“Good luck,” said Emon, holding out his hand. “I’ve never played you before.”

“Yeah, we’ve never played each other,” Jerry agreed. They quizzed each other on the contents of their decks. “We memorized each other’s decklists!” Jerry declared, as they discussed the relative merits of running Treeborn Frog with Royal Decree. “It sucks, right?” Jerry asked, and Emon agreed. “Eh, I’ll take the chance.”

Emon won the high roll and opted to go first, studying his hand for a moment before deciding to set a monster. He ended his turn and Jerry drew. He made a face, clearly not happy with his hand. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, then normal summoned Spirit Reaper, attacking directly with the Spirit Reaper. Jerry reached out and plucked Return from the Different Dimension from Emon’s hand. “Oooh, that’s one! Two more to go!” he exclaimed.

Emon drew, and activated Graceful Charity. “Finally,” he muttered, not having seen it in his earlier match. He thought carefully before discarding Magical Merchant and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, then tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, choosing to destroy Jerry’s Reaper. He then attacked Jerry’s Cyber Dragon.

Jerry drew and set a monster, and ended his turn. Emon was ready for him, zeroing in on the set with Nobleman of Crossout. Magical Merchant was sent from the game, and both players removed any remaining copies. Emon then set a spell or trap and ended. Jerry set a monster and ended.

Emon drew, then looked through his graveyard. He decided to activate Premature Burial to bring Zaborg back, and attacked Jerry’s set Magician of Faith. Jerry responded on his turn with Heavy Storm, then set a spell or trap of his own. Emon studied his hand, put down another spell or trap, and ended.

Jerry drew, and thought for a while before setting another spell or trap and ending. Emon continued the “setting” streak, setting a monster and ending.

Jerry nailed it with Nobleman of Crossout on his next turn, hitting Night Assailant. Jerry ended, and Emon summoned Sangan to attack directly. Jerry took the 1000 life point bite, then special summoned Chaos Sorceror on his next turn, but Emon was ready for him, and responded with Torrential Tribute, clearing out the Sorceror and netting a search with his Sangan. Life points were now at Jerry 6700 and Emon 6900.

Jerry drew, set another spell or trap and ended his turn. Emon drew, set a monster and ended. Jerry looked through Emon’s graveyard, then decided to set a monster and end.

Emon then flip summoned his Magician of Faith, took back Nobleman of Crossout, and tributed the Magician for Jinzo. He crossed out Jerry’s Magician of Faith, then special summoned two Chaos Sorcerers. He attacked with one, prompting Jerry to respond with Book of Moon. One Sorcerer went face-to-the-floor, but Emon took a sizeable chunk out of Jerry’s life points with the remaining Sorcerer and Jinzo. They were now at Jerry 2000 and Emon 6900. Jerry drew, looked at his hand, and conceded.

Game 2

Both players opted to side deck. Emon made his decisions relatively quickly, but Jerry took more time to consider his options. Jerry went first, setting one spell or trap card and one monster. “God hand?” asked Emon. Jerry shook his head.

Emon summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, and smacked Jerry’s Royal Decree. Then he attacked Jerry’s set Gravekeeper’s Spy. “Aww,” he said as Jerry fetched out another and docked him 400 life points. Jerry drew, then used Snatch Steal to take away Breaker and attack directly. Emon drew, took the gain from Snatch Steal, set a monster and ended.

Jerry used Nobleman of Crossout to knock Emon’s Sangan out of the game, then set a spell or trap card. Emon set another monster and ended. Jerry drew, and attacked with the Breaker, hitting Emon’s Magical Merchant. Emon set another monster.

Jerry drew, and looked at his hand and field. He had a strong presence, with two defense position Gravekeeper’s Spy, a snatched Breaker in attack, and a set spell/trap card. After thinking through his options, he turned one Spy to attack, and attacked Emon’s set Spirit Reaper. He looked through his hand, decided he had no more options, and ended.

Emon drew, and ended. Snatch Steal was giving him a real boost, as the life points were now Jerry 8000 to Emon 8400. Jerry drew, then tributed Breaker for Zaborg, but unfortunately, Emon responded with Torrential Tribute. Jerry activated Confiscation, and examined the choices available to him as Emon spread out his hand, revealing Magician of Faith, Chaos Sorcerer, Snatch Steal, Nobleman of Crossout, Book of Moon, and Bottomless Trap Hole. He looked at his hand and both graveyards, and thought and thought. “Come on, Jerry,” head judge Jerome McHale chided.

“That’s a hard choice, though!” Jerry declared, separating Nobleman of Crossout, Chaos Sorcerer, and Snatch Steal from the rest. He handed back Snatch Steal. “Is Nobleman of Crossout really that bad for you?” Emon asked. “Yeah,” Jerry responded, wavering between his final choices before sending Chaos Sorcerer to the graveyard and ending his turn.

Emon drew, set a monster and one spell or trap and ended. Life points were now Jerry 7000 and Emon 8400. Jerry summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Emon responded with Bottomless. Emon then flip summoned Dekoichi and attacked directly with it after drawing his card. He set another monster and two spell/trap cards and ended his turn.

Jerry set a monster and another spell or trap and ended his turn. Emon then flip summoned Magical Merchant, used Nobleman of Crossout to take out Jerry’s Spirit Reaper, and attacked with Merchant, prompting Jerry to check his set spells and traps, then Dekoichi, bringing Jerry down to 4000 life points. Jerry set a monster and ended his turn.

Emon attacked again with Dekoichi, and this time Jerry decided to respond with Mirror Force. Emon chained Book of Moon to flip his Magical Merchant face down, then flip summoned it, immediately got a spell or trap, and ended.

Jerry drew, flip summoned Magician of Faith, and took back his Confiscation. He attacked Emon’s Magician of Faith, then activated Confiscation. He looked over his choices – Emon held Snatch Steal, Heavy Storm, Call of the Haunted, and Magician of Faith. Jerry looked over his hand and both graveyards before deciding on Snatch Steal. Those Confiscations were taking their toll, as the life points were now at Jerry  3000 and Emon  8300. Jerry then set a monster and ended.

Emon drew, and activated Graceful Charity. After discarding for its effect, he set a monster and ended. Jerry drew, and looked through both graveyards. “Tsukuyomi would be really nice right now,” he mused as he sifted through the piles. After checking through his hand, he flip summoned Magician of Faith, took back Confiscation yet again, then tributed the Magician for Zaborg, only to lose it to Bottomless Trap Hole. He activated Confiscation for a third time, immediately deciding to discard Heavy Storm, “to live.”

Emon drew, then tributed his Magical Merchant for Cyber Dragon, and received a hearty dose of payback as Jerry flipped Bottomless Trap Hole in response. Emon then set a spell or trap and ended his turn.

Jerry drew, and looked through Emon’s graveyard. He set a spell/trap card, turned his Magician to defense, and ended, once more clinging to the game by 2000 life points.

Emon drew, looked through his graveyard, and removed a Light and a Dark to special summon Chaos Sorcerer, then summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and Jerry extended his hand to concede. Emon would be heading to the finals, with only one match remaining between himself and the brand-new promo.