I don’t think we need to elaborate on Adam Corn do we? He’s the 2007 American National Champion, he’s scored several SJC Top 16s, he’s a star player of Team Overdose and he’s the innovator of “Corn Monarchs” that he piloted back at the American National Championships going 10-0 in the Swiss rounds. Jose Arocho is a repeat top 16 SJC player and he had to climb the mountain yesterday, recovering from a round 1 loss and winning the next 9 to Top 16 here today.
Game 1
Corn won the roll 5-4 and he opted to start the match. He started with a set monster and play was to Jose. Jose started with Reinforcement of the Army to get Elemental Hero Stratos and he summoned him to get Destiny Hero – Disk Commander and discarded him promptly for Destiny Draw to draw two. He then played Monster Reborn to bring back to draw two more! He set a back row and Stratos swung on Corn’s set Gravekeeper’s Spy! He brought out one more in defense making two Spies and Jose ended. Corn drew for his turn and tributed a Spy for Raiza the Storm Monarch! The target was moot however as Torrential cleared the field! Corn passed with an open field. Jose drew and discarded Destiny Hero – Malicious to special summon Dark Grepher He then removed the Malicious to bring another out and summoned Cyber Valley to remove the Malicious and itself and draw two. He used Dark Grepher’s effect to discard Snipe Hunter to dump Dark Magician of Chaos and played Premature Burial on the Magician to get back Monster Reborn. He special summoned Destiny Hero – Disk Commander! He set three more to the back row and attacked with Elemental Hero Stratos and Dark Magician of Chaos! Corn was up now and played Soul Exchange targeting Dark Magician of Chaos. He brought out Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch but the summoning was negated by Solemn Judgment. Corn passed and when Jose flashed the D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation, Corn scooped his cards!
Jose takes the first duel with massive control and draw power to win duel #1!
Game 2
Both players side decked with some conversation as the winner of this match would be guaranteed a prestigious Doomcaliber Knight.
Corn opted to go first and started his move with a set Sangan and Bottomless Trap Hole. Jose started his turn with Destiny Draw discarding Destiny Hero – Malicious; he then played Allure of Darkness and removed Snipe Hunter after drawing two. Destiny Draw discarding Plasma went down for two more cards. Jose set two cards and play was to Corn. Jose played Trap Dustshoot and sent back Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive in the draw phase. Sangan was flipped and hit for 1000. Corn set another back row, totalling two, and ended. Jose drew, set another back row, and ended. Corn simply attacked for 1000 with Sangan and ended. Jose drew and passed. Corn drew and attacked again for 1000 and set a back row. Jose played Royal Decree in the end phase of Corn’s turn and there was no response from either player. Jose started his turn not with a pass but with Heavy Storm! That cleared the field and Torrential Tribute was removed with D.D. Crow to load up three Darks for Jose and brought out two Dark Armed Dragon! He removed D.D. Crow to destroy Sangan and it got Spirit Reaper for Corn. Both Dragons attacked and Jose ended with no back row.
Corn drew and played Soul Exchange on a Dark Armed Dragon and tributed it for Raiza the Storm Monarch to spin the other Dark Armed Dragon. Corn ended his turn. Jose brought out Dark Armed Dragon on his turn but Royal Oppression was flipped and negated it. Jose summoned Cyber Valley and ended. Corn drew and attacked but Cyber Valley was removed to negate the attack and draw. Corn then brought out Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch discarding Jose’s Dark Magician of Chaos and burned him for 800 damage. Jose set one to each row and passed. Corn drew and attacked over the Destiny Hero - Fear Monger and he activated Destiny Hero - Fear Monger’s effect but Oppression negated it. Corn let Scapegoat go. Corn drew and pondered his move and flipped Spirit Reaper, took out two Sheep then tributed the Reaper for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch and discarded Destiny Hero - Plasma! 800 points of damage burned Jose! Corn ended. Jose drew and played Brain Control! He rammed the two Monarchs together and no longer did they reign over the field! He ended with only 2 Sheep tokens on his field. Corn drew for his turn and had two back row face-down cards and a Royal Oppression on the field. He had D.D. Crow, Morphing Jar, and Prohibition in hand. It was 200-800 in favor of Adam. Morphing Jar hit a token and Prohibition came down for Corn and he called Reinforcement of the Army. Jose drew and he scooped it up, admitting that he topdecked Reinforcement of the Army as he showed it to Corn!
Adam Corn takes a close duel and make a good call with Prohibition to win duel #2, pressing this match into a third duel!
Game 3
Both players side decked again with some conversation and Jose opted to start the final duel of the match. He started with a slower pace, setting two back row cards and a monster. Corn drew and Jose flipped Trap Dustshoot right in the draw phase. Gravekeeper’s Spy was sent back as she was his only monster! Corn set three back row cards and ended. Jose drew and set a back row to end his turn. Corn drew and set a fourth card and ended. Jose activated Scapegoat in the end phase but Royal Oppression negated it. Jose drew a card and flipped Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter to take out Royal Oppression. He played Reinforcement of the Army, got Elemental Hero Stratos, summoned him, got Destiny Hero – Disk Commander and attacked for 2000 total. Corn drew and set a fourth card to his back row. Jose drew and played Allure of Darkness, removing Destiny Hero – Malicious. Ouch. He played Allure again, this time taking out Dark Armed Dragon. He attacked for 2000 more, setting a monster and a back row totalling two. Corn drew and passed. Jose set another back row and attacked for 2000. Corn played Allure of Darkness and removed Snipe Hunter. He set a monster and a fifth back row and ended.
Jose sent Stratos to hit Corn’s set Gravekeeper’s Spy and she brought out another. It was 7800-1200 for Jose and he ended his turn. Corn drew and passed. Jose drew and flipped Destiny Hero - Disk Commander! He used his face-down Torrential Tribute and cleared all the monsters! He played Premature Burial to get Elemental Hero Stratos and Adam chained Solemn Judgment dropping down to 600 life points! Jose summoned Spirit Reaper and Corn had no response. He then played Crush Card Virus tributing the Spirit Reaper and Corn let it go! He lost nothing and Jose played D.D. Crow to remove a Gravekeeper’s Spy and then brought out Dark Armed Dragon! He removed Spirit Reaper to destroy one of Corn’s set cards but it was chained; it was Book of Moon on Dark Armed Dragon! Jose chained Solemn Judgment but Corn had one of his own! Jose ended with just a set Dark Armed Dragon. Corn drew and lost Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch to Crush Card Virus’ effect! He played Reckless Greed and drew nothing that got hit by Crush. He followed up with Allure and also did not draw anything affected by the Virus! He removed D.D. Crow with Allure’s effect and set cards until he had five back row and a Sangan. Jose drew, flipped up Dark Armed Dragon, used the effect to destroy Sangan, and struck for game!
Jose Arocho defeats Adam Corn in a tough and exciting match and is headed to the finals to compete for the title of the Shonen Jump Champion! Could Jose Arocho mimic Paul Levitin’s last SJC championship victory, losing his first round and winning the rest of the tournament? We’re going to see soon enough!