The side events looked a lot like the main event—plenty of Comic Odyssey shirts in evidence. This semifinal match paired up two team members, Augusto Mota and Christian Martinez. Both shuffled and got ready for the game. Christian won the die roll, and went first.

 

Christian drew, examining each card in turn as he placed it in his hand. He set one spell or trap card and ended his turn. Augusto drew, looked through his hand, summoned Asura Priest, and attacked directly. Christian looked at his set card, then accepted the attack.

 

Christian then summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and attacked. Augusto activated Scapegoat, gleefully bringing his little Mareep tokens to the field. Christian took out a goat, and ended his turn. Augusto didn't have much in response: he drew, set a spell or trap, and ended.

 

Christian continued to press forward. He tributed to bring out Airknight Parshath and attempted to get Augusto's goats. Augusto activated Ring of Destruction in response, taking out Airknight and protecting his precious tokens. He drew, summoned Asura and attacked directly. Christian drew, looked at his hand, set two spell or traps, and ended.

 

Augusto drew, shuffled his hand a bit, and thought about what he wanted to do. Then, he Metamorphosed a goat into Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Christian wasn't having any of that and responded with Torrential Tribute. Augusto took out Christian's Mirror Force with Mystical Space Typhoon, then summoned Asura Priest and attacked directly one more time. He set another spell or trap, and ended his turn.

 

Christian drew, activated Graceful Charity, and pondered what to discard. The life point totals were now at 2700 for Christian, and 6100 for Augusto. After discarding, he used Premature Burial to bring back Airknight Parshath. It was a short trip for the Airknight, though, since Augusto activated Torrential Tribute in response. Easy come, easy go. Christian set two spell or trap cards and ended his turn.

 

Augusto drew, summoned his old friend Asura Priest, and attacked, only to be hit with a Book of Moon by Christian. Augusto set one spell or trap and ended. Christian drew and activated Call of the Haunted to bring Airknight to the field one more time. Augusto had a Book of Moon ready to go and activated it, flipping Airknight facedown and sending Call of the Haunted to the graveyard. Christian was now at 1900 life points, so he needed to be careful of every play he made.

 

Augusto drew, summoned Tribe, and attacked the face down Airknight. Christian drew into Pot of Greed, set a monster and a spell or trap and ended. Augusto drew, then summoned D. D. Warrior Lady and attacked Christian's face down monster, revealing D. D. Assailant. Both were removed from play. Augusto attacked with Tribe-Infecting Virus, and Christian used Ring of Destruction in response. Christian then drew and set one spell or trap.

 

Augusto drew, then tried to summon Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, until he realized he didn't have the correct monsters in his graveyard. He continued the turn under the good-natured derision of the spectators, setting a monster and a spell or trap. He then flip summoned Magician of Faith, taking back Metamorphosis and activating it to trade Magician for Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and sucked up Christian's facedown monster.

 

Thousand-Eyes always seems to mark a vein of less-than-thrilling turns. “Draw . . . go.” “Draw . . . go.” The longer it went on, the more the spectators laughed each time it happened. The occasional monster, spell, or trap was set, but very little happened for quite some time.

 

Finally, with the life point total at 300 for Christian and 4400 for Augusto, Christian figured he had a chance. He did some math and looked through both graveyards while Augusto ragged him about stalling. “Okay, I got it,” Christian insisted. He played Heavy Storm, chaining Book of Moon to flip Thousand-Eyes Restrict face down. He flip summoned Magician of Faith and took back Graceful Charity, activated it—then realized he'd made a miscalculation. After a brief bout of head-clutching, he continued his turn. He examined both graveyards repeatedly, then played Metamorphosis on the Magician to turn it into Thousand-Eyes and sucked up Augusto's Sangan. He set a spell or trap and ended the turn.

 

Augusto drew, looked over his graveyard, grinned, then revealed Black Luster Soldier. Christian scooped.

 

Game Two

 

Both players looked over their decks to make the best side deck choices. They may have been teammates, but they both wanted to win. They each swapped out a few cards, then shuffled and began the game.

 

Christian went first, and opened with Graceful Charity. “No Sinister! I thought I was going to draw into it!” he exclaimed as the onlookers laughed. Nothing for it, he discarded Airknight Parshath, and with the comment, “This could be a huge mistake,” dumped Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning. He set one monster, one spell or trap, and then ended. Augusto's opening was a little less spectacular: he set one monster and one spell or trap and ended.

 

Christian flip summoned Magician of Faith, took back Graceful Charity and activated it. Still no Serpent, and he discarded Lightning Vortex and D. D. Assailant. He then activated Premature Burial to bring back Airknight, and attacked Augusto's face down Sangan, then attacked directly with Magician of Faith. Augusto retrieved Sinister Serpent with Sangan's effect, and Christian set one spell or trap.

 

Augusto drew, studied his set cards, then activated Lighting Vortex, discarding Sinister Serpent. The sweet taste of total monster removal was short-lived when Christian activated Call of the Haunted to fetch back Airknight. Christian drew, attacked with Airknight, then set another monster and spell or trap card and ended.

 

Augusto drew, and announced that he would stall. To the laughter of his opponent and spectators, he made a meticulous examination of both players' graveyards. Christian wheedled for him to destroy his set Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell. “Come on . . . it's a Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell” he coaxed. “Destroy it! “ Augusto looked at him suspiciously.

 

“It's probably Scapegoat!” He finally yielded to temptation and activated Heavy Storm on it. Lo and behold, it was indeed a Cursed Seal, and the audience was vastly entertained.

 

Christian drew and activated Nobleman of Crossout on Augusto's Magician of Faith. All other copies were removed from the decks, then he played Mystical Space Typhoon on Augusto's set Mystical Space Typhoon. Christian flip summoned his Magician of Faith, took back Premature, used it to bring back Airknight, then attacked directly with both. Augusto was now on the ropes with 2600 life points against Christian's 6400. To add insult to injury, Christian activated Delinquent Duo, relieving Augusto of his Sinister Serpent and Card Destruction. He then set a monster and ended.

 

Augusto drew and brought back Serpent, then studied his hand and field. “I've got Magician again!” Christian announced.

 

“Scoop!”

 

“Show it to me and I'll scoop,” Augusto responded.

 

“No! Then you'll attack it!” Augusto refused to buy it, and ended his turn. Christian drew into Tsukuyomi and gleefully displayed it. “See! I told you I had Magician again!” He summoned it, and Augusto promptly responded with Torrential Tribute. Augusto drew, set a spell or trap and a monster, and ended “That's it, I won,” he grinned. Christian drew and played Nobleman of Crossout, removing Augusto's Cyber Jar, and attacked with Sinister Serpent.

 

The next few turns were uneventful, consisting of “Draw . . . go,” and one additional set on Augusto's side of the field. Finally Augusto got something he liked. He tributed his set monsters for Dark Magician of Chaos, taking Mystical Space Typhoon back into his hand. He then removed Dark Magician from play, and destroyed Christian's set Torrential Tribute with the Mystical Space Typhoon. Finally, he activated Return from the Different Dimension, filling the field with Dark Magician of Chaos, Cyber Jar, and three Magician of Faith. He attacked directly with all five, bringing Christian down to 3600 life points.

 

Christian drew, and ended. Augusto drew, took back Sinister, and activated Scapegoat in response to Christian's Dust Tornado. He played Monster Reincarnation to bring back Sangan, then special summoned Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, and once again, Christian conceded.

 

Augusto won 2-0 and moved on to the finals.