End of the Year 2010

This year was a pretty good year for Yu-Gi-Oh.

The beginning of the year was the end of the Lightsworn/Zombie format. It was actually a comparatively good format, considering that you could side so easily against the top decks.

Anyway, the March ban list brought an end to that, leaving the format open for practically every deck. Synchro Cat, Flamvells, and Quickdraw Plants were fairly popular, but all very inconsistent. It was a slow format, so anything could potentially be good.

But then, The Shining Darkness arrived. This lead to a post-TSHD format, with Infernities receiving all of the hype, because they were doing so well in the OCG. But when people figured out that they weren't as good without Trishula, even with Infernity Barrier, they moved on to X-Sabers and Frog Monarchs. Both of those decks should not have existed, but then an even worse deck came about to ruin the format.

Frog FTK went on to force people to Side Deck silly cards like Hanewata. The deck even won the World Championship.

But then Substitoad was rightfully banned, and Duelist Revolution was released.

DREV brought some of the most expensive cards that TCG players have seen for a while in Pot of Duality and Solemn Warning. Effect Veiler was arguably one of those cards, but it's relatively cheap compared to the other two.

The banning of Heavy Storm and the release of Pot of Duality allowed many decks to be able to compete, making it so that no one deck has dominated any YCS this format.

That's basically it. This year has been relatively uneventful, which makes it kind of good for the game. Starstrike Blast didn't break any decks, although it did give a little too much support to Plant decks.

So yeah, this post is probably pretty boring because nothing really happened this year. Next year will probably be more exciting with Storm of Ragnarok, Trishula, and ZEXAL around the corner.

Gladiator Beasts

They theoretically have a good match-up against practically everything. Remove Dandylions and Treeborn Frogs, destroy Necrovalley, negate Judgment Dragon and Kalut, take advantage of Emmersblade and Scrap Goblin.

The problem is that once something gets past them, they can't do much to get rid of it.

Gladiator Beasts are all about prevention, and they're pretty good at it. Negating effects and destroying cards before they can roll into combos is fairly easy for them.

However, once something big hits the field, they have a tough time destroying it. All of them have fairly low ATK, so they'll even have difficulty getting through a Cyber Dragon.

They would basically have to wait for some Monster removal card or for some way to Special Summon Bestiari to fuse for Gyzarus. The latter isn't going to happen very often, but the former will if they load their deck with those types of cards.

If they do that, then they might not draw Monsters often enough to take advantage of a clear field. Even if they do, their Monsters are still vulnerable to Traps and such.

Essentially, Gladiator Beast decks need to consistently clear the opponent's field (or at least stun their back rows) to be effective. Unfortunately for them, that can't happen as often as it needs to.

The thing that keeps Gladiator Beasts in the meta is their amazing match-up against a few key decks. They thrive against set-up decks like (Quickdraw) Plants, Frog Monarchs, and X-Sabers. However, they lose pretty often to other Stun decks like Blackwings and Gemini Stun.

So yeah, Gladiator Beasts aren't as good as I thought they were. Now I have to find a new deck to take to locals...

Tournament Report 12/26/10

So, I went to locals today with Scrap Anti-Stun. I'm planning on using a different deck next weekend, so I'll see how that works out.

Before the tournament started, I played a few duels with Yusei JB from Yugilo's channel. Yugilo recorded the first two, and they'll be up on his channel sometime soon.

Round 1: vs Scraps

This was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: This duel took 30 minutes. It was really back and forth, but he drew into his Chimeras at more opportune times than I did. I drew the third one when he already had control over the game.

-Duel 2: I rushed him with Scrap Twin Dragon, which he destroyed with Torrential Tribute. So I revived the Scrap Golem I used to summon it, and Synchro Summoned XX-Saber Gottoms. That Gottoms basically won me the game, since I shut down his attempts to get rid of it.

-Duel 3: Since the first duel took so long, we started this game in sudden death. I Dark Holed his Set Scrap Goblin and summoned Scrap Beast. Against his three Set back rows, and with no defensive cards, I declined to attack, playing around a possible Mirror Force or Book of Moon. With that, I Set two Forbidden Chalice. With D.D. Crow in hand, I was safe if he had Scrap Chimera. But, he moved my Scrap Beast out of the way with Mind Control and attacked with a Ryko for game.

Round 2: vs Flamvell Lightsworn

-Duel 1: He dropped three Synchros on the field with Rekindling. However, I had milled Scrap Golem with Ryko, and was also fortunate enough to have a Call of the Haunted Set. Not only that, after I Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon, I used Giant Trunade to reset my Call of the Haunted. Even with Gorz, he couldn't stop me from taking the duel with Scrap Twin Dragon.

-Duel 2: I died to Judgment Dragon.

-Duel 3: I controlled the game with Scrap Dragon, keeping more than enough resources in hand to get rid of a swarm, should he top Judgment Dragon. Either way, he didn't, so I won fairly easily.

Round 3: vs Newbie Quickdraw

This guy was really annoying. I just ran him through with Scraps.

Round 4: vs Watts

This was the same Watt player from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I started with Royal Decree, which was good. Later, I Synchro Summoned Naturia Beast. So yeah, I won.

-Duel 2: I held out and whittled down his back row. Then, with Scrap Beast on the field, I flipped Scapegoat in his End Phase. I Synchro Summoned Naturia Beast and Naturia Barkion, using the Scrap Beast, all of the tokens, and a Scrap Goblin from my hand. So yeah, I won.

Round 5: vs Naturias

-Duel 1: He messed me up with Burden of the Mighty and Naturia Fruitfly. But, he got too greedy and attacked with four Monsters on the field, letting my Mirror Force destroy them all. I used Scrap Golem to Synchro Summon Scrap Twin Dragon to make small pushes each turn, leading to victory.

-Duel 2: He swarmed with Pumpkin, two Hydrangeas, and Cherries. He Synchro Summoned Iron Chain Dragon with the Cherries and one Hydrangea, then pushed through a bunch of damage. However, he misplayed against my Set Snowman Eater, attacking it with Hydrangea, letting me destroy Iron Chain Dragon, and keeping my Snowman Eater alive. After that, I ran over his Naturia Cliff with Scrap Beast, then Synchro Summoned Black Rose Dragon to destroy the field. He was top-decking, and I had a bunch of cards in hand. It didn't help that he drew Naturia Bambooshoot for the next two turns. So I was able to win fairly easily.

Because this was a Sunday tournament, and because I only had one loss, I got a Hobby League Shining Angel. The Turbo Pack 4 didn't have a holo; therefore, it was bad.

I didn't really play against any meta decks, which is what I wanted to happen so that I could test out my Side Deck. Either way, I'm probably going to be using a different deck next weekend. If it works out like I hope, then it'll be pretty awesome...

Upcoming Threats for the TCG

So, the TCG Duel Terminal 4 is coming sometime in January. That means that we'll be getting Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. It won't be usable until next summer, but it's still a frightening thought. It makes Debris Plants a huge threat, since they can summon it so easily.

There's also Genex Ally Birdman, which I'm actually looking forward to. It's not extremely broken, especially since Gallis the Star Beast isn't legal in the US, and it'll be a cool card for me to use in some sort of Dark Turbo-esque deck.

Of course, The Fabled will be coming in the Duel Terminal as well. They actually make Fabled decks viable, meaning that Light-Imprisoning Mirror might be seen in Side Decks again. The Fabled aren't as important as what's coming in February.

Storm of Ragnarok will bring the dreaded Legendary Six Samurai to the TCG, destroying the somewhat diverse meta that has been enjoyed up to this point. I'm legitimately scared of playing against them, since they can effectively make it impossible for you to win, depending on what their starting hand is.

I've been watching quite a few OCG duel videos with Legendary Six Samurai in them, and those players seem to open amazingly all the time. Even if you get a chance to push back, Legendary Six Samurai gain so much advantage that they can just swarm you again.

Maybe Legendary Six Samurai players do open badly sometimes. I just haven't seen it happen. And, there's not much that can deal effectively with a Legendary Six Samurai swarm. I'll have to look into what to do about them. Hopefully they'll just be smashed by the ban list in March...

Random Stuff #22

YouTube's new home page is pretty neat. You can tell when someone you've subscribed to is uploading a new video, because it will say that they've uploaded something, but will only show their previously uploaded videos.

It also recommends quite a few good videos. I've found some worthwhile Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh channels to watch. Also, I've stumbled upon some duel videos from last format. They've reminded me of how great it was when Heavy Storm was still around... Well, between March and May.

This format is somewhat comparable, but now the sackiness of (Quickdraw) Plants has been amplified, which is kind of terrible. Whenever I play against the deck, my opponent seems to draw multiple Debris Dragons and Royal Decree each duel... I suppose that it's not as bad as trying to play against a Six Samurai deck that drew double Gateway, Kageki, and Kagemusha...

I saw a thread on Pojo asking which is better: Thunder King Rai-Oh or D.D. Warrior Lady? When I first saw it, I thought that the answer was obvious, but it got me thinking. Rai-Oh is a horrible top-deck against a Synchro or a Judgment Dragon. Also, D.D. Warrior Lady can be better against (Quickdraw) Plants in certain situations, and is a lot better against Frog Monarchs. So I've pushed one Rai-Oh to the side deck to make room for a tech D.D. Warrior Lady. That Rai-Oh, in turn, pushed one Banisher of the Radiance out of the Side Deck. D.D. Warrior Lady fulfills its purpose well enough.

With my competitive deck ready for locals, which I hope to go to on Sunday, I want to work on a fun deck. I'm considering dropping the Fortune Lady aspect of the Chaos Fortune deck, and I'm also thinking about some sort of Vayu Turbo deck that uses Genex Monsters. I'll probably have to wait for Ally Genex Birdman, which I can start getting next month when the new Duel Terminals arrive! Yay!

Other than that, I can't really think of any new decks to make. Maybe that new Cloudian Synchro deck. It seems like its too dependent on Fishborg Blaster and Cloudian Turbulence, though. Either way, it's another deck to side Power Filter against.

Edit: Riku and I should be able to make videos tomorrow. So expect an upload tomorrow night at the earliest and Thursday at the latest.

Tournament Report 12/19/10

Aki was supposed to come with me, but he wasn't able to. So, that should explain why there might not be any new videos for a little while.

As usual, I went with Scrap Anti-Stun. I might consider changing it, since most of the people at my locals have stopped playing Stun decks... I'll see what happens...

Round 1: vs Hopeless Dragons

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He dropped me down to 1000 LP, so I had to play cautiously. I eventually was able to destroy all of his Monsters and deplete his hand, allowing me to push with Scrap Dragons.

-Duel 2: He didn't draw many Monsters, which helped me win. After he took an attack from Scrap Beast, used Solemn Judgment, and then used Seven Tools, he was down to 2200 LP. I attacked directly with Cyber Dragon and activated Forbidden Chalice for game.

Round 2: vs Frog Monarchs

-Duel 1: I lost to generic Frog Monarchs shenanigans, such as double Caius.

-Duel 2: He didn't get to his Treeborn Frog, so I just kept pushing with Scrap Dragons.

-Duel 3: I removed his Treeborn Frog with Banisher of the Radiance, so I worked to keep Monsters off of his side of the field so he couldn't summon Monarchs. I was successful, so I won.

Round 3: vs Debris Plants

-Duel 1: I lost to generic Plant shenanigans and Royal Decree.

-Duel 2: I pushed through a bunch of damage with Rai-Oh and Brionac. But then he summoned Lonefire Blossom to go for Tytannial to kill my Brionac. I waited out for a good opportunity to take control, and when that arose, I did with Dark Hole and Monster Reborn. He stalled behind Enemy Controller and Book of Moon, after which he topped Debris Dragon three turns in a row. I couldn't come back from that.

Round 4: vs Debris Lightsworn

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He built up a field of Lumina, Garoth, Iron Chain Dragon, Stardust Dragon, and Judgment Dragon. Scrap Goblin held him off for a turn, but he eventually destroyed it with Judgment Dragon.

-Duel 2: I thought that I would be more conservative with my Spells/Traps, so I only Set a Bottomless Trap Hole. He opened with Charge of the Light Brigade, milling Wulf and Glow-Up Bulb, searching Lumina. Next, he used Foolish Burial for Dandylion. He Synchro Summoned Formula Synchron using a Token and the Glow-Up Bulb, then Tribute Summoned Celestia using the Wulf. He destroyed my Set Scrap Goblin, and I Chained the Bottomless. However, he milled the second Dandylion, so he had three Tokens with which to Synchro. As such, he Synchro Summoned Catastor and attacked directly. The following turn, he destroyed my Mirror Force with Lyla, and I was doomed. I was even more doomed when he dropped Judgment Dragon.

There was one more round, but I decided to drop and watch other people play. So I didn't win anything, and my Turbo Pack 4 was bad.

I can't really do much more to combat Lightsworn, since they're based entirely on luck and don't have one central weakness that I could abuse. However, my Round 4 opponent from this tournament suggested Power Filter to combat (Quickdraw) Plants and Frog Monarchs. I still like Zombie World because it destroys Necrovalley, but Gravekeeper's aren't as bad as a match-up as those other two decks, oddly. I'll have to see how they fit into my Side Deck; I'll probably drop some Anti-Stun cards...

Effect Veiler vs D.D. Crow

Generally, both of these cards are what people would call, "Side Deck staples."

They both have good "drop-hand" effects that disrupt common plays. They are also both Level 1 Monsters, meaning that they could be used for Synchro Summons or just Set as a defense.

While Effect Veiler can stop almost everything that D.D. Crow can stop, D.D. Crow stops the things that it stops better, if that makes any sense. Basically, D.D. Crow gets rid of the problem, while Effect Veiler just stops it, generally.

D.D. Crow removes Monsters from the Graveyard, so your opponent can't just get them later with another effect. It also hits stuff like Treeborn Frog, Fishborg Blaster, and Pot of Avarice, which Effect Veiler does nothing against.

On the other hand, Effect Veiler stops effects that don't use the Graveyard, like Machina Gearframe, Monarchs, and Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. Unfortunately, Effect Veiler only works during your opponent's Main Phase on their face-up Monsters (Book of Moon can stop it, basically).

There are other aspects of these cards that are often ignored. Effect Veiler is a Light Tuner and gives access to Ancient Sacred Wyvern, in addition to all generic Synchro Monsters. D.D. Crow is a Dark non-Tuner Winged Beast. It can be used for Icarus Attack, which is fairly common.

D.D. Crow can also be helpful in decks with too many Tuners. There usually aren't decks like that, but Scraps and X-Sabers can fall under that category. It would often help those decks more to have a non-Tuner rather than another Tuner.

However, the most important things to consider are the match-ups your deck is weak against.

Against Machina Gadgets, Gladiator Beasts, and Gravekeeper's, Effect Veiler is almost always the better option. D.D. Crow can work on some of the cards that those decks play, but it's more situational. This is the same case for Perfect Herald, for those OCG players that have to deal with the new Lost Sanctuary Structure Deck.

With X-Sabers, Frog Monarchs, and (Quickdraw) Plants, Effect Veiler and D.D. Crow can be equally useful. There are some situations where Effect Veiler is better (XX-Saber Boggart Knight, Monarchs, Ryko), and there are some situations where D.D. Crow is better (XX-Saber Faultroll, Treeborn Frog, Pot of Avarice, Glow-Up Bulb, Spore).

Against those decks, though, D.D. Crow is better than Effect Veiler when they use some sort of effect that involves the Graveyard. While Effect Veiler stops Debris Dragon, D.D. Crow removes the Dandylion from play. That's HUGE in that match-up, since (Quickdraw) Plants rely on Dandylion.

So, the ultimate deciding factor is whether or not you can give up the increased utility of Effect Veiler to play a more effective counter to Graveyard-dependent decks. Basically, if your match-ups against Machina Gadgets and Gravekeeper's are good, then you should be playing D.D. Crow over Effect Veiler, unless you want/need the Tuner for Synchro Summons. Either way, you're generally not going to summon Effect Veiler when it can protect you from the hand.

Regionals Report 12/11/10

I went to Regionals again with Scrap Anti-Stun. If only this format wasn't so weird, then I could actually play something a little more creative.

So, I met up with Yugilo, Yusei JB, and some of their friends before the tournament started. I pulled another Ultimate Rare Glow-Up Bulb from the entry packs, and I promptly traded it (and some other stuff) for two Super Rare Royal Decrees (and some other stuff). I decided to replace the two Seven Tools of the Bandit (one in the Main Deck and the other in the Side Deck) with the two Royal Decrees. They worked out quite well.

Round 1: vs Newbie E-Heroes - OO

-I felt bad for the little kid and my tiebreakers...

Round 2: vs Debris Plants - XX

-In the first game, he milled Dandylion and Glow-Up Bulb with Card Trooper, and drew into two of his Debris Dragons. In the second game, he started with Dandylion in hand, and drew into all of his Debris Dragons. The only reason I was able to live in the second game was because he kept misplaying while I had Zombie World out. He tried to do Plant stuff, like use Lonefire Blossom's or Spore's effects.

Round 3: vs Frog Monarchs - XOX

-I lost the first game because he kept drawing Caius and such. I won the second game because of Zombie World. I lost the third game in time, as I couldn't get through his drop-hand battle protection cards (Battle Fader, Gorz, Tragoedia).

Round 4: vs Perfect Herald - OO

-He didn't get Herald of Perfection out even once. He could have gotten it out in the second duel if I hadn't had Naturia Beast on the field...

Round 5: vs Infernities - OO

-I just rushed him in the first duel with Scrap Dragons. In the second duel, he thought he had game, but he didn't, and misplayed.

Round 6: vs Debris Plants - XOO

-He OTK'd me in the first game with Dandylion, Debris Dragon, and Spore shenanigans. I pushed through a mess load of damage in the second game with Rai-Oh and Scrap Beast over two turns, using Compulsory Evacuation Device to bounce his Set Monster. He didn't draw well at all in the third game, and I rushed him with Scraps and such.

Round 7: vs Blackwings - OO

-This guy wasn't exactly very good, so it wasn't hard to win.

Round 8: vs Stun - OXO

-This duel was another example of how knowing rulings can win you games. I resolved Forbidden Chalice on his Stardust Dragon, and he tried to negate my Mystical Space Typhoon. The floor judge ruled it incorrectly, so I appealed to the head judge, who ruled correctly that Stardust Dragon's effect would still be negated. He was in control, but losing his Stardust Dragon lost him the first duel. Royal Decree was also very helpful in locking down his back row.

Round 9: vs Blackwings - OXO

-I rushed him with Scrap Golem in game one, so it was practically impossible for him to come back. He OTK'd me in the second duel with the help of Dark Armed Dragon and Vayu. I forced the third duel into a top-decking contest and won.

Round 10: vs Lightsworn - OO

-This guy was really cool, so we were joking around throughout the match. I was in control for all of the first duel, having multiple outs to his Judgment Dragons. He thought that he was in a good position with a Judgment Dragon on the field (his only card) and four cards left in deck (with one being the second Judgment Dragon). I had Cyber Dragon and Scrap Chimera in hand, and drew into Solemn Judgment. So yeah, I won the first duel fairly decisively. Expecting me to have Forbidden Chalice, he threw his Judgment Dragon down early in the second duel, only to lose it to Bottomless Trap Hole. So I beat him down with Rai-Oh from there.

In the end, I went X-2, which is fairly decent, getting 23rd place, which is also decent. I won four packs, one of which had another Formula Synchron. So that was nice.

I did a lot of trading during the event, contrary to what I expected to be doing. I traded away quite a few cards I didn't need, while getting stuff like Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragons and R-Genex for new decks. I still need some more cards for those two decks, but I should be able to make a Kinka-byo deck.

So yeah, it was a pretty fun Regional.

Regionals Tomorrow, Again

Once again, I shall be going to Regionals. It's quite nice to be able to go to a Regional almost every month.

I was considering skipping this one so that I would be able to go to the Event Extravaganza or whatever next month, but it doesn't seem all that great. It's like what went on at the World Championships, except you have to pay to play in the events.

So, I ultimately decided to go to Regionals tomorrow. I decided to test out both Dust Tornado and Compulsory Evacuation Device. Dust Tornado in the Main Deck, and Compulsory as a Side Deck choice. Compulsory would be best against decks like (Quickdraw) Plants, X-Sabers, or even Gladiator Beasts. It's also more versatile than Effect Veiler, which has been failing me recently.

Dust Tornado is an obvious choice, with Gravekeeper's and such running around. I also hate how Seven Tools of the Bandit doesn't hit Book of Moon, so I'm going to see how Dust Tornado works. If it does well, I might just end up maining two and siding the third, which is what I used to do with Seven Tools.

There's also the fact that Hidden Arsenal 3 is now legal in the TCG, meaning that this Regional could be full of people trying to abuse Gungnir or Dragunities. Neither is worth it at the moment, so I'm not worried too much. There is the dilemma of whether or not I should find room for Naturia Barkion in my Extra Deck or not. I don't think that it's worth it, but Red Dragon Archfiend might not be worthy of his spot anymore. I'll probably end up trying Barkion out, in one way or another.

I think that's it. I've kind of given up on the Kinka-byo deck for now. I'll come back to it later, most likely. With Gungnir out, I'll probably be working with Aki on a TCG-legal Zero Debris deck for him to play at locals. There's also the Koa'ki Meiru deck I hope to make eventually.

Oh, I almost forgot about the Genex. I'll be trying to trade for the Hidden Arsenal 3 Super Rare R-Genex Monsters and Recycled Genex. The main ones would be R-Genex Turbo and R-Genex Oracle. And I might also pick up some Worm Yagans. So yeah.

Statistics

Before I start the post for today, the reason behind the lack of posts is Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. I'm not into the super-violent games generally, but it's a really good game in all respects.

So, statistics. They're important when it comes to children's card games. Knowing how often you'll open up with a card/combo you want can help you decide if you want to play a deck that depends on said card/combo.

For instance, Flamvells. They rely entirely on Firedog, and opening with it often leads to victory. The chance of opening with a card that you have three copies of in a 40-card deck in your starting hand is a little less than 40%. That's fairly low, but it's a good enough card at most times during a duel, so you wouldn't mind drawing into it a little later. It can also be searched by Flamvell Poun.

The main example I wanted to address today was Gravekeeper's. First is Necrovalley. Assuming that a Gravekeeper's deck plays two Necrovalley, three Commandant, and three Recruiter, there's a little over 76% chance that a starting hand for that deck would open with a way to access Necrovalley. Pot of Duality and/or Upstart Goblin would increase this chance, of course.

As for the amount of Monsters commonly played in Gravekeeper's (14), there's a lot more to look into. So, here's a little table to show the percentage of opening with a certain amount of Monsters in the starting hand, as well as the chance that a Monster would be drawn as the seventh card if specified number of Monsters had been drawn in the starting hand. Note that these percentages are for a 40-card deck with 14 Monsters.

Number of Monsters	Starting Hand	Next Draw
0	6.00%	41.18%
1	23.99%	38.24%
2	35.44%	35.29%
3	24.66%	32.35%
4	8.48%	29.41%
5	1.36%	26.47%
6	0.08%	23.53%

So, there's about a 94% chance that a Gravekeeper's player would open up with a Monster in their first six cards. That's pretty good. That is, until you realize that Descendant and Assailant aren't exactly amazing on their own, and Commandant is used as a way to get to Necrovalley.

You would also notice that the chance of drawing a Spell/Trap far out-weighs the chances of drawing a Monster. That's how the deck is built to run. There's a problem with that, though. Once your Monster dies, you can't really do anything, except hope to draw into another Monster.

This is the fundamental flaw with Stun decks. Monsters do not last very long at all in this game. They can die the moment they're summoned, and would be lucky to live a few turns. Playing so few Monsters is risky, since they are the cards that win games.

Moreover, this leads into explaining why certain other decks are so inconsistent. Hopeless Dragon decks win when they draw Future Fusion, right? Well, even with two Gold Sarcophagus, they would barely get to it half the time.

Hopefully, this will help you make better decisions when it comes to playing more consistent decks or figuring out what an optimal Monster/Spell/Trap ratio would be, or something.

Tournament Report 12/4/10

I had no time at all to fix up my Scrap Anti-Stun deck, so it was the same as last week. I was considering taking Seven Tools of the Bandit out for Dust Tornado for various reasons. In hindsight, I probably should have...

Before the tournament started, I played a few fun duels with Yusei JB from Yugilo's YouTube channel. Those videos should be up on Yugilo's channel soon.

Round 1: vs Blackwings

I was playing against Riku. I didn't notice he was there before since I was dueling with Yusei JB.

-Duel 1: We both opened up with a bunch of Traps. I had to Dark Hole his Shura so that he couldn't Delta Crow or Icarus Attack on my first turn, and I was able to keep Monsters off of his side of the field with my Traps and Rykos.

-Duel 2: He opened with Shura, Black Whirlwind, Giant Trunade, and Dark Armed Dragon. I dropped down to 950 LP over the course of the duel, but I was still able to win by using Black Rose Dragon to destroy the field and even out our card presence. We each had two cards each, so he couldn't pull off his Blackwing stunts, and I was able to win.

Round 2: vs Rock Stun

-Duel 1: He kept drawing his Koa'ki Meiru Rocks (Guardian, Sandman, and Wall), and I couldn't get through them all.

-Duel 2: He got a bunch of Traps, two Burden of the Mighty, and Morphing Jar. I lost a bunch of advantage, but I was still able to control the game until I could drop Brionac for game.

-Duel 3: Same as Duel 2, except he didn't have Burden of the Mighty, and I won with Scrap Dragon.

Round 3: vs Gravekeeper's

I had to play against Yusei JB, who was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He went first, and dropped Necrovalley and Royal Tribute straight away. I saw why he didn't Set any cards first, since he had two more Royal Tributes, Monster Reborn, and Book of Moon in hand. I only lost a Scrap Beast, and I had Scrapyard in hand, so I didn't care. I was able to beat him down with Scraps and keep the few Monsters he drew off of the field.

-Duel 2: He didn't have Necrovalley for a while, so I didn't have to worry much about it. He had to put up with my Banisher of the Radiance, wasting Book of Moon on it to prevent his Monsters from getting removed. By the time he did get Necrovalley, I already had the set-up to Synchro Summon Scrap Twin Dragon without the use of my Graveyard (Cyber Dragon + Scrap Beast). I was able to bounce his Set Spy and Necrovalley. He only Set the Spy next turn so I couldn't bounce anything, but I topped Monster Reborn, reviving Scrap Golem to dump Scrap Goblin on his side of the field. That was just enough for game.

Round 4: vs Burn

-Duel 1: He started with Tremendous Fire, three Set back rows, a Set Giant Germ, and Chain Energy. I had to keep paying to play my cards, and he drew into Lava Golem to get rid of my Monsters. I got burned out.

-Duel 2: I started by Setting five cards to my back row, so I wouldn't get Chain Energy'd to death. He Set four back rows. From there, we just kept drawing and passing. I drew into Summoner Monk, so I flipped my Giant Trunade and Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon. I stole the Giant Germ he Set next turn with Mind Control, and Synchro Summoned Catastor using Scrap Goblin. He conveniently had Lava Golem again, but it was too late. I was able to push through the last bit of damage with that Lava Golem.

-Duel 3: He opened with a bunch of Traps, including Skull Invitation and Chain Energy again. I Set Ryko so I could deal with it without losing too many LP, but ended up losing a bunch to Skull Invitation. I pushed through some damage with Brionac and Scrap Twin Dragon, but he had Lava Golem... again... He didn't really need it though, since he had so many burn Traps in his hand, so I couldn't have bounced them all to attack safely. I got killed in the end by Tremendous Fire.

So, I went 3-1 and got 2nd place. I agreed to a split with Yusei JB, since we knew that we would both be able to top after seeing the rest of the undefeated players at the start of Round 3. So, we both got a decent amount of store credit. I used mine on a second Psi-Blocker (Aki pulled and traded me the first) and a rather disappointing pack of Duelist Revolution. I should have just gotten more sleeves...

The Turbo Pack 4 was nice, though. I got a King of the Skull Servants and the Super Rare Compulsory Evacuation Device. It's not like I plan on using it, but it's nice to have. Actually, the tactical advantage of being able to play it at any time and bounce face-downs may warrant its use. I'll have to see.

To finish with what I said in the beginning, Dust Tornado would have been pretty helpful. It doesn't require a LP cost, and it can prevent stuff like Book of Moon and Necrovalley. I might consider using that as well.

Kinka-byo

I was able to pick three of these up last weekend, so I've been trying to figure out a deck to use them in.

The obvious application is to revive Level 1 Tuners to abuse Formula Synchron. Summon a Monster to draw a card, it's like you're playing Duel Masters!

The other application is in Fortune Ladies. Revive Fortune Lady Light with it, let Kinka-byo jump back to your hand and remove Fortune Lady Light. Then, you can Special Summon a Fortune Lady from your deck, and you're set for Fortune's Future, which is a card I've been trying to find a way to abuse.

Those two strategies could be combined into one deck. There would just be a few problems I need to figure out.

First is the fact that it would be hard to get the right Level 1's in the Graveyard. Sure, I could discard Effect Veiler for its own effect, and I could dump Water Monsters with Genex Undine. But Fortune Lady Light would be fairly hard to get in the Graveyard without Setting it and letting it die.

There's also the problem with getting Kinka-byo in hand consistently. Sure, using it with Fortune Lady Light lets you reuse it later, but Synchro Summoning Formula Synchron uses it up. Izanami can get it back to your hand at the cost of a discard, but it's not exactly very efficient.

Lastly, what would the win condition be? Drawing a mess load of cards isn't exactly a solid win condition. What cards would I want to draw into that would actually help me win...? They would have to work with the Kinka-byo/Fortune Lady theme, too...

Besides Chaos Sorcerer, I can't really think of anything off of the top of my head, and Chaos Sorcerer isn't exactly a win condition. Maybe Miracle Synchro Fusion and Supreme Arcanite Magician. Fortune Ladies are Spellcasters, so that could work.

It's an interesting concept, so I'll see if I can make the deck sometime soon.