Five weeks ago, Shonen Jump Championship Orlando ended with a brutal 2-0 finish as Cedric Sequerra ousted Hector Heras with a series of astoundingly lucky, perfectly-calculated plays. Heras never had a chance, as Sequerra pounded away with Crush Card Virus, Gold Sarcophagus, Disk Commander draws, and more. But now, Heras and Sequerra are paired again at the undefeated tables. Heras is hoping to avenge his defeat.

Sequerra won the opening roll and began with Armageddon Knight, sending Disk Commander to his graveyard. No, he did not have Crush Card Virus in his hand. He did have Premature Burial though, and he activated it for Disk Commander to draw two cards. He then activated Reinforcement of the Army, searched out a second Armageddon Knight, set a spell or trap, and ended.

“I think I lost game 1,” announced Heras, suspecting Crush Card Virus. “I’ll Allure.” He activated Allure of Darkness, removed Snipe Hunter from play, and took Armageddon Knight with Brain Control. He tributed it for Jinzo, ran over Sequerra’s Disk Commander, and threw down a Soul Release — Sequerra’s own tech! It stripped all four cards from Sequerra’s graveyard.

He topped into Gold Sarcophagus next turn though, and summoned his second Armageddon Knight to send Destiny Hero – Dasher to his graveyard. He set a second spell or trap, holding the Sarcophagus, and ended. Did he really want to keep Heras from having information that badly? No, that wasn’t it. He wanted to use the Sarcophagus to remove a monster later in the game, setting up a Return or Dimension Fusion.

Jinzo swung on Armageddon Knight, leaving Sequerra with two monsters in the graveyard. Heras then activated Monster Reborn, taking the Knight, and sent his own Dasher to the graveyard! Sequerra topped Allure of Darkness, flipped it right to the table making no bones about his luck, and removed Jinzo from his hand. He had Escape from the Dark Dimension and Torrential Tribute set, and really needed to get rid of that Jinzo.

He used Reinforcement of the Army and searched his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos, summoning him. He used Stratos’ effect to search for Destiny Hero – Fear Monger, set a third card to his back row, and ended. Jinzo took out Stratos and Sequerra was back up. The duel stood at 6800 life points to Sequerra’s 4300.

Sequerra got another Allure of Darkness, and activated it to draw two and then remove his Dark Magician of Chaos. He drew into Dimension Fusion! He flipped his set Gold Sarcophagus, removed Darklord Zerato from play with its effect, and then activated Dimension Fusion to bring out Jinzo, Darklord, Dark Magician of Chaos, and Armageddon Knight in attack, with Disk Commander in defense mode. Dark Magician got him back Allure of Darkness, and he activated it to dig for nothing of particular use. Heras had gotten back his Snipe Hunter from the Dimension Fusion, and had placed it in defense mode. Darklord Zerato destroyed Heras’ monsters with the discard of Prometheus, King of the Shadows, and when Sequerra made his first attack Heras scooped it up!

Cedric Sequerra pulls out of a bad situation, fighting back from the domination of Heras’ Jinzo to steal the duel! Both duelists began siding, and Heras noted that he’s playing for Team Untouchable in Florida. “I really want to win one game,” laughed Heras. “Sangan Crush?”

“That’s what I want,” replied Sequerra. He didn’t open with either though, and Heras began the second duel.

Armageddon Knight let him ditch Destiny Hero – Dasher. “You got game?”

“No,” laughed Sequerra.

“That was not the answer I was expecting,” grinned Heras. Sequerra activated Allure of Darkness, removed Darklord Zerato from his hand, and summoned Armageddon Knight to ditch Dark Magician of Chaos from his deck. He rammed his Knight into Heras’, set a spell or trap, and ended.

Heras summoned Snipe Hunter, stated he was not using priority, and Sequerra flipped Torrential Tribute. Heras immediately tried to play two Dark Armed Dragon, but didn’t give Sequerra any time whatsoever to act — Sequerra quickly stated he had wanted to play D.D. Crow, which Heras let him do, since he realized he shouldn’t have been playing so quickly anyway. Crow removed Dasher, Heras passed, and next turn Sequerra summoned Stratos, searched out Disk Commander, and set a spell or trap. Stratos attacked and Sequerra was holding Commander and Crush Card Virus.

Next turn it was all over! A flurry of cards hit Heras’ side of the table, and the end result was Jinzo and two Dark Armed Dragons swinging through Sequerra’s empty field! Heras was pumped: “Hey, I won a game!” Sequerra laughed and shook Heras’ hand, revealing the Commander and Crush Card Virus that were just one turn too late.

Both duelists shuffled up and prepared for game 3. The winner here would probably only need to win one more victory to move to Day 2.

Sequerra opened, again without Crush Card Virus or any compatible monsters. He had Jinzo, Dark Armed Dragon, Escape from the Dark Dimension, Reinforcement of the Army, Allure of Darkness, and Premature Burial. Allure got him Crush Card Virus and Return from the Different Dimension, and he removed the Jinzo. Reinforcement of the Army let him search out Disk Commander: “I ain’t makin’ the same mistake twice.”

“Okay . . . you opened up with Crush,” commented Heras. Sequerra set two cards to his back row, set Disk Commander, and ended. Heras drew, Sequerra Crushed, and Heras revealed his hand: Return from the Different Dimension, Escape, Card Trooper, Spirit Reaper, Disk Commander, and a single hit for the Virus: Destiny Hero – Dasher. All in all it wasn’t too bad for Heras.

Spirit Reaper attacked, but Sequerra brought out Jinzo with Escape to stop the attack! Heras set a back row card, play passed to Sequerra, and he brought back Disk Commander with Premature Burial. Heras shook his head as Sequerra summoned Armageddon Knight, sent Dasher to his graveyard, and attacked with the Knight and Jinzo.

Heras topped into Allure of Darkness, revealed it, and activated it, drawing two. He removed Dark Armed Dragon for its effect and lost nothing else from his hand for Crush Card Virus. He summoned Card Trooper, sent three cards to his graveyard, including Jinzo, to beef it up, then activated Monster Reborn to special summon Jinzo. His Jinzo took out Sequerra’s, and then he realized that if he destroyed Sequerra’s Armageddon Knight he’d be left with three Dark monsters in the graveyard! Card Trooper hit the Armageddon Knight anyway though, and Sequerra placed a fourth Dark into Sequerra’s graveyard by sending Spirit Reaper into the attack mode Disk Commander. Heras set a spell or trap and ended.

Sequerra drew Dasher, and summoned him with the effect of his other copy. He normal summoned Prometheus, King of Shadows, removed Jinzo from his graveyard, and special summoned Dark Armed Dragon. He removed Disk Commander to destroy Heras’ set Return from the Different Dimension with Dark Armed Dragon’s effect, removed Armageddon Knight to destroy Return from the Different Dimension, then removed his Dasher to destroy Spirit Reaper. Prometheus attacked Card Trooper, Heras discarded the card he drew to Crush Card Virus, Dasher attacked, and Dark Armed Dragon attacked. Heras was down to 1900 life points!

He drew Armageddon Knight and summoned it, sending Jinzo to his graveyard. He had one card remaining in hand, passed his turn, and immediately offered the handshake.

Cedric Sequerra defeats Hector Heras for a second time, moving on undefeated!