“I can’t believe I’m bubbled on the third round,” remarked a very unhappy-looking 
Dale Bellido as he took his seat. If he lost here, he’d be out of the tournament. If 
he won, he’d still be alive in the tournament, but he’d have to off one of his own 
teammates in the process: fellow Superfriend Chris Simoes. Either way, it was 
virtually a lose-lose situation for Dale.

Simoes won the roll and opened with a set card to each zone. Bellido activated Graceful Charity straight off, discarding Newdoria and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. He played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Mirror Force, special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Reaper, and hit with Dragon. Simoes lost his Treeborn Frog, and Reaper robbed him of Chaos Sorcerer! Bellido set a card to his back row and passed.

Simoes didn’t bring back Frog, and played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Bellido’s Torrential Tribute. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, turned Bellido’s down with Tsukuyomi, and cleared away Cyber Dragon with his own. Tsukuyomi hit the Spirit Reaper and Simoes passed.

Bellido turned Reaper to defense and set a card to each zone. Nobleman of Crossout removed Bellido’s set Magician of Faith from the game, and he lost another from his deck. Simoes lost one from his deck and revealed the other in his hand. He shuffled his two cards, set a monster, and passed.

Bellido attacked the set monster with Spirit Reaper. It was the Magician, and Simoes took back Mystical Space Typhoon. Bellido was holding Return from the Different Dimension and Morphing Jar in hand, and had Enemy Controller set: since his Reaper was in attack he was in trouble. He set all his cards, a monster and another spell and trap, and ended.

Simoes topdecked Heavy Storm, activating it to threaten both Bellido’s Enemy Controller and Return from the Different Dimension! Bellido chained Enemy Controller to take the Magician of Faith. Simoes summoned Tsukuyomi, turned the Magician of Faith face down, and ran Cyber Dragon into Morphing Jar! Both players got new hands, and Simoes took back his Magician of Faith.

Bellido summoned Newdoria, ran it into Dragon, and destroyed the Magician of Faith. He set three back row cards, and next turn Simoes attacked with Cyber Dragon into Sakuretsu Armor: Book of Moon saved the Dragon. Simoes set another back row card, set a monster and ended. Bellido set a monster and passed.

Simoes flip summoned Night Assailant, destroying Bellido’s set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Cyber Dragon and Night Assailant both attacked directly, and Tsukuyomi turned Night Assailant face down. Simoes was keeping the pressure on Bellido.

Bellido set a spell or trap, and he lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase: Book of Moon. Simoes special summoned his Frog on the following turn, flip summoned Night Assailant, turned it face down with Tsukuyomi, and attacked with Tsuku and Dragon. He set a spell or trap card and passed, but Bellido took back Morphing Jar with Call of the Haunted in the end phase. Next turn he used Tsukuyomi to turn it down and immediately flip summoned it to get himself a new hand again! It was 7700 to 700 in Simoes’s favor.

Bellido took Cyber Dragon with Snatch Steal. Morphing Jar attacked Treeborn Frog, Tsukuyomi attacked Night Assailant, and the Assailant destroyed Simoes’s own Cyber Dragon. Next turn Simoes attacked the Jar with Cyber Dragon. Bellido flipped Sakuretsu Armor, Simoes chained Call of the Haunted to target Jinzo, and Bellido chained Mirror Force. The Cyber Dragon was destroyed, but it didn’t matter: Jinzo still attacked for game.

“I wasn’t winning that one,” said Bellido.

“I read that Morphing Jar,” declared Simoes.

“Yeah, it took me so long to set up for the second one since I knew you had that Space down.”

The match swiftly moved to the second duel. Bellido set a card to each zone, and lost Dust Tornado to Breaker the Magical Warrior almost immediately. Breaker attacked, but hit Gravekeeper’s Spy: Dale took another from his deck, and both were in defense position. Simoes set a spell or trap and passed. Bellido tributed one of his Spies for Cyer Dragon and ran over Breaker. He then set two cards to his back row.

Simoes took the Dragon with Snatch Steal, and destroyed the second Spy in battle. He set a monster and passed. Bellido attacked the set monster with D. D. Warrior Lady, destroying Dekoichi, and lost the Lady to Cyber Dragon next turn: both were removed from the game. Simoes set a monster, Bellido drew for his turn, flipped Call of the Haunted, and brought back Spy. Spy attacked Simoes’s set Dekoichi, Bellido set a monster, Simoes set a monster, and play was again to Bellido.

He flip summoned Night Assailant, destroyed Simoes’s set Magician of Faith, and attacked with the Assailant after turning the Spy to defense. He turned it face down with Tsukuyomi in main phase 2 and passed. Simoes blasted the Assailant with Nobleman of Crossout on the following turn and ended.

Bellido attacked with the Spy, but Simoes flipped Mirror Force and Book of Moon kept Spy on the field. Simoes tributed for Mobius the Frost Monarch next turn, but Enemy Controller kept it off the field. A turn later Dale used Mystical Space Typhoon to clear out the field, attacked with Spy on Mobius, turned Spy down with Tsukuyomi and passed. Simoes cleaned it out with Cyber Dragon. Bellido played Heavy Storm, but Simoes chained Scapegoat! He lost two to Cyber Dragon and Tsukuyomi and then took control of the game as turn player.

Premature Burial brought back Mobius the Frost Monarch for Simoes, and it stomped all over Bellido’s Cyber Dragon. Bellido activated Graceful Charity, summoned Tsukuyomi, turned Mobius the Frost Monarch face down, and attacked it. Simoes set a spell or trap and next turn and lost a Sheep to Sangan. He lost another a turn later, and set a monster. Bellido flipped his set Premature Burial, brought back Cyber Dragon, hit Magical Merchant, and Sangan attacked. Simoes special summoned a Dragon of his own, but lost it to Sakuretsu Armor. Simoes set a monster, Bellido attacked it with Cyber Dragon, hit Sangan, and Simoes took Magician of Faith with its effect. Bellido’s Sangan attacked directly, and he set a card to each zone.

Simoes flipped Return from the Different Dimension to bring back nothing but Night Assailant. He then responded to his own special summoned with Torrential Tribute to clear the field! Bellido pulled Mystic Tomato with his Sangan’s effect, Simoes set a card to each zone, and ended.

Bellido summoned the Tomato and attacked into Magician of Faith. Simoes retrieved Snatch Steal with the Magician, and used it on the next turn to take the Tomato and attack with it. It was 2750 to 6900, with Bellido leading.

Bellido removed a Light and a Dark for Sorcerer, and removed his own Tomato from Simoes’s side of the field. He summoned Tsukuyomi, turned his Sorcerer face down, and attacked with Tsukuyomi. Simoes brought out Mobius with Call of the Haunted to block the attack, and he attacked with it next turn: Bellido responded with Sakuretsu Armor, but lost his Sorcerer to Nobleman of Crossout. Bellido set a monster, passed, Simoes passed, and Bellido summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior. Bottomless Trap Hole swallowed it up, but Bellido flipped Return from the Different Dimension and Simoes scooped.

Simoes opened the final game with a set card to each zone. Bellido attacked with Mystic Tomato, hit Magical Merchant, and fed Simoes Nobleman of Crossout after discarding his Tsukuyomi and Zaborg via Merchant. He set a spell or trap and passed.

The Zaborg and Tsukuyomi were removed from Simoes’s graveyard, and Sorcerer hit the field!

“No way!” groaned Bellido, as the Sorcerer removed his Tomato. He summoned Newdoria and rammed it into the Chaos Sorcerer to destroy both, setting a second spell or trap before passing. Simoes set another as well, and ended, leaving himself open to an attack by Sangan on the following turn. Bellido ended.

Simoes special summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked into Sangan: Bellido pulled Gravekeeper’s Spy, and Simoes set a monster.  Bellido summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, but lost her to Bottomless Trap Hole. He was looking at a hand of all monsters. He tributed D. D. Warrior Lady for Enemy Controller, taking Cyber Dragon, and attacked into Magician of Faith. Simoes had no spells to return to his hand. Bellido then special summoned Chaos Sorcerer and removed the Dragon. Siomoes drew, set spell or trap, and used Confiscation for Reaper. Sorcerer attacked into Sakuretsu Armor. Bellido set a monster.

Simoes drew and took an uncharacteristically long time to think out his move. He flipped Return from the Different Dimension, brought back Zaborg and Cyber Dragon, Creature swapped Cyber to Bellido to take his face down, destroyed the Dragon for some damage with Zabs, and passed.

Bellido brought out another Cyber Dragon and attacked, but lost it to Mirror Force: the set monster Simoes had taken was Gravekeeper’s Spy, and he didn’t want to lose it to the Dragon. Bellido set a monster, but lost it to Nobleman of Crossout on the following turn: Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Bellido lost two trains from his deck while Simoes lost three. He passed, and Simoes flip summoned his Spy to attack directly.

Bellido took it with Snatch, then turned it down with Tsukuyomi! He flip summoned the Spy, brought one out in defense, and played Premature Burial for Sangan! Tsukuyomi, Sangan, and Spy attacked, and Simoes was forced to use another Return to block. It was 1250 to 3800.

Simoes borught out Chaos Sorcerer next turn to remove the Sangan and set a monster. Bellido set a monter and turned everything to defense. Zaborg came down for Simoes next turn, destroying Bellido’s set Tsukuyomi with its effect and removing a Spy with Sorcerer. Bellido set a monster and passed, unable to fight back.

Simoes special summoned his Treeborn Frog in defense position, and his Zaborg attacked Bellido’s set monster: Morphing Jar! Simoes set a card to each zone and passed.

Bellido summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and destroyed Simoes’s set Heavy Storm, his only back row card. He flopped Enemy Controller, turned the Frog to attack position, and hit it with Breaker. The resulting damage was more than enough to knock Simoes out of the match, and right out of the tournament!

Dale Bellido escapes a match against his own teammate to move on, still alive in the race for the National title!