It all comes down to this: two of the biggest Duelists in the game going head-to-head to become a YCS winner, a Championship title that neither has managed to capture up until this point.  While Hoban was the 2013 North American Champion, both of these Duelists are hungry for their first taste of YCS gold.  One of them was going home with a new Championship and an Ultra Rare Ascension Sky Dragon Championship Prize Card!  Let’s find out who it would be.

 

McCabe won the roll and opted to go second.  He kept his hand of Hyper Hammerhead; Gale Lizard; Spined Gillman; Card Guard; and Butterspy Protection.  Hoban tossed his hand to the bottom of his Deck and drew five more cards, then shuffled up.

 

Hoban Set a monster to begin.

 

McCabe drew one of his three Swords of Concealing Light, Summoned Hyper Hammerhead, and ran it into Hoban’s face-down monster: Electromagnetic Bagworm.  Hoban took control of Hyper Hammerhead with Bagworm’s effect, and McCabe Set Butterspy Protection to his back row.

 

Hoban Summoned Wind-Up Juggler and attacked for 1000 Battle Damage with Hammerhead, then 1700 more with the Juggler.  He moved to Main Phase 2 and Xyz Summoned Daigusto Emeral!  That kept him from having to return control of the Hammerhead.  Brutal.

 

 

McCabe drew Unstable Evolution and Summoned Card Guard, running Emeral down. He still had that Butterspy Protection, and Card Guard had its boosted ATK with its Guard Counter.

 

Hoban spent a moment reading Card Guard, then ran some numbers.  He had five cards in hand and activated Ayers Rock Sunrise to bring back Wind-Up Juggler, reducing Card Guard’s ATK by 400 in the process thanks to Sunrise’s effect.  Hoban continued: he Normal Summoned Freya, Spirit of Victory and activated Dragon’s Gunfire to destroy Card Guard, and that let him make direct attacks with Freya and Juggler.  He Set a card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.

 

McCabe drew Blast With Chain and activated Swords of Concealing Light!  He had 2700 Life Points left to Hoban’s 7900; Freya and the Juggler went face-down.  McCabe Summoned Spined Gillman at 1700 ATK and attacked Freya, destroying it.  He Set a card to his back row.

 

Hoban Set a card to his back row too.

 

McCabe drew Mist Valley Falcon and Summoned it, attacking Wind-Up Juggler with Gillman.  Hoban responded with Magical Arm Shield, trying to take control of Mist Valley Falcon in a bid to make Gillman attack it!  McCabe Chained Butterspy Protection to turn his Gillman to Defense Position, ended his turn, and took back his Falcon.  It was a nice set of moves by both Duelists.

 

Hoban passed.

 

McCabe drew Pyramid of Wonders and Summoned Gale Lizard.  He attacked Juggler with Gale Lizard, but Hoban responded with Burst Breath, Tributing his Set Juggler to destroy all three of McCabe’s monsters!  “Wow, that’s a good one.”

 

“Yeah, that’s a good one,” replied Hoban, both competitors laughing a bit.  McCabe Set Blast with Chain.

 

Play was to Hoban, who revived Daigusto Emeral with Premature Burial and Normal Summoned another Freya for game!

 

 

Patrick Hoban comes out strong in the early game, and when Sean McCabe stabilizes and seems to be in control Hoban devastates him with a killer Burst Breath activation!  McCabe was incredibly strong in the last three rounds of Draft play, but suddenly he was on the ropes and Hoban was just one win away from a YCS title!

 

McCabe chose for Hoban to start the second Duel, and used his Extra Draw to get a new hand.

 

Hoban started off with a Set monster and two cards Set to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.

 

McCabe had Shocktopus; Mist Valley Falcon; Flame Tiger; Windstorm of Etaqua; and two Pyramid of Wonders.  He Summoned the Tiger, played a Pyramid and attacked.  Hoban revealed his face-down: it was Electromagnetic Bagworm once again, taking control of that Flame Tiger!  McCabe Set Windstorm.

 

Hoban Summoned Black Brachios to make two direct attacks, then Xzy Summoned Daigusto Emeral again, using the same trick as the last Duel to keep McCabe’s monster instead of returning it!

 

McCabe Summoned Telekinetic Shocker, played another Pyramid, and attacked the Emeral: Hoban responded with Zero Gravity to stop the attack, changing both monsters to Defense Position.

 

Hoban banished his Bagworm to Special Summon Aztekipede, the Worm Warrior.  McCabe had 4900 Life Points left to Hoban’s 8000.  He Summoned Freya, Spirit of Victory and turned Emeral to Attack Position, and when he attacked with Emeral McCabe responded with Windstorm of Etaqua to shift all the attackers to defense mode.

 

McCabe Summoned Shocktopus and attacked Emeral, while Hoban controlled one last Set card in his Spell and Trap Card Zone.  He flipped it – Magical Arm Shield again!  Shocktopus’ attack was redirected to Telekinetic Shocker, destroying it and dealing 1500 Battle Damage.  McCabe Set Rush Recklessly, his last lifeline in this tournament.

 

Hoban drew to two cards in hand with Aztekipede, Freya, and Emeral on the field.  He Summoned Shutendoji to place Bagworm back on top of his Deck and ended.

 

McCabe drew Shadow Spell and Summoned Mist Valley Falcon.  He attacked, destroying Emeral with Shocktopus and Shutendoji with Falcon.  Hoban dropped to 5200 Life Points and McCabe Set his Shadow Spell.

 

Hoban drew the Bagworm with one unknown card left in his hand.  He Set a monster, which was assumedly the ‘worm.

 

McCabe drew Diskblade Rider and attacked, sending Shocktopus to destroy Aztekipede and Falcon to destroy Bagworm, bouncing his Shocktopus for Falcon.  He ended with an open field.

 

Hoban drew, again going to two cards in hand.  He Summoned Evilswarm Ketos, turned Freya to Attack Position and attacked with Ketos.  McCabe ran the numbers to see how big of a threat that was, then decided to take the 2150 Battle Damage (Ketos was boosted by Freya’s ability).  Hoban attacked for 500 Battle Damage with Freya, dropping McCabe to 2250 Life Points.  He attacked with the Falcon for an attempted 1900 Battle Damage (it was boosted by Freya too, but still affected by the Bagworm’s ATK reduction), and he bounced Freya to drop McCabe to 750 Life Points!  In Main Phase 2 Hoban launched Ketos’ effect to destroy McCabe’s Pyramid.

 

McCabe drew Blast With Chain.  He Summoned Shocktopus and attacked with it for 1600 Battle Damage, then 1500 more with Falcon. He Set Blast With Chain.

 

Hoban Set a monster, then Set another card to his backrow.

 

McCabe drew Unstable Evolution and Set it.  He attacked with Falcon, destroying Hoban’s Set Freya, then made a direct attack with Shocktopus.  When McCabe tried to win the game with Rush Recklessly on Shocktopus, Hoban Chained Shadow Spell to reduce the ATK.  But McCabe flipped the Blast With Chain to push through and capture the Duel anyways!

 

Sean McCabe squeaks out the win with just 750 Life Points, in a Duel that seemed like it might have been his last.  Both competitors shared a sincere handshake before heading into the third and final Duel.

 

McCabe had Fighting Spirit; Typhoon; Knight Day Grepher; Mist Valley Falcon; and Chiron the Mage.  He Summoned Falcon and Set Typhoon.

 

Hoban Set two cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone, then Set one monster.  Was it the Bagworm again?

 

McCabe drew Telekinetic Shocker and attacked with Mist Valley Falcon, bouncing his Typhoon… Hoban’s Set card was Blue Thunder T-45!  No Bagworm this time, and Blue Thunder hit the Graveyard.  McCabe Set his Typhoon again.

 

Hoban Set another monster.

 

McCabe drew Miracle’s Wake and attacked with Falcon again – this time Hoban flipped Pinpoint Guard, bringing back his Blue Thunder T-45 but losing his Set Gorgonic Golem anyways.  McCabe had bounced his Typhoon again, and in Main Phase 2 he Summoned Summoned Chiron the Mage and pitched Fighting Spirit to destroy Hoban’s Set Call of the Haunted.  He Set Wake and Typhoon.

 

Hoban drew to four cards in hand with Blue Thunder on the field.  McCabe controlled two monsters, his two Set Trap Cards, and had two more cards in hand.  Hoban activated Pyramid of Wonders!  He followed it up with Black Brachios to turn Chiron to Defense Position, then attacked Chiron with Blue Thunder to destroy it and Special Summon a Thunder Option Token. He attacked Falcon with Black Brachios, destroyed Falcon, and attacked with the Thunder Option Token.  McCabe blocked the attack with Miracle’s Wake, bringing back Mist Valley Falcon in Attack Position.

 

 

McCabe drew Silent Psychic Wizard.  He attacked over Blue Thunder to destroy it, then Summoned Psychic Wizard in Main Phase 2 to banish Chiron the Mage from his Graveyard.  He Set Typhoon.

 

When Hoban drew for his Draw Phase, McCabe flipped Typhoon to destroy Hoban’s Pyramid.  Hoban had three cards in hand with Black Brachios and the Thunder Option Token on the field.  The Duel stood at 6000 Life Points to 7900 with Hoban leading.  He activated Ayers Rock Sunrise to Special Summon back Gorgonic Golem, lowering McCabe’s monsters by 200 ATK with Sunrise’s effect.  He followed up with Premature Burial, bringing back Blue Thunder T-45!  He activated his last card, Closed Forest, which was giving him no ATK bonus now with no monsters in his Graveyard, but might become relevant if Hoban could get some of his monsters into his Graveyard.

 

Hoban sent his Blue Thunder to attack into Silent Psychic Wizard, destroying both and Special Summoning another Thunder Option Token!  That let McCabe revive his Chiron the Mage, and Hoban destroyed it with an attack from Brachios.  Hoban rammed his Golem into Falcon to get it in the Graveyard to fuel Closed Forest, then powered over the Falcon with one Thunder Option Token, and made a direct attack with the other.

 

McCabe drew another Pyramid.  He had 2500 Life Points left and Hoban was down to topdecking beyond his existing field.  He Summoned Knight Day Grepher and attacked with it at 2300 ATK to destroy Black Brachios.  “Your go.”

 

 

Hoban drew to one card in hand and checked his Graveyard.  He Normal Summoned Lion Alligator, crashed a Thunder Option Token into the 2100 ATK Knight Day Grepher, attacked with his 2200 ATK Lion Alligator to destroy Grepher, then made a direct attack with the remaining Thunder Option Token for 1800 Battle Damage.

 

McCabe was down to 600 Life Points and drew Mudora.  He Summoned it at a total of 2700 ATK between its own effect and Pyramid of Wonders, and attacked over Lion Alligator to destroy it.  Hoban went to to 5000 Life Points.

 

Hoban drew to one card in hand, controlling his Thunder Option Token and Closed Forest.  He Set his topdeck to his backrow and turned his Thunder Option Token to Defense Position.

 

McCabe drew Shocktopus, holding Telekinetic Shocker. He attacked with Mudora to clear Hoban’s Token, then Set Shocktopus.

 

Hoban drew and Summoned Wind-Up Juggler, running over Shocktopus (which equipped itself to the Juggler).

 

McCabe drew Cross-Sword Beetle and Summoned Telekinetic Shocker.  He attacked with Mudora to clear the Juggler, then paid 500 Life Points with Shocker to destroy it instead of losing his Mudora to Juggler’s effect.

 

Hoban Set a monster.

 

McCabe drew and Summoned Koa’ki Meiru Sandman.  He attacked, colliding with Electromagnetic Bagworm, which Hoban used to take the Mudora!  Its ATK would be reduced by the Bagworm, but boosted by its own ability plus Closed Forest, and McCabe knew he couldn’t stop the damage next turn!  Sean McCabe offered the handshake.

 

 

A years-long journey finally comes to a close, as Patrick Hoban wins YCS Toronto!