Atlanta’s Patrick Hoban is looking to go back to back as he fights to win this YCS, but Northern California’s Elvis Vu is going to try his best not to let that happen. Both have shown their exceptional Draft skills to make it this far, so now it is time for them to Duel it out and see who advances from the penultimate Round!

Vu won the roll and has Hoban go first

Duel One:

Hoban opened a hand of Noble Arms –Arfeudutyr, The Immortal Bushi, No Entry!!, Curse of Anubis, and Magical Arm Shield. After some thought he ultimately Set the Curse of Anubis before ending.

Vu Normal Summoned Cross-Sword Beetle and declared a direct attack for 1800, then Set three to his back row before ending.

Hoban drew Time Escaper, then equipped Noble Arms –Arfeudutyr to the opposing Cross-Sword Beetle, then used the Noble Arms’ effect to try to destroy one of the Set cards, but Vu Flipped the Blast with Chain to prevent its destruction. He Set The Immortal Bushi along with Magical Arm Shield before ending his turn.

Vu Normal Summoned Mist Valley Falcon and went straight to Battle Phase declaring an attack with Cross-Sword Beetle, destroying The Immortal Bushi and dealing 1200 points of Piercing Damage. He declared an attack with the Mist Valley Falcon, bouncing his Cross-Sword Beetle and sending both equips to the Graveyard. He passed his turn right after.

Hoban drew Call of the Haunted for turn. With decisive action, he Set Time Escaper along with the rest of his hand in his back row before ending his turn.

Vu drew, then Normal Summoned Cross-Sword Beetle. He declared an attack with it which prompted Hoban to usee Magical Arm Shield in an attempt to redirect the attack, but Vu had No Entry!! to halt any further shenanigans. He ended his turn after the dust settled.

Hoban drew Leotaur for turn and Normal Summoned it. He declared an attack with it on Mist Valley Falcon, but Vu switched the Leotaur to Defense Position with Windstorm of Etaqua. Hoban ended his turn shortly after.

Vu Normal Summoned Cyber Phoenix and then switched both of his other Monsters to attack position, proceeding to the Battle Phase he declared an attack with Cross-Sword Beetle on Leotaur, prompting Hoban to use his Curse of Anubis. Vu passed without any further actions.

Hoban drew Pyramid of Wonders and contemplated his options. He activated Pyramid of Wonders and then switched his Leotaur to Attack Mode before clarifying the DEFs of the Monsters Vu controlled. He attacked over the Cross-Sword Beetle with Leotaur and then ended his turn.

Vu drew for turn and slammed down Destructotron! He paid 1000 to destroy one of Hoban’s Set back row and then another 1000, blowing away both No Entry!! and Call of the Haunted; Destructotron ran over Time Escaper, and then Vu ended his turn.

Hoban drew and Normal Summoned Shocktopus. He moved to Battle Phase and declared an attack with Leotaur over Mist Valley Falcon, dealing 600 points of damage, then Shocktopus over Destructotron for another 400, leaving Vu with 5000 Life Points.

Vu drew to three cards and Set a Monster along with a back row before ending.

Hoban drew Pinpoint Guard, then tried to declare an attack on the Set Monster with Leotaur but Vu halted everything with Curse of Anubis. He Set Pinpoint Guard before ending his turn.

Vu Normal Summoned Mythical Beast Cerberus, then Flipped Fencing Fire Ferret. He switched Cyber Phoenix to Attack Mode then overlayed it along with the Cerberus for Daigusto Emeral! He shuffled back three Monsters from his Graveyard to draw a single one, then proceeded to attack with his Fencing Fire Ferret on Hoban’s Leotaur. It hit the Graveyard, then Daigusto Emeral declared an attack on Shocktopus which equipped itself and reduced its attack to 0. Vu Set two more before ending.

Hoban drew Cursed Armaments for turn and Special Summoned The Immortal Bushi from his Graveyard. He declared an attack with Bushi over Vu’s Daigusto Emeral, leaving him with 3400 Life Points. He activated Cursed Armaments in Main Phase 2 on the Fencing Fire Ferret and ended his turn.

Vu drew to two cards and equipped the opposing The Immortal Bushi with Noble Arms – Arfeudutyr. He reduced its attack in order to destroy Hoban’s Set Pinpoint Guard. He passed afterwards.

Hoban drew Memory Loss for turn, then declared an attack with The Immortal Bushi over the Fencing Fire Ferret. Both Monsters were destroyed and Hoban Set the Trap before ending.

Vu drew, Normal Summoned Hypnocorn, then declared a direct attack to leave Hoban with 800 Life Points. He Set a back row before ending his turn.

Hoban drew Call of the Atlanteans, crashed with The Immortal Bushi.

Vu drew, Set a back row, and ended.

Hoban drew Exploder Dragon, Normal Summoned it, and went right to battle to swing with both it and The Immortal Bushi leaving Vu at 1700 Life Points. He passed it back after.

Vu drew, Normal Summoned Evilswarm Ketos, and attacked into the The Immortal Bushi. Hoban said that was fine, but during damage step Vu had Plant Food Chain to deal the game winning damage!

Vu manages to pull out an impressive win in game one, showing that he has some mastery of the Draft format. We all know that Hoban is far from a slouch though, so we can’t count him out in the next two games.

After Decks were presented, Hoban chose for Vu to go first

Duel Two:

Vu Set three to his back row before ending.

Hoban drew Chow Len the Prophet, Hate Buster, Time Escaper, Swamp Mirrorer, and Pinpoint Guard. Drew Shreddder for turn. He Summoned Chow Len and used its effect naming Trap to reveal Hate Buster. He declared an attack, then went to Main Phase 2 where he Set Swamp Mirrorer before ending.

Vu drew and equipped Noble Arms – Arfeudutyr to Chow Len the Prophet, but when he tried to use its effect Hoban Chained his Set card Swamp Mirrorer! Vu went on unphased, Normal Summoning Cross-Sword Beetle and declaring an attack with it on Chow Len, but Hoban used Time Escaper to save it! Vu passed the turn with no further action.

Hoban drew Noble Arms – Arfeudutyr for turn. Chow Len returned to the field during his Standby Phase, and he then used its effect naming Trap to reveal Vu’s Set Ready for Intercepting. He then equipped the Arfeudutyr and used its effect to destroy the Set Hate Buster. When Hoban went to attack Vu had No Entry!! shifting everything to Defense Position. Hoban Set Hate Buster before ending his turn.

Vu drew and Normal Summoned Battlestorm, then declared an attack over Chow Len the Prophet with Cross-Sword Beetle to pierce for 1100 points of damage. He then tried to attack with Battlestorm over the Swamp Mirrorer, but Hoban used Hate Buster to destroy the Battlestorm along with the Swamp Mirrorer.

Hoban drew Pyramid of Wonders for turn, then used the effect of Noble Arms – Arfeudutyr which prompted Vu to Chain his Set Ready for Intercepting to stop it. Shreddder was Normal Summoned which then attacked over the Set Cross-Sword Beetle, Hoban activated Pyramid of Wonders and Set Pinpoint Guard before ending.

Vu drew, Set a Monster and passed.

Hoban drew Spellbook of Wisdom, attack with Shreddder and destroyed the Set Cyber Phoenix which netted Vu a card; he Set Wisdom in Main Phase 2 before ending.

Vu drew and Normal Summoned his own copy of Shreddder. He used its effect discarding Hypnocorn to blow away the opposing Shreddder, but when he went to attack Hoban had Pinpoint Guard to revive his Shreddder.

Hoban drew Slate Warrior for turn, Normal Summoned it and declared attacks in succession with it and Shreddder leaving Vu at 2400.

Vu drew and with limited options Set a Monster.

Hoban drew Call of the Haunted, then declared an attack with Slate Warrior on Vu’s Set Fencing Fire Ferret. The Ferret activated destroying the Shreddder and dealing 500. Patrick Set Call of the Haunted in Main Phase 2 before ending.

Vu drew to two cards; he activated Swords of Concealing Light to turn the opposing Slate Warrior face down, and then declared an attack on it with Evilswarm Ketos. Hoban chose to destroy Pyramid of Wonders rather than lose his Slate Warrior. Vu ended shortly after.

Hoban drew Shocktopus for turn. He activated his Spellbook of Wisdom on his Slate Warrior to get around Swords of Concealing Light, then Normal Summoned Shocktopus and declared an attack with it over Evilswarm Ketos.

Vu drew, and activated the freshly top decked Swords of Revealing Light before ending.

Hoban drew Tutan Mask and Set it, passing back.

Vu drew Leotaur and tried to declare an attack on Slate Warrior but didn’t realize it was too large because of its Flip effect!

Things spun out of control from there as Vu couldn’t draw an answer to Hoban’s on field presence. Vu conceded shortly after.

Things started to get more intense as we moved to the third and final game. Either Hoban would find himself in his third finals appearance this year, or Vu will have a chance at making a name forself, regardless this will be quite the Duel.

Duel Three:

Hoban opened with a hand of Memory Loss, Exploder Dragon, Swamp Mirrorer, Slate Warrior, and Shocktopus. Vu chose to use his re-draw, sending back his hand for a fresh five. Hoban was content with his hand for game three; he Set Exploder Dragon along with both of his traps before ending.

Vu Normal Summoned Sunlight Unicorn, but when he tried to use its effect Hoban Flipped Memory Loss to negate it and switch it to Defense Position. Vu Set a back row before passing the turn.

Hoban drew Goblin Elite Attack Force but decided to Normal Summon Shocktopus. He Flip Summoned Exploder Dragon, then tried to declare an attack over Sunlight Unicorn but Vu used Curse of Anubis to shift everything to Defense Mode; still during Battle Phase Hoban Flipped Swamp Mirrorer, giving him an additional Monster to destroy the Sunlight Unicorn. He passed afterwards.

Vu drew and activated Swords of Concealing Light, flipping everything face-down including the Swamp Mirrorer to the back row. He Set three cards to his own back row, and then Normal Summoned Shreddder before ending.

Hoban drew Black Veloci and ended his turn.

Vu drew and passed back.

Hoban drew Pinpoint Guard and contemplated his options. After a lot of deliberation, he Set it to his back row before ending.

Vu drew to two cards in hand, his Swords of Concealing Light destroyed itself, and then he went to Main Phase to Normal Summon Leotaur. He Set fourth card to his back row and ended the turn.

Hoban drew Master Craftsman Gamil for turn; he Flip Summoned Exploder Dragon and Normal Summoned Black Veloci, moving to Battle Phase to declare an attack with Black Veloci on Leotaur but Vu had Ready for Intercepting to turn the Veloci face down. Still during Battle Phase Hoban Flipped his Swamp Mirrorer, then declared an attack with it on Shreddder. During damage step, Vu had Skill Successor to try to win the battle but Hoban used the in hand Gamil to save the Mirrorer and win the battle! He then crashed the Exploder Dragon into the Leotaur, having the Exploder Dragon’s effect take the Leotaur down with it.

Vu drew and Normal Summoned Leotaur, then declared an attack on the Set Black Veloci, but when he did so Hoban used Pinpoint Guard to revive Exploder Dragon. Vu continued the attack to destroy Black Veloci before ending the turn.

Hoban drew Curse of Anubis and surveyed the field. He Normal Summoned Goblin Elite Attack Force, then turned his Exploder Dragon to Attack Position. He declared an attack over Leotaur with Goblin Elite Attack Force, then a direct attack from Swamp Mirrorer to leave him at 5900 Life Points.; he Set Curse of Anubis before ending.

Vu drew, Set a back row, and ended his turn.

Hoban drew another copy of Curse of Anubis and Flipped his Shocktopus to attack mode as turn zero was called. After some direct attacks Vu was left with 2500 Life Points to Hoban’s 8000; he Set Curse of Anubis before ending.

And that was it, realizing that he could not do anything to beat Hoban’s impressive lead now that they were in time! Patrick Hoban moves onto the finals once again, giving himself a chance to win back to back Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series!