Labounty took his seat and looked at Donahue. “Can you take that off?”

“Nope,” Donahue grinned.

“Come on . . .”

“Nope! I re-fuse.”

Adam Donahue was determined to wear a pirate hat in his feature match. And that’s just about all the information you need to know about him.

Jonathan Labounty is a well-known duelist who has made it to the Top 8 of multiple Shonen Jump and National Championships. One of the remaining members of Team Rampage, he’s a highly respected competitor that has a ton of experience and endurance. That’s going to come into play here, as it’s after 7 PM and three rounds still remain after this one.

He opened with a set card to each zone and passed to Donahue, who drew into Graceful Charity. He activated it, discarding Pot of Avarice and Smashing Ground. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to destroy Labounty’s set D. D. Warrior Lady, and then attacked into Scapegoat, destroying a Sheep Token. He set one back row card, Labounty set a monster, and Donahue summoned Exiled Force. His monsters cleared two Sheep Tokens, but when he tributed his Exiled Force he was dismayed to learn that Labounty’s set monster was Treeborn Frog.

The Frog came back immediately on the next turn, and Labounty tributed it away to summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. It destroyed Donahue’s Zaborg with its effect, but when it attacked Donahue flipped Sakuretsu Armor to destroy it. Labounty passed with one Sheep Token remaining on the field.

Donahue set one card to each zone, passed, and Labounty special summoned his Treeborn Frog in defense position. He proceeded to normal summon Exiled Force, tributed to destroy Magician of Faith, and activated Premature Burial to special summon Zaborg from the graveyard. He attacked, but lost Zaborg to Mirror Force.

Donahue special summoned another Cyber Dragon, attacked the final Sheep token and ended. Labounty summoned Twin-Headed Behemoth, attacked into Cyber Dragon, and then activated Last Will in Main Phase 2. He brought out Exiled Force with its effect, tributed it to destroy the Dragon, and then brought back Behemoth in his end phase after setting a spell or trap. Donahue summoned Exiled, attacked the Frog, and passed. Labounty ran his Behemoth into Exiled Force, passed, Donahue set a spell or trap and passed, and Labounty summoned Don Zaloog. Ring of Destruction blew it up before it could attack. Next turn Donahue cleared the field with Heavy Storm, summoned Don Zaloog, attacked with it, and forced the discard of Nobleman of Crossout. Labounty had no cards left.

He topdecked Cyber Dragon and special summoned it and took out Zaloog, but lost Cyber Dragon to Smashing Ground on the following turn.  Donahue set a monster, Labounty took back Frog, set spell or trap and ended. Donahue flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, attacked Frog, and set a monster. Labounty set another spell or trap and passed back.

Dekoichi hit him directly and Donahue ended his turn. Labounty heaved a sigh, drew his card, looked at it, and passed, doing nothing.

“Attack for 14?” asked Donahue, immediately thrusting his Dekoichi towards Labounty. Labounty took it, Donahue set a monster, Labounty set one too, and when Dekoichi hit again it ran into Reaper. Donahue ended his turn, Labounty tribute summoned Cyber Dragon to take down the Dekoichi, and Donahue set a monster.

Labounty set another spell or trap, leaving himself with three. Donahue passed back, Labounty set a monster, and play was back to Donahue. He set a monster and Labounty was again the turn player.

He passed, doing nothing, and Donahue flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Labounty had no response. Donahue then flip summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and sent Dekoichi into Labounty’s set monster; it was Cyber-Stein and it was destroyed. Next, D. D. Warrior Lady attacked Labounty’s Cyber Dragon, but the attack was stopped when Labounty flipped Book of Moon. The Lady went face down, and Donahue set a spell or trap card to end his turn.

Labounty drew, and Donahue immediately flipped Drop Off. It discarded Labounty’s draw for the turn, and he unwillingly revealed it — Graceful Charity! Donahue was elated, and Labounty was less than amused at losing the best card he could have drawn.

Both duelists inspected each other’s graveyard, and Labounty attacked Donahue’s Dekoichi with Cyber Dragon. Donahue took the hit, but next turn flip summoned D. D. Warrior Lady. This time Labounty flipped Torrential Tribute! Donahue lost his field, but summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, still trying to press through as much damage as possible. He lost that too, this time to Bottomless Trap Hole. He activated Confiscation to discard Labounty’s in-hand Heavy Storm, set a spell or trap, and when Labounty drew he got to see what Donahue had set: another Drop Off.

It cost Labounty Reinforcement of the Army, and a turn later Donahue was attacking for game with a Hydrogeddon. Both duelists quickly set to side decking, and while Labounty was visually unsettled at his loss, Donahue was quickly gaining momentum. He finished side decking long before Labounty, and spent the rest of the time shuffling his fusion deck.

Labounty opened the second duel by setting a monster, then a spell or trap card to begin the game. Donahue drew.

“Wow! That makes me happy.” He activated Heavy Storm, destroying Labounty’s set Book of Moon, and summoned Hydrogeddon. He seemed to be feeling very good about the way his turn was going, but when he went to attack he ran into a problem; Labounty had set Sand Moth. Donahue took some damage in battle and passed with nothing in his back row.

Labounty tribute summoned Mobius the Frost Monarch, not destroying any spell or trap cards, but running over the Hydrogeddon. Donahue set a card to each zone and passed back. Mobius attacked, destroying Donahue’s set Twin-Headed Behemoth, and Labounty set a monster. When the Behemoth came back, Donahue tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroying Mobius. Donahue special summoned his fallen Hydrogeddon from the graveyard with Premature Burial, attacked with it, and nailed Labounty’s set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. “That’s what I like to see,” he remarked. He pulled another with the effect of the first and attacked directly for 4000 with the Dinosaur and Zaborg.

Labounty tried to special summon Cyber Dragon, but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole. That was enough for him. Recognizing a losing situation, he scooped. Donahue’s field presence was just too much, and he had no way of mounting a comeback.

Adam Donahue moves on with a 6-1 record, still alive and kicking in this tournament!