Random Stuff #43

So now that we know basically everything about the Battle Pack, we can properly analyze it.  Besides the Xyz Monsters, which are overprinted (36% of your Rares will be Xyz Monsters), everything else in the Battle Pack seems to be evenly printed.  That means no short-print Tour Guide that everyone was afraid of.

But, in such a massive set, you're bound to pull a lot of bad cards.  Even with the Rares, all of which are good cards, you're going to be pulling some useless Forbidden cards or stuff you already have tons of like Grenosaurus.  You may be happy to pull Raigeki in a sealed pack tournament, but you're probably going to be a little frustrated when you buy a box for Tour Guides and pull Raigeki instead.

Basically, don't buy the box for the reprints.  Even Commons like Forbidden Chalice, Forbidden Lance, and Fiendish Chain will be hard to pull.  Statistically speaking, you're basically going to pull two of each of these cards every three boxes.  That's honestly not very good; it's better than trying to get the original versions of the cards from the booster packs they were in, but still not good.

I mean, I'm considering getting a box or two because I'm looking for quite a few of the Commons, and it would be nice to have some of the Rares, but I'll probably decide against it.  Like with most booster packs, it's smarter to buy singles than packs, though this is a relatively good pack in its own right.

And of course, we shouldn't forget the official reason for the pack: a Sealed Format for Yu-Gi-Oh.  I'm thinking about maybe playing sealed with some of my friends after locals, if my locals doesn't start doing their own Battle Pack tournaments.  I'm thinking that me and three friends could chip in for a box (that's like $16.25 each), and we'd make decks of 30 cards out of eight packs each.  The last four packs could be the prizes; first would get three, second would get one.  Round Robin or double-elimination seems like a good format for this type of thing, meaning that at most there would only be four rounds.

And for my friends from locals out there who are confused about how a four-person double-elimination tournament would go, here's a summary:

The four players would be paired randomly for the first round.
Then the players with the same records would duel for the second round.
After that round, one of the players would have lost twice and would be eliminated.
The two 1-1 players would duel in the third round, and the loser is eliminated.
The last two players would duel for first and second place.

I understand that this is double-elimination, meaning that the undefeated player in the finals should get two lives, but they get a bye in the third round, so I think this would be a fair format.  Basically if you win two of your three matches, then you get into the finals, so it seems fair.

If anyone from locals would be interested in this, let me know.  Like I said, this would go on after the tournament, most likely at Panda Express, LOL.  We could get the box from locals before they close.  The only downside to this is that we'd need exactly four people.  I mean, we could figure something out if there's more or less people, but it would make things difficult.

While it was not my intention, this Random Stuff post essentially became a Battle Pack post.  I made this post to discuss the Regional I'll be attending on Saturday, so I'll start talking about that now...

So, the last Regional of this tournament season that I'll be able to attend is in two days.  It's also the first Regional I'll have been to this year (unless you count YCS Long Beach, which I probably would).  And while the format isn't great, and I already have my invite to the World Championship Qualifier (which will go to waste), and the only prize worth getting requires getting Top 8, it's usually a fun experience to go to Regionals.  So, I'd rather not waste it, and I'm going for sure.

What's not so certain is what deck I'm going to take.  I've been playing Scrap Worms for the past two months since it's been doing well at locals, but I don't think that it's that great against the top decks.  I've never beaten Dino Rabbit with the deck, and I only beat Chaos Dragons if I draw a fast hand.  Inzektors aren't a problem.  The deck has been a good local meta call, since people are playing Dark Worlds, Six Samurai, and other random rogue decks.

So, I've been thinking that my old Nordic Diva deck would be a better pick for Regionals.  It's a slower deck than Scrap Worms, so I wouldn't have as good of a match-up against Inzektors, but the deck has a great Dino Rabbit match-up with the proper Side Deck, and it can also hold its own against Chaos Dragons.  I mean, that's why I decided to take it to YCS Long Beach, and I only lost my Dino Rabbit match-up to Rabbit/Tour Guide games one and three.  I was able to beat Inzektors, and Chaos Dragons didn't exist back then.

I also had a worse Wind-Up match-up than I thought, but no one's really playing that now.  So I could help my Chaos Dragon, Hieratic, and Lightsworn match-ups by switching out my Chimeratech Fortress Dragon for Steelswarm Roach, which would open up room in my Side Deck as well when I drop the Cyber Dragons.

What's more is that no one would know what's even happening.  The surprise factor when playing Nordics is amazing, since people don't know how to play against them.  And even if they think they know how to play against them, you can play so many mind games.  It's one of my favorite thing about playing Nordics.  Perhaps I should write up a blog post about it later...

So yeah, even though I just got a Duel Terminal Super Rare Gem-Knight Pearl for my Scrap Worms deck, I may end up going with my Nordic Diva deck.  We'll see, but the argument for using Nordic Diva is pretty good.

Also, this is my 413th post.  Homestuck reference!

Tournament Report 5/26/12

As usual, I went to locals today with my Scrap Worms.  They've been doing pretty well recently, and I might just end up taking them to Regionals next weekend.  And I still don't have the second Atum I need for my Hieratic deck.  It's still like $25 even though Hieratics failed spectacularly at the most recent YCS.  And it still costs more than Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger for some reason...

Anyways, there were 16 players there today.  About half of them were regulars, and basically none of the regulars got paired up against each other.  So yeah...

Round 1: vs Quickdraw Junk Doppel - OO

-Duel 1: I just dominated with Scrap Dragon after whittling down his cards turn by turn.  His last card was Swords of Revealing Light, and we all know that that doesn't stop Scrap Dragon...
-Duel 2: The only Trap I saw in his deck in the first duel was Dimensional Prison and he didn't side, so I just went with Thought Ruler Archfiend instead of Stardust Dragon.  He tried to make a Synchro play, but Gozen Match shut him down, and I just kept killing all of his Monsters with Thought Ruler.  I ended up with 19900 LP by the time I had won.

Round 2: vs Evols - XOO

This was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.  Apparently he got tired of Wind-Ups...

-Duel 1: However, I made my opening play as if he were playing Wind-Ups.  I started with Foolish Burial to dump Scrap Beast, then summoned Scrap Chimera.  He used Effect Veiler, so I used Monster Reborn to revive the Beast and make Scrap Dragon anyway.  I then Set Book of Moon and Bottomless Trap Hole, leaving Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite in my hand.  He opened with Heavy Storm, a Set Monster, and a Set back row.  I drew Effect Veiler and summoned Zephyros.  I activated Scrap Dragon's effect to destroy his Set Monster, but he used a second Effect Veiler.  So, I attacked with Zephyros, and his Monster was an Evoltile Westlo!  He got Evolsaur Cerato, which I killed with Scrap Dragon, and I ended.  He tributed his Westlo for Enemy Controller to steal my Scrap Dragon on his turn and tried to use its effect to kill itself.  I used Effect Veiler to save it, and he attacked over my Zephyros.  I drew and summoned Scrap Beast and attacked him directly with both of my Scraps.  He played Pot of Duality, grabbing Evolsaur Diplo, and summoned it to crash into my Scrap Beast.  He then played Pot of Avarice, letting him send all of his Monsters back to his deck and draw to three cards in hand.  He Set them all to his back row and ended.  I drew Worm Yagan and attacked with Scrap Dragon to drop him to 800 LP.  I then Set the Yagan and ended.  He flipped Evo-Diversity to search Evoltile Najasho and summoned it, then played his top-decked Evo-Force!  That let him get two Evolsaur Cerato.  One of them ran over my Worm Yagan, letting him search Evoltile Westlo, while Worm Yagan bounced his other Cerato.  He ended at that.  I drew Worm Xex and summoned it.  He used Bottomless Trap Hole, but I still sent my second Yagan to the Graveyard.  I attacked over Cerato with Scrap Dragon to drop him to 100 LP and ended.  He Set a Monster and ended.  I drew a Scrapstorm or something inconsequential that I could Set to my back row.  When I Set it, he used Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy it before I could use Scrap Dragon's effect.  I just attacked his Set Westlo, letting him get Evolsaur Vulcano, which revived one of his Ceratos.  He overlaid the two for Number 39: Utopia, then Xyz Chaos Changed into Utopia Ray!  He wasn't really sure how Utopia Ray worked, since the only time he had even seen it used was when I used it against him last time.  I guess he got his revenge, then, since he detached one Xyz Material to boost Utopia Ray and weaken my Scrap Dragon.  He summoned the Evolsaur Cerato I bounced earlier, then attacked with Utopia Ray to kill Scrap Dragon, then with Cerato to destroy the Scrap Beast I got back.  I was top-decking, and I drew MST.  I Set it and ended.  He switched Utopia Ray to Defense Position and attacked with Cerato directly.  I topped Solemn Warning and Set it.  He switched his Utopia Ray back to Attack Position and attacked with both of his Monsters for game.  This was basically game one of the last time we played, except reversed.
-Duel 2: I opened with a couple back rows, since my hand was all back rows.  He Set three back rows and a Monster.  I drew Solemn Judgment and Set it along with two more back rows.  He summoned Cerato, which I banished with Bottomless Trap Hole.  I drew and passed.  He summoned Vulcano and attacked directly, which I allowed.  I Special Summoned Cyber Dragon to run over his Vulcano and Set another back row.  He used Pot of Duality to grab MST and played Smashing Ground.  I Chained Compulsory Evacuation Device to save my Cyber Dragon (it was my only Monster...).  He Set the MST and ended.  I drew Mind Control and passed.  He Set another back row and ended.  I drew and summoned Scrap Beast, which he let through.  I then played the Mind Control, trying to steal what I thought was a Westlo.  It turned out to be Najasho when he tributed it for Enemy Controller!  He used Najasho's effect to grab Vulcano from his deck and revive the other Vulcano.  I Special Summoned the Cyber Dragon and ran over the Vulcano he brought out with Najasho.  He tried to banish Cyber Dragon with Dimensional Prison, but I flipped Royal Decree to negate.  He Chained his Set MST, and I negated with Solemn Judgment.  So I killed his Vulcano, then Set a card and took back my Scrap Beast.  He summoned another Najasho, then used Evo-Force.  That let him get Evolsaur Diplo with Evo-Force's effect.  Diplo targeted my MST, which I Chained to destroy one of his Traps, then Najasho resolved, grabbing him Cerato.  He overlaid Vulcano and Diplo to make Evolzar Laggia, and when he tried to end his Main Phase, I used Effect Veiler on his Cerato.  He attacked my Scrap Beast with Cerato and my Cyber Dragon with Laggia.  I drew and Set Worm Yagan (hurrah!).  He attacked it with Cerato, and I bounced his Laggia; I guess he was expecting Scrap Goblin.  I drew Scrapstorm and Set Heavy Storm.  He attacked with Cerato and I used Book of Moon.  I topped Scrapyard and used it to search Scrap Beast.  Then, I used my Set Heavy Storm to destroy his four back rows, my Royal Decree, and Set Dimensional Prison.  He had Starlight Road down, but Decree preventing him from using it.  I then ran over his Cerato with my Scrap Beast and contemplated playing the Scrapstorm.  I just decided to Set it and ended.  He drew and Set a back row.  I drew Worm Xex and decided to use the Scrapstorm.  I got back Scrap Chimera and drew Fiendish Chain off of the Scrapstorm.  I summoned Worm Xex, but he banished it with Bottomless Trap Hole, so I Set Fiendish Chain.  He topped a card and Set it.  I summoned Scrap Dragon with Scrap Chimera, then attempted to destroy his Set card by destroying my Fiendish Chain, but he Chained his Compulsory Evacuation Device!  I then used Monster Reborn on my Cyber Dragon and attacked him.  He drew dead (Evo-Force, I believe) and passed.  I attacked again and passed.  He drew another dead card and scooped.
-Duel 3: He went first with three Set back rows and a Set Monster.  I expected a Westlo, again, so I dropped my Dark Hole.  He negated with Solemn Judgment, confirming my suspicions.  So, I made a Worm Xex play and successfully revived Worm Yagan.  I Set a few back rows and ended.  He Flip Summoned his Westlo, and I destroyed it with Solemn Warning.  He then Normal Summoned a Cerato and ran over my Worm Xex.  I Flip Summoned Worm Yagan and bounced his Cerato.  I then summoned Scrap Beast, which he let through.  Not wanting to lose a Synchro to Compulsory Evacuation Device again, I made Thought Ruler Archfiend.  It attacked directly, dropping him to 1300 LP, and I ended.  He Set a Monster and ended.  I topped Mind Control and played it immediately.  "Do I win?"  Yes, yes I do.  Mind Control's just that broken.

Round 3: vs Six Samurai - XOX

This was my Round 3 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He went first, opening with two United and Dojo.  He summoned Shinai and Mizuho, drawing four off of his Uniteds and Special Summoning Kagemusha from Dojo.  He made Shi En using the Kagemusha and Shinai, then Set two back rows.  I had a hand that would've been great if I had went first, but alas, I just Set Worm Yagan, Solemn Warning, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Dark Hole.  He Special Summoned Kizan, and I flipped Bottomless, thinking that having the other back rows would scare him into not negating with Shi En.  He did consider his options for a bit, then decided to negate with Shi En's effect.  He then tributed the Shi En with Mizuho's effect to destroy my Solemn Warning, then revived the Shi En with Monster Reborn!  He Normal Summoned another Mizuho and tributed the other Mizuho to destroy my Worm Yagan.  He attacked with everything and Set another back row.  I played Scrapyard to bait Shi En's negation, and he did negate it.  So, I flipped my Dark Hole, but the card he had just Set was Musakani Magatama!  I didn't have anything left, so I lost on the next turn.
-Duel 2: I don't even remember how I won this duel.  I think that he opened with a lackluster hand of Shinai and Grandmaster and wasn't really able to accomplish anything.
-Duel 3: He went first with Spirit of the Six Samurai and Kizan, equipping Spirit to Kizan.  He then Set one back row and ended.  My hand was Dust Tornado, Royal Decree, Solemn Judgment, Gozen Match, Book of Moon, and Scrap Beast.  Going first would've been nice, but I could still handle this, and I handled this by Setting my whole hand.  He attempted to Special Summon the attached Spirit, and I Chained Dust Tornado to destroy his Set Solemn Judgment.  Then, he summoned Shinai, and I flipped Gozen Match, forcing him to send the Shinai to the Graveyard.  He attacked with Kizan, and I flipped Book of Moon.  He then attacked with the Spirit ("attack the Worm Yagan!"), but it was a Scrap Beast, so he took 800 damage.  He then Set a couple back rows and ended.  I drew Cyber Dragon and attacked the Kizan with Scrap Beast.  He played Monster Reborn on the Kizan, and I negated it with Solemn Judgment (he wouldn't have used Monster Reborn unless he had no other options).  He then flipped Cunning of the Six Samurai to trade his Spirit for Kizan, letting him run over my Scrap Beast.  I drew Dimensional Prison (a little late...) and Set it to banish his Kizan when he attacked.  On his next turn, he summoned Mizuho to attack and drop me to 2200 LP.  I drew a Mind Control and flipped Royal Decree before Special Summoning Cyber Dragon.  It was my only Monster, so if he used Solemn Warning, I would've been dead in two turns.  I ran over the Mizuho and ended.  He summoned another Mizuho and another Kizan, tributing the Kizan to destroy my Cyber Dragon and attack directly.  I drew another Decree and Set it.  He summoned Naturia Beast with Dojo, Kizan, and Shien's Squire, then attacked with Mizuho for game.  I flipped my second Decree, and he was confused, but eventually realized that I was just messing with him.  Yeah, it's hard to slay Samurai when I only draw two Monsters.  Oh well, it happens.

Round 4: vs Six Samurai - OXO

This was a new guy, but I knew what he was running since he lost a mirror match in Round 1 and I was sitting next to him.

-Duel 1: He went first and opened with two Set back rows.  I summoned Zephyros and poked for 1600 damage.  I then Set some back rows and ended.  He Set more back rows and ended.  I summoned Scrap Beast, and he activated Maxx "C".  Whatever, I wasn't going to Synchro or Xyz, so he just gave me a free card.  I attacked with both Monsters to drop him to 3200 LP.  He Set another card and ended.  I drew and summoned another Scrap Beast and attacked with it.  He flipped Mirror Force, and I flipped Solemn Judgment.  He negated with his own Judgment, dropping down to 1600 LP.  So I revived a Scrap Beast with Call of the Haunted, but he flipped Book of Moon, so I Chained Scrapstorm.  I sent Scrap Chimera to the Graveyard, and he scooped before I even finished resolving Scrapstorm (not because he knew what Scraps did, but because his other two Set cards were dead Solemn Warnings, and I guess that the rest of his cards were also useless).
-Duel 2: This duel went on for a while.  It was mainly me not having Monsters and him swarming but being too afraid to attack.  I just had a Gozen Match and a Set back row, and he was too afraid to attack with his Shi En because he thought I would drop Gorz.  I was like, whatever, and just stopped Setting cards because he wasn't going to attack me.  However, once I reached the hand limit, I had to start Setting stuff, and that stuff included Fiendish Chain and Dust Tornado, letting me bait Shi En's negation and negate it with Fiendish Chain.  Regardless, I had a Set Scrap Goblin, and he had managed to summon Colossal Fighter after destroying my Gozen Match, but he was still too afraid to attack for some reason.  So I resolved another Gozen Match to prevent any more shenanigans and sat behind that.  I tried to use Compulsory Evacuation Device on his Colossal Fighter, but he negated with Solemn Judgment.  So I summoned Scrap Chimera to go with the Goblin, but he had Effect Veiler.  I Set some more back row, but he made Naturia Barkion with Kagemusha and Kizan to lock down my Traps after destroying my second Gozen Match.  And with that, his Colossal Fighter became big enough to run over my Scrap Chimera for game.  He really could've won so much earlier, since he drew really well...
-Duel 3: I started with a Set Scrap Beast (I had two in hand...) and two back rows.  He Special Summoned Elder, then Kagemusha using Asceticism.  He Special Summoned Kizan before Synchro Summoning Shi En, which I negated with Solemn Warning.  He then Normal Summoned a second Kizan and overlaid for Blade Armor Ninja.  I Chained Fiendish Chain to its effect, and he ended after Setting one back row.  I Normal Summoned my second Scrap Beast and Flip Summoned the first one.  I considered whether I should make Utopia or Maestroke.  Utopia could run over his Blade Armor Ninja easily, but I kind of wanted to keep it for later in case I needed to make Utopia Ray.  I decided that summoning Utopia was the better play (if I used Maestroke and he somehow stopped its attack, his Blade Armor Ninja would've been free of Fiendish Chain).  It didn't matter, since he flipped Solemn Warning.  I Set another back row and ended.  He attacked me with something random, (Mizuho, I think) and switched his Blade Armor Ninja to Defense Position.  I Special Summoned Cyber Dragon and Normal Summoned Scrap Chimera.  He negated with Effect Veiler, so I just ran over both of his Monsters and ended.  He wasn't able to do much from there, and using Scrapyard, I was able to fetch a Scrap Goblin and Synchro Summon Scrap Dragon.  With Scrap Dragon and my Set Gozen Match, he wasn't able to make a comeback.

So, I went 3-1, and since my tie-breakers ended up being pretty good, I got 2nd place.  I got a neat double deck box that can fit Magic-sized cards that came with three dividers.  The design isn't that nice, but it was better than the one with the Magic the Gathering design on it.  This deck box will be used for my Kaijudo deck(s) once the game comes out.  That's right, every week, I've been amassing supplies so that I'll be ready for Kaijudo.  This week, it's a deck box; last week, it was sleeves; next week, I'll be at a Regional, so I won't be getting anything for Kaijudo...

I also got some clear Magic-sized sleeves that I'll use to quintuple-layer my sleeves once Aki gets the Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal sleeves from Japan.  The Zexal sleeves are 63 mm wide, meaning that they will fit between the 62 mm wide Player's Choice sleeves and the 64 mm wide "Just Size" clear sleeves (also from Japan, but I've had these for a while).

Also, I was able to get a bunch of cool Duel Terminal cards from Yugilo.  In addition to some cool DT Commons like Gem-Knight Iolite, Mystic Tomato, and Elemental HERO Voltic, I got some holos, like Evigishki Merrowgeist and Gem-Knight Pearl!  Now I won't have to go looking for a janky Rare Gem-Knight Pearl before the Regional to put in my Extra Deck, and I also have the blindingly shiny DT Super Rare version!  And while the Hidden Arsenal 5 pack I got had no Gishki cards in it, Yugilo also gave me three DT Gishki Aquamirrors!

Of course, I wouldn't just take these cards without giving him anything in return, so I gave him a bunch of cards for, and helped him build, his new Junk/Diva/whatever deck.  He ended up going 3-1 today, losing only to AquaBass, who himself got 3rd place.  My Round 3 opponent ended up going undefeated and getting 1st place.  My Round 2 opponent also went 3-1, so it seems as though the regulars dominated the tournament today.

So yeah, it ended up being a pretty good day at locals, and I had a lot of fun dueling against Evols for the first time.  Getting the Gem-Knight Pearl was also really cool.  The only bad thing was that I wanted to practice against Dino Rabbit for Regionals next weekend, but one of the Dino Rabbit players switched to Chaos Dragons (he's a net-decker...) and the other one, JB, wasn't there today.

Oh well.  I'm not expecting to do that well at Regionals.  It'd be nice, but I already have my invite, which is going to go to waste anyway, and it'd be quite difficult to Top 8 at a Regional with hundreds of players.  I may just do Battle Pack tournaments, but if they use the same format as in YCS Philadelphia (open 10 packs, write all 50 cards on a deck list, then swap pools with another random person), then I might decide against it.  Even though that format is supposed to combat cheating, it introduces another way to cheat (stealing good cards from your pool and putting in bad cards before swapping).

Risk vs Reward

Instead of writing up my research paper which is due next week, I decided to write up this blog post.  Yeah, I'm procrastinating, but at least I'm doing something constructive with it.

This was actually going to be the topic of one of my old STORM Monday videos that I stopped doing.  Basically, it's weighing the potential costs of doing something against the potential benefits.  You actually probably do this all the time without thinking about it.  I mean, you don't Set four back rows without protection from Heavy Storm all the time, right?

Well, maybe you should.  What's the downside of just Setting everything?  Well, if your opponent does play Heavy Storm, you've lost all of your Traps and will probably go on to lose the duel.  But, what if your opponent doesn't have Heavy Storm, or is hesitant to play it?  Then you're going to be in control of the duel, at least until they get through all of your back row.  In addition, your defenses won't be destroyed by a simple Mystical Space Typhoon or Night Beam.

Yeah, this idea isn't new.  Plenty of people have talked about why you should consider Setting your hand despite Heavy Storm.  But it's better to start with an idea that you might be familiar with.

What would another example be?  Well, let's say you're playing Hieratics and you're going first.  You have the combo in your hand already.  Do you play it?

Perhaps you should.  If you drop your hand onto the field and end up with something like Atum, Photon Strike Bounzer/Number 25: Force Focus, and a weakened Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, then the only thing that you'll have to worry about is Dark Hole.  Otherwise, your opponent gets a chance to Set their Traps, like Torrential Tribute, and such.  Would you rather worry about one card (Dark Hole), or a variety of Traps?

Yeah, that was kind of a simplistic example, but it's the rationale behind pulling off a combo first turn so that your opponent can't disrupt it.

But, this whole risk vs reward mentality can apply to late game as well as early game.  For instance, once, I was facing down a Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning with no cards.  My opponent had just used Raigeki Break to destroy my MST by discarding Thunder King Rai-Oh, so the BLS was the only thing left.  I had 3200 LP and topped Scrapyard.  Well, I could grab Scrap Goblin and hope to stall for a turn, right?  I mean, if he had drawn a Monster, he could've killed me next turn.  But if I were to Set Scrap Goblin, then I would be putting all of my hope into the next card I would draw.  Yeah, I could draw a Scrap Chimera, but that wouldn't do much by itself against a BLS.

However, I could risk losing to a top-decked Monster in order to have a greater chance of winning if I were to survive to the next turn.  Instead of only hoping for something like Dark Hole or Mind Control, I would be able to draw into something like Cyber Dragon or Photon Thrasher to go with my Scrapyard.  I mean, if I just Set a Scrap Goblin, he would just banish it and he'd be one card up, having drawn a card.  This way, I'd be able to have more outs in my deck in case I did survive.

What happened in the actual duel was that I just held onto my Scrapyard and ended.  He topped Effect Veiler, so he just attacked with BLS.  I ended up drawing Dust Tornado, so I was forced to grab a Scrap Goblin with Scrapyard and Set it just to not die.  But, he drew Tour Guide, so I ended up losing.  Not a very good example when making the right play still ends in a loss, but it works.

Basically, what I'm saying is that it's okay to take risks sometimes.  Obviously you shouldn't go dropping your whole hand onto the field all the time, even if your opponent would statistically have Heavy Storm or Dark Hole only once every six or so games.  Is guaranteed victory if your opponent doesn't use Heavy Storm worth it if the use of Heavy Storm would result in a guaranteed loss?  These are the types of things that you have to think about, and determining when it's a good idea to take risks will make you a better player.

Tournament Report 5/19/12

As usual, I went to locals with my Scrap Worms.  Yeah, the deck has been doing pretty well at locals, so there hasn't been much reason to switch.  Maybe when I finish the Hieratic deck, I'll try them out, but I still need one last Atum, so yeah.

There were 20 or so players there today and less than half of them were regulars.

Round 1: vs Junk Machina Expresso - OXO

That's what Yugilo named his random deck with Junk Synchron, a Machina engine, and Rocket Arrow Express in it.  Yeah, the Rocket Arrow Express doesn't do anything unless he's top-decking or is using it to revive Machina Fortress.

I think that he's going to upload videos of these duels, so I won't give an in depth description of the match.  So, check out his channel for when he uploads them.

Round 2: vs Quickdraw Junk Doppel - OO

What's with all of the Junk today...?

-Duel 1: He opened with three back rows, then played Tuning for Quickdraw Synchron and milled Solemn Judgment.  I Set three back rows and Worm Yagan.  He summoned Card Trooper, milling Pot of Avarice, Level Eater, and some other card.  When it attacked my Yagan, I bounced it, and he ended.  I drew, Set a card, and passed.  He summoned Junk Synchron to revive Level Eater and make Armory Arm.  I took 1800 damage directly and he ended his turn.  I topped Scrap Beast and summoned it.  He let it through, so I played Mind Control (I still want this banned, by the way) to steal his Armory Arm and Synchro Summon Stardust Dragon.  He used Torrential Tribute on the summon, so I negated with Stardust Dragon and revived it in the End Phase.  He used Mirror Force when I attacked with Stardust on the following turn, so I negated that, too.  I took some burn from Magic Cylinder the turn after that, but then he ran out of Traps.  And with Stardust Dragon protecting my four back rows, there wasn't much he could do.
-Duel 2: Neither of us opened with many Monsters.  We both just Set random cards for a while, then he randomly summoned Magical Android using two Level Eaters that he had Set along with a Junk Synchron he summoned with no targets.  Bottomless Trap Hole banished his Android, and Chain Disappearance banished his Nimble Momongas.  After a while, I was able to summon a Scrap Beast and beat him down a little bit.  He summoned Junk Synchron to revive Level Eater, and I locked him down with Gozen Match.  I got another Scrap Beast using Scrapyard and beat him down for a while before finally being able to make Scrap Dragon to control the game.

There were four undefeated players left at this point.  Me, JB, AquaBass (my Round 3 opponent from this tournament), and my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.

Round 3: vs Dino Rabbit - XX

I was paired up against JB.  He always gets frustrated when we have to play each other in tournament because he says it's intimidating to play against me.  But regardless, he won this match pretty decisively.  I'm pretty sure Yugilo got videos of this match, too, so I won't bother typing out everything.

Round 4: vs Six Samurai - OO

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.  The funny thing is that he gave AquaBass the win earlier when they were paired up in Round 2 because he wanted to avoid playing against me in the semi-finals or finals.  How ironic.

-Duel 1: He went first and opened up with United into Kageki and Elder.  He drew two using United, then played a second United and Special Summoned Kizan.  He overlaid the Kageki and Elder for M-X-Saber Invoker to Special Summon another Kizan and draw two cards off of United.  He Set two back rows, overlaid for Utopia, and ended.  I used MST to blindly destroy one of his Traps, then played Mind Control to steal Utopia. I Xyz Chaos Changed it into Utopia Ray and he responded with Compulsory Evacuation Device.  So I summoned Scrap Chimera to run over Invoker and Set two cards.  He blindly used MST on my Scrapstorm, which I Chained to put Scrap Beast into the Graveyard.  He Set some back rows and passed.  I Set Worm Yagan and ended.  He Special Summoned Elder and Grandmaster, then attacked with Grandmaster, but I used Fiendish Chain to stop it.  I then used Scrapyard for Scrap Goblin and Set it.  After a while, I was able to make Scrap Dragon and wreck his field, since he apparently couldn't draw his Kagemusha.
-Duel 2: He opened Kageki and Kagemusha into Shi En and Set two back rows.  I summoned Worm Xex and used its effect to dump Worm Yagan.  He responded with Book of Moon to put Xex face-down so that I couldn't revive Yagan.  I Set three cards and ended.  He used Night Beam to target my Fiendish Chain.  I Chained Compulsory Evacuation Device to target his Shi En.  He Chained Shi En's effect, and I Chained the Fiendish Chain he targeted with Night Beam to negate Shi En's effect.  So I was able to bounce his Shi En.  He played United and summoned Kagemusha.  I used Dust Tornado to destroy his United, and he used Asceticism to summon an Elder from his deck.  He made Shi En again and ran over my Set Worm Xex.  I topped another Worm Xex and summoned it to dump and revive the second Yagan.  He drew and Set a card before attacking over my Xex.  I played Heavy Storm to destroy his one Set card, a bluff United, then Flip Summoned Worm Yagan to bounce his Shi En again.  I then summoned Scrap Chimera (with no targets, again...) and attacked with both before creating an overlay network to Xyz Summon Utopia.  He drew and passed.  I attacked with Utopia again and Set a bluff.  He played Night Beam, destroying my Scrapstorm, and ended.  I attacked again with Utopia and ended.  He drew and scooped, showing me Grandmaster and some other dead card (Magatama or Warning, I think).

So, I ended up going 3-1 and getting 3rd place, which is pretty good, I suppose.  JB ended up winning the tournament, and AquaBass got 2nd (as a result of conspiracies mentioned above), so congratulations to both of them.

With my winnings, I got a Naturia Pineapple and some Magic-sized sleeves so that I'll have them when Kaijudo comes out.  I'm still really excited for Kaijudo...

The reasoning behind the Naturia Pineapple is this: a Naturia engine consisting of one Pineapple and three Naturia Marron.  When you draw and summon the first Marron, you can use it to send Pineapple to the Graveyard from your deck.  Then, after that Marron dies, when you summon the second Marron, you send the third Marron to the Graveyard.  Then, you use Marron's second effect to send the two Marrons in your Graveyard back to your deck to draw a card.  You can do this every time you summon Marron after the first one.  This is just a random idea I came up with.  There's no deck that can make use of this engine very effectively that I can think of at the moment, but it may come up someday and cause Naturia Marron to become a good card.  Just something to think about, I guess.

So yeah, Scrap Worms did alright again, I guess.  I should probably side more against Dino Rabbit, though it's pretty difficult to side against that deck, especially when they go first.  We'll see, I guess.

Tournament Report 5/12/12

As usual, I decided to go to locals today.  And, as usual, I was playing Scrap Worms.  Yeah, nothing much.

There were 22 players there today with about half of the players being regulars.  The other half were a combination of newbs and players new to this local.

Round 1: vs Dark Worlds - OO

-Duel 1: He beat me down with Grapha and Sillva with Gates up to knock me down to 2400 LP.  The only Monsters I had were Photon Thrasher and Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite, so I made a Utopia and ran over his Sillva using Mystical Space Typhoon on his Gates.  I blocked the next two attacks from Grapha and used Solemn Warning on his Trance Archfiend.  That dropped me down to 400 LP, letting me Xyz Chaos Change into Utopia Ray and kill his Grapha.  With my Traps, I was able to prevent him from bringing back his Grapha and I used Solemn Judgment on the Dark World Dealings he was trying to dig for answers with.
-Duel 2: I opened Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror and Worm Xex, so he couldn't really do anything.  I don't think that he knew that he could revive Grapha with Shadow-Imprisoning active, but I had Bottomless Set and ready for it anyway.

Round 2: vs Herald Agent Fairies - XOO

-Duel 1: He went first with Venus into Gachi Gachi Gantetsu and a Set Royal Decree.  My hand was three Traps, Worm Xex, Zephyros, and Scrapyard.  I summoned Worm Xex and he destroyed it with Herald of Orange Light.  I had no follow-up and died to his swarm.
-Duel 2: I opened with a Set Worm Yagan and some back rows.  He summoned Earth, which I had to Warning.  He then Set Royal Decree and another back row and ended.  I was able to push for some damage before he dropped Hyperion and started beating me down.  After Setting up my Graveyard for like four turns, I drew Dark Hole... So, I destroyed his Hyperion and Set Mystical Shine Ball and pushed for damage with Scrap Chimera and Scrap Beast.  I made Scrap Dragon to destroy his Decree, making my Traps live again.  He tried to Monster Reborn the Hyperion, but I Chained Maxx "C", then used Book of Moon on Hyperion's summon (thank you lack of Ignition Priority!).  I destroyed his Hyperion on the following turn with Scrap Dragon's effect and attacked for game.
-Duel 3: He opened with Duality into Jupiter, with his other choices being Venus and Royal Decree.  Then, he Set a Monster and a back row.  For the first time this match, I drew some back row removal, so I blasted his Set Decree with MST (he drew Decree every game!  I wish I could draw like that).  Scrap Beast ran over his Shine Ball, meaning that he was pretty desperate.  Next, Bottomless Trap Hole banished his Venus, and he really had no answers after that.

Round 3: vs Some weird Dark deck - OO

Don't get me wrong, this guy was a pretty good player, and he obviously thought through his deck.  It was like a Dark-centered "good stuff" deck, and it was pretty cool.  It's the kind of deck I'd like to run if the meta weren't so horrible.  I guess that's what the Yugilo Format is for, though.

-Duel 1: I opened with a Worm Xex play, and he thought I was playing Worms.  I was able to conceal the Scrap half of my deck until I used Scrap Goblin and Worm Yagan to destroy his three back rows and a Set Monster, then make another Worm Xex play to take control of the field.  With only three cards in hand against my six cards total, he couldn't do much.  He made a last ditch Dark Creator play, which I cut off with Fiendish Chain.  I then bounced his Creator with Yagan and summoned Scrap Chimera to revive the Goblin (I hadn't gotten to my Beast).  Monster Reborn revived my Cyber Dragon, letting me make Scrap Dragon to destroy his Set Monster and clear the field for game.
-Duel 2: Since he hadn't seen how Scraps really work, he sided in Chain Disappearance, and it ended up being Set on his field for the whole game.  I was able to make Scrap Dragon pretty quickly and control the duel with it, destroying the Monsters he Set, like Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo and Spirit Reaper.  I was able to be reckless since I had Royal Decree up, not that his Chain Disappearance would've done anything...

I was one of the last two players going undefeated into the final round.  The other one was my Round 3 opponent from this tournament.  We weren't sure whether to split or not, so we rolled a dice.  Evens, we split, odds, we play for it.  He rolled a 2, so we decided to split.  We also rolled to see if we would Side Deck or not.  Evens, we would, odds, we wouldn't.  He rolled a 1.  So essentially, we were playing a fun match without siding.

Round 4: vs Wind-Ups - OXO

-Duel 1: He opened three Tour Guide and two Wind-Up Rabbits.  What an expensive hand.  He summoned Tour Guide for Sangan, Set a card, and ended.  I summoned Worm Xex, which he Warned.  So then I Special Summoned Photon Thrasher to run over his Tour Guide.  I Set two and ended.  He summoned his second Tour Guide, grabbing Tour Bus and making Zenmaity.  I used Bottomless Trap Hole, and his Tour Bus sent his Tour Guide back to his deck.  He Set a card and ended.  I didn't want to attack the Sangan and let him get a Wind-Up Shark, so I Set another Bottomless and ended.  He summoned his third Tour Guide and made another Zenmaity, but my other Bottomless Trap Hole dealt with that.  I still didn't want to kill the Sangan, so I Set a second Call of the Haunted and ended.  He summoned Wind-Up Rabbit and ended.  I attacked the Rabbit to force him to banish it, then Set my Scrap Chimera and Mind Control.  He got back his Rabbit and summoned another one.  He overlaid for the third Zenmaity and Special Summoned Hunter.  Hunter got rid of the only card in my hand, Cyber Dragon, and attacked my Set Chimera.  I attacked his Hunter with Photon Thrasher, but he flipped Mirror Force (I was worried it was Torrential, seeing as he had left his Sangan and Wind-Up Rabbit out earlier).  I used Call of the Haunted to try and revive Thrasher, but he flipped Solemn Warning.  I flipped my second Call to successfully revive my Thrasher and kill his Hunter.  He used Wind-Up Rat and Wind-Up Shark to make Leviathan Dragon and leave out a Wind-Up Rabbit.  Leviathan Dragon killed my Thrasher, and I Set the Book of Moon I drew.  He summoned his third Rabbit, meaning that his field was two Wind-Up Rabbits, Sangan, and Leviathan Dragon.  He attacked with everything, and I Booked his Dragon.  Besides my Set Mind Control, I was top-decking, so I asked my deck for Worm Xex, and it gave me Worm Yagan.  So I Set the Yagan, bluffing Scrap Goblin ("if only I had drawn a Monster with Attack Points").  He summoned Wind-Up Magician and used one Rabbit's effect to banish itself and trigger Magician's effect.  That got him a Shark, letting him overlay to Utopia.  He attacked with Leviathan, and I flipped over my Worm Yagan and contemplated my choice.  He said I had to choose Utopia or I'd lose.  I had 3800 LP, so I could take attacks from Utopia and Sangan, so I bounced his Wind-Up Rabbit.  He attacked with the other two to drop me to 300 LP and ended.  I topped MST, which wasn't helpful.  But, I still had my Set Mind Control.  I took his Utopia and Xyz Chaos Changed into Utopia Ray!  After using two Warnings, he was at low enough LP for me to finish him off with Utopia Ray, so I detached two Xyz Materials to reduce his Leviathan Dragon's ATK to 0 and ran over it for game!  Overlay Charge!
-Duel 2: He opened Wind-Up Factory, Wind-Up Rabbit, and one Set back row.  I summoned Scrap Beast and attacked.  He used Rabbit's effect, and I Chained MST to destroy the Factory.  I then Set three back rows (Scrapstorm, Dark Hole, and a real Trap).  He used MST in my End Phase and successfully hit the Scrapstorm, then used Heavy Storm on the rest.  He then Hunter looped my last two cards and won from there.
-Duel 3: I started with a Worm Xex play and two back rows.  He played Heavy Storm, destroying my Mind Control and Monster Reborn!  I had to Set them, out of fear of getting looped.  Bluffing is also nice.  Regardless, he played Wind-Up Rabbit, a Factory, and a back row.  I summoned Scrap Beast and attacked with it and Xex.  His Rabbit ran away, leaving him to take all of the damage, but he was able to search a Wind-Up Shark with Factory.  I then Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon and Set a Scrapstorm to destroy with its effect so that I could get rid of his Factory.  He used his Wind-Up Rabbit and Shark to Hunter loop the rest of my hand (Scrap Chimera and Worm Yagan), then ended with Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity and Number 30: Acid Golem of Destruction.  His Golem destroyed my Scrap Dragon, letting me revive Scrap Beast.  He ended his turn with a total of three Set back rows.  I drew MST and blindly used it on his MST, though I had no back row for him to plus off of.  I Flip Summoned Worm Yagan, but he used Solemn Warning.  I then ran over his Zenmaity with my Scrap Beast and ended.  He detached one of Acid Golem's Xyz Materials and attacked over my Scrap Beast.  I drew Cyber Dragon and ended.  He took 2000 burn from Acid Golem, dropping him to 600 LP, before attacking me directly, dropping me to 3400 LP.  I Special Summoned my Cyber Dragon in Defense Position and Set Bottomless Trap Hole.  He couldn't do anything and lost to his own Acid Golem.  He didn't really have a choice, though; he needed to get rid of my Scrap Dragon and he couldn't do it any other way.

So yeah, I ended up going undefeated and getting 1st place!  With my store credit, I immediately got a Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger and a Number 25: Force Focus.  They were a lot less expensive than I had expected.  And, now that I've gotten those and two more Tefnuit, I'm only one Atum away from completing my Hieratic deck!  Somehow, Atum still costs more than Gaia Dragon, which makes no sense, but whatever.

But yeah, I will be able to switch to Hieratics soon, though I'm hesitant, as Scrap Worms have been doing quite well at locals.  I mean, at something like a Regional, which I will be going to on June 2, Scrap Worms might not be able to handle all of the Dino Rabbits, but the deck is good at the locals I go to.  We'll see, I guess.  I'd probably just switch decks as soon as I end up going X-2 one weekend at locals.  That's generally how I decide when to switch decks, ha ha.

My Rotom mat has also been getting pretty old and dirty.  I may have to switch play mats soon.  I could get another Rotom mat custom made so that I could keep using my signature play mat, or I could just go with one of the numerous play mats that I have collected over the years (don't say the Tour Bus or Neo Galaxy-Eyes play mats--they're most likely going to be sold soon).  I personally like the WoW: TCG Twilight of the Dragons play mat.  But, I do have the money for another custom play mat, so we'll see.  Actually, I've wanted to get a play mat with Daigusto Emerald and Lavalval Chain on it; both their usual pictures and also as they appear on Overlay Regenerate.

Wouldn't this look so cool on a play mat?

Alas, I don't have the Photoshop skills to make such a mat.  It's a nice dream, though.

Lastly, Kaijudo seems like it'll be pretty popular at my locals.  A lot of my friends there that I've talked to said that they're either willing to try the game or have played Duel Masters and are eagerly waiting its return.  The only problem is when the tournaments would be.  One option would be before the usual Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments, but that would overlap with the upcoming Battle Pack tournaments.  I was looking forward to the Battle Pack, but seeing that the tournament structure would most likely be 10 packs and a 40-card deck, that takes all of the deck-building skill out of the event.  You're only going to have 46.4 Main Deck cards on average, since 3.6 of your 50 cards should be Xyz Monsters, meaning that you just take out the worst 6.4 cards and you have your deck.  The Battle Pack is a nice change of pace from the usual format, but even it cannot compete with Kaijudo (that means that I'd play Kaijudo over Battle Pack tournaments, if I was being too vague).

Random Stuff #42

So, my next three weeks are going to be filled with homework.  I'm a little ahead of schedule, though, so I figured that I could type up a blog post...

I've been looking into Kaijudo quite a bit, and it looks really cool.  In addition to new Creatures like Tatsurion the Unchained, Razorkinder Puppet of Miasma Pit, Reef Prince Glu-Urrgle, and Aqua Seneschal, there's also plenty of Creatures from the previous version of the game, like Marrow Ooze, Sniper Mosquito, and Stonesaur.  I've been playing the Kaijudo Battle Game, and it's pretty interesting.  A lot of it is luck, but there is quite a bit of strategy involved.  I've finished all of the stages, though, so I don't think I'll be playing it anymore for now.  It was nice to at least see a glimpse of what the real game would be like by seeing some of the cards.

But yeah, I'm going to try and get two of the Battle Decks so that I could have multiples of each of the cards.  From what we know, there are 80 cards between the two decks and 43 unique cards.  Because Tatsurion and Razorkinder are most likely one-of's, that means that the remaining 78 cards contain 41 unique cards.  That means some will certainly have multiples while some will not.  So, I'll have to figure it out once I finally get the decks or when the contents get spoiled, whichever comes first.  Regardless, I'm really excited; I'll probably make a video of me opening the decks and I may start making Kaijudo videos.

In other news, the prize cards for Yu-Gi-Oh Battle Pack tournaments have been announced.  Some of them are cool.  The only ones I would be disappointed to get are Blackwing Armor Master, Gleipnir, and Coelacanth.  That's simply because I already have so many of each of those cards that are already holo, except Coelacanth, which I don't care about (and Aki has Ultra Rares anyways).  The cards only available at YCS's, World Championship Qualifiers, and such would be incredibly hard to get.  Next time I get to go to a YCS, I might just spend all of my time on Battle Pack tournaments just to get those cards.  Otherwise, they're all easily obtainable cards, so I won't really care if I can't get any Starfoil versions.

Speaking of easily obtainable cards, apparently Tefnuits are not easily obtainable, since they're the last Main Deck cards I need for my Hieratic deck and I'm still searching for them.  I've been using Photon Leo as a proxy for it, but I'd like to have the whole deck fairly soon.  But yeah, from what I've seen, the deck works pretty well with Hanzos and Vortex Troopers, but the OTK is really the only win condition.  I guess that locking the opponent down with Photon Strike Bounzer or something is good, too, but it's not hard to get around.  Eh, we'll see what happens.

For now, I'll be sticking to my Scrap Worms.  They've served me well, bla bla, sentimental stuff, bla bla.  Really though, it's not a bad call for my locals.  Its bad match-ups are Dino Rabbit and Chaos Dragons, but if I can sit on a Scrap Dragon, the latter isn't very difficult, and I'll just have to side more against the former.  One change that I'm thinking about making since GAOV is now legal is adding my Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger to my Extra Deck in case I use Mind Control on a Rank 5 or 6 Xyz Monster.  Theoretically, I could also use it by overlaying something like a Scrap Archfiend and another Level 7 Monster, but that's probably not going to happen.  So far, the Extra Deck is kind of packed (I even dropped Colossal Fighter), so I'm not sure what else I could take out.  Theoretically, I don't need to use three Scrap Dragons anymore because of the advent of Xyz Monsters, but it's nice to have them.  Honestly, I can't remember the last time I used three Scrap Dragons in one duel since Xyz Monsters were released.  Maybe it'll be worth a try...

Also, on a random note, I ran into my Round 6 opponent from this tournament today (really yesterday, since it's after midnight).  It was really weird, since I didn't realize it at first.  I thought that he was some guy from one of my classes or something, since I did recognize him, but didn't remember from where.  After thinking about it over lunch, I realized who he was, and it was really interesting to see him at school of all places.  I don't know if he still plays Yu-Gi-Oh, since I haven't seen him for over a year and a half, but it was nice seeing him again, even though we didn't like talk or anything.  But yeah, that was just a random thing that happened to me today.

So yeah, now to go back to suffering through homework and being excited about Kaijudo.

Tournament Report 5/5/12

So, I was able to go to locals today, as usual.  I took my Scrap Worm deck, which I haven't even touched since two weeks ago.

There were 18 players here today, with most of them being regulars.  Unfortunately, my first opponent ended up being...

Round 1: vs Six Samurai

JB.  He wasn't too happy that we were paired up in Round 1.

-Duel 1: He passes his first turn, then uses Heavy Storm on my two Set cards and swarms with two Uniteds.  I had to use my Traps on his Utopia so I wouldn't die, meaning that I couldn't get around his Naturia Beast.
-Duel 2: I went first and Set Gozen Match and another Trap.  When he summoned Elder and Kagemusha, Gozen Match forced him to make Naturia Beast.  He flipped Macro Cosmos on my turn to prevent any Scrap shenanigans, but that also shut off his Naturia Beast's effect.  So, I played Scrapyard to search for Scrap Beast, then played Mind Control to steal his Beast.  With both Beasts, I made Scrap Twin Dragon and won with that.
-Duel 3: He didn't draw much back row, so I was able to capitalize pretty easily with Scrap Dragon.

Round 2: vs Six Samurai

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I went first and made a Worm Xex play, forcing him to make a sub-optimal Kageki into Kizan play.  With that momentum, I was able to beat him down with Scrap Dragon thanks to Monster Reborn.
-Duel 2: He opened Reinforcement of the Army and Shien's Smoke Signal to grab Kageki and Kagemusha, then played two Super Rare Six Samurai United (the fact that they're Super Rare is very important...) and swarmed me with T.G. Hyper Librarian and Naturia Beast.  On the following turn, he made Shi En and Naturia Barkion, so I died quite quickly.
-Duel 3: I don't really remember how I won.  I think it was due to Worm Xex beatdown.

Round 3: vs Six Samurai

This was my Round 3 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He opened with Reinforcement of the Army and Shien's Smoke Signal to grab Kageki and Kagemusha, then played two Rare Six Samurai Uniteds (if they were Super Rare, maybe he would've won this game...).  He made Shi En with Kizan backing it and Set two back rows before ending.  I summoned Worm Xex, but he used Solemn Warning.  That left me free to use Pot of Duality to grab a Worm Yagan.  I Set three back rows and ended.  He summoned another Kizan, then attacked with all three.  After that, he flipped Cunning of the Six Samurai, which I had to negate with my Solemn Judgment.  He ended at that.  I flipped Book of Moon on my turn to target his Shi En, then flipped my bluff Dark Hole to destroy his Samurai.  I Set Worm Yagan and ended.  He summoned Shi En again somehow and ended with one back row.  I Flip Summoned the Worm Yagan, bouncing his Shi En, then summoned Scrap Beast.  I made Thought Ruler Archfiend and attacked him.  He couldn't deal with it, so I won.
-Duel 2: He went first with a Mizuho, Kizan, and four back rows.  I Special Summoned Cyber Dragon and ran over the Mizuho before Setting three back rows.  From there, it was just my Cyber Dragon killing all of his Samurai while he locked me down with Rivalry of Warlords.  He tried to make a Mizuho play, but I flipped Gozen Match to cut it off.  He couldn't kill that one Cyber Dragon, which was the only Monster I needed for the whole duel, apparently.

So, after beating all of the Six Samurai players there today, I gained the title of "Samurai Killer."  Yay, I guess.  I mean, I guess people forgot that I made the Scrap Worm deck in the Six Samurai format to beat Six Samurai... That was the whole point of the deck...

By the way, I was one of the last three remaining undefeated players.  I ended up getting paired down.

Round 4: vs Dino Rabbit

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I was keeping control of the duel from the beginning with my Thought Ruler Archfiend, but he used Gold Sarcophagus for Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, which eventually killed my Thought Ruler.  I was able to make Catastor using Zephyros and Effect Veiler, but he had an Effect Veiler to stop Catastor from killing the BLS.  So, I died to that BLS...
-Duel 2: I didn't draw any Scraps, but I was able to deal with all of his Monsters with Traps and beat him down with Worms.
-Duel 3: He flipped Macro Cosmos on me, and all I drew was Monsters, so I couldn't do anything.

So, I ended up going 3-1 and getting 3rd place.  Kind of disappointing, since I lost to a bad Dino Rabbit player, but it happens, I guess.  At least I got enough store credit for some sleeves and a Rivalry of Warlords.

But yeah, I was able to get some more cards for the Hieratic deck I'm making from some of my friends.  Now, all I need is one more Gaia Dragon, one more Atum, a Number 25: Force Focus, and two Tefnuit.  If I can find the Tefnuits, then I'll pick them up right away, but I think I'll wait on the Xyz Monsters, since they'll probably go down in price.

I was also able to get a T.G. Hyper Librarian (really late, I know...) and an Infernity Barrier.  So, now I can make Infernities or Junk Doppel or something.  Yeah, we'll see, I guess.

Making Hieratics in the TCG

So, seeing as how the TCG just got Hieratics in Galactic Overlord, I've been thinking about how best to make the deck.

First, I was thinking about using their support Traps, like Seal of Banishment and Seal of Reflection.  In theory, they sound nice.  However, I thought about it a little more and realized that you don't really have enough Hieratics that you can Normal Summon and throw away for these Traps.  Sure, you can grab a Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord to tribute for a second Trap, but that's not that great.  You can't just throw away the few Hieratics that you can Normal Summon, otherwise you won't have any left for the OTK combos.

So, I'm thinking about just going with the usual OTK-based Hieratic deck, minus Cardcar D's and Gustaph Max.  I understand that the deck can do well without Gustaph Max, and I'm willing to try it out.  However, it seems as though the deck needs Cardcar D, because it gives Hieratics a solid Normal Summon and baits Effect Veiler.

Without access to Cardcar D, I'll have to figure out other good Normal Summon plays for Hieratics.  I could just splash in Worms randomly, since they're good, but there's no synergy.  I guess they deal with Dino Rabbits, which could be a bad match-up, but I don't know if it's worth it.  Hanzo seems like a common choice, letting you grab Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation.  It works both as disruption and as a way to search for combo pieces.  The main problem I have with that is that you can draw your Ninjitsu Arts before your Ninja, and that really sucks.

However, it may work when combined with Vortex Trooper.  Yeah, Vortex Trooper.  Known as Air Circulator in the OCG, it can act as a pseudo-Cardcar D while putting Normal Monsters and Ninjitsu Arts back into the deck.  It provides a fairly stable Normal Summon and can cause your opponent to stumble into a Tefnuit play pretty easily.  So far, this feels like the best option behind Cardcar D.

Another problem I've been having is whether or not I should find room for Nebthet in the deck.  I like it, because when combined with Curse of Dragon, I could make Rank 5 Xyz, which are some of the best Xyz we have at the moment.  I could probably also splash in Instant Fusion and whatnot.  But yeah, having Nebthet can mean that I have higher chances of drawing into hands that will let me swarm.

Consider the following play:  Normal Summon Eset and tribute it to Special Summon Nebthet.  Eset can Special Summon either Curse of Dragon or Watttaildragon.  With Curse of Dragon, I could immediately make a Rank 5 Xyz.  If I have another Hieratic in my hand, though, I would grab Watttaildragon.  I could tribute that Hieratic from my hand to use Nebthet's effect, destroying an opponent's Monster and Special Summoning Luster Dragon #2.  With the two Normal Dragons, I could make Atum and Special Summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon from my deck.  REDMD would revive Eset and I could then make a Rank 5 Xyz with Eset and Nebthet.

Even without Curse of Dragon, I could still make a pretty powerful play with a tech Nebthet.  The decision is whether I play two Nebthet and a Curse of Dragon or just one Nebthet.  I guess it also depends on how much room I'll have in the deck.

I'd also have to decide upon a Trap line-up.  I honestly have no idea; this would depend on the rest of the deck and how much room I have left.  I'd like to have defensive Traps like Bottomless Trap Hole, but they kind of interfere with Tefnuit plays.  I might have to just deal with using Raigeki Break and other offensive Traps.

And after all that is done, I'd have to figure out a Side Deck.  I'd rather not think about that at the moment, though...

By the way, I still need a bunch of Hieratic cards.  Here's the list of the main ones I still need:

Hieratic Dragon of Su
Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit x3
Hieratic Seal of Convocation
Hieratic Dragon King of Atum
Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger x3
Number 25: Force Focus

I realize that the last two aren't Hieratics, but I still need them for the deck.  So yeah, if you go to my locals and happen to have those cards for trade/sale, please let me know...