Rodrigo Togores traveled from Europe this weekend with his sights set on leaving Orlando as SHONEN JUMP Championship winner! Packing a Blackwing Deck with two copies of “Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor,” Togores chose not to run “Burial From a Different Dimension,” a popular card for many other Blackwing Duelists that played in this tournament. “Black Whirlwind” has paid off hugely for Togores all weekend long, and now he’s just two wins away from capturing the Championship.

But his opponent is Herman Herrera, bringing the tournament’s most successful Vayu Turbo Deck to the Finals! A lot of Duelists doubted the power of this “Armageddon Knight” / “Dark Grepher” Blackwing Deck, but Herrera has delivered on the hype, and smashed opponent after opponent to claim his place in the finals! Read more…

Four Duelists remain in this tournament: two playing Lightsworn and two playing Blackwings! Both of the Top 4 matches pit Blackwings against Lightsworn, so depending on what happens here we could see two different Decks in the finals, or any one of the two possible mirror matches. Cool stuff!

Rodrigo Togores traveled here this weekend all the way from Spain, where he is the 2009 National Champion! Togores is playing a Blackwing-heavy Deck packing two copies of “Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor,” but no copies of “Burial From a Different Dimension.” Glenn Lightfoot is running Lightsworn, with three copies of “Beckoning Light” in his Main Deck. With copies of “Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer,” “Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid,” and “My Body as a Shield” in his Side Deck, Lightfoot may have an advantage in the second and third Duels. Read more…

With eight Duelists left in the round, we had 4 Lightsworn, 2 Blackwing, 1 Twilight, and 1 DARK Norleras Deck still in contention. This round we’ll see Herman Herrera take his Blackwing – Vayu Deck against Paul Clarke’s Lightsworn Deck. The winner here would move on to the Top 4, where he would have two chances to take home a “Dark End Dragon.” Read more…

Our first feature match of the day will pit New York’s Chris Digregorio against Florida’s own James Laurent! Digregorio made it to Day 2 with a Synchro Cat Deck, a Deck that was very popular last format but was hit by the new September 1 Forbidden & Limited Cards List. His opponent James Laurent is playing a DARK combo Deck based around “Sky Scourge Norleras,” a Deck we’ve never seen in Day 2 contention before. This was going to be good! Read more…

Each of these Duelists has already appeared in a feature match today, but this matchup was too good to pass up. Read more…

Daniel Brown is playing one of the more unusual Decks at the top tables. The Deck list reads like half a Lightsworn Deck and half a Blackwing Deck, stuck together. It’s weird, but it seems to work – Brown is 7-1 going into this round.

His opponent here in Round 8 is Herman Herrera, playing “Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor” with “Charge of the Light Brigade.” This is a tough match to predict the outcome for, and it’ll be interesting to see how these Decks do against each other. Neither player had knowledge of what his opponent was playing. Read more…

Allen Pennington hails from Tampa Bay, Florida, but just moved to Orlando for school. He’s known locally as “The Gadget Guy.” Except for last format, he’s run Gadgets perpetually for several years now. The dedication is paying off here today, as Pennington is 6-1 going into this round.

Chioh Yim is playing Gladiator Beasts, complete with “Elemental Hero Stratos” and “Elemental Hero Prisma.” The speed of those cards and the access they give to “Gladiator Beast Gyzarus,” as well as the generally useful nature of Stratos, could be a deciding factor in this match. With that said though, everything will change once we hit Duel 2 and Side Decks become a factor. Read more…

It’s Round 6, and each of participants in this feature match have 4-1 records so far. Aldo Garcia is 4-1 here today with Dragons, packing “Red-Eyes Wyvern” and “Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon” alongside “Light and Darkness Dragon,” “Totem Dragon,” “Prime Material Dragon,” and “Koa’ki Meiru Drago,” plus the new “White Night Dragon” card from Ancient Prophecy.

His opponent Cedric Hunter is running Blackwings with “Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor.” He’s using multiple copies of “Burial From a Different Dimension,” backed by “Armageddon Knight” and “Dark Grepher.” Since Hunter’s Deck centers around Special Summoning DARK monsters, “Koa’ki Meiru Drago” could be a deciding card in this matchup. Read more…

Rodrigo Togores is the current National Champion from Spain, and is here today playing a Blackwing Deck built around “Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor.”

But his opponent is Taylor Raflowitz, playing Chaos beatdown with “Royal Oppression,” along with the new monster “Card Guard” from Ancient Prophecy. He’s got a number of Trap and monster effects that could make life difficult for Togores in this match. Should be interesting! Read more…

Giuseppe Longo is playing one of the most frequently seen Decks at this tournament: Gladiator Beasts. His opponent is Austin Ruggeri, one of today’s Plant Duelists. Ruggeri made the finals of SHONEN JUMP Championship Chicago over two years ago, and is eager to make Day 2 yet again. Read more…