Another round, and another feature match for Texas! Chris Bowling is teamed this weekend with James Neumann and Fili Luna, the new faces of Montreal’s Team Face2Face. He’s up against Comic Odyssey’s Hugo Adame. Both of these duelists have applied their innovative insight to Dark Armed Dragon, hoping to make it to Day 2 with new twists on the old theme.
Adame opened with Reinforcement of the Army, two Destiny Draw, D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation, Monster Reborn, and Spirit Reaper. The Reinforcement got him Stratos, who in turn nabbed Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. He discarded him for Destiny Draw, to draw two, drew two more with Monster Reborn for Disk Commander, and then discarded his newly-drawn Destiny Hero – Plasma for the second Destiny Draw. Allure of Darkness got him two more cards at the cost of Gravekeeper’s Guard, and he ended his explosive turn with a set spell or trap card!
Bowling activated Destiny Draw himself, discarding Destiny Hero – Plasma. He summoned Card Trooper, and sent Light and Darkness Dragon, Reinforcement of the Army, and Disk Commander to his graveyard to pump it to 1900 ATK. Trooper pressed over the defense position Disk Commander, and Bowling tried to take it in main phase 2 with Monster Reborn! But Adame chained Solemn Judgment, shutting Bowling down. Adame was clearly banking on his superior access to cards: he was holding Light and Darkness Dragon, and Bowling would have few answers if the Dragon made it to the field.
He summoned Spirit Reaper instead — Bowling responded with Torrential Tribute, then chained Trap Dustshoot! Adame revealed two Dark Armed Dragon, Destiny Draw, Gravekeeper’s Spy, Light and Darkness Dragon, and D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation: Bowling sent back a Dark Armed. Torrential wiped the field, destroyed Card Trooper, and its effect got Bowling another draw. “How many in hand?” asked Hugo.
“I have three,” replied Bowling. Adame was up by two cards, and heaved a bit of a sigh. With his only non-monster cards relatively useless, he special summoned Dark Armed Dragon and attacked, leaving himself with nothing in his back row. It was a gamble, but if Bowling couldn’t deal with the Dragon it would be a game-winning one.
Bowling activated Premature Burial next turn, bringing back Disk Commander and drawing two. He then revealed Brain Control! Bowling activated it to take Dark Armed Dragon, tributed Disk Commander for Jinzo, and made two direct attacks to seal the deal and take the first game.
The first duel is Chris Bowling’s, after what might have been a topdecked Brain Control shreds Hugo Adame’s calculated gambit.
“I’m really, really tired right now, but it’s not showing, cause I had a ton of coffee!” Chris Bowling was wired, both from the caffeine that was keeping him awake and his game 1 win. “Starbucks!” After some extensive siding and shuffling from Adame, he opened game 2.
He opened holding Destiny Draw, Crush Card Virus, Allure of Darkness, Heavy Storm, and two Destiny Hero - Malicious. He had to get rid of those dead Maliciouses. He activated Allure, paid for it by removing one Malicious, and then pitched his other with Destiny Draw. That got him Sangan, which combined with Crush Card might dig him out of his poor opening hand.
He followed up his draw cards with Gold Sarcophagus, seeking out Light and Darkness Dragon with its effect. He set Sangan, set Crush Card Virus, and ended, pausing between the two actions to not telegraph his move to his opponent.
Bowling activated Heavy Storm! Hugo chained Crush Card Virus, tributing Sangan, and revealing Bowling’s hand of Torrential, Crush Card Virus, and Reinforcement of the Army, destroying Dark Armed Dragon and Dark Magician of Chaos. “That sucks,” noted Bowling, as Adame dug through his deck to get Spirit Reaper with Sangan’s effect. It was the right play from Bowling though, who’d get to resolve Reinforcement of the Army to nab Stratos uninterrupted by the Virus.
That’s naturally what he did, and Bowling fetched Disk Commander from his deck with Stratos’ effect. “Attack for 1800,” he stated, then set a spell or trap to finish his turn. “Your go.”
Adame was up. He activated Heavy Storm to destroy what he knew to be Torrential Tribute, and then activated Monster Reborn to take his opponent’s Dark Magician of Chaos! The Magician let Adame return Reborn to his hand, and he summoned Spirit Reaper to widen his lead even more. Dark Magician of Chaos took out Stratos, Spirit Reaper struck directly, and Bowling shuffled his remaining two cards: the Reaper’s effect forced him to discard Crush Card Virus. Adame ended with three cards in his hand.
Bowling topped Destiny Draw! He revealed it, and then activated it to discard Disk Commander. He drew Dark Grepher and Scapegoat, losing the Grepher to Crush Card Virus. He set Scapegoat, but was forced to activate it next turn in response to Adame claiming his Light and Darkness Dragon from the removed from play pile. That left Adame free to bring back Disk Commander with Monster Reborn. He drew two cards, including Elemental Hero Stratos, who he summoned and then used to get Destiny Hero – Plasma. Brain Control let Adame take a Sheep Token, and Bowling had had enough: “I’ll scoop. I’ll go first.”
His resignation was a surprisingly cheerful one, and the match quickly moved to game 3. Once side decking was finished, roughly twelve minutes remained in the match.
Bowling got things started with Elemental Hero Stratos, searching his deck for Disk Commander. He set one spell or trap and ended: “Your go.” Adame discarded Destiny Hero – Malicious with Destiny Draw, removed him from play, and special summoned his second copy in defense mode. He followed it up with Doomcaliber Knight! The Knight ran over Stratos, and Adame set two cards to his back row! Bowling was a little stunned.
He recovered his composure, drew for his turn, and discarded Destiny Hero – Plasma for Trade-In. He activated Brain Control and targeted Doomcaliber Knight, but Adame considered his responses a moment: he tributed Malicious for Crush Card Virus, stripping Bowling of Jinzo and Dark Armed Dragon but leaving him with Destiny Hero – Malicious. Bowling attacked with the Knight, then tributed it for a Malicious of his own in face-down defense. A second spell or trap hit Bowling’s back row.
Adame was up, and he had Mirror Force set with Reinforcement of the Army, Brain Control, Gravekeeper’s Spy, and Spirit Reaper in hand. He set the Spy and ended. Bowling topped Return from the Different Dimension next turn and passed. That left Adame to flip summon Gravekeeper’s Spy, adding a second to his field in attack mode.
He went aggressive, summoning Spirit Reaper! One Spy ran over Malicious and the other attacked directly, but Reaper’s attack was blocked by Scapegoat. Reaper took down a Sheep and Adame ended his turn.
“Allure,” announced Bowling, drawing two cards, revealing them, and then removing Disk Commander from his hand to finish Allure’s effect. He thought long and hard about setting a second card to his back row, but opted to flip Heavy Storm first, destroying Adame’s Mirror Force! He then set two of his last three cards to his spell and trap zone.
Adame wasn’t letting up — he activated Reinforcement of the Army to seek out Destiny Hero – Fear Monger. He discarded him for Destiny Draw, and then attacked all three Sheep tokens, wiping them from the field. He finished his turn with nothing in his back row.
The duel stood at 6100 to 5900, with Adame narrowly leading. Bowling drew for his turn, shuffled his two in-hand cards a bit, and then set everything to his back row. Adame drew next turn, activated Allure of Darkness to remove Gravekeeper’s Spy, and then sought out Disk Commander with Reinforcement of the Army. Another Destiny Draw let him trade Disk Commander for two more cards, and he activated Monster Reborn! “Jinzo.” Bowling was forced to hand it over! With one more monster slot left, Adame summoned Dark Grepher and struck for a combined total of 6800 damage, 900 more than he needed to finish the match.
Hugo Adame fights his way back from a game 1 loss to win the second and third duels, capturing the match to move on undefeated!