I want to see this stuff firsthand, and I don’t care if Tomas Mijares already has a win under his belt. Tri-Horned Dragon? Really? It was unbelievably cool, and I had to see this thing in action. There was nothing else that screamed “feature match” this round, so it was a great chance to feature two duelists from California.

This is Sean Eng’s first trip to the feature match table, and at 19 years of age he hails from right here in San Francisco. He’s playing Lightsworn with Plaguespreader Zombie, a difficult matchup for Mijares thanks to Necro Gardna’s impact on his OTK. Could Mijares work the same magic that had won him his first round, or were we about to witness a series of unfortunate events?

Eng opened the match with a single set monster. Mijares had Limiter Removal, Tri-Horned Dragon, Giant Trunade, Demise, King of Armageddon, and two Reckless Greed. He set both copies of Reckless and ended. “I’m assuming you’re playing the deck that’s safe to assume you’re playing . . .” Eng’s next move was just another set monster. “Whoa. Or not!” Play was back to Mijares, who was now quite confused as to his opponent’s strategy.

He drew and activated Allure of Darkness, nabbing another Tri-Horned Dragon and Mystical Space Typhoon. He removed Tri-Horned from play and ended, now unable to play Advanced Ritual Art if he drew into it. Eng just passed next turn. Mijares topped Threatening Roar, set it, and play was back to Eng. Neither competitor was getting any sort of offense going: Eng was either drawing nothing, or he was slow rolling the situation to try and figure out what Mijares had up his sleeve. Eng ended next turn, discarding Wulf, Lightsworn Beast from his hand.

Next turn Mijares drew and summoned Manju of the Ten-Thousand Hands, fetching End of the World from his deck. “So you have Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter and a Necro Gardna face down?” He attacked the most recently set monster and destroyed it: Necro Gardna. “So that’s Ryko then, right?” Mijares grinned and ended.

Eng summoned Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress next turn, asked for a response, and moved to his battle phase when Mijares announced he had nothing to do in return. Lyla attacked Manju, and in main phase 2 Eng made the right read, using Lyla’s effect to blow away Threatening Roar! “That’s so sick!” Eng made the right read, hitting the one back row card that wasn’t Reckless Greed. It got sicker, too: in the end phase Lyla’s effect sent Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Celestia, Lightsworn Angel, and a second Necro Gardna to the graveyard! Mijares’ job just kept getting tougher. There was no way he was OTKing now.

Mijares drew for his turn (netting Phantom of Chaos), then took two more with Reckless Greed: Allure of Darkness and Geartown. He activated Allure, drawing Roar and Sangan, and paid for it by removing his second Tri-Horned Dragon. It was that or his Phantom of Chaos, which he’d need in order to reuse Demise’s effect. He set Roar, set Sangan, activated Geartown, and ended his turn with one Reckless Greed still left face down.

Eng was up. He summoned Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, and then discarded Wulf, Lightsworn Beast for her effect, bringing back Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter to the field in defense mode. He then flip summoned the card he’d set on turn 1 — Plaguespreader Zombie! It was a huge bluff, and by Tuning it to Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter and Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, he brought out Black Rose Dragon! He activated the Dragon’s effect, but Mijares chained Reckless Greed and Threatening Roar! He drew two cards for Greed, and then searched his deck for Phantom Skyblaster with Sangan’s effect. With End of the World in hand he was locked and loaded, and the destruction of Geartown got him Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon from his deck! It hit the field in attack mode, and Eng ended his turn with five cards in hand.

Mijares had nine cards in hand, and summoned Phantom Skyblaster — he brought out one Token with its effect despite controlling two monsters; he could’ve brought out a second Token, and not doing so cost him some damage later in this turn. He tributed both Skyblaster monsters for End of the World, attacked with Demise, and lost the attack to Necro Gardna. Gadjiltron Dragon attacked next, and though Eng had Gorz, Mijares had Limiter Removal! That gave Eng a massive Gorz Token, so Mijares wiped the field with Demise’s effect in main phase two. He ended his turn by setting one more card. “How many Judgments are you holding,” Mijares mused. The duel stood at 5700 life points to 2000, with Mijares leading.

But it was Eng’s turn to take the initiative! He thought a moment, and then summoned Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, discarded Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior for her effect with priority, and special summoned back Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress. Her effect blew away Mijares’ bluffed Mystical Space Typhoon. Eng had three cards left in hand.

He sent one back to the top of his deck to bring back Plaguespreader Zombie, and he Synchro summoned for Goyo Guardian with the spent Lyla, a much-vaunted play that I don’t think we’ve seen yet in feature match coverage. “That sucks so bad,” remarked Mijares. Goyo Guardian smashed into Demise, Mijares handed it over, and Lumina made a direct attack. In the end phase her effect netted Eng a free copy of Wulf!

“This is over,” groaned Mijares. He was holding Monster Reborn, and spent a moment searching both graveyards. He played Reborn and went for Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon? “That’s fine,” replied Eng. 

 

He sent Gadjiltron to attack Demise — Eng activated Necro Gardna’s effect to stop the attack. Mijares set another card to his back row, ended, and Eng drew to three. Eng couldn’t pay for Demise’s effect, so Honest was his best out here. Sure enough, he sent Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner to attack Gadjiltron Dragon, and when Eng announced that he was entering his damage step, Mijares scooped and dove to his side deck.

Sean Eng gets off to a slow start, but dominates in the end to take the first duel over Tomas Mijares! Mijares was one game away from a dismal and disappointing failure. Could he pull this out?

Game 2 got started with Mijares searching his deck for Geartown with Terraforming. That left him with Mind Crush, Demise, Gadjiltron Dragon, Trade-In, and Allure of Darkness — not at all bad! He activated Trade-In, discarded the Dragon, and drew Limiter Removal and another Geartown. That’s one combo down. Allure of Darkness got him Mystical Space Typhoon and Phantom of Chaos, and he removed the Demise. He set Mind Crush and ended.

Eng set a card to each zone, and Mijares drew another Demise. He could blow away his first Geartown by setting his second, but he still didn’t have a lot going on. He set Mystical Space Typhoon, lost it to Eng’s Typhoon in the end phase, and play was back to Eng.

He flip summoned Necro Gardna and ran it at Mijares for 600 damage.  He set another card to his back row and ended. Mijares set one as well, passed, and play was back to Eng. Eng activated Solar Recharge, sent nothing of note from his deck to the graveyard, and normal summoned Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner. Mijares ate a combined 1600 damage from Lumina and the Gardna, and Eng ended. Lumina sent Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness, Garoth, and Lyla to the graveyard.

Mijares drew Threatening Roar — still no offense. He passed his turn, shook his head, and Eng tributed Lumina for Celestia, Lightsworn Angel. The Angel sent Jain, Lightsworn Paladin, Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, and two Necro Gardna to the graveyard! Mijares reeled, and chained his Threatening Roar. He chained Mind Crush, desperately called Honest, and sure enough Eng had one to discard. “That was horrific,” groaned Mijares. “That was devastating!” Eng’s Wulf came to the field and he turned his Gardna to defense mode before ending. There was no way Mijares was winning out of this.

Brain Control came off the top for Mijares, and he took a moment to search both duelists’ graveyards. He had two Geartown, Demise, Brain Control, Limiter Removal, Phantom of Chaos, and Threatening Roar — all he could do was set the latter. Eng drew to four cards, with three monsters on the field, one spell or trap set, and two Necro Gardnas in the graveyard.

He tried to enter his battle phase and was denied by Threatening Roar. “Alright” commented Mijares. “I need Trade-In, Manju, Advanced Ritual Art, or End of the World.” He got Psychic Commander instead. “Or that! That’s pretty good too! Brain Control?”

He slapped it to the field, took Wulf, and then normal summoned Psychic Commander. He activated Geartown, but Eng chained Enemy Controller! He tributed his Necro Gardna to take control of Psychic Commander and Mijares was shut down, miles away from the Black Rose Dragon he needed to survive.

He set his second Geartown, special summoned Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon from his deck, and then flipped Geartown over. Gadjiltron Dragon attacked Celestia, Necro Gardna protected her, and Mijares handed back Wulf. He took back his Psychic Commander, but next turn Eng revealed another Celestia and two Judgment Dragon! Mijares had no choice but to scoop.