It all came down to this: Steven Harris’ TeleDAD deck teched with Psychic Commander for Black Rose Dragon, versus Calvin Tsang’s DDT-inspired variant. Harris already had one win over Tsang in this tournament — was he about to score another, and his second Shonen Jump title?

Tsang won the roll, opening with Reinforcement of the Army, getting Elemental Hero Stratos, and summoning him to search out Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude. He activated Allure, drew two, and removed Diamond Dude from play. Destiny Draw let him discard Destiny Hero – Malicious, he drew two more cards, and set one spell or trap to end. “Pass play.”

Harris summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, attacked Stratos, and Stratos went down! “Oh you,” sighed Calvin, shaking his head. “Mirror Force!” No such card was flipped, and Tsang lost his set Emergency Teleport in main phase 2. Harris set a card to his back row and passed it over to Tsang.

He set a monster and ended. “Go ahead.” Harris drew, and summoned Armageddon Knight to send Necro Gardna to the graveyard. He was holding Destiny Hero – Malicious, Plaguespreader Zombie, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and Emergency Teleport in hand. Breaker attacked, Tsang’s Sangan was destroyed, and it got him Snipe Hunter. Armageddon Knight then made a direct attack for 1400 damage. “Your turn.”

Tsang summoned Snipe Hunter, discarded Krebons for its effect, and missed trying to destroy Harris’ back row card. He discarded Magical Mallet next, destroying Harris’ Scapegoat. Tsang had four cards left in hand to Harris’ four, with Snipe Hunter on the field to Harris’ Snipe Hunter and Breaker. Harris would draw next turn and even if Snipe took down Armageddon Knight, Breaker would run over Snipe in turn, giving Steven a distinct advantage in his range of options. Tsang had to do something big.

He special summoned Dark Armed Dragon, then special summoned Malicious from his deck followed by Krebons, courtesy of Emergency Teleport. He Synchro summoned Stardust Dragon, removed Krebons and Sangan to clear the field, then attacked with all three monsters; Dark Armed Dragon’s attack was negated by Necro Gardna, keeping Harris’ life points at 4000. Tsang had 6500 remaining, and he ended his turn.

Harris drew Crush Card Virus. He set Plaguespreader, Emergency Teleport, Crush Card, and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. Next turn he discarded his last card to spin away Stardust, flipped Crush Card Virus, tributed Plaguespreader, and had one card left. Tsang revealed his hand and was left with Krebons, Dark Eruption, and Prometheus, King of the Shadows.

“What is that?” asked Harris, pointing to the spell card.

“That, is a boss card of boss cards,” replied Tsang. “That, my friend, is Dark Eruption.” Tsang proudly displayed it, summoned Krebons, and attacked for 1200 damage before ending. Tsang activated Monster Reborn, brought back Stratos, and searched Destiny Hero – Plasma from his deck. He special summoned Malicious by removing another, special summoned Krebons with Emergency Teleport, and tributed everything to summon Plasma! Plasma inhaled Krebons, attacked, and Harris ended.

“Alright! This is why we play this card!” Tsang activated Dark Eruption, took back Krebons, and normal summoned it. He special summoned Malicious, Synchro summoned Colossal Fighter, and swung over Plasma! Did Tsang just win a Shonen Jump finals duel with Dark Eruption?

Harris topdecked Mystical Space Typhoon: no help there and he had just 2500 life points remaining. He special summoned his last Malicious, sent Mystical Space Typhoon back to the top of his deck for Plaguespreader, and special summoned Colossal Fighter in attack position. He ended.

Tsang revealed his topdeck for Crush Card Virus’ effect: Diamond Dude. “Calvin needs two Dark Eruptions in his deck,” he shouted. He set a monster and ended. Colossal Fighter attacked it — Diamond Dude. Harris set a spell or trap. Tsang set one too, and lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon: Threatening Roar.

Harris activated Reinforcement of the Army, getting Destiny Hero – Doom Lord! He summoned it, removed the opposing copy of Colossal Fighter from the field and ended, again out of cards.

Tsang activated Destiny Draw, discarding another Diamond Dude, and then normal summoned Prometheus! He removed a total of seven Dark monsters for its effect to boost Prometheus to a total of 4000 ATK, then swung over Doom Lord for game!

Calvin Tsang wins Game 1 of the finals with Dark Eruption and Prometheus, King of the Shadows!

Game 2 began with Harris setting two cards to his back row and summoning Krebons. He flipped Trap Dustshoot as soon as he could, revealing Tsang’s hand of Destiny Draw, Monster Reborn, Threatening Roar, Prometheus, Diamond Dude, and Dark Armed Dragon. He sent Diamond Dude back to Tsang’s deck, cutting him off from the Destiny Draw. Tsang set Threatening Roar and shook his head, clearly not happy.

Harris summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and attacked — if he was going to get hit by Roar, he was at least keeping Breaker’s counter! Sure enough, Tsang flipped Roar, leaving Harris to pass.

Tsang topped another Diamond Dude! He discarded him for Destiny Draw, drew two, and counted the damage on the table: “That pushes 3100 total . . .” Tsang did some calculations, figuring out how far he could push his luck. He activated Monster Reborn and Harris chained Royal Oppression! He paid 800 life points and Reborn was negated. Tsang set another spell or trap card.

Harris summoned Armageddon Knight, sending Malicious to his graveyard. He set two more cards to his back row and ended with one card left in hand. Tsang summoned Prometheus, removed Diamond Dude to boost it to 1600 ATK, and swung over Armageddon Knight. He took Krebons with Mind Control, tried to Synchro summon for Goyo Guardian, and lost out to Royal Oppression — he just needed to get that Krebons off the field and mitigate Harris’ ability to deal damage. Tsang passed, Harris attacked with Breaker, set another spell or trap, and ended.

Tsang activated Allure of Darkness, and counted the three Darks in Harris’ graveyard: Krebons, Malicious, and Armageddon Knight. He removed Dark Armed Dragon for Allure’s effect, then destroyed Harris’s Mirror Force with Mystical Space Typhoon. Reinforcement of the Army got him Elemental Hero Stratos, but when he summoned him, Harris flipped Solemn Judgment! The duel now stood at 3100 life points to 6400, with Tsang leading — but Tsang had only one card left in hand.

He took 1600 more from Breaker, and Harris set a spell or trap. Tsang activated Heavy Storm off the top next turn, Harris chained Emergency Teleport for Psychic Commander in defense, and Tsang didn’t pay to negate the summon with Oppression. He passed, and Commander was removed from play. Tsang dropped his last card, D.D. Crow, to remove Malicious from Harris’ graveyard in the end phase.

Harris summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, searched out Doom Lord, and attacked with Breaker and Stratos — Tsang was down to 1400. “Go ahead.”

He topdecked Allure of Darkness, activated it, and scooped after seeing his two draws.

Steven Harris wins a hard-fought Game 2, getting a huge benefit from his pair of side decked Royal Oppression! Side decking was incredibly fast, and Game 3 was started just moments after Game 2’s conclusion.

Tsang started the last duel of the weekend with Diamond Dude, flipping a disappointing Krebons off the top of his deck. He set two cards to end. Harris opened with Krebons, Emergency Teleport, Destiny Draw, Allure of Darkness, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Destiny Hero – Malicious. He discarded Malicious for Destiny Draw, activated Allure of Darkness, and removed Destiny Hero - Doom Lord for it. He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, attacked, and Tsang flipped Threatening Roar. He lost Dust Tornado to Breaker’s effect, and Harris set a single back row card.

Tsang activated Reinforcement of the Army, searched out Elemental Hero Stratos, and activated Diamond Dude’s effect — he flipped Teleport this time, another whiff. He summoned Stratos, targeted Harris’ back row for destruction, and destroyed his Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. Stratos took out Breaker and Diamond Dude made a direct attack for 1400 damage.

Harris drew another Destiny Hero – Malicious, adding him to his hand of D.D. Crow, Emergency Teleport, Krebons, and Allure of Darkness. He removed his first Malicious to summon his third, activated Allure, and drew Dark Armed Dragon and Solemn Judgment; he removed the other Malicious. Emergency Teleport brought out Krebons; Harris Synchro summoned Stardust Dragon, and he special summoned Dark Armed Dragon! He removed Malicious and Breaker, destroying Stratos and Diamond Dude, then attacked for 2500 damage, and 2800 damage. Tsang was down to 2700 life points, and a set back row card finished Harris’ turn.

Tsang spent over a minute considering his next move — he activated Heavy Storm, and Harris negated it with Stardust’s effect. He followed up with Monster Reborn, taking Stardust Dragon in defense position. “Go ahead.”

Harris drew Krebons, holding D.D. Crow and Torrential Tribute. He had Dark Armed Dragon on the field and Solemn Judgment set. Dark Armed Dragon destroyed Stardust Dragon in battle, and he set the Torrential. He summoned Krebons to finish the turn.