Sitting at table eleven were Billy Brake and John Leger. Billy was playing a Chaos/Control hybrid deck, and John was playing a Dark Magician of Chaos deck with Control elements. Both players were a bit tense as the tourney was winding down, but quickly exchanged pleasantries and seemed to put each other at ease. For the opening roll, Leger’s 4 trumped Brake’s 3, and Leger called first.

Leger scores with an awesome opening for his deck type—his first move was a Graceful Charity sacking two Dark Magician of Chaos. He quickly set three spells/traps and one monster, a gutsy play that seems to telegraph an Imperial Order.

In return, Brake opens his first turn by playing a Change of Heart on Leger’s face-down monster. No Imperial Order from Leger, who instead chains a Waboku as Brake took his D. D. Warrior Lady. Brake activates Confiscation and discards Leger’s Magical Scientist. Brake sets a monster and a face down Scapegoat, but the Scapegoat is Mystical Space Typhooned  in Brake’s end phase by Leger.

Leger begins his turn by bringing up a Dark Magician of Chaos via a Call of the Haunted, but forgets to use the Magician’s effect to take back Mystical Space Typhoon. He slams it into Brake’s set D. D. Warrior Lady, and Brake opts to remove both from the game. Leger sets a monster and passes.

Brake summons Breaker The Magical Warrior to the field and attacks Leger’s face down Witch of the Black Forest. Leger takes a Sinister Serpent and Brake passes.

Leger Snatch Steals Brake’s Breaker, and the pace of the match speeds up visibly. He summons Tribe-Infecting virus, attacks Brake for 3500 LP, and then uses Breaker’s token to destroy the Snatch Steal, depriving Brake of the token should he recover the Breaker, and the additional 1000 Life Points he’d gain.

Brake topdecks a Delinquent Duo and activates it to send the remainder of Leger’s hand to the graveyard. He sets a monster and passes.

Leger draws and then quickly crashes his Tribe-Infecting Virus into Brake’s facedown Sangan. Brake takes a Magician of Faith, and Leger sets a monster and a facedown spell/trap.

Brake topdecks a Monster Reborn and uses it on one of Leger’s Dark Magician of Chaos. Using the Magician’s effect he takes back his Change of Heart, and uses it to take Leger’s Tribe-Infecting Virus. He tributes the Tribe for a Jinzo, and then attacks with Jinzo against Leger’s face-down monster—Sinister Serpent. He then eats the damage from the Dark Magician of Chaos.

Leger’s move: He summons, and we get even more D. D. Warrior Lady fun. He attacks the Jinzo, eats a bit more damage, and removes both from the game.

Brake’s up. He’s got a Dark Magician of Chaos on the field, while Leger only has one face down spell/trap. He hesitates a moment, and you can see time stand still for him briefly, but he pushes, and announces his attack with Dark Magician hoping for game. Sure enough, Leger flips over his one card on the field and wham—Mirror Force. Magician exits stage right, and Brake sets a monster and a spell/trap.

On Leger’s turn, he sets one spell/trap and passes. He seems to be gaining some momentum after the Mirror Force, but he still doesn’t quite have the hand to support it.

Brake’s turn, and he moves at a lightning pace, flipping over his Magician of Faith and taking back Monster Reborn. He takes back a Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, drops a Mirage of Nightmare to the field, and attacks for 2100.

Leger sets a face-down monster after Brake draws his four for Mirage.,

Back to Brake’s turn, he draws and topdecks a Mystical Space Typhoon! The Mirage gets MST’d immediately. Moving fast, Brake summons Yata-Garasu and flips over his facedown Torrential Tribute, clearing the field. The spectators seem to pause for a moment wondering why Brake would take such a risk, and I’ll admit I paused for a moment too. But then he drops it: Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning. And it’s over. Game one goes to Billy Brake,

On to game two, and Leger again takes first. He sets a face down monster and a spell/trap and passes.

Brake draws and quickly wipes the table clean with a Raigeki. He Mystical Space Typhoons Leger, who responds by flipping over the targeted Waboku. Brake kind of laughs as he didn’t have a monster to play anyways, so he sets two spell/traps and passes.

Leger drops a Kycoo, and Brake quickly Torrentials it. Leger goes to Premature Burial the Kycoo, and Brake Imperial Orders in response, blocking the attempt.

Brake draws and pays for the Imperial Order. Since both players are running low on options and have near-to-nil field presence, Brake drops Yata and pings Leger for 200. Leger still has three cards in hand, but it’s the best move Brake can make.

Leger takes his turn and sets a face down monster. He passes.

Brake’s moving pretty quick, and passes on his Imperial Order payment. He Monster Reborns Leger’s Kycoo, drops Yata again, and attacks with the Ghost Destroyer. He hits Leger’s face down Sinister Serpent, and pecks Leger with Yata.

Leger draws, takes back his Sinister, and Raigekis the Kycoo. He sets another face down monster and passes.

Brake sets one face down spell/trap and that’s his turn. Leger responds with the same thing, and the placement of a single spell/trap is mirrored again by Brake. Leger waits for Brake’s End Phase and then MSTs his newest face down spell/trap.

Leger draws, and picks up a bit of momentum from a Pot of Greed. He Summons a Kycoo and runs it into Brake’s face down, which ends up being a Spirit Reaper.

Brake again sets one facedown spell/trap and passes.

Brake passes on retrieving Sinister Serpent, instead opting to Special Summon it back to the field. He sacks Sinister and Kycoo for a Dark Magician of Chaos, takes back Raigeki with its effect, and Raigekis the Spirit Reaper. Brake Ring of Destructions the Magician before it can attack.

Brake sets one facedown spell/trap and passes. He’s having trouble drawing monsters and comments to that effect.

Leger presses the advantage by summoning an Archfiend Soldier and attacking for 1900. Brake passes his next turn, and Leger Mystical Space Typhoons one of Brake’s facedown spell/traps. It’s an MST, and Brake still has one facedown spell/trap left. He opts to go the cautious route and not attack, instead setting a face down monster.

Brake finally gets some monster presence going with a Witch of the Black Forest, and attacks the face down monster Leger set last turn, knowing it to probably be the Sinister. Sure enough, Sinister gets squashed and sent to the Graveyard.
 
It’s Leger’s turn now, and Leger’s obviously got something up his sleeve. He scopes out Brake’s Graveyard, then his hand total. Brake asks him if it’s game, and Leger doesn’t answer – he doesn’t seem to be 100% sure. Leger Raigekis the Witch, and Brake takes Tribe-Infecting Virus from his deck. Leger attacks with Archfiend Soldier for some damage and sets a face down monster.

Brake’s turn rolls around and he summons the Tribe. He tosses a Mirage of Nightmare from his hand to take out Archfiend Soldier, and attacks Leger’s face down monster: Yay! The Sinister Serpent again! Brake’s unfazed since both competitors are being really friendly despite their intense play. He passes.

Leger takes his turn and Gracefuls, again sacking two Dark Magician of Chaos. Brake again asks him if it’s game, but Leger replies noncommittally and Painful Choices. Brake gives him Dark Hole: the one thing from the five Leger offers that won’t immediately mean game. Leger sets a monster and three facedown spell/traps, and passes. Brake draws and goes to play out his first Main Phase, but Leger flips over Ring of Destruction targeting the Tribe-Infecting Virus, and that’s game!

The score’s one-one, and as both competitors shuffle their decks Brake utters the words we all think at this point: “I hate goin’ to game three!” A few spectators join John and Billy in a laugh, and they settle in for the final duel.

The duel moves incredibly fast, at points too fast to record. Brake opens with a great start, activating Pot of Greed and Delinquent Duo. The Duo hits Leger’s Monster Reborn on Brake’s pick, and Leger gives some good-natured cries of dismay. He sacks his Scientist. Brake sets a monster and an spell/trap.

Leger’s turn, and he summons a Breaker, quickly breaking its token on Brake’s face down spell/trap. Brake chains the targeted card: a Waboku. Leger attacks Brake’s face down D.D. Warrior Lady, and sets an spell/trap.

Brake goes to Change of Heart the Breaker, but Leger chains Imperial Order. Brake summons Yata, turns D.D. to attack position and suicides her against the Breaker to remove them both from the game. Yata then pecks Leger.

Leger’s up, and he pays for Imperial Order and sets a face-down monster.

Brake draws and topdecks Magical Scientist, which he quickly puts to use. He Special Summons a Balter the Terrible and runs over Leger’s facedown Tribe Infecting Virus with it. Magical Scientist does his best impression of Yata and pecks Leger. Brake sets an spell/trap.

Leger’s up again and this time he passes on the Imperial Order. He Premature Burials for the Tribe but Brake chains a Mystical Space Typhoon in response. At this point the game moves from quick to blindingly fast. Leger and Brake are both run down on cards with neither having made a significant over-extension throughout the course of the game. They exchange card for card for three turns, dealing 1000 damage here and there to eachother, wearing eachother down. In the end, Leger plays a Snatch Steal on Brake’s lone monster and attacks despite his face down spell/trap. The attack goes through, but next turn Billy gains his 1000 LP, flips up the one facedown spell/trap and reveals it to be a Harpie’s Feather Duster, drops a monster, and attacks for the win.

Billy Brake narrowly ekes out John Leger in game three for the win, and both players shake hands, congratulate each other, and retreat to prepare for round 8 of Nationals.