“Does that count, he jinxed it?” asked Wang, referring to the die roll. No longer facing a teammate, he seemed to be far more animated!

Garcia opened with a single face down monster and Wang countered by using Nobleman of Crossout on it and then attacking with Sangan. Good thing, too, as the face down monster was D. D. Warrior Lady! Sangan swung for 1000 and Wang set a card to his spell and trap zone.

One card to the spell and trap zone was Garcia’s only play as well on the following turn, and it didn’t prevent Wang from attacking again. Wang set two spells or traps and passed. Garcia drew, flipped his face down card and activated it, showing Heavy Storm. But, Garcia chained his two sets, Scapegoat and Ceasefire, and robbed Wang of some of its effectiveness! Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer was summoned and then attacked Wang’s Sangan to push through some damage. Garcia set a card and passed.

Breaker the Magical Warrior hit the battlefield to support Wang! It smashed Kycoo and then broke Garcia’s face down spell or trap, Call of the Haunted! Garcia set another face down on his turn, passed, and on his next turn, Wang did not attack. Garcia set a monster, passed, and Breaker attacked it to reveal Sinister Serpent. This match was moving at a lightning fast pace.

Sinister Serpent again came down in defense position, and Breaker again smacked it. “You got a Nobleman?” quipped Garcia as he obviously set the Sinister for a third time. Wang didn’t, and Breaker again bashed the Serpent.

Garcia broke the monotony with a Pot of Greed, finally buying his way out of a hand full of monsters. He set a monster and Wang got the distinct impression it was not Sinister Serpent—Magician of Faith would hurt him badly.

Wang drew and slapped down his card with force that shook the table. He’d topdecked Nobleman of Crossout! The face down on Garcia’s side was indeed Magician of Faith, and both players removed their copies from the game. Wang attacked directly, next turn Garcia set a monster, and a turn later Wang tributed for Airknight Parshath. His momentum was stopped cold, though, as Garcia flipped Mirror Force.

Garcia set a second monster and passed. Wang drew his card, and reached over to look at Garcia’s graveyard. Unfortunately, he somehow managed to flip over the newly-set monster Garcia placed on the field last turn. Though he maintained that he did not see it, the card was clearly visible, had he been looking, and the table judge had been able to identify the flipped monster. With the game state changed, possibly irreversibly, Head Judge Dave Brent was forced to issue a game loss.

Game one went to Miguel Garcia.

Game Two

Wang opened game two by setting a card to each of his zones. Garcia activated Graceful Charity, attacked with D. D. Warrior Lady, and destroyed Apprentice Magician. “Remove?” asked Wang. Understandably, Garcia opted not to, and Wang nabbed himself a Magician of Faith. Garcia kept the firepower coming and activated Delinquent Duo. He then removed a Light and a Dark monster, summoned Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, and used priority to remove the Magician of Faith.  However, Wang chained Torrential Tribute, and destroyed Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning and D. D. Warrior Lady!

Wang set a card to each of his zones yet again and passed. Garcia hit his set card I the end phase with Dust Tornado, drew for his turn, set a card to each of his zones, and also passed. Wang then went on the offensive, using Nobleman of Crossout to remove Garcia’s face down Magician of Faith from play. He then flipped his set monster, Morphing Jar, resolved its effect to get himself back in the game, and attacked with Sangan and the Jar. He played Messenger of Peace and passed.

Garcia set one monster and passed. He had a set card in each zone.

Wang tore into him! He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Garcia’s face down Mirror Force, and attacked! Next turn Garcia set two spell or traps and passed.

Momentum was building on Wang’s side of the table. He let Messenger of Peace be destroyed, tributed Sangan for Jinzo, attacked with all three of his monsters and was stopped only by Scapegoat! Three of the Sheep tokens perished and play moved to Garcia—but not before he activated Swords of Revealing Light.

Garcia drew and played Metamorphosis on his last sheep. Jinzo was sucked into the resulting Thousand-Eyes Restrict and Garcia set a monster. The life point totals were 7900 to 3600 in Wang’s favor.

Turns passed and Swords’ time ran out. Wang turned Thousand-Eyes Restrict face down with Tsukuyomi and then attacked it with Morphing Jar. He sent Breaker into Garcia’s lone face down but found that it was Spirit Reaper—a frustrating discovery.

It was Garcia’s turn to use Swords of Revealing Light, and he hid behind it while Wang mentally paced outside his door waiting to be let in. Play passed to Wang and Wang used Tsukuyomi to turn the Morphing Jar face down. Garcia had an answer, though, and chained Ring of Destruction before Morphing Jar could be reset! It was destroyed and went to the graveyard. Garcia then tributed his Spirit Reaper for Jinzo and his attack wiped Breaker off the field.

Wang set a monster and had one card left in his face down spell and trap zone. Garcia took control of play, attacked, and Wang flipped the card, revealing Scapegoat. He sniped a Sheep token, then a turn later sent Jinzo after the face down, revealing Sinister Serpent. Wang set another monster and passed.

Garcia’s Swords of Revealing Light came down and he summoned Blade Knight. Blade Knight attacked the face down, D. D. Warrior Lady, and Jinzo whacked a Sheep token. The Warrior Lady was still on the field, so Garcia took it with Snatch Steal.

Next turn Wang summoned Kycoo, attacked Blade Knight with it, removed Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning and Tribe-Infecting Virus from Garcia’s graveyard, and then used Metamorphosis on one of his remaining Sheep tokens to bring out Thousand-Eyes Restrict. He inhaled Garcia’s Jinzo and passed.

Garcia summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and broke a face down Waboku. Wang began his turn, used Premature Burial to bring up Jinzo, turned Thousand-Eyes Restrict face down with Tsukuyomi, attacked to clear out Breaker, left D. D. Warrior Lady standing, and then flipped Thousand-Eyes Restrict back face up to inhale it in main phase two.

Lightning Vortex hit the table on Garcia’s side, and he summoned D. D. Assailant. Assailant had a clean shot through and the life point totals were 2500 to 5900. Wang set Sinister Serpent, used Metamorphosis for another Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and sucked up the Assailant. He attempted to attack but Garcia flipped Scapegoat. Thousand-Eyes Restrict ate one of his tokens. Over the next two turn cycles, Wang picked apart Garcia’s defenses, abusing his Tsukuyomi/Thousand Eyes combo until Garcia had no monsters.

Garcia attempted to press an offensive, trying to take out Thousand-Eyes Restrict. He managed to get it face down, but a press with another D. D. Assailant was denied by Mirror Force. He used Call of the Haunted to bring his D. D. Warrior Lady back though, and it finally smited Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Wang took control of her next turn with Snatch Steal and ran her into Garcia, but Garcia flipped Scapegoat to protect himself. Wang played Tsuku, turned her face down, blew off Snatch Steal, and passed.

Garcia passed his next turn after setting a single card to his spell or trap zone. Wang summoned Asura Priest and tried to attack with it, but Book of Moon kept him from cleaning out the Sheep tokens.

Gracia made one last attempt at victory, using Premature Burial to bring back D. D. Assailant. Wang used Book of Moon on it, though, and kept it from attacking. The life point totals were now 5900 to 600. Garcia set his last in-hand card, a spell or trap, and passed.

Wang summoned Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning and used its effect with priority. Garcia chained Torrential Tribute, but with no cards left, he’d attempt to bluff next turn. It wouldn’t be good enough.

Wang ended the game with Heavy Storm to clean out Garcia’s field entirely and then attacked with Tsukuyomi to win the game. This match was going to game three!

Game Three

Garcia opened with a set to each zone. Wang matched him, but also played a Messenger of Peace. A Pot of Greed gave Garcia an advantage and two turns in it was him with Swords of Revealing Light, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer against an open field. Wang’s only big move had been a Ceasefire.

Wang set one card to each of his zones and passed. Garcia pressed aggressively and ran Breaker into Morphing Jar, and Wang went from no cards to five. Kycoo swung directly and the life point totals were 5500 to 4400. Garcia ended his turn with yet another set card to each of his zones.

Nobleman of Crossout was used from Wang’s hand to target the face down monster, but Garcia chained Ceasefire to keep it alive, revealing Spirit Reaper! Wang lost another 1500 life points. He set two spells or traps, a monster, and passed.

Garcia used a Nobleman of his own to get rid of the face down, and Apprentice Magician. He attempted to attack but was stopped by Mirror Force. It was a big blow to his building momentum. Wang once more set a card to each of his zones and passed.

Garcia brought up Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, removed the face down monster (Magician of Faith) with its effect, and then attacked with the Reaper. The attack went through and Wang lost a card. The life point totals were now 5500 to 2600. Garcia summoned Tsukuyomi, turned his Soldier face down, and passed.

Wang summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Garcia’s one face down spell or trap (Scapegoat), and then attacked through the Spirit Reaper. With one card set in his spell or trap zone, he passed. If that set card wasn’t a good one, he’d lose this turn.

Garcia drew, flipped over Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, and removed Breaker from play. He was playing incredibly conservatively up until this point.

He went all in, summoning D. D. Assailant and attacking! Wang flipped Waboku though, and saved himself for another turn.

Wang drew, played Snatch Steal to take Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, and then contemplated his next move. If he attacked the Assailant, he’d lose Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, and if he attacked Spirit Reaper, he wouldn’t be able to attack again. He used Graceful Charity, discarded Sinister Serpent and Call of the Haunted, and removed the Assailant from play. He then tributed Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning for Airknight Parshath and attacked the Reaper, putting Garcia at 2600 life points to his own 2600. He then used Metamorphosis to bring out Dark Balter the Terrible. “Why did I do that?” he asked himself, grabbing his cap and then setting a card.

Garcia summoned D. D. Assailant, paused a moment, and then used Snatch Steal to take control of Balter! Wang looked at his face down cards and immediately scooped.

Jerry Wang will be going on to Worlds in Tokyo, but Miguel Garcia will be going on to the finals!