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Match 7 of the Battle for North America
August 23, 2006

Having disposed of the face of Canadian Yu-Gi-Oh, Emon Ghaneian was primed to take down the last remaining member of team Canada. Unfortunately, he was paired up against a battle-hardened TCG veteran by the name of Chris Simoes, who had stormed onto the Yu-Gi-Oh scene as an unknown last year by destroying Sang Bui in the fifth match of the original team battle. To get through the star-studded USA lineup, Simoes would have to yam his way through Mr. Shonen Jump part two, big Anthony Alvarado, and the deadly Kris Perovic. When Emon won the dice roll to start things off, things looked even grimmer.

Emon Turn One: Emon did his customary play of setting a monster and passing. The goal was to commit as little to the board as possible to conserve cards (and options) in hand. Writers who speak as if card advantage means nothing now because the Goat format is gone, or speak of new-fangled concepts like "tempo" and "board-presence" that easily switch to a Snatch Steal, Sorcerer, or Zaborg are misdirecting you! The correct way to play has always been to commit as little to the board as possible while hoarding advantage over the opponent. Watching the pros at work has proven this time and time again.

Chris Turn Two: Chris sets a s/t and passes. This signals either a strong opening with Scapegoat or a weak opening with no playable monsters.

E3: Emon flips Dekoichi and pokes for 1400. With no Goats from Chris, he's in real trouble real fast. Emon then sets one of each and passes. 6600 8000.

C4: Chris passes.

E5. Emon flips his Merchant, revealing Sakuretsu Armor. The onset of floaters strikes for another 1600 damage. He sets a second s/t and passes. 5000 8000.
C6: Chris summons Magician of Faith, attacking Merchant. This is basically a terrible play (fueled by a desperate field state) in every sense of the term. Chris sets a second s/t to his backfield and passes. He obviously has a Book of Moon down as he sets his second s/t. 5000 7900.

E7: Emon plays Graceful, discarding Night Assailant (for Merchant) and Treeborn Frog. this game is in hand. When he summons Mobius for Dekoichi, forcing Chris to waste his Moon and trigger Torrential, the game is all but over. Chris passes the next turn.

E9. Emon sets one of each, putting himself at three set spell/traps.

 

C10: Chris summons his first playable monster, Mystic Tomato. It attacks into Emon's Sakuretsu Armor, and at the end phase Emon activates Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Chris's set Scapegoat.

 

E11. Emon flips another Merchant, this time for Book of Moon. He plays Confiscation, revealing Chris's hand of Tsukyomi, Swap, Swap, Mirror Force, and Mobius. He takes out the Mirror Force, then tributes Merchant for Cyber Dragon. He also summons Chaos Sorcerer and attacks. 600 6900.

C12: Chris topdecks Chaos Sorcerer, removing Emon's Sorcerer. He then tributes for Mobius, which hits Emon's face-down Book of Moon and Sakuretsu Armor. He then plays Creature Swap, using Emon's Cyber Dragon to destroy his own face-down Mobius. He sets a s/t. This was a great turn, but it won't save him from Emon's huge advantage.

E13: Emon sets a monster and passes. Chris attacks the monster with his Cyber Dragon, and Emon takes back Book of Moon (over Graceful Charity, signalling Moon's strength). Chris passes.

E15: Emon plays Heavy Storm, hitting Chris's bluff Swap. He then summons Breaker. He plays Moon/Crossout on the Cyber Dragon and attacks for game.

Emon pulls out a lightning quick Game One. He is one win away from match point! Chris elects to open game 2.

Chris Turn One: Simoes opens with a set s/t and passes. Again, this signals either a strong play with Scapegoat or a bad draw.

Emon Turn Two: Emon sets a monster and passes. This time, however, his patience will bite him in the buttocks.

C3: Chris, capitalizing on Emon's general play habits, overextends with Cyber Dragon and Spirit Reaper, expecting to see a flip-effect. Sure enough, Cyber Dragon exposes Emon's Merchant which fetches Crossout. Reaper attacks for 300, discarding Emon's Cyber Dragon. 8000 7700.

E4: Emon summons Cyber Dragon and Breaker, which breaks Simoes's Sakuretsu Armor (set from turn one). They both crash into Reaper for damage. Not cancelling the Dragons definitely hurts Emon next turn, although it was highly likely Emon was just trying to push damage because he was alreadly lost on advantage (Simoes gets +1 from Reaper discard and +1 from starting first).T 4900 7700.

C5: The decision to switch it up to an aggressive gear costs Emon dearly when Chris tributes Cyber Dragon for Zaborg. Zaborg attacks Breaker, and Reaper makes Emon discard another Crossout. Chris sets a s/t and passes. 4900 6600.

E6: Emon sets one of each and passes.

C7: Chris summons Breaker into Book of Moon. Zaborg attacks the face-down Dekoichi, Reaper hits for 300, discarding Emon's Treeborn Frog.

E8: Emon sets a monster.

C9: When Chris topdecks Crossout, forcing another discard and putting Emon in an unwinnable position, Emon scoops.

Chris Simoes capitalizes on Emon's bad draw to take game two in 9 turns! Emon opens game three, still serving for match point.

Emon opens Game Three, Turn One: Emon summons Mystic Tomato and sets a s/t. He realizes Chris is on to his more conservative strategy, and must adjust accordingly.

Chris Turn Two: Chris summons Sangan and sets Sakuretsu Armor with Zaborg in hand. If Emon falls into the mistake of setting a monster after his Tomato is Saku'ed, he will be in huge trouble. If he has a piece of spell or trap removal, however, the momentum swing should be too huge for Chris to return from. This turn decides the rest of the duel.

E3: Emon does not have the piece of s/t removal. His Tomato attacks into Sakuretsu Armor. He then makes the crucial mistake of summoning Cyber Dragon and passing. Any Zaborg will slay him instantly. See what happens when you try to expand field presence at the cost of advantage? Superior card advantage will provide the net gain every time.

C4: Chris summons Sangan for Zaborg. He gets Treeborn Frog and has 5 cards in hand to Emon's 4 in hand. He attacks for 2400, then plays Graceful discarding Frog and Faith. He passes.

E5: Emon sets a monster and passes.

C6: Chris returns Frog then plays MST on the s/t that Emon had since turn one. It's a Scapegoat! Zaborg attacks a Goat. Chris then tributes his frog for another Zaborg, which hits Emon's face-down Reaper.

E7: Emon summons Breaker, plays Book of Moon on Zaborg, and attacks it. This is a very tough position for Emon.

C8: Chris returns Frog. He summons his Breaker, hitting Emon's Shrink (a huge play had it connected). It is chained to Zaborg. Zaborg hits a goat, Breaker rams for -300 to get Chris a Dark. Chris then summons Sorcerer, removes Breaker, and sets a s/t. 7700

E9: Emon summons his own Sorcerer, removing Chris's. He then tributes for Zaborg, hitting Chris's Zaborg. Zaborg then attacks into Book of Moon.

C10: Chris summons Tomato, attacking the face-down.

E11: Emon sets a monster and passes.

C12: Smelling game, Chris tributes his Frog for Mobius (which has no targets). Tomato hits Dekoichi, Mobius hits for 2400. 7700 3200.

E13: Emon has no play but to summon Tsukuyomi and attack Mobius.

C14: Chris tributes his frog for another Mobius and swings for game!

Chris "Legendkiller" Simoes adds Emon Ghaneian to his collection (along with famous USA player Sang Bui). He will now move on to battle Anthony Alvarado as Canada's last hope! Anakin Simoes? The Last of the Mohicanadians? Anything is possible!