Semifinals: Wilson Luc vs. Bryan Coronel

​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.
 
Coronel won the coin flip and opted to go first, opening with a face down card in each of his zones. Luc summoned Sangan on his first turn and attacked with it, crashing into Spirit Reaper. An end phase Mystical Space Typhoon took out Luc's face down Mystical Space Typhoon, and both players spent a turn passing, only setting an additional spell or trap. Luc broke the lull by playing Delinquent Duo, hitting Jinzo, and play moved to Coronel after he set another monster. Coronel set a second monster as well as another spell or trap.

 

​A third set monster hit the field on Luc's side. He was keeping himself at just one spell or trap, which was fortunate for him. Coronel had been holding a Heavy Storm since turn one, and his second set spell or trap was likely an attempt to draw out a similar board position from Luc. A turn of lull proceeded to occur with Coronel summoning Kycoo only to soon lose it, while Luc used his normal summon to set and then flip a Magician of Faith. He nailed Coronel with another Delinquent Duo and though the players had matching fields—two spells or traps and a monster each—Luc had a hand of three cards while Coronel had none. Next turn, Luc summoned Tsukuyomi to turn Spirit Reaper face down, then attempted to use Nobleman of Crossout on it, but was stymied by a Ceasefire.
 
Coronel was still down to topdecking and continued playing defensively. Luc brought up Thousand-Eyes Restrict thanks to Sinister Serpent and Metamorphosis, and absorbed Spirit Reaper. With a moment of intervention thanks to Head Judge Dave Brent, the correct ruling was given and Spirit Reaper was attached to Thousand-Eyes. A turn later, though, the entire point was moot, as Coronel struggled back with a Torrential Tribute.
 
Call of the Haunted brought up Sangan for Luc, and Coronel continued to hide. Next turn, Sangan was tributed for Airknight Parshath. Luc was looking to lean hard on Coronel, and Airknight smacked a Scapegoat. Coronel seemed to realize that his defense couldn't last forever and was costing him severely, so he sprung into action: Premature Burial brought back Jinzo, Smashing Ground took down the Parshath, and the life point totals were 5000 to 2100 in favor of Coronel after an attack from Jinzo!
 
Luc activated his own Premature Burial to bring back Airknight Parshath, but it took him a while to decide on which monster he was selecting. He eventually settled on attacking a goat, knocking the life point totals down to 3100 and 1300. He set Sinister Serpent in main phase two, used Metamorphosis to turn it into Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and used it to suck up Jinzo. The match was an incredible back and forth.
 
Coronel had nothing. His in-hand cards were Scapegoat and Nobleman of Crossout, neither of which he could even activate at this point. His face down monster was his only mystery. It would make or break this game, and if Luc had Tsukuyomi. it wouldn't even do that.
 
Luc didn't, or at least if he did, he opted not to use it. He instead tributed his Thousand-Eyes Restrict for a Jinzo of his own and then summoned Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning in defense position. He used it to remove the face down monster, revealing it to be Magician of Faith, which would have indeed helped. He attacked with Jinzo, but Coronel flipped Scapegoat. Airknight ate one, but Jinzo did not.
 
Coronel had nothing. He set a face down Sangan, but the Soldier quickly removed it. Airknight struck one more sheep and Wilson Luc took game one!
 
Game Two
 
Game two was opened yet again by Coronel and he quickly set a single monster before handing play over to Luc. Luc attacked the face down monster, D. D. Assailant, with D. D. Warrior Lady and opted to remove the Assailant. He set a face down spell or trap and that was it.
 
Sangan hit the field on Coronel's side and attacked directly. Next turn it was smacked by Slate Warrior, and Sangan fetched Sinister Serpent for Coronel. He had Lightning Vortex in his opening hand to take advantage of it. He used Snatch Steal on the Slate Warrior, tributed it for Jinzo, and ran his android straight into a wall of fuzzy sheep.
 
It was Luc's turn to Snatch Steal next. He grabbed Jinzo and belted Coronel with it for 2400. Luc opted not to play a monster, and with four or five cards in hand, it was either extreme restraint or he actually had nothing. Coronel tried to match Luc's tempo. He was falling into a trap, setting only a single monster, Sinister Serpent. Luc whacked it with Nobleman of Crossout next turn and again attacked directly with Jinzo. Coronel was watching the match slip through his grasp.
 
Trying to take it back, he played Smashing Ground to off Jinzo and set a single spell or trap. He again passed—Luc was just dictating his pace of play to him. Luc set a monster and flipped it next turn, revealing Magician of Faith to take back Nobleman of Crossout. Coronel set another spell or trap and passed yet again.
 
Luc summoned Tsukuyomi, but Coronel had Torrential Tribute as an answer, gaining himself a card's worth of advantage. Next turn, he brought up Jinzo with Premature Burial. When he attempted to attack, though, the Premature got hit with Mystical Space Typhoon and Jinzo returned to the graveyard. He set a monster, trying to stay afloat, and passed.
 
Luc used that Nobleman of Crossout, removing Morphing Jar from the game. He summoned Tribe-Infecting Virus and attacked. The life point totals were 1600 to 6900, and Luc had an astounding lead.
 
All Coronel could do was set another spell or trap. Luc removed a Light and a Dark monster, brought up Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning in defense position, removed the face down monster from play, and tried to attack for game, but Coronel had another Scapegoat to save himself. Luc blew away the sheep with Night Assailant and took back Slate Warrior with its effect.
 
Coronel had no choice but to use Lightning Vortex next turn to keep himself in the game. He summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, attacked, but got nailed by Mirror Force. It was over, Luc had the Slate Warrior to attack with, and that was the match! Wilson Luc moves on to compete for his second SJC Championship!

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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.