This was Alonzo Peters’ fourth Shonen Jump Championship Day 2: he made the Top 16 at Seattle two weeks ago as well. His opponent is Justin Arnwine, an up-and-coming duelist who’s done an impressive job this weekend, but who has nowhere near the premier-level experience of Peters. Both competitors were playing similar builds of TeleDAD.

Arnwine opened with Allure of Darkness, removing Krebons. He summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, searched out Destiny Hero - Malicious, then discarded it for Destiny Draw. He drew two, including another Malicious, but played another Allure to trade it for two more cards.

That left him with his third Allure, Krebons, two Emergency Teleport cards, Diamond Dude, and Solemn Judgment. He removed his Malicious to summon another, activated Teleport to special summon Krebons, then activated his third Allure, drawing Monster Reborn and Brain Control! “That’s a good hand,” commented Peters flatly.

Arnwine removed Diamond Dude for the third Allure’s effect, then set two cards to finish out. He’d forgotten about his Krebons, and it was removed from the game! That might be all Peters needed to capitalize.

He summoned Krebons, set a spell or trap, then attacked Arnwine’s Malicious. “Go.” Arnwine was up. He activated Brain Control and Peters tossed over his Krebons, leaning back in his seat with a “what can you do?” look on his face. Arnwine Synchro summoned Goyo Guardian and attacked, and Peters flipped Mirror Force to destroy it! Arnwine ended.

Peters summoned Spirit Reaper, and Arnwine negated the summon with Spirit Reaper. Peters passed, and Arnwine drew to four cards: he had Monster Reborn, Krebons, Dark Armed Dragon, and Snipe Hunter. He took Spirit Reaper with Monster Reborn, summoned Krebons, then swung for 1500 damage to make Peters discard Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude. Peters was visibly losing his cool.

He activated Mystical Space Typhoon next turn to destroy his opponent’s Emergency Teleport, then hammered two copies of Dark Armed Dragon to the table—it took him a few moments to realize that he only had two Darks in his graveyard. It was a huge gaffe and Peters sheepishly scooped his two Dragons back to his hand.

Arnwine summoned Snipe Hunter, attacked to make Peters discard one Dark Armed Dragon, then set and flipped Crush Card Virus next turn. That cost Peters his other Dark Armed Dragon, and he was down to Malicious and Allure of Darkness. He activated Allure, removed Malicious, and kept Mystic Tomato and Torrential Tribute. He summoned Tomato and sent it to attack Krebons, but Arnwine paid to negate the attack. Peters set Torrential Tribute to finish his turn.

Arnwine discarded Mirror Force to try and destroy Mystic Tomato with Snipe Hunter, but missed the roll. Peters drew Elemental Hero Stratos next turn, lost it to Crush Card Virus, and pressed into Krebons again. Arnwine discarded for Snipe Hunter to destroy Torrential Tribute, Synchro summoned Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth, and special summoned Dark Armed Dragon! He removed Malicious for Dark Armed’s effect, attacked with Dark Armed, then swung for game with Gaia Knight—a Shonen Jump first.

Justin Arnwine captures Game 1, drawing a hand so good that not even his self-confessed misplays could cost him the game. “I made, like, fourteen mistakes in that match,” admitted Arnwine. Both duelists would have to shape up if they wanted to represent themselves favorably in this match.

Peters opened Game 2 with Allure of Darkness, and nodded approvingly at his hand as he removed Dark Grepher. He followed it up with Destiny Draw, discarding Malicious and setting a monster. “Go.”

Peters activated Allure of Darkness. He removed Destiny Hero - Doom Lord for it, and was holding Dark Grepher, Malicious, Dark Armed Dragon, Solemn Judgment, Teleport, and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. He normal summoned Grepher, discarded Malicious for its effect, and sent Necro Gardna to his graveyard from his deck. He removed Malicious, chained Emergency Teleport, and special summoned another Malicious and Krebons.

He Synchro summoned Colossal Fighter, then special summoned Dark Armed Dragon! He removed Malicious to special summon his third, and with a combined 8300 ATK on the field Peters had seen enough. He immediately scooped his cards.

Justin Arnwine scores a 2-0 upset and moves on to the finals, while Alonzo Peters will take a shot at a copy of Doomcaliber Knight in the third place playoff!