Dale Bellido is here today to keep his title, and with a 7-1 record, he’ll probably need to win this match in order to do so.
His opponent, Josh Kavalauskas, is no pushover, though. Like Dale, he made Day 2 at last year’s Shonen Jump Chicago, but he was knocked out of the tournament in the quarter-finals by Dale Bellido’s brother, Lazaro. This time around, things are different. He already defeated Lazaro in round 1, and now he was out to finish the job of eliminating the Bellido family from contention!
Kavalauskas won the opening roll and began the first duel with a set monster, a set spell and trap card, and passed. Dale did the same and passed back.
Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive flipped face up on Kavalauskas’s side of the field, drawing him a card. It attacked, but Daled flipped Scapegoat. It triggered a replay, Kavalauskas attacked the face down monster again, and called it “Attack Faith.” It was indeed Magician of Faith, and Dale took back Scapegoat.
Dale set two back row cards and passed. Kavalauskas flipped Magical Merchant, got Scapegoat for himself, set a second back row card, set a monster, and passed. Dale used DustTornado to destroy Return from the Different Dimension, tried to attack with Mystic Tomato into Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, but got deined by Book of Moon. Next turn Kavalauskas flipped Night Assailant to destroy the Tomato, attacked with all three monsters, set a back row card, and ended.
Dale set a monster and passed, with one card still in his back row. Kavalauskas tributed away his Assailant for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, but Dale flipped Torrential Tribute, clearing the field. Dale wasn’t safe though, as Kavalauskas activated Call of the Haunted, brought back the Zaborg, and hit for 2400.
Dale took the Zaborg with Snatch Steal, but ran into Scapegoat – he attacked one of the sheep, set a back row card, and passed. Kavalauskas played Graceful Charity, immediately earmarking Jinzo for discard. He pitched Cyber Dragon next, and then played Premature Burial to bring up Jinzo. Kavalauskas summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and sent it to attack Dale’s pilfered Zaborg. Dale let the attack go, but had his Scapegoat set. He was bluffing hard, and let the Jinzo attack hit him.
He special summoned Chaos Sorcerer, removed Jinzo from play, and set another back row card. Kavalauskas set a card to each zone and passed, prompting Dale to immediately remove a Sheep from play. He then played Nobleman of Crossout to remove Kavalauskas’s set Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive from play, and stripped two more copies out of his opponent’s deck: he lost one himself too.
Kavalauskas drew for his turn, and played Return. “Return for game?” Jinzo, D. D. Warrior Lady, and Zaborg hit the field. “Do your worst” invited Dale. The life point totals were 3650 to 1800, with Kavalauskas leading. He tributed his D. D. Warrior Lady for Zaborg, destroyed Chaos Sorcerer with its effect, and attacked. He looked stunned when Scapegoat flipped up, but attacked three tokens. He was clearly rattled.
Dale set a monster and a back row card, Kavalauskas summoned Sangna, removed Dale’s set monster, Spirit Reaper, from the game with Nobleman of Crossout, and attacked. Sangan hit the last Sheep, but when Zaborg attacked it was blocked by Book of Moon. Dale set another monster and a back row card, passed, and Kavalauskas attacked into Spirit Reaper. He set another monster and passed.
Two turns later Dale had successfully hidden behind a second Spirit Reaper, but had lost both to various effects. He wound up shielding his life points with a defense position Tomato and set a back row card. Kavalauskas tried to summon a monster, but couldn’t due to his two Sheep. He pressed, attacking Tomato with Zaborg, and Dale pulled Sangan to the field with the Tomato’s effect. Kavalauskas rammed Dale’s Sangan with his own, pulling Sangan while Dale took Magician of Faith. He then set a fifth monster before ending his turn.
Nobleman of Crossout removed that set monster, Magician of Faith, from the game once Dale began his turn. Dale set a monster and passed. Kavalauskas played Tsukuyomi, turned Magical Merchant face down, flipped it to use its effect, and pulled Nobleman of Crossout: it removed Dale’s last Magician of Faith from the field. Dale had just one set spell or trap card to stop Kavalauskas’s onslaught of Tsukuyomi, Zaborg, and Magical Merchant, and Kavalauskas had to think for a moment before attacking, fearing Mirror Force. “Everything will die” he mused . . . “Attack.”
Dale didn’t have Mirror Force, but he did have Return from the Different Dimension, blocking Kavalauskas’s attack. He opted not to attack, Dale lost all his monsters, and Kavalauskas passed. Dale drew, set one back row card, and passed: his only cards remaining in hand were Jinzo and Chaos Sorcerer. Kavalauskas attacked with Zaborg, Enemy Controller blocked the attack, and play passed to Dale.
Dale drew, but couldn’t find a solution to his considerable problems. He immediately scooped.
Josh Kavalauskas wins the first duel, moving one step closer to revenge!
The second duel was opened with a set card to each zone from Dale. Kavalauskas immediately played Reinforcement of the Army to search for Mystic Swordsman LV2 once Dale passed, and attacked to destroy Dale’s set Mystic Tomato. He passed, and Dale sent Cyber Dragon after the pipsqueak Swordsman. Swordsman went down and Dale passed.
Kavalauskas set a card to each zone, but lost his Book of Moon in the end phase to DustTornado. Dale set a card with it. He played Graceful Charity on his turn, used Night Assailant to bump the discarded Magician of Faith back to his hand, and played Nobleman of Crossout, removing Kavalauskas’s last on-field card, Magician of Faith from the game! Cyber Dragon attacked directly, Dale set a monster, and play passed back to Kavalauskas.
It was Kavalauskas’s turn to play Nobleman of Crossout, and again, the monster removed was Magician of Faith. He set a monster and ended his turn. Dale played Mystical Space Typhoon from his hand, destroying Return from the Different Dimension. Dale attacked with Cyber Dragon, losing it to D. D. Warrior Lady, but flipped Call of the Haunted to bring back Mystic Tomato. Tomato attacked, Dale set a spell or trap, and ended.
Kavalauskas set a back row card, passed, Dale passed, Kavalauskas passed, and Dale poked with the Tomato. Kavalauskas summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, Dale turned it face down with Book of Moon on the chain, and Kavalauskas passed.
Mystic Tomato attacked Breaker, Dale set a monster, and concluded his turn. Kavalauskas drew, flipped Nobleman of Crossout to remove Dale’s Gravekeeper’s Spy from the game, and Dale was forced to remove his second copy from his deck, shaking his head. Kavalauskas set a monster and passed, nothing in his back row.
Dale attacked with Mystic Tomato after summoning Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, but Night Assailant blew away the train. Kavalauskas set a monster, again passing with no spell or trap cards set, and Dale drew. Dale looked at his hand for a moment, turned the Tomato to defense, and ended his turn.
Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed Dale’s set Dust Tornado, but Dale activated the Tornado to target the Mystical Space Typhoon. He wanted to use the second effect of Dust Tornado to set a card, and did. Kavalauskas then tributed his set monster, D. D. Assailant, for Zaborg, destroying Dale’s Mystic Tomato. It was all over a turn later though, as Snatch Steal grabbed Kavalauskas’s Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and Dale attacked directly!
Dale Bellido evens up the score and moves the match to game three!
Both duelists spent a great deal of time side decking, making their choices carefully. Barring superior (and lucky) tiebreakers, this match was going to knock one of these two duelists out of the tournament.
Kavalauskas chose to begin the third and final duel, and his first play was Graceful Charity – he discarded Night Assailant and Magician of Faith to bounce his Magician back to his hand. It was exactly what Dale didn’t want to see. Kavalauskas set a card to each zone and passed.
Dale played Cyber Dragon, then Nobleman of Crossout to remove Treeborn Frog from the game! The dragon attacked, but Kavalauskas flipped Scapegoat! Dale decided to leave him with the tokens! He set a card to each zone and passed play to his opponent. Kavalauskas used Snatch Steal to take Dale’s Cyber Dragon, then played Nobleman of Crossout to remove Dale’s set monster from play – Morphing Jar. Dale shook his head, and ate the 2100 damage. Losing the Jar hurt badly. Dale set a monster and passed.
Cyber Dragon attacked, running into Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Dale took a card, Kavalauskas passed, Dale set another monster, and Cyber Dragon attacked again, this time into Spirit Reaper. Without any other way to spend his cards, Kavalauskas tributed Dale’s Cyber Dragon for one of his own.
Kavalauskas ended, Dale passed, Kavalauskas set a spell or trap and passed, and Dale passed back. Kavalauskas set another spell or trap, Dale passed, and Kavalauskas passed, discarding Cyber Dragon in his end phase. Dale set a back row card, ended his turn, Kavalauskas ended discarding Jinzo, Dale set a fourth spell or trap card, play passed to Kavalauskas, and he tributed his Cyber Dragon for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, destroying Spirit Reaper. Less than three minutes remained.
Zaborg attacked, but Dale flipped Sakuretsu Armor. Kavalauskas passed, Dale set a monster, ended, and Kavalauskas set a monster. Two minutes remained. Dale played Nobleman of Crossout, hitting Kavalauskas’s Magician of Faith, and set a second monster. It was 7900 to 8000.
Dale ended, Kavalauskas passed after setting another spell or trap, Dale set another too, passed, Kavalauskas set another, and passed back. Dale tributed and set Cyber Dragon, ending his turn.
Kavalauskas summoned Magical Merchant, and flipped Torrential Tribute. Time was called as Kavalauskas special summoned Chaos Sorcerer. He attacked with it, and Dale, holding Snatch Steal, debated flipping Sakuretsu Armor or not. He’d have two turns in which to try and deal enough damage for the win. Dale counted the total ATK of Kavalauskas’s removed from play area and the Sorcerer: 7700 if Kavalauskas flipped Return for Jinzo, Zaborg, and the two Magician of Faith. He popped the Sorcerer with Sakuretsu Armor, and Kavalauskas chained Return, bringing Jinzo out to negate the Sakuretsu Armor. Dale flipped Jinzo face down with Book of Moon, and took the damage from everything else: 2400 from Zaborg, 2300 from Chaos Sorcerer, and 300 from each Magician of Faith, for leaving Dale at 2600. Kavalauskas passed, with 4000 LP and the Zaborg still hanging around.
But Dale had a plan! He played Heavy Storm, wiping away Kavalauskas’s back field. He then used Snatch Steal to take Chaos Sorcerer, tributed for Zaborg, blew away the set Jinzo he flipped down with Book of Moon last turn, and attacked for 2400! It dropped Kavalauskas to 2600, tying up the game! He then set three back row cards and passed.
In Kavalauskas’s draw phase, he flipped Waboku. Josh couldn’t finish Dale this turn, but he played Heavy Storm.
Dale chained Ceasefire, dishing out an additional 500 damage and breaking the tie! Kavalauskas couldn’t deal battle damage this turn because of Waboku, and was forced to concede!
Dale Bellido comes within one match of another Top 8 finish in Chicago, and successfully avenges his brother’s round 1 defeat!