Two duelists with a history were now paired off against each other, and Eric Herdzik needed this win. Paired down against his nemesis, Jeff Jones, he was playing for a place in the Top 8. Jones was playing for the sheer sake of mischief.

The game moved blazingly fast. Herdzik summoned Sangan and set a spell or trap card. Jones activated Graceful Charity, summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Heavy Storm, and attacked Sangan. Herdzik pulled Tsukuyomi with its effect, and Jones set Torrential Tribute.

Herdzik special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Tsukuyomi, and lost his field to Torrential Tribute! He set Mirror Force, but lost it to Heavy Storm! Jones blasted him with Spirit Reaper, forcing the discard of Apprentice Magician, and passed. Herdzik attacked with Breaker the Magical Warrior next turn, ending quickly.

Jones hit him with Confiscation, discarding Old Vindictive Magician. He turned Reaper to defense and set a monster. Herdzik summoned Mystic Tomato, attacked into Magician of Faith, and Jones took back Graceful. He activated it, discarding Limiter Removal and Scapegoat, and then removed a Light and Dark for Chaos Sorcerer. Sorcerer removed Mystic Tomato from the game, Herdzik set a spell or trap, and Sorcerer removed Breaker. Sorcerer went to defense, Reaper turned to attack, and hit, discarding Asura Priest. Jones set a spell or trap and ended.

Herdzik was looking down. He was being thoroughly dominated, and set his topdecked monster. Jones hit it with Nobleman of Crossout, removing D. D. Warrior Lady from Herdzik’s field. He turned Reaper to defense, Sorcerer to attack, and attacked directly. He set a monster: “I end my turn.” Jones was moving fast and destroying Herdzik. It was 5100 to 5400, with Jones narrowly leading.

Herdzik drew and set a spell or trap. Jones flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, turned Sorcerer to defense, set another spell or trap, and attacked with Dekoichi. Jones turned Sorcerer to attack, hit with it, but ran into Scapegoat. He hit two tokens, ended, and Herdzik again did nothing but draw and set a back row card.

Jones turned Sorcerer to defense, removed a Sheep and cleared the last one with Dekoichi. Herdzik set a monster, Jones turned Reaper to attack, hit into Reaper, and removed it from the game. Herdzik drew and set a monster, helpess to defend himself.

Jones attacked with Dekoichi, hit Mystic Tomato, and Herdzik brought out Apprentice Magician. Book of Moon turned it to defense position and Jones passed. Herdzik set another monster, Jones tributed Reaper for Cyber Dragon, turned Sorcerer to defense, and attacked with Dekoichi. It hit Magician of Faith, Herdzik took back Heavy Storm, and Cyber Dragon hit Apprentice Magician. The Apprentice pulled Old Vindictive Magician for Herdzik, a strong defensive play.

“Can you please straighten your removed from game pile?” asked Jones. Herdzik did.

He activated Premature Burial to special summon Mystic Tomato, and tried to ram it into Dekoichi: Jones countered with Sakuretsu Armor. Herdzik set another spell or trap card to his back row and passed. Jones summoned Cyber-Stein and as he went to search his fusion deck, Herdzik just scooped his cards. He was beaten, both in spirit and on the table.

“My opening hand was good,” said Jones. “Charity, Breaker, Storm, Nobleman . . .” It’s hard to fight against something like that.

Herdzik opened game two with a set monster. Jones did the same, and Herdzik summoned Asura Priest. Asura attacked Jones’s set Morphing Jar, triggered its effect, and both players got new hands. Reaper robbed Jones of Torrential Tribute, and Herdzik activated Graceful Charity. He discarded Torrential Tribute and Mystical Space Typhoon, set a spell or trap and ended.

Jones brought down Cyber Dragon, tributed it for Mobius the Frost Monarch to destroy his opponent’s set Heavy Storm, and then hit directly. He set one spell or trap and ended. It was Scapegoat.

Herdzik set a monster and turned Reaper to defense. He set a spell or trap and passed. Mobius the Frost Monarch hit Herdzik’s set monster, Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu, and it fetched him Snatch Steal. Jones set a monster and passed.

Herdzik summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Scapegoat, and Jones couldn’t chain it. Herdzik activated Nobleman of Crossout, removed Magician of Faith from Jones’s field, and took Mobius the Frost Monarch with Snatch Steal. Spirit Reaper, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Mobius the Frost Monarch all attacked Jones directly, and Herdzik passed. Jones had only one card in hand. The tables had certainly turned.

He special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked Breaker, and special summoned Chaos Sorcerer to remove Mobius the Frost Monarch from Herdzik’s side in main phase 2. Herdzik turned Reaper to defense, set a monster, and passed. Jones topdecked into Zaborg, removed Reaper with Sorcerer’s effect, tributed Sorcerer for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to clear a path, and hit with Zaborg and Dragon. He lost the Dragon in the process to an effect that flew too fast to be seen, but Zaborg nailed its mark.

Herdzik set a monster, Sangan, and lost it to Zaborg next turn. He pulled Old Vindictive Magician with its effect, set it, and when Zaborg attacked it a turn later Zaborg succumbed to its effect. Jones ended, Herdzik set one back row card and passed. Jones did the same and passed back.

Chaos Sorcerer and Asura came down from Herdzik’s side, but Mirror Force destroyed both. Jones activated Graceful Charity, activated it, and set a card to each zone. Herdzik summoned Asura Priest, hit Jones’ Sangan, and Jones took Cyber-Stein — he couldn’t use it, because he didn’t have enough life points! Jones activated Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy his opponent’s Scapegoat, but watched as it was chained. Playing perhaps a bit too aggressively, he summoned Cyber-Stein to hit a token. Herdzik punished him for it, activating Enemy Controller and tributing a Sheep to take the Stein. He summoned Mystic Tomato and both monsters attacked. A turn later it was all over, and Herdzik had scored revenge for game 1!

Eric Herdzik manages to eek out a win and pushes the match to a third and final duel!

Jones opened game 3 with a set spell or trap, and Herdzik tried to be aggressive early on: he summoned Asura Priest and attacked, but lost it to Sakuretsu Armor. Herdzik set a spell or trap and lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon next turn. Jones summoned Reaper, attacked Herdzik, and forced the discard of Magician of Faith. Jones set one spell or trap and ended.

Herdzik special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and rammed them both into Mirror Force. Jones summoned Morphing Jar, again being highly aggressive, and attacked with both it and Reaper: Reaper discarded Old Vindictive Magician. Herdzik normal summoned Mystic Tomato next turn and ran over the Morphing Jar. Jones summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and broke his opponent’s set spell or trap: it was Scapegoat, and despite the fact that he controlled Mystic Tomato, Herdzik chained it. Breaker took down Tomato, and Herdzik couldn’t special summon a monster with its effect because of Scapegoat’s restriction. A turn later Reaper and Breaker both hit two Sheep. Herdzik set a monster and a spell or trap, Jones turned Reaper to defense, and Breaker hit another Sheep. Jones set a monster, continuing to develop his field presence, and ended.

Herdzik activated Ekibyo Drakmord, attaching it to Breaker the Magical Warrior! Wow, who plays that? Jones set a spell or trap, and Herdzik used Nobleman of Crossout to remove Jones’ set Tsukuyomi from the field. He ended, Jones summoned Sangan to hit a Sheep, and Breaker went down to Ekibyo’s effect, bouncing it back to Herdzik’s hand. Herdzik activated it on his next turn, this time paralyzing Sangan. He set a monster, and next turn Jones sent Spirit Reaper to attack it. It was Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu. Herdzik took Snatch Steal, and Jones activated Confiscation to tear it from his hand. Jones set a monster and ended. He lost it, Cyber-Stein, next turn to Nobleman of Crossout.

Jones tributed his Reaper for Cyber Dragon, and lost it to Sakuretsu Armor. He special summoned Chaos Sorcerer in main phase 2, removed Iron Blacksmith from play, and passed, losing his Sangan to Darkmord. Drakmord went onto Sorcerer next, Jones set a monster, Herdzik set a monster, and Reaper attacked into Old Vindictive. Both monsters were destroyed, and Herdzik was up. He passed, Jones passed, and Herdzik passed back. Jones attacked him with Treeborn Frog, calling him out. Herdzik retorted by special summoning Cyber Dragon, normal summoning Spirit Reaper, and attacking the Frog with the Dragon. Reaper was blocked by Sakuretsu Armor, and play was again to Jones.

Jones took back his Treeborn Frog, tributed it for Cyber Dragon, used Snatch Steal to swipe his opponent’s Cyber Dragon, and attacked with both — Herdzik blocked Jones’ with Enemy Controller. Jones set a spell or trap to conclude his turn. Herdzik activated Heavy Storm, retrieved his Cyber Dragon, summoned Apprentice Magician, and attacked his Cyber Dragon into Jones’s. Apprentice attacked directly. Jones special summoned his Treeborn Frog, tributed for Zaborg, blew away the Appentice, and attacked Cyber Dragon.

Two turns later Jones had Chaos Sorcerer on the field with another Drakmord attached to it, and his Frog was in defense position. It was 1500 to 4900 with Herdzik leading. Herdzik activated Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy his own Drakmord, used Snatch Steal to take the newly-freed Chaos Sorcerer, and removed Treeborn Frog!

Next turn Jones activated Smashing Ground, and Sorcerer was destroyed! Herdzik kept the pressure coming, summoning and attacking with Spirit Reaper. Jones set a monster to defend, but Herdzik followed up with Chaos Sorcerer a turn later. Jones topdecked into Last Will, a dead card, and next turn Herdzik attacked with the Sorcerer for game!

Eric Herdzik wins out over Jeff Jones, and moves on to the Top 8!