Tournament Report 8/11/12

So, I bet you're expecting me to talk about the supposed ban list that has been floating around over the past 24 hours.  Honestly, it looks like something Konami would do and it seemed to have come from a reliable source.  But, who cares?  I mean, does knowing the ban list a few days early really matter?  I don't think so, so I'm not going to waste much time on it.

Anyways, I went to locals today (really yesterday, since it's after midnight) with my Gem-Knights, of course.  I changed the deck a little bit since last week.  I think like six cards in the Side Deck and one card in the Main Deck got changed.  The Main Deck is about as solid as it's going to get, but the Side Deck still needs work.

But yeah, both Shien and Fwazalaza were there, so we enacted our wager once more.  Again, we each bet $2, basically, meaning that the winner would walk away $4 richer.  I was a little worried, since I knew that both of their decks (Gustos and Vylons, respectively) had improved since last time.  But still, I expected my Gem-Knights to shine brightly and win me the $4.

Before the tournament, though, I played a little Vanguard with my only friend who plays Vanguard.  Apparently, he had gotten third in his block at the Vanguard "Kick-Off" event last weekend, so that's cool.  He only has two decks, so he used his Gold Paladins while I used his Nova Grapplers.  We played a few games, with me winning 2-1.  As expected, the game basically takes very little skill, and the winner was decided by Triggers.

So yeah, there were about 22 players, with about half of them being regulars.

Round 1: vs Newbie Morphtronics

I won both games with Shock Master because Shock Master is Shock Master.  Yes.

OO

Round 2: vs Newbie Gravekeeper's

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.  I was a little worried because Necrovalley kills Gem-Knight Fusion, Dark Calling, Batteryman AAA, and all that.  But, with Raigeki Break and Snipe Hunter, I was able to destroy all of her Necrovalleys and win decisively.

OO

Round 3: vs Evols

I was playing against spondo, who was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.  I guess he got bored of Wind-Ups, again.

-Duel 1: I had a hand that could OTK if I had Gem-Knight Fusion.  Unfortunately, since I didn't have Gem-Knight Fusion, that just left me with a horrible hand that can't do anything.  Evolsaur Cerato at 2100 ATK and Evoltile Westlo with its 1900 DEF are too big to kill with Garnet, and I couldn't do much other than miss a bunch of rolls with Snipe Hunter and lose.
-Duel 2: I made Citrine to shut off his Westlo, then performed an OTK involving fusing Snowman Eater with Obsidian for Gem-Knight Amethyst and reviving Garnet with Obsidian's effect.  Yes, I can use the same excuse for using Snowman Eater as I can for using Thunder King Rai-Oh: I can fuse with it.
-Duel 3: The only Monster I drew was Gem-Knight Amber, which promptly died to a Normal Summoned Cerato.  Oh, and he had two Set Solemn Warnings that he didn't even need to use.

XOX

Round 4: vs Wind-Ups

This was a regular whom I hadn't played against in a while, so I'm too lazy to look up the previous time I played against him.  But yeah, he usually plays stuff like Lightsworn or Dino Rabbit, but recently he's been playing Wind-Ups.

-Duel 1: He went first with a Set Monster.  I went first with Summoner Monk, pitching Gem-Knight Fusion and grabbing Batteryman AAA.  I overlaid for Evigishki Merrowgeist and kicked his Sangan back to his deck.  I Set a back row and ended.  He summoned Wind-Up Rabbit and ended.  I summoned Batteryman AAA to revive the one I detached from Merrowgeist earlier, then overlaid for Gem-Knight Pearl.  I beat his face in a little bit while his Rabbit ran away, and I Set another back row.  He brought his Rabbit back and played Heavy Storm.  I Chained Raigeki Break to make sure it wasn't on the field, and he let it go.  That let him revive the Rabbit with his Wind-Up Rat, then make two Zenmaities and Acid Golem.  His Acid Golem killed my Pearl, he Set two cards, and ended.  I topped and played Heavy Storm, which he negated with Solemn Judgment, bringing him under 2000 LP.  I got back my Gem-Knight Fusion by banishing Pearl, which was my intention all along, then summoned Gem-Armadillo to grab an Obsidian.  Armadillo and Merrowgeist killed his Zenmaities and I ended.  He drew and detached an Xyz Material from Acid Golem.  Then, realizing that he couldn't kill me in the next two turns, he scooped.  Yet another win given to me by Acid Golem.  Now that I think about it, Temtempo would've been better in this situation, since he could've detached Xyz Materials from both my Merrowgeist and Pearl to get up to 2700 ATK, but I'm assuming that he doesn't play Temtempo.
-Duel 2: He went first and looped me.  I didn't have any cards I wanted discarded in my hand, like Gem-Knight Fusion or any Gem-Knights, so the loop was devastating and I lost.
-Duel 3: I opened with a Thunder King Rai-Oh.  I contemplated Setting one or more back rows, since I had Monster Reborn and Heavy Storm in hand, but I didn't have any Traps.  I Set the Monster Reborn and ended.  He summoned Tour Guide, getting Sangan in Attack Position.  He attacked with Tour Guide, then played Book of Moon on my Rai-Oh.  He then attacked directly with Sangan and Set a back row.  I flipped my Monster Reborn, and he was shocked.  He could've looped me last turn, but was afraid of my back row, ha ha.  I revived Rai-Oh, but then he flipped Torrential Tribute and grabbed a Wind-Up Shark with Sangan's effect.  I used Gem-Knight Fusion to fuse Amber and Obsidian, getting Prismaura and Special Summoning Obsidian.  I banished Obsidian to get back Gem-Knight Fusion, Gemini Summoned Amber, and then used its effect to get back Obsidian.  I attacked with both Monsters to drop him to 3950 LP, then Set my Heavy Storm and ended.  Even if he were to Wind-Up loop me, I'd be able to kill him next turn with the field I had amassed.  Unfortunately, he played Dark Hole, then Wind-Up looped me, leaving me with no cards against his field of Utopia, Zenmaity, and Zenmaines.  Nothing I could draw could save me at that point, so I just struggled futilely until I died.

OXX

As expected, I don't lose too badly to the Wind-Up loop.  I do lose to Dark Hole, though, so that's unfortunate.  And this ended up being the last round because the third undefeated person, who was paired down, lost.

So yeah, I went 2-2 and got 12th place.  Out of my Turbo Pack 1, I pulled a Super Rare Black Whirlwind, which is cool, but I don't really need it.  Maybe if Blackwings make a comeback, I'll be able to trade it or something.

As for Fwazalaza and Shien, they had played each other in the first round.  Shien won the match 2-1.  After that Fwazalaza won his second round, and Shien lost his second round to JB.  Fwazalaza won his third round, and Shien was paired down in the third round (so he was playing against someone who had lost the first two rounds) and won.  Fwazalaza lost the fourth round, which was good for me.  Unfortunately, Shien was paired down, yet again, in the fourth round against a little kid.  He was able to win, leaving him with a 3-1 record. That meant that he had won the bet this week, and Fwazalaza and I each paid him $2.

Other than that, nothing else that important happened.  I played some more Vanguard after the tournament, again using my friend's Nova Grapplers against his Gold Paladins.  This time, I lost 1-2, losing the third game to double Triggers.  Eh, it's not like I play Vanguard because it takes skill.  It's fun, but again, I'm not going to spend any money on it.

But yeah, I'll be at locals tomorrow (really today, since it's after midnight), once more.  I'm too tired to change up my Gem-Knight deck at all from today.  I'll just see how it does tomorrow and figure it out from there.