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Pojo.com Exclusive: Team United States of America versus Team Canada
August 23, 2005

One of the perks of constantly being around the competitive tournament scene as an active participant is the good relationships I’ve forged with almost every pro at the game. Having a healthy mutual respect for one another has enabled me to befriend players from many countries and teams, and so I decided the loyal visitors of Pojo.com should have access to a featured event of their own.

The first exclusive scoop was the team battle that took place between Team Savage and Team Odyssey, then considered by talent level to be the two best Yu-Gi-Oh! teams in the nation by most. The second is even larger; this extends beyond the scope of the United States in general, and pits a battle between two countries for North American supremacy.

I introduce to you today my experiences in recording and documenting a battle between Team America and Team Canada. Yes, my friends, the rumors are true. While nameless individuals from both sides chose to spend the better part of the past year arguing and bickering over which country is “superior”, I chose to talk to my good Canadian friends Matt Peddle and Kyle Duncan and make something happen. At Gencon Indy, the epic battle was staged.

The Selection Process for Team USA and Team Canada:

USA needed a representative from each of the three major teams on the circuit. I contacted Wilson Luc from Team Odyssey, David Simon from Team Savage, and Sang Bui from Team Naruto. Boom! It was done, and we had three representatives. For those of you who don’t know Sang, he was the runner up at 2004 Nationals and qualified for 2005 Nationals. Next, I talked to Max Suffridge, the United States National Champion. Always a competitor, he was in. Finally, the last player for Team USA was perhaps the best online player in all of Yu-Gi-Oh, Prodigy a.k.a. Stephen Lusko. Lusko narrowly missed a top eight at Nationals, and was regarded by Wilson and Max as one of the best opponents they’ve ever faced. 

Heading Team Canada was Matt Peddle a.k.a. Conspire, likely the only duelist in any country to place in the top eight in two Nationals tournaments in a row. His first brush with the United States Metagame left a bitter taste in his mouth, as he was paired up with his friend, finishing 7-2. That friend is Kyle Duncan, who along with Matt, is on the online Team Ignition, and is widely regarded as one of the best players in all of Canada. Rounding out their team was the runner up at Canadian Nationals, Jason Tan and two of their next best players, Chris Simoes and Matt Bishop.  

Both teams ended up missing a few of their best players, but clearly this was a match-up that was as close as possible to USA’s best versus Canada’s best. Because I was to report and record each match, I voluntarily pulled myself out of the team battle. Other notables such as Evan Vargas and Eric Wu did not take part in the event for fear of upsetting the team balance. These absences were counterbalanced by the noticeable absence of Canadian stars such as Dale Bellido and Joseph Leung (runner-up and winner of the 2004 Canadian nationals). Nevertheless, this was an all-star match. 

I chose to have the teams convene to randomly draw cards which would determine the pairings. The format was the first team to three match wins would win the match. A player would need to earn three victories to earn a match win instead of the standard two. The format was basically 3/5 games for a match win, 3/5 match wins for the team win. 

Over five hundred dollars in stakes were put up, and the board looked like this. 

1. Team Savage’s David Simon versus Matthew Bishop (CardKid).
2. Team Alpha Omega’s Maxwell Suffridge versus Kyle Duncan (SuperTrunks4).
3. Stephen Lusko (Prodigy) versus Matt Peddle (Conspire).
4. Team Odyssey’s Wilson Luc versus Jason Tan (Golden Dragon).
5. Team Naruto’s Sang Bui versus Chris Simoes.