Sunday, September 1, 2013

Tournament Report 8/31/13 & 9/1/13

Aki and I were able to go to locals yesterday.  We didn't care about the Kamui and Misaki pack Sneak Preview, so we skipped it.  We ended up going to the evening Vanguard tournament with my friend who plays Vanguard, Riku, and the fourth Snogal.

There were only nine other people there for the Vanguard tournament, and Aki didn't feel like playing.  So, the fourth Snogal used Aki's Vermillion Narukami deck, Riku used his Arboros Dragon Neo Nectar deck, my friend used my Pale Moon deck, and I used my Rumble Gun/Dungaree Narukami deck.  We knew we would win, and the only crossride deck there was Aki's Narukami deck, so I decided to use my fun deck.

Round 1: vs Spike Brothers

This kid didn't really know what he was doing (he was using Especial Intercepts and Devil Summoner, but I guess Spike Brothers don't have much else...), and he had to ride Juggernaut Maximum both games, so I was able to win.

OO

So what happened in the first round was that the four players on our team won their matches, and the fifth undefeated player was my Round 3 opponent from this evening Vanguard tournament.  In the following round, he was paired against Riku, my friend was paired against a little kid with a bad Great Nature deck, and I had to play against the fourth Snogal.  We decided to play it out because it didn't matter.

Round 2: vs Narukami (Vermillion)

He was able to crossride in the first game, but he didn't have any rear-guards for most of the game.  I was able to retire the few that he did play so that I could win, despite not having very good columns.  I even drew five Grade 3's, so that I had to take his Vermillion Catastrophe at 3 damage.  He didn't pull any triggers, so I was able to live.  In the second game, he was able to crossride again and actually had rear-guard that time, so I lost.  He missed the crossride in the third game, so I was able to beat him up with the usual 16k columns.  Rumble Gun Dragon retired his only booster, and Dungaree kept killing his attackers (I drew into two Dungarees after drive checking one with Rumble Gun Dragon, so I kept riding Dungaree over Dungaree to use the Limit Break and keep the 11k defense).  I was able to win because of that.

OXO

Riku ended up losing to the Megacolony player, who got paired down against the fourth Snogal in the following round.

Round 3: vs Pale Moon

That, of course, meant that I was paired against my friend.  He wanted to play it out, since it didn't matter.  I lost the first game because whenever I rode Dungaree, I bound two triggers with its effect, which was sad.  In the second game, half of my Critical Triggers were lost into the Damage Zone, so I couldn't apply any pressure.  Not to mention that I hadn't seen Dragonic Deathscythe all day...

XX

The fourth Snogal was able to beat the Megacolony player, and they tournament organizer cut to Top 2.  That happened to be my friend and I, so we got all of the prizes.  We got 12 packs of the new Misaki set.  We pulled two Sakuyas and no other holos, so that was garbage.  At least my friend got a Battle Sister Fromage mat.

So that's about it for yesterday.  Today, my friend and I went to the morning Kaijudo tournament.  I was using my LFN Megabug deck, and he was using his WDFN Dragon Rush deck.  There were a total of 11 players there.

Round 1: vs LWDF Dragons

This was my Round 1 opponent from last weekend's Kaijudo tournament.

-Duel 1: I opened with a couple of bugs, but he had Herald of Infernus and Lyra, so I lost, since I didn't draw Tornado Flame until turn 8...
-Duel 2: Again, Herald and Lyra.  Agh, Herald is too strong against aggressive decks...

XX

Round 2: vs LWDN Control

I was playing against Fwazalaza

-Duel 1: I drew a bunch of bugs, and he had to charge his Aqua Strider, so I was able to just keep poking him with my bugs.  He used Mesmerize on The Hive Queen, but I was able to follow it up with Steamtank Kryon and Humonculon the Blaster to tap his Fullmetal Lemon, break the rest of his shields, and win.
-Duel 2: He used Mesmerize on The Hive Queen, again, but Steamtank Kryon allowed me to keep pushing through his shields.  He was left with two shields and an Aqua Strider against my Steamtank Kryon and Keeper of Laws.  He summoned Lyra to lock Kryon, then decided to crash his Strider into it so that my Lyra, which he saw with Mesmerize, wouldn't gain Fast Attack.  Regardless, I played the Lyra to lock his Lyra, and with Keeper of Laws, I was able to win on the following turn.

OO

Round 3: vs WDFN Dragon Rush

I was paired against my friend, who had won his first match, but lost his second.  He had better tie-breakers than me, so I gave him the win.

That ended up being the last round.  I think that my Round 1 opponent won, but I'm not sure.  My friend ended up winning a Necrose, Nightmare Bloom in the raffle, but since I paid his entry fee, he gave it to me.  My goal is to get at least four, so I need three more.  The idea is that I wouldn't use three in the same deck, but if Aki and I both want to use it, then we could each use two if we had four.

Well, I kind of want to make a new Kaijudo deck, but the new set, Shattered Alliances, will be released in less than two weeks, so I don't really feel like making one.  On the other hand, I need more Necroses, and topping at Kaijudo tournaments is the only way to get them for sure.  Since there are only three more weeks where Necrose will be given out, I would need to get one each week to fulfill my goal.  So, I might consider making a new Kaijudo deck solely for next week so that I could get a second Necrose.  We'll see what happens, I suppose.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Tournament Report 8/24/13 & 8/25/13

As usual, I went to locals this past weekend.  I was busy Saturday morning, so I just went to the evening Vanguard tournament with Aki.  However, I did have enough time to make a Yu-Gi-Oh deck for the new format.  Everyone on Team Snogal was excited for the new format, since we expected it to be a lot better than this one.  But, whether or not that'll actually be the case has yet to be seen.

Anyways, there were about 28 players there for the evening Vanguard tournament.  I was running my Arboros Dragon Neo Nectar deck, Aki was running his Vermillion Narukami deck, my friend who plays Vanguard was running my Dark Irregulars deck, and the fourth Snogal was running my Pale Moon deck.

In the first round, I was paired against my friend.  So, we just played Yu-Gi-Oh.  We only had enough time to play one game, since we both had to sleeve our new decks.  I was running a Nordic Beast deck that also uses X-Sabers.  I figured that XX-Saber Hyunlei would be pretty good in a format with no Heavy Storm.  My friend was using Blackwings, so that was boring.  I was able to win the first game, and that's all we had time for.  We decided that I'd get the win because my deck had a better chance of winning.

Round 2: vs Dark Irregulars

I played against a new player with a somewhat random Dark Irregulars deck.  I lost the first game because he healed four times, but I was able to win the other two games fairly easily.

XOO

Round 3: vs Kagero (The End)

This was my Round 3 opponent from this evening Vanguard tournament.  He was just as bad as ever.  I won the first game because I got the ride chain, I lost the second game because he got double Critical Triggers, and I lost the third game because he got twice as many triggers as me.

OXX

With that, they cut to Top 8.  Aki and I made it, but my friend and the fourth Snogal did not.

Top 8: vs Narukami (Vermillion)

This was my Round 1 opponent from this evening Vanguard tournament.  He was very upset to have to play against me.  I completely missed the ride chain in the first game, but I put Ratoon in the front to bully him.  He didn't want to get beaten up by Ratoon again, so he used Vermillion's Limit Break to kill it.  He was also able to crossride afterwards, but I made 18k columns and kept pulling triggers to win.  He got gradestuck on Grade 0 on the second game, so when I had to ride a perfect guard, I could move Ratoon out and it could hit his Vanguard Spark Kid Dragoon.  It should be pretty obvious that I won that game.

OO

Aki won his Top 8 match, and we were in the same bracket, so he just gave me the win and we played Duel Masters.  My Round 3 opponent ended up losing in to Top 4, so I decided to just split with the other finalist.  We each got half a box of Set 2, so that was alright.  I pulled a Spirit Exceed, a Ruin Shade, a Kirara, and a Young Pegasus Knight.  The fourth Snogal kept the former two, and my friend kept the latter two.

That's it for Saturday.  I went back to locals yesterday for the Kaijudo tournament.  There were 10 players there in total.  I was using my LFN Megabug deck, and my friend was using his WDFN Dragon Rush deck.

Round 1: vs Mono-Light Rush

This was my Round 2 opponent from last weekend's Kaijudo tournament.

-Duel 1: I had two Heat Seekers and an Ambush Scorpion to wreck his progression.  I was able to drop Andromeda, and he scooped.
-Duel 2: He had a good progression, and I had no early plays, so I lost.
-Duel 3: He had a good progression, I only had a Manapod Beetle to play on turn 2.  I was able to live longer than I probably should've because I had two Stormspark Blasts in shields, but I didn't have anything relevant in my hand.

OXX

I was paired against my friend in the second round, and he gave me the win.

Round 3: vs WD Mid-Range

I was paired up against Stephen L.

-Duel 1: I got him down to zero shields and I would've been able to win if two of my Gilaflames weren't in my shields.  I tried to search it with Gigahorn Charger after my first one died, and it wasn't in my deck, so he had the opportunity to drop Squillace Scourge and win.
-Duel 2: I rushed him with two Manapod Beetles to win.
-Duel 3: He opened with three Grudge Weavers, so I basically couldn't attack him.  So, I lost.

Round 4: vs LWDF Dragons

-Duel 1: He opened up with a Lux and two Nix, and I didn't have any removal, so I lost.
-Duel 2: I was able to rush him with Manapod Beetle, Ambush Scorpion, and Mana Tick to win before he could do anything.
-Duel 3: I was able to go in and break shields with The Hive Queen, Lyra, and Keeper of Laws.  I got Steamtank Kryon off of The Hive Queen, so I was able to attack with Keeper of Laws to break his last shield even though he had a Herald of Infernus on the field.  He used its effect to drop Infernus the Awakened, but he had no shields or Blockers, so it didn't matter.

XOO

That was the last round, so I ended up going 2-2, which isn't that great.  I've been wanting to make a new deck, but with a new set coming out in three weeks, I feel as though there's no point.  I know that I would want to use Darkness, though...

After that, I was able to play a match against a new format Prophecy deck using my Nordic Saber deck.  It was very discouraging because I just sat there while he got numerous free cards and destroyed my field, so I'll probably continue to stay away from competitive Yu-Gi-Oh for now...  But yeah, that's about it.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Tournament Report 8/17/13 & 8/18/13

So, I went to locals as usual.  Yesterday morning was the Vanguard Welcome Campaign thing, so I got a free deck box and there was no tournament.  Aki, my friend who plays Vanguard, and the fourth Snogal all showed up as well, so they got free deck boxes, too.

After that, Aki bought my friend's Shadow Paladin deck, so my friend had the money to make a new Kaijudo deck.  Unfortunately, he forgot his Kaijudo cards, so he just bought the cards he needed and we had to make the deck later.  So, the four of us just had a few Vanguard tag fights.  The fourth Snogal and I won because Platina Ezel's Ultimate Break is really good when you can use it at least two times per game.

So then after that, we went and got my friend's Kaijudo cards so that he could make his deck.  I had to lend him 20 cards, literally half the deck, but he was able to make a WDFN Dragon Rush deck using Hammer Dragon, Foulbyrn and a bunch of ramp spells.  It seems pretty good, and it has been something he has wanted to make.

Then came the evening Vanguard tournament.  There was a total of 18 players.  I was using Arboros Dragon Neo Nectar, Aki was using Vermillion Narukami, my friend was using my Pale Moon deck, and the fourth Snogal was using his Ezel Gold Paladin deck.

Round 1: vs Shadow Paladin

I played against a bad Shadow Paladin player who opened with her Blaster Javelin both games.  She kept guarding either one-to-pass or no-pass (almost never two-to-pass), so it was easy to see that she didn't know what she was doing.  I opened really badly in the first game, but I got triggers and she didn't, so I was able to win after a long while.  I won the second game because I got my ride chain.  She was really upset because of the first game for some reason, so she dropped and left after I won.

OO

Round 2: vs Pale Moon

I got paired against my friend.  He just got paired up against the fourth Snogal in the previous round, so that was bad.  I decided to give him the win so that he could drag us both up, even though I 2-0'd him because Pale Moon doesn't have any good 11k Grade 3's yet.

Round 3: vs Megacolony (Machining)

This was my Round 2 opponent from this evening Vanguard tournament.  He got gradestuck on Grade 2 both games, so I won.

OO

Round 4: vs Gold Paladin (Ezel)

I don't know why there was a Round 4.  Apparently they wanted to do four rounds then Top 4, instead of three rounds then Top 8.  Anyways, I was paired down against my Round 3 opponent from this evening Vanguard tournament.  He was able to crossride both games, but I kept killing his attackers so he couldn't make good columns, so his Ultimate Break was ineffective.  I won the first game after withstanding his lackluster Ultimate Break, then I won the second game with like 12 cards in hand because I got the ride chain and he didn't have a full field.

OO

So they cut to Top 4.  My friend and Aki made it to the Top 4, and they were paired against each other.  So, they decided to let my friend go on to the finals to play against a bad Narukami player.  But, he ended up getting trigger-sacked, so we only got 2nd and 3rd place.

Either way, the fourth Snogal was able to get a Demon World Marquis, Amon so that he'll have it when Set 12 comes out, so that was good.  Other than that, we didn't really get much.

So, on the following day (today), my friend and I went to the morning Kaijudo tournament.  There was a total of 10 players there.  I was playing Aki's LWF Dragon Aggro deck, and my friend was playing the WDFN Dragon Rush deck he made yesterday.

Round 1: vs LWDF Dragons

This was my Round 4 opponent from this Kaijudo tournament.

-Duel 1: He opened with Nix and had a good progression, while I opened with two Bottle of Wishes and no plays until turn 6, so I lost.
-Duel 2: I was able to resolve Herald of Infernus' effect to drop an Infernus the Awakened to win.
-Duel 3: We both worked to simplify the gamestate, and I was in a better position by the end of it.  But, he kept top-decking Dragons, and I kept top-decking Piercing Judgments, Hyperspeed Dragons, and Tatsurion, so I lost.

XOX

Round 2: vs Mono-Light Rush

This was my Round 1 opponent from this Kaijudo tournament.  He decided to run Mono-Light Rush for some reason.

-Duel 1: He got a good progression and was able to rush me, and I didn't draw any Blockers, so I lost.
-Duel 2: I got a few Shield Blasts and was able to withstand his initial rush so that I could win.
-Duel 3: I was able to get a Bottle of Wishes (variance!) in the shields to get a Nix when he attacked me on turn 4.  That let me play Hyperspeed Dragon on turn 4.  He broke another shield, which gave me Piercing Judgment to stop the rest of his attacks.  I drew a Herald of Infernus and summoned it after charging.  That killed his Rodi Gale, letting me drop another Herald.  That Herald killed his Shaw K'Naw and let me drop Infernus the Awakened to kill his last creature, Keeper of Laws.  The Awakened won the game because he's playing Mono-Light Rush.

XOO

Round 3: vs LWdF Dragons

This was my Round 3 opponent from this Kaijudo tournament.  The small "d" means that he splashed Terror Pits.  Anyways, I don't really remember the first two games, but I know that I won the third game because I dropped Infernus the Awakened using Herald of Infernus on turn 6.

XOO

So I ended up going 2-1 and got 4th place.  My friend went 2-1 after losing to my Round 3 opponent in the first round and got 5th place.  Neither of us won any packs, but I got a Magris the Magnetizer in the raffle and pulled a Steamtank Kryon.

So that's about it.  They actually ran out of Clash of the Duel Masters packs after the tournament was over, so I'll have to decide which packs to get next weekend, if I can make it, that is.  I'll definitely miss the morning Vanguard tournament next weekend, but I don't know about the evening Vanguard tournament or the Kaijudo tournament.  We'll see what happens, I suppose.