Elton Cho is the youngest competitor in the SJC Top 8, and is sitting at second seed. He was playing a highly teched Beast-based deck. Mike Rosenberg is seventh seed and was playing his “Masks of Tsuku” Control deck.
Rosenberg narrowly won the die roll and opted to go first. He opened strongly with a set Sinister Serpent and a facedown spell or trap. Though he’d lose the Serpent to an attack from Cho, he’d reveal his face down card to be Heavy Storm on the next turn and take a two to one card advantage over Cho in the exchange, a brutal hit that would be difficult to recover from. He set another spell or trap and a monster, and passed.
Cho looked to press an attack on the next turn, attacking with two monsters straight into Rosenberg’s Mirror Force. With two two-for-one moves under his belt by turn 3, Rosenberg was on a roll. He used Graceful Charity, flipped Magician of Faith, and used it again.
Cho was at a big disadvantage, but he still looked to press on Rosenberg in the early game, knowing what he had to do to win. He set another spell or trap and attacked with a Berserk Gorilla, but the Gorilla was bumped back to the top of his deck by Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. Next turn, Rosenberg stalled out a little with a Messenger of Peace. Cho extended a bit with a Nimble Momonga to dive under it, dealing some damage, and started to get a board going.
A turn later, a Delinquent Duo helped Cho recover a bit. Rosenberg finally remembered to fish out his Sinister Serpent, and after dropping a Swords of Revealing Light, Rosenberg was on defense. Cho made a nice move by summoning King Tiger Wanghu—if he could keep it on the field it would take out a lot of Rosenberg’s key cards. But, Rosenberg managed to have two spell or traps on the field, and he was ready.
Cho attacked into Rosenberg, clearing out Sinister Serpent with a Momonga and seeing his Wanghu bounced back to the top of his deck with another Wind Blast. He’d summon it again next turn, and crash it into an Apprentice Magician. King Tiger couldn’t destroy the face down monster that came up, which was another Apprentice. The Momonga then cleared out the second Apprentice, and Rosenberg went for a Magician of Faith. His deck seemed to be working, but at the same time he didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.
On his turn, Rosenberg flipped up the Magician of Faith and brought back his Swords of Reveealing Light. HJe set a face down monster and passed. Cho had just the answer though, summoning Breaker the Magical Warrior and breaking the Swords. King Tiger Wanghu then attacked into Night Assailant, and got destroyed by its effect. Momonga took a poke and Rosenberg seemed to be feeling some pressure. Clearly on the defensive, Rosenberg dropped another Messenger of Peace. Cho summoned a second Momonga and both squirrels ran under the barricade that was stopping Breaker. Where was Tsukuyomi when Rosenberg needed it?
Luckily, he topdecked something even better—a Delinquent Duo. He took out Bottomless Trap Hole and Tribe-Infecting Virus. He set his hand, and hoped. Cho continued attacking with Momongas, smacking Sinister Serpent around and gently nudging Rosenberg closer towards death each turn. Rosenberg kept the Messenger of Peace up, and it was hard to tell if he was clinging onto dear life or building to a spectacular finish.
He drew into Pot of Greed, played it, and smiled a bit, clenching and pumping his fist just a little. He summoned Breaker to destroy Cho’s face down Mirror Force, but he could not follow up with an attack due to his own Messenger of Peace. The life point totals were 6700 to 1200 in Cho’s favor and, after thinking very hard, Rosenberg passed his turn. He was banking on Breaker keeping him safe.
“Heavy Storm?” asked Cho, hopefully setting the card on the field. Rosenberg negated it with Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell, protecting three additional cards in his spell and trap zone. But Cho followed up with Smashing Ground, and with two squirrels ready to rock, Elton Cho scored the comeback and took the win!
Game Win: Elton Cho
Game Two
Rosenberg opted to open in this game, and again set a monster and a spell or trap. He liked setting his intended face down spell play as a bluff, and here, it cost him. Cho turned around on his first turn and played Nobleman of Crossout on Rosenberg’s face down monster, which was Old Vindictive Magician, and then used Mystical Space Typhoon for Rosenberg’s face down Nobleman of Crossout. It was a gamble, and a very good one to make from Rosenberg’s stance, but losing that much removal was a heavy blow.
Mike moved to the defensive, setting a monster and a spell or trap, and ducked behind a Swords of Revealing Light. He bumped away Cho’s King Tiger that had attacked on the first turn with a Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and next turn Cho would summon it again. King Tiger Wanghu was a major threat to Rosenberg’s deck and Cho knew it.
With the Swords gone, Rosenberg had some good hand presence, but he shook his head at his field. He had no choice but to play Back to Square One on the King Tiger, and that lost him more cards. Divine Wrath nailed his Dark Mask, and Rosenberg had nothing but two cards left in hand to Cho’s one in hand and three on field. Cho attacked directly with Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and Berserk Gorilla. Next turn, Rosenberg set one face-down monster, and Cho again deluged him with monsters on the successive opportunity to do so, this time adding a Wanghu to the onslaught. Cho pressed through a face-down Night Assailant, losing Kycoo. It was Rosenberg’s best play, but it was all he could do to stay alive. On the next turn, he did the same thing to a face down Tsukuyomi, and Rosenberg was surviving despite the odds against him.
Salvation came in the form of Pot of Greed, but Rosenberg looked at his top two cards, peered at his hand and looked at his graveyard. “Ahh, poor Tsuku . . . I was hoping it wouldn’t go this way. Oh, well—I made it this far!” Rosenberg dropped his hand of cards, smiled, and offered Cho a handshake. That was the match. Though Mike Rosenberg didn’t win, he certainly gave duelists something to think about.
Match win: Elton Cho