Haynes had just finished his match with long-time friend Kirk Leonhardt, and now he was up against the winner of the quarterfinals’ Monarch mirror match, Hooman.

Haynes won the opening roll and activated Confiscation to open the duel, revealing Old Vindictive Magician, Sakuretsu Armor, Mystical Space Typhoon, Brain Control, and Apprentice Magician in Hooman’s hand. He discarded the Apprentice, set a monster and then announced that he was finished. Hooman special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked into Haynes’s set Treeborn Frog to destroy it and concluded his turn with a set spell or trap.

Treeborn Frog came back up and Haynes set yet another defense position monster. Cyber Dragon attacked it, revealing it to be Magician of Faith. Magician returned Confiscation to Haynes’s hand, Hooman set a monster, and play was to Haynes. He activated the Confiscation, revealing Brain Control, Soul Exchange, and Mystical Space Typhoon. “Space,” he said, discarding the Typhoon. Haynes then activated Graceful Charity and opted to discard Scapegoat and Mystic Tomato. He activated Heavy Storm to destroy Hooman’s Sakuretsu Armor, tributed for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to destroy Hooman’s set Old Vindictive Magician and ran over the Cyber Dragon! A set spell or trap ended his turn. Hooman set a card to each zone and passed back. Haynes summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, attacked into the face-down monster (Spirit Reaper), and removed it with the Lady’s effect. Zaborg then attacked directly for 2400 damage.

Hooman set another spell or trap, but ate another 2400 damage from Zaborg next turn. He set a third spell or trap and this time, when Zaborg attacked, Hooman flipped Mirror Force. “Go ahead,” said Haynes. Hooman passed, and Haynes summoned Sangan to swing for 1000 damage directly. Hooman dropped to 1900 life points and started moving in a quick, almost panicked fashion. He set a card to each zone and passed. Haynes was just taking him apart.

Asura Priest came down for Haynes and Hooman had no response. Sangan went to defense and Asura Priest attacked, but Hooman flipped Ring of Destruction! He was down to just 200 life points, while Haynes was sitting pretty at 4300. The Brain Control that was still somewhere in Hooman’s field or hand was now useless. Haynes activated Last Will in main phase 2, special summoned Exiled Force with its effect and tributed it to destroy Hooman’s set monster, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Hooman set a spell or trap, and when Sangan attacked, he was forced to flip Sakuretsu Armor. Haynes searched his deck for Mystic Tomato. He passed, Hooman passed, and Haynes summoned Don Zaloog. Torrential Tribute destroyed it. Hooman set a monster, Haynes summoned Exiled Force to destroy the face-down and found it to be Sangan. Hooman searched his deck for Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive with its effect. His only hope was to continually gain options, and Dekoichi was the only way to get at them. Haynes set a second spell or trap and ended.

Hooman set a monster, then added a second set spell or trap to his back row. Haynes special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Spirit Reaper, and then sealed the deal with Creature Swap! The attack-position Reaper was sent to Hooman’s side of the field and Cyber Dragon hammered home the win.

Richard Haynes takes a decisive victory in the first duel! Both competitors began siding.

“I don’t know what your side deck is,” remarked Haynes. “I forgot.”  He gave a slight smirk of vexation. Hooman’s side consisted of three Mobius cards, two Mystic Swordsman LV2 cards, two Kuriboh cards, two Exiled Force cards, two Decree cards, one Emergency Provisions card, and three Poison of the Old Man cards. Six of the cards were useless outside of a Stein matchup or a time situation: very few of Hooman’s side options had anything to do with this matchup, but the triple Mobius might come into play. Haynes was forced to worry about options that weren’t really there.

The second duel began and it was Hooman’s turn to open with Confiscation. He revealed Premature Burial, Sangan, Heavy Storm, Spirit Reaper, and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive in Haynes’s hand. He discarded the Premature Burial, set a card to each zone and indicated that he was finished his turn. Haynes set a monster and passed back.

Magician of Faith flipped to bring back Confiscation for Hooman , and he then tributed the Magician for Thestalos! Thestalos discarded Spirit Reaper from Haynes’s hand, and then attacked to destroy the set monster, Sangan. Haynes shook his head as he worked on his decision, but smiled slightly as he pulled Cyber-Stein from his deck. Confiscation hit the field from Hooman’s hand yet again, and this time he had to choose between Dekoichi, D. D. Assailant, Heavy Storm, and the Stein. Predictably, Stein hit the graveyard.

Haynes was up and he set a monster, his only move for the turn. Hooman summoned Spirit Reaper, attacked with Thestalos (hitting Dekoichi), and Reaper hit directly to discard Haynes’s in-hand Zaborg. Hooman made a disappointed noise and ended. Haynes activated Heavy Storm to destroy Ring of Destruction, special summoned Cyber Dragon and normal summoned D. D. Assailant. Cyber Dragon rammed into Spirit Reaper, then the Assailant, lowering Hooman down to 2800. Hooman paid another 800 to take control of Cyber Dragon, attacked into the Assailant to remove both from the game, then hit directly with both Thestalos and the Reaper. Haynes was down to 4300 and lost his last in-hand card, Mystic Tomato. Hooman set two back row cards, leaving himself with one card in hand, Spirit Reaper and Thestalos on the field, and two back-row cards.

His only out was Ring. If he drew it he could win by destroying Thestalos, but anything else was a death sentence. Haynes held his breath . . .

No dice! “Mobius,” he announced, flipping it off the top of his deck.

Hooman comes back to win the second duel, pushing the match to a third game with a dominating win! Monarchs are still alive in this tournament.

Haynes didn’t touch his side deck while Hooman smokescreened: he was either tremendously confident, totally devoid of side decking options, or just really tired. Both duelists quickly presented their decks and play began.

A set card to each zone was Haynes’s opening, and Hooman snapped Graceful Charity to the table as soon as he could—he had Treeborn Frog and he immediately discarded it alongside Sakuretsu Armor. He special summoned Cyber Dragon but lost it to Ring of Destruction when he attempted to attack. “Go,” he said, setting a card to his back row. Haynes flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and attacked, prompting Hooman to flip a Ring of his own to destroy the Dekoichi. It was 4500 to 4500 and Haynes set a spell or trap to end his turn.

Hooman brought back his Frog, activated Heavy Storm, and tributed for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch. It discarded Haynes’s in-hand Cyber Dragon, and attacked for 2400 directly, lowering Haynes to just 1600 life points.

“How many cards in your hand?”

“Three.”

Haynes special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Exiled Force and used Creature Swap to swap it for Thestalos! The successive attacks lowered Hooman to 1000 life points, and Haynes ended by setting another back-row card. The competitors were on pins and needles.

Hooman drew for his turn and considered his hand: two Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch cards, Brain Control, and Apprentice Magician. He brought back his Frog and went to work, trying to figure out the risks that Haynes’s back row card represented. “Wow,” he remarked. “That would be a risky move.” He went for it, taking his Thestalos back with Brain Control. He ran it into Cyber Dragon, scoring up 300 damage, then tributed it for another Thestalos to discard Haynes’s remaining in-hand Cyber Dragon! “Go.” Hooman looked thrilled, and clearly believed himself to be the winner.

Haynes drew and looked through his graveyard. He flipped his set card, Reinforcement of the Army, and searched his deck for D. D. Warrior Lady. He summoned her, attacked into the Frog, and did not remove. Then he activated Creature Swap, his last card, to take Thestalos!

But Hooman had the answer! He brought back his Treeborn Frog, tributed for Thestalos yet again, and it was over! He crashed his Thestalos into the one Haynes had taken, and then rammed him with his own D. D. Warrior Lady.

Hooman Farahbakhsh moves on to the finals!