Tournament Report 12/8/12

As usual, I went to locals yesterday for the Vanguard and Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments.  I haven't been able to post as much as I'd like to since I've been busy with school, but I get 3.5 weeks off for winter break starting this Thursday, so that'll be nice.  Well, it's not like there's been much to discuss, since Yu-Gi-Oh has gotten pretty stale, and everyone else is doing a good job covering the big events.  But yeah, I'll probably talk about where I am with regards to the competitive Yu-Gi-Oh scene and such in another post once I'm done with finals

So first was the small Vanguard tournament.  There were only five people, including myself and my friend who plays Vanguard, and there ended up being only two rounds.  I got a bye in the first round, then played against one of the undefeated (1-0, LOL) players and their poorly-built Tachikaze deck to win the tournament, since the other undefeated player got paired down and lost.  So that was really silly, but I suppose that's Vanguard...

Next was the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament.  There were about 25 players there yesterday, and I was running a new Scrap deck I made for fun.  It uses a few Gravekeeper's Spies and some other random stuff as non-Tuners for the Scraps.  Despite the fact that winning with Scraps in this ridiculously fast format depends on whether or not I draw Scrap Chimeras, I decided to just try it out and see what happens.

Round 1: vs Mermail/Atlanteans

This was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.  He was using an incomplete deck (it lacked Abyss-sphere and only had one Mermail Abyssmegalo).

-Duel 1: I kept throwing cards down and rushing him by making Scrap Dragon after Scrap Dragon using Scrap Beasts and random non-Tuners like Photon Thrasher and Elemental HERO Bubbleman.  I realized that I couldn't out-advantage him, so I just rushed him as best I could and killed him before he could set up an OTK.
-Duel 2: I got a Macro Cosmos up (I don't have Soul Drains since I haven't bought any packs since Galactic Overlord, ha ha, I'll try and pick up some singles this weekend), preventing him from using any of his crazy effects.  It also let me Xyz Summon Maestroke to beat over his Thunder King Rai-Oh without him being able to negate it.  Unfortunately, I couldn't really do anything with the rest of my cards, as I had no other Monsters after he used Torrential Tribute to clear the field, so I died slowly to his Atlantean Dragoons.
-Duel 3: I opened with a Set Gravekeeper's Spy and a Dimensional Prison.  He opened with Heavy Storm, then Abyssmegalo, discarding Dragoons and another Water Monster.  With Dragoons, he searched Marksman, and he summoned it to tribute for Abyssmegalo to destroy my Set Spy.  He attacked twice, Set a card, and ended.  I set Scrap Beast and another back row, but he played Compulsory Evacuation Device, then Mystical Space Typhoon to clear my field again.  My hand was all Scrap Monsters, so I couldn't do anything to prevent him from killing me.

OXX

Round 2: vs Newbie Six Samurai

This was my Round 3 opponent from last weekend.  Basically, I 2-0'd him by rushing him in the first game with Scrap Dragon and Scrap Twin Dragon, and I won with Gozen Match in the second game.

Round 3: vs Newbie Gravekeeper's

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.  I just kept destroying her Necrovalley with Scrap Dragon's effect until she ran out, so I won 2-0.

My Round 4 opponent was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.  He didn't really want to play, so he gave me the win.  That gave me time to play Kaijudo with my friend who plays Vanguard.  He likes the mono-Darkness deck I made randomly because he relates Hydra Medusa to Blaster Dark and Tekamora to Phantom Blaster Dragon.  Those are Shadow Paladins from Vanguard, for those of you who don't know.

That round ended kind of late, so if I were to play in the fifth round, we might not have been able to make it to the other card shop for their Vanguard tournament.  Not to mention my tie-breakers were horrible... So, I decided to drop and leave.  I got a Tefnuit from the Astral Pack, so that was cool.  Two different people also gave me their Super Rare Mask Changes, since apparently it's the "worst" holo in the Astral Pack.  I don't mind having holo Mask Changes, ha ha.

So, lastly was the other Vanguard tournament.  There were 14 players there yesterday, and I was using my Beast Deity Nova Grapplers, as usual.

Round 1: vs Spike Brothers

This guy was fairly incompetent, but he kept getting all of his Critical Triggers, so I had a difficult time winning 2-1.  Seriously, in the third game, his whole damage zone was Critical Triggers...

Round 2: vs Gold Paladin

This was my Round 1 opponent from this Vanguard tournament.  He got gradestuck on Grade 2 in the first game and I rushed him with double Stand Triggers to win.  I got gradestuck at Grade 2 in the second game, but I rushed him and kept getting triggers on my drive checks, so I was able to win before the advantage gap became too steep.

Round 3: vs Gold Paladin

This guy normally plays Spike Brothers, but he was playing his friend's Gold Paladin deck for some reason.  Anyways, I rushed him in the first game to win.  We both got a bunch of Heal Triggers in the second game (three each, to be exact), but I was able to win with my general rush tactics.

So then they cut to Top 4.  My friend was 2-1, since he lost to his friend, the bad Pale Moon player, who just trigger sacked him to win.  He somehow made it into the Top 4, and I was paired up against him.  He and the other two players (my Round 3 opponent and my Round 3 opponent from this Vanguard tournament) wanted to split the packs evenly, since the prizes were 10, 5, 3, then 2 packs for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place, respectively.  That would mean that if we were to split, then each of us would get 5 packs.  However, I felt that the bad Pale Moon player didn't deserve to even be in the Top 4, so I would be able to beat him.  So, I ended up being the jerk who refused to split because I wanted to avenge my friend.

Semi-Finals: vs Pale Moon

He just kept misplaying over and over throughout the match, and when I pointed out his misplays, his excuse was that he was tired.  Yeah, as if Vanguard takes any thought.  He also asked me how much he'd need to guard my attacks occasionally, and I told him that I'm not going to do the math for him; that'd be taking away the only skill needed to play Vanguard: the ability to add multiples of 1000.  So, I won 2-0.  It also helped that his Grade 2 ride was often Dancing Princess of the Night Sky, which my Black Tortoise can hit unboosted...

Finals: vs Angel Feather

Now that I had avenged my friend and prevented the bad Pale Moon player from walking away with a bunch of packs he didn't deserve, I was ready to split.  Again, 10 and 5 don't split evenly, so we decided to each take 7 packs and play one game for the extra pack.  I ended up winning because I rushed him when I rode to Grade 2 with King of Sword and two Black Tortoise.  With White Tiger and a Stand Trigger, I was able to stand both of my Tortoises and attack his Heavenly Injector five times that turn.  With that overwhelming advantage, I was set to win the game.

As such, I was able to get 8 packs of Set 2.  I let my friend open them, and he pulled complete garbage.  The only good cards were a Captain Nightmist and a Top Idol, Flores.  I just need one more Twin Blader for me to be able to switch to a more Grade 3-heavy build without worrying about losing to drawing too many Grade 3's...  Oh well, I can keep trying for it next weekend...