Jorge Olivella hails from Tampico, Mexico, and at age 32 is the reigning Mexican National Champion! His opponent, 19 year-old Peter Navarro, is from Ontario, California, and both duelists are playing teched out builds of Dark Armed Dragon. While Olivella is packing copies of Dark Grepher, Navarro has been leaving his opponents stymied with Necro Gardna. This one was going to be interesting.

Olivella opened with a trap-heavy hand that didn’t really do much in its current state: Crush Card Virus, Mirror Force, Torrential Tribute, Soul Release, Allure of Darkness, and Dark Grepher. He set Torrential Tribute, passed, and ate 1000 damage from Sangan on the following turn. Navarro set one card to his spell and trap zone, and play was back to the Mexican Champ.

He activated Allure of Darkness, removed Dark Armed Dragon from his hand, and was left with one more copy, plus Return from the Different Dimension. He passed, and Navarro swung for another 1000 damage.

A second spell or trap hit Navarro’s back row, and Olivella drew into Disk Commander. He set the Commander, set another card to his back row, and then contemplated setting another, but ended his turn instead. Disk Commander was lost to Raigeki Break next turn, and Navarro discarded Dark Magician of Chaos. On the turn that followed he activated Allure of Darkness, removed Prometheus, King of the Shadows, and then activated Monster Reborn to bring back Dark Magician of Chaos. Dark Magician got him Monster Reborn, he activated it to take Disk Commander from Olivella’s graveyard, and Olivella responded to the summon with Torrential Tribute!

Navarro drew two for Disk Commander and searched his deck for Armageddon Knight with Sangan’s effect. He summoned it, sent Necro Gardna to his graveyard and attacked for 1400 damage. “Go.”

Olivella activated Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying his opponent’s set Return from the Different Dimension. He then normal summoned Dark Grepher, activated Soul Release to remove his opponent’s two monsters, Allure of Darkness, and Monster Reborn, as well as his own Disk Commander. Grepher ran over Armageddon Knight, and Olivella set one more card to his spell and trap zone. He had two cards set there, and set a third, Mirror Force. He had nothing but Dark Armed Dragon in hand, and he really had to play this deep into his options if he was to survive.

Which was unfortunate, because Navarro ripped right into Heavy Storm, drawing it off the top of his deck. Olivella lost Return from the Different Dimension, Mirror Force, and Crush Card Virus, his only hope having been to use Return to get Disk Commander, then tributing it for Crush. Navarro summoned Armageddon Knight, sent Darklord Zerato from his deck to his graveyard, then brought it back with Premature Burial. A discard of Necro Gardna wiped the field and both his monsters attacked directly. Darklord Zerato was destroyed in the end phase, and Olivella was down to 400 life points.

He topped Reinforcement of the Army, and searched his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos. He summoned him, took Destiny Hero – Fear Monger and attacked — Necro Gardna kept Armageddon Knight safe. Next turn Navarro tributed the Knight for Enemy Controller, took Stratos, and there was nothing Olivella could do.

An awkward draw for Olivella and the perfect Heavy Storm makes the win nothing short of academic for Peter Navarro, who was just one win away from guaranteeing his spot in the Top 32! Both duelists began side decking.

Olivella was again stuck with nothing but spells and traps: two Allure of Darkness, Crush Card Virus, Monster Reborn, Soul Release, and another card he set. Navarro summoned Armageddon Knight, sent Necro Gardna to his graveyard and attacked for 1400 damage. He set one card to his back row to end.

Olivella drew into Dimension Fusion, another dead card! Did he have the guts to try for Allure with no monster in hand? He shuffled his Allure and Monster Reborn, clearly considering it, but then just set the Crush Card. “Go.” He heaved a groan. “Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi . . .” Navarro swung for another 1400 damage next turn.

He followed it up with Reinforcement of the Army, having no problem finding monsters. He searched and summoned Armageddon Knight, loading his graveyard with yet another Necro Gardna!

Olivella drew into Darklord Zerato! He activated Allure, drew Dark Armed Dragon and Malicious and removed Zerato. He activated the next Allure, drew Premature Burial and Reinforcement of the Army, finally getting some monsters going. He removed Malicious for Allure, then used Reinforcement of the Army to dig for his own Armageddon Knight. He summoned it, sent Disk Commander to the graveyard, and brought him back with Monster Reborn in defense mode, after considering Premature Burial. He drew into his other Malicious and Heavy Storm.

He flipped Crush Card Virus, revealing his opponent’s hand of Strike Ninja, two Kinetic Soldier, and Heavy Storm. He then activated Premature Burial, bringing out Disk Commander again and drawing Destiny Draw and Torrential Tribute! He activated the Draw, discarded Malicious, and drew Fear Monger and Allure. He still only had one Dark in his graveyard, but he had two on the field, and Torrential Tribute.

He activated Allure of Darkness and got Return from the Different Dimension and Destiny Draw. With just Dark Armed Dragon and Fear Monger in hand to remove for Allure he needed to make a tough decision: remove the Dragon and go for Destiny Draw, or ditch the Fear Monger and play for the Dragon here and now.

He went for the latter, removing Fear Monger and then activating Return from the Different Dimension. Malicious, Fear Monger, and Darklord Zerato came out. He then activated Heavy Storm, wiping the field and sending Malicious back to his graveyard — he still had just two Dark monsters.

Darklord Zerato attacked, but Necro Gardna negated it. Olivella then traded his Armageddon Knight for one of Navarro’s, and special summoned Dark Armed Dragon in main phase 2! He removed Disk Commander to destroy Navarro’s other Knight, then set two cards to his back row. Soul Release cleared every monster from Navarro’s graveyard, and he was left with nothing but three cards in hand! “Go.”

He drew his fourth, and activated Heavy Storm! Olivella had Torrential Tribute and another Return set, with just 2300 life points remaining. He flipped the Return and brought out four monsters in defense mode. Navarro set a monster and ended.

Olivella activated Destiny Draw, discarded Destiny Hero – Dasher, and drew two. He removed Malicious to destroy Navarro’s set Mystic Tomato, swung for 2800 damage and set a trap. Navarro did nothing next turn but set another monster.

Olivella drew Reinforcement of the Army, activated it, and searched out Elemental Hero Stratos. He opted not to search with Stratos’ effect. He removed Armageddon Knight to destroy Navarro’s set Kinetic Soldier and attacked with both of his monsters, dropping him to 600 life points.

Navarro summoned Kinetic Soldier and pressed it toward Stratos: “Attack for game?” Olivella grinned and flipped over Waboku! Navarro reeled and immediately scooped, knowing he would lose next turn!

Jorge Olivella pulls out a win despite a hideously bad opening! “That feels like fresh air,” smiled the Mexican Champion, beaming from ear to ear. He really couldn’t believe he’d managed to play out of that. Both duelists began side decking, and Olivella peered at one of the most interesting sides I’ve seen here today . . . D. D. Dynamite, Counter Counter, and other unorthodox picks. Cool stuff.

Navarro opened the third game with Allure of Darkness, removing Darklord Zerato from his hand. He then activated Reinforcement of the Army to search out Armageddon Knight, summoning it to send Necro Gardna to his graveyard. He set one spell or trap card and announced that he was finished.

Olivella had Soul Release, Torrential Tribute, Destiny Draw, Sangan, Dark Grepher, and Dark Armed Dragon in hand. He set Sangan and Torrential Tribute, but lost Torrential to Raigeki Break in the end phase. Armageddon Knight attacked Sangan and Olivella grabbed Malicious from his deck.

Next turn he drew Destiny Hero – Disk Commander, and considered his options before discarding Malicious for Destiny Draw as he’d originally intended. It got him Gold Sarcophagus and Raigeki Break. He normal summoned Dark Grepher and Navarro flipped Torrential Tribute! It gave Olivella three Darks in his graveyard, and while Navarro had three as well, he didn’t know Olivella had Soul Release!

He activated Gold Sarcophagus to remove Dimension Fusion from his deck. He then activated Soul Release, removing everything but Torrential Tribute and Raigeki Break from his opponent’s graveyard! He held back on his own Dark Armed Dragon, setting a card to his back row. Navarro took the bait next turn, setting one monster and nothing else.

Dark Armed Dragon came down for Olivella, and he removed Dark Grepher from his graveyard to destroy his opponent’s set Mystic Tomato. The Dragon attacked for 2800 damage and Olivella set Disk Commander.

Navarro summoned Mystic Tomato and tried to ram it into Dark Armed Dragon, but was denied by Raigeki Break. Smashing Ground still took out Olivella’s Dragon in main phase 2 though, and Navarro passed with two cards in hand and an open field. The duel stood at 5600 to 8000.

Olivella removed Malicious from his graveyard and special summoned another in attack mode. He attacked for 800 damage, Navarro set a monster, and play was back to Olivella. He labored over his move for a bit before sending Malicious to attack, revealing Navarro’s set Spirit Reaper. He then tributed his Disk Commander for a face-down Dasher.

Navarro tributed for Jinzo, then special summoned Dark Armed Dragon to destroy everything Olivella had save his Malicious! Both monsters attacked and Olivella was on the ropes. Navarro’s last card hit his back row.

Olivella activated Premature Burial, bringing back Disk Commander in attack. He drew Heavy Storm, Destiny Draw, and had nothing in hand but Dimension Fusion to match them. With just 2800 life points there was nothing he could do; Navarro had way more monsters removed from play than Olivella did, so even Dimension Fusion wouldn’t help him.

He activated it anyway with a laugh, dropping to 800 life points and bringing out Malicious and Dark Grepher in attack! He then rammed Disk Commander into Dark Armed Dragon, ending the match and going out in a blaze of glory!

Peter Navarro defeats Mexican Champion Jorge Olivella, moving on with an extremely strong chance at Day 2!