This match brings together two friends who are also accomplished players. Both of them had gone undefeated in a prior regional, Tanner in the last regional and Lindsey in the regional before. Tanner was playing a Burn/Lockdown deck while Lindsey opted to go with Chaos/Return with a teched Cyber-Stein. Lindsey made it known that he wasn’t going to lose, and Tanner responded to the posturing with a smirk. Both players shuffled up, and the game was on. Lindsey won the opening roll and opted to start the first game.

He started off with a single set monster and passed to Tanner who set one of each. Lindsey flipped his Magical Merchant to pick up Mystical Space Typhoon and used it on Tanner’s facedown Mirror Force. He summoned Mystic Tomato and attacked into a facedown Des Koala losing 2000 to its effect and 400 to battle. Lindsey set one more card and passed over to Tanner who simply set a monster and passed. That Koala was a pain in Lindsey’s side, so he tributed his Merchant for Cyber Dragon and attacked it. The Tomato attacked the other monster revealing Stealth Bird. Mantos set one more S/T and passed to Tanner who activated Heavy Storm. Lindsey lost Torrential Tribute and Return from the Different Dimension, and then Tanner struck him with Lava Golem. Lindsey returned the Heavy Storm, but Tanner chained Just Desserts for 500 after Lava Golem burned him for 1000. Chaos Sorcerer and Spirit Reaper then hit the field in quick succession. Sorcerer removed the Stealth Bird because Tanner had forgotten to put it back face down, and then the other monsters each swung in. Spirit Reaper stole another Stealth Bird from Tanner, who had to play Swords of Revealing Light and pass.

Tanner set a card to each zone but lost the monster to Lindsey’s Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. He tried again next turn but Lindsey had another Zaborg. This time though the monster was Sangan and it fetched out Exiled Force for Lindsey. The Exiled Force destroyed one of the Zaborgs, but it wasn’t enough as the Swords were up and Lindsey attacked for the game. Tanner had him down to less than 3000 lifepoints, but he just couldn’t seal the deal.

Lindsey – 1 Tanner-0

Both players dove into the side deck for game two. Lindsey knew that there was a chance his opponent was siding into Chaos for the second game, and he questioned whether or not he should use his anti-burn cards. Tanner wasn’t saying a word though and he shuffled his entire side deck in before picking out 15 cards. Tanner opted to go first and he began with 2 set S/Ts and a monster in defense.

Lindsey was considering an aggressive start, but opted to match Tanner’s play instead. Tanner flipped Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive to draw a card and then activated Heavy Storm. Mystical Space Typhoon was chained, targeting Tanner’s Scapegoat, which ended up not chaining. Dekoichi attacked into Spirit Reaper, and then Tsukuyomi flipped it back down. Tanner set one more card and passed his turn. Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer was summoned to Lindsey’s field next turn and it hit the Dekoichi. Spirit Reaper swung directly and plucked Tsukuyomi from Tanner’s hand, and Lindsey ended his turn. Tanner was in a bad spot as he set another card and attacked the Reaper with a newly summoned D.D. Warrior Lady. Lindsey took the attack and Tanner considered whether or not he should remove them both from play. Interestingly, he decided not to. Kycoo attacked next turn and both monsters were removed from play along with the monsters in Tanner’s graveyard. Reaper hit directly again discarding a Stealth Bird from Tanner’s hand. Lindsey set one more monster and passed to Tanner, who activated Ceasefire in the end phase revealing a Dekoichi.

Tanner set another monster, and in the next turn it was revealed to be Spirit Reaper by Dekoichi’s attack. Still in the Battle phase, Lindsey destroyed the Reaper with Enemy Controller and Reaper hit directly for a third time discarding Lava Golem from his hand. Lindsey set a monster and then Tanner set one of each. Lindsey flipped Magician of Faith to take back his Typhoon and he activated it on the freshly set Mirror Force. Tanner was in serious trouble now as Kycoo joined the party next turn and attacked his new Stealth Bird before the rest of the monsters hit him directly. He had Exiled Force next turn which he used to get rid of Kycoo, but he had to eat the attacks from the weenies again, dropping him within range of one more attack needed for him to be defeated. Tanner had another set S/T, but it wasn’t anything to stop an attack and Lindsey took the game and match next turn.

Lindsey Mantos moves on to the next round, undefeated at 3-0!