Yesterday a surprisingly huge field of 539 competitors fought their way through ten rounds in a tournament that lasted long through the night. The result? Sixteen surviving duelists, nine Dark Armed Dragon decks, four rounds to go, and one competitor who will walk away a Shonen Jump Champion.

Today’s bracket is an interesting one, with a Dark Armed Dragon deck in every Top 16 match save one. Team Face2Face, who put their two members into Day 2 a month ago in Orlando, picked up a third member and now all three are in Top 16 contention, each in a different spot on the opening ladder. With James Neumann and Cedric Sequerra on one side of the bracket, and Karim Ahamjik on the other, we could see an all-Canadian finals.

But before we see that, we’ll see eight Top 16 matches play out. The first pits four-time Day 2 qualifier Jesus Suarez against Billy Brake, each a breakout duelist with a ton of potential. Suarez in particular has missed the spotlight many times before, but he may correct that this weekend, as he brings a Dark Armed Dragon deck with Prometheus, King of Shadows and Allure of Darkness up against Brake’s Perfect Circle Allure deck.

In the only non-Dark Armed match of the Top 16, Jonathan Moore competes against Brian Maass, pitting his signature Six Samurai strategy against Maass’ Magical Explosion. If Moore can drop one of his three Great Shogun Shien early on he’ll lock down the match and cripple Maass’ spell-driven strategy, but in order to do that he’ll need to take a turn in the first place: something Maass isn’t interested in letting happen.

Next, Shonen Jump Championship Orlando winner Cedric Sequerra takes teammate Karim Ahamjik’s Dark Armed Dragon build against Perry Williams’ Diamond Dude Turbo. Sequerra and the rest of Face2Face were darn near unstoppable yesterday, and this deck put all three of their members into Day 2. Packing Soul Release, Allure of Darkness, Destiny Draw, and tech like Raigeki Break and Destiny Hero – Dasher, Sequerra may be poised for back-to-back Championship wins.

His teammate James Neumann is playing the same deck, and will face the same DDT matchup when he takes on Texas’ own Chris Bowling. Neumann’s deck may be the best here, but Bowling has superior Day 2 experience and has the home court advantage. Can Bowling claim the local victory, or will Neumann steal one? We’ll find out mere minutes from now.

The deck’s creator, Karim Ahamjik will play one of the Top 16’s two Dark Armed Dragon mirror matches, pitting his Soul Release, Allure, and Destiny Draw build against Robert Vasquez’s version with Strike Ninja and Allure. Ahamjik is the only Face2Face member not playing a Shonen Jump prize card, but he finished higher in the rankings yesterday than anyone from his team. Speed may be the deciding factor in this match.

Overdose’s Paul Levitin is back for yet another Day 2 appearance, possibly holding more Day 2’s on his own than the rest of the Top 16 combined. Levitin is playing Dark Armed Dragon with Strike Ninja, Prometheus, and Allure, and he’s playing the only Light and Darkness Dragon deck in Day 2. Piloted by Jose Tellez, the deck plays Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Raiza the Storm Monarch, and Peten the Dark Clown, so this one’s going to be interesting.

Russell Duminuco takes a slower build of Dark Armed Dragon with Destiny Draw and Allure of Darkness against James Reed, in the Top 16’s second Magical Explosion match. Like other matches today speed is definitely the deciding factor, and time is not on Russell’s side. He’s the only Top 16 Dark Armed player not running removal agents like Soul Release, Strike Ninja, and Prometheus, so the odds really don’t seem in his favor, but if he can overcome his opponent in this match he may change accepted notions about the archetype.

Finally, American Champion Adam Corn brings Dark Armed Dragon with Prometheus, Strike Ninja, and Allure of Darkness against Russell Jessen’s unique Overload Fusion build. Jessen devastated competitors yesterday with a mix of Dark Armed Dragon and Chimeratech Overdragon, so this is a really intriguing matchup. A win here over Corn would be huge for the relatively unknown Jessen, and his deck would surely be emulated at Costa Mesa two weeks from now.