Two of the most well-known duelists to be successful here today, Mark Garcia and Lance Leonhardt, now had to face each other for what was essentially a bubble match. Each duelist had taken one loss in the past seven rounds, so whoever won this would have a strong chance of making Top 8. The loser would need to rely on tiebreakers and miracles.
Mark Garcia was sided for the Chain Strike Burn matchup, but didn’t like his chances for game 1. “He has the auto-win in the first duel.” Still, he had three Dust Tornado in his main deck and could at least cut down Lance’s options if he drew the right cards. Going first would give a big advantage to each duelist: Lance would have an extra card, and Garcia would have a chance to pre-empt Lance’s traps with Dust Tornado. The roll might decide a lot.
Garcia won the roll and opted to go first. He opened with Graceful Charity, discarding Hydrogeddon and Bottomless Trap Hole. He set one card to his back row and announced that he was finished. Not making use of his normal summon or set seemed like a poor move, possibly one motivated by a lack of the option to do so. The discard of a Hydrogeddon suggested he had at least one in his hand. A peculiar decision.
Leonhardt opened with Graceful Charity, discarding Chain Detonation and Poison of the Old Man. He then set five back row cards and a monster. Lance’s only main decked monster was Morphing Jar. Garcia flipped his set Heavy Storm, and Lance started chaining. First Secret Barrel, then Fire Darts, then Chain Detonation as his fourth link! Chain Detonation hit and bounced, Fire Darts scored 1300 damage, and Secret Barrel nailed Garcia for 1400. Garcia special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Banisher of the Radiance, activated Premature Burial to bring back Hydrogeddon and set his remaining three cards to his back row. He saw the Jar coming.
Hydrogeddon attacked the Jar, and once its effect resolved Banisher and Cyber Dragon attacked directly. Garcia set a fifth card to his back row, and it was 4300 to 4000 with Lance narrowly leading.
He started off his turn by activating Tremendous Fire. He then set five cards to his back row and ended. In Garcia’s draw phase he flipped Reckless Greed, chained Poison of the Old Man, chained Secret Barrel, Accumulated Fortune, and then another Poison. It was serious overkill — the Barrel alone was 2600 damage, and the Poisons were more than enough to finish Garcia off.
Lance Leonhardt takes the first duel despite a valiantly aggressive effort from Garcia! But the real games were ahead, as now, Garcia was allowed to use his side deck. He was running several pieces of tech especially for this matchup (like Royal Decree and Des Wombat), and would get the advantage of going first.
He opened with a set monster and two cards to his back row. “Go ahead.” Lance had sided into Cyber-Stein, but set three cards to begin. He ended his turn, but lost his set Accumulated Fortune to Mystical Space Typhoon.
Garcia summoned Don Zaloog and attacked directly to score 1400 damage and rob Lance’s hand of Megamorph — a telling discard. “Go ahead.” Lance drew, flipped Reckless Greed and set three cards to his back row, leaving himself with four cards in his spell and trap zone. Don attacked again, and Lance was forced to flip Mirror Force — Garcia didn’t have a Decree. Lance chained Poison of the Old Man, Jar of Greed, and then chained Accumulated Fortune! He drew a total of three cards and gained 1200 life points, destroying Don Zaloog. It was 7800 to 8000. Garcia set a second monster, passing.
Lance set all five of his in-hand cards to his back row and ended. Garcia flip summoned Banisher of the Radiance and attacked for 1600. “Sure,” replied Lance, taking the damage and dropping to 6200. “Go,” said Garcia. Lance flipped Reckless Greed in the end phase, drawing two cards without chaining. He set a fifth card again and passed. Garcia flip summoned Elemental Hero Wildheart, attacked with it for 1500 and then swung again with Banisher of the Radiance. Lance had 3100 life points remaining to Garcia’s 8000.
He passed without doing anything, deprived of his ability to draw. Wildheart attacked, and Banisher swung for game, but Lance responded with Poison of the Old Man to keep himself in the game. Garcia set a third back row card, Lance set a fifth spell or trap and when Garcia activated Dust Tornado to target the most recent set card Lance scooped.
Mark Garcia comes back from a devastating game 1 loss to dominate Lance Leonhardt, pressing the match to a third and final duel!
Lance sided out his Cyber-Stein cards while Garcia did not use his side deck. Lance had the one card advantage, so siding back into his Chain Strike Burn focused build made a lot of sense.
He drew to begin the third duel and carefully planned out his options before setting five cards: “Go ahead.”
Garcia summoned Des Wombat. Ouch. He set three back row cards, but did not attack. Lance passed back, Garcia activated Reinforcement of the Army and searched his deck for Elemental Hero Wildheart. He summoned it, turned Wombat to defense position and pegged Lance for 1500 damage. If Lance couldn’t deal with the Wildheart through spell cards than this duel would be nothing but academic. Garcia set a spell or trap card, his fourth, and Lance activated Ojama Trio to at least control the beatings somewhat. He drew for his turn when Garcia passed, then flipped Reckless Greed. Garcia chained Royal Decree, then chained his own Ceasefire for 1000 damage! The chain resolved, and Lance lost Reckless Greed. A set back row card ended his turn, but he lost it, Poison of the Old Man, to Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase.
Wombat went to attack position, and both Wildheart and Des Wombat attacked Lance directly. Garcia set another back row card and ended. “Pass.”
Lance was stuck with Reckless Greed, Magic Cylinder, and Chain Strike in his hand. All three were useless due to Garcia’s effects, the traps doubly-so. Garcia’s entire face up field was tech for Chain Strike Burn. Lance set a fifth back row card and ended.
Garcia announced his attacks on the following turn and it was all over. Lance checked his back row cards and then offered Garcia the handshake, which was quickly accepted.
Mark Garcia overcomes Lance Leonhardt with a ton of Chain Strike Burn tech, pulling out all the stops to continue on with a 7-1 record!