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Match 8 of the Battle for North America
August 24, 2006

Having disposed of North America's best player, Chris Simoes found himself facing the full course Team Overdose buffet. Next on the menu was Anthony Alvarado, powerful founding member of the USA team and champion of Shonen Jump Charlotte. With only Simoes standing between Alvarado and a second huge win over another great team in a nationally broadcast battle, he was looking to end Canada's chances right then and there. Chris opened the dice roll (huge, as always), and decided to start.

Chris Turn One: Chris opens with a s/t and no monster yet again. Contrary to Emon's general style of setting a monster and passing, Chris seems to favor setting a spell/trap and passing. This is reminiscent of the Scapegoat format, in which Chris excelled, where the goal was to avoid overextending the monster field. Of course, it could also mean he was simply having bad hands.

Anthony Turn Two: Anthony set one of each and passed. Standard.

C3: Chris summons Cyber Dragon, then Zaborg. It hits Alvarado's Dekoichi and pushes for 2400. Cyber + Zaborg is a common momentum play that builds field advantage and puts a huge monster on the field. Chris passes with the same s/t. 8000 5600.

A4: Anthony summons Tsukuyomi and attacks the Zaborg. This signals either a set Enemy Controller or set Scapegoat by Chris, since he would have used s/t removal at the end of last turn to set up for the 2400 Zaborg hit.

C5: Chris sets a monster and passes.

A6: Anthony summons Dwiddle, then plays Crossout. Chris does not chain his Enemy Controller (down since turn one), and Reaper is removed from game. The Warrior Lady gets in for 1500. 6500 5600.

C7: Chris summons another Cyber Dragon, attacking for 600. Anthony removes. Chris then sets a monster and passes. 6500 5000.

A8: Anthony summons his own Cyber Dragon, hitting Chris's face-down Tomato. It searches Sangan, and Anthony passes with four cards in hand.

C9: Chris moves Sangan to defense and sets a second s/t. It is reasonable to expect one to be Torrential Tribute.

A10: Anthony wisely just pushes Cyber into Sangan. Chris responds with Sakuretsu Armor. Anthony sets a second s/t and passes.

C11: Chris moves Sangan and attacks with it for 1000. He then sets a monster. 6500 4000.

A12: At the end phase, Anthony plays Call on his Dekoichi. He draws, summons Tsukuyomi to turn it down, and flips it back up. Dekoichi attacks Sangan which fetches Spirit Reaper. Tsukuyomi attacks into Chris's Old Vindictive Magician, which destroys Dekoichi in an attempt to push advantage with Reaper next turn. This is a huge turn for Anthony, provided he can remove the Reaper threat. 6100 4000.

C13: Chris summons Reaper, which hits into Goats. He passes without attacking any.

A14: Anthony plays Asura Priest, then moves a goat to attack. Chris blocks the Swap by using Enemy Controller to take the attack position goat. He is given the defense position goat, which is hit by Asura. Anthony sets a s/t and passes, stymied for the turn.

C15: Chris sets a s/t and passes.

A16: Anthony sets a monster and passes, Chris passes, and Anthony remembers the goat is still in attack position. He moves it to defense as turn 18 begins.

A18: Anthony plays Space Typhoon on the face-down Mirror Force. He flips Old Vindictive Magician, hitting Simoes's Apprentice. He then summons Tsukuyomi to turn down OVM and attacks for 1100. Another huge turn by Alvarado puts Chris in a difficult, almost unwinnable position. 5000 4000.

C19: Chris summons Spirit Reaper to attack Old Vindictive Magician. He realizes he lost the duel, and simply did this to try to confuse you readers. Please ignore him, the vicious rogue. He sets a s/t and passes. 4700 4000.

A20: Anthony loops Tsukuyomi with OVM again, then attacks for 1100. 3600 4000.

C21: Chris passes the next two turns as Anthony pushes for game.

Anthony Alvarado decisively seizes game one! Chris opens game two for Team Canada.

C1: Chris summons Sangan and sets a Sakuretsu Armor.

A2: Anthony summons his Cyber Dragon into the Sakuretsu Armor. He then sets one of each, leaving himself vulnerable to Zaborg or Swap.

C3: Chris plays Swap, Anthony chains Call to bring out Cyber Dragon and pass it over. The face-down must be a solid card like Dekoichi. The Dragon attacks Sangan, fetching Treeborn Frog. Chris sets a monster and passes. 8000 6900.

A4: Anthony flips Dekoichi. He summons D.D Warrior Lady, acting on the earlier Treeborn Frog reveal. He then plays Snatch Steal on Cyber Dragon. DDWL goes into Chris's set Magician of Faith! Which retrieves Creature Swap! Cyber and Dekoichi hit for 3500. 4500 6900.

C5: Chris summons Chaos Sorcerer. Sorc removes Dekoichi. He then sets Treeborn Frog with Cyber Dragon in hand. Frog is Swapped and Simoes is given D.D Warrior Lady. It attacks Cyber Dragon, Chris removes. Chris's great play has made Anthony's DDWL 2 for 1 himself, and the Sorcerer will be a huge threat. 4900 6900.

A6: Anthony sets one of each and passes, trying to recover.

C7: Chris's Sorcerer hits his frog. He sets a monster and passes.

A8: Anthony flips Faith for Snatch, but then uses Controller on Faith to take Sorcerer. This is a rather curious play, but suggests Anthony wanted the Light monster in the graveyard or wants to summon Cyber Dragon. Sorcerer removes itself, and Anthony summons Cyber Dragon which reveals Spirit Reaper. Anthony refuses to play Snatch and passes.

C9: Chris tributes his Frog for Cyber Dragon, which attacks into Sakuretsu Armor.

A10: Anthony tributes his Cyber Dragon for Zaborg, which then hits for 2400. Saving Snatch was obvious the correct play. 2500 6900.

C11: Chris plays a huge Sorcerer that removes Zaborg, then summons Reaper for 300. Anthony has two cards in hand, and one is Snatch Steal which will lose Chris the game. Reaper discards Snatch Steal, and Chris has basically won. He sets a s/t and passes.

A12: Anthony passes.

C13: Chris plays Confiscation. Anthony scoops it up with game ending damage coming next turn.

Chris Simoes evens the score at 1-1 but will need even more skill and luck to prevail in game 3! Anthony opens.

A1: Anthony begins with a rather conservative opening, setting a s/t and passing.

C2: Chris plays Confiscation, revealing Anthony's Reaper, Cyber Dragon, Crossout, Snatch Steal, and Zaborg. He gets rid of Reaper and sets two s/ts. 7000 8000.

A3: Anthony topdecks a Reaper, which is summoned and goes into Sakuretsu Armor. The duelists pass the next 5 turns. Chris has five cards in hand when Anthony draws for turn nine.

A9: With seven cards in hand, Anthony sets a second s/t and passes.

C10: Chris makes a huge Sangan rip, which attacks for 1000. This evens the score at 1000 a piece. 7000 7000.

A11: Anthony summons Cyber Dragon, which attacks into Mirror Force.

C12: Chris attacks with Sangan for another 1000. He then plays a pro Mobius that hits Torrential Tribute and Book of Moon. Attacking first for 1000 life points was a good play. This huge play just may swing the game in Chris's favor! He searches Reaper with Sangan's effect and passes with six cards in hand. 7000 6000.

A13: Anthony plays his own Confiscation, revealing Reaper, Sorcerer, Cyber Dragon, Brain Control, Crossout, and Sakuretsu. He gets rid of Reaper, then sets a s/t and passes. The two duelists pass the next turns each until Chris sets a s/t of his own. 7000 5000.

A17: It's Anthony's turn to rip Sangan. He hits for 1000 with it and passes. 6000 5000.

C18: Chris summons Cyber Dragon which hits Sangan for 1100. Sangan fetches Tsukuyomi. Chris passes with two s/ts down versus Anthony's one s/t and 8 cards in hand (after his draw phase). 6000 3900.

A19: Anthony flips his pro Heavy Storm which wasn't used last turn! He hits Chris's Space and Controller. He then plays Snatch, Tsukuyomi to turn Cyber onto his side of the field, and Crossout on Chris's Apprentice Magician. Anthony sets a s/t and passes with just Cyber Dragon and a spell/trap down. Both duelists are at low life point totals. 2800 3900.

C20: Chris has a huge chance here. If he summons Cyber Dragon and plays Brain Control, he has enough damage for game. Anthony either has Mirror Force, which takes both down. Or he has Scapegoat, in which case Chris can simply set s/ts and pass. Or he has Controller or Book of Moon, which aren't hot options. If it's a bluff, however, Chris will take the game. Instead, he chooses to leave Brain Control and simply cancel Cyber Dragons. This is a borderline play that could have gone either way in my book.

A21: Anthony summons his topdecked Chaos Sorcerer, which hits for 2300. He then flips his earlier bluff, Return, for game.

Anthony Alvarado secures the win for Team USA, which avenges an earlier defeat to Canada. Stay tuned for a follow up article analyzing some of the play trends of the event, and a primer for the upcoming rubber match of this thrilling team battle.