Nareg Torossian and Jason Zigander had no chance of making Day 2, but I figured this would be an interesting feature match. Boy was I right.

Zigander opened with two set cards to his back row, and flipped Trap Dustshoot, revealing two copies of Brain Control, Raiza the Storm Monarch, Destiny Hero - Malicious, Metamorphosis, and Torrential Tribute in his opponent’s hand. Raiza was shuffled back to Nareg’s deck. He set a spell or trap and ended, and Zigander was up.

He set a monster, Nareg passed, and Zigander passed back. Nareg summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, activated its effect to search his deck for Destiny Hero - Disc Commander, then attacked Zigander’s face-down Disc Commander. Zigander fired back next turn, summoning Card Trooper and activating Machine Duplication! Two more copies of Card Trooper were special summoned from his deck, and Zigander activated one with priority, losing Ring of Destruction, Snipe Hunter, and Premature Burial from the top of his deck. Nareg chained Torrential Tribute to clear the field and Zigander drew three cards, one for each destroyed Trooper.

Another set spell or trap ended the turn for Zigander, and he lost them to Heavy Storm almost immediately—his Crush Card Virus was one of the cards destroyed! Nareg set a spell or trap, Zigander set a card to each zone and Nareg passed. Zigander flip summoned Gravekeeper’s Spy, special summoned another in defense position, and then attacked for 1200 damage.

Nareg activated Brain Control, took the defense-position Gravekeeper’s Spy, and crashed it into the other, destroying both. A set monster ended his turn. Reinforcement of the Army searched Elemental Hero Stratos for Zigander next turn, which he summoned and used to search for Malicious. Destiny Draw discarded it, and Zigander attacked Nareg’s set Treeborn Frog. Nareg set a monster and passed.

“This is terrible” noted Zigander. “You’re telling me?” replied Nareg. Stratos attacked his set Card Trooper, Nareg drew for its destruction, and Zigander set a monster. Nareg set one on the following turn, and play was back to Zigander. Stratos attacked, this time hitting Spirit Reaper. Brain Control blew it away in main phase 2. “Go.” Nareg set a monster yet again.

Zigander set a spell or trap, then sent Stratos to attack: Mirror Force blocked it. Trap Dustshoot next turn revealed Nareg’s hand: Snipe Hunter, Jinzo, Malicious, Mystic Tomato, Disc Commander, Brain Control, and Metamorphosis. “Right when I drew the Snipe Hunter,” maligned Nareg. “That’s my luck.” Snipe Hunter was returned to his deck. He set Brain Control and Metamorphosis, then flip summoned Morphing Jar to give both duelists new hands.

He removed Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another, then activated Metamorphosis to trade Malicious for Ryu Senshi. Destiny Draw let Nareg discard another Malicious.

“Got game?” asked Zigander.

“Got a Scapegoat?” returned Nareg. He tributed Morphing Jar for Raiza the Storm Monarch, bounced away Zigander’s monster, and attacked directly with both monsters. Zigander dropped to 2800 life points.

Zigander special summoned Cyber Dragon, removed Malicious to special summon another from his deck, and tributed it for Raiza the Storm Monarch, targeting Nareg’s face-down spell or trap. The Raizas traded and Cyber Dragon ran over Ryu Senshi. Zigander set a third spell or trap to end, and Nareg inspected his graveyard after drawing the following turn.

He special summoned Treeborn Frog in defense mode, then activated Premature Burial to special summon Jinzo. It attacked—destroying Cyber Dragon—and Nareg set a monster, now suddenly in control of a well-developed field of monsters. Zigander fired back with Pot of Avarice, shuffling back Cyber Dragon, Snipe Hunter, and all three copies of Raiza the Storm Monarch! He drew and summoned Snipe Hunter!

A discard of Sangan failed to destroy Jinzo, but Fear Monger was cast away to blow up the android. Zigander set another spell or trap, and Snipe Hunter attacked into Destiny Hero - Fear Monger! Next turn, Nareg used its effect to special summon Destiny Hero - Disc Commander and draw two cards. Nareg drew two more with Pot of Avarice, and removed Malicious to special summon his last from his deck. Metamorphosis tributed it for Ryu Senshi yet again, and Brain Control let him take Snipe Hunter.

Ryu Senshi attacked first, and Zigander blocked it with Call of the Haunted for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. In main phase 2, the Snipe Hunter was tributed for Raiza the Storm Monarch, sending Zaborg back to the top of Zigander’s deck. He special summoned Malicious next turn, tributing it for Zaborg to blow away Raiza. Zaborg then stomped Ryu Senshi, and Zigander ended. Nareg tributed Treeborn Frog for Cyber Dragon, and Snatch Steal let him take Zaborg. Zaborg attacked, but Zigander flipped Scapegoat and lost two of his resulting tokens to attacks from Cyber Dragon and the Monarch. Confiscation robbed Zigander of his last in-hand card during the end phase: Gravekeeper’s Guard.

Zigander flipped Heavy Storm—taking back Zaborg—then tributed it for Raiza the Storm Monarch. By the end of the turn, Nareg’s field was cleared. He took back Treeborn next turn, activated Destiny Draw to discard Disc Commander, then set a monster. Raiza attacked it next turn: Sangan, and it fetched Nareg Destiny Hero - Fear Monger.

Nareg tributed his Treeborn Frog for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroying Raiza and then attacking a Sheep token. He set a spell or trap and ended, and Zigander flipped his set Brain Control. He dropped to 2700 life points and attacked with Zaborg, but was met by Scapegoat! Zaborg attacked one, and it was tributed for Raiza next turn, bouncing another Sheep. Nareg took back his Treeborn in defense position and set a monster. Zigander was getting dangerously low on cards.

Zigander attacked a Sheep, Nareg set a monster, and another attack from Raiza eliminated the last Sheep. Nareg passed, just waiting Zigander out.

He drew, and appeared to have only two more cards remaining in his deck. Raiza attacked one of Nareg’s set monsters, Card Trooper, and Nareg drew. “Go,” stated Zigander. Nareg tributed for Raiza, bounced Zigander’s Raiza and attacked Zigander’s last Sheep. Zigander drew, and Nareg flipped Trap Dustshoot, sending Snipe Hunter back to the deck over two copies of Cyber Dragon and a Raiza. Cyber Dragon was special summoned, then Zigander tributed it for Raiza, bounced Nareg’s set monster, and traded off with Raiza.

Nareg special summoned Treeborn Frog again, then set a monster. Zigander special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed for Raiza, bounced the Treeborn, and attacked Nareg’s face-down monster: Spirit Reaper! Nareg seemed set to stall for the last two turns, knowing that Zigander’s last two cards were Snipe Hunter and Treeborn Frog.

He summoned Snipe Hunter, and discarded Treeborn Frog to blow away Raiza. Snipe Hunter then attacked for 1500 damage, and Zigander scooped off his next draw.

Twenty seconds remained in the round, and time was called during side decking. Zigander had four turns, only two of them his own, to win.

Zigander set a monster, then set two spells or traps, Dustshoot, Pot of Avarice, Ring of Destruction, Cyber Dragon, Treeborn, and two copies of Destiny Draw. Treeborn was sent back to Nareg’s deck. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, set a spell or trap, and attacked, running into Ring of Destruction. “Well . . . I’ll end my turn.”

Zigander’s set Gravekeeper’s Spy flipped, bringing another to the field in attack mode. Nareg’s Ring would only destroy one, and Nareg took another 1200 damage as a result. He set a monster to end.

Nareg topped into Limiter Removal which was no help: he needed a Destiny Hero to bring his copies of Destiny Draw online, and just couldn’t get one. The match would move to a third game, this one also played with four turns.

Nareg opened with a set card to each zone. Zigander special summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked Nareg’s face-down Sangan, then Nareg used its effect to search for Destiny Hero - Disc Commander.

Zigander set a monster, set Trap Dustshoot, and flipped it next turn: it revealed Machine Duplication, Premature Burial, Destiny Draw, Disc Commander, Snipe Hunter, and Cyber Dragon. He sent Snipe Hunter back to the deck, leaving Nareg with Disc Commander and hating the fact that he had to do so. Nareg activated Destiny Draw, discarded Disc Commander and drew two. He activated Snatch Steal, took control of Cyber Dragon, and attacked into Card Trooper: Zigander drew.

“Wait, Does gaining life count as a win if it goes to sudden death?”

The table judge confirmed it would.

“Oops.” Nareg blinked, then tributed Cyber Dragon for a face-down card before Zigander could gain life points from Snatch Steal.

Zigander used Reinforcement of the Army to search out Elemental Hero Stratos, then summoned Stratos to seek out Destiny Hero - Disc Commander. Zigander set a spell or trap, attacked into Cyber Dragon, and destroyed it. The match moved to sudden death—the first change of life points at the end of a chain would decide the winner.

Nareg activated Heavy Storm, and Zigander chained Waboku! “Not even Threatening Roar?!” wailed Nareg.

“It was all I had at the time!” explained an exasperated Zigander.

“You’re killing me here,” jested Nareg in mock-disappointment. He set a monster, activated Smashing Ground to destroy Stratos, and set a spell or trap to end. Zigander set a card to each zone, then Nareg flip summoned Card Trooper, activated Machine Duplication, and special summoned two more from his deck. He labored over the decision of which position to special summon them in, settled on attack, and sent nine cards from the top of his deck to the graveyard. He was reading Gravekeeper’s Spy hard, but went for it anyways, setting one spell or trap and attacking.

The face-down monster was Disc Commander! Another Trooper attacked, but Call of the Haunted brought up Cyber Dragon to block! The other two Troopers couldn’t attack and Nareg was forced to end.

Zigander discarded Electric Virus to take one of the Troopers! He powered it up and attacked over one Trooper, and Nareg revealed his two set cards: Ring of Destruction and Premature Burial! Again, Nareg could stop one attack but not both. He offered Zigander the handshake.

Jason Zigander wins the longest feature match in history!