Freddie Garcia is from Comic Odyssey. They aren’t a big team in Yu-Gi-Oh! . . . you know, they only had two duelists place in the top four of Nationals 2004. That’s not a big accomplishment, right? Seriously, Comic Odyssey is one of the most well-known teams from Southern California and in the United States! His opponent in the semifinals is Ian Wingrove.

Ian began the game with Swords of Revealing Light, one face-down card, and one monster. Freddie set two cards and a monster, while Ian flip summoned Fiber Jar at the beginning of his main phase. Freddie had no chains to the flip summon, and both players drew nothing they could summon. Both Ian and Freddie drew no monsters they could summon for two straight turns, until Freddie broke the passing of their turns by summoning Breaker the Magical Warrior. Breaker attempted to destroy Ian’s face-down card, but Ian responded with that very card, which was Scapegoat.

Ian lost one goat token, then used Snatch Steal to use Breaker as a tribute to summon Jinzo, who attacked directly for 2400. Ian played Wave-Motion Cannon and ended his turn. Freddie used Smashing Ground to destroy Jinzo, then set one card and one monster. Ian passed quietly after setting a monster, while Freddie used Nobleman of Crossout to remove Ian’s Nimble Momonga before flip summoning Fiber Jar. Once again, both players have their current game reset. This time, Freddie drew monsters and summoned Don Zaloog, who dealt damage and discarded Ian’s Pot of Greed. Right after Ian took care of Freddie’s field, he summoned Magical Scientist, summoned a 2200 ATK fusion monster, and destroyed Ian’s only lead, a Berserk Gorilla. Ian immediately came back at Freddie by summoning a Momonga and special summoning Gigantes, removing his dead Gorilla from play. Ian was at 5600 life points while Freddie was at 1400.

After Ian made a Painful Choice to give Freddie a Sakuretsu Armor, Freddie set three cards and a monster before ending his turn. Ian played Change of Heart to take control of Freddie’s face-down monster, which was all he needed to win the duel.

Ian 1, Freddie 0

Freddie began the second game by playing The Forceful Sentry to return one of Ian’s cards back to his deck. He then set one card and summoned Reflect Bounder, then ended his turn. Ian summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and attempted to destroy Freddie’s face-down card, which was flipped up in response. Freddie used that Ceasefire to deal 1000 damage, but Ian used Smashing Ground to destroy Freddie’s Bounder before attacking directly with Breaker. Ian set a card and ended his turn, while Ian attacked into Freddie’s newly summoned goat tokens thanks to Scapegoat. Freddie’s next turn started with Swords of Revealing Light which flipped Ian’s D. D. Warrior Lady face up. Ian set a monster and ended his turn, while Freddie played Nobleman of Crossout on Ian’s face-down Fiber Jar, thus ending the havoc of easy game resets for this duel. Ian played Wave-Motion Cannon and ended his turn. Freddie drew and ended his turn. Ian drew and passed as well, with the last turn of Swords of Revealing Light ending. Ian had 7000 life points and Freddie had 6400.

Ian, who could finally attack, sacrificed his Breaker to summon Jinzo. It and D. D. Warrior Lady, which was switched to attack mode, smacked two of Freddie’s goat tokens. Freddie began his new turn with Painful Choice, and Ian gave him Sinister Serpent. Freddie set a monster and ended his turn. Ian thought for a minute, and then summoned Enraged Battle Ox. Ian’s Ox attacked Freddie’s Sinister Serpent for 1450 damage, while Ian’s Jinzo and Warrior Lady finished off Freddie’s goat tokens. During main phase two, Ian used his Wave-Motion Cannon to inflict 3000 damage to Freddie’s life points. Ian had 7000 life points while Freddie had 1950.

Freddie began his turn with Nobleman of Extermination on Ian’s face-down Sakuretsu Armor. The rest of Ian’s armor traps were removed, while the remaining one Freddie had was face-down on his field and not in his deck. Freddie summoned his own D. D. Warrior Lady, which was used to kamikaze with Ian’s D. D. Warrior Lady. During main phase two, Freddie destroyed Ian’s Jinzo with Smashing Ground. Ian played The Forceful Sentry, returning Freddie’s Sinister Serpent to his deck. Ian’s Enraged Battle Ox attacked into Freddie’s last Armor trap, leaving Ian to only summon D. D. Warrior Lady during main phase two. Freddie used Premature Burial to special summon his Airknight Parshath from the grave, which was sent there from Painful Choice. The Airknight attacked and was removed by D. D. Warrior Lady. Freddie drew his card for dealing damage, set one monster, and ended his turn. Ian removed his dead Ox to special summon Gigantes, which attacked and destroyed Magical Scientist. Ian could only set one card face-down, leaving Ian to attack directly once more. Freddie shook his head and offered his handshake in defeat.

Ian 2, Freddie 0

Ian moves on to the final round.