Rant on Meta + Αρχαίος Ιερός Φτερωτός Δίποδος Δράκος με Διχαλωτή Ουρά (Ancient Holy Winged Two-Legged Dragon with a forked tail) for the win!

In case people haven't realized it enough: I still hate this format. I think that the ability of Inzketors to go off at a moment's notice is incredibly baffling as it requires only a two card combo. Of which both cards are still at three and have numerous ways of being searched / dumped into the graveyard for recursion.

Of course, pushing this point invokes a typical reaction of : "You just side Shadow-Imprisoning / whatever-tech-card-is-popular-at-the-time against them". For me it doesn't change the fact that it is incredibly easy to be blown out of the game in only a few turns.

For those who have played old formats of Yugioh, I'm a continual supporter of Goat Control Format, as well as the Tele-DAD format. While I personally didn't play in these formats competitively, I began playing Old-Fomat Tournies and in general just "fun" games against my team/friends, and in the old format the best things are :

1. You don't randomly get blown out by +4/+5 unless they opened Morphing Jar/BLS/the nuts. (Which doesn't happen all that often, and there were many more outs to stuff back then.)

2. It was a lot more skill intensive than the format is now. Of course the format now still takes skill to play, but there are a lot more instances in which you simply can't do too much. Laggia Set Five is a ridiculous opening, as are some other specific openings in this format. (And TBH 2-3 of those set cards are PROBABLY bluffs, but if they aren't....YUGIOH?)

All in all, I have my complaints about the meta yet I'm still playing the game so I guess it hasn't gotten to the point where I'll just quit just yet. And admittedly, I do enjoy some of the new decks that have come out, and apart from a few hiccups, the format right now isn't terrible. (I still hate Inzektors. Despite the fact that I have the pieces for the deck, I think the whole thing is just... ridiculous.)

Anyway, onwards!

To locals...and (maybe) this time I can find a deck I can finally stick with? I've been having toruble finding a deck that I'm truly happy to play this format, I've bounced between Inzektors, Heroes, Wind-ups, Gladiator Beasts, Machina Gadgets...Nordics have been pretty fun thus far but I'm yearning a little to play Wind-Up again.

Maybe I should just test on DN despite how terrible the site is. And half the 'judges' barely know their way around basic rulings, and most of them don't even know what SEGOC (Simultaneous Effects Go on Chain) is, despite there being a (somewhat) well - written article on the Yugioh Wikia site...

Enough rambling. Onto locals.

Deck used: The Pedo Dragonborn (Nordic TGU)

Record: 4-1 (Top 8)

Round 1 : VS Dark World

SLAY THOSE GRAPHAS. FUS RO DAH!

Game 1: I open Tour Guide from the Underworld + Sangan, then XYZ summon into Number 17: Leviathan Dragon and detach Sangan before setting Call of the Haunted and Solemn Warning. He summons his own Sangan and ....

Crashes into my Leviathan Dragon. I shrug and let the play go through as he searches his own Little Girl from the Underworld! It is to no avail however, as I swiftly finish him with a Ancient Sacred Wyvern next turn, striking him for all of his life points in a single hit!

Game 2: He opens with his Dark World shenanigans, playing multiple Dark World Dealings and Dragged Down into the Grave, trying to kill the Nord army! D:

I quickly level out the field with a quick Black Rose Dragon nuking the field, and subsequently regain advantage through Little Girl From the Underworld, and her little posse of level 3 fiends that follow her.

[OO]

Round 2: VS Skill Drain Macro

Game 1: A Beast King Barbaros backed up by a Skill Drain and a Macro Cosmos as well as various other protective traps prove to be too much for my Dragonborn Dragonslaying Brigade, and my life points reach 0 within five minutes. 

No matter! SIDE IN ALL THE DUST TORNADOES!

Game 2: I begin reanimating my dead monsters with Call of the Haunted, as my opponent has not activated or resolved a Macro Cosmos. My swarm of Nordic monsters prove to be too much to handle without the power of Skill Drain taking away my skills!

Game 3: This is a long game in which neither player gets any advantage, and we almost go into time. Fortunately for me, I was able to end it right before Time was called because if Time was called : I'm pretty sure I would have lost because all my facedowns were the Solemn Brigade, which would have instantly killed me if I had tried to use them. Small pokes from Little Girls and Three Eyed Critters bring me the victory once again!

[OXO]

Round 3: VS Dark World (Different Player)

Game 1: He misplays really hard, swinging into my set monster and allowing me to set up my entire field for a Thor, Lord of the Aesir and a Ancient Sacred Wyvern, which end his pitiful life quite quickly.

Game 2: Nothing special here, I grind him for advantage until I am able to come out on top. Sorry folks. 

[OO]

Round 4: VS Chaos Dragons

MORE DRAGONS?! :V What is with all the beater-style decks...

>More information: This deck was almost an exact copy of the one which topped at YCS Toulouse, so I am able to pick up on his lack of Mystical Space Typhoon.

Game 1: I make a quick Thor, Lord of the Aesir and begin smashing him in the face, his Lightpulsar Dragon was not enough to protect him when I ended up adding a Broken Luck Sack - Envoy of the Broken to the mix.

Game 2: Another long game, I lose after I misplay into a Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress and am unable to regain momentum after my loss in card advantage. A loss I deserved, as I was about to take control of the game too. However, it didn't help that I wasn't drawing any of my Nordic Monsters when I needed them, which slowed down my game considerably. 

On one note, the power of Little GIrls allowed me to stay in the game far longer than I should have. A fatal lack of Wind-Up Zenmaines also contributed to my loss, as I had to make a sub-par play into Leviathan Dragon which was quickly ran over a turn later by a Red - Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon.

Game 3: Again, a long and grindy game where we each pass many turns, trying to gain a better foothold on the opponent. I decide to push after I am able to drop a Tanngnjostr of the Nordic Beasts and proceed to topdeck a Little Girl of the Underworld, which turn into a Ancient Sacred Wyvern and a Number 20: Giga-Brilliant. After using Giga-Brilliant's effect to boost the power of my Wyvern by 300 points, I am able to attack over his Chaos Sorcerer for exactly game!

[OXO]

Top 8: VS Gladiator Beasts

Game 1: I get blown out of the game really quickly after I run a Reborn Tengu into a Snowman Eater like a nub. Scrub-a-dub-dub.

Game 2: I draw the ABSOLUTE BALLS hand, which is completely unplayable. I lose in a few turns.

[XX]

--------------------------------------

At the very least, my consolation was that 1st place (The Gladiator Beast player went on to win the whole thing.) pulled absolutely nothing of value, merely a Super Rare Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke and a Yellow Gadget. (N-No. I-I'm not salty about that a-at all! Hmph.)

Oh well, misplays lose games, and there are games where you'll just draw absolutely nothing. If I didn't want this occurrence to occur I simply wouldn't play this game. Again: I'm still playing...so I must be addicted to losing. Or something along those lines.

Or maybe...

I'm into anime girls and just don't know it yet. That would be truly frightening.

Sunday Locals 5/6/2012: YUGIOHHHHHH. (Not everyone can be a master.)

Hello again!
It's time to revive and begin to go to locals! But...first I require a deck.

>Found an Inzektor Hornet under my lamp. In addition to the two already in my binder...

Time to play Dragunit- I mean Inzektors.

Round 1: BYE/loss(?)


I arrived to the tournament venue late so I had to enter with a round one bye/loss.

[X]


Round 2: Insect Horde vs Elemental HERO


I roll a 1. He rolled a 6. FFF-


G1: He opens t-set and I proceed to MST the facedown (It was a Solemn Warning). I then equip Inzektor Hornet and Inzektor Giga-Mantis to my Inzektor Dragonfly and OTK him with my Inzektor shenanigans.

G2: He summons Stratos, I veiler. I open Inzektor Dragonfly, 2x Inzektor Sword - Zektkaliber, Solemn Warning, and 2x Effect Veiler. I set the Dragonfly and the Warning, and he swings into it with the Stratos. Next turn I Pot of Duality into a Inzektor Hornet and swiftly defeat his HEROes with my horde of insects, despite not being able to special summon due to the effect of Duality.


[OO]




Round 3: WAAAAAAAAGH vs Chaos Dragon

We roll a d20. I roll 19 to his 16.


G1: I stomp him incredibly quickly due to opening Solemn Brigade and Inzektor OTK combo.

G2: We get into a long game of back and forth because he D.D. Crows my only Hornet, so I am forced to grind out for advantage, eventually getting out a Leviathan Dragon to seal the deal.
[OO]


Round 4: Sackzektors vs Six Samurai


I win the die roll!


G1: Allow me to illustrate with a picture. This was my field in Turn 2.

I won.

G2: He starts off Gateway of the Six Samurai + a whole field of Samurais. I lose pretty quickly because my hand is absolutely terrible. 2x Inzektor Sword - Zektkaliber, 2x Call of the Haunted, 2x Solemn Warning. Would have at least been a little better if I had opened with the Warnings, and was able to negate the Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En summon or something. SOMETHING... ;_;

G3: I stomp him with Inzektor combos as he doesn't open Effect Veiler, but I had a Safe Zone ready to stymie his plan anyway.

[OXO]

Top 8: KABOOOOOOOOM vs Crystal Beasts...

I'm not even going to describe this match, as it was essentially me taking ten minute turns in both games and just doing the Inzektor OTK without fear of Gorz because of how the Crystal Beast monsters turn into Continuous Spell Cards after they are 'destroyed'. 

It was disgusting.

Top 4: King Kaliber vs ??? (Found out it was Gladiator Beasts.)

I didn't even get to see what he was playing. How did I get matched up against total scrubs in top 8 AND top 4? I guess my luck is going to end soon.

Then again, this was...the sackier locals..

And I was playing... Inzektors.

I kind of regret it now. It's not even funny when a resolved Inzektor Dragonfly with Inzektor Hornet means a +4/+5 in advantage. Yeah sure I won...but...really....

To be honest I really just said this because I actually forgot what happened. My match ended in my victory in about ten minutes so I'm 99% sure I either sacked him like a champion or stomped him like an Elemental HERO.

Top 2: vs Gravekeepers (OH FFFFF-)

G1: He t-sets but I have garbage monsters in my hand along with a Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, so I decide to just bide my team and eat the ~2k LP damage I'll probably take from boosted Gravekeeper monsters. (I already knew what he was playing as the top 4 match took until time while my top 4 match ended in ... ten minutes.)

This doesn't work out because he Royal Tributes my hand of 5 monsters and a Inzektor Sword - Zektkaliber, so I promptly scoop when he shows me Monster Reborn, as well as a face-down Gravekeeper's Spy.

G2: I bring in all of the Gravekeeper hate and Dust Tornado puts in work, allowing me to stomp over his puny little American Gravekeepers with the superior might of RUSSIAN INSECT TECHNOLOGY.

G3: This game goes for at LEAST forty minutes of just pass-pass-pass because neither of us is in a position to make any moves, and Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror was locking down all of my moves. I misplay in the end by running into a Marshmallon with only 900LP left.

YUGIOH!.

Shit happens I guess, didn't have a reason to attack his backrow. My reasoning at the time as that I didn't want him to use Gravekeeper's Descendant to pop my Safe Zone'd Inzektor Centipede, but didn't realize until I lost that I could have just decked him out because he only had four cards left in deck and he had no way of getting past my Centipede because he didn't side in to Mystical Space Typhoon or Heavy Storm. Oops.

[XOX]

So in the end first place received four Turbo Pack Seven, I received three, and the other Top 4 members received two each. Fourth place pulled the Ultra Book of Moon, and I pulled the Ultimate Rare Ally of Justice - Catastor, leaving third place to pull a Super Rare Horn of the Phantom Beast and first place to pull...

Complete Jank.

lol. So in the end I suppose I 'won' the tournament by losing, as I still packed better than everybody else. (I even pulled the Book of Moon last week so I don't even have to feel bad about that. I'm happy with my CP one though.)

I end up doing some more trading after the tournament, starting to build a Gravekeeper deck which I may decide to run next week, because the Inzektor deck just bores me to no end, and is sacky as shit. I was on my way to obtaining my second set of Tour Guide From the Underworld (AKA Little Girls), but realized I might as well just snipe some right after Battle Pack: Epic Dawn comes out.

However, I DO have the pieces to run some other decks, so I have some options.

1. HERO (Missing common Miracle Fusion derp. Can find those whenever.)

2. Gravekeeper (Missing 1 Gravekeeper's Recruiter. Again, can find anywhere.)

3. Inzektor (EWWWW. But still an option.)

4. Chaos Dragons. (This deck does OTK all day long which is funny...the first time. That's about it.)

5. ???? 

6. Scraps (Missing 3rd Scrap Dragon, can borrow from a friend. Also lacking a solid deck list because I do not have much experience with the archetype. Although I would love to get more experience playing the deck at an actual tournament.)

7. Chain Burn. (Not enough of a dick to run this.)

8. Machina Gadget (Not a good meta choice when (this) local consists of two Gladiator Beast players who absolutely tear you apart. I love the deck though. I'll probably play this if I can get around some of the glaring weaknesses and inherent weaknesses of the Gadgets to this format's crazy Inzektor/Rabbit/Wind-up shenanigans.

Man would I love to run a deck like Plant Synchro again...

It's funny because everybody thought it was the problem...and less than half a year into the format we realize it was Rabbit that was the true terror.

Rant on Team Hoarding (Vol. 1)

Hey guys, it's been quite a long time since I've posted on this blog. There are multiple reasons that I've disappeared for so long, but now I'm back and ready to blab some more!

Anyway, now that exams are over and the summer holidays have begun, I've began to return to locals and personally have begun pretty disillusioned with the game. Not that I played Yugioh in the first place to gain money or anything, but even as a hobby – simply losing money every week when I could easily be working at a minimum wage job and earning more than 10x the money I get at locals is slightly disheartening. Some might argue that going to locals is supposed to be a fun experience ... but when who wins is essentially decided by a die roll and who pulls the least normal monsters in the first hand is not my definition of fun.

And it shouldn't be yours either.

Increasingly frustratingly also is the fact that my local store essentially sharks the players out of their entry fee. While it is a generally understood fact that the store owner / organizer does need to profit off of the tournament in order to justify running it in the first place, there arises a problem when the player only receives one or two packs when they win the entire tournament because the store has jacked up the prices of packs. ($8 CAD for a pack of Photon Shockwave? Ridiculous.)

In addition to this, while there are many “noob/newb” duelists at every local, the environment is very hostile to a lone player when there are a few “teams” of 3-4 players which look out for each other and cause the entire scene to be very difficult to thrive in, whether it be in the actual store tournaments or in just trades. Again, it already isn't easy to make even a small margin of profit off a trade, and it only becomes worse when such teams begin to snatch trades away to benefit themselves. Logically, this is of course a sound plan for their team, but it cuts the fun factor out of trading because of this constant fear of having your trade jacked.

The combination of poor prize support as well as the increasingly hostile environment makes it very hard for a single player to thrive (again bringing up that point.)

There are a few solutions of course.

1. Go to a different Local
2. Form your own team.
3. GENUFLECT

While going to a different local tournament would help to alleviate the problem of the terrible prize support, it does not change the fact that a single player cannot make much impact on his/her own when so many factors are pitted against them.

Therefore, forming your own team is probably the only way you would be able to “fight back” against the other teams. After all, alliances between smaller powers have always been the way that the larger powers have been kept in check in history, and the same logic would apply to this, albeit not directly.

All in all, it is still an important point that Yugioh actually has an incredibly active secondary market which is incredibly toxic to those which are new, and that if one intends on competing at any level of tournament or trading for any cards at said tournament, it should be remembered that the environment has always been and will always be tended towards those who have large amounts of experience in the game/market, and that going in without proper preparation is tantamount to throwing money away.

More or less this post was me blabbing about how I dislike the nature of my (and many other) locals, but the fact that “teams” of players will continue to sweep locals for “profit” is both a fact that must be accepted...and something which causes me to facepalm at how they could (again), be earning more money working at Tim Hortons/any other minimum wage job, and have greater financial security.

This rant may develop into a series, but in the meantime ... do read and leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Regionals.....and random stuff.

So, over the last few weeks, university has really been quite literally - a pain in the ass. Therefore, of course it's a given that it sucks out time from things I enjoy doing. ...N-Not that I enjoy Yugioh or anything. Hmph.

Anyway, there was a Regional tournament at my locals two weeks ago and I suppose that I should probably at least write something about it. I DID top, although to be honest I was actually on the bubble and it was some people who ended up dropping during the last round of swiss who essentially got my my invite. Now that I HAVE said invite, does that mean I should go to the WCQ? Probably.

But then again, what the hell would I run then? By the time the WCQ comes along Rabbit will still probably be the most decisive deck around, which makes it hard to run anything that relies on more than a two-card combo simply because you're kind of screwed if the Laggia/Dollka decides to negate your ass. Running random 1-for-1s to try and get rid of it really hurts card advantage, and by simplifying the game state you're more screwing yourself over than anything since you only get that Smashing Ground/Dark (W)hole once, and once you use that...you're sold out of luck bro. And if they happen to have a Forbidden Lance face-down, they essentially trollface at you because they don't even have to negate your monsters anymore, simply using a Torrential will wipe you out but their Laggia gets to stay.

And of course, being the silly person I am, I had to make an analogy of this situation. So. If you torrential their Laggia and they use the most Forbidden of the Lances.

IMAGINE THIS.

A huge wave of water, rising up perhaps 15-20 feet in the air is about to crash on all of the monsters on the field. But a lone Laggia stands, equipped with this most Forbidden of the Lances. As the water subsides, the Laggia is still standing, while...whatever the fuck you summoned is now in shambles and is sent to your graveyard.

...To be honest I had no idea where that was going. *shrug* Whatever.

I'll at least write a report on how I did.

Regionals: 12th place.
5-2 Record
Deck used: HERO Beat (Twilight version)

Round 1: VS Dino Rabbit
OXO
Game 1: This game went pretty well for me, considering he didn't know what I was playing until I set my Alius and Super Poly'd his Zenmaines for a Nova Master. The +1 I got off that (he had a Sabersaurus on the field as well) eventually won me the game because he couldn't get over the Nova Master.

Game 2: He had the nuts. I tried to summon Stratos and he negated, which essentially killed my hand for a few turns since I really needed that Alius search to get off Miracle Fusion/Hero Blast/Gemini Spark which were dead in my hand. This killed me.

Game 3: HERO monsters are bigger than Laggia. 'Nuff said.

Round 2: VS Ninja
OO

Game 1: He wins the die roll and summons Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo, searching for the Ninjitsu Art of Transformation. I summon Stratos and he attempts to steal my monster... I end up telling him how it works in reality and he facepalms before I end up smashing through his Dark Simorgh with a pumped up Shining backed up by Hero Blast.

Game 2: Don't really remember, but he didn't have much. He didn't seem like he was all that great anyway so...*shrug*?

Round 3: VS Lancer Frog
XOX

Game 1: I make the mistake of going into Utopia and it gets mindcontrolled into a C39, which kills me.

Game 2: This match takes quite a while, as I can't beat over his Ronintoadins or Dupe Frogs, and I was unwilling to waste my Gemini Sparks on such because of all the minuses that this would incur. I end up summoning a Gorz and using the token to beat over his monsters.

Game 3: I side into Macro ... but forget to side out Miracle Fusion and Crows. I end up having a hand that completely conflicts with Macro and watch helplessly as he beats on my field with a huge Sea Lancer.

I kinda forgot what happened next. To be honest this was actually sitting in drafts for like two weeks while I was trying to remember...

In the end I went X-2 and that's all that really matters right?

Tourney Reports (2/25 + 2/26/2012)

Hey guys, haven't really been feeling my greatest the last few days so excuse writing if bad. So this is probably my last tournament under the old banlist.

...Oh wait.

The banlist doesn't change anything except  -1 Dustshoot +1 torrential... At least Brokenshoot got banned, it was a move that was a long time coming. I've actually changed my deck from Gate HERO to HERO beat back and forth over the last few days, but for the tourneys I've just ran the Gate because I'm not confident in running HERO beat, nor do I have a sidedeck finished for it.

Anyway.

Tourney Report.
I got top 8, which is then where everything seemed to go wrong aka lolnomonsters(again)

Round 1: vs Gravekeeper

Game 1: We're off pretty evenly until he suddenly ditches 2 commandants and gets his last two Necrovalleys before he ditches my hand just before I was about to wreck him with Gate next turn. (I had 2 maxx c and a veiler...)

Obviously I sided Mr. Expensive Insect out for more capable weapons.

Game 2: I quickly OTK him with 2 Shinings because I have solemn to back up my 8200 direct poke.

Game 3: Game goes into topdeck mode after he tributes me and I double miracle after plopping Fusion Gate over his Necrovalley. I topdeck Voltic to swing and then swing again with Stratos for game.

1-0

Round 2: vs Scrap

Game 1: derp with Gate for game.

Game 2: Not sure what happened anymore but I remember I misplayed and then he ended up controlling the game with a Scrap Dragon and I couldn't draw into any Fusion plays to get rid of it. ):

Game 3: I Macro Cosmos his Scrap stuff when he tries to synchro, then Parallel World Fusion a few turns later and Absolute Zero just beats him into the gorund.

2-0

Round 3: vs Wind - Up (STEEEEEVEEEEEE)

Game 1: He gets Thunder King and I draw 3 E-Call.........................derp

Game 2: He loops me but hits 4 monsters, I play Miracle Fusion and a few turns later I win because my beatsticks trump his outs.

Game 3: Draw 6 monsters...get looped....crymoarrr

2-1

Round 4: vs Wind - UP

Game 1 : He drew 2 rats....I ended up just beating him down with Stratos and Alius. So he didn't know I was running Gate HERO yet.

Game 2: He tries to loop but I have veiler, and I maxx "c" when he tries to reborn to get around veiler. I proceed to super poly his Number 30: Acid Golem, then beat him down with Absolute Zero.

Game 3: I draw crap, but I force out a Dark Hole and regain control of the game when I finally draw Miracle Fusion to make Shining.

3-1

Round 5: vs Six Samurai

Game 1: He starts with Gateway and United, going into Shi En with a Roach and a Grandmaster and 2 facedown. I force a negate with Book of Moon, Mind Control the Grandmaster, then Storm his backrow. I proceed to play Fusion Gate and walk all over him after that. (He had 2 facedown Musakani. Turns out he had a Maxx "C" in his hand but he never knew when to use it.)

Game 2: He sets some cards and I end up beating him down really fast with a Absolute Zero into Shining play.

Round 6 (top 8) vs Wind-Up (STEVE REMATCH)

Game 1: Get punched by Cyber Dragon and Thunder King Rai-Oh, doesn't go well for me.

Game 2: I have control of the game, but I forget to Safe Zone my Shining and he uses Wind-Up Kitten to bounce it, then I lose control of the game as he swarms me with 2 Zenmaity and a Acid Golem.

So overall, did decently well, but the atrocious hands that are inherent with the deck really just make it hard to play out of.

And some of the WTF hands that I got at the tourney really baffled me. The deck only runs like 13 monsters, with 4 of them being hand traps. How do you draw 6 HERO monsters in your first hand? Maybe I should go get the lottery or something...

Except I'll probably get a prize where I lose the jackpot instead or something with my luck.

I still like the Anti-Meta element of the deck. Also being able to topdeck into Miracle after getting looped really helps the Wind-Up matchup.

Also rabbit really likes Super Poly, so that matchup is pretty much a cakewalk.

Or at least that is what was supposed to happen in theory.

1/26/12 Tourney report.
This tourney is at a different locals that I don't go to all of the time, mainly because it has a much smaller player base. But saturday felt really underwhelming and I felt like I was quickly becoming bored of the Gate HERO deck, so I thought I'd at least give it one last tournament.

Round 1: vs Blackwing

Game 1: He starts off with a Shura and a Whirlwind (grabbing Bora). He SS's 2 boras and makes a Roach, then sets Icarus. I MST the Icarus, then Fusion Gate and proceed to walk all over him. I don't really understand why you would even make Roach as an opening move now, because Tour Guide into Tour Guide instantly defeats the play, although I guess the Icarus does kind of work as protection...

Game 2: beat him down with 2 Alius because he drew nothing...

Round 2: vs Ninja

Game 1: he does some Hanzo shenanigans with Duplication and gets out BLS and swings until I'm at like 100 life points, but I Absolute Zero, then Blade Armor Ninja + Shining for game...

Game 2: he sets some shit. I storm his 2 backrow and fusion gate, then spend my whole hand and game him. (Even if he had gorz or something Shining would let me recover because I'd retrieve my materials then just abz zero combo again)

Round 3 vs Wind - Up (Steve.. ): )
Game 1: Really starting to hate the Wind-Up loop when I don't draw into hand traps for it. Just going to be more of this next format too....

Game 2: Topdeck Miracle really works miracles.

Game 3: Don't really remember what happens, but I remember he top-decked a Rat and swarmed with 2 Zenmaity and a Acid Golem.

Top 4: : vs Light HERO beat

Game 1: I wreck him with speed before he gets backrow online (He didn't know he was mirror match)

Game 2: I run into a sided Snowman Eater, then proceed to lose the game after he Super Poly's my stuff.

Game 3: He super poly. But I super poly right after + a miracle. My monsters are bigger so I won. (And his backrow wasn't helping.)

Finals: vs Inzector/Inzektor

Game 1: I draw a monster-full hand, and I end up being swarmed under Dragonfly combos.

Game 2: I draw into my sides, but no monsters...for 6 turns. I die.

Locals Report (2/18/12) (various other complaining included! bloatware yay)

So, that March banlist came out. Personally, I'm a bit disappointed because it didn't deal with Wind-Ups, because that Hunter loop into four cards is just incredibly foolish to me.

Striker, Earth, AND Trish seeing ban was something I didn't anticipate. I know that OCG was getting wrecked in the face by TG Agents... so I guess you can understand their thoughts behind that.

And Tengu wut.

ANYWAY.

Oh, I'll have a Youtube channel up in a few days, I'll post the link in a new post somewhere. It'll mostly have duel videos, maybe a few deck profiles. 

Leave comments on what kind of content you'd like to see in my videos and I'll try and cater to them. The Youtube account will probably be named after another bad bun.

Now that all the random stuff is (kind of) over with, onto the report(s).

2/19/12

Deck Used: Nordic

Record: 4-3

I've honestly been less and less satisfied by how this deck has been running recently. Unfortunately, I don't have any other decks to run at the minute because I'm still missing a few cards from my X-Saber deck and my Six Samurai deck. So I just ended up using Nordics again.

Round 1: vs Gravekeeper

Game results: XX

Game 1: Nordic is SUPPOSED to have a good matchup against GK, but Royal Tribute 4 cards = lolwut.

Game 2: I think this deck hates me. Wtf no monsters for 6 turns in a 20 monster deck. OH WAIT. Forgive me. I did draw a single veiler. and it actually did stop a descendant play, but it didn't matter because I coudln't end up capitalizing on the play.

0-1

Round 2: kid ( I think? Might have just been a bad player. My memory of this is blurry but I remember finishing really fast. (5 minutes or so) )

blahblahblah I felt bad, played around then swung for game

1-1

Man, maybe writing a blog isn't that great of an idea. I think I'll just end up complaining about all my terrible draws with my decks and blahblahbalh complaincomplain.....

╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Round 3: Disaster Dragon

AND THIS. IS WHERE I JUST STARTED GETTING MAD AS HELL. This was the day where I had to play 6 games against various Dragon decks.

Guess what they always have first turn? Heavy + Future Fusion! FUN TIMES.

Game 1: I lose die roll (I roll snake eyes...), he sets up with 2 backrow, future fusion. I set reaper and a compulsory. He compulses my reaper in end phase (wat), and proceeds to make a push with RedMD dealing heavy damage. 

Honestly, it was at this point where I realized that the deck is really passive, and that I don't have any necessarily "big push" plays aside from Guldfaxe + lvl 3 tuner in to Field Clear Dragon or something. I have to wait for either things to attack for crash my monsters into things and hope they survive the turn. This thought comes up at various points throughout the day because it bites me in the ass. multiple times. oww my ass.

Anyway, it turns out his other set was a compuls as well...so much for reaper stall.

Game 2: I open up with Mega-hamster and 2 backrow (bottomless and a MST). He plays storm then Future Fusions, setting some backrow before doing his REDMD play. I flip the hamster, grabbing Tanngnjostr (Black Goat, lvl 3. Effect is essentially : turn to attack mode, get lvl 4 beast light tuner.)

I set 2 more backrow (mirror force + book) and wait for a play. He gets out Prime Material and swings, I let him kill hamster and ss another Tanngnjostr from my hand and book the Prime Material. I draw Tengu.

Two minutes later my field is Scrap Dragon, Thought Ruler Archfiend, and a Ancient Sacred Wyvern. He explodes in a ball of fire. (I chuckled a tiny bit.)

Game 3: He goes first, plays Future Fusion, plays Wyvern. (I was like lolwhy not just REDMD but whatever.)  I set reaper and 2 backrow (bottomless + mst again). The idea was that I'd pop the Future Fusion to prevent anything from coming out, and until that 2nd Standby Phase, that MST would act as a bluff while Bottomless does what Bottomless does.

He storms and does something with Eclipse Wyvern and ends up making a BLS and 2 REDMD. I didn't have Gorz or Maxx "C" Really expensive insect.

I lose.

Round 4: Agent...Darklord...chaos thing. (Chaos Agents)

Game 1: He does Venus into Gachi, I chain maxx "c" to second shine ball, he gives me the +1. I derp him with the Thought Ruler Archfiend + Ancient Sacred Wyvern play a few turns later. (I really like that combo. It isn't "really" competitive and I probably wouldn't pull it out if I was trying to play conservatively ala at a Regionals or something, but... it's actually a strong play anyway because if he uses Honest I can maintain field advantage with Wyvern's recursion effect. Probably requires legit playtesting.

In further discussion to this point, it's probably the best "middle effort" push that the deck has, at least in my opinion. OFC the Scrap Dragon pop Tengu pop their thing, get another Tengu is a good play too, but this has the potential to OTK if pulled off, which makes it slightly more attractive, even if you have to normally burn another card in your hand to pull it off.

And at worst if they veiler, you have two big Synchro monsters. and they can't D Prison the Thought Ruler...even though they would probably hit the Wyvern.. >_>

Game 2: He runs into a Gorz... that he knew I had...from dustshoot...*sigh*

2-2

Round 5: vs Disaster Drago-FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU AGAIN?!

No, not versus the same guy.

Game 1: I start with Reaper and 2 backrow (don't remember what...) He storms, Future Fusion, Foolish Eclipse Wyvern, do some derp stuff, Dragon's Mirror. I explode in a ball of fire due to lack of Gorz/Veiler/Maxx "C"/multiple in-hand Tanngnjostrs.

Game 2: I quickly game him with a Wyvern after I force him to warning a Tengu play. 

Game 3: This game goes into time. Same start as game 1, but since I had the Gorz, I began to make a comeback with Scrap Dragon. It's at this time that I realize he is running Dark Armed (not sure why..?), but I crow his 3rd Dark before he could drop it. 

Twenty minutes later, I'm down at the ropes sitting on (again) a Reaper, and topdeck into Avarice which draws me Tengu and Tanngnjostr. He swings over Tengu 2 times and I shrug, summoning Tanngnjostr after checking my grave if I've still got targets for it.

(This is turn 4 of overtime)

I sync my field into Thor and swing over REDMD to quell the swarm as he switches his monsters to defense mode and ends. For some reason, he left Prime Material in attack mode. I questioned the decision,  but decided to attack with Thor anyway since if had Honest and I didn't attack, I would still lose as I had around 4k~ life points to his 5k~ life points.

He doesn't do anything me swinging over it though, and I get the win. I probably didn't deserve it...but a win is a win.

3-2

I proceed to win when I get paired up against Inzektors because i sided in Shadow-Imprisonings (like everybody else would...), but lose to Wind-Up loop.

Can't have everything I guess...*shrug*

Locals Report (2/11/12)

Since people kept bothering me to post up my thoughts on Yugimanz and such, I finally got off my lazy ass and started a blog.

Nobody reading this probably cares about that, so I suppose I'll just end this post with a locals report.

Locals Report (2/11/12)

I didn't feel like playing Karakuri today, and I was still missing 3 cards from my Nordic deck (3x Gleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir.) For those who don't know what that card is, it's their Trap card which acts as a ROTA. Obviously the Nordics would be unplayable today.

In the end, my friend lent me his X-Saber deck, and after making a few adjustments to it, I headed off to my first round. (He was running Palomuro. Wut.)

Our locals has around 30 good players and 5-10 scrubs. (This was an average day at least.)

Round 1:  "Stun"

The reason I placed stun under quotation marks is because I've seen his deck. He also runs random stuff like Ojama Trio in some sort of Stall/Burn mashup. *shrug*

Game 1:  He sets 4 and summons a Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, then ends. I draw Maxx C, Veiler, X-Saber Pashuul, a Darksoul and an MST. I set the MST and Darksoul, but he MST's my MST in the end phase. In the end, He safe zones his Pachycephalo and swings over Darksoul, then DD Crows my Darksoul during end phase to stop my search. In the end, I couldn't get past the Pachy and the massive backrow which turned out to be the Solemn brigade. What a great start.

Game 2: Don't really remember what happened, but I dropped double Faultroll under Trap Stun turn 2 when I knew he didn't have Maxx "C" and pushed for game.

Game 3: Draw no monsters for 20 turns. Lose to Pachycephalo (again.)

Off to a great start. I was kind of peeved that I lost to him, but I guess that's what happens when you draw all the counters on turn 1 and get ALL the Solemns...

:V

Round 2: Chaos Agents

Game 1: I lose die roll (again), and he summons Venus and makes Gachi Gachi because I drew 4 traps and an mst. I draw my sixth card (veiler) and facepalm a little before setting a book and an mst. He swings with Venus and sets 2 backrow. I mst during end phase and hit Solemn Judgment.

I draw into Darksoul and set it and a Gottom's E-Call and end. He summons an Earth, searching for Venus. He then swings with both and ends. I search for Emmersblade with Darksoul. I draw into Reinforce Truth and set it along with the Emmersblade. He draws and swings over Emmersblade then I summon Pashuul to block the other hit. He summons a Tour Guide during MP2 (I was like 'wat') and gets Sangan, then ends. I activate Reinforce Truth during end phase to summon a second Pashuul. I draw into Faultroll and play Mind Crush, calling Maxx "C". I hit 2. (woot. I mained Mind Crush because my locals has a lot of Agent players, and hitting that Venus really helps. Mind Crush as a meta call is also alright, and although I probably wouldn't normally run Mind Crush in X-Sabers, I had to quickly fix the deck because when I received it, it was just terribad.)

Anyway, I activate my face down Gottom's E-Call and bring back out Darksoul and Emmersblade, then summon the Faultroll. He tries to use Warning but I chain Judgment and continue. Syncing into Librarian, I summon Emmersblade with Faultroll again and sync into Stardust, drawing MST. I mst his 2nd backrow (Dimensional Prison), and swing with my monsters and kill Earth, Venus, and a material off of Gachi Gachi.

I end up pushing through Gachi Gachi and his life points soon after that, even after he dropped Gorz to try and stop me. (I had warning set.)

Game 2: I sided into Light-Imprisoning Mirrors, and he starts off with an Earth into Venus play. I set some stuff and play passively until I assemble all my combo pieces, then same thing as game 1.

1-1 record

Round 3: Dragunity?

Not sure what he was playing, seemed like Dragunity because I saw Aklys and Ravine. It ran some really weird stuff. Didn't really matter though, as both games he didn't really draw anything and I quickly ran him over.

2-1

Round 4: Counter Fairies

Game 1: I lose because draw no monsters for 10 turns and Bountiful Artemis beats me into the ground.

Game 2: See game 1.

2-2

I want to drop from the tourney at this point, but my next match is against one of my friends that just started playing, so I end up helping him out a little. He gives me the win even though I didn't really want it.

Round 6: Dark World

I'm not really sure how this guy got to face me, but he was really terrible. It wasn't that he was new or anything. He had tons of money.

Game 1: I win dice roll (FIRST TIME EVAR) and trap dustshoot. Proceed to play around his hand and win.

Game 2: He opens with gates/etc and Dragged Down into the Grave. I have 2 Darksoul, a Pashuul, Reborn, MST, and Dark Hole. He hits Reborn, sets a monster and ends. I sit around with the Darksouls, collecting things to help me push through and hold off damage with Pashuul. I end up drawing into Shadow-Imprisoning to stop him from plussing off of his discards and push for game with Librarian/Faultroll/Stardust combo again.

I don't make it into top 8, but I guess playing Sabers for the 2nd(?) time ever in real life was a decent experience. I trade for some random trade bait as well as a 2nd Scrap Dragon. I end up getting the Gleipnirs for my Nordic deck towards the end of the day, as well as a Super Horn of the Phantom Beast.

In other news, my friend hoarded the Super yellow gadgets at around $3 each when TP7 came out. Apparently they're now $15. Oh snap. Pretty good.

For next week's locals, I'll probably bring my Nordic deck or my (in-construction) Scrap deck. I want to build X-Sabers now but I don't really have a solid build yet. I'm pretty damn sure it won't run Level Limit Area -B or Palomuro though. >_>