Alexander Antonios flew all the way from Australia to be here today, and he’s still in this at 6-2. He obviously hasn’t played in a Shonen Jump Championship before, largely due to the prohibitive cost of intercontinental travel, but he’s managed to make something of a name for himself today with a deck featuring The Creator and Phantom of Chaos. “I talked about it with a few other Australians, and we decided to do it,” he said, sounding very positive about his experience thus far. His opponent, Mark Gonzales, is another first-time Jump competitor from Oceanside, California. He’s running Dark Armed Dragon, and both players need this win to keep their hopes for Day 2 alive.

Alexander won the opening roll and started off with a set spell or trap before passing. Mark dropped Allure of Darkness and removed Prometheus, King of the Shadows from play before summoning Armageddon Knight and using its effect to send Destiny Hero - Dasher to the graveyard. The Knight swung for 1400, and Mark set two spell or traps before passing. Alexander started his turn by flipping Heavy Storm and blowing away Mark’s Mirror Force and Enemy Controller. Reasoning came down next, and Mark called eight but missed as Dasher hit the field and then hit his Armageddon Knight. It switched to defense and Alexander passed over to Mark, who dropped Elemental Hero Stratos to fetch Disk Commander. Stratos finished off the Dasher, and Alexander drew into Monster Gate. He contemplated his plays for a moment before setting a spell or trap and ending.

Mark summoned Snipe Hunter next turn and pitched Disk Commander to destroy Alexander’s bluff Monster Gate before attacking directly for 3300, cutting Alexander’s life points in half. He came up with another Reasoning next turn, and Mark called six! He was wrong again, and Phantom of Chaos hit the field for free. Alexander lost Monster Reborn, Monster Gate, and Crush Card Virus in the process, but he activated Premature Burial to bring back Dasher and tributed both for Dark Magician of Chaos! The Magician brought Monster Reborn back to his hand, and Alexander activated it to take Disk Commander in defense mode. He drew into his other two copies of The Creator, giving him all three in hand. It was a terrible beat, but Mark still had to deal with the Dark Magician of Chaos. He drew and attacked Disk Commander with Stratos before setting a card and passing his turn. Alexander drew and inspected his graveyard before declaring an attack on Stratos and removing it from play. Mirror Force wasn’t an issue thanks to early Heavy Storm, but Torrential could still be lurking in the wings. In Main Phase 2, Alexander used Reinforcement of the Army to fetch Armageddon Knight. He summoned it, sending Sky Scourge Norleras to the graveyard, and passed his turn.

Mark revealed his draw, Destiny Hero - Dasher, and summoned it using his previous Dasher’s effect. He added an Armageddon Knight of his own to the board and used it to send Darklord Zerato to the graveyard. He then tributed the Knight to Dasher to make it big enough to take down Dark Magician of Chaos, and he did so, dealing 300 damage in the process. Dasher switched to defense, and Alexander was up. Alexander’s hand was more or less worthless, but he drew into his third Monster Gate and used it, tributing Armageddon Knight and immediately flopping Phantom of Chaos! The Phantom copied Sky Scourge Norleras, and Alexander paid 1000 life points to wipe the board and both players’ hands before drawing a card. He drew into Elemental Hero Stratos and summoned it! Stratos brought Plasma to his hand, and Alexander swung for 1800 against the topdecking Mark! Mark set his draw to the spell and trap zone, and Alexander activated Allure of Darkness drawing two cards and removing Plasma from play. Stratos hit directly once more, and Alexander set a card. Mark drew and immediately asked for his opponent’s graveyard, telegraphing that he had just drawn Monster Reborn. The score stood at 1200 to 1400 in his favor, and he activated Reborn—targeting Disk Commander to draw two cards. He set one to his back row and passed to Alexander, who drew Treeborn Frog and attacked into Disk Commander. Allure came down for Mark, and he removed Dark Magician of Chaos from play before paying 800 life points for Brain Control! He dropped to 600 life points, and then activated Return from the Different Dimension to bring four monsters back to the field! Alexander had Scapegoat, but any one of Mark’s monsters would be enough to win the game, and he quickly conceded the remainder of the duel.

Both players dove into their side decks for game 2, and Alexander truly hoped he wouldn’t be cursed with another triple Creator draw. Mark ran into some side-deck confusion between games, but after only a couple minutes, Alexander started off game 2 with a much better hand. He opted to take a slow approach to the duel despite holding Elemental Hero Stratos. He then set a spell or trap before passing over to Mark, who came out guns blazing with Allure of Darkness removing Darklord Zerato from play and Card Trooper hitting for 1900. He set Trap Dustshoot, and Alexander activated Scapegoat in the end phase. Dustshoot revealed that Alexander shouldn’t have held back on his Stratos, as it was stripped from his hand immediately (leaving him with Crush Card Virus, Reasoning, Monster Gate, Dimension Fusion, and Treeborn Frog). He activated Reasoning to try and get something better than sheep. Mark called six, but Phantom of Chaos immediately came off the deck in attack position. He then used Monster Gate tributing a token, but hit another Phantom of Chaos straight off the top. He set Crush Card and activated it after Mark pumped his Card Trooper and attacked, stripping Mark of the Trooper and a Dark Armed Dragon. Mark set a card, and play passed to Alexander.

Alexander re-drew his Stratos and summoned it, losing all his tokens to the Phantom and Stratos to Torrential Tribute! He still got to fetch out Destiny Hero - Plasma, however, while Mark went and fetched Disk Commander. Alexander passed and Mark drew into Dasher! Crush Card destroyed it, and Mark played Destiny Draw—losing a Dasher to Crush Card but keeping Mystical Space Typhoon. Monster Reborn stole away Alexander’s Stratos, and Mark searched out Destiny Hero - Fear Monger with it. He summoned the Monger and attacked for 2800 before setting a card and passing. Alexander drew into The Creator, and set a monster before passing. Crush Card revealed an Armageddon Knight, and Mark summoned it, sending Jinzo to the graveyard. Treeborn Frog was destroyed by Stratos, but Alexander took 2400 more damage from Mark’s other monsters. Alexander had one turn left to make something of the moment, but yet another topdecked Creator had him offering the handshake. Mark Gonzales is still alive at 7-2 with one more round to go!