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Topiyugioh.com's Match 4 
Battle for North America, Round 2
August 18, 2006

Topiyugioh.com's Match 4 of the Battle for North America Round 2

Having dusted off Canadian superstar Matt Peddle, Rob Morgan was essentially playing with the house's money. Because he had recently defeated American stud Kris Perovic in the Metagame feature match and now had a win over Peddle under his belt, claims of his legitimacy could be made. Regardless, Canada's prodigy Jason Tan was set to face him in match 4. Having been a finalist in last year's Canadian nationals, Tan was no stranger to hyper-competitive play.

Tan opens game 1: Looking at a terrible hand of Creature Swap, double MoF, Sorcerer, Reaper, and Moon, Tan sets the Moon and Reaper and passes. Magician or Reaper here is a tossup, since you don't want the only Dark monster to get crossed out. If Morgan has his filthy Confiscation (which makes 3/3 duels with the card for Mr. n2thez), it won't matter.

Morgan turn two: Morgan summons Cyber Dragon, which cracks the Reaper. He then plays Confiscation, pitching the obvious Sorcerer. Next, he sets one of each. 8000 7000.

T3: Tan summons his freshly drawn Shining Angel and attacks Magician, which digs Confiscation again. Tan passes, unable to set bluffs.

T4: Morgan plays Confiscation again, discarding Creature Swap. He then plays Confiscation, discarding the Swap, and sets a monster.

T5: Tan draws Zaborg. He attacks the face-down Reaper with Angel, then sets a monster.

T6: Morgan correctly surmises that Tan is in a vulnerable situation. He tributes the Reaper for Zaborg (signaling either a Sorcerer in hand or a misplay, since Reaper is far superior to Cyber Dragon in this case). Zaborg hits Tan's Faith, Cyber Dragon hits Shining Angel which digs another Angel. Then Zaborg hits for another 1000. Tan searches another Angel. 6300 6000

T7: With Spirit Reaper on the field, Tan tributes his near worthless third Shining Angel for Zaborg. It destroys Morgan's Zaborg, and now Tan has a choice. Because Morgan had dumped the Swap the turn earlier, it may have indicated that Morgan did not have a defense to stop the Angel Swap manuever. Tan correctly moves Reaper to attack based on the signal, and gets smashed by Morgan's perfectly played Mirror Force. My heart sings a song for Morgan. Tan chains Moon to Reaper, then Smashes the Cyber Dragon. Morgan sets a monster in his next turn and passes.

T9: Tan sets his second Magician of Faith, Morgan sets a second monster, Tan passes, and Morgan sets his third monster. Something is brewing.

T13: Unfortunately, Tan has a Mystic Tomato in hand that he fingers for a bit before passing. The correct play would have been to set it, since Morgan has no backfield and can play Creature Swap at any time. A face-down Reaper and Faith are quite vulnerable.

T14: Morgan capitalizes by double flipping Apprentice Magicians and swapping one over. Tan reluctantly gives over the Faith, and the young prodigy is now in trouble. Unfortunately, Morgan makes yet another gruesome miscalculation and has only one monster to dig out for Apprentice. It's a face-down Old Vindictive Magician. Morgan then flips his third set monster, which was a Magician, and plays his third Confiscation of the duel, discarding Snatch Steal. At the end of this thrilling turn, it's Morgan's face-up Magician, face-down OVM, and face-down Magician versus Tan's face-down Reaper. 6300 5000.

T15: In this case, the correct play would be to cancel Reaper into Magian, then summon Tomato and Swap it for one of the live floaters (Mof or Ovm). Unfortunately, Tan plays his Tomato. Reaper attacks Magician, Tomato hits Old Vindictive. Morgan correctly chooses to destroy the Tomato (knowing Tan has Swap) and passes.

T16: Morgan then flips Magician for Swap. He swaps over the Magician for Reaper, cancels Magicians, and passes.

T17: Tan topdecks Charity. After drawing three cards, he holds Breaker, D.D Warrior Lady, Crossout, and Cyber Dragon. With no cards in hand, it's not entirely necessary for him to use Dwiddle on Reaper. Nevertheless, he pitches Breaker, Crossout, then summons Cyber and DDWL for a filthy push. Reaper squeals like a schoolgirl. 6300 1700.

T18: Morgan summons Sorcerer, removing the Cyber Dragon. He then summons Asura Priest and attacks for 1700. Instead of being a greedy lad, he should be extending the field.

T19: Tan passes, hoping to topdeck for game.

T20: At this point, Morgan has Asura Priest, Morphing Jar, Decree, and Crossout in hand versus Tan's one card in hand and one set spell or trap. However, because he has no defenses, any top-decked monster will likely mean game. I'm talking three Shining Angels, Treeborn Frog, two Mystic Tomatos, Apprentice Magician, Old Vindictive Magician, etc. Tan has been forced into a position where he must go for game with his face-down Swap. Unfortunately, Morgan makes the key error of summoning Asura Priest and pushing for non-lethal damage at the expense of his field. 600 1700

T21: Tan topdecks Mystic Tomato. He Swaps the Tomato over, and when Sorcerer attacks to bring out another Tomato it is game. Team USA is stunned.

Robert Morgan Begins Game Two.

Morgan Turn One: Morgan opens with the standard one of each.

Tan Turn Two: Tan, like a filthy savage, topdecks Sangan (but it's not a topdeck with five cards in hand). He then Crosses out the Apprentice and attacks for 1000. He sets a s/t and passes. 8000 7000

T3: Morgan sets a monster and passes. Provided he's good, we can assume it's either a Sangan or Treeborn Frog. Good players don't like having floaters tributed for Zaborg or Swap.

T4: Tan holds on to his Creature Swap. Sangan attacks Morgan's face-down Sangan (great play), which digs a Tomato. Tan passes.

T5: Morgan summons his Tomato for 400 damage. Tan digs Dwiddle from the deck. 7600 7000

T6: Tan attacks his Dwiddle into Tomato, removing both. He then passes. 7600 6900

MOR.

T7: Again signalling a wanton disregard for field presence (or maybe lacking monsters), Morgan summons Asura Priest and hits for 1700. Tan shrugs. 5900 6900

T8: Tan summons Tomato and attacks for 1400. At the end phase, Morgan Spaces Tan's Decree. 5900 5500

T9: Morgan summons Asura, attacking Tomato and its fetched Reaperr for 1700. He must have a Smashing Ground, which he then plays. Morgan has six cards in hand, in a slow-paced game. 4200 5500.

T10: Holding Cyber Dragon, Tan sets Swap and prays for the Breaker. I have a feeling it will be arriving shortly.

T11: Morgan summons Breaker and attacks for 1900 on a pro-read. Then he breaks the Swap. Except he actually broke first and then attacked. 2600 5500

T12: Drawing Controller, Tan friskily summons his Cyber Dragon and cracks Breaker for 500. He sets Scapegoat. His field is very, very safe. 2600 5000

T13: Morgan plays Snatch Steal on the Cyber Dragon. He then tributes for Mobius, which elicits the chained Goat. He hits one, sets a spell/trap, and passes.

T14: Tan moves a goat to attack and Swaps. He attacks for 2400. 2600 2600

T15: Morgan sets a monster and passes.

T16: Keeping up the pressure, Tan tributes Mobius for Zaborg. It hits Faith. He then attacks for another 2400, bringing Morgan down to 200.

T17: Morgan summons Cyber Dragon, then Zaborg to destroy Zaborg. It hits a goat.

T18: Tan plays Chaos Sorcerer and Mystic Tomato for game.

This match proves the old adage that no matter how well you play, giving away a game to a top professional means you'll lose the match. Maxwell Suffridge, playing flawlessly against young Kyle Duncan last year, had complete control of the duel until his filthy misplay near the end of the deciding game. Morgan, too, had complete control of Game 1. He gift-wraps it and gives it away to Canada's Jason Tan in a thrilling 2 game set!

And a note to those who are attending Shonen Jump Hamilton. I will be there with my favorite team, the Superfriendz. Hopefully the company I work with, topiyugioh.com, will be there handling all merchandising needs. If you can visit topiyugioh.com and purchase our low-cost merchandise, I will give you a hug. We're also running tournaments weekly at our booth, where you can meet studs like Emon, Hugo Adame, Steven Adair, Jon Navarro, Miguel Flores, Sang Bui, and others!