John Jansen and Matt Zaabadick are both well-renowned duelists in the South Florida region. Zaabadick won the die roll and opted to take the opening of the first game. He opened with a Confiscation to remove Jansen’s Bottomless Trap Hole, and set a D. D. Warrior Lady, which would then be attacked by Shining Angel.

Next turn, he attacked the Shining Angel with D. D. and removed it, following it up with a direct attack from Don Zaloog to send Call of the Haunted to the Graveyard. He set a pair of spells or traps.

Jansen summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and used it to clear out one of the face down cards and Don Zaloog. He set a face down spell or trap of his own, and passed. Zaabadick drew, used Painful Choice, and presented Jansen with the classic gambit—three useful cards, Sinister Serpent, and Jinzo. He got Sinister Serpent as Jansen called his bluff. He then summoned his own Breaker and, with its token intact, used it to attack Jansen’s. Jansen drew and passed his turn.

Zaabadick couldn’t press his advantage though, and spent his next turn setting a monster. He attacked again with Breaker, and next turn Jansen was able to end Breaker’s tyranny with Newdoria.

Jansen topdecked Swords of Revealing Light and hid behind it for a few turns. He struggled to establish a board presence, but as Swords left the field, all he had left was one face down monster and no hand. Zaabadick drew, activated Reinforcement of the Army, and found . . .

“Lemme guess, D. D.?”

“Yeah,” replied Zaabadick. He summoned the D. D. Warrior Lady and attacked straight into the one card that could save Jansen, which wasFiber Jar. He had no play for his second main phase.

Jansen had quite the draw though, playing Pot of Greed, summoning a D. D. Warrior Lady and setting Torrential Tribute. Zaabadick fired back with Tribe-Infecting Virus, called priority, and Torrential was added to the chain. Jansen capitalized on the opening, summoning and attacking with another D. D. Warrior Lady.

Zaabadick looked to recover, and dumped his hand on the field before activating Mirage of Nightmare. He got the draw on Jansen’s turn, and as Jansen looked to mount an offensive, it was Zaabadick’s turn to flip Torrential Tribute.

Two turns of monster exchanges passed, with Zaabadick hoping to draw into Mystical Space Typhoon. Jansen got there first, though, and cut his card presence off at the knees by destroying the Mirage.

Zaabadick drew into Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning after two turns of poor topdecking. He attacked directly with it. However, Jansen summoned a Mobius the Frost Monarch. Zaabadick used Bottomless Trap Hole to destroy it, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Black Luster Soldier that followed.

However, Zaabadick’s D.D. Assailant, brought to his hand by a Reinforcement of the Army, did the job. Unfortunately, that left him with no cards in hand or on the field, while Jansen had a face down monster. Jansen drew into Painful Choice and spent some time on the decision, eventually netting himself a Sakuretsu Armor. He flip summoned his face down Sinister Serpent and summoned Fiber Jar, and attacked with both. Zaabadick drew, set his one card, and hoped.

That hope paid off, as he got a chance to flip his own Fiber Jar on the following turn. He plucked a single D.D. Assailant off the draw, and that was all she wrote for game one.

Game Win: Matt Zaabadick

Jansen opened the second game, doing so with a face down spell or trap and a monster. Zaabadick again nailed Painful Choice, presenting Sinister, Jinzo, and three random cards. He activated Pot of Greed, drew his two cards, set a spell or trap and a monster, and passed.

Jansen flipped up his face down D. D. Warrior Lady, and attacked with it, but ran straight into Ring of Destruction. In main phase 2, he used The Forceful Sentry, and saw Zaabadick’s hand . . .

“You got me.” The hand was weak, and all he lost was a defensive card. He spent his next turn setting three cards (two spells or traps and a monster) and passed.

Jansen made some sets as well, and his conservative move would cost him. Zaabadick flipped his face down Fiber Jar next turn, and also used Emergency Provisions to gain some life points from the deal. He used Reinforcement of the Army off the draw to nab a Don Zaloog, and attacked with it directly, taking a Shining Angel to the grave. Swords of Revealing Light then hit the field and Zaabadick passed.

Jansen used The Forceful Sentry, again controlling Zaabadick’s hand. He set a D. D. Warrior Ladyof his own, and next turn when Zaabadick attacked, D. D. nailed the Assailant. Zaloog still attacked directly though, costing Jansen his Tribe. Next turn, a similar situation would arise and Jansen lost Black Luster Soldier. He was running off topdecking.

His topdeck was a big one though, as he drew into Pot of Greed. Mystical Space Typhoon took out Swords, Snatch Steal grabbed D. D., and suddenly Jansen had four cards total to Zaabadick’s two, and none of them were monsters!

Jansen kept pressing on with D. D. for more damage. Zaabadick summoned a Blade Knight off the top of his deck, but Bottomless Trap Hole kept D. D. safe and unblocked. However, the game was going so fast that Zaabadick jumped ahead, and unfortunately he ended up taking a game loss for starting his turn before Jansen passed his turn.

Game Win: John Jansen

Game Three

Jansen opened again, and set a face down spell or trap and a monster. Zaabadick countered with a Mystical Space Typhoon, and Jansen chained Scapegoat. Change of Heart grabbed Jansen’s face down Newdoria, and Zaabadick played Confiscation.

“It’s so obvious!” joked Zaabadick, flinging his Serpent into the graveyard. “Ha ha, no,” he corrected, selecting Injection Fairy Lily.

Jasnsen got in a clean shot with Newdoria before Zaabadick could summon anything. When he did, Newdoria took it out, and Call of the Haunted brought up Injection Fairy Lily. Luckily, Zaabadick had a Heavy Storm but he was still on the defensive.

Jansen summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and attacked. Zaabadick took it with Snatch Steal, tributed for a face down, and play continued for two turns with nothing but sets happening. It was Jansen’s two in-hand cards, one spell or trap and one monster, plus his four goats (all intact in their fuzziness) against Zaabadick’s two facedown monsters. He set a spell or trap and flipped Sinister Serpent, sending it into a defense-mode: it was Jinzo. That Jinzo would clobber the Serpent next turn, and Zaabadick would flip Mirage of Nightmare before summoning D.D. Assailant with the last card in his hand.

He got the draw when Jansen’s turn rolled around. Jansen played Snatch Steal on the Jinzo, ran it into a facedown D.D. Assailant and Zaabadick figured he was safe. He wasn’t.

In main phase 2, Jansen made the odd move of Change of Hearting Zaabadick’s last face down card, which was D. D. Warrior Lady. He flipped it up and hit it with a Ring of Destruction, and that was the game!

Match Win: John Jansen