the end phase. McNeely summoned Exiled Force, blew away the Cyber Dragon, and set a spell or trap card.

Kulman attacked with the Behemoth for 1000 damage and set a monster. It was 900 to 5500 with McNeely taking an absolute beating!

He activated Dimensional Fissure, summoned D.D. Survivor, and attacked into the Twin-Headed to remove it from play. Kulman went down to 4700. He flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, summoned Exiled Force and tributed to destroy the Survivor! Dekoichi attacked and the match was moving to a third game!

Both duelists smokescreened once more, with their lives in this tournament on the line! McNeely had seemed slightly blase about the match after taking the win in the first duel: now his facial expression was all business. The Survivor and Fissure last game had tipped his proverbial hand, and McNeely had a tough choice to make and less than three minutes to make it.

McNeely opened by setting a spell or trap card and then contemplated his hand: he opted not to play a monster. Kulman summoned Sangan, attacked for 1000 damage, and then set two cards to his spell and trap zone. McNeely had Asura Priest, Cyber-Stein, Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Creature Swap, Don Zaloog, and Sakuretsu Armor in hand. He summoned the Don and attacked straight into Mirror Force. “Your move.”

Kulman summoned Twin-Headed Behemoth, attacked with Sangan for 1000, and then lost the Behemoth to Sakuretsu Armor. He set another back row card and took back his Behemoth. McNeely activated Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Kulman’s set Ring of Destruction, summoned Asura Priest, and cleared Kulman’s field. Sangan fetched Kulman Spirit Reaper, and McNeely heaved a sigh. He set a spell or trap, Sakuretsu Armor, but lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase! Kulman dropped Spirit Reaper and forced the discard of Creature Swap! He set a spell or trap and ended.

McNeely activated Graceful Charity and drew into Treeborn Frog. He discarded it and Cyber-Stein, then special summoned Cyber Dragon. He normal summoned Asura Priest and Kulman flipped Torrential Tribute instantly! McNeely passed with an open field!

Kulman used Premature Burial to bring back Sangan, and swung for a grand! He set a spell or trap and passed. McNeely brought back his Treeborn and set a monster. Kulman summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, sent her into the face down monster and hit Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. It got McNeely a card and Kulman ended.

McNeely tributed his Frog for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and destroyed the Warrior Lady. Zaborg then attacked the Sangan, and Kulman flipped Sakuretsu Armor! McNeely set a spell or trap to finish his turn.

“Battle?” asked Kulman, attacking with Sangan again. McNeely flipped Ring of Destruction to stop it, freeing up his back row and sending Sangan to the graveyard. Kulman used its effect to grab Exiled Force and set a monster.

McNeely brought back his Treeborn and tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroying Kulman’s set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and attacking for another 2400. McNeely set a spell or trap and passed.

Kulman drew for his turn and activated Pot of Avarice. He set a monster, set a spell or trap and ended.

Both players looked at each other’s graveyards: it was 3700 to 3100, with McNeely narrowly leading. He passed without attacking. Kulman set another monster and passed back. McNeely attacked the fresh set with Zaborg and hit Old Vindictive Magician, losing his Zaborg to the Magician’s effect! “Your go.”

Kulman considered setting another monster, but flipped his set Treeborn Frog to attack and poked for 100. He then set a monster, as if daring McNeely to attack. McNeely passed, and Treeborn poked him again. Kulman used Confiscation, revealing Smashing Ground, Spirit Reaper, Mirror Force, and Bottomless Trap Hole! Mirror Force hit the graveyard and Kulman set another monster.

McNeely topped into Cyber Dragon and wavered on special summoning it. He brought it down and attacked the Frog, running right into Sakuretsu Armor. He passed.

Kulman attacked for another 100 points, and set another back row card in main phase 2. McNeely brought down Mystic Tomato and nailed the Treeborn Frog, hammering through 1300 damage. Kulman set a second back row card and passed.

McNeely set another monster and turned Tomato to defense. Kulman summoned Exiled Force, McNeely activated Torrential Tribute, and destroyed his own Sangan in the process. He used its effect to pull Magician of Faith and Kulman passed with two back row cards. McNeely set two back row cards to match and set a monster, but Kulman activated Dust Tornado to destroy one of them: Bottomless Trap Hole. Time was called as Kulman began his turn. He passed, McNeely passed, and Kulman scooped, unable to even the score in the final turn.

Jake McNeely wins out over National Champion Austin Kulman in a nail-biter of a match that ends on time!