The re-match! Three weeks ago, Lazaro Bellido swept Kris Perovic 2-0 in the finals of the biggest Shonen Jump Championship of all time. Now they’re teammates, but make no mistake: both duelists wanted the win.
“So he broke my leg, cause he was jealous after Costa Mesa.” Lazaro grinned.
“Hey, you laugh, but it’s no joke.” Perovic grinned. Ironically enough, these two duelists faced off twice at the last Shonen Jump Championship in Columbus: once in the Swiss rounds and again in Day 2. Perovic defeated Lazaro both times.
Lazaro opened with Reinforcement of the Army, grabbing Armageddon Knight and tossing Necro Gardna to his graveyard before setting a spell or trap card. Perovic searched out Elemental Hero Stratos with E – Emergency Call next turn, getting Diamond Dude — both duelists were off to a good start.
He followed it up with Monster Gate, sending more than ten spells to his graveyard along with two Dark Armed Dragon and Destiny Hero – Plasma on his way to special summoning Jinzo. “Wow. That stupid Necro Gardna really comes into play here . . .” Kris was perturbed by the Gardna, which appeared to be keeping him from a game-shot this very turn. With three Darks in his graveyard he was telegraphing Dark Armed Dragon, which Lazaro knew Kris was now running three copies of — one more than he ran in Costa Mesa.
Sure enough, he special summoned Dark Armed Dragon. He removed another Dragon from his graveyard to destroy Lazaro’s face-down Escape from the Dark Dimension, then removed another to destroy Armageddon Knight. Lazaro took attacks from both of Perovic’s monsters, wanting to keep his options for Dark Armed Dragon open. Next turn he summoned Sangan and rammed it into Perovic’s Jinzo, going to three Darks and searching out another Armageddon Knight. That move dropped Lazaro to 1400 life points.
He special summoned Dark Armed Dragon and removed Armageddon Knight and Sangan to clear the field. He set one spell or trap and ended, with that Necro Gardna still in his graveyard.
Perovic was up — he activated Monster Reincarnation, discarded Destiny Hero – Dasher, and brought back Dark Armed Dragon. He summoned it, removed Jinzo to try and destroy Lazaro’s set Return from the Different Dimension, and Lazaro chained it. Armageddon Knight and Sangan were returned to the field in defense mode.
Allure of Darkness got Perovic two more cards at the cost of removing his in-hand Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude. He shook his head, considering his plays. After several minutes of consideration, he eventually settled on removing Plasma from his graveyard to destroy Lazaro’s Dark Armed, before activating Monster Gate! It was a huge gamble, for reasons I’d confirm after the duel had ended. Perovic lost his on-field Dark Armed Dragon, flipped Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade off the top, then hit Dark Magician of Chaos!
The Magician was summoned, his effect was activated, and Perovic took back Dimension Fusion from his graveyard. He activated it, special summoned Jinzo and Diamond Dude from his graveyard, and flipped Heavy Storm with Diamond Dude. He then dropped his last two cards: Lightning Vortex!
Lazaro lost his field, and Perovic had three monsters to Lazaro’s one Necro Gardna: it was over. Perovic was elated. When he’d activated that Monster Gate, throwing away his Dark Armed Dragon, he’d only had two monsters left in his deck: Dark Magician of Chaos and Diamond Dude. If he’d hit Diamond Dude instead of Dark Magician of Chaos his chances for survival would’ve been very slim.
“I wonder how pro Lazaro really is,” mused Perovic. “I really can not take any risks here.” He paused for a moment and Lazaro looked at him quizzically. “Aside from that one I took in the last game with that Monster Gate.” He got sheepish as Lazaro laughed. “Hey, I had live plays!” That was true. But the “live plays” in question were just Lightning Vortex, which would’ve left Kris without the win and with no cards whatsoever aside from the Diamond Dude. “Hey, it worked, right? Jason, you’re not going to stress how badly that could have worked out, right?”
Oh yes. Yes I was.
Played moved to Game 2. Lazaro opened with a set card to each zone and nothing else, a rather slow turn. Perovic searched out Stratos with Reinforcement of the Army, summoned him, and grabbed Diamond Dude as usual. He had Monster Gate again! Stratos was tributed, and Kris lost Monster Reborn before scoring another Diamond Dude.
“Disappointing?”
“Yup,” replied Perovic. Still, he activated Diamond Dude’s effect and flipped Heavy Storm off the top of his deck — it would set him up for a killer turn 2 if he had the offense to capitalize.
He activated Magical Stone Excavation, discarded Plasma and Dark Magician of Chaos, targeted Monster Reborn and lost it to Crow on the chain. Diamond Dude attacked and destroyed Lazaro’s Sangan and Lazaro searched out Kinetic Soldier! Kris had to end his turn, out of live (or at least opportune) plays.
Lazaro held Reinforcement of the Army, Dark Armed Dragon, Dark Magician of Chaos, Kinetic Soldier, and Threatening Roar. He could press with the Kinetic, or use Reinforcement to get Armageddon Knight and then bring out the Dragon. It was one or the other, and he went with the safer, better play. Lazaro summoned Kinetic, attacked over Diamond Dude, and set Threatening Roar. It was the smart move. If Perovic went all-out the Threatening would fend him off, and Armageddon Knight would let Lazaro wipe the field via Dark Armed Dragon next turn. Perovic would have few to no cards remaining in that scenario.
Perovic brought down Dark Armed Dragon next turn, and Lazaro responded with Torrential Tribute. Perovic seemed to have forgotten about his Heavy Storm, but immediately clarified that he actually feared a chained Mind Crush. He activated it immediately after, Lazaro chained Roar, and Perovic summoned Diamond Dude to end. Next turn Lazaro revealed not one, but two copies of Dark Armed Dragon.
“Why did you do that?” asked the puzzled Lazaro.
“I thought that was Mind Crush. If it was, then you’d chain it and call Dark Armed Dragon. I wasn’t thinking Threatening Roar.”
“You thought wrong,” replied Lazaro with a smile.
“Yeah,” admitted Perovic. Both duelists dove into their side decks to prepare for the third and final duel.
“First,” declared Perovic. He opened up with Emergency Call, getting Stratos and summoning him to fetch Destiny Hero – Dasher. He discarded it for Destiny Draw, and then ended.
Lazaro activated Allure of Darkness, drawing two before removing Snipe Hunter from play. He summoned Armageddon Knight, sent Necro Gardna to his graveyard and set a spell or trap. Play was to Perovic.
He activated Reasoning and Lazaro called Level 8 — Perovic tossed one spell before special summoning Jinzo. He tributed Stratos for Monster Gate then sent every card in his deck to his graveyard save the last one, Diamond Dude! Perovic had to win this turn, or he’d deck out a turn later!
The pressure was on. Perovic removed Dasher and Plasma from his graveyard to take back Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade. That left him with three Darks in his graveyard, and as he went to place Dark Armed Dragon on the table Lazaro activated D.D. Crow! That removed another Dragon from Kris’ graveyard and left him with two Darks. Perovic pressed on, discarding a Dark for Lightning Vortex! That left Lazaro open, and moments later Dark Armed Dragon was removing Dark Magician of Chaos to destroy Lazaro’s last set card: Escape from the Dark Dimension. Dimension Fusion then brought back Dark Magician of Chaos and Dasher, and despite Lazaro’s Necro Gardna it was all over!
Kris Perovic takes an incredible win, with one minute left in the match and no cards left in his deck!