It came down to this. Dale Bellido, who had been on the bubble since round 2, was now up against Marcus Spanier, who had arguably the most impressive deck here today. Spanier was a new face, and Bellido had no idea what he was up against. Both duelists were essentially playing the same strategy, Tomato Control, but Spanier’s version had tons of new tricks. Including Cyber-Stein.

Bellido won the opening roll and began the match with a set spell or trap, then a set monster. Spanier summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, but when he went to use its token Scapegoat was chained! Breaker attacked, but hit Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Spanier set a back row card and passed.

Bellido set a monster and passed, sitting behind his mutton wall. Nobleman of Crossout removed his set monster, Magician of Faith, from play. Spanier didn’t have any, and Bellido was shocked, thinking his opponent wasn’t running any. In truth Spanier was only main decking a single copy, and it was in his hand. Bellido took the opportunity provided to him by Nobleman of Crossout to scan through Spanier’s deck: after a few moments of checking out Spanier’s tech, Bellido had some important information. Sangan hit the field, and Breaker and Sangan each hit a Sheep. Spanier was being aggressive.

Another set card to each zone was Bellido’s only play. Breaker attacked his monster next turn, but Mirror Force protected it. Spanier took D. D. Warrior Lady from his deck with Sangan’s effect, and he didn’t use his normal for the turn: he just passed without doing anything else.

Bellido flip summoned his set monster, Newdoria, and attacked for 1200 damage. He set a spell or trap and ended his turn. Spanier activated Smashing Ground to get rid of the Newdoria, set a monster, and passed, perhaps aiming to slowly whittle away Bellido’s Tomato Control suite.

Graceful Charity hit Bellido’s field, and after carefully considering what he’d discard he got rid of Chaos Sorcerer and Smashing Ground. Nobleman of Crossout removed Spanier’s set monster, D. D. Warrior Lady, from the game, and Bellido set a monster.

Spanier drew: “Just the card I was looking for.” He activated Graceful Charity, discarding Spirit Reaper and Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, the latter immediately coming to the field. He summoned Asura Priest, and the Priest took out two Sheep before running into Night Assailant: the Assailant flipped and destroyed Goldd! “Solid, solid, solid . . .” murmured Spanier, giving Bellido a nod of respect. He ended his turn.

Bellido flipped his set Heavy Storm, but Spanier flipped his one set spell or trap, Call of the Haunted! It brought back Sangan ever so briefly, and when Sangan was sent to the graveyard Spanier fetched Mystic Tomato. Bellido set a card to each zone: Spanier was slowly picking away at his options, as he had just two cards left in hand.

Spanier pressed with Asura Priest, but lost it to Sakuretsu Armor. He set one spell or trap card, and Bellido attacked him with Spirit Reaper on the following turn, discarding Creature Swap. He then flip summoned Tsukuyomi, turned Reaper face down, and passed.

Spanier wiped it off the field a turn later with Exiled Force. Dale summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and broke with the token, but hit Scapegoat and Spanier chained it. No Sheep hit.

Spanier summoned Tomato, and played Smshing Ground, but Dale chained with Enemy Controller to take the Tomato! The Tomato was destroyed! Dale summoned his own Tomato on the next turn, and Spanier set a monster. Dale attacked with Mystic Tomato, hit Magician of Faith (it had been in Spanier’s hand all along), and he then used Premature to bring back Dekoichi. He summoned Tsukuyomi to turn it face down before passing.

That Graceful Charity Spanier got Last Turn was activated, discarding Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World and Tomato. Goldd hit the field. Spanier took Bellido’s Tomato with Snatch Steal, tributed it for Zaborg, and destroyed the Dekoichi that Bellido had turned face down Last Turn. Spanier now had Gold, Zaborg, three Sheep, and three cards in hand to Bellido’s two cards, and both of his monsters attacked directly.

Bellido drew a third card, special summoned Cyber Dragon in defense, summoned Tsukuyomi, turned Zaborg face down, and attacked it to destroy it. Sapnier summoned Don Zaloog, hit the Cyber Dragon with Gold, and attacked directly with Zaloog to strip Bellido of a card.

Bellido was down to his last two cards, and he set them both: one to each zone. Spanier activated Nobleman of Crossout on the following turn and that was it: Bellido scooped.

“No siding for me,” announced Spanier. Bellido, a bit rattled, rotated a few cards between his side and main.

Bellido opened the second duel with the predictable and classic set card to each zone. Spanier summoned Mystic Tomato, activated Nobleman of Crossout to remove Bellido’s set D. D. Warrior Lady from the field, and hit for 1400. Spanier set a back row card, Scapegoat, lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon in the end phase, and play passed to Bellido, who was visibly rallying himself.

Bellido took Spanier’s Tomato with Snatch Steal, tributed it for Cyber Dragon, and attacked. He ended his turn with nothing in his back row.

Spanier examined his hand for a brief moment. “Yeah, dude . . . Game.”

Bellido blinked.

Spanier summoned Cyber-Stein, paid for its effect, and brought out Cyber Twin Dragon from his Fusion deck. He activated Creature Swap to trade Bellido the Stein for his Cyber Dragon, and that was it. The Twin Dragon swung twice, and the finishing blow was struck by Bellido’s own Cyber Dragon.

It was over. Marcus Spanier’s new spin on Tomato Control had defeated The Creator of the deck, and he was moving on to the Top 8!

“I never thought I’d 2-0 Dale Bellido, I’ll tell you that much,” confessed Spanier after the match.