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Top 4 Feature Match:
Fili Luna versus Dale Bellido
Fili Luna is back! It’s been a long, long time since Fili sat at the Day 2 tables – after his SHONEN JUMP Championship win in San Francisco over a year ago, he’s never made it back to the Top 16. Now, he’s up against fellow SHONEN JUMP Champion Dale Bellido, who won his Championship over two long years ago. Both of these veterans are hungry and ready to duke it out for another title!
Dale grinned “How does it feel, getting in on 16th place?”
“It feels better than first place!” laughed Fili. “I had the hardest lineup! I had to go through the first place undefeated, Adam, you…” Definitely not an easy day here for Fili, and it was nowhere near over yet. The match began with a handshake!
Dale opened with “Book of Moon,” “Torrential Tribute,” “Allure of Darkness,” “Cold Wave,” “Sangan,” and “Gravekeeper's Guard.” He activated Allure, drew “Bottomless Trap Hole” and “Solemn Judgment,” and removed Guard for Allure’s effect. He Set “Sangan,” Set Torrential, and finished by Setting “Book of Moon.” Fili was up.
He Set one Spell or Trap, then activated “Black Whirlwind.” He Normal Summoned “Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame” and Dale flipped “Torrential Tribute” to deprive him of his search with Whirlwind. “Sangan” got Dale “Summoner Monk” from his Deck, and Fili ended.
Dale drew another Solemn, Set both, and ended. Fili Normal Summoned “Blackwing - Bora the Spear” and lost it to “Bottomless Trap Hole.” Dale drew, Normal Summoned “Summoner Monk,” and discarded “Cold Wave.” That got him “Rescue Cat,” which got him two “X-Saber Airbellums.” Fili tried to respond with “Bottomless Trap Hole,” but Dale flipped “Solemn Judgment”! The successive attacks cost Fili “Mind Control” and Blackwing – Shura, and he was down to just one card in hand.
Dale Synchro Summoned “Dark Strike Fighter” and Tributed his remaining Airbellum for 600 damage. Fili drew and activated “Heavy Storm,” Dale responded with his second Solemn to stop it, and still had “Book of Moon” Set. Fili Normal Summoned his last card: “Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North.” Its effect got him back his Shura in Defense Position, but Dale responded with “Book of Moon” to flip Blizzard down and stop Fili’s potential Synchro Summon. Fili ended with nothing else he could do.
Dale Summoned “Neo-Spacian Dark Panther,” copied Shura’s effect, and ran over Blizzard with Panther! He Special Summoned “Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind” from his Deck with the borrowed effect and it was all over moments later!
Dale Bellido absolutely destroys Fili Luna in Duel 1, controlling the game with tons of monster removal and a pair of “Solemn Judgments”! It was over in a matter of moments. One more win and Dale would lock his seat in the finals.
Fili opened up strong, activating “Black Whirlwind” and Normal Summoning “Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame.” He took a copy of “Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow” from his Deck, and Set one Spell or Trap to end.
Dale had “Gravekeeper’s Spy,” “Royal Decree,” “Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind,” “Gravekeeper's Guard,” “Monster Reborn,” and “Scapegoat.” He Set Spy, then Set Decree and “Scapegoat,” but lost them both to “Icarus Attack” in the End Phase! Fili Normal Summoned another Shura, got Bora from his Deck, and activated “Allure of Darkness.” He removed Bora, and attacked with Shura into “Gravekeeper's Spy.” Dale Special Summoned another copy, and Fili Set two cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone. He flipped “Trap Dustshoot” next turn, revealing Dale’s hand of “Bottomless Trap Hole,” Gale, Guard, and “Monster Reborn.” He sent Gale back to Dale’s Deck, and Dale set Bottomless.
Fili Normal Summoned Kalut, searching his deck for Gale with Whirlwind. He activated “Mystical Space Typhoon,” destroyed Dale’s “Bottomless Trap Hole,” and thought a bit about his options. He Special Summoned Bora, Special Summoned Gale, and then Tributed Kalut for another “Icarus Attack”! That destroyed one Spy and Whirlwind, leaving Bora, Gale, and Shura to attack. But first, Fili halved the Spy’s ATK and DEF with Gale’s effect. That left Shura to attack the Spy, bringing out a second Gale. Everything then made direct attacks, but Dale still had 3700 Life Points – Fili couldn’t bring him down this turn with “Dark Strike Fighter.” “Dang, I messed up.” He could only muster 2800 points of burn damage. He thought he’d had the game, but was quite a ways short of finishing the Duel.
Dale activated “Brain Control,” taking Shura! He attacked, but Fili responded with “Book of Moon” to stop the attack. He Set a monster and ended, now thoroughly out of control of the Duel. Fili activated Reborn next turn bringing back his Shura, and Dale had only 2900 Life Points remaining. Fili Synchro Summoned two “Dark Strike Fighters” and pitched everything for game.
Fili Luna makes a bit of a miscalculation, but has so many cards at his disposal that it just doesn’t matter! One of these Duelists would be going to the finals, while the other would have to play for third place. The next Duel would decide who would go where.
Dale opened with “Pot of Avarice,” “Gravekeeper's Spy,” “Dark Armed Dragon,” “Des Koala,” “X-Saber Airbellum,” and “Rescue Cat.” He Set Pot, Set Spy, and ended. Fili Set two Spell or Trap Cards and ended. Dale drew “Crush Card Virus” and Flip Summoned Spy to bring out “Gravekeeper's Guard,” setting up the Tribute for Crush. He attacked with Spy for 1200 damage, then Set a card to each Zone.
Fili activated “Black Whirlwind,” and Dale Chained “Crush Card Virus”! That cost Fili his in-hand “Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame,” revealing his “Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow,” “Monster Reborn,” and second Whirlwind. He activated the second Whirlwind, Normal Summoned Kalut, and got two copies of “Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind” from his Deck with the Whirlwinds. Things looked pretty good despite the Crush Card!
Fili Special Summoned both copies of Gale, and halved the Spy’s ATK and DEF twice. He Tributed one Gale for “Icarus Attack” to clear the Spell and Trap Card Zone, then activated “Monster Reborn” to bring back Shura. Shura attacked Spy, brought out another Kalut, and Fili made direct attacks with Gale and each Kalut. That dropped Dale to 2400 Life Points and Fili ended it in Main Phase 2 with “Dark Strike Fighter”!
After losing Duel 1 in a total blowout defeat, Fili Luna scores two straight wins and is moving on to the finals!reported by
Jason Grabher-Meyer
