“How many Top 8s in Shonens?” asked Vertrees as Santiago took his seat.

“Three . . . no wins yet though” replied Santiago.

“Still, pretty good credentials.”

Santiago won the die roll. “What round is this, seven? First time I get to go first today, yes!” Santiago was elated. He opened with a set spell or trap and passed. Vertrees dropped Helping Robo For Combat, and swung with it directly for 1600. He then set two cards to his spell and trap zone and passed.

Santiago came back swinging, special summoning Cyber Dragon. The Dragon lashed out at Robo, but Sakuretsu Armor smacked it down. Santiago set a spell or trap, but Vertrees’s last set, Dust Tornado, destroyed it to reveal Mystical Space Typhoon. Next turn Vertrees attacked again with the Robo, set a spell or trap, and passed.

Reinforcement of the Army hit the field on Santiago’s side of the table, and he pulled Don Zaloog with its effect. Smashing Ground destroyed the Robo, and Don attacked directly. Vertrees took it and lost Torrential Tribute from his hand. Next turn he set another s/t and passed. Don Swung again, but Vertrees flipped Call of the Haunted to bring up Robo and force a replay. Santiago was stymied, and Don went to defense position before Santiago set one more spell or trap.

Vertrees eyed Santiago’s two set cards in his spell and trap zone. “Well . . . I know one’s a Scapegoat . . .” He flipped his set Heavy Storm, blew away his own Robo, and Santiago’s set Bottomless Trap Hole and Torrential Tribute. Premature Burial brought back Robo, Robo took out Don, and Vertrees got Book of Moon with the Robo’s effect as he cycled back Chaos Sorcerer. Santiago summoned Blade Knight, set two spells or traps to bump up the Knight’s ATK, and sent it at the Robo, but it swung straight into Book of Moon.

Next turn Vertrees drew Thunder Dragon, and quickly discarded it to get two more. His draws were horrible, but if he could cycle a bit with the Robo he might have a chance. The Robo swung at the set knight, but Sakuretsu Armor destroyed it. Vertrees had to Nobleman of Crossout the Blade Knight, and passed. Santiago drew, set one spell or trap, passed, Vertrees set a card, passed and Dust Tornado destroyed it to reveal Bottomless Trap Hole. It was 4800 to 4800. A turn later, each player had a Sangan on the field: Santiago’s was face up, while Vertrees’s was set. Santiago used Dark Hole to destroy them both, Santiago pulled a D. D. Warrior Lady, Vertrees took a Gravekeeper’s Spy, and the D. D. Warrior Lady attacked directly. Santiago set his last card, a spell or trap, and ended his turn.

Vertrees summoned another Robo, Bottomless Trap Hole removed it from play, and he passed. On the following turn, Santiago had a clear field to attack into: he flipped his last set card, Return from the Different Dimension, and brought back the only monster he had removed from play, which was Blade Knight. It was just enough, and the Lady and Knight attacked to win the game.

The first duel goes to Carlos Santiago!

It was hot. The feature match area was right under the room’s heating system. “I’m wearing this hoodie, but I don’t want to take it off,” said Santiago. Eventually he did anyway—it was just that hot.

Vertrees had a far better hand in this game, and set a card to each of his zones. Blade Knight swept down to attack the set Dekoichi, and the little engine that could was blown off the field. Moments later, Santiago had used a Sakuretsu Armor to gain control of the field and Balde Knight attacked directly. Santiago set another spell or trap, passed to Vertrees, and Vertrees set a spell and passed.

Blade Knight swung directly yet again next turn, but was stopped by Scapegoat. It smacked a Sheep token instead. Vertrees summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and Bottomless Trap Hole swallowed it up. Blade Knight smashed another Sheep token, Vertrees drew, and found himself without a monster. He again passed. The third Sheep was brutally Knighted, Vertrees set another spell or trap, and Blade Knight cleared the last Sheep. Santiago set another monster and passed.

Thunder Dragon came down to hit the graveyard on Vertrees’s side. He had six cards in hand and two cards on the field to Carlos’s two monsters and six cards in hand. Vertrees passed, Blade Knight attacked again to bring Vertrees down to 4800, Santiago set a spell or trap and passed.

Vertrees flipped Jar of Greed, digging for answers. He set two more cards to his spell and trap zone and ended. Blade Knight attacked yet again, and was finally beaten by Sakuretsu Armor. Santiago set another spell or trap, Vertrees blasted it with Mystical Space Typhoon, and revealed it to be Reinforcement. Next turn, Vertrees summoned Robo, attacked into D. D. Assailant, and used Smashing Ground to destroy it. He set Waboku and passed play to Santiago.

Cyber Dragon was again special summoned by Santiago, and the Dragon attacked Helping Robo For Combat. Vertrees let it go, opting to not activate Waboku. In the second main phase, Santiago set a card to each zone and ended.

Vertrees took the Dragon down with Smashing Ground, set a third spell or trap, and ended his turn. Santiago flipped D. D. Warrior Lady, she attacked, and Vertrees took another 1500 damage—he was down to less than 3000 life points. But, he played Snatch Steal, ran D. D. Warrior Lady at Santiago and . . . Santiago flipped Sakuretsu Armor. Next turn, Santiago activated Premature Burial, special summoned Cyber Dragon, and it fell straight into a Bottomless Trap Hole. Santiago then summoned Bazoo the Soul-Eater, removed three monsters, and Vertrees used Torrential Tribute to destroy Bazoo.

He summoned another Robo, hit Santiago directly, and Santiago used Smashing Ground and Spirit Reaper next turn to rob Vertrees of Thunder Dragon. Vertrees drew, set two cards to his spell and trap zone (his remaining in-hand card was the last Dragon), and sure enough, Reaper hit it next turn. Santiago set two spells or traps, and play again passed to Vertrees.

Sangan came off the top of Vertrees’s deck, and he summoned it. Sangan smashed Spirit Reaper, dishing out some damage directly to Santiago. Vertrees needed to bait Santiago into activating Return. If he did, Waboku would save Vertrees for a turn and the loss of half his life points would give Vertrees a chance to win.

Santiago activated Call of the Haunted to bring out Bazoo again, and he had no monsters to remove for Bazoo’s effect. Bottomless Trap Hole knocked the monkey into the different dimension though, and Santiago set a third spell or trap before turning Reaper to defense position and passing.

Vertrees set one more spell or trap and passed the turn. Santiago summoned Don Zaloog, turned Reaper to attack position, sent it at Sangan, and Vertrees countered with Sakuretsu Armor to destroy it. Santiago started looking through his out of play pile. He had a choice of several prime monsters, and calculated his life points, which were at 4900.

He paid half of them to bring out Cyber Dragon, Blade Knight, D. D. Assailant, and D. D. Warrior Lady. Vertrees played it silent. D. D. Warrior Lady attacked Sangan, and Vertrees flipped Waboku! The Lady still got rid of Sangan, but Vertrees survived and Santiago went down to 2450.

Vertrees drew, set one spell or trap, and Reaper poked him. Santiago set a card and he passed. Vertrees had a set Heavy Storm, Nobleman of Crossout, and an in-hand Helping Robo For Combat. He summoned the Robo after thinking hard, and smacked the Reaper – Santiago went down to 1150, to Vertrees’s 1900!

Santiago played Snatch Steal to take the Robo and it was over. Spirit Reaper’s 300 ATK and the Robo’s 1600 were enough to seal the deal and win the match.

Jeff Vertrees loses to some particularly hideous luck despite some great playing. A bad hand in the first game and an inability to draw a Chaos Sorcerer in the second allows Carlos Santiago to capitalize, and gets him one step closer to his fourth Shonen Jump Championship Top 8!