Tournament Report 8/4/12

So, as usual, I went to locals today (really yesterday, since it's after midnight).  But, this time I took my magical Gem-Knight deck that I had worked so hard to put together.  Gem-Knights are really hard to build well, especially without access to Rescue Rabbit, Lavalval Chain, and the various Gem-Knight Fusion Monsters that the OCG has.

Either way, before the tournament, I played several Kaijudo duels with Fwazalaza, and won all but one of them.  I had added Gilaflame to my deck, and it worked out quite well.  Level 4 for a 5000 Power Fast Attacker is too good, yo.  Overcharge is also awesome for the time being.  It will cease to be awesome once we get Stormspark Blast, of course.

Anyways, there were about 26 players there today.  There were quite a few regulars (about half, I think), but also a lot of newbs...

Round 1: vs Ninja

This guy honestly wasn't very good, but he drew really well.  I mean, you're not supposed to draw all three Hanzos every game; that's just too good.

-Duel 1: He opened with Hanzo and four back rows, one of which was the Super-Transformation he searched.  I played Pot of Duality to grab Gem-Turtle and Set it.  I Set a back row and ended.  He passed without making a play.  I Flip Summoned Gem-Turtle to get my Gem-Knight Fusion.  I Normal Summoned Snipe Hunter, and he flipped his Super-Transformation to get White Dragon Ninja by sending my Snipe Hunter and his Hanzo to the Graveyard.  In my End Phase, he flipped Ninjitsu Art of Duplication, sacrificing his White Dragon Ninja for a Hanzo and three Crimson Ninja.  Okay...?  He used a Crimson Ninja to destroy my Set Raigeki Break, which I Chained to destroy one of his back rows.  He then attacked my Turtle with his Crimson Ninja, then directly with Hanzo.  I Fusion Summoned Gem-Knight Prismaura, then grabbed back the Gem-Knight Fusion and pitched it with Prismaura's effect to destroy his Duplication.  Unfortunately, he proceeded to drop BLS after using Upstart Golden Ninja to Xyz Summon Maestroke and killed me with it.
-Duel 2: I dropped Gem-Knight Pearl and he had no answers to it.  Super-Transformation has nothing on Xyz Monsters.  Seriously, I just killed him with three attacks from Pearl and a final attack from Number 16: Shock Master to prevent Gorz or Tragoedia from jumping out.
-Duel 3: Since the first duel had taken so long, this duel went into time.  He Xyz Summoned Steelswarm Roach using Upstart Golden Ninja, which made no sense, but I wasn't complaining.  He then declined to attack with it.  I summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh and he burned a Solemn Warning on it, making it impossible for him to recover from the LP gap that let me win at the end of the three turns.

XOO

Round 2: vs Chaos Dragons

This was my Round 5 opponent from this tournament.  His deck had improved since last time.

-Duel 1: He only milled Light Monsters, and when he tried to make a Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon play, I had Raigeki Break ready to destroy it.  So, I just beat him down with Gem-Armadillo and Snipe Hunter.
-Duel 2: I was sitting behind a Rai-Oh and a Bottomless Trap Hole.  He played Mind Control, then summoned Eclipse Wyvern, which I used Bottomless on.  He then played Monster Reborn on the REDMD he had milled earlier, then revived an Apocralyph to overlay with my Rai-Oh and go for game.  Mind Control is too broken, yo.
-Duel 3: I was beating him down with a Gem-Knight Prismaura, but then he dropped Chaos Sorcerer to banish it.  On my turn, I flipped Return from the Different Dimension, bringing back my Prismaura and all of the Gem-Knights I had banished for Gem-Knight Fusion's effect.  I started making a series of Fusion/Xyz plays to play around Tragoedia and Gorz, but then he just scooped, revealing to me a hand of two REDMD and a Mind Control.

OXO

Round 3: vs Newbie Six Samurai

This guy was a friend of AquaBass', but he wasn't very good at all.  He played Effect Veiler, but never used it, even revealing it to me at the end of the game, saying that there was nothing he could do, despite the fact that he had several opportunities to use his Veilers.  He also made very poor plays, like using Monster Reborn on a Kizan when I had Prismaura out just to protect himself from damage.  It's hard for me to believe, but I think that he's not even good enough to use Six Samurai effectively, which is saying something...  Unfortunately, his luck and his deck had carried him through the first two rounds with him beating vadangchoinga and Fwazalaza (using his Vylons, of course).  It's quite sad, and I had easily beaten him 2-0.

Round 4: vs Inzektors

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.  The fact that I almost always beat him was still stuck in his mind, and the fact that he had no idea how my new Gem-Knight deck worked didn't help his confidence either.  Unfortunately for me, Inzektors are my worst match-up.  I'm really hoping that the deck gets destroyed by the ban list...

-Duel 1: I opened with two back rows and a Gem-Knight Amber.  He Set two back rows and ended.  I attacked with Amber and Set another back row.  He tried to make an Inzektor play with Dragonfly, but I had Raigeki Break Set to destroy his Dragonfly after Hornet got equipped.  Soon afterwards, after he killed my Amber, I blindly used Mystical Space Typhoon on one of his back rows, which turned out to be Ultimate Offering, then made a push for game.  I played Gem-Knight Fusion, fusing Amber and Obsidian from my hand, getting Prismaura.  Obsidian's effect let me revive Amber, and I Gemini Summoned Amber to enable its effect.  I banished Obsidian to grab back Gem-Knight Fusion, then pitched Gem-Knight Fusion to get back Obsidian using Amber's effect.  I banished the first Amber to grab back Gem-Knight Fusion again, then fused the Amber on the field with the Obsidian in my hand to get a second Prismaura.  Obsidian's effect revived Amber again, and that was just enough for game.
-Duel 2: I lost to generic Inzektor shenanigans.  Perhaps I should side more cards for this match-up, since it's my worst match-up.  Still, I'd rather not sacrifice from other bad match-ups just to beat Inzektors.
-Duel 3: I opened with Duality into Solemn Judgment, then Set it and another back row.  I activated Prohibition on Inzektor Hornet, then summoned Gem-Armadillo, which he Veiled.  He Set some back rows and a Monster and ended.  In his End Phase, I used MST on his bluff Dimensional Fissure.  I drew Gem-Knight Iolite and summoned it.  I attacked his Set Sangan, letting him search Tour Guide.  I attacked directly with Armadillo and Set another back row.  He played MST on my Solemn Judgment then summoned Tour Guide to make Wind-Up Zenmaines.  He attacked my Armadillo with Zenmaines, letting him detach an Xyz Material.  He destroyed my Prohibition in the End Phase.  I drew and summoned Gem-Knight Garnet, then used Garnet and Armadillo to kill his Zenmaines and attacked directly with Iolite.  At this point, I had Return from the Different Dimension in hand, Gemini Spark Set, and my three Gem Monsters.  He had one back row and two cards in hand.  I had to ponder my next decision for a while, then decided to overlay for Shock Master and prevent him from using his Monster Effects.  I Set the Return and ended.  He summoned Inzektor Hornet, then used Call of the Haunted on his Sangan.  He made Leviathan Dragon, since he had let his friend borrow his Acid Golem, then Set a card and ended.  I used Shock Ruler's effect to prohibit Monster Effects once more, then attacked over his Leviathan Dragon.  He Set a Monster and passed.  I drew and summoned Gem-Knight Iolite.  I used it to attack his Set Centipede, then directly with Shock Master.  I prohibited Monster Effects once more and ended.  He Set a Monster and ended.  I drew and summoned Snipe Hunter, discarding my Gem-Knight Fusion to destroy his Set Dragonfly.  I attacked with Iolite, but then he flipped Call of the Haunted to revive his Leviathan Dragon.  I Chained my Set Gemini Spark to tribute Iolite and destroy Call, letting me draw Dark Calling.  Snipe Hunter and Shock Master attacked to leave him at 100 LP.  Upon realizing that he couldn't do anything on his turn, he offered me the handshake.

OXO

So, I was undefeated going into the final round... with Gem-Knights.  I certainly did not expect to do this well with my Gem-Knights.  Unfortunately, I was playing against...

Round 5: vs Inzektors

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.  He had let his friend use his Inzektors for a while, but I get he switched back to Inzektors now.

-Duel 1: I opened with Future Fusion pitching Batteryman AAA and Gem-Knight Garnet for Prismaura.  I summoned Gem-Armadillo, which he Veiled, then Set one back row.  He opened with Centipede and Ladybug, which I allowed.  He searched Dragonfly, then equipped Giga-Mantis to Centipede.  He attacked, and that's when I had to use Raigeki Break.  He Set a back row and ended.  I summoned Summoner Monk and pitched Gem-Knight Fusion to get Snipe Hunter, and he flipped Torrential Tribute.  I was perfectly okay playing into that Torrential Tribute, since all I was doing was setting up for Dark Calling.  However, I just passed.  He used Dragonfly and Ladybug to search another Dragonfly and make Tiras, which attacked and destroyed my Future Fusion.  I played Dark Calling, banishing Snipe Hunter and Gem-Armadillo for Evil HERO Dark Gaia at 3200 ATK, which ran over his Tiras.  Unfortunately, he made another Dragonfly/Ladybug play to make Adreus and destroy my Dark Gaia.  With that, he was out of Dragonflies and Centipedes, so it was okay.  The downside, though, was that I had no more power plays, since I had nothing else to fuse with.  So, I lost to that Adreus.
-Duel 2: I opened with Prohibition on Inzektor Hornet and a Set Gem-Turtle.  He attacked with Thunder King Rai-Oh, denying me my search (I didn't care, my hand was all Spells/Traps, including one Gem-Knight Fusion), then Set a few back rows.  I stalled out for a bit, then eventually fused for Prismaura.  He flipped Torrential Tribute, then Safe Zone on his Rai-Oh.  I had no follow up, since I had no Monsters left, and ended.  He summoned Centipede and equipped a Dragonfly to it, for some reason... He attacked directly with the Centipede and ended.  I topped Snipe Hunter and pitched my whole hand to destroy his whole field, but then he dropped Gorz.  I got my Gem-Knight Fusion back one more time and pitched it to destroy his Gorz, then ended.  He crashed his Token into my Snipe Hunter then ended.  I drew a second Gemini Spark, which was useless since I hadn't drawn any Gemini Gem-Knights, and ended.  He drew a Monster before I did, was able to kill me before I could make a comeback.  That's the main problem with Gem-Knights, I can make a couple big plays, but once those are done, I can't do much else.  Gem-Knight Fusion can help generate card advantage, but it's mostly empty card advantage.

XX

But yeah, I went 4-1, with Gem-Knights... and got 2nd place, with Gem-Knights... I really wasn't expecting to do this well with my Gem-Knights, especially since I had just thrown the Side Deck together when I made the deck.  With a deck with as much synergy as my Gem-Knight variant, it's hard to side a significant amount of cards.  I generally have to side out all of my Batteryman AAA's and Future Fusion just to make space.  But yeah, I guess it works pretty well.  I did play against a couple not-so-good players, unfortunately, but my Gem-Knights still did better than expected.

With the store credit I won, I got a second Ultra Rare Night Beam, some more sleeves, and one Battle Pack.  I pulled Gem-Knight Pearl from the Battle Pack, which was cool.  And, I got the Night Beam in case MST gets Limited on the next ban list, so I'll have more replacements than just Dust Tornadoes.

As for my friends' rankings, my Round 4 opponent got 3rd, AquaBass got 4th, vadangchoinga went 4-1, and Fwazalaza went 1-4 with his Vylons.  He won the first round against Machina Gadgets, then lost against Six Samurai, Dark Worlds, Hieratics, and Six Samurai again, or something like that.

Shien wasn't there, but he came by after the tournament while we were at Panda Express and finished his Gusto deck.  vadangchoinga and I helped Fwazalaza with his Vylon deck, and I traded AquaBass a bunch of cards that he needed for his Ninja Crane deck.  Out of the trade, I got some Duelist League Royal Tributes, a Super Rare Dust Tornado, and a Bat-Breath Scaradorable.  That last one is a Kaijudo card, if you didn't know.  It's the Darkness Civilization Super Rare from The Dojo Edition, and my second Bat-Breath Scaradorable, which is cool.  It replaced the Keeper of Dawn in my deck, since that lone Keeper of Dawn hasn't been doing much recently.

Tomorrow (really today, since it's after midnight), Fwazalaza, Shien, and I will be running our Duel Terminal theme decks, and we'll probably make a small wager or something.  Since only 1st place gets a noteworthy prize on Sundays, a small wager will give us an incentive to keep playing after losing one round, so that should be fun.

So yeah, I'll be using my Gem-Knights probably until the next ban list.  Once September 1st arrives, assuming the format is cleansed of brokenness, it'll be a great time to make new creative decks to take charge of the format.  But, I guess we'll have to wait another couple weeks to see what exactly will happen on the ban list...