Tournament Report 7/14/12

As usual, I decided to go to locals today (really yesterday, since it's after midnight).  But yeah, there was a Battle Pack tournament before the usual tournament.  I lost in the second round to my Round 1 opponent from this tournament, who went on to win the whole tournament and a Duelist Revolution play mat.  I told him after I lost to him that I'd buy the mat off of him if he were to win, and he did, so I did.  I now have a Duelist Revolution mat, which I may start to use in the future.  But yeah, my pulls from the Battle Packs were decent.  I got two copies of Adreus (one Starfoil), which was kind of annoying, but whatever.  I did gain a whole new appreciation for Backup Warrior, though.

Anyways, 27 people participated in the usual tournament.  I was using my Nordic Diva deck that I changed with additional anti-Samurai cards.

Round 1: vs Nordics

-Duel 1: I opened with two Set Traps.  He used Mystical Space Typhoon on my Gleipnir, and when I asked if he knew what it did, he told me that he was playing Nordics, too.  How interesting.  So I searched Tanngnjostr (black goat), and he summoned Rai-Oh to attack.  I took some hits for a little while before I was able to make a double Hamster play that got rid of his Rai-Oh and gave me a bunch of Set Monsters.  After I cleared his field, he make Odin using Valkyrie, but I killed his Odin with Ryko and finished him off before he could revive it.
-Duel 2: I was able to make a Scrap Dragon pretty quickly and take control from there.  Yeah, he was running a bunch of the weaker Nordic Monsters, so he couldn't really keep up.

OO

Round 2: vs Wind-Ups

This was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.  I told him that I had played a mirror match in the previous round, but he didn't know what to think.  Either someone else was playing Nordics, someone else was playing Scraps, or I had decided to bring my Hieratic deck to locals.

-Duel 1: He went first, but didn't have the loop.  He played two Wind-Up Factories and Tour Guide into Zenmaity, letting him grab a Hunter to hit one card out of my hand, and search Shark and Rat.  He Set a back row and ended.  I drew to five cards in hand (Reborn Tengu, Mystical Space Typhoon, Solemn Warning, Lost Blue Breaker, and the second Tengu) and contemplated whether or not I wanted to MST what I expected to be a Warning.  With both Tengus in my hand, baiting it out seemed like the best option, so I summoned Tengu and he flipped Warning, claiming that he would not be happy if I had the second Tengu in my hand.  I Set my back rows and ended.  He MST"d my MST, which I Chained to destroy a Factory.  I used Warning on his Rat and took 1600 damage from the Hunter.  I summoned my second Tengu to kill the Hunter and ended.  But it didn't matter; with the Wind-Up Factory still out, he was able to keep searching Wind-Ups and constantly apply pressure.  My hand was lackluster, so I lost pretty quickly.
-Duel 2: I opened with Solemn Warning, Solemn Judgment, Torrential Tribute, Compulsory Evacuation Device, Maxx "C", and Effect Veiler.  I Set all of the Traps and ended.  He played Heavy Storm, which I negated with Solemn Judgment.  He then summoned Wind-Up Rat and played Instant Fusion.  I activated Maxx "C", and he Special Summoned his Flame Ghost.  He overlaid for Wind-Up Zenmaity, and I responded to the summon with Compulsory Evacuation Device.  He Set a card and ended.  I Set Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and ended.  He played Factory and summoned another Wind-Up Rat, which I negated with Warning.  On my turn, I summoned Deep Sea Diva, which he negated with Effect Veiler.  I Flip Summoned Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, grabbing my Ryko, then Synchro Summoned Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth.  He banished my Gaia Knight with Dimensional Prison when I attacked, and I ended.  He used Monster Reborn on his Wind-Up Rat, and I had to consider my options.  I needed the Ryko to destroy the Factory so he wouldn't be able to search anymore, so I didn't want to use my Torrential.  I decided to use Effect Veiler on the Rat after a while, but he still triggered Factory's effect to search another Rat.  He ended there.  I Normal Summoned Deep Sea Diva to grab another Diva, then Flip Summoned Ryko to destroy the Factory, as planned.  I then overlaid the two Divas for Gachi Gachi Gantetsu and crashed my Ryko into his Rat.  He summoned the third Rat, and I used Torrential Tribute.  I topped Reborn Tengu and pushed for 1900 damage.  From that point, he only drew back rows, and was unable to deal with my Tengu.
-Duel 3: He Set two cards and ended.  I summoned Guldfaxe and pushed for damage before Setting a couple back rows.  He used MST on one of them in the End Phase, then played another MST to destroy the other on his turn.  He summoned Rat and activated the Shark in his hand.  I Chained Maxx "C", and he ended there.  I played Mind Control, taking his Shark, then Synchro Summoning Thought Ruler Archfiend.  I attempted to end my Main Phase 1, and he used Effect Veiler.  That told me that his back row was Dimensional Prison.  So, still in my Main Phase 1, I Normal Summoned Tanngnjostr (black goat).  I used it to attack his Rat, and he declined to use Dimensional Prison on it.  From there, he was unable to deal with my Thought Ruler until it was too late (I think that he played Dark Hole after a while, but by that point, it didn't really matter).

XOO

Round 3: vs Inzektors

This was my Round 2 opponent from this tournament.  Before we started the duel, he claimed that he lost to me last time because he played too conservatively.  He stated that he wouldn't think about his plays this time and would just play aggressively.  However, he took just as long to think about his moves as last time, and didn't even attack me at all in the first duel...

-Duel 1: He only had one Dragonfly, and I had the Veiler for it.  From there, Reborn Tengu was able to rip apart his field, and I was able to make Stardust Dragon soon after to protect my back rows.  He stalled behind a Sangan, but I waited until I was able to OTK before attacking it.  He had Gorz, but I had Warning, so it didn't matter.
-Duel 2: My opening hand was Guldfaxe, Guldfaxe, Veiler, Veiler, Crevice Into the Different Dimension.  He passed his first turn, and I Set the Dust Tornado I drew.  He played MST, then summoned and attacked with Inzektor Hornet.  I summoned a Guldfaxe and ran over his Hornet.  He summoned Jurrac Guaiba, which I forgot that he used, and was forced to waste an Effect Veiler on it.  Guaiba killed my Guldfaxe and he Set a back row.  I Set a Ryko and an MST and ended.  He used MST on my MST in my End Phase, then summoned Centipede.  I used Effect Veiler when he equipped the Hornet, and he then equipped a Zektkaliber to his Centipede.  He attacked with Centipede, and I destroyed the Centipede with Ryko's effect, letting him grab back his Centipede using Zektkaliber's effect.  He attacked directly with Guaiba and ended.  I drew D.D. Crow and ended.  He summoned the Centipede again, and I Chained D.D. Crow to its effect, banishing the Hornet.  However, he equipped Ladybug from his hand, then sent it to the Graveyard to boost Centipede's Level by 1.  He searched Dragonfly, then attacked directly with both of his Monsters.  He then overlaid for Steelswarm Roach and ended.  I Set Hamster and Crevice and ended.  He summoned Dragonfly and activated its effect.  I Chained Crevice, banishing his Ladybug and my D.D. Crow, depriving him of the rest of his Inzektors.  He had no Inzektors in his hand, which was revealed to be Pot of Avarice, Monster Reborn, Effect Veiler, and Tour Guide.  He declined to attack and ended.  I summoned Reborn Tengu and ran over his Dragonfly.  He summoned his Tour Guide, grabbing Sangan and overlaying for Leviair.  His Leviair got back his Hornet, and Roach and Leviair attacked my two Tengus.  He Set a back row and ended.  I Flip Summoned my Hamster, and he declined to use Veiler.  I Special Summoned Ryko with Hamster's effect, then Normal Summoned my second Guldfaxe.  Without the ability to Synchro, I had to overlay for Utopia to run over his Leviair.  I Set a Compulsory Evacuation Device and he flipped Royal Decree in the End Phase.  He played Nobleman of Crossout on my Ryko... seriously, that actually happened... I guess he got tired of losing to Nordics... Anyways, he then used Monster Reborn on Sangan and tried to crash it into my Utopia.  I used Utopia's Moon Shield to block, and he switched his Hornet to Defense Position.  I attacked the Roach with Utopia and Set another Hamster.  He switched his Hornet back to Attack Position, then declared an attack with his Sangan on my Utopia.  I let it go, and he searched Dragonfly.  He then tried to crash his Hornet into my Utopia, which I blocked with Utopia's effect.  In his Main Phase 2, he played Pot of Avarice, then Normal Summoned a Tour Guide that he drew, grabbing the Sangan that he sent back with Avarice.  He overlaid the Tour Guide and Hornet for Leviathan Dragon, detaching Hornet to use Leviathan Dragon's effect.  He Set a back row and ended.  I topped Deep Sea Diva.  I Flip Summoned my Set Hamster, and he negated its effect with Effect Veiler.  I then summoned Deep Sea Diva, grabbing my Lost Blue Breaker.  Diva, Breaker, and Hamster made Mist Wurm, bouncing his Leviathan Dragon, Sangan, and Set Shrink (which he Chained).  Despite the Shrink, he was still at low enough LP for me to finish him off with Utopia and Mist Wurm.  By the way, this was the third duel that Mist Wurm has won for me.

OO

Round 4: vs Inzektors

This guy was a friend of the person I lost to in the Battle Pack tournament.  He knew that I was playing Nordics, but I knew that he was playing Inzektors, and I politely informed him that I had just beaten Inzektors in the previous round.  Yes, mind games are fun.

-Duel 1: I summoned Thor using Tanngnjostr (black goat), Tanngrisnir (white goat), and Guldfaxe.  He destroyed it with Hornet's effect once, then Torrential Tribute soon afterwards.  Unfortunately for him, I topped Monster Reborn to revive the Thor and keep beating his face in.  He had no more outs to it, so I was able to win with it.
-Duel 2: He drew no Inzektors for the majority of the duel.  He was trying to survive with Tour Guides and King Tiger Wanghus, but Reborn Tengu into Scrap Dragon dealt with all of that.  And when he finally drew an Inzektor, it was a Dragonfly, but he didn't have Hornet, so he couldn't do anything with it.  That let me finish him off with Scrap Dragon a couple turns later.

OO

Apparently, my supposedly horrible Inzektor match-up isn't as bad as I thought.  Perhaps it's because I side 7-9 cards against them...

Either way, I was one of the last two undefeated players.  The other undefeated player was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.  We decided to split and play it out for fun.

Round 5: vs Dark Worlds

-Duel 1: She went first with a Set Monster and three back rows.  Gee, I wonder what that Monster could be.  I Set a Ryko and three back rows (Monster Reborn, Solemn Warning, and MST).  She used MST on my Warning in the End Phase, then Flip Summoned Morphing Jar on her turn after Setting the card she drew.  She discarded Grapha and Snoww, while I discarded Deep Sea Diva and Guldfaxe.  Grapha destroyed my Monster Reborn, and she searched The Gates of Dark World.  I was able to destroy it with MST after she banished Snoww, but she still had so much advantage that there wasn't much I could do.  Even after I cleared her field over the course of several turns, a process that used up most of my cards, she still had a full hand.  That Morphing Jar was just devastating, and she was able to keep beating me down under Skill Drain to win.
-Duel 2: I opened with Prohibition, declaring, "Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World."  I then Set a Solemn Warning and a Sangan.  She played Heavy Storm, then Dark World Dealings.  She discarded Goldd, and I discarded Pot of Avarice.  She killed my Sangan, letting me get Deep Sea Diva, then played Gates and Set two cards.  I summoned Deep Sea Diva and grabbed Lost Blue Breaker.  I tributed the Blue Breaker to destroy her Set Warning, which she forgot to use.  I then played Monster Reborn on my Sangan and Synchro Summoned T.G. Hyper Librarian.  With Sangan's effect, I searched a Hamster.  I Set a back row and ended.  She simply attacked with Goldd, but I flipped Dust Tornado to destroy Gates, letting my Librarian win the battle.  I then attacked with my Librarian, but she banished it with Dimensional Prison.  So, I Set Hamster and ended.  She summoned Tour Guide, grabbing Sangan and making Acid Golem.  It killed my Hamster, letting me get Ryko.  I drew another Prohibition, prohibiting Grapha once more, but it didn't matter.  In a couple turns, she played Skill Drain, nullifying her Acid Golem's effects and preventing me from using any of my effects.  I had a Dark Hole since the start of the game, and was forced to use it on her Acid Golem.  However, she used Monster Reborn on it, and I drew nothing but Monsters for the rest of the duel.  Hmm, perhaps I should play more back row destruction (as if I don't already play enough...).

XX

So yeah, I went 4-1 and got 2nd place, which is good.  I got a great deal of store credit, which was nice.  I spent it on two Secret Rare Dimensional Fissures and a Starfoil Pot of Duality.  I didn't need any more sleeves (I still have two unopened packs), so I spent the rest on some Battle Packs.  There were some decent pulls, like a Starfoil Greenkappa and a Starfoil Krebons.  But yeah, Battle Packs aren't really worth it, from what I've seen so far.  Oh well.  And my Turbo Pack 8 yielded an Alligator's Sword, which was bad...

Anyways, after the tournament, I traded away one of the Maxx "C"s in my Side Deck to Fwazalaza (my Round 2 opponent from this tournament, who finally gets a name) for a bunch of random stuff, including a Shining Elf (jealous, vadangchoinga?).  But yeah, I don't really need two Maxx "C"s, so I'm going to make due with just one.  I think I'll replace the second one with a Morphing Jar #2 or something.  Yep, more anti-Samurai cards.

But yeah, I'll be at locals again tomorrow (really today, since it's after midnight).

Hopes for the September 2012 Ban List

Alright, it's time for another "Hopes for the Ban List" post.  And, let me remind everyone that this is what I HOPE will happen (hence, "HOPES for the Ban List".  I do not think that very many of these things will actually happen.  In fact, I'm positive that very few will actually happen.

The reason is that Konami obviously makes its ban lists to promote new products.  They wanted people to buy Gold Series Haunted Mine and the Six Samurai Structure Deck, so they loosened the limits on Shien's Smoke Signal.  They wanted people to stop playing T.G. Agents because they wouldn't get any additional support, so they Limited Earth and Striker.  They wanted people to perhaps buy Hidden Arsenal 5, which includes Gustos, so they Semi-Limited Emergency Teleport.  They wanted the OCG players to buy their most recent Gold Series, so they didn't ban Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning.  There's many many many many more examples, but that's not what this post is about.

The fact that Konami makes its lists to promote new products makes it hard to predict what would happen sometimes because we don't know all of the future products.  In retrospect, it's very easy to see why they made what seemed to be completely ridiculous decisions at the time.  That's why I don't make predictions for the ban list.  Everyone may say that it's very obvious that certain cards may be hit, but Konami may plan to release a whole archetype around those certain cards or give them massive support in upcoming sets, and would therefore not want to hit those cards.

But yeah, again, this is what I (No. 39) HOPE will happen.

Forbidden:

• Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
• It's broken.  If it were just a big Chaos Sorcerer, I'd be okay with it, but it has the double attack effect and can banish face-downs.
• Dandylion
• This should've been banned instead of Glow-Up Bulb and Spore.
• Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
• This card wins games that should've been lost.  I've won games that I probably shouldn't have because of this card; it's that broken.  Tragoedia is a much more balanced version of this card.
• Morphing Jar
• Kills Empty Jar and hurts whatever Dark World variants even play this card.
• Sangan
• This indirectly hits Tour Guide and also takes the most powerful searcher out of the game.
• Card Destruction
• This card is ridiculous in Dark Worlds.  Not only is the minus from playing this card canceled out by discarding all of your Dark World Monsters, you also get to disrupt your opponent's hand.
• Future Fusion
• This card is a 1-card FTK.  It also facilitates OTK's in Chaos Dragons and such.
• Gateway of the Six
• You don't deserve to win just because you play Six Samurai and opened with this card.  If this doesn't get banned, then I'd be happy with Six Samurai United being Limited.
• Limiter Removal
• You don't deserve to win just because you play Machines and drew this card.
• Mind Control
• In practically every tournament report that I used this card in, I stated that I still want it banned.  The fact that it can steal anything, including face-downs, is too good, and this card only gets better as new cards are released.
• Monster Reborn
• This card can bail you out of almost any situation.  You can play horribly and overextend as much as you want if this is in your hand, since after your opponent runs out of answers, you just drop this and win.  Or, you can top this in a losing situation and win.

Limited:

• Archlord Kristya
• Yes, this card isn't played anymore, but it's still powerful enough to warrant being it.  And Herald of Perfection decks can still use this for an untouchable lock-down.
• Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World
• A Dark World discard effect that destroys anything and can turn all of your Dark Worlds into 2700 ATK floaters once it's been discarded?  Yeah, no.
• Infernity Archfiend
• Infernities have been getting better and better as new sets have been released.  With Lavalval Chain, Daigusto Emeral, Void Orge Dragon, and now Gagaga Gunman, I think that the ridiculous OTK loops should be put to an end.
• Inzektor Dragonfly
• This is the problem behind Inzektors.  Yes, Hornet should have never existed, but nothing short of a ban on Hornet will curb this deck's power enough.  Limiting Dragonfly stops the crazy perpetual plus-4, though it still allows the deck a great deal of power.  Maybe Inzektors can play Beetron if this happens...
• Judgment Dragon
• Besides it having a broken effect, the main problem I have with this card is that once you can drop one, you can drop all three.
• Rescue Rabbit
• This is basically exactly like Rescue Cat, but it usually results in a 2400 ATK Solemn Judgment (Evolzar Laggia), a 2300 ATK double Divine Wrath (Evolzar Dolkka), or a 2550 ATK Special Summon lock-down with immunity from Spells/Traps (Verz Ophion).
• Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
• This has been one of the most powerful cards in the game for the longest time.  It has just been too inconsistent until we got Eclipse Wyvern.  But now, Limiting this will weaken both Chaos Dragons and Hieratics, but still allow both of them to be playable decks (not that that has any relevance when creating ideal ban lists).
• Treeborn Frog
• I feel as though there should only be one of these in the game.  It effectively negates the cost of Tribute Summoning, which is really powerful in slower formats.  And with this at 1, it'll actually be susceptible to D.D. Crow.  Again, it's partially Swap Frog's fault for being able to dump multiple Frogs to the Graveyard by itself, so maybe I should want Swap Frog Limited instead.
• Wind-Up Rat
• This one is arguable, but I think that this is the main problem with Wind-Ups.  The combination of Rat and Zenmaity allow Wind-Ups to drop a series of Rank 3 Xyz Monsters.  With either one of them Limited, then the Hunter loop only hits two cards and the deck can't swarm.  I chose Rat over Zenmaity for being Limited because Rat is the instant Rank 3 Xyz, whereas Zenmaity just grabs another Wind-Up after you've already committed two cards (unless one of them was Rat...).
• Mystical Space Typhoon
• With Heavy Storm legal, MST becomes incredibly powerful.  If we could go back to the days where Heavy Storm and MST were both Limited, then I'd be happy.  Of course, Konami may just decide to ban Heavy Storm again and leave us with three MST's.  Having played through a year without Heavy Storm, I realize that I don't really care what happens to Heavy Storm.  If everyone plays Stun decks, it makes it a lot easier to win, since you aren't losing on turn three to OTK's half the time.
• Rekindling
• This card can make you Shooting Quasar Dragon at a plus.  Yeah, no.
• Royal Tribute
• Just because Gravekeeper's are bad doesn't mean that this card isn't broken.
• Shien's Smoke Signal
• This was only Semi-Limited because Konami wanted to sell their Structure Deck.  Hopefully it'll be Limited again, since Six Samurai shouldn't have this much consistency.
• Wind-Up Factory
• I realize that many Wind-Up decks don't even use Factory, but it's still the Black Whirlwind of Wind-Ups.  If you can't get rid of Factory, then your opponent will never run out of Wind-Up Monsters.
• Solemn Warning
• Summon negation without any loss in card advantage is too powerful.
• Ultimate Offering
• This card is absolutely crazy in Offering Gadgets, which has been doing very well in Japan from what I've been seeing.  Konami probably won't hit this because then people won't buy Return of the Duelist for Gear Gigant X, but hopefully something is done about this.

Semi-Limited:

• Master Hyperion
• The Agent of Creation - Venus
• The Agent of Mystery - Earth
• I think that Agents were hit a little too hard with Earth to 1.  The deck honestly wasn't that good or powerful, it was just that multiple Hyperions could cause a great deal of trouble.  With Hyperion, Venus, and Earth all moved to two (along with T.G. Striker at 3), the deck should be balanced.
• Hieratic Seal of Convocation
• This is a powerful search card for a fairly powerful deck.  I feel as though it should be hit in some way, since if everything else is slowed down, this Hieratics will become the fastest deck.
• Miracle Fusion
• I think that it's time HEROes got hit in some way.  With Blade Armor Ninja and Heroic Champion Excalibur, HEROes have been given multiple ways to OTK.  I think that banning Stratos may do the trick, but that may be a little harsh.  Semi-Limiting Miracle Fusion would solve the same problem I have with Hyperion, which is that being able to drop multiples make it too powerful.

Unlimited:

• Glow-Up Bulb
• Spore
• Dandylion should've been banned instead of these two Plant Tuners.  Yes, they can revive themselves, but Spore at least requires some deck dedication.  Glow-Up Bulb could stay banned for all I care, as long as Spore and Dandylion switch places.
• T.G. Striker
• Yes, Konami hit this card to stop people from playing T.G. Agents in the OCG and also to stop people from playing Synchros, but this card isn't broken, and I want it to come back.  I miss playing T.G. Zombies...
• Magical Stone Excavation
• Who cares if this is at three?  The decks that would use three have access to Spell Reproduction anyways.
• Primal Seed
• Even if BLS is legal, no one would use this card.

But yeah, that about does it for what I hope happens.  If I wanted to be selfish, I could ask for Goyo Guardian and/or Trishula to be unbanned, as well as Mezuki being Semi-Limited or Unlimited, but I'd prefer a balanced game rather than my own selfish wishes.  There's probably also some stuff that I missed and whatnot, but it doesn't really matter.

So yeah, the ban list should be out in about five weeks, so I guess that's what we'll all be waiting for.

Also, I put up another Heavy Storm poll like I did a year ago.  I'm interested in seeing what you guys think should happen to Heavy Storm...

Tournament Report 7/8/12

As I said in my previous post, I attended locals once more today.  Before the tournament, I played some Kaijudo against AquaBass.  Of course, I won.  I mean, it's not really fair when I have access to three Battle Decks and can make whatever deck I want.  He's not bad, though, so it was still a challenge.

Anyways, there were about 42 people there today, with a lot of newbs.  Like, not newbs that don't have good decks, but newbs who had stuff like Inzektors and Dino Rabbit but had no idea how to use them correctly.  Like, I saw one of them try to send Inzektor Hopper to the Graveyard as an Equip Card when Banisher of the Radiance was on the field.  It was pretty bad...  But yeah, I was running my Nordic Diva deck.

Round 1: vs Stun

-Duel 1: I opened with Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, Deep Sea Diva, and Heavy Storm.  So, I could destroy his whole back row and combo off on him pretty easily.  He did have stuff like Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, but Ryko and Torrential Tribute dealt with those.

-Duel 2: He opened with two back rows.  I summoned Reborn Tengu and attacked directly before Setting two back rows.  He played Dark Hole, then Mirror of Oaths on the Tengu that I Special Summoned.  I was pretty surprised, as it made the Tengu that would normally be a plus into an even trade.  From there, I used a Ryko to get rid of a Fossil Dyna, and he used Torrential Tribute on my Deep Sea Diva play.  I then lost the Hamster in my hand to Spirit Reaper, but topped a Reaper of my own and Set it.  He topped Caius the Shadow Monarch to banish my Reaper, but I banished his Caius with Bottomless Trap Hole.  He drew a Rai-Oh soon after and beat me down for a few turns.  I was eventually able to use Torrential Tribute once he summoned another Monster, and after that he drew no more Monsters.  So, I was able to draw a Guldfaxe and beat him down with it for like four turns for game.

OO

Round 2: vs Six Samurai

This was my Round 4 opponent from this tournament.  He made his deck from one Structure Deck and spare Six Samurai cards he picked up.

-Duel 1: He opened with two Six Samurai United, Elder, and Kizan.  He drew four cards off of his Uniteds, then Set two back rows and ended.  I ran over the Elder with Reborn Tengu, Set a back row and ended.  He Special Summoned Grandmaster and another Kizan.  They ripped through my Tengus (which is why I didn't play Tengu in the Six Samurai format...), and he ended.  I set Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and ended.  He summoned Kageki and Special Summoned Mizuho with its effect.  He tributed Kageki for Mizuho's effect, but I negated it with Effect Veiler.  He then attacked my Hamster, which got a Ryko, which destroyed his Set Solemn Judgment when he attacked it.  After the following direct attacks, I was extremely low on LP.  All I had was another Ryko; I couldn't deal with his swarm.

-Duel 2: My starting hand included Tragoedia, three Hamsters, and two other Monsters.  I just Set the Hamster and ended.  He summoned Hand of the Six Samurai, then Kizan and Grandmaster.  He misplayed with his Hand, though, and since he destroyed by Hamster, but didn't destroy my Tragoedia after I used it to block.  With that Tragoedia, I was able to beat him down, and he wasn't able to summon Shi En, which made my job easier, I guess.  He did clear out my field with Dark Hole after a while, but he was down so many cards that it didn't matter.

-Duel 3: He opened with two United, Dojo, Kagemusha, Kizan, Grandmaster, leaving him with Shi En, Kizan, Grandmaster, two back rows, and two cards in hand.  I was able to drop Gorz, but he had Mirror Force.  I then tried a Black Rose Dragon play with Guldfaxe and Lost Blue Breaker, but he had Musakani Magatama.  To add insult to injury, he then topped Gateway and played it to continue to swarm.  I was able to make another Level 7 Synchro, but since my Black Rose was already gone, I had to use Scrap Archfiend.  In this case, I feel like I might've had a chance if I were running two Black Rose Dragons, but I really couldn't do much against his constant swarming.

XOX

Seriously, I've been trying to make my deck better against the good Six Samurai decks that focus on the lock down that Shi En provides, but I keep playing against the Six Samurai decks that play very few Traps and rely entirely on swarming.  It's kind of aggravating, since my deck is too passive to deal with them, short of something like Morphing Jar #2.  Perhaps I should try that out or something...

Round 3: vs HERO Beat

This was my Round 5 opponent from this tournament.

-Duel 1: He went first with E - Emergency Call and Reinforcement of the Army.  He grabbed Alius, then Stratos to grab another Alius.  I had an Effect Veiler, but I decided not to use it, wanting to save it for a Blade Armor Ninja or something, seeing as how he already had another Alius.  Perhaps that was a mistake, but I don't remember it affecting the game that much.  The main problem this duel was that the only Monster I drew were that Veiler, a Guldfaxe, and later, another Veiler.  I seem to draw like this against HERO Beat a lot, huh.  I was desperate enough to Monster Reborn his Rai-Oh, but he used Honest with his Alius to kill it.  From there, I just lost to Alius beat down and a Miracle Fusion.

-Duel 2: I drew a much more aggressive hand, so I Set Ryko and two back rows.  He played Heavy Storm, which was what I was fearing, which is why one of my Traps was Gleipnir, letting me search a Tanngnjostr (black goat).  The other one was Chaos Trap Hole, which he read while I was searching for Gleipnir; he said something along the lines of "that's pretty neat" before going to read the Tanngnjostr.  He then summoned Beast King Barbaros and ran over my Ryko, which destroyed his Barbaros.  When Ryko was destroyed, I got to summon my Tanngnjostr.  He Set one card and ended.  I used Tanngnjostr's effect to grab Guldfaxe and Synchro Summon Scrap Archfiend and attack.  I then Set three cards, now safe from Heavy Storm, and he hit my Dust Tornado with his MST in the End Phase.  He didn't seem to have any Monsters, as he just Set a back row and ended.  I attacked again with Scrap Archfiend, then Set a Tanngrisnir (white goat).  He Set a Monster and ended.  I summoned Deep Sea Diva to grab Lost Blue Breaker, then Flip Summoned my Tanngrisnir.  I Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon and used its effect to destroy my Scrap Archfiend and his Set Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo.  He laughed, and after he showed me the Fossil Dyna, I laughed and said, "Thought so."  I simply attacked directly with Scrap Dragon for game, ignoring his one back row since I had Solemn Judgment Set since turn three.

-Duel 3: He went first with Stratos into Alius, Duality into Miracle Fusion, and one Set back row.  I played MST and Soul Taker to clear the field, then summoned Spirit Reaper to try and knock the Miracle Fusion out of his hand, but I only hit a Photon Thrasher.  My opponent's friend (my Round 2 opponent from this tournament) who was sitting next to me was sad to see the Photon Thrasher discarded, since he had recommended it to my opponent.  I didn't have any back row, so I just ended.  He used Miracle Fusion to grab The Shining and push some damage through my Spirit Reaper.  I switched it to Defense Position and Set a Ryko.  He summoned Alius and attacked my Ryko with The Shining.  I destroyed his Alius, then Special Summoned Tanngnjostr (black goat).  He Set a back row and ended.  I switched Tanngnjostr to Attack Position to trigger its effect and Special Summoned Guldfaxe.  I considered making Thor using all of my Monsters, but I wanted to keep Spirit Reaper alive in case Thor got Warning'd or Bottomless'd.  So, I summoned Lost Blue Breaker and combined it with my Nordic Beasts to Synchro Summon Thor.  Unfortunately, he played Super Polymerization, Fusion Summoning Elemental HERO Gaia to destroy my Spirit Reaper with its effect.  I still didn't have any back row, so he was able to swing for game on the following turn.

XOX

Having lost two matches, I decided to drop, since there was no point in continuing.  I got another Rare Gozen Match from my Turbo Pack 8, so that wasn't bad.  Many of the other regulars had decided to drop by this point; though AquaBass and Round 2 opponent from this tournament went X-1 and got Hobby League cards.  My Round 4 opponent from yesterday won the tournament with his Wind-Ups.  It makes me kind of want to play Infernities, but topping Infernity Archfiend doesn't really mean anything if they have Solemn Warning down after Wind-Up Hunter looping you.

Anyways, after the tournament, my Round 2 opponent from today, AquaBass, vadangchoinga, and Round 2 opponent from this tournament (who really needs a name so that I can refer to him more easily) all played Kaijudo and such.  Yeah, I'm still really excited for The Dojo Edition.

But yeah, I also was able to make a few trades.  I traded away my Super Rare Upstart Goblin and both Ultra Rare Skill Drains for two Super Rare Forbidden Lances, a Duel Terminal Book of Moon, a Parallel World Fusion, a Duel Terminal Black Horn of Heaven, two Common Skill Drains, a damaged Common Royal Decree, and a Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis.  Finally, I have a generic Rank 8 Xyz Monster, which could help if I decide to play Dark Worlds or something.

So yeah, I'm not sure what I want to do for next week.  There will be a Battle Pack tournament on Saturday before the usual tournament, but as for what deck I'm going to bring for the normal tournaments, I'm not entirely sure.  I'll probably just get lazy and bring my Nordic Diva deck again, regardless.