Adam Corn is the reigning National Champion and has managed to make it to Day 2 yet again. He’s back, defending his title with an innovative Monarch build. His tech? Prime Material Dragon, a card that carried him through a number of matchups yesterday. But his match today is inarguably the biggest and most-debated of the Top 16. He’s up against Shonen Jump Champion, perpetual underdog, and incredibly good duelist Michael Lux.

“I would really rather be playing Gladiator Beasts,” noted Lux.

“Yeah, Gladiator Beasts are definitely my best matchup too,” replied Corn with a grin. “I played six of them yesterday.”

“It’s like, ‘I side fourteen cards for this matchup. Just scoop! What are you even doing here?’” Lux and Corn both laughed, but things quickly turned serious as the match began.

Game 1

Lux opened the match with Allure of Darkness, and after briefly shuffling his hand, he opted to remove Dark Armed Dragon with its effect. He set a spell or trap card as his only move. “Pass.”

Play went to Corn, who set Heavy Storm, and then bluffed as if he was about to set Cyber Valley. “Go.” He ended without playing a monster. He was clearly trying to send false signals to Lux.

Dark Grepher hit the field, and Lux made a direct attack for 1700 damage. He set a second spell or trap and ended, and as soon as Corn drew for his turn, he flipped up Heavy Storm! Lux reeled slightly. “Pro’d,” he moaned. Lux clearly couldn’t believe he’d been suckered so early. “It’s downhill from here,” he remarked, activating Solemn Judgment to keep his remaining spell or trap while shaking his head.

“Brain Control?” asked Corn, playing it to take Dark Grepher. Grepher swung, and Lux dropped to 2300 life points. The Valley was summoned, and Corn removed both it and the Grepher to draw two cards. He set three cards in his back row and ended his momentous turn.

Lux played Heavy Storm from his hand. “How many Reckless Greed?” Corn had at least one set, but he flipped Solemn Judgment to negate the Heavy instead. Lux activated Destiny Draw, discarded Destiny Hero – Disk Commander for his effect, and drew two. He summoned Card Trooper and activated its effect to send Torrential Tribute, Deck Devastation Virus, and Destiny Hero – Malicious to the graveyard. Trooper attacked for 1900 damage and Corn took it, dropping to 850 life points. The duel stood at 850 to 2300, and Lux set two more cards in his back row.

“During your draw phase, I’ll flip Mind Crush and call Soul Exchange,” announced Lux. Corn wordlessly revealed and discarded it. He activated Reckless Greed, drew Allure of Darkness and Gravekeeper’s Spy, and added them to his hand of Solemn Judgment, D.D. Crow, and Dark Armed Dragon. “Darks?”

“Umm, two,” replied Lux. Corn set a card to each zone. “Go ahead.”

Lux checked his set cards, and then shuffled his hand. He checked his graveyard, thought a moment, and removed Destiny Hero – Malicious from his graveyard to summon another in attack mode. He sent Premature Burial, Dark Magician of Chaos, and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast to his graveyard for Card Trooper’s effect, and then summoned Spirit Reaper.

“Attack with Card Trooper,” Lux announced.

“Cards in hand? One?”

Lux nodded. Corn flipped Mirror Force! Lux activated Solemn Judgment and dropped to 1150 life points. The attack went through, but Card Trooper rammed into Corn’s face-down Gravekeeper’s Spy, and he summoned another from his deck! “I’ll pass,” announced Lux.

Corn skipped his draw due to Reckless Greed, turned both of his Spies to defense mode, and sent one to attack Spirit Reaper. Lux flipped Mirror Force, but Corn turned the tables by copying Lux’s play from last turn—he flipped Solemn Judgment, negated Mirror Force, and attacked for game with the Spies.

Adam Corn makes made a series of brilliant plays early on, and then fights through a tough mid-game to take the first duel! If anyone has ever doubted Adam Corn, that game is the perfect example of why he’s so good. Both competitors began methodical side decking; they’d planned most of these choices hours ago.

Game 2

Game 2 began with Lux setting a single spell or trap, just as he did in game 1. This time, Corn set a card to each zone: a spell or trap card that was unknown, and Legendary Jujitsu Master. Lux activated Destiny Draw and discarded Malicious to draw two, and Corn shook his head. Did Lux set Crush Card Virus on the previous turn? “I’ll pass.” Apparently not.

Corn set another monster, and Lux flipped Mystical Space Typhoon next turn to destroy his opponent’s set Solemn Judgment. He placed another face-down in his back row and ended, again not setting a monster. It seemed to telegraph a high-risk Torrential Tribute.

Sure enough, Corn flip summoned Gravekeeper’s Spy next turn, brought out another, and lost his entire field to Torrential! He set a spell or trap and ended. “I don’t think I have a follow-up to that, though,” noted Lux.

“Good to know,” replied Corn. Lux set another single spell or trap and ended. “Pass.”

Corn set one himself and ended, and play was back to Lux. Corn was not going to over-commit to the field when he was down in cards, and if Lux was going to give him time to recover, then Corn was definitely going to take that opportunity. The ball was in Lux’s court. He set a second card to his back row and ended. Corn mirrored him with the same play. Neither wanted to be the first to blink.

But Lux drew into Stratos and figured that being the aggressor isn’t so bad when you’re doing so with no risk. He searched his deck for Destiny Hero – Disk Commander with Stratos’s effect, swung for 1800 damage, and then set a spell or trap—his third—to reduce his hand to six cards. Next turn, Corn activated Soul Exchange!

He tributed Stratos for Prime Material Dragon — he’d actually sided out his Caiuses and Thestaloses. Prime Material Dragon was bounced by Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and Lux discarded the Disk Commander. Corn ended, Lux passed, and Corn was up again.

He passed as well, Lux passed back, and Corn passed once more with six cards in hand. Lux summoned Spirit Reaper and attacked, and Corn lost Soul Exchange from his hand! He was left holding Brain Control, Crush Card Virus, Prime Material Dragon, Vanity’s Fiend, and one last Soul Exchange. “Go.”

He drew into Allure of Darkness and activated it to get Royal Oppression and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. He quickly removed Vanity’s Fiend for Allure’s effect, then used Soul Exchange to destroy the Reaper. He fanned his graveyard to reveal that all three Exchanges were gone; he seemed to be trying to suggest that he was out of tribute-stealing effects, but he still had Brain Control. If Lux made the wrong interpretation of the information, he’d walk right into Brain Control and Corn would tribute for Prime Material Dragon. Corn set a monster, set one spell or trap, and ended.

He flipped the freshly-set card, Royal Oppression, in Lux’s standby phase. Lux chained Solemn Judgment to negate it and get it off the field. Lux flipped his set Heavy Storm, but Corn chained Reckless Greed. He drew two cards, then lost Bottomless Trap Hole while Lux lost Mirror Force. Lux must have had something big in the works.

Corn cut him off; he activated D.D. Crow to remove Disk Commander from Lux’s graveyard, leaving Lux to set just a single spell or trap. Corn skipped his draw phase next turn, but flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive in main phase 1. He drew Prohibition, and then attacked for 1400 damage. He set D.D. Crow, then activated Prohibition and called Dark Armed Dragon. “Go ahead.”

Lux activated Reinforcement of the Army, searched his deck for Dark Grepher, and special summoned it by discarding . . . well, he wanted to discard his now-useless Dark Armed Dragon, but couldn’t due to rulings on Prohibition. He discarded Jinzo instead, and Corn flipped Crush Card Virus! He tributed D.D. Crow, and Lux slowly flipped over his last set card. “I have to Solemn.” The duel stood at 1300 to 5900, with Corn leading in life points but down in cards. He had two cards in hand, Dekoichi, and Prohibition to Lux’s five cards in hand and Dark Grepher.

He took Dekoichi with Brain Control, then tributed both of his monsters for Dark Magician of Chaos! He returned Destiny Draw to his hand, activated it, and discarded Destiny Hero – Malicious to pay for it. He drew two, shuffled his four remaining cards, and attacked for 2800 damage. “You’re at 3100, correct?” Corn nodded.

Lux set a spell or trap and ended. Corn skipped his draw next turn and tried to take Dark Magician of Chaos with Brain Control, but got nailed by another Solemn Judgment! It was over! Next turn Lux discarded for D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation, brought back Disk Commander, and swung for exactly 3100 damage.

Corn opened with a set card to each zone. “Go ahead.” Lux set a monster, and Corn flip summoned Dekoichi for another draw on the turn that followed. He set another spell or trap in case of Morphing Jar, attacked, and hit Lux’s Sangan. Sangan went down, Lux used its effect to fetch Phantom of Chaos, and Corn set Gravekeeper’s Spy. “Go ahead.”

Lux activated Heavy Storm, and Corn chained Trap Dustshoot. He lost Bottomless Trap Hole, but revealed Lux’s hand: Brain Control, Bottomless Trap Hole, Spirit Reaper, Dark Grepher, Card Trooper, and the Phantom of Chaos he had searched for with Sangan. Corn swept up Lux’s monsters. “You can keep that,” he stated, passing over Dark Grepher. “Card Trooper,” he announced, designating the card he would return to his opponent’s deck. Lux set a spell or trap and ended.

Corn flip summoned Gravekeeper’s Spy, special summoned another from his deck in attack mode, attacked with all three of his monsters, and then set four of his cards to his back row — a huge commitment! Play went to Lux. He was definitely behind, and would really need to pull things together in order to recover.

He special summoned Dark Grepher, discarding Destiny Hero – Malicious to do so. Corn thought for quite a while about his possible responses before opting to negate the summon with Solemn Judgment. That left Lux to set a monster and announce that he was finished with his turn.

Corn activated Reckless Greed on the turn that followed. He drew two, and was left with D.D. Crow, Vanity’s Fiend, another Reckless, and Bottomless Trap Hole in hand. He flipped his set Soul Exchange and tributed for his Vanity’s Fiend, placing it face down in defense position; Lux lost his face-down Spirit Reaper. Corn turned everything to defense, and then set the Bottomless and Reckless Greed. “Go ahead.”

“I’ll go to main phase 1,” announced Lux. He checked his face-down card. “It’s not going to change.” He laughed a bit. “I want it to change, but it’s not gonna change.” He summoned Snipe Hunter. “Do you wish to Solemn?”

“No Solemn,” replied Corn. “Priority?”

“I’m thinking.”

“Take your time.”

Lux eventually opted to discard Phantom of Chaos, and targeted Corn’s set Vanity’s Fiend. “Do you respond with Bottomless?”

“I do,” replied Corn, flipping Bottomless Trap Hole. Snipe Hunter hit, destroying Vanity’s Fiend, but Snipe was removed from the field. Corn then pitched his last card, D.D. Crow, to remove Malicious from Lux’s graveyard. Lux ended with one card in hand and one card set in his back row. Corn activated Reckless Greed in the end phase for two more cards.

That left him with two cards in hand next turn, three monsters on the field, and one card set in his spell and trap zone. He turned everything to attack mode, summoned Spirit Reaper, and went for it. Everything hit, and Lux had to discard Brain Control! There was no coming back from that. Next turn he topdecked Destiny Draw, and he revealed his draw and his set Bottomless as he offered Corn the handshake.

Adam Corn moves on to the Top 8!