With two pairings that pitted 12-1 duelists against 11-2 duelists, we were forced to drop to the 10-3 ranks for our feature matches this round. Neither of these duelists knew if the had a snowball’s chance in heck of making the Top 8, but they were sure going to try.
Hector won the roll and opened with a single set card. Corn fired back with Elemental Hero Stratos, grabbing Disk Commander from his deck. He discarded it for Destiny Draw, drew two, then activated Reinforcement of the Army to get Armageddon Knight from his deck. He activated Allure of Darkness, drew into Dark Armed Dragon, and removed the Knight, his only other Dark. He then activated Premature Burial to draw two cards with Disk Commander.
Both monsters attacked directly, and in main phase 2 Corn removed Monster Reborn from his deck with Gold Sarcophagus! A set spell or trap ended his turn, and that left Heras to simply set another spell or trap.
Corn activated another Reinforcement of the Army, searching out Armageddon Knight and then activating Allure of Darkness—he drew into Dark Magician of Chaos and removed it. He tributed Disk Commander for Jinzo, attacked, and scored two more direct shots—Heras was down to just 1700 life points!
“Go ahead,” said Corn, setting one more spell or trap. Moments later Heras was scooping up.
Corn gave a bit of a guilty laugh. “I’ll be honest, I don’t know if it even mattered what you’d played. My hand was pretty broken.” Heras agreed and began shuffling like a madman.
He opened yet again with nothing but a set spell or trap card, shaking his head slightly. Corn set two to his back row, and flipped Dustshoot next turn. It revealed Heras’s hand of Brain Control, Mirror Force, D.D. Crow, Dark Armed Dragon, Darklord Zerato, and another card I couldn’t verify before it was swept off the table. Corn summoned Strike Ninja and then lost it to Torrential Tribute, and Heras set another spell or trap. Corn summoned Armageddon Knight, attacked for 1400 damage, and moved at a lightning-fast pace.
Heras took the Knight with Brain Control next turn, tributed it for Dasher and walked right into Torrential Tribute. That put Corn at three Dark monsters, so Heras removed his Dasher with D.D. Crow and ended. Corn drew and set a spell or trap, and Heras passed. Corn passed back, Heras summoned Snipe Hunter and pressed it into Mirror Force. Corn activated Gold Sarcophagus next turn.
He removed Sangan with the Sarcophagus’s effect, then set a monster. Heras topped Jinzo, special summoned it with Dasher, and attacked for 2400 damage. “Go.”
Corn was up. He summoned Snipe Hunter and then discarded Jinzo with priority, and Heras chained D.D. Crow to remove Corn’s Strike Ninja. Snipe blew away Heras’s Jinzo: Corn was now holding two Dark Armed Dragon cards. The duel stood at 5800 to 5600.
Snipe Hunter attacked, and this time it was Heras’s turn to flip Mirror Force. Corn ended, and Heras activated Allure of Darkness to remove Darklord Zerato from the game. After some lengthy consideration, he summoned Armageddon Knight, sending Dark Magician of Chaos to his graveyard. He brought it back with Premature Burial, then used its effect to return Allure of Darkness to his hand. He set everything but Allure, activated it, and drew into Jinzo to remove it from the game. He activated Destiny Draw, discarded Disk Commander, and drew into Dimension Fusion! He activated it, the fields were filled, and Corn quickly realized it was game over.
Hector Heras takes the second duel with a string of draw effects and Dimension Fusion! The match would move to a third duel.
Corn began with Allure of Darkness, removing Dark Magician of Chaos. He discarded Fear Monger for Destiny Draw, summoned Stratos, searched out Dasher, and then activated Allure of Darkness to remove it from play. He set Torrential Tribute and ended.
Heras set two cards to his back row, set a monster, and ended. “Go.” Corn set another back-row card himself, then summoned Armageddon Knight—he used its effect to send Darklord Zerato to the graveyard. Armageddon Knight ran over Heras’s face-down Disk Commander and Stratos hit for 1800 damage. Heras set a monster and a third spell or trap next turn.
Corn had Torrential Tribute and Heavy Storm set—he flipped the Heavy, costing Heras Mirror Force, Return from the Different Dimension, and Escape from the Dark Dimension. Corn summoned Armageddon Knight, sent Jinzo to his graveyard, set Mystical Space Typhoon, and attacked with everything, destroying his opponent’s Fear Monger in the process.
Disk Commander came back to the field courtesy of Fear Monger, and Heras followed it up with Allure of Darkness. Mirror Force robbed Corn of his Mystical Space Typhoon and he activated Monster Reborn to take Corn’s Darklord Zerato and special summon it. Heras discarded Jinzo to destroy Corn’s monsters with Zerato, attacked with it, then set a spell or trap and ended. Zerato was destroyed.
Dustshoot flipped in Corn’s draw phase, revealing Morphing Jar and Prometheus: Prometheus got sent back. Corn set two cards to his back row and Heras was back up. He set a spell or trap and ended, and Corn drew Strike Ninja! He dodged it immediately, removing Zerato and Jinzo to do so, and followed it up by flipping Return from the Different Dimension! Heras immediately offered the handshake.
Adam Corn moves on 11-3, with hope of making the Top 8!