Cesar Gonzalez just can’t stop topping Shonen Jump Championships, but after capturing his second Shonen Jump title at SJC Seattle and then making the finals at SJC Chicago just weeks ago, he put forth a disappointing showing in Day 2 of Atlanta, losing out to an unfamiliar Zombie matchup. Now, he was pitted against yet another non-standard matchup in Round 1 of a Day 2.

Robbie Kohl plays with Jeremiah Hunely, Mayur Patel, and others on Team Lockdown. Gadgets haven’t made Top 16 since Jordan Nasser’s Day 2 at SJC Orlando. Kohl is actually playing Nasser’s deck here today; he couldn’t make it here this weekend due to car troubles, but Kohl has done an excellent job representing Nasser’s strategy in this tournament thus far. Now, he had to face the most consistent competitor in this tournament.

Cesar opened the match with Reinforcement of the Army, Heavy Storm, Destiny Hero – Malicious, Destiny Draw, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Destiny Draw, and Reinforcement of the Army. Reinforcement got him Elemental Hero Stratos, Stratos got him Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, and he discarded Malicious for Destiny Draw. He drew two and discarded Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude for the other copy, drawing Mystic Tomato, Mystical Space Typhoon, Trap Dustshoot, and Solemn Judgment.

Trap Dustshoot flipped in Kohl’s draw phase, revealing his hand of Thunder King Rai-Oh, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, Green Gadget, Book of Moon, Dimensional Prison, and his own Trap Dustshoot! Cesar sent Thunder King back to Kohl’s deck, leaving Kohl to summon Kycoo and set Dustshoot and Book of Moon; Cesar flipped Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase, trying to eliminate that Dustshoot, but hit only the Book.

Dustshoot robbed Cesar of Dark Armed Dragon next turn, and he summoned Mystic Tomato. Stratos traded with Kycoo in battle, Mystic Tomato made a direct attack, and Cesar set Solemn and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast.

“Draw,” announced Kohl, immediately summoning Green Gadget to search for Red Gadget — he’d have to play that Prison to defend his Gadget from a trade with Mystic Tomato. Kohl set a spell or trap and play was to Cesar.

Cesar discarded Torrential Tribute for Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, spinning Kohl’s face-down spell or trap, then traded Mystic Tomato into Green Gadget and special summoned Spirit Reaper! Reaper struck Kohl with a direct attack, forcing him to discard Red Gadget, and next turn all Kohl could do was set his two remaining back row cards.

Cesar hit him with Heavy Storm, losing his own Solemn Judgment. Kohl lost a Solemn too, as well as the Prison, and was now in topdecking mode. Cesar special summoned Malicious from his deck, attacked for 1100 damage, and set his last card to his back row. Kohl set a spell or trap; Cesar turned Reaper to defense and hit with Malicious again. Kohl set a spell or trap. Cesar activated Allure of Darkness and drew Caius the Shadow Monarch and Solemn Judgment; he removed Dark Grepher. He set Solemn, attacked for 800 with Malicious, and ended, losing the Solemn to Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase. Kohl summoned Green Gadget, searched for Red Gadget, and attacked with Green Gadget into Malicious, but Cesar flipped Crush Card Virus, tributing the Malicious. Next turn he tributed his Reaper for Caius the Shadow Monarch, removed Kohl’s face-down Dimensional Prison, special summoned Malicious, and brought out Krebons with Emergency Teleport!

That let him Synchro summon for Thought Ruler Archfiend. Thought Ruler attacked over Green Gadget and Caius swung for game!

Cesar Gonzalez has seemingly no problem slicing through the anti-meta tech of Robbie Kohl’s Gadget deck, and captures Game 1 in a handful of minutes! With Kohl’s side deck now in play, would Game 2 be any different?

Kohl opened Game 2 with Thunder King Rai-Oh, setting one spell or trap to back it up. Cesar activated Allure of Darkness, removed his second in-hand Malicious, and set a card to each zone. Kohl summoned Neo-Spacian Grand Mole, attacked to bump away Cesar’s face-down monster, and then made a direct attack with Thunder King. Mystical Space Typhoon then blew away Cesar’s face-down Solemn. Cesar summoned Krebons, one of the two he had in hand, and set another spell or trap. Kohl was up.

He summoned a second copy of Thunder King! Both attacked Krebons, and Cesar paid 1600 life points to negate both attacks. Kohl set a second spell or trap and play was to Cesar. He flipped his face-down Emergency Teleport, brought a third Krebons from his deck, and was left holding one more, Malicious, Caius, Mystic Tomato, and Reinforcement of the Army. He tributed the fresh Krebons for Caius the Shadow Monarch, but Kohl flipped Solemn Judgment to negate the summon!

Cesar set another spell or trap and passed. Kohl set a second spell or trap card again, attacked with both Thunder Kings once more, and Cesar was down to 2900 life points after paying another 1600. He topped Allure of Darkness next turn and removed his third Krebons for it, drawing into another Allure! He activated it too, hunting for outs, and removed Sangan, setting Mystic Tomato and two more back row cards.

Kohl summoned Doomcaliber Knight! He attacked Krebons, Cesar paid 800 life points to negate the attack, and Doomcaliber was tributed to destroy Krebons. Thunder King attacked Tomato, Tomato special summoned Spirit Reaper, and the second Thunder King attacked through it to drop Cesar to 500 life points. “Go ahead.”

Cesar finally drew Destiny Draw! He pitched Destiny Hero – Malicious for it, drew two cards, and flipped Dust Tornado to destroy Kohl’s Mirror Wall. Cesar activated Monster Reborn, special summoned his Caius the Shadow Monarch, and turned Reaper to defense mode. Caius attacked Thunder King, Kohl flipped Dimensional Prison, and Cesar set one more card to his back row.

Breaker the Magical Warrior destroyed Cesar’s face-down Teleport next turn, and Kohl set another spell or trap. Cesar set one too, and when Kohl summoned Grand Mole next turn Cesar responded with Solemn Judgment. It was all over a turn later as Kohl activated Smashing Ground, destroying Spirit Reaper! None of Cesar’s three face-down spell or trap cards were of use, and he immediately conceded.

Robbie Kohl takes a huge Game 2 win with double Thunder King and Doomcaliber Knight! Play quickly moved to Game 3!

The pressure was on! Cesar had Sangan, Dark Grepher, Destiny Draw, Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, Solemn Judgment, and Torrential Tribute. Cesar pitched Diamond Dude for Destiny Draw, drew Krebons and another Draw, and set Torrential Tribute and Sangan — a very strong opening! Kohl summoned Red Gadget, searched for Yellow Gadget, and set two cards to his back row before attacking into Sangan. Cesar fetched Destiny Hero – Malicious from his deck with Sangan’s effect, Kohl ended, and Cesar discarded the Malicious for his second Destiny Draw. He special summoned his second Malicious immediately after drawing his two cards, then searched his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos with Reinforcement of the Army. Stratos destroyed Kohl’s face-down Dimensional Prison, Emergency Teleport got Cesar Krebons from his deck, and he Synchro summoned Stardust Dragon with his Malicious!

The second Malicious was removed for a third, and another Teleport got another Krebons. Cesar then Synchro summoned Thought Ruler Archfiend, attacked Red Gadget with it, and Kohl flipped Mirror Wall to mitigate the damage. Stardust struck for 1250 damage, Stratos attacked for 900, and Cesar ended. Kohl paid himself down to 3800 life points to keep Mirror Wall on the field, and set two cards to his back row before summoning Kycoo. Cesar fired back with Solemn Judgment and Kohl passed.

Cesar drew, holding Krebons, Dark Grepher, and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, with Torrential Tribute set. He summoned Krebons, attacked with Thought Ruler Archfiend, and when Kohl flipped Mirror Force Cesar tributed Stardust! Thought Ruler Archfiend struck for half its normal damage, as did Stratos and Krebons. Stardust came back and Kohl had just 950 life points remaining.

He summoned Yellow Gadget next turn, pulling Green, and set two cards to his back row. Cesar ripped into him with Mystical Space Typhoon next turn and Kohl activated Solemn Judgment, dropping to 475 life points. Cesar discarded Dark Grepher for Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, spun the card Kohl had tried to protect, and attacked with Thought Ruler Archfiend for game!