Solemn Judgment has been one of the most played cards in the last couple months of tournament play. But the only player to go undefeated thus far doesn't have them in his main deck. Anthony Ling is here in his first day 2 event playing a Dark Armed deck with three copies of Phoenix Wing Wind Blast instead of Solemns. They'd gotten him this far, and the only thing preventing him from going any further was Jose Arocho. We just saw Jose's deck in action, but will the Wing Blasts slow him down too much?
Game 1
Jose won the roll and opened with a set spell or trap and Cyber Valley. Anthony set his own spell or trap and passed. Jose played Snipe Hunter and Anthony flipped Torrential Tribute. Jose took care of that with Solemn Judgment and removed both cards to draw two. He then pitched Destiny Hero - Plasma to Destiny Draw and set a spell or trap before passing. Anthony used his turn to dump Destiny Hero - Dasher into his graveyard via Armageddon Knight before connecting for 1400. He set a spell or trap, and Jose was up.
Jose beefed up his back row to two spell or traps and set a monster before giving the turn back to Anthony. He played Heavy Storm and chained Phoenix Wing Wind Blast on Anthony's monster. Jose flipped Crush Card Virus costing Anthony his Elemental Hero Stratos but lost another Solemn Judgment. Then he special summoned Destiny Hero - Malicious (discarding off Wing Blast) and attacked. Jose set a spell or trap and passed to Anthony who lost Strike Ninja to the Crush Card. His attacks were blocked with Scapegoat though and Jose was up. He played Cyber Valley to remove a Sheep token and draw two cards, played Allure of Darkness for two more, and removed Dark Magician of Chaos from play.
That put him at three Darks, which meant two copies of Dark Armed Dragon. He removed one Dark to destroy Armageddon Knight, attacked over Malicious and hit directly, then used his Dark Armed Dragons to destroy themselves. Anthony was holding Brain Control, which Jose knew from Crush. Anthony drew Dark Armed Dragon himself and lost it to Crush Card. He passed, and Jose passed right back. Anthony set a spell or trap and Jose was up. He played Destiny Draw to discard Destiny Hero - Malicious and summoned Dark Grepher. Grepher attacked but was spun by Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. Anthony topdecked Trap Dustshoot and used it to send back another Grepher. He summoned Cyber Valley and drew two. He passed; his field was now open with one set spell or trap card.
Anthony's prayers were answered though when he topdecked Monster Reborn for Elemental Hero Stratos. That was enough to get through Jose's bluff, and Anthony took the game!
Game 2
Jose opened the second game up as well and played Elemental Hero Stratos to find fodder for his Destiny Draw in the form of Destiny Hero - Malicious. Reinforcement of the Army came down next to feed another Draw, this time via Destiny Hero - Disk Commander. Premature Burial attempted to bring the Commander back but D.D. Crow stopped that from happening. Jose set two spell or traps and passed.
Anthony played Allure of Darkness removing Dark Armed Dragon before setting two spell or trap cards. Jose played Sangan on his turn but lost his field to Torrential Tribute. He searched for Spirit Reaper and passed. Anthony started things up with Allure of Darkness once more and removed another Dark Armed Dragon. He set a second spell or trap, passed, and Jose flipped Heavy Storm. Anthony had sided in Royal Oppression and it was lost to the Storm. Reaper connected next, robbing Anthony of Jinzo. Armageddon Knight came down for Anthony and he dumped Destiny Hero - Malicious before attacking the Reaper. The rest of his hand found its way to the back field and Anthony passed.
Jose was up once more, and he summoned Snipe Hunter, discarding Destiny Hero - Plasma and destroyed a Destiny Draw. Brain Control dropped next, destroying a second Draw. Jose followed up with Dark Armed Dragon, removed Malicious to find his twin from the deck, and punched Anthony for 5400 damage. He passed and there was no comeback for Anthony this time. He scooped it up after drawing dead.
Game 3
Both players went back to side decking. Anthony had sided in Royal Oppression, which seemed strange at first glance. I believe his thought process was to "waste" his stuff first, something that generally causes a player to lose in the mirror match. But then he would flip Royal Oppression and Jose wouldn't be able to answer with his own special summons. A nifty idea, but one that obviously didn't pan out that game. With the advantage of going first this game, would Anthony press his luck with the same strategy?
Jose opened with a bomb hand: Scapegoat, Destiny Hero - Plasma, Card Trooper, Crush Card Virus, and Premature Burial. Anthony set a spell or trap and a monster and Jose played Card Trooper. He sent Destiny Hero - Malicious and Destiny Hero - Disk Commander to the graveyard. That was fortunate. He followed up with Premature Burial for the Destiny Hero - Disk Commander, set three spell or traps, and attacked into Sangan. Disk hit for 300 and Jose set another spell or trap before passing.
Anthony knew things weren't looking good, and he started his turn off with Allure of Darkness. D.D. Crow was removed from play and Anthony played Snipe Hunter and passed priority . . . Jose flipped Crush Card Virus to destroy the Snipe and Anthony's in-hand Dark Armed Dragon. Jose flipped Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase and caught the Phoenix Wing Wind Blast Crush had revealed. He also flipped Scapegoat in the end phase, but Anthony played Torrential Tribute. Jose drew for Trooper and started his turn.
He played Reinforcement of the Army for Elemental Hero Stratos. "I had the Plasma," he told Anthony straight up. Was he hoping to send mixed signals? He summoned Elemental Hero Stratos and Anthony asked him to wait before searching, telegraphing Solemn Judgment something fierce. "I just want my Fear Monger man," said Jose. He was telling Anthony all the moves he was going to make. Next Jose played Destiny Draw and Allure of Darkness to discard Plasma and remove D.D. Crow. Stratos hit directly, and Anthony was up. He drew Brain Control, which was revealed thanks to Crush Card, and played Mystical Space Typhoon to hit Solemn Judgment. Brain Control took Stratos to attack for 1800 and he tributed it for a face-down Malicious. Destiny Hero - Fear Monger hit the Malicious and Anthony was up.
He topdecked Phantom of Chaos and Jose played Solemn Judgment. "Do you Solemn?" Anthony didn't. He passed instead, and Jose played Heavy Storm to destroy the Judgment. He then removed Malicious for his counterpart in defense mode. Both monsters were dropped for Dark Magician of Chaos, getting back Premature Burial, which was played for Destiny Hero - Disk Commander. Both monsters attacked and Jose set a spell or trap. Anthony literally had nothing at this point and was hoping for another miracle. He drew Strike Ninja, brought Destiny Hero - Malicious out for defense, and attacked the Disk Commander. Jose was up.
Jose played Monster Reborn on Anthony's Phantom of Chaos and Anthony chained with Strike Ninjas effect. He lost Malicious to the Magician, attacked Spirit Reaper, and set a monster. Jose attacked the Ninja with his Magician and Anthony thought for a while before deciding to dodge the attack. Destiny Hero - Fear Monger was removed by the Magician and Anthony was up.
He switched Strike to defense and left his last card in hand. Jose's Magician hit the Strike, Anthony drew nothing helpful, and that was the match.
After losing round 1 Jose Arocho has rolled off 11 straight and taken out the only undefeated player in the tournament. Jose Arocho moves on to the Top 4!