With five Card Masters players in Day 2, three remained in the Top 8. Two of them were here in this match. Dale Bellido is a Shonen Jump Champion, an eleven-time Day 2 Shonen Jump competitor, and a two-time National Championship Top 8’er. Calvin Tsang has never made Day 2 at a Jump before, but he does have the one title Dale has never managed to capture: the Canadian National Championship. This match pitted Dale’s TeleDAD build against Tsang’s innovative “Irwin Dot Deck,” a Diamond Dude Turbo-inspired TeleDAD variant. Should be good!

Tsang opened with two Destiny Hero - Malicious, Elemental Hero Stratos, Allure of Darkness, Reinforcement of the Army, and Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude. He activated Reinforcement of the Army, searched his deck for another Diamond Dude, and got his third copy by summoning Stratos. That left him with three Diamond Dude, two Malicious, and Allure, so he immediately activated the latter. That got him Krebons and Reckless Greed, and he removed one copy of Malicious before setting Reckless to end.

Play was to Dale, who activated his own Allure, drawing two and removing Krebons. He discarded Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude for Destiny Draw, summoned Stratos, and searched out Destiny Hero – Malicious. He sent Stratos into Tsang’s copy, both were destroyed, and he set one spell or trap to end.

Tsang looked briefly confused when Dale removed Krebons, setting the Krebons in what would have been the approximate location of his field card zone. “I was like, ‘what field card do you play?’”

Dale laughed: “Black Garden, now! I swear, that’s all you’re going to see me playing in Toronto now, is Jerome’s deck!” After defeating Jerome McHale’s Blackest Garden deck yesterday, Dale had spent a lot of time chatting with McHale about how the deck runs, and seemed eager to play it himself. Play resumed . . .

Tsang summoned Diamond Dude, activated his effect to net a free copy of Monster Reborn for next turn, then attacked for 1400 damage! Next turn the Reborn would get him back Stratos (or Diamond Dude if Dale destroyed him), a huge opportunity to take control of the duel and glean more free cards. Dale couldn’t get rid of Diamond Dude and just set another spell or trap.

Tsang activated Diamond Dude’s effect again next turn, and Dale was forced to discard his Malicious to spin away Diamond Dude. Diamond Dude sent himself to the bottom of the deck, but Tsang summoned a second, this time sending Krebons away. Monster Reborn got Tsang back his Stratos, he targeted Dale’s face-down card for destruction with Stratos’ effect, and lost out to Torrential Tribute! Tsang set another spell or trap card.

Dale summoned Snipe Hunter: “I know everything’s chainable,” he stated with a sigh. He discarded Plaguespreader Zombie for Snipe Hunter’s effect, drew a bead on the card Tsang set last turn, and Tsang chained it: Threatening Roar. Dale ended without doing anything else, three cards in hand.

Tsang had five cards in hand: Krebons, Dark Armed Dragon, Diamond Dude, and two copies of Malicious. He had Reckless Greed set, and took a peek at Dale’s graveyard: Plaguespreader Zombie, Stratos, and Malicious. Tsang flipped Reckless Greed and drew two copies of Emergency Teleport.

He summoned his last Diamond Dude and used his effect to send Giant Trunade to his graveyard. He activated one copy of Teleport, Synchro summoned Goyo Guardian with Krebons, special summoned Dark Armed Dragon, and attacked over Snipe Hunter with Goyo! Dark Armed Dragon made a direct attack, and Tsang played the second Teleport to bring out another Krebons in the battle phase. That Krebons made a direct attack, Dale dropped to 0 life points, and the first duel was in the bag!

Calvin Tsang overcomes a double Malicious opening to sweep Dale Bellido, earning free card after free card with Diamond Dudes and Reckless Greed! “Ervin’s gotta be so mad,” quipped Dale. “You play that deck so much better than him!” Tsang laughed. “You totally forgot about Gorz, didn’t you?” asked Dale.

“No! It was more like, my hand was so bad I had no choice but to go for game!” Dale gave a laugh too, and both competitors side decked in preparation for the second duel.

Dale got Game 2 started with Reinforcement of the Army, searching Stratos, summoning him, and getting Diamond Dude from his deck. He discarded Malicious for Destiny Draw, discarded Diamond Dude for a second copy, and set one spell or trap card. “Go ahead.”

Tsang had Allure of Darkness, two Destiny Draw, Mind Control, Crush Card Virus, and Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude. He discarded Diamond Dude for Destiny Draw, drew Krebons and Emergency Teleport, and set Mind Control before activating Allure. Allure got him Threatening Roar and Dark Armed Dragon, and he removed Krebons from play. He was stuck with a dead Crush Card Virus, dead Dark Armed Dragon, and dead Destiny Draw.

He flipped Mind Control, taking Stratos, and activated Emergency Teleport to bring another Krebons to the field. He Synchro summoned Goyo Guardian, attacked, and dealt a quick 2800 damage. He set Roar, considered setting Crush, and ended his turn instead.

Dale summoned that Snipe Hunter again. “Bottomless Trap Hole! . . .” shouted Tsang!

“Really?” asked Dale, suddenly looking panicked.

“. . . IS NOT DOWN IN FRONT OF YOU!” Dale breathed a sigh of relief. He discarded Krebons to target Tsang’s Threatening Roar, which Tsang chained. He then discarded Destiny Hero – Malicious to target Goyo Guardian, missing. Another discard (Dark Grepher) blew Goyo away, and Dale ended.

Tsang topdecked Reinforcement of the Army! He set Destiny Draw, activated Reinforcement, and fetched Stratos. He summoned Stratos, searched out Malicious, and discarded him for the Destiny Draw! He drew Torrential Tribute and Heavy Storm, and Crush Card Virus was suddenly a live play! All those dead cards were now live, including Dark Armed Dragon!

He activated Heavy Storm, and Dale chained Emergency Teleport to bring out Krebons. “That’s game!” Tsang special summoned Malicious and Dark Armed Dragon, shot off two Darks to clear the field, and attacked with Malicious and Stratos. Dale summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, and Tsang forgot to attack with Dark Armed Dragon! He set Crush Card Virus and ended.

Dale had Gorz and its Token on the field in defense mode. He special summoned Malicious from his deck in defense, activated Allure of Darkness, drew two, and removed D.D. Crow from play. He turned Gorz to attack, swung on Stratos, and Tsang flipped Crush Card Virus. Gorz and the Token were destroyed and Dale revealed his hand: Solemn Judgment and Sangan, no help whatsoever.