After his first loss last round, Jordan Nasser was back at the feature match table. This time he was up against one of the most dominant duelists in the room — the great, the only, Theeresak Poonsombat.

A win here would launch either of these duelists into a very good position to make Day 2, but a loss would leave the loser hoping for luck and tiebreakers. This win was incredibly important to each player.

Theeresak won the roll and opened the match with a set card to each zone. Nasser summoned Green Gadget, took Red Gadget from his deck, and sent Green Gadget to attack. It crashed into Marshmallon; Nasser took 1000 damage, and set Bottomless Trap Hole. He lost it in his end phase to Mystical Space Typhoon.

Card Trooper hit the field for T, eating Cyber Phoenix, Destiny Hero – Plasma, and Call of the Haunted before attacking Green Gadget. Nasser summoned Drillroid next turn, used its effect to destroy Marshmallon, and then set a spell or trap card. Heavy Storm blew it away next turn — Dimensional Prison — and T fed Card Trooper another Plasma, Light and Darkness Dragon, and Destiny Draw. He then summoned Sangan, attacked Drillroid with Card Trooper, and swung direct with Sangan. The attacks left Nasser at 5200 life points. “Your turn,” announced Theeresak.

Nasser summoned Red Gadget and used its effect to pull Yellow Gadget. Red Gadget attacked Card Trooper, Theeresak drew, and Nasser set one card to finish his turn. Theeresak drew for his turn — he had Light and Darkness Dragon in his hand, and a Fiend’s Sanctuary to help him use it! He activated Reinforcement of the Army, searched his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos and summoned him, searching for Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. Stratos attacked Red Gadget; Nasser fingered his set card and then took the damage, losing Red Gadget. Sangan attacked directly and Theeresak passed, again refusing to set any cards to his back row.

Yellow Gadget was summoned to grab Nasser another copy of Green, and it promptly ran over Sangan: Theeresak grabbed a copy of Snipe Hunter, threatening Nasser’s lack of commitment to his back row. Sure enough, Nasser set two more cards to his spell and trap zone before concluding his turn.

Theeresak activated Fiend’s Sanctuary! He tributed for Light and Darkness Dragon, but Nasser flipped Solemn Judgment! The Dragon was stymied, but Theeresak got to special summon Elemental Hero Stratos, plucking Malicious from his deck. Stratos then attacked Yellow Gadget, and Nasser was left with 1250 life points. Theeresak ended with a set spell or trap, but lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon in his end phase: it was Scapegoat.

Next turn Nasser summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and rammed it into Stratos, giving himself the five monsters he’d need for Pot of Avarice. He activated it, shuffled back all five monsters and drew two cards. He ended his turn without making any other moves.

Theeresak summoned Snipe Hunter and discarded Malicious, trying to hit Nasser’s set spell or trap but missing. He discarded Disk Commander next, wiped Nasser’s field clean, and attacked for game!

Theeresak Poonsombat wins the first duel! Nasser dove into his side deck . . .

A couple minutes later he began game 2 with a set spell or trap. “Go ahead.” Theeresak had an all-monster hand: Spirit Reaper, Jinzo, Marshmallon, 2 Cyber Dragons, and Light and Darkness Dragon. He set Reaper, ended, and Nasser passed.

Reinforcement of the Army came off the top of Theeresak’s deck. He flip summoned Spirit Reaper, activated Reinforcement to nab Elemental Hero Stratos, then searched out Disk Commander with Stratos’ effect. Reaper attacked, Nasser flipped Shrink to destroy it, and Stratos dropped him to 6200 life points.

He summoned Yellow Gadget next turn, grabbing Green Gadget. Hammer Shot destroyed Stratos, Yellow Gadget attacked directly, and Nasser ended with nothing in his spell and trap zone.

Theeresak special summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked Yellow Gadget, slow-rolling the situation given his hand, which continued to be nothing but monsters. He set Marshmallon and ended. Nasser summoned Green Gadget, searched out Red Gadget, and activated Hammer Shot again. Cyber Dragon went down, but Green Gadget attacked and bounced off Marshmallon. Nasser went down to 4300 life points, and activated Smashing Ground to eliminate Marshmallon. He set a spell or trap and then ended. “Go ahead.”

T had two copies of Jinzo, Disk Commander, Cyber Dragon, Premature Burial, and Light and Darkness Dragon in hand. Jinzo and Light and Darkness Dragon were both live options thanks to Cyber Dragon and Premature, and he took a few moments to consider his moves. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, inspected Nasser’s graveyard, then tributed for Jinzo. Nasser visibly sunk in his seat a bit, and then leaned back from the table. Premature Burial brought back Stratos, T retrieved Malicious from his graveyard, and Stratos attacked; Nasser flipped Shrink, repelling Stratos, but there was no answer to Jinzo, which then destroy Green Gadget. Theeresak had picked his attacks well, and now Nasser wasn’t under quite as much pressure.

He was still definitely losing though. He summoned Red Gadget, searched Yellow, and traded his Gadget for Jinzo with Creature Swap! Jinzo attacked and suddenly Nasser was in control. He set two cards to back up his newfound android and ended.

Theeresak set a card to each zone. Nasser summoned Yellow Gadget, got Green, attacked with Yellow to destroy Theeresak’s face-down Disk Commander and hit directly with Jinzo. Theeresak set a monster, Nasser summoned Green Gadget, got Red, and attacked with Green. Green hit Theeresak’s Sangan and it was all over, as Yellow Gadget and Jinzo both attacked Theeresak’s life points!

Jordan Nasser pulls out a win, pressing this match to a third duel! Could Nasser make the comeback?

Theeresak opened the final duel with a set card to each zone. Nasser set a spell or trap, ended, and Theeresak flip summoned Sangan. He pressed for 1000 damage, set Pulling the Rug, and ended. Nasser set two cards to his back row and passed.

Destiny Draw let T discard Malicious, and he swung for another 1000 damage with Sangan; Nasser activated Dimensional Prison in response, removing Sangan from play. T set a third spell or trap, Royal Decree, but lost it to Dust Tornado in the end phase! Nasser couldn’t capitalize though; his only move next turn was to set a card to his back row. T passed, Nasser passed, and Theeresak passed back. Nasser set a spell or trap, Theeresak summoned Stratos and Nasser reluctantly activated Bottomless Trap Hole. Theeresak searched his deck for Destiny Hero – Disk Commander with Stratos’ effect and set a spell or trap to end; another Dust Tornado hit him, this turn destroying his freshly-set Brain Control. Nasser set yet another spell or trap.

A set monster was Theeresak’s play and Nasser passed. Theeresak removed Destiny Hero – Malicious from play to special summon another, then tributed both for Dark Magician of Chaos. Theeresak took back Destiny Draw with the Magician’s effect but lost the Magician to Bottomless Trap Hole. He activated Destiny Draw, pitched Plasma, and drew two. Another set spell or trap brought Theeresak’s field to three face-down cards, all in his spell and trap zone.

He flipped Trap Dustshoot next turn, revealing Fissure, Hammer Shot, Smashing Ground, Pot of Avarice, Bottomless Trap Hole, Green Gadget and Snipe Hunter. He shuffled back Snipe Hunter, the obvious pick, and Nasser summoned Green Gadget — Pulling the Rug destroyed it. Nasser set a back row card and announced that he was finished.

Theeresak summoned Spirit Reaper and ran it into Dimensional Prison. He set a spell or trap and play was to Nasser. Nasser summoned Banisher of the Radiance, attacked, and hit for 1600 damage. “Your play,” announced Nasser. Theeresak blew away Nasser’s last set spell or trap card, Bottomless Trap Hole, with Mystical Space Typhoon. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, activated Premature Burial to bring back Disk Commander, drew two cards, and then attacked with Cyber Dragon. Limiter Removal in the damage step boosted Cyber Dragon to 4200 ATK! Disk Commander then attacked directly, bringing Nasser down to 4100 life points. He tributed both monsters in main phase 2 for Light and Darkness Dragon, knowing Nasser was loaded with non-chainable spell cards like Fissure and Hammer Shot. Theeresak ended and time was called on Nasser’s turn.

The duel stood at 4100 life points to Theeresak’s 5600, and each duelist had two more turns before the game would end. Nasser activated Hammer Shot, and the Dragon negated it. He summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, activated Fissure, and brought Light and Darkness Dragon down to 1800 ATK. Smashing Ground reduced it to 1300 ATK, and Kycoo attacked! T lost Torrential Tribute and Pulling the Rug from the field, while Kycoo stripped his graveyard of Cyber Dragon and Disk commander — he was forced to special summon Destiny Hero – Malicious in defense mode.

It was a big blow, but Nasser had only one turn to close the life point gap, and Theeresak had Scapegoat in hand. He activated Fiend’s Sanctuary to create a token and block, and then set Scapegoat.

Nasser needed to clear the field and get rid of Scapegoat in order to press a win, and he’d probably have to wipe out the Scapegoat first, or else Theeresak would just activate it. That would require something like Lightning Vortex and Mystical Space Typhoon, three cards, and he only had one in hand. Kycoo attacked Malicious, and next turn Theeresak passed to take the win.

Theeresak Poonsombat moves on with a 7-1 record, one more win away from yet another Day 2 appearance!