Top 16 Feature Match: Dale Bellido vs. Jeff Jones
Jeff Jones and Dale Bellido are both former Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship winners. Bellido is playing Infernities, while Jeff Jones is running a Herald of Perfection Deck we profiled yesterday.
Bellido opened with a hand of Book of Moon, 2 Infernity Archfiends, Bottomless Trap Hole, Reinforcement of the Army, and Infernity Mirage. He activated Reinforcement of the Army, got Dark Grepher, Summoned it, and discarded Archfiend to send Infernity Beetle to his Graveyard. He Set Bottomless, Set Book, and ended, wanting to keep that Grepher around for next turn.
Jones Set a monster, and Set 2 cards to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.
Bellido drew another Infernity Beetle, Summoned it, and Tuned it to Grepher to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. He discarded Infernity Archfiend for Brionac’s effect, bounced away Jones’ monster, and attacked into Mirror Force.
Jones Set a monster.
Bellido Set Infernity Barrier after drawing it, Summoned Infernity Mirage, and Tributed it to target his Archfiend and Beetle. Archfiend got him Infernity Launcher, and he Tributed his Beetle to Summon another Beetle from his Deck. He then activated Launcher, Tuned Beetle to Archfiend, and Synchro Summoned Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth. Using his Launcher got him Beetle and Archfiend again, the Archfiend got another Launcher, and Beetle and Gaia Knight were Tuned to Synchro Summon Infernity Doom Dragon. Doom Dragon’s effect destroyed Jones’ face-down Mokey Mokey. (Jones was clearly stuck bluffing with a bad hand.) Infernity Launcher got Bellido his second Archfiend and Infernity Beetle, Archfiend got him Infernity Barrier, and Jones took attacks from Beetle and the 2 Archfiends. Jones activated Royal Decree in the End Phase, but conceded after seeing his next draw.
What appears to be a horrid draw for Jeff Jones leads to victory in a few turns for Dale Bellido! One more like that would see Bellido headed to the Top 8, but with Side Decks now in the mix it was still anybody’s match. One had to believe that Jones was well-prepared for Infernities.
Jones opened the second Duel with Advanced Ritual Art! He sent 2 Happy Lovers and 2 Mokey Mokeys to the Graveyard, and Ritual Summoned Herald of Perfection in Defense Position! Dark Factory of Mass Production let him take back his 2 Happy Lovers, and a second copy let him take his 2 Mokey Mokeys! He then Normal Summoned Consecrated Light, a huge opening from Jones!
Bellido had 2 Bottomless Trap Holes, Heavy Storm, Infernity Necromancer, Infernity Mirage, and Infernity Beetle. He Set Bottomless Trap Hole, Set Necromancer, and ended.
Jones turned Consecrated Light to Defense Position, turned Herald to attack, and attacked into Necromancer.
Bellido drew Fissure and passed.
Jones turned Herald of Perfection to Defense Position, Set a Spell or Trap, and ended.
Bellido Set a Spell or Trap on his turn.
Jones Summoned another Consecrated Light on his turn.
Bellido Set a third Spell or Trap.
Jones Set a monster and his second Consecrated Light went to Defense Position.
Bellido passed on his next turn.
Jones Set a Spell or Trap and passed.
Bellido Set a fourth card, and Jones activated Royal Decree in the End Phase.
Jones Set a third Spell or Trap and passed.
Bellido drew, Set a monster, and ended his turn.
Jones Set a Spell or Trap and ended, and Bellido considered taking an action before drawing for his turn instead.
Bellido Set another monster.
Jones Set a monster, filling his fifth Monster Card Zone.
Bellido Set a fourth monster.
Jones discarded Sonic Bird next turn for his End Phase, taking no other actions.
Bellido drew, and discarded Archfiend in his End Phase.
Jones Set a fifth card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.
Bellido drew, and was now holding Giant Trunade, Fissure, Infernity Beetle, Infernity Mirage, Infernity Necromancer, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Call of the Haunted in-hand, with Torrential Tribute, Infernity Barrier, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Heavy Storm Set in his Spell & Trap Card Zone. He had Necromancer face-up, with another Necromancer and 2 copies of Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter Set.
Jones had 2 Consecrated Lights and Herald of Perfection in Defense Position. He had 2 monsters Set, Royal Decree active, and 4 cards in his back row Set with 6 cards in-hand.
Bellido Set a monster to his fifth and last Monster Card Zone and ended his turn.
Jones turned Herald to Attack Position, and attacked Bellido’s freshly-set Infernity Beetle. He then Tributed his face-down Sonic Bird to Set a monster, probably Gyakutenno Megami.
Bellido drew, and Set another Necromancer.
The new Necromancer was flipped by Herald’s attack next turn, and Jones discarded Preparation of Rites in his End Phase.
Bellido drew Light-Imprisoning Mirror. He discarded Infernity Inferno in the End Phase.
Herald attacked again to reveal a third Necromaner next turn. Jones discarded Mokey Mokey in the End Phase.
Bellido drew Infernity Avenger, holding Giant Trunade, Fissure, Infernity Mirage, Light-Imprisoning Mirror, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Call of the Haunted. He discarded Call.
Herald attacked Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, and Jones discarded Mokey Mokey to negate its effect and keep his Royal Decree active.
Bellido Flip Summoned his second Ryko, targeting Decree, but Jones sent another Mokey Mokey from his hand and negated Ryko’s effect. Following this, 2 Happy Lovers from Jones’ hand negated Mystical Space Typhoon and Giant Trunade. Bellido activated Fissure, and Jones negated it with Manju of the Ten-Thousand Hands. Bellido tried for Heavy Storm and Jones discarded another Herald of Perfection. Bellido Set 2 cards to the Spell & Trap Card Zone and ended his turn.
Jones’ Pot of Avarice sent 2 Happy Lovers, a Mokey Mokey, Herald of Perfection, and Manju of the Ten-Thousand Hands back into his Deck, drawing him 2 cards. He Flip Summoned another Manju, got another Herald of Perfection from his Deck, and attacked Bellido’s 1 remaining face-down monster: Infernity Avenger. It was destroyed, and Jones took back 2 Mokey Mokeys in Main Phase 2 with Dark Factory of Mass Production. Herald went to Defense Position.
Bellido Set a monster.
Jones attacked it with Manju, revealing it to be Infernity Mirage, and destroyed it.
Bellido passed.
Jones discarded Mokey Mokey in his End Phase, and took no other actions.
Bellido passed again.
Jones discarded again on his next turn.
Bellido passed again.
Jones Tributed Megami and Manju to Tribute Summon Archlord Kristya! Bellido responded with Bottomless Trap Hole and Torrential Tribute. He knew they’d be negated by Royal Decree, but needed to clear his back row so he could Set and activate other cards. Kristya attacked and picked off a Necromancer!
Bellido Set another Spell or Trap, and Set Infernity Archfiend.
Jones attacked and destroyed a Necromancer and the Archfiend to Kristya and Herald next turn.
Bellido activated Reinforcement of the Army, got Dark Grepher from his Deck, and Set a monster.
Jones Flip Summoned another Manju, attacked with Manju and Kristya to clear the field, and made a direct attack with Herald for 1800 Battle Damage.
Bellido tried to Summon Grepher, forgetting he couldn’t due to Consecrated Light. He Set a monster instead, then Set a fifth card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.
Manju attacked to destroy the face-down Dark Grepher with Honest, and Kristya and Herald both made direct attacks.
Bellido conceded next turn.
Jeff Jones explodes with an incredible opening on turn 1, unleashing Herald of Perfection, resolving 2 Dark Factories, and Summoning a Consecrated Light that proved to be the beginning of the end! One more Duel would decide who would move on to the Top 8!
Bellido started Duel 3 with a hand of Cyber Dragon, 2 Bottomless Trap Holes, Giant Trunade, Infernity Launcher, and Infernity Inferno. He Set both Bottomlesses.
Jones Summoned Sonic Bird, searched his Deck for Advanced Ritual Art, and activated it to send 2 Happy Lovers and 2 Mokey Mokeys to his Graveyard. He Ritual Summoned Herald of Perfection, negated both copies of Bottomless by discarding 2 Fairies for Herald’s effect, and activated Pot of Avarice in Main Phase 2 to send back five Fairies and draw 2 cards! He Set a Spell or Trap and ended with 2 in-hand cards.
Bellido Special Summoned Cyber Dragon. He attacked Sonic Bird, destroyed it, and Set everything else in his hand, but then Jones flipped Royal Decree!
Jones activated Heavy Storm and Smashing Ground next turn to clear the field, and ended.
Bellido Set Dust Tornado next turn.
Jones destroyed it with Mystical Space Typhoon, and attacked for 1800 damage from Herald.
Bellido Set his topdecked card next turn to his back row.
Jones attacked for another 1800 damage with Herald.
Bellido Set a monster.
Herald attacked to destroy the face-down monster, which was Infernity Avenger.
Bellido Set another card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.
Jones Summoned Sonic Bird, and both monsters attacked to reduce Bellido to 200 Life Points.
Bellido Set Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter on his turn.
When Jones’ Herald attacked it next turn, the Herald negated Ryko’s effect. Bellido tried to Special Summon Infernity Avenger from his Graveyard, but Herald negated that effect too, and Sonic Bird made the final attack.
Jeff Jones was headed to the Top 8 with his Herald of Perfection Deck!
Post-Event Analysis!
See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over.
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 3, Bellido Set 2 copies of Bottomless Trap Hole and used them both when Jones Summoned Herald of Perfection on his first turn. This was a great play because it forced Jones to discard 2 Fairies when he didn’t have too many cards in his hand. Bellido was hoping Jones would run out of Fairy-Type Monsters to discard with the Herald’s effect, and did everything he could to try to make that happen early on. Things didn’t work out for Bellido, since Jones had enough Fairies to discard and a Pot of Avarice to reload his hand, but he did everything he could to maximize his chances of winning that Duel.
