At the start of round 7, four out of the six undefeated players were from Team Superfriends. In this match, team leader Dale Bellido takes on Miguel Polanco to try to bring himself within one win of a guaranteed Top 8. Miguel won the die roll and opted to go first.

Game 1

Miguel opened up with a face-down card in each zone. Dale did likewise, and in the end phase Dale’s Mystical Space Typhoon was destroyed by a Dust Tornado. Miguel summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, then flipped over D. D. Warrior Lady. The Warrior Lady crashed into D. D. Assailant and removed it from play, while Breaker swung directly for 1900. Miguel set a card and passed. Dale made an excellent play in the next turn, special summoning Cyber Dragon, then using Snatch Steal to take control of Breaker, and using its counter to destroy Miguel’s Sakuretsu Armor. Both monsters clocked him in the face, and Miguel was forced to use Mystical Space Typhoon to take back his Breaker. He followed it up with his own Snatch Steal to take control of Cyber Dragon, and brought the beats back to Dale. Dale set a card in each zone and passed, and when Miguel attacked the face-down monster, Dale flipped Dust Tornado to recover his Dragon. Breaker crashed into a face-down D. D. Warrior Lady, and nothing happened. Smashing Ground destroyed the Cyber Dragon, and Miguel set a card before ending.

Dale continued to apply pressure with D. D. Assailant, and it attacked Breaker. D. D. Warrior Lady didn’t make it all way the over to Miguel, though, as Scapegoat barred its way. Dale was up by two cards at this point, proving the power of his strategy of going second. Dale simply attacked two tokens during the next turn, and then passed back to Miguel, who set a card before ending. Dale pulled out Breaker next turn and swung in with D. D. Assailant to destroy the last sheep token, and with Warrior Lady to remove Miguel’s face-down Assailant. Breaker came in for 1900, and it was back to Miguel. He summoned Cyber Dragon and took a long hard look at Dale’s facedown before deciding to attack Breaker. The attack connected, and Miguel set a card before passing. Dale revived his Cyber Dragon with Premature Burial, used Smashing Ground on Miguel’s Dragon, then tried to attack with both for game. Miguel looked at his face-down card and revealed it to be Sakuretsu Armor. In the end it didn’t matter, though, as Call of the Haunted brought Cyber Dragon back to finish what it started.

Dale-1 Miguel-0

Game 2

All the camaraderie of the pre-game was gone during side decking, as both players were deathly silent. Miguel opted to go first once again, exactly what Dale wanted. When the game started, though, Dale was very displeased with his hand as he watched Miguel set a card in each zone and pass. Dale only set a monster and passed back to Miguel, who flipped Kinetic Soldier and then used Nobleman of Crossout to remove Dale’s Spirit Reaper from play. The Soldier hit directly, and play returned to Dale. Dale summoned a Mystic Tomato, but ran into the dreaded Widespread Ruin, setting back his plans in a big way. He set a Dust Tornado but it was destroyed by Mystical Space Typhoon before Kinetic Soldier attacked again.

Dale pulled a card off his deck and set it without giving it much of a glance. Miguel attacked it, revealing Spirit Reaper, and then destroyed it with Smashing Ground in main phase 2. Dale set a card in each zone, but both were destroyed when Miguel flipped Magician of Faith to retrieve Mystical Space Typhoon and played Reinforcement of the Army to get Mystic Swordsman LV2. A Kinetic Soldier fell to the Swordsman, and Dale’s life points fell to everything else. Dale summoned another Kinetic Soldier to try to regain some ground, but it was lost to Sakuretsu Armor. He set a card and passed, only to take more damage from Miguel’s Soldier next turn. Things started to look up for Dale when he drew and summoned Cyber Dragon, successfully attacking and destroying the Swordsman. With the Swordsman out of the way, Dale was free to set a monster, and he did so. Miguel didn’t have the answer to Cyber Dragon at the time, so he opted to play defensively by setting a card and switching his Soldier to defense mode. Cyber Dragon destroyed it, and Dale passed his turn.

The Cyber Dragon was clearly not what Miguel wanted to see, and he passed his turn again, possibly signaling a face-down Torrential Tribute or a Dark Hole. It was Dark Hole, and he dropped it from his hand to clear the field. He set one more card and passed, bringing him up to three spell and trap cards. Dale set a monster and passed, possibly smelling the Torrential Tribute, and Miguel sought to punish him for it with Cyber Dragon and D. D. Warrior Lady next turn. The Lady attacked and removed Dale’s Newdoria, and then Cyber Dragon moved to attack directly. Dale had Call of the Haunted, however, and used it to pull back a Mystic Tomato. Miguel tried to go for the win with an Enemy Controller to take the Tomato and attack for exactly game, but an Enemy Controller from Dale stopped it in its tracks. It didn’t matter, though, as Call of the Haunted ended yet another game, this time in Miguel’s favor.

Dale-1 Miguel-1

Game 3

“He kept killing my Reaper, man!” lamented Dale between games. It was his choice this time. Would he stick to the “go second” strategy? Apparently not, as he decided to go first and set a card in each zone. Miguel mimicked his move, and in the end phase Dale destroyed a set Book of Moon with Dust Tornado. Swords of Revealing Light revealed D. D. Assailant, and Dale summoned D.D. Survivor to destroy it without consequence. He then ordered his freshly flip-summoned Spirit Reaper to attack and relieve Miguel of a Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke. Miguel came back with a Survivor of his own, but a Kinetic Soldier from Dale nearly put the game away for him. The random discard took away Pitch-Black Warwolf, and in the next turn Miguel, seeing no way to win, entered his scoop phase.

Dale continues his undefeated streak to 7-0, and Miguel ends up on the bubble with 6-1!