Alex Bradshaw hails from Avon, Indiana. The eighteen-year old duelist is one of the highest ranked competitors on the bubble with Caius the Shadow Monarch, but he’s paired against Lazaro Bellido. The deck Lazaro built for this event has already taken Cesar Gonzalez to a guaranteed Day 2 finish, a fact that’s only got Lazaro even hungrier for the win here.
He opened the final match of the day with Reinforcement of the Army, seeking out Elemental Hero Stratos, summoning him, and searching his deck for Destiny Hero – Malicious. He discarded Malicious for Destiny Draw, activated Allure of Darkness and removed Jinzo from play — his last in-hand Dark. He set two cards to his back row and ended.
Bradshaw played a flurry of draw cards too, activating Allure to remove Destiny Hero – Fear Monger, then Destiny Draw discarding Malicious. He set a monster, set two cards to his back row, and ended. Next turn Lazaro swung with Stratos to attack Bradshaw’s face-down monster, and was a bit surprised to take 1000 damage from Marshmallon. He removed Malicious from his graveyard in main phase 2 to bring out another, summoned Cyber Valley, and removed both monsters to draw two more cards. A third spell or trap card finished his turn, but Bradshaw activated Fires of Doomsday in the end phase to claim two Doomsday Tokens!
He tributed one for Caius the Shadow Monarch next turn, targeting Lazaro’s set Solemn Judgment: Lazaro responded with Torrential Tribute and Bradshaw passed with one back row card. Lazaro flipped Dust Tornado to destroy it, Raigeki Break, and Bradshaw was left wide open. Lazaro summoned Phantoms of Chaos next turn, removing Elemental Hero Stratos from his graveyard — it seemed like a pointless move, until Lazaro flipped Return from the Different Dimension! Jinzo, Malicious, Cyber Valley, and of course the Stratos were returned to the field, and Bradshaw shook his head with a smile.
Stratos let Lazaro search his deck for Destiny Hero – Disk Commander, and Lazaro removed Cyber Valley and Malicious to draw two cards. He discarded Dark Magician of Chaos for D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation, brought back Cyber Valley, and removed Phantom of Chaos and Cyber Valley for two more draws.
He then played Monster Reborn to bring back Dark Magician of Chaos! The Magician returned Monster Reborn to Lazaro’s hand, and one more special summon sealed the game!
“I got one turn,” explained Bradshaw to a bystander. Both duelists sided and shuffled quickly.
Bradshaw opened the second duel with Elemental Hero Stratos, grabbing Destiny Hero – Fear Monger from his deck. He activated Allure of Darkness, removing the Fear Monger, and ended, leaning back in his seat. “OTK?”
Lazaro activated Allure of Darkness, removed Spirit Reaper, and followed it up with Destiny Draw, ditching Malicious. He set two cards to his back row and ended. Next turn he flipped Trap Dustshoot, revealing his opponent’s hand of Pot of Avarice, Trap Dustshoot, Monster Reborn, Premature Burial, Brain Control, Destiny Hero – Plasma, and Caius the Shadow Monarch: Caius was the obvious pick, and Lazaro sent him back to Bradshaw’s deck.
“Set my Trap Dustshoot,” declared Bradshaw. “And I’ll dink you for 1800?” Stratos attacked directly, and next turn Bradshaw flipped his Dustshoot. Lazaro flopped his hand: Dark Magician of Chaos, Dark Armed Dragon, Destiny Draw, Heavy Storm, and D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation. Dark Magician of Chaos was sent back and Lazaro passed.
Stratos swung for another 1800 damage, dropping Lazaro to 4400 life points. “Set a bluff,” announced Bradshaw, setting a spell or trap, “and you can go ahead.”
Lazaro activated Destiny Draw, discarding another copy of Malicious to draw Dark Grepher and Jinzo. He only had two Dark monsters in his graveyard, so he discarded Jinzo to special summon Grepher. He special summoned Dark Armed Dragon, removed Jinzo and Malicious to destroy Bradshaw’s Crush Card Virus and Stratos, then attacked with both monsters. Bradshaw was left with just 3500 life points, and Lazaro was still holding that D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation.
Bradshaw activated Premature Burial, bringing back Stratos and searching his deck for Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. He set a monster, activated Brain Control, and targeted Dark Armed Dragon: Lazaro spent some time considering his potential response, his one face-down spell or trap. Bradshaw didn’t have any Dark monsters in his graveyard. After some more thought Lazaro activated Solemn Judgment to negate Brain Control. “Shoot,” muttered Bradshaw.
He activated Monster Reborn, took Lazaro’s Malicious, and tributed off all three of his monsters for Destiny Hero – Plasma. Plasma absorbed Dark Armed Dragon and then attacked over Grepher, leaving Lazaro at just 600 life points. Bradshaw passed with Plasma on the field and two cards in hand.
Lazaro fought back, activating Heavy Storm to strip Plasma of the Grepher. He then discarded for D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation, bringing back Jinzo and attacking Plasma. Bradshaw drew, set a monster, and ended.
Lazaro attacked with Jinzo . . . straight into Marshmallon! The match moved to a third duel.
The final duel of the day began with Lazaro setting a card to each zone. Bradshaw summoned Elemental Hero Stratos, searched out Destiny Hero – Plasma, removed him for Allure of Darkness, and set a spell or trap. Stratos attacked into Sangan, Lazaro pulled Snipe Hunter, and Bradshaw set a back row card. Lazaro summoned Snipe Hunter, discarded Dark Magician of Chaos to try and destroy his opponent’s set card, and missed! He discarded Phantom of Chaos next, destroyed Mirror Force, and then used Monster Reborn to bring back Dark Magician of Chaos! That got him back his Monster Reborn. The Magician attacked over Stratos, and Snipe attacked directly.
Next turn Lazaro flipped Trap Dustshoot: Bradshaw had Snipe Hunter, Disk Commander, Spirit Reaper, Caius, D.D. Crow, and Fires of Doomsday. He sent D.D. Crow back to Bradshaw’s deck, leaving Bradshaw to summon Snipe Hunter. He discarded Disk Commander to destroy and remove Dark Magician of Chaos from the field. He discarded Caius next, targeting Snipe Hunter, but missed. His Snipe attacked Lazaro’s, Bradshaw set Fires, and that was it for his turn.
Lazaro used Monster Reborn to special summon Elemental Hero Stratos from his opponent’s graveyard, and searched his deck for his own Stratos! He summoned him, used his effect to target Fires of Doomsday, and Bradshaw had to chain it.
D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation let him bring out Dark Magician of Chaos again, retrieving Monster Reborn from his graveyard. The Reborn got him his opponent’s Disk Commander, two draws, and the successive attacks left Bradshaw with no field and just 900 life points.
He drew next turn and set a monster. Lazaro set one too, turned Disk Commander to defense mode, and attacked with Dark Magician of Chaos: Bradshaw had set Spirit Reaper, and was safe for the turn. “Go ahead,” said Bradshaw.
Lazaro drew Card Trooper, and flip summoned the monster he’d set last turn: that let him clear the field with Torrential Tribute! He summoned Card Trooper and it was all over: three cards hit the graveyard, Card Trooper went to 1900 ATK, and the Trooper swung to end the match.
Lazaro Bellido is moving on to Day 2!