Adam Corn is a seven-time Shonen Jump Day 2 qualifier, the current American Champion, and a huge favorite for the win here today, but if he’s to capture his first Shonen Jump Championship title this weekend it won’t be an easy task: standing in his way this morning is Justin Gillison. This one-time Shonen Jump circuit regular has made a huge comeback this weekend with his innovative OTK deck, centered on Dimension Fusion, Spell Economics, Dark Magician of Chaos, and Shadowpriestess of Ohm.
Gillison won the roll and opened with Elemental Hero Stratos searching Destiny Hero – Disk Commander, ditched him with Destiny Draw, and immediately brought him back with Premature Burial to draw two. Allure of Darkness was next, removing the ubiquitous Dark Magician of Chaos.
He drew a card with Upstart Goblin, and then activated Dark World Dealings. Gillison discarded Broww, Huntsman of Dark World, drawing for it, while Corn tossed Trade-In. Gillison proceeded to activate Reinforcement of the Army, searched his deck for Dark Grepher, then discarded Dark Nephthys for Trade-In. His draw engine was certainly paying off.
He contemplated a second Trade-In, activating it after a few moments’ thought to discard Destiny Hero – Plasma. Upstart Goblin got him another card deeper into his deck, and Allure of Darkness let him dig through two more at the cost of Destiny Hero – Dogma. He played his third and final Upstart Goblin, followed it up with Dark World Dealings, and discarded another Broww; Corn discarded Torrential Tribute, and Gillison got an extra draw.
Gillison set three cards to his back row, then activated Card Destruction discarding Dark Grepher, Plasma, and Broww to draw four cards total. Corn shook his head, and Gillison continued on with Dark World Dealings; this time he discarded Hand Destruction, and Corn discarded Dreadmaster. Gillison had fewer than ten cards left in his deck.
He activated The Beginning of the End to draw three more cards, and counted out the remaining cards in his deck: four. Destiny Draw discarding Plasma let him draw half of the remaining cards, and Allure of Darkness let him get the last two. It was over. All Gillison had to do was put together the pieces.
He removed Shadowpriestess of Ohm with Allure, flipped Spell Economics, and revealed Dimension Fusion: Corn scooped. Dimension Fusion would bring back Dark Magician of Chaos and Shadowpriestess of Ohm, and Gillison would retrieve Dimension Fusion with the Magician’s effect. He’d then tribute the Magician to Shadowpriestess to deal 800 damage, removing the Magician from play, and Spell Economics would let him use Dimension Fusion again to bring the Magician back. He’d loop the combo until Corn was burned out of the duel, 800 damage at a time.
Needless to say, Corn dove for his side deck.
Corn opened the second duel with Allure of Darkness, drawing two and removing Jinzo from play. Destiny Draw gave him two more cards courtesy of Destiny Hero – Plasma, and a second Allure hit the table right after; Corn took a few moments pondering which monster he would remove, before choosing to give up Dark Armed Dragon. He set one card to his spell and trap zone and ended. Corn would need to play as aggressively as possible if he was going to bring Gillison down.
Gillison started his turn with Elemental Hero Stratos, searching out Destiny Hero – Plasma. He activated Upstart Goblin, followed it up with Dark World Dealings and discarded Broww, while Corn discarded Morphing Jar. Another Dark World Dealings and another Broww got Gillison another two draws, and Corn discarded Dreadmaster.
He continued, playing Reinforcement of the Army to get Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. Upstart Goblin followed next, and the Commander was discarded for Destiny Draw. Gillison’s play was flawless and disciplined, pretty much the only factor one needs to succeed with a deck like this. Trade-In let him discard Plasma for two more cards and Allure of Darkness removed Jinzo for another two — Gillison had sided the Jinzo in.
He activated Monster Reborn to try and special summon Disk Commander, but Corn chained D.D. Crow to remove him from play in response. He set Destiny Draw and Dimension Fusion, then activated Card Destruction to discard his last two cards: Giant Trunade and Hand Destruction. He drew into Trade-In and Plasma, discarded Plasma for Destiny Draw, and finally seemed to run out of draw power.
Gillison fingered his set Dimension Fusion, contemplating using it to bring back Jinzo and Disk Commander. He set his remaining hand instead, and then activated Allure of Darkness, drawing Dogma and removing it. He attacked with Stratos and passed. Corn would have a chance to press this match to a third duel!
Corn had lost Elemental Hero Stratos to the Card Destruction, and his graveyard had five Dark monsters a challenging situation. He began by removing Dark Magician of Chaos from play with Gold Sarcophagus — did he have Escape from the Dark Dimension or Return set? He checked his one set card, and then activated it: Return! Jinzo and Dark Magician of Chaos hit the field, and the Magician retrieved Premature Burial.
He activated it, special summoning Elemental Hero Stratos to get Destiny Hero – Disk Commander from his deck. All three monsters made direct attacks and Corn set a card to each zone. Two more cards were then placed face-down in his spell and trap zone, and Jinzo and Dark Magician of Chaos were removed from play. Corn had set Mind Crush! Gillison was finished.
He’d also set Crush Card Virus, and he activated it in Gillison’s draw phase! Gillison lost his in-hand Plasma and his on-field Stratos, revealing the last card in his hand: Premature Burial. Corn forced him to discard it with Mind Crush, and Gillison passed with nothing left but his three set cards.
Corn set one of his two cards to his back row, then activated Allure of Darkness: it got him Strike Ninja and an unknown card, which he set. Stratos attacked and Gillison went to 1000 life points. Corn passed, Gillison drew, and he conceded after seeing his topdeck!
Adam Corn pulls out the win, but he’d still need to take game 3 in order to stay alive in this tournament! Gillison would get the huge advantage of going first, so Corn had some serious siding to do. Play began minutes later after some careful strategizing on both sides.
Gillison opened with Upstart Goblin, then Destiny Draw; Disk Commander was ditched to get him two more cards. He was stuck with a mitt full of monsters though; he set one card, and then activated Card Destruction to ditch Dogma, two Plasma, and a Broww. He’d get five cards in return, but losing that many monsters early might inhibit his draw engine.
Allure of Darkness kept the cards coming though, and he removed Shadowpriestess of Ohm. He activated Monster Reborn and tried to bring back Disk Commander, but lost it to D.D. Crow. He recovered with another Allure, pitching Dark Grepher, his last in-hand monster. That left him with Spell Economics, Trade-In, Destiny Draw, and Dimension Fusion in-hand, with the The Beginning of the End on the field really being his only live card. He’d need to use Dimension Fusion to fill his graveyard through Shadowpriestess of Ohm.
He activated Spell Economics, then Dimension Fusion, bringing back Shadowpriestess in attack mode, Disk Commander in defense, and Grepher in attack. He tributed all three to the Shadowpriestess, then activated The Beginning of the End to remove two Plasma, Dogma, Broww, and the Shadowpriestess and draw three!
Upstart Goblin followed it up, then Trade-In discarding Dark Nephthys! Reinforcement of the Army let him dig for Elemental Hero Stratos; he summoned him, got Plasma, and then activated Dark World Dealings. Gillison pitched Broww and Corn tossed Heavy Storm. Those Browws were really working wonders for Gillison’s draw engine.
Destiny Draw came next, discarding Plasma, and Gillison just kept plowing through his deck. Trade-In and Dark Magician of Chaos got him another two cards, and he drew into Premature Burial! It was over! Premature would bring back Dark Magician of Chaos, the Magician would retrieve Dimension Fusion, and the loop would go off.
Gillison set one card, activated D.D. Designator and called D.D. Crow, just in case Corn had his one out. Corn didn’t have it, Gillison lost Hand Destruction from his hand, and it didn’t matter!
Premature flipped and Corn scooped it up! Justin Gillison is headed to the Top 8 with one of the scariest decks I’ve ever seen.