Two World Championship competitors were about to go head-to-head here in the Top 32!  Bo Tang was Canada’s representative in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Championship this year, and his opponent is the former American National Champion and YCS Winner, Chris Bowling!  Bowling is piloting Plant Synchro, while Tang is running Agents with a splash of Tech Genus.

Bowling started the Match with a hand of Glow-Up Bulb; Tour Guide from the Underworld; Maxx “C”; Mind Control; Battle Fader; and Effect Veiler.  He Summoned Tour Guide to Special Summon Sangan from his Deck in Attack Position.

Tang Summoned The Agent of Mystery – Earth, and Bowling let him get The Agent of Creation – Venus from his Deck with Earth’s effect.  Tang sent Earth to destroy Tour Guide in battle, then Set a card to his back row.

Bowling drew another Tour Guide, and Tang flipped Trap Dustshoot!  He sent Maxx “C” back to Bowling’s Deck, and Bowling attacked for 1000 Battle Damage with Sangan.  He Summoned Glow-Up Bulb in Main Phase 2.

Tang Summoned Venus; paid 500 Life Points for her effect; and Bowling negated her ability by sending Veiler to the Graveyard.  Tang attacked over Glow-Up with Venus, then Set a single Spell or Trap.

Bowling drew Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress and attacked with Sangan, running it into Venus to destroy Sangan and get Maxx “C” back from his Deck.  He Summoned Lyla, then turned her to Defense Position to destroy Tang’s Set Mystical Space Typhoon.  Bowling sent Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter to the Graveyard from the Top of his Deck to Special Summon Glow-Up, then took Venus with Mind Control to Synchro Summon Colossal Fighter.

Tang banished Earth from his Graveyard to Special Summon Master Hyperion, then banished Venus to destroy Colossal Fighter.  Hyperion made a direct attack.

Bowling drew Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, seemingly a turn too late.  He passed.

Tang attacked with Hyperion, and Bowling Special Summoned Gorz, plus an Emissary of Darkness Token with 2700 ATK.

Bowling drew Dark Armed Dragon with three DARK monsters in his Graveyard, and Special Summoned it!  “Wow,” remarked Tang.  Bowling banished Sangan from his Graveyard to destroy Hyperion, then Normal Summoned Tour Guide to Special Summon another from his Deck.  He stacked the Tour Guides together to Xyz Summon Leviair the Sea Dragon, then detached a Tour Guide to Special Summon his Sangan back in Attack Position.  Bowling then activated the effect of Maxx “C”, and attacked for 1000 Battle Damage with Sangan.  Leviair attacked for 1800, and Bowling attacked with Gorz next, drawing out Tang’s own Gorz, plus an Emissary of Darkness Token.  Bowling drew Heavy Storm and Gold Sarcophagus with the effect of Maxx “C”, and Dark Armed Dragon attacked to destroy Gorz.  Bowling banished a Tour Guide in Main Phase 2 to destroy the Emissary, then banished another Tour Guide to destroy his own Sangan, fetching Debris Dragon from his Deck.  Bowling then banished Colossal Fighter, destroying Leviair (he only had 500 Life Points left), and activated Gold Sarcophagus to banish Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning from his Deck.  He’d get to add it to his hand 2 turns from now.  A Set Heavy Storm ended the turn.

Tang banished Gorz and Hyperion from his Graveyard to Special Summon Black Luster Soldier next turn, and attacked over Dark Armed Dragon and Gorz to make the 500 damage he needed for the win!

A big turn with Dark Armed Dragon puts Chris Bowling in a great position, but Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning lets Bo Tang barely eek out the win anyways!  The Match quickly moved to the second Duel.

Bowling had a hand of Tour Guide from the Underworld; Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning; Mind Control; Foolish Burial; Debris Dragon; and Chaos Sorcerer.  He Summoned Tour Guide and Special Summoned Sangan in Attack Position.

Tang Summoned The Agent of Creation – Venus, and paid 500 Life Points to Special Summon a Mystical Shine Ball.  He paid 500 more for another Shine Ball, then stacked them both to Xyz Summon Gachi Gachi Gantetsu.  Venus attacked to destroy Tour Guide.

Bowling drew another Chaos Sorcerer, now holding a whopping three Chaos monsters, but couldn’t Summon any of them yet. Foolish Burial let him send Dandylion to the Graveyard, and Tang Chained the effect of Maxx “C”: he got to draw a card when Bowling Special Summoned his Fluff Tokens.  Bowling sent Sangan on a suicide mission to attack Venus, and got Effect Veiler from his Deck.

Tang activated Pot of Duality, revealing Archlord Kristya; Master Hyperion; and T.G. Warwolf from the top of his Deck.  He added Warwolf to his hand, then Summoned it and attacked the two Fluff Tokens with Warwolf and Venus.

Bowling drew Monster Reborn and Summoned Debris Dragon, targeting Dandylion: Tang banished Dandylion on the Chain with D.D. Crow’s effect! Mind Control let Bowling take Warwolf, and he Tuned it to Debris Dragon to Synchro Summon Black Rose Dragon.  He opted not to use the Dragon’s effect, and sent it to attack Venus, destroying her.

Tang banished Venus to Special Summon Master Hyperion, then Normal Summoned another Venus.  Before Tang moved into his Battle Phase, Bowling sent Effect Veiler to the Graveyard to negate Gachi Gachi’s effect, just to get a LIGHT in the Graveyard.  Hyperion attacked Black Rose, and Venus made a direct attack.

Bowling drew Light-Imprisoning Mirror, and banished Veiler and Sangan from his Graveyard to Special Summon Black Luster Soldier!  He used its effect to banish Hyperion, and Set Light-Imprisoning Mirror.

Tang activated Monster Reborn to Special Summon Bowling’s Black Rose Dragon.  He turned Venus to Defense Position and Set a Spell or Trap.

Bowling drew another Tour Guide!  He Summoned her to Special Summon another, then stacked them together to Xyz Summon Leviair the Sea Dragon.  Bowling detached a Tour Guide to Special Summon Sangan, then attacked Venus with Leviair.  Black Luster Soldier attacked Gachi Gachi to force it to detach a Shine Ball.  When Bowling tried to attack Black Rose Dragon, Tang pointed out that he couldn’t: Gachi Gachi hadn’t been destroyed, so the Soldier couldn’t attack again.

Tang attacked Leviair with Black Rose next turn, destroying it, and Set a monster.

Bowling drew Card Trooper and turned Sangan to Attack Position: Black Luster Soldier attacked to destroy Black Rose, and then attacked Gachi Gachi again.  Bowling’s Sangan attacked Tang’s face-down Sangan, destroying it, and Tang searched his Deck to add The Agent of Mystery – Earth to his hand.  Bowling Set a monster.  The Duel stood at 6200 Life Points to 3300, with Tang leading.

Time was called as Tang Summoned Earth, and Bowling chose not to activate Light-Imprisoning Mirror.  Earth attacked Bowling’s Set Card Trooper, and Bowling drew Maxx “C”.

Bowling drew Gold Sarcophagus, on the first of three remaining turns in time.  Tang would have the turn after this one, and then Bowling would have the last turn.  He had to deal at least 2950 damage across those two turns to remain in the Match.  Bowling activated Monster Reborn to Special Summon Card Trooper, and sent Charge of the Light Brigade and 2 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter to his Graveyard to boost Trooper to 1900 ATK – big hits given his in-hand Chaos Sorcerers.  He banished a Ryko and a Tour Guide to Special Summon a Sorcerer, and Tang banished it with Bottomless Trap Hole.  Bowling brought down another Sorcerer moments later, again banishing a Tour Guide and a Ryko.  Trooper attacked Gachi Gachi, finally destroying it; Bowling activated Maxx “C”; and Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning attacked Earth.  Tang Special Summoned Tragoedia, and Bowling drew another Maxx “C”.  The Soldier attacked to destroy Tragoedia; Sangan attacked to drop Tang to 3200 Life Points (Bowling had 3300); and Bowling didn’t attack with his Sorcerer.  He moved to Main Phase 2, stacking Card Trooper and Sangan together to Xyz Summon Number 17: Leviathan Dragon.  He detached Sangan to boost Leviathan to 2500 ATK.

Tang drew for his turn, and Bowling activated the effect of his second Maxx “C”!  One turn could be played after this one – if Bowling could survive.  Tang was down by 100 Life Points.  He needed to deal some damage this turn to stay in the Duel, but every Special Summon he made would fuel Bowling’s next turn!  Tang pressed anyways: he Special Summoned T.G. Striker, then Normal Summoned Venus to try and pay 500 Life Points for a Mystical Shine Ball.  Bowling flipped that Light-Imprisoning Mirror!  Bo was left to Set a single Spell or Trap, and Bowling won by time on the following turn!  We were going to a third Duel!

No Side Decking would be allowed before the last Duel, and each Duelist would have only two turns.  At the end of those four turns total, the winner would be the Duelist with the most Life Points.  The winner here would move on to the Top 16.

Unfortunately at this point, Chris Bowling counted out his Side Deck, and found it was a single card short.  He appeared to have made an error in his Side Decking at some point, and now had a Main Deck that was one card too large – an illegal Deck.  The appropriate penalty for an unintentional error of this kind – a game loss – had to be given, which made Bo Tang the winner of the Match.

“Regardless of what happened, I had a great time this weekend,” commented Bowling.  “I haven’t played Yu-Gi-Oh! in a while, and it’s great to be back!”

Bo Tang moves on to the Top 16, after an unfortunate error costs Chris Bowling the last Duel of the Match