“I’m gonna hang this on my wall” said Flores, as he took his seat and flopped down his score pad from his last game. Fresh off a win over Robert Ackermon, Flores was feeling pretty good. “Nobody knows how hard it is to play Rob.” Christopher “Juice” Flores was the underdog in his quarterfinals match, and now he was facing three-time Shonen Jump Championship Top 8 competitor Jerry Wang. The uphill battle didn’t faze Flores.
Wang won the roll, and opened with a set Spirit Reaper and Sakuretsu Armor. Flores summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, destroyed the Armor, and attacked into Spirit Reaper. He set one spell or trap and ended. Jerry summoned his own Breaker the Magical Warrior, but Flores had Torrential Tribute! He flipped it, the field was wiped, and Jerry set one spell or trap.
Flores matched him, also setting nothing but a back row card. Wang summoned Spirit Reaper, attacked, and lost the Reaper to Widespread. Flores set a card to each zone and ended. Wang summoned Cyber Dragon, played Nobleman of Crossout to remove Flores’s set Magical Merchant, and Wang announced that he didn’t have any in his deck to remove. Cyber Dragon attacked directly, Flores flipped Book of Moon to block the damage, and after a bit of debate Wang let the Dragon flip down. Flores played his own Cyber Dragon, attacked Wang’s to destroy it, and ended.
Wang drew, inspected his graveyard, and asked for Flores’s hand count. Each player had three cards in hand. Wang flipped his set Dark Hole, summoned Mystic Tomato, and attacked with it. He set one spell or trap and ended.
Another Cyber Dragon came down on Flores’s side of the field, as well as Exiled Force. Exiled destroyed Mystic Tomato with its effect, and Wang had to take the 2100 damage from Cyber Dragon’s direct attack. He drew, and all he had was a set Call of the Hauntged, an in-hand Mystical Space Typhoon, and a Strike Ninja. He had to press. He summoned the Ninja, played Call of the Haunted for Cyber Dragon, and sent his dragon into Flores’s. Strike Ninja hit directly for 1700 and play passed to Flores after Wang set Mystical Space Typhoon.
Flores set a monster, and next turn Wang summoned Spirit Reaper and attacked with Ninja. Ninja wiped out Mystic Swordsman LV2, reaper hit directly, and Flores had nothing but a set spell or trap. Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed it, and next turn Wang attacked with Ninja and Reaper to discard Flores’s last card, which was Mobius. Flores brought it back onto the field (thanks to a topdecked Premature Burial) and attacked Spirit Reaper to press through damage.
But the game was Wang’s to win! He topdecked Smashing Ground, took down Mobius, and attacked with Strike Ninja and Spirit Reaper for the win!
Game 1 goes to Jerry Wang!
“If I lose to you, this’ll be a freakin’ trend for my team, you know? This’ll be the third time someone from my team has lost to a member of Overdose. That would suck.” Flores was still in high spirits, but clearly they weren’t as high as they were earlier.
After side decking, Flores began the game with two authoritative sets, one to each zone. Wang was looking at a hand filled with monsters. He set his one non-monster card, set a monster, and passed. Flores flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, drew his card for its effect, and pondered his next move. He played Nobleman of Crossout, removing Wang’s Mystic Tomato from play, and then attacked directly with Dekoichi. He set a monster, another spell or trap, and passed to Wang.
Spirit Reaper was set on Wang’s side of the field, and topdecking into Book of Moon he debated setting it as well before opting not to do so. Flores flip summoned Magical Merchant to discard Spirit Reaper and take Torrential Tribute. He was now riding off of two cards of advantage.
Dekoichi swung into Spirit Reaper and Flores passed. “Reaper’s a beast right now.” Wang set the Book of Moon, and sure enough, Flores played Smashing Ground on the following turn. Wang chained Book, turned Spirit Reaper face down, and saved it. Flores turned Dekoichi and Merchant to defense, set a monster and ended. Wang set a monster of his own and passed right back.
Flores flipped Magician of Faith, gaining even more advantage! He took back Nobleman of Crossout, removed Wang’s latest set, Old Vindictive Magician from play, and sent the Magician into Spirit Reaper to turn it face up again. Wang had drawn into Pot of Avarice and bluffed, teasing a turn of Spirit Reaper into defense position before setting another monster. Flores passed, Wang passed back, and Flores set a third spell or trap card. Wang passed, Flores set a fourth monster, and ended his turn. “How much advantage do I have over you right now?” asked Flores. Wang set another monster, passed, and Flores hit his face down spell or trap with Dust Tornado, destroying Bottomless Trap Hole.
Another Dekoichi flipped on Flores’s side of the field, and he tributed Magical Merchant for Cyber Dragon. Smashing Ground destroyed Wang’s Spirit Reaper, Dekoichi swung into Old Vindictive Magican which destroyed Cyber Dragon, and Flores’s second Dekoichi hit another of Wang’s face-down Spirit Reapers. Flores passed, wang drew, set a spell or trap and passed. Flores summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, sent it at the Reaper, and Sakuretsu Armor destroyed the Lady. Flores turned his Dekoichis back to defense position and passed.
Wang set a spell or trap, ended, and passed. Flores summoned Mobius the Frost Monarchk, and Wang flipped his set Torrential Tribute! Losing Torrential and Spirit Reaper to Flores’s two Dekoichi, Magician of Faith, and Mobius, it was serious advantage.
Still, Flores brought back Mobius with Premature Burial and hit directly. Ouch.
Wang brought out Breaker the Magical Warrior, and broke Flores’s one set spell or trap. Smashing Ground destroyed Mobius the Frost Monarch, and Breaker attacked directly for 1600 life points. Wang set one back row card and ended.
Heavy Storm wiped away Wang’s bluff, Pot of Avarice. Flores special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Don Zaloog, and struck Breaker the Magical Warrior with the Dragon before sending Zaloog in for a card. Wang lost his Cyber Dragon to the discard effect, and it was 2300 to 5600 in Flores’s favor.
Wang drew and shook his head, again stuck with a fist full of monsters. He had three cards in hand to Flores’s two, plus Flores had one set spell or trap, Zaloog, and the Dragon. Wang set a monster and passed. Cyber Dragon hit the set monster Magician of Faith, and Wang took back Pot of avarice. Don swung directly and missed the pot! Wang discarded Strike Ninja, Flores set a second spell or trap, and Wang took his turn.
He drew, played Pot of Avarice, and shuffled five of his six monsters back into his deck. He drew Cyber Dragon and Dust Tornado, and immediately dropped the Dragon. He’d had a Goldd Wu-Lord of Dark World trapped in his hand all game long. He set a monster, set a spell or trap, and ended his turn without attacking.
Flores’s Cyber Dragon attacked Wang’s, but Flores played Book of Moon to ensure that his own Dragon would survive. Flores flipped Call of the Haunted to bring back D. D. Warrior Lady, but Wang chained Dust Tornado. Don Zaloog swung into Wang’s face down monster, and it turned out to be a Don Zaloog of his own! Flores was forced to discard.
Wang flipped his Don Zaloog to attack position and tried to run it into Flores’s Don. The attack was denied by Sakuretsu Armor and Wang’s Don was destroyed. He set a monster and passed. Flores drew, showed him Mystic Swordsman LV2, and there was nothing Wang could do. The match would proceed to a third duel!
Jerry opened with a set to each zone. Flores summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Wang’s face down Sakuretsu Armor, and used Nobleman of Crossout to remove his face down Old Vindictive Magician from play. One was removed from Wang’s deck as well, and Breaker the Magical Warrior attacked directly. Flores set one spell or trap and ended, off to a good start.
Wang blasted Flores’s face down with Mystic Space Typhoon, but Flores chained Scapegoat. Wang set a card to each zone and ended. Flores attacked with Breaker the Magical Warrior, flipping Magician of Faith and allowing Wang to take back Mystical Space Typhoon. Jerry set a spell or trap and passed. Flores attacked directly with Breaker and ended his turn. Wang was suffering the opposite of his problem last time, now unable to draw monsters.
He used Snatch Steal to take control of Flores’s Breaker the Magical Warrior. His one in-hand monster was Mobius the Frost Monarch, and he contemplated his next move. He attacked a Sheep token with Breaker and then passed, after giving the decision a great deal of thought.
Flores gained 1000 life points from Snatch Steal, putting the totals at 4800 to 9000 in his favor. Flores then played Heavy Storm, destroying Dust Tornado and taking back his Breaker. He summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, attacked with Breaker and D. D. Warrior Lady directly to reduce Wang to 1700, and ended. Wang looked forlorn. He set two spell or trap cards and passed.
Breaker the Magical Warrior was tributed for Mobius the Frost Monarch, and Wang flipped his two set cards: Dust Tornado and Mystical Space Typhoon! Mobius struck for game, and Flores gave Wang a handshake and a hug. “You had nothing to work with,” he said, recognizing that Wang had drawn poorly.
“Bring it home for us” said Wang. Overdose and Rampage play together on a regular basis. Wang was encouraging, despite a great deal of his loss being due to luck.
The underdog Christopher Flores defeats Jerry Wang, claiming victory over Team Overdose in the name of Team Rampage! Flores moves on to the finals!