Tournament Report 6/8/13 & 6/9/13

My friends and I were very busy over the past few days.  We went to Vanguard tournaments on Friday and Saturday, then a Kaijudo tournament yesterday.

I don't really want to do an in depth report on the Team League Regional that we went to on Friday, mainly because I don't remember everything that happened, and also because it's Vanguard... Basically, there were 19 teams there, which was over twice the amount that was supposed to be there.  I don't really know what happened, and they structured the tournament format really weirdly, but whatever. We played in five rounds and ended up losing in the Top 8 (again, I don't know how their tournament format worked, because it was weird...).  That's about as well as we expected to do, since it's Vanguard.  But enough about that.

Aki got back from Japan on Friday night, so I was able to pick up all of the souvenirs that he got for Riku, my friend who plays Vanguard, and myself on my way to locals on Saturday morning.  He got us a bunch of deck boxes (mainly ones that come with Japanese cases of Vanguard Set 11).  And in addition to the Accel World WeiB Schwarz cards and the Sealed Demon Dragon, Dungaree sleeves I was expecting, he got me some random Duel Masters cards (including Raiden Hole and the pieces for Volg Tiger, which I was really surprised to see) and a few deck separators (a Wingal Brave one and two Dungaree ones).  My friend also asked him to get three Liberator Trial Decks and a few other cards (Liberator Epona, Flogal Liberator, Liberator Phallon, and Wingal Liberator).  So, my friend was really happy to be able to play Liberators, despite how bad they are.

But, since we've been hating Vanguard recently, we skipped the morning Vanguard tournament to sort out all of the souvenirs Aki got us and also make my friend his own Kaijudo deck.  He ended up buying three Bull Rush decks, and with a few cards I provided, he was able to make a relatively good WFN Aggro deck, not unlike the one EarthP0w3r discussed recently.  So, we just spent most of the afternoon playing with his new Liberator deck and practicing for Sunday's Kaijudo tournament.

Riku met up with us a little later, and we decided to participate in the evening Vanguard tournament because there was simply nothing better to do.  There were 10 players there, six of whom were little kids...  I played my Arboros Dragon Neo Nectar deck (now with Dungaree sleeves), Riku played his Arboros Dragon deck, and my friend used his Liberators.  He asked each of his opponents if they would let him use them ("I can either use my complete English deck that has four perfect guards and you'll lose, or you can let me use Liberator Trial Decks with no perfect guards.").  They let him use the Liberators...

In the first round, I won 2-0 against a little kid with The End Kagero because he didn't know what he was doing, his deck was incomplete, and he got gradestuck in the second game.  I got paired down against Riku, who had lost the first round, and he just gave me the win.  We played WeiB Schwarz instead, since I had my Accel World deck, and he had gotten two Disgaea Trial Decks.  I lost the third round 0-2 against my Round 2 opponent from last weekend's evening Vanguard tournament because I got a total of three triggers throughout the match, and instead kept drawing all of my Grade 3's.

That didn't matter, though, since I still made Top 4, along with my Round 3 opponent.  My friend also made Top 4 with his Liberators after going 2-1 (losing to a Spectral Duke Gold Paladin player in the second round who kept getting the ride chain and who also made Top 4).  We all just decided to split and get three packs each.  We pulled garbage, because it's Vanguard.

After that, we watched the newest episode of the Vanguard anime.  I was hoping that Naoki would be using Dungaree "Unlimited", but no.  He had to use the new brokenness that is Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon "Reverse".  It's a Crossbreak Ride, which is ridiculous and blatant power creep.  It was so ridiculous that even my friend is considering quitting Vanguard.  I probably will.

There's no point in playing anymore, so why bother?  Whether it'll be when Set 12 comes out (which also releases Link Joker, which might as well be a Zoo clan because it totally invalidates Megacolony) or sooner than that, I've yet to decide.  Regardless, since all of my decks are really inexpensive, I'll probably just keep them and play for fun, as opposed to selling them, like I did for Yu-Gi-Oh.

More importantly, my friend who plays Vanguard, Aki, and I went to the Kaijudo tournament yesterday.  I was using my LDN Megabug deck (I had only changed two cards since last weekend), Aki was using his WDF Dragon Rush deck, and my friend was using the WFN Aggro deck I helped him make.  There were about 12 players there.

Round 1: vs LWD Dragon Control

I was up against Fwazalaza.  I knew that unless I could rush him early, this game would get really boring.

-Duel 1: I opened with Mana Tick, but missed on its effect.  I didn't have any other cards to gain card advantage, so he just controlled the game while I couldn't do much.
-Duel 2: This game turned out about the same as the first one.  I was able to get two Mana Ticks, but missed on both of them, and had no big creatures in my hand, so I just sat there and lost.

XX

That wasn't a good start.  At least my friend and Aki were able to win their matches.

Round 2: vs LWN Aggro

This guy was playing a deck without any of the new cards.  That didn't really mean that he was at a disadvantage, he just told me that his deck was outdated.

-Duel 1: He tried to swarm early with a bunch of floaters (Aqua Seneschal and Bronze-Arm Tribe, mainly), but I was able to stabilize with Ra-Vu and The Hive Queen to win.  He was also playing Blockers like Grand Gure and Star Lantern, so I think that his deck didn't really have a focus.
-Duel 2: I was able to control him and build up a ridiculous field before going for game.  He got a Stormspark Blast as his last shield to save him, but it was far too late for him to be able to win, as I had Andromeda out and he had no creatures on board.

OO

Aki lost his second round, but my friend was able to win his match.  At this point, there were three undefeated players, including my friend.

Round 3: vs WDF Dragon Aggro

I got paired up against the undefeated player who had just beaten Aki, my Round 2 opponent from last weekend's Kaijudo tournament.

-Duel 1: I actually was able to hit my progressions (like Mana Tick, Reap and Sow, The Hive Queen) and was able to win pretty easily, since he didn't have Nix to give him a bunch of unwarranted pluses.  He actually hard-cast a couple Bottle of Wishes in desperation and hit nothing good.
-Duel 2: Again, no Nix, so I was able to rush him with The Hive Queen and win.  Because he didn't play Andromeda, I wasn't forced to beat him before turn 9.  It's ridiculous how Andromeda puts that type of time limit on the game, but I guess it can be played around.

Since I beat the third undefeated player, that was the final round.  My friend ended up beating my Round 1 opponent from last weekend's Kaijudo tournament to win the tournament.  So, he won 1st place and won 7 packs.  Aki and I both went 2-1, but neither of us won any prizes.  My friend pulled a Steamtank Kryon for me, so maybe I'll be able to put Fire in my Megabug deck for next weekend.

I've been feeling like the Darkness section of my deck is just there and doesn't really accomplish anything.  It's great against Rush decks, since it lets me control them so that I can stabilize and win, but it's not that great against control decks because it doesn't allow me to rush them or generate advantage.  So, I think that I may be playing LFN Megabugs next weekend; I just have to figure out a good build.  Sadly, Ra-Vu and Lepidos probably won't have a place in a fast-paced build, but we'll see what happens.

After the tournament, Aki and I taught my friend the basics of WeiB Schwarz so that he'll know how to play when he gets his Madoka Magica Trial Decks.  We also played some Duel Masters using the new cards Aki got.

And after that, Aki and I were able to record some Kaijudo videos, finally.  However, I won't have enough time to edit them until Wednesday night, which is after my finals are over, so that's the earliest I'd be uploading a new videos.  We can't really figure out anything that we'd want to do for Yu-Gi-Oh videos, so I doubt that there's going to be any new Yu-Gi-Oh duel videos for a long time, if ever.  As much as I miss playing, there's just no point in doing so with how much the game has devolved.

So yeah, that's it.  I'll be going to locals next Saturday (I may or may not participate in the Vanguard tournaments...) and Sunday (for the Kaijudo tournament).  I'm going to try to make the LFN Megabug deck after my finals are over, so we'll see how that turns out.