It all comes down to this. After he wiped the floor with Team Royal’s Vittorio Wiktor and Robin Miehlke, as well as defeating Russian Elite Force leader Vitali Petrouchanski, Michel "Mastakillaz" Grüner, the leader of Team Chopper, will finally fight for the title of German National Champion against Duc "Game_Champion" Tran.

Grüner won the die roll and started with only a spell or trap card. Tran summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, removed its counter to destroy the face-down Mirror Force and attacked with Breaker directly. After a spell or trap card in main phase 2, Tran was done with his turn. His opponent special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked into Breaker and passed.

Tran set a monster face down and was done. Grüner activated Nobleman of Crossout to remove Sangan from game, before Cyber Dragon attacked into sheep (Tran activated Scapegoat). Grüner set a card to each zone and passed. Premature Burial brought back Breaker the Magical Warrior for Tran, but Grüner had a strong answer with Bottomless Trap Hole, quickly removing the Magician from the game. Tran only had another face down spell or trap before he passed. Grüner simply took down another sheep and Tran set a monster.

A flip summon of Magician of Faith brought Grüner’s Nobleman of Crossout back to his hand, taking out his opponent’s Night Assailant. He summoned Tsukuyomi, flipped the Magician face down again and attacked into Mirror Force. Tran set a spell or trap card, before both players had no actions for their next turns. Grüner set a spell or trap card, but Tran just passed for another time. Grüner set another spell or trap, Tran shifted game speed and decided to go aggro, summoning Giant Orc and attacking into the face-down Magician of Faith, returning Nobleman of Crossout for another time to Grüner’s hand.

Grüner special summoned another Cyber Dragon, but Tran removed it from game with Bottomless Trap Hole. Grüner joked, "Does it really only have 0 DEF?" He summoned Treeborn Frog and attacked into Giant Orc. Tran had no actions on his next move and passed. Grüner activated Graceful Charity, discarding Jinzo and Cyber Dragon. His Frog destroyed another token and it was up to Tran again.

He activated Graceful Charity, discarding Blowback Dragon and Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, which hit the field and attacked into the Frog. After setting a card to each zone, Tran was done with his turn. Grüner special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, removed Goldd from game, tributed the Sorcerer for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and took down the face down Magician of Faith with its effect. After attacking, Tran activated Call of the Haunted to bring back Blowback Dragon at the end of the turn.

Tran lost the coin flip and Grüner commented, "That's why I always loved this card so much!" Tran summoned Exiled Force, but Grüner chained to its effect with Torrential Tribute, clearing the field. Tran special summoned Chaos Sorcerer and attacked into Sheep. Grüner said "Now, all what I need is a Pummeluff," and grabbed a strange-looking Pummeluff token from his box. He switched one Token into attack position (there goes Pummeluff), activated Creature Swap and gained control of the Sorcerer, giving the Pummeluff to Tran. The Sorcerer attacked into the Pummeluff, dealing 2300 damage, Grüner set a monster face down and passed.

Tran also only set a monster. Grüner flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and asked for the life points, indicating that he was about to finish his opponent. Grüner summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, removed its counter to destroy a face down Mystical Space Typhoon, activated another Nobleman of Crossout to clear his opponent’s field and attacked for infinite damage to win the first game!

Grüner explained that he had several other options to win the game, but Tran just ignored his trash talk to concentrate on his side deck.

Both players were asked to write down how they side decked, and here are the results. Grüner shuffled his entire side deck into his deck, then took it right back out. He told me that he only appeared to have used his side deck.

Tran took out:

1 Blowback Dragon

1 Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World

1 Giant Orc

1 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

1 Spirit Reaper

1 Deck Devastation Virus

Tran put in:

2 Mystic Swordsman LV2

1 Ceasefire

1 Big Shield Gardna

1 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Mobius the Frost Monarch

Tran opted to go first in the second game. He set a spell or trap card and simply passed, leaving the field open for Grüner, who decided to play defensively and just set a monster. Tran special summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked into Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Grüner special summoned his own Cyber Dragon and tried to make the double-kill, but Tran's Sakuretsu Armor defended his Dragon. Grüner passed after setting a card to each zone. Tran activated Nobleman of Extermination (the public started whispering) and hit Mirror Force, removing also his own card from his deck. His Dragon attacked into D. D. Warrior Lady, and both monsters were removed from the game. He set a card to each zone and passed.

Grüner special summoned another Cyber Dragon, removed his opponent’s Magician of Faith with Nobleman of Crossout and both players started to pick out their remaining copies from their decks, before the Dragon got a big bite out of Tran's life points.

Tran summoned Giant Orc and took down Cyber Dragon before Tsukuyomi avenged the Dragon. Grüner activated Confiscation in main phase 2 (Tran’s hand featured: Snatch Steal, Chaos Sorcerer and Mobius the Frost Monarch) and decided to discard Snatch Steal. Tran set a spell or trap and passed.

Grüner set a monster and it was quickly his turn again, because Tran had no actions. He flip-summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, attacked directly and set a monster face down. Tran summoned Tsukuyomi and activated Torrential Tribute to clear the field. Grüner lost Dekoichi and Sangan, fetching him another Dekoichi from his deck. Tran set another spell or trap face down and was done with his turn. Grüner asked his deck for Heavy Storm, but only drew into something else, set a card to each zone and wanted to pass, but lost his Sakuretsu Armor end of turn to Dust Tornado. Tran set another spell or trap, Grüner flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, summoned Tsukuyomi to flip the Locomotive face down again and attacked directly before setting a spell or trap card and finishing his turn.

Tran set a monster and passed, Grüner flipped Dekoichi again (the crowd began to whisper again) to draw into his seventh card, thought for a longer time about his options and activated Return from the Different Dimension to special summon two copies of Magician of Faith, a D. D. Warrior Lady and another Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. He tributed 1 Magician of Faith to summon Jinzo and was almost ready to attack. He activated Nobleman of Crossout and Tran flipped Big Shield Gardna.

The entire crowd got loud and laughed. The judges managed to calm them down as Grüner started to concentrate again. He activated Creature Swap and Tran chained Enemy Controller to gain control of Jinzo. Grüner and the judges were wondering about the move and started to resolve the chain. First, Jinzo switched sides and Tran gained control of the Machine. Then, Creature Swap resolved, and therefore, Jinzo switched sides again. Tran only got Magician of Faith.

Grüner accepted the invitation to attack with all of his monsters to win the game!

Michel Grüner is the new German National Champion, dominating Duc Tran in the final in a game, which was never close!