It all came down to this; two countrymen, two Italians, battling it out, not for national pride, but for personal accomplishment. In mere minutes we would have a brand new European Champion!
Nunziato won the opening roll, and opened the game with Confiscation! It revealed Bellocchio’s hand: Brain Control, Destiny Hero - Malicious, Destiny Draw, Card Trooper, and Snipe Hunter! Destiny Draw was the obvious pick and Nunziato discarded it, setting a spell or trap to end his turn.
Card Trooper was summoned by Bellocchio, and he sent three cards to the graveyard to boost its ATK: Reinforcement of the Army, Metamorphosis, and Destiny Hero - Fear Monger. Trooper attacked for 1900 damage and Bellocchio ended. Nunziato summoned Injection Fairy Lily and slammed through Card Trooper, dishing out 3000 damage while losing 2000 life points himself! The crowd ooh’d and aah’d, and one thing became clear: this was going to be over fast.
Bellocchio summoned Snipe Hunter and discarded Destiny Hero – Dasher to try and destroy Nunziato’s set card, but missed. He ditched Malicious to destroy the card, Machine Duplication, and activated Brain Control! He assumed control of Lily, attacked with Snipe Hunter, and then swung with Lily for game!
Davide Bellocchio steals the first duel in just two turns! He’s one game away from becoming the 2007 European Champion!
Both duelists shuffled their side decks into their main decks and stripped out fifteen cards to side deck. No one wanted to give up any information here.
Nunziato began again, this time setting a card to each zone. Bellocchio set two cards to his back row, and Nunziato flip summoned Sangan for an attack: Bellocchio responded with Scapegoat! He wasn’t going to give Nunziato a single inch in this duel, and his arguably over-eager activation of Scapegoat seemed to indicate that he didn’t plan to be on the defensive that much anyway.
Sangan didn’t attack a token and, instead, Nunziato tributed it in main phase 2 for Raiza the Storm Monarch. His effect returned Bellocchio’s set card to the top of his deck. He drew for his turn, set another card to his back row (seemingly the same one Raiza bounced), and Raiza hit a Sheep. Nunziato set a monster, and Bellocchio activated Reinforcement of the Army. Elemental Hero Stratos popped out of his deck, was summoned, and was used to search out Disk Commander. Stratos attacked Nunziato’s set Card Trooper, Bellocchio set another back row card, and play was to Nunziato.
He attacked with Raiza, destroying Stratos, and set a monster to end his turn. Nobleman of Crossout removed the set monster from play, another Card Trooper, and Bellocchio set a monster himself.
Heavy Storm was activated by Nunziato! He chained Call of the Haunted, but Bellocchio chained Royal Decree! Nunziato wouldn’t get to return his Card Trooper to the field and take a draw for it.
He summoned Banisher of the Radiance next, and cleared out a Sheep and Disk Commander. It was a big hit to Bellocchio. Nunziato set a spell or trap, Bellocchio set one too, and Nunziato turned Banisher to defense before attacking another Sheep with Raiza. He set another spell or trap and Bellocchio flipped Heavy Storm! Nunziato chained Waboku, but lost his set Chain Disappearance. Bellocchio set a monster.
Nunziato set another monster, then a spell or trap, just in case of Morphing Jar. Raiza attacked and removed Disk Commander from play, and Banisher hit the last Sheep.
But Snatch Steal took control of Raiza for Bellocchio! He ran it over Banisher, destroyed it, and pressed through some damage. It was 7200 to 7400, with Bellocchio leading. He then tributed the Raiza for a set monster.
Nunziato passed, still with a set card in each zone. Bellocchio passed back, and Nunziato passed again. Bellocchio set Card Trooper, Nunziato set a spell or trap, and Bellocchio tributed his set Malicious for Jinzo! Nunziato made an unhappy face, and Jinzo attacked Nunziato’s set Card Trooper.
The Malicious was removed in Bellocchio’s main phase 2 to special summon another in defense, insurance against an aggressive Brain Control.
Nunziato special summoned Cyber Dragon, and sure enough, activated Brain Control to take the Jinzo. He then activated another Brian Control, taking the Malicious! A tribute for Raiza bounced Bellocchio’s last monster from the field, and Limiter Removal was revealed for game!
Alessandro Nunziato captures the second game pretty decisively, taking us to a third and final duel!
Both duelists were meticulous about their side decking, carefully counting and re-counting the numbers of particular cards they rotated in, and the total they rotated out. The pressure was showing slightly in the faces of each competitor; while the title would belong to Italy, personal glory and a big prize package were still at stake, and both of them wanted this Championship. They spoke in a very friendly fashion, but that didn’t do a great deal to cut the pressure.
Bellocchio opened the third game with Destiny Draw, discarding Destiny Hero – Malicious! He set a card to his spell and trap zone, Nunziato set one to each zone, and then set Trap Dustshoot. He activated it on the next turn, revealing Bellocchio’s hand of Jinzo, Disk Commander, Heavy Storm, Snatch Steal, Destiny Draw, and Premature Burial. Not quite an easy choice, but he shuffled back Disk Commander quickly nonetheless. Against a hand like that, Nunziato had his work cut out for him.
Malicious was removed from the graveyard and special summoned by Bellocchio, but Nunziato activated Chain Disappearance, drawing a huge eruption of cheers from the audience! Bellocchio lost the summoned one and the copy left in his deck, and passed. Nunziato passed and Bellocchio summoned Card Trooper and pumped it, losing another Trooper and two Royal Decree in the process. Card Trooper attacked and destroyed Nunziato’s set Sangan and it fetched him Cyber Phoenix from his deck. “Next,” said Bellocchio.
Cyber Phoenix came down and destroyed Card Trooper for a fast 800 damage. Nunziato set a spell or trap, ended, and Bellocchio activated Premature Burial. He brought back Card Trooper, sent Metamorphosis, Dark Magician of Chaos, and Snipe Hunter to his graveyard, and attacked Cyber Phoenix. Nunziato got yet another draw as a result.
He set a monster, then another spell or trap, and passed. Scapegoat, Dasher, and Stratos fed Bellocchio’s Card Trooper this turn, and he set another back row card, reading Morphing Jar: it was indeed what he attacked! Both duelists got a new hand and Bellocchio set a fourth card to his spell and trap zone!
Nunziato flipped his set Brain Control, and Bellocchio gave over Card Trooper. He flipped Heavy Storm next, but Bellocchio chained Call of the Haunted to target Jinzo. Nunziato chained Mystical Space Typhoon to target Call on the chain! Card Trooper blew away, Jinzo never came up, and Nunziato activated Confiscation to reveal his opponent’s hand: Destiny Hero – Dasher, Morphing Jar, and two Cyber Dragon. Nunziato made Bellocchio discard one of the two Dragons, then set a monster and a card to his spell and trap zone. Not exactly the big finish the audience had expected.
Bellocchio special summoned Cyber Dragon, and then activated his topdecked Nobleman of Crossout! It removed Nunziato’s set Card Trooper, and Cyber Dragon attacked for 2100. Bellocchio set Morphing Jar and ended with Dasher left in his hand.
A set spell or trap was Nunziato’s first priority, bringing him up to two total. He flipped it moments later: Brain Control. Cyber Dragon swung to Nunziato’s side of the field, and the duel stood at 2600 to 6400 with Bellocchio leading. The Dragon attacked into Morphing Jar and both duelists got new hands, for a second time. Nunziato activated Limiter Removal in main phase 2 to destroy Cyber Dragon before it went back to Bellocchio’s side of the field, then set two more cards to his back row.
Bellocchio’s deck was getting low on cards again. He summoned Sangan, attacked, and Nunziato took 1000 damage. Bellocchio set a spell or trap and passed.
Another Brain Control flipped from Nunziato! He took his opponent’s Sangan this time, and then tributed it for Raiza the Storm Monarch, but Raiza’s target flipped: Mystical Space Typhoon! It destroyed Nunziato’s Waboku. Sangan got Bellocchio Card Trooper.
“How many cards do you have left in your deck?” asked Nunziato in Italian.
“Four,” replied Bellocchio. Ouch.
Raiza attacked and Bellocchio was up. He summoned Snipe Hunter. Destiny Hero – Disk Commander was discarded for the Hunter’s effect, destroying Raiza! Destiny Hero – Fear Monger was pitched next, destroying Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell! Finally, he discarded Metamorphosis to destroy Nunziato’s last set card, and Nunziato extended the handshake. Snipe Hunter attacked for game!
It was all over. After two long days and fifteen rounds of some of the most competitive dueling ever, Davide Bellocchio was the new European Champion!