Kaijudo Master Challenge Report 6/22/13

Aki and I were fortunate enough to be able to go to Las Vegas to attend the Kaijudo Master Challenge at the Little Shop of Magic this past Saturday.  The reason that this blog post is going up relatively late is because I was exhausted from the trip and my summer classes started today.  So yeah.

There were a total of 26 players there for the KMC.  That included three players from my locals, including Fwazalaza.  I was running my LFN Megabug deck, which I changed a little bit since the previous weekend, and was representing the Light Civilization for the tournament.  Aki was using the WDF Dragon Rush deck that he has been using, except that he borrowed a second Chain-Lash Tatsurion from Fwazalaza to use for the day, and was representing the Fire Civilization.

The tournament format was 5 rounds of Swiss with a cut to Top 8.  The tournament organizer also announced the prizing and such.  Top 2 would get invites to the Kaijudo Championship in Seattle and those cool hologram play mat.  Everyone else in the Top 8 would get the other, non-hologram play mats.  They also showed off the Civilization winner prizes, stating that they would be given out after Swiss.  In addition, they decided to award each player in the Top 8 $45 in store credit, so that was pretty nice.

They also had feature matches for the players who were on Table 2.  I don't know why not Table 1, but whatever.

Round 1: vs WDN Ramp

I was on Table 2, so I ended up getting a feature match.  I have no idea when these will be going up on YouTube, so I'll still summarize the match anyway.  Either way, since it's been a couple days since the tournament took place, I may not remember every detail of the matches.  To be honest, I didn't really know what the point of my opponent's deck was.  After the match, I asked him, and he said it was to ramp up to 9 mana to drop Squillace Scourge.

-Duel 1: He was able to break a couple of my shields with his random Beast Kin pokes, but I was able to drop The Hive Queen and get rid of his creatures.  He was at like 7 mana, but he had no cards, so I just took my time controlling the game before breaking all of his shields with my bugs.
-Duel 2: I had a Heat Seekers for his Razorhide and dropped The Swarmleader to start swinging at his shields early.  His only removal was Razorkinder (the original), so he couldn't deal with The Swarmleader, and I won.

OO

Round 2: vs Mono-Darkness Rot Worms

At first, I thought he was just playing generic Mono-Darkness, but when he dropped a Brain Squirmer, I realized it was based on Rot Worms.  For some reason, I was on Table 2 again, so I got another feature match.

-Duel 1: I rushed him really fast after killing his first Scavenging Chimera with a Heat Seekers.  I left him at no shields, and he just tried to build up his field before I could finish him off.  Too bad for him, I got a Gilaflame to win (I don't remember if it was from a broken shield or if I top-decked it).
-Duel 2: This time, he didn't get to use his Scavenging Chimeras, so I just controlled him and was able to break a couple shields each turn before winning with Keeper of Laws.

OO

Round 3: vs LWDF Control

I was on Table 3, so I didn't get a feature match.  How sad.  Either way, this was one of the players from locals, my Round 1 opponent from last weekend.  I'm pretty sure he was running the same 60-card deck, more or less, as last time.  Regardless, it was revenge time.

-Duel 1: I rushed him early and got him down to zero shields when he was at like 6 mana.  He was able to kill all but one of my attackers and hold it off with one Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow.  That meant that it was just a matter of drawing one of my many outs (Humonculon, Gilaflame, Heat Seekers, Tornado Flame, whatever)... I drew a Lyra, so I won.
-Duel 2: I rushed him early with two Manapod Beetles, which he was able to kill.  That was fine by me, since he just ramped me up two turns, which let me easily win the game before he could stabilize.  I was actually at 9 mana by the time I won; he dropped a Billion-Degree Dragon to kill my lone Steamtank Kryon on his last turn, and I topped Gigahorn Charger so I could search Gilaflame and win.

OO

At this point, there were three undefeated players left.  Since I had 2-0'd everyone so far, I didn't expect to get paired down.

Round 4: vs LWDn Control

I did not get paired down, so I was at Table 1 against another undefeated player.  By the way, the small "n" means that he splashed Root Traps.

-Duel 1: I rushed him really quickly, beating him by turn 8.
-Duel 2: Again, I rushed him quickly, winning by turn 8.  I couldn't really tell how good of a player he was, since he didn't seem to know what was happening.  To be fair, I rushed him, and he couldn't deal with it, but he made a few questionable plays along the way, including playing Mesmerize and Logos Scan while I had a Keeper of Laws out.

OO

Apparently, Aki was paired up against the third undefeated player and lost, so I had to play against him.  He wanted to play, because if he were to win, he'd be able to go first in every first game in the Top 8 (the higher seed chooses who goes first in the first game of a match in the Top 8).  I wanted to draw (you can take a draw instead of playing if both players agree, which gives each player one point instead of three for winning or zero for losing), since I wanted to ensure that I was the highest ranked Light player after Swiss.  Then, the tournament organizer told us that Civilization winner prizes would be given out after the Top 8, so we ended up playing for the top spot.

Round 5: vs Mono-Fire Rush

-Duel 1: I drew a Fullmetal Lemon early on, so I was able to survive and eventually drop Andromeda.  He scooped at that.
-Duel 2: I drew a Star Lantern early on, so I was able to survive and drop Andromeda.  He scooped again.

OO

To be honest, I was really afraid of losing to Mono-Fire Rush, but adding those Blockers really helped.  Not to mention I can kill a Blaze Belcher and ramp at the same time with Manapod Beetle...

With that, I had gone undefeated and took the top spot in Swiss.  My Round 5 opponent got 2nd, my Round 4 opponent got 3rd, my Round 3 opponent got 4th, and another player from my locals (my Round 2 opponent from last weekend) who was playing LWDn Control got 5th.  The player in 6th was playing some weird budget Control deck, the player in 7th was playing Blurple, and you'll see what the player in 8th was playing in just a moment, since I was paired against him.

Aki and Fwazalaza did not make it.  Aki lost to my Round 3 opponent in Round 2, then to Mono-Fire Rush in both Rounds 4 and 5.  Fwazalaza lost to my Round 5 opponent in Round 1, took a draw in Round 2 because the game went into time and wasn't finished within the five turn limit, then lost in Round 5 to my Round 3 opponent.

What was interesting was that everyone in the Top 8 had at least 10 points.  In fact, everyone except my Round 5 opponent and myself had 10 points.  To get 10 points, one would have to win three matches, draw one match, and lose one match.  I know that my Round 4 opponent intentionally drew with the 6th place player in Round 5 to ensure that they would make it into the Top 8 (which is legal).  My Round 3 opponent and the 5th place player were forced to draw in Round 4 due to time.  I don't know what happened with the 7th or 8th place players.

With the Top 8 sorted out, the judges took our decks for deck checks and told us we had "at least half an hour" to get lunch.  It ended up being exactly half an hour; Aki, Fwazalaza, the other two guys from locals, and I only had enough time to go to a Subway down the street and back before the Top 8 started.  So, I had to play my Top 8 match on an empty stomach while Fwazalaza and Aki ate.

Top 8: vs LWDF Dragons

I honestly don't know the point of this guy's deck.  I was able to see a deck list afterwards, and it was a 46-card deck with 15 Blockers... I guess he was really afraid of Rush.  Aside from that, it ran Lux, Nix, Herald of Infernus, Lyra, Infernus the Awakened, and Andromeda.  Aki and Fwazalaza helped me out by recording this match with my camera, so I'll put it up on my channel sometime.

-Duel 1: He stopped charging at 6 mana because he ran out of cards.  He just kept putting down Blockers which stopped me at first, but then I realized that I could just wipe his field and win in a few turns with Steamtank Kryon's help.  So, instead of rushing him, I just controlled him until I could win.
-Duel 2: Again, he dropped a bunch of Blockers which didn't really do much.  I just set up my field with Kryon and The Hive Queen before going in for the win.

OO

I was able to beat him relatively quickly, and since my Top 4 opponent who would be the winner of the match between 4th and 5th, I ended up having plenty of time to eat.  After all, it was a Control mirror-match.

Top 4: vs LWDF Control

This was my Round 3 opponent.  He ended up beating his friend in the Top 8 and got a rematch with me.  He wasn't too thrilled about getting paired against me, though.

-Duel 1: I opened with a handful of spells that I couldn't do anything with and one Andromeda.  I couldn't rush him, and I can't beat a Control deck in late game with Megabugs, so I lost.  I was able to break a couple of shields, and both were Shield Blasts, so that didn't help.  After the game, he flipped his shields face-up, and two more were also Shield Blasts, so there was no way I was going to win that game, no matter how well or poorly I opened.
-Duel 2: I opened with some decent aggression and was able to play my Mana Tick before he had a chance to use Mesmerize.  Unfortunately, I hit two more Shield Blasts when I went in, and he was able to capitalize off of it with Herald of Infernus and Lyra to drop Andromeda.  That lost me the game, and he showed me his shields again afterwards; another two Shield Blasts left...  Four Shield Blasts each game is too good.

XX

I was really upset at that.  He was playing a 60-card deck, opened Mesmerize and Logos Scan both games, had four Shield Blasts both games, and was able to follow that up with a Herald/Lyra combo in the second game.  Last time I checked, 60-card decks were supposed to be inconsistent.  I mean, I tried playing a 54-card LWDN Control deck for a week a while back and never drew my Logos Scan, Mesmerize, or even Reap and Sow.  But, I guess it happens, and I've gotten over it.  I'll just have to fix my deck for next weekend.

Either way, my opponent then went on to beat my Round 4 opponent in the Finals and win the tournament.  Unfortunately for me, my Round 4 opponent was a Light player, so I was only the second-highest-ranked Light player, and did not win the nice bag and such.  Oh well.

Anyway, I did a deck profile video for the shop.  I got compliments from a lot of the players and the two judges about my deck.  I guess they liked seeing Megabugs top.  I remember in particular that the 6th place player complimented my deck, then told me that he thought it was an odd build.  I just explained that I didn't have three Lyras or Andromedas, and he was satisfied with that.  And seriously, he was running Return to the Soil, so I really don't know why he thought my deck was odd.

So, I ended up getting the Top 8 play mat and $45 in store credit.  Fwazalaza recommended buying a board game: The Settlers of Catan.  All I knew about the game was what was said on The Big Bang Theory...  But, a bunch of other people said that it was amazing game, so I decided to get it.  It cost $45.40, but I don't carry spare change, so I just asked Aki for 40 cents so that I could buy it.  Fwazalaza then taught Aki and I how to play, and the three of us and the 5th place player played a game of The Settlers of Catan.  It was really interesting, and I was glad that I got it, especially since I didn't have to pay for it.

Also, about an hour after the tournament ended, the tournament organizer realized that the play mats that he gave out to the Top 8 were supposed to go to the Civilization winners instead.  It was too late for him to fix it, so I ended up being able to keep the mat.  I know that I wasn't supposed to get it, but I don't feel bad about it, since I felt as though I earned it.  I mean, I didn't travel all the way to Las Vegas and go undefeated in Swiss just to get The Settlers of Catan.

Regardless, I don't think I'll be making a deck profile for my Megabug deck, since the shop already did that for me.  I don't know when it'll be going up, but when I find it, I'll announce it somehow.  The fact that I did relatively well at the KMC also means that my real name will be revealed for the first time on the Internet.  I would try to subvert that fact, but I'm sure that you're all smart enough to look at the official Kaijudo website when it's updated and figure out that the person who got 3rd place with a LFN Megabug deck at the KMC in Las Vegas was me.  Not to mention that my name will probably be on all of the feature matches I was in and the deck profile video, whenever the shop decides to upload them.

So yeah, that's about it.  It'll just be back to the usual routine of school and homework during the week and children's card games on the weekends.  I may decide to play Vanguard on Saturday evening in an attempt to win some packs of Set 9, but I'm not sure yet.  I don't even consider it to be worth my time and money, especially if all of my friends are going to quit by Set 10.  It's just that my Vanguard friend has been considering playing in the evening tournaments again, so we'll see what happens.

I'm also not sure if I'll be going to Kaijudo tournaments or not.  I'll probably go next weekend, but I'll have to see how much time I have, since I don't know how much homework I'll have to do for my summer classes yet.  I was also able to get some cards I needed for my deck from Fwazalaza (a third Humonculon, a third Kryon, and a third Lyra), so I'll be fixing my Megabug deck sometime this week.  But yeah, we'll see how it turns out.