Player Interview: Kevin “LifeStream” Wong
3^rd Place Winner -
2004 Duel Masters Gen Con So Cal Championship

Water/Nature decks that ‘splash’ have been top contenders on the Duel Masters Championship scene since Origins. Riding high off Water/Nature’s strong showing at Origins and Indy is another great outing at So Cal where Kevin “LifeStream” Wong graced opponents with his seriously swarm-tactic 3^rd place build. I had the pleasure of asking Kevin a bevy of questions about the Championship, his deck, and Duel Masters in general.

cecillbill: How long have you been playing Duel Masters and what piqued your interest in this game?

LifeStream: I’ve been playing Duel Masters for about 4 months. It seemed like a pretty balanced game unlike Yu-Gi-Oh. So I decided to give it a try and it seemed like a pretty fair game. In addition it was pretty cheap so I decided to build a deck.

cecillbill: What aspects of deck building do you think are the most important to consider in Duel Masters?

LifeStream: When you build your deck you always have to put into account how many cards you’ll be holding throughout the game. You need to think about will the deck drain your hand in the middle of the game. Remember, the hand is source of your strength.

cecillbill:  What is the meta like at your local stomping ground? Do you regularly have strong finishes?

LifeStream: We run all sorts of color down in World of Book in San Leandro, Ca. The tournaments at our local playing ground stopped, due to the lack of Duel Master players. When we did have tournaments I only joined about 4 of them total. I don’t recall what place I had taken in them. My toughest match ups seem to be against red and black. While red decks swarm at your shields early game, black destroys both your hand and field.

cecillbill: I read on Realms that you believe Fire has the most potential. What do you think can make the civilization shine?

LifeStream: I believe fire has the most potential due to the fact that it can exhaust your opponent’s shields early in the game. However, red loses its control towards end game causing them to lose. If you can find a way to rid of red’s end game disadvantage, it would be hands down the fastest winning deck.

cecillbill: Do you think Blockers are worth playing or not?

LifeStream: In my opinion, it’s not worth playing with blockers. Blocker decks run too slow and there are ways to get around them like Crystal Paladin and many more. Blockers take too long to break shields since they can’t attack them. However, due to some cards blockers are worth playing. For example, Ladia Bale with La Ura Giga, and Aqua Guard for Crystal Lancers.

cecillbill: When it comes to creatures like Aqua Hulcus and Hypersquid Walter where they have similar effects for the same price but one could net more use of its effect, which do you consider best to run and why?

LifeStream: Multiple use is definitely better, however only when you have protection for the creature. For example, use blockers. Otherwise speed is the best.

cecillbill: What do you consider to be the best card for each civilization? The worst? Why?

LifeStream: Water’s best card would probably be Aqua Hulcus. It’s a Liquid People, it allows you to draw a card, and its just 3 cost.  What more can you ask for? Water’s worst card is the Aqua Shooter. Why would you use this card when the new Aqua Guard is out?

Nature’s best card is Bronze-Arm Tribe. It gives you an extra mana, it’s a Beast Folk, and its 3 cost. Could anything get any better? Nature’s worst card is the Poisonous Mushroom. You might think it’s good since it gives you 1 more mana, but it gets that extra mana from your hand! It doesn’t give you that great of an advantage.  

Fire’s best card would be Armored Blaster Valdios; it’s such a cheap double breaker. Imagine the damage the amount of damage this creature can cause. Fire’s worst card is probably Engineer Kipo, since red loses their creatures and hand so quickly. Why would you want to risk losing a mana, too?

Dark’s best card is the Horrid Worm. When someone uses this card correctly, it really hurts.  What better way to eliminate the threat than through the hand? Dark’s worst cards are the ones that cause you to destroy your own monsters. No offense, but I just don’t get it.

Light’s best card is Holy Awe since it taps all your opponent’s creatures. It makes all your monsters virtually unblockable. Yellow decks run over other decks with this card!!! Light’s worst card is Aless, the Oracle. That card is too expensive for its ability. Imagine all the other stuff you could play besides that card.

cecillbill:  What were your initial impressions of how Shadowclash would impact the meta?

LifeStream: I didn’t have much of an initial reaction to Shadowclash except the shield trigger monsters. They always come up in the most unexpected times. They are game breaking!!  It’s amazing how many times these cards can catch your opponents off guard.

cecillbill: I read that Shadowclash hadn't arrived in your area prior to the Championships. If you could have tested some Shadowclash cards for your deck, what would 1 or 2 of them have been and why?

LifeStream: I would have wanted to test the Aqua Guards for my quick Lancer drops and the Torcons, which allows me a much better swarming.

cecillbill: Why did you choose to run W/N at the Championships?

Lifestream: I chose to run Blue/Green due to the fact that I’m not familiar with many other cards. Throughout the tournament, all I was doing was reading what everyone’s cards did. They must have thought I was a newb. In addition, Water provides drawing power while Nature provides the mana acceleration.

cecillbill: What do you consider to be the key cards of your deck and why?   

LifeStream: The key cards to my deck are the low cost creatures, which allow the swarm. The evolutions are just there as a back up.

cecillbill: It’s interesting that you’ve included more swarm capabilities instead of running spells like Natural Snare. Why did you decide to run Aqua Vehicle and Mighty Shouter?

LifeStream: I decided to run Mighty Shouter due to the fact that I had no Torcons. In addition, they were Beast Folk and 2000 hitters, so if anyone wants to kill my 2000 Mighty Shouter creature in the beginning, I’ll get a benefit. I ran Aqua Vehicles so that they could increase the blue ratio within my deck for the Aqua Hulcus so that they can help me maintain my hand in early game. Also, Aqua Vehicles are low cost hitters.

cecillbill: Why did you decide not to include Natural Snare in your deck?

LifeStream: Natural Snare is a great card, but I don't like to play any cards that could possibly give my opponent a benefit in the long run.

cecillbill: Terror Pit or Holy Awe as splash? Why?

LifeStream: Terror Pits are probably much better than Holy Awe in my opinion since it gets rid of the creature. I use Holy Awe because it taps all their blockers allowing me to attack their shields. My philosophy is to kill them first before they kill me.

cecillbill: In general, which do you think is “better” Crystal Lancer or Crystal Paladin? Why?

LifeStream: Crystal Paladin since it causes all blockers to return to their owners’ hand.  Thus, making all your other creatures on the field unblockable, too.  While Lancers can only break 2 shields each, Paladins make your other creatures able to attack, which may be more than just 2 shields.

cecillbill: What decks did you expect to encounter at So Cal?

LifeStream: At So Cal I expected to see decks I’ve never seen before. I expected to see strange decks, which I would never have thought of. I was amazed to see myself beat these Gen Con players, since I never joined an outside Duel Master tournament I basically didn’t really know what to expect. However, I did expect to see some mono-green due to greens quick mana acceleration.

cecillbill: After playing in some of the Constructed events at So Cal, what did you think of your chances in the Championship?

LifeStream: After seeing the decks in Gen Con and some posted decks of other Gen Con tournaments, I’m thinking my chances are pretty high. I would make it at least to the top 10.

cecillbill: What did you consider to be the worst match up for your deck?

LifeStream: The worst match up for my deck would probably be Light. Though I believe yellow decks are too slow, they’re still powerful. Blocker creatures are extremely huge compared to my low cost creatures.

cecillbill: Can you describe the most engaging match up that you had in the Championship?

LifeStream: Playing against Edmund “Unsunghero” Lim was a pretty memorable match. Throughout I kept wondering who would win.  Was it going to be me? Or was it going to be him? He always has a way to hang on until the very end. You always need that extra push to take him out. There are still some things about his playing style I just don’t understand. Unlike other players, Unsunghero always has a way of catching me off guard. I can’t read him like other players. Another memorable match was against a Dark deck, which I had allowed to break all my shields. Whenever he was ever close to winning I would drop another Mana Nexus. In another duel of this match I completely relied on top deck to win. Amazingly, my deck was coughing up everything that I needed. Heart of the Cards.

cecillbill: Looking back on your performance at Gen Con, what things would you change about how you played if any?

LifeStream: Looking back on my performance at Gen Con I would want to rethink those times on hitting my opponents’ shields.  Sometimes due to over thinking I forgot to hit that 1 more shield.  Also, I would want to better time my attacks on my opponent, and to better trick them into attacking my shields to tap their creatures.

cecillbill: I see that both you and your friend placed top 3 in the Championships. How much did your local meta prepare you for this event?

LifeStream: We didn’t play test much for Gen Con. Unsunghero had originally come to play VS System, but he had changed his mind and decided to play Duel Masters. I had played my deck a few times the night before against Unsunghero. It was about 50/50.

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I’d like to extend a very big thank you to LifeStream for granting me this interview, and for being a wonderful person to communicate with via the Internet. You’re a gem!

Pojo Note: Lifestream's decklist from the 2004 GenCon SoCal Tournament can be found here.