Our original choice for the feature match for this round inexplicably declined, but in a Day 2 with the largest talent pool of any tournament ever, it’s not difficult to find high-caliber players to feature. Lazaro Bellido and Hector Heras are both 9-2 coming into this round, and both of them are playing Dark Armed Dragon builds. I find this match particularly interesting because while neither of these players has won a Jump in the past, both of them have made second place. Could today be the first win for one of these two players?

Lazaro won the roll and started out with Elemental Hero Stratos to search out Disk Commander before setting a spell or trap card and passing. Hector had a Stratos of his own, and he fetched out Disk Commander before running the two Elemental Heroes into each other. He set Escape from the Dark Dimension but lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase. Lazaro had no follow-up though, and he set a spell or trap before passing back to Hector . . . who was holding a heck of a beating in his hand. He summoned Sangan and attacked before setting Crush Card Virus and ending his turn. Lazaro was up, and he set a second spell or trap before passing over to Hector who immediately attacked. Lazaro used Dust Tornado on Hector’s set Crush, but it was chained stripping Lazaro of Dark Magician of Chaos and Dark Armed Dragon. Hector passed and Lazaro revived his Magician with Monster Reborn returning Reborn to his hand. He swung for 2800 and Hector was up. He activated Allure of Darkness, removing Darklord Zerato from play, and summoned Card Trooper. Trooper dumped Soul Release, Heavy Storm, and Destiny Draw, and Hector activated Dimension Fusion!

Lazaro activated Enemy Controller in response to remove his Magician from play and steal Hector’s Card Trooper! As a result, the Magician came back to play thanks to Dimension Fusion and Lazaro picked up a free Enemy Controller! Zerato and the Magician bumped heads and Hector set a card before passing and reclaiming his Card Trooper. Lazaro revealed his draw for Crush Card, but Hector was out of luck, having hit nothing since the initial activation. Lazaro summoned Disk Commander and then used Monster Reborn to take Hector’s Stratos and destroy his set Escape from the Dark Dimension! Stratos whacked the Trooper and Lazaro set two spell or trap cards before ending. Premature Burial brought the Trooper back up, and he activated its effect, losing Allure of Darkness and two copies of Return from the Different Dimension. Gold Sarcophagus came down next, and Hector put Monster Reborn on layaway for two turns. Trooper tried to run down Stratos, and Lazaro thought long and hard before using Enemy Controller to shift the Trooper to defense. On the last turn of Crush Card Virus, Lazaro revealed and lost Darklord Zerato, then flipped Return from the Different Dimension to bring back his Magician again! The Magician brought Enemy Controller back to his hand, and he used it to steal Hector’s Card Trooper again, allowing him to push through enough damage for game! Crush Card Virus does Hector Heras absolutely no good, putting Lazaro up one game to none.

Hector spent no time with his side deck and lamented the fact that he had forgotten the cards shown to him by Crush Card, especially the Enemy Controller that had caused so much trouble. He was up first for game 2, and he started off with a set monster. Lazaro started things off with Armageddon Knight, and he sent Dasher to the graveyard with its effect. Armageddon Knight swung on Hector’s set Sangan, and he searched out an Armageddon Knight of his own. Lazaro set two spell or trap cards, and in the draw phase, Hector’s hand was revealed by Trap Dustshoot. He had Soul Release, Premature Burial, Heavy Storm, the Knight, Card Trooper, Destiny Hero - Fear Monger, and D.D. Crow. Armageddon Knight was returned to the deck, and Hector played on with Heavy Storm. Threatening Roar was chained, and Card Trooper came down for Hector: dumping a Knight, Return, and Elemental Hero Stratos to the graveyard. Lazaro was up, and he use Dasher’s effect to drop Jinzo. Both of Lazaro’s monsters swung, and Hector drew a card for his Trooper. Allure came down for Hector and he removed Dasher from play before pondering what he could do with cards he had been dealt. He had two Dark monsters in the graveyard and had just drawn into Dark Armed Dragon. Premature Burial brought Armageddon Knight back to the field, and he used it to send Darklord Zerato to the graveyard. D.D. Crow removed Trap Dustshoot from play, and suddenly Hector was back in the game! Dark Armed Dragon dropped and destroyed both of Lazaro’s monsters, and Hector dropped Dimension Fusion for game! Hector comes back from a bad spot to force the match to game 3!

Hector considered side decking this time, but ended up not putting in the Vanity’s Fiend he had been considering. Lazaro started the final game out strong with Reinforcement of the Army into Stratos, which then fetched Disk Commander! He set two spell or trap cards and passed over to Hector, who summoned Trooper and activated its effect, losing Premature Burial, Spirit Reaper, and Dark Magician of Chaos. The Trooper was destroyed by Mirror Force when Hector tried to attack, and he set a spell or trap before ending. Armageddon Knight came down for Lazaro, and he sent Destiny Hero - Dasher to the graveyard before attacking with both of his monsters and passing. Hector was up, and he set a card to each zone before passing. He lost his freshly set Mirror Force in the end phase to Lazaro’s Mystical Space Typhoon, and Lazaro drew, flopping Dark Magician of Chaos on to the field thanks to Dasher’s effect! He dropped Heavy Storm to clear out Hector’s set Return from the Different Dimension and played the Reinforcement of the Army that Dark Magician of Chaos had returned to his hand. Stratos hit Hector’s Sangan, and the rest of Lazaro’s monsters attacked for game! Just like that, it was all over and Lazaro Bellido continues his quest for his first Jump win at 10-2!