Only two rounds remain! This Match pits two all-star Duelists against one another: Jeff Jones and Esala Wathuthantrige! Jones narrowly missed out on attending the World Championship this year, coming just barely behind Wathuthantrige and Billy Brake in Worlds Qualifying Points. Now Jones gets a chance to surpass Wathuthantrige by becoming the Ultimate Duelist! Of course, Wathuthantrige won’t make it easy for him in this Pendulum Magician mirror match! It’s time to Duel!

Duel 1

Esala won the dice roll and chose to play first. He played Double Iris Magician in his Pendulum Zone, and used Duelist Alliance to put Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer in his hand. He played it in his other Pendulum Zone, and Pendulum Summoned the rest of his hand: Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer, Black Fang Magician, and Harmonizing Magician! Jones used Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to negate the Sorcerer, and Harmonizing Magician brought Wisdom-Eye Magician to the field. He Tuned Harmonizing Magician to Black Fang for PSY-Framelord Omega, banishing it along with Purple Poison Magician from Jones’s hand. He stacked his Sorcerer with Wisdom-Eye for Tornado Dragon, and had it destroy his Double Iris. That let him add Time Pendulumgraph to his hand, and he Set it.

Jones had a hand of Harmonizing Magician, Star Pendulumgraph, Performapal Skullcrobat Joker, and a Black Fang he just drew. He played Joker to get Wisdom-Eye Magician, then played Star Pendulumgraph, Black Fang, and Wisdom-Eye. He activated Wisdom-Eye’s effect to put Purple Poison in its place, and Esala responded with Tornado Dragon to destroy Star Pendulumgraph. Jones Pendulum Summoned Wisdom-Eye from the Extra Deck and Harmonizing Magician from his hand, which let him Special Summon Double Iris. He Tuned Harmonizing to Wisdom-Eye for Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer, destroying his Double Iris to shuffle away Esala’s Set Time Pendulumgraph. Double Iris’s effect put Time Pendulumgraph into Jones’s hand, and he Set it. Ignister destroyed Tornado Dragon in battle, and Skullcrobat Joker attacked directly.

Esala returned PSY-Framelord Omega to the field. He activated Performapal Lizardraw in his Pendulum Zone, and Jones flipped Time Pendulumgraph – Esala conceded!

Esala began strong, but Jones had everything he needed to shut him down! Esala chose to play first in the next Duel.

Duel 2

Esala began with Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer and Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer in his Pendulum Zone, using Luster’s effect to get a new Sorcerer to his hand. He played the new one, and Pendulum Summoned the first one back to the field. He activated its effect, but Jones used Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to negate it. Esala continued, with Performapal Skullcrobat Joker getting Wisdom-Eye Magician to his hand. He Xyz Summoned Tornado Dragon and Set one card to his back row.

Jones had a hand of Black Fang, Oafdragon Magician, 2 Pot of Desires, and Skullcrobat Joker. He played Pot of Desires to draw Ash Blossom and his third Pot of Desires – ouch. He Normal Summoned Skullcrobat Joker to get Wisdom-Eye to his hand, and played it along with Black Fang in the Pendulum Zones. He tried using Wisdom-Eye’s effect, and Esala responded with Tornado Dragon to destroy it. Jones played Oafdragon Magician in the Pendulum Zone, Esala flipped Wavering Eyes, and Jones used Ash Blossom to negate it! He Pendulum Summoned Wisdom-Eye, stacking it with Joker for his own Tornado Dragon! He used it to destroy the Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer on Esala’s side, then had Black Fang halve the ATK of the opposing Tornado Dragon. When Black Fang was destroyed, it brought Skullcrobat Joker back to the field. Jones’s Tornado Dragon wiped out Esala’s, then Joker attacked directly. He Set a bluffed Pot of Desires to finish the turn.

Esala played Duelist Alliance, adding Pendulum Call to his hand. He activated it, discarding Ash Blossom to add Harmonizing Magician and Purple Poison Magician to his hand. He put Purple Poison in his Pendulum Zone, prompting Jones to use his Tornado Dragon to destroy Luster Pendulum. Esala played Wisdom-Eye in the Pendulum Zone in its place, allowing him to Pendulum Summon Harmonizing Magician from his hand. With its effect he brought a Wisdom-Eye to the field, and he used them to play Enlightenment Paladin! It added Wavering Eyes to his hand! He attacked with it to destroy Skullcrobat Joker, using its effect to drop Jones to 4300 Life Points! Esala was at 5150, and he passed without setting the Wavering Eyes.

Jones drew Double Iris Magician. He flipped up Pot of Desires, drawing Astrograph Sorcerer and another Double Iris. He played Double Iris in his Pendulum Zone, then got Black Fang to his hand with Oafdragon. He Pendulum Summoned Double Iris and Astrograph Sorcerer from his hand, then used Double Iris’s Pendulum effect on Astrograph Sorcerer so it would deal double battle damage this turn. Double Iris was destroyed, adding Time Pendulumgraph to Jones’s hand. He put Black Fang in the Pendulum Zone, using its effect to halve the ATK of Enlightenment Paladin! Black Fang was destroyed, but had nothing to Special Summon. Astrograph attacked the weakened Paladin, and Esala used his Purple Poison to boost its ATK (Purple Poison was not destroyed due to Pendulum Call last turn), so Astrograph only dealt 100 damage. Double Iris and Tornado Dragon attacked directly, leaving Esala with 1450 Life Points, and Jones Set Pot of Desires and Time Pendulumgraph.

Esala played Wisdom-Eye Magician in his Pendulum Zone, using its effect to get Oafdragon Magician on the field. Its effect put Harmonizing Magician back in Esala’s hand. Then, he activated Wavering Eyes. Jones responded with Time Pendulumgraph, destroying both players’ Oafdragons. Thus, Wavering Eyes only destroyed one card, dealing 500 damage. Since the destroyed card was Purple Poison, its effect destroyed Time Pendulumgraph. He played Harmonizing Magician and another Purple Poison in his Pendulum Zones, and Pendulum Summoned Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer. Its effect destroyed both of his Pendulum Scales, adding Performapal Guitartle and Performapal Skullcrobat Joker to his hand. Purple Poison’s effect then destroyed Jones’s Astrograph Sorcerer. Esala Normal Summoned Joker, adding Performapal Lizardraw to his hand. He played Guitartle and Lizardraw, using their effects to draw two cards. Since Lizardraw was destroyed, he was able to activate the Astrograph Sorcerer in his hand! He Special Summoned it and added his third Purple Poison to his hand. He stacked Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer with Skullcrobat Joker for Performage Trapeze Magician, and used its effect on Astrograph Sorcerer! With Astrograph now attacking twice, the second Duel was all over!

A very close back-and-forth game ends in Esala’s favor after a huge play with Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer into Performage Trapeze Magician! Jones will be going first this time. The final Duel will determine who moves on to the grand finals!

Duel 3

Jones had a hand of 2 Harmonizing Magician, Skullcrobat Joker, Pot of Desires, and Maxx “C”. He played Pot of Desires to draw Wisdom-Eye Magician and another Pot of Desires. Skullcrobat Joker came down, adding another Wisdom-Eye to his hand. He played both, using their effects to get Oafdragon Magician and Double Iris Magician. Oafdragon returned a Wisdom-Eye to Jones’s hand. Next, Jones Pendulum Summoned Wisdom-Eye from the Extra Deck and Harmonizing Magician from his hand, and Harmonizing brought Purple Poison Magician to the field. Harmonizing and Wisdom-Eye were used to play PSY-Framelord Omega, and Jones banished it to banish Esala’s Purple Poison in his hand. Joker and Purple Poison were used to play Tornado Dragon, which destroyed Double Iris. That put Time Pendulumgraph in Jones’s hand. He played Wisdom-Eye and replaced it with Black Fang Magician, and Set Time Pendulumgraph.

Esala used Cosmic Cyclone on the Set Time Pendulumgraph – Jones Chained it, destroying his own Black Fang and the Cosmic Cyclone. That triggered Black Fang, bringing Purple Poison back to the field. Esala played Performapal Guitartle and Wisdom-Eye Magician in his Pendulum Zones, and Jones responded with Tornado Dragon to destroy Guitartle, but Esala had Wavering Eyes! It destroyed three cards, so it dealt 500 damage, banished Jones’s Purple Poison, and added Astrograph Sorcerer to his hand. He used the effect of Astrograph (since Wavering Eyes had destroyed his Pendulums), and Jones used Maxx “C” to draw Star Pendulumgraph. The Astrograph added a Wisdom-Eye Magician to Esala’s hand. He played it in his Pendulum Zone, Set a back row card, and attacked directly with Astrograph.

Jones drew Cosmic Cyclone, returned Omega to the field, then used Pot of Desires to draw Harmonizing Magician and Skullcrobat Joker. He only had four cards remaining in the Deck. He Normal Summoned Joker, adding Purple Poison to his hand. He activated Cosmic Cyclone, banishing Esala’s Time Pendulumgraph! He played Purple Poison and Harmonizing Magician in his Pendulum Zones, allowing him to Pendulum Summon Black Fang from the Extra Deck and Harmonizing Magician from his hand. He used them to play Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer, and Esala offered the handshake!

Jeff Jones is going to the grand finals with Pendulum Magicians!