With the first Last Chance Regional over and done with, the second was drawing to a close as well. This match would pit Toronto’s Edward Kuang against Montreal’s Daniel Hackl. Kuang was playing Six Samurai, the second player to make the finals here today with that particular archetype. Hackl was playing Gladiator Beasts, and this was going to be a tough matchup for him.

As a side note, it’s interesting to see how well Montreal is doing in these Last Chance events. Out of four finals spots today, three of them have been filled by players from the City of Saints!

Game 1

Hackl opened up with Gladiator Proving Ground, searching his deck for Gladiator Beast Hoplomus. He set it, ended, and Kuang activated two copies of Six Samurai United immediately!

He summoned Spirit of the Six Samurai, special summoned Grandmaster of the Six Samurai, and ditched both copies of United for a whopping four draws! He activated Reasoning, Hackl called level 4, and Zanji was lost to the graveyard. Kuang special summoned Great Shogun Shien, attached Spirit to Grandmaster, set two cards to his back row and attacked to destroy Hoplomus. Spirit let him draw again and next turn he flipped Trap Dustshoot! What a devastating opening!

Hackl showed his hand of Monster Reborn, Dimensional Prison, D.D. Crow, two Gladiator Beast Laquari, and Elemental Hero Prisma. Prisma was sent back to his deck, leaving him to do nothing but set a card to each zone. “Your turn.”

Kuang attacked with Grandmaster and Hackl flipped Dimensional Prison, the Grandmaster’s one major Achilles’ heel — but Kuang flipped Solemn Judgment! Drawing four cards on his first turn was really paying off, as Kuang seemed to have all the answers. Darius went down, Kuang got another draw with Spirit, and Shogun Shien attacked directly. A set spell or trap ended his turn.

A set card to each zone was Hackl’s only move. He lost another Dimensional Prison next turn to Kuang’s summon for the turn, Yaichi, and Grandmaster attacked to destroy Hackl’s set D.D. Crow. Shogun Shien made another direct attack.

Hackl summoned Gladiator Beast Darius, and then brought back his other Darius with Monster Reborn. One Darius attacked Yaichi and Kuang let it go. Darius tagged out, Hackl special summoned Gladiator Beast Bestiari, and the duel stood at 3600 to 3500 life points. Bestiari destroyed Spirit of the Six Samurai, and in main phase 2 Hackl contact Fused his two Gladiator Beasts to bring out Gladiator Beast Gyzarus! Gyzarus targeted Great Shogun Shien and Kuang’s set spell or trap. He chained it, Book of Moon, to turn Gyzarus face down and shunted the monster destruction over to Grandmaster. Hackle set his last card to finish out.

There was just no stopping Kuang. He activated Heavy Storm, summoned another Yaichi, and attacked Hackl’s last face-down monster. “That’s it,” announced Hackl, who immediately scooped his cards.

Edward Kuang opens with an amazing double-United play and crushes opponent Daniel Hackl! He’s just one win away from competing in Nationals tomorrow.

Game 2

Hackl opened again, this time playing Elemental Hero Stratos to search out Elemental Hero Prisma, then setting Solemn Judgment, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Dimensional Prison. Kuang summoned Card Trooper, sent Zanji, Grandmaster, and Mirror Force to the graveyard to boost its ATK, then ran it straight into Dimensional Prison — no draw for him. He set two cards to his back row though, and flipped one of them next turn: Trap Dustshoot. That revealed Hackl’s hand: Heavy Storm, Elemental Hero Prisma, Solemn Judgment, and Spirit Reaper. He lost Prisma yet again.

He summoned Reaper, attacked, and hit! Kuang lost his in-hand copy of The Six Samurai – Yaichi and Stratos made a direct attack for 1800 damage, too. Hackl set Solemn Judgment to end his turn.

Kuang flipped his face-down Reinforcement of the Army to search out Zanji, but when he summoned him he lost Zanji to Bottomless Trap Hole. He activated Smashing Ground to destroy Stratos, then special summoned Enishi, Shien’s Chancellor — Solemn Judgment negated the summon and destroyed him. Next turn Hackl attacked with Reaper to make Kuang discard his last card, Spirit of the Six Samurai.

That left Kuang to set his next topdeck to his spell and trap zone. Hackl summoned Kinetic Soldier, turned Spirit Reaper to defense mode, and swung with the Kinetic. Kuang drew and set his topdeck to his back row again.

“Summon Elemental Hero Prisma,” announced Hackl. Prisma and Kinetic both made direct attacks and Kuang was down to 1300 life points. Hackl still had 4000. Kuang couldn’t do anything but set another spell or trap, and a turn later he lost out to another attack from Prisma.

Daniel Hackl battles back, fighting to take this Last Chance Finals match to a third duel! Side decking was fast and furious, with play moving to the third game. Samurais were narrowly defeated in the first Last Chance Regional’s finals earlier this afternoon. Could they win this time?

Game 3

Kuang opened with Reinforcement of the Army, searching his deck for The Six Samurai – Zanji. He activated Six Samurai United, summoned Zanji, special summoned Grandmaster, and then sent United to the graveyard to draw two cards. One set card to his back row finished his turn.

Hackle had Solemn Judgment, Trap Dustshoot, Premature Burial, Test Tiger, Bestiari, and Darius. He summoned Bestiari, special summoned Test Tiger, and passed priority. He tributed Test Tiger to try and shuffle Bestiari back, but Kuang chained Book of Moon to turn Bestiari face down. Test Tiger’s effect disappeared. Hackl set Dustshoot and Solemn Judgment to finish.

Dustshoot revealed Kuang’s hand next turn: Heavy Storm, Reasoning, Monster Reborn, Spirit of the Six Samurai, and Enishi, Shien’s Chancellor. He activated Heavy Storm to destroy his opponent’s Solemn Judgment, attacked Bestiari with Zanji, and then made a direct attack with Grandmaster. He ended his turn with three cards in hand and two monsters on the field. “Go.”

Hackl drew to three cards, and had nothing on the table. He had Premature Burial, Darius, and Sangan, and he summoned Darius. Premature Burial brought back Bestiari and he contact Fused both for Gyzarus. He opted to destroy only Zanji with Gyzarus’ effect, attacking Grandmaster to keep him from being returned to Kuang’s hand. He did not tag out Gyzarus at the end of the battle phase though, a decision that was definitely going to cost him. He knew Enishi was coming.

Kuang activated Reasoning next turn. Hackl predicted level 7, Kuang special summoned The Six Samurai – Irou off the top of his deck, and, sure enough, he special summoned Enishi. Enishi destroyed Gyzarus, Kuang normal summoned Zanji, and he added the icing to the cake by playing Monster Reborn. Gyzarus came back up to deal the final blow.

Edward Kuang claims victory over Gladiator Beasts, taking Samurai to the National Championships tomorrow!