A member of Team Collusion and a local boy from Atlanta, 38-year-old Andrew Bartlett was pitted against Overdose’s Paul Levitin. With each duelist having taken a single loss thus far, this wasn’t a definite bubble match, but both competitors were treating it like it was. A win here would put the victor in a good position for the final round. A loss, however, would be utterly disastrous.

He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Scapegoat, and Bartlett chained. Breaker attacked the face down monster, revealed it to be Spirit Reaper, and ended.

Bartlett turned one Sheep to attack, traded it for Breaker with Creature Swap, and attacked the Sheep with Breaker. Spirit Reaper attacked directly, discarding Night Assailant, and Levitin was up to bat again. He had an all-monster hand, but that included Morphing Jar and a Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World. He set a monster and passed.

His opponent considered his next move carefully, sending Breaker into Levitin’s set monster: Spirit Reaper. Bartlett passed, and Levitin destroyed his field with Asura Priest! All the Sheep and Breaker were destroyed, while Reaper got pounded for damage! Levitin ended his turn.

Bartlett tributed his Reaper for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, but Torrential Tribute cleared the field. Bartlett won out for the turn though, special summoning Chaos Sorcerer and attacking, then activating Confiscation to reveal Morphing Jar, D. D. Warrior Lady, Chaos Sorcerer, Asura Priest, Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Seeing how short on options Levitin was, and noting Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, Bartlett discarded Morphign Jar. He ended his turn.

Levitin topdecked into a non-monster, and set it quickly. He then set a monster as well, and concluded his turn. Bartlett set a back row card, summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, and attacked into Mirror Force! “Rip!” said Levitin with a bit of shameless jubilance. Bartlett ended, and Levitin flip summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, beating him for 1500 damage. He then set a card to each zone, and Bartlett was again the turn player.

It was 4000 to 3800, narrowly favoring Bartlett.

He special summoned Cyber Dragon, but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole the moment it hit the field. He set a monster and passed. Levitin flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, drew a card, and attacked with D. D. Warrior Lady. She hit Magician of Faith, and Bartlett took back Scapegoat from the graveyard. Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive attacked directly for 1400 damage, lowering Bartlett to 2600. Levitin set a monster and finished his turn, again with nothing to set in his back row.

Bartlett summoned Asura Priest, and first attacked Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. The Asura Priest then attacked Levitin’s set monster, another Asura Priest, and destroyed it.

“Return is game,” said Levitin, seeing the inevitable coming.

Bartlett flipped his set Return, and Levitin scooped for the first duel.

Neither duelist side decked, and Levitin opened up fast with a set monster to each zone. Bartlett summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, but Bottomless Trap Hole swallowed it up and removed it from play! He set a spell or trap and ended.

Levitin flipped Skelengel, drawing a card, and then played Graceful Charity. He discarded Cyber Dragon and Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, but when he attempted to attack he lost both monsters to Mirror Force! He set a card to each zone and passed.

“I hate that,” remarked Bartlett.

“Yeah, that wasn’t the best situation for you to be in,” replied Levitin. Bartlett set a card to each zone and ended.

Levitin flipped Magician of Faith to reuse Graceful Charity, this time discarding Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Dust Tornado. He summoned Asura Priest, attacked with Asura into Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and attacked with Magician of Faith directly. He set a second back row card and gestured a pass to Bartlett.

He set a monster and passed back to Levitin, seeming to be perhaps a tad troubled with his hand. Levitin set a spell or trap card, summoned Asura again, and smacked Bartlett’s set monster with it: Night Assailant. The Assailant’s effect destroyed Levitin’s Asura Priest, and Magician of Faith attacked directly again. Once more, Bartlett had nothing to do but set a monster.

Chaos Sorcerer was Levitin’s next play, removing Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World and Cyber Dragon from play. He was telegraphing the Return pretty audibly. Chaos Sorcerer attacked and hit D. D. Warrior Lady, and after a bit of thought Bartlett opted not to remove Sorcerer from the game with the Lady’s effect. Magician of Faith hit directly again.

“Come on Heavy…” said Bartlett with a humble smile. He didn’t appear to topdeck it. Instead he played Snatch Steal, targeting Chaos Sorcerer, but Book of Moon flipped the Sorcerer face down. Bartlett played Nobleman of Crossout to remove the Sorcerer from play, set another monster and a spell or trap, and passed.

Levitin turned Magician of Faith to defense and set a monster: the life point totals were 7100 to 8000. Play passed to Bartlett, who used Call of the Haunted to get tribute bait for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Its effect destroyed Spirit Reaper, Levitin’s set monster, but when it attacked Magician of Faith Levitin flipped Mirror Force to destroy it. He was dictating the pace of the game pretty decisively.

Levitin drew and just set a monster again. Bartlett special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, removed the defense position Magician of Faith with Sorcerer’s effect, and set another back row card. Levitin pumped his first a bit and drew.

He immediately flipped his set Heavy Storm, which would destroy Bartlett’s set Smashing Ground and Return from the Different Dimension. Bartlett opted not to chain the Return, banking on his set Spirit Reaper to bail him out, but Night Assailant flipped and destroyed it. Bartlett had nothing left but Chaos Sorcerer, which Levitin took with Snatch Steal, tributing it for Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World. Assailant and Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World attacked directly. Levitin set Mystical Space Typhoon.

Bartlett topdecked Torrential Tribute, but the Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed it the moment Bartlett set it. Two turns later and Goldd had finished the job, polishing off Bartlett’s life points.

Both duelists opted to do some side decking, and each shuffled quite a great deal before beginning. “No Con, no Graceful Charity” whispered Levitin hopefully. He looked away from the table. “Just tell me if he plays them, maybe if I don’t look, they won’t be there when I turn around.”  Bartlett played Graceful Charity.

Levitin turned around. Graceful was still there.

“Got the other one?” asked Levitin.

“I’ve got Delinquent Duo,” quipped Bartlett with a grin. He discarded Spirit Reaper and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, then set a card to each zone.

Levitin summoned Spirit Reaper, played Nobleman of Crossout to remove Bartlett’s set Reaper, and attacked directly for a direct hit that discarded Bartlett’s Cyber Dragon! Levitin set two cards to his back row and ended. Bartlett flicked his back row card a bit, teasing the Heavy Storm, but only set a monster. Levitin flipped Dust Tornado on his turn, but his target, Mystical Space Typhoon, was chained to destroy Levitin’s set Bottomless Trap Hole. Asura Priest and Reaper swung, with Asura Priest hitting Magician of Faith. It got Bartlett back his Graceful Charity, but Spirit Reaper sent it right back to the graveyard!

Bartlett special summoned Chaos Sorcerer and removed Levitin’s Reaper form the field. He set a monster, passed, Levitin set a card to each zone, and play passed back to Bartlett. He flip summoned Magician of Faith, retrieved his Graceful Charity for a second time, and activated it. He discarded Asura Priest and Nobleman of Crossout.

“Activate the seocond Nobleman?” asked Levitin, making a read on Bartlett’s hand. He did indeed have it, and activated it to remove Levitin’s Magician of Faith from the field and forcing another out of his deck. He then activated Confiscation to discard Levitin’s last card, Asura Priest, and turned Chaos Sorcerer to defense. Magician of Faith attacked directly, and Bartlett set a spell or trap card to finish out his turn.

Levitin flipped Return from the Different Dimension to bring back both of his Magician of Faiths, as well as Spirit Reaper! He attacked Bartlett’s Magician of Faith with one of his own, destroying both, then played Creature Swap in main phase 2 to trade his temporary Magician for Bartlett’s Chaos Sorcerer! He ended his turn, and the Magician of Faith and Reaper were returned to the removed from game pile.

Bartlett played Snatch Steal, and took back his Chaos Sorcerer. The Sorcerer attacked and hit, but when Bartlett flipped Return from the Different Dimension Levitin chained Waboku! It was his 3200 to Levitin’s 1550, and Bartlett ended his turn.

Levitin took his 1000 life points from Snatch Steal and passed with an empty field. Practically any monster would win the match for Bartlett, but he didn’t have one. He attacked with the Sorcerer, ended, and Levitin set Tsukuyomi and Confiscation.

Bartlett had the answer, though, and tributed his Chaos Sorcerer for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch! The moment he saw it, Levitin knew it was over and scooped his field. There was nothing he could do.

Andrew Bartlett of Team Collusion moves on with an 8-1 record, still alive with a strong chance for Day 2! Paul Levitin drops to a 7-2 record, now dead on the bubble. He’ll have to win his next match and have amazing tiebreakers to have any prayer of making it to Sunday.