Regionals Report 6/11/11

As the title implies, I went to Regionals today. Of course, I took my Scraps Reborn deck; I didn't really know what cards to change, so I just dropped the Forbidden Lance for Chalice and the two Maxx "C"s for Banisher of the Radiance and Crevice Into the Different Dimension.

I met up with vadangchoinga and Yugilo there. DarkZeroHour501st couldn't make it, but he's started up his rant videos again, so be sure to check those out.

So yeah, there were 409 participants at the Regional. What's funny is that vadangchoinga happened to get the bye first round...

Round 1: vs Newbie Dragunities - OO

-He didn't have Phalanx...

Round 2: vs Six Samurai - XOX

-This guy seemed familiar for some reason. I've probably seen him somewhere before. Anyway, he won the first game with double United leading into a Shi En/Trishula play; I won the second with Decree lockdown and Scrap swarms; and he won the third with a back row loaded with Magatama, Double-Edged Sword Technique, some Solemn card, and something else.

Round 3: vs Vayu Turbo - OXO

-It was really a surprise to play against Vayu Turbo. It was immediately obvious after he followed up Card Trooper with Armageddon Knight. Either way, he won the second duel because he topped Dark Armed Dragon with five Darks in grave when two of those Darks were Vayu and Sirocco. I won the first and third game with the usual Scrap shenanigans.

Round 4: vs Junk Doppel - XX

-First game was a shutout since he had Catastor, Shooting Star Dragon, and Royal Decree. I had a Dark End Dragon play, but I couldn't kill both of his Monsters. In the second duel, he just kept grabbing his Junk Synchrons by using Tuning or just by drawing them. He had gone through at least four throughout that one duel.

Round 5: vs X-Sabers - OO

-Mind Control was a huge asset in the first duel, letting me take his Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and Synchro with it for Scrap Dragon on my first turn. From there, I used Solemn Judgment on his XX-Saber Faultroll, and he was out of options. In the second duel, he just couldn't build up a swarm, whereas I could.

Round 6: vs Infernity Stun - XOO

-This was really interesting. It was a Stun deck with an Infernity engine. It used Pachycephalo, Rai-Oh, Infernity Archfiend, Infernity Beetle, and Infernity Barrier. I liked the idea behind it, and it took me a little while to figure out that he wasn't playing the usual variant.

Round 7: vs Blackwings - OO

-The first game was a blowout. The second, though, I had to come back from basically all Scrap-Tuners against his field of Sirocco, Armed Wing, and Stardust Dragon. Scrapstorm gave me the Chimera I needed, since he didn't negate it with Stardust Dragon.

Round 8: vs Six Samurai - XOX

-First game: United, Dojo, Elder, Kizan, draw two with United, send Dojo for Kagemusha, Normal Summon other Kagemusha, Synchro Summon Naturia Beast and Barkion, Set a bunch of back rows. My only Monster was Zephyros, which may or may not have tricked him into thinking that I played Blackwings. Anyways, in the second duel, despite getting Trishula'd, I turned the duel around with a Reborn Tengu and pushed through the few cards he had left. Third game: Gateway, United, United, Kagemusha, Grandmaster, Kizan, Kizan, Kizan, Synchro Gaia Knight, Monster Reborn Kagemusha, Synchro Stardust Dragon, send both Uniteds for four draws, Set a bunch of back rows. It was like last format all over again.

Round 9: vs Karakuri - OO

-After using Cyber Dragon to fuse with the Nishipachi he brought out with the Nisamu I attacked, I dropped a Scrap Twin Dragon to bounce his swarmed Synchros and he didn't have much left to deal with it. He then sided into Stun, with Banishers, Rai-Ohs, and Cyber Dragons. He might as well have just scooped; my deck destroys Stun.

And I don't want to sacrifice that ability while trying to increase my deck's speed. Losing to Six Samurai when they open like they did is somewhat okay-ish; but I can't seem to deal with Junk Doppel/Chaos Plants. It's hard to beat them if they draw/mill well, so I'm not sure what else I could do.

Regardless, I went X-3, which is lackluster, and got 75th place. Oh well. It wasn't as bad as losing to Royal Tributes at the previous Regional, I suppose.

I was able to get some good cards in trades, like Gem-Knight Alexandrite, a couple of Evil Dragon Ananta, Gem-Knight Alexandrite, and a Duel Terminal D.D. Crow and Trap Stun. I don't know if I'll ever use three D.D. Crows, but I'll have it if I decide to.

Also, a piece of Side Deck tech that I picked up today: Six Samurai United. You can side it against Six Samurai to draw cards. Good Six Samurai players play around Kinetic Soldier, Puppet Plant, and Gozen Match by using Naturia Beast and Barkion, but they can't not summon Six Samurai to make those Synchros. As long as you draw it (which can be said for most, if not all, Side Deck cards), you get a +1. While this doesn't help faster decks, it most definitely helps Stun decks. So yeah, good stuff.