Tristan Johnson is twenty years old, and traveled here today from Georgia. Qualifying last September as a result of a Regional success, he is now one match away from possibly making a breakthrough Day 2 appearance.

He’s up against Ryan Hayakawa, the dueling world’s first-ever two-time Shonen Jump Champion! A star player of Comic Odyssey, Hayakawa is one of the most experienced players here. Still, today was a day of many upsets, and this just might be another in a long series of such.

Johnson won the roll and opened with a set monster to begin the duel. Hayakawa fired back with two set cards in his back row, and flipped Trap Dustshoot! It revealed Johnson’s hand of Destiny Draw, Jinzo, Pot of Avarice, Destiny Hero - Disk Commander, Creature Swap, and Cyber Dragon, sending back Disk Commander. “Cards in hand?” inquired Johnson. Hayakawa had four, and Johnson flip summoned his set Card Trooper to send three cards from his deck to his graveyard. He tributed the Card Trooper for Jinzo, then attacked directly for 2400 damage. “Your turn.”

A desperate Soul Exchange fell from Hayakawa’s hand, and he tributed his opponent’s Jinzo for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, forced to destroy Zaborg with his own effect. It was the right play, but certainly didn’t speak well of Hayakawa’s range of options.

He set another Trap Dustshoot and used it on the following turn to send Cyber Dragon back to his opponent’s deck. Still, Johnson activated Reinforcement of the Army to search out Elemental Hero Stratos, who he summoned and used to fetch Destiny Hero – Malicious. He then activated Destiny Draw, discarded the Malicious, drew two cards, and removed Malicious from play to special summon another; Hayakawa flipped Torrential Tribute to destroy him and Stratos.

Another Malicious came out of Johnson’s deck, this one in attack mode. Then he activated Premature Burial to bring Jinzo back to the field, pressing with two attacks and lowering Hayakawa to 2400 life points.

“Does that end your turn?”

“Yes” confirmed Johnson. Hayakawa was up.

He drew, and had three cards left in his hand. He activated Premature Burial, brought back Zaborg, and ran over Johnson’s last Malicious. He set a monster and ended, hunched over the table. Things weren’t going well for the two-time Champ.

But each coin has two sides: the duel was going spectacularly well for Johnson! With Mirror Force, Brain Control, Creature Swap, and Pot of Avarice in hand he considered what to do next. He opted to take the Zaborg with Brain Control, attacked into Hayakawa’s set monster with him and lost Jinzo to the effect of the monster Zaborg flipped: Old Vindictive Magician. It was a misplay: he should have attacked with Jinzo first to force Hayakawa to destroy his own monster, but Hayakawa didn’t have to. Still, an amazing series of events bailed Johnson out regardless, as Jinzo was Johnson’s fifth in-graveyard monster, and he activated Pot of Avarice! He drew Fear Monger, and then drew Jinzo again! It was a massively lucky draw; Johnson tributed the Zaborg for Jinzo, set Mirror Force, and Hayakawa scooped moments later.

Newcomer Tristan Johnson utterly devastates the experienced Hayakawa. Luck was clearly in Johnson’s favor, and he had the know-how and guts to follow up on it.

Hayakawa began the second duel with a set card to each zone, promptly losing his set Chain Disappearance to Mystical Space Typhoon on the following turn. Johnson set a monster, then set two cards to his spell and trap zone. Hayakawa was up and flip summoned his set Old Vindictive Magician, destroying his opponent’s set Disk Commander, a somewhat disappointing hit. Vindictive attacked directly and Hayakawa set a card to each zone, but Johnson activated Call of the Haunted in the end phase to bring back Commander! That Old Vindictive just kept getting worse. Johnson drew two cards and Hayakawa settled in for a long duel.

Reinforcement of the Army searched out Elemental Hero Stratos for Johnson on the following turn. He summoned him, used his destruction effect to blow away Hayakawa’s set Mirror Force (another “horseshoes” pick, as Hayakawa had two cards set in his back row) and attacked Old Vindictive with Stratos. Disk Commander went to defense position and play was to Hayakawa.

He flipped another Old Vindictive! His effect destroyed Stratos, and he then ran over Disk Commander in battle. It may have actually been the only move that went well for Hayakawa in the entire match, as Fortune continued to rain unspeakable things upon the Comic Odyssey star.

Johnson activated Destiny Draw next turn, dropped another Commander, and then summoned Card Trooper. Its effect sent Destiny Hero - Malicious to the graveyard, and Johnson removed him to special summon another. Malicious attacked Hayakawa’s Old Vindictive Magician to destroy him, and Card Trooper then attacked the set monster: Gravekeeper’s Spy! Card Trooper bounced off harmlessly and Hayakawa special summoned another Spy from his deck in defense position.

“End my turn,” declared Johnson, setting another card to his back row. “Go,” replied Hayakawa after drawing for his turn. Johnson used another Destiny Draw, and discarded yet another Disk Commander! He tributed Malicious for Jinzo, removed the second to special summon a third in defense position, and turned Card Trooper to defense. Jinzo attacked one of the two Spy’s and Johnson ended.

Hayakawa summoned Snipe Hunter.

“Taking priority?”

“Pass,” replied Hayakawa, not using Snipe Hunter’s effect. It ran over Malicious, then shot Apprentice Magician at Jinzo to destroy it. “Go ahead.”

Johnson shifted Card Trooper to attack and sent three cards to the graveyard: Dark Magician of Chaos, Fear Monger, and Destiny Draw. Then he summoned a Snipe Hunter of his own! Johnson opted to pass priority just as Hayakawa did, and Hayakawa took advantage by destroying it with Ring of Destruction.

Again, Johnson had the answer. He activated Premature Burial and brought back Jinzo.

“Giant Trunade?” asked a bleary-eyed and disbelieving Hayakawa, on the off chance Johnson was running it.

He was.

Johnson bounced all his cards with Trunade, took back Premature Burial and brought back Dark Magician of Chaos with it, targeting Trunade with Magician’s effect! He activated it, took back Premature again, and then used it a third time to special summon Snipe Hunter! Two shots later Hayakawa’s field was clear and it was all over!

Fate, Fortune, and karma conspire to take Tristan Johnson to an 8-2 finish! Now his Top 16 aspirations rest on tie-breakers alone . . .