“Yesterday was awesome. My final round opponent couldn’t believe that he lost to a kid,” he said. Finally, to Tsilimos’s chagrin, his opponent Mark Garcia arrived, narrowly missing a game loss. Both players quickly shuffled their decks and got down to business.

Garcia won the die roll and chose to go first. He opened with Confiscation, revealing Tsilimos’s grip: Cyber Dragon, Sakuretsu Armor, Spirit Reaper, Enemy Controller, and Heavy Storm. After considering for a moment, Garcia chose to discard Spirit Reaper. He set one card in his back row and ended his turn.

Tsilimos drew his card, set one face down spell or trap, and passed the turn to Garcia. Mark looked at his hand for a while before passing the turn again without playing anything. Continuing the conservative pace of the game, Tsilimos quickly passed his turn after setting a face down monster.

Garcia picked up the pace a bit with a special summoned Cyber Dragon and a Nobleman of Crossout that removed Stephen’s face-down Tsukuyomi. He attacked with the Dragon, but ran into Tsilimos’s Sakuretsu Armor.

Tsilimos set one face down in his back row and ended his turn. After pausing for a moment to study his hand, Garcia passed it back without making a move, and Stephen did the same. On his turn, Mark set a monster and destroyed Stephen’s face down Heavy Storm with Mystical Space Typhoon from his hand. With the threat of the Heavy Storm out of the way, he set one card in his spell and trap zone and passed the turn.

Stephen special summoned Cyber Dragon and immediately tributed it to summon Jinzo. Jinzo ran into Garcia’s face down Magician of Faith on the attack, and Garcia got back his Confiscation from the graveyard. Tsilimos set two cards face-down to end his turn.

Garcia started his turn by playing Confiscation, choosing Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive over Return from the Different Dimension. He then dropped Reinforcement of the Army to search out an answer for Jinzo in the form of Exiled Force. He set another card in his spell and trap zone and ended his turn.

Tsilimos drew, set his Return and quickly ended his turn. Garcia summoned D. D. Warrior Lady and attacked directly for the first battle damage in the game. Stephen came right back on his turn with his own Confiscation, discarding Mark’s Chaos Sorcerer and leaving him with only Enemy Controller in his hand. He took Mark’s D. D. Warrior Lady with Snatch Steal and attacked across his opponent’s now empty field.

Garcia drew a card and seemed content with the 1000 life-point gain from Snatch Steal, as he passed the turn sitting on three face down cards in the back row. Stephen again attacked with the stolen D. D. Warrior Lady, but elicited no response from Garcia.

On his next turn, Garcia Summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and activated his ability targeting Tsilimos’s Snatch Steal, only to have D. D. Warrior Lady tributed for the second effect of Enemy Controller. Left without his monster to attack, Mark passed the turn.

Stephen passed his turn, and Garcia passed back after swinging in for 1600 with Breaker. Tsilimos brought Jinzo back for an encore with Premature Burial and attacked Breaker to bring Garcia down to 4200 life points. Garcia considered his next move carefully, then Set a Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, only to have it removed by Nobleman of Crossout as soon as Stephen started his turn. Stephen ended up worse in the exchange, as he lost two more copies of the train from his Deck, while Mark had no more to remove. He attacked with Jinzo, but Garcia activated his face-down Scapegoat. Jinzo continued the attack and took down one of the Sheep tokens, and Stephen wrapped up his turn by setting another monster.

Garcia came back with a strong turn in which he activated Enemy Controller, tributing a Sheep token to take control of Tsilimos’s Jinzo, which he tributed for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Stephen lost his face down Night Assailant to Zaborg’s effect and took 2400 from the attack.

Stephen drew his Graceful Charity, played it and waited for a response. “Go ahead,” said Garcia resignedly and Stephen discarded his second copy of Nobleman of Crossout and Breaker the Magical Warrior, set D. D. Warrior Lady and another card in the back row.

Garcia’s second Nobleman hit Tsilimos’s D. D. Warrior Lady, and he attacked, forcing Return from the Different Dimension from Tsilimos. Things weren’t looking good for Stephen as he passed the turn back to Mark after setting one card in his back row.

Garcia attacked for the win, and Stephen activated a second Return to stay in the game. Garcia chained Royal Decree, but Stephen flipped his Mystical Space Typhoon, allowing his Return to resolve. The Returned D. D. Warrior Lady took Mark’s Zaborg back to the Different Dimension with it, and Garcia ended his turn.

After the two Returns, Stephen sat at only 175 life points. He removed Cyber Dragon and Jinzo from his graveyard to special summon Chaos Sorcerer, only to have it hit with Torrential Tribute. On his turn, Garcia summoned Don Zaloog with Tsilimos out of tricks, swung in for the attack.

Stephen chose to go first in game two, and both players lingered over their side deck choices. Stephen remarked that he had only side decked once during Day 1. He started the game off with one set monster and two face down cards in his back row.

Garcia special summoned Cyber Dragon and ran it into Tsilimos’s Morphing Jar. Both players picked up new hands, and Garcia lucked out with Confiscation in his. Tsilimos’s new hand was revealed to be Jinzo, Chaos Sorcerer, Spirit Reaper, Book of Moon and Nobleman of Crossout. Garcia chose the Sorcerer for Confiscation, set a monster and passed the turn.

As Stephen started his turn, Garcia reached for his set monster and said “Crossout?” Tsilimos nodded and showed the card, and Garcia sent his Spirit Reaper to the removed from game area. Stephen Set a monster, and announced the end of his turn.

Garcia tributed his Cyber Dragon for Mobius the Frost Monarch, destroying Mystical Space Typhoon and the Dust Tornado that Tsilimos had set on his first turn. He played Last Will and resolved its effect immediately to Special Summon Mystic Swordsman LV2 from his Deck, which took out Stephen’s face-down Spirit Reaper and allowed Mobius to attack directly.

Stephen had discarded Treeborn Frog to the Morphing Jar’s effect, and with no cards in his back row thanks to Garcia’s Frost Monarch, he was able to bring it out and tribute it for Jinzo. The mighty android attacked the Mystic Swordsman LV2, sending 1500 points of damage on to Garcia. He set Book of Moon and ended his turn.

Mark opened his next turn with Heavy Storm, and Tsilimos chained Book of Moon to turn Mobius face down. Garcia dropped Exiled Force and, retaining priority, used it to destroy Jinzo.

Tsilimos went on the defensive, bringing back Treeborn Frog from his graveyard and setting another monster from his hand. Garcia traded one Monarch for another, tributing Mobius for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and destroying his opponent’s face-down Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive.

Still on the defensive, Stephen set one monster and called it a turn. Garcia looked through Tsilimos’s graveyard for a few seconds before sending Zaborg into Tsilimos’s face down Asura Priest.

Stephen ripped Breaker the Magical Warrior off the top and summoned it, then removed the counter targeting Garcia’s face down spell or trap. It turned out to be an Enemy Controller, and Breaker went into Defense Position.

Graceful Charity started off Garcia’s turn, and he discarded his own copy of Breaker the Magical Warrior and Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World. Goldd was special summoned by its effect, and Garcia followed it up by flip summoning Magician of Faith to get back his Enemy Controller. Realizing he was beaten, Stephen reached his hand across the table and offered the handshake.

Garcia had won a pass to the semifinals and a spot representing the US at the World Championship this year, but he didn’t celebrate as he packed up his deck and playmat.