Tournament Report 1/28/12

So, as usual, I decided to go to locals today.  But, I decided to use neither my T.G. Zombies nor my Scraps.  I used a Nordic Beast deck with Deep Sea Diva.  Yeah, that's right.

There were about 22 players, and more than half were regulars, so that was good.

Round 1: vs Yusei Synchro

Um, he used Unknown Synchron and Boost Warrior to make Formula Synchron without using up his Normal Summon.  That was pretty cool.  But, I just Trishula'd him each game using Deep Sea Diva, Lost Blue Breaker, and a Level 4.  It wasn't too eventful.

Round 2: vs Six Samurai

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He opened with Kagemusha and Kizan into Naturia Barkion, then Set a card.  Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed his Set card, and I Special Summoned Guldfaxe and Normal Summoned Reborn Tengu.  That made Scrap Dragon, letting me run over his Barkion and attack directly with the second Tengu.  Unfortunately, I lost my Scrap Dragon to a Dimensional Prison, and his Irou ripped through my Set Monsters.  He also had a Compulsory Evacuation Device to bounce the Tanngrisnir (white goat) that I Normal Summoned to stall.
-Duel 2: I started with a Set Super-Nimble Mega Hamster.  He summoned Spirit of the Six Samurai and Grandmaster, equipping the former to the latter and attacking my Hamster.  I got Tanngnjostr (black goat), and he Set two cards.  I Flip Summoned Tanngnjostr for its effect, getting Guldfaxe.  I Synchro Summoned Black Rose Dragon to destroy every card on the field, and he got back his Grandmaster.  From there, I was able to keep control of the duel pretty well.  He used Solemn Warning on my Scrap Dragon, but it only prevented him from stealing it with Monster Reborn later in the duel.
-Duel 3: He started with Elder and Asceticism, making Shi En.  He then summoned Grandmaster and ended.  I Special Summoned Guldfaxe and Normal Summoned Reborn Tengu, making Scrap Dragon.  I used Scrap Dragon's effect, targeting my second Tengu and Shi En.  He destroyed Grandmaster to protect Shi En, and I attacked over it with Scrap Dragon, then directly with Tengu.  After a while, he was able to clear out my field, then summon Kizan and Grandmaster and equip the Grandmaster with another Spirit.  I then summoned Colossal Fighter and Number 17: Leviathan Dragon to get rid of the Grandmaster once more.  He couldn't get over the Colossal Fighter, so I was able to win from there.

Round 3: vs T.G. Plants

This was my Round 3 opponent from this tournament.  Apparently, he switched out the Zombies for T.G.'s.

-Duel 1: This duel went on for about half an hour.  I was in control of the duel for the whole time, but I was just wearing him down.  He literally ran out of Monsters by the end of the duel; he was lucky to draw Reinforcement of the Army before he drew his last Monster, which just happened to be Marauding Captain.  Using his last three Monsters, T.G. Striker, Warwolf, and the Marauding Captain, he made a Scrap Dragon to destroy my Scrap Dragon.  I cleared the field with Dark Hole and attacked a couple times with Guldfaxe to win.
-Duel 2: He summoned Naturia Beast backed by Horn of the Phantom Beast.  All I drew were Spells and Effect Veilers, so I slowly died.
-Duel 3: Since the first duel took so long, this would be sudden death.  I started with Deep Sea Diva to make Gachi Gachi Gantetsu.  He used T.G. Striker and Marauding Captain to make Naturia Beast, then Set a couple cards and ended.  I Set a Reborn Tengu and a Torrential Tribute and ended.  He Set a Monster and ended.  I summoned Guldfaxe and Flip Summoned Reborn Tengu.  I Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon and Special Summoned my second Tengu in Defense Position.  I used Scrap Dragon's effect, targeting his Set Mirror Force and my Tengu.  The third Tengu was in my hand, so that was sad.  Either way, Scrap Dragon attacked into Dimensional Prison and I ended my turn.  He summoned Effect Veiler and Synchro Summoned Brionac.  I used my own Effect Veiler to negate its effect, so he just attacked my Gachi Gachi Gantetsu to detach an Xyz Material.  I Normal Summoned my third Reborn Tengu and flipped Torrential Tribute.  I switched Gantetsu to Attack Position and attacked for game.

Round 4: vs Inzektors

This was my Round 5 opponent from this tournament.  There was one other undefeated player, but he was paired down and lost, so this ended up being the finals.

-Duel 1: He sent a Hornet to the Graveyard with Foolish Burial and Set a Monster and a back row.  I summoned Reborn Tengu, Set a couple cards, and ended my turn.  He hit my Torrential Tribute during the End Phase with his MST.  He tributed his Set Sangan for Inzektor Giga-Mantis and searched for a Dragonfly.  He attacked my Tengu and I brought out the second one.  I drew the third Tengu, then summoned Deep Sea Diva to grab Lost Blue Breaker.  That let me make Trishula, banishing his Giga-Mantis, the Hornet in his Graveyard, and a Hornet from his hand.  He drew Armageddon Knight and used it to send the third Hornet to the Graveyard.  I summoned the third Tengu and pushed for damage.  He summoned Inzektor Dragonfly, equipped it with Hornet, and sent Hornet to the Graveyard to target my Trishula.  I Chained Enemy Controller, tributing Trishula to steal his Dragonfly and prevent him from getting its Special Summon effect.  He merely Set a card and ended.  I ran over the Dragonfly with my Tengu and Set a Super-Nimble Mega Hamster.  The last card in his hand was another Dragonfly, so I lost...
-Duel 2: I opened with a Set Sangan and two back rows.  He summoned Tour Guide, grabbed a second Tour Guide, then made Wind-Up Zenmaines.  He Set a card and ended his turn.  I drew a second MST (I had one Set), and ended.  He drew and Set a Monster.  I drew, used my Set MST to destroy his Set Solemn Judgment, then Set another back row.  He drew and passed.  I Set Super-Nimble Mega Hamster. He summoned Mystic Tomato and attacked my Hamster, letting me Special Summon Tanngnjostr (black goat).  I flipped Tanngnjostr to Special Summon Guldfaxe, then flipped Sangan so that I could Synchro Summon Thor and search Effect Veiler.  I summoned a second Guldfaxe from my hand and used it and the Hamster to Synchro Summon Scrap Dragon.  Scrap Dragon destroyed my Set Gleipnir, which I Chained to grab another Tanngnjostr, and his Mystic Tomato.  I activated Thor's effect to negate Zenmaines' effect, then ran over it with Scrap Dragon.  Thor destroyed his Set Sangan, which he used to grab Hornet.  He summoned Centipede and equipped it with Hornet, then sent Hornet to the Graveyard to destroy my Set Torrential Tribute and search for Dragonfly.  He then used his Centipede and my Guldfaxe (courtesy of Monster Reborn) to make Black Rose Dragon.  He assumed that I would negate Black Rose Dragon's effect with my Effect Veiler, but I let it through. In the End Phase, I revived Thor with its own effect, burning him for 800 damage.  I summoned Lost Blue Breaker from my hand and used Monster Reborn on Scrap Dragon to go for game.
-Duel 3: He opened with Trap Dustshoot to send away my Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, then he destroyed my Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror with MST.  I couldn't do anything with the rest of my hand, so I just stalled for a while until he killed me with a swarm of Inzektors.

So, I ended up going 3-1 and got 3rd place.  At least I got some store credit, I suppose.  As usual, I didn't pull anything good from my Turbo Pack 7, and I only pulled a ZW - Unicorn Spear from the ORCS pack I bought using the store credit.

So yeah, my Nordic deck did pretty well today, considering I just made it the night before.  I don't really like how it doesn't play many Traps, but I suppose that's okay since the Monsters defend themselves pretty well.  Either way, I'll see if I can find some ways to improve the deck, and especially the Extra Deck, since it's really cramped.

Dealing with Inzektors

Seeing as how Inzektors will be legal in the TCG in a couple of days, I've started contemplating about how to deal with them.  The reason I'm completely ignoring all of the other themes from ORCS is because they aren't nearly as deadly.  So what if you lose half of your hand to a first turn Wind-Up loop?  You still have three cards, and they just have a field full of weak Monsters.  Either way, you should at least be running Effect Veiler to lessen the chances of getting looped...

Anyways, after thinking for a while about Inzektors, I've realized that the plus-4 they get off of the Dragonfly/Hornet/Centipede combo isn't all that powerful by itself.  It's the fact that they can do it three turns straight that's scary, provided they get the first one off.  Like Six Samurai, Inzektors have proven to be one of those decks where if they open well, you can't do very much to stop it, but if they don't, they can't do very much at all.

So, dealing the first Dragonfly is the problem.  The way that people will usually deal with this is by using certain Traps, like Solemn Warning or Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror, or by using Effect Veiler or D.D. Crow.  That's great and all, but they'll be expecting this and will often be ready to play around it.  It's not uncommon for Inzektors to play Trap Stun, which deals with your Traps, and they can also run Dimensional Fissure, which stops your "hand Traps."  So, if they can stop what you're trying to stop them with, you basically lost.

The rest of these strategies are rather unorthodox, so if you don't care and just want to use the generic stuff, just skip the next three or four paragraphs...

The second way to deal with Inzektors is to OTK them.  Yeah, not much to be said about that.  Just play Lightsworn or Six Samurai and hope to get lucky or something.

A third way, which is quite unconventional, is to use a deck that leaves its field empty on the opponent's turn.  How is this possible?  There's only one way I can think of: Drill Warrior.  That's right; you can keep your Drill Warrior safe during their turn by banishing it with its effect, then beat them down during your turn.  If Inzektors somehow become "tier zero," then this will be something to consider, but otherwise, Quickdraw Synchron-based decks are too inconsistent to deal with the rest of the meta.

A fourth option is hand disruption.  Get rid of that Dragonfly after they grab the second one from the first combo.  Mind Crush and D.D. Designator could work as generic hand disruption.  Dark Worlds also have access to their own forms of hand disruption, but they would lose to the same types of cards that are sided against Inzektors like Macro Cosmos.  This strategy isn't all that great, seeing as how you would have to get combo'd on before being able to use it most of the time.

The latter three options don't seem all that appealing, but they have the surprise factor that can throw off an Inzektor player pretty easily.  However, the most generic strategy of just siding in more Traps will probably be the most common.  As I've said, though, it provides the same dilemma of playing against Six Samurai during their format.  They will be able to anticipate your counters and side in counters for them.  Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about that but try your best and hope to be luckier than them.

So, how can we best prepare to stop them?  You should already know about stuff like Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror, Macro Cosmos, Solemn Warning, and Chain Disappearance, so I won't go into those.  They're all good generic options, but they lose to Trap Stun, so I'm hesitant to rely on them.  Instead, let's look at another plausible Side Deck card.

Foolish Return, that garbage Rare that you pulled so many times from Storm of Ragnarok while trying to get Six Samurai cards, isn't garbage anymore.  If they have their Hornet set up in the Graveyard, you can send it back to the deck to stymie them.  If you banish it, then they can get it back with a Tour Guide into Leviair play.  However, it's harder to access while it's in the deck, making this a better way of stopping their combo.  Let's consider the following:

You go first and Set Foolish Return and perhaps a Monster.  Your opponent opens with their Dragonfly and Hornet, and proceeds to summon the Dragonfly and equip Hornet from their hand.  They send Hornet to the Graveyard to target your Set back row, of course, and you Chain Foolish Return, sending Hornet back to their deck.  Now, they have to consider what they want to Special Summon with Dragonfly's effect.  If they have another Hornet in hand, you would've lost anyway, but if not, they will probably decide to Special Summon the Hornet you sent back and overlay for an Xyz Monster.  So, your opponent basically just used two cards in their hand to make a Rank 3 Xyz Monster.  All you lost was a Foolish Return, and perhaps a Set Monster.

What would've happened if you banished that Hornet with D.D. Crow instead?  Your opponent would be able to destroy your lone back row with Hornet, then Special Summon Centipede.  If you Chain D.D. Crow to Centipede's equip effect, they would be able to simply overlay for Leviair and grab the Hornet back.  So, you would lose at least one card plus the D.D. Crow, and they would be left with Leviair and Hornet on the field.

In both scenarios, you will have to minus, but Foolish Return is better at mitigating that minus.  D.D. Crow may make them waste a Centipede, but Foolish Return is more reliable overall.  It prevents them from using Leviair to bring back the Hornet, gets around stuff like Dimensional Fissure and Debunk, and also adds a psychological aspect to your play.  A Set Foolish Return might look like a Solemn Warning to them.  They might waste a Trap Stun only to have their Hornet sent back to the deck before they can make a play.

And if you think about it, that's the most important factor in stopping Inzektors.  You have to make them waste their first Dragonfly.  That's what all those Side Deck cards like Solemn Warning and Trap Hole are being used for.  If you use Foolish Return, you won't lose to something like Trap Stun or Limit Reverse, which would let them continue their combo unhindered.

Am I saying that I won't be using Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror against Inzektors?  No, I'm not crazy.  Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror also hurts other decks which I would expect to face, like Dark Worlds and Infernities, so there's no reason not to at least side it.  However, in an attempt to be able to better deal with Inzektors by siding unconventional cards, I will most likely play Foolish Return.  Besides, it's not like it doesn't serve the same purpose as D.D. Crow against other decks, not that people were siding D.D. Crow to begin with...

Tournament Report 1/21/12

So, I went to locals today with my T.G. Zombies again.  I'm still trying to decide about which deck to use once Inzektors become legal (next week...), but I felt that since the two Dino Rabbit players at locals switched to Tour Guide Tengu Plants, uh I mean "Synchrocentric", T.G. Zombies would be the right choice for today.

There were quite a few regulars today, but there were also a lot of little children.

Round 1: vs Malefic Skill Drain

I was paired up against vadangchoinga.

-Duel 1: He flipped Skill Drain early, and after Royal Tributing the T.G. Warwolf that I needed to follow up my Heavy Storm, and I was forced to make a Utopia against his Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon.  I held out for a few turns, but I just drew a Bottomless Trap Hole and Mystical Space Typhoon during that time, so I wasn't able to deal with his Monster.
-Duel 2: I drew an all-Monster hand, but it included two T.G. Strikers, so it was okay.  However, I decided to pass and bluff Gorz.  He summoned King Tiger Wanghu and Set three back rows.  From there, it was a lot of draw-pass-draw-pass.  After a little while, forced his Skill Drain so that I could summon my T.G.'s in spite of his Wanghu, then some back row removal to deal with the Skill Drain once I had made my Synchro Summon plays.  He wasn't able to deal with the resulting swarm.
-Duel 3: He opened with Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon, Necrovalley, and four back rows.  Those back rows were Skill Drain, Safe Zone, Dark Bribe, and Starlight Road.  After flipping Skill Drain, he drew into Malefic Cyber End Dragon, and I couldn't do anything to protect myself from all of his big Monsters.

Round 2: vs Newbie Dragunity Blackwings

He didn't even have Dragunity Phalanx; he just used Dux with Brandistock...

Round 3: vs "Synchrocentric"

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He opened with Tour Guide for Sangan.  I killed the Tour Guide with a Goblin Zombie, then used Book of Moon on the Reborn Tengu that he tried to attack with.  I used a Striker from my hand and his Tour Guide, courtesy of Monster Reborn, to make Trishula and banish his Sangan and run over his Tengu.  He just Set a Monster and ended.  I made Revived King Ha Des and ran over his Set Snowman Eater, then killed his second Tengu with Trishula.  He Special Summoned the third Tengu and used it, a Glow-Up Bulb off of One for One, and a Normal Summoned Spirit Reaper to make Scrap Dragon.  He revived Glow-Up Bulb, milling Dandylion (I wish I was that lucky...), then destroyed one of the Fluff Tokens with Scrap Dragon's effect to destroy my Trishula.  He made Formula Synchron, then attacked over my Ha Des.  I made my own Scrap Dragon, however, destroying my Creature Swap to destroy his Scrap Dragon.  I ran over his Formula Synchron and ended.  He made a huge misplay, using Monster Reborn on my Trishula instead of his own Scrap Dragon, which cost him the duel.  Also, I Creature Swapped his Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning to OTK him later...
-Duel 2: He sided in a lot of stuff like Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, which made his own deck a lot slower.  It was able to kill my Brionac after I bounced his Leviathan Dragon with it, but I was able to continue attacking him with my Zombie Master.  I was able to slowly grind out some card advantage and take control of the duel.  I was simply beating him down with Goblin Zombie while he kept drawing nothing.

Round 4: vs Newbie Blackwings

I was paired down... great... By the way, this was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament, and I won 2-0.  He isn't really that bad of a player; he just doesn't have access to many cards, or so I would assume.

Round 5: vs "Synchrocentric"

This was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I went first and just Set two back rows.  He opened with Tour Guide into Sangan and attacked with the Tour Guide.  Reinforce Truth brought out T.G. Striker, which he attacked over, letting me search Warwolf in the End Phase.  I used Armageddon Knight to dump Plaguespreader Zombie, then revived it with its own effect and Special Summoned Warwolf to make Trishula.  Even though Trishula's effect was negated by Effect Veiler, I realized that Armageddon Knight isn't as much of a filler card as I thought it was.  It actually has its own specific uses.  Anyways, back to the duel... I attacked over his Tour Guide, then he played Dark Hole to grab Debris Dragon with the Sangan.  He summoned Reborn Tengu and attacked directly.  I Set Sangan and ended.  He attacked it with the Tengu, letting me search another Warwolf.  He Set a Monster and ended.  I used Reinforcement of the Army to grab Striker, then Special Summoned it and the Warwolf in Attack Position.  I tributed Warwolf to summon Caius and banish his Set Dandylion, then attacked over the Tengu.  He didn't misplay, which is what I was hoping for, and summoned the second Tengu in Attack Position.  That left me to Synchro Summon Stardust Dragon and Set a second back row.  He summoned Debris Dragon to revive Effect Veiler, then used Mind Control on my Stardust Dragon.  I was confused why he did that.  Could he have Heavy Storm?  No, he would've made that play first to destroy my two back rows.  Would he be able to make Shooting Star Dragon?  No, his Dandylion was banished.  After a bit of thinking, he used Effect Veiler and Reborn Tengu to Synchro Summon T.G. Hyper Librarian.  He got the third Tengu, then tried to Synchro Summon Scrap Dragon with Debris Dragon and the Tengu.  I pointed out that he couldn't use Debris Dragon as a Synchro Material if any of the other Monsters were Level 4.  He then used Foolish Burial to send Glow-Up Bulb to the Graveyard and revived it to Synchro Summon Catastor with it and the Tengu.  He banished a Light and a Dark from his Graveyard for BLS, but I activated Bottomless Trap Hole.  He tried to use Stardust Dragon to negate, but I pointed out that he couldn't tribute it due to Mind Control.  I Chained my MST to destroy my Bottomless Trap Hole and clear my field.  He recognized that this would let me drop Gorz, but attacked with Debris Dragon anyway.  I dropped Gorz at that, and the Token died to Catastor's attack.  I got back my Stardust Dragon at the end of his turn.  I attacked over his Hyper Librarian and Catastor with Gorz and Stardust Dragon, then Set Goblin Zombie.  He summoned Tour Guide, grabbing the last Tour Guide, then overlaid for Leviair.  Leviair's effect brought back Dandylion, which he tuned the Debris Dragon to to make Black Rose Dragon and Special Summon Fluff Tokens.  He used its effect to flip my Goblin Zombie and zero its ATK.  He attacked it, letting me grab Zombie Master, and ended.  I summoned Zombie Master and sent another Goblin Zombie from my hand to the Graveyard to revive it.  He Chained Maxx "C", hindering my plans.  I was going to kill all of his Monsters except Leviair, then steal it with Creature Swap and bring back my Plaguespreader Zombie, but I didn't want to let him draw any more.  So, I just ran over his whole field with my Monsters.  I was able to kill him in a few turns, pushing through his Gorz.
-Duel 2: He opened with a Set Sangan and a back row.  I Set my own Sangan.  He Tribute Summoned Caius, banishing my Sangan and searching Tour Guide.  I Special Summoned Tragoedia when he attacked, and he ended.  I drew to five cards and attacked over his Caius.  I then Set MST and ended.  He Special Summoned Cyber Dragon and tributed that for another Caius, banishing my Tragoedia and attacking directly. I destroyed his back row with my Set MST, then made a Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth with Striker and Goblin Zombie to run over his Caius.  He summoned Tour Guide and made Wind-Up Zenmaines.  I revived my T.G. Striker with Call of the Haunted, then summoned Zombie Master and sent Spirit Reaper to the Graveyard to Special Summon it.  That let me make Trishula, and he scooped, revealing his hand of two copies of Reborn Tengu and a Glow-Up Bulb.

So, I went 4-1 and got 6th place.  Unfortunately, only Top 4 get store credit, so that was sad.  Oh well, I didn't really need it...

Anyway, I was able to make quite a few trades after the tournament, getting an Evolzar Laggia, an Ultra Rare Test Tiger, a third Secret Rare Gallis the Star Beast, three Super Rare Jurrac Guaiba, another Chaos Trap Hole (if you still want some, sickpenguin, I now have enough to trade), a third Duel Terminal Instant Fusion, and some other cards.  Also, my Round 1 opponent from this tournament gave me an Ultra Rare Number C39: Utopia Ray.  Apparently, he was planning on getting a Ghost Rare one, and he pulled the Ultra Rare one today after winning the tournament.  Awesome, now I'll have it if I decide to use Scraps next weekend.

But that's the thing.  Should I use Scraps next weekend?  Inzektors won't completely overtake my locals, for sure, but many of the richer people will probably decide to play it.  The thing is that I would be depending on Traps to deal with their swarms if I use Scraps.  With T.G. Zombies, I can just swarm them back and such.  However, my other match-ups would be somewhat more difficult due to the additional Side Deck hate.  As I've said before, cards that are going to be used against Inzektors, like Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror and Macro Cosmos, also happen to work well against my T.G. Zombies.  So I'll either have to side against people's Side Decks even more (something like siding a third Dust Tornado and Trap Stuns), or I'll have to use a different deck.  I suppose that we shall see...

Tournament Report 1/15/12

As I said in yesterday's post, I decided to go to locals today.  Thankfully they ran out of ORCS packs for the Sneak Preview yesterday, otherwise there wouldn't have been a tournament today.

Anyway, I decided to use my T.G. Zombies today.  There were 40 players today, and quite a few of them were regulars.

Round 1: vs Newbie Burn

I dropped Trishula and T.G. Wonder Magician on him both games...

Round 2: vs Newbie Fairies

I dropped Trishula and Ally of Justice Decisive Armor on the same turn during the first game.  Trishula killed him the second game.

Round 3: vs Zombie Plants

This was my Round 3 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He went first and opened Reborn Tengu and Trap Dustshoot.  He sent back my Spirit Reaper, but I summoned Armageddon Knight to send Plaguespreader Zombie to the Graveyard.  He used Mind Control and Glow-Up Bulb to make Trishula next turn, and I had basically lost because of that.  Mind Control should be banned.
-Duel 2: I went first and Set Bottomless Trap Hole and Mystical Space Typhoon.  He summoned Goblin Zombie and attacked, milling Call of the Haunted from my deck, but I dropped Tragoedia.  He Set two back rows, and I destroyed one with my Mystical Space Typhoon.  I used Tragoedia's effect, discarding my Goblin Zombie to steal his and overlay for Utopia.  I attacked directly, then he Set a Monster.  I used a second MST to destroy his other back row, then summoned Mystic Tomato.  I ran over his Sangan with the Tomato, letting him get his own Mystic Tomato, then attacked directly again with Utopia.  He summoned Banisher of the Radiance, but I banished it with Bottomless Trap Hole, and he scooped.
-Duel 3: He went first and summoned Reborn Tengu and Set two back rows.  I summoned Mezuki and lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole.  I Set a back row and ended.  He summoned Plaguespreader Zombie and Synchro Summoned Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth.  When the second Reborn Tengu was Special Summoned, I used Torrential Tribute to kill both of his Monsters, but he got the third Tengu from his deck.  He attacked with that, Set a back row, and ended.  I drew and he used Trap Dustshoot.  My hand consisted of T.G. Rush Rhino, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Goblin Zombie, Monster Reborn, and Mind Control.  He sent back the Rai-Oh, and I summoned Rush Rhino.  He negated its summon with Solemn Warning, but I got it back with Monster Reborn and ran over his Tengu.  He sent a card to the top of his deck for Plaguespreader Zombie and tributed that for Caius the Shadow Monarch, banishing my Rush Rhino and attacking directly.  I Set Goblin Zombie and used the Creature Swap I had just drawn.  I attacked my Goblin Zombie with the Caius I got to grab another one.  He drew and Set a back row and ended.  I attacked with Caius to drop him down to 3300 LP and ended.  He drew and Set a Monster.  I summoned Goblin Zombie and he used Solemn Warning.  I moved his Set Goblin Zombie out of the way with Mind Control so that I could attack for game with his Caius.  Mind Control should be banned.

Round 4: vs Machina Gadgets

This was my Round 3 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I went first and Set Sangan.  He summoned Machina Gearframe, searching Machina Fortress, then attacked.  I searched T.G. Striker, and he Set two back rows and ended.  I used Striker and Warwolf to make Wonder Magician.  Its effect hit his Bottomless Trap Hole, which he Chained.  I drew a card off of Wonder Magician's effect, and Set Mystic Tomato.  He simply attacked, letting me grab Plaguespreader Zombie.  He Set a back row and ended.  I summoned Goblin Zombie and Synchro Summoned Revived King Ha Des.  He negated the Synchro Summon with Solemn Warning, but I searched another Goblin Zombie.  I then used Reinforcement of the Army to get another T.G. Striker and Special Summoned it.  Mind Control took his Gearframe, letting me make Gaia Knight and attack directly.  He Set another back row and ended.  I attacked again and Set another Mystic Tomato.  He used Dark Hole to destroy both of my Monsters and ended.  I used Monster Reborn on the Gaia Knight and attacked directly with it.  I tributed the Gaia Knight for Caius, hoping to banish the Caius itself and deal the last bit of damage for game, but he flipped Torrential Tribute.  He finally drew a Gadget and summoned it, searching another.  He attacked directly and Set another back row.  I made Brionac with my third T.G. Striker and a Goblin Zombie, searching another Goblin Zombie.  I pitched the Mezuki I had drawn to bounce one of his back rows, then the Goblin Zombie I searched to bounce the other.  I attacked over his Gadget for game.
-Duel 2: He opened with Green Gadget, searching Red, and two back rows.  I summoned Mystic Tomato and attacked, but he stopped it with Book of Moon.  I Set two back rows and ended.  He used Pot of Duality to grab Solemn Judgment, summoned Red Gadget to search Yellow, then Set two back rows.  In the End Phase, I destroyed his Solemn Warning with an MST.  I Flip Summoned my Mystic Tomato, and he declined to use Judgment on it.  So I crashed into his Green Gadget, grabbing my second Tomato to run over his Red Gadget.  I ended at that, and he used Smashing Ground to destroy my Tomato, then summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, which I banished with Bottomless Trap Hole.  He ended his turn.  I summoned Spirit Reaper, daring him to use the Solemn Judgment, but he used Effect Veiler instead.  I poked for 300 damage and ended.  He summoned Yellow Gadget, grabbing Green and attacking over my Spirit Reaper.  I summoned T.G. Warwolf, crashing into the Yellow Gadget.  Spirit Reaper ripped the last card (the Green Gadget he had just searched) out of his hand.  In the End Phase, I grabbed a T.G. Striker and ended.  He flipped his bluff Monster Reborn to revive the Green Gadget I discarded and searched Red.  He ran over Spirit Reaper for a little more damage, then Set a Monster.  I summoned Rai-Oh and attacked over the Green Gadget.  I switched my Spirit Reaper to Defense Position and ended.  It turned out that his Set Monster was a Spirit Reaper, and because of that, we were just sitting there for a while.  Eventually, I destroyed his non-Solemn Judgment Set back row with an MST and summoned Mezuki.  I then used Creature Swap to steal his Spirit Reaper and give him my Mezuki.  Rai-Oh ran over the Mezuki, and my Spirit Reaper took a card out of his hand.  He Special Summoned Cyber Dragon and attacked into my Rai-Oh, but I blocked with Dimensional Prison.  I was able to rip the last two cards out of his hand with both Spirit Reapers, then overlay for Leviair and steal his banished Rai-Oh.  He drew Torrential Tribute a little too late and played too conservatively with his Solemn Judgment, so he couldn't deal with the field that I had built.

Round 5: vs Six Samurai

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.  Also, we were the last two undefeated players, so this ended up being the finals.  I offered to split with him, and he accepted.  The winner would decide which box we would get, and we didn't side.

-Duel 1: I went first and Set two back rows.  He summoned Spirit Reaper and attacked.  I was forced to block with Book of Moon, leaving him to Set three back rows.  I drew and Set Mystic Tomato.  From there, we were just playing the draw-pass-draw-pass game and slowly building up our fields.  Eventually, I flipped my Set T.G. Striker and Sangan, then summoned Goblin Zombie, daring him to use Torrential Tribute.  Instead, he used Grave of the Super Ancient Organism.  I attacked to flip his Spirit Reaper, then ended.  He drew and passed.  I summoned T.G. Warwolf and Synchro Summoned T.G. Wonder Magician to destroy Grave of the Super Ancient Organism.  I then tuned Wonder Magician to Sangan for Scrap Dragon, searching another Striker.  Scrap Dragon's effect destroyed his Spirit Reaper and my Goblin Zombie, letting me search Plaguespreader Zombie.  Scrap Dragon attacked directly and I ended my turn.  He used Dark Hole, then searched Yaichi with Shien's Smoke Signal.  He played two Six Samurai United, then summoned Yaichi and Kizan.  He drew four cards, then used Yaichi's effect on my Set Reinforce Truth, which I Chained to Special Summon X-Saber Pashuul.  He Set one back row and passed.  I summoned Goblin Zombie and Synchro Summoned Brionac.  I searched my third Goblin Zombie, and he flipped another Grave of the Super Ancient Organism.  I revived Zombie Master from my Graveyard with Mezuki's effect and sent my Plaguespreader to the Graveyard from my hand to revive Goblin Zombie.  I Creature Swapped my Goblin Zombie to him, taking his Yaichi.  Zombie Master suicided with his Kizan, and Yaichi ran over the Goblin Zombie, letting me grab my last Zombie, Spirit Reaper.  He played Shien's Dojo and his third Six Samurai United, then summoned Kageki whose effect I Veiled.  He ended his turn, and I summoned Spirit Reaper and overlaid for Leviair.  I detached Spirit Reaper to grab my Mezuki, then attack over his Kageki with the Leviair and Mezuki for game.
-Duel 2: He Synchro Summoned Shi En with Kageki and Kagemusha, then Set two back rows.  I used Striker and Warwolf to make Wonder Magician, which he destroyed with Musakani Magatama.  I drew a Goblin Zombie off of its effect.  I used Dark Hole to bait out Shi En's negation, then used MST to destroy his Double-Edged Sword Technique.  I Special Summoned another Striker and Normal Summoned Goblin Zombie to make Gaia Knight, search another Goblin Zombie, and run over his Shi En.  I Set Call of the Haunted and ended.  He summoned Kageki and Yaichi.  He tried to destroy my Set Call with Yaichi's effect, but I Chained it to revive Warwolf.  He overlaid for Leviathan Dragon, detached an Xyz Material to boost its ATK, then ran over my Warwolf.  He Set a back row and I searched T.G. Striker in the End Phase.  I just ran over his Leviathan Dragon, Set a Mystic Tomato and ended.  He drew and flipped Double-Edged Sword Technique to make Ally of Justice Catastor and destroy my Gaia Knight.  He Set the card he drew and ended.  I drew and ended.  He drew and attacked my Set Mystic Tomato, letting me Special Summon Armageddon Knight and dump Plaguespreader Zombie.  I drew Mezuki and sent it back to the top of my deck for Plaguespreader Zombie, letting me Special Summon it and a Warwolf from my hand.  I made Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, banishing the Shi En from his Graveyard, the Catastor on the field, and the Dark Hole in his hand.  I attacked directly and ended my turn.  He drew and Set a back row, which he flipped when I entered my Battle Phase: Grave of the Super Ancient Organism.  So I Set a Goblin Zombie and ended.  He drew and ended.  I summoned Sangan and attacked with it to drop him to 4100 LP.  He drew, then Special Summoned Elder of the Six Samurai and Kagemusha with Asceticism, letting him make Naturia Beast.  He ran over my Sangan and I searched Effect Veiler.  I summoned it and flipped my Goblin Zombie so that I could make Catastor and search Zombie Master.  Catastor destroyed his Naturia Beast, and in a few turns, the rest of his LP.

So, I went undefeated and won half a box of Photon Shockwave!  I pulled a Gem-Turtle, Number 20: Giga-Brilliant, Wind-Up Hunter, two Thunder End Dragons (one Ultra Rare, one Ultimate Rare, both horrible cards), and Evolzar Dolkka!  It seems as though I got the better half of the box, which is good.  Now, I don't know what I'm going to do with most of these; I don't think that I'll be needing more than one Thunder End Dragon, as if I'd ever need even one.

I may be able to find some use for the Dolkka.  Perhaps I'll be able to get a Laggia next weekend.  If so, I could toss the couple of Duel Terminal Jurrac Guaibas I have in Aki's Gladiator Beast deck and put Laggia and Dolkka in his Extra Deck.  Not a bad idea, since it adds to the control aspect of the deck.  We'd probably have to find room for stuff like Shrink in the deck, though.

So yeah, I'm pretty happy with how today's tournament turned out.  I made some pretty cool plays with my T.G. Zombie deck today, and I'm starting to like the deck again.  What I don't like his how people are going to start siding Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror and Chain Disappearance once Inzektors are released.  So, even though T.G. Zombies would have a good match-up against Inzektors in theory, it would be risky to play with all of the Side Deck hate that people will be inadvertently playing.  There's still a couple weeks until that'll matter, so I'll probably play my T.G. Zombies next weekend.

Random Stuff #39

So, I've finally started dueling random people on "The Network" (that's what Katana calls Dueling Network, and sickpenguin, Evilhamsdwch, and I all make fun of that).  So far, I have 20 wins and no losses, but that doesn't really mean anything.  Seeing as how it's Dueling Network and my rating was low from having just started, I just played a bunch of newbs in a row.  This doesn't really help me, because I'm trying to get 100+ rep so that I can take that Admin Exam that they're having.  I've seen some pretty bad rulings made by the admins there, and I want to fix that.

EDIT: And my 34-win streak has been broken by a guy who went first and opened with Manju, Advanced Ritual Art, Kristya, Dark Factory of Mass Destruction, Ritual Weapon, and some other card.  He started with Manju, Kristya, and Herald of Perfection with Ritual Weapon out and three Normal Fairies in hand to negate my cards with.  He went on to say how he's so good because he opened up with Herald of Perfection 15 games in a row.  Yeah...

But, back to the main problem.  Since a majority of the people I've played so far just quit instead of hitting the Admit Defeat button, I don't gain any rep from those duels.  You get +1 rep when your opponent admits defeat, and you get +2 rep when you admit defeat, but if one player just quits, then neither player gains any rep.  Because of this, I only have 9 rep after 20 duels... Getting to 100 may take a while...

On another note, I was planning on going to the ORCS Sneak Preview at the card shop I usually go to for tournaments.  That's because I couldn't make it to the tournament they held yesterday, and I couldn't make it to the Regional today.  So, I was planning on going tomorrow, but they ran out of packs, and will instead be having their usual tournament.  Yay!

I didn't really want much from ORCS besides Number C39 Utopia Ray, which should be easy enough to get, and Gogogo Giant and Photon Thrasher, which are Rares.  I would like to have some Inzektors and some of the Xyz Monsters in the pack, but I think I'll wait until the prices cool down for those.

So, the next big event for me is a Regional on March 10, then YCS Long Beach on March 24-25.  They'll be right after the ban list, so hopefully all of the big decks will be hit by the ban list.  Otherwise it'll just be a swarm of Inzektors (pun intended).  I guess that we shall see...

Also, I have to decide on what deck to take to locals tomorrow.  It's the same dilemma of whether to take Scrap Worms, which is slow but has a great match-up against Stun decks, or T.G. Zombies, which is faster but has some problems against Stun decks.  I like T.G. Zombies more, since it's more flexible and I can make so many different plays, but there are too many Six Samurai players at locals now.  It kind of forces me to run Scrap Worms... It feels as though Heavy Storm was never taken off of the ban list, since so many people still play Stun decks...

Tournament Report 1/7/12

As I said in yesterday's post, I went to locals today once more, this time with Aki.  I took my Scrap Worms, since they did really well yesterday, and Aki used his A Gladiator Lives deck.

There were about the same number of players as yesterday, but there were more regulars, so that was good.

Round 1: vs Newbie Dark Worlds

I won the first game somewhat easily.  I lost the second after he swarmed with Card Destruction and Return from the Different Dimension.  During the third game, he drew into two copies of Return from the Different Dimension, showed them to me, and conceded.  I would've won that game either way, since he didn't draw many Dark World Monsters...

Round 2: vs Six Samurai

This was Aki's Round 1 opponent.  Seeking vengeance for friends is fun.

-Duel 1: He opened with three (THREE!) Six Samurai United, summoned Mizuho, and used Asceticism for Hand of the Six Samurai, letting him draw six cards.  That's totally fair... He overlaid for Leviathan Dragon and detached one Xyz Material to boost its ATK.  After Setting two back rows, he ended his turn.  The only Scrap card I had in my starting hand was Scrapstorm, so I would be stuck only using the Worms this duel.  I summoned Xex to grab Yagan, Set two back rows, and ended.  He summoned Elder and used another Asceticism for Kagemusha, letting him make Shi En.  I forced its negation with Bottomless Trap Hole, then he flipped Double-Edged Sword Technique to make Naturia Beast.  Yagan could only deal with one of his huge Monsters, and I died to the overwhelming advantage.
-Duel 2: Yet again, no Scrap cards in sight.  I opened with the Xex/Yagan play and two back rows.  He made quite a few misplays, letting me control him easily with my Traps.  I was able to beat him down with a Utopia, courtesy of the Worms.
-Duel 3: He opened with Elder, Asceticism, Kizan, and a couple back rows.  Instead of Shi En, he made Naturia Beast, and that was kind of weird.  I drew to start my turn and frowned at my sixth card: Maxx "C".  I made the Worm Xex play and attacked his Kizan with Xex to bait out his Dimensional Prison.  I Set three back rows and ended.  He attacked with Naturia Beast, but that was met with a Dimensional Prison of my own.  He attacked with the Kizan, which I bounced with Yagan's effect.  He Special Summoned Elder and Kizan before ending.  I drew Dark Hole and contemplated playing it.  I decided against it, but I Set it to bluff.  He summoned another Kizan to get the ATK boost, letting him attack over my Yagan, then directly.  I cleared out the rest of his back rows with my Mystical Space Typhoon and Dust Tornado, then flipped the Dark Hole.  He was top-decking, but all I had was a Maxx "C" and a Book of Moon.  I Set both and ended.  He drew Legendary Six Samurai - Enishi and attacked with it, but I used Book of Moon to stop its attack.  I drew Mind Control and ended.  He drew and summoned Kageki and attacked with both of his Samurai.  Finally, I drew a Scrapyard... It still wasn't that great of a situation, since he could bounce whatever Monster I wanted to take with Mind Control using Enishi's effect.  But he didn't.  I took Enishi with Mind Control, then triumphantly dropped the Scrapyard.  He was shocked; since I hadn't played any Scraps all match, he had no idea, even going so far as to side in Light-Imprisoning Mirrors.  I made the Scrap Dragon and ran over his Kageki.  He topped Dark Hole, but I revived Scrap Beast with Scrap Dragon's effect.  I topped Cyber Dragon and simply poked with the Scrap Beast.  He drew and Set a back row.  I attacked with Scrap Beast again after drawing Scrap Chimera.  I Tribute Set my Cyber Dragon to be safe and ended my turn.  He drew and passed.  I Flip Summoned the Cyber Dragon on the following turn, summoned Scrap Chimera to revive Scrap Beast, and pushed for game.  His Set card ended up being Musakani Magatama, and the card in his hand was Grandmaster.  Dead draws are to be expected, though, I suppose.

Round 3: vs T.G. Stun

-Duel 1: I drew the exact cards I needed to counter his cards.  Like, exactly; I didn't have any cards to spare.  I ended up killing him with a T.G. Rush Rhino I stole with Monster Reborn earlier to prevent his search.
-Duel 2: I forgot how I lost.  Him having Reborn Tengu and double Solemn Warning played a part in it, though.
-Duel 3: I started with two back rows and ended.  He summoned Reborn Tengu, Set three back rows, and attacked.  I summoned Scrap Chimera (sadness) and used Mind Control to take his Tengu and overlay for Utopia.  It was able to push an attack through, which was good.  I Set two more back rows and ended.  He played Dark Hole, then used Monster Reborn on his Reborn Tengu; all that work for nothing, and now I was out of Monsters.  I had to lock up his Tengu with Fiendish Chain while I stalled out.  I was eventually able to make a second Utopia with two Scrap Beasts, but he took it with TG1-EM1.  He had a Solemn Warning for my Scrap Chimera, and there wasn't much I could do.  Quite sad, seeing as how I should have a good match-up against Stun decks, but I suppose that he just drew counters to everything I had.

Round 4: vs Chaos Agents

-Duel 1: Once again, I opened with no connection to my Scrap cards, but Worm Xex was enough to hold out for a while.  He had gone first, and passed, leaving me to make my Xex/Yagan play and Set two back rows.  He summoned Earth to search Venus, then milled T.G. Warwolf for Gallis the Star Beast, burning me for 600 LP and letting him make an Ally of Justice Catastor.  I banished it with Dimensional Prison, and he ended.  I attacked with Xex, letting him drop Gorz.  Yagan bounced his Token, and I overlaid for Utopia and Set another Dimensional Prison.  He summoned Venus and used its effect twice; I negated with Effect Veiler after he summoned the first Shine Ball in Attack Position.  He banished the Venus on the field for Hyperion, and I used Solemn Warning to negate its summon.  He attacked with Gorz and I negated with Utopia.  That left me to attack through his Mystical Shine Ball for 2000 damage.  He summoned another Shine Ball from his hand, then attacked with Gorz.  This time, I banished the Gorz with Dimensional Prison, leaving him with just his lone Shine Ball.  I attacked over it for another 2000 damage, then Set Solemn Judgment.  He Special Summoned T.G. Striker, then Kristya.  I contemplated using the Solemn Judgment, as I had a Dark Hole in my hand.  I let it go, and he pushed through my Utopia with the Kristya and another Venus.  I played Dark Hole and summoned Scrap Chimera to go for game.  I could've won the turn earlier by summoning the Scrap Chimera before running over his Mystical Shine Ball, but I hadn't used any Scrap cards that duel, and I wanted to hide the true identity of my deck.  Unfortunately, it failed, but I still won, so it was okay.
-Duel 2: I opened with both of my Worm Yagans.  I ended up having to bounce his Hyperion using one of them, then I had to Mind Control his Spirit Reaper to kill it because I had no outs.  After a while, once I finally had my Scraps set up, I lost my only Chimera to a Herald of Orange Light, so he proceeded to beat me down with a Thought Ruler Archfiend.  I had made a risky move, summoning Avenging Knight Parshath to pierce through his Set T.G. Monsters, which allowed him to capitalize with the Thought Ruler Archfiend.  But, if I hadn't done that, he would've made Trishula and Gachi Gachi Gantetsu instead, so it wasn't really as bad.  I Monster Reborned my Avenging Knight Parshath to run over his Thought Ruler, but he dropped Kristya and I lost to it.
-Duel 3: I opened Scrapyard, Scrap Beast, Scrap Orthros, Scrap Goblin, Worm Yagan, and drew another Scrap Beast as my sixth card.  Yeah, I lost.  I was able to hold out for a little while, but he killed my only Chimera with Herald of Orange Light, then OTK'd me with Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning and Honest...

That was pretty demoralizing... losing two matches I shouldn't have.  T.G. Zombies would've been able to rip through that Agent deck, but I probably would've had a harder time against the T.G. Stun deck.  It's so hard to decide what deck I want to use...

Round 5: vs Burn

-Duel 1: I swarmed with Worms and Scraps to destroy his back row and go for game.
-Duel 2: He burned me for a lot really fast; after I made a Xex/Yagan play, he used Ojama Trio, then Just Desserts and Thunder Short.  He then played One Day of Peace and played Messenger of Peace.  I flipped Yagan and overlaid for Steelswarm Roach.  That gave me room to summon Scrap Beast and Synchro Summon Scrap Dragon using two of the Ojama Tokens.  I destroyed the third using Scrap Dragon's effect to destroy his Messenger of Peace.  He tributed both of my Monsters to give me a Lava Golem, then he gave me a Grinder Golem.  He Set two back rows and ended.  I drew and took 1000 burn from the Lava Golem.  I played Heavy Storm, but he Chained Remove Brainwashing to take back his Golems.  I dropped Cyber Dragon and Scrap Beast to make Scrap Twin Dragon, then used Monster Reborn on my Scrap Dragon.  I used my Dragons to attack over his Grinder Tokens, leaving him at 400 LP.  He drew a Battle Fader and lost to his own Lava Golem.

So, I went 3-2, which is pretty sad.  I pulled a Lightning Warrior from the Turbo Pack 7, which isn't horrible, though.

The whole reason I stopped playing Scraps is because they're too slow for this format.  They're decent against Stun decks, but they can't keep up with faster decks.  While T.G Zombies can keep up with the faster decks, they have some trouble against Stun and other lockdown-based decks like Six Samurai and Dino Rabbit.  It's such a dilemma... and there's a Regional coming up next weekend, which I may or may not attend, so I need to decide soon...

On an unrelated note, Aki and I each bought a new WoW TCG Starter Deck.  I got the Horde Mage, while Aki got Alliance Death Knight.  Last time I checked, Death Knights were exclusive to the Horde, but I don't play World of Warcraft, so maybe there's something going on that I don't know about...

We're also looking into Battle Spirits, so if any of you want to chime in about that or the WoW TCG, feel free.

Tournament Report 1/6/12

So, first tournament of the year.  I kind of wanted to post an end of the year thing for 2011, but it didn't feel important enough.  I'm probably going to talk about how the format was throughout the year as the ban list approaches.

Anyways, I decided to take my Scrap Worms to locals today.  I expected there to be quite a few Dino Rabbit and Six Samurai decks, and my Scrap Worm deck is supposed to have a good match-up against them.  It also can deal with all of the random stuff that people often play at locals fairly easily.

There were 31 players, including quite a few newbs.  A majority of the players were regulars, though, and that was good.

Round 1: vs Karakuri

Apparently, this was this guy's first tournament.  How sad.

-Duel 1: He opened with Meklord Army of Granel.  I opened with a Set Worm Yagan.  He summoned Ninishi and used it to summon Kuick, Synchro Summoning Burei.  Burei's effect got Saizan, which was tuned to the Granel for Stardust Dragon.  He then used Burei's effect to flip my Yagan, which bounced his Stardust Dragon.  I proceeded to buy a couple of turns with Scrap Goblin and Fiendish Chain before making a Scrap Orthros/Scrapstorm play, letting me Normal Summon Scrap Chimera to make a Scrap Dragon to destroy his field with.  He made another small push with his Karakuri to get rid of my Scrap Dragon, but I made another one with a second Chimera and destroyed his field again.  He was top-decking after that and couldn't recover.
-Duel 2: He pushed through a Maxx "C" giving me four cards.  He kind of had to, since he would've had to attack my Monsters with his wienies like Ninishi and Inashichi due to their Karakuri Effects.  Too bad for him, though, since that Maxx "C" gave me a bunch of options of how to deal with his swarm.  I decided on fusing my Cyber Dragon with his Burei for Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, then Mind Controlling his Naturia Barkion to go with my Scrap Goblin and make Scrap Twin Dragon.  With only a couple cards left, he couldn't break through my field, which included three back rows.

Round 2: vs Gravekeeper's

Really...?  People still play this...?  This guy was kind of annoying, too...

-Duel 1: He wasted all of his back rows for no reason (Compulsory Evacuation Device on my Scrap Beast that was attacking directly while he had 8000 LP...twice...).  That let me finish him fairly easily with a Scrap Twin Dragon.
-Duel 2: I had control of the duel, but I couldn't capitalize because I didn't have any Scrap Tuners.  So we just sat there for the longest time until I drew into every single Scrap Tuner I had (I had a dead Scrapyard, my third Scrapyard, at the end of the duel because I had used all of my Tuners...).  In the end, he used Heavy Storm on my four back rows and his four back rows and Necrovalley.  He proceeded to use Gravekeeper's Stele to grab Spy and Assailant, then Set the Assailant.  His reasoning was that I wouldn't expect him to have Set Assailant.  Obviously not, but that still doesn't make it even a remotely good play.  I dropped Cyber Dragon, Scrap Chimera, and a topped Mind Control to go for game.  I still advocate the banning of Mind Control.

Round 3: vs Dimensional Eatos

Really...?  This is even more obscure than Gravekeeper's...

-Duel 1: I started with a Set Worm Yagan.  He opened with three back rows, a Guardian Eatos, and a D.D. Survivor.  He used the Survivor to attack, and I bounced the Eatos.  He resummoned it and ended.  I summoned Worm Xex and sent the second Yagan to the Graveyard from my deck.  I attacked the D.D. Survivor with Xex, but it got banished by Dimensional Prison.  I didn't have any back rows (I opened with two Effect Veilers...), so I was just kind of sitting there.  I got to use a Veiler to negate the effect of his Spirit Reaper, at least.  On my next turn, I summoned Scrap Beast, attacked the Reaper, and Set a Scrapstorm.  I had to negate Reaper's effect once again with my second Effect Veiler, and I used my Scrapstorm to grab Chimera.  The resulting Scrap Dragon was able to take control of the duel after I forced out his Solemn Judgment with my Heavy Storm.
-Duel 2: He opened with Eatos, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and a couple of back rows.  I summoned Worm Xex, and he negated its effect with Skill Drain.  I was fine with that, since it let me run over the Breaker.  I Set two back rows and ended.  He blind MST'd my Set Forbidden Lance, which I Chained to weaken Eatos.  He then summoned Barbaros which I had to use Fiendish Chain on.  I summoned Scrap Beast to Synchro Summon Colossal Fighter, but he had Solemn Warning to negate its summon.  I Set the Dust Tornado I had just drawn and ended.  He tributed Barbaros for Caius the Shadow Monarch, then attacked with both Caius and Eatos directly.  I drew and played Dark Hole, then attacked directly with Scrap Beast.  All he had left was a dead Caius in hand, so he couldn't do much to stop me.

Round 4: vs Newbie Dark Worlds

This was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.  He was still playing junk like Forced Requisition, but he also had expensive cards like Dark Smog and Fabled Raven, so it would still be a, uh, tough match...

-Duel 1: He went off with Card Destruction, The Gates of Dark World, and Fabled Raven, and I died in two turns.  I considered scooping strategically, as he had only seen the Worm side of my deck up to that point, but I still had a slim chance of winning.  I still ended up losing, though...
-Duel 2: He didn't draw many discard outlets, only a lone Gates.  Two pokes from Utopia and an attack from his own Grapha, courtesy of Monster Reborn, was enough to beat him.  It's neat, as that Utopia was free, thanks to Worm Xex, and I was able to use its effect to negate its own attack.  He basically told me that he had Gorz, since he Heavy Stormed his own two back rows while I only had one Trap Set and promptly ended his turn, so I used Utopia's effect on itself to get a Monster into the Graveyard for Monster Reborn, but it turns out that that wasn't necessary.  It's still cool, though.
-Duel 3: I don't remember exactly what happened, except that he kept drawing Dark World Monsters to go with his discard outlets.  Fortunately for me, he didn't draw his Graphas, so my Scrap Dragons were able to take him down without interference.  Honestly, this match was a lot closer than it should've been.  He didn't really have any idea what he was doing, but his deck was powerful enough to carry him through several duels.  If he had known was he was doing, he would've won without question.  This speaks to what this game has come to... But I'd rather not go into it right now.  Perhaps another post...

Round 5: vs Nordics

This was my Round 5 opponent from this tournament.  Yet again, it was the finals, and we agreed to a split.  We played for fun without siding.

-Duel 1: We were sitting there for a while, as I had drawn into both of my Worm Yagans, and he had drawn into multiple Nordic Tuners.  After a bit, he cleared out the field, then summoned Odin using Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant, banishing a Vanadis and Guldfaxe from his hand for its effect.  I used Bottomless Trap Hole, but he Chained Forbidden Lance.  I made a Number 39: Utopia in an attempt to stall out, but I didn't draw any more Monsters and died to Odin.  Number C39: Utopia Ray would've been quite helpful in this situation...
-Duel 2: He opened with the Valkyrie, banishing two Vanadis to make Odin.  Odin attacked into my Set Worm Yagan, and laughs ensued.  It should be pretty easy to tell who won just from that, but I ended up finishing him off with a couple Scrap Dragons.  If I hadn't played Nordics for a little while, I might have lost this duel, since playing Nordics allowed me to see which of his Set Monsters were Super-Nimble Mega Hamsters and which were Tanngnjostr of the Nordic Beasts, and I was able to make a game-breaking play using this knowledge.
-Duel 3: He Set two back rows and a Monster.  I used Heavy Storm, but he Chained Gleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir to grab a Tanngnjostr (black goat) from his deck.  I summoned Scrap Beast and used Mind Control to take his Set Tanngrisnir (white goat).  I attacked with Scrap Beast, then Synchro Summoned Scrap Death Demon (that's Scrap Archfiend's Japanese name, and I personally like it quite a bit).  He Set one back row and a Monster and ended.  I made an Orthros/Scrapstorm play to get Scrap Chimera and make a Scrap Dragon.  I was able to destroy his field and grab back Scrap Chimera in the process, and he scooped next turn.  Apparently, he Set the wrong Trap Card on his previous turn; he meant to Set Solemn Warning, but Set Mirror Force instead.  Even though I had already used Heavy Storm, he didn't Set both because he had his own Heavy Storm in hand and wanted to use that later.

So, I went undefeated and got 1st place.  Yay, Scrap Worms!  They had the new Turbo Pack 7's, so I was able to get one.  As expected, I didn't pull anything that great.  Herald of Orange Light is nice, though.

I ended up spending my store credit on the Orient Dragon I put off getting for months.  Literally, three months.  I was going to get one at the Regional I went to on September 10, 2011, but I was too lazy to find someone with one for trade.  Soon after, I decided to use Splendid Rose instead, so I put it off even further.  But, now I have one, so yay.

I'll be going to locals once more tomorrow (really today, seeing as how I'm finishing this post at 2:40 AM...).  Aki with almost certainly be coming with me, so that's pretty cool.  So yeah...