With two Gladiator Beast mirror matches and two non-mirror matches in the quarterfinals, it was pretty clear who was getting the feature matches this round. This match would see Jerry Wang taking Gladiators against Marco Cesario’s Little City, and Jerry had a lot of respect for his opponent.

He greeted Cesario as he took his seat: “I think if I lose to you, I think you’re going to win this whole tournament.”

Cesario laughed. “That was the plan at the start of yesterday: winning the whole tournament.”

“I just need you to please not draw Skill Drain or Oppression or any of your good cards.” Jerry grinned and the match was on!

Jerry won the roll and got things started with Elemental Hero Prisma. He activated its effect, revealing Gladiator Beast Gyzarus from his deck to send Gladiator Beast Bestiari to his graveyard. A set spell or trap finished out his turn.

Cesario had Solemn Judgment, Skill Drain, Fissure, Mirror Force, Elemental Hero Captain Gold, and Elemental Hero Neos Alius. He summoned Alius and attacked with it; Jerry activated Trap Dustshoot to reveal Cesario’s hand. Jerry sent back the only monster, Captain Gold, to Cesario’s deck, and then he lost Elemental Hero Prisma to Alius’s attack. Cesario finished out, setting Solemn Judgment, Oppression, and Mirror Force. Jerry’s knowledge of what he was up against would be integral in this duel, and though he was down a monster, he had a tremendous amount of information.

He set a card to each zone and didn’t seem to have much going on. Cesario topdecked E - Emergency Call, activated it, and searched out Elemental Hero Stratos. He summoned it, activated its search effect, and sought out another Neos Alius from his deck. Cesario then paid 1000 life points to flip over Skill Drain, Jerry shook his head, and Stratos attacked right into Morphing Jar! It was a great read by Cesario, and he followed it up with a 1900 damage attack from Neos Alius.

Jerry summoned Gladiator Beast Darius next turn, then special summoned Test Tiger. What did he have up his sleeve? Cesario decided not to respond, and Jerry tributed Test Tiger to send Darius back to his deck. That let him trade Darius for Gladiator Beast Laquari with just 1800 ATK, and when Jerry attacked Stratos, Cesario flipped Mirror Force. Next turn, Cesario summoned another Alius and Jerry was scooping up.

“That was pretty bad” remarked Jerry. Cesario had utterly destroyed him, and now, Jerry would have to win two duels back to back to survive in this tournament. The Shonen Jump Champion dove into his side deck looking for answers to Cesario’s strategy; Cesario presented his deck long before Jerry presented his.

Jerry opened with a set monster and two face-down cards in his back row. Cesario had Skyscraper, Exiled Force, Honest, Prohibition, Royal Oppression, and E - Emergency Call. He needed to force that Emergency Call through, so he activated Prohibition first, but Jerry didn’t negate it. Cesario called Bestiari for Prohibition’s effect, summoned Exiled Force, and tributed it to destroy Jerry’s monster: it was Bestiari! He set Oppression, but then he lost it in the end phase to Jerry’s Mystical Space Typhoon.

Next turn, Jerry summoned Elemental Hero Prisma, used its effect to send Gladiator Beast Laquari to the graveyard, and then traded it out with Test Tiger for Gladiator Beast Secutor! Secutor hit Cesario for damage, and then it brought Gladiator Beast Laquari and Gladiator Beast Darius to the field. Darius brought back Laquari from the graveyard, and Jerry contact fused everything but his independent Laquari for Gladiator Beast Heraklinos! Honest might be Cesario’s saving grace.

Jerry passed with two cards in his hand. Cesario activated Skyscraper, and Jerry discarded Monster Reborn to negate it with Heraklinos. Cesario summoned Ehren, Lightsworn Monk and Jerry removed it with Bottomless Trap Hole! Cesari was stuck with a dead Honest and E - Emergency Call, which Jerry could negate. There was no way out now!

Reinforcement of the Army got Jerry Stratos next turn. He summoned it, searched his deck for Elemental Hero Prisma, and swung with all three monsters. Cesario had just 700 life points remaining.

He drew Elemental Hero Captain Gold next turn, which is a useless card without Skyscraper or Skill Drain, and tried to activate E - Emergency Call. Jerry was having none of it and discarded to negate the Call with Heraklinos. Cesario conceded.

“You had Honest in hand, right?” asked Jerry.

“Of course,” confirmed Cesario.

“I knew it!” Both competitors did a little more siding and shuffling.

“I really should’ve played that Emergency Call earlier” remarked Cesario. “It’s okay . . . I’ll get you this game.”

“I hope not!” smiled Jerry. The third and final duel began.

Cesario had Reinforcement of the Army, Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, Elemental Hero Neos Alius, Rivalry of Warlords, Torrential Tribute, and E - Emergency Call in his opening hand. He summoned Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, set Rivalry, and set Torrential Tribute. Garoth’s sheer size would keep Jerry from attacking, so Jerry would be forced into a passive role in this duel, or he’d have to make a big commitment of powerful cards.

Jerry special summoned Test Tiger—Cesario really should have flipped Rivalry earlier instead of trying to juice a free card out of it. Jerry tributed Test Tiger for its effect, and Cesario had to chain Torrential Tribute. It wiped the field before Prisma could be sent back to Jerry’s deck, meaning he wouldn’t get to special summon anything. Jerry was left with four cards in hand, and he set two of them to his back row.

Cesario drew to four in hand, with Rivalry of Warlords set. He had another Rivalry, Neos Alius, E - Emergency Call, and Reinforcement of the Army. He summoned Neos Alius and Jerry let it go.

“Declare an attack.”

“Take it,” replied Jerry after a moment’s thought. He dropped to 6100 life points. Another set copy of Rivalry ended Cesario’s turn.

Jerry flipped Mystical Space Typhoon and destroyed one copy of Rivalry, seemingly convinced that Cesario had Solemn Judgment set. Jerry set a card to each zone and Cesario was back up. Cesario activated Reinforcement of the Army, searched his deck for Exiled Force, and set another spell or trap card. He summoned Exiled and Jerry activated Torrential Tribute. He then chained Crush Card Virus, tributing his set Sangan! Cesario was forced to reveal his hand: E - Emergency Call; Jerry was far from satisfied. “That was bad,” he remarked. He had one card left in hand, and searched Gladiator Beast Murmillo from his deck with Sangan. “Shoot, I messed up.”

Jerry drew for his turn, and each duelist had three cards. Jerry summoned Murmillo and Cesario flipped Solemn Judgment! Jerry shook his head and set a spell or trap.

Cesario revealed his draw: Prohibition. He activated E - Emergency Call, searched out Elemental Hero Stratos, and contemplated playing Prohibition before summoning Stratos. He did it, activating Prohibition to stop Bottomless Trap Hole. He summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, searched Neos Alius from his deck, and attacked for 1800 damage. Jerry was down to 4300 life points; Cesario was at 4000.

Next turn, Jerry summoned his own Stratos, straight off the top! He searched for Prisma, then bumped his Stratos into Cesario’s. Cesario drew his last card under Crush Card Virus, Skyscraper, kept it, and summoned Neos Alius to attack for 1900 damage. He still had Rivalry set. “Pass.”

Jerry drew to three cards in hand with one card set and activated Premature Burial to target Elemental Hero Prisma. He brought it to the field, and then he summoned another Prisma! Jerry activated one to send Bestiari to the graveyard, activated the other to send Laquari to the graveyard, and contact fused both for Gladiator Beast Gyzarus! Gyzarus knocked out Rivalry and Prohibition, and Gyzarus swung over Alius to take it down! Jerry then tagged out Gyzarus for Gladiator Beast Laquari and Gladiator Beast Darius, special summoning Bestiari with the latter. He then contact fused all three for Gladiator Beast Heraklinos! Cesario could only sit there and mutter to himself.

Cesario’s next draw was My Body as a Shield—which would have come in handy one turn earlier! He activated Skyscraper, but Heraklinos negated it at the cost of Jerry’s in-hand D.D. Crow, and set My Body. Jerry smacked him with Heraklinos next turn, and when Cesario saw his final draw, he immediately conceded.

A botched misplay with Rivalry of Warlords started an avalanche of trouble for Marco Cesario, and Jerry Wang pulls out an impossible win to move on to the Top 4!