Thirty-eight-year-old David Efird took his first loss last round, and was undefeated until Round 5 with a deck that mixes TeleDAD with a few elements of Synchro Dude. His deck was one of two rogue builds at the top tables, and I was eager to see how it worked against conventional TeleDAD.

His opponent is half his age: 19-year-old Morandice Black hails from Baltimore, and is also 4-1 so far in this tournament.

“Alright, I’ll start it up,” declared Efird. He was holding an awkward hard: two copies of Solemn Judgment, two Allure of Darkness cards, Emergency Teleport, and Destiny Hero - Defender. He activated Allure of Darkness, drew Destiny Draw and another Teleport, and removed Destiny Hero - Defender. “That didn’t help much.” He set one Solemn, riffled his hand, and ended. Black was up.

He set a monster, set two cards to his back row, and ended. Efird topdecked Mirror Force, set it, and set his second Solemn Judgment. “Back at you.” Black flip summoned Destiny Hero - Doom Lord and attacked, and Efird responded with Mirror Force. Black chained Crush Card Virus to tribute his Doom Lord, but Efird chained Solemn Judgment to shut it down! Black had to end his turn.

Efird finally topdecked something useful: Elemental Hero Stratos. He summoned it, activated its effect to search out Destiny Hero - Malicious, and discarded it for Destiny Draw! He drew two cards, but Black removed the Malicious from Efird’s graveyard with D.D. Crow. Efird had drawn Dark Grepher and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. “Let’s play Allure.” That got him Dark Armed Dragon and D.D. Crow, and he removed the Grepher.

“Teleport?” Black had no response, and Efird special summoned Krebons from his deck. “Let’s Synchro,” Efird announced, sending Stratos and Krebons to the graveyard to special summon Goyo Guardian. Goyo attacked, Black flipped Mirror Force, and Efird activated his second Solemn Judgment! The attack connected, Black dropped to 5200 life points, and Efird had just 2000 life points remaining. It was a pretty gutsy play, and he followed it up by setting Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. He had one Dark in his graveyard, but with nothing but his D.D. Crow he wasn’t quite able to threaten Dark Armed Dragon next turn.

Brain Control let Black take control of Goyo Guardian! He attacked with it, and Efird had to discard his second Teleport to spin his own Goyo. Black set one spell or trap card to finish out.

Efird drew Sangan. He set it and ended. Black set a monster and Efird topdecked a second Dark Armed Dragon! He still had just one Dark in his graveyard. Black flip summoned Sangan, responded to his won summon with Torrential Tribute, and each duelist searched for a monster. Efird searched for Junk Synchron, while Black searched out Snipe Hunter. Efird activated D.D. Crow, removing Black’s third Dark from his graveyard (Doom Lord) while placing his third Dark in his own. He just needed to survive this turn.

Black had four cards. He summoned Snipe Hunter, attacked for 1500, and then activated Emergency Teleport in the battle phase to bring out Krebons. that was enough for game!

David Efird is just one turn too slow or one Solemn too aggressive, and Morandice Black takes the first duel! Both competitors appeared to do light side decking before doing a lot of shuffling.

Efird opened Game 2 with Reckless Greed, Junk Synchron, Malicious, Dark Grepher, Monster Reborn, and Krebons. He discarded Malicious to special summon Grepher, removed Malicious with priority to special summon another from his deck in defense mode, then normal summoned Krebons. He Synchro summoned with Malicious and Krebons and brought out Stardust Dragon. He set Reckless Greed and ended. “I’ll pass to you.” Play was to Black.

He normal summoned Stratos, searched his deck for Destiny Hero - Fear Monger, then activated Allure of Darkness. He drew two, removed Mystic Tomato for Allure’s effect, then activated Emergency Teleport for Krebons. He Synchro summoned for Goyo Guardian!

Goyo Guardian attacked Stardust Dragon, and Black destroyed it to take control of it in defense position! Black followed up with D.D. Crow on Efird’s Malicious, then ended.

Efird drew another Reckless Greed! He set it, then asked to see Black’s graveyard: Black had Krebons and Stratos as viable targets for Monster Reborn, as well as D.D. Crow serving as a second Dark monster. Efird activated Reckless Greed!

He drew Mirror Force and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast with Greed’s effect, then summoned Junk Synchron. Junk Synchron brought back Krebons, and Efird Synchro summoned with Krebons and Dark Grepher for Goyo Guardian! He sent his Goyo to attack the Stardust Dragon Black had pilfered with the other Goyo, then took it back, special summoning it in defense mode. He set Mirror Force to finish out, then set Phoenix Wing Wind Blast with Monster Reborn left in his hand and Reckless Greed available next turn. “Go ahead.” It was a formidable set-up.

Black played Brain Control again! He took Goyo Guardian, and Efird did a great job hiding his sigh of relief—if Black had taken Stardust Dragon, things would have been really different. But Black wasn’t done. He summoned Krebons, and Synchro summoned with Goyo Guardian to bring out a Stardust of his own!

Efird discarded Monster Reborn for Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, sending Stardust back to Black’s Extra deck. Black instantly read Mirror Force and didn’t attack. He ended, and Efird flipped Reckless Greed to draw Emergency Teleport and D.D. Crow.

He skipped his next draw phase and set the Teleport, but ended his turn before he could shift Stardust back to attack mode! “I should’ve turned him to attack,” noted Efird immediately. “And I should’ve turned him to defense.” he added, tapping Junk Synchron once. He was acutely aware of his misplay.

Luckily for him, Black made a mistake of his own: he summoned Destiny Hero - Fear Monger, then activated Monster Reborn to bring back Stratos. He tried to use its destruction effect to destroy the card he was reading as Mirror Force, but forgot about Stardust’s effect! Efird chained it, destroying Stratos, and Black ended his turn: Stardust came back to Efird’s field.

Efird inspected his opponent’s graveyard: Black had nothing for Fear Monger to bring back. He sent Stardust Dragon to run it over, then turned Junk Synchron to defense mode He had Mirror Force and Teleport set, and Junk Synchron and Stardust on the field, with one card in hand. He ended his turn, and Black drew to three cards in hand with Goyo Guardian in attack mode. The duel stood at 5700 life points to 7700 with Efird in the lead.

Black set a monster and continued to refuse to attack. Efird got to draw again, topdecking Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. He set it and sent Stardust to attack Black’s face-down monster. It was the obvious pick: Sangan. Sangan got Black Snipe Hunter and Efird ended with his D.D. Crow still in hand.

“Go.” Black was up. He summoned Snipe Hunter, discarded Malicious with priority, and targeted Stardust Dragon, destroying it! He discarded another Malicious, this time targeting Efird’s set Teleport, and Efird chained it to special summon Krebons in defense. Black activated Heavy Storm, Efird chained Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and discarded D.D. Crow to send Goyo back to the extra deck! Snipe Hunter attacked Junk Synchron, and in the end phase Krebons was removed. Black felt vindicated in seeing that Mirror Force hit the graveyard.

Efird topdecked Mind Control, useless in this situation. Black removed Malicious next turn, special summoned his second copy, and attacked with Snipe Hunter and Malicious before setting his last card to his back row. Efird’s next topdeck was Caius the Shadow Monarch—another useless card. “Nothing, go.”

Black hit him for 2300 damage once again with Malicious and Snipe. “Go ahead.” This time, Efird drew Allure of Darkness, but when he activated it Black chained Crush Card Virus, tributing Malicious! He lost Caius from his hand, then revealed his draws: Dark Armed Dragon and Sangan. He removed Dark Armed Dragon, revealed Sangan, and set Sangan face down. “On you.”

Black drew to two in hand. His opponent had just 3100 life points remaining, and he ended his turn without attacking. Play was back to Efird, who revealed Solemn Judgment and set it. Black destroyed it by discarding Dark Armed Dragon for Snipe Hunter’s effect next turn, but still wouldn’t attack.

Efird drew Krebons! He normal summoned it and took Snipe Hunter with Mind Control, and then Synchro summoned with both of them for Goyo Guardian! The Guardian struck for 2800 damage, lowering Black to 2900 life points. Black set one spell or trap card next turn.

Efird had Sangan set, and if he could get both monsters past Black’s face-down card he could win this turn. He spent some time searching Black’s graveyard, then chose not to press his luck: he attacked with Goyo Guardian, and Black dropped to 100 life points! The duel stood at 3100 life points to 100. “Go ahead.”

A second spell or trap card hit the back row, and Efird topdecked Heavy Storm! He activated it, and Black chained Solemn Judgment. Efird attacked with Goyo Guardian, Black flipped Teleport to bring out Krebons in defense, and Goyo ran it over to steal it. In main phase 2 Efird Synchro summoned with Sangan for Magical Android, then searched his deck for Snipe Hunter with Sangan’s effect! He still had a copy of Mind Control in his hand, and in his end phase he gained 600 life points with Magical Android.

Black discarded Doom Lord for Destiny Draw next turn, drawing two new cards to place himself at three in hand. He searched his graveyard, set a monster, and ended. It was all over thanks to Mind Control!

Efird played it, attacked, and time was called just as he struck the winning blow! This match was going to time. Neither duelist was allowed to side deck as a result.

Black started the final duel, discarding Doom Lord for Destiny Draw. He set a spell or trap card, then another, and ended. Efird was up. He discarded Malicious to special summon Dark Grepher, then removed Malicious with priority to bring out his second copy in defense mode. He normal summoned Krebons, then Synchro summoned with Malicious for Stardust Dragon, and removed the second Malicious, again with priority. Selecting Stardust Dragon over Thought Ruler seemed like a pretty big risk. He brought out his third copy in defense mode, activated Monster Reborn, targeted Krebons, and lost it to Black’s D.D. Crow.

Stardust Dragon attacked and Black had to take the damage! Efird had made the right read summoning Stardust instead of Thought Ruler! Grepher connected for another 1700 damage and Black was down to 3800 life points. He’d need to deal 4300 damage this turn to stay in the match. This was his last turn.

He drew for his draw phase and shuffled his hand, trying to puzzle out his predicament. He normal summoned Dark Grepher, discarded Malicious, and searched his deck with Grepher’s effect to send Krebons to the graveyard. He removed Malicious to summon another from his deck in attack mode, then special summoned Dark Armed Dragon! Now that Stardust was definitely confirmed as the right move.

Black had one card left in hand, and if he couldn’t get rid of Stardust this match was over. If he could get rid of it, he’d likely win. He activated Monster Reborn and special summoned Krebons, and then his hand was out of cards. He Synchro summoned with Malicious and Krebons to get his own Stardust Dragon, then removed Krebons from his graveyard to target Efird’s Stardust Dragon with Dark Armed Dragon’s effect!

Efird was in trouble—if he tributed his Stardust Dragon to negate Dark Armed Dragon’s effect, Black could tribute his own, keeping his Dark Armed Dragon. That’s exactly what happened: both copies of Stardust went down. The move left Black free to destroy Malicious and Dark Grepher with Dark Armed Dragon’s effect, and Black began riffling his graveyard. He removed D.D. Crow to destroy Dark Grepher and removed Doom Lord to destroy Malicious—clearing the field. He attacked for 4500 damage, and the match stood at 3800 life points to 3500 with Black leading. In main phase 2 Black removed Malicious to destroy his own Grepher, then special summoned Stardust Dragon. Efird’s Stardust effect had been negated, so it didn’t come back.

Efird topdecked Mind Control! He had Mind Control, Krebons, and Sangan in hand. He activated Mind Control, took Dark Armed Dragon, and removed Malicious for Dark Armed Dragon’s effect, targeting Stardust Dragon: Black tributed Stardust Dragon to negate it, destroying both on-field monsters. Efird summoned Sangan and attacked into Black’s two set spell or trap cards. Black had no answer. At the end of the turn he was down to 2800 life points and the match drew to a close!

Efird battles back from a harsh Game 1 loss to fight an awesome match, narrowly claiming victory in the last turn of time in Game 3. Mind Control wins it all, as innovation pays off for David Efird!