It all came down to this: two new dueling stars going head to head for a laptop, a pile of electronics, and a copy of the Shonen Jump Championship-exclusive prize card, Shrink!
“Thanks for knocking out that Prickle Fairy deck,” remarked Lopez. “That was really the only thing that I was worried about.”
“Yeah, the only way I could beat him was to Stein him twice!” Both duelists were clearly impressed with Chris Moosman’s deck here this weekend. They’d played each other before in a previous event, so there was a friendly familiarity between them.
Lopez won the roll and opened with a single set card in his back row. Cariasco summoned Spirit Reaper and went for the early hit, but ran into Enemy Controller. Spirit Reaper was destroyed by its own effect. Cariasco set a spell or trap and play was back to Lopez.
He immediately set a spell or trap, and then set another after brief consideration. Cariasco drew for his turn and leaned back in his seat to consider his hand. “I know this is going to die, but . . .” he summoned Asura Priest. “Attack into Saku?”
“Yup.” Lopez flipped Sakuretsu Armor and Asura Priest was destroyed. Cariasco ended his turn. Lopez drew Graceful Charity and activated it. His first discard was Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, and Bottomless Trap Hole followed suit shortly after. He set a monster to end. Cariasco activated Mystical Space Typhoon from his hand, but the card he targeted turned out to be another Mystical Space Typhoon! Lopez chained it and Cariasco lost his set Mirror Force. It was enough of a beating for one turn, and Cariasco ended. Lopez set a monster and passed back.
Cariasco special summoned Cyber Dragon, normal summoned Exiled Force and then tributed away the Exiled to destroy Lopez’s set monster: it was Old Vindictive Magician, and Cariasco suddenly had a clear path to his opponent’s life points! Cyber Dragon hit directly, but a turn later Lopez fired back! He special summoned a Cyber Dragon of his own, tributed it for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, discarded Zaborg from Cariasco’s hand, and attacked over the Dragon! Cariasco was left with one card in his hand and a cleared field: Lopez had three in hand and Cyber Dragon on the field, and he finished his turn by setting a spell or trap.
Cariasco was desperate, two cards down and with no field presence, facing a Thestalos that would quickly make short work of his life points. He had no choice, and took the one potential out that fate had offered him: a topdecked Cyber-Stein. “It’s my only move,” he said with a tinge of regret as he placed it on the field. He paid 5000 life points to bring out Cyber Twin Dragon, but Lopez flipped Torrential Tribute once Twin hit the field. Cariasco slumped a moment, then set a spell or trap. Lopez set a monster, and Cariasco activated Reinforcement of the Army to search his deck for Exiled Force. He summoned it and used it to destroy Lopez’s set Apprentice Magician. Lopez fired back with Pot of Avarice on the next turn, shuffling back Apprentice Magician, two copies of Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, Old Vindictive Magician, and Cyber Dragon. Once Pot resolved Lopez had four cards to Cariasco’s one. He summoned Mystic Tomato, swung for 1400, set a spell or trap, and ended.
“Let’s see if I have five for Pot . . .” mused Cariasco. He counted out eight monsters in his graveyard and then activated the Pot of Avarice he had topdecked that turn. He shuffled back Asura Priest, two Exiled Force, Spirit Reaper, and Cyber Dragon. He drew his two cards, activated yet another Reinforcement of the Army and searched his deck: “Exiled I guess,” said Lopez. “Or Don!” He grinned, tapping his Tomato in jest. But sure enough, Cariasco took Don Zaloog form his deck. “’Kay,” said Lopez, briefly baffled. Then he realized what was coming, “Oh!”
Cariasco summoned the Don, flipped Smashing Ground and attacked, a great play that could easily even the playing field a bit. But again, Lopez had the superior range of options and flipped Mirror Force! Cariasco set a spell or trap, Lopez set one too, and Cariasco set another. Lopez passed, Cariasco set a monster, Lopez special summoned Cyber Dragon and tributed for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Cariasco had had enough — he flipped Ring of Destruction to target the Zaborg, and the resulting damage basically amounted to suicide.
“I had my own Ring down,” mentioned Lopez with a smile. “I was going to be all ‘forget you, mine goes first!’ but I decided not to.” Both competitors laughed, and each set to side decking.
Cariasco opened the second duel by setting a spell or trap card. Lopez set a card to each trap zone and passed back. “I gotta use it,” said Cariasco, activating Graceful Charity from his hand. He discarded Pot of Avarice, and then Sangan, eliciting a “Wow!” from his opponent who was surprised to see Sangan discarded. He then activated Confiscation, revealing Lopez’s hand: two Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Cyber-Stein, and Sakuretsu Armor. Stein was the immediate choice for Cariasco, who set a second spell or trap to end his turn.
Lopez matched him, setting a second spell or trap and passing. Cariasco summoned Mystic Swordsman LV2 and attacked: “Please don’t Sak it.” Lopez did: Sakuretsu Armor flipped and Mystic Swordsman LV2 was destroyed. “Still in the battle phase,” noted Cariasco. He flipped Call of the Haunted, brought back the Mystic Swordsman LV2, and this time Lopez blocked with Enemy Controller! Swordsman went to defense position, Cariasco went to main phase 2 and activated Last Will. “That must be really good,” said Cariasco, searching his deck for Exiled Force as he eyed the face down monster Lopez had been so adamant about protecting. He tributed it, and destroyed the face down monster: another Cyber-Stein! “What? That wasn’t special. What the hell?” Lopez gave a small good-natured laugh. Cariasco set a third card to his back row, Lopez set a monster and passed.
“Sand Moth?” mused Cariasco. He turned Mystic Swordsman LV2 to attack and swung, destroying Lopez’s set monster: Treeborn Frog. “Oh, yeah. Don’t get Mobius!”
Lopez drew, summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and lost it to Ring of Destruction. Lopez ended, Cariasco set a second spell or trap, and he turned Mystic Swordsman LV2 to defense. Lopez drew into Heavy Storm and brought back his Frog. He then activated the Storm, destroying everything on Cariasco’s side of the field! Frog comes back this turn. Cariasco special summoned Cyber Dragon, hit Frog, Frog came back, and it was tributed for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Zaborg attacked directly after destroying Cyber Dragon and Cariasco took 2400 direct.
Cariasco set two more back row cards, Treeborn came back for Lopez and Cariasco vocally debated flipping Torrential Tribute. He was either bluffing or honestly decided not to flip it. Zaborg hit him for 2400, Lopez set another monster and play was to Cariasco.
He set a monster and ended his turn. Lopez flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and this time Cariasco was forced to activate Torrential Tribute. He lost his own Magician of Faith, destroying Lopez’s Dekoichi, Frog, and Zaborg. Still, Lopez took his draw for Dekoichi and activated Pot of Avarice. “I think I lost,” said Cariasco with a smile. Cariasco was down to 600 life points. “Draw a monster and it’s game.”
Lopez summoned Apprentice Magician! It wasn’t enough to take down Cariasco, though it did reduce him to 200 life points when it attacked. Lopez set a spell or trap, passed, and Cariasco flipped his set Heavy Storm. He summoned Exiled Force, attacked the Apprentice to push through some damage, then used Creature Swap to take the monster Lopez had brought out with Apprentice: Old Vindictive Magician. But it was over and he knew it: Lopez drew for his turn, tributed Exiled to destroy his own Old Vindictive and then summoned Spirit Reaper! The Reaper’s paltry attack was enough to finish the game, and that was it!
Kyle Lopez wins Shonen Jump Championship Seattle!