Stephen Chin is our first big story of the day, and his round 1 opponent is just as hungry as he is. Robert Parker traveled all the way here this weekend from Nova Scotia to try and win his way into the National Championships, and he’s armed with Bazoo Return, one of several decks that can out-speed the Destiny Hero Monarch strategy Chin is banking on.

Parker won the die roll and opened with a set card to each zone. Chin fired back with Destiny Draw, discarding Destiny Hero — Malicious to draw two cards and then bring another Malicious to the field: a stellar opening! He followed it up by tributing for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroying Parker’s set Elemental Hero Wildheart and then attacking for 2400 damage. He set a spell or trap to end his turn and then passed.

Things were looking good for the one-time Top 8 competitor!

Parker set a monster and passed. In his end phase he lost the Mystical Space Typhoon he set on turn 1 to Chin’s, who promptly drew, brought out another Malicious and tributed him away for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch: Parker lost Heavy Storm. One Monarch attacked Parker’s set monster, another Wildheart, and the other then attacked directly for another 2400. “Things aren’t going too good for me,” noted Parker, taking the unfortunate sequence of events in stride.

He drew for his turn and activated Reinforcement of the Army, searching his deck for D. D. Warrior Lady: he needed to get Chin’s offense under control, and while a card-for-card trade was far from the ideal way to do it, it was his only option. Parker hand was dead: he had Dimension Fusion, Skull Lair, and Return from the Different Dimension, none of which were particularly useful. He set D. D. Warrior Lady, set Skull Lair to bluff, and ended his turn.

Heavy Storm immediately robbed him of Skull Lair and Chin summoned Snipe Hunter to seal the deal. Snipe Hunter’s first shot missed, but the second destroyed Parker’s set D. D. Warrior Lady, leaving all three of Chin’s monsters to attack directly and end the duel!

“No monsters . . .” bemoaned Parker, who had indeed been cursed with an unfortunate, mostly dead, series of draws.

Stephen Chin wins the first duel! Both duelists set to side decking, with Chin changing only one card while Parker smoke-screened, no doubt contemplating some drastic changes to his main deck.

Parker made the peculiar choice to go second, and was quickly given reason to regret doing so: Chin opened with Destiny Draw again, dropping Destiny Hero — Malicious once more. He set two back row cards, set a monster, and ended. Once his opponent drew, Chin flipped Trap Dustshoot on the following turn. It was a devastating blow, as Parker’s monster deprivation seemed destined to continue: Chin sent Elemental Hero Wildheart back to Parker’s deck.

A set card to each zone was Parker’s only play: the deck that should have been the aggressor in this matchup was being destroyed thanks to Chin’s adaptive tactics. Chin activated Reinforcement of the Army and eventually fetched Destiny Hero — Disk Commander from his deck, but Parker chained Torrential Tribute in the mean time, destroying Stratos and his own set Bazoo the Soul-Eater. Chin ended, feeling confident despite his lack of a monster on the field. Malicious lay in wait, still in Chin’s graveyard.

Parker passed back, and Chin set a monster before blasting his opponent with Confiscation to discard Snatch Steal. Parker special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed it for Raiza the Storm Monarch, bounced Chin’s monster to the top of his deck, and hit for 2400 damage. Parker ended his turn with a set spell or trap, seemingly on the verge of a comeback!

But Chin summoned Snipe Hunter, ditched Disk Commander to destroy his opponent’s Raiza, and attacked for 1500. Parker had nothing, and desperately used Lightning Vortex to destroy Snipe Hunter and discard D. D. Crow. Chin was unfazed as his lead continued to build: it was time to accept liabilities in exchange for a build towards victory.

Destiny Hero — Malicious removed himself from Chin’s graveyard to bring a duplicate to the field, attacking for 800 damage. Chin set a monster and Parker was up.

Knowing that he had to make some sort of play to keep pressure on his opponent, Parker special summoned Cyber Dragon and followed up by bringing back Raiza with Premature Burial. Raiza attacked the Malicious to press through some damage, but when Cyber Dragon attacked Chin’s set monster it was deflected and destroyed by Sakuretsu Armor. Chin was still in control.

“I tribute,” announced Chin, setting a face down monster and sending his set Treeborn Frog to the graveyard in return. Parker attacked with Raiza, but Chin stopped him with Ring of Destruction. Parker set a monster, and it was 2500 to 3000 with Chin narrowly leading.

He brought back his Frog and set a card to each zone. Parker summoned Snipe Hunter and discarded a card with priority to target what turned out to be Torrential Tribute. Torrential was chained, the field was cleared, and Parker passed. Chin special summoned Treeborn Frog again, passed, and Parker drew into an out he direly needed: Mirror Force.

He set it, and lost all hope when Chin sent it back to the top of his deck with Raiza the Storm Monarch! Parker drew Mirror Force and set it yet again, but Chin had Heavy Storm and it was all over. Raiza struck for game to finish the match!

Stephen Chin wins two duels straight, seemingly well on his way to another Nationals invitation!