Timothy Howell traveled here this weekend from Elizabeth, New Jersey. I had my eye on him throughout Day 1, as he rocked opponent after opponent with a Monarch deck teching two copies of The Shallow Grave. It was a surprising tech card that took his opponents off-guard, and it almost netted him a feature match earlier in the Swiss rounds.
His opponent is Lazaro Bellido, arriving here in Philadelphia from Toronto, Ontario just days after winning the Canadian National Championship! Lazaro has had arguably the biggest year of any duelist on the planet, taking his first Shonen Jump Championship by winning the massive 50th SJC in Costa Mesa, then becoming National Champion four months later. A win here would be insane — his third Championship this year, and his second title victory in one week.
Game 1
Bellido won the opening roll, and started the match off with a set card to each zone. He set another spell or trap, ended, and Howell started his turn with Destiny Draw, discarding Destiny Hero – Fear Monger. He set three cards to his back row, ended, and Lazaro somehow chose his Trap Dustshoot for an end phase Dust Tornado! Nice.
He proceeded to summon Elemental Hero Prisma, but Howell activated Solemn Judgment to negate the summon and destroy it. Lazaro set two more cards to his back row for a total of three, and next turn Howell flipped Reckless Greed after drawing for his draw phase. Lazaro had no response, and Howell set a monster before finishing out by setting two cards to his back row.
Lazaro summoned Gladiator Beast Darius, and Howell flipped Crush Card Virus! He tributed his set D.D. Crow, Lazaro flipped Solemn Judgment, and Howell chained his own to force the Virus through! Darius went down, but Lazaro’s set monster was Gladiator Beast Secutor. He flip summoned it to get in a quick attack.
Howell activated Monster Reborn next turn, taking Prisma from Lazaro’s graveyard. He activated Prisma’s effect to send Spirit Reaper to his graveyard and attacked with Prisma, but ran right into Mirror Force. He ended with an open field.
Seeing his opponent wide open, Lazaro topdecked a big opportunity, drawing and revealing Test Tiger! He special summoned it, tributed it to trade Secutor for Gladiator Beast Laquari, and ended the duel with a single direct attack! It was over in mere moments, and the Canadian Champion captured game 1.
Side decking was a quick matter on both sides of the field — it often is in Round 1 of Day 2, when every duelist has usually planned his or her side decking choices long in advance thanks to his or her prior knowledge of the matchup and the opponent’s decklist.
“Alotta Solemns that game,” remarked Lazaro in a friendly way.
“It’s all I drew!” replied Howell. “I had a whole lotta destruction, but no monsters.” He was shuffling his deck with extra thoroughness this time around. Game 2 began swiftly with Howell starting things off.
Game 2
He opened with Neo-Spacian Grand Mole, Soul Exchange, Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, Destiny Hero – Malicious, Heavy Storm, and Crush Card Virus. He summoned Mole and passed. Lazaro made his signature play: two set cards to his back row and a set monster. Howell blasted him with Heavy Storm next turn, destroying Book of Moon and Mask of Restrict! He followed it up with Soul Exchange, tributing Lazaro’s set Morphing Jar for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch and forcing him to discard Crush Card Virus! Lazaro could do nothing but shake his head as Howell finished his turn with a set spell or trap.
He drew to three cards, and then set one to his back row. Howell set a monster, attacked with Grand Mole and Thestalos, and then set a monster to finish. Lazaro was back up.
He summoned Gladiator Beast Darius, special summoned Test Tiger, and tributed it to tag out Darius. He tagged in Gladiator Beast Murmillo, destroyed Thestalos with its effect, and then flipped Premature Burial to bring back the Tiger. He tributed it, sent Murmillo to his deck and then brought it back out in defense mode to destroy Grand Mole, ending his turn.
Howell activated Allure of Darkness, removing Destiny Hero – Malicious for its effect. He fingered his face down: “Penguin Soldier?” asked Lazaro. Howell laughed and flipped it, sending away Murmillo. He then normal summoned Sangan and attacked for 1750 damage total. Shades of the Canadian Last Chance Qualifier events and the Penguin trend we saw emerge there! Howell ended, Lazaro was up, and he normal summoned another Murmillo.
It attacked Penguin Soldier, destroyed it, then tagged out to Gladiator Beast Bestiari. Bestiari’s effect targeted Howell’s face-down Crush Card Virus, he chained it tributing Sangan, and Lazaro activated Solemn Judgment on the chain. Sangan fetched Howell Legendary Jujitsu Master and Lazaro set his last card to his back row.
Howell summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, pulled Fear Monger from his deck with its effect, and then attacked Bestiari with Stratos. He had four cards in hand to Lazaro’s none. Lazaro topdecked a monster, set it, but it didn’t matter! Next turn Howell tributed for Caius the Shadow Monarch, targeted Caius with his own effect and removed him for 1000 damage.
Timothy Howell presses this match to (yeah, I’m going to say it!) a third and final duel! Side decking was a little more careful and a took a few more moments this time around, as each duelist fine-tuned his deck to try and find an advantage.
Game 3
Lazaro opened strong with Elemental Hero Stratos, searching out Elemental Hero Prisma. No Captain Golds for this Overdose member. He ended his turn with a set spell or trap.
He got blasted next turn: Howell activated Prohibition, called Bestiari for its effect, set a monster, and set two more cards to his back row! Ouch. With Prohibition locking him down, Lazaro would have as few as two outs — hopefully he kept those Dust Tornadoes mained for game 3. He drew for his turn and hunkered down for a long winter; he set a monster, and then set two more cards to his back row.
He flipped Mask of Restrict next turn, but Howell chained Solemn Judgment! He then brought back the Judgment with Mask of Darkness, flip summoning it before tributing it for Caius! Caius then removed Lazaro’s face-down Spirit Reaper for 1000 damage. Caius attacked, Lazaro flipped Dimensional Prison, and Howell flipped Solemn Judgment. But Lazaro started another chain! He flipped Book of Moon to turn Caius face down, leaving Howell to end his turn with another set spell or trap.
Lazaro summoned Elemental Hero Prisma and lost it to Solemn Judgment, but then brought it back with Monster Reborn! Howell had no answer, and had just 1000 life points after paying for Solemn three times. Stratos took down Caius, and with the road clear Prisma attacked for game.
Lazaro Bellido pulls out of a rough Prohibition situation to win out anyway, scoring a 2-1 victory and moving on to the Top 8!