Quarterfinals: Matt Peddle vs. Nareg Torossian

​In game 1, Nareg went first. He summoned Sangan to the field and set a spell or trap. Matt’s first monster was D. D. Warrior Lady, but she drew the ire of Nareg’s set Torrential Tribute. This allowed Nareg to use the effect of Sangan to add his own  D. D. Warrior Lady to hand, which he summoned on his following turn to begin assaulting Matt’s life points. Matt went on the defensive, setting a monster that was revealed to be D. D. Assailant when Nareg attacked it the following turn. Nareg set one monster and then passed the turn to Matt. Matt tried to attack with D. D. Assailant, but it was driven off by Nareg’s Magic Cylinder.

​Nareg performed the first tribute of the match on his following turn, tributing his Warrior Lady for Airknight Parshath. The Airknight was short-lived though, as its attack against Matt ran into a set Mirror Force. Matt counterattacked with his D. D. Assailant against Nareg’s facedown monster, which was shown to be Nareg’s own D. D. Assailant. Both Assailants were taken out of play. Matt set a spell or trap and ended his turn.Nareg and Matt spent the next several turns battling for board position. Nareg set a monster and then used Nobleman of Crossout on Matt’s facedown monster, Newdoria. Then, Matt set his own monster and a spell or trap. He then activated Swords of Revealing Light to guard himself for three turns. Nareg responded by activating Pot of Greed on his turn and setting two of his own spells or traps. Six turns passed while both players slowly built up their hands, with each player only setting one card, a monster for Nareg and a spell or trap for Matt.Finally, Matt made his play to control the field by activating his set Heavy Storm. However, Nareg responded with his set Call of the Haunted, targeting his Sangan. After the Storm, Nareg used Sangan’s effect to retrieve Tsukuyomi from his deck. Matt flip summoned his set Magician of Faith and retrieved Swords of Revealing Light. He then did his first tribute, sacrificing Magician for his own Airknight Parshath. Then, he attacked Nareg’s facedown Sinister Serpent, reducing his life points to 6250. He then activated Metamorphosis, tributing Airknight to special summon Reaper on the Nightmare from his Fusion deck. After he set one more spell or trap, he ended his turn.Nareg spent his next turn bolstering his defenses, setting two spells or traps and using Graceful Charity to shuffle the cards in his hand. On Matt’s next turn, Nareg used his set Mirror Force to try to destroy Matt’s Nightmare when he attacked with it, but a quick Book of Moon saved the Reaper from certain death. Matt then played Swords of Revealing Light again, revealing Nareg’s facedown Magician of Faith. Nareg took the opportunity to get back Graceful Charity.Next, Nareg made his own play for field control. First, he retrieved Sinister Serpent from his graveyard. Then, he activated Graceful Charity a second time to alter the cards in his hand. He removed the Reaper from play with Nobleman of Crossout, and then he used Tsukuyomi to reset his Magician. That way, he could flip summon it again to retrieve and play the Nobleman on Matt’s one remaining facedown monster, Magician of Faith. Then, Nareg special summoned Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, flip summoned his facedown D. D. Assailant, played Mystical Space Typhoon on Matt’s Swords, and attacked for the win.In game 2, Matt chose to go first, after judge Ken Jackson reminded both players to verify that their side decks had the correct number of cards. He set one card in his spell and trap card zone and summoned Mystic Tomato. Nareg responded by summoning D. D. Assailant and attacking the Tomato, allowing Matt to special summon Sangan from his deck. Nareg then set two cards in his spell and trap card zone, but the second one was hit by Matt’s set Dust Tornado during the end phase.Matt took the opportunity to use Sangan in a tribute summon of Airknight Parshath. He used Sangan’s effect to pull Sinister Serpent from his deck. He then attacked with Airknight, revealing Nareg’s facedown card, D. D. Assailant. The Assailant quickly pulled both cards out of play. Matt then set a new card in his spell and trap card zone, which was almost immediately dusted by Nareg’s set Dust Tornado. Nareg’s next move was to summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer. An attack by Kycoo saw Matt’s life points reduced to 6100. Plus, Sangan and Mystic Tomato were removed from play.Matt went on the defensive for the next three turns, setting a monster and two spells or traps, followed by another monster during his next turn. Nareg set a monster during his turn, and on his following turn, he tribute summoned the set monster for Airknight Parshath. Matt responded to Airknight with Torrential Tribute, sending all of the monsters to the graveyard and putting Nareg on the defensive.Matt went on the offensive with the mighty Sinister Serpent, keeping Nareg’s monsters out of the way with Nobleman of Crossout and Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Nareg was barely able to keep Matt at bay by using the ever-trusty Scapegoat. After several turns, Nareg managed to stall Matt’s offensive with the use of Tsukuyomi to flip Thousand-Eyes face down. Delinquent Duo then removed two cards from Matt’s hand. Matt attempted to attack with D. D. Assailant, only to run into another group of sheep tokens. Nareg responded with Tribe-Infecting Virus, which was quickly sent away by Matt’s Bottomless Trap Hole.Nareg spent several turns behind the safety of his sheep, until he was able to play Call of the Haunted to pull Jinzo from the graveyard. A quick Scapegoat from Matt, however, gave him his own herd of sheep to hide behind. Nareg’s Asura Priest quickly handled the sheep, and his follow-up attack with his remaining monsters reduced Matt’s life points to a scant 1800. Matt was able to recover for the win with a timely summoning of Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning. A Snatch Steal on Nareg’s Jinzo cleared the way for a direct attack and the win.The tension was high for both players on game 3. Matt went to his side deck to attempt to find a way to insure the win. Both players could feel the time crunch as the 40-minute time limit was close to expiring. Nareg, since he didn’t win the previous game, chose to go first. He set one monster and ended his turn. Matt summoned D. D. Assailant and attacked the set monster, which revealed Sangan and placed Sinister Serpent into Nareg’s hand. Nareg managed to get Thousand-Eyes Restrict on the following turn, but he found his attack repulsed by Matt’s Scapegoat play.Both players spent the next several turns building up their defenses with set monsters and spell and trap cards. Matt attempted to summon Breaker the Magical Warrior, but he was stymied by Nareg’s Torrential Tribute. Time was called, and play went into the three-turn end of match procedure. Nareg cleared the board with Heavy Storm, summoned Tribe-Infecting Virus, and attacked to reduce Matt’s life points below his own. He then played Swords of Revealing Light, which Matt couldn’t destroy.Nareg Torossian wins!

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.