Osorio won the die roll and opened the duel with a set card to each of his zones. Santiago set Gravekeeper’s Spy and passed, with his only non-monster being Snatch Steal. Osorio played Reinforcement of the Army, pulled Mystic Swordsman LV2 from his deck, and summoned it. He flip summoned D. D. Assailant, took out the Spy with Mystic Swordsman LV2, and attacked directly with Assailant. The life point totals were 8000 to 6300, and play passed to Santiago.

He played Snatch Steal, took the Assailant, and tributed it for Airknight Parshath. He ran it straight into Sakuretsu Armor, and had nothing but monsters. He passed, Osorio hit him with Mystic Swordsman LV2 and Spirit Reaper, and discarded Santiago’s Mystic Swordsman LV2. Osorio passed, also finding himself without a spell or trap!

Santiago had four cards in hand to Osorio’s four, but Osorio had a pair of monsters on the field. Santiago special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, attacked the Mystic Swordsman LV2, and set Dekoichi. His remaining in-hand cards were Spirit Reaper and a second Airknight.

“You’ve got five cards . . . you’ve got options” said Santiago. Osorio didn’t and just set a monster after turning Reaper into defense position. He flip summoned Dekoichi, drew a card, removed Reaper from play with Sorcerer, and attacked into the face down monster with Airknight-it was Cyber Jar! Santiago drew his card for Airknight, took his five cards, and Osorio did the same. Santiago got Exiled Force and Spy in attack position, while Osorio was faced with three set monsters, including Sangan. Spy hit Strike Ninja, bouncing off harmlessly! Exiled Force was tributed and Santiago picked the middle card.

“I’ll do it for the kids, I’ll hit that Sangan.” Sure enough, Santiago tributed Exiled and hit Sangan.

“I told you, I said I was gonna do it for the kids!” Santiago set Dust Tornado, Call of the Haunted, and two more back row cards!

“I wish I had Heavy,” said Osorio.

“You’re gonna rip it, don’t worry,” said Santiago. Thankfully Osorio did not. He set three cards to his spell and trap zone, flip summoned Morphing Jar, and Santiago chained Dust Tornado and Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Reinforcement of the Army and Call of the Haunted. Each player drew five cards, and Osorio turned Strike Ninja to attack position and cleared out the Spy. Morphing Jar hit directly, and the life point totals were 3900 to 5600 in Osorio’s favor.

“Man, Jars hit for 700, that’s a lot of damage,” remarked Santiago as Osorio set another spell or trap.

Santiago special summoned Cyber Dragon, but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole. He played Premature Burial, saying, “I don’t care if you have Heavy.” He took back Airknight Parshath, and Osorio had to flip Torrential Tribute. The Strike Ninja dodged out of play in response.

But Santiago wasn’t done! He flipped Call of the Haunted to bring up Airknight, and attacked directly. The totals were 3700 to 3100, with Osorio still narrowly in the lead!

Strike Ninja came back to the field, and Osorio tried to use Snatch Steal: Santiago chained Dust Tornado to destroy the Snatch. Osorio tributed the Ninja for Mobius, blew away Call of the Haunted, but targeted Bottomless Trap Hole as well. It removed Mobius from play and Osorio was forced to end his turn with an open field.

Santiago summoned D. D. Warrior Lady from his hand, set another spell or trap, and passed. “Did you get the Heavy yet?” he asked.

Osorio didn’t topdeck it. “Do you even play Heavy, or did you pull an Emon?” Osorio set a card to each zone and passed.

Santiago topdecked Pot of Avarice and immediately activated it. He returned Mystic Swordsman LV2, Exiled Force, Chaos Sorcerer, Cyber Dragon, and Magician of Faith to his deck before drawing two cards. He played Reinforcement of the Army, searched for Don, summoned it, and Osorio had no response. He’d already lost Torrential Tribute, and Santiago wasn’t fearing Trap Hole. He played Nobleman of Crossout, removed D. D. Warrior from play, attacked with Don and hit Sakuretsu Armor. D. D. Warrior Lady attacked directly though, bringing Osorio down to 700!

Osorio set a card to each zone and ended his turn. Santiago summoned Sangan, attacked with D. D. Warrior Lady, and ran it into D. D. Assailant. Santiago removed them both from play and Sangan hit directly to finish the duel!

Both players side decked, and Osorio opted to open again, using Reinforcement to search for D. D. Assailant. He took D. D. Assailant, set it, and played Swords of Revealing Light. Santiago set a monster, passed, and watched hisSpirit Reaper get hit with Nobleman of Crossout. Osorio attacked directly with the Assailant, passed, Santiago set a spell or trap, and winced as Osorio tributed Assailant next turn or Jinzo. Jinzo swung directly, and knocked Santiago down to 3900. He’d side decked into Cyber-Stein OTK, and had one Stein and two copies of Mega-Morph in hand, so the damage was bad news. He pulled Exiled Force with Reinforcement of the Army, summoned it, played Last Will, tributed Exiled to destroy Jinzo, and brough Sangan to the field in defense position. It was a great move, considering the limited in-hand resources that Santiago was working with.

Osorio summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked, and lost the Dragon to Sakuretsu Armor. Santiago set another spell or trap card, Osorio set a card to each zone, and Santiago played Nobleman of Crossout to remove Osorio’s set D. D. Assailant from play. Sangan attacked, but Osorio flipped Scapegoat, and Sangan ate a Sheep token. Santiago set a spell or trap card, and play passed to Osorio.

Premature Burial brought back Osorio’s Jinzo, and it promptly smashed Sangan: it was 7200 to 2500. Santiago pulled Cannon Soldier with Sangan’s effect, summoned it, flipped Megamorph, and smashed Jinzo with his 2800 ATK Cannon Soldier! “Oh man, what if he has a Snatch Steal! That would hurt!” Osorio laughed as Santiago ended his turn.

“That’s a big monster!” exclaimed Osorio, staring down the Soldier. He set a monster and passed. Santiago summoned Mystic Swordsman LV2, attacked the set monster with it to destroy D. D. Warrior, and the enormous Cannon Soldier hit a Sheep token, leaving Osorio with two.

“Every time I sided this, I lost today,” mentioned Santiago. “Every time I sided in on a game 1 loss, at least. Every time I won game 1 and didn’t need it, I won. I was like ‘Good job, stupid side deck. Thanks for working when I don’t need you!’” Osorio was cooking up a play while Santiago joked around.

“I’m considering something stupid,” Osorio admitted. “Okay, here’s what I’m gonna do.” He summoned Exiled Force and attacked Mystic Swordsman LV2—it worked. He then tributed Exiled Force to destroy the Cannon Soldier before passing.

Santiago was in agony. He had Cyber-Stein, Dark Hole, and Megamorph in his hand, but he didn’t have the life points to pay for Stein’s effect. He set Stein, Osorio attacked it with a freshly summoned Mystic Swordsman LV2, and it was destroyed. Santiago drew for his turn, flipped Call of the Haunted, attacked Mystic Swordsman LV2, and destroyed it. Osorio set a card to each zone and passed. He still had two Sheep tokens.

Santiago summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and broke Osorio’s one set back row card. It was Dark Hole! “Do you have a Jar?” asked Santiago. He considered then decided to try and prevent it if he did. He played Last Will, played Dark Hole, and pulled Reaper with Last Will’s effect. Sangan got him D. D. Warrior Lady, and Reaper hit directly. Osorio set his last two cards, one to each zone, and passed.

D. D. Warrior Lady came down on Santiago’s side, and he set one more spell or trap. D. D. Warrior Lady attacked Osorio’s set card, D. D. Assailant, and removed it form play. Reaper hit directly. Osorio drew, set another spell or trap card, and ended his turn. The life point totals were 2300 to 6100, still in Osorio’s favor. Santiago set a monster, turned Reaper to defense, and passed. Osorio set a monster, passed back, and Santiago flip summoned Dekoichi, drawing a card.

He had a five-card lead on his opponent, but Santiago still didn’t have an easy path to victory. He;d drawn into another Cyber-Stein, and had Cyber Dragon, Ancient Gear Cannon, and Snatch Steal in his hand. He set the Snatch Steal, attacked with Dekoichi into Osorio’s set Spirit Reaper, and then set Cyber-Stein.

Osorio drew for his turn and passed. Santiago flipped Megamorph, attached it to Osorio’s Spirit Reaper to destroy it, and Santiago summoned Ancient Gear Cannon. He used its effect with priority, but Osorio played Torrential Tribute! Timed was called, and Osorio summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior: Santiago flipped Torrential Tribute, and neither player could do anything else for the match that would result in damage. Life points were compared, Osorio won, and the match moved to game 3!

Each duelist would have two turns to act before the match would be called on life points: as the loser of the last duel, Santiago was permitted to choose whether he’d like to go first or second.

He chose to go first, and set a card to each zone. Osorio set a monster, then set two cards to his spell and trap zone. Santiago set another pair of cards, one to each zone, and passed. Osorio drew, flipped Cyber Jar, and five cards hit the field on each side:

Osorio got three D. D. Assailant, Spirit Reaper, and Nobleman of Crossout. Santiago got nothing but Cyber-Stein and a handful of non-monsters. Osario put all three D. D. Assailant into attack position, set the Reaper, played Mystical Space Typhoon on Santiago’s first set card, Sakuretsu Armor, and removed Cyber-Stein from play with Nobleman of Crossout. Santiago took all the damage from the attacks that followed. His last card had to be Waboku for him to stay alive, and it wasn’t. The turn counter ran down and Osorio won the duel!

Omar Osorio wins the match in sudden death, defeating Team Scoop’s Carlos Santiago!