Tournament Report 10/30/10

I went to locals today with my Scrap Anti-Stun deck. The only change I had made was taking out Gold Sarcophagus for Pot of Duality.

Since it was a Saturday, there were only about 20 people there. Before the tournament started, though, Yugilo and I played a match under his budget format. The videos he took will be uploaded tomorrow.

Round 1: vs Anti-Meta

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He drew pretty badly, but he had Morphing Jar to reset our hands. Even so, he couldn't play around my Scrap Dragons.

-Duel 2: He had Cyber Dragon and Breaker the Magical Warrior out with 2300 LP left. I summoned Scrap Golem, dropped Scrap Goblin on his side of the field, and attacked through it for game.

Round 2: vs Machina Returner OTK

This was my Round 5 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I was afraid that I could get OTK'd at any moment. But, he had to play defensively, since I had gotten out Scrap Dragon early.

-Duel 2: He killed me with Machinas and Dark Armed Dragon.

-Duel 3: He dropped Future Fusion, and I thought I had lost. He Special Summoned two Jinzos by dropping two Jinzo Returners, but he didn't have any follow-up. I took control of the game, but he got Overload Fusion off of Magical Merchant. He desperately tried to win by Synchro Summoning Brionac to bounce one of my three back rows. He hit my Call of the Haunted, so my Bottomless Trap Hole was free to deal with his Chimeratech Overdragon.

Round 3: vs X-Sabers

This was my Round 3 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon to destroy his XX-Saber Emmersblade. He had to stall for a turn, but then he dropped XX-Saber Boggart Knight, X-Saber Pashuul, XX-Saber Faultroll, and XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. He Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon to destroy my Scrap Dragon, but I revived Scrap Goblin and held out for the turn. I Synchro Summoned another Scrap Dragon on my turn and destroyed his field. He drew Mirror Force, but it was no use against my Scrap Dragon.

-Duel 2: He started with XX-Saber Fulhelmknight and a back row. I dropped Cyber Dragon and attacked, but he flipped Book of Moon. On his turn, he dropped Boggart Knight and a second Fulhelmknight. I stopped his Boggart Knight's attack with Book of Moon, and his Fulhelmknights couldn't get over Cyber Dragon's 1600 DEF. I played Giant Trunade and Mind Controlled a XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. I Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon, and Normal Summoned Scrap Chimera. It attacked his Fulhelmknight, and Scrap Dragon attacked it after the first attack was negated. I re-Set my back row and ended my turn. He flipped XX-Saber Boggart Knight and attacked Scrap Chimera, but I used Forbidden Chalice to give my Scrap Chimera a boost. He scooped after that.

So, I was going into the last round undefeated, which meant that I was in the finals.

Round 4: vs Flamvells

This was my Round 1 opponent from last weekend.

-Duel 1: He beat me down with a Card Trooper and Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress. I used Mind Control on Card Trooper and Normal Summoned Scrap Goblin to Synchro Summon Goyo Guardian and steal Lyla. He played Rekindling to Special Summon the Flamvell Firedog and Flamvell Magician that he milled previously. He Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon and used its effect to destroy Goyo Guardian. I stalled for two turns until I could draw into a Spell Card for Summoner Monk. Once I did, I Synchro Summoned Colossal Fighter to attack his Scrap Dragon. From 600 LP, I made a huge comeback, getting him down from 8000 to 0.

-Duel 2: I was stalling behind two Snowman Eaters for a while. He built up his front row while I built up my back row. He made a push after a while. He had Flamvell Firedog and Dekoichi on the field, and he Normal Summoned Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind. He tried to halve the DEF of one of my Snowman Eaters, but I flipped Forbidden Chalice to negate Gale's effect. He played Mind Control to steal one of my Snowman Eaters, but I played Book of Moon to put Gale face-down. He was forced to use Rekindling to revive Flamvell Magician, but he opted to Synchro Summon Stardust Dragon using it and Flamvell Firedog. After he attacked over my Snowman Eater, he gave my other one back. I used my own Mind Control to steal his Gale, using its effect to halve Stardust Dragon's stats. I Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian to take it, then Normal Summoned Scrap Goblin. I Synchro Summoned XX-Saber Gottoms with the Goblin and Goyo Guardian to rip the last card out of my opponent's hand. His last card was a spent Dekoichi, while I had his Stardust Dragon and a Dark Hole in my hand. He destroyed his Stardust Dragon after a couple turns with Mirror Force, then topped Rekindling to Synchro Summon Scrap Dragon. I still had the Dark Hole, and his last card was that Scrap Dragon. I topped Monster Reborn, which wasn't necessary. However, he said that if I had Monster Reborn he would scoop, I showed him my hand of Dark Hole and Monster Reborn, and that was it.

So, I went undefeated again and got first place. I won some store credit, and used it to get two Marik Structure Decks and a pack of sleeves.

Pot of Duality was actually a lot better than expected. I can see why it's so expensive. Since the person I was going to sell it to won't have the money in time for the Sneak Preview, I might consider getting another, since it helped a lot.

Pot of Duality

I've been busy this week. Even today, I shouldn't have the time to post, but this is going to be a short one.

Anyways, if you read my most recent tournament report, you'd know that I pulled a Pot of Duality. I'm going to try it out this weekend, replacing my Gold Sarcophagus with it, as I have said before.

Afterwards, I will sell it so that I can have money for the Starstrike Blast Sneak Preview. I'm expecting it to cover all of the Scrap cards I plan on buying, maybe except Scrap Mind Reader, depending on what it does and its rarity. So, I can use the money I have currently to buy Kirby's Epic Yarn! But that's besides the point.

I have both high hopes and low expectations for Pot of Duality. Yes, it's like a really nice generic draw card. But, it reveals to the opponent your plans, and it prevents you from making big plays that turn. It is better in some decks than others, of course, but in a deck that it's good in, it's best in threes.

Tossing one in a deck doesn't guarantee that you'll draw it, and it doesn't do that much to boost consistency. However, running three gives you a very good chance of seeing it, which improves the consistency of your deck to a much greater extent.

This is probably why Lazaro and Dale Bellido were able to do so well with their Scrap decks at their Regional. Not only did they run three Pot of Duality, but they ran a full play-set of Upstart Goblin. I assume that that was meant to assure that they would see Royal Decree.

Royal Decree is a very good card this format, but the problem is drawing it consistently. Running three Upstart Goblins made their decks essentially 37 cards (I didn't count, but I assume that they ran 40 cards, otherwise Upstart Goblin is pointless). Pot of Duality gave the ability to "search" for Royal Decree, which is important for a deck that depends on them.

However, I had to admit that my view of the meta is skewed. At big tournaments, decks like (Quickdraw) Plants and X-Sabers do well. However, at my locals, and also at the Regional I attended, Stun decks are the most prevalent. So, seeing Royal Decree consistently may not have been as important for the Bellidos as it would be for me, since they might have faced less Stun decks.

By the way, I might go back and do an episode review on 5D's Episode 133, but I'm not sure if I care enough about it.

Tournament Report 10/24/10

I didn't think I'd be able to go to locals today, but I ended up going anyway.

Of course, I went with my Scrap Anti-Stun deck. I took out the third Book of Moon for a second Forbidden Chalice. It worked out quite well.

Round 1: vs Anti-Meta

I don't know what to call my opponent's deck. I watched him duel a few matches before the tournament started, so I knew what he was running. Also, he was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He dropped Burden of the Mighty, but I didn't mind. I pushed through his defenses and won with multiple Scrap Dragons. I also topped a Monster Reborn right when I needed it.

-Duel 2: I don't remember how I won.

Round 2: vs Blackwings

-Duel 1: I could tell that this guy wasn't very experienced with Blackwings when he tried to Normal Summon Sirocco on the first turn of the duel. I baited out all of his Traps and took control with Scrap Dragon. He bounced it with Blizzard, but I had a Scrap Chimera in hand to bring it back next turn.

-Duel 2: We were just Setting cards for a few turns. He finally attacked, I flipped Malevolent Catastrophe. He Chained Solemn Judgment, but I flipped Seven Tools. I later baited out a Solemn Warning with Ryko, and he was down to 400 LP. I destroyed his last Set card with Mystical Space Typhoon and flipped my bluffed Scrapyard for game.

Round 3: vs Machina Gadgets

I remember playing against this guy when he was playing Lightsworn, but I can't find the tournament report with him in it. Oh well.

-Duel 1: I took control with Scrap Dragon, destroying his back row. He just couldn't get rid of it.

-Duel 2: I lost in a few turns, since I drew pretty badly.

-Duel 3: I don't remember exactly how I won, but I'm pretty sure that I used Brionac to win.

Round 4: vs Machina Gadgets

-Duel 1: I took control with Scrap Dragon and Catastor. He also messed up with his Gadgets. He summoned Green Gadget, searching a Common Red Gadget, but he summoned a holo Red Gadget on the next turn, revealing to me his entire hand, essentially.

-Duel 2: I lost too much advantage and couldn't recover. Same as the second duel from the previous round.

-Duel 3: I summoned Rai-Oh first turn and Set a few back rows. He tried to Special Summon Machina Fortress, but I flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from play. From there, I attacked with that one Rai-Oh turn after turn to win. He couldn't get over it, basically.

So, I was undefeated going into the final round. Coincidentally, Yugilo was the other undefeated player. We agreed to the same split that we did a month ago. He had one of his friends record our match, so he's going to upload that sometime in the near future. Because of that, like last time, I won't spoil the result of the duel.

Either way, we each got half of a box of Duelist Revolution Special Editions. I pulled a few decent cards, including a seventh Scrap Chimera, a seventh Scrapyard, a third Ultimate Axon Kicker, and a second Psychic Nightmare. Basically what I'm trying to say is that I didn't need any of those cards. I also gave away the three Drill Warriors I pulled, since I already have five...

The most notable card out of those packs was POT OF DUALITY! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! Now I can replace my Gold Sarcophagus with it. So yeah, that was a pretty good card to pull.

Overall, it was a really good day for me. I came to a realization about a huge weakness that Trap-heavy Machina Gadget decks have, and that helped quite a bit. Also, playing a pressure-free final round was nice. The only thing that wasn't good about today was the fact that I couldn't play any fun duels with my Genex Hero deck.

Scraps Post-STBL

There are three cards from Starstrike Blast that can give a major boost to Scraps that I want to discuss. Unfortunately, Scrap Mind Reader has not been revealed yet, so I'll have to settle for talking about the other two.

Scrap Searcher is amazing, but it's hard to effectively use it. It's easy to put it in the Graveyard with Scrapstorm, but that costs you a Scrap Monster. It's also easy to put it in the Graveyard with Foolish Burial, but that won't happen too often. Sure, you can run Rykos to mill it, but that's inconsistent. Drawing it shouldn't be as bad as expected, though, since you can use it for Scrapstorm.

If you know what you're doing, you can revive Scrap Searcher multiple times per duel, provided you can get it into the Graveyard early enough. Combined with Scrap Beast, it makes Naturia Beast. It also gives that extra level you might need if you want to make a higher level Scrap Synchro.

Of course, using Scrap Golem and/or Guts of Steel, you can dump it on the opponent's side of the field to blow up all of their Monsters. You could also destroy your opponent's Monsters if you use it with Icarus Attack. I doubt anyone would do that, but it's an idea.

Scrap Searcher also makes cards like Spiritual Earth Art - Kurogane playable in Scraps. Your Scrap Golem got killed by Torrential Tribute? Just revive it by tributing the free Scrap Searcher you just Special Summoned.

Unfortunately, there's the Missing the Timing issues that most Scrap players take for granted. Scrap Tuners' effects don't Miss the Timing, so they'll probably assume that Scrap Searcher works the same way or they don't even know how Missing the Timing works.

As I said before, it's biggest problem is how hard it is to effectively get it into the Graveyard. You could run multiples to see it more often, since you are allowed to activate multiple Scrap Searcher's effect on the same Chain if another Scrap is destroyed, but that seems somewhat pointless. If someone could find a way to get it into the Graveyard effectively early game, it would have the potential to make Scraps a very powerful deck.

The other card is Scrap Twin Dragon. Conveniently, Scrap Searcher helps you summon it. But, it can shine on its own.

Scrap Twin Dragon gets past one of Scrap Dragon's weaknesses: the fact that it can only hit one of your opponent's cards. Scrap Twin Dragon can effectively clear your opponent's back row, so you don't have to guess at which one is that Dimensional Prison you fear. Unfortunately, Scrap Twin Dragon only bounces them to your opponent's hand, so you'll need to win quickly if you use it.

Of course, Scrap Twin Dragon revives another Scrap when it's destroyed, allowing you to recycle your Scraps. It allows you to loop with Scrap Golem when your only on-hand Tuner is Scrap Beast. So, it might be useful to play more than one. Regardless, you should still use that one XX-Saber Gottoms, since it's quite handy to have.

I do have time to briefly mention Scrap Soldier and Scrap Crash. They're terrible, don't use them. Scrap Oil Zone, on the other hand, has potential. If a Scrap Tuner is destroyed by Scrap Oil Zone, then you get its recycling effect. Still, it's not very good; it's too situational.

5D's Episode 132

Placido goes in for Team New World to duel against Jack. Thankfully, the whole episode consists of dueling.

Placido summons Wise Core and destroys it with Speed Spell - Lightning Rod. It basically just destroys one of your own Monsters. So, the five Level 1 Wisel pieces are Special Summoned. Placido activates Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity's effect, but Jack removes Red Nova Dragon from play with its effect. Placido responds with a Trap Lucciano Set, Infinity Shot. It deals 400 damage for each Monster he controls (five) if he gives up his attack for the turn and the opponent has no Monsters on the field.

Placido Sets two Traps, and Jack brings back Red Nova Dragon. Jack attacks, and Placido uses Wisel Guard's effect to make it the attack target. Jack flips a Continuous Trap, Burning Strike, giving Red Nova Dragon a piercing effect. With that the pierce damage would be able to drop Placido's LP to 0, but he activates Wise G3, switching his Level 1 Wisel Guard for Wisel Guard 3, which has more defense and cannot be destroyed by battle once per turn.

Even so, Placido takes 3500 damage, and the weird Continuous Trap Lucciano played (which has been translated to "Infinite Spirit Machine") gains 35 more counters. Placido then flips an unimportant situational burn card, hitting Jack for 900 damage. Jack Sets a Trap and ends his turn.

Jose, the last Machine Emperor guy, reminds Placido of their evil plan, so Placido just Sets two Traps and ends his turn. Yusei, being the only smart character in this show, has Lua/Rua/Leo send Jack a message, "Break M2." I'm assuming that the "M" comes from Infinite Spirit Machine's Japanese name, "mugen reiki."

So, Jack Sets a back row, then activates his Trap, Synchro Sonic. For each Synchro Monster he controls, he can destroy one face-up card in the Spell/Trap Zone on the opponent's side of the field. He tries to destroy Infinite Spirit Machine, but Placido activates Infinity Guard Formation. It negates his Monsters' effects to prevent the destruction of his Continuous Trap for the turn. Jack doesn't care and just attacks Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity to defeat Placido.

As he's dying, Placido activates the effects of both of his face-up Continuous Traps. Infinite Spirit Machine gains 5 counters, and Placido uses the other Continuous Trap (which has been translated at Infinite Prison) much like Lucciano did. He discards a card to Set his Wise Core as a Spell Card.

So, Jose takes Placido's place and merges with his D-Wheel like Placido did during the crazy Battle Royale thing. The Infinity symbol appears beneath his and Jack's D-Wheels when the duel starts, which implies that Jack will take real damage from the duel.

Of course, Jose starts with Grand Core. He destroys it with Bomb Blast, which destroys up to three Machine-Type Monsters that had not battled that turn to deal 400 damage for each one destroyed. Grand Core being destroyed means that the five Level 1 Grannel pieces are Special Summoned. Machine Emperor Grannel Infinity's ATK and DEF are equal to its controller's LP.

Then, Jose activates Speed Spell - Take Over to destroy Infinite Spirit Machine and gain LP equal to 100x the amount of counters on it. While he's doing that, though, he drives up to Jack and pushes his D-Wheel for some reason... Anyway, Grannel's stats rise to 12000, Jose Sets a card, then attacks. Jack tries to negate the attack with Red Nova Dragon, but Grannel Top's effect negates the opponent's Synchro Monsters' effects when Machine Emperor Grannel Infinity attacks. So, Grannel destroys Red Nova Dragon by battle and uses Grannel Attack's effect to absorb it, since Grannel destroyed it in battle. As usual, a Machine Emperor's ATK increases by the ATK of the Synchro Monsters it absorbs.

Also as usual, Jack crashes when he is attacked. He somehow makes it back to his team, and Crow switches in. So, we'll see Crow get owned next episode and/or make some broken new Blackwings to help him win. Fun fun.

Random Stuff #19

It's been a while since I've done one of these.

With my shiny play-set of Genex Undines sitting on my desk in front of me, I can't help but think of ideas for a Genex deck for December. Why December? That's when the R-Genex become legal, so I'd be able to use my shiny new R-Genex Synchros. Right now, I'm thinking about another Genex/Hero hybrid. Using D-Hero Malicious gives access to Locomotion R-Genex, and that gives more synergy to the whole Hero engine. I'm not sure if Vindikite R-Genex is worth using, though.

Also, I can't wait for the new Scrap cards from Starstrike Blast. Scrap Searcher and Scrap Twin Dragon will be some nice support. I'll probably make my deck in a way so that I can abuse Scrap Searcher readily. As for Scrap Twin Dragon, I've decided that it's not all that important. It has a nice effect, but the current OCG ruling can be a hinderance, if people know it. Moreover, using its effect is usually a minus. However, I will use at least one so that I'll have another option in my Extra Deck.

Speaking of my Extra Deck, it's going to be extremely cramped once December rolls around. I'm planning on adding Ally of Justice Decisive Armor, Scrap Twin Dragon, Naturia Barkion, and possibly Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (Scrap Beast + Snowman Eater) to my Extra Deck once Hidden Arsenal 3 is officially released. I can only think of taking out one card (one of two Scrap Archfiends), so I have no idea of how I'll be able to fit anything in there. I might have to take out Thought Ruler Archfiend and/or Stardust Dragon to make room...

I'm also trying to decide whether or not to include Decisive Armor in every Extra Deck like a Synchro staple, but I'm probably opting against it. It's only good against Lightsworn and Light Gemini Stun. Lightsworn decks aren't even good anymore, and Light Gemini Stun won't let you even summon it.

The Starstrike Blast Sneak Preview is three weeks away, or so. I can't wait to see what the exclusives are, since that's basically all the TCG players have to wait on. I hope that Scrap Mind Reader is going to be worth the cost of its inevitable rarity hike...

I'm thinking about making a deck profile for the Scrap Anti-Stun deck I used at Regionals. If I do make one, it would probably be up on Wednesday. I might even put my Side Deck in the video, but I'm still considering it. Since there are more people at my locals who are watching my videos now, it would give them a big advantage when they duel me...

Lastly, for a non-Yu-Gi-Oh-related thing, I just found out about Kirby's Epic Yarn yesterday. It looks really cool; it seems challenging even though the whole dying aspect of video gaming was taken out. I would have gone out an bought it yesterday, but I need to save my money for Starstrike Blast. I'm planning on buying two Scrap Twin Dragons, two Scrap Searchers, and maybe Scrap Mind Reader(s).

Regionals Report 10/16/10

As I said in my post yesterday, I decided to go to Regionals with Scrap Anti-Stun.

In the packs I received for entering, I pulled Scrap Dragon and Scrap Archfiend. I ended up trading the Scrap Dragon for two Scrap Chimeras. I also met up with vadangchoinga, and it turns out that he pulled a Pot of Duality.

Before the tournament started, I was able to trade for a third Ultimate Rare Scrap Dragon, so I could use an Ultimate Rare play-set.

Round 1: vs Scraps - OO

-I pulled off the Golem/Goblin combo in the first duel, and I ended up using XX-Saber Gottoms three times in one duel to discard a bunch of his cards.

Round 2: vs Flamvells - OO

-This guy's build was weird, since he ran Wattgiraffes. Regardless, I was able to Mind Control his Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and flip it to Special Summon my own Ryko. I also pushed through 3900 damage against his field of two Stardust Dragons and a Scrap Dragon to take the match.

Round 3: vs Absolute Zero (D-Hero variant) - OO

-He dropped me pretty low with Catastor and Absolute Zero, but I used Smashing Ground on AbZ and Special Summoned Cyber Dragon to fuse for Chimeratech Fortress Dragon.

Round 4: vs Middle City - XOX

-This guy was playing that deck that used three Burden of the Mighty and King Tiger Wanghu. He kept drawing Monsters after I kept getting rid of them, which helped him win the match. Also, he started off with Royal Oppression all three games...

Round 5: vs Machina Gadgets - XOX

-My hand in the first duel was terrible, and he picked it apart with Spirit Reaper.

Round 6: vs E-Hero Stun - OXO

-This guy ran a mix between Gemini Stun and an Absolute Zero variant. I pushed through a bunch of damage with Scrap Dragon and Scrap Archfiend in the first and third games. He won the second duel by drawing a bunch of Traps and three Gemini Sparks to go with his multiple Neos Aliuses.

Round 7: vs Blackwings - XOX

-He won the first and third duels with Dark Armed Dragon. He was a really cool guy, though.

Round 8: vs Gladiator Beasts - OXO

-This guy was running the E-Hero (Prisma) variant with Gladiator Beast's Respite. That means that he had a minimal amount of Traps, which was good for me. He Torrential Tributed his own summon to destroy my Scrap Dragon, but I ended up reviving Scrap Beast to go for game on the next turn.

Round 9: vs Machina Gadgets - XOO

-He was running a Solidarity build with less Traps and more one-for-one removal Spells like Fissure, both of which were good for me. In the second and third duels, most of his hand consisted of Gadgets, which allowed me to beat him down with Scraps.

So, I ended up going 6-3, which is meh. I got 67th place, which was three away from winning packs. I didn't mind much, though, since it would have only been two packs.

I was able to do a lot of trading, getting lots of Duel Terminal cards, including Ally of Justice Decisive Armor, Locomotion R-Genex, Vindikite R-Genex, Gungnir, Naturia Barkion, and two Dragunity Phalanx! That means we'll be able to greatly improve the Dragunity deck as well as make a new Genex deck. I was also able to trade for other stuff like Goyo Guardian, Forbidden Chalice, and more Duel Terminals cards including Smashing Ground, D-Hero Malicious, a play-set of Worm Xex, and a third Genex Undine!

As for videos, I got about five duels between the Light Gemini Stun player from before and kisforkapono of YouTube. I'll be uploading them starting Monday.

So yeah, it was a pretty good Regional in general. I was able to trade stuff I didn't need, like Dark Grephers and Dark Simorghs, for amazing Duel Terminal Synchros. I also got to play against a wide variety of decks to test out my Scraps.

Regionals Tomorrow!

I'm really excited, since this format has been awesome so far. I'll be going with Scrap (Anti-Stun).

I expect a bunch of Quickdraw/Plants and X-Sabers, but I'm more worried about Stun decks. So I'm even Main Decking Anti-Stun stuff that is still decent in the other match-ups (mainly Seven Tools of the Bandit and Thunder King Rai-Oh). I'm also trying two Chaos Trap Holes in the Side Deck. I have high expectations for them, which probably isn't a good thing.

Usually, I pull an amazing card in the entry packs that I end up putting in my deck. Battle Fader and Effect Veiler, basically. I hope that I pull Pot of Duality or something. I'm not too keen on Solemn Warning, because, although it's a good card, I wouldn't know what to take out for it. If I get Pot of Duality, I'd just take out my Gold Sarcophagus; easy.

I just don't want to get into a bunch of Stun wars with Blackwings and Gladiator Beasts. I'm confident in the Light Gemini Stun match-up, since that deck isn't very good in general. It just has good match-ups against other Stun decks, basically.

Today, I got a blue mini-Monster binder, which is really nice. I am going to try and trade for Scrap and/or Psychic stuff (and also a Duel Terminal Gungnir for Aki), but I'm planning on taking some videos while I'm there. No "this is what the venue looks like and bla, bla, bla," videos; I'll be taking duel videos, and maybe deck profiles if my friends want them.

Lastly, I've been putting a lot of pressure on myself to top, but there's really nothing I'll get from topping. I already have my invite to Nationals, and the additional prize support is minimal (like 2 packs if you get in the Top 64...?). It would be nice to get the play mat (and the binder) if I Top 8 (or even Top 4). I think it's possible, but I'll try not to be too saddened if I go X-2 (or worse...).

So yeah, going to Regionals this time is mainly for the social experience, trading, and dueling. Hopefully I'll be successful in at least two of those endeavors tomorrow...

5D's Episode 131

This episode has the duel/race between Jack and Lucciano. Unfortunately, the first ten minutes or so of the episode are just "plot."

Lucciano lets Jack go first, so Jack summons Dark Resonator and Sets three Traps.

Of course, Lucciano has Sky Core, so he summons it and Sets three Traps.

Jack ponders about how he'll destroy Sky Core by battle so its effect won't activate, then starts his turn. He activates Dimension Switch, a Continuous Trap that removes one of his Monsters from play when it's activate. Then, he can destroy it to return the Monster to the field. He removes Dark Resonator, and Special Summons Gear Changer from his hand. It has the usual Cyber Dragon Special Summon effect, but it also gains Levels equal to the Level of an opponent's Monster, so its Level rises to 5 (4 + 1). He tunes Dark Resonator to Gear Changer for Red Dragon Archfiend.

Next, Jack Normal Summons Trust Guardian and Special Summons Red Nova from his hand. Red Nova can be Special Summoned when he controls a Red Dragon Archfiend, and happens to be a Tuner. He then double tunes Trust Guardian and Red Nova to Red Dragon Archfiend for Red Nova Dragon. That Trust Guardian might be important later...

Red Nova Dragon attacks Sky Core, but Lucciano flips Twin Vortex. It's a Trap that destroys one Monster on each side of the field when the opponent declares an attack. Of course, Red Nova Dragon isn't destroyed by card effects, but Sky Core is, and its effect activates. Lucciano Special Summons the five Level 1 Skiel pieces. Jack replays Red Nova Dragon's attack, but Skiel Guard's effect negates the attack. Note that that's not possible in real life, since attack declaration has already passed.

Jack responds with Power Pressure, which deals 1000 damage when his attack is negated. Lucciano then activates this weird Continuous Trap. It gains one counter for every 100 damage its controller takes. I'm not sure about what it does beyond that. Jack then ends his turn, and most of Team 5D's is happy that Jack was able to deal 1000 damage to Lucciano. They don't have much faith in him...

Lucciano activates Machine Emperor Skiel Infinity's effect to absorb Red Nova Dragon, but Jack removes it to negate Lucciano's next attack. Note that the anime effect for the "Cosmic Synchro Monsters" differ from their real effects. Lucciano Sets another Trap and ends his turn, so Red Nova Dragon is Special Summoned.

Jack summons Force Resonator, a Tuner that can be sent to the Graveyard to prevent the opponent's Monsters from activating their effects when a Synchro Monster he controls attacks. Since it's a Tuner, Red Nova Dragon's ATK rises to 5500. Red Nova Dragon attacks through Machine Emperor Skiel Infinity, Lucciano loses the rest of his LP, Lucciano's weird Continuous Trap gains 30 more counters, and all of Skiel's parts die.

However, before losing, Lucciano activates another Continuous Trap. It allows him to discard a card, then Set a Monster from his Graveyard as a Spell in a Spell/Trap Zone. He Sets Sky Core through this effect. It's pretty obvious where that's headed...

A decent episode in general. Placido gets to go in next for "Team New World," so next episode should be (more) exiting.

Tournament Report 10/10/10

I went to locals today with the same Scrap deck as last week. Actually, it wasn't exactly the same. I took out Monster Gate for Gold Sarcophagus, and I changed one card in my Side Deck.

Either way, there were 36 people there today. Surprisingly, no one was playing Gladiator Beasts.

Round 1: vs Lightsworn

This was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament. He also had Scrap Beasts and Scrap Chimeras tossed in.

-Duel 1: I drew garbage plus Gold Sarcophagus. I didn't even get the card I searched since he killed me so quickly.

-Duel 2: I forgot how I won. I'm pretty sure that it was just Scraps being awesome.

-Duel 3: He used Gorz on my Scrap Chimera, so then I Synchro Summoned Scrap Archfiend. I was then able to Tribute Summon Scrap Golem, dumping a Scrap Goblin on his side of the field. I attacked through it for game.

Round 2: vs Disaster Dragon

I didn't see much of his deck, so I'm just assuming that it was Disaster Dragon, as opposed to Hopeless Dragon.

-Duel 1: I Scrap Goblin into Scrap Golem'd him. That means I win.

-Duel 2: We were just sitting there for a long while. I was able to push through his back row, though, since I was sitting on a Solemn Judgment.

Round 3: vs Blackwings

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He used Pot of Duality to get Black Whirlwind. He played it, Set three back rows, and Normal Summoned Bora to get Kalut. He had another Bora to summon next turn, and I wasn't able to make a push with all the Traps in his back row. He dropped double Kalut in the end to kill me.

-Duel 2: I wasted all of his Traps, and he was just left with a Solidarity. I had a Monster and a Set Mirror Force, then he dropped Dark Armed Dragon. He destroyed my field, but I didn't mind. I played Smashing Ground to destroy Dark Armed Dragon and render Solidarity useless. Then, I was able to Synchro Summon Scrap Archfiend and attack. He was down to 2600 LP, but he topped Pot of Duality. It was worthless, though, since it revealed Shura, Solemn Judgment, and Book of Moon. He took Shura and Set it. I couldn't draw into any Monsters for a few turns, and all he drew was Monsters. Eventually, though, he ran out, so I was able to attack for game with Scrap Archfiend.

-Duel 3: I'm sitting behind a Snowman Eater and Mirror Force with a pretty good hand. He drops Blizzard into Goyo, then Dark Armed Dragon (again...) when I'm at 5100 LP. Yeah...

Round 4: vs Blackwings

Blackwings, again...

-Duel 1: He started with Pot of Duality to get Royal Oppression. Then, he activated Black Whirlwind then Normal Summoned Shura. With Black Whirlwind, he got Kalut, then Set two back rows. My hand was abysmal against his set-up, so I considered scooping so that I wouldn't show him what deck I was playing. I opted against it, but I was locked down by Royal Oppression for the whole duel, so I lost.

-Duel 2: Basically the same as duel 2, except without Royal Oppression, which meant that I was in a much better position. Snowman Eater kept his Monsters at bay, and I forced out a Solemn Judgment, which left his Solemn Warning dead. Because of it, I was able to push through to his last 1700 LP with Scrap Chimera.

-Duel 3: I forced out a Solemn Judgment by Synchro Summoning Scrap Dragon, but I revived Scrap Beast. However, he had Shura and Bora backed by a bunch of Traps, so I wasn't able to do anything about it. I tried to Synchro Summon through his back rows, but he forced out my Seven Tools of the Bandit, so I wasn't able to make my play.

There was going to be one more round, but I dropped so I could take videos. They'll be up around the middle of this week.

My luck may have been terrible during the tournament, but I was able to pick up some really nice cards at low prices, including an Ultimate Rare Scrap Dragon, a Scrap Chimera, and a Naturia Pineapple.

I was hoping that I'd be able to use this locals today to test for Regionals next week, but it didn't work out so well.

Chaos Trap Hole

Yay, double posts.

Okay, so I was looking through my cards to find my Gold Rare Gold Sarcophagi, and I saw my Chaos Trap Holes. They can actually be pretty good this format.

They're not nearly as versatile as Solemn Warning, and they can only negate Normal Summons, Flip Summons, and Inherent Special Summons of Light or Dark Monsters. However, Chaos Trap Hole has two distinct advantages.

It removes the Monster from play. No more Neos Alius for Hero Blast, no more Shura/Bora for Blizzard.

It's about ten times less expensive. Yeah, that's the second advantage.

It's actually pretty relevant this format. It hurts two big decks: Blackwings and Light Gemini Stun. It also can hurt Lightsworn, Infernities, Black Salvo decks, and even Gladiator Beasts (Prisma, Gyzarus, Rai-Oh/Doomcaliber Knight if they side those in).

I notice that it's very situational, but I'm still considering siding it at locals tomorrow. The best thing about it is that it negates the Summon, so that they can't use Icarus Attack or Gemini Spark.

If you have Solemn Warnings, then you probably don't need Chaos Trap Hole. If you don't have Solemn Warnings, then it might be worth considering Chaos Trap Hole as a Side Deck card. It can be quite convenient if you side into Anti-Stun...

Side into Anti-Stun!

I wasn't able to go to locals today, where I would've tested out this concept a little more, but I'm planning on going tomorrow. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to share the idea, even though I normally don't give out my Side Deck secrets...

The basic concept behind Anti-Stun is, well, beating Stun decks. Not every deck can side into Anti-Stun, and Stun decks don't need to, since Stun decks already have Anti-Stun elements. This leaves a small range of decks, the most notable of which are Scraps and X-Sabers. Actually, I can't think of any other decks that could side into Anti-Stun.

So, what makes Scraps and X-Sabers special is that they have good stand-alone Monsters that also provide the deck with synergy. While other decks have that, too, Scraps and X-Sabers are more aggressive in their win condition, generally. If you wanted to, you could say that Blackwings and Gladiator Beasts are like that, too, but those decks are practically Stun decks already.

Those attributes give Scrap and X-Saber decks the ability to Side Deck in a way that lessens their swarming power, but gives them more of a control element. This is not the same as trying to side into Stun, where you take out all of the swarming elements of the deck and replace them with Trap Cards. You keep a good amount of those Special Summon cards in the deck, but take out the less useful or more situational ones.

However, this requires a lot of Side Deck space. For my Scrap deck, it's about 10 cards (12 for Gladiator Beasts). It could be more or less, depending on what your Main Deck is like. That may take up most of your Side Deck, but most of the competitive decks out there right now are Stun decks. It might just be worth using most of your Side Deck to combat Stun, especially if you have good match-ups against non-Stun decks.

To understand how to side into Anti-Stun, you need to understand how Stun decks work. Stun decks generally run fewer Monsters and control the game using Spells and Traps. If they draw too many Monsters or no Monsters, they basically auto-lose, so you need to prepare for scenarios where they draw the perfect ratio. That's generally around twice as many Spells/Traps as Monsters.

So, there are two ways to side into Anti-Stun. You can try and make them run out of Spells/Traps, or you can try and make them run out of Monsters. Since they play less Monsters, the latter is the obvious choice. However, you should also side a good amount of Trap negation cards (Trap Stun/Seven Tools of the Bandit). Since you have some of the aggression that your deck normally focuses on, those cards can protect your big pushes.

There are plenty of good Monster removal choices for you to use. Snowman Eater is a no-brainer, since it also provides a 1900 DEF wall. From there, you can choose any combination of Smashing Grounds/Trap Holes/Dimensional Prisons/whatever makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Take note that although Trap Hole was popular in the past because of Blackwings, Black Whirlwind's Limiting makes it not as important of a card. Nevertheless, it's good removal against Stun decks in general.

Now, there's the question of what to side out. For Scraps, it's generally the extra Scrap Golem, a couple Scrapyards (Rai-Oh can hurt), one or two Scrapstorms (depending on how many you are using in the first place), and other random stuff that you could be using (Effect Veiler, Battle Fader, Reasoning, etc.). Against Gladiator Beasts, you could also side out one Scrap Goblin and Scapegoat to make room for Effect Veilers.

For X-Sabers, it's much more straightforward. Side out one or two XX-Saber Faultrolls, one or two XX-Saber Darksouls (they don't help against Stun decks, and you're not focusing entirely on swarming if you're siding into Anti-Stun), and extra Gottoms' Emergency Calls (same reasons). Depending on what variant you're running, you would also drop stuff like XX-Saber Regigura, Sangan, Debris Dragon, Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, and maybe even Ryko. Also, if you're Main Decking three Trap Stuns, side one out. You're not going to be swarming as often. The two or three copies of Seven Tools of the Bandit will cover you, regardless.

It's an obscure tactic, but it has its benefits. Instead of destroying the point of your deck by trying to side into Stun, you keep the explosive attributes that your deck is based on by siding into Anti-Stun. Moreover, by siding out some of the swarm cards, you make yourself less vulnerable to the usual suspects that Stun would use against you.

This method is much deeper than just siding a couple of Trap Stuns and continuing to try and swarm. Trap Stun isn't a catch-all answer, since players have adapted by using more Quick-Play Spells and "drop hand" Monster Effects (Effect Veiler, mainly). With this, you're simultaneously siding against Stun decks weakness (their lack of Monsters) and making your deck more resistant to their Stun tactics.

Why People Think Scraps are Bad

Well, if you're been reading this blog, you probably don't think that Scraps are bad. I've been doing very well at locals with them, and you've seen them played in some of my YouTube videos.

However, the main reason why people think that Scraps are bad is because they often see very questionable Scrap variants being played. While those variants seem good in theory (I'll destroy my Geartown to get its effect!), they're terribly inconsistent in practice. With a bunch of random cards in your deck, you'll have less chance to actually summon your Scrap Dragon.

This goes into things like running dedicated Flip Effect engines (Ryko, Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, Gravekeeper's). While doing such helps against slower decks, it leaves you vulnerable against faster decks. In my Scrap mirror match last weekend, I was able to control the game because my opponent's answer to the situation was to Set a Ryko. That's a pretty bad answer when you're up against a Scrap Dragon.

Moreover, people see decks with questionable card ratios. For instance, only playing two Scrap Chimeras. Okay, so Scrap Chimera doesn't cause a loop like Scrap Golem does when Scrap Dragon is destroyed, but it's a one-card Synchro. Moreover, you can add it back to your hand with other Scraps' effects for more one-card Scrap Dragons.

Another thing is the question of how many Scrap Spells to play. Seeing as how you absolutely need your Tuners, three Scrapyards seems good. Scrapstorm is a good card, but at the moment (without Scrap Searcher...) it can be dead too often. It shines early game when you can turn it and Scrap Beast into a Scrap Dragon and a drawn card, but it's lackluster later in the duel. Moreover, it doesn't even work without a Scrap Tuner, but people play the equivalent of seven, Scrap Tuners as opposed to nine, and expect Scrapstorm to be amazing all the time.

While these things are important during the first duel of a match, your Side Deck needs to be exceptional in order to keep yourself in the duel. Scraps are very easy to side against; there's no other way of putting it.

You'll often see people side in cards like D.D. Crow, Effect Veiler, Nobleman of Crossout, Skill Drain, and Royal Oppression against Scraps. Also, Scraps have some difficulty against Stun decks.

So, you have to find ways to combat those. D.D. Crow and Effect Veiler can't really be stopped, which is why they're commonly used. You just have to play around them. With Skill Drain and Royal Oppression, you have Mystical Space Typhoon, Trap Stun, and Seven Tools of the Bandit to stop them. Avoiding Nobleman of Crossout is as simple as not playing Flip Effect Monsters.

Dealing with Stun decks is easy. You just side into Anti-Stun! And that is a post for another day...

Tournament Report 10/3/10

I went to locals on a Sunday again. It's just because I couldn't go yesterday. Sundays are more challenging, which is good, but only first place gets a worthwhile prize. That's basically why I try to go on Saturdays, not that anyone cares. Either way, there were over 40 people there today.

So, I went with a "pure" Scrap deck. It's practically pure Scraps, but I teched in one Ryko and one Battle Fader. I never got to use either of them or the Monster Gate I was testing out. Regardless, I sided into Anti-Stun Scraps. Most of the competitive decks this format are Stun decks, so I side against Stun. It worked very well, actually; I'll probably make a post about how to side into Anti-Stun eventually.

Round 1: vs Warriors

This guy wasn't a newb, but he wasn't very competitive. I won both duels with Scrap Dragon and such.

Round 2: vs Scraps

I was not prepared at all for a Scrap mirror match. However, I was pretty confident, because I assumed that he was running an inferior Scrap variant. Not to be all arrogant, but Scraps are really hard to build, and basically every variant I've seen is questionable. I found out that this guy was running a Super-Nimble Mega Hamster/Ryko build. Regardless, the nice part about a Scrap mirror match was not having to explain every single card I play.

-Duel 1: I let him waste his Scrap Chimeras first. Then I pushed through his Scrap Dragons with my own. He ended up misplaying against my double Scrap Dragons, and I had the Scrap Chimera that I had recycled for the third time in my hand to go for game.

-Duel 2: He sided into a Stun build, using Royal Oppression, Grave of the SuperAncient Organism, and Prohibition. I had control of the game, but he Prohibited the Scrap Chimera I was waiting on, and beat me down.

-Duel 3: This one was pretty quick. I started with control of the game. He summoned Scrap Chimera against my Scrap Dragon, but I used Book of Moon on the Chimera before he could Synchro. I played Giant Trunade, then showed him Scrap Chimera and Monster Reborn. He wanted me to play it out, but I won regardless.

Round 3: vs Gemini Stun

This was my Round 5 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: It took forever to explain why Rai-Oh can't negate Scrap Dragon's revival effect. Either way, I used Scrap Golem to revive Goblin and Synchro for Scrap Dragon again. He negated it with Rai-Oh, but I revived Golem with Dragon's effect and went for Scrap Dragon again. People don't seem to know that Scrap Dragon's revival effect will activate if its Synchro Summon is negated. I just won the duel from there.

-Duel 2: I Synchro Summoned Naturia Beast, and his hand was full of Spells and Monsters. He scooped after running out of Monsters.

Round 4: vs Blackwings

-Duel 1: He went first, Normal Summoned Shura and Set a back row. I searched Scrap Goblin with Scrapyard, Set it and two back rows. He used Icarus Attack in the End Phase on my back rows. He Summoned Shura, Bora, and Gale, then Mind Controlled my Set Goblin. He attacked with his Blackwings, then Synchro Summoned Armor Master and Black Rose Dragon. He Set a back row before ending his turn. I Special Summoned Cyber Dragon, then Normal Summoned Scrap Chimera. Chimera revived Goblin, which I tuned to Cyber Dragon for Scrap Dragon. I destroyed Scrap Chimera and his Armor Master, then attacked over Black Rose Dragon. He used Dark Hole, but I revived Goblin. I tributed Goblin for Scrap Golem to Synchro Summon Scrap Dragon again. He scooped a turn later.

-Duel 2: He started with three back rows after using Pot of Duality to get Kalut. I set Snowman Eater, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Seven Tools of the Bandit. He Summoned Shura then flipped Delta Crow - Anti-Reverse, but I negated it with Seven Tools. He then used his Set MST on my MST, which I Chained to destroy his last Set back row. He then Special Summoned Gale, and attacked with Snowman Eater. He declined to use Kalut, took 100 damage, and I destroyed Shura. I used Mind Control and Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian. I attacked directly. He Summoned Blizzard to Synchro Summon Armed Wing, then Set Solemn Warning. I attacked to force out the Kalut. Under Trap Stun, I Synchro Summoned Thought Ruler Archfiend with his Gale (Monster Reborn) and a Cyber Dragon. I attacked over Armed Wing on my next turn to gain some LP. He drew another Blizzard, Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian, and stole my Thought Ruler. I played Dark Hole, but he negated it with Solemn Judgment, leaving him at 1375 LP. Snowman Eater ended up destroying his Goyo Guardian, and I Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon to destroy Thought Ruler. He scooped soon after that.

Once again, I was undefeated going into the final round.

Round 5: vs Gladiator Beasts

-Duel 1: He started with Laquari and a bunch of back rows. I used Mind Control and Summoned Scrap Goblin to Synchro Summon Scrap Archfiend, but he flipped Royal Oppression. Over the next few turns, it was like a Stun vs Stun battle, with us using one-for-one Traps to get rid of each other's Monsters. I Synchro Summoned Scrap Archfiend after using Raigeki Break on Oppression and beat him down for a few turns. However, he used Prisma and Call of the Haunted to fuse for Gyzarus and destroy my field. After that, he went into Heraklinos. I bluffed a Set Ryko by asking if he had Chariot, even though my Set Monster was Summoner Monk. He Set the Gladiator Beast War Chariot in his hand and passed. I flipped Summoner Monk and used its effect, but he flipped his Chariot and I scooped.

-Duel 2: I started with two Set Book of Moon. He Set a Gladiator Beast and a bunch of back rows. I Normal Summoned Scrap Beast, with Mind Control ready in hand, but he used Solemn Warning. I Special Summoned Cyber Dragon, but he used his second Solemn Warning. I was happy about that, and ended my turn. He activated Trap Stun, then Set Bestiari. He fused for Gyzarus, but I Chained one of my face-down Books. I showed him the second one, and he laughed, since Trap Stun was a complete waste. I summoned Scrap Chimera to revive Scrap Beast, then ran over his face-down Gyzarus. He revived it with Call of the Haunted to destroy my Monsters. On his turn, he used the Pot of Duality he top-decked to get a Smashing Ground, then attacked with Gyzarus. I took Gyzarus with Mind Control, then summoned Effect Veiler to Synchro Summon Scrap Archfiend. I used it to attack directly. He used Smashing Ground, then Set a Monster. I Set Snowman Eater. He summoned Laquari and attacked it, but it destroyed Laquari. I Summoned Scrap Goblin, Synchro Summoned Brionac, and bounced his Set Monster to attack for game.

-Duel 3: I didn't draw enough Monsters, and I got beat down by multiple Laquari. Not drawing my Side Deck cards didn't help, either.

I got 2nd place, which is good. Because I went 4-1, I won a Hobby League Neo-Spacian Grand Mole. I don't plan on using it, but it was better than the other Hobby League cards they had.

I put $7 more in the Duel Terminals, and got some decent pulls. I got a Naturia Cliff, Smashing Ground, Skill Drain, and a second Fabled Ragin. And, from the Turbo Pack 1, I pulled another Ryko, which I was happy with.

Overally, it was a pretty good day today. I almost forgot to mention that I was able to buy an Ultimate Rare Scrap Dragon. My search is finally over... Too bad I couldn't get any videos, though.