This round's feature match brings together players from two of the biggest teams in the game. Joe is from the Florida based Team NeXus while Matt is from Team Comic Odyssey based in California. Matt is also one of the four players who will be representing the United States this year in Tokyo for the World Championships. The players introduced themselves and then shuffled up to begin game 1. Matt rolled a 6 to Joe’s 4 and opted to begin the match. He did so with Graceful Charity, discarding Return from the Different Dimension and Treeborn Frog, a set spell or trap, and a Sangan in attack position.
Joe didn’t have quite as good a start, and he opted to set one to each zone before passing. Matt summoned Asura Priest and attacked into Joe’s face down Mystic Tomato prompting him to fetch his own Sangan from the deck. Matt then rammed the Sangans into each other. Joe fetched Tsukuyomi while Matt fetched Exiled Force. He set one more spell or trap and passed over to Joe who set a card to each zone and passed. Matt took a look at his hand before special summoning Cyber Dragon and then summoning his Exiled Force. In response to the effect, Joe chained Torrential Tribute losing a facedown Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive to Matt’s Cyber Dragon.
In the next turn, Joe had an Asura Priest of his own, and he attacked with it. Matt took the opportunity to destroy the pesky spirit with a Sakuretsu Armor and Joe set another spell or trap before passing. Breaker the Magical Warrior came down on Matt’s side of the field and broke Joe’s Return, but it was taken out next turn by Tsukuyomi. Matt had a Spirit Reaper next turn and tried to attack directly. Joe tried to stop the attack with Call of the Haunted on Sangan but a chained Mystical Space Typhoon put a stop to that. Nobleman of Crossout was lost to the Reaper, and Joe went on the defensive with a set monster.
Matt brought down his Priest again next turn, but it fell to Sakuretsu Armor. Still in the battle phase, he used Call to bring back Cyber Dragon and attack Joe’s face down Magician of Faith. He brought back Nobleman of Crossout and then Reaper stole Tsukuyomi from his hand. He set another monster next turn, but it was destroyed by Cyber Dragon. The fallen Dekoichi replaced itself with a draw, and then Reaper swung again, this time discarding Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Joe drew and quickly played his own Graceful Charity discarding Confiscation and a Chaos Sorcerer. He brought back Sangan with Premature Burial and tributed it for another Zaborg, destroying the Reaper and netting Magician of Faith from his deck. Cyber Dragon fell to Zaborg, and Joe passed his turn.
Matt was finally in a position to return his Treeborn Frog and he did so, quickly using Creature Swap to send t over to Joe in return for his Zaborg. Matt then set a monster. Joe was one hit away from defeat, but he drew into Snatch Steal to take back his Zaborg. He then played his Crossout to remove Matt’s Dekoichi and attacked directly. He followed it up with a set monster of his own, but Matt had a Snatch Steal of his own, along with a second Creature Swap. Zaborg betrayed its master once again and Matt special summoned Chaos Sorcerer to seal the deal
Matt – 1 Joe – 0
Both players side decked in silence, and soon after, Joe announced that he’d be going first in the next game. Matt wished him luck, and the game began. Joe set a card to each zone and passed over to Matt who special summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked. Spirit Reaper was flipped up, and Matt set a card to each zone before passing. Breaker came down for Joe destroying Matt’s set Mirror Force and then Snatch Steal stole his Cyber Dragon. The traitorous dragon attacked into Matt’s set Newdoria and Spirit Reaper was chosen to be destroyed for its effect. Joe set another card and passed to Matt who had another Cyber Dragon waiting in the wings. It fell to Mirror Force, however, and he was forced to set a monster and pass.
Joe made a quick check of the graveyards before tributing the stolen Dragon for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch taking out Matt’s facedown Mystic Tomato. Matt took 4000 to the face and Joe set a spell or trap. Matt thumbed through his graveyard and activated Premature Burial to pull back his Newdoria. Joe allowed it to happen and Matt followed up with a set monster before ending his turn. Matt was clearly on the defensive and Joe asked him how much life he had before attacking Newdoria with Zaborg. Breaker was destroyed, and Joe set a monster and ended his turn. Matt added another defense monster to his arsenal and next turn Joe revealed his set card to be Magical Merchant. The Merchant found Creature Swap, and Joe used it to give away his Merchant and set up to deal enough damage to win game two.
Matt – 1 Joe – 1
Matt visibly switched two cards from his deck to his side and both players shuffled furiously for the next game. Matt was unable to take any kind of offensive stance in the last game and he was looking to make up for it by going first in the deciding game three. He began with a set spell or trap while Joe set a card to each zone. Matt had a Spirit Reaper and a Crossout next turn, and all Magical Merchants were removed from play. The Reaper swung directly and discarded a Magician of Faith from Joe’s hand.
Joe summoned Breaker next turn and used it to destroy Matt’s Enemy Controller which he chained. He then flipped his set Snatch Steal to destroy the Reaper and passed. Matt knew Joe’s hand was terrible and he pressed with Cyber Dragon and Sangan next turn, before setting a spell or trap and ending his turn. He removed a Light monster and a Dark monster for Chaos Sorcerer and used it to remove Sangan before setting a card to each zone and passing. Asura Priest hit the field and attacked a face down Magician of Faith, giving Joe access to his Snatch Steal once again. The Priest then hit into Sorcerer to provide Matt with the Light monster that he needed to play his Sorcerer. He removed Joe’s Sorcerer but lost his Sakuretsu Armor in the end phase to Dust Tornado.
Snatch Steal took control of Matt’s Sorcerer and it removed Cyber Dragon from play. Joe followed up with a set monster and passed to Matt who drew into Graceful Charity. He discarded Mirror Force and Smashing Ground then set a card to each zone and passed. Joe flipped a Dekoichi and attacked Matt’s facedown Dekoichi. Chaos Sorcerer tried an attack, but Dust Tornado brought it back to its rightful owner. Joe set a monster and passed to Matt who removed the Dekoichi and then summoned D. D. Assailant attacking into Joe’s Sangan. A game that looked to be going all in Matt’s favor had suddenly gotten very interesting.
Joe fetched D. D. Warrior Lady with his Sangan’s effect and Matt passed his turn. Joe flipped through his graveyard and checked the scores before summoning the Lady and throwing it into Sorcerer. He set a card and passed to Matt who drew into a Reaper. He decided against summoning it and simply attacked instead. Joe took it, matt set a monster, and it was Joe’s turn again. He played Graceful Charity discarding Treeborn Frog and Mystical Space Typhoon before setting a monster and passing. Matt checked the graveyards and the out of play piles before flipping his Reaper and attacking. It revealed a Reaper and Matt destroyed it in main phase two with Snatch Steal. He set his last card to the spell and trap zone but lost it to Dust Tornado in the end phase. Torrential Tribute hit the graveyard and Joe set a monster. He lost it to a topdecked Exiled Force next turn, and Reaper stole his Premature Burial. Matt drew Treeborn Frog and set it. Joe tributed his Frog for Cyber Dragon and attacked it.
The frog came back again for Matt and he then played Premature Burial to pull back Newdoria and crash it into the Dragon. Both players took turns setting cards, but Joe’s got the distinct advantage by flipping two Dekoichis a couple of turns later. Matt had a frog in defense and a set spell or trap, but Joe tributed his Frog for a Zaborg to destroy Matt’s Frog. He then considered his attack. If Matt’s face down was Mirror Force and he left all his monsters in attack position, he was in serious trouble. If it wasn’t Mirror Force, he would win the game. Joe decided to go for it, and Matt conceded the match.
Joe Fitzgerald defeats the US Nationals Top 4 competitor Matt Laurents 2-1!