Round Six: Ryan Hayakawa vs. Kris Perovic

Ryan Hayakawa is Yu-Gi-Oh!’s only dual SJC champ, and is comparable to a small ninja in both demeanor and performance. Seemingly coming out of nowhere over the past few months, Ryan has won multiple Cyber-Steins for Team Comic Odyssey and is a star member of the number one group in the game.

“You a judge?” asked Hayakawa, looking at Perovic’s play mat.

“Nope… I mean, yeah, I judge. But that’s not how I got this mat. I killed a guy for it.” Perovic grinned. I certainly hope he’s joking.

 

Game One

Hayakawa opened game one, and did so with a bang! Graceful Charity came down, paid for by Sinister Serpent, and it got Hayakawa a Pot of Greed. He activated it, set two spells, and summoned D. D. Assailant. “Oh, man . . . god hand anybody? Snap! This is garbage!” said Perovic.

It wasn’t, at least, not completely. He dropped Graceful Charity, and though he didn’t have a Pot of his own to follow it, he was in decent shape. He set two cards to his spell and trap zone, set a monster and passed. Hayakawa used Dust Tornado to smack Perovic’s freshly-set Mirror Force and followed it up with an attack from the Assailant and a newly-summoned Enraged Battle Ox. D. D. Assailant destroyed Perosovic’s face down monster and the Ox swung straight into a Ring of Destruction. Now, Perovic’s position was “garbage.”

Perovic was at a distinct disadvantage, and Hayakawa just leaned on him to keep the pressure on. A turn later, Perovic used Graceful Charity again, thanks to Magician of Faith, but was less than happy with the result. “I could just save some time and scoop.”

Hayakawa started pressing, seeing that Perovic had nothing, and added Airknight Parshath to the barrage.

“How many cards do you have in hand?” asked Perovic.

“Five” replied Hayakawa with a grin.
 
“You don’t give me a break, do you?” Perovic then began devoting most of his effort towards singing about how crappy his hand was.

He took Hayakawa’s Airknight with Snatch Steal, and was surprised to see it resolve without issue. “I’m about to go two for one,” he said, hopefully. He didn’t—the Airknight swung, Hayakawa used Enemy Controller to turn it to defense position before the attack was officially made, and Perovic was forced to abandon offensive intents for the turn. He used Metamorphosis, tributed off the Airknight, brought up Dark Balter the Terrible from his Fusion deck, and passed.

“You’re at 4400?” asked Hayakawa.

“Yup.” Perovic made his move, setting a monster and then bringing out Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning to defense position. The Soldier took out the first-turn Assailant with its effect and Perovic passed.

Hayakawa wasn’t worried. He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and Perovic was forced to chain Book of Moon to turn Breaker face down before it could get its counter. Hayakawa attempted to activate Lightning Vortex, but Balter stopped it. Then, he used Premature Burial to bring up Airknight Parshath, used Snatch Steal to take Perovic’s Black Luster Soldier, and removed the face down monster with Black Luster Soldier’s effect. The Airknight smashed directly into Perovic and that was the turn.

Next, Perovic managed to take back his Black Luster Soldier with Mystical Space Typhoon, but he didn’t have much of a followup. There just weren’t enough cards in his hand. Hayakawa had himself well defended with two face down spells or traps, so Perovic opted to just remove Breaker with Black Luster Soldier’s effect. It was over, though.

Next turn, Hayakawa dropped D. D. Assailant. It was enough to make Perovic scoop, as his one face down spell, Scapegoat, was going to do nothing to prevent the pierce damage from Airknight Parshath.

Both players took some time side decking. “BOO!” yelled Perovic, jokingly trying to spook Hayakawa. The diminutive double-header champ just looked at him quizzically. “Damn. It didn’t work.” Perovic returned to gnawing on his Team Overdose toothbrush*.

Game Two

Game two began with Perovic setting a card to each zone. Hayakawa took out his spell, Mystical Space Typhoon, with Breaker the Magical Warrior, but he pressed his attack and slammed Breaker clean into D. D. Assailant, resulting in a failed attack He set a face down spell and Perovic cut through the bluff on his next turn, attacking Breaker with Assailant before setting another card.

Hayakawa kept the exchanges going, though. He summoned Tribe-Infecting Virus, used its effect to sack his in-hand Jinzo and destroy the Assailant, and then attacked. The life point totals were 7900 to 6400, in Hayakawa’s favor.

Perovic was playing a bit more carefully now. He set a monster and passed, clearly placing himself on the defensive (barring a big surprise). Sure enough, a turn later, Tribe-Infecting Virus attacked and smashed the set Sinister Serpent. Perovic rode the same move for another turn, waiting to draw into something to change his luck. Though Hayakawa was setting more monsters, Perovic was succeeding in holding him at bay for the moment.

It lasted another turn and Perovic finally attacked, sending Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer into Tribe-Infecting Virus. The attack worked and Tribe ate dirt, but in response, Hayakawa chained Call of the Haunted to bring up Jinzo. He activated Mystical Space Typhoon in Perovic’s end phase and again hit Book of Moon. Perosovic shook his head. All he could use the Book on in response was Hayakawa’s Jinzo, and that wouldn’t help him. He passed, and next turn Jinzo and a newly-summoned Sangan slapped him around.

Perovic continued playing defensively, setting a monster. Hayakawa still had a flow of responses though, and topdecked Nobleman of Crossout. “Topdeck!” Perovic exclaimed, followed by a few words that weren’t fit to print. He took his beating from Sangan, Jinzo, and a Blade Knight, and prayed for a lucky draw of his own.

“Come on, Vortex!” Perovic didn’t get it. Instead he summoned Breaker, used it to attack Blade Knight, and then picked apart a few of Hayakawa’s face down cards, the most notable of which was Torrential Tribute. He set a couple cards but none of them were Scapegoat, and that was the only out he had, since Jinzo was set to negate any defense-oriented traps Perovic might have had. Jinzo attacked and Sangan dealt the killing blow.

Comic Odyssey’s Ryan Hayakawa crushes star Team Overdose player Kris Perovic two to nothing, and maintains his flawless record for the day!

*While other teams were wearing t-shirts, Overdose was instead carrying toothbrushes all day long. You could tell them apart from ordinary toothbrushes because they had “Team Overdose” written on the side in black marker—until it started rubbing off.

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Metagame.com (2005)

This article was originally written by Metagame.com, what was formerly the official website for large Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament coverage.  It has been preserved by GoatFormat.com so that players can learn from this historical tournament coverage.