Straight out of Iowa, Nathan Kral is here in his first day 2 appearance. He’s the surprise competitor here today, playing a Zombie deck no one thought could make it this far. He’s flying the Saves the Day team flag, and is looking to take home the gold for his team and himself. Standing in his way is multiple SJC finalist Kris Perovic. The Team Overdose player has clearly mastered Diamond Dude Turbo, and continues to make day 2 appearances despite facing a metagame geared totally toward beating combo and OTK decks. Kris won the die roll and opted to go first.

He did so with E – Emergency Call for Elemental Hero Stratos. Stratos grabbed Destiny Hero – Dasher from his deck and Kris passed. Nathan must have liked that. He opened with Allure of Darkness removing Goblin Zombie from play. Next he summoned Zombie Master, and used its effect to discard and special summon Pyramid Turtle. The Turtle dove into Stratos to search out Ryu Kokki, who cleared the same Stratos. Zombie Master hit directly, Nathan set two spell or traps, and that was the turn.

He flipped Trap Dustshoot to send Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude back to Kris’ deck over the Dasher. Kris thought for some time about his next play. He played Heavy Storm to clear the field of Solemn Judgment and then played Lightning Vortex to clear the field. Goblin Zombie struck next for Nathan and took Dark Armed Dragon off the top of Kris’ deck. Kris passed his turn, and Nathan brought out another Turtle to join the Goblin in attacking Kris directly. Kris lost another Diamond Dude from the top of his deck.

Kris was up now, and with 2200 life points he had to start making a move. He thought for as long as he was allowed to, and eventually decided to play Magical Stone Excavation to get back Heavy Storm. He blasted the set Torrential Tribute to the graveyard and played Monster Reborn on Elemental Hero Stratos, searching Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude. He played his final card, Monster Gate, on the Stratos. He needed to hit Dark Magician of Chaos here, and after sending Dimension Fusion and another Dark Armed Dragon to the graveyard, he hit him. The Magician got back Lightning Vortex, which Kris played to destroy Nathan’s field. Nathan searched for Spirit Reaper before Kris passed with nothing but his on-field Magician. Nathan played Book of Life to get back Ryu Kokki and summoned Spirit Reaper. Kokki slammed into the Magician to remove both from play and Spirit Reaper took Kris under 2000. Next turn a Pyramid Turtle was coming down to take Kris to 0 life points.

“My knowledge of his decklist backfired there,” commented Kris. “Knowing he played Solemns I had to make sure he couldn’t Solemn the Monster Gate.” Kris’ costly Stone Excavation play had cost him in the end.

Kris opened the second game by playing Destiny Draw. Destiny Hero – Dasher was discarded, and Kris followed up by playing Reasoning. Nathan called 8, but the second card off Kris’ deck was a Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude. Diamond Dude triggered and hit Card Destruction from the top of the deck. Kris set a spell or trap and passed.

Nathan summoned Card Trooper and hit the Diamond Dude before setting his own spell or trap and passing. Kris played Reasoning next and special summoned Jinzo after going through 21 cards, including two copies of Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade. Next he played Premature Burial on Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude. The Dude’s effect missed though and sent another Diamond Dude to the bottom of Kris’ deck. Kris activated Monster Gate to trade the Dude for an Elemental Hero Stratos. Stratos got the whiffed Diamond Dude who was promptly discarded to Destiny Draw.

Kris then tributed his Stratos to Monster Gate and hit Dark Magician of Chaos from the bottom of his deck. The target (Dimension Fusion), was taken out of play by D.D. Crow. Kris scooped up his cards. With no way to win the game this turn and a deck out looming over him next turn there was nothing he could do.

Nathan Kral defeats Kris Perovic 2-0 to move on to Top 8.