“Good luck, man,” he said to McNeely.

“Good luck,” he returned. Both competitors shuffled and rolled off to see who would go first.

Naughton won the honor and opened with just a set spell or trap card. McNeely summoned Sangan and attacked, the perfect play regardless of what Naughton’s set back row card was. Even if he had Scapegoat, it wouldn’t be worth 1000 life points to lose a token this early. McNeely set two spell or trap cards and passed.

Blade Knight hit the field for Naughton, a tech card that was just ripping up the field this weekend. It hit Sangan, and McNeely used Sangan’s effect to fetch Stein. Naughton set a second spell or trap and ended.

McNeely special summoned Cyber Dragon and considered his next play. He had Stein, Reaper, Royal Decree, and Mirror Force in his hand, so an overextension was tempting. He summoned Reaper, attacked with Cyber Dragon, but hit Sakruetsu Armor. He chained Decree, but still lost out: Naughton chained Book of Moon to turn Cyber Dragon face down and stop the attack. Cyber Dragon was left vulnerable, and Reaper was stuck in attack. McNeely passed.

Naughton summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and both of his monsters attacked the Spirit Reaper to press through damage: McNeely dropped to 5000 life points. McNeely flipo summoned Cyber Dragon next turn, and attacked Dekoichiu. Reaper went to defense position, McNeely set another spell or trap, giving him three back row cards, and that concluded his turn.

A set card to each zone was Naughton’s only play. On the following turn, McNeely summoned Asura Priest. He attacked into Naughton’s set Spirit Reaper, then ran over Blade Knight. Rush Recklessly flipped to destroy Reaper, and Cyber Dragon attacked directly!

Naughton fired back, summoning Spirit Reaper and Chaos Sorcerer. Sorcerer removed McNeely’s Reaper, Snatch Steal took his Cyber Dragon, and Reaper and Cyber Dragon hit directly. No big loss on the Reaper hit, as McNeely was forced to discard another Decree.

He gained his 1000 life points from Snatch Steal and played Heavy Storm, destroying his own Decree and Torrential, but getting back his Cyber Dragon and destroying Nobleman of Crossout. He then normal summoned Asura Priest, and both monsters piled into Spirit Reaper. McNeely set a spell or trap and ended.

Naughton turned Sorcerer and Reaper to defense position. Sorcerer removed Cyber Dragon from McNeely’s field, and Naughton summoned Asura Priest to attack directly.

McNeely topdecked into Graceful Charity, and discarded Cyber-Stein and Kycoo. His remaining hand was Creature Swap, Scapegoat, and Asura Priest. He set Scapegoat and passed.

Naughton tributed his Reaper for Cyber Dragon and attacked into Mirror Force. In main phase 2 he set a spell or trap, turned Sorcerer to attack, and McNeely activated Scapegoat. He then turned a sheep to attack, and activated Creature Swap! Naughton had no counter: he had Call of the Haunted set, but McNeely still had Asura in hand and Naughton knew it. Either way, Naughton was going down because of the Sheep token. He had just 900 life points left, not enough to survive an attack from Asura Priest.

Jake McNeely captures the first duel, just a single game away from winning the title of Shonen Jump Champion!

Naughton opened the second duel, again just setting a spell or trap card. McNeely aimed to make him pay for it, summoning Spirit Reaper, but this time Naughton had Scapegoat to intercept the attack. McNeely hit a token, set a spell or trap, and passed.

Another set spell or trap card hit Naughton’s side of the field, and it was all he did. McNeely turned Reaper to defense, set a monster, and passed. Naughton set a monster and passed back.

McNeely was looking at a hand of almost purely dead cards: Snatch Steal, Creature Swap, Heavy Storm, Last Will, and Chaos Sorcerer. He passed without doing anything, and Naughton flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. He then tributed it for Zaborg, destroyed Reaper, and attacked McNeely’s set monster, Magician of Faith. McNeely had no spell to retrieve with its effect, and was definitely in a bind. Creature Swap and Snatch Steal were both practically useless due to the Sheep tokens that Naughton controlled. He set a monster and ended, unable to do much.

Naughton flipped Heavy Storm, destroying McNeely’s set Creature Swap. He summoned Don Zaloog, attacked with Zaborg into McNeely’s Sangan (he took Cyber-Stein from his deck), and then hit directly with Don. It forced the discard of Snatch Steal, and Naughton set a single spell or trap card to his back row.

It was 6600 to 8000, and McNeely looked at his hand, shook his head, and started running numbers.

He special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, removing Naughton’s Zaborg from the game. He set a monster, set a spell or trap card, and passed. “Wow, I’m stupid” he said, recognizing some sort of misplay he had made. The mistake would become clear later.

Naughton took the Sorcerer with Snatch Steal and it removed itself. He then played Nobleman of Crossout, removing McNeely’s Reaper from play. He summoned Spirit Reaper, both of his monsters hit directly, and Last Will and Creature Swap hit McNeely’s graveyard, leaving him with nothing but Cyber-Stein. Naughton set a second spell or trap.

McNeely played Heavy Storm, summoned Exiled Force, attacked Reaper and then tributed to destroy Don. McNeely passed. Reaper hit direct, and forced the discard of Stein. Naughton set a monster.

McNeely set a spell or trap, Naughton flip summoned Magical Merchant and got Confiscation. He tributed Merchant for Cyber Dragon, set a spell or trap, and ended. McNeely set Magician of Faith, lost it to Cbyer Dragon next turn, took back Snatch Steal, and lost it to Reaper. He summoned Asura Priest next turn, hit Reaper, and ended. Reaper attacked next turn, but McNeely blocked it with Return from the Different Dimension! Naughton flipped his set Confiscation though, forcing the discard of Asura Priest anyways. McNeely sighed, drew Nobleman of Crossout, and scooped.

“I took the wrong card with the Sangan” remarked McNeely. In retrospect, he believed he should have pulled Exiled Force. “Why did I pull the wrong card with Sangan?”

Both duelists sided and shuffled up. This one was going to come down to the wire.

After a mutually-requested break for some water, both duelists took their seats for one last shuffle. “I don’t know how I won that game,” said Naughton. “I opened with two Sorcerer, a Zaborg, Call and Snatch Steal.” Dead hands for all!

McNeely opened with a set spell or trap card and no monster, borrowing a page out of his opponent’s book. Naughton summoned Blade Knight and hit directly, before setting two spell or trap cards to conclude his turn. McNeely flipped Decree in the end phase. He then played Mystical Space Typhoon on his turn, but hit Naughton’s Mystical Space Typhoon, and it was chained to destroy Decree!

“You’re so easy to read,” said Naughton. “Just kidding.” McNeely was holding Cyber-Stein, and probably could have gone for game. Now he had to gamble, betting what Naughton’s set card was.

“How much do I know your deck?” he mused. He set his hand down on the table and thought very hard, and very deeply, about a decision that could make or break his Yu-Gi-Oh! career.

He special summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked with it. The set card flipped, Book of Moon, and stopped the attack. McNeely set a back row card.

Naughton tributed for Zaborg, and hit directly for 2400. McNeely played Snatch Steal and attacked for 2400: Naughton let it through. McNeely set a monster to finish his turn.

Naughton used Snatch Steal to take his Zaborg back, and then used Metamorphosis to turn it into Dark Balter the Terrible. It stomped on McNeely’s set Cyber-Stein. McNeely set a spell or trap card, passed, and got nailed by Balter. He set Kycoo and passed, looking at a hand of Creature Swap and Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World. Kycoo hit the dirt, and Naughton set a spell or trap.

McNeely set a monster and played Creature Swap: Balter negated it for 1000 life points. McNeely set a spell or trap and ended. Balter swung again, attacking into and negating Mystic Tomato.

That was it. McNeely scooped after drawing dead yet again, and there was nothing he could do.

James Naughton’s friends exploded behind him, rushing up to hug him. “Did you see my hand?” he asked in disbelief. “Two Sorcerers and Zaborg again!” Naughton beamed, grinning from ear to ear. Matt Laurents and Jake McNeely had been the smart money bets, but the relative unknown from Team Hpnotiq overcame his underdog position and two of the event’s most unorthodox decks. Now he’s our newest Shonen Jump Champion!