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“Are they gonna beat you up if you lose?” Ellenberg grinned.
“Hey, since you got a bye, you have to beat me twice.” Mota smiled. It was friendly banter. |
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Freddie Garcia was one of three Comic Odyssey members present at the table. He was playing against Matt Ellenberg, the only non-team member in the final four contention for the side events Cyber-Stein. |
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The side events looked a lot like the main event—plenty of Comic Odyssey shirts in evidence. This semifinal match paired up two team members, Augusto Mota and Christian Martinez. |
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This was it. Comic Odyssey had clinched both spots in the finals, creating another windfall victory for the team. But this was also the first SJC Series Champion versus Champion match—someone would be walking away from this table a double-Championship winner! |
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The semifinals had to be re-paired, bringing an East versus West matchup at each table as two members of Team Overdose took on two members of Comic Odyssey. |
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The semifinals came down to two pairings of Team Overdose versus Team Comic Odyssey—the final throwdown was here! Overdose was facing down two SJC Champions. Their work would be cut out for them. |
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As the quarterfinals began, it was clear that both players were taking the duels very seriously. They spent the first few turns building up their field to pull ahead. |
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Play began slowly with Clavelli opening. Both players spent two turns setting cards, and Clavelli was the first to blink, flipping a face down Magician of Faith. Luc made him pay for it though, flipping Torrential Tribute. |
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There’s always tech at a big event. Sometimes you need to dig for it, but those individual cards unique to the metagame are always there, somewhere, just waiting to be discovered. |
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Check out bios of the Top 8 players here! |
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Check out the Top 8 decklists here! |
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We've put a lot of focus on teams in this event, but we can't let the coverage go by without one more team interview. |
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Anish John is from Team Revolution, one of the newest teams in the North American scene and a team that saw quite a bit of success today. Rhymus Lizo is from Team Overdose, another relatively new team that absolutely tore up the event today. |
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As the day wears on, interest always focuses on the top tables. Who is going to make it to top 8? Who will slip, make a mistake, and move to the lower tables? |
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New decks pop up at each new Shonen Jump, but we can always count on seeing some tried and true favorites. Beastdown has been a strong choice at past events, and Ramon Ciriano has made a noteworthy run at the Top 8 with his version here in New Jersey. |
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Robert Sorensen is a recognizable name from Magic, and this was only his third sanctioned Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament. With a 7-1 record for the day, the eighteen year-old from Herndon, Virginia was quickly proving himself to be a serious contender for the Top 8. |
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It’s about time the Northeast teams got a bit of exposure. I took some time after round 6 to sit down with Mike Montero, spokesman for Team Revolution. |
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For being only three guys, Team Scrubs has made a big impact. With great showings into the later rounds of the tournament, they're also running some very coverage-worthy decks, and arguably the most important deck of the tournament is being used by Walter Chan and Ervin So. |
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Calvin Tsang, an eighteen-year-old student from Toronto, is one of three members of Team Scrubs. With an amazing round 5 showing in which the group had incurred only a single loss, he was a prime candidate for an interview. |
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Walter's opponent was Stephan Laikin, a duelist with a gift for core theory understandings. He was running a Chaos Warrior deck with some neat tech. He flashed me a Big Shield Gardna before the match: “He's the best opening drop. There's nothing more important in a game than the opening.” A man after my own heart. |
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Will Read is sixteen years old, and a native of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He was the reason this match was getting featured, as with a perfect 3-0 record, his aggressive take on new-age Turbo Mill was tearing up the field and exciting anyone who stopped to watch one of his matches. |
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Both players have been doing well so far—each has a 2-0 record. They were also happy to relocate to a cooler, less hectic part of the room and get a little bit of press coverage. After all, what’s wrong with fifteen minutes of fame? |
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Ben McCrae takes that premise to the ultimate degree by combining every alternate win condition I can think of into one deck. Exodia? Check. Final Countdown? Ben's got it covered. Last Turn? Yup. He's running everything but Destiny Board. |
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Teams are making a big showing at this New Jersey event. The well-publicized success of established teams is certainly making an impact, as more duelists combine to get the most out of their respective members. |
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Canadians have a reputation for subdued lifestyles: we’re traditionally accepting, open-minded, friendly, and quiet people. But every now and then we make up for it. Calvin Tsang is part of the exclusive club of Canadians like Don Cherry and Ed the Sock. |
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