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It all came down to this; two countrymen, two Italians, battling it out, not for national pride, but for personal accomplishment. |
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Both of these duelists had their invites to the World Championships, and both hailed from the very nation in which this weekend’s competition took place: Italy. |
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Hailing from Pescara, Alessandro’s a part of Team Italian Odyssey, and he has done exceedingly well today, coming back from a rough Day 1 to take today by storm with a 5-0 record. |
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Four Italian duelists and four German duelists are going head-to-head, and each country has one match that will see two countrymen battling for their survival in this tournament. For Germany, this is that match. |
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Team Overdose’s Christopher Merlini was paired against fellow Italian, Donato Mancini, who was playing a deck that closely resembled the deck Justin Womack played at the US National Championships just last weekend. |
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Germany’s Bjorn Krause and Scotland’s Duncan Tang have both received feature matches this weekend and now, with two rounds remaining in the tournament, they both needed to win out to clinch a spot in the Top 8. |
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The Belgian Wim Eliano was now up against Italy’s Donato Mancini. |
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Han-Wei’s worked up quite a reputation around the UK, winning many regional tournaments and placing in the Top 8 of the Nationals in 2005. |
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Now that we are nearing the end of the Swiss rounds I think it’s time to have a look at how the champions of each country are doing. |
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Michel Grüner is a member of United Gosus, Germany’s answer to Team Comic Odyssey. |
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The Belgian National Champion from 2005 was confident after his extremely strong showing yesterday, and was well prepared for his upcoming match. |
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One of the unique things about an international tournament like this one is the kind of national pride issues that can arise. |
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Max Homig is one of several German players still ranked 6-1 in this tournament. |
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Today the Swiss rounds continue, with five more matches standing between us and the Top 8 playoffs! |
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Day 1 of the 2007 European Championships is over, and the top three players going into tomorrow are all Italian! |
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The final round of today’s tournament sees Vincent Wielandt making one heck of a recovery from his first round. |
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Both of these players are fighting to represent Italy here this weekend, and both were undefeated at Table 2. |
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In 2005, Guy Israel won the title of Belgian National Champion. A year later that title was captured by fan favorite Wim Eliano, and now the two countrymen were facing off with undefeated records. |
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Vittorio Wiktor is one of the most respected and feared duelists here today. |
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Scotland’s Duncan Tang may be the world’s only successful crossover Yu-Gi-Oh! and Vs. player. |
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London’s James Pennicott arrived at the feature match area before his opponent, the Swedish National Champion. |
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For the American players reading this coverage, the most familiar name in contention here today, aside from World Champion Dario Longo, may very well be Carlo Palazzo. |
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What better place to start than with the World Champion? |
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Who wants to see Joe Whittaker and Dexter Dalit thrown into the Duel Dome and forced to battle it out? |
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Let’s take a look at the path that led hundreds of duelists to Italy here today, and the gauntlet they’ll have to run to earn the title of European Champion. |
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The Italian city of Turin is no stranger to big competitions. |
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