However, in round 1, she’ll be going up against Wilson Luc of Team Comic Odyssey, one of the most respected duelists in the world. With four Shonen Jump Top 8s under his belt and one Championship victory, he’s got experience on his side. Armed with a deck packed with unconventional choices, Luc might go the distance here today. “I haven’t Top 8’d in such a long time,” mentioned Wilson, smiling at the prospect of hopefully doing so again.

Luc won the die roll and opted to open the duel, doing so with a set card to each zone after some debate. Kalyne played Nobleman of Crossout, to remove Magician of Faith from the field—she had hers in hand. She set a back row card, set her Magician of Faith, and passed. Luc passed right back, and in the end phase Kalyne flipped Dust Tornado to destroy Luc’s one set, which was Enemy Controller. She used Reinforcement of the Army to take Don Zaloog.

“It’s not looking good,” remarked Luc. “Flip Reaper, right?”

“I wish.” Kalyne summoned the Zaloog, hit directly, and discarded Blowback Dragon from Luc’s hand. She set a back row card and passed.

Luc played Card Destruction, drawing four cards to Kalyne’s two. It cost him Pot of Avarice, Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Nobleman of Crossout, and Deck Devastation Virus, while Kalyne lost Swords of Revealing Light and Heavy Storm. He set a card to each zone and ended.

Kalyne drew, flip summoned Magician of Faith, took back Nobleman of Crossout, and Luc was forced to flip Torrential Tribute in response. “Wow, I’ve lost this.” Kalyne summoned Spirit Reaper, hit directly with it, and discarded Luc’s Magical Merchant. Luc had one card left!

He drew, set his remaining cards to his back row, and passed. Kalyne turned Reaper to defense, set a monster, Luc set a monster, and play moved back to Kalyne. The life point totals were 6300 to 8000 in Kalyne’s favor, and she had massive card advantage over Luc. She played Nobleman of Crossout, removing Luc’s Night Assailant from the field, and then passed. Luc passed back yet again, letting Kalyne wonder about the face down pair. She summoned Mobius, tributing her set Treeborn Frog, and destroyed Mystical Space Typhoon and Heavy Storm. Mystical Space Typhoon was chained, destroying her Sakuretsu Armor, and after attacking she passed her turn.

“You know what? You got it,” admitted Luc. He conceded the first duel and started side decking. Kalyne Leonhardt overcomes an opening hand practically devoid of monsters to claim victory in the first duel!

Kalyne side decked in Compulsory Evacuation Device and Ceasefire, seeing that Luc was playing big tribute monsters, and knowing that Ceasefire would let her capitalize on Luc’s defensive responses to pressure. What Luc sided was unknown.

He again opened the duel, this time discarding Thunder Dragon from his hand right off the bat to pull two more from his deck! He set a card to each zone and passed. Kalyne responded in kind, and play passed back to Luc. He flip summoned Spirit Reaper, plaed Nobleman of Crossout, and lost it to Big Shield Gardna! Kalyne’s tech paid off, scoring her a quick piece of card advantage!

“What? Can I read that?” Luc took it for a moment, and read the text of Gardna. “What tricks! Hmmm . . . sure, go.” The Gardna shut down all his plans for an early push!

Kalyne summone Don Zaloog, and smashed straight through the attack position Spirit Reaper to bring Luc down to 6900, discarding Snatch Steal from his hand. She passed, and Luc had to re-evaluate his initial intents. He turned Reaper to defense right off the bat, and after a moment of thought passed play right back to his opponent.

She drew and looked through her hand. She had nothing to remove the Reaper from the field, so Don went to defense position and she passed. Luc passed back, and Kalyne drew into Reinformcent of the Army. She quickly used it, taking Exiled Force from her deck and summoning it. She used its effect to remove the Reaper from play, but when Zaloog attacked Luc flipped Scapegoat. One Sheep token went down, and Luc had bought himself some time.

He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, but Kalyne flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from the game! Nothing Luc was trying was working out! He played Card Destruction, bringing Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World to the field and drawing five cards. Goldd took down Don Zaloog, and Kalyne moved to 7100 life points. It was 7100 to 6900, and Luc set a card to his spell and trap zone before ending his turn.

Kalyne played Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying Enemy Controller. Luc took some time, carefully deciding whether or not he’d want to use it. He did eventually, turning the Gardna to attack position. Kalyne then activated Pot of Avarice, shuffling back Treeborn Frog, Exiled Force, Cyber Dragon, Mobius the Frost Monarch, and Don Zaloog. She hadn’t forgotten to summon the Frog back to the field—it was the fifth monster she needed. She played a freshly drawn Smashing Ground, set a monster, turned Gardna back to defense position, and set a spell or trap card. She had three cards in hand, two monsters, and one back row card to Luc’s four cards and three Sheep.

Luc drew, set a monster, and passed. Kalyne summoned D. D. Assailant, attacked Luc’s face down, and found it to be Treeborn Frog. She ended her turn, the Frog sprung back up, and Luc tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Zaborg destroyed the D. D. Assailant, and then attacked Kalyne’s face down monster, which was Spirit Reaper!

She played another Smashing Ground and asked to see Luc’s graveyard. He spread it out for her, his hands shaking slightly. Kalyne passed without doing anything, and Luc used Frog to summon Blowback Dragon. The Dragon set its sights on Spirit Reaper, and the targeting alone was enough to destroy it!

Having had enough of the mutton wall, Kalyne played Dark Hole. She set a spell or trap and ended. Luc drew, took back his Treeborn Frog, and used Pot of Avarice to return three Thunder Dragon and two Blowback Dragon to his deck. He drew his two cards for Avarice and the game seemed to shift. He had his on-field Frogand five cards in hand to Kalyne’s two set cards and two in hand. He summoned Blowback Dragon, used its effect to target a face down, but Kalyne chained it, flipping Scapegoat! The Dragon took one down, and Luc passed.

Kalyne took the Blowback with Snatch Steal, summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and hit Luc direct with both monsters. The life point totals were 4100 to 7100.

Luc activated Thunder Dragon, taking two more from his deck yet again. “Dude, this is crazy” he remarked. He tributed his Frog for another Blowback Dragon, and targeted Snatch Steal with its effect. He hit it successfully, making Blowback flip! He took back his Dragon and targeted Kalyne’s face-down back row card, but this time the flips didn’t come through for him.

“Should I over-extend? Sure, I’ll over-extend!” Luc special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, removed D. D. Warrior Lady from play, and attacked two of Kalyne’s Sheep! He now had a commanding presence on the field!

Kalyne activated Brain Control, took Chaos Sorcerer from Luc, removed one of his Dragons from the game with its effect, and then tributed the Sorcerer for Cyber Dragon. Her set back-row card was a Dust Tornado, so it wasn’t going to help her much. The Dragon was in face down defense, and she passed.

Blowback Dragon tried to hit the Tornado, and did with two heads. It was destroyed. Luc tributed his Frog for Cyber Dragon and wiped Kalyne’s field clear. She had no cards left.

She topdecked Reinforcement of the Army, but there wasn’t much she could do. Luc had five cards in hand, and one Cyber Dragon and Blowback on the field. She made the only play she could, which was Exiled Force. She used it, destroyed the Blowback, and passed. Luc took back his Frog, tributed it for Thunder Dragon, and attacked with both of his dragons. Kalyne drew, set her card to the spell or trap zone, and passed.

“Is Torrent gone? No, it is not . . . ” Luc opted not to summon. He sent Cyber Dragon to attack and Sakuretsu Armor destroyed it. The Thunder Dragon hit directly, Luc set a monster, and passed. Kalyne drew Swords of Revealing Light and used it, but flipped Magician of Faith! Luc took back Card Destruction and began his turn.

Frog sprung back yet again. Luc set one card, and then played Card Destruction for five cards, looking for a piece of spell or trap removal. He drew his cards, played Pot of Avarice, and drew his two. He still couldn’t get an answer! He tributed his Frog for Blowback Dragon and got two tails! Luck was on Kalyne’s side.

“No Mystical?” she asked, smiling.

“Nope!” Luc looked at his options and played Metamorphosis to bring out Dark Balter the Terrible, by tributing Thunder Dragon.

Kalyne set a monster and ended. Luc played Book of Moon, on his Magician of Faith, flipped for Blowback on Swords of Revealing Light, and finally managed to get rid of the Swords! Nobleman of Crossout removed Kalyne’s one set monster, and that was the game!

Roughly ten minutes remained in the match, and both players shuffled without side decking. For the first time in the match, Kalyne would get to begin the duel.

She opened with a set Compulsory Evacuation Device and nothing else. Her only monster was Cyber Dragon. Luc set a monster and passed back. She played Reinforcement of the Army, fetched Don Zaloog, and special summoned Cyber Dragon. Zaloog came down, and so did Nobleman of Crossout, removing Luc’s Magical Merchant from play and stripping his deck of another! Both monsters hit directly, Luc lost a Blowback Dragon to Zaloog’s blades, and it was 8000 life points to 4500! With that Compulsory still on the field, this could be a fast match.

Luc summoned his own Cyber Dragon, and Compulsory sent it back to his hand when it tried to attack. He summoned it again with its effect and set a monster. Kalyne set one face down, played Snatch Steal on Luc’s Cyber Dragon, and ran it straight into his set Spirit Reaper. Without an Enemy Controller, her turn was shut down. Luc set a monster and passed right back.

Kalyne flipped Ceasefire, flipping Night Assailant and dishing out 2500 life points of damage. She still had no way of getting rid of Reaper, though, and the Snatch Steal was feeding Luc life points. Kalyne’s aggressive attempt at snapping up the duel quickly had cost her. She passed, Luc set another monster, and Kalyne summoned Mystic Swordsman LV2. It attacked Luc’s new face down, another Reaper. A Dark Hole here would be overwhelming for Luc, but Smashing Ground would be an instant win for Kalyne.

Luc drew and debated his next play. Again, he set a monster, but this time he set a spell or trap. Kalyne drew into D. D. Warrior Lady! If she took the risk and assumed that Luc’s set back row card was not Torrential Tribute, she could take the match now! If it was Torrential, she’d be wiped off the field.

She summoned it anyway! Mystic Swordsman LV2 attacked Luc’s new set monster, and Luc had to think about what he’d do. It was hard to tell if he was figuring out how he could win, or calculating his loss. He took the hit, losing Sangan and taking Magical Merchant, and when D. D. Warrior Lady attacked, Enemy Controller turned her to defense. There were two and a half minutes remaining in the round.

Luc set another monster, and then another back row card.

Kalyne turned D. D. Warrior Lady to attack. Mystic Swordsman LV2 attacked the face down monster (which turned out to be Treeborn Frog, and D. D. Warrior Lady removed the Reaper from play. The two Dragons and Zaloog hit directly, robbing Luc of his Deck Devastation Virus and dropping him to 400!

Luc drew, took his 1000 life points for Snatch Steal, and then used Pot of Avarice. He activated Thunder Dragon, played Heavy Storm, and took back his Cyber Dragon, and attacked Don Zaloog. He set a monster, played Metamorphosis on it, Magical Merchant, to summon Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and sucked up the other Dragon. Kalyne set a card to each zone and passed.

Thousand-Eyes Restrict was tributed for Zaborg, which destroyed Kalyne’s face down monster. Zaborg swung on the attack position Mystic Swordsman LV2, but it didn’t matter! Kalyne had a set Scapegoat, and even if she didn’t, the damage would not have been enough to win the match on that turn.

“Nobody’s deck is that fast!” maligned Luc, clearly accrediting the loss to Kalyne’s aggression. “Good game”. Both duelists shook hands, and Kalyne’s brother, Lance Leonhardt, rushed to give her a hug.

Kalyne Leonhardt gives an amazing performance, bringing down Mr. Shonen Jump with a fast, aggressive tempo and raw nerve! Shonen Jump Championship Long Beach starts off with a bang as an old legend goes down to a brand-new rising star!