Alejandro Reyes Suarez traveled here this weekend from Mexico City — he’s the Mexican National Champion, and now he had a shot at becoming a Shonen Jump Champion too. A win here would be tremendous, but his opponent is Cesar Gonzalez.

This is Cesar’s fifth consecutive Shonen Jump Day 2, and he’s gunning for his third Shonen Jump title win. Two huge Champions were about to clash in the format-defining matchup: the TeleDAD mirror.

Suarez opened with Krebons and a set spell or trap. Cesar had Heavy Storm, Elemental Hero Stratos, Destiny Hero - Malicious, Caius the Shadow Monarch, Emergency Teleport, and Trap Dustshoot. He activated Heavy Storm and blew away Suarez’s face-down Return from the Different Dimension. He summoned Stratos, fetched Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude from his deck, and attacked Krebons to force Suarez to pay 800 life points. A set Dustshoot ended the turn.

Cesar flipped it next turn, shuffling his opponent’s Doom Lord back to the deck. Suarez had another Doom Lord, Mirror Force, Necro Gardna, and Malicious in hand. He set Mirror Force, and next turn Cesar discarded Malicious for Destiny Draw. He special summoned another, moving at a lightning pace, and then brought out two Krebons with a pair of Emergency Teleport! He Synchro summoned Stardust Dragon, tribute summoned Caius the Shadow Monarch, and removed Krebons with his effect. Stardust attacked, Suarez flipped Mirror Force, and Cesar chained Stardust’s effect. He made direct attacks with Stratos and Caius. Suarez set a monster, Cesar summoned Diamond Dude, flipped Monster Reborn off his deck, and Suarez was scooping moments later.

One more win like that and Cesar would be a three-time Shonen Jump Champion! Cesar gave his deck a quick pile shuffle, a couple riffle shuffles, and presented immediately. He’d been doing it all day, and if anyone ever had doubts about his integrity, he was proving them wrong round by round in this tournament. Game 2 started moments later.

Suarez summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, grabbed Malicious from his deck, and set a spell or trap. Cesar drew: nothing but spells and Solemn. He set Solemn, set a spell and lost it to Phoenix Wing Wind Blast in the end phase. Suarez discarded Malicious, removed him to summon another next turn, and activated Emergency Teleport to summon Krebons. He Synchro summoned Stardust Dragon, searched his deck for Armageddon Knight with Reinforcement of the Army, and then summoned it to send Plaguespreader Zombie to his graveyard. He removed his second Malicious for his third and Cesar scooped, revealing his hand of Destiny Draw, Allure of Darkness, and Monster Reborn.

“That was the fastest Game 2 ever!” shouted Zaki Said from the sidelines. Both competitors quickly shuffled their decks and presented moments later.

Cesar opened with Reinforcement of the Army, searched his deck for Elemental Hero Stratos, summoned him, and got Destiny Hero – Malicious. He added Malicious to his hand of Allure of Darkness, Krebons, Diamond Dude, Reinforcement of the Army, and Monster Reborn. He activated Allure of Darkness, caught Heavy Storm and Destiny Draw, and removed Diamond Dude. He discarded Malicious for Destiny Draw, drawing Sangan and Snipe Hunter. He set Heavy Storm and ended.

Play was to Suarez, who drew two cards with Allure and removed his Snipe Hunter. He snapped his cards one by one to the field with a loud “bang”, and searched out Dark Grepher with Reinforcement of the Army. He special summoned it, discarding Malicious, and then discarded Plaguespreader Zombie to throw Necro Gardna in his graveyard. That let him special summon Dark Armed Dragon, and he brought out Plaguespreader Zombie and Malicious! Cesar knew it was over and immediately offered the handshake!