Tournament Report 7/31/10

I took my Vayu Turbo deck again. I took out the two D-Hero Malicious and the Doomsday Horror, and I added a couple more Blackwings and two Cards for Black Feathers. I also decided to play two Book of Moon, and it ended up being a good decision.

There were quite a few new players there, today. There were only about 10 good players out of the 32 entrants.

Round 1: vs Newbie Heroes

I won both duels. He came up to me later, though, and asked how many Gales I was running. Obviously one, because it's Limited, but he wanted to check to make sure that I wasn't cheating or something...

Round 2: vs Gladiator Beasts

This was my opponent from Round 5 of this tournament, and I've played him a few times before. I just can't remember exactly when. He also was sitting next to me in Round 1, so he thought that I was playing Blackwings.

-Duel 1: I lost to lots of GB stunts. I also didn't draw any big Monsters.

-Duel 2: I Fissured his only Monster, so I kept poking with Dark Grepher for game.

-Duel 3: It started the same as Duel 2, except that I kept poking with Vayu and Armageddon Knight instead. He Set Rescue Cat, and I attacked into Mirror Force. He flipped Rescue Cat, I used Solemn Judgment on the Flip Summon, but he had Solemn Judgment to negate mine. He Special Summoned two Samnite and Normal Summoned Laquari to win.

Round 3: vs X-Sabers

This was my Round 1 opponent from last week. He too thought that I was running Blackwings.

-Duel 1: I started with a Set Necro Gardna. He opened with Rescue Cat for two X-Saber Airbellums, then dropped XX-Saber Faultroll. If he didn't have Faultroll, the play would have been much less broken. But, because he did, he ended up taking two cards out of my hand. Luckily, he missed the Brain Control, which I used to steal XX-Saber Gottoms. I attacked with it and used its effect to tribute it. I thought that I was in control then, but he had a Gottoms' Emergency Call to swarm again.

-Duel 2: I started with Dark Grepher and used its effect. Next turn, I ran over his Set XX-Saber Darksoul with Shura to Special Summon Vayu from my deck. I Tuned it to Dark Grepher for Catastor. I got destroyed next turn, because he played Heavy Storm, then dropped Boggart Knight, Airbellum, and Faultroll to revive Darksoul. He Synchro Summoned Brionac, bounced Catastor, and attacked. He was afraid of a Kalut, but I obviously didn't have it.

Round 4: vs Newbie Beatdown

I won both duels...

Round 5: vs Newbie Blackwings

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament. I won both duels with Goyo Guardian and Vayu swarming.

I went 3-2, sadly, and got 12th place. I pulled another Ultra Rare Dark Grepher from my Turbo Pack 3, so that was very nice. It's like a sign, telling me to only run two Dark Grephers...or maybe I'll pull a third one.

I saw some people buying Hidden Arsenal 2 packs, and they all pulled Genex cards that I wanted. So I got one pack, and I didn't get any Genex from it; very saddening.

Well, there's the DREV Sneak Peek next weekend, so I'm looking forward to that...

Random Stuff #15

In 5D's Episode 120, Jack wasn't smart enough to attack with Red Dragon Archfiend (after using Over Gain) before using Shock Wave. Of course, he would have to kill himself, since he wouldn't accept losing to a bunch of hand-holding Normal Monsters.

I've gotten to the worst part of Wind Waker: getting the Triforce (Charts). I made it through the Savage Labyrinth, but I've still got a few charts left to get. I'm also almost done with filling in the whole Sea Chart.

Since those tasks are pretty tedious, I've been going on the Pojo forum board, because that's what I do when I'm bored. About ten minutes after proceeding to do that, I generally leave, because those forums are just filled with stupidity... Everyone's all like, "Ban Rescue Cat!" when Faultroll is the real problem with X-Sabers. I'm not even going to get into the other stuff people bother posting there...

Well, I'm still trying to improve my Vayu Turbo deck. I originally wanted to make it more of a control build, but that didn't work out so well. I might have to play more Blackwing support. The odd thing is that when people see Dark Grepher, they say, "Blackwings?" I didn't know that Infernities died... (sarcasm, if you couldn't tell...)

I'm still trying to figure out a decent TCG Genex build, and I'm still trying to get some of the new Genex from Hidden Arsenal 2, but that's kind of difficult when I refuse to waste money on those packs...

X-Sabers

Yeah, the deck that's tearing up the TCG meta. It's practically the new Lightsworn, so I might as well talk about it before the ban list kills it in a month.

Despite what many people may think, Rescue Cat isn't what makes the deck broken. It's XX-Saber Faultroll. Rescue Cat (and to some extent, XX-Saber Boggart Knight) can facilitate the summoning of Faultroll, but it doesn't do all that much by itself.

If Rescue Cat didn't exist, then X-Sabers wouldn't use Gold Sarcophagus to the extent that they do now. In order to make Faultroll plays, they would have to get one X-Saber through the opponents turn through effects like XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, X-Saber Pashuul, and XX-Saber Emmersblade or they would have to Special Summon multiple X-Sabers in one turn, through effects like Boggart Knight and Gottoms' Emergency Call. Of course, this would only reduce the consistency of X-Sabers. It would still allow them to do well if the generic build was overhauled.

Now, if XX-Saber Faultroll didn't exist, um, yeah... I guess that X-Sabers could still swarm, but it wouldn't be nearly as effective. They would have to rely on Rescue Cat and Gottoms' Emergency Call. But, Rescue Cat is Limited and Gottoms' Emergency Call is pretty easy to get around.

Ending on some ban list speculation, although banning Rescue Cat is justified, Limiting XX-Saber Faultroll would hinder X-Sabers greatly, maybe even forcing them to become more of a control deck.

Tournament Report 7/24/10

I haven't posted for a while, but there really hasn't been anything to post about. Nothing important happened in 5D's Episode 119. Team 5D's starts their race/duel against Team Taiyou, and of course Jack is getting owned by a bunch of Normal Monsters. Knowing him, he'll probably crash or explode or something...

So, I went to locals today with my new Vayu Turbo deck. I couldn't break my habit of siding a bunch of cards for each match-up, and it seems as though there's a reason for it: I barely ever draw sided cards. I Main Deck two D.D. Crows and side the third, and I only drew a D.D. Crow twice all day.

Anyways, on to the tournament report...

Round 1: vs X-Sabers

I thought that this guy was playing Six Samurai, since he usually plays them. I figured out that he was playing X-Sabers when...

-Duel 1: He Gold Sarc'd for Rescue Cat. I started with a Set Vayu, which generally means that my hand is bad. He didn't summon a Monster, so I just poked with Vayu once. I let him then kill Vayu with Airbellum so that I could run it over with Shura on my next turn. I Synchro Summoned Catastor with my free Vayu, but he had Brain Control... Needless to say, I lost from there.

-Duel 2: I forgot how I won.

-Duel 3: Summoner Monk into Rescue Cat into Airbellum and Darksoul into Faultroll into pwnage...

Round 2: vs X-Sabers

I knew that this guy was playing X-Sabers because I saw him misplay horribly in his Round 1 match.

-Duel 1: He kept Setting Monsters, and I was able to OTK him. It started with a Set Morphing Jar and a Dark Grepher. I drew for my turn: it was Vayu, which I dumped for Grepher's effect. I then Flip Summoned Morphing Jar and Special Summoned Armed Wing with Vayu's effect. I Tribute Summoned Gorz by tributing the Jar and Armed Wing. I removed a second Vayu and Armed Wing for Armor Master. I revived Plaguespreader Zombie to tune it to Grepher for Brionac. I used Miracle Dig on Plaguespreader, Vayu, and the Malicious I removed with Allure of Darkness. Plaguespreader/Malicious combo for Colossal Fighter put a total of 10700 damage on the field. I bounced his Set Monster with Brionac and attacked for game.

-Duel 2: Generic X-Saber pwnage killed me.

-Duel 3: I got him down to 4800, and he dropped Gorz on my Vayu. He ran over my Caius, but left Vayu on the field and his 800/800 Token in Attack Position. I Tribute Summoned Sirocco and ran over his token. He killed Sirocco with Gorz. I attempted to use Vayu's effect, but he used D.D. Crow on Sirocco. I dropped Fissure to destroy Gorz and attacked with Shura. He Normal Summoned Rai-Oh and killed Shura. I drew Reinforcement of the Army, passed, and took 1900 from Rai-Oh. I drew Armageddon Knight, the Warrior I would have searched with RotA. I summoned it, dumped Sirocco, and used Vayu's effect for Armed Wing. I attacked over Rai-Oh with Armed Wing and directly with Armageddon Knight for exactly game.

Round 3: vs Blackwings

This was my opponent from Round 3 of this tournament. I played against him a few other times, but I'm too lazy to go back and find the correct dates. Besides, I'm sure that you all don't care.

-Duel 1: He's a cool guy, so he let me know that he started with Breeze in his opening six cards. He summoned Shura, Set three back rows and passed. I passed, with Gorz in hand and not wanting to give him a free Blackwing through Shura's effect. He Normal Summoned Breeze and Special Summoned Gale. I dropped Gorz after Gale's attack, and he killed the token and halved Gorz's ATK/DEF. Then, he set a fourth back row. I activated Giant Trunade, but he negated it with Solemn Judgment. I Tribute Summoned Caius, removing his Shura, but he used Book of Moon on Caius. Then, he attacked over Caius with Breeze and directly with Gale. I Set Plaguespreader Zombie and he used Mind Control on it. With all Tuners, he had to give it back at the end of the turn. I tuned it to Necro Gardna, but he had Royal Oppression, paying down to 2200 LP. I activated Plaguespreader's effect three times to drop him to 600 LP and revive it. He killed it with the Vayu he summoned. I summoned Doomsday Horror and attacked over Vayu. He halved its ATK and killed me with Gale.

-Duel 2: I dropped Goyo Guardian after I wiped his back row with Heavy Storm. He had no outs, so he scooped.

-Duel 3: I drew Miracle Dig, Doomsday Horror, and Burial from a Different DImension in my starting hand. He Devastated my Deck with Deck Devastation Virus, and I didn't draw any outs.

Round 4: vs Gladiator Beasts

I was paired up.

-Duel 1: I started with Dark Grepher, dumping Plaguespreader and Necro Gardna. He Set Hoplomus and three back rows. I attacked Hoplomus, and he tagged for Murmillo. I Set three back rows (Solemn Judgment, Gold Sarcophagus, and Bottomless Trap Hole). He activated Cold Wave, summoned Samnite, and went into a Bestiari/Gyzarus play to destroy my back row. I drew Call of the Haunted with Brain Control and Heavy Storm in hand, so I ended my turn. He attacked with Gyzarus and tagged into Laquari and Hoplomus. I activated Heavy Storm to destroy his back row, then I sent the Miracle Dig I drew to the top of my deck for Plaguespreader Zombie. I used Brain Control on Hoplomus and Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian. I attacked over Laquari and opted not to steal it. He Set Book of Moon, which he activated when I attacked next turn. He Normal Summoned Equeste and Special Summoned Test Tiger to go for Secutor. He attacked Goyo, taking 1600 damage, allowing him to Special Summon Murmillo, destroying Goyo, and Darius, reviving Laquari. He sent Laquari, Darius, and Secutor back to his deck for Heraklinos with no cards in hand. I drew into Shura, attacking over Murmillo, searching Vayu and Synchro Summoning Catastor. He Set the Equeste he drew and ended his turn. I revived Dark Grepher with Call of the Haunted so that I could dump Vayu for Sirocco. I Special Summoned Armed Wing and killed both of his Monsters. To add insult to injury, I activated Miracle Dig to return Plaguespreader, Vayu, and Necro Gardna to my Graveyard. He scooped after seeing his draw.

-Duel 2: He started with Consecrated Light and a Set Book of Moon. After hesitating, he Set his Solemn Judgment as well. I Set Dark Grepher, Solemn Judgment, Mirror Force, and Trap Stun. He summoned Murmillo and attacked without switching Consecrated Light to Defense Position, so I activated Mirror Force. He considered for a bit, then flipped Solemn Judgment. I negated his with my own, and we were both at 4000 LP. He Set Compulsory Evacuation Device and ended his turn. I Flip Summoned Dark Grepher and dumped Vayu for Sirocco. I Special Summoned Armed Wing and attacked with both. He used Book of Moon on Dark Grepher and Compulsory on Armed Wing, the latter of which I negated with Trap Stun. In Main Phase 2, I Normal Summoned Armageddon Knight, dumping Necro Gardna. He attempted to attack with Samnite, and I negated it with Necro Gardna. He scooped with that.

So, I went 2-2, but I left before I could see the final standings. I pulled Coelacanth, Koa'ki Meiru Drago, and Saber Slash out of the Turbo Pack 3, which is decent.

I didn't draw my Side Decked cards as often as I had hoped. Consecrated Light wasn't as bad to deal with as I thought. Siding three Fissures helped a lot, and my opponents won't draw Consecrated Light all that often.

There's still a lot I need to improve for this deck. I noticed that if I didn't draw Dark Grepher early enough, and if I couldn't keep it out for at least two turns, I normally wasn't able to pull off an OTK, or even win. I'll have to figure out a way to deal with that... Maybe that's why Vayu Turbo failed so badly way back when...

Side Decking

Let's start with a quote from the Konami Yu-Gi-Oh Strategy Site:

"If a frequent matchup is tough for you, you should probably Side 4-5 cards to help you beat that Deck."

The reasoning behind that statement is that you should side as many cards as possible to help against bad match-ups, but because you normally can't side out too many cards, you should stick to that range (4-5). Seems logical enough.

The strange thing is that I usually side at least 8 cards against tough match-ups. Against good match-ups, I usually side in 5. Not only that, I Main Deck a bunch of anti-meta stuff already, like Rai-Oh and Divine Wrath. I guess that I don't feel lucky enough to draw one of the 4-5 cards I side in when I need to.

Is the number of cards they recommend to side the reason behind how people can side cards for a specific match-up only (e.g. Mask of Restrict for Frogs)? Is it also the reason why people don't have to use cards for a wide variety of match-ups, such as Divine Wrath for many decks as opposed to Swallow Flip just for Gladiator Beasts and Infernities?

It seems like something to try out, though I still think that siding just 5 cards in such a fast-paced format might not be enough. If you don't draw a card that stops OTK's, you could be dead before you get the chance to.

So, is it worth most of your Side Deck to play a bunch of anti-OTK cards, or would you rather just side a few cards depending on the match-up?

Tournament Report 7/17/10

Okay, so this is going to be the last time I use my Genex Control deck.

Ironically, though, I got a Duel Terminal Genex Undine from my Round 2 opponent from last week. The kid I played in Round 2 of this tournament said that he had a Duel Terminal Genex Undine, but he didn't have it with him. When Hidden Arsenal 2 is released, I can make a full-on Genex deck, for fun, of course.

Round 1: vs Newbie Blackwings

This was my opponent from Round 5 of this tournament. I won both duels because I kept drawing multiple Rai-Ohs.

Round 2: vs Newbie Ancient Gears

This was my opponent from Round 4 of this tournament. His Scrubbed Raid was annoying, but I removed it with Caius/bounced it with Brionac to beat him.

Round 3: vs Frog FTK

This was my opponent from Round 5 of this tournament, Round 1 of this tournament, and Round 2 of this tournament. I knew that he was playing Frog FTK and played appropriately from the beginning.

-Duel 1: I messed up his first Substitoad by stealing it with Enemy Controller, I killed his second one with Solemn Judgment, but he had the third one in hand to dump his deck into his Graveyard. I used Mystical Space Typhoon on his first Mass Driver, and I had Smashing Grounds and Infernity Doom Dragon to deal with his Dupe Frogs. But, he drew into his second Mass Driver to kill me.

-Duel 2: I sided 10 cards for this, and I drew three of them in the starting hand. I set Royal Oppression, Cloak and Dagger, and some other Trap. It didn't matter, since he had Giant Trunade, One for One, Substitoad, and Mass Driver in his starting hand. He showed me that play and I scooped.

At this point, I knew that I wouldn't get that much store credit if I topped, so I bought the two Vayus I needed for the new deck.

Round 4: vs X-Sabers

This was the annoying lucky guy who barely knows the rules. I knew that even if he drew amazingly, I could still win, because he would misplay.

-Duel 1: I controlled the game for a while, but then he made a big play, ending with Pashuul, Boggart Knight, Fulhelmknight, Brionac, and Faultroll on the field. He bounced my face-up Snowman Eater with Brionac, then he attacked with the two weakers Monsters and I let it through. Then, I activated Scapegoat to block the three stronger attackers, leaving one token behind. He Synchroed for Hyunlei and Gottoms with his X-Sabers, and ended. I revived Treeborn Frog and Normal Summoned Genex Controller to Synchro for Catastor. Catastor ended up killing all of his Monsters and I won from there.

-Duel 2: I drew a bunch of Traps, but he had Giant Trunade and Heavy Storm. He killed me in three turns.

-Duel 3: I Synchroed for Thought Ruler Archfiend (Dragon Ice and Genex Controller) to get over his Cyber Dragon and gain LP. That Thought Ruler ended up bringing me from 7100 LP to 14800 LP, since he couldn't stop its rampage. It was actually on the field for most of the game, and finished off his last 2000-something LP after negating his last hope: Book of Moon.

Round 5: vs Frog Monarchs

This was my opponent from Round 5 of this tournament.

-Duel 1: He had a bunch of Raizas to lock my draw, and I couldn't stop it.

-Duel 2: I summoned Undine to get Controller and passed. He started with a set Monster and a set back row. I Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian and stole his Dupe Frog. He used Soul Exchange on my Goyo to summon Caius and remove my Treeborn Frog. But, I used Smashing Ground and kept poking with a second Undine and Spirit Reaper. He pulled off the Dupe Frog/Substitoad lock, but I used Mist Wurm to return his two Monsters to his hand. He had Raiza to play next turn, but I had been holding Brain Control since the beginning of the duel. He was low on life, so I played it, and he scooped. His set back row was on the field since his first turn, and it locked his Treeborn Frogs. I assume that it was a Twister, but I don't side Mask of Restrict, so he couldn't use it.

-Duel 3: I was forced to use Compulsory Evacuation Device on his Gorz, but he had two Battle Faders to protect him. I kept killing his Monarchs and making small pushes, but I ran out of cards after a while. He kept attacking with one Caius for a few turns, and I kept setting the Traps I drew: Crevice Into the Different Dimension, Solemn Judgment, and Bottomless Trap Hole. He could've attacked for game with Caius, but he tried to play Light and Darkness Dragon to stop my Traps. I negated its summon with Solemn Judgment and killed the Caius he brought out with Bottomless. I was top-decking and I drew a Gale, which was not helpful in that situation. He summoned a Raiza to spin it away and I scooped.

I ended up going 3-2 and getting 7th, with both of my losses being to Frogs. Ergh, I side 8 cards against Frog Monarchs and 10 against Frog FTK and I still lose to them. It's really annoying...

My Turbo Pack made me happy, though. This was the first week where my locals had Turbo Pack 3, and I pulled the Ultra Rare Dark Grepher. If only it was Dark End Dragon... Regardless, it looks very nice, but was kind of annoying, since I have three Super Rare Dark Grephers. I can still sell/trade it or something...

I also bought the Armed Wing I needed for the new deck. One of my friend's friends is going to sell me the last few Blackwings I need, so hopefully I'll have my new deck soon.

Random Stuff #14

5D's Episode 118 was unimportant. They introduced Team Taiyou, who conveniently has to race/duel against Team 5D's in the next episode. The new God Synchros, or whatever you want to call them, were revealed, as well.

I'm still figuring out my Vayu Control deck. Unfortunately, it would cost me about $100 to get the Vayus and Blackwing Synchros, so I might just give up on it for now. I'll try to make it when Vayu gets reprinted.

If that's the case, then I'll have to make a new deck to take to locals this weekend. I have no idea of what type of deck to make, but it would definitely be something rogue.

Conveniently, as I was typing this, I found out that I have more than enough money to buy the Blackwing stuff, and I also could have access to the stuff as soon as tomorrow. Yay, convenience!

I finished the Temple of the Gods in Wind Waker today. It was easier than I remember. Getting the Master Sword, again, was also easier than I remember. I also have three bottles so far. Bottles are the best part of the console Legend of Zelda games, because they're so versatile.

Lastly, YouTube is being all weird. I updated my Java, but I'm too lazy to restart my computer. I'll see if it's fixed tomorrow...

The Past and the Future - Vayu Turbo

So, the deck I was working on was this Dark Synchro mish-mash deck like DBZ. It worked pretty well, but it seems inconsistent.

I also noticed that Vayu would be a lot more useful than I thought it would be. So, I focused more on it, but then I realized that I was making the deck into a Vayu Turbo build. Vayu Turbo wasn't exactly good before, and it's probably worse now.

Because of that, I was thinking about trying to make it into more of a control-based build. Instead of using Dark Grepher to dump both Sirocco and Vayu at the same time, I could use Armageddon Knight to dump just one at a time. In addition, I could use 1-for-1 removal cards like Smashing Ground to keep poking for damage.

Unfortunately, remove-from-play cards can hurt the deck. Fortunately, it would me immune to Royal Oppression! Yay! It also gets around Herald of Perfection, which is another yay! If they're confident enough to switch their Herald to Attack Position, they could be getting owned by an Arms Wing.

I'll fiddle around with the deck more to make it more balanced, while hopefully keeping the speed that Vayu can provide.

Tournament Report 7/11/10

Even though I didn't want to, I used my Genex Control deck today. I was working on a new deck, but it isn't finished yet, so I had to use my Genex...

I was looking for some Blackwing Synchros from Gold Series 3, but they didn't have any at the card shop.

Round 1: vs X-Sabers

This was the same guy who I beat when he was playing Infernities last week. He dropped a XX-Saber Darksoul while he was shuffling, so I knew what he was playing before we started. The odd thing is that he didn't ever draw or search Darksoul during the match.

-Duel 1: I was able to stall for a long time behind Treeborn Frog, Battle Fader, and Dragon Ice. But, his two Faultrolls were able to rip though my defenses.

-Duel 2: I was in control since the beginning of the game. On his last turn, he used Brain Control to steal my Goyo Guardian to steal back his Airbellum and Synchro for XX-Saber Gottoms. Unfortunately for him, that left a Dragon Ice and Treeborn Frog on my field, and I tuned them with Genex Controller for Mist Wurm for game.

-Duel 3: I was in control for most of the game, and I kept attacking with Rai-Oh for a little damage each turn. But, he was able to pull off a Gottoms' Emergency Call and double Faultroll, which meant that I died.

Losing the first round is very sad, since it means that all hope of winning the tournament is also lost. I still had a chance at a Hobby League card, even though I didn't need any, so I continued on.

Round 2: vs Morphtronics

I knew that this kid was running Morphtronics because I was sitting next to him in Round 1, and also because he told me before the tournament. I basically just destroyed him in the first two duels, so I don't think that it's worth posting much about...

Round 3: vs Dimensional Eatos

Apparently people still run this deck...

-Duel 1: Starting with Giant Trunade, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Dust Tornado was quite helpful. Cyber Dragon and Smashing Ground did well to mess with his plans. He was able to drop an Eatos after using Soul Release, but he opted not to attack my Cyber Dragon, thinking that I had Magic Cylinder (he had 2500 LP left). So, on my turn, I tributed Cyber Dragon for Enemy Controller to steal Eatos and attack him for game.

-Duel 2: He misplayed by not activating Skill Drain before he attacked my set Snowman Eater. I had used two Legendary Jujitsu Masters, so he should have expected something like that. Because of that, my Snowman lived and his Barbaros died. After that, I Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian to push some damage through his D.D. Survivor, but he had Dimensional Fissure up, so he kept getting it back. It was okay, though, since he was at 2600 LP, which allowed me to kill his D.D. Survivor with Spirit Reaper then attack with Goyo Guardian for game.

Round 4: vs Lightsworn

Even though there were over 30 people at locals today, this was to be the last round. There was supposed to be some other event going on for another TCG or something after the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament was over.

Oh, and this was the guy I beat in the finals of this tournament.

-Duel 1: I couldn't get through his Aurkus, which was backed by Honest. I ended up trying to deck him out, but I died to Judgment Dragon before that could happen.

-Duel 2: I drew a terrible hand of all Monsters. I couldn't prevent his Celestia from killing two of them, and I didn't draw any Spells/Traps that could help. So, I died to Judgment Dragon and Honest.

Sadly, I went 2-2, which means that I didn't win anything.

I suppose that my Genex deck is just too slow to deal with the current meta, which is why I'm going to try something new next week, if I can get the cards for it.

Random Stuff #13

Nothing important happened in 5D's Episode 117. Sherry just fell in a wormhole. Nothing important. There are new characters, though. They appear to be a new WRGP team or something. The preview of the next episode has nothing to do with them, though...

I don't want to play my Gadgety Genex deck anymore. I will remake my Genex deck when Hidden Arsenal 2 comes out. I've been thinking about using Genex Spare to make Genex Doctor more effective.

Therefore, I need to think of a new competitive deck. I was thinking Zombies, but I have my doubts. Recruiters are decent this format, but they can be rendered useless by Infernities an Frog Monarchs, while Gladiator Beasts can tag off of them. Against all of the other decks, like Blackwings, Gadgets, and X-Sabers, they're not too bad to have around.

I don't really like any of the meta decks, because they're too inconsistent for me. I'll figure something out, though. I'm liking the deck that Dale Bellido was running a while ago. I think that it was called DBZ...

I recently got access to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. I've played Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass, so why not go back even further in the series. I've played Wind Waker twice before, but it's such a good game.

Aki is planning on ordering some Dragunity Drive Structure Decks. That means that we'll have a Dragunity deck, eventually...

Tournament Report 7/5/10

So, like I said in my last post, my local card shop was having a tournament today. Obviously, I went, otherwise I wouldn't be writing a tournament report right now...

There were over 40 people there, which is a lot for locals. A good amount of them were good players, too. But, I was, uh, somewhat confident in my Genex Control deck... I even started maining two Divine Wraths and a Lava Golem to deal with Perfect Herald, Frog Monarchs, and Infernities. Lava Golem actually proved to be quite useful...

Round 1: vs X-Sabers

I had never played against this guy before, but I knew that he was at least a decent player.

-Duel 1: I had a good amount of control over the game with my Genex Monsters and random 1-for-1 removal. He went for the Cold Wave/Rescue Cat into Hyunlei combo on my one Set Trap. I didn't care, since I had Gale in hand. I assumed that he forgot XX-Saber Darksoul, since he didn't use it during his End Phase. So, I made my play, killing Hyunlei with Gale, but then he decided to search Emmersblade for Darksoul. It was pretty shifty, and it allowed him to take a card from my hand (Snowman Eater, sob sob) with Airbellum. I ended up losing that duel.

-Duel 2: I had control over the entire game, since he seemed to draw an all-Monster hand.

-Duel 3: I practically made the duel into a top-decking war. He kept drawing Airbellums, but I kept drawing Smashing Grounds. It was quite helpful, since he wasn't able to use Rescue Cat later. After many turns of Setting the back rows that we were drawing, I used Giant Trunade, then Synchro Summoned Flamvell Uruquizas. I was able to push through a bunch of damage, but he then summoned Fulhelmknight. I used Brain Control, and he tried to chain Gottoms' Emergency Call. I had Solemn Judgment to stop that, and I was able to push through more damage, getting him down to 500 LP. I tributed Fulhelmknight for Caius in an attempt to deal the last 1000 damage, but he had Torrential Tribute. It was okay, though, since he didn't have any other Monsters, and I was able to go for game with a Genex Controller.

Round 2: vs Frog Monarchs

-Duel 1: I used Caius on his first Treeborn Frog. Then, I used my two Divine Wraths on two of his Substitoads. But, he had a third Substitoad. Either way, it was too late for it to do much, and I was able to win.

-Duel 2: I didn't draw any of the removal cards that I sided in, and I sided in a lot... I did draw Pulling the Rug, but it didn't do much to stop the constant Monarchs/Light and Darkness Dragon.

-Duel 3: I dropped a Lava Golem on his side of the field. I kept Setting Monsters so as not to die, and he took a total of 6000 damage from the Lava Golem. He was finally able to get rid of it, but he was left with one card in hand. I summoned Rai-Oh and attacked, and he dropped Tragoedia. He topped Enemy Controller for game...

Round 3: vs Newbie Deck

I won...

Round 4: vs Gladiator Beasts

This is a good match-up for me. But, I stopped siding Royal Oppression because it doesn't do anything anymore...

-Duel 1: I drew badly, and he was able to Secutor into Heraklinos with a Set War Chariot.

-Duel 2: I forgot how I won.

-Duel 3: I drew badly again, and he kept drawing Gladiator Beasts and Traps to back them up...

Round 5: vs Infernities

-Duel 1: My starting hand was Dust Tornado, Bottomless Trap Hole, Solemn Judgment, Smashing Ground, Treeborn Frog, and Genex Controller. Pretty good, right? So I Set all of the Traps and the Frog. He summoned Dark Grepher and used its effect, then Set a couple of back rows. I Synchro Summoned Armory Arm and attacked over Grepher (I knew that Armory Arm would come in handy). Eventually, he tried to use Infernity Mirage, but I negated its summon with Solemn Judgment. Then, he tried to use Infernity Launcher, but I had my Dust Tornado ready for it. I won from there.

-Duel 2: He pulled off all of his stunts on the first turn of the duel and had two Infernity Barriers and a Solemn Judgment Set. Of course, I lost. The sad thing was that I had a good hand to counter his plays, so I might have won if I had gone first.

-Duel 3: He tried to go off with a Necromancer, and I didn't mind, since I knew that he couldn't pull off his loop. I forced him into top-decking mode, which isn't hard against Infernities, and I kept control of the duel. He had Gorz, but I had double Smashing Ground. And, I removed all of his Archfiends and Necromancers, so he couldn't make a comeback. So, I won.

Round 6: vs Dark Simorgh Synchro

This guy was my opponent from Round 5 of this tournament and Round 4 of this tournament. I knew that he was running Dark Simorgh, since I was sitting next to him in Round 4. And, since we're friends (I consider us friends, at least...), we just dueled for fun, without siding.

-Duel 1: I died to his Goyo Guardian after not drawing any way to deal with it.

-Duel 2: I forgot how I won.

-Duel 3: He set Necro Gardna, which I attacked with Genex Undine after dumping Treeborn Frog. I Set Bottomless Trap Hole before ending my turn. He used Mystical Space Typhoon on my Trap, then summoned Armageddon Knight, dumping Plaguespreader Zombie. He attacked over Genex Undine, and Set a back row. I revived Treeborn Frog, then tributed it for Caius, removing his Necro Gardna. Ironically, he used Phoenix Wing Wind Blast on my Caius, giving me the chance to use it again. From there, it was very back and forth, but I had answers to all of his plays, thanks to Dragon Ice. He dropped Dark Creator to revive Dark Simorgh, but I had double Smashing Ground. After that, he summoned Diamond Dude in an attempt to get a free Spell; he hit Emergency Teleport, which could have helped him. I won on the next turn, though, going for exactly game with Cyber Dragon and Gale.

So, I went 4-2, getting 10th place, which is decent, I suppose. I bought a Gold Series 3, though, and I pulled a Gold Stardust Dragon and Gale. I wanted to have one Gold Stardust, and a bunch of people were drooling over the Gale.

Lava Golem was a waste, since there were no Herald decks there, at all. I'll probably take them out, and I might just go back to using Royal Oppression. Then again, I might not use the deck anymore...

Genex

I wasn't able to go to locals today, but I might be able to go on Monday (they're having this special Independence Day tournament or something...) As such, I need to decide on what deck to run.

Normally, I'd take my Genex Control deck, but something has occurred to me: I'm playing them like Gadgets. I hate Gadgets, since they're just effectless floaters.

The Genex are supposed to be more than that. They actually have effects, they have Tuners and Synchros, they're a lot more versatile. But, I'm just playing them like this:

Summon Undine, dump a Water, search Controller. Smashing Ground. Attack. Dimensional Prison. Attack again. Bottomless Trap Hole. Attack again.

It works, but it relies too much on Spells and Traps. For some reason, I didn't mind all that much. I got to use cards I like, like Rai-Oh, Cyber Dragon, Caius, Dragon Ice, and Genex Controller, but it was practically like playing anti-meta Gadgets. (I like how I used like like three times.)

I also noted that each card could stand alone in the deck, practically. That normally means that there's not much synergy, and there isn't. The closest thing to a combo is Cyber Dragon + Genex Controller. That's not bad, but it just means that the deck can be seen as incoherent. I even tried putting XX-Saber Fulhelmknights in there, to see if they would work. The sad thing is that they do...

It's just that I like Monsters to play a bigger role in the strategy. I really like the deck a lot, and it's been working out so well, but it kind of dies to faster decks (Infernities and Hopeless Dragon). Moreover, it relies on people not knowing how the deck works. If I were to play Gadgets, I'm pretty sure that people would use Dimensional Prisons on them. But, with Genex, people don't think that it's worth it to use Traps on them.

So, I'm thinking about using a different deck until the new Genex Monsters come out in Hidden Arsenal 2. In actuality, there only two decent ones in there, Doctor and Turbine. Combined with Searcher, I could make a decent Genex deck, though there is no real benefit from using Genex cards in the TCG. I could just play Gravekeeper's and still have all of the same combos...

...

That means...that in reality...playing Genex just messes with people...it doesn't really have any other meaning... Why did I have to just realize that Genex aren't as good as I thought they were...?

Infernities + Zombies

I'm thinking about making a hybrid between the two. I have the cards for both, so I could try throwing them together.

But when people attempt this type of thing, they can forget that throwing two themes together may not give any additional benefit. So, what I was thinking was that I could use a 12-card Infernity engine, and side it out after the first duel so that I could side into a more controlling Zombie variant.

It's going to be tricky, since Infernities don't like to have a lot of Monsters in hand, and I have to run about 20 Monsters to make the deck work. In essence, it's going to be like an Infernity deck that has a late game. It's an odd concept to most of you, I'm sure.

If it works, it could be amazing, but that's a big if. In order to tie the themes together, though, I'm using Dark Grepher. It can dump Dark Zombies and Infernities, making it a good choice. But, I'm probably going to side it out, since it doesn't do much in a more control-based build.

All of this was basically an idea that I typed up in five minutes, so there's still a lot of refining that needs to be done. I'll deal with that later, since it's time for Burn Notice!