While over 1,100 Duelists have earned their invites to the Main Event this weekend, and a little under 100 for the Dragon Duel, hundreds more have turned out to compete in Last Chance Qualifiers – the final chance to win entry into the 2015 Central American World Championship Qualifier!  Competitors here on Friday are competing in single elimination flights, with the winner of each mini-tournament scoring a WCQ Zefra game mat, and a seat in tomorrow’s tournament.

Miss out in the Quarter-Finals or Semi-Finals and you can try again until you make the cut, or until the evening’s cutoff at 5 PM.  These LCQ’s represent a tremendous opportunity for countless Duelists, and if you’re a North American competitor and you’ve seen Last Chance Qualifiers at your WCQ before, understand this is a totally different beast here in Mexico City.  Avid Duelists here for sure!

Our first Last Chance Qualifier of the day saw an unexpected mirror match in the Finals, as Miguel Ibanez Gamboa went head-to-head with Miguel Angel Gaona Montalvo.  With no Nekroz in sight, somebody’s going to head into Day 1 tomorrow with ‘tellarknights.

Montalvo chose to begin the first Duel.  He Set three cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone, then Set a monster.

Gamboa had Satellarknight Deneb, Breakthrough Skill, two Effect Veilers, and two copies of Reinforcement of the Army.  He Summoned Deneb, activated its effect, and searched his Deck for Satellarknight Altair.  Montalvo sent it to the graveyard with Mind Crush, getting an early look at Gamboa’s hand!  That information could be gamebreaking, but for now it left Gamboa to attack with Deneb, smashing into Satellarknight Vega.  It survived the attack, and Gamboa Set Breakthrough and his second Reinforcement.

Montalvo drew to two cards in hand and considered his options, rubbing his forehead in a moment of consideration.  He leaned back in his seat, screwed up his face a moment and then spent some time looking through his Extra Deck.  He eventually decided to Set a third card to his back row and end his turn.

Gamboa drew Maxx “C” and activated Reinforcement of the Army, grabbing Satellarknight Unukalhai.  Gamboa Summoned it without using its effect, then attacked with it to destroy Vega.  That cleared Montalvo’s field of monsters and Gamboa made a direct attack with Satellarknight Deneb.  In Main Phase 2 he overlaid for Diamond Dire Wolf, detached Unukalhai to destroy Dire Wolf and one of Montalvo’s face-downs… and ran into another Mind Crush!  Gamboa lost his Dire Wolf and two copies of Effect Veiler, revealing his Maxx “C” in the process.  Devastating.  No matter how skilled you are, there’s almost no way to overcome a double Mind Crush like that.

Montalvo activated Pot of Duality, revealing Satellarknight Altair, Satellarknight Deneb, and Torrential Tribute: he added Deneb to his hand and shuffled the rest back into his Deck.  He Summoned it, and Gamboa negated its effect with Breakthrough Skill.  Montalvo made a direct attack with Deneb.

Gamboa drew Stellarnova Alpha and Set it.  Not much help there; he really needed monsters to mount a comeback.

Montalvo Normal Summoned another Vega, then overlaid his two Satellarknights to Xyz Summon Heroic Champion – Excalibur!  Clearly wanting to end the Duel as quickly as possible, he detached Excalibur’s Xyz Materials and attacked for 4000 Battle Damage.

Montalvo followed up by flipping Call of the Haunted, targeting Deneb, and drawing out Gamboa’s Maxx “C”.  Gamboa drew Thunder King Rai-Oh, and Montalvo searched his deck for Satellarknight Alsahm.  He made a direct attack with Deneb.

Gamboa had just 900 Life Points left.  He flipped his Set Reinforcement of the Army, searched Satellarknight Vega, and when Montalvo activated Fiendish Chain Montalvo Chained Stellarnova Alpha!  He sent his Vega to the graveyard to negate the Fiendish Chain and drew, then Summoned Satellarknight Altair to bring back Satellarknight Deneb.  Its effect searched another Altair from Gamboa’s Deck.  He overlaid Altair and Deneb to Xyz Summon Bujintei Tsukuyomi in Defense Position, then detached Deneb to discard his Maxx “C” and Altair, drawing Book of Moon and Honest with Tsukuyomi’s ability!  The Honest was no help since the Tsukuyomi was in defense mode, and Gamboa quickly conceded to move to Game 2.

A big opening that sees Miguel Angel Gaona Montalvo activate not one, but two copies of Mind Crush in the first three turns is just too much, winning Montalvo the first Duel!  He’s now one win away from a seat in tomorrow’s tournament.

Gamboa opened with Effect Veiler, Satellarknight Deneb, Fiendish Chain, and once again two Reinforcement of the Army.  He activated a Reinforcement to search out Satellarknight Vega, then Set Chain and the second Reinforcement.  He Summoned Vega, then Deneb, and when Montalvo had no response he grabbed a Satellarknight Unukalhai from his Deck.  He Xyz Summoned Bujintei Tsukuyomi, pitched his hand and drew into Satellarknight Deneb along with Satellarknight Altair!

Play was to Montalvo.  He Summoned a Deneb of his own, and Gamboa shut it down with Fiendish Chain.  Montalvo followed up with Pot of Duality, this time revealing Satellarknight Altair, Fiendish Chain, and Raigeki.  He grabbed the Fiendish and Set three cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.

Gamboa drew Soul Charge.  He Normal Summoned Altair, activated its effect to target Deneb, and revived it to activate its effect – Montalvo chained Torrential Tribute to clear the field!  Gamboa searched his Deck to grab another Altair with Deneb’s ability, then activated Soul Charge to bring back Deneb, Altair, Unukalhai, and Vega for 4000 Life Points.  He activated Vega’s effect and Montalvo chained the ability of Flying “C” from his hand to keep Gamboa from making Xyz Summons!  Suddenly that Soul Charge went from the perfect counter to Torrential Tribute, to just a waste of 4000 LP.

Montalvo drew for his turn and activated Call of the Haunted, reviving his Deneb and nabbing Satellarknight Alsahm from his Deck.  He Summoned it and burned Gamboa down to 3000 Life Points.  He overlaid Alsahm and Deneb for Evilswarm Exciton Knight, activated its effect, and destroyed everything on the field save Exciton Knight.  The Soul Charge was officially neutralized.

Gamboa Summoned Satellarknight Altair to try and get some action going, but Montalvo stopped him with Fiendish Chain.

A turn later Montalvo drew and Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, playing his cards with an authoritative air.  He ran over Altair with Exciton Knight, then made a direct attack with Thunder King.  Montalvo Set his last card to his back row, and when Gamboa saw his draw next turn all he had was Effect Veiler, Maxx “C”, and Satellarknight Deneb.  It was all over!

A swift sequence of trump cards sees Soul Charge beating Torrential Tribute, but Flying “C” countering Soul Charge in turn, and Miguel Angel Gamboa Montalvo wins his invite to the World Championship Qualifier!  We’ll check back with him tomorrow to see how he does.