Team Yu-Gi-OhETC’s Chris Bowling was fresh off a win over Gadgets in the Top 16, while Florida’s Hector Heras had just beaten down Skyler Hunter’s Gladiator Beasts. The winner of this match will be going to Worlds, and the Untouchables player from Florida looked like he was ready to pull out all the stops to take down Bowling and his Gladiator Beasts. A side decked Vanity’s Fiend was Hector’s best chance to pull it off, but a win in game 1 combined with hitting his side decked cards could send him on a quick trip to Berlin.
Game 1
Bowling started off with a set monster, while Hector threw down Gold Sarcophagus to put Crush Card Virus on layaway. Reinforcement of the Army was next to fetch Elemental Hero Stratos, and Stratos was summoned to fetch Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. Stratos swung on Bowling’s set, and Prisma went to the graveyard!
It was a rough start for Bowling, but he summoned Spirit Reaper and activated Smashing Ground to clear the way for an attack. Reaper stole Brain Control, and Bowling set a spell or trap. Snipe Hunter dropped to the field next turn for Hector, and he dumped Malicious to destroy Reaper. Snipe connected for 1500 and was backed up by a spell or trap. Bowling shuffled his hand repeatedly before summoning Gladiator Beast Darius. Solemn Judgment blocked the summon, though, and Hector went down to 3850. He’d get Crush Card Virus next turn, and Adam passed, allowing it to happen. Snipe pitched Disk Commander next turn to try to clear Bowling’s set, but he missed with a 6! Malicious was removed from the graveyard to fetch the other one, and Premature Burial would have brought up Disk Commander too if Bowling hadn’t thrown down D.D. Crow to remove it from play. Snipe swung, Hector set the Crush, and play passed back to Chris Bowling.
Chris was in a bad spot, but he still had 5000 life points left as a buffer. Elemental Hero Prisma came down for Bowling, but it was blown away by Crush Card Virus! Gladiator Beast Bestiari was still sent to the graveyard, and Bowling had to reveal his hand of Gladiator Beast Murmillo and Test Tiger. Things could get ugly for Hector next turn, but he pushed for 1500 more damage anyway before checking his graveyard and looking for a way not to get hosed by Gladiator Beast Gyzarus next turn. Cyber Valley came down, and he removed it and Snipe Hunter from play to dig for an answer. Passing with no field seemed poor, so he set a spell or trap card and passed over to Bowling, who drew Gladiator Beast Secutor. He had no choice but to go for the Test Tiger play, and Murmillo dropped to the field and attacked for 800. Bestiari came out at the end of the battle phase, but Hector chained his set card, Scapegoat! Four tokens were brought to the field, and a set monster joined them. Crush missed yet again on its last turn as Bowling drew into Sangan. Hector’s field was at his mercy, and he summoned Sangan, swinging on two tokens after a minute or so of contemplation and cycling Bestiari out for . . . something. Chris took another minute or so looking through his deck for a monster, and the presiding judge had had enough. Bowling took a warning for slow play, which was nearly upgraded to a game loss for previous warnings.
He finished cycling out for Gladiator Beast Darius to revive Bestiari, and those two were sent back to the deck for Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. Gyzarus destroyed Hector’s face-down Spirit Reaper and a token before passing, and Hector set a pair of spell or trap cards before passing. He was in a low life point situation, and he lost his token to Sangan before throwing up Return from the Different Dimension to block the potentially fatal attack from Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. After the monsters came out, Torrential Tribute wiped the field and Hector was up to five Dark monsters in his graveyard. Sangan searched out D.D. Crow for Bowling with the intent to head off any tricky plays toward Dark Armed Dragon, and he passed with no monsters. Allure of Darkness came down for Hector, allowing him to draw two and remove Dark Grepher. Reinforcement of the Army brought Strike Ninja to the field, and he did a quick count of his Dark monsters before summoning the Ninja and swinging. It was 1800 to 1150 in Bowling’s favor, and Secutor and Test Tiger came down for Bowling to bring Gladiator Beast Darius into play. Darius revived Gyzarus, and Hector scooped it up. Bowling fought back from a slow start to go up 1-0!
Game 2
Hector was dealing with a poor natural matchup here, and he needed some help from his side deck. Chris Bowling was looking for some cards to help him lock his invite to the World Championships, and he shuffled up at a very brisk pace. “What happened that game?” inquired Bowling.
“I missed with Crush Card for three turns. You got monsters,” was the reply.
It was Hector’s turn to start this time around, and he began with Reinforcement of the Army to fetch Elemental Hero Stratos. Stratos came down, grabbing Destiny Hero - Plasma, and a back row card ended Hector’s turn. Chris opened with a set to each zone before throwing down two more spell and traps as well. Stratos was tributed for Jinzo on Hector’s turn, and Bowling was forced to flip Solemn Judgment to keep his traps live.
Three tokens were tributed for Plasma, and Hector had his Destiny Hero absorb Bowling’s set monster before swinging for 1900. Monster Reborn pilfered Hector’s Jinzo, and Plasma left as quickly as it came. Bowling set a monster, and Hector was back up. He stared at his graveyard for a moment before summoning Dark Grepher and activating it. Sangan was pitched from his hand to drop Dark Magician of Chaos from the deck. Dark Armed Dragon would win the game, but he didn’t have it. Premature Burial brought up Dark Magician of Chaos, though, and he targeted Reinforcement of the Army with the Magician’s effect. Reinforcement of the Army fetched out Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. Destiny Draw pitched it, putting Hector back up to three Darks, and he threw down Brain Control. If Bowling’s set monster wasn’t Spirit Reaper, this would be game! It wasn’t, and Chris declined to reveal it before scooping up his cards.
Game 3
The heat was on now. Neither player went into their side deck, content with the pile of cards before them. This final duel would determine which one of them would be going to Berlin to represent the United States at Worlds. Chris started things off with Elemental Hero Stratos to grab himself a Prisma. Stratos was backed by a spell or trap, and Hector was up. He had a lot of purple cards in his hand, and he activated Allure of Darkness to draw two and remove Jinzo from play. Cyber Valley and two spell or trap cards finished out his turn, and Bowling flashed a monster-heavy hand. Elemental Hero Prisma dropped for Bowling, and he declared priority with its effect. Prisma copied Bestiari, and Smashing Ground came down to rid the field of Cyber Valley. Hector took 3500 damage, and Chris added a second card to his back row before passing. Premature Burial brought Cyber Valley back up, and it was tributed for Vanity’s Fiend. Bottomless Trap Hole tried to swallow the Fiend, but Solemn Judgment saved it from a horrible fate. The Fiend swung on Prisma, and Chris Bowling was stuck. He set a spell or trap card and a monster and passed over to Hector, who swung on the monster with the Fiend. Darius was destroyed, and Hector set a monster.
Chris had to get rid of the Fiend to stand a chance, but without his toolbox of effects, he wasn’t going to do it. He passed with no plays, and Destiny Draw allowed Hector Heras to pitch Malicious and draw two cards! The Fiend took down Stratos next, and Bowling gave a puzzled glance before setting a card to each zone and passing. Despite having low life points, Hector seemed to have complete control of the game . . . until Chris flipped his freshly set Crush Card Virus, tributing Sangan! Hector lost his field and nearly all of his hand, and a Gladiator Beast Laquari from Bowling was forced through Bottomless Trap Hole by Solemn Judgment to steal the game away!
Chris Bowling nabbed one of two remaining outs, Crush Card Virus, to defeat Hector Heras two games to one, winning himself a trip to the World Championships!