More than 2100 Duelists arrived here yesterday to compete in the biggest SHONEN JUMP Championship of all time. Now, only 32 remain, including competitors like 3-time SHONEN JUMP Champion Jerry Wang. Today, Wang is playing a Quickdraw variant with Super-Nimble Mega Hamsters in his Main Deck.

His opponent is Ivan Anamaria, a veteran Duelist who made Day 2 in SHONEN JUMP Championship Columbus. Anamaria is running an aggressive Machina Gadget Deck with Solidarity, capable of generating some explosive OTKs. This one was anybody’s Match, and the winner would move on to the Top 16! All Top Duelists win a copy of Dark End Dragon, so the stakes couldn’t be higher!

Wang opened the Match with a hand of Trap Dustshoot, Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Caius the Shadow Monarch, Foolish Burial, Morphing Jar, and Enemy Controller. He Set Ryko, Set Dustshoot, and ended.

Anamaria Summoned Red Gadget, searching Yellow Gadget from his Deck with its effect. Wang held back on his Trap Dustshoot. Anamaria attacked, and Wang activated the Dustshoot revealing Anamaria’s hand of Yellow Gadget, Red Gadget, Brain Control, Royal Oppression, Solemn Judgment, and Torrential Tribute. Wang sent back Yellow Gadget, Red Gadget hit Ryko, and Ryko destroyed it sending Torrential Tribute, Caius, and Lonefire Blossom to his Graveyard. Anamaria Set 3 cards to his back row.

Wang drew Treeborn Frog. He Set it, and passed play to his opponent. Anamaria Summoned Red Gadget, searched for Yellow Gadget, and attacked Treeborn. Wang drew Bottomless Trap Hole next turn, brought back his Treeborn, and Tributed it for Caius the Shadow Monarch. Anamaria negated the Summon, paying half his Life Points to activate Solemn Judgment.

Wang Set Enemy Controller and Anamaria was up. He attacked for 1300 damage with Red Gadget and ended. Wang drew another Ryko, activated Foolish Burial, and sent Dandylion to his Graveyard to try and Special Summon 2 Fluff Tokens. Anamaria Chained Royal Oppression, paid 800 Life Points to negate the Fluff Tokens’ Summon, and Wang Set Ryko to finish out his turn.

Anamaria Summoned Green Gadget, getting another Red Gadget. Green Gadget attacked, and Ryko Sent Bottomless Trap Hole, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and Super-Nimble Mega Hamster to Wang’s Graveyard, as Ryko destroyed Oppression. Wang took a direct shot from Red Gadget and Anamaria ended.

Wang drew Light and Darkness Dragon. He Set Morphing Jar, Set Bottomless Trap Hole, and ended. Anamaria blasted him with Nobleman of Crossout, removing Morphing Jar from the game! “That hurt a lot” remarked Wang. Wang had worked hard to try and bait out a Nobleman by Setting Ryko earlier, largely a bid to resolve Morphing Jar’s effect. The fact that the Nobleman didn’t appear until that moment, suggested that Anamaria had topdecked it – Wang knew that, and it stung. He took direct attacks from Red Gadget and Green Gadget, dropping to 2700 Life Points. Anamaria had 3200 left.

Wang Set a Spell or Trap and survived the next turn only by using Enemy Controller to block Green Gadget’s attack. He drew Quickdraw Synchron next turn, holding Mystical Space Typhoon and Light and Darkness Dragon with Bottomless Trap Hole Set.

His opponent had 6 cards in hand, 1 card Set to his Spell & Trap Card Zone, and 2 Gadgets on the field. It was an insurmountable disadvantage and none of Wang’s cards could save him, so he immediately conceded. “I shouldn’t have Set that Enemy Controller, that was my mistake.”

Jerry Wang just can’t get anything going, and Ivan Anamaria succeeds in grinding him out! Anamaria captures the first Duel, now 1 win away from the Top 16. Both competitors spent a lot of time debating their Side Deck choices before starting the second Duel.

This time around Wang’s hand was Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, Brain Control, Trap Dustshoot, Dandylion, Quickdraw Synchron, and Caius the Shadow Monarch.  He Set Hamster, Set Dustshoot, and ended.

Anamaria Summoned Yellow Gadget, got Green Gadget from his Deck, and attacked. “Let’s try this again” quipped Wang, flipped Trap Dustshoot to reveal Anamaria’s hand: 2 Green Gadgets, Red Gadget, Solidarity, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Limiter Removal. Wang sent Red Gadget back, and Yellow Gadget crashed into Mega Hamster! The Hamster’s effect Special Summoned Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter in face-down Defense Position from Wang’s Deck, and Anamaria has no choice but to end his turn without Setting any cards to his Spell & Trap Card Zone for Ryko to destroy.

Wang drew Enemy Controller. He spent over a minute running numbers, figuring out his next move: Anamaria had 7400 Life Points left. Wang discarded Dandylion, Special Summoning Quickdraw Synchron and 2 Fluff Tokens. He Tuned the Synchron to 1 Token and Synchro Summoned Drill Warrior. Mega Hamster went to Attack Position, Drill Warrior attacked Yellow Gadget, and Hamster made a direct attack. In Main Phase 2 Wang discarded Caius the Shadow Monarch to remove his Drill Warrior from play with its effect.

Anamaria Summoned Green Gadget, getting Red Gadget from his Deck. He activated Solidarity, attacked Mega Hamster, and destroyed it. He Set 3 cards to his Spell & Trap Card Zone to finish his turn.

Wang drew another Ryko, Special Summoned his Drill Warrior, and took back Caius the Shadow Monarch with the Warrior’s effect. He Flip Summoned Ryko, targeted 1 of Anamaria’s face-down Spell or Trap Cards, and Anamaria Chained it: Limiter Removal. Wang sent Legendary Jujitsu Master, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and System Down to his Graveyard with Ryko He then took Green Gadget with Brain Control, attacked, and Anamaria conceded, unable to stop the onslaught!

Jerry Wang pushes his way through Anamaria’s entrenched field of 3 Spell and Trap Cards, scoring the win with Drill Warrior! We were going to a third Duel. The winner here would move on to the Top 16, where he would have a fifty-fifty shot at making Top 8 to win a guaranteed Dark End Dragon!

Anamaria started things up with Machina Gearframe, searching his Deck for Machina Fortress. He Set a Spell or Trap to end.

Wang had Breaker the Magical Warrior, Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, Dimensional Prison, Lonefire Blossom, Legendary Jujitsu Master, and Quickdraw Synchron. He Set the Hamster, Set Prison, and ended. He lost the Prison to Mystical Space Typhoon in the End Phase.

Anamaria followed up, Summoning Red Gadget to get Yellow Gadget from his Deck. He discarded Yellow Gadget and Machina Fortress to Special Summon the Fortress itself, then attacked into Hamster with Red Gadget! He activated Limiter Removal in the Damage Step to power through Hamster, Wang Special Summoned Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter in face-down Defense Position, and Anamaria attacked it with Gearframe. Wang used its effect to destroy Gearframe, and Fortress made a direct attack for 5000 damage. Anamaria Set 1 card to his back row and ended, losing his Gadget and Fortress to Limiter’s effect.

Wang drew, Setting Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and a monster. Anamaria passed, and Wang drew Dandylion. He flipped Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarded Dandylion, and spun away his opponent’s face-down Spell or Trap. He Special Summoned his 2 Fluff Tokens, Normal Summoned Lonefire Blossom, then Tributed a Fluff Token to Special Summon another Lonefire with the first Lonefire’s effect. He Tributed the first Lonefire to the second, then Special Summoned Tytannial, Princess of Camellias! Tytannial made a direct attack and Wang ended.

She went down next turn to Anamaria’s Hammer Shot, and Smashing Ground destroyed the remaining Lonefire Blossom. Anamaria had 2 cards in-hand left and he Set one to his back row. Wang drew to 3 cards in hand with a Fluff Token and a Set monster. He Summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, used it to destroy Anamaria’s face-down Dimensional Prison and activated Charge of the Light Brigade!

That got him Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter from his Deck, sending Torrential Tribute, System Down, and Sangan to his Graveyard. He now had Ryko and Quickdraw Synchron in hand, and it was time to run some more numbers! Wang consulted his calculator, and moments later he discarded Ryko to Special Summon Quickdraw Synchron, Tuned it to the Fluff Token to Synchro Summon Drill Warrior, Flip Summoned Legendary Jujitsu Master, and attacked for a combined total of 5300 Battle Damage! Anamaria only had 5200 Life Points, and Jerry Wang was headed to the Top 16!

Jerry Wang moves on, scoring a 2-1 victory. His next Match today will decide whether or not he heads home the proud owner of a shiny new Dark End Dragon!

See what our panel of experts had to say after the Duel.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 3, Anamaria used Limiter Removal to push damage through to Wang, but lost all of the Machines he had on the field in order to do it. He may have been better off if he held on to his Limiter Removal. That way, he could’ve established control over the Duel by slowly picking off Wang’s monsters with his flooded field. Eventually, Anamaria would have been able to use Limiter Removal to end the Duel before he can even lose his monsters in the End Phase.

Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
One thing to note in this Match is how Wang held on to his Trap Dustshoot until Anamaria declared his first attack. Wang knew that since he had Ryko set, whatever Anamaria Summoned was probably going to get destroyed and not be a huge issue, and if Anamaria activated Heavy Storm, Mystical Space Typhoon, or something else that may have targeted his face down Dustshoot, he could have Chained it. Quite often, it’s little moves like this that win the game.

P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Regarding Trap Dustshoot, what Wang was hoping for here was that Ivan would use something like Mystical Space Typhoon to target the Dustshoot, which would then be Chained, making that Typhoon a waste of a card. Ivan didn’t have the Typhoon to waste though, but Wang didn’t lose anything because of it. He did the same thing at the start of Duel 2, but this time Ivan had the Mystical Space Typhoon, which he didn’t use on the Dustshoot after seeing how Wang started out in Duel 1.