Gladiator Beasts vs. Light and Darkness Dragon. You all saw this coming, right? Paul Levitin hasn’t lost a match since losing first round yesterday. He’s hoping to keep that streak alive with a win here now. His final opponent of the tournament will be Mario Matheu. No stranger to the finals table, Mario is playing an innovative Dark Armed Return deck that techs Light and Darkness Dragon for the mirror. This was going to be an interesting match.

Mario opened with Destiny Draw discarding Destiny Hero – Malicious. He set two spell or trap cards, and flipped Trap Dustshoot to send back Morphing Jar over Gladiator Beast Secutor. Next he flipped Mind Crush to rid Paul of his Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror. Paul set three spell or trap cards and Mario was up.

Mario played Heavy Storm to start his turn off but Paul blocked it with Solemn Judgment. Malicious was removed to special summon another copy before Mario played Destiny Draw and Allure of Darkness to remove Dark Magician of Chaos. D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation came down next. Mario discarded D.D. Crow to get back the Magician and Heavy Storm. Mario played Heavy Storm and Paul allowed it. He lost Mind Crush and Mirror Force to Mario’s Magician, which was removed thanks to DDR.

Mario played Monster Reborn next to bring out Destiny Hero – Dasher. He tributed Malicious to pump Dasher’s ATK and tributed for another Dasher in main phase 2. Paul set a monster and a spell or trap before passing. Paul drew Gladiator Proving Ground to search for Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and set it. Mario drew, summoned Dark Grepher, and attacked the face-down Gladiator Beast Secutor. Paul drew, set a spell or trap, and passed. Mario drew into Light and Darkness Dragon though and tributed both monsters to bring it out! Paul blocked the play with Solemn Judgment, and Mario special summoned Dasher with the Dragon’s effect.

Paul drew and set a monster face down before passing. Mario drew Golden Sarcophagus and played it, targeting Dimension Fusion from his deck. Mario set a spell or trap and passed to Paul. Paul drew and set his spell or trap card. Mario passed and Paul pumped fist after drawing his card. He summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo, flipped two copies of Hoplomus, thought for a while, and scooped.

Intelligent and patient play pays off for Mario and he takes the first game.

Paul opened the second duel with a set monster and two set spell or trap cards. Mario began his turn with Dark Grepher. He passed priority and discarded Snipe Hunter to put Destiny Hero – Malicious into his graveyard. He set a spell or trap card and passed. Paul set a monster on his turn and Mario removed Malicious from his graveyard to special summon another copy. He tributed both monsters for Light and Darkness Dragon and attacked into Paul’s freshest set. Paul flipped Waboku and then Crush Card Virus! Spirit Reaper was tributed to pay the cost, and Mario lost his Dragon and in-hand Dark Armed Dragon and Vanity’s Fiend. His set Torrential Tribute was blown away by the Dragon and Mario special summoned Grepher in defense mode. He passed, and Paul flipped Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and summoned Gladiator Beast Darius. Darius swung over the Grepher and Hoplomus hit directly. Paul switched out both monsters for a defense mode Hoplomus and an attack mode Gladiator Beast Laquari. He passed his turn, and Mario drew Destiny Draw, which was revealed thanks to Crush Card.

Mario elected to play his Monster Reborn now and special summoned Snipe Hunter from the graveyard. He discarded the Draw to destroy Laquari and passed. Paul summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo and played Soul Taker to destroy the Snipe. Two successful attacks allowed him to swap his Hoplomus out for Darius. Darius brought Laquari back from the graveyard and Gladiator Beast Heraklinos was special summoned. Mario’s Heavy Storm top deck wasn’t any help, and on his next turn Mario was scooping up his cards.

It all came down to this last duel. Mario opened with a set spell or trap card, which was revealed to be Enemy Controller when it blocked Gladiator Beast Hoplomus from attacking. Paul set two spell or trap cards and flipped Trap Dustshoot during Mario’s draw phase. Vanity’s Fiend was sent back over Dark Armed Dragon, and Mario continued about his turn.

He played Heavy storm to destroy the set Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror Paul controlled before playing Allure of Darkness. He removed Dark Armed Dragon from his hand and passed to Paul. Paul played Test Tiger, brought out Gladiator Beast Secutor, and attacked to special summon two more Gladiator Beasts from his deck. That meant Gladiator Beast Heraklinos was coming out. Mario passed his turn, Paul attacked for 3000, and Mario was up. He set a spell or trap card, then took 3700 from Herk and a fresh Gladiator Beast Hoplomus. Hoplomus switched out for Laquari and Paul ended.

Moments later it was all over. Mario didn’t have enough useful spell or trap cards and Paul was able to negate them all.

Paul Levitin takes Shonen Jump Minneapolis with Gladiator Beasts!