This is Perovic’s first Top 8 Shonen Jump feature match, though it’s not his first Shonen Jump Top 8. Now, faced with a duelist who just beat out his teammate, he was no doubt looking to claim a victory for Overdose.

They rolled off to decide who would go first, and Ibrahim rolled a five. Perovic took the die, saying “Five. That’s not as high as a . . .” he pitched the die and it came up five for him too. He blinked. “ . . .a five!”

Ibrahim rolled again, getting a two. Perovic again took the die and rolled.

“Two? That’s lower than a . . .” the die rolled clean off the table, “ . . .than an . . . an x . . .” Kris rolled again, allaying our fears that he might not actually be capable of operating dice, and got a four. He opened the first duel with a set to each zone and passed.

Ibrahim played Breaker the Magical Warrior, destroyed Perovic’s set Dust Tornado, set a spell or trap card, and attacked in Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, giving Perovic a card. Perovic set a card to each zone again and passed, but lost his set Torrential Tribute in the end phase to Mystical Space Typhoon. Ibrahim summoned Spirit Reaper, but Breaker hit Perovic’s set D. D. Warrior Lady, and bounced. His attack with Reaper was blocked. Perovic set a spell or trap, Ibrahim set a monster, and play passed back to Perovic.

He labored over his decision for a bit. “Ugh, I hate hard decisions . . .” He opted to play Confiscation, and chose between two Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotives, D. D. Warrior Lady, and Brain Control: he pitched Ibrahim’s D. D. Warrior Lady, tributed his Lady for Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, and removed Warrior Lady and Dekoichi for Chaos Sorcerer! Spirit Reaper was removed with Sorcerer, Goldd stomped Breaker, and he passed.

Brain Control targeted the Sorcerer, but Perovic turned it face down with Book of Moon! Ibrahim flip summoned Night Assailant, destroyed Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, and set a card to each zone before ending his turn.

Perovic had his set Sorcerer and three cards in hand to Ibrahim’s Night Assailant, set monster, set spell or trap, and single card in hand. It was 7000 to 6500 in his favor, and he again debated his course of action carefully before settling on a surprising move—he passed without doing anything! Ibrahim flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, drew a card, tributed Night Asssailant for Cyber Dragon, took out Sorcerer with Dragon, and attacked directly with Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. He ended his turn.

Perovic set his topdecked monster, played Smashing Ground to destroy Cyber Dragon, and passed. Ibrahim set a card to each zone, attacked into Magical Merchant with Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and Perovic lost four monsters before getting a Sakuretsu Armor, including a loss of Sangan. Ibrahim passed, and Perovic played Graceful Charity, discarding Sakuretsu Armor and Smashing Ground to keep Skelengel, Chaos Sorcerer, Mirror Force, and Nobleman of Crossout.

“That’s a Bottomless, watch,” he said as he special summoned Sorcerer. Ibrahim did have a Bottomless Trap Hole, but Perovic had removed Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive with Sorcerer’s effect with priority. “I am so good at this game, see?” Perovic grinned. Nobleman of Crossout removed Ibrahim’s other set card, another Dekoichi, and then set his last two cards, which were a monster and a spell or trap.

Ibrahim played Premature Burial to special summon D. D. Warrior Lady. She attacked Perovic’s set card, Skelengel, and he opted not to flip Mirror Force. He took his card for Skelengel’s effect and Ibrahim passed. Perovic drew Return from the Different Dimension, set Magician of Faith, set Return, and passed.

Ibrahim blasted Magician of Faith with Nobleman of Crossout, and each player had to strip their extra copies from their decks. D. D. Warrior Lady attacked, Perovic flipped Mirror Force, and Ibrahim set his last card to his back row, passing.

Perovic looked at his out of play pile – Dekoichis, Chaos Sorcerer, Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, and more. He flipped Return, bringing out Magician of Faith in defense, Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, Sorcerer, Dekoichi, and D. D. Warrior Lady. Ibrahim played Bottomless Trap Hole, removing the three biggest monsters from play. Dekoichi attacked directly. Perovic played Tsukuyomi, turned down Magician of Faith, and passed. Ibrahim set another spell or trap, passed, and Perovic pawed through his graveyard. He flipped Magician of Faith, took back Graceful, and discarded Smashing Ground and Spirit Reaper. It was 4300 to 2800, with Ibrahim leading. Perovic tributed Magician of Faith for Jinzo, and struck directly for 2400 damage! Ibrahim went down to just 1900 life points! Ibrahim topdecked Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, flopped it to the table, and scooped!

Kris Perovic gets a little bit of payback for Anthony Alvarado, winning the first duel of the match!

Ibrahim set a monster to begin the duel and passed. Nobleman of Crossout removed it from play, and Perovic had a clear field to swing again! Night Assailant was removed from the field, and from Perovic’s deck, but all he did was set a monster. Ibrahim summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked into Skelengel, and Perovic drew a card. Ibrahim set a monster and ended his turn.

Perovic flopped Smashing Ground and Nobleman of Crossout at once to the table, removing Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive from the field and stripping multiple copies out of each duelist’s deck. Perovic passed without doing anything, leaving a completely open field. Ibrahim swung with Twin-Headed Behemoth and set a spell or trap card as a result, leaving Perovic to set two back row cards. Behemoth attacked again, hitting directly and lowering Perovic to 5000. Ibrahim set another spell or trap, which Perovic Dust Tornado’d in the end phase: Book of Moon. Perovic set another back row card and finally had to Sakuretsu Armor Twin-Headed Behemoth, which returned in the end phase.

He set a monster and another back row card, again passing. Ibrahim played Heavy Storm, destroying Mystical Space Typhoon and Mirror Force, plus his own Bottomless Trap Hole. He summoned Tsukuyomi, turned his Behemoth face down and summoned it again to bump it to 1500 (though it could not summon itself again), and played Nobleman of Crossout to remove Perovic’s Morphing Jar from play. He attacked directly with Tsukuyomi and Behemoth, lowering Perovic to 2400: Ibrahim was still at 8000.

Perovic appeared to have no way out. He set a back row card and passed, then suffering another poke from Behemoth. Ibrahim set a monster, Perovic drew Heavy Storm, and set it. Behemoth attacked on the next turn, and Perovic was forced to Book of Moon it. He drew, set his topdecked spell or trap, and when Ibrahim summoned Behemoth again Perovic hit it with Torrential Tribute. Ibrahim set a back row card, Kris blew it away with Heavy Storm, Ibrahim set a card to each zone, and a turn later Perovic scooped to a Jinzo.

Mike Ibrahim captures the second duel, moving the match to a third game in a somewhat eerie echo of his match against Anthony Alvarado!

“Yay!” Kris cheerily opened the third duel with Confiscation, choosing between Mirror Force, Asura Priest, Return from the Different Dimension, Sangan, and Brain Control. He quickly pushed away Control, Return, and Asura Priest, and decided between Mirror Force and Sangan. More deliberation led him to discard Mirror Force. He summoned Sangan, set a back row card, and passed.

Ibrahim took Sangan with Brain Control, tributed it for Jinzo, and Perovic took Night Assailant with Sangan’s effect. These matches were not timed, so Perovic, a duelist who puts so much thought into his duels that he’s sometimes accused of slow play, was in his element, and the choice of Night Assailant took him over a minute and a half. Jinzo hit directly for 2400.

Perovic topdecked Graceful! “That was soooo incredibly broken,” he said, referring to the fact that he had Assailant at the ready.  He sacked Night Assailant and Skelengel, and bumped Skelengel back to his hand. He set a monster, and ended his turn. Ibrahim shuffled his hand a bit, also taking his time, but then summoned D. D. Warrior Lady. He attacked with it, hit Spirit Reaper, removed it and the Lady from play, and hit directly with Jinzo. It was 2200 to 7200, dangerous territory for Perovic.

He set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and a second back row card, but Perovic’s hand was full of traps and slow tempo flip effect monsters. When Ibrahim played Asura Priest, and then played Nobleman of Crossout, there was nothing Perovic could do. Ibrahim took down both Perovic and Alvarado with the same play—Jinzo, a Nobleman of Crossout, and a second monster—attacking for game.

Ibrahim moves on to face Emon Ghaneian in the finals! Overdose is out of the tournament!