Morillo won the roll and opted to go first. He opened the game with a set monster, set a back row card and passed. Alvarado brought out Cyber Dragon, attacked into Sakuretsu Armor, and set a monster. Morillo flip summoned his set Gravekeeper’s Spy, pulled another to the field in attack position, tributed it for Zaborg, and hit directly for 2400! Spirit Reaper was destroyed by Zaborg’s effect. Alvarado attacked it next turn with Tsukuyomi, destroying it, and Morillo poked him back with Asura Priest.

Alvarado set a card to each zone, but Morillo tributed for another Zaborg! It blew away Alvarado’s set monster, but then attacked into Sakuretsu! Alvarado set a card to each zone, Morillo set one to each zone too and ended his turn.

Slate Warrior flipped on Alvarado’s side, attacking, but hit Sakuretsu Armor. Cyber Dragon came back up with Call of the Haunted. It attacked, but it hit only Treeborn Frog! Alvarado set another back row card, the Frog came back up, then Morillo tributed it for Jinzo, attacked the Dragon, and ended his turn.

Alvarado set a monster and passed. Morillo brought back his Frog, brought out the Priest again, and hit into Tsukuyomi. Tsukuyomi turned Jinzo face down, Alvarado brought out Bazoo on the following turn, removed three monsters from play, used Mystical Space Typhoon Morillo’s set Call of the Haunted, and hit into the face down Jinzo to destroy it. Morillo set another card to each zone and passed.

Bazoo struck again, this time hitting a set Spirit Reaper. Alvarado set a card to each zone, passed, and Morillo set a monster. Spirit Reaper went to defense position and Alvarado was up.

He flipped Magician of Faith, pulled back Mystical Space Typhoon, and chained Torrential Tribute to clear the field. Morillo had only one set back row card. Alvarado set another spell or trap and passed.

Morillo set a monster, passed back, and Alvarado set a monster too. Morillo summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, Alvarado hit it with Bottomless Trap Hole, and Morillo ended his turn.

Alvarado considered his next move carefully, before settling on setting a second monster. Morillo summoned Asura Priest, attacked the most recently set monster first with it, and it hit Night Assailant. Alvarado destroyed Morillo’s face down. The next attack hit Magical Merchant, netting Alvarado Snatch Steal, and Morillo passed with only one set back row card. The life point totals were 8000 to 3600, and Alvarado was hurting.

Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed Morillo’s set Return from the Different Dimension. Alvarado flipped his last set card, a Return of his own, and brought out two Slate Warriors, Cyber Dragon, and Spirit Reaper! He tributed the Reaper for Jinzo and attacked for game, dishing out a total of 8300 damage in one turn!

 “Hold on a sec, my hands are shaking,” said Alvarado. He paused a moment and then began side decking for the next game.

Morillo opened the second duel with a summoned Sangan and a set spell or trap card. Alvarado considered his moves carefully, focused and precise as he always is in this kind of situation. He summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, prompting Morillo to flip Torrential Tribute and pulled Exiled Force with the Sangan’s effect—he already had a Reaper in his hand, a read that Alvarado probably made.

He used Premature Burial to bring back his D. D. Warrior Lady and attack for 1500! Alvarado passed with no back row. Morillo played Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying the Premature, hit with Reaper to knock away Mobius, and set a back row card. Alvarado’s plan had been outplayed with the Mystical Space Typhoon.

He played Smashing Ground to take out the Reaper next turn, and Morillo summoned his own D. D. Warrior Lady to attack directly. Alvarado summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke Morillo’s set Call of the Haunted, and Morillo chained it to bring up Sangan. This time it got him another Reaper. It put Alvarado in a hard position: if he attacked the D. D. Warrior Lady as he’d probably intended, he’d lose the only wall that was protecting him from the Reaper he hadn’t anticipated. But he had Snatch Steal, and used it to take D. D. Warrior Lady! Both monsters attacked Morillo directly.

Heavy Storm hit the field on Morillo’s side though, and took his D. D. Warrior Lady back. He summoned the second Reaper, ran Warrior Lady into Breaker to remove it from play, and hit with Reaper again, discarding Jinzo from Alvarado’s hand.

Alvarado special summoned Chaos Sorcerer. Morillo tried to bait Alvarado into attacking, but he didn’t buy it: Sorcerer removed Reaper from play and Alvarado set a monster. Morillo summoned Exiled Force to blow away the set monster, but it was Treeborn Frog! Alvarado brought it back in defense next turn, set a back row card, and attacked with Chaos Sorcerer . . . into Sakuretsu Armor. Morillo drew, set a monster, and the Frog was tributed for Zaborg! Zaborg’s effect destroyed Morillo’s set Gravekeeper’s Spy, and the Zaborg attacked directly!

Next turn, Morillo set Magical Merchant. Alvarado summoned Tsukuyomi, turned his Zaborg face down, flip summoned it, and then ran Tsukuyomi into the set Merchant. Morillo had tried to bait Alvarado into attacking with the Zaborg first, but again, the veteran Alvarado wasn’t buying it.

Merchant went down, Zaborg hit directly, and Alvarado moves on with an 8-1 record!