Here we were in Round 9: just two rounds away from the end of the Swiss rounds. Frank Schifano was on the bubble with a 7-1 record, but so was Mike Zeits, and both duelists were playing Lightsworn.
Game 1
Zeits opened the game by setting Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter. Schifano activated Solar Recharge, discarded Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress, and drew two: but lost two copies of Judgment Dragon! “Aww! That hurt.” Schifano wasn’t thrilled. He took a moment to count his opponent’s Fusion deck: three cards. “You can’t be Gladiators; that must be fake.” He summoned Necro Gardna, crashed it into Zeits’ Ryko, and reeled! “Mirror match?!” Gardna was destroyed, and Zeits sent Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, and Monster Reborn to the graveyard. Schifano ended: “I’m gonna get punched in the mouth.”
Lyla came down for Zeits and he made a direct attack with her. He sent Phantom of Chaos, Premature Burial, and Mystical Space Typhoon to his graveyard in the end phase. Schifano summoned a Lyla of his own and attacked, but didn’t activate his Honest with priority — instead, he passed priority to Zeits, who played his own Honest. Not quite understanding how this worked, Schifano chained his own Honest. It drew a few gasps from the crowd, and he drew a few more when he then chained another Honest in a bid to up his damage. Zeits didn’t seem to understand what was going on either, and added another Honest to the chain as well when he had no reason to do so!
After some number crunching that I sincerely hope is correct, the result was Zeits’ Honest having 11,900 ATK to Schifano’s 8500 ATK. Schifano’s Lyla went down, he took 3400 damage, and was down to 2900 life points.
Schifano ended his turn, reeling. Next turn, Zeits summoned another Lyla, attacked with both, and one was blocked by Necro Gardna. He sent six cards, including Ryko, to his graveyard in the end phase — nothing else of much relevance was sent away, not even another Lightsworn.
“I’m going to discard Ehren,” announced Schifano next turn, activating Monster Reincarnation. He used it to take back Judgment Dragon, but he only had two different Lightsworn in his graveyard. He set Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter and ended.
Next turn Zeits dropped Celestia, Lightsworn Angel, and it was all over.
Frank Schifano makes a regrettably mistaken Honest play, handing the match to his opponent! Play moved to the second duel quite quickly, with neither duelist wanting to linger on the botched Honest chain.
Game 2
Schifano opened game 2 with a set monster, and Zeits attacked with Sangan: Schifano flipped Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter. Ryko destroyed Sangan, got him a copy of Wulf, Lightsworn Beast as a result, and Zeits searched out Honest. He ended his turn with an empty field.
Lyla came down on Schifano’s field, and he attacked with Lyla and Wulf for 3800 damage. Foolish Burial let him pitch Necro Gardna to his graveyard, and he ended his turn, sending Ryko, Garoth, and another Wulf to the graveyard! The Wulf was special summoned and Schifano was left with three Lightsworn in his graveyard.
Zeits took Schifano’s Lyla with Monster Reborn, tributed for Celestia, and blew away both copies of Wulf. Celestia attacked and Schifano kept her on the field with Necro Gardna. Zeits passed yet again.
Schifano drew, and had Divine Wrath, Jain, Lightsworn Paladin, Ehren, Lightsworn Monk, Necro Gardna, and Lyla in hand. He summoned Ehren, set Divine Wrath, and sent Honest, Judgment Dragon, Solar Recharge, Celestia, Gold Sarcophagus, and another Honest to his graveyard in the end phase. Zeits was up.
He discarded Ehren for Solar Recharge, losing Honest and Premature Burial after drawing two. Another Recharge at the cost of Lumina got him two more cards, and a free copy of Wulf! He normal summoned Lyla, used her effect with priority, and Schifano discarded Necro Gardna to destroy her. Wulf attacked Lyla and Schifano let it go. Celestia attacked Ehren next, and Schifano removed Necro Gardna to keep Ehren on the field. Zeits finished with two set cards to his back row.
Schifano set a monster, then sent Phantom of Chaos, My Body as a Shield, and Lumina to his graveyard with Ehren. He was bluffing Honest, keeping Ehren in attack position. It didn’t work: Celestia attacked her next turn, taking her down. Wulf then attacked, destroying Schifano’s face-down Gardna. Zeits ended his turn with a set monster.
“I’ll summon Lyla,” announced Schifano, who used her effect to destroy Zeits’ Torrential Tribute. He set a spell or trap, ended, and sent three spells to the graveyard. The duel stood at 4200 life points to 5400 in Schifano’s favor.
Ryko was flip summoned, and Schifano chained My Body as a Shield once Zeits declared Lyla as the target. Zeits summoned Honest, attacked Lyla, and was rejected by Gardna — it was a strange choice to block with the Gardna. Wulf attacked Lyla, destroyed her, and Celestia attacked next. It was all over a turn later as Schifano scooped to concede the match.
Mike Zeits takes Frank Schifano 2-0, as Schifano makes a terrible Honest misplay and then draws nothing in game 2. Mike Zeits is one win away from a spot in Day 2!