"You can't."

Two of my favorite words. Okay, not really. But, I seem to find myself using them quite a bit when dueling. Just at Regionals two weeks ago, I could list at least three examples:

You can't search with Dupe Frog if it was used in a Synchro Summon - Round 3.

You can't Divine Wrath Blackwing Armed Wing's effects - Round 6.

You can't bounce a Synchro Monster to the Extra Deck with Swap Frog - Round 8.

You can't activate Cold Wave after Pot of Duality - Round 9.

There, that's four examples. But, the moral of the story is that knowing your rulings (or simply paying attention) can give you a huge edge in a duel.

For instance, I was able to win a duel against that Burn deck because my opponent thought that they could negate Armed Wing's ATK boost effect with Divine Wrath. He had other attack-stopping cards, but it was too late to activate them, since he let the battle enter the Damage Step.

Also, I wouldn't have been able to win against my Frog Monarch opponent if he didn't misplay so badly. He Brain Controlled my Goyo Guardian and thought he could bounce it with Swap Frog. It's an interesting story, actually. I explained that he couldn't return Goyo Guardian to the Extra Deck as a cost for Swap Frog, since the Monster needs to return to his hand, but it can't, being a Synchro Monster. We called a judge, and I explained the whole cost thing again. Two more judges ended up showing up, and the three of them moved to the side of the room to discuss the ruling. When they came back, they basically told my opponent exactly what I said in the first place, and I ended up winning the duel and the match.

You don't have to know every single ruling in the game, though that would be helpful. But, you should just have general knowledge of game mechanics and rulings on commonly-used cards. If you come across a card that you're unsure about, check the rulings for it. It's really not that hard.

Tournament Report 8/29/10

I took my Empty Jar deck to locals today, so prepare yourselves for an uneventful tournament report.

Round 1: vs Newbie Dragons

-Duel 1: He was able to rush me with two Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragons.

-Duel 2: I Book of Taiyou'd his Set Lord of D, allowing me to ram Sangan into it and get Morphing Jar to start the combo.

-Duel 3: I got the combo started on the third turn.

Round 2: vs Blackwings

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He Set 4 back rows, but didn't have Monsters. So, I couldn't ram Giant Rat into anything to get its effect. Once he started drawing into Monsters, he used them on Icarus Attacks to destroy everything.

-Duel 2: I got OTK'd.

Round 3: vs Machina Gadgets

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament. He was using the same deck as before.

-Duel 1: I pull off the combo and deck him out.

-Duel 2: He sided in and drew a bunch of anti-meta stuff, like Banisher of the Radiance and Doomcalibur Knight. I had the Books of Moon to stop them from wrecking me, but I never drew into the combo.

-Duel 3: See Duel 2.

Round 4: vs Newbie Deck

I didn't draw the combo in the first duel, but I did in the next two duels.

Round 5: vs Machina Gadgets

-Duel 1: Morphing Jar #2 messed up his two Machina Fortresses. I drew into the combo after a little while.

-Duel 2: I drew the combo early and decked him out.

So, I went 3-2, which is meh. I didn't expect to do all that well with Empty Jar, but it was okay. I'm not planning on taking it to locals ever again, but it was good to have the experience.

I was able to buy three Scrapyards and a Scrap Golem, so Aki and I will be able to make a TCG Scrap deck to use at locals sometime. Luckily, the new ban list takes effect in a few days, so next week's locals will be an interesting one.

Scraps

They seem decent. It's basically annoying to face Scrap Dragon after Scrap Dragon after Scrap Dragon. Moreover, a late-game Scrap Dragon can basically win the duel, since it can destroy whatever hope you have left.

But, it's not exactly easy to get all of those Scrap Dragons out. Scrap Chimera and Scrap Golem are the usual suspects, but you can always tune Scrap Beast/Goblin to a Level 4/Level 5 non-Tuner.

In this way, Scrap Chimera is kind of like Black Salvo. Summon it for a free Synchro, but it requires the proper materials in your Graveyard. The difference is that Scrap Chimera is better overall, since you can go for more than just a Level 7, and also because it's easier to get Scrap Beast/Goblin into the Graveyard.

But still, they're both not all that great. Basing a whole deck around something like that makes it pretty vulnerable, since a bunch of different cards can counter a Scrap Chimera/Black Salvo/whatever play.

However, Scraps have the advantage of the draw/search card, Scrapstorm. It technically isn't a draw card, but when combined with Scrap Beast/Goblin, it's practically like searching another Scrap Monster from your deck.

So, Scrap, as a theme, is decent. It has potential, but not many people in the TCG have realized that potential. Maybe that'll change after the upcoming YCS in Toronto next weekend...

Random Stuff #17

In 5D's Episode 124, Jack and Dragan get a do-over on their duel from forever ago. They conveniently draw the exact same cards as back then. And, apparently, the documentary about Jack is named, "Lord of the King," instead of "Road of the King." Yay, Engrish!

I just realized that I didn't really talk about the trading I did at Regionals last weekend. So, I'll talk a little bit about that now.

I traded a Naturia Beast for a Solemn Warning. I then traded that Solemn Warning for some stuff, including Deck Devistation Viruses (I've been looking everywhere for them!) and Mist Valley Falcons. I also got a Gold Rare Don Zaloog, since I was considering using some eventually. I also traded an Ultra Rare Enishi and two Gold Rare Grandmasters (sorry, DZH501st. I still have one Rare Grandmaster, though) for a play-set of Common Gravekeeper's Spies. Most importantly, though, I was able to trade for a second Duel Terminal Genex Undine! Now I just need one more, not that I'm playing Genex anymore...

So, I'm trying to make a deck that uses Mist Valley Falcon, since it's a good card. It's also a Wind (Dark Simorgh!) and a Winged Beast (Icarus Attack!). Maybe I'll throw together a Dark Simorgh deck with Main Decked D.D. Crows and Icarus Attacks. It could even be a Vayu Turbo deck... But, to make a deck for the last week of this format would be foolish, so I'll have to wait until next format. I'll be using my Empty Jar deck for locals this weekend, I suppose.

Do I want to continue using Vayu Turbo, though? It gives me an advantage against Trap-heavy decks, since I'm getting pluses by summoning Armageddon Knights and letting them kill my Siroccos. And, it can also be fast enough to beat out Quickdraw decks or Salvo DAD, which are being hyped up for next format.

Maybe I should make a deck using Mist Valleys and Gravekeeper's. Mist Valley Soldier + Gravekeeper's Spy = Level 8 Synchro. There's also the fact that Necrovalley is a pretty good card. I could even start using Malefic Stardust Dragon. It actually sounds like a good idea. I'll think about it...

So, on a non-Yu-Gi-Oh topic, I just played through Kirby Squeak Squad today. Apparently for the fourth time, since when I turned on the game, all of the save files were at 100%. It only took a few hours to complete, but it was still pretty fun. The Amazing Mirror probably took longer, and it was a lot more challenging to get 100%, since you would have to navigate through all of the different stages, which are all interconnected.

Lastly, Aki and I were able to take some Pokemon videos. He'll probably be able to upload them sometime next week...

Empty Jar

I'm considering playing an Empty Jar deck at locals this weekend. It seems fun (well, for me, anyways...), and people probably won't be able to counter it very well.

My only fear is that somehow people will have D.D. Crow to completely mess up my plans. I was thinking about using Imperial Iron Wall, but that messes with A/D Changer.

Also, I know that some people at locals will try (and fail) to ruleshark me, saying that A/D Changer doesn't flip a face-down Defense Position Monster face-up, or that if I have four Set Spells/Traps, I can't do the Taiyou/Moon combo.

There's also the fact that Empty Jar doesn't FTK consistently, but not many decks do. So, I'm not worried too much about that.

Anyway, it'll be fun to try before the new ban list takes effect, so I might as well try it.

I don't do this often, but I'm going to post the deck list, right here:

Monsters: (13)

Morphing Jar

Morphing Jar #2

Needle Worm x2

Night Assailant

Sangan

Mystic Tomato

Giant Rat x3

A/D Changer x3

Spells: (25)

Book of Eclipse x3

Book of Taiyou x3

Book of Moon x3

Foolish Burial

Magical Stone Excavation x2

Card Destruction

Hand Destruction x2

Upstart Goblin x3

A Feather of the Phoenix x2

The Shallow Grave x2

Pot of Benevolence

Giant Trunade

Magical Mallet

Traps: (2)

Threatening Roar x2

I was going to only use two A/D Changers, but I figured that I could loop Foolish Burial in the place of Book of Taiyou if I used three. They're also pretty convenient overall. Too bad it's effect isn't a Multi-Trigger/Quick Effect.

As for a Side Deck, I always have trouble figuring out what to side for an FTK deck. It's basically siding against what my opponent is going to side against me, but people don't exactly Side Deck Outstanding Dog Marron, so I'd basically be worrying about D.D. Crow. What am I supposed to side, Hero's Rule 2? It seems as though there's not much I can do. So, I still need to decide on what to side...

Actually, Prohibition seems like a pretty good idea. So yeah...

Regionals Report 8/21/10

The first Regionals of the new tournament season. I took my Vayu Turbo deck, of course. I wanted to make an Empty Jar deck, but I couldn't get all of the cards together. I'm just two cards away from completing the entire deck, now, though.

I dropped the Cyber Ouroboros engine to enable me to Main Deck a third Book of Moon and a Spirit Reaper. I was fortunate enough to pull an Effect Veiler from the entry packs, so I threw it into my Side Deck.

So, there were over 300 people signed up for the Regional. There's usually twice as many people, but I guess that this was kind of an awkward time, right before the ban list and right after Duelist Revolution was legal.

Round 1: vs Light Beat - OO

-I was able to rush him pretty easily. I just drew everything I needed.

After the first round, I met up with a couple friends I knew from locals. One of them was my Round 6 opponent from this tournament, and today he was running Quickdraw Plants. The other one was running Ancient Gear Machina Gadgets.

Round 2: vs Lightsworn - XOX

-I made a terrible misplay which prevented me from winning. Honest was pretty annoying, too...

Round 3: vs Frog FTK - XX

-He FTK'd me in the first duel, and he killed me with Obelisk in the second duel.

I was feeling pretty bad after that, since I lost two matches that I really shouldn't have. The two friends I was with were both 2-1 at this point.

Round 4: vs Gladiator Beasts - OO

-This guy wasn't a newb, but he wasn't exactly good. I was able to take control with various Synchros.

Round 5: vs Nobody

-My opponent didn't show up.

Round 6: vs Burn - OXO

-This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament. He was using a burn deck with Des Lacooda and Worm Lynx. I won the first game with quick beatdown, he won the second by deck out, and I won the third in time.

Round 7: vs Infernities - OO

-He wasted Solemn Judgment in the first duel, letting me take him out quickly. I locked him down with Summon Limit and Royal Oppression in the second duel.

Round 8: vs Frog Monarchs - XOO

-He had a bad hand in the second game. I won in time on the third game (Gale over a Monarch for 100 damage!).

Round 9: vs X-Sabers - OXO

-I won the first and third game because he didn't draw many Monsters. Notable moments include how Effect Veiler helped me by negating XX-Saber Gottoms' effect in the second duel, how Effect Veiler allowed me to Synchro Summon Magical Android to get over Consecrated Light in the third duel, and how he played Pot of Duality in the third duel. Honestly, in the TCG, it's not common to see someone drop a Pot of Duality, at least not yet...

So, I went 7-2 and got 26th place! Top 32, yeah! My friend who was playing Quickdraw Plants got 52nd and my other friend dropped. I got an invite to the National Championships for being in the Top 48. My Round 1 opponent coincidentally got 27th place. He was a pretty cool guy, so we talked for a bit while waiting for our prizes.

There were also supplemental prizes. I got four packs, and I pulled an Ultimate Rare Naturia Bamboo Shoot, which I proceeded to sell for $20. My friend won two packs, and pulled Stygian Street Patrol and POT OF DUALITY! Two Secret Rares out of two packs! With those pulls, he didn't care at all that he missed out on an invite to Nationals.

I was also able to sell some janky holos. I got $11 for two Hanewatas, Reign-Beaux, and Cactus Bouncer. That's pretty good, since the first two aren't going to be doing much next format.

Lastly, I was able to meet vadangchoinga of YouTube. I knew him from locals, and he was actually my Round 5 opponent in this tournament, but I didn't know that he had a YouTube account.

Overall, it was a really fun Regionals. Being able to top with Vayu Turbo was great, and I got to play against a wide variety of decks. The invite to Nationals is probably going to go to waste, but the bragging rights that come with it are pretty good.

Oh, and I also bought all of the cards Aki and I need to make a Scrap deck, so expect to see that featured in videos in a week or so.

How Next Format is Going to Go

"Set five back rows, summon Monster, end turn." At least, that's according to Pojo. Apparently, this whole format is going to be filled with decks that run 12 Monsters, and 28 Spells/Traps.

Okay, that's obviously not going to happen. Here's how the format will most likely go:

Some people will continue to use the decks they would use regardless of this Heavy-Storm-getting-banned business, just modified slightly. Some people will be all like, "Let's play Trap-heavy decks!" and those people will play Trap-heavy Gladiator Beasts or Gadget Stun or something like that.

In response to that, people will start playing crazy stuff, like Straight Flush and Tornado (yes, just Tornado, that Quick-Play Spell). Those people will be extremely prepared for those Trap-heavy decks, but they'll have a bunch of dead cards when facing faster decks.

Eventually, people will figure out that Setting five Traps as soon as you draw them isn't the best idea. People will also realize that the whole Cold Wave into Black Rose Dragon play won't happen as often as they think, and it won't swing the game in their favor as much as they want it to.

After a while, people will go back to playing the decks they normally play. Maybe they'll use a few more defensive cards, and the format will be slower overall. But, Trap-heavy decks will not dominate the meta.

The moral of the story is that reading stuff on the Pojo forum boards is practically poison to the mind...

Impact of the New Ban List

Before I start on the more important topic, I have to say that 5D's Episode 123 was not worth watching. It's just a flashback episode for Team Ragnarok.

So, onto the ban list. Aki and I modified our main decks (Vayu Turbo and Paradox Zero) to fit the new ban list and tested them out. As expected, we weren't hesitant to Set multiple back rows, but we did hesitate to summon a bunch of Monsters at the same time.

On the other hand, having just one Monster on the field doesn't leave you open to Brain Control any more. And, you can Set all of your Spells/Traps with your Morphing Jar, and it would seem like any other defensive set-up.

We didn't really get a chance to test super Trap-heavy decks. They might start appearing, like the anti-meta Gladiator Beast builds used commonly in the OCG. I remember playing against defensive Gladiator Beast builds a lot recently, and Heavy Storm would allow me to destroy Traps it would take forever to draw out normally.

If Trap-heavy decks start appearing, Nobleman of Extermination, Trap Stun, and Royal Decree would become Side Deck staples. I'm even planning on maining Trap Stun(s). But, I don't like the idea of Malevolent Catastrophe. Smart players Set all of their stuff in Main Phase 2, so it takes two turns to use it, and they could just use one of their two Mystical Space Typhoons on it before you even get the chance to play it.

With Black Rose Dragon at three, I want to find a way to abuse Debris Dragon and/or Black Salvo. With Black Salvo, I could also use the shiny new Scrap Archfiend, which is pretty nice. If Black Rose Dragon becomes necessary to destroy full back rows, I'll need to find room in my Vayu Turbo build for Black Salvos and Dekoichis...

I really don't know what people are all like, "OMG, we need more Starlight Roads!" With Heavy Storm banned, it'll be harder to use Starlight Road, unless you overextend your front row. I didn't main Starlight Road before, and I'm probably not going to start now that Heavy Storm is banned...

And, of course, X-Sabers, Frogs, Infernities, and Blackwings have all be slowed down. So yeah, this upcoming format is going to be fun.

Waiting on the new ban list...

I'm watching HuskyStarcraft's StarCraft 2 videos while waiting on Pojo for the new ban list...

So, what is there to talk about? Um...

I realized that a bunch of the Genex are Spellcasters (Power Planner, Doctor, Blastfan). So, I looked at the Spellcaster support list on the Wikia. Yeah...Spellcasters don't exactly have a lot of support as a Type. Magical Dimension would allow me to abuse the free plus given by Power Planner, and Magician's Circle could Special Summon Blastfan, but there's not much else.

I didn't say that I got a Duel Terminal Mist Valley Thunder Lord on Day 1 of the World Championships, but I did. It can be Synchro Summoned with a Level 3 Tuner and Mist Valley Falcon/Watcher, which is decent. You can also abuse its effect in a variety of ways.

You can bounce a card that's being targeted by an opponent's destruction effect/attack. It even works during the Damage Step, so if your opponent declares Damage Step Honest/Kalut during battle with another Monster, you can bounce that other Monster to save it. Of course, there's the ability to reuse your own Continuous Spells/Traps.

As I was typing, I saw a real-looking scan on Pojo. Dark Hole AND Monster Reborn Limited? Heavy Storm banned...? What is this craziness...? Looks fun, and at least Frogs and X-Sabers will go away for a while. I think that I'll have to Main Deck Trap Stuns in such a format...

Back to waiting for the Semi/Unlimits.

I want StarCraft 2. It looks fun. I was playing StarCraft 1 earlier today. Just the first three Terran Campaign missions. They were freaking boring. The units are really stupid; they can't figure out the shortest path to the point I want them to go. But, seeing StarCraft 2 videos, the AI for units seems to be exponentially better. Idle units move out of the way when you want to move units by them/build buildings near them. And, you can drop Supply Depots! They go into a little hole underground! When I first saw that, it was so cool. You can have your units walk over it and save space. Of course, you can raise it to put up a wall.

Confirmed Semi-Limits seem to be Chaos Sorcerer (nice), Snipe Hunter (NO!), and Ojama Trio (okay...?). Confirmed Unlimits seem to be Black Rose Dragon (Junk and Debris format), Cyber Dragon (cool), and Goblin Zombie (okay...?). There appear to be two more Semi-Limits and three more Unlimits.

Waiting for the rest...

That was a short wait, it's already up on Pojo. Two Mystical Space Typhoons appear to be legal. Now I've got to get another Ultra Rare or Duel Terminal Mystical Space Typhoon to match the two I have. Or I can just use one of each, which I probably will...

I like that Dark Hole got unbanned. Why? Because I have a Super Rare European English Dark Hole! Monster Reborn seems to be crazy, as does Heavy Storm. This could either be a fast format, with all of the extra revival/Special Summoning, or it could be a super slow format, with Heavy Storm not threatening your back rows. Is it time for the advent of Reckoned Power...?

World Championships 2010 Report - Day 2

I was planning on seeing the movie preview, but I decided to duel in the Win-A-Mat event instead. Of course, I was using Vayu Turbo. So, on to the report:

Round 1: vs Six Samurai

-Duel 1: He drew badly, and I was able to get out a Goyo Guardian to keep stealing his Monsters. I was even able to use his Yaichi's effect to destroy his back row.

-Duel 2: He drew badly again, and I dropped Catastor to take control. He destroyed it, but I revived it with Call of the Haunted and won from there.

Round 2: vs Frog Monarchs

I forgot what happened exactly, but I lost 1-2.

So, I entered a second Win-A-Mat...

Round 1: vs Gladiator Beasts

-Duel 1: He took control of the game with Heraklinos. He couldn't stop me from halving its ATK twice with Gale, but he had defensive Traps to stop my pushes.

-Duel 2: He didn't draw any Monsters, so my Siroccos were stuck in my hand. I just kept poking him with smaller Monsters, though.

-Duel 3: He had a Legendary Jujitsu Master out, so I kept attacking it with Armageddon Knight to reuse its effect over and over. He was able to stop me, though, by going for Gyzarus to take control.

After losing again, I entered another Win-A-Mat...

Round 1: vs Machina Gadgets

-Duel 1: I took control with Gorz and Goyo Guardian.

-Duel 2: He went first, and played Machina Gearframe to get Fortress, which he Special Summoned. I used Dark Grepher's effect to put Necro Gardna and Plaguespreader Zombie in my Graveyard, then Set Bottomless Trap Hole. He used Mystical Space Typhoon, then Special Summoned two more Machina Fortresses... I was able to live, using Necro Gardna to keep my LP at 2900. I Synchro Summoned Catastor to fend him off. Later, I Synchro Summoned Armor Master in Defense Position to hold him off while Catastor destroyed the Fortresses. I kept poking for damage until he was at 5800 LP. Then, I tributed Catastor for Sirocco and Special Summoned a second Armor Master, this time with Vayu's effect. I focused the 7000 ATK on the effectless Armor Master and attacked over Yellow Gadget for exactly game.

Round 2: vs Frog Monarchs

-Duel 1: He drew no Frogs, so I just beat him down with Shura and Synchros.

-Duel 2: I had no idea what to Side Deck, since I didn't see anything in the first duel, so I got destroyed. The duel took a long time, though, since I was able to hold him off for a while. Thought Ruler Archfiend and Silverwind the Ascendant kept me in the game and held off his Caiuses. My bad luck with drawing Side Deck cards was actually beneficial, since I sided in cards that wouldn't have been very helpful.

-Duel 3: I won in time, 7000 LP to 5900 LP. I had two Bottomless Trap Holes and Necro Gardna to hold off his attacks in the last three turns.

Round 3: vs Frog Monarchs

-Duel 1: I lost to generic Frog Monarch shenanigans.

-Duel 2: I opened up pretty badly, but I drew into two D.D. Crows to get rid of both of his Treeborn Frogs. That won me the game.

-Duel 3: A late game Vanity's Fiend locked me down, since I only had small Monsters in my hand.

Registration for events ended while I was in the third Win-A-Mat, so I had nothing else to do but watch the World Championship matches and trade. I also took pictures of the Stardust Dragon statue with my phone, since it looks cooler than I thought.

The most notable match was the finals, of course. It was Galileo De Obaldia (Panama/Frog FTK) against Vincent Paglia (United States/Blackwings).

In their first duel, De Obaldia got the first turn, but was apparently worried about Paglia having D.D. Crows in hand. He even discarded his extra Mass Driver for Hand Destruction, apparently waiting for something. Although he had all of his Frogs in his Graveyard and Mass Driver in hand, he gave Paglia a turn, which was all he needed to take control.

De Obaldia sided into Frog Synchro and took control of the second duel with Junk Destroyer, OTK'ing with it and Des Frogs.

Early in the third duel, Paglia flipped Trap Dustshoot, seeing De Obaldia's hand of two Fishborg Blasters, two Swap Frogs, Light and Darkness Dragon, Cold Wave, and Quickdraw Synchron. Quickdraw was sent back, and De Obaldia revived Treeborn Frog and activated Cold Wave. Paglia chained Mask of Restrict, and his other back rows were a face-up Royal Oppression and a Set card (I think it was Book of Moon).

This is where the controversial stuff starts. De Obaldia Special Summoned Swap Frog by discarding a Fishborg, and sent Ronintoadin to the Graveyard. He revived Ronintoadin, then bounced it with Swap Frog for his additional Frog Normal Summon. He Normal Summoned his second Swap Frog, sending Flip Flop Frog to the Graveyard. Then, De Obaldia Normal Summoned (for the second time, since Swap Frog's additional Normal Summon cannot be used for a Swap Frog) Fishborg Blaster. He Synchro Summoned Brionac, then attacked directly. Next, De Obaldia revived Fishborg Blaster by discarding a card, even though there was no Level 3 or lower Water Monster on the field. He tuned it to Brionac for Black Rose Dragon to destroy the field, revived Ronintoadin, and ended his turn. Paglia, still under Cold Wave, could do nothing but pass. De Obaldia revived Treeborn Frog, then Tribute Summoned Light and Darkness Dragon. Paglia couldn't get past it and conceded.

So yeah, some pretty funky stuff went down in the finals. I'm not going to say any more about that.

Closer to the end of the day, I went to do some trading. I was able to trade away most of my Infernity stuff and two Super Rare Dark Grephers, which I was desperately trying to get rid of. I got some nice stuff, like a Naturia Beast, two Into the Void, and Mystical Refpanel, along with some stuff for the Dragunity deck Aki and I hope to make.

I also bought some stuff from the Konami store: the old Crow tin and two The Shining Darkness packs. I didn't really get anything worth mentioning from the packs. But, for buying stuff from the store, I got the free Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's drawstring bag and a free deck box. I was pleasantly surprised with getting the deck box, and it's like the old deck boxes that they used to give out at Sneak Previews which you have to put together yourself. It has a picture of Yusei with Stardust Dragon on the front, so it's pretty nice.

That was basically my whole day. It was pretty fun overall, except for playing against Frog Monarchs over and over again. After this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it's going to be back to the usual locals, occasional Regionals, and finding new ways to abuse Genex.

World Championships 2010 Report - Day 1

Aki and I went to the World Championships today, as if the title didn't explain that.

So, first, we checked out the store Konami set up. It just had a bunch of packs, including old tins and Special Edition boxes. The drawstring bads they had were decent, but they weren't worth spending $25 on old packs for... Actually, seeing as how I can't get StarCraft 2, I might as well get one tomorrow.

After briefly seeing the store, we entered the King of the Hill event. There were about 100 people dueling, and when someone lost, the they would go to the back of the line at the front of the room, and someone in front of the line would replace them. Winning three duels in a row would get you a World Championship 2010 card pack. I just did eight duels, so here's a summary of each:

Duel 1: vs Insects

-I drew nothing, and he drew everything he needed. So, I lost.

Duel 2: vs Lightsworn

-I got him down to 1100 LP, but that didn't stop me from dying to Judgment Dragon.

Duel 3: vs Gladiator Beasts

-I was able to play around his Gyzarus and remove it with Caius. He couldn't stop me from winning after that.

Duel 4: vs Gladiator Beasts

-He started with 4 Set back rows. I Set Morphing Jar and a some stuff to stop an attack. He just Set a Monster. I played Giant Trunade, Set my hand, and flipped the Jar. I was able to win from there.

Duel 5: vs Gladiator Beasts

-He had control in the beginning, but he was unable to keep me from OTK'ing him with two Armed Wings and Brain Control.

Duel 6: vs Gladiator Beasts

-I opened extremely well, and I was able to win pretty quickly.

Duel 7: vs Flamvellsworn

-Another crazy Morphing Jar play gave me a +3 on my opponent. I was able to OTK him after a few turns.

Duel 8: vs Newbie Deck

-Um, yeah. I won.

With that, I got three packs. The packs only have two cards each: one reprint and one OCG-import. The packs are pretty terrible, so we didn't even both getting any more.

Next, we attended the Win-A-Mat event. It's a four-round elimination tournament with 16 participants.

Round 1: vs Synchro Deck

-Duel 1: He was able to deal 4500 damage early in the duel with Junk Destroyer and Rose, Warrior of Revenge. I was able to turn the game around and OTK with Dark Grepher, Armed Wing, Stardust Dragon, and his Iron Chain Dragon.

-Duel 2: I took control with 4 back rows, with one of them being Royal Oppression. I Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian before flipping Royal Oppression, allowing me to take his Stardust Dragon and slowly chip away at his LP (2800 at a time...).

Round 2: vs X-Sabers

-Duel 1: He started with double Gold Sarcophagus for Cold Wave and Rescue Cat. After two turns passed, I used Solemn Judgment on Cold Wave. But, he also had Heavy Storm. So yeah, I died that turn.

-Duel 2: On my second turn, I attacked with Dark Grepher and Armed Wing for 4000 damage. He Set XX-Saber Darksoul and passed. I Normal Summoned Gale (I read his Set Royal Oppression) and attacked with it (I read his Set Darksoul...I mean, X-Sabers don't Set many other Monsters...). I then attacked with Dark Grepher, and he used Book of Moon on Armed Wing. I tuned Gale to Grepher for Armor Master and let it get negated. He searched XX-Saber Fulhelmknight and summoned it to attack over my Set Armed Wing, but he forgot about my Necro Gardna. Giant Trunade allowed me to go for exactly game that turn (Vayu's effect for Silverwind the Ascendant, attack with Armed Wing, then attack over Fulhelmknight for the second time with Silverwind).

-Duel 3: I drew all my Vayus and few other Monsters, which means I lost.

After that, Aki and I (mostly Aki) talked to Hideki Kawai, one of the Japanese World Championship participants. He wanted to trade for my Duel Terminal Genex Undine, but he didn't have the time to trade.

For the rest of the day, we watched the World Championship matches or traded. I was able to get all of the Genex cards I needed, as well as some other random cards, like Dewloren, Nimble Sunfish(es), and Sinister Serpent.

So yeah. I'm going to go tomorrow as well. I'm planning on participating in Regionals and/or Win-A-Mats, since the World Championship packs aren't worth getting...

Random Stuff #16

In 5D's Episode 122, Yusei destroys Team Taiyou with Shooting Star Dragon. That's all that happens, really. At least we'll see some real dueling soon, when Team Ragnarok faces Team 5D's.

World Championships are this weekend, and I'm planning on going, as I've said in various other posts. I'm interested in seeing what's in the World Championship 2010 packs, since there's no info besides the likely possibility of Emergency Teleport being one of the reprints.

The King of the Hill event seems interesting, but there's practically no info about it. I'd probably use my Vayu Turbo build for that event. Aki is interested in the Win-a-Mat event, so I'm going to try that, too. I'll probably use my Genex Control deck for that, since it's more stable. The awesome part is that all of the events are free!

I finished Wind Waker the first time through, and I've started on the second playthrough. I don't like how Link wears his silly lobster pajamas, but it's not too bad.

I'm trying to figure out a competitive Genex build that incorporates the new Genex from Hidden Arsenal 2 and Duelist Revolution. The main thing is Genex Power Planner, but I'm not sure how useful it would be. It would certainly allow me to make more Undine-centered builds, but it also gives access to Genex Doctor and Genex Spare. And, in the future, it would allow me to get some of the R-Genex and Genex Ally Monsters, like R-Genex Magma and Genex Ally Birdman.

I read through the whole Zatch Bell manga, and I've started watching some of the older episodes. The anime doesn't have much action, so I skip the boring episodes, since I already know the story. I also played the card game recently, but it gets boring pretty quickly.

Consistency

It's a difficult topic to discuss, since you can't accurately determine how consistent a deck is.

For instance, let's say that you're trying to figure out how consistent your Exodia-Fabled-Hero deck is. People are probably going to look at the name and slap you for even trying such a concept. But, you seem to draw amazingly every duel. Because of this, you may think that it's very consistent.

Or, we can take the Hero/Light-Beat decks that are common anti-meta strategies in the OCG. You could draw 4 of your 14 Monsters in your starting hand, or none of your Monsters, in every duel, and believe the deck to be terribly inconsistent.

The problem with this is that luck is skewing your perception of consistency. To avoid this, some people use statistics to figure out how consistent a deck is.

"How often can I get Rescue Cat and Faultroll in my hand by my third turn?" That's probably what some of the mathematicians try to figure out before they buy their X-Saber decks. And, if they could calculate that, it would be a pretty simple choice of whether or not to get the deck. That's because the win condition for X-Sabers is pretty basic.

But, what if you were to play a deck that could adapt to any situation? How would you be able to mathematically figure out how consistent the deck is? I'm sure that there's a way (it might just take a few months to figure out...), but it's not exactly practical.

Put simply, consistency is an illusion.

Now, to contradict myself, what if there were a deck that no matter what your starting hand was you could make a solid play? Is there such a deck where you can hand it to your opponent and say, "Pick any six cards, and I'll use those as my opening hand"?

They're called Stun/anti-meta decks. Each card can stand alone, but the Monsters work better when protected by Spells/Traps. If they aren't protected, then they usually die. Those decks can usually take control of the game very early, but they may struggle to keep control after a while, and they can't make big pushes or OTK. They lack synergy, since all of the cards stand alone.

Ultimately, consistency and synergy inversely affect each other, which is something you need to deal with when making a deck.

Duelist Revolution Sneak Preview

I was there for four hours. It was fun, overall.

Honestly, with all of the rarity jumps, I was just going to trade/buy some of the new cards, and also to get the Scrap Archfiend, which I plan on using.

I pulled Amazoness Shamanism. The rest were garbagy Rares and Commons, except for Scrap Golem. Aki was going to try and trade for a Paradox Fusion, but he pulled it. It looks pretty nice as a Super Rare.

I was able to trade a Super Rare Monster Reincarnation and Rare Symbols of Duty with Secret Rare lettering for a bunch of Genex; including Power Planners, a Duel Terminal Searcher, and a HA02 Windmill; Miracle Synchro Fusion; and two Anti-Magic Prisms. The Prisms seem interesting, since they deal with the ubiquitous Mystical Space Typhoon and Book of Moon. I doubt that I would use them, but they're nice to have.

After that, I was able to buy an Ultra Rare Scrap Dragon for $15. Quite a good deal. Everyone I talked to thought that Scrap Dragon was a terrible card, but they didn't even know its effects and uses. But, I wasn't able to get any Scrap Chimeras, so it'll take a while before I get to make a Scrap Deck. I still plan on making one, though. Hopefully I'll be able to trade for some Scrap stuff at the World Championships next week.

I dueled with one of the people who was ignorant about Scrap Dragon's amazingness about 6 matches. It was pretty even, overall, but he liked to scoop early when I took control of the game. I was playing my Vayu Turbo build with a Cyber Ouroboros engine, and he was basically playing Pineapple Cat without the Naturias. During our numerous duels, he got a call from his friend, offering to sell him two Naturia Pineapples, so I assume that he'll have the deck finished soon.

After that, I dueled against someone whom Aki dueled against. I saw that he was using a Watt deck, including cards from Starstrike Blast. But, when I first dueled him, he used this odd Monarch deck with Dark Simorgh, Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, and a "removal engine." I didn't see the removal engine, but I'm assuming that he would just flip Return from the Different Dimension after removing a bunch of stuff with Dark Simorgh. He almost won the first duel, but I turned it around with about 150 LP left.

After a match with his Monarch deck, he started using his Watt deck. It was pretty good, but it was almost completely dependent on boosting effects like Wattcastle and Wattcache. I was able to win fairly easily with my Vayu Turbo build.

That was basically my whole day. We didn't really get enough cards to make new decks using Duelist Revolution themes (except Amazoness, which we've had enough cards for since Aki got the box of OCG Duelist Revolution and I got Gold Series 3 packs...), but we did make a new Hero variant. What a surprise, right? (Sarcasm, if you couldn't figure it out.)

Regardless, it was a pretty good day. And now, I'm going to upload a lone video we took with me using an Empty Jar deck, so that should be up in an hour or so. And I'm just saying this because I've run out of things to talk about...

Dark Desertapir

Yes, you can revive Rescue Cat with it.

Yes, you can use its effect through Gold Sarcophagus (Cyber Ouroboros!).

No, you cannot activate its effect by removing it with Gigantes. It will MISS THE TIMING. The last thing that will happen is the Special Summon of Gigantes (same goes for The Rock Spirit). It's the same deal as when you tribute Peten the Dark Clown for a Tribute Summon. The Tribute Summon is the last thing to happen, so Peten's effect Misses the Timing.

So please, stop trying to make Dark Desertapir decks with Gigantes and The Rock Spirit. It won't work. Feel free to use Gold Sarcophagus, though.

Of course, none of this matters if Rescue Cat gets banned, since all of the other Level 4 or lower Beasts aren't worthy of Dark Desertapir.

Ultimately Shining Extra Long Post

In 5D's Episode 121, Yusei figured out Team Taiyou's strategy. So then, the whole audience magically figured it out (after seeing Leo's warning, which was extremely far away...). For some reason, the crowd started cheering for Team Taiyou; the reason was probably that Team Taiyou was trying to pull off an impossible summon. That's a really bad reason, but it's an anime...

Hopes for the ban list:

Rescue Cat to 0 - Even though it's not the key card behind X-Sabers, it's still too good to exist.

Brain Control to 0 - Whether or not it happens doesn't matter much.

XX-Saber Faultroll to 1 - It must happen, or X-Sabers will keep winning.

Substitoad to 1 - It must happen, or Frog FTK will keep winning.

Infernity Launcher to 1 - It will most likely happen, since Infernities are good in the OCG.

Judgment Dragon to 1 - It should've happened forever ago.

Black Whirlwind to 1 - See Judgment Dragon.

Pot of Duality to 1 - It's better than Allure of Darkness. I would also like to be able to buy one...

Scapegoat to 2 - I don't expect this to happen, but it would be nice...

Mezuki to 2 - I don't expect this to happen either, but Zombies aren't exactly going to start killing everything if this happens.

Gold Sarcophagus to 3 - I don't except this to happen, but I like Cyber Ouroboros...

Lastly, a discussion of the TCG version of Duelist Revolution.

I like the promo, Scrap Archfiend. It'll be a nice generic Level 7 Synchro, but the other Scrap cards are either garbage or Super Rare. That'll make it annoying to make a Scrap deck...

The rarities of Chivalry, Solemn Warning, Paradox Fusion, and Pot of Duality have all been increased. That's really annoying, seeing as how I wanted three of each...

The OCG imports are all meh, except for Stygian Street Patrol, which will help Infernities. But, some of the TCG exclusives are nice. Naturia Pineapple is going to be a Secret Rare (I'll laugh at everyone who wanted to make Pineapple Cat, even though I would've liked to pick up some Naturia Pineapples...). Dark Desertapir is going to be interesting. If I could somehow combine a Cyber Ouroboros engine with Beasts, it would be pretty nice.

So, let's list all of the Commons I'd like to pick up at the Sneak Preview: A/D Changer, Lock Cat, Elephun, Double Cyclone, Miracle Synchro Fusion, Chain Whirlwind, and Genex Power Planner. Hmm, I was expecting the list to be shorter, with all of the rarity increases...

Oh, and if you don't get the reference in the title, you should watch more YouTube...