Steven Harris won Shonen Jump Championship St. Louis, while Lazaro Bellido won the biggest Shonen Jump of all time — Costa Mesa! Lazaro is the reigning Canadian Champion and has topped more Shonen Jumps than he can count, but that’s all in the past. All that matters now is this match — both of these duelists are gunning for yet another title.

Harris won the roll and got the match started, holding, Psychic Commander, Destiny Hero - Doom Lord, Solemn Judgment, Destiny Draw, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and Armageddon Knight. He discarded Doom Lord for Destiny Draw, drawing Destiny Hero – Malicious and Krebons. He summoned Krebons, set Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, set Solemn, and ended. “Your turn.” It was a promising start.

Lazaro activated Heavy Storm, forcing Harris to chain Solemn Judgment! He followed it up with Reinforcement of the Army, nabbing Elemental Hero Stratos from his deck and then summoning him to get Malicious. Stratos attacked Krebons, Lazaro set two cards to his back row, and Harris spun one of them with Phoenix Wing Wind Blast to discard his Malicious.

He drew another copy — that must’ve been disappointing. He quickly removed his discarded Malicious to special summon his third, and Synchro summoned Stardust Dragon; Stardust ran over Stratos for 700 damage. He had three cards left: Psychic Commander, Armageddon Knight, and the Malicious. He summoned Armageddon Knight, used its effect to send Plaguespreader Zombie to his graveyard, and ended.

Play was to Lazaro, who drew to four cards in hand with one card set. Monster Reborn brought back his Elemental Hero Stratos, getting him Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude. He flipped his face-down Emergency Teleport, special summoned Krebons, and Harris was officially in trouble — Goyo Guardian would run down Stardust Dragon and this game would be over. First though, he summoned Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, used his effect to send Malicious off the top of his deck to the bottom, and then tuned Krebons to Diamond Dude. Goyo Guardian hit the field, slammed into Stardust, stole it, and Stratos made a direct attack. Lazaro finished out with one more back row set.

Harris sent his Malicious back to the top of his deck by bringing Plaguespreader back from the graveyard. He removed his second Malicious to special summon his third off the top, Synchro summoned Colossal Fighter, and Lazaro countered with Solemn Judgment! Harris had just Dark Grepher and Psychic Commander left — he conceded almost immediately.

Lazaro Bellido makes a big move and takes advantage of Steven Harris’s unprotected field, swiping Stardust Dragon and sealing his opponent’s fate in the first Duel!

Harris started with Elemental Hero Stratos, Reinforcement of the Army, Psychic Commander, D.D. Crow, Emergency Teleport, and Armageddon Knight. He searched for Destiny Hero – Malicious by summoning Stratos and passed, stuck with nothing but monsters. Not good.

Lazaro started running numbers. He normal summoned Dark Grepher, discarded Krebons for Grepher’s effect, and sent Destiny Hero – Malicious to his graveyard from his deck. He lost it to D.D. Crow. He activated Emergency Teleport, summoned Krebons from his deck, Synchro summoned Goyo Guardian, and sent it into Stratos! He special summoned the destroyed Stratos, got his own from his deck with the first Stratos’ effect, and set a spell or trap to finish the turn! Harris was up.

He activated Reinforcement of the Army and got Dark Grepher from his deck, discarding Malicious to special summon it. He normal summoned Psychic Commander, and then Synchro summoned Black Rose Dragon! He activated the Dragon’s effect to clear the field, and Lazaro lost his Dimensional Prison and Goyo Guardian, and Harris took back his Stratos!

He removed Malicious to summon another, then activated Emergency Teleport for Krebons! He Synchro summoned Colossal Fighter at 3300 ATK, attacked for 3300 damage, and set Mystical Space Typhoon to end. He had Colossal Fighter on the field, Mystical Space Typhoon set, and Armageddon Knight in hand.

Lazaro drew to four cards, summoned Stratos, and got Destiny Hero – Malicious from his deck. He set two cards to his back row, and lost Phoenix Wing Wind Blast in the end phase to Mystical Space Typhoon. Harris topped Breaker the Magical Warrior, summoned him, and broke Lazaro’s Mirror Force! Colossal Fighter attacked Stratos, Breaker made a direct attack, and Lazaro was down to 1600 life points. Harris still had 7000. “That was a nice Breaker,” commented Lazaro, disappointed but not in any way impolite.

He took Colossal Fighter with Brain Control! Colossal Fighter attacked Breaker, dropping Harris to 5200 life points, and Lazaro tributed the Fighter for a face-down monster. He had one card left in hand and ended.

Harris summoned Armageddon Knight, kicking Plaguespreader to his graveyard! With one card left in hand he removed Malicious to summon another, attacked Lazaro’s face-down Malicious with Armageddon Knight, and attacked for exact game with Malicious.

Steven Harris presses the match to one more duel, exploding with Black Rose Dragon and controlling the game from there!  Harris is the only duelist in Day 2 main decking Psychic Commander, giving him easy access to Black Rose. Would it win him his second Championship?

Lazaro opened the last game with Reinforcement of the Army, searching for Stratos and summoning him to get Destiny Hero – Malicious. From there he activated Allure of Darkness, removed Destiny Hero - Doom Lord, and set a whopping three cards to his back row — one was Trap Dustshoot.

Next turn it revealed Harris’s hand: Thunder King Rai-Oh, Dark Grepher, Destiny Hero - Doom Lord, Allure of Darkness, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Solemn Judgment; Thunder King was sent back to Harris’ deck and Lazaro wrote down the five remaining cards he’d seen. Harris activated Allure, removed the Doom Lord, and drew Thunder King and D.D. Crow! Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed Lazaro’s face-down Solemn Judgment, but when he tried to summon Thunder King Lazaro had another Solemn! Harris set one spell or trap card and ended.

Lazaro activated Allure of Darkness removing his Mystic Tomato, then played another Allure to draw two more cards at the cost of his Destiny Hero – Malicious, telegraphing a second in-hand copy. He normal summoned Krebons, attacked for a combined 3000 damage, and set one card to his back row. Harris was up.

Reinforcement of the Army got him Elemental Hero Stratos, who in turn searched Destiny Hero – Malicious. He slammed his Stratos into Lazaro’s and ended. “Your turn.” Krebons hit him for 1200 damage, Lazaro set another spell or trap, and the duel stood at 3800 life points to Lazaro’s 4000.

Harris drew, and was holding Destiny Hero – Malicious, Giant Trunade, D.D. Crow, and Dark Grepher; he passed. Lazaro activated Emergency Teleport, tributed the resulting Krebons for Destiny Hero – Malicious, then Synchro summoned with the other Krebons to bring out Colossal Fighter. It had 3100 ATK and went straight for Harris’ life points — he took the damage, dropping to 700 life points. Lazaro was moments away from scoring yet another Finals appearance.

Harris drew, and had Dark Grepher, Giant Trunade, Destiny Hero – Malicious, and Emergency Teleport with one set card in his back row. He summoned Grepher, discarded Destiny Hero – Malicious to send Plaguespreader Zombie from his deck to his graveyard, then activated Emergency Teleport to summon Psychic Commander! He Synchro summoned Black Rose Dragon, blew the field, and destroyed his own Solemn Judgment along with Lazaro’s Colossal and Solemn!

He removed Malicious to summon another, sent his last card to the top of his deck for Plaguespreader, and Synchro summoned Colossal Fighter. He removed his second Malicious to special summon his last, and attacked for precisely 4000 damage! There was nothing Lazaro could do.