Going into the final round, Team Superfriends was poised to take control of tomorrow’s Top 8 with four out of its five members in hot contention. Both Chris and Augustin are sitting at 7-1, and their respective teams (Superfriends and Kamikaze) are counting on these players to win the match. This match will likely determine who gets into the Top 8 tomorrow, and who sits it out in the side events. Augustin won the die roll and the match began.
Game 1
Augustin had the option, and he decided to start off with a set card to each zone. Simoes fired back with the same move, and play moved at a slow pace. Augustin had another card for each zone next turn, but Chris broke the monotony by flipping Magical Merchant and chaining with Torrential Tribute. Augustin had My Body as a Shield, though, so the Merchant was marooned in attack mode. The Merchant fetched Smashing Ground, and Simoes summoned D. D. Assailant. D. D. Assailant took a swing at a face-down Gravekeeper’s Guard, which bounced it back to his hand. Simoes set a Book of Moon, but Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase destroyed it. Augustin revealed his face-down monster as a Gravekeeper’s Spy to get another Spy, and played Confiscation to relieve Simoes of his Spirit Reaper. Augustin added a Sangan and a face-down card to his board as well, and beat up the Magical Merchant along with a lot of Simoes’ life points. Simoes used Reinforcement of the Army to fetch Don Zaloog, and crashed into a Spy, dropping Augustin’s last card in hand—another Gravekeeper’s Spy. He set a card and ended. Augustin tried to go for the win with Brain Control, but he was foiled by Scapegoat. All of the tokens were destroyed, and in main phase 2, Augustin tributed Don Zaloog for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, removing the second Reinforcement of the Army from Simoes hand.
Simoes tried to recover with D. D. Assailant attacking into the second Spy, but a misplay with Smashing Ground caused Gravekeeper’s Guard to take a fall instead of the Monarch. Augustin attacked with Thestalos, and both it and the Assailant were removed from the game. Sangan switched to defense mode, and Augustin ended. Simoes flipped over his Magician of Faith to retrieve a spell, then tributed it for Mobius the Frost Monarch, destroying Augustin’s face-down My Body as a Shield. Sangan was destroyed by Mobius’ attack, and Augustin fetched a Spirit Reaper with it. In his next turn, he set it along with a bluff Soul Exchange, and then Simoes locked him down with Swords of Revealing Light. The turns passed uneventfully under the Swords, as the biggest move either player made was to set a card or a monster. At the end of the Swords, Augustin’s field was two set spell and traps and two Spirit Reapers, with two in hand, to Simoes’ one spell or trap and Mobius with four cards in hand. The card count was even, but the life count was not, with Simoes down to 1900.
He thought hard about his move, and decided to simply set a spell or trap before ending. Augustin flipped a face-down Soul Exchange to tribute Simoes’ Mobius for his own. Simoes lost both Book of Moon (which he chained) and a Call of the Haunted, and Simoes struggled to stay alive. He played Heavy Storm to destroy Augustin’s Torrential Tribute, then spent 800 life points to use Premature Burial on Mobius. He considered tributing Mobius, but decided to summon D. D. Warrior Lady instead, and get rid of both Augustin’s Mobius and a Spirit Reaper. Premature Burial from Augustin and another monster won the game next turn.
Augustin-1 Simoes-0
Game 2
Between games, Chris Simoes shuffled his entire side deck into his deck, then separated them back into two piles (side deck and deck), to obscure the number of cards he was siding. This usually tells you one of two things—the player changed his entire strategy, or he changed nothing. The actual results of the side decking remained to be seen, but Simoes needed it to pay off in a big way in order to stay in the match.
Simoes had the choice and opted to go first. He began with a face-down monster, which met a nasty fate as it was hit with Nobleman of Crossout. It was a Gravekeeper’s Spym however, and both players were punished for it, as four copies of the search card were removed from the game. Fortunately for Simoes, Augustin couldn’t follow it up and simply set a spell or trap before passing. Simoes didn’t want to let an opportunity like this pass, so he fetched Don Zaloog with Reinforcement of the Army and summoned it. It never got a chance to strike, though, as Torrential Tribute cleared the field and Simoes was left defenseless. Augustin summoned Breaker and swung for 1900 before setting a card and passing. Simoes summoned Cyber Dragon and tributed it for Mobius to destroy a face-down Dust Tornado. He then used Premature Burial to bring out Don Zaloog and cleared Augustin’s field. He also cleared the Snatch Steal out of Augustin’s hand, leading to much consternation.
Augustin brought back Breaker with Premature Burial, then summoned Tsukuyomi to flip down the Monarch. Both of Simoes’ monsters were destroyed that turn and he set a monster to defend himself. Next turn, Thestalos from Augustin removed Exiled Force from Simoes’s hand, and it attacked a face-down Spirit Reaper. Simoes fought back with D. D. Warrior Lady and Spirit Reaper, ramming the Lady into Thestalos and taking a swing with the Reaper. It didn’t matter, however, as Augustin ripped a Soul Exchange next turn and used it on a face-up Spirit Reaper to summon Mobius the Frost Monarch. The misplay went unnoticed at the time, so Augustin was able to win in the next turn by attacking with Mobius.
Augustin wins the match 2-0, but the result is less than conclusive. What would the outcome have been if Spirit Reaper had simply been destroyed? We’ll never know now, but regardless, Augustin Herrera advances to Top 8, and Chris Simoes is, barring amazing tiebreakers, on the outside looking in.