John Jensen is one of the top prospects for a Day 2 qualification here today. I’ve literally lost track of the number of times he’s won Championship titles. (Two and a half? Something like that) Hailing from Florida, Jensen is a star among stars on one of the most successful teams in North America: Nexus.
He’s up against Jessy Samek, the eighteen-year-old Champion of Shonen Jump Philadelphia and arguably the duelist who brought Perfect Circle to where it is today. The innovator of a format-defining deck, he’s up against one of his biggest challenges ever!
Samek won the roll and opened with Destiny Draw discarding Destiny Hero – Malicious, probably the most lusted-after opening play of the day. He followed it up with the second most-wanted, Reinforcement of the Army for Elemental Hero Stratos. He summoned Stratos and searched his deck for Destiny Hero - Disk Commander, ending his turn with a set spell or trap.
Destiny Draw hit Jensen’s side of the field, allowing him to discard a Malicious of his own. He summoned Card Trooper, but, when he used its effect, it discarded a second Malicious! It was a painful turn of events for the Nexus star.
“There we go!” Samek grinned. He lost his Stratos in battle, but was happy about the Malicious. Jensen set a spell or trap, Samek set a monster, and Jensen used Trooper’s effect to pitch Destiny Hero - Disk Commander, Brain Control, and Stratos. He summoned Sangan and Samek flipped Torrential Tribute: “That’s gonna go down as the minus of the day,” he remarked, criticizing his own move. He lost his Disk Commander, while Jensen drew for Card Trooper and searched his deck for Destiny Hero – Fear Monger.
‘You should’ve gotten Malicious,” joked Samek.
Jensen laughed. “Yeah! That’d be the play of the day!”
Samek summoned Snipe Hunter, but lost it to Torrential Tribute. He special summoned Disk Commander with Premature Burial, drew two cards, and then attacked directly to drop Jensen to 7700 life points. Samek was at 7100 and set a card to end his turn.
One Malicious was removed from Jensen’s graveyard to bring another to the field. It attacked Disk Commander and Jensen set a card to his back row to back him up. “Go.” Neither duelist wanted to simplify the duel quite yet.
Samek brought out Malicious from his deck by removing the one in his graveyard. He activated Metamorphosis to tribute the summoned Malicious away for Ryu Senshi, and then summoned Sangan. Senshi attacked Jensen’s Malicious and Sangan attacked directly. Jensen was down to 5500 life points.
He set a card to each zone and ended. Samek tributed Sangan for Raiza the Storm Monarch, bouncing Jensen’s monster back to the top of his deck. He searched his deck with Sangan to fetch Card Trooper, but, when Ryu Senshi attacked, Samek’s offense was rebuked by Scapegoat. Ryu Senshi and Raiza each attacked a Sheep and Samek passed.
“I think I win right now,” remarked Jensen. “I’ve got a lot of combos.” He shuffled his hand, clearly doing a lot of thinking.
He activated Snatch Steal to take control of Raiza, and attacked. Samek replied with Sakuretsu Armor, destroying his own Raiza and conceding the trade of his two cards for Jensen’s one. It was a good move for Jensen, who had some ground to make up in what was clearly a game of card counting, at least for the moment. He set a monster and ended.
Samek activated Pot of Avarice! He had just enough monsters in his graveyard to activate, thanks to the Sakuretsu play. He activated Destiny Draw, pitched Malicious, and summoned Card Trooper. Trooper and Senshi attacked the last two Sheep and Samek set another spell or trap. He had four cards in hand, one card set, and two monsters on the field.
Jensen drew and went to five cards in hand. With one set to each zone, he’d officially evened the card counts between him and his opponent. But Samek had strong field presence, and Jensen needed something big to counter that and take control.
Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed Samek’s one set card, Mirror Force. Premature Burial then special summoned his Destiny Hero – Disk Commander, getting him two more cards! He tributed the Disk Commander for Cyber Dragon and attacked to destroy Ryu Senshi: it was exactly the kind of turn Jensen needed! “I end.”
Samek activated Snatch Steal and took Jensen’s Cyber Dragon. He tributed it for Raiza the Storm Monarch, targeted Jensen’s set monster, and bounced it back to his hand. He audibly called it as Fear Monger. He then activated Card Trooper’s effect to send three cards to the graveyard, attacked for 1900 damage, and then swung with Raiza for a total of 4300! Jensen had only 400 life points remaining.
“I have to do this.” Jensen tossed his freshly-topdecked Fear Monger for Destiny Draw, and then special summoned Cyber Dragon to run over the Card Trooper. Samek dropped to 4800 life points and Jensen ended his turn by setting one more back row card. Samek would need to drop another 100 damage to the field if he wanted to win on the following turn.
He committed. Samek tributed his Raiza for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, targeted Cyber Dragon, and Jensen conceded the duel.
Jessy Samek takes the first duel against a struggling John Jensen! Samek was having a difficult time figuring out what exactly Jensen was playing. “I can’t figure out if you’re playing T, or me,” he quipped, joking about his own ties to Perfect Circle.
Jensen opened the second duel with a set card to each zone, and Samek fired back with Cyber Dragon. He attacked, destroying Jensen’s set Sangan, and letting him search for Card Trooper. Jensen set it, Cyber Dragon attacked, and Jensen got another draw. Samek set a spell or trap card and ended.
Brain Control stole away the Cyber Dragon, and Jensen tributed it for a face down monster.
“Aww! I thought I’d finally figure out what you’re playing!”
“Nope.”
Samek set another spell or trap. Jensen flip summoned his set Malicious and attacked: Samek flipped Ring of Destruction to destroy him, and followed up by removing him from play with D.D. Crow before Jensen could remove Malicious from his graveyard to get another! Jensen set a second back row card and passed. Samek summoned Stratos, searched for Malicious, and discarded him for Destiny Draw. He removed the Malicious, brought out another in defense position, and activated Metamorphosis, flipped from the spell and trap zone!
Ryu Senshi was special summoned and Jensen shook his head. “Remove again,” announced Samek, plucking another Malicious from his graveyard to special summon his last copy from his deck. “Senshi attack?” Jensen had to activate Scapegoat, and he lost three of his four Sheep tokens. It was a great turn for Samek!
Jensen set another two cards to his back row, then a third, then a fourth! His spell and trap zone was completely full, and he set a monster next.
But Samek had Jensen’s number: on the following turn he summoned Snipe Hunter and discarded Cyber Dragon to destroy Jensen’s set monster, Morphing Jar! Jensen shook his head again, keeping his composure but clearly not liking his odds. Malicious attacked the remaining Sheep token and Jensen ate attacks from Senshi, Stratos, and Snipe Hunter! “I’ll take it all,” announced Jensen, believing himself to be safe for one more turn.
But Samek flipped Call of the Haunted! He targeted Cyber Dragon and Jensen scooped, unable to protect what remained of his life points.
“I made such a bad play,” announced Jensen. “I had Pulling the Rug and didn’t Rug the Stratos. That was so terrible.” Jensen reeled at his own mistake.
A terrible misplay from one of the country’s best duelists leads Jessy Samek to move on with a 7-1 record, two wins away from making day 2!