“I have to give Adam Corn a shoutout, because he’s really sad he lost,” said Jones with a smile, taking his seat. He was up against Jose Arocho, who was playing a surprisingly conventional T-Hero build.
Jones opened the match by passing his turn. Arocho activated Reinforcement of the Army, searched his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos, summoned it, searched his deck for Destiny Hero - Disc Commander with its effect, and attacked for 1800 damage. He set Trap Dustshoot and flipped it to reveal Jones’s hand next turn: two copies of Card Trooper, Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest, Injection Fairy Lily, Neo-Spacian Grand Mole, Machine Duplication, and Brain Control. He shuffled back Injection.
Jones dropped Card Trooper, activated Duplication to get a second copy from his deck, and then tossed Mind Crush, Morphing Jar, Cyber Dragon, Call of the Haunted, Raiza the Storm Monarch, and Trap Dustshoot from the top of his deck to power up both. One Trooper ran over Stratos, and the second attacked directly.
Arocho activated Destiny Draw, discarding Disc Commander. He activated Brain Control and Snatch Steal, summoned Destiny Hero - Fear Monger, boosted both Troopers, and activated Limiter Removal! It was a total of 8600 damage on the table, more than enough to bring a sudden close to the duel.
Game 2 began moments later, with Jones setting a spell or trap to begin. Arocho activated Destiny Draw, discarded Destiny Hero - Malicious and then activated another Destiny Draw, tossing another Malicious! He summoned Sangan, swung for 1000 damage and set a spell or trap to end.
“Draw,” announced Jones. “Any response?”
“No,” replied Arocho, and Jones burst into a grin.
“Yay! I can Troop Dupe for real now!” Jones activated Heavy Storm and chained Ring of Destruction to destroy Sangan. He summoned Trooper, activated Machine Duplication, and brought two more to the field. He flipped nine cards off the top of his deck, but none of them after the first mattered: Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest! Premature Burial brought it to the field, all three Troopers swung directly, and a furry green fist ended the second game!
Confiscation opened game 3 for Arocho, revealing Jeff’s hand of Raiza the Storm Monarch, Cyber Dragon, Heavy Storm, Giant Rat, and Confiscation. Giant Rat was discarded, and Arocho set a card to each zone. Next turn, he flipped Trap Dustshoot, and got rid of Cyber Dragon while revealing Jones’s draw as Nimble Momonga. Jones then activated Confiscation, discarding Arocho’s Raiza over Metamorphosis and Fear Monger.
Jones set Nimble Momonga, and Arocho tributed his set Fear Monger next turn for Destiny Hero - Dasher. He searched his fusion deck, and it seemed as if he perhaps thought he could activate Metamorphosis for Dark Balter the Terrible. Needless to say, he couldn’t, so he refused to attack the set Momonga. What a misplay.
Jones flip summoned Nimble Momonga, attacked into Dasher, and brought two more to the field, thinning his deck. He tributed one of them for Raiza the Storm Monarch (to bounce away Dasher), and ended. Arocho passed, and Jones flip summoned Momonga to attack for 3400 damage with the squirrel and Raiza. Arocho only had 3600 life points left.
He set a monster next turn, and Jones tributed Momonga for Cyber Dragon. Premature Burial brought back Giant Rat, which attacked and hit Fear Monger! Cyber Dragon and Raiza attacked directly and that was it for the match!
Jeff Jones moves on, a strong bid for Day 2. Jones, Jeff Baumgartner, and Billy Brake all hold 5-1 records with Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest!