“Oh no,” remarked Jonathan as he approached the table. “I hope this isn’t where you write about how I lose.” Alex on the other hand had nothing to say on the subject. This was the first Day 2 appearance for both of these players, and one of them would be turning their Top 16 finish into a Top 8 finish. Our table judge, Derek, introduced himself as the players shuffled their decks, and we were ready to start. Alex rolled his dice straight off the table, but on a second try he pulled off a 6 to Moore’s 2. Alex would be starting off the match just as soon as Head Judge Simon Key gave the word.

“I’ll be going first,” announced Alex once again, and he made true on his word with a set spell or trap. Jonathon dropped Heavy Storm to clear Alex’s Torrential Tribute. The Six Samurai — Irou hit the field and attacked for 1700, and play was back to Alex. Alex brought Snatch Steal to the field to take control of Irou and then dropped Dimensional Fissure and D.D. Survivor. The attacks were stymied by Scapegoat however, and two Sheep bit the dust. Reinforcement of the Army hit the field for Jonathan, and he fetched The Six Samurai — Kamon! Brilliant maneuver as he had just pulled a Grandmaster of the Six Samurai off the top of the deck. This was a perfect situation for the one-off Samurai, and Alex wasn’t about to let him pull it off. He activated Enemy Controller to steal away Kamon, tributing Irou to the cost and removing it from play! Moore had his own Snatch though, and Grandmaster dropped anyway allowing Kamon to eliminate Dimensional Fissure! D.D. Survivor was destroyed and sent to the graveyard, much to Alex’s displeasure. Jonathan set his last card to the spell or trap zone and passed his turn to Alex, who set a card to each zone.

Jonathon blew away his own Snatch Steal, but kept his Kamon due to the fact that it was his to begin with. Grandmaster then attacked into D. D. Warrior Lady and was removed from play, putting Moore in a less than ideal situation. Bazoo the Soul-Eater hit the field for Alex and it removed D.D. Survivor to pump to 1900. It fell prey to Ring of Destruction and Alex passed to Jonathan who attacked with Kamon and then set a spell or trap. Reinforcement of the Army fetched a D. D. Assailant for Alex, and he set a card to each zone. Moore decided to go for an attack, and the Assailant was revealed, costing him 100 life points. Another set monster joined Alex’s field in the next turn, and Jonathon summoned The Six Samurai — Zanji! Both Samurai attacked, but Mirror Force blew them away! Alex drew and flipped Magical Merchant, scoring a Dimensional Fissure but losing one of his Survivors in the process! He attacked one more Sheep and set a spell or trap before passing to Moore who set a spell or trap of his own. It was all for naught though as Sakuretsu Armor and Call of the Haunted were destroyed by a freshly summoned Mobius next turn! The Sheep went down and Jonathan took 2400 to the face before Alex passed. Moore was in bad shape, and he special summoned Cyber Dragon in defense and set Morphing Jar. Alex had the other Reinforcement of the Army however, and he used it to fetch Exiled Force to destroy the Jar. This game was just about over, and a flurry of attacks combined with Ring of Destruction ended the game with Alex the victor.

Both players smoke-screened between games while a visibly displeased Moore tried to come up with the answers to Martinez’s deck. Alex was doing a sort of bouncing motion in his seat, but I’m unsure as to whether it was due to the excitement of being one win away from Top 8 or the fact that it was freezing in here for no adequately explained reason. We were soon ready to start the second game, and Jonathan started with a set Kinetic Soldier! Smart siding for the match-up! He set a spell or trap and passed to Alex who set a card to each zone. Moore set a second monster and Alex passed his turn. It was time for a Samurai beatdown, as Moore flipped The Six Samurai — Yaichi and special summoned Grandmaster, allowing him to destroy Mirror Force. He then dropped Irou to eliminate Alex’s set Kinetic Soldier! Grandmaster hit directly and, despite his six card hand, Alex was in trouble, facing down against Grandmaster, Yaichi, and Irou! His defensive capabilities were totally locked down if he couldn’t find another way to wipe the field.

Alex took some time to very carefully read exactly how each of Moore’s Samurai worked, and he eventually opted to activate Heavy Storm! Moore declined to chain his Ring of Destruction, and Alex followed up with Dimensional Fissure and a Snatch Steal on Grandmaster. The Grandmaster turned on The Six Samurai — Yaichi, and Moore had to allow it. Alex set a spell or trap and passed to Moore, who gained life for Snatch Steal. It was time for Moore’s Kinetic Soldier to shine, and he flipped it up only to have its attack blocked by Enemy Controller! Moore set a spell or trap and passed to Alex who tributed for Mobius to destroy Moore’s Mirror Force! Kinetic Soldier was destroyed and removed from play, and Alex set a spell or trap. Jonathan had a Reinforcement of the Army next turn to fetch Kamon, which he summoned to destroy Dimensional Fissure. Moore set a card to his back row and passed to Alex who set two more cards to his back row, emptying his hand. He didn’t chance an attack with Mobius however and simply passed to Alex who set a card to each zone and passed.

Bazoo came down and pumped to 1900, and both of Alex’s face up Samurai were destroyed. Alex flipped his set Irou and tried to activate Torrential Tribute, but Solemn Judgment blocked it! Moore was able to play a Grandmaster, but its attack was stymied by Book of Moon! He lost both his monsters in the next turn, dropping Moore to 7300 to Alex’s 2950! Moore special summoned Cyber Dragon, but its attack was blocked by another Enemy Controller. Alex had all the answers and an Exiled Force next turn cleared the field of Moore’s freshly set monster! Moore took a pair of direct attacks next turn as he simply couldn’t draw a monster! Two set monsters joined Alex’s field over the next couple of turns. Jonathon had a Ceasefire to drop Alex to 450 life points, but it just wasn’t enough. Alex Martinez scores a crushing victory over Jonathan Moore to advance to the Top 8.