Sai Chai is a newcomer to the spotlight, but is a recognized member of the Sacramento team, The Syndicate. He’s 25 years old and when he’s not dueling, he’s working with computers.

Theeresak Poonsombat needs no introduction. “How broken is that?” asked Kris Perovic as he took a seat on the sidelines. “A whole year, and nobody’s touched you,” he said to Poonsombat. It was true — even after a year on the bench, no one has been able to break Poonsombat’s Top 8 SJC record. A whopping five Day 2 appearances. While many duelists have come close by racking up four Top 8s, no one had yet reached or broken T’s record.

Now, he had a chance to lengthen the gap. Both of these duelists had 8-1 records, and were on the bubble for a Day 2 qualification. The winner here would make it to the Top 8, either for their first, or sixth time.

Chai opened the match with Graceful Charity, discarding Cyber Dragon and Smashing Ground after some serious time spent thinking. He set a monster, set a spell or trap and ended. “Go ahead.”  His hands shook a little, and he folded them together, perhaps to conceal the shaking.

T fired back with a set to each zone himself, and Chai activated Nobleman of Crossout. It ripped Poonsombat’s Treeborn Frog from the field, but Chai just set another monster to develop his field. The stakes are never higher than an SJC bubble match, and a conservative building of presence is sometimes a sound tactical plan.

A set monster and another set back row card were Poonsombat’s plays, and he lost his back row to Heavy Storm on the following turn — Chai flipped it for the true pro style, but Poonsombat chained Scapegoat in response. Chai flip summoned Magician of Faith, took back Graceful Charity with her effect, and then flip summoned Old Vindictive Magician to destroy T’s set monster: Morphing Jar. He hit two Sheep, set a card to his back row and ended.

Poonsombat set another back row card and passed. He lost his remaining two Sheep to the diminutive Spellcasters, and Chai set another spell or trap. Poonsombat set another card to each zone, but lost one of them to Dust Tornado in his end phase: Mirror Force, the one he’d just set. Things were not going his way.

Chai activated Graceful Charity again, this time discarding Spirit Reaper and Scapegoat. He summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy T’s set Mystic Tomato, and then attacked for 750 damage total with both of his Spellcasters. Poonsombat drew and just passed — he had Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, Giant Orc, and Zaborg in his hand and he was riding a set Torrential Tribute. Chai didn’t press into it though, and swung next turn with both Spellcasters yet again. Poonsombat passed back, and ate another 750.

It was 8000 to 5750, with Poonsombat slowly getting nibbled to death. Chai set a spell or trap, a second, to his back row and ended.

Poonsombat set a monster and passed. Chai summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy his opponent’s set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and attacked again for 750 damage. T was down to 5000 life points.

“Go ahead,” he said, passing yet again. Disaster struck, and in his end phase he lost his Torrential Tribute to Mystical Space Typhoon. Youch. On the turn that followed Chai summoned Sangan and swung for 1750, lowering T to 3250 life points total. He needed to make some sort of move.

He activated Dark World Lightning to destroy Chai’s one set card — Torrential Tribute. He discarded Sillva, Warlord of Dark World and special summoned it, then contemplated how to use his normal summon for the turn. Sillva attacked the Magician of Faith, T set a monster and ended.

Chai drew and had six cards in his hand, along with his two small monsters on the field. He turned both them to defense and set a card to his back row. “Go ahead.” T drew into yet another Dark World monster and checked his opponent’s graveyard before attacking the Old Vindictive Magician. Chai flipped Ring of Destruction to block the attack, and T dropped to 950 life points as his Sillva was sent to the graveyard. He summoned Giant Orc and ended his turn, now desperate for some defense. Zaborg here would be ruinous.

Reinforcement of the Army dropped from Chai’s hand, allowing him to search his deck for D. D. Warrior Lady. He summoned her, turned Apprentice and Sangan to attack and flip summoned Don Zaloog. He was going for the kill! He then activated Dimensional Fissure! D. D. Warrior Lady attacked into the Giant Orc and removed herself from the game along with the Orc, with Chai taking 700 damage in the process. Zaloog attacked the face down, and T was saved by his set Spirit Reaper! Chai set a spell or trap and ended.

The Dimensional Fissure would be a big problem for T, as it would keep him from using Card Destruction or anything else to discard his Dark World monsters. T set a monster, passed to Chai, and Chai summoned D. D. Survivor. The Survivor attacked into T’s set monster, Night Assailant, and the Assailant destroyed Don Zaloog to remove it from play. The Survivor was practically invincible thanks to the combo of Dimensional Fissure. Chai was playing a main deck similar to Jake McNeely’s side from Seattle. It’s imported tech from Japan, and it’s pretty darn good.

Chai ended his turn and T drew into Pot of Avarice. He didn’t have enough monsters yet. “Go.” Chai passed back, unable to get rid of the Reaper. T drew and was sitting on Graceful Charity and Card Destruction. He had to use the Graceful to try and destroy the Dimensional Fissure, otherwise neither would do anything to get him closer to victory. He did it, and drew into unhelpful material. He discarded Cyber Dragon and Confiscation, Dragon was removed, and he set a spell or trap card. “Go.”

The match was at a definite stalemate. “I love this guy!” said T, kissing his Reaper. Chai summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke T’s set Smashing Ground, and had no follow-up.

“Game?”

“I wish!” laughed Chai. “Pass.”

T passed back, Chai drew, and winced. “Go! Ahhh, man.”  He gave a moan.

T drew into Deck Devastation Virus and set it. “Go.” Chai passed back, T drew another Deck Devastation Virus and set it too. Hey, why not, right? He’d have to discard it otherwise. Chai shook his head: “This is crazy.” He summoned Apprentice Magician, used its effect to give Breaker another token and broke one of the two set Deck Devastation Virus.

The clock ticked down — only 13 minutes remained in the match, and neither duelist was capable of breaking the stalemate yet. T began running some numbers. He still didn’t have any way of ridding the field of Dimensional Fissure, but at this point he had so many cards that Card Destruction might be viable.

“Ok, so, since this game is so boring, I’m going to make it a little more interesting.”

“Such a crowd pleaser,” remarked Perovic from the sidelines with a smile.

Poonsombat activated Dark World Lightning and blew away Chai’s set Mirror Force, losing his Sillva to the removed from game pile. He labored over his next move. It was 3000 to 950, and he still had Deck Devastation Virus on the table. He had Premature Burial in hand too, so the right move could get him out of his current predicament. Maybe.

He tributed Spirit Reaper for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, and blew away the Survivor, one of the two monsters he couldn’t destroy with Deck Devastation Virus if he were to activate it. He set the Premature, then activated Card Destruction to discard his last two cards — Pot of Avarice and Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World. He drew two more — Breaker the Magical Warrior and Sakuretsu Armor, with Breaker on top. One more turn would have gotten him what he needed to go off with the Card Destruction. He knew it, and took a moment to let that fact sink in. T’s a generally cheery guy, but for just a second, he looked like someone had killed his puppy.

Still, he pressed on! He activated Premature Burial to bring back Sillva and rammed Zaborg into Apprentice Magician to chalk up some damage. Chai didn’t pull anything with its effect: he only had three cards remaining in his deck. Sillva then cleared out Breaker, and Chai was down to 300 life points. T had 150 remaining. It was tense, and T set one more back row card.

He passed. D.D. Survivor came back on Chai’s side, and it was quickly tributed on the following turn for Zaborg. Its effect destroyed T’s Zaborg, but, when Chai’s tried to attack Sillva, Warlord of Dark World, T flipped Sakuretsu Armor! Chai set a back row card and passed.

T had Breaker the Magical Warrior and Call of the Haunted in his hand, with Sillva out on the field thanks to Premature. He still had one Deck Devastation Virus set. He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, destroyed Chai’s set card and found it to be a bluff! Confiscation! Sillva attacked the Old Vindictive and Breaker hit Sangan. T set another spell or trap and ended, with Breaker left vulnerable. His hopes rode on the last set card in his back row.

Chai tributed his D. D. Survivor for another Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, targeting Sillva. T tributed it for Deck Destruction, but Zaborg’s attack into Breaker sealed the game!

Sai Chai takes the first duel with just over three minutes remaining! Both duelists side decked as fast as they could.

Poonsombat opened with a single set spell or trap, and 45 seconds remaining. He ended his turn, and Chai shook his head as he looked at his cards. He summoned Elemental Hero Wildheart, but T threw up Scapegoat! Chai didn’t attack a single token: he just set a spell or trap and ended.

Time was called, and each duelist would have two more turns. T used Dark World Lightning to destroy Chai’s set Smashing Ground, dropped Sillva, and ran over Elemental Hero Wildheart with it. T set a spell or trap and ended.

Chai considered his options for a while, and after some consideration, announced his decision: “I scoop.” 

A third game would take place, and each duelist would get two turns starting with Chai.

But then disaster struck. Chai took his side deck and mixed it into his main to smokescreen on reflex. Competitors can not side deck in a time situation: Chai’s mixing of his side into his main would create a huge problem.

It was suggested that the deck be examined: if say, exactly fifteen cards were facing one way instead of the other, the situation might be fixable. “I’d be fine with that,” said Poonsombat, who was in no way eager to win this way. Sadly, as the table judge inspected the deck card by card the situation became clear: every single one of Chai’s cards were facing the same way. A solution was impossible, and a game loss had to be assigned.

As a result, Poonsombat took his second win: the match was his. He was clearly unhappy with the results. As he gave his condolences to Chai there was a moment of silence in the audience, but then a mounting cheer began to roll through the amassed crowd. It grew into an uproar of applause, as everyone realized what they had just witnessed.

The king was back, and he had just claimed his sixth Top 8.