Adam Corn, representing Shuffle and Cut and Comic Odyssey, made waves here yesterday with his Gadget/Monarch deck complete with two copies of Shrink. Storming through Day 1 competition, he'll have to take on another four duelists to become the Champion. In his way is Team Hypnotiq's Brad Poth. Brad's 12-gauge Monarch build sneaked in as the 16th seed yesterday, but there's no doubting he deserves this spot. Corn won the die roll and the match was underway!

Corn opened with a set spell or trap card and passed his turn. Poth set a monster and passed right back. "Cyber Dragon?" asked Poth. "No, thanks, I don't like attacking Mother Grizzly." He passed, and Poth tributed his Treeborn Frog for Mobius the Frost Monarch. It blew away Widespread Ruin and Poth attacked directly. Corn went into the tank on his turn, and came out with Brain Control on Mobius. He attacked and tributed for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, which discarded Premature Burial. Another set spell or trap ended his turn. Poth brought back Treeborn Frog, tributed it to Enemy Controller during his main phase, took Thestalos, and tributed it for Mobius the Frost Monarch, which was removed by Bottomless Trap Hole. Both players passed, and Poth's Spirit Reaper was destroyed by Torrential Tribute. Corn passed his next turn, and Poth set a monster.

Poth stood at 5600 to Corn's 4800. Corn special summoned Cyber Dragon and tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, which destroyed Gravekeeper's Spy. Book of Moon was chained to the attack, and on Poth's next turn he tributed his Frog for Granmarg the Rock Monarch, destroying the back row set and attacking Zaborg. Smashing Ground took out the Granmarg, and Corn simply set a back row. Poth passed his turn, and Corn finally drew a Gadget monster. Red Gadget came down and swung into Poth, dropping him to 4300. Corn beefed up his back row with two cards and passed.

Poth activated Soul Exchange and summoned Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, which hit Mirror Force. He didn't attack, and Corn summoned Yellow Gadget. He set a third back row card and passed. In his draw phase, Poth used Ring of Destruction on Yellow Gadget. Frog joined the show just in time to become Mobius the Frost Monarch, which targeted Ring of Destruction and Shrink. Corn's final spell or trap card was no help, and Poth attacked directly for game.

Poth made his side deck adjustments quickly. Both players had talked before the match about Corn's lack of side deck options for the final two duels. Poth seemed confident in his original build, while Corn examined all his options in hopes of finding a way out.

Corn opened the second duel with a set monster and a set spell or trap. Soul Exchange tributed the face down Legendary Jujitsu Master for Mobius the Frost Monarch, which blew away Sakuretsu Armor. Poth passed with nothing in his backfield. Corn destroyed the Mobius with Smashing Ground and summoned Green Gadget. Green got in for some life point damage, and Corn set another back row card. Twin-Headed Behemoth was Poth's next play, and Corn used Sakuretsu Armor to destroy it. Poth set a spell or trap and brought back his Twin-Headed before passing.

Corn examined his options in hand. He had Heavy Storm, which could potentially clear the backfield and pave a path for the Gadgets to destroy the Behemoth and attack directly. He chose to do so and summoned Red Gadget. Poth took another 1400 damage from the ensuing attack. Corn set another backfield card. Poth used Snatch Steal on Green Gadget, tributed it for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch and hit Yellow Gadget with Thestalos' effect. Bottomless Trap Hole took care of the Thestalos, and Poth passed with nothing in play. Corn hit once more, set a monster and ended. Poth set a backfield card and a monster and passed right back.

Corn flip summoned Gravekeeper's Spy and retrieved another one in defense mode. He tributed the Gadget for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, taking out Poth's set Spy, and attacked directly with his monsters. Book of Moon stopped Zaborg, and Corn set another backfield card before passing. Poth had two cards in hand after his draw phase, and played Premature Burial to grab Mobius the Frost Monarch. Mobius swung in on Zaborg, but was stopped by Enemy Controller. Poth set a monster, and Corn attacked Mobius with one Spy and hit a face down Spirit Reaper with another Spy. Brain Control destroyed it in main phase 2, and Corn passed. Poth top-decked a Brain Control of his own, and the match proceeded to the third duel.

Poth opened up the third duel with one card to his backfield. Corn set a monster and a spell or trap card before passing. Poth special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed it for Granmarg the Rock Monarch and ran into a Treeborn Frog/Torrential Tribute combo. Corn tributed his Frog for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, which hit Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Poth used Ring of Destruction and Corn set one spell or trap before passing. Corn took a Sangan hit next turn, and Poth passed with Sangan and a backfield card.

Cyber Dragon was special summoned for Corn and it beat up on Sangan. Poth unsurprisingly searched out Treeborn Frog. The match just got a lot harder for Corn. He set two cards to his back row, and passed the turn. Poth went into the tank on his turn, and finally elected to set just a monster and end. Corn attacked into the monster but Poth fended him off with Book of Moon. Poth set another monster on his turn and passed back to Corn. Corn made no move at all on his turn, and Poth tributed Treeborn Frog for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch on his. It hit Brain Control, and Poth attacked into Sakuretsu Armor. Corn summoned Green Gadget on his turn, flipped his Cyber Dragon face up and sent Cyber Dragon into Mother Grizzly. Corn passed on any further attacks, and used Smashing Ground on the Grizzly.

Treeborn Frog joined the fray on Poth's turn and Poth set another monster. Corn summoned Red Gadget and had Cyber Dragon attack into the face down Gravekeeper's Spy, which brought out a second in defense mode. Green Gadget switched to defense mode, and Corn thought for quite some time before making his next move. He was at 4600 life points, so the threat of losing was upon him. Poth was at 4000 though, so many possibilities existed. Under time pressure, Corn made no further moves. Poth retrieved his Frog, used Brain Control on Cyber Dragon and flung it into Corn's Red Gadget. Corn took the attack and Poth tributed the Cyber for Mobius, which was trumped by Bottomless Trap Hole. Corn had Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, which was brought into play thanks to Treeborn Frog, and one Snatch Steal later the match was won by Corn.

Corn takes a very tense match 2-1.