After shaking hands and shuffling they rolled off, and Ramirez won the right to go first. He opened the duel with three set cards, a set Morphing Jar, and Book of Taiyou. He used the Taiyou on Jar, but discarded Flores’s Goldd in the process! He lost two of his set cards: Tremendous Fire and Ojama Trio. What kind of weird burn deck was this?

Flores flipped his last set, another Tremendous Fire, and played Meteor of Destruction. He set three more spell or trap cards, passed to Flores, and activated Ojama Trio in his draw phase. Flores played Smashing Ground, Ramirez chained Secret Barrel, Flores chained Mystical Space Typhoon to target Ramirez’s face down, and Ramirez chained it as well—it was Ceasefire! The Ceasefire resolved for 1000 damage, Secret Barrel did 2000, and Morphing Jar was destroyed. Flores set a monster, attacked for 2300 with Goldd, and Ramirez set a card to each zone.

Flores flip summoned Swarm of Scarabs, destroying Ramirez’s set monster, Spirit Reaper. Swarm and Goldd hit directly, Ramirez, set a monster, and it was Flores’s play again. He flip summoned his Swarm, destroyed the face down card, took damage because it was Mecha-Dog Marron, and attacked directly some more. A turn later it was all over: Ramirez topdecked into Spirit Reaper, but the Swarm of Scarabs destroyed it yet again, and Goldd swung directly one final time. The Swarm finished Ramirez off, and the first duel went to Flores!

Angel Flores takes the first duel in under six minutes!

“Man, I think I might have already lost my shot at Top 8,” said Ramirez, smiling despite that possibility. He finished side decking, and Flores was still figuring out the exact cards he’d need. Ramirez’s Burn build was very unorthodox, so side decking against it wasn’t an easy task for Flores.

“Hopefully I don’t hit that Goldd again” remarked Ramirez.

He opened the first duel with Meteor of Destruction, burning Flores for 1000 damage. He played Tremendous Fire next, then set a spell or trap and summoned Mecha-Dog Marron. Flores summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke the face down back row card, and watched Ramirez chain it—it was Ojama Trio. He attacked Mecha Dog, took the damage from it, and passed. Ramirez set two back row cards, set a monster and passed.

Flores played Heavy Storm, and Ramirez Chained Just Desserts. Exiled Force wiped out the face down monster, Spirit Reaper, and Breaker attacked directly. Ramirez played Messenger of Peace, Flores summoned Sangan and attacked with it. Next turn Ramirez set his draw, passed, Flores attacked again on the following turn, and Ramirez set another card. On the following turn Ramirez flipped both of his sets, and Secret Barrel and Just Desserts were enough to win the game! Ramirez’s deck was insanely fast, and less than fifteen minutes had passed since the match began.

Flores opted to go first, and set a card to each zone to begin game 3. Ramirez set four back row cards, played Level Limit - Area B, set Morphing Jar, and played Taiyou again! “No Goldd!” he said, hopeful. Indeed, Flores did not have one to discard. “Good! Now I can start stuff!” Ramirez took his five cards and planned his approach.

He played Meteor of Destruction from his hand, and then flipped Tremendous Fire. He played another from his hand, and it was 5000 to 7000. He set another card to his back row and passed. In Flores’s draw phase he flipped Secret Barrel, dishing out 1400 damage: Flores went down to 3600. Sangan was flip summoned, attacked Morphing Jar, and Flores set two spells or traps and a monster.

Ramirez drew, flipped Reckless Greed, and in doing so sent a clear message: the game was going to end very, very soon. He set two back row cards, set a monster, and passed.

In Flores’s draw phase, he flipped Secret Barrel, then chained Just Desserts. But Flores chained Hallowed Life Barrier, negating both! His gambit to wait on the activation of a second trap card paid off! Flores then flip summoned Swarm of Scarabs to destroy the set monster Ramirez was shielded by (Spirit Reaper) and attacked for 1500. A turn later he did it again. Ramirez finally drew, setting a new back row card. Flores took it out with Dust Tornado, destroying Torrential Tribute. Flores played Heavy Storm on the following turn, attacking, and Ramirez drew, setting another spell or trap and playing Swords of Revealing Light. Flores set another monster, passed, Ramirez set a monster, passed, and Swarm of Scarabs ate another monster: another Reaper. Swords of Revealing Light was destroyed by its own countdown, Ramirez set another back row card, and Flores drew for his turn.

He flip summoned Spirit Reaper, summoned Don Zaloog, and attacked with Don, Reaper, and Sangan. Don peeled the top two cards off of Ramirez’s deck since Ramirez’s hand was empty, and discarded Dark Hole in doing so. Ramirez attacked with Des Koala on the following turn, but it wasn’t enough. He had one card, Scapegoat, set on the field.

Flores had four monsters on the field, and summoned Bazoo the Soul-Eater. He removed two monsters to feed Bazoo, making him a 2200 ATK attacker: enough to take down Ramirez in one shot. Everything went to attack position on Flores’s side. Bazoo attacked, but Ramirez flipped Scapegoat! It first appeared that the Sheep would block Flores’s attacks, but it wasn’t to be: the Sheep tokens’ appearance on the field triggered a replay, so Flores was able to hold off with Bazoo’s attack. His four small monsters cleared out the four Sheep tokens, and Bazoo hit directly for game!

Angel Flores moves on, with his Day 2 dreams still alive! While an 8-2 record might get him qualified, he’ll need to go 9-1 to be guaranteed a spot in the Top 8.

“I actually didn’t build this deck,” said Ramirez after the match. “A friend of mine played Yu-Gi-Oh! for a month, and then had to quit because of the schedule he had for work. So he made me promise to take his deck as far as I could in the Shonen Jump. His name is Sean Joakim.” Cool stuff!