Michael Lux is a seventeen-year-old kid from Wesley Chapel, just an hour and a half south of here. A relative unknown up until now, he came here this weekend and played alone without a team backing him.

“I don’t need a team,” he said with a good-natured smile.

Roy St. Clair is one of the most widely recognized duelists in North America. In attendance with one member of his new team, Immortal Technique. Both made the Top 8, and this is Roy’s second Shonen Jump Championship.

Lux won the die roll and cheerily opened with a set card to each zone. St. Clair summoned Strike Ninja, ran it into Gravekeeper’s Spy, and Lux pulled another copy into play in defense position. St. Clair went to 7700, set a back row card, and passed. Lux summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Sakuretsu Armor, used Smashing Ground on the Ninja, and attacked with all three monsters. St. Clair was down to 3700.

St. Clair summoned Spirit Reaper, Snatch Steal took Breaker, Smashing Ground eliminated one Spy, and Breaker attacked. Widespread Ruin destroyed it! Spirit Reaper was stuck in attack position, and St. Clair set Smashing Ground.

Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed it, and Lux summoned Kycoo! Both his monsters attacked, reducing St. Clair to 1300! St. Clair drew, set a monster, turned Reaper to defense, and passed. Kycoo hit the set, and revealed it to be another Reaper. Lux turned Spy to defense, set two back row cards, and passed. St. Clair set another monster passed, Kycoo hit it, revealed it to be Magician of Faith, St. Clair took Snatch Steal, and Lux ended. “You got something for me now?” he asked.

St. Clair was looking at a hand of Sand Moth, Snatch Steal, and Goldd. He set the Moth and passed. Kycoo swung into it. “There he is,” declared Lux. He passed. St. Clair passed back. Lux set a back row card and passed. St. Clair set one and passed, and it got hit with Dust Tornado in the end phase. Next turn Lux activated Dark Hole, flipped Call of the Haunted, and St. Clair had had enough! He scooped and both duelists moved to side decking!

Lux had defeated St. Clair in only seven turns! St. Clair was a little quieter than normal as he side decked and shuffled for game 2.

St. Clair opened with a set monster very decisively, then added two set spell or trap cards to the mix. Lux hummed a little song while he looked through his hand. He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, and St. Clair flipped Trap Hole. Lux set two back row cards and passed. St. Clair flipped Magical Merchant and got Torrential Tribute. He summoned Sangan and attacked with both monsters, bringing Lux down to 6800. St. Clair set a card, but it was hit with Dust Tornado, and was Torrential Tribute! Watching Lux play was like watching Yugi. Nothing seemed to faze him, and he was eminently cheerful while ripping great cards off his deck. He set one monster and passed.

D. D. Warrior Lady was summoned by St. Clair, and he sent it straight into Lux’s Gravekeeper’s Spy. He opted not to remove it from play. Lux pulled another to defense, St. Clair turned his Sangan and Merchant to defense position, set another spell or trap, and passed.

Lux turned both Spies to attack and sent one into the Merchant. The second went at Sangan, and St. Clair flipped Sakuretsu Armor. Lux flipped his set Smashing Ground, destroyed D. D. Warrior Lady, and set two cards, one to each zone.

St. Clair drew, flipped Jar of Greed, and looked at his hand: it was Spirit Reaper, Jar of Greed, Call of the Haunted, and Smashing Ground. He set Reaper, set Call, set Jar, and passed. Mystical Space Typhoon hit Call in his end phase. Lux flipped Magician of Faith, took back Mystical Space Typhoon, but hit Jar of Greed with it. Jar was chained. He summoned D. D. Assailant, and Spy attacked into Sangan. St. Clair picked Exiled Force, adding it to his hand. Assailant then hit Spirit Reaper, and Lux set a card to his back row.

St. Clair now had Exiled Force, Snatch Steal, Smashing Ground, and Trap Hole. He used Smashing Ground to get rid of the Spy. Snatch Steal took D. D. Assailant, and the Assailant hit Magician of Faith. It was 7500 to 5100. St. Clair set a spell or trap and passed.

Lux gained his thousand, played Dark Hole, and passed. “Premature or Call?” asked Lux as St. Clair looked through his graveyard. St. Clair played Premature, brought back Sangan, and attacked directly for 1000. Lux set a monster, St. Clair summoned and tributed Exiled Force, destroyed Dekoichi, Sangan attacked, and Lux set a card to his back row before passing. St. Clair Attacked with Sangan again, set a third card to his back row, and passed.

Lux looked at his cards. “I think you’ve got this game.” He didn’t seem disheartened. He played Smashing Ground on Sangan, and St. Clair pulled Magician of Faith. He drew, set a monster, and passed back to Lux. Lux was still smiling. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a finals competitor in a Shonen Jump Championship enjoy the game so much. He set a monster and passed.

St. Clair flipped Magician of Faith, took back Premature Burial, tributed Magician of Faith for Mobius, used Premature Burial to put Exiled Force back into play, tributed it to destroy Treeborn Frog, and attacked directly for 2400.

Lux topdecked Pot of Avarice, and returned Breaker, two Spies, Magician of Faith, and Dekoichi to his deck, but only after bringing Frog back in defense position. “Good luck” said Lux of his draw. He then tributed Frog for Mobius, destroying Trap Hole and Bottomless Trap Hole. Bottomless was chained, and removed Mobius from play. Lux set a card and passed.

St. Clair drew, checked Lux’s graveyard for Torrential Tribute, and summoned Chaos Sorcerer. “Good game” said Lux, scooping his cards off the table.

He opened the final game. “Good luck.”

“I’m gonna need it with this hand,” said St. Clair. Lux set a card to each zone, and St. Clair set two back row cards and a monster. Mystical Space Typhoon in St. Clair’s end phase robbed him of Torrential Tribute. “How do you always pick the right one?” Lux flopped Nobleman of Crossout, removing Gravekeeper’s Spy from the field and each player’s deck, too. He summoned Reaper. “Question number one… do you have a Goldd in your hand. Question two, can I hit it?” Spirit Reaper swung, but hit Sakuretsu Armor. Lux set a spell or trap and passed.

St. Clair set two cards to his back row and ended. Lux summoned Mobius, tributing away Frog! He destroyed Sakuretsu Armor and Enemy Controller. The Controller turned Mobius to defense. Next turn St . Clair cleared the Mobius with Tsukuyomi. Lux set another back row card. St. Clair set a monster. Lux flipped Call of the Haunted, brought back Mobius, but Bottomelss Trap Hole removed it. He set a monster. St. Clair set a second monster, a spell or trap, and passed. Lux flip summoned Dekoichi, drew, sent Dekoichi into St. Clair’;s set Magical Merchant, and St. Clair pulled Call of the Haunted. Lux set a monster and passed.

St. Clair tributed Tsukuyomi for Mobius, destroying Smashing Ground. Mobius took out Dekoichi, St. Clair set another spell or trap, and passed. Treeborn Frog hopped back onto Lux’;s side. He tributed it for Mobius, destroying Call of the Haunted and Smashing Ground. Lux played Smashing Ground, flip summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and attacked directly with both monsters! He set one back row card.

St. Clair played Dark Hole, summoned Spirit Reaper, and attacked directly to discard Pot ov Avarice! Lux summoned D. D. Assailant, attacked the Reaper, and passed. St. Clair topdecked Premature Burial, brought out Mobius, but Bottomless Trap Hole stopped it. Reaper went to defense. Lux set a spell or trap, St. Clair set a monster, Lux set a spell or trap and sent Assailant into the face down, which was Magical Merchant! Lux set a monster and passed, seeing that Merchant got him a Smashing Ground. He set one more back row card and passed.

St. Clair special summoned Chaos Sorcerer and removed D. D. Assailant with priority. Lux drew, examined each of his three set cards (two back row, one monster) and passed. St. Clair drew and examined the graveyards of both players. He flipped Jar of Greed, drew D. D. Warrior Lady with its effect, and attacked with Chaos Sorcerer, but Widespread Ruin destroyed it! He set a card to each zone and passed. Lux summoned Kycoo, sent it into the set D. D. Warrior Lady, and both were removed. Lux set another back row card and passed.

St. Clair summoned Strike Ninja, played Nobleman of Crossout on the face down card (Spirit Reaper), and attacked with Strike Ninja, right into Sakuretsu Armor. The Ninja was destroyed.

During his standby phase, Lux flipped Book of Moon to turn Reaper face down. He got back his frog, and set a monster. St. Clair drew, set a spell or trap, Lux did the same, St. Clair again drew and set a spell or trap and again passed. Lux passed back. St. Clair flipped Jar of Greed and set a monster, then another spell or trpa. He was fully commited to the field. Lux then flipped Heavy Storm on his turn. “I didn’t want to hit that Jar of Greed.” He flip summoned D. D. Assailant and ran it into Sand Moth. He set one monster and passed.

St. Clair drew into Breaker the Magical Warrior. His set monster was Spirit Reaper. He ran Breaker over Assailant, and both were removed. The life point totals were 6200 to 1900. Lux drew, flipped Dekoichi, tributed away Frog for Cyber Dragon, and attacked Sand Moth with Dragon. St. Clair drew, set a back row card, Lux drew, set a back row card, put Dekoichi in defense and ended.

St. Clair tributed his set Spirit Reaper for Mobius, but Lux chained Dust Tornado to destroy Trap Hole. Mobius took out the Dragon. Lux took back his Frog, turned Dekoichi to defense, set a spell or trap, and passed. St. Clair sent Mobius to attack Dekoichi, but hit Sakuretsu Armor. He set a monster and ended.

Dekoichi hit Magician of Faith, and St. Clair took back Premature Burial. He drew Exiled Force, and it was 5900 to 1900. He activated Premature Burial, brought back Mobius, and hit Dekoichi to dish out another 1000 damage. St. Clair set a monster and passed.

Lux drew, played Snatch Steal, summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, and hit the facedown monster with Mobius. St. Clair was out of options, and Kycoo hit directly for 1800 damage on St. Clair’s 1100 life points!

Michael Lux, a complete underdog who came out of nowhere, snatches the Shonen Jump Championship from Roy St. Clair!