Tournament Report 2/11/12

I considered buying a box of Order of Chaos so that I could make a Ninja deck for fun.  But, with Order of Chaos: Special Edition coming out in a few weeks, it would be better to buy a box of that and get a bunch of Effect Veilers, too.

So yeah, I ended up going to locals today with my Nordic Diva deck.  I really, really wanted to switch to another deck, but I couldn't really think of anything else I could use.

There were about 28 players today, and only a couple little kids.  There were still quite a few newbs, though.

Round 1: vs Six Samurai

This was my Round 5 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I went first, Setting Tanngnjostr (black goat) and two back rows.  He used Mystical Space Typhoon on my Compulsory Evacuation Device, then played Gateway.  He swarmed the field with Shi En, Grandmaster, and Kizan, Set one back row, then attacked with all of his Samurai.  I topped Reborn Tengu, Special Summoned Guldfaxe, then summoned the Tengu.  That made Scrap Dragon and got me the second Reborn Tengu.  I forced Shi En's negation with Mind Control, then tributed Tengu for my Set Enemy Controller to steal his Kizan.  Scrap Dragon destroyed the Kizan and the Gateway, and I attacked over his Grandmaster.  Unfortunately, he just flipped Double-Edged Sword Technique and swarmed me again.

-Duel 2: I started with a Set Super-Nimble Mega Hamster.  He activated Six Samurai United, then summoned Spirit of the Six Samurai and Kizan.  He drew two cards with United, then equipped Spirit to Kizan to attack over my Hamster.  I Special Summoned Tanngnjostr (black goat) and he drew for Spirit's effect.  He Set two cards and ended.  I flipped Tanngnjostr to get Guldfaxe, then summoned Reborn Tengu.  I Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon and Special Summoned the second Tengu.  I then used Enemy Controller to tribute the second Tengu to steal his Kizan.  After I got the third Tengu, Scrap Dragon's effect destroyed my Tanngnjostr and his Set Mirror Force.  I overlaid his Kizan and my Tengu for Utopia, then attacked directly with it and Scrap Dragon.  He was able to make Colossal Fighter, but Utopia protected my Scrap Dragon, letting me go for game on the following turn.

-Duel 3: He summoned Kageki to Special Summon Kagemusha, Synchro Summoned Shi En, then Special Summoned Grandmaster and Set two cards.  The sixth card I drew was Maxx "C"... I Summoned Deep Sea Diva to grab a second Diva, and he flipped Rivalry of Warlords.  I Set a couple cards and ended.  He attacked the first Diva with Shi En, then ended.  I summoned my third Diva to grab Lost Blue Breaker to destroy Rivalry, letting me overlay for Gachi Gachi Gantetsu.  Unfortunately, my hand was too passive, so I just sat there for a while while he just attacked over all of my Monsters.  I even had to drop Tanngnjostrs just to protect my LP, and lost soon afterwards.

Losing the first round to a luck-based deck isn't fun... Oh, and speaking of luck-based decks...

Round 2: vs Infernities

Okay, I guess that Infernities aren't that luck-based, but if you open well, you don't even have to know what you're doing to win... And this guy really didn't know what he was doing...

-Duel 1: I started with a Set Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and one back row.  He Set four and ended.  I flipped the Hamster to Special Summon a Ryko, then attacked directly.  I Set three back rows and ended.  He drew, then flipped Infernity Inferno to discard Infernity Archfiend and send Infernity Beetle to his Graveyard.  He used Smashing Ground on my Hamster, then flipped Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy my Book of Moon.  He summoned Infernity Mirage, and I MST'd his Dimensional Prison.  He used Mirage to grab his Archfiend and Beetle, searching Necromancer.  He attacked with Archfiend, and I used my other MST on his Set Dark Bribe.  I used Gleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir to search Tanngnjostr (black goat) and Ryko destroyed his Beetle with its effect.  When Ryko was destroyed in battle, I Special Summoned the Tanngnjostr and he ended.  I used Tanngnjostr's effect to grab Guldfaxe, then made Scrap Archfiend.  I Normal Summoned Deep Sea Diva to make Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, then ran over his Archfiend with my own.  I Set Torrential Tribute and ended.  He Set the card he drew, then summoned Infernity Necromancer.  I had to respond with Torrential, but it turns out that he had drawn Monster Reborn.  He grabbed his Archfiend to get Launcher, and used that to revive Necromancer and Beetle.  He then used Beetle's effect to grab two more, and he used them to Synchro Summon Stardust Dragon.  He attacked to detach the second Xyz Material from my Gantetsu, then ended without using Necromancer's effect.  I topped Monster Reborn and used it and the Guldfaxe in my hand to make Scrap Dragon, attacking over Stardust.  Scrap Dragon's effect destroyed by Gantetsu and his Necromancer.  He didn't top anything to save himself, so I was able to win.

-Duel 2: The end of this duel was basically the same as the previous duel.  Scrap Dragon dominated the field, and he couldn't stop it.

Round 3: vs T.G. Plants

I've played against this guy for fun a few times after tournaments, but I don't think that I've ever played him in a tournament before.

-Duel 1: I lost a lot of LP to a Striker/Warwolf/Tengu into Trishula play.  I was able to make Ally of Justice Catastor with Deep Sea Diva, but he drew two cards off of Maxx "C".  He then made a Stardust Dragon to destroy my Catastor, and ended up being able to make a Shooting Star Dragon because he drew so well.

-Duel 2: I had to grind out advantage with my Hamsters and Tanngnjostrs, eventually blowing up the field with Black Rose Dragon.  I attacked with Rai-Oh after that, but he dropped Gorz, the last card in his hand.  I was okay with that, because I could deal with it on my following turn, but he topped Mind Control to move my Rai-Oh out of the way and go for game.

So, after losing two rounds, I decided to drop from the tournament.  I had brought my video camera, so I was able to record a couple of matches to put up on my channel.  Those should be going up over the course of the week.

So yeah, I was pretty disappointed with my Nordic Diva deck today.  It's just too passive, which is the initial problem I had with Nordics at the beginning of the format.  So, I'm definitely going to switch decks for next weekend.  If I can't think of anything else to run, I'll probably just use some sort of Scrap variant.  Scraps do pretty well against Six Samurai, and they're quite popular at my locals for some reason...

Tournament Report 2/4/12

Again, I went to locals with my Nordic Diva deck.  I'm not really satisfied with it, but there's not much else I would want to play...

There were about 24 players, with most of them being regulars.  There were about four little kids (one of them had Rescue Rabbits and Inzektors and claimed that he would be getting Tour Guides soon...) and a few other newbs.

Round 1: vs Dragons

This was my Round 5 opponent from this tournament.  I don't really know what to call his Dragon deck; it wasn't Hopeless or Disaster for sure...

-Duel 1: He thought I was playing Scraps, since that's what I used to always beat him with.  He Set two back rows and ended.  I played Heavy Storm, then attacked him with Reborn Tengu.  He Set a few more cards and ended.  Apparently, the only Monsters he drew were Horus LV6, Horus LV8, and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, since I just beat him up with Tengu until he died.  Luckily for me, he didn't see any of my other cards, so he had no reason not to think I was still playing Scraps...
-Duel 2: This duel, I just beat him up with Guldfaxe and Scrap Archfiend for a while.  The only Level 4 Dragon he drew was Axe Dragonute, so I was able to capitalize.  After this duel, I helped him fix his deck, since he was playing too many high Level Monsters...

Round 2: vs Stun

This was my Round 5 opponent from this tournament.  Apparently, he knows people who knew me from my high school... Either way, he hadn't really improved from the last time I dueled him, so I won 2-0...

Round 3: vs Six Samurai

This was my Round 3 opponent from this tournament.  We had a lot of fun playing this match, as we dramatically declared all of our phases and such.  "Draw.  Standby, Main Phase..."

-Duel 1: He opened with Mizuho, Grandmaster, and three back rows.  I just drew too passive of a hand and kept losing cards to his Mizuho.  It didn't help that I couldn't get through his Grandmaster, since the only destruction I drew was Smashing Ground...
-Duel 2: Again, I opened with a passive hand, Setting Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and a couple of Chainable back rows.  He searched Shinai with Reinforcement of the Army, summoned it, then Mizuho.  He used Mizuho's effect, tributing Shinai to target my Monster, then Chained Cunning of the Six Samurai to swap his Mizuho for Shinai.  My Hamster was destroyed, and he got back Mizuho with Shinai's effect.  Combined with Shien's Dojo, he was able to make Shi En and destroy my whole field.  And, his Shi En and Mizuho were backed by two Musakani Magatamas and a Mirror Force, so while I was able to bait out two Magatamas with Heavy Storm and Lost Blue Breaker, I lost the Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon (which was at 3000 ATK because I had tributed Lost Blue Breaker that turn) to the Mirror Force.  Either way, I'm glad that I was able to make effective use of Lost Blue Breaker and Gishilnodon.

Round 4: vs Newbie Six Samurai

He really had no idea what he was doing.  Still, he was able to play the deck as well as anyone else, since it was Six Samurai... I still won 2-0, though.

Round 5: vs Dark Worlds

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: I basically pushed through her Gates with Scrap Dragon and won fairly decisively.
-Duel 2: Morphing Jar into Card Destruction gave her about ten cards over me, but she wasn't able to kill me.  I used Solemn Judgment on her Torrential Tribute, then made Scrap Dragon and Gachi Gachi Gantetsu.  That let me run over her Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon after destroying her Gates.  She had another copy, however, and used it to Special Summon another Sillva.  Sillva took an Xyz Material off of my Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, but I used Book of Moon on the Grapha to prevent it from crashing into my Scrap Dragon.  From there, I was able to pick off her Monsters with Scrap Dragon, as her back rows weren't a threat.

So, I went X-1 and got 5th place.  Unfortunately, only the Top 3 got store credit today, so I just walked away with the worst Turbo Pack 7 in existence: Seiyaryu, Serpent Night Dragon, and Tail Swipe.  Nothing usable; if I were the type of person who ripped cards if I didn't want them, I would have burned that Turbo Pack.  It was that bad.

But yeah, I'm still not really satisfied with my Nordics.  I'd like to play T.G. Zombies, but I don't like getting killed by Chain Disappearance, and I'd like to be able to play Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror.

Apparently, HEROes aren't doing too badly in the OCG.  Perhaps I might try them out... I've always liked the theme, but I've never really had the motivation to make the deck... We'll see...

Hopes for the March 2012 Ban List

Everyone has been asking me what I think will be on the next ban list.  Honestly, I have no idea.  Konami usually finds some way to fix some of the bigger problems with the format while also making some crazy changes to promote new products.  But, even though I can't really predict the ban list, I do have some hopes for what might be on it...

Again, these are HOPES, not a realistic prediction.  I would like for all of these things to happen, but I know that it won't be so.

Forbidden:

• Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning: Um, it's a broken card.  I've OTK'd several times with it, and I don't even put it in my deck...
• Dandylion: Gives you Tokens too easily.  It's practically free cards.
• Gorz the Emissary of Darkness: Promotes bad play more than skillful play.  Ideally, OTK's should not exist, so there would be no reason to keep this card around.
• Morphing Jar: Kills Empty Jar and hurts Dark Worlds.
• Sangan: I really like this card, but it's just gotten too good.
• Card Destruction: Kills Empty Jar and hurts Dark Worlds...
• Future Fusion: Super Foolish Burial plus summoning a huge Monster?  Yeah, that's fair.
• Gateway of the Six: You don't deserve to win just because you play Six Samurai and opened this card.
• Limiter Removal: You don't deserve to win just because you play Machines and drew this card.
• Mind Control: It's better than Brain Control.
• Monster Reborn: Shouldn't need explanation.
• Trap Dustshoot: You don't deserve to win just because you went first and opened this card.

Limited:

• Archlord Kristya: It's an extremely powerful boss Monster and will be the go-to boss for Fairies if they lose Hyperion.
• Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World: Makes all of your Dark Worlds into 2700 floaters?  Yeah, no.
• Inzektor Dragonfly: The reason I want Dragonfly Limited (or even banned) instead of Hornet is because Dragonfly is the main culprit behind the dreaded self-perpetuating plus-4 that Inzektors can make.  If they just have Centipede, then it's not nearly as threatening.  Besides, Limiting Hornet doesn't do as much because they play so many ways to search it or get it back if it's banished.  With Dragonfly Limited, they only get their big play once per game, and that's even if they draw their combo.
• Judgment Dragon: The problem I have with Judgment Dragon is that once you can summon one, you can summon all three.  If it had some sort of clause that you could only summon it once per duel, then it'd be fine.
• Rescue Rabbit: The new-age Rescue Cat, capable of making a walking Solemn Judgment for free.  Limiting Evolzar Laggia doesn't do nearly as much as Limiting this.
• The Agent of Creation - Venus: This is the core of the Agent deck.  If you only have one Venus to search for with your Earths, then you have to play crummy Agents like Jupiter.
• Wind-Up Rat: A one-card Xyz for Zenmaity that's an integral part of the Wind-Up Hunter loop?  Yeah, Limit it.
• Mystical Space Typhoon: This ought to tone down the crazy amount of Spell/Trap destruction.  Play Dust Tornadoes instead.
• Rekindling: This isn't doing anything in the TCG, but it will in a year or so when Hidden Arsenal 7 is finally released.  Either way, Lavals are already taking advantage of this in the OCG.
• Royal Tribute: Just because Gravekeeper's are bad doesn't mean that this isn't a broken card.
• Wind-Up Factory: Black Whirlwind for Wind-Ups that doesn't care if the effect is negated (by Effect Veiler; negating the activation with something like Divine Wrath will stop it).
• Solemn Warning: Negating Normal Summons with no card advantage loss is really powerful.
• Ultimate Offering: This is the card that breaks Xyz Gadgets.  They may not be good, but that doesn't mean that this card isn't crazy in that deck.

Semi-Limited:

• Master Hyperion: The only problem I have with Hyperion is seeing multiples of it.  Semi-Limiting it should reduce the possibility of that.
• Reborn Tengu: The ultimate floater.  It's still playable at two; I would actually still play it in Nordics or something if it were at two.
• Emergency Teleport: This card is nothing compared to the craziness that we have now.  By that, I mean that it doesn't gain card advantage by itself like other cards (Tour Guide and such).  It could honestly be Unlimited, but let's see how it goes if it's Semi-Limited.

Unlimited:

• Magical Stone Excavation: There's really no point to having this Semi-Limited
• Primal Seed: There's really no point to having this Limited, even if BLS is legal.

Okay, so that's that.  I really don't have high expectations for this upcoming ban list.  If it just deals with Inzektors, the "Synchrocentric" deck, and maybe Wind-Ups, then I'll probably be okay with it.

Also, I think I'll discuss the topic of Heavy Storm a little bit.  Now, Heavy Storm being legal hasn't really made this format better or worse than the previous format.  Honestly, Heavy Storm's legality only effects the amount of Stun decks that are played.  Aggressive decks always find a way to do well, regardless of Heavy Storm's position on the list.

With Heavy Storm legal, Stun decks are just played less; it doesn't cause them to be any worse off that if Heavy Storm were banned.  The fact that Stun decks are played less often means that they are sided against less often.  Most people don't even side against Stun decks.  They just have the third MST in their Side Deck just in case and hope for the best.  The thing is the people expect Heavy Storm to prevent Stun decks from even existing, but it doesn't work like that.  Your Heavy Storm and MST's aren't enough to take out 20 back rows, so if your opponent draws a good hand, you'll lose.

If Heavy Storm were banned, then half of the decks played would essentially be Stun decks.  That would mean that people would be siding or even maining multiple Dust Tornadoes, Trap Stuns, or even Seven Tools of the Bandit to combat them.  That, plus the fact that Stun decks lose to Stun tactics, would severely weaken them.  Of course, this is all ignoring that Stun decks are horrible in general.

So basically, the position of Heavy Storm doesn't really affect the format that much.  People will play Stun decks regardless, it's just that more people will play Stun if Heavy Storm is banned, causing Stun decks to be worse than usual.  Honestly, I don't care either way.