This is Afatah Abdul’s first Shonen Jump Championship, and he is 6-1 today with an intriguing build of Gladiator Beasts. He’s playing a Japanese-inspired version of the deck with Dimensional Fissure, and he’s not running any copies of Test Tiger. I’m pretty sure he’s not running Prisma, either.
His opponent is Joseph Arecchia, a TeleDAD player who’s also got a 6-1 record. These duelists’ lives in this tournament are on the line here — the winner will be one win away from Day 2, while the loser will have to win out and hope for incredible tiebreakers. The match began swiftly.
Arecchia activated Allure of Darkness, drawing two at the cost of his Krebons. He discarded Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude for Destiny Draw, drew two, and set two cards, then a third to his back row.
Abdul opened with Gladiator Beast Murmillo, Dark Bribe, Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror, Gladiator Beast Hoplomus, Thunder King Rai-Oh, and Equeste. He set Dark Bribe and Mirror, set Hoplomus, and ended. He lost Dark Bribe to Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase.
Arecchia summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Abdul responded with Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror; Arecchia chained Solemn Judgment to stop it. He sent Breaker to attack and it bounced harmlessly off Hoplomus’ hide. When Arecchia finished his battle phase, Abdul tagged out Hoplomus for Gladiator Beast Bestiari. Its effect targeted Arecchia’s face-down Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. He chained it, discarding Plaguespreader Zombie to return Bestiari to the top of Abdul’s deck. Arecchia set a spell or trap to finish out.
Abdul had Thunder King, Equeste, Murmillo, and Bestiari; he had to summon Thunder King and try to attack. If he’d waited to activate Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror in order to make Breaker waste his counter, he could attack over Breaker with Thunder King, but instead he had to trade with it in battle. Next turn Spirit Reaper punished him, costing him his Bestiari.
Abdul drew Dimensional Prison, summoned Murmillo, and attacked Spirit Reaper; Murmillo tagged out to Gladiator Beast Retiari, and its effect removed Plaguespreader Zombie from play! Abdul ended his turn by setting Dimensional Prison; he had one card left in hand.
Arecchia drew to two cards in hand, with Spirit Reaper and a face-down spell or trap on the field. He activated Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarded Destiny Draw for it, and blew away the Dimensional Prison. He summoned his last card, Dark Grepher, and attacked over Retiari. Spirit Reaper forced Abdul to discard Gladiator Beast Equeste.
Spirit Reaper went to defense mode moments later and Grepher attacked into Dimensional Prison. Abdul topdecked Gladiator Beast Laquari, summoned it, and smashed it into Spirit Reaper, bringing out Bestiari; Arecchia responded with Torrential Tribute. He had no cards left, and set the Solemn Judgment he topdecked next turn. Abdul drew Hoplomus, summoned it, and Arecchia used Solemn to negate the summon. Arecchia set a spell or trap, Abdul set one, Arecchia set one, and Abdul topdecked and summoned Gladiator Beast Laquari. Laquari attacked. Arecchia flipped Emergency Teleport and he brought out Krebons to block the attack. Abdul flipped Dimensional Fissure and ended! Krebons was removed. Moments later Arecchia topped and activated Allure of Darkness; he scooped upon seeing his top two cards.
Afatah Abdul takes the first duel, pulling out of a topdecking situation with superior ATK power and more beat sticks! Retiari seemed integral to that success, eliminating the early game Plaguespreader.
“You’re the one deck I haven’t seen all day,” remarked Arecchia.
“Surprise!” Abdul grinned, and both competitors began side decking.
Arecchia started Game 2 a short while later by setting three cards to his back row. Abdul activated Dimensional Fissure, summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, lost it to Torrential Tribute, and set a second spell or trap card. Arecchia looked to capitalize, summoning Dark Grepher next turn and attacking for 1700 damage.
“Summon Rai-Oh again.” Abdul played another, Arecchia flipped Solemn Judgment, Abdul flipped his own, and a second Solemn from Arecchia shut him down! The duel stood at 3150 to 2000 life points. Abdul set Dimensional Prison, and next turn Arecchia activated Heavy Storm!
That left him free to discard Destiny Hero – Malicious for Grepher’s effect, sending Krebons to the graveyard from his deck — he just wanted to get that Malicious there while he could. He attacked with Grepher for 1700 damage, then set a spell or trap card to end.
Abdul drew Morphing Jar, adding it to his hand of Gladiator Beast Bestiari and Gladiator Beast Hoplomus. He set the Jar, Arecchia flipped Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and Abdul scooped it up.
One very short duel evens out the match score here in Round 8, as Joseph Arecchia pulls out a very quick win! More side decking ensued, and Abdul got ready to open the third game.
“I’ll start,” announced Abdul, taking charge. He summoned Gladiator Beast Laquari, and then set four cards to his back row! Arecchia was in for some serious self-doubt.
He summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, activated his effect, and lost him to Gladiator Beast War Chariot! Stratos was destroyed. Arecchia activated Allure of Darkness, drew two, and remove Krebons from his hand. Arecchia activated Heavy Storm and Abdul flipped Dark Bribe to negate it. That left Arecchia to set a card to his back row: he considered setting a second, but ended his turn instead.
Laquari attacked for 1800 damage, and Abdul tagged out to Gladiator Beast Equeste, recovering his Gladiator Beast War Chariot! He set two cards to his back row, set a monster, and was now fully committed to the field! That early Heavy Storm had been a huge risk on Arecchia’s part, and now Abdul was making him pay for it.
Arecchia set a card to each zone, ended, and Abdul summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh off the top! Equeste attacked Arecchia’s face-down monster and when it flipped over, it was Spirit Reaper. “Tag out?” He tagged out to Bestiari, targeted Arecchia’s face-down Crush Card Virus, and when Arecchia chained it to tribute his Spirit Reaper Abdul chained Solemn Judgment! Arecchia was locked down hard.
He drew and activated another Allure of Darkness, removing his second copy of Krebons to pay for it. He played yet another Allure to follow it up, removed Breaker the Magical Warrior for the Allure, then tried to spin Bestiari with Phoenix Wing Wind Blast; he discarded Destiny Hero – Malicious for it, but was stopped by another Solemn Judgment. Arecchia pressed on: he summoned Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude, activated his effect, but couldn’t hit a spell card. He had just two cards left in hand, and there was no way that Diamond Dude was getting over Bestiari, Thunder King, or whatever Abdul had face-down.
He removed Malicious from his graveyard trying to summon another, but Abdul chained Gladiator Beast War Chariot! Arecchia talked himself through the situation . . . “That face-down has got to be Hoplomus . . . Thunder King negates the summon completely, and it’s only inherent ones . . .” He sent Diamond Dude to attack Abdul’s face-down monster: “Any responses to the attack?”
Abdul wordlessly, and slowly, flipped over Dimensional Prison. It was his last set card, and Diamond Dude was removed from the field! “Still in battle,” noted Arecchia, as he activated one Emergency Teleport, then another! He summoned Psychic Commander and Krebons from his deck, sent Krebons to attack Bestiari, and paid 300 life points to trade Krebons with Bestiari. Psychic Commander then smacked into Thunder King with a 500 point payment. Arecchia ended, out of cards.
Abdul flip summoned Sangan! It attacked for 1000 damage, Abdul set a spell or trap, Arecchia set one too, and Abdul set another before attacking again with Sangan. Arecchia passed, Abdul summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, and both monsters slammed into Mirror Force! Sangan got him Gladiator Beast Hoplomus, Abdul ended, and Arecchia passed. Abdul summoned Hoplomus, attacked, dropped Arecchia to 2700 life points, and then tagged in Equeste! Equeste got him Chariot, he set it, and he activated Burden of the Mighty.
Arecchia summoned Diamond Dude, activated his effect, and sent a copy of Vanity’s Fiend to the bottom of his deck — again, no free spell. Arecchia tried to take Equeste with Brain Control, Abdul chained Book of Moon, and Arecchia had to pass. He couldn’t attack into Equeste’s 1200 DEF with Diamond Dude’s ATK being lowered by Burden of the Mighty! Next turn Abdul activated Gladiator Beast Proving Ground and Arecchia conceded, offering the handshake!
Afatah Abdul is 7-1, one match away from making Day 2 with Gladiator Beasts!