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It all came down to this! After tearing through two veteran players, the Shonen Jump newcomer from Team Ikura was facing down Emon Ghaneian, who had never made it past the quarterfinal round in a Shonen Jump Championship until today. |
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“Good luck,” said Emon, holding out his hand. “I’ve never played you before.” |
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Ibrahim had just put away Team Overdose member Anthony Alvarado, but was in no way taking this match lightly. Paired off against yet another member of Team Overdose, he would now have to face a very motivated Kris Perovic. |
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Both players blazed into the Top 8 with extremely powerful decks. Carlos was playing the Team Scoop favorite, Chaos/Return, while Jerry Wang was sporting something that only Jerry Wang could have thought of, bringing in a very consistent Monarch Control deck with some Wang flavor. |
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Anthony Alvarado was in Top 8 contention in the final round of both Shonen Jump Orlando and Shonen Jump Baltimore, but was narrowly eliminated from Day 2 in both tournaments. |
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Check out the Top 8 decklists here! |
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Overdose’s Anthony Alvarado was on the bubble yet again! “Third event in a row,” he half-muttered. |
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Both Perovic and Santiago are undefeated for the day, and sitting at table 1, both have a strong chance of making it to the Top 8. |
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Yes, readers, these are the kinds of facts you learn when the feature match table receives the round’s random deck check. |
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At Shonen Jump Championship Boston last year, Perovic took down Brian Long in the Swiss rounds. Both duelists made it to the Top 8, but while Perovic was eliminated in the quarterfinals, Long went on to take home the Des Volstgalph. Now, Perovic gets his rematch. |
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It was another first-time matchup, and this time it was East Coast versus West Coast! Like so many matches today, Ghaneian and Yetter have never played each other, despite having competed in many of the same events over the past two years. |
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It took a while today, but in scanning the top tables, I’ve managed to identify what appears to be the event’s dominant tech. |
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I just had a very weird conversation with Jeff Wallace, a duelist I’d never met before. |
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Jerry Wang, star player for Team Overdose, has made the Top 8 in three Shonen Jump Championships. Max Suffridge, on the other hand, won the US National Championships last year. |
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“My God, I can’t believe it, I woke up at six AM just to get here.” |
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What are the odds? Out of more than 550 duelists, two Shonen Jump Champions had been paired up in round 1. What a way to start off the weekend! |
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The wait is over, and the 550 duelists competing here today have finally seen the weekend’s ultimate prize. |
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