Ryan had a run of bad luck earlier in the event when the feature match he thought he had was aborted due to a computer malfunction. Everything seems to have turned out right for him, however, as he’s still 6-1 with three rounds left in the event! He’s drawn an extremely interesting opponent this time: the previous Shonen Jump Orlando Champion, Michael Lux! Hayakawa knows a few things about Shonen Jump Championship wins himself, being the first player to achieve two of them back to back. Ryan is here today with a Dark Armed Dragon deck featuring Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter that he’ll need to pilot successfully against Lux’s Dark Armed Dragon in a potentially nasty mirror match.

Ryan won the roll, and he started things off with a set monster. Destiny Draw came down for Lux—pitching Malicious—and Hayakawa chained with D.D. Crow to remove Malicious on the chain. Reinforcement of the Army came down next for Lux, and he fetched Stratos, summoning it to the field to fetch the other Malicious. He had another Destiny Draw to pitch the Malicious for, and he attacked into Ryko, losing his Stratos while Ryan dumped Malicious, another Crow, and Reinforcement of the Army to give him exactly three Darks! Lux set a spell or trap, and Ryan considered his options carefully.

Ryan had two Dark Armed Dragon cards in his hand, and he summoned the first, declining priority. Torrential Tribute wiped the field, and Ryan ditched his second Malicious to Destiny Draw to draw two. He played Allure of Darkness and removed Grepher for the effect before summoning Sangan and swinging for a grand. Hayakawa set a spell or trap and passed over to Lux, who only had one Dark in the yard but six cards in hand. He played an Allure of his own and drew two, removing a useless Dark Armed Dragon from play. A set monster and four spell or trap cards was his next play, and on the end phase, Ryan flipped Crush Card Virus to tribute his Sangan and reveal Lux’s Morphing Jar and in-hand D.D. Crow. If the Jar flipped, things could get out of hand really fast, but Ryan still had to get through the four back-row cards to do it. He took Disk Commander with the effect of Sangan and set a card to each zone before passing. Lux revealed Snipe Hunter for his draw and it was destroyed, leaving him with no viable moves for the time being.

Ryan was back up, and he flipped Destiny Hero - Disk Commander. He set Allure of Darkness and swung on the Jar, but Phoenix Wing Wind Blast put it back on top of his deck. Lux was handless, but Ryan still looked pretty sad as that was his last chance to force Lux to draw while under the influence of Crush Card Virus. Ryan flipped his set Allure of Darkness and removed the beyond-useless Dark Armed Dragon before normal summoning Elemental Hero Stratos and fetching out Destiny Hero - Fear Monger. Lux revealed and destroyed his draw—the second Dark Armed Dragon—and passed his turn. Reinforcement of the Army came down for Ryan Hayakawa to give him an in-hand Strike Ninja. He summoned it and attacked into it, forgetting to use his D.D. Crow until he saw the Jar . . . making it too late. Lux took 1800 to the face, and Ryan set two spell or trap cards to close out his turn.

Lux had a full hand, but he was low on win conditions with two out of three Dark Armed Dragon cards already removed from play. Lux flipped a set Brain Control to take Stratos, and the traitorous Elemental Hero was Joined by a Sangan. Ryan removed Dark Armed Dragon and a Malicious to dodge with the Ninja, and Lux set two more spell or trap cards before giving back the Stratos and letting the Ninja return. Lux flipped Crush Card in the draw phase, but Solemn Judgment flipped to save Ryan’s board! Solemn Judgment from Lux threatened to push the Virus through, but a second Solemn saved the game! Strike Ninja was tributed for Jinzo, and Lux scooped in the face of lethal and unpreventable damage.

After a long first game with lots of graveyard checking, the players dove into the side deck with Hayakawa ahead one game to none. Michael Lux was up first, and he started things off with a set spell or trap. Ryan’s opening was a lot more eventful with Elemental Hero Stratos searching out Disk Commander and swinging for 1800. He set a spell or trap, and Lux shook his head before setting a monster and passing. Stratos took a swing revealing Spirit Reaper, and Ryan looked at his hand, praying that Crush Card Virus was not in his future. Lux was back up, and he still wasn’t pleased with his hand, passing without any plays. Bottomless Trap Hole was Ryan’s next draw, and he added it to his back row before passing. Lux set a spell or trap and passed as Ryan added yet another monster to his hand. He set a monster and passed over to the Orlando champion, who still wasn’t looking very pleased with his hand. He flipped his set Heavy Storm, costing Ryan Bottomless Trap Hole and Torrential Tribute. Reinforcement of the Army put Dark Grepher into Lux’s hand, and he special summoned it—dropping Destiny Hero - Malicious. Next up was Grepher’s effect, allowing Lux to pitch his in-hand Dark Magician of Chaos to drop Jinzo into the graveyard as his third Dark monster. Dark Armed Dragon followed up shortly, but before using the effect, Lux used Premature Burial to revive Dark Magician of Chaos and recur Reinforcement of the Army. He played it immediately to fetch out Disk Commander and normal summoned Snipe Hunter, earning the scoop from Ryan Hayakawa. Ryan can’t play out of his almost all-monster hand, allowing Lux to force a game 3!

Ryan was up first for the final game of the match, and he opened with a much more balanced hand. One spell or trap was the play, and Lux was up with an Allure of Darkness removing Phantom of Chaos. Reinforcement of the Army fetched Elemental Hero Stratos, and Lux summoned it. Stratos fell into a Bottomless Trap Hole, but not before Lux fetched a Disk Commander to use with his Destiny Draw. Premature Burial was next to bring back Disk Commander and grab Lux another two cards. The Commander swung for 300, and Lux set three spells or traps. If one wasn’t Solemn Judgment or Trap Dustshoot, I’d be amazed.  Trap Dustshoot revealed two Dark Armed Dragon cards, Stratos, Malicious, and two trap cards. Lux chose to send back Malicious before flipping Crush Card Virus to wipe the rest of Ryan’s hand. Ryan very nearly scooped right there, but he opted to hold on, setting both traps and hoping Lux had nothing.

Dark Grepher came down and swung for 1700, and Lux added a second back-row card before drawing a card he flashed too fast for me to see and setting it to his back row. Grepher kept on swinging, and Lux set a card to each zone before passing. Ryan picked up a Ryko and set it before passing back over to Lux, who summoned Card Trooper. Torrential Tribute was flipped on Ryan’s side of the field, but Lux flipped the most faded Solemn Judgment I’ve seen in my life to counter it. Grepher attacked Ryko, and Ryan lost D.D. Crow, Malicious, and Premature Burial from the deck while Card Trooper hit the dirt as well. Lux drew for Trooper, and time was called. Lux would finish his turn and Ryan would have to keep his life ahead of his opponent’s for one more of Lux’s turns to win. The score stood at 4300 to 3600 in Ryan’s favor, and the time limit was his big chance to steal a win that would be otherwise impossible. Ryan was up, and he removed his Malicious to special summon the other one from the deck in defense. Next up was a flipped Mystical Space Typhoon targeting the rightmost card of Lux’s spell and trap zone: a Mirror Force. Ryan set a second monster and passed with no cards in hand, a set card in each zone, and a defense-position Malicious.

Michael Lux had one last turn to drop Ryan’s life points below his to stay in the game, and he looked long and hard at his graveyard and the four cards in his hand before seeing Ryan flip Crush Card Virus, tributing his Malicious to do so. Lux had to drop to 1800 life points to stop it, and Ryan was left with one defense-mode monster and nothing else. Destiny Draw pitched Fear Monger to let Lux dig deeper into the deck. He needed to deal 2500 damage to stay in the game, 2501 to force Ryan to topdeck a win. Lux dumped Jinzo from his hand for Grepher’s effect to send Dark Armed Dragon to the graveyard. Monster Reborn pulled back Jinzo, Spirit Reaper flipped, and Lux’s last two cards in hand were D.D.R. - Different Dimension Revival and a random card to bring back Phantom of Chaos and remove Dark Armed Dragon to seal the deal!

Michael Lux has an unstoppable start in game 3, allowing him to defeat Ryan Hayakawa, 2-1.