Gladiator Beasts vs. Dark Armed Dragon. What better feature match to represent the format? Jose Arocho is making quite a name for himself lately, making day 2 in two consecutive Shonen Jumps with the same deck. He's hoping to be sponsored by LNI, and a win here today would probably seal the deal. Steven Silverman is a name you probably haven't heard unless you follow Vs. System coverage. Silverman won a pair of 10K tournaments in the comic-based card game and is looking to add a Shonen Jump trophy to his shelf.
Game 1
Jose won the roll and opened with Elemental Hero Stratos. Her searched for Destiny Hero - Plasma and then activated Allure of Darkness. Dark Magician of Chaos hit the removed from play pile. Jose set a spell or trap card and passed to Silverman. Silverman quickly set three to his spell or trap zone and a monster. Jose played Heavy Storm on his turn after dumping Destiny Hero - Disk Commander with Destiny Draw. Silverman chained Dust Tornado on Jose's spell or trap and Jose responded by flipping it: Scapegoat. Stratos hit a Morphing Jar! Ouch, Plasma was gone now, and Jose played Allure of Darkness to pitch Spirit Reaper, set a spell or trap, and passed. He had Stratos, four Sheep tokens, a spell or trap, and four cards in hand.
Silverman drew and started things off with Cold Wave. It resolved, and Silverman next played Gladiator Beast Bestiari. Bestiari beat up a Sheep token. Silverman searched for Gladiator Beast Darius and brought back a Bestiari that had hit the grave from Morphing Jar. He contact Fused for Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and destroyed the Stratos and the set Solemn Judgment. Silverman passed with just Gyzarus, and Jose punished him in spades. His second Plasma came down and took Gyzarus for himself. Jose followed up with Card Trooper, sending three cards (one more Solemn) to the graveyard. Silverman was at 3000 and in a bad way when Jose passed.
Looking at a bunch of effect monsters in his hand Silverman went into the tank to figure a way out. He summoned Elemental Hero Stratos who couldn't search a card thanks to Plasma. He hit the Trooper, Jose drew, and Silverman set a spell or trap card. He asked Jose to allow him time to respond in the standby phase but decided against activating his Mind Crush. Jose summoned Sangan, Plasma beat up Stratos, and Sangan got in for 1000. Jose set two spell or trap cards before passing.
Silverman drew Reinforcement of the Army, and with 700 life points he wasn't going to go very far. He played Reinforcement of the Army and searched out Elemental Hero Prisma. "If I show you double Solemn will you just scoop," asked Jose. "You can't have double Solemn, on account of two are in your graveyard." Jose smirked. Silverman played the Prisma and paid the cost to dump Gladiator Beast Bestiari. Jose flipped Crush Card Virus to seal the deal and that was all Silverman needed to see to scoop.
Game 2
"I put in Kinetic Soldier, did you put in Wing Blast?" asked Jose. "Nah, I'm not really worried about Prohibition; you won't draw it." Silverman was most definitely trying to fool Jose, trying to trick him into thinking Prohibition added more safety than it actually does. He opened the second game with Elemental Hero Stratos to fetch Elemental Hero Prisma. "Do you have Storm?" asked Silverman. He was really trying to make some reads off of Jose. He just set one spell or trap though and passed.
Jose matched with his own Stratos to search Destiny Hero - Malicious. Silverman had Mind Crush down but didn't make the call, and Jose played Destiny Draw next, discarding the Malicious. Then Allure of Darkness came down, removing Sangan from play, and Reinforcement of the Army turned into Destiny Hero - Disk Commander who turned into two more cards thanks to another Draw. The two Stratos bumped heads, and Jose followed up with three set spell or trap cards.
Silverman was up now, looking at two Bestiari, Prisma, Morphing Jar, and a pair of traps in hand. He decided to summon Elemental Hero Prisma and revealed Sanwitch. He dumped Sangan to the graveyard and attacked for 1700. Not your average Prisma play, but Silverman wasn't your average Yu-Gi-Oh! player. He set two spell or traps to match Jose and passed. Jose flipped Scapegoat during the end phase, and during Jose's standby Silverman asked for time to respond. He flipped Mind Crush and called Destiny Hero - Plasma. Jose had none though; he had Cyber Valley, and Silverman was forced to pitch a Bestiari.
Jose played Destiny Draw next, discarding another Malicious and drew two. Silverman flipped Dust Tornado to destroy a set Solemn Judgment and Jose played Cyber Valley. He drew two then accidentally dropped Trap Dustshoot on the table. Silverman had two in hand, so he could play around it now. Jose passed with three tokens. Prisma dumped a Gladiator Beast Laquari for Silverman and he set another Bestiari. The two contact Fused for Gyzarus and Silverman declared "pop-pop-and-attack." The judge, Jose, and I did not hear him declare the intent to destroy cards though and it was ruled he'd declared and attack. He ran right into Mirror Force. Silverman set another spell or trap and passed. Jose summoned another Valley and drew two more cards, played Prohibition on Gladiator Beast Bestiari and passed. Silverman set another monster and a third spell or trap before passing.
Dark Armed Dragon came down for Jose but was blasted away by Solemn Judgment. Jose just set a monster and passed. Silverman drew, set Heavy Storm, and flipped Morphing Jar. Jose lost two Legendary Jujitsu Masters in the exchange and both players drew new hands. Premature Burial came down to bring Gyzarus back and it destroyed Prohibition and Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter. Silverman then summoned Spirit Reaper, hit the remaining Sheep with his Gyzarus and Jar, and then took Premature Burial from Jose's hand thanks to Reaper. Gyzarus tagged out for Gladiator Beast Darius and Gladiator Beast Laquari. Darius brought back a friend from the graveyard to allow all his Gladiators to contact Fuse for Gladiator Beast Heraklinos. I'd say he was back in the game. He flipped Crush Card Virus next turn and it was Jose's turn to pick it up.
Game 3
Both players were talking a little smack by now, after Silverman's misplay and big Morphing Jar comeback. But he'd held the Jar since turn 1, and made use of it to win the game. Funny how the missed Mind Crush call allowed him to get under four cards in hand to avoid Jose's Dustshoot and save the Jar. "Even when Mind Crush is bad, it's insane!" declared Silverman. He was delighted to make it out of that game and it showed.
Jose began the next game with Destiny Draw to ditch Destiny Hero - Malicious before setting a spell or trap and a monster. He flipped Trap Dustshoot to send Elemental Hero Prisma back over D.D. Crow. Silverman was holding two copies of Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, The Transmigration Prophecy, and Mind Crush. Things weren't looking good. Jose flipped Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter and targeted the Prophecy. Silverman sent Destiny Hero - Malicious back to Jose's deck and Ryko sent Dark Magician of Chaos, Destiny Hero - Malicious, and Destiny Hero - Plasma to the graveyard. Jose then played Snipe Hunter, passed priority, and special summoned Dark Armed Dragon. All three monsters attacked to drop Silverman to 3500. "Should have called the Dark Armed . . ." Silverman had to flip Mind Crush to call Solemn Judgment to make sure he didn't lose, but it missed and he had to discard a Wing Blast. Jose didn't destroy his own monsters though and left Silverman an out. He didn't draw a Gladiator on his next draw however and the game was over.
Jose Arocho out powers Steven Silverman's Gladiator Beasts to move on to the Top 8.