All four members of Team Overdose that made it to Day 2 had progressed to the Top 8, and Dale Bellido had his Superman playmat out in honor of the team’s long-standing member not in attendance this weekend, Kris Perovic. Dale was playing Gladiator Beasts.

His opponent, the beguiling Cesar Gonzalez, currently plays for no team and made it all the way to the Top 8 with Dark Armed Dragon Return — the only player piloting that deck here in Day 2. Cesar plowed through plenty of Gladiator duelists yesterday, but could he defeat one of the most recognized duelists in the world? We were about to find out.

Game 1

Cesar opened with two set cards to his back row, and then set a monster. He flipped Trap Dustshoot as soon as Dale drew, and Dale chained Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Cesar’s set Solemn Judgment in response. Dale’s hand was revealed: two Test Tiger, Spirit Reaper, Elemental Hero Stratos, and Gladiator Beast Darius. Cesar sent back Stratos; Dale summoned Darius and tagged it out with Test Tiger for Secutor.

Secutor attacked, and the result, moments later, was Gladiator Beast Heraklinos! Dale ended, Cesar set Spirit Reaper, and Heraklinos flipped it by attacking next turn. Dale set Trap Dustshoot, activated it next turn in Cesar’s draw phase, and sent back Cesar’s Destiny Hero – Plasma to his deck. Cesar activated Brain Control, but Dale discarded his own Spirit Reaper to negate it with Heraklinos. Cesar then activated Allure of Darkness and Dale let it go; Cesar removed Malicious for it, then set his remaining two cards.

Dale summoned Gladiator Beast Darius and Cesar negated the summon with Solemn Judgment. Dale had one last card in hand. Cesar drew, set his topdecked monster, and Heraklinos attacked it — Card Trooper. Dale set a monster and Cesar drew, winding up with Cyber Valley and Reinforcement of the Army in hand with Crush Card Virus set. Cesar activated the Reinforcement, searched his deck for Stratos, and then searched out Destiny Hero - Disk Commander with its effect. Stratos then attacked Dale’s set monster; it was Sangan, and it got him Gladiator Beast Bestiari. “With Test Tiger in hand . . .” muttered Cesar, shaking his head. “Go.”

The Bestiari came down, and Dale tagged it out with Test Tiger. He brought out Gladiator Beast Murmillo, targeting Spirit Reaper, and Dale was forced to discard Gladiator Beast Darius to negate the Virus with Heraklinos. Heraklinos smashed over Stratos, Murmillo made a direct attack and then tagged out to Laquari, and Dale was done.

Cesar summoned Cyber Valley and Dale attacked it, giving Cesar a draw. Next turn Cesar activated Allure of Darkness, drew two, and removed Dark Grepher for its effect. He discarded Destiny Hero – Disk Commander for D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation and brought back Cyber Valley. A set spell or trap ended Cesar’s turn.

Dale topped Monster Reborn, and used it to take Disk Commander and draw two cards! He special summoned Test Tiger, tagged out Laquari, and brought in Bestiari to destroy Cesar’s face down Mirror Force — Cesar immediately scooped.

The sheer inability to draw Dark Armed Dragon deprives Cesar Gonzalez of any offense, and Dale Bellido rolls over him with an early game Gladiator Beast Heraklinos for the win! Both competitors did some lengthy side decking before Game 2 began.

Game 2

Cesar opened with Allure of Darkness, drawing two cards and removing Dark Armed Dragon. He set a monster, labored a moment in thought, then activated Prohibition calling Bestiari. He followed it up with two more set spell or trap cards and ended. Dale was up.

He set three cards to his back row, set a monster, and ended, making all of his moves very quickly. Cesar drew, shuffled his hand a bit, and then passed. He had Dale locked down with that Prohibition, but didn’t have any immediate follow-up.

To make matters worse, he lost the Prohibition to Dust Tornado on the following turn. Dale flip summoned Sangan, responded with his own Torrential Tribute, and destroyed both his Sangan and Cesar’s face-down Spirit Reaper. The Sangan got Dale Test Tiger; he summoned Bestiari, then special summoned the Tiger. He tagged out Bestiari for another Bestiari, destroyed Cesar’s face-down Solemn Judgment, and activated Premature Burial to special summon Test Tiger again. He tributed it, tagged Bestiari in and out to destroy Cesar’s Mirror Force, and then activated Monster Reborn!

Reborn got him Cesar’s Spirit Reaper, and he made two direct attacks, forcing Cesar to discard Dark Magician of Chaos with his own Reaper. Bestiari tagged out to Gladiator Beast Secutor and Dale ended with no cards in hand, one card set to his back row.

Cesar blasted him with Heavy Storm and Dale chained his set Book of Moon, turning Secutor face down. Card Trooper hit the field, and Cesar boosted it by sending, Destiny Hero – Malicious, Reinforcement of the Army, and Legendary Jujitsu Master from the top of his deck to the graveyard. Trooper was pressed over Reaper for damage.

Dale topdecked into Reinforcement of the Army! He played it to get Stratos, searched out Prisma, and then attacked with Stratos over the Trooper. Cesar drew for Trooper, and then lost his Morphing Jar to Reaper. Dale ended. Cesar removed his Malicious to special summon another in defense mode, normal summoned Cyber Valley, and removed both of his monsters for two draws. He drew Fear Monger and Dark Armed Dragon, holding Trap Dustshoot. He had only one Dark in his graveyard and ended.

Dale summoned Gladiator Beast Laquari and attacked with all three of his monsters, forcing Cesar to discard Fear Monger with his Reaper. Cesar needed one more Dark monster. He drew Reinforcement of the Army a turn too late on the turn that followed, but searched out Dark Grepher anyway. He made the only move he could, slamming it into Stratos so he could special summon Dark Armed Dragon. He then removed three Darks to sweep the field and set Dustshoot.

Dale had no answer. He set one card to his back row, took 3000 from Cesar, and Cesar set a monster. Dale drew Gladiator Beast Darius.

He sent Darius to attack Cesar’s face-down monster and reeled backward in his chair as Cesar flipped it — Legendary Jujitsu Master! Dale immediately conceded. This match was headed to a third duel.

Cesar Gonzalez manages to fight back with a last ditch effort and Dark Armed Dragon! Chalk one up for the princess.

Game 3

Dale immediately shuffled and presented his deck, while Gonzalez did a bit more siding. “I really want to win this. I want to change the metagame a bit.” Dark Creator player Hsoros Nairebas had won his Top 8 match, so if Cesar could win here one half of the Top 4 would be Dark decks. Dale was on the draw for Game 3.

He activated Reinforcement of the Army to search for Stratos, then got Prisma with its effect. He revealed Spirit Reaper by mistake while doing so, showing that it wasn’t in his hand — useful info for Cesar. He set one card to his back row and ended. Cesar discarded Destiny Hero – Malicious for Destiny Draw, special summoned the second Malicious from his deck, and set two cards to his back row, then a third. He was telegraphing Crush Card Virus. “Go.”

Dale summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo, attacked, and forced out the Crush Card. Cesar flipped it, costing Dale his Stratos and two cards from his hand. Murmillo attacked on the replay, tagged out to Bestiari, and Cesar lost his set Destiny Draw. Dale ended, and Cesar drew two cards with Allure of Darkness, removing Sangan for its effect.

He summoned Card Trooper, sending Scapegoat, Disk Commander, and Reinforcement of the Army to the graveyard to power it over Bestiari. Dale drew Dust Tornado, revealed it for Crush Card Virus and riffled his hand; he had three cards in hand and one set. He added another card face down to his back row and ended.

Cesar drew to four in hand, and then summoned Spirit Reaper. Dale flipped Torrential Tribute, and Cesar chained Solemn Judgment! Another three cards from the top of Cesar’s deck powered up Trooper and he attacked Dale for 2200 damage, forcing him to discard D.D. Crow. Dale looked beaten.

Next turn he revealed his draw for the last time: Solemn Judgment. He activated Monster Reborn, targeting Gladiator Beast Laquari, and brought it to the field to attack Spirit Reaper. Laquari tagged out to bring Gladiator Beast Darius to the field, Darius grabbed Bestiari, and Gyzarus came down to destroy Reaper and Card Trooper; Cesar drew, and Dale set the Solemn.

Cesar activated Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Dale’s Solemn. Cesar then summoned Phantom of Chaos, removing Dark Armed Dragon to copy it! He removed two more Darks to wipe Dale’s field and ended. Dale set his topdeck to his back row, Cesar set a monster, and the Phantom went to defense mode. Dale drew, and Cesar was up a whopping three cards.

Dale set a monster and Cesar drew; he had Stratos, Dark Magician of Chaos, Legendary Jujitsu Master, and Morphing Jar in hand. He tributed both of his monsters for the Magician, took back Scapegoat, and lost his Magician to Bottomless Trap Hole. He set the Scapegoat.

Dale flip summoned Gladiator Beast Darius, then tagged it out and back in with Test Tiger. That let Dale special summon Gyzarus from his graveyard. Gyzarus attacked, Cesar flipped Scapegoat, and Dale attacked two of the resulting Tokens. Next turn Cesar summoned Stratos, grabbed a card from his deck too quickly for anyone but Dale to see what it was, then tributed all three of his monsters for Destiny Hero – Plasma! Plasma inhaled Gyzarus, attacked, and next turn Dale could do nothing but set his topdeck: his last card. Plasma attacked for 3100 damage, Cesar set a spell or trap, set a monster, and Dale set a monster. Next turn when Cesar activated Premature Burial Dale immediately offered the handshake.

Cesar “The Princess” Gonzalez moves on to the Top 4 with Dark Armed Dragon Return!