Player Interview: Mohammed  “mohammed1111” A.
2^nd Place Winner -
2004 Duel Masters Gen Con So Cal Championship
By Christina “cecillbill” Page
1.11.05

The ‘civ-hate’ injected into the game by Shadowclash taunted Darkness and Light players with the possibility of even slower deploying decks. Despite the dichotomy of the set, mohammed1111 piloted both civilizations to a 2^nd place finish at So Cal. Water proved to be the perfect catalyst for combining and strengthening Light & Darkness. Here’s how mohammed1111 came into his own with Duel Masters and catapulted the Merfolk + Cyber Lord combo into top tierdom:

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

mohammed1111: I started playing Duel Masters about 3 weeks before Evo-Crushinators of Doom came out. At that time I was doing pretty bad, still having Yugioh deck basics in my mind. I’d play one or two copies of my cards in my decks, rarely 3, almost never 4. Then I decided to visit DMRealms, since I was already a member of YugiohRealms, and I got to say, I learned a lot, such as the basics, good deck building skills, etc. Eventually, I kept getting better.

The inexpensiveness of this game was one of the things that drew me to this game. I had been watching the game for quite a while, and found that it was easy to win by strategy, even if you didn’t have a lot of money. I had been looking for a replacement for Yugioh, as I was starting to run low on money, and was pretty sick of how expensive everything was. Also, the fact that there was little to no originality made me unhappy with Yugioh too. One, overpriced deck type ruled all. This game was new, fun, and underpriced, everything I wanted in a new game.

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

mohammed1111: Well, since Shadowclash came out, there hasn’t been much new meta. I haven’t been to many tourneys. Anyway, there are no new special builds out yet. What I’ve seen out of the good players are just updated Water and Nature builds. Everyone is testing Aqua Guard, Aqua Jolter, and Torcon, but no one is trying something really new.

That’s only at L King though. At Strike Zone, since the place is dead, we’ve only got one tourney to test out the Shadowclash stuff. Despite that, I hear Immortal Borg (of Realms), if he gets the time out of school to get serious with DM, will try out Magmarex, and the new fire evo in a big destruction deck. Ever since Shadowclash came out, he’s been fitting in REALLY well with Destruction. As for my placing, I almost always end up in the top. Recently, I’ve been in about 90% of all final battles of tourneys. Anyway, I’m hoping to do much better now that I’ve got a much better collection and tons of ideas to test out.

As for the tough battles, I’ve had many. For example, my first L King tournament, where I got 1st place, I had amazing battles with Wiseman from Realms. We had a deck out match, some fast matches, and other really tough stall matches. In the end, I won with one of my most favorite cards, ABV (Armored Blaster Valdios). I also had a very interesting battle with Immortal Borg, while him and me were testing out our decks. He was using his pretty cool build I like to call “Your Field is Trash, and Your Trash is Mine”. I know it’s a stupid name, but it does well in explaining the deck. He’d destroy your field, and then draw for doing so. Even though his deck was pretty stoppable by Hammer, and other weak creature destruction, it still did pretty well. In that match, we just went crazy. The battle was a deck out battle, so we ended up just killing each other. We both reached like 11 mana, so we’d play a creature, then play a pit. We also had fun times were we’d play chain after chain. Anyway, I won that battle, since Mongrel Man had just given him too much draw.

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

mohammed1111: Hmm, this is a hard one, but I’lll try my best to answer your questions:

-Light: Holy Awe. This card needs no explanation, its tied IMO with Terror Pit, though many others and myself think it surpasses Terror Pit.

-Fire: Searing Wave. This card is close broken IMO. It’s been the problem for most of my decks, and has destroyed many other people when I use it.

-Nature: Barkwhip, the Smasher. Fastest, funniest, and coolest evo with two different versions. This guy been the basis of many decks, and has been on my most hated list many times, mainly because I don’t like using one card too many times, while others have stuck with this card for months.

-Darkness: Terror Pit. I don’t think I need to say anything about this card. 99% of decks that use darkness and have Terror Pits will use them. Besides, it’s another great splash like Holy Awe. It’s great shield trigger kill that can save people often.

-Water: Crystal Lancer. Great Evo, and an excellent example of this game’s inexpensiveness. It’s got a guaranteed two-shield break, and when your opponent has no shields left, it’s almost guaranteed game over if you use Lancer in your deck.

As for worst, I think Night Master, Seamine, Pangaea’s Song, Chaos Fish, and Fortress Shell. Reasons are that I just hate blockers that can attack, because they have to sacrifice 2000 power just to be able to attack. Pangaea’s Song just isn’t reasonable. Chaos Fish is also unreasonable, because you’ll never get enough creatures to use it successfully, especially with all the removal now-a-days.

cecillbill: From Realms I know that you're one of the players in the DM community who has championed the use of the Illusionary Merfolk draw combo. Can you tell us why you think that combo is deck worthy?

mohammed1111: Merfolk, is like an evo, except it doesn’t have speed attacker, and gives you an extra creature. The Cyber Lords are already a useful race, so unlike Astral Warper, Merfolk is easy to fit into most water decks. Also, draw power is king, as a DMRealmer once said, so Merfolk is excellent. It shows how Astral Warper should have been IMO. Since I was using Marino, I thought Merfolk would work perfectly in my deck, and it did. To make things worse for my opponents, Lost Soul destroys their hand, while I torture them with my gigantic hand 

cecillbill: What do you think are the most important aspects of deck building?

mohammed1111: The most important aspects of deck building are staying within limits, and being very careful with your card choices and numbers. Even if you've got so many cards you want to use, stick within 40-44 cards. As for card choices, stick to the strategy you aimed for before making the deck, and stay away from the other cards that seem good but don't fit in your strategy.

cecillbill: How do you approach deck building in each of the Limited Formats (Sealed & Draft)?

mohammed1111: Depends on how they are played, and what packs we get. If we go by the rules, then I like to pick my colors before opening any packs. I then pick out the good cards that fit the civs, and see what strategy I can make from the cards I have, and then keep going. I'll usually get some bad last cards, which I'll remove when I limit the cards down to 40.

cecillbill: You're known online to make Control-based decks. What do you think are the key ingredients for a successful Control deck?

mohammed1111: Hmm, I think if you're going for a control deck, you've got to focus on your strength a lot, and don't try to counter everything. For example, if your going for field control, you can use supportive field control cards like Mongrel Man, but don't branch into hand control like Ghost Touch. You'll end up with an unfocused deck that can’t accomplish either tactic effectively. 

cecillbill: What deck types have you heavily tested to solid success? What do you find essentially puts them over the top?

mohammed1111: I’ve been messing around so much with Duel Masters that I have rarely ever focused too much on one deck type. I’ve tested Light/Darkness/Water Control to success, that’s for sure. That was my Marinomancer & and Gen Con build, after all. I’ve changed this deck about 10-15 times, each time trying to find its difficulties, and ways around them. Knives knows how many times I have asked him to duel, and it was largely thanks to him that my Marino build was success. I also worked on a few decks in the beginning of my DM playing. I remember working hard on Fire/Light, using ABV and Larba Geer for speed. At that time, I was pretty fascinated at how good they were. I would keep fitting good cards in, while taking tiny guys out. However, this deck was soon put to rest, as I soon found out that Duel Masters deck building did not work the same way as Yugioh’s did.

One of my other personal favorites, which unfortunately has also died, is Water/Fire Fattie Control. This deck ran a ton of field control, like Gatling, Searing Wave, Burst Shot, Nomad Hero Gigio, Lancer, etc. This deck, like most of my other favorites, won when you started topdecking. It would go like this; you’d play an Immortal Baron Vorg, and I’d kill it with Gatling or Nomad Hero Gigio. I would also like to annoy my opponent by getting like 2 Lancers and 2 Gatlings out without attacking their shields for multiple turns till they just got too angry and did something stupid like flipping all their shields over, or they’d beg me to attack.

I think I’ve described what puts them over the top. They’re original, and have their own special, sometimes annoying ways of killing your opponent. My 2nd deck isn’t really all that great if you’ve seen it, but it just has sentimental value, since it was my first tourney winning deck.

cecillbill: Do you think blockers are worth playing or not? Which ones?

mohammed1111: Blockers are one of the things that make this game interesting. Without them lying about, Rush would be doing much better than it is now. Blockers are great for stall decks, like my Marinomancer build, and as we all know, can save us. For quite a while I’ve been running them in my decks, preferring to run 8 or sometimes 4. As for whether it’s worth it or not, that really depends on many factors. For example, I mainly like Light’s Blockers. The only blocker I have used from darkness is Bloody Squito (haven’t used Ooze since Evo), and I like to stay away for water’s blockers. I only use water’s blockers as evo bait (Aqua Guard and Marine Flower) and seldom do I deck Hunter Fish, even less now than before. Also, I like to stick with weenie blockers in non-mono decks. I usually never go above 4000 power, and usually use the Light ones, cause they can still attack creatures.

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

mohammed1111: I expected great things from it, and was very interested to see how Hydro Hurricane and Marinomancer would do. I’ve found that it gave me what I wanted, as I’ve got great ideas from this set. However, I didn’t think Shadowclash would affect the meta too much, seeing as everyone was pretty busy with other things, or not checking the new set out too much/enough.

cecillbill: Speaking of Shadowclash, what did the set offer your build and other decks that you have made or intend to make?

mohammed1111: I honestly think Shadowclash is a great set. I've been able to get 10 deck ideas thanks to this set. However, Shadowclash barely contributed anything to this deck [So Cal deck]. I could have just switched Marino for Corile, and the deck would have worked almost as well. I guess it’s Marino that gave me the idea. As for my other decks, Shadowclash has offered many great cards. Magmarex, Doublgyser, Astral Warper, Hydro Hurricane, Mystical Inscription, and Full Defensor are just a few of the cards I've used from Shadowclash that have been great for me.

cecillbill: Why did you choose to run W/D/L at the championships?

mohammed1111: I had be working on it a month or so, it was a very original idea, and Marinomancer was very fun. A basic creature that gets cards as soon as it’s played is great, and I wanted to show people how great he was. The deck was great and fun, so there was no reason not to use it.

cecillbill: What do you consider to be your deck’s key cards and why?

mohammed1111: Well, 3/4 of this deck's cards or so are key cards, but some are really important from those. For example, I made this deck for Marinomancer, so he's obviously very important. Also, Merfolk was a very important addition to this deck. He is part of the core of the deck and supports this deck with draw. Merfolk and Marinomancer are what give this deck its competitive spirit.

cecillbill: Marinomancer fueled your idea for the build, but what made you consider additions like the extra set of slayers and Vampire Silphy?

mohammed1111: The set of slayers came as I found this deck getting stomped by evos early in its making. Slayers saved this deck from being thrown away. Vampire Silphy came much, much later in the testing of this deck, and was put in to counter swarming, something it did very well.

cecillbill: Why did you choose Magris over Mist Rias and Mongrel Man for the extra deck manipulation?

mohammed1111: Mongrel was out of the question since I had barely any destruction that Mongrel deserves, and wasn't going to rely on Holy Awe or blockers for indirect kill. Mist Rias was a card I really considered, and used for quite a while, but later was forced to give it up thanks to several reasons. First of all, removal easily stopped Mist Rias. No matter what the civilization or deck, people kept their removal for Mist Rias. I soon found myself getting 0 cards way too often. I was lucky to even get 1 card. After facing Knives multiple times to test the deck, I made the assumption that Mist Rias wasn't going to work, and more direct draw would be needed. (I can’t say it was a very good one, since I faced little removal at Gen Con). Another reason why I took Mist Rias out was that with it I had 3 5-drops, which wasn’t too good for my mana curve.

cecillbill: Lost Soul has the misfortune of being labeled as a bad card. I happen to think it's become increasing more playable due to the rise in draw power. What influenced your decision to deck the spell?

mohammed1111: This card has the funniest story for me. The fact is, I actually too thought it was a good card, though planned to never deck it till set 5 or 6. However, after playing with it in 3 or so events, everyone decked Lost Soul to use against me. On Championship day, I came with my deck, and after writing up my deck list and signing up, I suddenly knew what to do, fight fire with fire. I had to Lost Soul them before they did me, and that's what happened many times, such as vs Grandison. The funny thing is that everyone had un-decked Lost Soul so they could be ready for the area as a whole. Chains of Sacrifice, the card I had to take out for Lost Soul, might have done better against the last two decks, but I had come later than I expected, and made my decision really fast, so I didn't have time to think my decision over.

cecillbill: What other cards did you play test for this deck? Did Hydro Hurricane ever 

step up as a tested play?

mohammed1111: Hmm, this deck has been through over 10 transitions thanks to Knives 

and I appreciate his help. In that process, I tested Death Smoke, Kolon, Scratchclaw, 

Sarius, Sundrop Armor, Chains of Sacrifice (should/would have kept decked), Hydro 

Hurricane, Corile, and many more. Hydro Hurricane came up as an idea, but when 

tested it didn't work. Blockers died to save shields, and slayers died to 

kill fatties, so the creatures left were very few. HH also added another 6 drop 

to my deck, making its curve rise through the roof. In short, it just wasn't for my deck.

cecillbill: Without revealing to much "top secret" information, do you see anything that needs to be "tightened" with your build?

mohammed1111: Yes, my deck needs much more defense, and some speed would really help. Until turn 5, this deck needs to depend on its blockers, and can’t do anything big. It'll take off after that, but by then, my opponent probably has everything set up for Lancer/Paladin. I’m thinking of trying out Sundrop Armor, because shields are a big issue for my deck. Also, I'm trying to find some tiny creature to put in my deck, cause my mana curve is gigantic.

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

mohammed1111: I expected to see tons of darkness decks, which I did but didn't get to play. I also expected to see some fire mass removal decks, but I was wrong and didn't see any at So Cal. I also expected Mono-Nature, which I met in the top 4, in a much worse form, but still beat. I didn't think of all the other builds mainly because I wanted to get a few surprises, and was focusing on my deck a lot.

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

mohammed1111: I thought I’d do pretty good, since I never got lower than 2nd on both constructed events that I was able to attend.

cecillbill: What did you consider to be the worst matchup for your deck and why?

mohammed1111: I personally I didn't want my matches to be against the players with evos. Before I played them, I knew I would lose. However, my match against the top player was my worst one. I knew Paladins and Lancers would kill me. I just didn't think that there was a deck that could use them effectively against me except Water/Nature, which I thought wouldn't be used this time around. I guess that was a big mistake.

cecillbill: Can you describe the most engaging matchup that you had?

mohammed1111: Well, I think my favorite, most nerve-racking match was the final qualifier one, me against Grandison. I would have never won against him if he hadn't made one big mistake. We had an equal record of 2-1, and the winner would go to the top 4, so I guess the pressure got to him.

cecillbill: The next set has some cards that might be ‘initially-overlooked-but-then-commonly decked’ like Merfolk. What are you looking forward to the most in Survivors?

mohammed1111: I’m looking to do what I did with Marinomancer, except with Survivors. I don’t know much about them yet, and don’t want to, because I want it to surprise me as much as possible. I’m also hoping that Fire makes a bit of a deck comeback when Speed Attackers come out. I will be testing Speed Attackers, and hopefully they will become new favorites for me.

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I’d like to thank mohammed1111 for answering a truckload of questions, and for creating personalized decks with under-appreciated cards. Until next time, keep gaming!

Pojo Note: The decklists from the 2004 GenCon SoCal Tournament can be found here.