It all came down to this. Representing Team Top Control, 17 year-old Austin Ruggieri, hails from Iowa, and seemed genuinely surprised to be sitting at the Finals table. His opponent, Louis Raimondo is another dark horse pick, and at only 13 years of age, had succeeded where fellow burn players like Kenny So had stumbled this weekend. A native of Chicago, he plays for Team Kamikaze and was eager to keep the Championship title local.
Perfect Circle Monarch versus burn. The same matchup we saw in the finals of Washington. Play began swiftly.
Ruggieri started things off with a set spell or trap. Raimondo set a monster, three back row cards, and activated Messenger of Peace. Ruggieri nodded, drew for his turn and summoned Mystic Tomato, swinging right into Morphing Jar. He gained nothing, while Raimondo earned himself a huge number of cards over his opponent. Ruggieri ended, knowing he’d have a hard time winning this duel.
Raimondo paid for Messenger, summoned Mystic Tomato, and activated Smashing Ground, but attacked into Mirror Force. Trap Dustshoot revealed Ruggieri’s hand next turn: Treeborn Frog, Cyber Dragon, Sangan, Threatening Roar, Destiny Draw, and Brain Control. He sent Sangan back to his opponent’s deck, leaving Ruggieri to set a card to each zone. Raimondo was up.
He set a card to the spell and trap zone, Ruggieri set one as well, and Raimondo set another. Ruggieri set one, Raimondo summoned another Mystic Tomato, and, when he tried to enter his battle phase, Ruggieri flipped Threatening Roar. Next turn Raimondo assumed control of Tomato with Brain Control and attacked with it. Raimondo responded with Dimension Wall. Tomato was tributed for Cyber Dragon in face-down defense.
Raimondo summoned Sangan. He activated Ceasefire to flip his opponent’s monsters, Cyber Dragon and Treeborn Frog, and attacked the Frog. Ruggieri summoned Snipe Hunter next turn, discarded Threatening Roar to destroy Messenger, and turned Cyber Dragon to attack mode. Cyber Dragon attacked, Raimondo flipped Magic Cylinder, and Snipe Hunter attacked Sangan. The duel stood at 7000 to 2200, with Raimondo seemingly on his way to victory.
He summoned Card Trooper, sent three cards to his graveyard to boost its ATK, and attacked Snipe Hunter, destroying it and dealing another 500 damage. Next turn Ruggieri activated Destiny Draw, discarded Destiny Hero – Malicious, and drew two. He removed Malicious from his graveyard to summon the other form his deck in attack mode, and turned Cyber Dragon to defense. Malicious attacked Card Trooper and Ruggieri concluded his turn with another back row set.
Raimondo had Mirror Force, Scapegoat, Wall of Revealing Light, and Dimension Wall set. He set a monster, activated Different Dimension Capsule, and ended. Ruggieri summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and used his effect to destroy Wall of Revealing Light, no big loss given that Raimondo was probably hoping to take the game with Dimension Wall anyway. Breaker attacked the face down monster and Raimondo activated Mirror Force, keeping his opponent’s field under control while still leaving him with the Cyber Dragon that would backfire and cost him the game if it attacked directly.
A pass was Raimondo’s only move. Ruggieri activated Reinforcement of the Army, searched out Elemental Hero Stratos, and turned Cyber Dragon to attack. It ran over Raimondo’s Dark Mimic LV3 and Ruggieri ended, not summoning the Stratos.
Raimondo played Wave-Motion Cannon and passed, really putting the pressure on Ruggieri to attack. It was an obvious play to make, but a very powerful one regardless; if Ruggieri didn’t attack, the Cannon would defeat him in two turns. If he did, the Dimension Wall would defeat him instantly instead.
Call of the Haunted brought back Ruggieri’s Snipe Hunter, but, when he tried to discard Cyber Dragon and blow away Wave-Motion Cannon, Raimondo chained Skill Drain. It dropped his life points to 5600, no doubt tempting Ruggieri to attack even more. Snipe Hunter attacked directly and, sure enough, Cyber Dragon followed suit. Raimondo flipped Dimension Wall and the duel was over.
A downhill slide due to an early game Morphing Jar utterly buries Austin Ruggieri, giving 13 year-old Louis Raimondo the win! He was one duel away from becoming a Shonen Jump Champion. Kenny So and Duke Anthony had played this deck with Crush Card Virus today and faltered. Now, Raimondo was playing without Crush Card and was so close to victory he could taste it.
“I’ll go first,” announced Ruggieri. Raimondo nodded, silent.
Ruggieri opened with a set spell or trap card, and, again, played no monster. He ate 1000 damage from Sangan next turn, as Raimondo was happy to take advantage of the open field. He followed it up with Level Limit - Area B and ended. He had three Dark Mimic LV3 and Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch in his hand, a rough set of draws. Ruggieri set a card to each zone, Raimondo set a monster, and Sangan went to defense mode. Ruggieri tributed Destiny Hero - Fear Monger for Raiza the Storm Monarch in defense, spun Raimondo’s set monster (a Mimic), to the top of his deck, and ended. Raimondo tributed his Sangan for Thestalos, and managed to make Ruggieri discard Snipe Hunter, a potent blow that would really help him in the long run! He searched out Card Trooper with Sangan’s effect and ended.
A pass was Ruggieri’s only move, and Raimondo summoned Card Trooper next turn. He activated it, wiped out Raiza with an attack, and ended. The combo of Card Trooper and Level Limit was brutal. Ruggieri was playing very few monsters that could survive it. But next turn he activated Call of the Haunted, bringing up Snipe Hunter and discarding Magician of Faith to try and destroy Level Limit — the shot missed. He discarded Zaborg and that time he hit his mark. He tributed Snipe Hunter for Raiza the Storm Monarch, bounced Thestalos and then attacked over Card Trooper, making Raimondo draw Thestalos again. He ended, now seemingly in control.
Raimondo drew and had nothing but monsters and Dark Bribe. He set Bribe, set Dark Mimic LV3, and ended. Next turn Raiza rolled over the Mimic and Raimondo drew Smashing Ground. He special summoned Cyber Dragon, tributed for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, and discarded Jinzo from his opponent’s hand. He activated Smashing Ground to destroy Raiza and attacked for 2400 damage. Ruggieri was down to 3600 life points, and he was in serious trouble.
He drew and set one spell or trap card. Raimondo summoned Dark Mimic, attacked into Mirror Force, and flipped Dark Bribe to negate it! Thestalos and Mimic both connected and Ruggieri was down to the triple digits. He tried to fight back next turn with Lightning Vortex but Ceasefire was chained, and Raimondo took the second game!
Louis Raimondo is your newest Shonen Jump Champion!