Justin Breese is from Portland, Oregon, and at age 27 he works the family business: construction. He’s battled his way to this bubble match today with Teleport Dark Armed, but now he’s up against one of the most consistent players in the game: the one and only Princess, Cesar Gonzalez!

Cesar opened with Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Monster Reborn, Destiny Hero – Doom Lord, Destiny Draw, Spirit Reaper, and Elemental Hero Stratos. He summoned Stratos, searched out Destiny Hero – Malicious, discarded him with Destiny Draw, and drew two (including another Malicious). He finished out his turn moments later with a set spell or trap card. “Go.” Breese summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior next turn, attacked, and Cesar discarded Malicious for Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, sending Breaker back to the top of Breese’s deck! He finished his turn with two set spell or trap cards.

Cesar searched his deck next turn for Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude with Reinforcement of the Army, then attacked with Stratos: Breese took the 1800 damage, and Cesar set a monster. “Your turn.”

Breaker hit the field again to attack over Stratos. Cesar was up again and Breese activated Trap Dustshoot! That revealed Cesar’s hand of Solemn Judgment, Monster Reborn, Solemn Judgment, Diamond Dude, and Doom Lord. Breese sent Diamond Dude back to Cesar’s deck, and Cesar removed his second Malicious to special summon his third in defense mode. He discarded Doom Lord for Destiny Draw, drew Destiny Draw and Krebons, and activated Monster Reborn to bring back Stratos!

Breese needed to think a bit before letting the summon go. “That’s fine.” Cesar chose to destroy Breese’s back row card with Stratos’ effect: Solemn Judgment! He Synchro summoned for Thought Ruler Archfiend, attacked with it over Breaker, attacked for 1800 with Stratos, and then made a direct attack with Reaper; it cost Breese his Krebons, and Cesar ended his turn by setting one card to his back row. He had one card remaining in hand.

Monster Reborn let Breese take Cesar’s Doom Lord, and he used its effect to remove Thought Ruler from the field. He set a spell or trap card and ended. Next turn when Cesar attacked Breese flipped Crush Card Virus, but Cesar negated it with Solemn Judgment, then attacked for 2100 damage to force Breese to discard his last card: Brain Control! Cesar set a spell or trap, ended, and Breese topped Krebons: he sent it to attack Spirit Reaper. Stratos attacked Krebons next turn, Krebons’ effect negated it, and Cesar turned Reaper to defense mode. But Breese couldn’t play out of it: his next draw was a dead copy of Destiny Draw, and he conceded the duel.

Cesar Gonzalez captures the first duel in fine order, simplifying the game after taking control of it! Classic. Both competitors made routine changes to their side decks, quickly moving to the next duel.

Breese opened Game 2 with a set card to each zone. Cesar fired back with Dark Grepher, special summoning it by discarding Destiny Hero – Malicious. He attacked into Destiny Hero – Defender, and Cesar ended by setting two cards to his back row: he lost his Torrential Tribute to Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase.

Mind Control let Breese take control of Grepher, and Breese discarded Malicious to search his deck for Necro Gardna, sending it to his graveyard! Funneling Malicious through a pilfered Grepher? I don’t think we’ve seen that in a feature match yet — it was a slick move. Breese followed it up perfectly, bringing out Krebons with Emergency Teleport and Synchro summoning with Grepher to summon Goyo Guardian. That let him special summon Dark Armed Dragon!

Breese riffled his graveyard for a few moments while thinking about his next move. He removed Krebons to destroy Cesar’s face-down card: Solemn Judgment. Dark Armed Dragon attacked for 2800 damage, Goyo Guardian attacked for another 2800, and Breese passed with nothing in his back row.

Cesar drew, and had Monster Reborn, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Krebons. He removed Malicious to summon another, summoned Krebons, and Synchro summoned Colossal Fighter! He brought out his third Malicious, played Monster Reborn on Krebons, and Synchro summoned a second Colossal Fighter, both with 3200 ATK! Breese could stop the first one from attacking his Dark Armed Dragon, removing Necro Gardna, but he couldn’t stop the second one: Dark Armed Dragon went down!

Breese drew and set a spell or trap immediately, then turned his Defender to attack mode. He rammed it into Colossal Fighter, then special summoned Dark Armed Dragon in main phase 2! Dark Armed Dragon destroyed both Colossal Fighters, plus Cesar’s Mystical Space Typhoon!

Next turn Cesar summoned Snipe Hunter, discarded Krebons, and blew away Dark Armed Dragon. Goyo Guardian attacked it, took it, and Cesar was down to 100 life points. His next topdeck was no help, and Cesar conceded the game!

Play moved to Game 3. Cesar had Dark Grepher, Destiny Hero – Malicious, Crush Card Virus, Brain Control, Mystic Tomato and Doom Lord. He set Doom Lord, set Crush Card Virus, and ended. Breese activated Allure of Darkness next turn, got two cards, and then removed Breaker the Magical Warrior for Allure’s effect. He normal summoned Dark Grepher, discarded Malicious with priority, and sent Necro Gardna from his deck to his graveyard with Grepher’s effect.

Breese removed Destiny Hero – Malicious to summon another, activated Emergency Teleport to summon Krebons, and Cesar activated Crush Card Virus! Breese lost Grepher, but Synchro summoned for Stardust Dragon. Breese removed his second Malicious to summon his third in attack mode, and then made two direct attacks for a total of 3300 damage. Cesar was down to 4700 life points and a set spell or trap ended Breese’s turn.

He activated Crush Card Virus next turn! Cesar lost Caius the Shadow Monarch and Dark Grepher, but took Stardust Dragon with Brain Control. He tributed it for Destiny Hero – Malicious in face-down defense, and the duel stood at 5500 life points to 3900. Both competitors were under Crush!

Breese lost his Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer off the top of his deck to Crush Card Virus next turn, and set a spell or trap as his only move; he had just one card left in hand. Cesar drew to two in hand, flip summoned Malicious, and normal summoned Krebons — Breese flipped Torrential Tribute! But Cesar removed Malicious for another copy, played Teleport to get another Krebons, and then Synchro summoned Colossal Fighter! He removed to special summon his third Malicious in defense mode, and then attacked with Colossal Fighter for 3200 damage.

Breese revealed his draw: Allure of Darkness. This was his last turn under Crush Card Virus, so he set his last card to his back row so he wouldn’t have to discard it. He drew Mystical Space Typhoon and Dark Armed Dragon, removed the Dragon, and ended. Cesar drew, attacked for game with Colossal Fighter, but was blocked by Emergency Teleport! Breese summoned Krebons, paid 800 life points to negate the attack, and lost Krebons in the end phase. Breese had just 1500 life points left.