Eaton is 21 years old, works at a comic shop, and goes to school at Cal State North Ridge. His opponent, Jazer Celaya, is 17 and hails from North Hollywood. He also has the most amazing name ever. “Jazer,” like “laser,” but with a “yay.” Seriously.
I’d heard a lot about Aaron Eaton’s deck. Kevin Hor told me I had to feature it and introduced me to the idea behind Eaton’s creation. It’s a 50-card behemoth that’s based around exploiting Skull Lair and then using a massive Gren Maju Da Eiza. It was surprisingly effective; Eaton had a 2-1 record heading into round 4.
Celaya opened with a single set spell or trap, and Eaton fired back with a set card to each of his rows. Celaya again set one more spell or trap and passed, and Eaton passed right back. His opponent was the first to blink, summoning and attacking with Command Knight. It crashed into Eaton’s facedown Apprentice Magician, and Eaton used its effect to bring out another. The thinning had begun.
Next turn, Eaton set another monster and again opted to end his turn. Celaya activated Swords of Revealing Light, revealing a set Spirit Reaper and the Apprentice. He then equipped the Reaper with Axe of Despair, destroying it. Command Knight swung into the Apprentice, Eaton grabbed and set a third, and he took his next turn.
Seeing that Celaya had three cards set in his spell and trap zone, Eaton set a second—he had nothing to fear from Heavy Storm, after all. The Command Knight attacked the final Apprentice Magician, and Eaton pulled Old Vindictive Magician to the field. Another set monster made Eaton’s turn, but he ate some disruption when Celaya tributed his Command Knight for Mobius. This wiped out both of his sets, Book of Moon and Call of the Haunted. The Book was chained to turn Mobius face down and prevent it from attacking, but a turn later, Mobius was swinging on a fresh facedown—Spirit Reaper. Smashing Ground blew it off the board, and Celaya passed, dominating the game with his Mobius.
Nobleman of Crossout wiped out Eaton’s on-field Old Vindictive Magician and plucked one from his deck as well. Mobius attacked the remaining facedown Eaton had, and Magician of Faith fetched him Book of Moon before being smited. Eaton continued playing defensively, setting another monster and another spell or trap next turn.
Celaya was also playing conservatively, but he got himself an edge—he continued pressing with Mobius after activating Wave-Motion Cannon. He set a monster and crashed into a Sangan, and Eaton pulled Magical Merchant.
He tried to set it, but Celaya’s set from the turn before was Magician of Faith, which returned the Nobleman of Crossout to his hand. He used the Nobleman, and the Merchant was gone. Mobius attacked directly but was blocked by Book of Moon, and Magician of Faith lashed out.
Mystic Swordsman LV2 cleared out Mobius on the following turn, but Celaya fired back with the Cannon for 3000 damage. It was then 4700 to 8000 in Celaya’s favor. He summoned D. D. Warrior Lady and attacked with her to run over the Swordsman. The game really didn’t look good for Eaton.
Celaya summoned Command Knight and flipped Ceasefire, but Eaton chained Skull Lair to destroy the Command Knight, reducing Ceasefire’s damage to 1500. It was 2600 to Celaya’s 8000. Celaya cleared the field with a Heavy Storm a turn later, and Eaton used the Lair one more time to try to equalize the field. . .or so it seemed. He was actually loading his out-of-play area. After a flurry of aggression from his opponent, Eaton finally hit what he needed, and Celaya’s Command Knight crashed right into an enormous 4800/4800 Gren Maju Da Eiza. Next turn, Eaton turned the Gren Maju to attack and rammed it into the Command Knight. Celaya went into turtle mode but was swept out next turn by Kinetic Soldier taking out his facedown Blade Knight and Gren Maju wiping out Magician of Faith. Celaya was down to topdecking and brought out The Fiend Megacyber, but it wasn’t enough because of Kinetic Soldier’s effect. He was gone a turn later.
Aaron Eaton recovers from what looked like a horrible position to win the first duel!
To open game 2, both players played with the same defensive style they played last time. Celaya struck hard when he played an early-game Ceasefire, dishing out 1500 LP damage and leaving Eaton vulnerable. He went to counterattack a turn later, sending his Giant Rat into Mystic Swordsman LV2, but Celaya stopped him cold with Fairy Box. Eaton lost the flip and some LP when his Giant Rat was destroyed, but he replaced it with another and whacked the Mystic Swordsman on the second try. Eaton set a monster and passed.
Eaton had one set monster, one Giant Rat, and one set spell or trap to Celaya’s Spirit Reaper and Fairy Box.
Celaya brought back the Mystic Swordsman LV2 with Premature Burial, then sent it into the fresh facedown. He took out Nimble Momonga before passing. Eaton summoned Mystic Tomato, sent it into the Swordsman, and was again stymied by Fairy Box. Celaya got the flip twice, and Eaton tried with the Giant Rat after summoning a third Tomato, but he lost the flip. He tried with a Momonga, but he lost the flip. He tried with Tomato—he again lost the flip. “Judge! New coin!” he said jokingly.
He pulled Sangan with the Tomato and sent it to whack the Swordsman. Celaya FINALLY missed his flip.
“YES! Oh god! Finally!” said a more-than-relieved Eaton.
“Could I have my coin back?” asked Celaya. It had rolled away from him on the last flip. “No!” replied Eaton, jokingly.
Celaya paid to keep the Fairy Box active, summoned D. D. Assailant, and used the Assailant to attack Eaton’s Momonga, his last squirrel. He set a monster and ended his turn.
The Warrior Returning Alive brought the Swordsman LV2 back yet again. “That’s not nice!” cried Eaton. Celaya summoned it, and Eaton flipped Torrential Tribute, losing two monsters and his Torrential to Celaya’s three monsters. He pulled Apprentice Magician with it, set it next turn, set a spell or trap, and passed. Celaya used Heavy Storm, destroying Eaton’s Dust Tornado, and then summoned and attacked with D. D. Warrior Lady. It smacked into the Apprentice, Eaton pulled Old Vindictive Magician, and play passed to his turn.
Eaton set another monster and passed. He was narrowly beating out Celaya in cards, four in hand and two set monsters to Celaya’s one D. D. Warrior Lady and four cards in hand. D. D. Warrior Lady attacked Eaton’s Spirit Reaper, and the game became a blur of action as Eaton set another monster, Swords of Revealing Light hit the field to flip Old Vindictive Magician, and the Warrior Lady went down to its magical effect.
Celaya flipped up his Magician of Faith, took back The Warrior Returning Alive, brought out Swordsman AGAIN, and used the Swordsman to take down Eaton’s set (also a Swordsman LV2).
Eaton removed a Light and a Dark to special summon Chaos Sorcerer. Then he tributed the Old Vindictive Magician for Mobius the Frost Monarch. Its effect destroyed Swords of Revealing Light, and Eaton attacked with everything. It was now his three in-hand cards to Celaya’s three. The key difference? Eaton had three threatening monsters on the field.
Celaya summoned Blade Knight, played Book of Moon on Mobius, and then attacked it. Next turn, however, Eaton summoned ANOTHER Mobius—tributing Spirit Reaper—and attacked. It was enough to end the match!
Aaron Eaton wins his third match of four thus far with his innovative 50-card deck!