Both of these duelists had their preferred matchup here. Long didn’t want to face Zach Johnson’s Cyber-Stein deck, and Fredella didn’t want to face James Laurent’s horde of Sasuke Samurai #4. It came down to this: a Chaos Return deck against an Anti-Return match, with a Shonen Jump Champion facing off against a well-recognized internet duelist.

Fredella won the roll and opened with a set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Mystical Space Typhoon. Long attacked with Sangan, bouncing off Dekoichi. He set Book of Moon, which was hit in the end phase with the Typhoon. Dekoichi attacked Sangan on the following turn, Long pulled D. D. Warrior Lady to his hand with Sangan’s effect, and Fredella passed with an open back field.

Long special summoned Cyber Dragon and normal summoned Spirit Reaper. Cyber Dragon took down Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and Reaper attacked directly to force the discard of Nobleman of Crossout. Fredella special summoned Cyber Dragon himself, ran it into his opponent’s Cyber Dragon, and special summoned Chaos Sorcerer to remove Spirit Reaper in main phase two. Fredella again passed, once more without any spell or trap cards. Long fired back with a set monster and passed.

Nobleman of Crossout removed it from play to reveal Magical Merchant! Fredella removed one from his deck, and attacked for 2300 damage, putting the game at 5300 to 7000. Long activated Graceful Charity, discarded Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and examined his graveyard. He removed Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Cyber Dragon to bring out Chaos Sorcerer, used its effect to remove Fredella’s from play, then set a card to each zone.

Fredella activated Graceful Charity too, discarding Cyber Dragon and Creature Swap. He set a monster, then a spell or trap, and concluded his turn. Long flip summoned Magician of Faith, took back Graceful Charity, examined his set spell or trap card, and activated Charity. He discarded D. D. Warrior Lady and Sakuretsu Armor, and reflected on the game state. “You’ve still got Mirror Force and Torrential . . . so one of those must be down . . .” He tributed for Zaborg, but Fredella did indeed flip Torrential, wiping the field. Long passed, Fredella set a card to each zone, and play returned to Long.

He special summoned Cyber Dragon, but lost his dragon when he attacked into D. D. Warrior Lady. Both were removed. He set a monster. Fredella summoned Asura Priest, attacked the face down monster, but was rejected by Enemy Controller. Call of the Haunted brought back Cyber Dragon and attacked, hitting Magician of Faith: Long took back Graceful. Asura bounced.

Long summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and broke Call of the Haunted, but Royal Decree was chained! Smashing Ground destroyed the Cyber Dragon and Breaker attacked directly. Long activated Graceful Charity again, discarding Treeborn Frog and Return from the Different Dimension before passing.

Fredella summoned Asura Priest and attacked Breaker to destroy it. Asura bounced and Fredella had nothing on the field but Decree. Long brought back his Treeborn Frog and passed. His opponent summoned Sangan, and attacked the Frog. Long special summoned it again, removed Breaker the Magical Warrior and Magician of Faith for Chaos Sorcerer, and removed Sangan from the game. He set a spell or trap and passed. Fredella set a monster and passed back. Chaos Sorcerer attacked, but Fredella’s monster flipped. It was Night Assailant, and it destroyed the Sorcerer.

Fredella summoned Asura Priest. It attacked the Frog, then the face down, but now it was Long’s turn to flip Night Assailant: Assailant destroyed the Priest when it was flipped and Fredella ended his turn.

Long flipped his set Heavy Storm and set a spell or trap. Fredella played Heavy Storm, but Long chained Call of the Haunted to bring back Sangan and search his deck for Tsukuyomi. Asura Priest attacked directly, reducing long to 3500 life points. Fredella had 5400 life points remaining, and set a backl row card. Long set one to each zone and passed back.

Fredella summoned Asura Priest again, but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole. Long brought back his frog, tributed it for Jinzo, and swung for 2400, reducing Fredella to 3000 life points and putting Long in the lead! Fredella special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroyed Jinzo, and attacked into the face down Tsukuyomi!

Frog came back for Long, who had three in hand cards and the Frog to Fredella’s one set card in each zone and one card in hand. Nobleman of Crossout removed the Zaborg from play and Long passed.

Mystic Tomato hit the field and attacked the Frog. Long brought it back, took the Tomato with Snatch Steal, and hit Fredella for 1400. He set a spell or trap card and ended his turn.

Fredella activated Premature Burial targeting Cyber Dragon, but lost Premature on the chain to Mystical Space Typhoon! The Tomato poked him for 1400 again, and Long set a spell or trap before ending. Fredella summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, attacked Mystic Tomato, and hit! He pulled Spirit Reaper with its effect and attacked the Treeborn Frog, trapping it in the graveyard for the next turn!

Long played Premature Burial though, and brought back Jinzo, adding more power to his control over the duel. Jinzo attacked for what would have been game, but Fredella was able to block the attack with Enemy Controller. Long played Confiscation, but Fredella’s only in hand card was Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World! It destroyed Jinzo and cleared Long’s back row: there was nothing Long could do! On the following turn Fredella attacked with the Goldd for game, stealing a duel that Long had appeared to have complete control over.

Andrew Fredella is just one duel away from becoming the world’s second two-time Shonen Jump Champion!

Long opened the second duel with a set monster. Fredella summoned Sangan and attacked, hitting D. D. Warrior Lady: both monsters were removed from the game. He set a spell or trap and passed. Spirit Reaper nailed him on the next turn, and discarded Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Long set a back row card and passed.

Fredella summoned Mystic Tomato and Creature Swapped it away for Spirit Reaper. He passed, and Long attacked the attack position Reaper with the Tomato for 1100 damage. He set a monster and ended. Fredella turned the Reaper to defense, set a monster, and passed. Long flipped Magical Merchant, activated Graceful Charity, and discarded Chaos Sorcerer and Sangan, telegraphing Call of the Haunted. Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed Fredella’s Royal Decree, and Long played out several different scenarios in his head, visualizing with his hands. He tributed Merchant for Metamorphosis, brought out Thousand-Eyes Restrict to suck up Fredella’s set monster, special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, and removed Fredella’s Spirit Reaper from play. He set a monster and passed. Fredella set a monster and passed back.

Long passed, Fredella set a spell or trap and passed, and Long passed back. Fredella passed, Long played Confiscation, and revealed his opponent’s hand: it contained Pot of Avarice, Magical Merchant, and Tsukuyomi. Long reached for Tsukuyomi on instinct, but then considered his choice carefully: he went with Tsukuyomi in the end, discarding it. He ended his turn. Fredella passed with three cards in hand and a set card in each zone. Long drew, and had five cards in hand, one set spell or trap, a set monster, Chaos Sorcerer, Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and the Tomato. He removed the Tomato from play, not wanting to give Fredella any potential outs. Fredella passed, and Long played Heavy Storm to clear the field and let Thousand-Eyes Restrict inhale Fredella’s set Magician of Faith. Chaos Sorcerer removed the Thousand-Eyes Restrict from play, freeing up the field, and Long set another monster.

Fredella played Graceful Charity, discarded Magical Merchant and Spirit Reaper, and then activated Pot of Avarice. He drew D. D. Warrior Lady and Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, but flipped Premature Burial off the top of his deck by mistake in the process. It was revealed as common knowledge and he was given a warning, as per the UDE penalty guidelines. He set two spell or trap cards, a monster, and ended his turn.

Long flipped Magician of Faith, took back Heavy Storm, and used it: Fredella flipped Decree, and chained Call of the Haunted to bring back Zaborg (and keep it, due to Decree’s negation). Long’s Sorcerer removed it from the game immediately though, shutting down Fredella’s clever play. Nobleman of Crossout removed Fredella’s set monster, D. D. Warrior Lady. Long set a monster, and Fredella set a spell or trap.

Long summoned Asura Priest, and it attacked the Magician, attacked into Night Assailant, and was destroyed by the Assailant’s effect. On the following turn, Long attacked with Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Chaos Sorcerer for game.

Fredella quickly began the third and final duel, summoning Sangan and setting a card to his back row. Both duelists were moving at a fevered pace. Long activated Graceful Charity, discarded Magical Merchant and Night Assailant, took back Merchant with Assailant’s effect, and attacked with Kycoo. The attack hit, and Sangan fetched Fredella Tsukuyomi. Long set a spell or trap to conclude his turn.

The Nexus champion summoned Tsukuyomi, turned Long’s Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer face down, attacked it, and his Call of the Haunted brought back Sangan! Sangan attacked Long for 1000 damage, Fredella set another spell or trap, and Tsukuyomi went back to his hand.

Long set a monster and ended. Sangan attacked, hitting Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and Fredella passed once Long had drawn his card. Dekoichi went to attack position, attacked Sangan, and Fredella pulled D. D. Warrior Lady with Sangan’s effect. It was 6800 to 7000 with Long narrowly leading. He set a monster and ended.

Premature Burial brought back Fredella’s Sangan again! He used Torrential when it hit the field, clearing the way for an attack but destroying Long’s set Treeborn Frog, a minor disappointment. He pulled Spirit Reaper with Sangan and summoned it, but lost it to Long’s Torrential. Two Torrential Tributes in one turn. He set a spell or trap and passed.

Long special summoned his Frog, used Premature Burial to special summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, and attacked for 1800. Fredella’s set card was Royal Decree, which wasn’t any help in this situation. Spirit Reaper and Sangan were stripped from his graveyard by Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, and Long set a monster.

Fredella summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Premature Burial to kick Kycoo off the field, and attacked Long’s set monster, Magical Merchant. Long lost Zaborg and Sangan off the top of his deck, nabbing Nobleman of Crossout. Fredella passed. Long had seven cards in hand, and special summoned Cyber Dragon to attack Breaker the Magical Warrior and dish out 500 damage. He set a spell or trap card and ended his turn.

Another Cyber Dragon exploded onto the field, this time on Fredella’s side of the table, and he attacked to destroy both Dragons. He then set a monster and passed. Long special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed it for Mobius, destroyed the useless Royal Decree, and removed a Light and a Dark for Chaos Sorcerer.

“Nobleman?” asked Fredella.

Long nodded, and played Nobleman of Crossout to remove Fredella’s remaining monster from the field! With an open path to Fredella’s life points, Chaos Sorcerer and Mobius were free to attack, bringing the duel, match, and tournament to a close!

Shawn Long is your newest Shonen Jump Champion!