Seriously. I read all of those rumors on major message boards.

None of them were true, and Jerry’s alive and well with a 6-1 record here today. His opponent, David Bustillos, had just come off of a win over Matt Peddle, who had called his deck a “Morphing Jar deck. That’s what he does. He tries to Creature Swap Morphing Jar and then attack it to discard Goldd.” Bustillos was either insane, or a genius.

He won the coin flip and opened with a set monster and a set spell or trap card. Wang special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Exiled Force, and then tributed to use its effect. It destroyed Spirit Reaper, and Cyber Dragon attacked directly for 2100 damage. Wang set a card to his spell and trap zone and ended his turn.

Cyber Dragon came down for Bustillos next, and he summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior. Breaker destroyed Wang’s face down card, Call of the Haunted, and then Bustillos played Snatch Steal. He attacked with two Cyber Dragons and Breaker!

“Ooh, over-extension,” said Wang, drawing his card. He looked at it and laughed. “Oh man! I am so good!” He flopped his topdecked Dark Hole, and then summoned Spirit Reaper. He attacked directly with it, discarded a card and . . .

 . . . blinked as Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World hit the field. Spirit Reaper was destroyed with its effect.

“Still think I over-extended?” asked Bustillos with a smile. He normal summoned Exarion Universe, special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, and attacked for game!

”That was the most ridiculous game I’ve ever seen,” declared Matt Peddle as each duelist side decked.

Wang opened the second duel with a set to each zone, and Bustillos summoned Exiled Force. He tributed it to destroy Old Vindictive Magician, then played Wave-Motion Cannon. Wang summoned Spirit Reaper, flipped Dust Tornado to destroy Wave-Motion. Spirit swung for a card, and Wang set another spell or trap. A turn later he had two set spell or traps to Bustillos’s one, and opted to change Spirit Reaper to defense position. Bustillos flip summoned Exarion Universe, Wang flipped Bottomless Trap Hole, Bustillos chained Royal Decree, and Wang chained Dust Tornado to destroy it.

Bustillos set a monster and another spell or trap, passing to Wang. Wang did nothing but pass back, and Bustillos flip summoned his set Magical Merchant, nabbing Sakuretsu Armor. Wang was up next, and he flipped his set Heavy Storm. He switched his one Spirit Reaper to attack, summoned another, took down Merchant, and then attacked directly with one Reaper.

On the following turn, Bustillos summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior. He broke Wang’s face down Torrential Tribute and attacked through a Reaper. Next turn, Wang used Snatch Steal to take the Breaker, attacked with one Reaper directly, and again hit Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World! Goldd dusted both of the Reapers and Wang set a spell or trap before passing.

Bustillos summoned Brron, Mad King of Dark World. He attacked to wipe out Wang’s field, and then set one spell or trap. Wang flipped Mystical Space Typhoon in Bustillos’s end pohase to ensure a direct attack.

He then summoned Sangan, attacking Bustillos with it directly for two turns. Bustillos was playing defensively, setting two spell or trap cards, and eventually setting a monster. Wang summoned Mystic Tomato, attacked the face down, and hit Morphing Jar. Morphing Jar then discarded WANG’S Goldd! Go, random single copy of Goldd!

Its effect destroyed both of Bustillos’s set spell and trap cards, robbing him of Torrential Tribute and Dark Hole. All three monsters then attacked Bustillos directly. Wang set a spell or trap card and ended his turn.

Bustillos drew, and played Mystical Space Typhoon. Wang chained his set Book of Moon to turn his Sangan face down. Bustillos then special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and used Premature Burial to bring up Goldd from the graveyard. D. D. Warrior Lady removed Sangan from play, Goldd attacked Mystic Tomato, and the Tomato summoned out Spirit Reaper. Cyber Dragon then attacked the Reaper and it was 1700 to 300 in Wang’s favor.

Jerry tributed Spirit Reaper away for Mobius the Frost Monarch, destroying Premature Burial and Bustillos’s lone set card. Though Mobius’s 2400 ATK would have been enough on its own, ressing through 300 damage to finish off Bustillois, Wang flashed a Smashing Ground anyways. Bustillos had already conceded the duel, and the match moved to game three!

Bustillos opened with Confiscation, choosing between Mobius, Spirit Reaper, Old Vindictive Magician, Book of Moon, and Widespread Ruin. He chose to discard Mobius the Frost Monarch,a dn then set two cards to his back row. Wang set a monster, a pair of spell or trap cards, and ended. Bustillos was the first to go on the offensive, summoning Cyber Dragon and then playing Nobleman of Crossout to remove Old Vindictive Magician from the game. The Dragon then attacked straight into Widespread Ruin.

Wang set one monster and another spell or trap, then opting to pass. Bustillos set a third card to his spell and trap zone, passing. Wang tribute summoned his set Spirit Reaper, taking out Sakuretsu and a chained Torrential Tribute that wiped it off the field. Bustillos summoned Spirit Reaper, attacked into Sakuretsu, and then set another spell or trap. Wang continued playing defensively, setting another back-row card and another monster. Bustillos set a monster, Wang set another spell or trap, and Bustillos flipped Magician of Faith taking back Nobleman of Crossout. He summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and attacked into Apprentice Magician.

“Remove?” asked Wang.

“Doesn’t matter if I do” replied Bustillos, who gave a friendly laugh at Wang’s attempt to sucker him. Wang set a Magican of Faith, Bustillos moved to Main Phase 2, and removed the Magician with Nobleman of Crossout.

Wang special summoned Cyber Dragon, watched it get swallowed by Cyber Dragon, and set another monster. D. D. Warrior Lady attacked that set next turn and removed it from play – Spirit Reaper. Magician of Faith attacked Wang directly, Wang set a fourth back row card, and Magician poked again. Bustillos set another monster, passed, Wang passed, and Bustillos flip summoned Merchant for Call of the Haunted. Both of his small flip effect monsters attacked.

Mystic Swordsman LV2 hit Wang’s side of the field next turn, attacking Magician of Faith. Irony permeated the feature match area. Bustillos summoned D. D. Assailant, Wang flipped Bottomless Trap Hole, and play moved to Wang.

Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer was summoned on Wang’s side of the table, and another Bottomless Trap Hole swallowed it up. Mystic Swordsman LV2 hit the Merchant, and Wang ended his turn. Bustillos set a third spell or trap card, leaving both players with three set cards in their back row, and ended his turn.

Mystic Swordsman LV2 attacked directly, but Bustillos cut the shenanigans short by special summoning Chaos Sorcerer. He removed the Swordsman from play and ended his turn.

Wang fought back with Smashing Ground, but didn’t follow up with a monster. Bustillos then summoned Exarion Universe, and attacked with it directly. Wang summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy Exiarion, and set a spell or trap. Bustillos used Dust Tornado to destroy the new set, which was Sakuretsu Armor. On his turn, he flipped Call of the Haunted, but Wang chained Mystical Space Typhoon.

Breaker the Magical Warrior was summoned by Wang, but when he used its effect to destroy a face down spell or trap, that card was chained and was revealed to be Scapegoat. Breaker hit a Sheep, then another Sheep, and a turn later a third sheep, while Bustillos sat back and did nothing but enjoy the protection of his muttonshields and single set spell or trap.

Finally, Bustillos set another monster. He laid down a second card in his spell and trap zone too, and ended his turn. With four minutes remaining on the clock, Wang took some time to figure out his next move.

He summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and sent it into the face down monster, but Sakuretsu Armor rejected the attack. Breaker then tried to attack the face down, but Bustillos flipped another Sakuretsu Armor! Wang thought a bit, and decided to chain Book of Moon in order to save Breaker. It was a smart move, since he now had two set spells or traps to Bustillos’s none, and didn’t want to tease out Heavy Storm.

Bustillos activated Swords of Revealing Light, ended his turn, Wang flipped Breaker to attack, ended his turn, and Bustillos passed right back. Wang passed again, Bustillos set a monster, Wang did the same. Swords of Revealing Light was destroyed. Bustillos played Mystical Space Typhoon on Wang’s face down, Wang chained it to turn the Sheep token into attack position, and Bustillos flipped it back to defense. He flip summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy Wang’s set Spirit Reaper, and then played Smashing Ground to destroy Breaker. Don Zaloog hit the field, and then hit Jerry for 1400 and a card. No Goldd for Wang. Sangan then attacked directly, and Bustillos set one spell or trap.

Wang played Heavy Storm, destroying Bustillos’s bluff, also a Heavy Storm. It was 2700 to 5500 in Bustillos’s favor, and time was called on the previous turn. Wang had two turns as active player to close the sizable life point gap, and Bustillos had a loaded monster zone.

He special summoned Cyber Dragon, activated Snatch Steal to take control of Don Zaloog, and then summoned Spirit Reaper. He carefully considered what he could do. If Don hit Sangan or swung directly, it could hit one of Bustillos’s copies of Goldd and he’d lose any hope of winning.

Strike Ninja attacked the Sangan, and bustillos pulled Mystic Tomato. Don Zaloog attacked the Sheep token and Cyber Dragon attacked directly. It was 2700 to 2800, with Bustillos still in the lead.

Jerry set one spell or trap card and ended his turn. Bustillos gained 1000 life points for Snatch Steal, putting him at 3800 life points. He had nothing on the field, but had a full hand of five cards.

“You know what card would suck right now? Dark Hole.” Jerry.

“Yeah, it would,” said Bustillos, playing it. Wang winced, and used Strike Ninja’s effect. Bustillos set a card to each zone and ended his turn.

Jerry Wang had one turn to deal 1100 damage to keep the match alive. He’d need to deal more than that to take the win.

Strike Ninja came back into play, and Jerry took his card, drawing. He examined Bustillos’s graveyard, then his own, and used Premature Burial to special summon Exiled Force. Bustillos let it resolve. Wang then tributed it to destroy Bustillos’s face down Mystic Tomato, and taking a deap breath, normal summoned Sangan.

“Sangan attack?” asked Wang.

Bustillos pondered a bit, and let it through. Wang needed to deal 200 damage to win. It was now or never.

“Strike Ninja attack?”

Bustillos looked at his face down card, holding it for a moment. He edged his finger under it, about to flip it over, and then smiled at Wang.

“You got it.” It was a classy finish.

Strike Ninja attacked, Bustillos took the 1700 damage from its attack, and Jerry Wang had won the match! The amassed crowd behind Jerry exploded, and Kris Perovis and Anthony Alvarado hugged him and practically dragged him out of his seat.

Team Overdose’s Jerry Wang moves on with a 7-1 record, his Top 8 dreams still alive!