Two underdog competitors had made it to the semi-finals! Neither had ever made a Shonen Jump Championship Top 8 before, and now they both had a one-in-four chance of claiming the title, a laptop, and a copy of Shrink.
Chambers is from Long Island, while Almanzar is representing the Bronx. A win for either duelist would put them on the map, big time.
Graceful Charity opened the duel, flopping from Chambers’ hand. He discarded Premature Burial and Enemy Controller, set a card to each zone, and passed. Almanzar set a spell or trap card, thought a moment, set another, and passed.
Greenkappa would be so awesome here.
Chambers didn’t have one set, but he did have Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, so he flip summoned it, attacked for 1400, set another monster, and passed. He was developing his field well. Almanzar summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, used its token to break Chambers’ set Scapegoat, and attacked the Dekoichi, making short work of Chambers’ field. “Go.”
The Long Island Native drew, and eyed his set Mystic Tomato. He summoned Asura Priest and attacked with it, but ran into Sakuretsu Armor. Last Will was then activated, and Chambers special summoned Exiled Force from his deck. He tributed it to destroy Breaker and ended with nothing in his back field.
“It’s your move.”
Almanzar drew, summoned Mirage Dragon, and activated Torrential Tribute to clear the field. He activated Last Will, special summoned Cyber-Stein in defense position, and paid 5000 life points for its effect. Almanzar went down to 1600 life points, and special summoned Cyber Twin Dragon. The Dragon attacked twice, Chambers lost 5600, and dropped to 2200 life points. Almanzar set one back row card and passed.
Chambers activated Mystical Space Typhoon, hitting Book of Moon: Almanzar chained it to turn the Cyber Twin Dragon face down. Chambers had Exiled Force, Pot of Avarice, Nobleman of Crossout, and Zaborg the Thunder Monarch in hand, with four monsters in his graveyard. He summoned Exiled Force, attacked Cyber-Stein, tributed the Exiled to destroy Cyber Twin Dragon, and then activated Pot of Avarice! Almanzar only had two cards remaining in his hand, and nothing on the field. Once Avarice resolved and Chambers took his two cards for its effect, he had four cards in hand. He drew into Torrential Tribute, set it, passed, and Almanzar passed back.
D. D. Warrior Lady was summoned by Chambers, and attacked to bring Almanzar down to 100 LP. He summoned Mystic Tomato, activated Creature Swap, and rammed his own Tomato with the Warrior Lady. Chambers went down to 2100 life points, and Almanzar used his Tomato’s effect to special summon Spirit Reaper. “I take 100, I lose . . .” Reaper attacked, and peeled Cyber Dragon out of Chambers’ hand. He watched his win disappear.
Almanzar set a spell or trap card, passed, and Chambers activated Smashing Ground to destroy his opponent’s D. D. Warrior Lady (which was actually technically his own, since it was stolen by Creature Swap). Almanzar set a second spell or trap, Chambers set a second spell or trap, and Almanzar had what he wanted. His second set had been bait, and it had worked: he tributed Reaper for Mobius the Frost Monarch, targeting Nobleman of Crossout and Torrential Tribute. The Torrential was chained, but Almanzar had Call of the Haunted, and it brought back his Mobius! Swinging into an open field Mobius bashed away Chambers’ last few life points, and the first duel went to Almanzar!
Almanzar recovers from a bungled Cyber Twin Dragon summon, pulling out the win to capture the first duel!
Neither duelist spent much time side decking. Chambers quickly opened game 2 with a set card to each zone. Almanzar fired back with the same play, and Chambers set another monster on the turn that followed. Again, Almanzar mimicked him. Chambers was walking on the razor’s edge.
He flip summoned Gravekeeper’s Spy, bringing out another in attack position. Almanzar had no response, and Chambers removed his opening set, Newdoria, from the field with Nobleman of Crossout. One Spy then attacked, hitting Almanzar’s set Mystic Tomato. It got him another, cutting off the second Spy from attacking. Next turn the Tomato walloped one of the Spies, dishing out an extra 200 damage in the process. Almanzar set another monster and ended. “Go.”
D. D. Warrior Lady came down on Chambers’ side, and his Spy went to defense position. D. D. Warrior Lady attacked Mystic Tomato, but was destroyed by Almanzar’s Ring of Destruction. It was 6300 to 5500 life points, with Almanzar in the lead!
Chambers had nothing left to do and ended. Almanzar flip summoned his own D. D. Warrior Lady, but Chambers flipped Bottomless Trap Hole in response — the Lady was removed. Almanzar then activated Graceful Charity, and summoned Mystic Tomato. It attacked Chambers’ set monster, but that monster was Sangan, and with it Chambers searched his deck for Spirit Reaper. “End turn” announced Almanzar.
Chambers summoned Banisher of the Radiance! It cleared out Mystic Tomato and removed it from the game, and Chambers set a spell or trap. In his end phase Almanzar activated Scapegoat to bring four tokens to the field.
He drew for his turn and then shifted one Sheep to attack mode. Creature Swap traded it for Gravekeeper’s Spy, but when Almanzar tributed it for Mobius the Frost Monarch he lost Mobius to Bottomless Trap Hole. Almanzar passed.
“Switch the Sheep to defense,” announced Chambers, shifting the Token. He activated Confiscation and revealed Almanzar’s hand: Sangan, Exiled Force, and Cyber-Stein. The Stein was discarded. Chambers shuffled his own hand: Pot of Avarice, Spirit Reaper, Scapegoat, and Exiled Force. His Banisher hit a Sheep, he set a monster, set a spell or trap, and that was the end of the turn.
Almanzar set a monster, Chambers summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy Almanzar’s Spirit Reaper, and both monsters were removed from play. Chambers flip summoned Spirit Reaper and attacked the last two Sheep tokens. He passed play to his opponent.
Almanzar summoned Exiled Force, and tributed it to destroy Chambers’ Reaper; he was returning the favor, and again, both monsters were removed from the game. Banisher attacked Almanzar directly, completely unopposed, and Chambers set a monster. Almanzar summoned Mirage Dragon, crashed into Banisher to destroy both, set a spell or trap, and ended.
Chambers flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, drew a card for its effect, and attacked for 1400. It was 3400 t0 5300 with Chambers in the lead. He passed, Almanzar flipped his set Heavy Storm to destroy Scapegoat, and set a card to each zone.
Mystical Space Typhoon hit his fresh back row set, Call of the Haunted. It was chained to special summon Twin-Headed Behemoth! It was destroyed by Call’s effect, and Premature Burial brought back Banisher of the Radiance. Both Dekoichi and Banisher attacked directly, Chambers set a spell or trap card, and Almanzar took back his Behemoth in defense position.
Almanzar set a monster, but it was all over a turn later. Chambers tributed his Dekoichi for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, and Almanzar scooped.
Again, the duel began exceptionally quickly, with neither duelist doing much consideration in regards to side decking. Almanzar began with a set card to each zone; Chambers summoned Spirit Reaper and activated Nobleman of Crossout to remove Newdoria from the field, but ran into Mirror Force. Chambers set a spell or trap and passed.
Mystic Tomato attacked him next turn, and Almanzar activated Confiscation to discard Banisher of the Radiance, chucking it into Chambers’ graveyard with authority. “Go.”
Smashing Ground took out the Almanzar’s Tomato, and Chambers set a monster to end his turn. Almanzar tried to fight back with Cyber Dragon, but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole. He activated Nobleman of Crossout in main phase 2, targeting Chambers’ set monster, and removed Chambers’ Treeborn Frog from the game, a damaging hit!
Chambers set a card to each zone, Almanzar set a monster, Chambers flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, took his card, and attacked. The attack revealed Almanzar’s set monster, Spirit Reaper, and Chambers ended. Almanzar set a back row card and passed.
Chambers activated Graceful Charity, discarding Book of Moon and Scapegoat. He tributed Dekoichi for Cyber Dragon, activated Last Will, and special summoned Exiled Force to the field, but Almanzar responded with Torrential Tribute! All that work for nothing! Chambers ended his turn.
Almanzar set a monster, Chambers passed, Almanzar set a spell or trap, and Chambers set a monster. The match moved at a lightning pace. Almanzar flip summoned Sangan, attacked into Gravekeeper’s Spy and ate 1000 damage as his fuzz ball bounced off. Chambers pulled another from his deck in defense position. Almanzar activated Creature Swap to take one in trade for Sangan, and ended.
Chambers had Mirror Force, Sangan, and Zaborg the Thunder Monarch in his hand. He tributed his Spy to destroy the one Almanzar had stolen, and then attacked with Almanzar’s own Sangan to drop him to 5000. Zaborg the Thunder Monarch was hit with Ring of Destruction, and it was 2600 to 4200. “Your turn”, said Chambers, secure in his lead.
Almanzar drew, and summoned Mystic Tomato. He tried to attack his Sangan, but was repelled by Sakuretsu Armor. Last Will in main phase 2 brought out Twin-Headed Behemoth in defense, and he set his last card to his back row. “Go ahead.” He no longer looked confident.
Cyber Dragon was Chambers’ draw for the turn, and he set a card to each zone. Sangan went to defense and he passed. Almanzar turned Behemoth to attack and attempted to attack his own Sangan. It went through, Sangan was sent to his graveyard, and Almanzar used its effect to retrieve Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive from his deck. He set a monster to finish his turn, and Chambers was up.
Chambers drew Torrential Tribute, and opted just to set it. His one set monster was Sangan, so it was a good position. Almanzar flip summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Chambers didn’t Torrential. Dekoichi attacked, but Almanzar lost both his monsters to Mirror Force! Almanzar set a spell or trap and took back his Behemoth in defense.
Chambers set another spell or trap and passed. He was really trying to draw out more monsters for that Torrential. Mystical Space Typhoon targeted his fresh set, Enemy Controller, and he turned Behemoth to attack position with it. Almanzar summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy Chambers’ set monster, and was dismayed to see it was Sangan. Chambers pulled D. D. Warrior Lady with its effect.
Premature Burial dropped Almanzar to 1800 life points, and it brought back Sangan to the field. Chambers took some time to decided whether or not he wanted to flip Torrential. If he did, he’d clear the field and save himself 2000 damage. However, he also wouldn’t be able to special summon Cyber Dragon. He went ahead and did it anyways, and Almanzar used Sangan to pull D. D. Warrior Lady just as his opponent had.
Chambers summoned D. D. Warrior Lady, and attacked into Sakuretsu Armor. Almanzar did the same next turn, running his Warrior Lady right into Sakuretsu Armor. He passed; Chambers activated Pot of Avarice, and shuffled back five monsters into his deck. It drew him Sangan and Exiled Force.
He summoned the Sangan and attacked, bringing Almanzar down to 800 life points. Almanzar fired back with Cyber Dragon, attacking the Sangan and dishing out 1100 damage. It got Chambers Spirit Reaper. Almanzar passed, Chambers special summoned Dragon, summoned Exiled Force, tributed it to destroy Almanzar’s Dragon, and attacked for game . . .
. . . Or so he thought. Enemy Controller stopped the attack. Chambers activated Confiscation to discard Almanzar’s last card, Mobius. Almanzar set Book of Moon, and on the following turn it repelled another Cyber Dragon attack. Almanzar set his topdeck again, and Chambers swung with the Dragon once more. This time Almanzar saved himself with Scapegoat! Chambers set a spell or trap, Almanzar drew and did nothing, and passed with three Sheep Tokens. Chambers was up again.
Chambers tributed his Spirit Reaper to Zaborg destroy a Sheep Token! His set Ring of Destruction polished off a second, and Cyber Dragon attacked the last one. That left Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to attack directly, and the duel was over!
Bobby Chambers moves on to the Finals!