You saw them both defeat their opponent’s last round, but now they have to Duel each other with a guaranteed Set of Darklord Prize Cards on the line!

Bellido won the dice roll and decided to start us off with a Set monster.

Gravelle’s opening hand was Solar Recharge, Cyber Dragon, Bottomless Trap Hole, Dark Hole, Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, and Foolish Burial.

He Special Summoned Cyber Dragon and activated Foolish Burial, sending Wulf, Lightsworn Beast to the Graveyard. Its effect activated and it was Special Summoned. He then attacked with Cyber Dragon into Bellido’s Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, which Special Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul in face down Defense Position. Wulf destroyed it, and Gravelle Set one Spell or trap Card. Bellido added XX-Saber Emmersblade to his hand from his Deck during the End Phase.

Bellido drew for his turn and Set a monster.

Gravelle drew Beckoning Light and activated Solar Recharge. He drew Trap Stun and Honest and sent Honest and Beckoning Light from his Deck to the Graveyard. He passed.

Bellido drew for his turn and Set another monster as well as one Spell or Trap.

Gravelle drew Effect Veiler for his turn and passed once more.

Bellido drew and Normal Summoned X-Saber Airbellum but Gravelle responded with Bottomless Trap Hole. Bellido then flipped both his face down Darksoul and Emmersblade into attack position. He Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll and used its effect to Special Summon Darksoul from the Graveyard. He rammed his Emmersblade into Cyber Dragon to Special Summon XX-Saber Fulhelmknight from the Deck. He then Synchro Summoned with Fulhelmknight and Faultroll for XX-Saber Gottoms (6+3=9), but when Bellido Tributed Darksoul to discard a card from Gravelle’s hand, Gravelle Chained with Effect Veiler. Bellido Set three more Spell or Trap Cards and ended his turn. He added Faultroll to his hand using Darksoul’s effect.

Gravelle drew Jain, Lightsworn Paladin on his turn and activated Dark Hole. Bellido responded with Gottom’s Emergency Call, Special Summoning Darksoul and Fulhelmknight. All monsters on the field were destroyed and both his Darksouls activated. Gravelle Normal Summoned Jain, but Bellido responded with Bottomless Trap Hole. Gravelle Set two Spell or Trap Cards and ended his turn. Bellido added XX–Saber Boggart Knight and X-Saber Pashuul to his hand during the End Phase.

Bellido drew for his turn and Normal Summoned Boggart Knight which let him Special Summon Pashuul from his hand. he then Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll and Synchro Summoned with Pashuul and Boggart Knight into XX-Saber Hyunlei to destroy Gravelle’s Set Trap Stun and Beckoning Light. Gravelle chained both and discarded Honest to add Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner to his hand. Bellido Special Summoned Fulhelmknight with Faultroll and attacked with all his monsters.

Gravelle drew Wulf, Lightsworn Beast during his Draw Phase. He Normal Summoned Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner but Bellido chained Solemn Warning. Unable to make another play, Gravelle conceded.

Lazaro Bellido wins game 1, one game away from being in the finals!

Gravelle decided to go first in game 2. His opening hand was Judgment Dragon, Monster Reborn, Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, Beckoning Light, and Celestia, Lightsworn Angel. He drew Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior in the Draw Phase and summoned it. He Set two Spell or Trap Cards.

Bellido summoned XX–Saber Emmersblade and attacked into Garoth, taking 550 damage to his Life Points and Special Summoning XX–Saber Darksoul in Defense Position. He Set 4 Spell or Trap Cards.

Gravelle drew Plaguespreader Zombie for his turn and thought for a moment before Summoning it. He Synchro Summoned Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier but Bellido activated Solemn Warning to negate the summon. Gravelle then activated Monster Reborn to Special Summon his Garoth and ended his turn.

Bellido drew for his turn and summoned XX–Saber Emmersblade. He then Special Summoned XX–Saber Faultroll and attacked with Emmersblade to activate its effect and Special Summon X-Saber Airbellum from his Deck. He then attacked Garoth with Faultroll and attacked directly with Airbellum, discarding Celestia from Gravelle’s hand. He then activated Faultroll’s effect, Special Summoning Emmersblade. Bellido Synchro Summoned XX-Saber Gottoms using Faultroll and Airbellum (6+3=9) and activated its effect twice to discard both the cards from Gravelle’s hand. Bellido added Faultroll to his hand in the End Phase.

Gravelle drew Lumina for his turn and activated Beckoning Light, discarding it and adding Judgment Dragon to his hand. He Special Summoned it and activated its effect to destroy all other cards on the field. Bellido Chained Gottoms’ Emergency Call and Book of Moon. Gravelle ended his turn, unable to attack with his Judgment Dragon, and Bellido added XX-Saber Boggart Knight to his hand in the End Phase.

Bellido drew to three cards in hand and passed play to Gravelle.

Gravelle drew another Judgment Dragon on his turn! He then Flip Summoned his Judgment Dragon, Special Summoned his other one from his hand and attacked with both to win the Duel!

An ideal draw for Gravelle gives him Duel 2 after it looked as though Bellido was a lock to win it!
Bellido chose to go first in Duel 3. He Set one monster and ended.

Gravelle’s opening hand was Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, Celestia, Lightsworn Angel, Monster Reborn, Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress and Giant Trunade, he drew Necro Gardna in the Draw Phase and Summoned Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress. He sent Solar Recharge, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Wulf, Lightsworn Beast to his Graveyard in the End Phase, Special Summoning Wulf, Lightsworn Beast.

Bellido Set a second monster and ended with no Spells or Traps.
Gravelle drew and activated Charge of the Light Brigade, adding Ehren, Lightsworn Monk to his hand after sending three cards to his Graveyard including a Judgment Dragon. He summoned Ehren and attacked Bellido’s face down XX–Saber Darksoul, sending it back to his Deck. He then passed play, sending 6 cards to his Graveyard, including both Honests.

Bellido drew and Set four Spell or Trap Cards.

Gravelle drew and activated Giant Trunade. He then Tributed Lyla for Celestia, destroying Bellido’s face down Super–Nimble Mega Hamster. He then Special Summoned Judgment Dragon and activated Monster Reborn, Special Summoning Honest from his Graveyard. He declared an attack with Honest, Bellido asked for a moment to do some calculations before allowing the attack to go through and activating Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness. Special Summoning itself and a Token with 1100 ATK and DEF to his field in Defense Position. Judgment Dragon attacked Gorz, and Ehren attacked over the Token. Wulf and Celestia then attacked directly for 4400 more damage, leaving Bellido at 2200 Life Points. He then sent Honest back to his hand with its effect and sent 7 cards to the Graveyard during his End Phase.

Bellido drew, activated Smashing Ground destroying Judgment Dragon, and Set 4 Spell or Trap Cards as well as a monster to end.

Gravelle drew and activated Nobleman of Extermination on Bellido’s Set Bottomless Trap Hole, removing another one from Bellido’s Deck, and one from his own. He attacked with Ehren but Bellido activated Mirror Force, Gravelle then Set a monster and ended.

Bellido drew, Set a Spell or Trap Card and ended.

Gravelle drew, Flip Summoned Necro Gardna and then activated Foolish Burial to send Wulf to the Graveyard and Special Summon itself. Bellido activated Torrential Tribute in response, destroying his own Darksoul as well as Gravelle’s monsters. Bellido then added Airbellum to his hand in the End Phase.

Bellido drew for his turn, Summoned Airbellum, attacked and discarded Honest from Gravelle’s hand, and ended with a Set Spell or Trap card.

Gravelle drew and ended.

Bellido attacked again and discarded Wulf from Gravelle’s hand.

Gravelle drew and Set Trap Stun.

Bellido drew, summoned Sangan, and Synchro Summoned into Goyo Guardian (3+3=6). He then added XX–Saber Fulhelmknight to his hand and attacked and Special Summoned Gravelle’s D.D. Crow to his side of the field.
Gravelle drew and Set Mirror Force.

Bellido drew, summoned XX–Saber Fulhelmknight and attacked, when Gravelle activated Mirror Force Bellido chained Starlight Road and Gravelle immediately conceded.

Gorz the Emissary of Darkness saves Lazaro Bellido from certain doom as he takes his seat in the finals!

Post-Event Analysis!
See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over. 

Jason Grabher-Meyer (The Old Man of Dueling)
Gravelle played his first turn of Duel 1 really aggressively.  When an X-Saber Duelist Sets their first monster, it’s almost always going to be XX-Saber Emmersblade or XX-Saber Darksoul (basically, a monster that the X-Saber Duelist wants attacked).  In this case it was Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, a very similar card.  Special Summoning Cyber Dragon to feel out the situation was a good idea, but using Foolish Burial to Summon Wulf was ambitious.  Gravelle didn’t know what Bellido had Set, but he was making big plays anyways.  Instead of saving Wulf for a Celestia combo, or using it to draw out a card so he could follow up with something bigger, Gravelle just gave Bellido a free Darksoul search.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 1, Bellido declined to attack Gravelle’s Cyber Dragon with his XX-Saber Faultroll, even though Faultroll has more ATK. This cautious play paid off for Bellido. Bellido suspected that Gravelle had Honest in his hand, and if Bellido had attacked with Faultroll, Gravelle would have used Honest to boost the ATK of his Cyber Dragon and destroy Faultroll in battle. Instead, Bellido used that Faultroll to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Gottoms. With 2 copies of XX-Saber Darksoul on the field, Bellido was hoping to Tribute his monsters with the effect of Gottoms in order to make Gravelle discard cards from his hand. He could even make Gravelle discard the Honest this way. Bellido’s plan was eventually thwarted by Gravelle’s Effect Veiler, but it was nevertheless a well thought out play. 

P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Many Duelists may have never played against Lightsworn before (or forgotten the best ways to defeat them) so Gravelle can make the most of that. Cards like Judgment Dragon and Celestia, Lightsworn Angel are still as powerful as they were back when the Deck was at its most popular, can turn Duels around in an instant, like how Gravelle was able to take this match to a third and final Duel.

Click here to check out the next feature match.