It all comes down to this. On Saturday morning Jerry Wang declared his Dark Armed Return build to be the best of the weekend, and now he’s sitting here at the finals table, but his opponent is Erin Diaz, creator of a deck that seems largely unstoppable. Jerry Wang has been to Day 2 more times than he can count — could he somehow pull off a win here today?
He won the die roll, a huge victory on its own, and opened the match with Allure of Darkness, removing Dark Grepher to pay for it. He summoned Cyber Valley, removed that and Card Trooper to stack Allure of Darkness, then activated Dimension Fusion to bring back all three monsters. He discarded Destiny Hero – Dogma for Dark Grepher’s effect, sending Malicious to his graveyard and removing him to special summon another. He had Crush Card Virus and Scapegoat left in his hand. Card Trooper sent three cards, including Stratos, to the graveyard, and Wang snapped the corner of his Cyber Valley, considering using it. He did, removing Grepher and Cyber Valley to draw two before setting two cards to his back row.
Diaz played two copies of Upstart Goblin, then Trade-In with Destiny Hero – Dogma: Wang played Crush Card Virus, tributing Malicious in response! Diaz lost Dogma and Plasma: “I can’t believe you got Crush on your first turn.”
“Well, I did go through about twenty cards.” Wang grinned.
The Dogma and Plasma were Diaz’s only monsters, so he was forced to pass! Could Wang really take game 1?
He moved to his next turn, and immediately special summoned Dark Armed Dragon! “I have Return set.” He flipped his last set card, Return, and Diaz scooped!
Unbelievable! Jerry Wang destroys Erin Diaz, and just needs to take one of the next two duels to finally become a Shonen Jump Champion! Both duelists did some side decking.
“Crush Card completely stopped my infinite draw,” noted Diaz. “If I’d won the die roll that would’ve been game.”
“It was because of Cyber Valley that you lost” remarked Wang. It was true. Without that, his entire victory would’ve been impossible. The second duel began.
Diaz started with Destiny Draw, discarding Destiny Hero – Dasher. Trade-In let him discard Dark Magician of Chaos for another two draws, and he followed it up with Upstart Goblin. Another Destiny Draw with Destiny Hero – Dogma got him another two, and Monster Reborn brought back Dark Magician of Chaos. That brought back Reborn, Reborn brought back Disk Commander and Trade-In with Dogma got even more draws. Diaz set two cards and activated Card Destruction, discarding two copies of Broww, Huntsman of Dark World for six draws total!
Diaz normal summoned Royal Magical Library. He discarded two cards for Hand Destruction, Shadowpriestess of Ohm and Dark World Dealings, to draw two. He activated Spell Economics, then Dark World Dealings discarding Broww. Somewhere in here he drew for the Library, but it was too fast to catch.
He activated The Beginning of the End, then tributed all three of his monsters for Destiny Hero – Plasma. That removed Dark Magician of Chaos from play, and he set a few cards to his back row before striking the finishing blow!
“D.D. Designator, for D.D. Crow?” Wang didn’t have it, and Diaz revealed his set Dimension Fusion! This match was going to a third, final duel!
Side decking was extensive on both sides. The Championship title, a tricked out laptop, and the glory of a Shonen Jump win rested on just one more game.
“You should let me go first,” smiled Diaz. Wang laughed as he continued siding. “Come on! I’ll buy you a soda!” Wang was definitely going first.
“Good luck,” said Wang, drawing his opening hand. He summoned Cyber Valley, set a spell or trap, and shook his head: “Go.” He had a hand of two Destiny Draw, Crush Card, and Brain Control.
Diaz didn’t have much either. He summoned Dark Grepher, discarded Jinzo to search for Darklord Zerato, and sent it to his graveyard. Grepher attacked Cyber Valley and Wang used its effect to stop the battle phase and draw a card. Diaz passed.
Wang drew into Malicious! Suddenly his Destiny Draws were live cards! He discarded Malicious for Destiny Draw, removed him to special summon the other copy from his deck, then drew into and discarded Disk Commander for his second Destiny Draw! Brain Control let him take Dark Grepher, and Wang visibly contemplated his options: Sangan or Cyber Valley, the latter of which could get rid of the Dark Grepher in return for two draws. He summoned Sangan, attacked with everything, and set two cards to his back row. Diaz got back Grepher. The Sangan would let him get to D.D. Crow if it was in his main deck for this duel.
Crush Card Virus hit, thanks to Sangan, in Diaz’s next draw phase. It cost him Grepher and two cards in hand, and sure enough, it let Wang get D.D. Crow from his deck! Diaz set a monster and ended.
Wang summoned Dark Grepher! He discarded D.D. Crow to send Dark Magician of Chaos to his graveyard, brought him back with Monster Reborn, then took back Reborn! He used it to swipe Diaz’s Darklord Zerato, then discarded Dust Tornado to activate his set Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. That spun away Diaz’s one monster, and Wang swung with everything for game!
This tournament is over, and Jerry Wang has overcome insurmountable odds to become a Shonen Jump Champion!