Tournament Report 8/25/12

So, as usual, I went to locals today (really yesteday, since it's after midnight...).  Nothing special; the format's still bad, so I still played Gem-Knights for fun.

Before the tournament started, though, I won a few games of Kaijudo against Fwazalaza.  I can't wait for the base set, even though I won't be able to get it the day it comes out or even the day after because it comes out on September 7, and there's a Regional on September 8.  I'll be getting at least two boxes of the base set for Aki and myself the day after the Regional, though.

Since Shien was there and his Gustos were ready, he, Fwazalaza, and I agreed to enact our wager for what will likely be the last time (at least for a while).  Fwazalaza would be using his Ice Barriers, having given up on his Vylons.  But yeah, we were just doing this for fun since the format is really bad, and hopefully it'll get better with the ban list.  So, we'd actually be able to play without getting Wind-Up looped or Inzektor looped all the time.

But yeah, there were 27 players there today.

Round 1: vs Fabled

This was this guy's first tournament.  How sad.  He wasn't bad, though.

-Duel 1: He does a few Fabled tricks, but I just make my Gem-Knight Fusions and run him down after forcing out all of his back rows.
-Duel 2: I had to waste my whole hand on Snipe Hunter's effect because I kept missing and had no way of dealing with his The Tricky and The Fabled Ganashia.  I was finally able to wipe out his whole field at the cost of all of my cards, but then he topped Monster Reborn, so I lost.
-Duel 3: He summoned The Fabled Kudabbi with no cards in hand.  I made two Gem-Knight Prismaura using the Amber loop and overlaid for Number 11: Big Eye to steal his Kudabbi.  Yes, it's quite evil.  He drew nothing to save him, so I won on the following turn with his Kudabbi.

OXO

Round 2: vs Newbie Gravekeeper's

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.  I won 2-1 after losing the second duel to Dark Hole.  Yes, it's my only weakness.  It's okay, I got revenge in game three by going for an OTK with 10000 damage.  Even if you guard with Lizard Runner, Undeux, the attack will still hit; that's how powerful it was.

OXO

Round 3: vs Wind-Ups

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He went first and looped four cards, leaving me with Gem-Armadillo.  I got a Gem-Knight Obsidian with it, then let it get killed by Leviathan Dragon.  I topped Gem-Knight Fusion, meaning that I might have a chance, since I had a Garnet in the Graveyard.  He attacked me with Leviathan and Wind-Up Rabbit, and I hoped for a Pyro or Thunder Monster.  I topped a second Gem-Knight Fusion, which means I lost.
-Duel 2: I opened with Summoner Monk, discarding Heavy Storm.  I Special Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh and Set two back rows.  He Special Summoned Junk Forward, then Normal Summoned Wind-Up Hunter, then Special Summoned Wind-Up Shark.  He used Hunter's effect, tributing the Shark, then overlaid for Zenmaity in Defense Position.  I declined to negate with Rai-Oh.  He used its effect to Special Summon Wind-Up Rat from his deck.  He tried to use its effect, but I negated with Forbidden Chalice.  He then played Instant Fusion, then overlaid for another Zenmaity.  I negated that one with Rai-Oh's effect, and he Set two cards.  I drew into Amber with Garnet in hand, which was pretty bad.  I summoned Garnet, and he tried to use Solemn Warning after much consideration.  I flipped Solemn Judgment to push it through, but he was able to bounce my Garnet back to my hand with Compulsory Evacuation Device.  I had failed to kill the Zenmaity, so I lost to the loop.

XX

At this point, both Fwazalaza and Shien were 1-2, while I was 2-1.  Unfortunately, they both still had a chance to win our bet, so I needed to win the next couple rounds to ensure my victory.

Round 4: vs Inzektors

This was my Round 5 opponent from this tournament.  We knew what each other was playing, so we talked for a bit about next format.  He said that he's going to try to make Inzektors work, but if he can't, then he'll play Blackwings.

-Duel 1: I had no defenses against his Dragonfly and lost to it and Hornet.  I'm glad they're both getting Limited...
-Duel 2: He drew Ladybug, then Hornet, but no other Inzetkors.  So, I was able to beat him down with my Gem-Knights without much trouble.
-Duel 3: I did some stunts with Snipe Hunter to destroy his whole field after taking some hits from Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo.  I had Prohibition for Inzektor Hornet, but he didn't even draw any Inzektors.  I drew into Obsidian and Amber one after the other, letting me do the Prismaura/Amber loop against his Acid Golem, with the addition of reviving a Garnet when I discarded Obsidian for Prismaura's effect.  I attacked with Amber, then Garnet, then he dropped Gorz.  I killed the Token with Prismaura's attack, then contemplated my next move.  He had two cards in hand, and all I had was Gem-Knight Fusion.  I decided to fuse my Prismaura and Garnet for a second Prismaura, then grab back the Gem-Knight Fusion and pitch it to destroy Gorz.  That left out my Gemini Summoned Amber so that I could recycle Obsidian on the following turn.  However, he scooped after seeing his draw, then revealing his hand of Solemn Judgment (which he just drew) and two Giga-Mantis.

XOO

Fwazalaza had lost the fourth round, while Shien was able to win.  That meant that he was still a threat, sadly, so I had to win my last round.  Fortunately, I was paired down against vadangchoinga.  Since he was already X-2 and couldn't top, he gave me the win with the condition that I would buy him a Gravity Warrior if I topped.

So, I technically went 4-1 and got 3rd place.  Not only did I get $10 in store credit, but I won $4 from Shien and Fwazalaza.  I spent my store credit on some more sleeves for Kaijudo and a booster pack of The Dojo Edition.  Unfortunately, the Rare was King Bullfang (I almost typed Bluefish... EarthP0w3r reference...).  Oh well, it was free, so whatever.  vadangchoinga decided to get a Gravity Warrior from Shien, and I agreed to take a few dollars off of the debt he owes me for Escuridao.  And now I feel like I should get a Gravity Warrior.  It's not bad; it would basically take the spot of Flamvell Uruquizas.  If I don't happen to get one, then I'm content with my Gaia Knight and Orient Dragon.

After the tournament, we continued vadangchoinga's Kaijudo training so that he'll be better prepared to play in the Kaijudo leagues once they start.  And, I played Vanguard against my friend who play Vanguard using my Gold Kagero deck.  I was able to win all of the games against his fun decks, and about half of the games against his competitive decks.  The fact that I can win with that much consistency with a $29 deck against his expensive Gold Paladin and Nova Grappler decks kind of displayed how luck-based Vanguard is.  It's nice that I don't have to spend money to win, though.

In fact, another card shop has been hosting Vanguard tournaments Saturday evenings.  My friend who plays Vanguard said that we should go there and play in the tournaments, since it'd be easy to win the prizes.  He said that the players there aren't very good, so it'd be easy to win.  I'm honestly not surprised, so I may decide to do that next Saturday if I scrub out of the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament.

Also, he's going to hook me up with some cards for my Gold Kagero deck.  The fact that it's a multi-Clan deck means that it's somewhat difficult for him to find cards that would be useful in my deck.  For instance, he has the perfect guard for Kagero, but it doesn't do any good when my Vanguard is a Gold Paladin half the time.  But, it does allow me to play the best cards from each Clan that aren't dependent on running a single-Clan deck.  For instance, he's going to get me some Mr. Invincibles, which will help unflip cards in the Damage Zone so that I can use Dragonic Overlord's Counterblast multiple times per game.  I think that I'm only going to run two Mr. Invincibles, though, since they're kind of useless in Rear-Guard.  Dragonic Overlord is actually the most powerful in the Rear-Guard circle because you can use a Stand Trigger to Stand it if your opponent guards its first or second attack.  And, as much as I hate the Grade 3 Sagramore, it's more useful in the Rear-Guard than Mr. Invincible or Garmore.

But, how could this be possible?  Thought and strategy in Vanguard?  Don't worry, this only happens when you run a multi-Clan deck.  It's my way of making the game a little more challenging for myself.

So yeah, I'll be going to locals again tomorrow (really today, since it's after midnight...).  I'll be running Nordic Diva with two Tour Guides.  Honestly, the Tour Guides have been pretty useless.  I never get Sangan; I just go double Tour Guide into Zenmaines every time.  So far, it has been just as lackluster as I had expected.  I'll probably take them out for tech cards depending on how next format shapes up.