Hector Heras had made Day 2 twice, but has never had a feature match. It’s Chris Bowling’s third time to the Day 2 tables, and only one of these two duelists was moving on. Chris Bowling was armed with Light and Darkness Dragon, while Heras was playing Perfect Circle with Zaborgs.

Heras won the roll, and opened up with Elemental Hero Stratos to search out Destiny Hero - Disk Commander. He activated Destiny Draw, discarded Disk Commander, drew two, and set one spell or trap.

Bowling activated Destiny Draw discarding Plasma. Reinforcement of the Army grabbed him Stratos, who in turn searched out Destiny Hero – Malicious. The two Stratos destroyed each other; Bowling set a spell or trap, and lost it to Phoenix Wing Wind Blast in the end phase; Heras discarded Malicious and would have a shot at an open field.

He set a spell or trap card, then sent Treeborn Frog to his graveyard with Foolish Burial. He ended, Bowling set a card to each zone, and Heras activated Mystical Space Typhoon next turn. Bowling chained Wind Blast, discarded his Malicious, and spun Heras’ set spell or trap.

That left Heras free to special summon Cyber Dragon and Malicious. He tributed Malicious for Raiza the Storm Monarch, spun Bowling’s one face-down monster and attacked to drop Bowling to 3400 life points.

Bowling set his monster again; Heras brought back his Treeborn Frog and then discarded for Destiny Draw. He summoned Snipe Hunter, discarded his last card, Cyber Dragon, to try and destroy Bowling’s one monster, but missed! Snipe Hunter attacked into Marshmallon, and Bowling would survive!

But maybe not for long: he needed to get rid of that Snipe Hunter. He activated Soul Exchange, tributed his Marshmallon and his opponent’s Raiza for Light and Darkness Dragon, and couldn’t attack due to the Exchange. Still, Snipe Hunter was at least subdued for the moment. Next turn Heras tributed his Treeborn Frog for Raiza the Storm Monarch. Raiza’s effect was negated by Light and Darkness Dragon, but the Dragon was now low enough to be destroyed in battle. Raiza attacked it, and Bowling brought back Marshmallon in defense mode. Snipe Hunter became a threat yet again.

Next turn he summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and attacked the Hunter. “Go.”

Heras brought back Treeborn Frog and then ran over Breaker the Magical Warrior with Raiza. Play was to Bowling, who set a monster and ended. “Is that Reaper?” mused Heras. Bowling ended his turn.

Cyber Dragon attacked, and sure enough Bowling had set Spirit Reaper! Heras had nothing he could do, and next turn Bowling topped into Pot of Avarice. He activated it, swiftly shuffled back five cards, and drew two more. He then discarded Malicious for Destiny Draw, discarded Fear Monger for another, and then set a card to each zone. His efforts to stabilize seemed to be going quite well.

Another attack from Cyber Dragon crashed into Bowling’s face-down monster, and this time it was Sangan. Sangan was destroyed, it fetched Disk Commander, and Heras flipped Trap Dustshoot on the following turn, sending Elemental Hero Stratos back to Bowling’s deck. Bowling passed, and Heras set one more spell or trap card.

Bowling set one as well, matching Heras’ pair of back row cards. He set a monster, passed, and Heras passed back. Bowling set another monster, and Heras attacked it with Raiza the Storm Monarch: Treeborn Frog. He set a third spell or trap and ended.

Bowling matched him again with another back row card. “Go.” Heras activated Pot of Avarice, and declared Snipe Hunter, Raiza, Fear Monger, Cyber Dragon, and Stratos as his targets . . . but Bowling flipped The Transmigration Prophecy on the chain! He elected to send Cyber Dragon and Fear Monger back to his opponent’s deck, stopping the Pot. Heras turned Cyber Dragon to defense mode, sent Raiza to attack Bowling’s face-down Disk Commander, and passed.

Bowling flipped his set Heavy Storm! He lost his Torrential Tribute, but eliminated three cards from Heras’ field in the process. Heras had 6600 life points left to Bowling’s 2900, and it looked as if Bowling was about to make a push. He had two cards in hand and four monsters to Heras’ two in hand and three monsters.

He tributed Malicious for Raiza, spinning away Heras’ Treeborn Frog and running over Cyber Dragon. Next turn Heras traded his Raiza for Bowling’s and set a card to each zone. Bowling brought back his Treeborn, tributed it for another Raiza to spin Heras’ Marshmallon from the field, and attacked directly! All Heras could do next turn was set the Marshmallon again.

Bowling took back his Frog, set a card to his back row, and then flipped Morphing Jar! Both duelists took a new hand of five cards, and if Bowling could eliminate his opponent’s one set monster and one set spell or trap, he’d have game. Another Raiza and a piece of removal would do it.

He couldn’t do it; he set four cards to his back row in case Heras had set Morphing Jar, Raiza attacked into Marshmallon, and Bowling took 1000 damage. He activated Gold Sarcophagus and removed Raiza the Storm Monarch from his deck for its effect. “Go.”

Heras activated Heavy Storm, losing his own Mirror Force as Bowling chained Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and Trap Dustshoot. He discarded Brain Control for Wind Blast on the Marshmallon, returned Heras’ only monster to his deck with Dustshoot, and the field was wiped by Heavy Storm. Things looked bad for Heras.

He activated Premature Burial and targeted Destiny Hero – Disk Commander, digging for Lightning Vortex — no such luck, as he drew Fear Monger and Sangan. He summoned Sangan, attacked over Morphing Jar, and set three cards to his back row.

The duel stood at 3400 life points to 1600, with Heras leading. Bowling activated Reinforcement of the Army, searched his deck for Stratos and summoned him, but Heras destroyed Stratos with Pulling the Rug. Raiza attacked Disk Commander, Heras dropped to 1300 life points, and Bowling ended.

It was part of Heras’ plan! He activated Call of the Haunted in the end phase! “Come on Vortex . . . Come onnnn . . .” Two more monsters came off the top of the deck for Heras.

. . . But he drew Vortex in his draw phase! That was all he needed; Vortex hit the field, Bowling lost everything, and Heras struck for game. The match moved to the second duel after some incredibly fast side decking! Both duelists got to breathe a bit, and discussed the duel; both had been holding their breath for the past several minutes.

Thirty minutes remained in the match! Bowling opened the duel and set a card to each zone. Heras activated Foolish Burial, selected Frog to send to his graveyard, and Bowling flipped Trap Dustshoot in response to the Burial’s resolution. That revealed Heras’ Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and Destiny Hero - Fear Monger, and Bowling shuffled back Zaborg. Heras set a card to each zone and Bowling was up.

He got hit with Dustshoot in his draw phase, revealing Torrential Tribute, Wind Blast, Light and Darkness Dragon, Raiza, and Destiny Draw. Raiza was returned to Bowling’s deck and he passed. Heras set a second spell or trap, ended, and Bowling summoned Stratos; Pulling the Rug destroyed him. Heras summoned Banisher of the Radiance, attacked, and hit Marshmallon! Heras took 1000 damage and set another card to his back row.

Bowling set a card to his back row and ended. “Your go.” Heras passed, and Bowling flipped Call of the Haunted in the end phase to bring back his Stratos. He used Stratos’ effect to search out Destiny Hero – Malicious. Stratos attacked Banisher next turn, but Heras used Wind Blast to deflect the attack. Bowling set Torrential Tribute and flipped it next turn when Heras tributed for Raiza the Storm Monarch!

That freed Bowling to activate Destiny Draw and discard Malicious, sending him to his graveyard — Banisher was no longer in play. He summoned Stratos, searched out Disk Commander, and used another Destiny Draw to pitch the Commander. He attacked into Scapegoat, hit a Sheep, set a spell or trap, and ended.

Heras summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and lost him to Wind Blast; Bowling discarded Fear Monger, now thoroughly in control of the game. He brought out his second Malicious next turn, activated Premature Burial to special summon Disk Commander, and drew two. His three Heroes wiped out Heras’ Tokens and he tributed Malicious for Light and Darkness Dragon!

Heras was unfazed. He brought back Treeborn Frog until Light and Darkness Dragon was degraded past the point of negation, and then sent Breaker to run over Stratos. He had one card in hand, plus Treeborn and Breaker to Bowling’s mitt full of cards.

Bowling attacked with Light and Darkness Dragon into Breaker, destroying his Dragon and special summoning Disk Commander. He activated Gold Sarcophagus, removed Pot of Avarice from play with its effect, and set a card to his back row.

He used Reinforcement of the Army to search out Fear Monger and ended. Breaker broke the back row card, but it was Crush Card Virus! Bowling tributed Disk Commander and Breaker was destroyed! Heras had Destiny Draw and Malicious in hand, which he used, and then summoned Sangan.

Soul Exchange from Bowling, was followed up with a Raiza, who bounced away Sangan. Heras tried to bring back his Treeborn Frog, lost it to D.D. Crow, and set a monster. Next turn Bowling activated Pot of Avarice for two more cards.

He summoned Spirit Reaper, attacked Heras’ face-down Sangan with Raiza the Storm Monarch, and sent him to his deck to get Snipe Hunter. Spirit Reaper attacked and Heras scooped moments later.

Chris Bowling fights back to take Game 2, pressing this match to a third and final duel!

Heras opened with Destiny Draw discarding Disk Commander, and then set a card to each zone. Bowling summoned Card Trooper, sending Raiza the Storm Monarch, Pulling the Rug, and Dustshoot to his graveyard. He attacked into Spirit Reaper and gave a bit of a wince; he passed, unable to protect the Trooper.

It got worse! Heras summoned Banisher of the Radiance to attack the Trooper, removing it from play and keeping Bowling from drawing! Reaper made him discard Soul Exchange. Bowling passed next turn with an empty field, Heras summoned Sangan, and attacked to force Bowling to discard his own Sangan! It was a massive beating.

Bowling drew Reinforcement of the Army, grabbed Stratos, and walked right into Pulling the Rug! “I should’ve cut further down,” laughed Bowling.

Next turn Heras summoned Snipe Hunter, attacked with everything and that was game! Chris Bowling would have to play off for third place, while Hector Heras was moving on to the finals!