It all came down to this! An all-Canada final between two Ontario natives, squaring off for the first Canadian Shonen Jump Championship title ever. Kyle Duncan, the Superfriendz powerhouse, was up against the Top 8 underdog Corey Faibish. Thus far he had beaten out two Recruiter matchups in the quarterfinals and semifinals, but now he had to play a duelist who was perhaps the leading Recruiter expert in North America.

This one wasn’t going to be easy for either competitor.

“Don’t Stein me, please,” said Duncan, with a humble smile.

“Well, it’s kinda hard to not . . .” Faibish trailed off unconvincingly, grinning.

Duncan won the roll and opened with Confiscation, discarding Faibish’s Graceful Charity. He set a spell or trap, summoned Sangan, and passed. Faibish set a card to each zone and passed back.

Nobleman of Crossout cleared away Faibish’s set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and Sangan then attacked for 1000 damage. Faibish set another monster, but Duncan tributed Sangan for Zaborg a turn later to destroy it — Faibish lost his Morphing Jar, and at this rate, he was losing the match too. Duncan took Tsukuyomi from his deck, but when Zaborg attacked it was repelled by Mirror Force. Faibish set another spell or trap and ended.

Mystic Tomato hit Duncan’s side of the field and attacked directly for 1400. Faibish was down to 5600 life points, and opted not to do anything. The Tomato attacked again, but was blocked by Enemy Controller. “How many in hand?” asked Duncan. Faibish had only three cards remaining, and Duncan activated Graceful Charity. He discarded Scapegoat and Cyber Dragon, set a monster, and passed.

Faibish summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and destroyed Sakuretsu Armor with its token. He then attacked into Duncan’s set card, which was revealed to be Shining Angel — Duncan pulled another. Faibish activated Confiscation, revealed Duncan’s hand of Creature Swap, Tsukuyomi, Snatch Steal, and Chaos Sorcerer, and was dismayed. “Is there anything you don’t have?”

“Not right now,” said Duncan with a grin. Sorcerer was discarded, Faibish set his last card to his back row, and Duncan was up. With nothing in Duncan’s spell and trap zone, Heavy Storm would be a ruinous play.

He activated Snatch Steal, targeting Breaker the Magical Warrior, but Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed it on the chain. Duncan turned Mystic Tomato to attack, activated Creature Swap, and took Breaker in exchange for the Tomato. Shining Angel then crashed into the Tomato — Dale Bellido, standing at the sidelines, waved his arms in glee as Duncan pulled another Tomato and Angel to his side of the field. All three monsters then swung directly, and Faibish was down to 1800 life points!

Faibish drew, looked at his hand, and considered it. “This is gonna be a really cool play,” he said, taking a deep breath.

He activated Premature Burial to bring back Morphing Jar from his graveyard. He proceeded to attach Megamorph to it, and then rammed into Shining Angel. Then he scooped, demonstrating that if you’re going to lose in an SJC feature match, you might as well use the cards in your hand to do something memorable.

Both duelists did some side decking, but neither seemed to be doing anything particularly drastic. There was really no reason to do so: the first duel was a crush strictly because Duncan had drawn so well, and when a player of his caliber gets the cards, he knows how to use them. Neither player had a strong impetus to change his main deck.

Faibish opened the second duel with Confiscation, revealing Sangan, Royal Decree, Mystic Tomato, Shining Angel, and Heavy Storm in Duncan’s hand. Faibish discarded the Tomato, set a spell or trap and ended.

Duncan summoned Sangan and resumed wailing on Faibish for 1000 damage. He set a spell or trap, passed, and Faibish summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior. Breaker destroyed Royal Decree, attacked into Sangan, and Duncan searched his deck for Tsukuyomi.

He summoned it on the following turn and attacked Breaker the Magical Warrior to destroy it in battle. He set a spell or trap to end his turn. Faibish set Morphing Jar, but lost it next turn to Duncan’s flipped Nobleman of Crossout, set on the turn previous. He summoned Shining Angel, attacked with it, and Faibish dropped to 4600. Stein would be a dead draw at this point.

Faibish set a monster and ended. He lost it next turn to the Angel — it was Dekoichi. Duncan set another card to each zone and passed. Faibish activated Nobleman of Crossout, removing Duncan’s set Mystic Tomato from the game, and then set another card to his back row.

Angel poked him again next turn; Duncan was determined to just grind out the win, now that he was safe from Stein. Faibish had three cards set in his back row and a dead Cyber-Stein stuck in his hand. He dropped to 3200 and Duncan passed. Faibish set a monster, Angel attacked it, and it was Spirit Reaper. Duncan passed, Faibish set a monster and passed back, and Duncan hit the mystery monster: Nimble Momonga. Faibish went to 4200 and special summoned one more squirrel to the field. Duncan set a second spell or trap and ended.

Faibish set a fourth back row card and passed. Duncan passed back, unwilling to let Faibish have enough life points to activate Stein’s effect. He wasn’t going to attack that Momonga until he knew Faibish was helpless. Faibish couldn’t do anything and passed back.

Duncan passed, Faibish passed, and Duncan set another monster. Faibish set a fifth back row card, summoned Banisher of the Radiance, and attacked the Angel, but Duncan responded with Mirror Force. Faibish chained Royal Decree, but Duncan chained Book of Moon to turn down the Banisher and save his Shining Angel! Faibish had no reply, and as his Banisher went face down he ended his turn.

Duncan summoned Tsukuyomi, turned Angel face down, and then flip summoned it. Tsukuyomi attacked the card Duncan knew to be Banisher of the Radiance, and he then activated Confiscation in main phase 2. It revealed Faibish’s hand: Cyber Dragon, Cyber-Stein, and Megamorph. Right then and there, Duncan knew that his careful playing around the Momonga had paid off. He set a card to his back row, took back Tsukuyomi, and passed.

Faibish saw his chance. He attacked with Nimble Momonga, smashing it into Shining Angel, and went to 4800. He pulled his third Momonga from his deck and ended. Duncan turned Shining Angel to defense in order to stop the last Momonga from going kamikaze and pushing Faibish over the 5000 life point mark. He set a monster and passed.

Faibish had other plans. He flip summoned Momonga, used Enemy Controller to turn Shining Angel to attack position, and attacked with Momonga! It was blocked by another Enemy Controller from Duncan! Faibish just couldn’t get himself into Stein territory.

Duncan closed the trap. He tributed his Angel for Cyber Dragon and special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, using the Sorcerer’s effect to remove the last Momonga from the game. He passed. Faibish tributed his Spirit Reaper for his set Enemy Controller, taking control of Chaos Sorcerer, and then used the Sorcerer’s effect to remove Duncan’s Cyber Dragon from play. Faibish then tributed the Sorcerer for his own Cyber Dragon, and attacked into Duncan’s set Mystic Tomato. Duncan pulled Spirit Reaper with its effect, and Faibish activated Giant Trunade, set two cards to his back row, and passed.

Duncan set a monster, turned Reaper to defense, and ended his turn. Faibish set a monster and passed back. Duncan flip summoned Shining Angel, rammed it into Cyber Dragon, took 700 damage, and special summoned D. D. Warrior Lady. The Warrior Lady attacked Faibish’s set monster, Magician of Faith, and Faibish took back Enemy Controller from his graveyard. Duncan set a monster and ended.

Faibish’s Cyber Dragon hit Duncan’s oldest set monster — it was another Spirit Reaper. He set a third spell or trap and ended. Duncan passed back. Faibish set a monster, and Duncan activated Graceful Charity to discard Tsukuyomi and Cyber Dragon. He then activated Snatch Steal, targeting Faibish’s Cyber Dragon. Faibish chained Enemy Controller, tributing the Dragon to take control of D. D. Warrior Lady. Nobleman of Crossout removed Faibish’s set Cyber-Stein from the field and Duncan just passed, taking back his D. D. Warrior Lady. It was a war of attrition at this point.

Faibish topdecked Limiter Removal and special summoned Cyber Dragon. He took control of D. D. Warrior Lady yet again, this time with Snatch Steal, and sent Cyber Dragon into Duncan’s set monster: Shining Angel. Duncan didn’t realize he had nothing but Magician of Faith left in his deck, and he was forced to special summon it in attack position. D. D. Warrior Lady removed one of Duncan’s Spirit Reapers from play, and Faibish ended.

Duncan tributed his Magician of Faith for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, but Faibish cut him off with Torrential Tribute! Duncan set a spell or trap, Faibish set a monster, and Duncan summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior to destroy Faibish’s last set back row card: Royal Decree. Breaker then attacked, destroying Faibish’s set monster: another Stein. Faibish set a monster and ended. Duncan flipped Scapegoat in the end phase, taking four tokens.

Duncan shifted one to attack position on his next turn, and used Creature Swap to trade it to Faibish. He attacked it with Breaker, knocking Faibish down to 3200, and ended. Faibish drew, activated Graceful Charity, and asked for a life point check: it was 5700 to 3200. He discarded for Graceful, activated Premature Burial, and brought back Cyber Dragon! He attached Megamorph to the Dragon, attacked Breaker, and then activated Limiter Removal in the damage step! The 8400 ATK Dragon slammed into Breaker, and Faibish stole the duel!

Corey Faibish just barely manages to press the match to a third game!

Duncan opened the duel with a set card to each zone. Faibish special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Banisher of the Radiance, and attacked with the Banisher. It hit Sangan and removed it from play! Cyber Dragon hit directly for 2100, and Faibish set a spell or trap to finish a superb first turn.

Duncan summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and attacked the Banisher. Then, Breaker’s token broke Faibish’s set Royal Decree. Cyber Dragon ran Breaker over next turn and Faibish set another card to his back row. Still, the damage was done and Banisher was cleared off the field. If it had remained, Duncan’s recruiter monsters would have been in serious trouble.

Duncan activated Heavy Storm, and Faibish chained Scapegoat. Duncan chained his set Enemy Controller to turn Faibish’s Dragon to defense position, and Faibish got his Sheep as the chain resolved. Duncan special summoned his own Cyber Dragon, attacked Faibish’s, and set a monster. Faibish used Confiscation next turn to discard D. D. Warrior Lady from Duncan’s hand, and then used Nobleman of Crossout. It removed Duncan’s set Magician of Faith from the field and stripped all remaining copies from each duelist’s deck. Faibish stole Cyber Dragon with Snatch Steal, attacked for 2100, and next turn Duncan had to activate Smashing Ground to destroy it. Duncan ended his turn, Faibish passed, Duncan passed, and Faibish summoned Nimble Momonga. He proceeded to attack directly with it, and ended his turn by setting a card to his spell and trap zone. Duncan special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed for Zaborg, destroyed Nimble Momonga with Zaborg’s effect, and attacked a Sheep token to leave Faibish with just three more.

That was all Faibish needed. With two more slots opened he summoned Cyber-Stein! He special summoned Cyber Twin Dragon, attached Megamorph to it, and attacked.  Duncan had one Kuriboh in his hand, but it wasn’t enough! Cyber Twin Dragon attacked Zaborg, Duncan took the damage, and Kuriboh blocked the damage from the second attack. Duncan was dangerously low on life points, and Cyber-Stein attacked for game itself!

Toronto’s Corey Faibish scores a huge upset, and captures the title of Shonen Jump Champion!