It just doesn’t get any bigger than this! Chris Bowling and Lazaro Bellido are the 2008 National Champions of the United States and Canada respectively, and in a week and a half they’ll both be competing on the biggest stage of all at the World Championships in Berlin. For now, consider this a preview of what’s to come at Worlds.
Game 1
Lazaro opened with what seems to be his signature opening with this deck: Gladiator Beast Laquari, and two set spell or trap cards. One of them, Trap Dustshoot, was immediately flipped next turn to reveal Bowling’s hand: Elemental Hero Stratos, Book of Moon, Test Tiger, Reinforcement of the Army, D.D. Crow, and Crush Card Virus. He sent back the D.D. Crow almost immediately to cut off the threat of the Virus. Bowling used Reinforcement of the Army to search out Elemental Hero Prisma, summoned Stratos, searched for another Prisma, then sent Stratos to attack Laquari; both monsters were traded. Bowling was up a card, but Lazaro had the advantage of knowledge thanks to the Dustshoot. Bowling ended his turn with an empty field.
Gladiator Beast Murmillo hit the field, and Lazaro special summoned Test Tiger to tag it out for Gladiator Beast Secutor. Secutor made a direct attack, and then brought out Laquari and Gladiator Beast Darius from Lazaro’s deck. The Darius brought back last turn’s Laquari, and Lazaro contact Fused the Darius, Darius’ Laquari, and Secutor for Gladiator Beast Heraklinos! Lazaro finished his turn by setting one more spell or trap.
Bowling drew, and accidentally revealed his top card from his deck: Book of Moon. The card was placed back on top of his deck as per tournament procedure and Bowling was issued the appropriate warning. “Summon Prisma.” He activated its effect to send Gladiator Beast Bestiari to the graveyard from his deck, then special summoned Test Tiger — Lazaro negated the special summon with Solemn Judgment! Bowling was in serious trouble. He set one spell or trap card to finish out and Lazaro checked his remaining set card: another Solemn. This one was going to be over quick.
Heraklinos smashed through Prisma, and Laquari dropped Bowling to 4200 life points. “Go ahead.” Bowling set a card to each zone, and Lazaro set Gladiator Beast Bestiari to contact Fuse with Laquari! Gladiator Beast Gyzarus hit the field; Lazaro targeted Bowling’s monster and one of his back row cards, and Bowling immediately conceded!
The first duel goes to Lazaro Bellido in mere minutes, as a lost die roll and Trap Dustshoot doom Chris Bowling to defeat. Both competitors went straight for their side decks; swapping the right cards in and out for this matchup was a rote process for both competitors.
“Man, I knew I had to win that dice roll,” remarked Bowling.
“Yeah, as soon as I saw that you didn’t set the Book of Moon, I knew I was getting in there with Secutor.”
They continued making small talk as they shuffled up, and play began swiftly.
Game 2
Bowling got the duel started with Reinforcement of the Army, searching out Stratos and using him to get Prisma from his deck. He backed up Stratos with one set spell or trap to finish out. Lazaro destroyed it with Mystical Space Typhoon as soon as he began his turn: Mirror Force. He set a monster, did his usual double-set to the back row, and ended.
Bowling activated Heavy Storm, but Lazaro chained Crush Card Virus! He tributed his set D.D. Crow, and Bowling lost Laquari and Prisma from his hand, as well as Stratos from his field. He was left with just Murmillo, Test Tiger, and Bottomless Trap Hole.
Bowling summoned Murmillo, tagged it out with the Tiger, and brought out Secutor. Secutor attacked, then brought Laquari and Darius to the field just as Lazaro had done last game. Continuing the mirroring of Lazaro’s play, Bowling got another Laquari with Darius, then contact Fused everything save the independent Laquari for Gladiator Beast Heraklinos! “Go.”
Lazaro drew, and had Reinforcement of the Army, Premature Burial, and Murmillo to Bowling’s three on-field cards. Since Bowling couldn’t negate anything with Heraklinos (his hand was empty), the card resolved, and Lazaro fetched Elemental Hero Stratos! It was a risky play that would leave him open to a lot of damage on the following turn, but he chose Stratos over Prisma anyway. He searched out Prisma with Stratos’ effect, set the Premature, and passed. There just wasn’t anything he could do in the face of that Bottomless Trap Hole.
To make matters worse, Bowling didn’t lose his next draw to Crush Card Virus: Book of Moon. His Heraklinos ran over Stratos, Laquari made a direct attack, and Bowling considered what to do with the Book. It didn’t really matter what he did with it now — if he kept it, Heraklinos could negate Lazaro’s Premature Burial. If he set it, he could use it to turn a monster face down and ward off threats like Test Tiger. Lazaro was in a bad position.
He drew Test Tiger, a card that just validated Bowling’s decision to set Book of Moon. He summoned Prisma, activated its effect, and lost out to Bottomless Trap Hole. He flipped Premature Burial, brought back Stratos (his only option aside from D.D. Crow), and searched for another Prisma. “Pass.”
Bowling topped Monster Reborn, cementing his dominance in this duel. He activated it, brought back his Stratos, and Lazaro scooped.
Chris Bowling fights back from under Crush Card Virus’ effect, taking the match to a third duel! Play began seconds later with what appeared to be minimal or no side decking on both sides of the table.
Game 3
“Starting off strong, starting off strong . . .” remarked Lazaro, summoning Elemental Hero Stratos, then searching his deck for Elemental Hero Prisma before setting a spell or trap to end. Bowling set a monster, and then set three cards to his back row! “Ummm . . . Good. Go.”
Lazaro summoned the Prisma and Bowling responded with Torrential Tribute, destroying his opponent’s Stratos and Prisma, as well as his own Sangan! The Sangan got him D.D. Crow, and Lazaro set another spell or trap to finish his turn. Bowling was up, and he summoned Gladiator Beast Bestiari — Lazaro flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from play. “Your go.” Lazaro summoned Sangan, swung for 1000 damage, then set a second spell or trap. He had three cards in hand, two set in his back row, and Sangan on the field.
Bowling drew to four in hand, and had two cards set in his spell and trap zone. He shuffled his hand, looking slightly perturbed, and passed. Lazaro activated Reinforcement of the Army next turn, grabbed another Prisma, and used its effect to send Bestiari to his graveyard. Sangan swung for 1000 damage, and then Prisma scored a hit for 1700. The duel stood at 4300 to 8000, with Lazaro in control. “Go.”
“Prisma,” announced Bowling, playing Brain Control to the field. Lazaro thought a moment before passing it over. Bowling activated Prisma’s effect to send Bestiari to his graveyard, then set a monster — Lazaro responded with Book of Moon, targeting Prisma! Bowling had no choice but to flip Solemn Judgment — he was going for a contact Fusion, and if Prisma went face down he wouldn’t be able to Fuse. But Lazaro had his own Solemn to negate Bowling’s, and there was nothing Bowling could do! Prisma went face down and Bowling ended his turn, setting a second spell or trap before passing back the Elemental Hero. Ouch.
Lazaro summoned Darius from his hand, then flip summoned Elemental Hero Prisma to send Bestiari to his graveyard — Bowling responded with a Book of Moon of his own, turning Prisma face down after Bestiari was sent to the yard. Darius attacked, and Bowling flipped Mirror Force, destroying Darius and Sangan. The Sangan let Lazaro search for Test Tiger, and he ended his turn with a hand of two Tigers, a Rescue Cat, and Neo-Spacian Dark Panther. With the game now substantially simplified, Lazaro would be able to take huge advantage of Bowling if he played a face-up Gladiator Beast.
Bowling flip summoned Gladiator Beast Secutor, special summoned Test Tiger, and then traded Secutor for Gladiator Beast Darius. That let him get back Bestiari, and he contact Fused for Gyzarus to destroy Prisma. Gyzarus attacked, and then tagged out to two copies of Gladiator Beast Laquari, each with 2100 ATK. Bowling had two cards remaining in his hand — if he couldn’t commit them to a defense, he was in trouble. “Go.” Uh-oh.
Sure enough, Lazaro played Rescue Cat next turn and tributed it to bring out Dark Panther and Tiger. Panther copied Laquari, Test Tiger tagged it out for Murmillo, and one Laquari went down. When Lazaro revealed the second Test Tiger Bowling immediately offered the handshake.