So, as usual, I went to locals yesterday. I took Aki with me, and my friend who plays Vanguard and Riku were there, so that was cool. And as usual, first was the small Vanguard tournament. I was using my Beast Deity Nova Grapplers, Riku was using my Invincible Overlord deck, Aki was using his recently-completed Narukami deck (now with four Vermillions), and my friend decided to use a Gold Paladin deck with eight Draw Triggers...
I was paired up against Riku in the first round and lost because I got gradestuck at Grade 2. I won the second round against a Tsukuyomi Oracle Think Tank player because apparently he drew poorly, despite getting his ride chain and six cards in the Soul. I won the third round against my Round 2 opponent from this small Vanguard tournament. He changes decks like every day, so I don't remember what he was using. And I lost the fourth round because I got gradestuck at Grade 1.
After that was the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament. Aki was using his Debris HERO deck that has been featured in recent videos. I decided to make a Debris HERO deck of my own, since I've had all of the cards and such. Instead of stuff like Neos, Necroshade, and Voltic, I used stuff like Woodsman, Tour Guide, and Cloudian - Poison Cloud. Yes, Cloudian - Poison Cloud.
Round 1: vs Dark Worlds
This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.
-Duel 1: I got rid of her back row and she wasn't able to spam Grapha, so I was able to win pretty easily.
-Duel 2: She resolved Morphing Jar, so she won.
-Duel 3: I used Super Polymerization with my Bubbleman (my only Monster) and her Trance Archfiend for Escuridao. I then read and destroyed her Dimensional Prison with Mystical Space Typhoon. That was her only out to Escuridao, so I won.
OXO
Round 2: vs Stun
This was my Round 3 opponent from this tournament. It would be revenge time, if it weren't for the fact that he traded me a Twin Blader and an Asura Kaiser before the tournament. I just need two more of each, now...
-Duel 1: He opened with Thunder King Rai-Oh. My hand was all search cards, so I Set Debris Dragon. He summoned Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, then attacked. Apparently his deck has no outs to 2000 DEF walls, so we just played the draw-pass-draw-pass game for like ten minutes. After a while, I tried to use Heavy Storm, but he used Solemn Judgment. Then, a couple turns later, he used Heavy Storm, destroying my four Set Spells and his four Traps. He Chained Compulsory Evacuation Device to bounce his Fossil Dyna so that he could overlay for Utopia to run over my Debris Dragon. I then made Black Rose Dragon using my other Debris Dragon to destroy his field. At this point, card advantage was pretty even, but he he wasted a lot of his back row, so what he had left was mostly Monsters. So, I was able to make some big plays, like with Miracle Fusion, to win.
-Duel 2: He beat me down with King Tiger Wanghu, then Doomcalibur Knight, and Rai-Oh until I was at 400 LP. I was able to make a comeback with Miracle Fusion after getting rid of his back row to win, though.
OO
Round 3: vs Dino Rabbit
This was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.
-Duel 1: I opened with a Set Woodsman and two back rows. He played MST on my Set Polymerization, then attacked into my Woodsman with D.D. Assailant. That let me get back my Polymerization on my turn. I steadily gained advantage on him over the next few turns, then I beat him down with one of my Fusions.
-Duel 2: I was able to stall him out using Woodsman again, and after a while, I went for an OTK using Polymerization, Tour Guide (into Leviair) and two Miracle Fusions.
OO
Round 4: vs Dino Rabbit
This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament. We were the last two undefeated players, and we decided not to split.
-Duel 1: He opened with a vanilla Dinosaur and two back rows. I used King of the Swamp to grab Polymerization, then Debris Dragon to go into Black Rose Dragon and destroy his field. I made Absolute Zero using Polymerization, Ocean, and Woodsman, then attacked directly. He dropped Gorz. "Absolute Zero does not care if you have Gorz," I declared. He had no choice but just to attack Zero with Gorz and lose his field again. I then used Monster Reborn on his Gorz to bait out his back row, then made a Miracle Fusion/Tour Guide play to swarm the field and win.
-Duel 2: He was able to beat me down with Thunder King Rai-Oh and such, and he had just enough back row to deal with all of my plays.
-Duel 3: He opened Rescue Rabbit into Laggia with two back row, while my only Set cards were Woodsman and Fiendish Chain. I was able to destroy his back row with Heavy Storm, as I Chained the Chain to negate his Laggia's effect. From there, I made a Tour Guide play and took his banished Rescue Rabbit. That put the Tour Guide in my Graveyard, letting me use Miracle Fusion for Escuridao to run over his Laggia. I was wary of Gorz, so I didn't attack with Leviair. He killed it with Rai-Oh on the following turn, then I summoned Neos Alius. He flipped Torrential Tribute, and I ended there. He topped Monster Reborn for his Rescue Rabbit and made another Laggia. All I had left was Cyber Dragon, Neos Alius, and Bubbleman. I tried to bait out his Laggia's negation with Cyber Dragon or Neos Alius, and he did think about it for a while, but he didn't fall for it. So I was unable to do anything against his Laggia.
OXX
So, I ended up going 3-1 and got 4th place. Despite the fact that I only played against regulars today, my first three opponents went X-2, which hurt my tiebreakers. Only the Top 3 got prizes today, so I got nothing... It was quite disappointing. Oh well, I'll just try again next weekend.
So after that, Aki, Riku, my friend, and I went to the other card shop for the Vanguard tournament.
Round 1: vs Gold Paladin
-Fight 1: He didn't guard until he was at four or five damage. I have no idea of what he was doing, since he didn't call many rear-guards, but he also declined to guard when he had plenty of cards in hand. One of his rear-guard columns was completely empty for the entire game...
-Fight 2: I got gradestuck at Grade 2.
-Fight 3: All of his damage was Draw or Heal Triggers, and he won with double Criticals. I was really annoyed that I lost, since he really had no idea of what he was doing. I even asked if it was his first time playing Gold Paladins, and he didn't answer.
OXX
Round 2: vs Pale Moon
I was up against one of my friend's friends. I knew that he was a bad player, so I wasn't too happy to play against him. He basically misplayed a lot throughout the match and I won 2-1. I lost the second game because all of his damage was Draw or Heal Triggers...
Round 3: vs Invincible Overlord
I was paired up against Riku, so it was time for revenge for earlier. I won 2-0.
So, Aki and I went 2-1 (Aki lost to my friend in the third round), Riku went 1-2, and my friend made it into the Top 4 with a 3-0 record. He ended up getting 2nd place and getting five packs of Set 1. He didn't pull any Asura Kaisers, sadly, but he got me some Common Granblue stuff.
But yeah, that's about it. I'll be going to locals next Saturday, and possibly Sunday as well. It's the last day for the Kaijudo league, and I want those Enforcer Evolutions...
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Tournament Report 11/17/12
As usual, here's a triple tournament report, which technically took place yesterday, since it's after midnight.
First was the small Vanguard tournament, and I lost the first two rounds by getting gradestuck on Grade 0 and Grade 2, respectively. Yeah, that's it.
Next was the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament. I had made a new deck last Sunday that I wanted to try out, and it was a remade version of my T.G. Zombies. Of course, I had to drop two T.G. Strikers, but Unknown Synchron and Tour Guide kind of made up for them. But yeah, there were 13 players there.
Round 1: vs Machina Gadgets
I was paired up against Riku.
-Duel 1: He got two Gearframes to search his Fortresses, and since he didn't draw any back row, he was able to keep dropping Machines to revive his Fortresses. I lost because I can't efficiently get rid of Machina Fortress.
-Duel 2: Same as the first duel. And now that I think about it, I had a bad match-up against Machina Gadgets before Striker was Limited, too...
XX
Round 2: vs Newbie Gravekeeper's
This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament. I kept destroying her Necrovalleys with T.G. Wonder Magician, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Dust Tornado, so I didn't have any problem winning 2-0.
Round 3: vs Stun
This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.
-Duel 1: His Thunder King Rai-Oh and Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo killed me when all I had was a Goblin Zombie.
-Duel 2: He played Heavy Storm and Dark Hole while he had a Reborn Tengu out to clear out my field and kill me when I was low on LP.
XX
So with that, I decided to drop. I got a Vanguard booster pack (Set 2) with nothing relevant. I also bought a box of Kaijudo Evo Fury for Aki and me to split. We'll be opening that tomorrow (really today, since it's after midnight) when we meet up. So yeah, we'll finally be able to make some new videos after not being able to for like a month.
But yeah, my friend who plays Vanguard, Riku, and I went to the other card shop for their Vanguard tournament. I let Riku use my Invincible Overlord deck while I used my Beast Deity Nova Grapplers.
Round 1: vs Royal Paladin
This was my Round 2 opponent from this Vanguard tournament. He had a better understanding of the rules this time, but I still won 2-0.
Round 2: vs Gold Paladin (Spectral Duke)
-Fight 1: I got gradestuck on Battleraizer and lost.
-Fight 2: He tried to use his Grade 2 Vortimer's skill when the Grade 1 Vortimer wasn't in the soul. I don't know if he was trying to cheat or if he really didn't know that he couldn't do that, but my friend told me he tried doing that again later. Either way, I lost because I couldn't guard early because I didn't have any 10k shields at all.
XX
Round 3: vs Royal Paladin
This was my Round 3 opponent from this Vanguard tournament. He abandoned his Gold Paladins, I guess, but his Royal Paladin deck isn't complete (like, it uses Wingal...).
-Fight 1: I rushed him and was able to win pretty quickly.
-Fight 2: He rushed me since I was gradestuck on Grade 2. Honestly, I don't know if I should feel like being stuck at 2 is my fault since I only play five Grade 3's, but I'd rather not get a bunch of useless Grade 3's late-game.
-Fight 3: I won in a close game since I was able to rush in for early damage and he wasn't able to stabilize until it was too late.
OXO
Round 4: vs Kagero (Lawkeeper)
This was my opponent in the finals of this Vanguard tournament. He was undefeated and I was 2-1, so I needed this win to make it to Top 4.
-Fight 1: He got gradestuck at Grade 1 and I rushed him. By the time he got his Lawkeeper and Dual-Axe Archdragon out, it was too late; I had like ten cards in hand and a full field to his three cards total.
-Fight 2: Same thing as the first game, sadly. It's a really terrible way to lose, getting gradestuck, but that's part of why Vanguard is a stupid game.
OO
So I made it into the Top 4, getting 3rd place. Riku was 3-1, but all of his tie-breakers were little kids, so he didn't make it. My friend got 4th after going 3-0 for the first three rounds, then losing to my Round 2 opponent, who got 1st. They had to play against each other in the semi-finals.
Semi-Finals: vs Oracle Think Tank (Soulless)
This was my opponent from the semi-finals of last week's Vanguard tournament.
-Fight 1: He had to ride up to Oracle Guardian, Apollon, but he got a Scarlet Witch, Coco soon afterwards, so he was able to gain his crazy pluses. He had too many cards for me to be able to rush him, so I lost.
-Fight 2: He got gradestuck at Grade 2 for a couple turns, so he basically gave up at that point. I slowly killed all of his rear-guards so he wouldn't be able to make a comeback once he got a Grade 3, so I won.
-Fight 3: This game was really close, but he really should've won a lot faster that he did. Basically, all of his Triggers were at the bottom of his deck, so he didn't have any 10k shields. But, I didn't have much to guard with, so I kept having to minimum guard against his Vanguard. So, since he had no Triggers at all, that would be enough for me to survive. However, he got a lot of free cards off of Coco and such, so he was able to win once he finally got some Triggers.
XOX
My friend won his revenge match, keeping in line with the whole "we never play each other in the Top 4" thing. But, we all just decided to split at that point since we didn't care enough to play it out. I got three packs of Set 2 and my friend got eight packs of Set 1. I pulled another Kirara, so now I have four. Eh, it could've been worse, I guess. My friend pulled a Battle Sister, Chocolat and a Maiden of Libra, and he'll be using those in his Oracle Think Tank deck once he gets around to making it.
He also gave me a bunch of the Commons and Rares that I wanted. So now I have a full set of Elaines from Set 1, which matters because it has a better flavor text than the one from the Trial Deck. The Elaines from the booster pack literally promise to save you (not that they keep that promise very often).
But yeah, that's about it. Aki and I will be meeting up tomorrow (really today, since it's after midnight) to make videos, so yeah.
First was the small Vanguard tournament, and I lost the first two rounds by getting gradestuck on Grade 0 and Grade 2, respectively. Yeah, that's it.
Next was the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament. I had made a new deck last Sunday that I wanted to try out, and it was a remade version of my T.G. Zombies. Of course, I had to drop two T.G. Strikers, but Unknown Synchron and Tour Guide kind of made up for them. But yeah, there were 13 players there.
Round 1: vs Machina Gadgets
I was paired up against Riku.
-Duel 1: He got two Gearframes to search his Fortresses, and since he didn't draw any back row, he was able to keep dropping Machines to revive his Fortresses. I lost because I can't efficiently get rid of Machina Fortress.
-Duel 2: Same as the first duel. And now that I think about it, I had a bad match-up against Machina Gadgets before Striker was Limited, too...
XX
Round 2: vs Newbie Gravekeeper's
This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament. I kept destroying her Necrovalleys with T.G. Wonder Magician, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Dust Tornado, so I didn't have any problem winning 2-0.
Round 3: vs Stun
This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.
-Duel 1: His Thunder King Rai-Oh and Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo killed me when all I had was a Goblin Zombie.
-Duel 2: He played Heavy Storm and Dark Hole while he had a Reborn Tengu out to clear out my field and kill me when I was low on LP.
XX
So with that, I decided to drop. I got a Vanguard booster pack (Set 2) with nothing relevant. I also bought a box of Kaijudo Evo Fury for Aki and me to split. We'll be opening that tomorrow (really today, since it's after midnight) when we meet up. So yeah, we'll finally be able to make some new videos after not being able to for like a month.
But yeah, my friend who plays Vanguard, Riku, and I went to the other card shop for their Vanguard tournament. I let Riku use my Invincible Overlord deck while I used my Beast Deity Nova Grapplers.
Round 1: vs Royal Paladin
This was my Round 2 opponent from this Vanguard tournament. He had a better understanding of the rules this time, but I still won 2-0.
Round 2: vs Gold Paladin (Spectral Duke)
-Fight 1: I got gradestuck on Battleraizer and lost.
-Fight 2: He tried to use his Grade 2 Vortimer's skill when the Grade 1 Vortimer wasn't in the soul. I don't know if he was trying to cheat or if he really didn't know that he couldn't do that, but my friend told me he tried doing that again later. Either way, I lost because I couldn't guard early because I didn't have any 10k shields at all.
XX
Round 3: vs Royal Paladin
This was my Round 3 opponent from this Vanguard tournament. He abandoned his Gold Paladins, I guess, but his Royal Paladin deck isn't complete (like, it uses Wingal...).
-Fight 1: I rushed him and was able to win pretty quickly.
-Fight 2: He rushed me since I was gradestuck on Grade 2. Honestly, I don't know if I should feel like being stuck at 2 is my fault since I only play five Grade 3's, but I'd rather not get a bunch of useless Grade 3's late-game.
-Fight 3: I won in a close game since I was able to rush in for early damage and he wasn't able to stabilize until it was too late.
OXO
Round 4: vs Kagero (Lawkeeper)
This was my opponent in the finals of this Vanguard tournament. He was undefeated and I was 2-1, so I needed this win to make it to Top 4.
-Fight 1: He got gradestuck at Grade 1 and I rushed him. By the time he got his Lawkeeper and Dual-Axe Archdragon out, it was too late; I had like ten cards in hand and a full field to his three cards total.
-Fight 2: Same thing as the first game, sadly. It's a really terrible way to lose, getting gradestuck, but that's part of why Vanguard is a stupid game.
OO
So I made it into the Top 4, getting 3rd place. Riku was 3-1, but all of his tie-breakers were little kids, so he didn't make it. My friend got 4th after going 3-0 for the first three rounds, then losing to my Round 2 opponent, who got 1st. They had to play against each other in the semi-finals.
Semi-Finals: vs Oracle Think Tank (Soulless)
This was my opponent from the semi-finals of last week's Vanguard tournament.
-Fight 1: He had to ride up to Oracle Guardian, Apollon, but he got a Scarlet Witch, Coco soon afterwards, so he was able to gain his crazy pluses. He had too many cards for me to be able to rush him, so I lost.
-Fight 2: He got gradestuck at Grade 2 for a couple turns, so he basically gave up at that point. I slowly killed all of his rear-guards so he wouldn't be able to make a comeback once he got a Grade 3, so I won.
-Fight 3: This game was really close, but he really should've won a lot faster that he did. Basically, all of his Triggers were at the bottom of his deck, so he didn't have any 10k shields. But, I didn't have much to guard with, so I kept having to minimum guard against his Vanguard. So, since he had no Triggers at all, that would be enough for me to survive. However, he got a lot of free cards off of Coco and such, so he was able to win once he finally got some Triggers.
XOX
My friend won his revenge match, keeping in line with the whole "we never play each other in the Top 4" thing. But, we all just decided to split at that point since we didn't care enough to play it out. I got three packs of Set 2 and my friend got eight packs of Set 1. I pulled another Kirara, so now I have four. Eh, it could've been worse, I guess. My friend pulled a Battle Sister, Chocolat and a Maiden of Libra, and he'll be using those in his Oracle Think Tank deck once he gets around to making it.
He also gave me a bunch of the Commons and Rares that I wanted. So now I have a full set of Elaines from Set 1, which matters because it has a better flavor text than the one from the Trial Deck. The Elaines from the booster pack literally promise to save you (not that they keep that promise very often).
But yeah, that's about it. Aki and I will be meeting up tomorrow (really today, since it's after midnight) to make videos, so yeah.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Tournament Report 11/10/12
I went to locals yesterday, as usual. I was too tired to type up this report last night, though, so I left it for today.
As usual, first was the small Vanguard tournament. I was using my Beast Deity Nova Grapplers after adding some Death Army Guys, one Twin Blader, and one Asura Kaiser.
In the first round, I played against a Dark Irregulars player who got gradestuck on Grade 2, so I won. Next, I played against the Narukami player from Round 2 of this Vanguard tournament, except that he had switched to Spike Brothers. He didn't get to use his Limit Break, since on the final turn, he started with two damage and ended with six; I basically out-rushed Spike Brothers. In the third round, I lost to the Narukami player from Round 3 of this small Vanguard tournament. It came down to his Critical Triggers, which let him kill me the turn before I would finish him off. In Round 4, I played against the Royal Paladin player from Round 2 of this small Vanguard tournament and won. I ended up getting 2nd place because of good tie-breakers, so I got two promo packs. Both packs got me that Grade 2 Dark Irregulars card that Soulcharges when it enters the field, and I gave both to my friend who plays Vanguard.
Next was the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament. I was using my Nordic Diva deck, but I'm planning on making a new deck today, since I actually have some free time. There were like 26 players there, by the way.
Round 1: vs Wind-Up
I was playing against spondo and his Wind-Ups.
-Duel 1: He drew three Wind-Up Rabbits, so he couldn't really swarm that effectively. He didn't draw much back row, so I was able to counter all of his swarms (mainly with a Mist Wurm) without him being able to do anything.
-Duel 2: He opened with Tour Guide and Wind-Up Shark, so he made Zenmaity and Shock Master, prohibiting Spells. I didn't draw any Spells, so I didn't care, but he had such overwhelming advantage at that point, so I wasn't able to do much.
-Duel 3: The only Monsters he drew were Magicians and Rats, so I won pretty easily.
OXO
Round 2: vs Atlantean
This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament. By the way, he sold me two Duel Terminal Gem-Knight Zirconias, so maybe I'll remake my Gem-Knights soon.
-Duel 1: I rushed him with T.G. Hyper Librarian and Scrap Archfiend. He tried to counter with Gungnir, but that gave me a card off of Librarian. He was able to destroy my whole field, but then I just swarmed again on the following turn using Guldfaxe and Monster Reborn.
-Duel 2: His deck worked like it was supposed to and he out-advantaged me, mainly with Atlantean Marksman.
-Duel 3: I played Dimensional Fissure, and he couldn't do anything about it.
OXO
Round 3: vs Monster Mash
I was up against JB, and his all-Monster deck that uses the Birdman/Gallis OTK and a newly-added Frog engine.
-Duel 1: He gained a lot of advantage off of Light and Darkness Dragon and his Monarchs due to his Frog engine. He did have the Birdman/Gallis/Doom loop, but I ruined it with Compulsory Evacuation Device, but I ended up dying due to burn from Gallis in the end anyways.
-Duel 2: I got him down to 3400 LP or something like that with Thought Ruler Archfiend, then he got rid of it using Volcanic Queen. Then, I started using Volcanic Queen to deal damage by sacrificing my own cards. Once he realized I could burn him to death with it, he banished it with Caius. Regardless, he was at too low LP to use the Gorz he got off of Witch of the Black Rose, so I was able to win.
-Duel 3: He got the Birdman/Gallis OTK after a few turns, so I lost.
XOX
In the fourth round, I ended up going up against Yugilo. I decided to just give him the win and drop, since there wasn't enough time to finish the tournament, then go to the Vanguard tournament at the other card shop afterwards. So, I just played a few games in the new Yugilo Format with my Koa'ki Meiru deck. You can see it fail spectacularly in this video on Yugilo's channel.
So yeah, my friend who plays Vanguard and I went to the other card shop for their Vanguard tournament. He was using his Royal Paladin deck, while I was using my Nova Grapplers again. Yeah, I realized that my Invincible Overlord deck kind of auto-loses to Lawkeeper, so I didn't really want to run it anymore. Yeah, Lawkeeper is one of those cards that hates on hybrid decks. But yeah, there were only 12 players there today.
Round 1: vs Gold Paladin
This was the same weird guy as last weekend. I kept pointing out his misplays, but he insisted that he thought through all of his plays.
-Fight 1: Every time I went to finish him, he'd get a Heal Trigger or a Draw Trigger, and I'd get no triggers on my Twin Drive. This game took forever, and I ended up losing.
-Fight 2: I rushed him really quick and he misplayed a lot, so I won.
-Fight 3: This game came down to whether or not he'd get a Critical Trigger when I was at 3 damage (I didn't have enough to guard if he were to get a Trigger). He didn't, so I won.
XOO
Round 2: vs Narukami
This was my Round 3 opponent from this Vanguard tournament. He switched from Nova Grapplers to Narukami, for some reason.
-Fight 1: I got gradestuck at Grade 2 for a turn, then he wrecked my field with Vermillion.
-Fight 2: I had to ride up to Asura Kaiser, sadly, and lost to a Critical Trigger.
XX
Round 3: vs Oracle Think Tank (Tsukuyomi)
So this was weird. My opponent was supposed to be this one random guy, but he had to leave, so his friend who works at the card shop stepped in to fight me. I had talked to him earlier, and he said that he believes that Vanguard is a game of skill. However, he seemed to make many of his plays based on random whims.
-Fight 1: I kept whittling down his card advantage with my Stand Triggers and such, and he missed his ride chain, so I was able to win pretty easily.
-Fight 2: He got his ride chain off and put pressure on me with Silent Toms. However, since I run more Grade 1's and 2's than usual, I was able to guard against them more easily than other decks. Regardless, I still lost to the overwhelming advantage he got from Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi.
OX-
At this point, since we were the last ones playing, my opponent decided to drop and give me the win. Besides, he wasn't supposed to be playing anyways. So yeah, I ended up making it into the Top 4 by getting 3rd place. My friend got 5th place by going 2-1, but the 4th place person had left before the Top 4 started, so my friend got his spot.
Semi-Finals: vs Oracle Think Tank (Soulless)
-Fight 1: He had to ride Oracle Guardian, Apollon instead of Coco, so I won.
-Fight 2: He rode up to Coco, so he won.
-Fight 3: He had to ride Apollon, so I won. Honestly, the only advantage of playing the Soulless build is drawing free cards with Coco, but without being able to ride Coco on the third turn, the deck really has nothing going for it.
OXO
Finals: vs Narukami
This was my Round 2 opponent from earlier, so it was revenge time. The prizes for today were 7 for 1st and 4 for 2nd. We couldn't split those numbers easily, so we decided to each get 5 packs and play one game for the extra pack. I rushed him really quickly when I rode to Grade 2, and he didn't have Vermillion, so I won.
My friend, unfortunately, got 4th place with his Royal Paladins (again) and got two packs of Set 1. I got 6 packs of Set 2 and pulling nothing of note except Spirit Exceed and Kimnara. But whatever, it was free.
So yeah, since my Royal Paladin/Nubatama hybrid deck that now features Megacolony units is now complete (or as complete as it'll be for now) and I won't be getting Granblue cards any time soon, I'm going to concentrate more on Yu-Gi-Oh and Kaijudo. I'm planning on making a new Yu-Gi-Oh deck for locals today, and I'll be getting at least a box of the new Kaijudo booster set next weekend. Aki and I may split a box, I'm not sure what he wants to do yet.
There is one thing I still have to figure out for Vanguard, though. I feel as though my Draw Triggers in my Nova Grappler deck aren't really doing anything unless I check them as damage. I feel like I would want to use less of them and more Stand Triggers or maybe even Critical Triggers. And also, I'm not sure how I feel about NGM Prototype; it did alright, but I feel as though its spot in the deck could easily go to some other Grade 2 unit.
As usual, first was the small Vanguard tournament. I was using my Beast Deity Nova Grapplers after adding some Death Army Guys, one Twin Blader, and one Asura Kaiser.
In the first round, I played against a Dark Irregulars player who got gradestuck on Grade 2, so I won. Next, I played against the Narukami player from Round 2 of this Vanguard tournament, except that he had switched to Spike Brothers. He didn't get to use his Limit Break, since on the final turn, he started with two damage and ended with six; I basically out-rushed Spike Brothers. In the third round, I lost to the Narukami player from Round 3 of this small Vanguard tournament. It came down to his Critical Triggers, which let him kill me the turn before I would finish him off. In Round 4, I played against the Royal Paladin player from Round 2 of this small Vanguard tournament and won. I ended up getting 2nd place because of good tie-breakers, so I got two promo packs. Both packs got me that Grade 2 Dark Irregulars card that Soulcharges when it enters the field, and I gave both to my friend who plays Vanguard.
Next was the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament. I was using my Nordic Diva deck, but I'm planning on making a new deck today, since I actually have some free time. There were like 26 players there, by the way.
Round 1: vs Wind-Up
I was playing against spondo and his Wind-Ups.
-Duel 1: He drew three Wind-Up Rabbits, so he couldn't really swarm that effectively. He didn't draw much back row, so I was able to counter all of his swarms (mainly with a Mist Wurm) without him being able to do anything.
-Duel 2: He opened with Tour Guide and Wind-Up Shark, so he made Zenmaity and Shock Master, prohibiting Spells. I didn't draw any Spells, so I didn't care, but he had such overwhelming advantage at that point, so I wasn't able to do much.
-Duel 3: The only Monsters he drew were Magicians and Rats, so I won pretty easily.
OXO
Round 2: vs Atlantean
This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament. By the way, he sold me two Duel Terminal Gem-Knight Zirconias, so maybe I'll remake my Gem-Knights soon.
-Duel 1: I rushed him with T.G. Hyper Librarian and Scrap Archfiend. He tried to counter with Gungnir, but that gave me a card off of Librarian. He was able to destroy my whole field, but then I just swarmed again on the following turn using Guldfaxe and Monster Reborn.
-Duel 2: His deck worked like it was supposed to and he out-advantaged me, mainly with Atlantean Marksman.
-Duel 3: I played Dimensional Fissure, and he couldn't do anything about it.
OXO
Round 3: vs Monster Mash
I was up against JB, and his all-Monster deck that uses the Birdman/Gallis OTK and a newly-added Frog engine.
-Duel 1: He gained a lot of advantage off of Light and Darkness Dragon and his Monarchs due to his Frog engine. He did have the Birdman/Gallis/Doom loop, but I ruined it with Compulsory Evacuation Device, but I ended up dying due to burn from Gallis in the end anyways.
-Duel 2: I got him down to 3400 LP or something like that with Thought Ruler Archfiend, then he got rid of it using Volcanic Queen. Then, I started using Volcanic Queen to deal damage by sacrificing my own cards. Once he realized I could burn him to death with it, he banished it with Caius. Regardless, he was at too low LP to use the Gorz he got off of Witch of the Black Rose, so I was able to win.
-Duel 3: He got the Birdman/Gallis OTK after a few turns, so I lost.
XOX
In the fourth round, I ended up going up against Yugilo. I decided to just give him the win and drop, since there wasn't enough time to finish the tournament, then go to the Vanguard tournament at the other card shop afterwards. So, I just played a few games in the new Yugilo Format with my Koa'ki Meiru deck. You can see it fail spectacularly in this video on Yugilo's channel.
So yeah, my friend who plays Vanguard and I went to the other card shop for their Vanguard tournament. He was using his Royal Paladin deck, while I was using my Nova Grapplers again. Yeah, I realized that my Invincible Overlord deck kind of auto-loses to Lawkeeper, so I didn't really want to run it anymore. Yeah, Lawkeeper is one of those cards that hates on hybrid decks. But yeah, there were only 12 players there today.
Round 1: vs Gold Paladin
This was the same weird guy as last weekend. I kept pointing out his misplays, but he insisted that he thought through all of his plays.
-Fight 1: Every time I went to finish him, he'd get a Heal Trigger or a Draw Trigger, and I'd get no triggers on my Twin Drive. This game took forever, and I ended up losing.
-Fight 2: I rushed him really quick and he misplayed a lot, so I won.
-Fight 3: This game came down to whether or not he'd get a Critical Trigger when I was at 3 damage (I didn't have enough to guard if he were to get a Trigger). He didn't, so I won.
XOO
Round 2: vs Narukami
This was my Round 3 opponent from this Vanguard tournament. He switched from Nova Grapplers to Narukami, for some reason.
-Fight 1: I got gradestuck at Grade 2 for a turn, then he wrecked my field with Vermillion.
-Fight 2: I had to ride up to Asura Kaiser, sadly, and lost to a Critical Trigger.
XX
Round 3: vs Oracle Think Tank (Tsukuyomi)
So this was weird. My opponent was supposed to be this one random guy, but he had to leave, so his friend who works at the card shop stepped in to fight me. I had talked to him earlier, and he said that he believes that Vanguard is a game of skill. However, he seemed to make many of his plays based on random whims.
-Fight 1: I kept whittling down his card advantage with my Stand Triggers and such, and he missed his ride chain, so I was able to win pretty easily.
-Fight 2: He got his ride chain off and put pressure on me with Silent Toms. However, since I run more Grade 1's and 2's than usual, I was able to guard against them more easily than other decks. Regardless, I still lost to the overwhelming advantage he got from Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi.
OX-
At this point, since we were the last ones playing, my opponent decided to drop and give me the win. Besides, he wasn't supposed to be playing anyways. So yeah, I ended up making it into the Top 4 by getting 3rd place. My friend got 5th place by going 2-1, but the 4th place person had left before the Top 4 started, so my friend got his spot.
Semi-Finals: vs Oracle Think Tank (Soulless)
-Fight 1: He had to ride Oracle Guardian, Apollon instead of Coco, so I won.
-Fight 2: He rode up to Coco, so he won.
-Fight 3: He had to ride Apollon, so I won. Honestly, the only advantage of playing the Soulless build is drawing free cards with Coco, but without being able to ride Coco on the third turn, the deck really has nothing going for it.
OXO
Finals: vs Narukami
This was my Round 2 opponent from earlier, so it was revenge time. The prizes for today were 7 for 1st and 4 for 2nd. We couldn't split those numbers easily, so we decided to each get 5 packs and play one game for the extra pack. I rushed him really quickly when I rode to Grade 2, and he didn't have Vermillion, so I won.
My friend, unfortunately, got 4th place with his Royal Paladins (again) and got two packs of Set 1. I got 6 packs of Set 2 and pulling nothing of note except Spirit Exceed and Kimnara. But whatever, it was free.
So yeah, since my Royal Paladin/Nubatama hybrid deck that now features Megacolony units is now complete (or as complete as it'll be for now) and I won't be getting Granblue cards any time soon, I'm going to concentrate more on Yu-Gi-Oh and Kaijudo. I'm planning on making a new Yu-Gi-Oh deck for locals today, and I'll be getting at least a box of the new Kaijudo booster set next weekend. Aki and I may split a box, I'm not sure what he wants to do yet.
There is one thing I still have to figure out for Vanguard, though. I feel as though my Draw Triggers in my Nova Grappler deck aren't really doing anything unless I check them as damage. I feel like I would want to use less of them and more Stand Triggers or maybe even Critical Triggers. And also, I'm not sure how I feel about NGM Prototype; it did alright, but I feel as though its spot in the deck could easily go to some other Grade 2 unit.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Vanguard Regional Report
So, I was at the Vanguard Regional/National all weekend. Since it's Vanguard and basically every game is "I trigger sacked/my opponent trigger sacked/I got gradestuck at [insert integer from 0 to 2]/my opponent got gradestuck", I'm not going to be posting details of each game. But yeah...
So, I took my friend who plays Vanguard to the event, and we signed up for the Regional. We had both preregistered, so we were guaranteed spots, but we still had to wait in line for like an hour. What was cool was that we got free stuff for entering, including a deck box and a storage box. I ended up being in C Block, while he was in F Block. For those of you who don't know what that means, I'll explain the tournament structure.
It's best-of-one double-elimination. So, each round is one game, and if you lose two games, you're eliminated from the tournament. Everyone was split into blocks, and there was no tournament-structure-based reason for this. Basically, everything was done on paper; every player had a score sheet, and they'd mark off their results. Judges would verify the results, then collect the papers after each round, then pair people with people who had the same record. They would do this by placing the score sheets on the tables, and the players would have to go and find their own score sheet, as opposed to crowding around a board with names and corresponding table numbers on them. There are pro's and con's to any tournament structure, but the main flaw was that this tournament structure didn't really take into account tie-breakers when pairing players. Tie-breakers for X-1's at the end of the tournaments were calculated based on when those players took their one loss. But yeah, the reason for the blocks is so that it would be easier for the judges to pair people, since they'd only have to keep track of a subset of players. Blocks were merged as the tournament progressed.
So yeah, I used my Invincible Overlord deck, and my friend used his Gold Paladins.
I won my first round against a competent Gold Paladin (Spectral Duke) player (neither of us really got triggers all game), lost my second round against a Gold Paladin (Garmore/Pellinore) player, won my third round against an incompetent Angel Feather player, won my fourth round against something (it was probably Narukami, but I don't remember), and lost for the second time in the fifth round against a good Kagero player. I decked out in that fifth round, so that was significant.
My friend lost his first round against Soulless Oracle Think Tank, won his second round, and lost his third round. When we had both lost twice, we went to play in the "Free Fight" event to get the free promo cards (Dragonic Vanisher and Sphere Magus). Yeah, you could get both promos by just playing four rounds of casual play. There was nothing remarkable about this side event, except that my friend was able to superior ride Pellinore twice in one turn. Unsurprisingly, that was the final turn of that game.
With that, we left to go to the evening Vanguard tournament at the other card shop (by "other," I mean not the usual card shop). My friend gave me the fourth Azure Dragon and the fourth Three Minutes, but he didn't have the Twin Blader. So, I just fixed up my Nova Grappler deck as best I could and decided to use it in the tournament. There were 24 players there.
Round 1: vs Gold Paladin
This guy was like emo or something, since he was always looking down and talking in a really dreary voice. It's not that he was shy, it was something else... But yeah, I lost to getting gradestuck in the first game and taking a double Critical Trigger in the third game.
Round 2: vs Angel Feather
This was my Round 3 opponent from this Vanguard tournament. He abandoned his Royal Paladins or something. But yeah, I won the first fight, but lost the other two. My Nova Grapplers are generally weak against Angel Feather because I can't rush them for early damage that easily.
But yeah, with that, I was basically done. Although there was no chance for me to top, I played the last two rounds for fun. But yeah, not important. My friend ended up going 3-1 after losing the first round to Soulless Oracle Think Tank. He didn't top, so we left.
And, on the following day, we returned to the convention center for the Vanguard Nationals and team tournament. This time, Aki was able to come too, and together we were Team Snogal. Yes. We were one of the first few teams to register apparently, since we were team number 007. Yes. We also got more free stuff for entering this tournament; they basically gave us the same goodie bags as from yesterday's Regional. But yeah, we didn't really put any thought into the team order, since my friend just grabbed the first lanyard and I took the third one, leaving Aki with the second one. I was playing Nova Grapplers, Aki was playing Narukami, and my friend was playing Royal Paladins, since his Golden Pals had failed him so badly yesterday. Aki was able to get two Vermillions and a second perfect guard for his deck, so that was good.
By the way, the format for the team tournament was best-of-one matches, but the collective score for the team would determine which team won. So basically, the team to win two games would win.
Round 1: vs Gold Paladin
I went first, but when I rode to Grade 2, I rushed him so fast that he couldn't do anything. He was at like five damage by the time he got to Grade 3. Aki lost to Granblue and my friend won against Dark Irregulars.
OXO
Round 2: vs Angel Feather
My worst match-up, apparently. He rode Thousand-Ray, then Million-Ray Pegasus, so I couldn't rush him. He didn't even know what he was doing most of the time, but I still lost, sadly. Aki ended up losing too, so despite my friend's win, our team lost this round.
OXX
Round 3: vs Spike Brothers
I couldn't rush him very effectively, since he drew a decent amount of 10k shields. He then rode up to the Limit Break guy and used all of his Counterblasts on one big push. I got a Stand Trigger as a damage, so I was able to survive, but I couldn't do anything on the turn after, so I lost anyways. Aki also lost, while my friend won. What was odd was that in each of these three rounds, my friend would always finish first, winning his game, then Aki would finish after that, losing his game, and then the result of the match would depend on me. I'm playing Nova Grapplers, my games are supposed to be quicker than that, yo.
OXX
With that, we were eliminated from the team tournament. So, we just entered the Free Fight side event again to get more free cards. This time, it was Exile Dragon and some other terrible Kagero card. Aki gave me his terrible card, and I gave both of them to my friend in exchange for his Exile Dragon.
We then did some trading. My friend traded away his Pellinores for Dark Irregular stuff and some Nova Grappler stuff for me. I traded my Sphere Magus for a Dark Lord of Abyss for him. Aki and I also bought some random Commons and Rares, including one and a half sets of the Galahad ride chain between us. I got the whole set for myself, but Aki was supposed to get some from his friend, so he didn't want to buy the whole set. I was also able to sell my Granblue perfect guard for $13, and I traded by Spike Brothers perfect guard for a Twin Blader. So now, the net total of all of the money I've spent on Vanguard is $53. I'm going to work on getting that number to zero by winning cards and selling them.
So yeah, that's basically everything relevent that happened over this past weekend. Now I can concentrate less on Vanguard and more on Kaijudo, since the new set is coming out next week. But yeah, that's about it...
So, I took my friend who plays Vanguard to the event, and we signed up for the Regional. We had both preregistered, so we were guaranteed spots, but we still had to wait in line for like an hour. What was cool was that we got free stuff for entering, including a deck box and a storage box. I ended up being in C Block, while he was in F Block. For those of you who don't know what that means, I'll explain the tournament structure.
It's best-of-one double-elimination. So, each round is one game, and if you lose two games, you're eliminated from the tournament. Everyone was split into blocks, and there was no tournament-structure-based reason for this. Basically, everything was done on paper; every player had a score sheet, and they'd mark off their results. Judges would verify the results, then collect the papers after each round, then pair people with people who had the same record. They would do this by placing the score sheets on the tables, and the players would have to go and find their own score sheet, as opposed to crowding around a board with names and corresponding table numbers on them. There are pro's and con's to any tournament structure, but the main flaw was that this tournament structure didn't really take into account tie-breakers when pairing players. Tie-breakers for X-1's at the end of the tournaments were calculated based on when those players took their one loss. But yeah, the reason for the blocks is so that it would be easier for the judges to pair people, since they'd only have to keep track of a subset of players. Blocks were merged as the tournament progressed.
So yeah, I used my Invincible Overlord deck, and my friend used his Gold Paladins.
I won my first round against a competent Gold Paladin (Spectral Duke) player (neither of us really got triggers all game), lost my second round against a Gold Paladin (Garmore/Pellinore) player, won my third round against an incompetent Angel Feather player, won my fourth round against something (it was probably Narukami, but I don't remember), and lost for the second time in the fifth round against a good Kagero player. I decked out in that fifth round, so that was significant.
My friend lost his first round against Soulless Oracle Think Tank, won his second round, and lost his third round. When we had both lost twice, we went to play in the "Free Fight" event to get the free promo cards (Dragonic Vanisher and Sphere Magus). Yeah, you could get both promos by just playing four rounds of casual play. There was nothing remarkable about this side event, except that my friend was able to superior ride Pellinore twice in one turn. Unsurprisingly, that was the final turn of that game.
With that, we left to go to the evening Vanguard tournament at the other card shop (by "other," I mean not the usual card shop). My friend gave me the fourth Azure Dragon and the fourth Three Minutes, but he didn't have the Twin Blader. So, I just fixed up my Nova Grappler deck as best I could and decided to use it in the tournament. There were 24 players there.
Round 1: vs Gold Paladin
This guy was like emo or something, since he was always looking down and talking in a really dreary voice. It's not that he was shy, it was something else... But yeah, I lost to getting gradestuck in the first game and taking a double Critical Trigger in the third game.
Round 2: vs Angel Feather
This was my Round 3 opponent from this Vanguard tournament. He abandoned his Royal Paladins or something. But yeah, I won the first fight, but lost the other two. My Nova Grapplers are generally weak against Angel Feather because I can't rush them for early damage that easily.
But yeah, with that, I was basically done. Although there was no chance for me to top, I played the last two rounds for fun. But yeah, not important. My friend ended up going 3-1 after losing the first round to Soulless Oracle Think Tank. He didn't top, so we left.
And, on the following day, we returned to the convention center for the Vanguard Nationals and team tournament. This time, Aki was able to come too, and together we were Team Snogal. Yes. We were one of the first few teams to register apparently, since we were team number 007. Yes. We also got more free stuff for entering this tournament; they basically gave us the same goodie bags as from yesterday's Regional. But yeah, we didn't really put any thought into the team order, since my friend just grabbed the first lanyard and I took the third one, leaving Aki with the second one. I was playing Nova Grapplers, Aki was playing Narukami, and my friend was playing Royal Paladins, since his Golden Pals had failed him so badly yesterday. Aki was able to get two Vermillions and a second perfect guard for his deck, so that was good.
By the way, the format for the team tournament was best-of-one matches, but the collective score for the team would determine which team won. So basically, the team to win two games would win.
Round 1: vs Gold Paladin
I went first, but when I rode to Grade 2, I rushed him so fast that he couldn't do anything. He was at like five damage by the time he got to Grade 3. Aki lost to Granblue and my friend won against Dark Irregulars.
OXO
Round 2: vs Angel Feather
My worst match-up, apparently. He rode Thousand-Ray, then Million-Ray Pegasus, so I couldn't rush him. He didn't even know what he was doing most of the time, but I still lost, sadly. Aki ended up losing too, so despite my friend's win, our team lost this round.
OXX
Round 3: vs Spike Brothers
I couldn't rush him very effectively, since he drew a decent amount of 10k shields. He then rode up to the Limit Break guy and used all of his Counterblasts on one big push. I got a Stand Trigger as a damage, so I was able to survive, but I couldn't do anything on the turn after, so I lost anyways. Aki also lost, while my friend won. What was odd was that in each of these three rounds, my friend would always finish first, winning his game, then Aki would finish after that, losing his game, and then the result of the match would depend on me. I'm playing Nova Grapplers, my games are supposed to be quicker than that, yo.
OXX
With that, we were eliminated from the team tournament. So, we just entered the Free Fight side event again to get more free cards. This time, it was Exile Dragon and some other terrible Kagero card. Aki gave me his terrible card, and I gave both of them to my friend in exchange for his Exile Dragon.
We then did some trading. My friend traded away his Pellinores for Dark Irregular stuff and some Nova Grappler stuff for me. I traded my Sphere Magus for a Dark Lord of Abyss for him. Aki and I also bought some random Commons and Rares, including one and a half sets of the Galahad ride chain between us. I got the whole set for myself, but Aki was supposed to get some from his friend, so he didn't want to buy the whole set. I was also able to sell my Granblue perfect guard for $13, and I traded by Spike Brothers perfect guard for a Twin Blader. So now, the net total of all of the money I've spent on Vanguard is $53. I'm going to work on getting that number to zero by winning cards and selling them.
So yeah, that's basically everything relevent that happened over this past weekend. Now I can concentrate less on Vanguard and more on Kaijudo, since the new set is coming out next week. But yeah, that's about it...
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