Carlo Perez is a 21 year-old college student from Chicago. He’s the last surviving member of Kamikaze Krew in the Top 8, and he’s running a dedicated Diamond Dude Turbo deck that lives up to its name. His opponent, Marc Glass, is a 24 year-old Sergeant in the US Army, and he’s running a similar deck that’s slightly more conservative than Perez’s version. This was a Diamond Dude Turbo mirror match, but each duelist was bringing their own unique style to the table.

Perez won the opening roll and started out with . . . nothing. He ended his turn without using any cards, much to the shock and amazement of onlookers.

“For rizzeal?” asked Glass, confused.

“Yup.” Perez nodded.

Glass drew, summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, searched his deck for another, and then gave Divine Sword — Phoenix Blade to his on-field Hero. He attacked for 2100, set one back row card and ended.

Heavy Storm dropped from Perez’s hand, and Glass chained Waboku. Perez summoned Stratos himself, searched out Dasher from his deck, and joked about attacking. “Go ahead.”

Monster Gate traded Glass’ Stratos for Jinzo, and he summoned another Stratos to seek out a third from his deck. He activated Premature Burial, brought back the Stratos he had tributed and searched his deck for Destiny Hero — Dasher. Jinzo attacked over Stratos, and then both of Glass’ Elemental Heroes smacked Perez directly. It was 7200 to 1700.

Perez set one back row card and activated Card Destruction, discarding (amongst other things) Malicious and Dasher. He removed Malicious from his graveyard, special summoned another in attack mode, and tributed it for his set Monster Gate to special summon Diamond Dude off the top of his deck. He used Diamond Dude’s effect to send Graceful Charity to the graveyard, removed Malicious to special summon his third in defense, and then normal summoned Elemental Hero Stratos to take another Diamond Dude from his deck. He then activated Magical Stone Excavation, discarding to bring back Monster Gate and tribute Malicious. Monster Gate discarded ten spells, but then special summoned Dark Magician of Chaos. Perez saw his chance!

The Magician returned Premature Burial to his hand. He activated it, special summoned Destiny Hero — Dasher, and had 8100 damage on the table! Perez then discarded a card for Lightning Vortex, wiped Glass off the field, and attacked for 8100!

Carlo Perez makes an amazing comeback from a game that started with him doing nothing, to crush Marc Glass in a single turn!

Both duelists did some fast side decking and shuffled up.

Glass opened with Reasoning, special summoning Destiny Hero — Dasher as a result. He then normal summoned Stratos, searching his deck for another Stratos. He set one spell or trap and ended. “Go ahead.”

Perez activated E — Emergency Call to search his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos. He summoned him, searched his deck for another Stratos, and gave the on-field one Divine Sword — Phoenix Blade to run over Glass’ Stratos. Glass dropped another next turn, used its effect to destroy Phoenix Blade, and then attacked with Dasher over Stratos, and made a direct attack with his own Stratos. He set a second back row card and ended.

Heavy Storm destroyed Glass’ set Dimension Fusion, but Glass chained his set Waboku. Perez summoned Stratos again, searched his deck for Destiny Hero — Dasher, and then searched out his last Stratos with another E — Emergency Call. “That’s it for me.”

Glass summoned Diamond Dude and activated its effect. The flipped card was Divine Sword — Phoenix Blade, useless in this situation. Glass’ Dasher attacked over Stratos, and he then attacked directly with Stratos and Diamond Dude. The life points stood at 2400 to 7700, with Glass way out in the lead.

Perez had a hand of Cybernetic Magician, Stratos, Dimension Fusion, Premature Burial, Dasher, and Malicious. No, that’s not a typo: Cybernetic Magician. He spent over a minute considering his potential moves, and then removed two Stratos from his graveyard to return Divine Sword to his hand. He activated Dimension Fusion, dropping to 400 life points and searched with both Stratos: each brought a Diamond Dude to his hand, but his Premature Burial was now worthless. He tributed one Stratos for Cybernetic Magician, discarded Malicious to get Stratos up to 2000 ATK with the Magician’s effect, and then removed Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another. He put it in defense position. Perez equipped Stratos with Divine Sword — Phoenix Blade, attacked with it to destroy Dasher, and then sent Cybernetic Magician to destroy Diamond Dude.

Glass summoned another Diamond Dude, and flipped Reinforcement of the Army off the top of his deck with the Dude’s effect. He ended his turn without doing anything else.

Perez considered his options. With Malicious, Cybernetic Magician, and the Blade-wielding Stratos on the field he could tribute Malicious for Dasher, special summon another Malicious in attack, bump Malicious and Stratos to 2000 ATK each with Cybernetic Magician, and cause a whole lot of damage. However, he’d still be about a thousand points short of taking Glass down. Malicious would then be vulnerable to a counter attack next turn, so Perez played it safe.

Instead, he summoned Stratos and seemed to instantly regret it. He searched his deck for Malicious. His two Stratos cleared Glass’s field, and Cybernetic Magician hit directly. Glass went to 3400, Perez set a spell or trap card, and Glass was up.

He summoned Diamond Dude, tributed it to Monster Gate for Stratos, and searched his deck for Destiny Hero — Dasher. However, the moves were irrelevant, and there was just nothing he could do.

“That’s game,” he said, extending the handshake to Perez. It was over.

Carlo Perez wins the last Shonen Jump Championship of this format!

Beaming ear to ear, Perez instantly produced a list of people to thank. “Thank you to my sponsor, Mike Loda. Thank you to Misha Raimondo, who got me here. And thank you to my team, Kamikaze Krew!”