Undefeated 6-0 records had brought these two celebrity duelists together to compete. Ackerman, who was a top pick at Shonen Jump Durham and managed to Top 8 there, looked to repeat that placing here. For Scurry this wasn’t an issue of repeated success. After competing alongside Paul Levitin and Carlos Santiago, he’s never broken into a Top 8 before, and today he’s hungrier than ever before.
He won the die roll, and opened by summoning Sangan. After a bit of contemplation, he ended his turn with no spell or trap cards set. Ackerman drew, played Confiscation, and looked at Scurry’s hand. It was Jinzo, Smashing Ground, Call of the Haunted, Nobleman of Crossout, Cyber Dragon, and Chaos Sorcerer. After 20 seconds of thought, he elected to discard the Sorcerer. He then set two cards to his back row and passed.
Sangan attacked, and Ackerman played Book of Moon to flip it face down. Scurry tributed it for Cyber Dragon in main phase 2, and took D. D. Warrior Lady with Sangan’s effect. He set two cards to his back row and ended his turn.
Ackerman flipped his set Heavy Storm, a great move, but Scurry chained Call of the Haunted to bring back Sangan. Sangan was destroyed, fetched Scurry Tsukuyomi, and Ackerman set a card to each zone before passing. Scurry activated Nobleman of Crossout, hit Ackerman’s set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and each player removed remaining copies from their decks. Cyber Dragon swung into Sakuretsu Armor, Scurry set D. D. Warrior Lady and lost it Nobleman of Crossout, and Ackerman passed back.
Scurry set a card to each zone, Ackerman set a monster, and Scurry flipped his set Magician of Faith. He took back Nobleman of Crossout, removed Ackerman’s set Sangan from play, summoned Tsukuyomi, turned Magician of Faith face down, and hit directly with Tsukuyomi. Ackerman was in trouble.
He set one back row card and passed. Scurry flipped his Magician of Faith again, took back Book of Moon, used Premature Burial to bring his Sangan back to the field yet again, and attacked with both directly! The life point totals were 4600 to 7200 in Scurry’s favor.
He set a third card to his back row and passed to his opponent. Ackerman was looking at a hand of Chaos Sorcerer, Night Assailant, and Reaper. He set the Reaper and passed. Next turn, Magician of Faith and Tsukuyomi got Scurry his Nobleman of Crossout back, he used it, removed Reaper from play, and attacked directly. Ackerman had nothing.
Ackerman attacked with a topdecked Cyber Dragon, but was repelled by Book of Moon. He set Night Assailant and ended his turn.
Scurry played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Ackerman’s one set back row card, Smashing Ground, and then attacked. After drawing his card for the next turn Ackerman announced “game” and conceded.
Each duelist appeared to side deck in the three minutes that followed. Ackerman did it very visibly, but it was possible that Scurry had only smokescreened and feigned the rotation of a few cards into his deck—a tricky, but legal move. He certainly didn’t appear to have any reason to change his deck.
Ackerman opened with a set spell or trap, Scurry fired back with two back row cards and a set monster, and Ackerman hit it with Nobleman of Crossout! Again, each player had to remove all copies of Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive from their decks as Scurry lost his from the field. Ackerman set a monster and passed.
Scurry played Mystical Space Typhoon, hitting Bottomless Trap Hole. He then played Graceful Charity, and after announcing “this is like the hardest decision ever”, he discarded Cyber Dragon and Tsukuyomi. He summoned Sangan, played Nobleman of Crossout again to remove Ackerman’s set Magician of Faith from the game, and attacked directly with the fuzzball. He still had one set back row card after the Mystical Space Typhoon flipped, so he passed.
It was Ackerman’s turn to play Graceful Charity, and after asking Scurry how many cards he had in his hand (two), Ackerman discarded Mobius the Frost Monarch and Book of Moon. Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed Scurry’s set Torrential Tribute, Tsukuyomi came down to turn over Sangan, and Nobleman of Crossout removed it from play. Tsukuyomi hit directly, Ackerman set a spell or trap card, and passed.
Breaker the Magical Warrior came out of Scurry’s hand at a lighting pace, and he broke Ackerman’s bluff—it was Premature Burial! Breaker attacked directly and Ackerman was up.
He played Confiscation, discarded Chaos Sorcerer, and then wiped Breaker off the field with Tsukuyomi. Ackerman then set a spell or trap, Scurry special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, attacked directly with it, and set a spell or trap, his last card. Ackerman set a monster, Chaos Sorcerer hit it, and it was revealed to be D. D. Warrior Lady. Both monsters were removed from play with the Lady’s effect. Ackerman set a monster, Scurry hit it with Asura Priest, and play passed back to Ackerman
Ackerman set a second back row card, set Tsukuyomi, and Asura Priest swung into it on the following turn. Sakuretsu Armor destroyed Asura Priest before its hands could hit. Ackerman drew, set another back row card, Scurry passed, Ackerman set another back row card, and Scurry set another as well. Ackerman passed, Scurry set a third back row card to match his opponent, Ackerman upped the Ante with a fourth back row card, and Scurry set a monster!
The duel was moving like a tennis match as each player struggled to rebuild from their own over-extension. Each player passed once, Ackerman summoned Sangan, and Sangan attacked into Scurry’s set D. D. Warrior Lady. Again, the Lady removed both monsters from play.
Scurry passed play without doing anything, Ackerman passed back, Scurry passed again, and Ackerman matched it with a second pass. Scurry set another back row card, placing himself at four again, and Ackerman set a second monster. Scurry summoned Cyber Dragon and Ackerman had no reply. Scurry then normal summoned Mirage Dragon! The Dragon would protect his monsters during the battle phase. Cyber Dragon attacked into Ackerman’s set Spirit Reaper, but Ackerman lost his set Tsukuyomi to Mirage Dragon’s attack. He used the Tsukuyomi’s effect to turn his Reaper face down, knowing there was no way for Shane to use another Nobleman of Crossout this duel.
Play passed to Ackerman, and he flipped Snatch Steal to try and take Cyber Dragon. Book of Moon turned the Dragon face down in response, preventing Snatch from resolving successfully. Ackerman asked to see Mirage Dragon again (he’d read it earlier), again familiarizing himself with its effect. He set a spell or trap card, Scurry flip summoned his Cyber Dragon, and sent it into the set Spirit Reaper. Smashing Ground in main phase 2 wiped the Spirit Reaper away, flipping from Shane’s field, and he replaced it with a fourth set to end his turn. It was 1500 to 6900, with Scurry still in the lead.
Ackerman special summoned his own Cyber Dragon, but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole the moment that it was summoned. Ackerman set a fifth card to his back row, with no monster, and passed!
Scurry tributed his Mirage Dragon for the upgraded version, Jinzo!
“Attack?” asked Scurry.
“With who?” replied his opponent.
Scurry pushed forward Cyber Dragon, and Ackerman flipped Scapegoat. He lost two of his four Sheep and Scurry passed. While he was still in control of the game, his face showed that he had desperately wanted to take the match that turn, and he knew that his own Jinzo would potentially leave him vulnerable to reprisal.
Ackerman looked at his options for a while before using Metamorphosis to turn a Sheep into Thousand-Eyes Restrict. It inhaled Jinzo and attacked the Dragon, but Shane blew away the equipped Jinzo with Mystical Space Typhoon! The Thousand-Eyes Restrict crashed into Cyber Dragon with an ATK value of 0, and Ackerman was forced to take the battle damage to his life points. Suffering 2100 damage with only 1500 life points remaining, Ackerman was out of the match.
Shane Scurry continues his undefeated performance here today, while Robert Ackerman’s road towards another Top 8 appearance gets a little bit more difficult!