Tournament Report 8/5/12

As usual, I went to locals once more.  Shien was actually there this time, so he, Fwazalaza, and I were able to enact our wager.  We would all use our Duel Terminal-themed decks (Gustos, Vylons, and Gem-Knights, respectively) and the person with the best record would get $2 from each of the other two.  After yesterday's performance, I had confidence in my Gem-Knights and expected to win the glorious prize of $4.

Before the tournament started, Riku stopped by, and we played a couple games of Kaijudo.  I helped him with his deck and such after the duels.  He didn't bring his Yu-Gi-Oh deck, so he didn't participate in the tournament.

There were mostly regulars at today's tournament.  But, as usual, there were still quite a few newbs.  I think that there were around 30 people there today.

Round 1: vs Newbie Six Samurai

He wasn't necessarily bad (certainly not as bad as my Six Samurai opponent from yesterday's tournament...), but he wasn't really very good.  I almost lost the first game because I missed with Snipe Hunter three times in a row, but won because Gorz is broken.  In the second game, I got OTK'd, but I OTK'd him back in the third duel with a Prismaura loop.  For those of you unfamiliar with how that works, it involves fusing for Prismaura using Gem-Knight Fusion, Gem-Knight Obsidian, and Gem-Knight Amber.  Obsidian Special Summons Amber, Gem-Knight Fusion banishes Obsidian, and Amber gets back Obsidian by discarding Gem-Knight Fusion.  If you have another copy of Obsidian, you can skip that last step and just fuse again, which was the case in this game.  I just kept recycling my cards and he couldn't do anything about it.  When I built Gem-Knights, I certainly didn't think that Amber's Gemini Effect would be this useful...

OXO

Round 2: vs Hieratics

I knew that this guy was running Hieratics, but he knew that I was running Gem-Knights.  I think that he also had a vague idea of how they worked.

-Duel 1: I summoned Steelswarm Roach, but he killed it with Treacherous Trap Hole and OTK'd me.
-Duel 2: I summoned Steelswarm Roach, but he killed it with Dark Hole.  He didn't have the pieces to OTK, so I kept beating him down for a bit with Citrine, but then he played Treacherous Trap Hole again, then OTK'd me.

XX

This makes me feel like I need to run more defensive back rows, but that would kind of hurt the consistency of my deck.  We'll see, I guess.

Round 3: vs Inzektors

This was a regular whom I hadn't played against in over a year.  He used to run Naturias when I was running Scraps a long time ago.  I'm too lazy to go find the tournament where I last played him, so yeah... And we knew what each other was running.

-Duel 1: I went first with Gem-Armadillo, which he Veiled.  I then played Pot of Duality, grabbing and playing Future Fusion, dumping Batteryman AAA and Gem-Knight Amber for Prismaura.  I ended at that.  He summoned Inzektor Centipede and used its effect to equip it with Hornet.  He used Hornet's effect to destroy my Future Fusion and searched Dragonfly.  He Set a card and ended.  I summoned Snipe Hunter and discarded Obsidian to destroy his bluff Foolish Burial.  Obsidian's effect got me Amber, and I attacked with everything to kill his Centipede and drop him to 4800 LP.  I then overlaid for Number 16: Shock Master and used its effect, preventing him from using Monster Effects.  I Set a back row and ended.  He Set a Monster and ended.  I Normal Summoned Batteryman AAA, Special Summoning the one in my Graveyard and overlaying for Gem-Knight Pearl.  I then used Shock Master's effect, detaching the Snipe Hunter to prevent Monster Effects.  With Snipe Hunter and Gem-Knight Obsidian in my Graveyard, I played Dark Calling to make a 3000 ATK Evil HERO Dark Gaia.  Dark Gaia killed his Set Monster, and Shock Master and Pearl attacked for game.
-Duel 2: He went first with a Set Monster.  I summoned Summoner Monk and pitched Gem-Knight Fusion to Special Summon Garnet.  I overlaid for Evigishki Merrowgeist and ran over his Set Monster.  It was Centipede, so I let it hit the Graveyard.  He used Dark Hole, then Monster Reborn on his Centipede.  He equipped his Centipede with Zektkaliber, then attacked directly.  I summoned Gem-Armadillo to grab Gem-Knight Obsidian, then used Monster Reborn on my Summoner Monk to overlay for Maestroke.  I flipped his Centipede face-down to deprive him of Zektkaliber, then attacked over the Centipede.  He Set a Monster and a back row and ended.  I summoned Gem-Knight Iolite and used it to attack his Set Monster.  It was Inzektor Dragonfly, so I took a bit of damage, but then I activated Gemini Spark, tributing Iolite to destroy his Dragonfly and draw a card.  That let Maestroke attack directly, and I Set a card to end.  From there, I just beat him down with random stuff, since he didn't draw his Inzektor Hornet and was unable to do anything.

OO

Round 4: vs Newbie Dark Worlds

He was a friend of my Round 1 opponent.  He was also able to win a game off of me because he had Eradicator Epidemic Virus to rip all of the Spells out of my hand after playing Card Destruction while Skill Drain was up.  I just OTK'd him in the first and third game, basically.  It would've been an OTK in the third game if he didn't have a Tragoedia, but he just prolonged his defeat by one turn.

OXO

Round 5: vs Dino Rabbit

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.  He's a friend of my Round 2 opponent, so he knew that I was playing Gem-Knights, but he had no idea of how they worked.

-Duel 1: I went first, going for Gem-Armadillo, which he used Effect Veiler on.  I Set a back row and ended.  He used MST on my MST, then played Tour Guide to grab another Tour Guide.  He made Wind-Up Zenmaines and Set two back rows before ending.  I considered my options, since I had a lot of options, then opted to play another Gem-Armadillo to search Gem-Knight Obsidian.  I used Gem-Knight Fusion to fuse Obsidian with Garnet for Citrine, Special Summoning the Garnet with Obsidian's effect.  I overlaid my two Armadillos and Garnet for Shock Master, but he used Solemn Warning.  I entered my Battle Phase, and he used Forbidden Lance before I declared an attack with Citrine.  I guess he didn't know that Citrine doesn't prevent Zenmaines from protecting itself with its Continuous Effect.  So, I just ended.  He summoned Rescue Rabbit to get two Kabazauls and make Evolzar Laggia to run over my Citrine.  I topped Future Fusion and activated it, and he declined to negate it.  I sent Amber and Batteryman AAA to the Graveyard, revealing Prismaura.  I then summoned Debris Dragon, and he negated the Normal Summon with Laggia's effect.  I ended my turn there.  He Normal Summoned Sabersaurus and attacked with it and Laggia.  I Normal Summoned Summoner Monk and retrieved my Gem-Knight Fusion from my Graveyard by banishing Citrine.  I pitched it with Summoner Monk's effect to get Snipe Hunter.  I got back my Gem-Knight Fusion again, banishing Obsidian, to discard with Snipe Hunter's effect.  I missed the dice roll, but I could keep trying thanks to the awesome power of Gem-Knight Fusion.  So, I got it back again, banishing Garnet, and successfully destroyed his Laggia.  I then overlaid for Gem-Knight Pearl and ran over his Sabersaurus.  I banished Amber to get back Gem-Knight Fusion for the last time and Set a back row.  He Set a Monster and a back row and ended.  I contemplated destroying his back row with Raigeki Break in the End Phase, and decided to.  It was a good choice, since he had just Set Compulsory Evacuation Device.  I simply attacked his Set Kabazauls on my next turn and passed.  He drew and Set another Monster before ending.  I attacked it, and it was the Snowman Eater that I knew that he was Main Decking.  He destroyed my Pearl, letting me banish it from the Graveyard to grab back my Gem-Knight Fusion once more.  I ended at that.  He switched his Zenmaines to Attack Position and attacked directly, dropping me to 2000 LP and letting me drop Gorz.  He played Dark Hole, detaching one Xyz Material to save his Zenmaines, but since it was the only card on the field after that, he had to detach the other Xyz Material to protect it from its own destruction effect.  From there, I had several options, and decided to use Monster Reborn on my Summoner Monk and pitch Gem-Knight Fusion to grab Gem-Knight Garnet and overlay for Utopia.  I attacked over his Zenmaines and ended.  He topped Monster Reborn and took my Gorz.  When he attacked, I negated with Utopia's effect.  I topped Dark Calling and summoned the Snipe Hunter I was holding.  I banished the Garnet I had detached from Utopia to grab back Gem-Knight Fusion and pitched it to destroy Gorz.  However, I missed the dice roll.  It didn't matter, since I then played Dark Calling to make a 3200 ATK Dark Gaia, which was just enough for me to go for game (he had like 4300 LP or something like that).
-Duel 2: He went first, Setting three back rows and summoning a Sabersaurus.  I Set Gem-Knight Iolite and three back rows.  He flipped Macro Cosmos in the End Phase, which I allowed.  He Set another back row and passed, afraid of the Snowman Eaters that I don't play, but probably should.  I Set another back row and ended.  He summoned another Sabersaurus and I flipped Book of Moon to turn it face-down.  He passed.  I played Gem-Knight Fusion, then Chained MST to destroy his Macro Cosmos.  I expected him to flip another Macro Cosmos, which is what I wanted since I had a second Gem-Knight Fusion in hand and Return from the Different Dimension Set, but he let it through.  So, I made Prismaura using my Set Iolite and the Amber in my hand.  He immediately bounced it with Compulsory Evacuation Device, and I just got back my Gem-Knight Fusion before ending.  He Flip Summoned his Sabersaurus and overlaid his two Dinosaurs for Evolzar Laggia.  He attacked directly and ended.  I topped and Set Forbidden Chalice before ending.  He attacked with Laggia, and I activated Raigeki Break in an attempt to destroy Laggia, discarding Gem-Knight Fusion.  He Chained Laggia's effect, and I Chained Forbidden Chalice to negate it.  His Laggia died, and he ended.  I topped and summoned Gem-Knight Garnet.  He negated its summon with Solemn Warning.  I played Monster Reborn on his Laggia, and he negated with Solemn Warning.  I banished Garnet with Gem-Knight Fusion's Graveyard effect, then flipped Return from the Different Dimension, and he negated with Solemn Judgment.  That left LP at 2800 to 2000, but all I had was two Gem-Knight Fusions, so I ended.  He played Level Limit - Area B and Set a back row.  I topped and summoned Gem-Knight Obsidian and attacked to drop him to 500 LP.  He topped Tour Guide and made Leviathan Dragon to kill my Obsidian and drop me to 1800 LP.  I drew Dimensional Prison.  I shuffled my hand and quickly Set one Gem-Knight Fusion.  I pretended to think for a bit before Setting Dimensional Prison.  He drew for his turn and used MST on my Gem-Knight Fusion, falling for my bluff.  He attacked and I banished Leviathan Dragon with Dimensional Prison.  He ended there.  I got back my Gem-Knight Fusion by banishing Obsidian, then ended.  He Set a Monster and ended.  I topped my second Obsidian, letting me fuse it with the Amber I drew last turn using Gem-Knight Fusion.  That let me Fusion Summon Prismaura in Defense Position, and Obsidian let me revive Amber in Defense Position.  I Gemini Summoned Amber and banished Obsidian from my Graveyard to grab back Gem-Knight Fusion.  I pitched Gem-Knight Fusion to grab back Obsidian.  At this point, all I had in hand was Obsidian and a Gem-Knight Fusion with only Amber and Prismaura on the field.  I declined to destroy his Level Limit - Area B, because it also prevented him from making any aggressive plays, so I ended.  He Set a Monster and ended.  At this point, I decided to use Prismaura's effect, discarding Obsidian to destroy his Level Limit - Area B, but he negated with Effect Veiler.  So, I grabbed back my Gem-Knight Fusion by banishing Obsidian and grabbed back Obsidian with Amber's effect, discarding the Gem-Knight Fusion.  I ended there.  He dropped Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning in Defense Position and banished my Prismaura.  He also Set a back row before ending.  I played my Gem-Knight Fusion, fusing the Amber on the field with the Obsidian in my hand, letting me recreate my previous set-up of Prismaura and Amber.  I banished Obsidian to grab back Gem-Knight Fusion, Gemini Summoned Amber and used its effect to pitch Gem-Knight Fusion and grab back Obsidian, then pitched Obsidian with Prismaura's effect to destroy BLS.  I grabbed back my Gem-Knight Fusion by banishing Obsidian and ended.  As you can see, the Prismaura/Amber loop is amazing.  On my next turn, I was able to do the little loop again to destroy his Level Limit - Area B for free, then I switched my Monsters to Attack Position and attacked his Set Kabazauls with Amber.  He played Forbidden Lance on my Amber, so I took 700 damage, but then I killed the Kabazauls with Prismaura.  I Set a card and ended.  He played Dark Hole, which I negated with Solemn Judgment, then he played another Level Limit - Area B.  My Gem-Knights were forced back into Defense Position, and he ended.  Again, I just used the Prismaura/Amber loop to destroy his Level Limit - Area B for free and swung for game.

OO

To think, I didn't even want to run the Gemini Gem-Knights until we got Sanyx.  I really underestimated Amber's effect when combined with Obsidian.  It makes me want to play a third Obsidian, but I'd rather not draw multiples.  Two seems like the right number.  Also, I only have two Duel Terminal Obsidians...

So yeah, I went 4-1 again with my Gem-Knights and got 4th place.  That got me a Hobby League Shining Angel, which I'll never use, but it's nice to have.  I also got a decent Turbo Pack 1 with both Ryko and Armageddon Knight, so that was nice.

As for the little wager, Shien went 1-1, drop (I think he had to leave during the tournament to go do something, but then he came back afterwards), and Fwazalaza went 3-2 and got 10th place.  Much better than his 1-4 record from yesterday, ha ha.  Still, I was able to win our little bet, and Shien and Fwazalaza each pitched in $2 for me to get a Kaijudo Dojo Edition booster pack.  The Commons and Rare were bad, but I got a second Ghost Spy, a third Super Bazooka Volcanodon, and a ninth Hydro Spy, so that was cool.

But yeah, my Gem-Knight build turned out to be much better than I had hoped.  I didn't expect to be going X-1 with it; all I wanted was to be able to beat Fwazalaza and Shien's DT-theme decks, but Gem-Knights actually seem like they could be competitive.  I think that I'm going to make a few changes for next week.  Batteryman AAA has been pretty good; I haven't dead drawn it yet, but I don't think it's really worth the space in the deck.  As I said earlier, I also want to add more defensive cards and drop the Iolites and Gemini Sparks, but I guess I'll have to figure it out sometime this week.

I will most likely post up a deck list sometime this week before I change the deck.  I know that Fwazalaza is quite eager to see it, and I'd be cool to show off a non-Rescue Rabbit-based competitive Gem-Knight deck.