Anthony Alvarado was the lone member of Team Overdose that made it to the event. He managed to get an affordable last-minute flight, and was actually staying an extra week here in California with various Comic Odyssey members. “I’m gonna spend a night at your house, Patrick. I’m not joking, pick a night.”
Patrick grinned, shuffling his deck. “If I win the first one I’ll side in Blue Eyes for one game. Seriously.”
“Are you actually running Blue-Eyes White Dragon in your side deck?” Alvarado gave his signature crook-of-the-mouth grin.
“Yeah, look . . . ” Patrick showed him a Blue Eyes in his deck box. “I’ll do it.” After more joking around they got down to work.
Alvarado opened the first duel, and did so with a set card to each zone. Wu used Nobleman of Crossout to remove the set monster, which was a D. D. Warrior Lady. He then attacked with Spirit Reaper. Alvarado had the Scapegoat, though, and the Reaper ate nothing but token. Wu set a spell/trap and passed.
Alvarado pressed with a Don Zaloog, looking to take advantage of the Reaper’s poor stats, but was repelled by Sakuretsu Armor. He set one spell/trap and passed. Wu summoned Don Zaloog.
Alvarado looked at him. “Aww, no, don’t tell me: you’re not running Lightning Vortex?”
Wu let the idea hang for a moment, and then shook his head. Zaloog and Reaper each hit a token, and Wu passed. Alvarado set another spell/trap and again passed. Wu summoned Mobius the Frost Monarch, sent it at the last token, and was interrupted in his plans when Spirit Reaper was destroyed by Enemy Controller.
Alvarado summoned Sangan, used Smashing Ground to blow away Mobius, and attacked for 1000. Sangan attacked directly next turn as well, and Wu eventually had to use Smashing Ground to get rid of it. It fetched Alvarado a Spirit Reaper. He used Dust Tornado to rob Wu of his Sakuretsu Armor and attacked for a card. Next turn, Wu dropped Exiled Force, attacked the Reaper with it, then wiped both off the field with Exiled Force’s effect in Main Phase 2. He set a spell/trap to round out his turn. Anthony summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior with the intent of breaking the new set card, but it was flipped to reveal that it was Bottomless Trap Hole, and Breaker was removed.
Wu made the next offensive move, summoning D. D. Assailant and attacking. Alvarado special summoned Cyber Dragon on the following turn, activated Smashing Ground, and attacked directly. Wu summoned Sangan, activated Snatch Steal to take the Dragon, and attacked with both. It was 3600 to 3500.
Alvarado summoned D.D. Warrior and ran it into Sangan. He set a second spell/trap and activated it in Wu’s draw phase. It was Dust Tornado, and he targeted Snatch Steal to take back his Dragon. Wu set one card in each of his zones and passed.
D. D. Assailant was Alvarado’s next summon, and he attacked with Cyber Dragon into the set monster Wu controlled. It was Mystic Swordsman LV2, and it was crushed under the weight of the Dragon. A turn later, Alvarado was trying to attack for game with Cyber Dragon. Wu’s last card was Scapegoat, and he had two Sheep remaining by the end of the turn.
Wu drew, set the monster he topdecked, and passed. Alvarado attacked the face-down monster with Cyber Dragon—in turned out to be Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. D. D. Assailant attacked a token, and Alvarado passed. Wu set both of his in-hand cards and ended. Alvarado attacked Cyber Dragon into the last Sheep, the token went down, and D. D. Assailant charged . . . right into Sakuretsu Armor!
Wu again set his draw, placing it into the spell and trap zone. Cyber Dragon attacked and smacked right into Widespread Ruin. “I’m gonna smack this guy,” muttered Alvarado, joking, but a tad irked. Wu set another monster. Alvarado special summoned a Cyber Dragon from his hand, then used Premature Burial to bring out the second. Torrential Tribute wiped the field, but Alvarado flipped Return from the Different Dimension and brought out D. D. Warrior Lady, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and D. D. Warrior. He attacked with the Lady first, then ended the game with D. D. Warrior.
Game 2
Wu opened game 2, setting a card in each of his zones. He lost his monster, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, to Nobleman of Crossout. “Can I verify?” Alvarado joked, jesting that he wanted to search Wu’s deck for additional copies of the Locomotive. He set one card to each of his zones and passed. Wu blasted Alvarado’s set spell/trap, Widespread Ruin, with Nobleman of Extermination, forcing each duelist to pluck a copy from his deck. Reinforcement of the Army then brought Mystic Swordsman LV2 to his hand. Wu grinned, “He’s just like me, he’s a short little guy!” It attacked Alvarado’s face-down monster, Magician of Faith.
Alvarado set one spell/trap and passed. “Is that a Torrential face down?” asked Wu.
“Yeah,” said Alvarado flatly. Wu summoned, thinking Alvarado was joking. He wasn’t, and Wu lost Don Zaloog and Spirit Reaper as a result. Alvarado then attacked with D. D. Warrior Lady next turn.
Wu set a monster, Magician of Faith, and when it went down on the following turn, his Reinforcement of the Army came back up. Alvarado set a spell/trap and passed. Wu used the Reinforcerment to seek out D. D. Survivor. He summoned it and sent it to attack D. D. Warrior Lady, but Alvarado stopped the attack with Book of Moon. Next turn, Alvarado summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Wu’s set Sakuretsu Armor, and attacked to take down the Survivor.
Wu set D. D. Assailant. D. D. Warrior Lady attacked it, and Alvardo finished it off with Smashing Ground. Wu then went on a setting spree, setting a monster and a pair of spell/trap cards.
Alvarado set a monster and attacked with the D. D. Warrior Lady right into Spirit Reaper, which he removed from play. Alvarado then set Dark Hole as a bluff, but Wu made him pay for it by flipping Dust Tornado in his end phase to destroy it.
Wu summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, attacked into the face-down D. D. Assailant, and removed it. A turn later, Alvarado was attacking with Spirit Reaper, again hitting Sakuretsu Armor. Both players passed for a turn each, then another turn cycle. “This is what I was talking about in my interview,” said Alvarado. He was referring to a statement he’d made earlier, “Most games come down to both players recovering from topdecking, and then all I have to do is wait for them to make a mistake.” Each player set a spell/trap and passed. Wu set another and ended his turn.
Alvarado summoned Spirit Reaper and attacked with it, and Wu flipped Scapegoat. The Reaper ate a token and Alvarado passed. Wu’s Mystical Space Typhoon hit Call of the Haunted, again, in his end phase.
Wu flipped his own Call of the Haunted, took back Don Zaloog, and attacked the Spirit Reaper. Sakuretsu Armor destroyed Zaloog before damage could be dealt. Smashing Ground destroyed Alvarado’s Spirit Reaper in main phase 2, and Wu passed.
Alvarado special summoned Cyber Dragon, set a spell/trap, and ended his turn. Wu tried to use Snatch Steal to take Cyber Dragon, but Dust Tornado destroyed the Snatch before it could resolve. Wu dropped Swords of Revealing Light, and Alvarado set another spell/trap and passed. Wu passed, and Alvarado set a monster and also concluded his turn. Wu played Dark Hole, set a spell/trap, and passed; Alvarado passed again, ending Swords of Revealing Light’s reign on the field. Wu set one spell/trap, ended his turn, and was immediately jumped by Don Zaloog. The attack hit, and Zaloog made off with Wu’s Mobius the Frost Monarch. Alvarado set another spell/trap and lost it in his end phase to another of Wu’s Dust Tornado’s. This time, it cost him Enemy Controller.
Wu special summoned Cyber Dragon, then tributed it for another Mobius. Its effect targeted Alvarado’s set Scapegoat, and Alvarado did choose to chain it.
Next turn, Alvarado turned the tables and did the exact same thing! Alvarado special summoned his Cyber Dragon, tributed it for Mobius, destroyed Sakuretsu Armor and Reinforcement of the Army, and activated Smashing Ground! With a clear path to victory before him, he attacked for game.
Anthony Alvarado moves on with a 6-1 record!