Random Stuff #47

Normally, I would be watching Burn Notice today, but there aren't going to be any new episodes for about nine more weeks.  So, I have time for this blog post.

So recently I've been siding three Dust Tornadoes.  Yes, they can clump, but I've lost more games to not having an out to Skill Drain than I have to clumped Dust Tornadoes and Mystical Space Typhoons.  I feel as though it'll be even more important in the upcoming format with HEROes and Dark Worlds expected to be popular.  They may not Main Deck Skill Drain anymore, but they will probably side them.  Aside from that and Morphing Jar #2, I feel as though my Side Deck is pretty standard, so there's no point talking about it.

Either way, I'll be using Nordics next format.  Scraps auto-lose to Dino Rabbit, even with two Rabbits and Tour Guides, so there's no point in using them.  Nordics have a pretty decent match-up against everything now, so it's the deck I'll be taking to Regionals on September 8.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to play in the Kaijudo league on that day, though based on the limited info we've gotten about the Kaijudo league, it seems as though playing won't be necessary.  Apparently, you get points for opening packs in the store.  I guess I'll be making my Core Set box opening video in the store before the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament on September 9...

That's really all I can think of regarding Yu-Gi-Oh and Kaijudo.  I mean, there's really nothing new going on for either game, at least until the Kaijudo Core Set is spoiled next week.  So yeah, there's still nothing exciting to blog about.  Perhaps locals this weekend will be more exciting than I expect...

However, I've been thinking about how I want to build my Vanguard deck with only the cards I can get from my friend who plays Vanguard.  If he reads this blog, then here's a list of the cards I want:

1 Lizard Soldier, Conroe

2 Blue Ray Dracokid

4 Gattling Claw Dragon

4 Lizard Runner, Nafd

4 Demonic Dragon Mage, Kimnara
2 Dragon Monk, Gojo

2 Vortex Dragon

4 Mr. Invincible

4 King of Sword

4 Hungry Dumpty

4 Clay-doll Mechanic

4 Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout

And maybe that one copy of Wyvern Guard, Barri that you have.

If you couldn't tell, I want to drop the Gold Paladins from my deck and use Nova Grapplers with my Kagero instead.  The thing is that if my whole Grade 1 line-up is Kagero units, then I can run Conroe (which apparently costs less than $5), and I can also make all of my Triggers Kagero units instead of having half be Gold Paladins.  I'm thinking 4 Heals, 5 Draws, 5 Stands, and 2 Criticals.  I personally think that Stands are better than Criticals, but if you don't run Criticals, then your opponent has no incentive to guard your Vanguard's attacks.  So, all I have to do is run a couple Criticals, and my opponents will think that I run multiple.  At least, that's the plan.

And, I mainly want the Nova Grapplers because they unflip cards in the Damage Zone.  That lets me use stuff like Dragonic Overlord's Counterblast multiple times per game.  Having Mr. Invincible as a Vanguard also helps with Vortex Dragon's Megablast.  No one is going to let Mr. Invincible's attack hit, but having Vortex Dragon lets me use its Megablast at will.  But yeah, I probably wouldn't use the Clay-doll Mechanics or Shouts.

Either way, I don't know how well this deck would even work, but it doesn't really matter because it's Vanguard and it's mainly based on luck. I've actually been thinking about keeping track of the amounts of Triggers checked by each player during a game.  My hypothesis is that the player who pulls more Triggers would win more often.  Of course, getting a Critical Trigger when checking for damage for the last attack of the turn isn't going to do any good, so this study can't simply count the amount of Triggers each player checks.  It would have to keep track of when they pull their Triggers, in addition to which ones were pulled at those times.  Eh, I'll probably be too lazy to do such a thing, but it's something to think about.

Tournament Report 8/26/12

So, as stated in my previous post, I decided to go to locals today with my Nordic Diva deck.  I changed a few cards since the last version, basically just adding in Tour Guides to see how they would work out.  They did alright, I suppose.

Anyways, since school is starting back up for a lot of people tomorrow, many of the younger regulars (the high school and college students) weren't there.  As such, my friend who plays Vanguard wasn't there, so I wasn't able to get the cards for my deck.  I was able to go because my school doesn't start up for another month.

So yeah, there were about 30 players there today, with about half of them regulars.

Round 1: vs Fusion Gate HEROes

-Duel 1: I opened with a Set Super-Nimble Mega Hamster.  He opened with Destiny Draw discarding Diamond Dude.  He then played E - Emergency Call to grab Stratos, which got him Voltic.  He attacked, letting me get Tanngnjostr (black goat).  From there, I was able to just keep Special Summoning stuff to keep killing his Monsters.  I drew all three Mystical Space Typhoons to deal with his two Fusion Gates and such, so he couldn't really do much to retaliate.
-Duel 2: As I expected, he sided into a more Stun-ish build, and I had sided accordingly.  He was able to get out a The Shining backed by Skill Drain, but then I Set Ryko and Dust Tornado, and since he had no other back rows, he couldn't do anything as I completely cleared his field and proceeded to swarm for game.

OO

Round 2: vs Blackwings

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.  I knew what deck he was running, but he wasn't sure what deck I was running.

-Duel 1: He went first with Black Whirlwind and Shura, searching Blizzard.  Yeah, he already had Kalut.  He Set a back row and ended.  I Normal Summoned Deep Sea Diva and Special Summoned Lost Blue Breaker.  He used Book of Moon on my Blue Breaker, so then I Set two back rows.  He attacked with Shura, then got Kochi and attacked with that.  On that attack, I dropped Tanngnjostr (black goat).  He overlaid for Utopia, then Normal Summoned Bora.  I Chained MST to destroy his Black Whirlwind.  He ended there.  I used Tanngnjostr's effect to Special Summon Guldfaxe from my deck, then Normal Summoned a Tanngrisnir (white goat).  With my three Nordic Beasts, I Synchro Summoned Thor.  Thor negated Utopia's effect, then ran over Bora.  He then summoned Blizzard and used it and Bora to Synchro Summon Brionac.  He discarded Sirocco to bounce Thor, then attacked directly with both of his Monsters.  On my turn, I Special Summoned Guldfaxe and Normal Summoned Reborn Tengu.  That let me make Scrap Dragon, which destroyed the second Tengu and Utopia so that I could attack over his Brionac.  He summoned Armageddon Knight to dump a Vayu, then banished it and Sirocco using its effect for Armed Wing.  He attacked with Armed Wing and dropped Kalut to get over my Scrap Dragon.  That dropped me to 700 LP, but I dropped Tanngnjostr (black goat) from my hand to keep myself from dying.  He attacked it with Armageddon Knight, then played Creeping Darkness to grab Bora and Special Summon it.  On that summon, I flipped the Torrential Tribute I had had Set all game.  He was down to one card in hand, but I was top-decking.  I topped Effect Veiler and Set it.  From there, we played the draw-pass-draw-pass game for a while.  Using that Set Veiler and a Hamster I Flip Summoned that turn, which got me a Ryko, to Synchro Summon T.G. Hyper Librarian.  It ran over his Gravekeeper's Spy, which he had accidentally shown me earlier, and he got his second Spy.  He passed his next turn, and I Flip Summoned Ryko to destroy his Set Icarus Attack.  I attacked with my two Monsters, then ended.  He played Dark Hole, I flipped Solemn Judgment, and then he flipped Solemn Judgment.  He didn't have any follow-up, though.  So, I was able to resolve my last Tanngnjostr's (black goat) effect to finish him off with Scrap Archfiend.
-Duel 2: He opened with Black Whirlwind again and got several searches off of it.  He still had it by the end of the duel, and those of us who played in the Blackwing format(s) know that that means that the Blackwing player wins.
-Duel 3: He opened with Black Whirlwind AGAIN, but I had a Dust Tornado this time to destroy it when he Normal Summoned his Shura.  He attacked my Hamster and didn't have Kalut, so I was able to grab Tanngnjostr (black goat) and start making my plays from there.  By the end of my next turn, I had twice as many cards as him and had baited out all of his back rows.  Without Black Whirlwind, he wouldn't be able to keep up a constant stream of Blackwings, so I was able to win fairly easily.

OXO

Round 3: vs Inzektors

This was my Round 4 opponent from yesterday's tournament.

-Duel 1: He opened with Dragonfly and Hornet and I didn't have Effect Veiler, so I lost.  Oh well, that's why I side nine cards for this match-up.
-Duel 2: He drew his Dragonflies and Centipedes without Hornet and Ladybug, so he couldn't really do much.  I was able to take control of the game pretty easily, and once he finally did get his Hornet, I banished it with Crevice Into the Different Dimension.
-Duel 3: We both opened pretty passively.  After a few turns, his field consisted of three Set back rows, two Set Monsters, and a face-up Defense Position Sangan that he had gotten with Tour Guide.  I had a Lost Blue Breaker (which had run over the Tour Guide earlier), and two Set Monsters with five back rows.  I flipped Dust Tornado to destroy one of his back rows (Mirror of Oaths), then Flip Summoned Super-Nimble Mega Hamster.  That got me a Ryko, which he destroyed with Mirror of Oaths.  I then Flip Summoned Tanngnjostr (black goat) to grab Guldfaxe.  I used it and Hamster to Synchro Summon Stardust Dragon.  He flipped Solemn Judgment, and I negated with my own Solemn Judgment.  I summoned Tour Guide, and he used Effect Veiler.  Apparently, he had forgotten to use it on Tanngnjostr.  Anyways, I attacked his Set Ladybug with Stardust Dragon, then his Set Hornet with Lost Blue Breaker, then his Sangan with Tanngnjostr.  Of course, he searched Dragonfly.  I attacked directly with Tour Guide, then overlaid Tour Guide and Tanngnjostr for Wind-Up Zenmaines.  He played Dark Hole, which I negated with Stardust Dragon.  Then, he played Heavy Storm.  Well, he had the Limited cards he needed to break up my field, which ruined my plans.  He made his Dragonfly/Hornet play, knocking both Xyz Materials off of my Zenmaines.  He then overlaid Dragonfly and Centipede for Acid Golem and attacked my Zenmaines to destroy it.  He Set a back row and ended.  I revived Stardust Dragon, then Normal Summoned the Reborn Tengu I drew before ending.  He attacked Stardust Dragon with Acid Golem, then Set a Monster.  I topped Pot of Avarice and played it.  I drew Guldfaxe and Deep Sea Diva.  I summoned Diva to Special Summon another Diva from my deck.  I then used Lost Blue Breaker's effect to destroy his Set Bottomless Trap Hole.  I Synchro Summoned Brionac using Tengu and Diva, Special Summoning the other Tengu.  I pitched Guldfaxe from my hand to bounce his Acid Golem.  I then Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon using Diva and Brionac.  Scrap Dragon's effect destroyed my Tengu and his Set Monster, then attacked directly for exactly game.

XOO

Round 4: vs Dino Rabbit

This was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.  He knew what I was playing (but still voiced his discomfort at having to play against me and my crazy deck), but I didn't know what he was playing.

-Duel 1: He opened with Rescue Rabbit into Evolzar Laggia and three back rows.  One of those back rows was Skill Drain, which he flipped after using up Laggia's negation effect.  I didn't draw any Spell/Trap destruction at all, so I lost pretty quickly.
-Duel 2: He opened with Heavy Storm into Rescue Rabbit, then summoned Tour Guide on the following turn.  That left him with Dolkka and Laggia, so I lost pretty quickly... again...

XX

Skill Drain isn't a bad choice for the deck, I suppose.  Anyways, I was considering dropping at this point, since I don't really need any of the Hobby League cards.  But, Fwazalaza, who had already dropped after losing two rounds, still wanted Crystal Beacon.  I offered to trade it to him for a Lightray Sorcerer if I were to win my next match (and therefore get the Hobby League card), and he accepted.

Round 5: vs Dark Worlds

My opponent this round was a little kid.  I've been seeing him at locals pretty often recently, and he has been doing okay.  He's can't really keep his composure during a duel, though, and I suppose that's to be expected of a little kid.  At least he kind of knew what he was doing.

-Duel 1: He went first and did some Dark World stunts.  He ended up with Gates and Grapha with a couple back rows.  I made Thor after a couple turns, and since he had wasted his Grapha's discard already, he had nothing to deal with Thor, so I won.
-Duel 2: He swarmed with two Graphas, but then I cleared his field with Black Rose Dragon, followed up with a Guldfaxe and a Set Bottomless Trap Hole.  Bottomless dealt with his Normal Summon, and he didn't have any back rows to prevent me from going for game on the following turn.

OO

So, I ended up going 4-1 and getting 4th place.  I got the Lightray Sorcerer from Fwazalaza and gave him the Hobby League Crystal Beacon I won.  If you're wondering, I decided to get Lightray Sorcerers because of Michael Bonacini's video showing his Chaos deck.  It's quite interesting.

In my Turbo Pack 8, which Fwazalaza advised me to get because he wants Super Rare Gadgets, I pulled an Ultra Rare Skill Drain.  That's the third one I've gotten, so that's cool.  Like the other two, I'll probably trade this one away.  We'll see what happens, I suppose.

So yeah, next Saturday marks the start of the next format.  I may or may not play in a tournament next Saturday, though.  I probably will, and then if I scrub out early, I'd go and play in that Vanguard tournament my friend who plays Vanguard told me about.  That probably won't be the case, though, since it's generally very easy for me to win at the start of new formats.  I guess we'll have to wait and see...

Tournament Report 8/25/12

So, as usual, I went to locals today (really yesteday, since it's after midnight...).  Nothing special; the format's still bad, so I still played Gem-Knights for fun.

Before the tournament started, though, I won a few games of Kaijudo against Fwazalaza.  I can't wait for the base set, even though I won't be able to get it the day it comes out or even the day after because it comes out on September 7, and there's a Regional on September 8.  I'll be getting at least two boxes of the base set for Aki and myself the day after the Regional, though.

Since Shien was there and his Gustos were ready, he, Fwazalaza, and I agreed to enact our wager for what will likely be the last time (at least for a while).  Fwazalaza would be using his Ice Barriers, having given up on his Vylons.  But yeah, we were just doing this for fun since the format is really bad, and hopefully it'll get better with the ban list.  So, we'd actually be able to play without getting Wind-Up looped or Inzektor looped all the time.

But yeah, there were 27 players there today.

Round 1: vs Fabled

This was this guy's first tournament.  How sad.  He wasn't bad, though.

-Duel 1: He does a few Fabled tricks, but I just make my Gem-Knight Fusions and run him down after forcing out all of his back rows.
-Duel 2: I had to waste my whole hand on Snipe Hunter's effect because I kept missing and had no way of dealing with his The Tricky and The Fabled Ganashia.  I was finally able to wipe out his whole field at the cost of all of my cards, but then he topped Monster Reborn, so I lost.
-Duel 3: He summoned The Fabled Kudabbi with no cards in hand.  I made two Gem-Knight Prismaura using the Amber loop and overlaid for Number 11: Big Eye to steal his Kudabbi.  Yes, it's quite evil.  He drew nothing to save him, so I won on the following turn with his Kudabbi.

OXO

Round 2: vs Newbie Gravekeeper's

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.  I won 2-1 after losing the second duel to Dark Hole.  Yes, it's my only weakness.  It's okay, I got revenge in game three by going for an OTK with 10000 damage.  Even if you guard with Lizard Runner, Undeux, the attack will still hit; that's how powerful it was.

OXO

Round 3: vs Wind-Ups

This was my Round 1 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He went first and looped four cards, leaving me with Gem-Armadillo.  I got a Gem-Knight Obsidian with it, then let it get killed by Leviathan Dragon.  I topped Gem-Knight Fusion, meaning that I might have a chance, since I had a Garnet in the Graveyard.  He attacked me with Leviathan and Wind-Up Rabbit, and I hoped for a Pyro or Thunder Monster.  I topped a second Gem-Knight Fusion, which means I lost.
-Duel 2: I opened with Summoner Monk, discarding Heavy Storm.  I Special Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh and Set two back rows.  He Special Summoned Junk Forward, then Normal Summoned Wind-Up Hunter, then Special Summoned Wind-Up Shark.  He used Hunter's effect, tributing the Shark, then overlaid for Zenmaity in Defense Position.  I declined to negate with Rai-Oh.  He used its effect to Special Summon Wind-Up Rat from his deck.  He tried to use its effect, but I negated with Forbidden Chalice.  He then played Instant Fusion, then overlaid for another Zenmaity.  I negated that one with Rai-Oh's effect, and he Set two cards.  I drew into Amber with Garnet in hand, which was pretty bad.  I summoned Garnet, and he tried to use Solemn Warning after much consideration.  I flipped Solemn Judgment to push it through, but he was able to bounce my Garnet back to my hand with Compulsory Evacuation Device.  I had failed to kill the Zenmaity, so I lost to the loop.

XX

At this point, both Fwazalaza and Shien were 1-2, while I was 2-1.  Unfortunately, they both still had a chance to win our bet, so I needed to win the next couple rounds to ensure my victory.

Round 4: vs Inzektors

This was my Round 5 opponent from this tournament.  We knew what each other was playing, so we talked for a bit about next format.  He said that he's going to try to make Inzektors work, but if he can't, then he'll play Blackwings.

-Duel 1: I had no defenses against his Dragonfly and lost to it and Hornet.  I'm glad they're both getting Limited...
-Duel 2: He drew Ladybug, then Hornet, but no other Inzetkors.  So, I was able to beat him down with my Gem-Knights without much trouble.
-Duel 3: I did some stunts with Snipe Hunter to destroy his whole field after taking some hits from Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo.  I had Prohibition for Inzektor Hornet, but he didn't even draw any Inzektors.  I drew into Obsidian and Amber one after the other, letting me do the Prismaura/Amber loop against his Acid Golem, with the addition of reviving a Garnet when I discarded Obsidian for Prismaura's effect.  I attacked with Amber, then Garnet, then he dropped Gorz.  I killed the Token with Prismaura's attack, then contemplated my next move.  He had two cards in hand, and all I had was Gem-Knight Fusion.  I decided to fuse my Prismaura and Garnet for a second Prismaura, then grab back the Gem-Knight Fusion and pitch it to destroy Gorz.  That left out my Gemini Summoned Amber so that I could recycle Obsidian on the following turn.  However, he scooped after seeing his draw, then revealing his hand of Solemn Judgment (which he just drew) and two Giga-Mantis.

XOO

Fwazalaza had lost the fourth round, while Shien was able to win.  That meant that he was still a threat, sadly, so I had to win my last round.  Fortunately, I was paired down against vadangchoinga.  Since he was already X-2 and couldn't top, he gave me the win with the condition that I would buy him a Gravity Warrior if I topped.

So, I technically went 4-1 and got 3rd place.  Not only did I get $10 in store credit, but I won $4 from Shien and Fwazalaza.  I spent my store credit on some more sleeves for Kaijudo and a booster pack of The Dojo Edition.  Unfortunately, the Rare was King Bullfang (I almost typed Bluefish... EarthP0w3r reference...).  Oh well, it was free, so whatever.  vadangchoinga decided to get a Gravity Warrior from Shien, and I agreed to take a few dollars off of the debt he owes me for Escuridao.  And now I feel like I should get a Gravity Warrior.  It's not bad; it would basically take the spot of Flamvell Uruquizas.  If I don't happen to get one, then I'm content with my Gaia Knight and Orient Dragon.

After the tournament, we continued vadangchoinga's Kaijudo training so that he'll be better prepared to play in the Kaijudo leagues once they start.  And, I played Vanguard against my friend who play Vanguard using my Gold Kagero deck.  I was able to win all of the games against his fun decks, and about half of the games against his competitive decks.  The fact that I can win with that much consistency with a $29 deck against his expensive Gold Paladin and Nova Grappler decks kind of displayed how luck-based Vanguard is.  It's nice that I don't have to spend money to win, though.

In fact, another card shop has been hosting Vanguard tournaments Saturday evenings.  My friend who plays Vanguard said that we should go there and play in the tournaments, since it'd be easy to win the prizes.  He said that the players there aren't very good, so it'd be easy to win.  I'm honestly not surprised, so I may decide to do that next Saturday if I scrub out of the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament.

Also, he's going to hook me up with some cards for my Gold Kagero deck.  The fact that it's a multi-Clan deck means that it's somewhat difficult for him to find cards that would be useful in my deck.  For instance, he has the perfect guard for Kagero, but it doesn't do any good when my Vanguard is a Gold Paladin half the time.  But, it does allow me to play the best cards from each Clan that aren't dependent on running a single-Clan deck.  For instance, he's going to get me some Mr. Invincibles, which will help unflip cards in the Damage Zone so that I can use Dragonic Overlord's Counterblast multiple times per game.  I think that I'm only going to run two Mr. Invincibles, though, since they're kind of useless in Rear-Guard.  Dragonic Overlord is actually the most powerful in the Rear-Guard circle because you can use a Stand Trigger to Stand it if your opponent guards its first or second attack.  And, as much as I hate the Grade 3 Sagramore, it's more useful in the Rear-Guard than Mr. Invincible or Garmore.

But, how could this be possible?  Thought and strategy in Vanguard?  Don't worry, this only happens when you run a multi-Clan deck.  It's my way of making the game a little more challenging for myself.

So yeah, I'll be going to locals again tomorrow (really today, since it's after midnight...).  I'll be running Nordic Diva with two Tour Guides.  Honestly, the Tour Guides have been pretty useless.  I never get Sangan; I just go double Tour Guide into Zenmaines every time.  So far, it has been just as lackluster as I had expected.  I'll probably take them out for tech cards depending on how next format shapes up.