Kyle Hintz is here representing Team Outphase with a Destiny Hero beatdown deck rather reminiscent of T’s. Outphase is primarily Texan, but Kyle is here from Missouri. Austin is representing Team Pro from Iowa, and has brought Diamond Dude Turbo with him today despite the Limitation of Magical Stone Excavation. Austin needed this win to stay alive, as his tiebreakers were apparently dreadful. Kyle had a bit more of a buffer, but a loss would still all but eliminate his chances of a Day 2.

Kyle won the roll and started off with Reinforcement of the Army to fetch Elemental Hero Stratos, which he then summoned to fetch Destiny Hero — Disk Commander. He finished with a set spell or trap, and Austin was up. Austin started with Destiny Draw pitching Destiny Hero — Malicious before paying 800 life points to use Brain Control to steal Stratos. He attacked with the pilfered Hero, and Kyle opted to take it. In main phase 2, the Hero was tributed for Jinzo, and Austin set a card before passing. Kyle could only muster a set monster, and Snipe Hunter came down next for Austin. Snipe Hunter blew away Kyle’s set Disk Commander, and both monsters attacked directly. Stuck with a useless Mirror Force and Crush Card Virus, Kyle simply scooped after his next draw didn’t yield anything useful.

Both players side decked between rounds, and Kyle was up first once again. He started with Stratos as before, except this time he fetched Malicious to his hand. He was quickly pitched to Destiny Draw, and followed by another Destiny Draw, this time discarding Dasher. Kyle then set a spell or trap and passed over to Kyle who opened with Destiny Hero — Diamond Dude who revealed Pot of Avarice. Snatch Steal pilfered the Stratos, and both Diamond Dude and Stratos attacked directly. He set a spell or trap and passed back over to Kyle who used Heavy Storm to blow away Snatch Steal and Austin’s set Mirror Force. Stratos returned to Kyle, and he got out the calculator to do some math. Snipe Hunter came down, and Kyle pitched Malicious to try and destroy Snipe Hunter. He rolled a 6 though, and had to throw away a Cyber Dragon to try again, successfully this time. Premature Burial brought back Dasher, Dasher ate a token to gain 1000 ATK, and a second Malicious was summoned to Kyle’s side of the field. Metamorphosis traded the Malicious in for Ryu Senshi, and Kyle had enough to attack for game! Two lightning fast games put the match at 1-1 with Austin up to start game 3!

Austin opened up the third game with a set spell or trap, while Kyle had Destiny Draw using Fear Monger as fuel to cycle through some cards. Card Trooper came down next and knocked Call of the Haunted, Destiny Hero — Dasher, and Brain Control into the graveyard before attacking for 1900. Heavy Storm in main phase 2 blasted Austin’s set Bottomless Trap Hole, and Kyle set a card before ending. Austin had a Trooper of his own next turn, and he sent three cards to the graveyard to pump it, only to lose it on the attack to Ring of Destruction. He set three cards, safe from Heavy Storm until Kyle topdecked Dark Magician of Chaos and summoned him with Dasher’s effect! Heavy Storm was returned and activated, and Austin activated Ring of Destruction to blow the Magician away and Call of the Haunted to get back Card Trooper for a free card. It was irrelevant though, as pumping the Trooper was still enough for Kyle to win! Kyle Erickson stays alive by winning one of the fastest feature matches ever, 2-1!