Fate had paired both of these Shonen Jump Champion title-holders against each other in round 2, painfully early in the tournament. Even worse, both duelists had suffered round 1 losses: another loss here in this feature match would probably knock the loser out of contention this weekend.

Emon was seeing nothing but black and red all morning. Last round, he had met defeat at the hands of Team Nexus’s Franklin Debrito, and now he was up against yet another Nexus member. A win here for Fredella would be a serious feather in Nexus’s cap!

Emon won the roll and opened with a set monster. Fredella special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed it off for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroyed Emon’s set Reaper, and hit directly! Emon summoned Asura Priest, activated Book of Moon on Zaborg, attacked it with Asura Priest, set a spell or trap and passed. On the next turn he took 1000 damage —Fredella summoned Sangan and beat him with it for a direct attack.

Asura Priest came back down to nail Sangan, and Fredella searched his deck for Spirit Reaper with its effect. Emon passed. Reaper attacked, but Emon intercepted and destroyed it with Sakuretsu Armor. Asura Priest came back down next turn to hit Fredella directly.

Fredella removed two Lights and two Darks from his graveyard to special summon a pair of Chaos Sorcerer cards. He then normal summoned Mystic Tomato, and both Sorcerers attacked for game!

Andrew Fredella wins one of the fastest feature match duels of all time!

Both competitors spent more time side decking for game 2 than they had spent actually playing game 1. Each of them set up a smokescreen, shuffling their sides into their main decks and then stripping fifteen cards out to conceal their siding choices from one another.

Emon debated his opening move for game 2, eventually setting a spell or trap, taking it back, and then setting it again. He didn’t set or summon a monster. He passed to Fredella, who activated Graceful Charity, discarded the Reaper, summoned another Reaper with Asura Priest, and attacked directly. Things looked grim for Emon, as he discarded Magician of Faith. Fredella set a spell or trap and ended, starting to really feel his building momentum.

Emon shuffled his hand—one false step here would knock him out of the tournament. He maligned his lack of knowledge, not knowing anything about Emon’s deck. “I didn’t see anything last game, I don’t know if you run Decree . . .” He summoned Mystic Tomato, attacked into Spirit Reaper, and pounded home 1100 damage. He set a spell or trap, and play was back to Fredella!

Fredella tributed off his Reaper to summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and destroy his opponent’s Mystic Tomato. He then proposed an attack with Zaborg. Emon ran some math and decided to take the hit, and Fredella matched his second set back row card with one of his own. Emon drew for his turn, flipped Heavy Storm, and destroyed Fredella’s Mirror Force and Book of Moon. He summoned Cyber-Stein, used its effect to bring out Cyber Twin Dragon, activated Creature Swap to trade his Stein for Fredella’s Zaborg, and brought out Chaos Sorcerer! Sorcerer, Zaborg, and Cyber Twin Dragon all attacked, winning the second duel and keeping Emon in the match!

Emon almost seemed embarrassed. “I hate Cyber-Stein,” he said sheepishly. “I just want to apologize for being cheap. I went to the dark side.” Cheap or not cheap, Cyber-Stein had just kept Emon Ghaneian alive in this tournament. Both duelists set up a smokescreen again, side-decking faster this time. They still knew very little about what was in each other’s decks.

Fredella opened the final duel with a set card to each zone. A timely Nobleman of Crossout from Emon removed his set Night Assailant from the game on the following turn, and Emon set a card to each zone, not pressing his brief advantage. Fredella set a monster, Emon flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive to draw a card with its effect, and summoned Sangan. Sangan attacked Fredella’s set monster (another Dekoichi), and Sangan bounced away, deflected by Dekoichi’s 1000 DEF. Both Dekoichis clashed, Fredella’s went down, and play passed to him.

He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, used its token to destroy Emon’s set Heavy Storm, and attacked Dekoichi. Emon had the answer though, and activated Book of Moon from his spell and trap zone to turn Dekoichi face down. When Breaker hit Dekoichi, its flip effect activated and resolved, netting Emon another draw.

Emon summoned Asura Priest, wrecked Breaker with it, and attacked directly with Sangan. He set a spell or trap card and ended. Fredella set another card to each of his zones and passed.

The Asura Priest came back down again, and attacked into Fredella’s set monster: Tsukuyomi! Tsukuyomi turned Asura Priest face down, Sangan hit directly, and Emon ended his turn. It was 5900 to 8000, with Emon leading. He had four cards in hand, one spell or trap set, a monster set, and Sangan on the field. Fredella had four cards in hand, plus two set spells or traps.

He drew to begin his turn and shuffled his hand rapidly, thinking out his turn for over thirty seconds. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroyed Emon’s set Asura Priest with its effect, and then carefully contemplated attacking. He decided to move all in. He activated Premature Burial, brought back Cyber Dragon, and attacked Sangan with Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Emon ran some math again—if both attacks went through he’d lose 3500 LP, knocking him below Cyber-Stein range. He took the hit from Zaborg, Sangan was destroyed, and on its way to the graveyard it grabbed Emon Cyber-Stein!

Cyber Dragon attacked Emon next, but was blocked by Enemy Controller! Did Emon have another win with Stein?!

Emon drew for his turn and activated Confiscation, revealing Fredella’s hand: Cyber-Stein and Snatch Steal! “Wa-how-how-how?!” yelped Emon. “I’m ready for Stein, let’s just discard Snatch Steal.” He set a monster, set a spell or trap and passed: his set back row card was Scapegoat. He was baiting Fredella into special summoning Cyber Twin Dragon, and had Creature Swap in hand to take control of it if it hit the field.

He didn’t take it. Cyber Dragon attacked Emon’s set monster, Magician of Faith, which got him back Heavy Storm. Zaborg attacked, but was blocked by Scapegoat! Fredella smelled a rat and didn’t attack any of the Sheep tokens. He just set another monster and passed.

Emon activated Heavy Storm! It wiped out Fredella’s back row, taking the Cyber Dragon with it. He followed it up by summoning Mystic Tomato, attacked into Fredella’s set monster, Spirit Reaper, and passed. With four Sheep tokens on the field and two Creature Swap cards now in hand, it seemed as if Emon was in a great position.

But looks can be deceiving . . .

Fredella topdecked into Limiter Removal! With 5100 LP remaining and no spells or traps on Emon’s side of the field, he summoned Cyber-Stein and brought out Cyber End Dragon! Fredella dropped to 100 life points, Limiter Removal boosted the Dragon’s ATK to 8000, and Fredella announced an attack of Cyber End Dragon against a Sheep token! The match ended in an explosion of mutton and wool, and it was game for the champion of Team Nexus!

Emon Ghaneian drops from the tournament, while Andrew Fredella moves on with a 1-1 record!