Kris Perovic really needs no introduction for today's tournament, but why not make him feel embarrassed? He has finished in the Top 8 of two Shonen Jump Championships and is one of the original members of the goliath Team Overdose. His opponent in round 8 is Marco Escamilla, a relative unknown who has been doing very well today. However, both players are on the bubble, and one more loss would knock one of these competitors out.
Both players shuffled up rather quietly. They both knew how much pressure there was on them.
"I cannot believe that connected," noted Kris.
Kris topdecked Graceful Charity and heavily debated on what to discard. "Jinzo is a good discard," said Marco, stating the obvious. He knew Kris had a tough choice. Kris opted to agree, discarding Chaos Sorcerer and Jinzo. He set a monster and ended his turn. Marco tribute summoned Magician of Faith for Jinzo, which nailed Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Smashing Ground took down Spirit Reaper for Marco, and he ended his turn. Kris flipped up Scapegoat at his end phase and got four Sheep tokens. That's a bad sign for Marco.
Kris drew, switched a Sheep to attack position, and Creature Swapped that token in exchange for Jinzo. Kris's new Jinzo wailed on his old Sheep token, and he ended his turn. Action halted for a little until Marco special summoned Cyber Dragon. He declared an attack on Jinzo and then played Book of Moon, but Kris chained with a Book of Moon of his own to flip the Cyber Dragon face down. He set a monster and ended. Kris flip summoned his Jinzo and took out the weakened machine monster during the next turn.
Kris: 1 Marco: 0
Both players quietly side decked before game two went underway. Marco chose to go first in this game.
Marco opened with a set card in each zone once again, and ended his turn. "Cyber Dragon leap?" joked Kris, noting that he probably wasn't going to make an aggressive play like that again. Kris opened with Graceful Charity, debating on what he could live without for this duel. He chose to discard Premature Burial and Tsukuyomi. He special summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked into Marco's Magical Merchant. The Insect netted Marco a Heavy Storm off of the top. Kris set a monster and a spell or trap and passed.
Marco summoned Exiled Force and popped it to destroy Cyber Dragon, and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive of Kris's was crossed out. Both players were playing the same sleeves and basically the same decks, and they both actually lost track of whose deck belongs to whom during shuffling. All the attention must be on the cards, and not the decks.
Marco opted to flip up his Heavy Storm during his next turn, wiping out Kris's one face-down card. He played Premature Burial to get back Zaborg, which attacked Kris's Chaos Sorcerer. He tribute summoned Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World during main phase 2 in order to maintain board presence, not wanting to risk his only threat to monster to spell, trap, and monster removal. Unfortunately for Marco, Kris flopped Exiled Force off of the top of his deck and followed with Snatch Steal, swinging for exactly enough to end the game.
Kris: 2 Marco: 0