Russel Duminuco made Day 2 at Shonen Jump Championship Houston, but lost out because he called Level 3 on his opponent’s Reasoning — he thought Cyber Valley was Level 3, and hasn’t lived down that mistake since. He’s playing here today for Team Illusion, representing B.R.A.D.’S Sportscards and Collectibles in Coral Springs, Florida.
Henry Su’s Day 2 appearance is far more recent; he stole the show at Shonen Jump Charlotte with his Diamond Dude Synchro build, a deck that you can read about over in Matt Peddle’s Champions column here today. Su’s deck was impressive at Charlotte, but today he’s given up TeleDAD to play Lightsworn instead. His Lightsworn build retains his signature tech from Charlotte: Threatening Roar.
Su opened with Beckoning Light, Threatening Roar, Charge of the Light Brigade, Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, Honest, and Heavy Storm. He activated Charge, sending Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, and Judgment Dragon off the top of his deck to fetch Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior. He special summoned Wulf, normal summoned Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, and discarded Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior to special summon him with Lumina’s effect. He set a spell or trap, sent two cards alongside Necro Gardna to the graveyard for Lumina’s effect, then sent Foolish Burial and Celestia, Lightsworn Angel to the yard with Garoth’s effect to get another draw. Turn 1 and Su had already gleaned two free cards.
Duminuco summoned Snipe Hunter, discarded Plaguespreader Zombie with priority, and targeted Su’s face-down Threatening Roar; he chained it. That left Duminuco to send a card to the top of his deck in order to special summon Plaguespreader Zombie, activating Monster Reborn to special summon his opponent’s Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter. He Synchro summoned with all three monsters to bring out Colossal Fighter — he tried to attack, forgetting about Roar, and ended with two cards in hand.
Su had Honest, Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, Heavy Storm, Monster Reborn, and Beckoning Light. He had no immediate way over the Colossal save Snipe Hunter, so he summoned it with Monster Reborn and debated what to discard for its effect.
He quickly settled on Honest, discarding it and successfully destroying Colossal Fighter! He didn’t use his normal summon, and attacked with all four monsters for a total of 6450 damage. He set Beckoning and in the end phase he sent five cards, including his second Judgment Dragon, to the graveyard. No draws with Garoth.
Duminuco summoned Krebons, attacked Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, and ended. Su drew Solar Recharge, flipped Beckoning Light, took back Celestia, and Duminuco conceded! Celestia would rip apart Krebons and even just her own attack would be enough to end the duel.
Henry Su takes the first duel with a massive opening that blossoms into a huge set of attacks! Duminuco just couldn’t overcome all those cards, and Su claims victory in Game 1.
Duminuco started Game 2 by setting four cards to his back row. Su summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, Duminuco fired back with Bottomless Trap Hole, and Su was left to set a spell or trap. Duminuco summoned Krebons, attacked for 1200 damage and Su was back up.
He summoned Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, attacked Krebons, and Duminuco negated the attack by paying 800 life points. Su set another spell or trap, Duminuco passed, and Su was holding, D.D. Crow, Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, Celestia, Lightsworn Angel, and Judgment Dragon; he attacked again with Garoth, and Duminuco paid 800 life points again.
Next turn he discarded Destiny Hero – Malicious for Destiny Draw, lost Malicious to D.D. Crow, and drew two cards. He set a fourth card to his spell and trap zone and ended. Su drew Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress, summoned her, and turned Garoth to defense position before attacking Krebons with Lyla. Next turn Duminuco flipped his set Destiny Draw, discarded his second Malicious, and then discarded his third Malicious for a third Destiny Draw!
“That’s good,” remarked Su.
“Good for who?” asked Duminuco with a grin, drawing his two cards. He activated Reinforcement of the Army, searched his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos, and summoned him to search his deck for Destiny Hero – Doom Lord. He turned Krebons to defense position, sent Stratos to attack Garoth, and Su lost him in battle. Duminuco set another spell or trap card and ended. He had three face-down cards in his back row, Light-Imprisoning Mirror, Stratos, and Krebons on the field, with four cards in hand.
Su drew to four cards himself, and tributed Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress for Celestia, Lightsworn Angel. He attacked Stratos with her, but Duminuco flipped Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and discarded Doom Lord to spin her to the top of Su’s deck. Duminuco followed up next turn, activating Phoenix Wing Wind Blast by discarding Heavy Storm and forcing Su to chain the targeted Beckoning Light. Su dropped his hand and took back Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress, Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, and Judgment Dragon. He had just one face-down card set in his back row, and Duminuco started running numbers.
He Tuned Krebons to Stratos and Synchro summoned Goyo Guardian. Emergency Teleport got him another Krebons from his deck, and he tributed it for Vanity’s Fiend! Goyo Guardian attacked for 2800 damage, Vanity’s Fiend attacked as well, and Su was down to 1600 life points.
He set a monster next turn, but when Duminuco attacked and Su flipped Threatening Roar, Duminuco negated it with Solemn Judgment! The duel was over, and this match was headed to a third game! Side decking started and ended in mere heartbeats.
Su opened with Solar Recharge, discarding Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, drawing two, and sending Phantom of Chaos and Judgment Dragon to the graveyard. Charge of the Light Brigade then sent Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, D.D. Crow, and Necro Gardna to the graveyard, getting Su a copy of Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress. He summoned Wulf, summoned Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, and discarded Garoth to summon him. He set a spell or trap and ended, sending five cards to his graveyard; that got him another Necro Gardna, another Wulf, and a draw with Garoth! There was no way he was losing this.
Duminuco turtled up; he set a monster, set two cards to his back row, and Su flipped Royal Decree in the end phase! Duminuco reeled and Su drew for his turn; he had Breaker the Magical Warrior, two Lyla, Monster Reborn, and Judgment Dragon at his disposal.
He attacked with Lumina, destroying Duminuco’s face-down Sangan; he’d made the right read. Both copies of Wulf then made direct attacks, followed by Garoth for a total of 6050 damage. Duminuco searched his deck for Krebons, and Su sent five cards to his graveyard in the end phase: nothing of significance was sent.
Reinforcement of the Army got Duminuco his Dark Grepher, and he special summoned it by discarding Destiny Hero – Malicious. He removed Malicious to summon another from his deck in defense position, then normal summoned Krebons for the Synchro summon: Colossal Fighter hit the field. Dark Grepher took down Lumina, and Colossal Fighter smashed Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior. That left Su with three Lightsworn in his graveyard, since he’d already sent a copy of Garoth there earlier. Duminuco set a spell or trap to end.
Su summoned another Lumina from his hand, then discarded Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress to bring back Garoth and get a fourth Lightsworn into his graveyard. He special summoned Judgment Dragon, Duminuco couldn’t use his traps, and he immediately conceded the match!
Henry Su moves on with a 4-0 record, now just four wins away from his second Day 2 in mere weeks! What an impressive couple of showings these past few weeks from Henry Su.