Chris Bowling is the only one to make it to day 2 this weekend running Diamond Dude Turbo, and he’s doing it along with The Creator. Andrew on the other hand is running a Card Trooper powered hybrid strategy that defies description. This is the second day 2 appearance for each of them, but neither has managed a win yet.

Andrew won the roll and started with a set to each zone while Chris started with Reinforcement of the Army for Elemental Hero Stratos. He then pitched Destiny Hero — Malicious to activate Destiny Draw, and summoned Destiny Hero — Diamond Dude. The Dude revealed Destiny Draw, so Chris had some free cards in his future. He attacked into Andrew’s set Gravekeeper’s Spy, and Andrew got to fetch another one from his deck. Chris set Threatening Roar, but lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon during the end phase.

Andrew was up next, and he summoned Card Trooper, pumping it up at the cost of Scapegoat, Snatch Steal, and Confiscation. All of his monsters went to attack position, and Chris was dropped to 4500 life points. Andrew set a spell or trap and passed over to Chris, who brought his second Malicious onto the field, removing the first from play. He quickly tributed Malicious for Jinzo and activated Reinforcement of the Army for Diamond Dude before removing the second Malicious to special summon his third. Monster Gate was Chris’ next play, and Malicious was traded in for a Card Trooper. Chris pumped up his Trooper at the cost of Heavy Storm, Magical Stone Excavation, and a Divine Sword — Phoenix Blade. He then took his free Destiny Draw and got The Creator and Threatening Roar. Not particularly useful at this junction, except as discard fodder for Lightning Vortex. Chris opted to hold on to the Vortex for now though, attacking Card Trooper with Jinzo and one of the Spies with his own Trooper. Chris set his Roar and passed back over to Andrew who tributed his remaining Spy for Zaborg. Zaborg blew away Jinzo, but Threatening Roar blocked the attack. Andrew set a second spell or trap and passed back over to Chris, who decided that now was as good a time as any to win the game. He activated Card Trooper and used Premature Burial to pull back Jinzo. He brought a Phoenix Blade back to his hand and then summoned Diamond Dude, hitting Magical Mallet. Finally, Chris activated Lightning Vortex, expecting Andrew to scoop. It didn’t happen though, as Andrew chained with Enemy Controller to throw Jinzo into the way of Lightning Vortex! Chris switched his Card Trooper to defense mode and declared an attack with Diamond Dude.  

The attack was successful, and play passed back to Andrew, who summoned Cyber Dragon and Sangan. Sangan took down Card Trooper and the Cyber Dragon beat up Diamond Dude. Andrew set a second spell or trap and passed back over to Chris, who picked up Card Destruction. He summoned Elemental Hero Stratos and searched out Destiny Hero — Dasher. Christ set two spells and then activated Card Destruction, drawing into Card Trooper and Monster Gate as replacements for his Creator and Dasher. He then traded away Stratos for Dark Magician of Chaos via Monster Gate, and Chris targeted Premature Burial with the effect. Andrew chained with Torrential Tribute, and his Sangan fetched Spirit Reaper for him. Chris brought back a Phoenix Blade and activated Magical Mallet’s effect to shuffle two cards back into his deck. The replacements were another Divine Sword and Destiny Draw, completely dead in this situation. Premature brought back Jinzo, and Andrew dropped to 1500 life points.  

Andrew rubbed his next card for luck and set a card to each zone before ending. Andrew attacked it revealing the Reaper and flipped Lightning Vortex, discarding Destiny Draw, to rid the field of Reaper. He set Card Trooper to finish out the turn, and play was back to Andrew, who was still one attack away from losing. Andrew activated Pot of Avarice and shuffled his monsters back in quite forcefully before drawing two cards and setting a monster. Chris picked up Mirror Force, but that wasn’t going to help at all. Jinzo attacked Andrew’s set Mystic Tomato, and Reaper was back on the field! It was looking like Chris was going to deck out if he couldn’t find his Dimension Fusion fast! He set Mirror Force and passed back to Andrew, who activated Smashing Ground to blow away Jinzo and set a spell or trap. Chris had three cards left in his deck, and he set a spell or trap before passing back to Andrew. Andrew summoned D.D. Assailant and checked Chris’ graveyard intently, only to realize that the Collinsville Top 8 player had a 1/3 chance of drawing Dimension Fusion. The odds went up to 2/3 as the Assailant felled Card Trooper and play continued. The Trooper had gotten Chris the Dimension Fusion, and he activated it with only one card left in deck. He dropped to 200 life points and special summoned Dark Magician of Chaos, Stratos, Dasher, Diamond Dude, and Malicious, destroying Andrew’s entire backfield. Lightning Vortex was returned to Chris’ hand, and he activated it to wipe out everything but Andrew’s set monster. It was enough to cause Andrew to scoop, and we moved to game 2.

Both players side decked between games, and soon enough it was Andrew’s turn to start us off once again. He started off this game with Banisher of the Radiance and a spell or trap, immediately putting Chris in a bad spot. He had Dimension Fusion, however, so this could work out in the end. Chris pitched The Creator out of play for Lightning Vortex to clear the Banisher before activating Reinforcement of the Army to fetch Stratos. Stratos fetched Malicious in turn, and Chris pitched it to Destiny Draw. Stratos attacked directly, and Chris ended his turn. Play was back to Andrew, and he summoned Card Trooper and activated its effect. The powered up Trooper beat Stratos and Andrew drew into his second Malicious. Especially rough considering that he probably wouldn’t have seen the third Malicious had he summoned a second last turn. With Novoa at 6200, Chris did some quick math before summoning Diamond Dude and activating his effect. Dude hit Magical Mallet, and Chris pulled his final Malicious to the field. Diamond Dude attacked Card Trooper, and Andrew allowed it to happen. Malicious connected as well, and Chris ended his turn. Andrew didn’t know it yet, but he was about one turn away from losing if he didn’t turn this around. He summoned Card Trooper and pumped it up, attacking Diamond Dude and setting a spell or trap before ending. Chris drew his card and seemed unhappy with the situation. He started with Card Trooper, knocking three spells into his graveyard, including Divine Sword — Phoenix Blade. He then used Premature Burial to pull back Stratos. Stratos targeted Andrew’s set Enemy Controller, which he used to turn Chris’ Card Trooper to defense. Chris used his Magical Mallet effect to trade in one card for another Card Trooper and attacked Andrew’s Card Trooper with Stratos. Ring of Destruction took Stratos down, but Chris failed to attacked with Malicious, opting instead to switch him to defense and set a spell or trap.

Andrew activated his Trooper, sending three cards to the graveyard, before activating Heavy Storm. Chris lost his Mirror Force, and Andrew activated Pot of Avarice. He drew his two, and ordered his Trooper to attack Chris’. Andrew finished up with a pair of spells or traps and passed back to Chris. Chris activated Dimension Fusion and brought out Creator, Malicious, Stratos, and Diamond Dude, clearing away Andrew’s backfield. It was enough to end the game! Chris Bowling moves to the semifinals, defeating Andrew Novoa, 2-0!