The final four competitors in the side events competed in a single elimination tournament for the first Cyber-Stein of the day. Team Comic Odyssey fell just short of their goal to fill the entire Top 4 with players from their own ranks. Occupying the top three spaces were Augustoa Mota, Kevin Hor, and Wilson Luc, but Naples resident Dwayne Delamotta narrowly edged into the semifinals.
The format was Constructed, and facing three members of Comic Odyssey, Delamotta would have to win two matches against the team. Dropping from his round 4, table 2 matchup in the main event, he was heavily invested in the match and would need to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to survive.
But Comic Odyssey was invested too, losing three of their top players from the main event in an attempt to clinch their first of two Cyber-Steins for the weekend. Theeresak and Nirut Poonsombat, along with Juan Cardenas, remained in the Shonen Jump Championship—CO was cutting their ranks in half. If they didn’t win, it would be a large blow to their plans.
Round 1:
Augusto Mota vs. Kevin Hor and Wilson Luc vs. Dwayne Delamotta
Despite their match being less important than the other one, both Mota and Hor gave their best against each other—a rare thing when teams are in this kind of situation. Both players began cracking jokes, but quickly sank into a rut of serious play. Hor backed Mota into a corner, taking control of the field with a Jinzo and a D. D. Warrior Lady attached with Premature Burial. It seemed as if Hor had an answer for everything Mota did—Heavy Storm was met with Emergency Provisions to keep D. D. on the field, and when Mota finally eliminated the troublesome Jinzo, Hor used Call of the Haunted to bring it right back and end game 1.
Game 2 got off to a poor start for Hor. He summoned Magical Scientist, while Mota had King Tiger Wanghu on the field. “Oh, that was stupid,” he said, immediately seeing his mistake. A turn later, a Snatch Steal took Hor’s Berserk Gorilla, and D. D. Warrior Lady swung directly alongside the King Tiger. Some lucky topdecking set things right for Hor, though, and after several stellar draws, he forced Mota onto defense. His final topdeck? Change of Heart. Attacking with a King Tiger of his own and Mota’s D. D. Warrior Lady, he claimed the win.
Match Win: Kevin Hor
Wilson Luc vs. Dwayne Delamotta
Dwayne Delamotta needed to win to prevent Comic Odyssey from dominating the finals.
Luc opened strongly, quickly establishing control over Delamotta’s hand. He looked to capitalize on and continue his control streak with a Don Zaloog. Delamotta had a very poor hand when it came to monsters, devoid at first of anything but a Sinister Serpent. A Snatch Steal on the Zaloog fixed that, though, and he looked to Creature Swap the Sinister for Luc’s Blade Knight a turn later. Seeing that something was up, Luc flipped Torrential Tribute. Delamotta hid behind a Swords of Revealing Light, but the game moved so quickly that he didn’t have it very long.
Now forced onto the defensive and looking to recover, Luc warded off a D. D. Warrior Lady with a Bottomless Trap Hole. Both players sat in the mid-game with even card counts, and a Confiscation on Delamotta’s Creature Swap didn’t change that. The game continued for several turns, with each player setting cards and preparing for an overextension.
When the dogs of war were finally let to slip, it was Luc who first cried “havoc.” He was, however, quickly met with a Ring of Destruction that wiped his budding offense off the board. With the score sitting at 2600 to 3400 in Delamotta’s favor, Luc Painful Choiced. It set him up for exactly what he needed—Jinzo and Black Luster Soldier. Attacking in excess of 2000 unnecessary damage, he took game 1.
Game 2 began with Luc driving himself to an early lead after a brief run of monster exchanges that were cut short by Torrential Tribute. Delamotta looked to continue his momentum with a Heavy Storm, but Luc held him off with Scapegoats. He summoned a face-down D. D. Warrior Lady to bolster his defenses, but on the next turn, Delamotta drew into Black Luster Soldier and started controlling the field. Staring at two sheep and a face-down monster, Delamotta contemplated trying to clear Luc’s field entirely through the Soldier’s double-attack and Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, but he eventually decided to remove the face-down monster instead. Luc had a single card in hand and thus had little recourse. He summoned a Blade Knight and hoped for the best, but it was quickly taken with Snatch Steal. With Black Luster Soldier, a Blade Knight, and a newly summoned Reflect Bounder against a single sheep, Delamotta pressed for the win.
Luc opened turn 3 very strongly with Pot of Greed. He looked at his hand for a moment, shuffling it a bit before deciding on his face-down spell or trap and monster. His hands were shaking, and no doubt he could feel the potentially very close victory.
Delamotta attacked into the face-down monster with Blade Knight and found it to be a D.D. Assailant. A turn later, Luc turned it to attack, summoned a Blade Knight of his own, and rammed the Assailant at Delamotta. It was blocked by a Sakuretsu Armor. Seeing a need to clear the field, Luc suicided his Blade Knight into the opposing one. He set four of the cards in his hand and then activated Mirage of Nightmare. Delamotta let him draw, set a monster and spell or trap, and passed.
Luc drew, and with a sigh of relief he flipped over his set Mystical Space Typhoon. He examined his new hand and then activated Reinforcement of the Army, taking a Don Zaloog. With three spells or traps still set, he summoned Don and passed priority.
“Is it fine?”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” replied Delamotta.
Luc activated Nobleman of Crossout on the face-down monster and attacked directly, scoring a hit. Delamotta lost a Sinister Serpent, but had nothing except a Creature Swap and a Dark Magician of Chaos in hand in the second main phase, when Luc Forceful Sentry’d to strip him of the Swap. Zaloog attacked on the next turn, as well, and Delamotta was left without a hand.
Delamotta was in a bad position. He had two seemingly dead spells or traps set as he topdecked Emergency Provisions. He set it, partly for use and partly to hide it from Don—he was lucky that Luc wasn’t attempting to summon anything else. Next turn he drew into Berserk Gorilla and set it.
That was all Luc needed to see to make a press. He summoned a Breaker, but the Torrential Tribute he’d obviously been expecting flipped from Delamotta’s back row. He was still just clinging onto dear life, though, using his next draw to set Magical Scientist. It was taken out by an attacking Sinister Serpent—an absolute invitation from Luc that said, “Try to attack me! I’ve got a Torrential or a Sakuretsu, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Faced with that telegraphed message, he set his next draw, a Reflect Bounder. It was what Luc wanted, and he Change of Hearted to take the Bounder and attack with it. One Ring of Destruction later, Luc clinched the win for Team Comic Odyssey!
Match Win: Wilson Luc
“Dice roll!” yelled Kevin Hor as Wilson Luc breathed for the first time in several minutes. Since they were splitting the finals, they each grabbed a six-sider and rolled off. After two ties of snake eyes, Hor won. Team Comic Odyssey took their first Cyber-Stein of the day!
