Random Stuff #55

So... Pokemon X has been taking up a lot of my time.  I've been playing for nearly 40 hours so far.  Seeing as how I got it about 10 days ago, that means that I've been playing an average of 4 hours per day.  That's a lot more than I thought, but that's because I spent a few days just sitting and playing on my 3DS, whereas I haven't been playing that much recently.  I'm still doing daily events so that I don't miss anything, but I haven't been able to do much besides that.

I didn't even get to go to locals last weekend because I was busy studying for a midterm for a class that has a lecture too early in the morning for me to attend.  I had to wake up at like 5:00 in the morning so that I could make it to the midterm on time, so that's a thing.  But, teaching myself the material over the course of the past week seemed to have paid off, though I won't know until we get the scores back.

But yeah, what I'm trying to say is that I'm still alive.  I just haven't been doing anything related to card games recently.  I still have a bunch of homework to do this week, so I won't be able to do anything related to card games until after my midterm on Friday, but after that, I should have some free time.

Unfortunately, it turns out that Team Snogal won't be getting a case of Set 11.  Since Angel Feathers are such garbage (at least in the eyes of Vanguard players), Ray was able to get most of the cards he needed to make a Zerachiel deck for free, which was the deck he was going to make from a case of Set 11.  But, since he's basically done with his deck and doesn't want to get the case anymore, none of us can.  The fourth Snogal doesn't mind much, since Tachikaze aren't exactly expensive, so he should be able to buy singles.  I don't know how Riku feels about this, but it's not like a Genovious deck would cost that much to make from singles; I guess he's spared the trouble of selling the Aqua Force RRR's he would have gotten from the case.

Aki is upset about this, since he was looking forward to playing Sweep Command Dragon.  I mean, Sweep Command Dragon is nice, but it's not going to really do that much.  I'd be more upset about not getting Cho-Ou, or however Bushiroad decides to translate it.  Cho-Ou is actually a good card that won't be thrown away as soon as Dragonic Descendant is released in Set 10.  Either way, we could always try to trade for Cho-Ou's or win them from packs.

As for me, I was planning on making two Kagero decks with the cards I would've gotten from Set 11.  Seal Dragons, of course, and a Flare Whip Dragon-based deck.  Flare Whip Dragon becomes a viable card with all of these new Seal Dragon cards, since they're all Flame Dragons.  Having a set of Flame Dragon triggers, along with Blue-Ray Dracokid and Gattling Claw Dragon, is also very helpful.  What's also nice is that I didn't need that many holos for either deck; Dauntless Drive Dragon for the Flare Whip deck, Blockade and Blockade Inferno for the Seal Dragons, and the Seal Dragon perfect guard for both decks.  Everything else is Common or Rare.

And, because of that, Ray has already been able to secure me a set of all of the Seal Dragon Commons and Rares that I need for the deck.  He's also gotten a few holos, but not many.  Anything that he fails to trade for, he will have to buy for me, since he was originally going to pay for my portion of the case of Set 11.  Either way, I get the cards I want without having to really spend anything.  The main problem is that he doesn't owe me so much money that I could have him buy a set of each of the holos I need (and a second set of Rinocross...).  I'll probably be able to only get enough for one deck.  So, I have to choose between Seal Dragons and Flare Whip.

My initial thought is that Seal Dragons would probably be more coherent and less gimmicky.  Flare Whip Dragon can really mess with people if they don't know how to add, which isn't uncommon among Vanguard players...  However, if I get Dauntless Drive Dragons instead of Blockade/Infernos, then any additional Dauntless Drive Dragons could easily be sold or traded.  It's not like people would want random RR Seal Dragon Blockades if we pull them.  So, from a more practical standpoint, it may be a better idea to make the Flare Whip Dragon deck first.

However, it depends on what cards will be available this weekend.  I'm planning on going to various card shops on Friday after I'm done with my midterm to search for Seal Dragon singles and Dauntless Drive Dragons.  So, depending on which singles they have, my decision might be made for me.  I'd be happy playing either deck.  And honestly, I could make a Flare Whip Dragon deck with any decent Grade 3 Flame Dragons.  I could just throw Blockade/Infernos in there if I can't get enough Dauntless Drive Dragons and it would work out well enough.  I suppose that the main thing is getting the perfect guards, but we'll see what happens.

I may not even play in the Vanguard tournament this Saturday, so it may not even matter.  Ray and the fourth Snogal are planning on going to the Vanguard Regional in Pasadena, which I think is a waste of time.  If they end up going, then there's not much point for Aki and I to go to locals to play Vanguard.  We'll see what happens, but I'm definitely not wasting my time going to another Vanguard Regional.  I don't remember having fun at the previous one, and it's not like anyone can win reliably in a game like Vanguard where matches are best-of-one.  If Ray and the fourth Snogal do end up going to the Regional, then Aki and I will have to figure out what to do that weekend.  The Kaijudo tournament on Sunday is an option, since I doubt I'll have any homework this weekend, but we'll see...

KMC Report 10/5/13

I was able to go to the KMC in Anaheim, since it was held at the locals I usually attend.  Aki and the fourth Snogal were also able to make it.  So, I was finally able to get the General Finbarrs I needed from the fourth Snogal.  Unfortunately, Aki's deck also needed General Finbarrs, and the shop only had one of those starter decks left, so I still had to borrow Finbarrs from Fwazalaza.  Other than that, my LWF Aggro deck was done.

There were 33 players there.  Overall, there were quite a few Eternal Haven decks and also a surprising amount of Rush and Aggro decks.  There was nothing too far out of the ordinary.  I was running my LWF Aggro deck, which I had changed a little bit since last week, Aki was running a LWFN Dragon deck that he made earlier this week, and the fourth Snogal was running his LWN Aggro deck.

Round 1: vs LF Rush

-Duel 1: I was able to rush him, but I didn't have the necessary Fast Attackers to finish him off once he had cleared by field with Blinder Beetle Prime.
-Duel 2: He started off with a Magris, so he was able to take a few shields for free.  I was able to hold him off with Star Lantern and Plasma Pincer, then go in to break his shields once I knew I was safe.  I was able to control the game well enough to win.
-Duel 3: He rushed in with Magris again, so I played the control game again.  I kept clearing his field with Tornado Flames, Blade Barriers, and such so that I could win regardless of a Shield Blast Stormspark Blast.  My plan didn't work out that well, since he was able to get me down to zero shields, so I just went in.  I got lucky, hitting zero Shield Blasts, so I won.

XOO

Round 2: vs LWFN Dragons

So I was paired against Aki, which was sad.  Four of the other players from locals were also paired against each other at the top tables, so we were forced to knock each other out early...  Regardless, since Aki and I had tested his new deck on the previous night, we had a general idea of how this would go.

-Duel 1: I rushed him before he could do anything and won using Falkora.
-Duel 2: I rushed him, but not fast enough to win before he got to 9 mana thanks to his ramp.  Fortunately, he didn't have Andromeda, so I still won.

OO

Round 3: vs LWFN Aggro

I was paired against Eman of TCGWise, who had just beaten one of his teammates in the previous round.

-Duel 1: He opened with two Pricklebacks, then followed them up with Bronze-Arm Sabertooth, and I couldn't deal with them.
-Duel 2: Same as the first duel, except he also had a Weaponized Razorcat, which I also couldn't deal with.  The creatures that I could drop that early were just too small.

XX

Round 4: vs WFN Aggro

-Duel 1: This guy just wasted all of his cards really quickly.  I was able to kill his Cyber Scamp and Aqua Seneschal before he could get any free pluses by using my Seneschal and Falkora, so I was in a good position.  I just waited for a while before I could go for game and won from there.
-Duel 2: I was fortunate enough to draw a bunch of Seneschals and Flamespitters, so I just went in and broke all of his shields while drawing a bunch of cards.  It was pretty much over from there, since before that point, I had him down to zero cards because he was being rather wasteful.

OO

Round 5: vs LWDN Haven

So at this point, there were two 4-0's, two 3-0-1's, and six 3-1's.  That means that even if all of the players with at least 9 points were to draw, then two of them wouldn't make it to the Top 8.  So, being one of those players with 9 points, I had to play it out.

-Duel 1: I got a decent start and was able to start breaking shields early with stuff like Plasma Pincer and Aqua Seneschal.  Unfortunately, he got three Shield Blasts and was able to ramp up to 9 mana to drop Andromeda after I got him down to zero shields.  That was fine, but then he dropped another Andromeda, and then another.  I strongly considered scooping, but I just played it out until I lost.
-Duel 2: I got a good start with Cyber Scamp, so I was able to just keep pushing through, even though he got Shield Blasts.  He didn't draw any ramp this time, so I was able to win well before turn 9.
-Duel 3: I opened with Cyber Scamp, but no other Water cards, despite the fact that half of my deck is Water.  So, I couldn't really keep up card advantage and quickly lost once he ramped up to 9 mana and played three Andromedas, again... Oh, and I was able to break all of his shields again, and at least three of them were Shield Blasts, again...

XOX

So that was really disappointing.  Like, seriously depressing.  Just like I lost my chance to win the KMC in Las Vegas due to multiple Shield Blasts, I lost my chance here to the same thing.  I do admit that I was playing a really cheesy deck this time, but that's because in this meta, you have to either play Control or some sort of Rush or Aggro.  Mid-range doesn't exist anymore, which is sad.

Anyways, Aki also went 3-2, and the fourth Snogal went 2-3.  I don't know what their final rankings were, but apparently I was the highest-ranked 3-2, because I got 9th place.  Well, whatever.

Fwazalaza, Eman, and Stephen L. all made Top 8.  Eman and Stephen had to play each other in the Top 8, a match which Eman recorded and uploaded to his channel.  I haven't seen it yet, but there it is.  Fwazalaza ended up playing against a Megabug player in the Top 8 (from what I could tell, he was the only Megabug player at the whole tournament, and he was running LWFN for some reason).  Fwazalaza lost that match, despite having considerable experience playing against Megabugs...

While that was happening, Aki, the fourth Snogal, and I went out to eat, since we didn't want to watch a bunch of control mirrors.  After that, we came back to hear that Fwazalaza had lost, which was sad.  The only Light player in the Top 8 also lost his match, so that was disappointing, since I had chosen Light (obviously...).

After that, Aki, the fourth Snogal, Fwazalaza, and I decided to go to the other card shop for their Vanguard tournament, since it was relatively early.  It was Fwazalaza's first Vanguard tournament, but he was quite good.  As I was telling Kaijudo players who asked me about Vanguard (because I had my SP Dungaree out while playing in the KMC), "If you play Kaijudo, then you're already overqualified for Vanguard."

When we got to the other card shop, we met Ray and his friend there.  The six of us entered the tournament: Aki was running his Shadow Paladin deck, Fwazalaza was running Aki's Vermillion Narukami deck (the easiest deck we had with us), Ray was running his Liberator garbage deck, his friend was running Soulless OTT, the fourth Snogal was running my Arboros Dragon Neo Nectar deck, and I was running my Rumble Gun/Dungaree Narukami deck.  There were about 24 players there in total.

And, because the usual card shop cancelled their Vanguard tournament due to the KMC, most of the little kids who go to the morning Vanguard tournament came to the evening Vanguard tournament instead.  I got paired against the one whom I played against in the first round of last weekend's morning Vanguard tournament.  I won 2-0 because he's still bad at this game.

Aki ended up losing his match because he got gradestuck and otherwise sacked.  Ray won his match, but his friend got gradestuck and lost.  There's more to it than that, but it's Vanguard, so it's not important.  Fwazalaza and the fourth Snogal got paired against each other, and the fourth Snogal won.

In the second round, I was paired against the fourth Snogal, so I gave him the win.  Aki and Fwazalaza were paired against each other, so Aki gave Fwazalaza the win.  Ray and his friend won their matches.  In the third round, I was paired against Aki, so he gave me the win and we played Duel Masters instead.  Fwazalaza, the fourth Snogal, Ray, and his friend all won their matches.

The fourth Snogal and I were paired against each other in the Top 8.  Ray also made it, but his friend didn't.  Fwazalaza got 9th, so he didn't make it.  I gave the fourth Snogal the win and just played Kaijudo with Fwazalaza.  Ray lost his Top 8 match to Aqua Dorks, again... The fourth Snogal won his Top 4 match, but lost in the finals, so he only got 6 packs.  We pulled nothing of interest.

We also got the new promos packs.  Out of the six of us, two of us pulled Gerard, which were given to Ray so that he could trade or sell them.  One of us pulled Machining Armor Beetle, which went to me.  The other three pulled garbage.  And, using the Gerard I gave him last weekend, Ray was able to get me a Machining Stag Bettle and a Sword Magician Sarah, so now I just need two more Armor Beetles to finish my Machining Deck.

So that was it for this weekend.  I did go to locals this morning for the Kaijudo tournament because I didn't have any homework, but no one was there except for Fwazalaza, so we just got some free promos and played Vanguard.  That's about it.  I will be going to locals next Saturday after getting Pokemon X on Friday (I assume I'll get it a day early because I have a Japanese 3DS and will be buying it from the eShop...).