I have to admit, this was a match I was looking forward to. I was in the game back when T was the champion, and Fili had an amazing showing yesterday. The two players took their seats and got ready to begin.

“I’d never heard of you ‘til you came back, and then everyone was like ‘That’s the legend!” Fili said, grinning. T smiled, looking down as he shuffled his deck. “I knew you’d win,” Fili went on. “I said, ‘There’s no way that guy can lose!’”

With only two rounds left, the conversation continued. Both T and Fili seemed relieved to have made it this far. They finished shuffling, wished each other luck, and began.

T won the high roll and went first, drawing his opening hand and then his card for the turn. He set a Mystic Tomato, then a spell or trap, and ended his turn. Fili drew, looked through his cards, then set one monster and one spell or trap. “Go ahead,” he said. T drew, set a Spirit Reaper, and ended his turn.

Fili drew, looked at the field, and thought for a while. He checked his set monster, fiddling with it, then decided to flip summon it—D. D. Warrior Lady—and attack. T thought about it—would he respond? He did! He flipped up Ring to wipe it out, but Fili responded with Royal Decree. T’s Tomato flipped up as a result of the attack, and Fili mused, “Hmm . . . let’s see, what else do you have . . .” He ran through T’s decklist in his head, and decided to remove both monsters from play. He set another monster, and ended his turn.

T drew. He was holding a Breaker in his hand, so he had an answer for the Royal Decree. He shuffled through his hand, then decided to summon the Breaker. He brought it to the field and placed the counter, then activated Dark World Lightning to destroy Fili’s set Reaper. He flip summoned his own Reaper and attacked directly with it, discarding Fili’s Smashing Ground. He attacked directly with Breaker, then activated Confiscation, bringing the life points to 5800 for Fili and 7000 for T. T studied the field, and Fili watched him intently. T then used Breaker’s counter to destroy Royal Decree and ended his turn.

Fili sets one spell or trap and one monster and ended his turn.

T drew, and played Graceful Charity. He liked everything he drew—Mirror Force, a Goldd, and Morphing Jar. He was going to have to make at least one tough choice though, and opted to discard the Mirror Force along with Goldd, bringing Goldd back to the field. He attacked the set card with Breaker—it was Don Zaloog—and then attacked directly with Spirit Reaper (discarding Fili’s Zaborg), and then directly with Goldd.

Fili drew, and looked over T’s field. Life points were approaching a hazardous level for Fili—it was his 3200 against T’s 7000. He activated Heavy Storm, then summoned Asura Priest to take out Breaker and deal some damage through Reaper. T drew, summoned a Morphing Jar, and attacked with all three monsters for game.

They made their side deck decisions, counted out the side decks to show fifteen cards, then shuffled up. It was time for game 2!

Game 2

Fili decided to go first, then drew his opening hand and card. He set two spell or trap cards and one monster, and ended his turn. T drew, and Fili activated Trap Dustshoot. After looking over T’s hand, he sent back Treeborn Frog. “This is gonna be bad, I have a feeling,” T said, as he activated Dark World Lightning to destroy Fili’s set Tomato and bring out Goldd. He was right—Fili responded with Torrential Tribute. T really wanted that Goldd though, so he activated Premature Burial to bring it back out and attack directly for 2300.

Fili drew with a bare field. Life points were now Fili’s 5900 against T’s 7100. Fili set one spell or trap and ended his turn. T drew, set a spell or trap, and ended his turn. Fili drew, set a monster, and ended. T set one spell or trap and ended.

Fili drew, looked at the field, then at T. He checked his set cards, thought about it, then activated Heavy Storm. T chained Scapegoat. “At least I got rid of Deck Devastation Virus!” he cheered. “It was coming next turn!” said T. T drew, and looked at his hand. He activated Dark World Lightning to knock out Fili’s Spirit Reaper, special summoned Goldd, and attacked Fili’s set Exiled Force.

Fili drew, and summoned Exiled Force to destroy Goldd, then ended his turn. T drew and looked through both graveyards. He then activated Graceful Charity, and took some time to choose his discards. He dropped Treeborn Frog and Morphing Jar, then summoned Sangan. He set a spell or trap, and attacked Fili’s set—Sangan! Fili selected Magician of Faith, and T continued with his turn by activating Confiscation. Here, he faced a dilemma. Fili was holding Pot of Avarice, Magician of Faith, and Nobleman of Crossout. T looked through Fili’s graveyard. Finally, he settled on Pot of Avarice, and ended his turn.

Fili drew, set a monster, and ended. T drew, then attacked the set with Sangan. It was Magician of Faith, and Fili promptly took back Pot of Avarice. He activated it, and shuffled Magician of Faith, Spirit Reaper, two Exiled Force, and Sangan back into his deck. He drew two, then played Graceful. He thought over his choices, then tossed Last Will and Nobleman of Crossout. He set a monster and ended his turn.

T drew, and attacked the set monster—Magician of Faith—with Sangan. Fili took back his Graceful Charity. Fili drew, activated Graceful Charity again, and discarded Cyber-Stein and brought Goldd to the field. He used Mystical Space Typhoon on T’s set Torrential, and summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior. He used Breaker’s counter to smash up T’s Mirror Force, then attacked Sangan with Goldd and one Sheep token with Breaker, bringing T down to 4900 life points. Fili activated Dimensional Fissure, and ended his turn.

T drew. He activated Smashing Ground to take out Goldd, and set a Magician of Faith. Fili summoned Exiled Force, attacked one Sheep token with Breaker, took out another one with Exiled, then tributed the Exiled to take out the set Magician of Faith.

T drew. He had one Sheep token remaining. He looked through his graveyard, then set a Night Assailant and ended. Fili summoned another Exiled Force, tributing it to off the Assailant, which went out of play due to Dimensional Fissure. T drew, set another spell or trap, and ended his turn.

Fili drew, and summoned D. D. Assailant, then attacked the last remaining Sheep token with Breaker. He attacked directly with D. D. Assailant, bringing the life point totals to 3200 for T and 4700 for Fili. T special summoned Cyber Dragon, and attacked the Breaker, then used Smashing Ground to get rid of D. D. Assailant. He set a spell or trap and ended. Fili drew with nothing on his field but Dimension Fissure. He summoned Mystic Tomato and activated Creature Swap, trading his Tomato for T’s Dragon. He attacked, reducing T to 2500.

T drew, used Smashing Ground on the Dragon, and ended his turn. Fili summoned D.D. Survivor and attacked directly, reducing T to 700. T activated Heavy Storm, then set a spell or trap. Fili summoned D. D. Assailant, and looked at T. T scooped up his cards. There would be a third duel to determine the winner.

Game 3

T decided to go first. He drew, studied his hand, then set a monster, two spells or traps, and ended his turn. Fili drew and activated Heavy Storm, costing T a Dust Tornado and a Deck Devastation Virus. He activated Dimensional Fissure, then summoned D.D. Survivor and attacked T’s set Morphing Jar. This was going to be a tough matchup unless T could get rid of that Dimensional Fissure. They discarded their hands and drew five new cards. T drew, set a spell or trap, and ended.

Fili drew, then attacked with D.D. Survivor. First damage had been dealt. T drew, set a Dekoichi, and ended his turn. Fili summoned Exiled Force, and tributed it to destroy the set. He attacked again with D.D. Survivor. T drew, and set a Torrential Tribute. He was holding Giant Orc, Treeborn Frog, Dark World Lightning, a Goldd, and Nobleman of Crossout, and there wasn’t much he could do with Dimensional Fissure on the field. He set the frog and ended.

Fili brought out his second Exiled Force. He tributed it to get rid of the Frog, and then attacked again with D.D. Survivor. T summoned Giant Orc and ended his turn. Fili summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, and T responded with Torrential Tribute. D.D. Survivor returned to the field as Fili ended his turn. T drew, set one spell or trap and ended his turn. Fili drew, and attacked yet again with D.D. Survivor. Those repeated attacks had now worn T’s life points down to 800. Could he possibly come back from this? Fili set another spell or trap and ended his turn.

T drew, set one more spell or trap, and ended his turn. Fili drew, summoned Mystic Tomato, and attacked again with the D.D. Survivor. But T had a Mirror Force! He’d live for at least another turn. D.D. Survivor returned to the field. T drew, and set Magician of Faith. Fili drew, and summoned—D. D. Warrior Lady. He attacked the Magician, and T held out his hand. “YES!” Fili yelled, leaping to his feet, before reaching back across the table to shake T’s hand again. “That was a good game,” he said.

T came close, so close, but today wasn’t his day. Fili’s perfect opening draw in the final game locked him down past recovery. He still holds the record for most Shonen Jump Top 8’s—if he can make it there in San Jose, perhaps he’ll get the win that has eluded him for so long.