Jason Holloway has never won a Shonen Jump Championship, but he’s gotten incredibly close. At Shonen Jump Championship Durham back in 2006, Holloway made it all the way to the finals before finally being dispatched by Christopher “Ivan” Flores. Now he’s back in a day 2 appearance against the former SJC Chicago champion, Dale Bellido. Yesterday, we saw Dale cut through the very first U.S. National Champion like a hot knife through butter on his way to an 8-2 finish. Both of these players are going to need all the wins they can muster in today’s Swiss rounds if they want to reach the Top 8. Both players are running Dark Armed Dragon builds, but Holloway’s Crush Card Virus could give him an edge depending on how the cards fall. Dale quickly checked his side deck to make sure he didn’t commit any errors overnight and commented on how desperate some players had been the day before to get their eighth win. “These two people next to me were trying to shark each other on the side decks in the last round,” he remarked as Holloway pulled out his side deck. Dale won the roll and opted to go first.
He started off with Reinforcement of the Army to fetch Elemental Hero Stratos, which upon summon let him search for Destiny Hero – Dasher. Dale followed up with two spell or trap cards, and he revealed one to be Trap Dustshoot in Jason’s draw phase. Jason revealed two Dark Armed Dragon, Armageddon Knight, Spirit Reaper, Strike Ninja, and Sangan before shuffling back the Knight for Dustshoot. He pondered his all-monster hand for a moment before setting one and ending. Dale added a set monster to his field, but declined to attack, passing back to Jason who drew into yet another monster. He set a new monster and passed back to Dale who pitched his in hand Dasher to Destiny Draw. He drew his cards and set a monster before passing back to Jason who drew his first spell of the game, a Destiny Draw.
Jason activated it, pitching Destiny Hero – Fear Monger and then flipped his first set monster, the Sangan. Sangan was backed up by a spell or trap before attacking into Dale’s set Fear Monger. In main phase 2 Jason tributed his Sangan for a face-down monster allowing him to search out Snipe Hunter. Dale absolutely couldn’t allow Jason to get to 3 Darks with the threat of double Dark Armed Dragon still looming in Holloway’s hand, and on the end phase he activated Dust Tornado to destroy Jason’s bluff Monster Reborn! Dale had an Allure of Darkness on his turn, and he removed Destiny Hero – Disk Commander to complete its effect. He set a new spell or trap and then passed back over to Jason who gave a brief shrug before flipping his set Destiny Hero – Dasher and tributed him to his own effect. That gave Jason the third Dark he needed to special summon a Dark Armed Dragon! He checked Dale’s graveyard before removing his Fear Monger from play to target Dale’s set spell or trap card with his priority, and Dale chained with Torrential Tribute! Jason now had four Dark monsters in his graveyard and was unable to summon the other Dark Armed Dragon, so he set Trap Dustshoot and summoned Strike Ninja instead. The Ninja hit for 1700, and Dale had his hand revealed by Dustshoot in the draw phase. He revealed Dark Armed Dragon and Snipe Hunter in addition to Mirror Force, Dimension Fusion, and Escape from the Dark Dimension. Dark Armed Dragon went back to the deck, and Dale picked his hand back up, visibly disappointed. He set a spell or trap, and that was all for the turn.
Jason started his turn with Dasher’s effect to special summon his freshly drawn Dark Magician of Chaos! The Magician let him bring Monster Reborn back to his hand, and he used it to pull Dasher out of the graveyard. That gave him exactly three Darks in the graveyard and allowed him to special summon his other Dark Armed Dragon and destroy Dale’s set Mirror Force for the win! Jason Holloway fights back from an all-monster opener to take game 1! “I haven’t Dash-ed Dark Magician of Chaos all weekend . . .” lamented Dale while Jason commented that in fact this was the first time he had done it. They discussed the results of the last game as they shuffled, and Dale once again opted to begin.
Dale started the second game with Elemental Hero Stratos, fetching Destiny Hero – Dasher once again. He followed up with Allure of Darkness to draw two and remove Darklord Zerato from play. A set spell or trap ended his turn, and Jason merely set a monster before passing. Destiny Draw came down for Dale pitching Dasher and allowing him to draw another two cards. Armageddon Knight was up next, and Dark Magician of Chaos was sent to Dale’s graveyard. It was a spectacular start for Dale, and he followed up with Monster Reborn to bring his Magician back to the field! Monster Reborn returned to his hand, and Dark Magician of Chaos attacked Jason’s Mystic Tomato removing it from play. The rest of Dale’s monsters attacked, and Jason picked up his next card and immediately conceded the game! “It was the same hand. I just drew six monsters. Really terrible.” This match was going to game 3, and Jason would have the option to start this time.
Jason started things off with Reinforcement of the Army to search out Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. He immediately pitched it to Destiny Draw to draw 2 and followed up with Armageddon Knight to send Jinzo to the graveyard. The Knight was backed up by a spell or trap card, and Dale was up. He pondered his hand for a moment before setting a card to each zone and passing. Jason fired off an Allure of Darkness and removed Darklord Zerato to complete its effect. He then flipped Escape from the Dark Dimension to bring it to the field and sent D.D. Crow to the graveyard to wipe Dale’s set Strike Ninja. That gave him his third Dark monster and he brought down Dark Armed Dragon! The Dragon destroyed Dale’s set Escape from the Dark Dimension by removing Jinzo, and Jason dropped Dimension Fusion for game! It was all over in 2 turns as Jason Holloway defeats Dale Bellido, 2-1!