Despite the fact that he’s kept a relatively low profile for the past year, Sang Bui is still one of the most recognizable players in the North American Yu-Gi-Oh! scene. His finals game against Theeresak Poonsombat in the 2005 US Nationals is the stuff of legends. His impressive showing at the 2005 World Championships solidified his status as a top player.

Manuel Angelo Santamaria is a relatively new face to high-level Yu-Gi-Oh!. Representing Team Untouchable from Hollywood, California, he’ll be competing at Shonen Jump Championship Los Angeles next week. Sang will be as well, so who knows? Maybe we’ll see a rematch between these two in seven days.

As for the present, Sang opened with Reinforcement of the Army, searching for D. D. Warrior Lady, and set it. It was quickly removed from play with Nobleman of Crossout on the following turn. Angelo summoned Mystic Tomato, attacked with it directly, and set one card to his spell and trap zone. Sang special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy the Tomato, and hit into Sakuretsu Armor with the Cyber Dragon. Sang set a card to his spell and trap zone and ended his turn.

Angelo summoned Spirit Reaper and attempted to attack through Bui’s one set spell or trap card. The Reaper’s Scythe struck home and robbed Bui of 300 life points, as well as Snatch Steal. Angelo set a spell or trap card and passed. Sang set a card to each zone and passed back. His opponent set Magician of Faith and turned Spirit Reaper to defense position. He set a second spell or trap and passed.

Nobleman of Crossout stripped Magician of Faith off the field, and Sang flipped his own Magician of Faith. He took back Snatch Steal with its effect and summoned Don Zaloog, but Angelo flipped Torrential Tribute. Still, Sang flipped Call of the Haunted for Don and hit directly, robbing Angelo of his last card in hand, Breaker the Magical Warrior!

He topdecked Cyber Dragon, and special summoned it to attack Sang’s Don Zaloog. Don went down. Angelo passed, Sang took Cyber Dragon with Snatch Steal, but his attack was interrupted when Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed the Snatch. Angelo hit with it directly again, and next turn Sang summoned his own Cyber Dragon to attack and destroy both. Both players drew cards and passed for three turns.

Angelo was the first to blink, summoning and attacking directly with Spirit Reaper to knock Widespread Ruin out of Sang’s hand. The life point totals were 4200 to 6600 in Angelo’s favor. Sang drew, set spells and traps until he had three, and passed. Angelo summoned Mobius the Frost Monarch, tributing Spirit Reaper, and blew away Book of Moon and Sakuretsu Armor. Book of Moon turned the Mobius face down. Sang passed, and when Angelo flip summoned Mobius Sang removed it from play with Bottomless Trap Hole. Angelo set a spell or trap, Sang did the same, and play passed back to Angelo.

He activated Premature Burial, dropping to 5800 life points. He brought back Mystic Tomato and attacked with it: Sang had no answer. Angelo passed, Sang summoned Chaos Sorcerer, and used its effect with priority to remove Tomato from play. Angelo chained Bottomless Trap Hole to remove the Sorcerer in turn, and Sang set a monster. Angelo special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked into Magical Merchant, and Sang got Smashing Ground with its effect.

He used the Smashing Ground to destroy Angelo’s Cyber Dragon, and set a monster. Angelo topdecked into Mystic Swordsman LV2, attacked with it, and watched the Swordsman be destroyed by Sakuretsu Armor. Sang set another monster, passed, and Angelo drew Pot of Avarice. He activated it, returning Breaker the Magical Warrior, Spirit Reaper, two Cyber Dragon, and Mystic Swordsman LV2 to his deck before drawing his two cards. The two draws were D. D. Assailant and Breaker the Magical Warrior. He activated Dust Tornado to sweep out Sang’s last back row card, Bottomless Trap Hole, then summoned D. D. Assailant to attack Sang’s one face down monster. The Assailant rammed into Spirit Reaper, but Smashing Ground destroyed the Reaper in the second main phase. Angelo passed.

Sang drew and matched Angelo, playing Pot of Avarice and returning Exiled Force, Magician of Faith, Magical Merchant, and two Spirit Reaper to his deck. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, played Brain Control to take control of D. D. Assailant, and then tributed the Assailant for Jinzo. The resulting attacks put Angelo down to just 1300 life points.

He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Sang’s face down Torrential Tribute, and then took control of Jinzo with Snatch Steal. Jinzo attacked the Cyber Dragon, and the successive attack from Breaker the Magical Warrior was enough to win him the first game!

Manual Angelo Santamaria wins the first duel!

Sang opened with a set card to each zone. Angelo fired back with Reinforcement of the Army, taking Mystic Swordsman LV2 from his deck. He summoned it, swung into Widespread Ruin, and set two cards to his spell and trap zone.

Sang played Heavy Storm, destroying Dust Tornado and Sakuretsu Armor. He then flipped and attacked with his face down Spirit Reaper, ripping a card from Angelo’s hand before setting a spell or trap. Angelo reciprocated, playing Dark Hole and hitting with Reaper himself. Sang passed, Angelo set a back row card, and Sang set a monster.

Angelo played Call of the Haunted to bring back his Mystic Swordsman LV2, and attacked Sang’s face down monster. But Sang had other plans! He flipped Ceasefire to flip his set monster, and Mystic Swordsman LV2 crashed into Kinetic Soldier! Ceasefire and the Soldier combined dished out 3900 damage!

Snatch Steal stole the Kinetic Soldier, and Angelo passed, still reeling from Sang’s play. Sang set a spell or trap on his turn, and took attacks from the Soldier and Mystic Swordsman LV2. He passed again, and Angelo sent both of his little monsters to attack again. Life point totals were 4400 to 3800 in Sang’s favor.

Sang drew and set another spell or trap. Angelo leaned again, doing nothing but attacking with the Soldier and Swordsman. This time he set another monster before passing.

Sang was in a bind, and opted to pass yet again. The Snatch Steal was really softening the impact of Angelo’s blows, so Sang had some time. Angelo flip summoned Magician of Faith, took back Reinforcement of the Army with the Magician’s Effect, and then attacked with the Magician of Faith. It hit.

Swordsman struck. It hit.

When Kinetic Soldier attacked, Sang flipped Scapegoat. Angelo pressed, and destroyed one of the Sheep in battle. Sang drew, played Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Angelo flipped Torrential Tribute. All the monsters on the field were sent to the graveyard. Sang again passed.

Angelo summoned Spirit Reaper and attacked directly. Sang blew it away with Enemy Controller, but in main phase two, Angelo flipped his set Pot of Avarice. “Exactly five monsters” he announced, shuffling them all back into his deck. He drew Widespread Ruin and Mystic Swordsman LV2, and set the Widespread. It was his set Widespread and four cards in hand to Sang’s four in-hand cards.

Sang drew, making the card presences equal. He set a card to each zone and ended his turn. Angelo played Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying Sang’s set Pot of Avarice. He then summoned Mystic Swordsman LV2, attacked Sang’s set monster and destroyed it: it was Magical Merchant. Sang drew for his turn, summoned Chaos Sorcerer, and removed the Swordsman from play. By mistake, Angelo showed him the set Widespread Ruin. Sang set a monster and ended.

Angelo set a monster too, and played Smashing Ground to destroy the Sorcerer. Sang played Reinforcement of the Army to fetch Exiled Force, flip summoned Dekoichi to draw a card, summoned Exiled to destroy Angelo’s set Gravekeeper’s Spy, and attacked with Dekoichi. Angelo did not use the Widespread, and took the damage. Sang set a card to his back row and passed.

Reinforcement of the Army nabbed Angelo a D. D. Survivor. He summoned it and attacked the Dekoichi, destroying it and dishing out a bit of life points loss. Sang flipped Call of the Haunted, targeting Chaos Sorcerer, but Dust Tornado interrupted the attempted summon. Sang set a card to each zone and passed.

Don Zaloog arrived on Angelo’s side of the field, and D. D. Survivor attacked Sang’s face down. Book of Moon prevented it from attacking, and Angelo opted not to attack with Pot of Avarice.

Sang played Pot of Avarice. He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, flip summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and sent Breaker to destroy the Zaloog. D. D. Warrior Lady took out D. D. Survivor, and Angelo was in trouble!

He set a monster and a spell or trap and passed, hoping to fend off Sang long enough to gain some sort of advantage. Sang had the answer though: he tributed Breaker for Jinzo, attacked the face down monster with D. D. Warrior Lady, and removed it from play: it was Spirit Reaper. With an empty field to swing into, Sang attacked with Jinzo and evened out the match.

It was one-all, and both duelists side decked with ten minutes remaining in the round!

“Rough game,” remarked Angelo in a friendly manner.

“Yup,” agreed Sang, shuffling his deck.

A single set spell or trap was Angelo’s only opening move. Sang set a monster and two spell or traps, smelling a Dust Tornado. Sure enough, Dust Tornado hit in his end phase, destroying Bottomless Trap Hole. Angelo special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, and broke Sang’s last set card in his back row – Sakuretsu Armor. Angelo then played Nobleman of Crossout to remove Sang’s face down Gravekeeper’s Spy from the game! Breaker and Cyber Dragon swung directly, costing Sang 3700 life points!

A turn passed and after a flurry of cards the Cyber Dragon was gone, but Angelo replaced it with D. D. Assailant. Assailant swung on Sang’s set Mystic Tomato, which in turn got him a Sangan. Breaker attacked it, and Sang pulled Spirit Reaper with the Sangan’s effect.

Five minutes remained in the match. Angelo set one spell or trap, Sang set a card to each zone, and Angelo played Heavy Storm. He attacked, but hit Spirit Reaper. He destroyed it in main phase two with Smashing Ground. Sang set a spell or trap, but Angelo had Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy it on the following turn. Sang chained it, using Book of Moon to turn D. D. Assailant into face down defense position. Still, Angelo tributed it off for Mobius the Frost Monarch, and attacked directly for game!

The unknown, Manuel Angelo Santamaria, conquers the grizzled veteran and moves on undefeated!