Tournament Report 8/12/12

So yeah, as I stated yesterday (really two days ago, since it's after midnight), I went to locals today (really yesterday).  Shien wasn't there, so there was no DT-theme wager this time.  I still used my Gem-Knights because there's really no reason not to, and Fwazalaza used his Ice Barriers for fun.

There were about 40 players there today with not that many regulars.  It helps me, I guess, since the regulars know what I'm playing, so the obscurity of my decks isn't as effective.

Round 1: vs Inzektors

-Duel 1: He opened with Tour Guide into Sangan and a back row.  I played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy his Set card, then Pot of Duality to grab a Gem-Knight card (I don't remember exactly which one it was).  I then summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, forcing him to waste an Effect Veiler.  I attacked over his Tour Guide and Set a card to end.  He switched his Sangan to Defense Position and Set a back row.  I attacked with Rai-Oh and he used Mirror Force.  So, I summoned Gem-Armadillo to search Gem-Knight Garnet and ended.  He used Book of Moon on my Armadillo and ran it over with his Sangan before Setting another card.  I played Gem-Knight Fusion, fusing Garnet and Amber to make Citrine.  Citrine ran over his Sangan, depriving him of its effect.  He played another Tour Guide, however, grabbing the third one from his deck.  He overlaid for Leviathan Dragon and I flipped Bottomless Trap Hole.  He Chained Forbidden Lance to protect it, then detached a Tour Guide to boost its ATK.  I played Heavy Storm, then did a bunch of crazy shenanigans with Gem-Knight Fusion and Obsidian to destroy his Leviathan Dragon with Prismaura and drop a bunch of Monsters for game.  I didn't see any Inzektor cards since I killed him so quickly, so I sided generically and somewhat incorrectly.
-Duel 2: He opened with Dragonfly and Hornet to do all of his shenanigans this time.  I didn't side my Prohibitions in, so I couldn't effectively stop his plays and lost quite quickly.  However, I held on long enough to learn that he was running Hopper and multiple Zektkalibers, since I basically had to let him OTK me.
-Duel 3: I went first, Setting a Raigeki Break.  He played MST, summoned Centipede and equipped it with Zektkaliber, then attacked directly.  I Set another back row and ended.  He attacked directly and ended.  I drew another card I couldn't use and ended.  He attacked directly again, played Dimensional Fissure, and ended.  I topped Pot of Duality and grabbed Lightning Vortex off of it.  I played Lightning Vortex, discarding an MST (I had drawn two MST's, Dust Tornado, and Heavy Storm...), and banishing his Centipede, depriving him of Zektkaliber's effect.  I then played Prohibition on Inzektor Hornet and ended.  He Set a Monster and a back row, and I played Dust Tornado in the End Phase to destroy the latter.  I topped another Pot of Duality, grabbing Gem-Armadillo.  I summoned it to grab Gem-Knight Garnet.  I then used Snipe Hunter's effect, pitching Heavy Storm to target his Set Monster.  I missed, which sucked, so I pitched Dark Calling to try again and destroy his Set Dragonfly.  I attacked with both Snipe Hunter and Gem-Armadillo before Setting MST and ending.  He played Dark Hole, Set a back row, and ended.  I flipped MST in the End Phase to destroy his back row.  I topped another Gem-Armadillo and summoned it to grab Amber and attacked directly.  He Set another Dragonfly as a last resort, but my Garnet was able to kill it, allowing Armadillo to go for game.

OXO

Round 2: vs Newbie Six Samurai

I hadn't seen this guy before, but based on his play-style, I could assume that he wasn't very good at this game.  Unfortunately, he drew Gateway two out of three games, letting him win 2-1.  He somehow made it to the finals where he was defeated by one of the regulars, so that was good.  Apparently he just drew Gateway all the time...

XOX

Round 3: vs Six Samurai

-Duel 1: I had access to Gem-Knight Fusion, so I won.  That's basically what it boils down to in the Six Samurai/Dino Rabbit match-up, whether or not I draw Gem-Knight Fusion and a few Gem-Knights.  Also, I dropped a 5300 ATK Evil HERO Dark Gaia by fusing Gem-Knight Pearl and Gorz to finish him off.  That tech Dark Calling is really putting in work.
-Duel 2: He opened Gateway, Elder, and Asceticism, into Shi En and two Kizan with one back row and one card in hand.  He misplayed his Gateway, but it's so powerful that it doesn't matter.  I summoned Snipe Hunter and pitched a total of three cards to destroy his two back rows (Gateway and Magatama, which he tried to Chain).  I then used my last two cards, Book of Moon and Dark Hole, to clear the field.  Unfortunately, on his turn, he summoned Kageki and Zanji to beat me down.  I topped something of no use and died over the next two turns.
-Duel 3: I drew all three Gem-Knight Fusions and not enough Gem-Knights to make use of them.  This is what I meant by, "in theory, any bad hand can be turned around with Gem-Knight Fusion, unless that bad hand happens to include multiple Gem-Knight Fusions already."  Also, I actually drew Gozen Match, but it didn't do anything to stop his Kizan from beating me down over a few turns.

OXX

So, after losing to Six Samurai twice in a row, I decided to drop.  I really hate Six Samurai a lot.  It's literally the easiest deck to play, and if you draw Gateway, you don't even have to play anywhere near correctly to win.  I guess that's why I made my Scrap Worms deck a while back.  Well, if the format gets cleaned up by the ban list, they might be viable again.  It's like the deck I can always fall back on, like how people often use Gladiator Beasts after a meta-nuking ban list.

But yeah, Fwazalaza didn't do any better than me.  In fact, he dropped after losing the first three rounds.  So, he, Riku, my friend who plays Vanguard, and I just spent the rest of the time playing Kaijudo and Vanguard.

I might actually become part of a Vanguard team with my friend who plays Vanguard.  Apparently, his other friends who play Vanguard are really bad at it, which is saying something, since, well, it's Vanguard.  So yeah, I offered to be on my friend's team since his other friends whom he would be on a team with wouldn't be able to win.  Of course, I won't build a deck or anything; I'd just use whatever deck he would provide me with.  It may be shocking for me, someone who bashes on Vanguard all the time, to offer to join a Vanguard team, but it is a fun game.  It's not balanced or skillful or worth any monetary investment, but it's fun.  But yeah, none of this is for sure.  There may not even be any team events any time soon.  We shall see...

Also, my locals will be having regular tournaments after the Return of the Duelist Sneak Preview, which is good.  Return of the Duelist isn't a very good set, so I wasn't planning on entering the Sneak Preview, but the fact that there will be normal tournaments gives me a reason to go to locals next weekend.  I may decide to enter the Sneak Preview once or something, we'll see.