Matt Laurents, acquired by Comic Odyssey for serious competition in Yu-Gi-Oh! just a little over nine months ago. If he could capture the championship for the team today, it would give them an amazing start to the 2006/2007 season.

But he’d have to go through the Diminutive Dominator himself, the biggest story of the tournament thus far, Austin Kulman! After destroying Emon Ghaneian in the third duel of the quarterfinals, he continued to shock and amaze the assembled dueling audience here today.

With the pressure of the quarterfinals and qualifying for Worlds off their shoulders, the two competitors made small talk before the match began. Both Laurents and Kulman are incredibly polite, friendly individuals, which is really nice to see at such a prestigious position in the event.

Laurents won the opening roll: “Good luck,” he said, offering Kulman a final handshake before beginning the first duel.

He set a card to each zone and passed. Kulman special summoned Cyber Dragon, summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Dust Tornado, and Breaker attacked into D. D. Assailant! It bounced, a failed offensive! Cyber Dragon attacked the Asasilant and both were removed. Kulman set one back row card and passed. He seemed to’ve gotten a bit gready there, and it might cost him.

Laurents summoned a Breaker the Magical Warrior of his own, broke Sakuretsu Armor, and both Breakers were destroyed in battle. Laurents set a spell or trap, Kulman set a monster, and lost it to Nobleman of Crossout, revealing it to be Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. He lost another from his deck. Laurents attacked with Spirit Reaper to follow up, and discarded D. D. Warrior Lady!

Kulman removed a Dark and a Light monster from his graveyard, and summoned Chaos Sorcerer to remove Spirit Reaper from the game. He then set a monster and passed. Laurents set one as well, passed back, and Kulman summoned Sangan. Sangan attacked, hitting Magician of Faith, and Laurents took back Nobleman of Crossout. Chaos Sorcerer attacked directly and Kulman ended.

Laurents blasted his face down monster with the Nobleman of Crossout, removing Magician of Faith from the field! All other copies were removed from the decks, one from each duelist’s. Laurents had three cards in hand and one set spell or trap to Kulman’s one in hand, Sangan, and Chaos Sorcerer. Laurents special summoned Cyber Dragon, hit the Sangan, and Kulman fetched Tsukuyomi with Sangan’s effect. Laurents then special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, removed Kulman’s from play, and ended.

Kulman activated Snatch Steal, targeting Chaos Sorcerer, but Laurents chained Dust Tornado! Kulman set a monster and passed.

Laurents attacked the set monster, hitting Magical Merchant, and Kulman took Nobleman of Crossout from his deck with its effect. Laurents set two back row cards and passed.

Kulman set a card to each zone and passed back. Laurents looked at his graveyard, and then attacked into Mirror Force! Call of the Haunted brought back Chaos Sorcerer though, which attacked Kulman’s set monster again. The attack hit Tsuku, Sorcerer went face down, and Laurents set a third back row card. Kulman removed the Sorcerer with Nobleman of Crossout, passed, Laurents passed, Kulman set a spell or trap card, passed, and Laurents passed back again.

The life point totals were 5700 to 4100, with Laurents leading.

Another pass was Kulman’s only move: the passing game is one that Laurents is incredibly good at, and he even had more options on the table than Kulman did, with significant hand advantage. He passed back, Kulman set a monster, and next turn Laurents blasted it with Exiled Force: it was Night Assailant. Kulman summoned Spirit Reaper, attacked with it, and hit! He discarded D. D. Warrior Lady from Laurents’s hand, returning the favor from earlier in the match!

He ended his turn, and Laurents set a fourth spell or trap card. Kulman immediately played Heavy Storm, and Laurents had no response! Kulman chained his own Call of the Haunted, brought back Sangan, and pulled Spirit Reaper with its effect! He summoned it, hit with both Reapers, and robbed Laurents of his entire hand. What an amazing turn! The Heavy Storm had destroyed four of Laurents’s cards, and one of Kulman’s, but since it was Call of the Haunted the loss had been balanced out with Sangan’s effect. He’d managed to destroy four of Laurents’s cards, and discard two more, for the loss of just a single one himself!

Laurents activated Confiscation to reveal Kulman’s hand: Zaborg and Smashing Ground. He discarded the Zaborg, Kulman poked him again, set a spell or trap, and Laurents special summoned Cyber Dragon. He attacked with it, and hit, but next turn Kulman destroyed Cyber Dragon with Smashing Ground, setting a second face down card to his spell and trap zone. A turn later Laurents tributed one of his Spirit Reapers for Jinzo and attacked for game!

Austin Kulman comes back from a game in which Laurents had massive card advantage to steal a phenomenal win! The crowd couldn’t believe it, exploding when Kulman dropped Heavy Storm and cheering even louder when he chained Call to pull Spirit Reaper with Sangan! What an amazing comeback!

Both duelists side decked and Laurents began the second duel with a summoned Sangan and a set spell or trap card. Kulman special summoned Cyber Dragon, but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole and was forced to set a card to each zone. Laurents summoned Spirit Reaper, played Nobleman of Crossout to remove Magical Merchant from play, but attacked into Mirror Force yet again! Sangan got him Exiled Force, and he ended his turn with no cards on the field.

Kulman passed back, also with an empty field, letting Laurents hit him with Asura Priest. Again, he ended his turn with nothing set in his spell and trap zone. Kulman set a spell or trap card, Laurents poked with the Priest, and after a bit of debate Kulman did not respond. He took the 1700 and Laurents passed back, still with nothing set or summoned.

Another pass was Kulman’s only move again, and he was again nailed by Asura Priest. Laurents set a spell or trap, but Kulman summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior next turn. He activated its effect to destroy Luarents’s set back row card, but hit Call of the Haunted, which chained for Sangan to pull a monster from Laurents’s deck: Mystic Tomato.

Laurents summoned the Tomato next turn, and used Creature Swap to give it to his opponent to take Breaker! Breaker attacked the Tomato, Laurents summoned Spirit Reaper with its effect and attacked Kulman directly. It hit for 300 damage and forced the discard of Snatch Steal, a brutal loss! Laurents again passed with no spells or traps—was he just not drawing any?

Kulman special summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked Breaker with it, and brought Breaker back with Premature Burial. He set a second face down spell or trap and passed, now heavily committed to the field. He controlled Cyber Dragon, Breaker the Magical Warrior, two set back row cards, and Premature Burial. Laurents had out Spirit Reaper with a fistful of cards in his hand.

Laurents tried to use Asura Priest, summoning it but losing it to Bottomless Trap Hole. Spirit Reaper went to defense, Laurents passed, and Kulman passed back.

D. D. Assailant came down on Laurents’s side and destroyed Breaker in battle. He set a spell or trap card, finally, and ended. Kulman activated Graceful Charity, discarded Nobleman of Crossout and Heavy Storm, and played Confiscation! He revealed Laurents’s hand of Exiled Force, Cyber Dragon, two Chaos Sorcerer, and Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Sure enough, Laurents hadn’t been drawing any spell or trap cards. Kulman made him discard Exiled Force, then tributed Cyber Dragon for Jinzo. He attacked with Jinzo into Assailant, activated Smashing Ground in main phase 2, and passed.

Laurents passed back, Kulman passed, and Laurents set a second spell or trap. He summoned Asura Priest, but lost it to Sakuretsu Armor. He ended, Kulman passed, and Laurents summoned Chaos Sorcerer: he lost it to another Sakuretsu. He set a card to each zone and passed. Kulman drew for his turn, flipped Nobleman of Crossout, and removed Laurents’s set monster, Magician of Faith, from the game. Each player lost all their Magicians to the out of play area, and Kulman passed with an empty field.

Laurents couldn’t immediately capitalize: he set a third spell or trap and passed. Kulman passed back, and Laurents summoned D. D. Warrior Lady to attack for game.

Laurents scores a comeback from a long run of nearly all-monster draws: another spectacular recovery! Laurents announced that he did not want to use his side deck, while Kulman made some tweaks to his.

Kulman opened the next duel with a set card to each zone, and Laurents summoned D. D. Warrior Lady. He played Nobleman of Crossout to remove Kulman’s Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive from the field, stripping a second from his deck, and then attacked into Scapegoat! He hit one Sheep token and passed with no spell or trap cards set.

Kulman set a monster, and passed. Laurents summoned Asura Priest, and the crowd erupted in cheers! Asura Priest attacked all the Sheep, but then hit Night Assailant, losing Laurents his D. D. Assailant. The Asura Priest bounced back to his hand, Kulman tried to attack with Reaper, but was stopped short by Torrential Tribute. Laurents set two, Kulman pressed with Cyber Dragon, hit Magician of Faith, and Laurents took Nobleman of Crossout with its effect. Kulman looked at Laurents and set a monster, playing into the Nobleman fearlessly.

Laurents removed it from play with Nobleman of Crossout, finding it to be Magician of Faith. More were removed from play. Laurents had four cards in hand and one set card in his spell and trap zone. He set a second there, and Kulman played Heavy Storm again! He summoned Spirit Reaper, attacked for 2400, and robbed Laurents’s hand of Asura Priest!

However, Laurents fired back, special summoning Cyber Dragon, tributing for Zaborg, and destroying Kulman’s Reaper with its effect before attacking Kulman’s Cyber Dragon.

Kulman ripped Graceful Charity! He played it to discard Sakuretsu Armor and Mirror Force, and then used Premature Burial to bring back Cyber Dragon! He played Smashing Ground and attacked directly.

Laurents set a spell or trap card and ended. Kulman’s Cyber Dragon attacked again, but Laurents flipped Scapegoat! Cyber Dragon attacked a Sheep, Kulman set a spell or trap, Kulman passed, Laurents set Sangan, lost it to Nobleman of Crossout, and Kulman considered his next move. After a moment of visible thought, he tributed Cyber Dragon for Zaborg, and destroyed a Sheep token. The crowd, and Laurents, didn’t know what hit them moments later.

Kulman activated Return from the Different Dimension! With two Magician of Faith to clear out the remaining Sheep, and two Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and the Zaborg attacking directly, it was all over!

Austin Kulman beats yet another Top 8 competitor with an unpredictable Return from the Different Dimension play in game 3!

Laurents shook his hand with a smile, always a class act and a gracious competitor whether he wins or loses. An “Austin” chant started up in the crowd, and several duelists approached him for handshakes, autographs, and well wishing.

One more round to go.