Subject: Nemesis- Sinister Orange Energy Assault (tournament report) My Name: Nemesis Deck Title: Sinister Orange Energy Assault Tournament: Stony Brook Regional, New York, March 29, 2003 Number of Participants: 73 Personality Cards (4): Vinegar (Hi-Tech Redemption) Vinegar, the Battler Vinegar, the Henchman Vinegar, the Attacker Mastery: Orange Style Mastery (Trunks Saga) Sensei: South Kai Sensei Dragonballs (3): Dende Dragonball 3 Dende Dragonball 5 Dende Dragonball 7 Allies (1): Android 14 Battlegrounds/Locations (2): Winter Countryside Gravity Chamber Combats (13): Gathering of Heroes Cell's Threatening Position Brothers In Training (3) Run Away Dream Fighting Time Is A Warrior's Tool Cell's Defense Prepared Dodge (3) Super Saiyan Effect Drills (12): Trunks Planning Drill Vegeta's Quickness Drill Jeice's Style Drill Android 20 Absorbing Drill Orange Off-Balancing Drill Orange Energy Dan Drill Orange Haulting Drill Orange Leg Drill Orange Aura Drill Orange Focusing Drill Orange Destruction Drill Orange Special Beam Cannon Drill Non-Combats (11): Releasing the Sword Awful Abrasions A Helping Hand Teaching the Unteachable Forces Observation Hero's Lucky Break Android 19's Distress (3) Android 20 Is Caught Off Guard (3) Physical Combats (10): Orange Searching Maneuver (3) Tien's Physical Attack (2) Orange Fist Catch (3) Vegeta's Physical Stance Nappa's Physical Resistance Energy Combats (27): Power Boost (3) Nappa's Energy Aura Good Advice Krillin's Heat Seeking Blast (3) Tien's Tri-Beam (3) Orange Scatter Shot (3) Android 20's Energy Dive (3) Android 20's Energy Burst (3) Orange Energy Shot (2) Orange Eye Beam (2) Vegeta's Jolting Slash (3) So I had done some research on this tournament about the previous year and found out that there were only 40 people who attended it, so I thought that this was a good environment to play other experienced players on a small scale. Little to my knowledge, however, 72 other DBZ fanatics had intentions of playing in the tournament on that afternoon. I always liked the idea of going right for the Life Deck and hitting them where it hurts, so I believe energy to be the way to go. It gives them less to work with, depleating the cards available for them to use against me, kind of a defensive offense. Although I had high hopes leading up to the premiere event, the day before my friend Trackstar handed me a humiliating defeat with his Majin Vegeta Black (Trunks Saga) Beatdown Deck. I know that Vinegar is weak in regards to physical defense, but I received 4 straight losses within two hours. With my confidence slightly shattered, I spent the night revamping my deck to overcome a flurry of physical attacks. And here is the tale of my plight... Match 1: Me vs. Piccolo the Trained, Namekian Deck (Trunks Saga) If there was a worst possible way of starting off the tournament, this was by far ten times worse than that could ever be. I found out that this guy tied for 3rd at last year's World Championship Tournament; the player he tied with was also attending this regional. Firstly, he started the game off with Victorious Drill. Next, because of his personality (Vinegar's arch-nemesis), a large chunk of my strategy was completely negated. And then, in two turns, he whipped out City in Turmoil to negate all of my Non-Combats. Oh-Vey. I don't remember that much of this duel. Other than the fact that he was regenerating about 5-8 life cards per combat, and had just enough defense that I would get off just one successfull attack. He defeated me within 20 minutes and I was shocked at the luck I had in drawing my first "random" match. [0-1] Match 2: Me vs. Cell Ally, Red Deck (Trunks Saga) This guy was a poor player. He couldn't realize the fact that while he did have Android 17 (Androids Saga) in play as an ally, 17's power that I could not lower his anger did not work as a constant combat power because he was an ally. He also didn't realize that despite the awe and power behind Cell Jr's, because of Cell's absurd pur (+1 becasue of Tokui-Waza), he could never use their powers. Throughout the entire duel, he honestly got off only one successful physical attack. His entire strategy was about getting out those damn allies, which were just wasted cards as I went straight for his Life Deck. I got pretty lucky draws, as I had either an Orange Fist Catch or Vegeta's Jolting Slash in my hand in every combat. With my drills and mastery I was doing at least 2 energy attacks for 10+ life cards every combat. Short and to the very point of my deck. [1-1] Match 3: Me vs. Goku, Saiyan Deck (Cell Saga) This guy had the strategy to have a good deck, but not the experience to understand how to use it effectively. It went back and forth in the early goings, him having more physical attacks than I expected, and me doing some damage with my unstoppable attacks. Then, after a few turns, he did something I have never seen anybody do in a match before- he actually used Goku's Farewell. I had not seen any anger in his deck up to this point, and was shocked to see him make such an ametuer mistake when it was so early in the game (we both must have had about 40-50 cards still in our decks). Well, he could have done some serious physical attack damage if Lady Luck had not been with me at that moment. In the turn in which he declared combat and used Goku's Farewell as his first attack, I actually drew Cell's Threatening Position into my hand. As soon as he went up to his level 5 Goku the Legendary, I sent him back down to his level 1, but now he was going to lose in five turns. He didn't even get to perform one attack while there. I just skipped combats and waited him out to play smartly, not rashly. When the five turns ended, we still had about 30-40 cards left in our life decks each, but a win is a win nonetheless. [2-1] Match 4: Me vs. Cell (Hi-Tech level 1 Redemption), Red Deck (Cell Saga) This was annoying. With his mastery, every combat he was using Cell's power to deliver 2 physical attacks doing +6 power stages of damage. That with all the other physical attacks he had in his deck (including using Red Shattering Leap 3 times) would prove to be my downfall. I had a lot of physical defense, but not enough, as I just did not have the power stages to perform attacks. This was the second of the level 1's that I was worried about, so it figures that after winning so easily in my last match that I would have to fight this uphill battle. He beat me, but not significantly, as he had less than 20 cards left in his deck when it was over. [2-2] Match 5: Me vs. Goku, Black Deck (Cell Saga) His sole strategy was pretty narrow-sighted too. He relied too hevily on the mastery to make me discard. He had a pretty solid routine though, because every combat we entered he would use Goku's level 1 power (World Games) to draw Black Thought Focus from his discard pile, and then use the mastery to discard it and make me discard. Unfortunately for him though, he had nothing in his deck to affect my Non-Combats and Drills. Haha. At one point in the game I had Orange Energy Dan Drill, Orange Aura Drill, Orange Haulting Drill, Orange Destruction Drill, Vegeta's Quickness Drill, Jeice's Style Drill, Android 20 Absorbing Drill, Orange Special Beam Cannon Drill, Orange Focusing Drill, all three Android 19's Distress, and two Android 20 Is Caught Off Guard in play at the same time. Oh man. Well, after I realized he had only 5 card in his life deck, I decided that you can just never be too careful, so I used every 19's Distress and 20 Caught Off Guard that I had. Next was my combat, so I declared and he only had 2 cards left. Well, a simple unstoppable energy attack for 7 cards and it was over. I finished the game with a total of one (1) card in my discard pile and the three 19's Distress in my removed from the game pile. [3-2] Match 6: Me vs. Majin Vegeta, Saiyan Deck (Trunks Saga) Luckily I held out long enough to draw A Helping Hand five turns into the game which negated his mastery ability. Not too much to say here as I don't quite remember it (guess it didn't really make an impression on me). The only thing I can say about this guy was that given more experience, he will get a lot better. He usually had 6-8 cards in his hand every combat, but despite being a saiyan deck, he had way too many blocks to make it worth his wild. He did get off Saiyan Truce and successfully took about 20-30 cards from my deck in that single combat, but he just didn't hit hard enough to make the damage unbearable. I managed to work him down with my level 1 power and Krillin's Heat Seeking Blasts, and took advantage of Orange Energy Dan Drill to search his life deck and discard both Nappa's Energy Aura and Time Is A Warrior's Tool. When it counted, he just couldn't hold onto a powerful stand in the combats and folded to my energy barrage. [4-2] I finished the official tournament with a 4-2 record, not bad, but not good enough to make it to the top 16 either. Anyway, I performed the way I wanted to and came up with expected results. I then dueled a new friend I met at the tournament who did make it to the top 16... Match: Me vs. Bardock, Non-Tokui-Waza (Take a guess!!!) We had talked about our decks to each other earlier and I knew that he had both Cosmic Backlash and a strategy for Dragonball victory in his deck of only 50 cards. Well, with his first turn, he scared me when he put two Dragonballs and Vegeta's Smirk into play. In my following turn, I used my sensei to put Android 14 into play and declared combat. I thought it was over when he used Straining Hand-Blast Move as his first attack, because what was I going to do to him, physically attack him to death? In his second turn, the third of the game, he declared combat and put another Dragonball into play with Vegeta's Smirk. I then used an energy attack from my hand which he stopped. And guess what his next attack was. Cosmic Backlash. I drew...one...two...three...four...oh no...five...yes! Orange Fist Catch! What spectacular luck. And guess what, I still had 7 cards in my hand. Well, accoring to the rules, 14's power can be used an infinite number of times per combat so I let him have it. He didn't have any physical blocks in his hand, haha. Well, when you have someone with a 1,500,000 power level physically attacking someone with an 800 power level, you get some beefy physical attacks for 7 life cards of damage each. Multiply that by the 7 cards in my hand and factor in that he only has 50 cards in his deck, and you get instant victory. Yup, three turns and it was over. The victory almost went to him as quickly, but I ended up on top. Not bad for a day's events, eh? Name: Nemesis Email: mcq26@hotmail.com