Round 2 Feature Match: Dale Bellido VS Jimmy Chen
Canadian Duelist Dale Bellido is competing here today with a new version of the Deck he ran for the bulk of the last Advanced Format: Infernities. Despite Infernity Launcher’s newly-Limited status, a number of Canadian Duelists are undaunted and have stuck with the Deck, compensating by running more copies of Infernity Mirage and cards like Infernity Force and Infernity Break. The new breed of Infernity Decks are all about the long game.
Jimmy Chen was Bellido’s opponent this round, piloting a popular pick in today’s tournament: Blackwings. With cards like Icarus Attack and Delta Crow – Anti Reverse likely to appear in Chen’s Deck, this Match might come down to who can play the long game the best.
Bellido opened with Infernity Archfiend, Infernity Barrier, Mystical Space Typhoon, Infernity Break, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Plaguespreader Zombie. He Set everything but Archfiend.
Chen Set a single card to his back row, then Set three more. He lost Bottomless Trap Hole in the End Phase to Mystical Space Typhoon.
Bellido Set a card to his back row, Normal Summoned Archfiend, and when Chen activated Bottomless Trap Hole, Bellido Chained Infernity Barrier to negate it. He attacked directly for 1800 Battle Damage.
Chen fired back, Normal Summoning Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn. Bellido responded with Bottomless Trap Hole, removing Sirocco, and Chen Set a third Spell or Trap.
Bellido drew Infernity Necromancer. He Flip Summoned Plaguespreader Zombie, and Chen activated Torrential Tribute, clearing the field! It was exactly what Bellido had hoped for: he Normal Summoned Necromancer, turned it to Defense Position, Special Summoned Archfiend, and used it to get Infernity Barrier from his Deck. Archfiend made another attack. Bellido Set Barrier and lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon in the End Phase.
Chen Summoned Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind, halved Archfiend’s ATK and DEF, then attacked it for 400 Battle Damage.
Bellido drew and Set a Spell or Trap Card, then Special Summoned Infernity Archfiend with Infernity Necromancer again. This time he got another Necromancer. He Normal Summoned it, turned it to Defense Position, and attacked Gale with Archfiend.
Chen flipped his Set Cards for Black Feathers, removing Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor from his hand to draw 2 more cards. He had three cards in his hand, to Bellido’s three Spell or Trap Cards and three monsters. Chen Normal Summoned another Sirocco, then ended, not attacking.
Bellido drew a card, placed it back on top of his Deck, and Special Summoned Plaguespreader Zombie. He Tuned it to Archfiend to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (4+2=6), Special Summoned Archfiend with Necromancer to get the copy of Infernity Inferno he’d placed back on top of his Deck for Plaguespreader, and discarded it to bounce away Sirocco with Brionac! Attacks from Brionac and Archfiend then finished the Duel.
Dale Bellido wins Duel 1 in short order, Summoning Infernity Archfiend over and over to search out a fistful of cards from his Deck! Jimmy Chen would need back-to-back victories now to leave here the winner. Both competitors did some serious Side Decking: Delta Crow – Anti Reverse was likely on the minds of both Duelists, since Bellido’s Deck often required him to Set so many cards.
Chen got Duel 2 started with Blackwing – Bora the Spear and four Set cards to his back row.
Bellido had Cyber Dragon, two Chaos Sorcerer, Infernity Barrier, Infernity Necromancer, and Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter. He Special Summoned Cyber Dragon, attacked, and Chen blocked with Book of Moon, turning the Dragon face-down. Bellido Set Ryko and Infernity Barrier.
Chen attacked Cyber Dragon with Bora next turn, destroying it.
Bellido Flip Summoned Ryko, targeting one of Chen’s back row cards: “Icarus Attack?” asked Bellido, hopeful. Nope – Ryko’s effect destroyed Solemn Judgment, sending Bellido’s Solemn Warning, Mirror Force, and Book of Moon to the Graveyard from his Deck. He Set Solemn Judgment in Main Phase 2, Set Necromancer, and lost both Solemn Judgment and Infernity Barrier to Delta Crow in the End Phase!
Chen attacked Necromancer with Bora, revealing it, but not destroying it.
Dale Summoned Infernity Archfiend, attacked, and Chen activated Icarus Attack, destroying Archfiend and Necromancer at the cost of his Bora. Bellido turned Ryko to Defense Position.
Chen couldn’t capitalize: he Set another Spell or Trap.
Bellido Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, but lost his field to Torrential Tribute!
Chen Summoned Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame and attacked for 1800 Battle Damage.
Bellido removed Cyber Dragon and Infernity Necromancer to Special Summon Chaos Sorcerer. Chen activated Skill Drain, but lost Shura to Chaos Sorcerer’s attack.
Chen drew to three cards in hand. He activated D.D. Crow’s effect, removing Infernity Archfiend, then Special Summoned Dark Armed Dragon. He activated Giant Trunade to get Skill Drain off the field, then used the Dragon’s effect to destroy Chaos Sorcerer. Chen attacked directly with Dark Armed Dragon then Set one card to his back row.
With Skill Drain gone, Bellido was free to Special Summon his second Sorcerer, removing Dark Armed Dragon. He Set another Spell or Trap.
Chen Normal Summoned Blackwing – Blizzard the far North, Special Summoned Shura, and Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian (4+2=6). It attacked, destroying Chaos Sorcerer and Special Summoning it!
Bellido drew Infernity Archfiend! He Special Summoned it, activated its effect, Chen Chained Skill Drain, and Bellido Chained Return from the Different Dimension. He brought back Chaos Sorcerer, Cyber Dragon, Necromancer, and another Archfiend, and that one searched Infernity Avenger from his Deck.
(This was actually an error on both Duelists’ behalf: the effect of the Archfiend brought back with Return would have missed its activation timing. But neither Duelist noticed that, and play continued.)
Bellido was stuck with five monsters on the field – no room for his Tuner. He spent a moment to consider his moves, before sending Cyber Dragon to attack the pilfered Chaos Sorcerer. He then smashed his second Sorcerer into Goyo Guardian, Normal Summoned Avenger in Main Phase 2, and Tuned it to Archfiend and Necromancer to Synchro Summon Colossal Fighter (4+3+1=8). He ended his turn, losing his Archfiend and Cyber Dragon to Return’s effect. He had nothing left but that Colossal Fighter.
Chen drew, and now had a single card in-hand with Skill Drain and Goyo Guardian on the field. He Set his draw for the turn to his Spell and Trap Card Zone, then turned Goyo Guardian to Defense Position.
Bellido attacked Goyo Guardian to destroy it next turn, and Set a Spell or Trap.
Chen Set another Spell or Trap.
Bellido had Bottomless Trap Hole Set, and drew Mystical Space Typhoon. He attacked with Colossal, then activated Space Typhoon to destroy Skill Drain! Chen had just 2900 Life Points left, and with Goyo Guardian in the Graveyard and Skill Drain gone, Colossal Fighter went to exactly 2900 ATK: just enough to win the Duel, and the Match!
Dale Bellido takes a 2-0 victory, and moves on undefeated with Infernities.
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 1, Chen used his Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind to halve the ATK and DEF of Bellido’s Infernity Archfiend before destroying it in battle. This allowed Bellido to Special Summon it again on his next turn by using the effect of his on-field Infernity Necromancer. If Chen had halved the ATK and DEF of the Necromancer instead, and destroyed it in battle, Bellido would have been unable to reuse it again on the next turn.
P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Bellido’s Side Deck seems to be quite an attack-minded one, changing the Deck from Infernities to Infernity Chaos. The added Cyber Dragons and Thunder King Rai-Ohs work well against a lot of the Decks in this new format, while also allowing Bellido to Special Summon his 2 Chaos Sorcerers to take down even bigger monsters, like Chen’s Dark Armed Dragon in Duel 2.
