Yesterday, 665 duelists gathered here at the Franklin County Veteran’s Memorial center. After ten rounds of competition only sixteen remain: eleven Dark Armed Return players, two Ohm One-Turn KOs, two Diamond Dude Turbo, and a single duelist playing a combo deck inspired by Vincent Tundo’s from Shonen Jump Houston. The message is clear: go fast, or go home.

First place finisher in the Swiss rounds Jason Holloway is playing a Dark Armed Return deck with D.D. Crow, Dark Grepher, and shockingly, only one Return from the Different Dimension. He’s playing Augustin Herrera, one of the two DDT players in the Top 16. This one is anybody’s game: a single Return from the Different Dimension seems risky, and while Holloway had a great record yesterday, he’s up against one of the best.

Levi Nissen and Sang Bui will play off in one of the Top 16’s two feature matches: a tech-packed showdown jammed with innovation. While Levi is playing Dark Armed Return with three Necro Gardna, two Mystic Tomato, and two Burial from a Different Dimension, Sang is running the same deck with Gravekeeper’s Spy, Zombyra the Dark, Dark Grepher, D.D. Crow, Mobius the Frost Monarch, and Threatening Roar. Sang has a ton of experience in high-pressure situations, and that might make all the difference.

Erin Diaz is one of two competitors running the innovative Shadowpriestess of Ohm OTK, but he’s up against veteran duelist Robert Ackerman. Ackerman’s version of Dark Armed Return couldn’t be any more typical: he might be the only Return duelists in Day 2 with little to no tech. This is a difficult match to call. Experience is on Ackerman’s side, but Diaz’s deck is designed to beat Dark Armed Return, and is fully capable of doing so.

National Champion Adam Corn takes on Justin Gillison, in a match that pits Dark Armed Return against Shadowpriestess OTK. This match might be a deciding one for the format — if Gillison can overcome the National Champion with his incredibly reliable combo deck, there are going to be a lot of people imitating his strategy. A win here would be huge for the one-time Shonen Jump regular, and it’s a no-brainer pick for a feature match.

Jermol Jupiter will take his Dark Armed Return build against Alfonzo Yamakawa and Diamond Dude Turbo. Two Dark Nephthys and three Trade-In make Jupiter’s deck blazingly fast, and may give him an advantage in this matchup. But DDT is unpredictable, and neither duelist has a huge advantage of experience in Day 2 scenarios, so this one could easily go either way.

Jonathan Nieves is playing Dark Armed Return against Paul McCann, in a match that pits him against the only Tundo-style OTK in Day 2. McCann often has an advantage in this matchup, but Nieves is playing three copies of Solemn Judgment with Trade-In to get to them. Those Solemns might make all the difference.

Finally, one last Dark Armed Return mirror match rounds out our starting lineup, as Scott Happel brings a build packing two Destiny Hero – Fear Monger against Edwin Ortiz’s Dark Grepher and Waboku-teched version. Waboku is proven tech here this weekend, and, with the bit of extra speed his deck is armed with, Ortiz might have the advantage.

And that’s the Top 16! Get ready, because we are live with extended feature match coverage here in Ohio. Welcome to Day 2 of Shonen Jump Championship Columbus!