This match pitted “Corny” Monarchs against Gladiator Beasts, a situation Adam Corn was all too familiar with. Bobby was quick to note that he played against two Monarch decks yesterday and beat them both. Adam would have to pull out all the stops if he wanted to stay alive in this tournament. He was asking his opponent to shuffle his deck so that he would start with a good hand: “Can I get an Oppression, Spy, Prime, Solemn, Crush, and Typhoon, please?” Bobby laughed but shook it off. He approached this match with a great deal of humility, showing respect for Adam Corn’s popularity on the Shonen Jump circuit. Adam responded with a display of professionalism, shaking hands and wishing his opponent good luck.

Game 1

They shuffled up, and Bobby won the die roll, 5 to 2. He started off with Reinforcement of the Army, fetching Elemental Hero Stratos. He summoned the Stratos and set a back-row card to finish his turn.

Corn opened with an average hand: Gravekeeper’s Spy, Bottomless Trap Hole, Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, Caius the Shadow Monarch, and Solemn Judgment. He set both traps and the Spy. In the end phase, Bobby activated Dust Tornado to destroy the Solemn Judgment.

Bobby summoned Darius but Corn responded with the Bottomless. Stratos ran into the face-down Spy, prompting Corn to search out another Spy. Bobby set a back-row card again and passed. “At least you didn’t open with Oppression,” Bobby said with exuberance.

And then Corn drew Royal Oppression. He tributed a Spy for Thestalos, discarding Bobby’s D.D. Crow. He sent the Thestalos into Stratos and Bobby decided to Book of Moon the Thestalos. Corn set Oppression and passed.

Bobby drew a card for his turn. He summoned another Darius and launched it into the face-down Thestalos. When he went to tag out, Corn chained Royal Oppression. “Dang,” lamented Bobby. He set a back-row card and passed.

Corn drew Prime Material Dragon and tributed the on-field Spy for it. He ran over Stratos with it and passed. Bobby drew, set a monster, and passed back. Corn drew Allure of Darkness, activated it, drew Soul Exchange and Reckless Greed, and removed Caius for Allures effect. He then set the Reckless and Mask of Darkness before launching an attack into Bobby’s face-down Morphing Jar. “Nice read,” Bobby noted. Corn drew another Reckless, another Mask, Brain Control, Soul Exchange, and Cyber Valley — he set the Reckless before passing.

Bobby drew and took some time considering his options. “Broken?” Corn asked. Bobby responded with, “No.” He summoned Darius and declared an attack with it into the face-down Mask of Darkness. Corn didn’t activate either of his face-down Reckless Greeds; instead, he used Mask’s effect to retrieve Solemn Judgment. Bobby set two back-row cards and passed.

Corn drew Mirror Force. In the interim, Bobby accidently revealed a Premature Burial and D.D. Crow in his hand, giving away valuable information. Corn took some time to consider his play before deciding to use Brain Control on the Darius. Barone had no responses. Corn attacked with Prime Material and Darius and Bobby was forced to let it go through. In his main phase 2, Corn summoned Cyber Valley, attempting to remove it and Darius to draw two cards. Bobby chained with Book of Moon on Cyber Valley though, and his effect failed to resolve. Corn set Solemn and Mirror Force, gave the Darius back to Bobby, and passed, not perturbed in the least.

Bobby drew and launched Darius into the face-down Cyber Valley. Corn activated Mirror Force and Darius was destroyed. Bobby set a monster and passed back to Adam.

Corn drew a Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive for his turn. He activated his face-down Reckless Greed and drew an Allure and Night Assailant. He activated the second Reckless Greed, this time drawing Morphing Jar and Caius the Shadow Monarch. He was just ripping through his deck! He activated the Allure next, drew Book of Moon and Trap Dustshoot, and removed Dekoichi for Allure’s effect. He then tributed his face-down Cyber Valley for Caius. Bobby tried to negate to summon with Solemn Judgment but Corn responded with the Judgment that Mask had gotten back earlier, leaving Caius to target the face-down monster. Bobby scooped up his cards while verbally berating the fact that he had made a few errors throughout the match.

Game 2

Bobby decided to start with a face-down monster and a back-row card.

Corn opened with Brain Control, Reckless Greed, Prohibition, Allure of Darkness, Gravekeeper’s Spy, and Mirror Force. He activated Prohibition, calling Gladiator Beast Bestiari in order to avoid the card from seeing any sort of play in this game. He followed up by setting Mirror Force and Gravekeeper’s Spy. In the end phase, Bobby activated Crush Card Virus, tributing Sangan — a would-be brutal play if not for Adam’s Monarch-absent hand. Sangan searched Spirit Reaper and play passed to Bobby.

Bobby didn’t waste any time in activating Heavy Storm, netting an easy gain in card presence. He followed up with Nobleman of Crossout and summoned the Spirit Reaper that Sangan searched — statistical improbabilities of all sorts were manifesting in this match, it seemed. Spirit Reaper discarded Corn’s Allure of Darkness, much to his dismay. Bobby set a back-row card and ended his turn.

Corn drew a relatively-useless Solemn Judgment. To be fair, there wasn’t much he could draw to get himself out of this situation. He decided to rid the field of Reaper by activating Brain Control. He set Solemn but it was destroyed by Dust Tornado in the end phase — Corn might as well have just have scooped up his cards because escaping Barone’s reign of control seemed like a fruitless campaign at this point.

Bobby summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo, attacked, and tagged out for a 2100 ATK Laquari. He set a back-row card. Corn drew Torrential Tribute and set it along with the last card in his hand, Reckless Greed. Laquari swung in and Bobby set another back-row card to finish his turn. Corn drew Oppression and set it, but it was destroyed by a recently-set Typhoon. Laquari swung in again and Bobby ended his turn.

Corn drew another Reckless — now was the perfect time to activate the face-down one, drawing Gravekeeper’s Guard and Prohibition. He used Prohibition on Bestiari again and was forced to pass it over to Bobby.

Bobby launched Laquari into an attack against the face-down monster, but Guard returned it to his hand. He summoned it in main phase 2 and Corn was forced to use Torrential. In Bobby’s end phase, Corn used Reckless Greed, drawing Snipe Hunter and Prime Material Dragon.

Corn skipped his draw phase in accord with the effect of Reckless Greed. He set the Snipe Hunter because his life points were too low at this point. If he could get a small bit of luck here in the form of Bobby’s inability to summon a monster next turn, he might be able to tribute Snipe Hunter for Prime Material and mount a comeback.

But Bobby summoned Darius, used Test Tiger to tag out for Laquari and launched Laquari into the face-down Snipe Hunter. Corn scooped up his cards, unable to answer Laquari or draw for his turn due to the effect of Reckless Greed.

Corn’s tech backfires here in the face of good fortune. If Bobby could keep up with the pace he set for himself this game then he might very well be able to move onto the Top 4 and duke it out for a copy of Doomcaliber Knight!

Game 3

Corn opened with Night Assailant, Gravekeeper’s Spy, Solemn Judgment, Prohibition, Prime Material Dragon, and Soul Exchange — a very good hand. He set Spy, activated Prohibition and called Gladiator Beast Bestiari, and set the Solemn Judgment. “Go.”

Bobby summoned Elemental Hero Stratos as soon as he could, searching out Elemental Hero Prisma. “I guess I’ll hit the Spy,” he said. Sure enough, he took the 200 damage, a small price to pay considering he could have been wrong. He set a back-row card and passed to Corn.

Corn drew Reckless Greed. He tributed a Spy for Prime Material and swung against Stratos. Bobby had no response. He ended his turn.

Bobby drew for his turn, looked at his six-card hand, and considered his options. He set another back-row card and passed. This sort of passive play in the face of a Prime Material Dragon can only mean one thing: bad news for Bobby.

Corn drew Gravekeeper’s Guard. He attacked with Prime Material Dragon unopposed. Corn’s suspicions that he was in a good position were now validated. He set the Guard and ended.

All that Bobby could do was set a monster in the face of the Dragon.

Corn drew Allure of Darkness, activating it and removing Night Assailant in order to add Brain Control and Morphing Jar to his hand. He flipped the Guard, targeting Bobby’s set monster. He turned Spy to attack mode and asked for a life point check. It was 4800 to 8000 in favor of Corn; with 4600 ATK power on the field already, Corn summoned Morphing Jar and Bobby scooped, revealing his hand: two copies of Elemental Hero Prisma, Gladiator Beast Darius, Gladiator Beast Murmillo, Gladiator Beast Bestiari, and Spirit Reaper — “There was nothing I could do. That Prohibition killed me.” In a wonderful display of sportsmanship, Bobby offered, “Oh, and I did side in 7 cards.”

Adam Corn wins the match 2-1, claiming victory over Bobby Barone in order to move onto the Top 4.