Fate had pitted two crowd favorites against one another, and, with 6-1 records all around, each duelist needed this win to stay alive in the tournament. Perovic, one of the headliners of Overdose, has become a star duelist despite not yet having a breakthrough Shonen Jump Championship win. Tundo is in the same position, but instead of team backing he relies on ingenious deckbuilding and an all-together different take on the game. Today he’s running a Cyber-Stein OTK variant, a very mundane choice considering his eccentric tastes. He won the die roll and opened the first duel.

“Didn’t get the Library this turn” mourned Tundo, setting a monster and a spell or trap. He was bluffing — he wasn’t playing his signature OTK Life Equalizer, or anything that used Royal Magical Library. Perovic attacked with Asura Priest, lost it to Old Vindictive Magician, set a spell or trap and passed. He lost that card, Royal Decree, to Mystical Space Typhoon in his end phase.

Tundo summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior. “What the hell?” asked Perovic, surprised to see Tundo playing such a common card. He took 1900 from Breaker, Tundo set a spell or trap, and Perovic was up.

He summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy Breaker, and passed. Tundo passed back, and Perovic summoned Asura Priest. It hit directly for 1700 damage; “You’re up,” said Perovic.

Tundo set a monster. Perovic summoned Asura Priest and the Priest attacked again. It hit another Old Vindictive Magician, which again destroyed Perovic’s Asura. He set a spell or trap, Tundo set a monster, and Perovic was the turn player once more. He summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Tundo’s set Book of Moon and watched as it was chained to turn Breaker to face-down defense. Tundo activated Nobleman of Crossout, removing Breaker from the field, flip summoned Magician of Faith, and used its effect to return the Crossout. He tributed Magician of Faith for Cyber Dragon and attacked; “Sucks to be me,” remarked Perovic, taking the damage. Tundo set a spell or trap and passed.

Perovic summoned Sangan and activated Creature Swap, trading the furball for Tundo’s Cyber Dragon. When he attacked with the Dragon Tundo blocked with Enemy Controller. Perovic set a spell or trap, his second on the field, and ended his turn.

It was 6300 to 4000 with Tundo leading. He special summoned Chaos Sorcerer and tried to remove the Sangan, on his side of the field, from play with priority. Perovic had no Torrential Tribute to chain, so Tundo set a spell or trap card and passed. In his end phase Perovic flipped Scapegoat, ensuring that he could still summon on his own turn.

Perovic shifted Cyber Dragon to attack position, shifted a Sheep to attack as well, and took Chaos Sorcerer with another Creature Swap. Tundo got the attack position Sheep in return, and Perovic started worrying about Mirror Force. Sorcerer removed the Sheep from the game, and Cyber Dragon hit directly — no Mirror Force, as Cyber Dragon hit home hard on Tundo’s life points.

Tundo brought out Cyber Dragon next turn, but it was blocked by Enemy Controller. Perovic summoned Spirit Reaper, hit with his Dragon to destroy Tundo’s, and then attacked with Reaper directly. Tundo set a Reaper of his own, lost it to Nobleman of Crossout, and Perovic turned his Reaper to defense. Cyber Dragon then attacked Tundo directly.

Tundo set Sangan, Perovic turned Reaper to attack, and Tundo pulled Night Assailant with Sangan’s effect when Cyber Dragon destroyed it. Perovic passed, forgetting to attack with Reaper! Tundo set a monster, Perovic drew, attacked with Cyber Dragon into Apprentice Magician, and Tundo special summoned Magician of Faith in face-down defense. Perovic turned Reaper to defense and ended.

Tundo set a monster and passed, leaving his Magician of Faith face down. Cyber Dragon attacked Tundo’s freshly set monster, the Night Assailant, and it destroyed the Dragon with its effect. Perovic announced that he was finished with his turn, and Tundo searched his own graveyard for a bit, reviewing his spells. He again elected not to flip summon Magician of Faith, opting to set another monster instead.

Perovic summoned Newdoria, and then responded with his own Torrential Tribute. Tundo didn’t have Royal Decree to block the play, so the field was wiped. Eyeing Tundo’s one set spell or trap, Perovic special summoned Chaos Sorcerer. Tundo had only 1800 life points remaining, and after a brief moment of hesitation Perovic pushed the Sorcerer, announcing his attack . . .

Vincent swept his field and conceded; his set card couldn’t save him, and the first duel was Perovic’s. Both duelists shuffled up and did some side decking.

Tundo set a card to each zone and passed. Perovic cut loose with Graceful Charity, discarded Torrential Tribute and Mobius the Frost Monarch, and then summoned Mystic Swordsman LV2. It attacked and destroyed Tundo’s set Apprentice Magician. Perovic set a spell or trap, Mirror Force, but lost it in his end phase to Mystical Space Typhoon.

Tundo summoned Tsukuyomi, turned Mystic Swordsman LV2 face down, and attacked it. He set a spell or trap, Perovic summoned Spirit Reaper, and lost it to Torrential Tribute. Perovic set a card to his back row and passed: “Go.”

Spirit Reaper came down for Tundo and attacked: it was blocked by Perovic, who activated Scapegoat. Tundo did not decide to attack a token, leaving Perovic with four on his field. Perovic used Snatch Steal to destroy the Reaper, set a monster, and ended.

Tundo had Old Vindictive Magician, Cyber-Stein, Magician of Faith, and Tsukuyomi in hand. Loaded with Stein, and with his opponent locked behind Sheep, it seemed as if all Tundo needed to do was wait for the right time to take the game. He flipped his set Nobleman of Crossout to remove Perovic’s set Mystic Tomato from the game and eyed the field. Snatch Steal was now a non-issue. He summoned Cyber-Stein, special summoned Cyber End Dragon, and rammed two Sheep, hammering 4000 damage through with Cyber End.

Perovic special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, removing the Cyber End Dragon from play! Tundo was down to 2000 life points, while Perovic sat at 3600. Tundo set a monster and play passed to his opponent.

Perovic topdecked Nobleman of Crossout! He removed Cyber-Stein from the field with Sorcerer’s effect, summoned Tsukuyomi to turn his Sorcerer down, and flip summoned it so that it could get around its own effect and attack. He then used Nobleman of Crossout to remove Tundo’s last line of defense! Tsukuyomi and Chaos Sorcerer attacked for game, sealing the match in Perovic’s favor.

Kris Perovic moves on, one match away from making Day 2!