Neither of these duelists needs an introduction. Miguel Garcia has made Top 8 at an SJC once before, and Ryan Spicer has Top 8’d two of the three SJC’s he’s been to before this weekend’s. Each is a star member of their team: Nexus for Garcia and Outphase for Spicer.

“Good luck, man,” said Garcia, as Spicer offered him a handshake to get things started.

Clearly, fortune favored Garcia. He opened with Confiscation, revealing Breaker the Magical Warrior, Cyber Phoenix, Morphing Jar, Snipe Hunter, and Mirror Force in Spicer’s hand!

“That’s a beautiful hand.”

“It was before Confiscation.” Spicer smiled and lost Mirror Force. Garcia set a back row card and passed.

“Is it chainable,” mused Spicer. He answered his own Question. “Probably.” He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior anyway, and lost it to Ring of Destruction.

“I don’t know why you didn’t summon Cyber Phoenix,” noted Garcia. Spicer ended. Garcia hit him with Hydrogeddon directly, and set a spell or trap card. Spicer activated Graceful Charity on the turn that followed, discarded two cards, summoned Card Trooper and used its effect, sending Swords of Revealing Light, Heavy Storm, and Jinzo to the graveyard. Card Trooper attacked over Hydrogeddon, Spicer set a card to his spell and trap zone, and play was back to Garcia.

He summoned Hydrogeddon! It attacked Card Trooper, Spicer drew for its effect, and Garcia brought out another Hydro. It attacked as well, but Spicer stopped it with Call of the Haunted, bringing back Jinzo. Garcia passed, Spicer activated Giant Trunade to clear the field and take back his Call, and then summoned Bazoo the Soul-Eater. He removed Card Trooper, Cyber Phoenix, and Snipe Hunter, and then special summoned all three with Dimension Fusion! He pumped Card Trooper to 1900 ATK, blew away the two Hydrogeddon with Snipe Hunter, and then pressed with everything for game!

The awesome power of Card Trooper gives Ryan Spicer an easy first-game win!

Both duelists did some quick side decking between duels, and Spicer offered Garcia a handshake before the second duel began. Both duelists wished each other good luck and Garcia was up.

He set a single spell or trap card, then a second, and ended. Spicer summoned Bazoo, attacked for 1600, and set two back row cards as Garcia had.

It was a trap! Garcia special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed for Mobius the Frost Monarch and destroyed Spicer’s Future Fusion and Mirror Force before attacking Bazoo! Plays like that are the things that crushing wins are made of, and a veteran like Garcia is full of tricks like those. Spicer set a monster, ended, and Garcia summoned Banisher of the Radiance. Banisher attacked the set monster, Magician of Faith, and Spicer took back Future Fusion. Mobius attacked directly.

Spicer lost Future Fusion in his draw phase to Mind Crush, and was forced to special summon Cyber Dragon. It attacked, and ran right into Sakuretsu Armor. He set a monster and ended.

Garcia attacked with Mobius, smacking Spicer’s set Bazoo. Banisher hit directly, and Spicer was down to 3200 life points. “Go ahead,” invited Garcia.

Spicer summoned Card Trooper and tried to activate its effect, but there was a brief confusion about whether or not he could, and, if so, how the effect would resolve. After a standard appeal to the head judge, it was ruled that Card Trooper’s effect could not be activated in this situation, similar to rulings on cards like Herald of Purple Light. Spicer politely accepted the ruling with grace and dignity and conceded to move the match to game 3.

A misunderstood card interaction and an aggressive series of excellent controlling plays lead Garcia to take the second duel!

Again, a handshake and a friendly wish of good luck got the duel started. Spicer summoned Cyber Phoenix, set a spell or trap, and passed. Garcia immediately attacked the Phoenix with Banisher, hosing Spicer with it yet again! He set a spell or trap and ended.

Spicer special summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked, taking the Banisher down. He then set a monster to finish his turn. Garcia special summoned a Cyber Dragon of his own, and then normal summoned another Banisher! Nobleman of Crossout removed Spicer’s set Card Trooper from the game, Cyber Dragon attacked Spicer’s Cyber Dragon, and Enemy Controller turned Spicer’s to defense position. Spicer lost his Dragon, Garcia kept his, and Banisher hit directly.

Spicer summoned Bazoo the Soul-Eater and ran it into Banisher, desperate to keep himself in the match. Cyber Dragon attacked next turn, but Spicer flipped Scapegoat. The Dragon mauled one of Spicer’s Sheep tokens and Garcia was finished with his turn.

Snipe Hunter was summoned by Spicer, who discarded Dark Magician of Chaos to destroy Garcia’s Cyber Dragon with Snipe Hunter’s effect. Snipe Hunter attacked directly and Spicer passed. Another Cyber Dragon hit Garcia’s side of the field to attack Snipe Hunter, and Garcia ended.

Bazoo the Soul-Eater was Spicer’s next summon and he pumped it to 2500 ATK. He sent Bazoo after Spicer’s Cyber Dragon and the attack was successful! Spicer set a spell or trap, Garcia set a spell or trap, and Bazoo hit him again for 1600 damage. Garcia was down to 4000 life points, while Spicer was at 5400, recovering from the rough early game.

Garcia set a third back row card, but Spicer activated Giant Trunade, looking to clear the field for a win! Garcia chained Mind Crush, and called Dimension Fusion! Sure enough, Spicer had it in hand and had been attempting a game shot. He lost Dimension Fusion, summoned Cyber Phoenix, and attacked with it and Bazoo to bring Garcia down to 1200 life points. He activated Swords of Revealing Light and ended.

Heavy Storm dropped from Garcia’s hand to destroy Swords, and he then activated Premature Burial to bring back Banisher and attack Cyber Phoenix. He set all three of his remaining cards to his back row. Bazoo attacked next turn, but was stopped by Sakuretsu Armor. Banisher attacked a Sheep, left Spicer with two, and Spicer set a monster. Garcia attacked the face down, flipping it and revealing it to be Cyber Phoenix. He then tributed for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, forcing Spicer to discard Snipe Hunter! Spicer had no cards left in his hand.

He drew and passed. Thestalos destroyed a Sheep, leaving Spicer with just one token and Cyber Phoenix on the field. Spicer set a card to his back row, lost his last Sheep to Thestalos, and Garcia ended.

Spicer activated Dimension Fusion! He brought out Dark Magician of Chaos, Cyber Phoenix, Cyber Dragon, and another Cyber Phoenix, but Garcia wiped him off the field with Torrential Tribute. Still, he took back Giant Trunade with Dark Magician of Chaos’s effect, and used it.

Garcia chained Waboku! Spicer still wasn’t finished. He activated Future Fusion, targeted Cyber Twin Dragon, and sent two Cyber Dragons to his graveyard. He set one card to his back row and ended.

Two back row cards were Garcia’s only play, and Spicer drew into Breaker the Magical Warrior. He used Breaker’s counter to destroy Ring of Destruction, and Garcia couldn’t activate it — if he did, he’d lose the game. Breaker attacked directly and it was all over!