YCS Long Beach Report

I'm just going to talk about basically everything that happened this past weekend, so this is going to be an extremely long post.  Oh, and before you ask about my Nordic Diva deck list, I'm not giving it out at the moment.  If I decide to release it, it'd be in a deck profile video on my main YouTube channel.

So, I went to sleep Friday night (really Saturday morning) at 12:30 AM after printing out a few copies of my deck list.  Right when I got to sleep, vadangchoinga texted me, telling me that there were about 2300 who preregistered, so I should get there early in case they run out of the Tour Bus participation mats, which they only had 3500 of.  So, I ended up having to go to sleep later and wake up earlier...

I woke up at about 6:15 to get ready and arrived at the Long Beach Convention Center at about 8:30.  I couldn't find the parking structure, so I just parked at a nearby hotel and walked to the convention center... When I got there, the line for registration was all the way to the entrance to the convention center.  And, conveniently, one of the loyal Six Samurai players from locals had just gotten in line, so we just talked for the whole two hours that we waited in line...  When we were about half an hour from the front of the line, they announced that they ran out of Tour Bus mats.  But, they said that if we gave them our shipping information, they'd send out additional mats in the mail for people who didn't get them at registration.  Whatever, at least we'd get the mats.

They did deck list checks at registration, which was part of why it took so long to register everyone.  It's not a bad idea, since then they wouldn't have to do deck list checks during the tournament and give out game losses and such.  But yeah, my list was good, although I think the person who checked my list was a little confused at the spelling of Tanngnjostr and the other Nordic Beasts, as he spent a little longer trying to read those names than everything else.

So, after having been driving and standing in line for like three hours, I decided to get something to eat and use the facilities.  The bathrooms and even the water fountains had a bunch of people lined up to use them.  Yeah, it was really crowded.  That made it really hard to find Devin and Dan, but I was eventually able to.  I watched Devin duel against a Lightsworn player before revealing my identity and all that cliche stuff.  I just sat with them and we talked a bit; Devin showed everyone his weird Dark World deck, and I showed him my Nordic Diva deck, which I guess was equally weird.

It still took quite a while to wait for the pairings to go up, but the lists with the pairings were much more organized than expected.  They had them by the first letter of your last name and spaced them out along the walls, so you didn't have to wait that long to see them once the lists went up.  It still took quite a while for the pairings to actually go up after a round had finished, though...

So, at around 1:00 PM, the pairings went up and everyone was seated.  Well, not everyone.  Apparently, there were so many people that they ran out of tables and chairs.  But, because a bunch of people just registered to get the Tour Bus mat and would be dropping after the first round, the people still waiting in line for registration would be entered into the tournament into Round 2 with a Round 1 bye (if they got in line before 9:45) or a Round 1 loss (if they were late).  So... onto the actual tournament:

Round 1: vs Bubble Beat - OO

Honestly, this guy didn't seem very good.  He was really cool, but he didn't play very well...

-Duel 1: He went first and searched Photon Thrasher and Elemental HERO Stratos with Reinforcement of the Army and E - Emergency Call, respectively.  He summoned them both, searched Bubbleman, and overlaid for Utopia.  I killed Utopia with Ryko's effect and was able to drop Thor after a little while.  He couldn't deal with it, so I won.
-Duel 2: He didn't draw Miracle Fusion, so I won... That's honestly what the HERO match-up boils down to, sometimes...

So, it was at this point that they announced the final turnout for the main event, which was something over 4300 players.  The actual number is probably on Konami's coverage site, but I haven't looked through the coverage yet.

Round 2: vs Malefic Skill Drain - OXO

-Duel 1: He went first with several back rows, Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon (courtesy of Geartown), and Necrovalley.  He attacked my Set Ryko, which destroyed one of his back rows.  When Ryko was destroyed, I dropped Tanngnjostr (black goat).  I used its effect to grab Guldfaxe on my turn and destroyed his field with Black Rose Dragon.  That's right, Dark Bribe isn't enough to protect your field.  I won off of the massive advantage from that play.
-Duel 2: He opened with Skill Drain and I didn't draw enough Spell/Trap destruction.  I'm starting to think that I should side three Dust Tornadoes or something...
-Duel 3: He didn't draw his Skill Drain early enough, so by the time he got to it, he didn't even have Monsters to protect himself from my Super-Nimble Mega Hamster's direct attacks.

Round 3: vs Lightsworn - XOO

-Duel 1: I went first and Set Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and Compulsory Evacuation Device.  He played two Solar Recharges, milling one Wulf.  He tributed that Wulf for Celestia to destroy both of my cards.  I would've Chained Compulsory, but he milled another Wulf as a cost for Celestia's effect, so I didn't want him to get that effect again.  Then, he played Monster Reborn on a Lumina and discarded Plaguespreader Zombie to revive the first Wulf.  He sent a card to the top of his deck for Plaguespreader and tuned it to Lumina for Magical Android.  I don't play Gorz, so I died...
-Duel 2: I opened with Crevice into the Different Dimension, which crippled his early Lumina play.  With that, he was defenseless to my stream of Synchros.
-Duel 3: He opened with a pretty bad hand, apparently.  I opened with Crevice again, which stopped his Foolish Burial into Wulf play.  I was able to make Stardust Dragon, then Utopia to lock him down and finish him off.

Round 4: vs Inzektors - XOO

-Duel 1: He took a while to set up his Dragonfly/Hornet combo, but once he did, there wasn't anything I could do.  He also used Black Horn of Heaven on my Thor, so that really hurt me.
-Duel 2: He drew Hornets, but no other Inzektors.  I was able to make Thor again and beat him down pretty easily.
-Duel 3: I opened with a Set Ryko, which he Mind Controlled to destroy itself.  He milled a Centipede, which he revived with Monster Reborn.  Apparently, he was that desperate.  I summoned Reborn Tengu, which got hit by Solemn Warning.  It was okay, though, since I had my Monster Reborn, too.  Tengu attacked over Centipede and I ended.  He Set a Monster. I summoned Guldfaxe and attacked with it, but his Set was Snowman Eater, which destroyed the Guldfaxe.  He then played Dark Hole, letting me grab my second Tengu, and passed with an empty field.  I summoned Deep Sea Diva to Special Summon Lost Blue Breaker.  I attacked with everything in order of ascending ATK, and he dropped Gorz on Tengu's attack, leaving him at 2600 LP.  I Synchro Summoned Mist Wurm, bounced his field back to his hand, and apologized to Mist Wurm for considering cutting it from my Extra Deck.  He Set a Monster and passed.  I drew Compulsory Evacuation Device and Set it.  He passed.  I summoned the Deep Sea Diva that I had been holding to make Gachi Gachi Gantetsu.  I entered my Battle Phase, then flipped Compulsory to bounce his Set Monster.  With Mist Wurm at 2900 ATK, I was able to finish him without letting him use Gorz.

Round 5: vs Gate HEROes - OXO

I had seen this person before; it was with Dan and Devin before the tournament started.  He was ChroahCresta.  I had to ask to be sure, since I hadn't seen any of his videos before (I'm just not into oricas).

-Duel 1: I didn't see any Fusion Gate shenanigans (maybe he sided them), but he did draw into two Miracle Fusions.  I was able to get rid of the Absolute Zero without losing a bunch of cards, and I made Catastor with Deep Sea Diva and Lost Blue Breaker to destroy The Shining.  He couldn't get around Catastor, so I won off of it.
-Duel 2: He opened with Stratos and Fusion Gate, searching Ice Edge and making Absolute Zero.  He Set three cards and ended.  My starting hand was all Monsters, and I drew Solemn Warning.  I Set the Trap and a Super-Nimble Mega Hamster.  In my End Phase, he flipped Mask Change to make Masked HERO Acid and destroy my field with its and AbZ' effect.  I struggled to survive, as I couldn't get rid of his Fusion Gate, and ended up losing.
-Duel 3: I just opened with a Set Dust Tornado.  He summoned Ice Edge to attack and destroy it.  I summoned Guldfaxe to attack and destroy Ice Edge.  I Set a Compulsory Evacuation Device and ended.  He Set a second back row and ended.  I attacked with Guldfaxe and he flipped Safe Zone.  We both knew that I could still attack him directly, but he wanted to see if I knew or not.  So, he took the damage, and I Set a second back row.  He flipped his Set Heavy Storm, destroying all of the cards on the field, then Set three cards.  I played Mystical Space Typhoon on his Set Fiendish Chain, then played Heavy Storm.  He declined to Chain his Solemn Judgment, and it and his Skill Drain were destroyed.  From there, I was able to beat him down with Catastor, courtesy of Deep Sea Diva, again.  I'm so glad that Elemental HERO Escuridao isn't legal in the TCG...

At this point, the head judge announced that instead of nine rounds of Swiss today and three rounds of Swiss tomorrow, they would change it to seven rounds today and five tomorrow.  So we'd get to leave earlier, but the remaining Swiss rounds would start an hour earlier tomorrow.  Bittersweet, I guess.

Round 6: vs Dino Rabbit - XOX

This guy didn't seem like he knew what he was doing.  Maybe he was tired, I donno; it was like 11:00 PM.

-Duel 1: He opened Rabbit/Tour Guide.  I was able to drag the duel on for a little bit and see what kinds of tech he played and how he would react in certain situations, but I knew that I couldn't win this duel.
-Duel 2: I opened with a Set Super-Nimble Mega Hamster.  He attacked it with Wind-Up Zenmaines, courtesy of Tour Guide, and took 300 damage.  I got Ryko with Hamster, and the Ryko destroyed one of his back rows on my turn.  MST destroyed the other one, and I summoned Guldfaxe to make Thor.  Thor negated Zenmaines' effect, and I attacked through it for 2000 damage.  He didn't know what to do against Thor, so he just scooped.
-Duel 3: He opened Rescue Rabbit into two Kabazauls into Evolzar Laggia and Set one card.  I Set Ryko and Dust Tornado.  He flipped his Set Heavy Storm, and played Mind Control on my Ryko.  He then summoned Tour Guide into Leviair to grab back his banished Rabbit and reuse it to Special Summon two Sabersaurus. That was exactly 8000 damage...

Round 7: vs HERO Beat - XX

I sat next to this guy in Round 5, so I knew what he was playing.  Apparently, he would go on to Top 4 the entire event.

-Duel 1: He opened Stratos and five back rows... One of those was Skill Drain, so there was not much I could do...
-Duel 2: He didn't have as many back rows this time, but a well-timed Super Polymerization and a Miracle Fusion were able to lock me out of the game.  Now that I think about it, the only Monsters I drew were Reborn Tengu and Guldfaxe, so that didn't help...

So, in order to get into the Top 64 from here, I would have to not only get here at 8:00 AM the next day (really that same day, since it was after midnight...), but also win the remaining five rounds of Swiss.  Yeah... I didn't think that would happen.  So, I decided to just drop and head home.  I ended up going to sleep at like 4:15 AM, so I would get even less sleep than the previous day.

My alarm woke me up at 7:15 AM, and I got ready to go.  I picked up Aki at 8:30, and we got to the convention center at about 10:00 AM.  Once again, I couldn't find the correct parking structure, since there were several around the convention center, so I parked at a different, yet equally far, place.  So, we had to walk to the convention center, again...

We were going to register for a Regional Flight, but I had seen the new Win-a-Mat mat the previous day, and it looked pretty cool.  It had a nice picture of Yuma with Number C39: Utopia Ray, so I think it was worth getting.  And, while registering for the Win-a-Mat, I heard that the Bounty Event was cancelled because the main event was still so busy.  Eh, it didn't matter to us.  So... Win-a-Mat report:

Round 1: vs Dino Rabbit - OXX

-Duel 1: I was able to use Black Rose Dragon to destroy his established field after Flip Summoning Ryko to destroy his Laggia that still had its Xyz Materials.  I flipped my Set Gleipnir to search Tanngrisnir (white goat) and summoned it to attack directly after destroying his field.  He was top-decking and drew Sabersaurus to attack over my Tanngrisnir, giving me two Tokens.  I topped Deep Sea Diva, summoning it to grab Lost Blue Breaker.  I tuned the Diva to both Nordic Tokens to make Scrap Dragon, which destroyed my Set Torrential Tribute and his Sabersaurus to allow me to attack directly for game.
-Duel 2: He opened with Kabazauls and a Set back row.  I Set Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and some back rows.  He attacked, letting me get Ryko.  Ryko destroyed his lone back row, and I summoned Guldfaxe to make Thor, which ran over his Kabazauls.  He played Heavy Storm, then Rescue Rabbit to grab the other two Kabazauls and make Evolzar Dolkka.  Then, he used Smashing Ground to destroy Thor.  I took an attack from Dolkka and considered whether or not to force its effect with Thor's.  I decided against it and just used Monster Reborn on Thor. When I attacked, he used Mirror Force to destroy Thor again.  I couldn't do anything against Dolkka after that, so I lost.
-Duel 3: I opened with a pretty passive hand, while he opened pretty aggressively.  He made Dolkka backed by several back rows.  I was able to make a Scrap Archfiend, but he bounced it with Compulsory Evacuation Device.  From there, he was able to attack me directly for game.

Aki had played against Inzektors and lost 1-2.  So, we decided to join a Regional Flight...

Round 1: vs Bubble Beat - OXO

I knew this guy from various Regionals.  Our last names start with the same letter, so we would be seated next to each other at the player meetings.  Not that you guys care...

-Duel 1: He randomly overextended with two Bubbleman to leave his field at Blade Armor Ninja, Stratos, and Bubbleman.  He attacked my Set Ryko with Blade Armor Ninja, and I destroyed his Set Mask Change.  I took the rest of the attacks directly, then played Dark Hole.  From there, I just kept poking him with random Monsters to win.
-Duel 2: He kept killing my Set Monsters without me getting to flip them with multiple Gemini Sparks and such.  He was able to finish me off with Absolute Zero and Masked HERO Vapor.
-Duel 3: After I killed his few Monsters, we just sat there Setting back rows.  I decided to play aggressively and Flip Summon Ryko to pick off one of his back rows and attack directly.  I then Set a Tanngnjostr and flipped it on the following turn, to which I met a Torrential Tribute.  I just Set a Super-Nimble Mega Hamster to keep up the tempo.  I Flip Summoned it on the next turn to grab another Ryko, and kept attacking with my random Monsters.  He eventually lost to this beatdown.

Aki had lost Round 1 to Inzektors, again...

Round 2: vs Wind-Ups - XOX

He knew what I was playing, since we were sitting next to each other, but he didn't really know how it worked...

-Duel 1: He drew two Tour Guides and a Shark, so even though I stopped the Tour Guide plays, he made a Shark play that went through and wrecked me.
-Duel 2: He used Royal Decree to lock down my back row.  Fine by me; I just summoned Scrap Dragon and beat him down.
-Duel 3: He swarmed with Zenmaities and ended with a Kitten to bounce my Set Monster.  I was able to clear out the Zenmaities, but I had to leave the Kitten on the field.  He summoned Wind-Up Rabbit, and I couldn't stop it since he had Royal Decree up.  I tried to attack the Rabbit with a Guldfaxe, and he banished the Kitten with its effect.  So, I was able to kill the Rabbit, but the Kitten came back in his Standby Phase.  He summoned a Tour Guide to grab Sangan, then bounced my Guldfaxe.  That left my field clear, and I only had 2400 LP, so he attacked me directly for game.

Aki didn't want to play in any more side events, and I didn't really want to either.  We decided to just go home, but when we walked out to the entrance, it was pouring rain.  California's weather is really bipolar, since it was sunny on Saturday morning and clear Saturday night.  We just went back into the event hall and looked around at the vendors and such.  Aki got two Ultra Rare Miracle Fusions and a Secret Rare E - Emergency Call to go with the Miracle Fusion and two E-Calls we pulled from the Ra Yellow box, so that was cool.

We also ran into Satoshi Kato, who happened to be talking to the Dino Rabbit player I lost to in the Win-a-Mat.  Apparently, he had won the mat, so that was cool.  Aki talked to Satoshi a little bit about random stuff like what decks they were playing and how many other people had come from Japan to this event.  After that, we decided to finally leave, since the rain wasn't going to get much better.

So, we ended up getting home around 4:30 PM.  I just ate some leftovers from last night and went to sleep.  Yeah, I slept from 5:00 PM yesterday evening to about 10:00 AM this morning.  Good thing I'm on spring break...

As for trades throughout the event, I was able to get three Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation and a second Ultra Rare Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo.  It cost me my Wind-Up Rat, Hunter, and a Tour Bus I pulled from the entry packs.  That's about it, since all I was looking for was Ninja stuff for a fun deck.

In the end, it was pretty fun, but being sleep-deprived throughout the whole event and having to drive there and back twice was pretty horrible. Also, leaving the event with nothing to show for it didn't feel very good, either.  Oh well, I can't say I expected much.  At least I got to meet Devin (I didn't really talk to Dan) and have a weekend full of Yu-Gi-Oh.