Going into round 10, we have another National Champion at the feature match table, and one who is in formidable form. Having won two national championships and placed in the Top 8 at a third, Dario Longo has long cemented himself as one of the great Italian players. It is unsurprising, then, that he is a fixture at the top of the standings in the European Championships, where he must now face off against the Belgian Sebastien Gonzalez. With three rounds remaining before the Top 8 of the event, each is in prime position to cement their place in the top eight, likely needing just one more win from the remaining rounds to make it in.

Of course, as Day 2 wears on, the opposition only gets tougher, and there was still that one win to get. Each player calmly shuffled up, before sitting, arms crossed, waiting for the round to start. Only a small jiggle of the legs from Dario, or a concerned scratch of the neck from Gonzalez, hinted at the nerves that must surely have been running high for this important match.

The two shook hands before the game started, wishing each other good luck, and began.

Sebastien led with just a set monsters, which turned out to be Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. When attacked by Asura Priest, Sebastien set a trap, but had it blown away by a Heavy Storm, which also caused him to flip his own Scapegoat.

Dario had a Graceful Charity to improve his hand, and a Confiscation to spoil his opponent’s taking Tsukuyomi, the only monster therein. When Dario played his Priest again, Sebastien tried for Bottomless Trap Hole, but was stopped by a Royal Decree from the Italian.

Gonzalez was lucky to topdeck into a monster, but that too was quickly removed by Nobleman of Crossout, allowing the Priest to attack again. The following blocker from Gonzalez was taken down by Mystic Swordsman LV2, a masterful call from the Italian, who got to finish of a Magician of Faith without it’s effect triggering.

With a level 2 monster on the board, Sebastien looked to get some damage through using a Premature Burial to return Dekoichi. This was fine in the short term, although the big train again succumbed to Priest Asura, who was working hard for Dario, who also still had most of his Sheep tokens around.

Gonzalez’ best attempts to fight back, in the form of Cyber Dragon, were quickly made redundant by virtue of a Snatch Steal from Longo, whose path was suddenly clear to victory. Without hesitation, Dario took this path, winning game one with the consummate ease of one well versed in the art of Yu-Gi-Oh! duelling.

For game two, Sebastien led off with a set monster and a spell or trap. The monster quickly bit the dust thanks to Nobleman of Crossout, meaning no Magical Merchants for the rest of the game. Dario played Sangan and attacked. His set spell, an Enemy Controller got hit with Mystical Space Typhoon, and after Sebastien had refilled his set cards back to 1 and 1 on his turn, Dario played Graceful Charity, controversially discarding Magician of Faith. This seemed even more unusual when he then played Tsukuyomi, but it seemed that the Italian had a plan, and it had got him to the top, so it was very hard to argue.

Sebastien played a Mystic Tomato, which handily dealt with Sangan, who went off to fetch Treeborn Frog to stand in his stead. A Scapegoat from Dario slowed things down a little, and the next big play was for Sebastien to attack a fresh face down monster, who turned out to be Magician of Faith #2, which got back Graceful Charity. With Treeborn Frog as a discard, much of the ‘cost’ of playing the powerful draw spell is negated, putting it akin to Pot of Greed in power levels. The second discard for Dario was a little tougher, and he eventually decided that Chaos Sorcerer wasn’t good enough. His hand must surely have been very powerful for such a decision to be reached.

Dario used Metamorphosis to turn a Sheep token into Thousand-Eyes Restrict but was unable to use it’s ability before Book of Moon turned it face down. Sebastien quickly dealt with the token, but was still down on cards on the board, and indeed life points, with that first hit from Sangan being the only damage that had connected.

Sebastien eventually elected to trade a D. D. Warrior Lady permanently for Treeborn Frog, a testament to the power of the small winged amphibian. On Dario’s turn, he played a Chaos Sorcerer, before falling to the old adage of ‘it’s the last Chaos Sorcerer that wins it’, as Sebastien played one of his own.

In a little bit of a spot, Dario tried to pull things back with Tsukuyomi followed by Creature Swap, in an attempt to steal his opponent’s Sorcerer. Gonzalez was unpeturbed though, and simply flipped Enemy Controller, sacrificing his Sorcerer to gain control of Tsukuyomi, who was then swapped by the Creature Swap that was still on the chain.

From here, monsters started darting between the control of the two players. Another Creature Swap from Dario got Cyber Dragon back under Italian control, only for Snatch Steal to take it back. Quite a tussle was forming before Longo broke things up with another Chaos Sorcerer, or ‘Stregone Del Chaos’ in Italian. He also had D.D. Warrior Lady who could run in for additional damage.

The Chaos Sorcerer soon died to a Fissure from Gonzalez, who had only a single set spell/trap on the field, but seemed calm nonetheless. Dario tried to build his board with a set monster, but it (a Tsukuyomi) was removed from play by Nobleman of Crossout. At this point, Gonzalez went for it.

First, a Graceful Charity, discarding Royal Decree and one other. Then, Heavy Storm. Finally, a set monster, and Creature Swap before an end to the turn. The monster Sebastien had given away was Sangan, which seemed like a good choice, in return for a set monster.

Dario turned up trumps, though, with a way of removing the monster he was facing down, and a Last Will fetching Mystic Tomato being enough to elicit the scoop.

Dario Longo wins 2-0!