Vegeta, the Proud Deck Anthony Marquez Copperas Cove, TX Date of Tournament: Oct. 13th, 2002; Sunday Type: Pre-Release; Swiss No. of Players: 11 Deck Used: Vegeta Lv. 1-3 (WG) PHYSICALS (30) 3 Orange Flying Drop Kick 2 Red Double Strike 2 Black Reversal Strike 2 Blue Right Power Strike 2 Blue Flying Kick 2 Blue Back Kick 2 Righteous Strike 2 Saiyan Light Jab 1 Black Diving Elbow Strike 1 Red Light Jab 1 Saiyan Swift Kick 1 Namekian Elbow Strike 1 Orange Light Jab 1 Namekian Combo 1 Namekian Knee Strike 1 Namekian Focused Kick 1 Hercule's Drop Kick 1 Black Light Jab 1 Red Flying Kick 1 Saiyan Flight 1 Namekian Light Jab ENERGIES (12) 2 Saiyan Energy Ball 2 Kid Trunks' Palm Blast 1 Blue Energy Transformation 1 Saiyan Readied Attack 1 Red Lightning Strike 1 Blue Thunder Flash 1 Red Kid Trunks Blast 1 Red Goku's Energy Blast 1 Saiyan Jump Shot 1 Supreme Kai's Power Hold COMBATS (1) 1 Namekian Offense NON-COMBATS (3) 1 Saiyan Abduction 1 Orange Power Stance 1 The Truck DEFENSES (18) 3 Black Defensive Stance 2 Blue Defensive Stance 2 Namekian Halting Stance 1 Saiyan Defensive Sphere 1 Blue Forearm Block 1 Namekian Battle Stance 1 Red Aggression 1 Orange Palm Block 1 Saiyan Finger Block 1 Blue Lightning Block 1 Black Fist Catch 1 Black Elbow Counter 1 Red Creative Block 1 Red Energy Defensive Stance 1 Earth Dragon Ball 3 1 World Tournament (Battleground) Tournament: I came to the tournament early in order to help Chief (the store owner) with setting everything up since I went to a pre-release the previous day in San Antonio (thanks for your advice Cards and Crafts). This was the first pre-release we ever had, but everything went pretty smoothly. After signing up, I began to strategize on how I was going to build my deck since I thought I had an advantage of seeing what a lot of the World Games' cards did in San Antonio. However, it also depended on luck since all of the personality cards in starters were random. This was proved true when, upon opening my starter, found Vegeta staring at me. I was the first to groan at who I got because, out of a 1 in 10 chance, I got the same character I received in San Antonio (although I was able to trade for Goten later). His powers, after closer inspection, made me realize something I had missed in San Antonio that probably cost me the tournament. Even though the first part of his powers were useless, I could still raise my anger one level per combat, opening the chance of most powerful personality victory. The only problem was two people had already pulled Lv. 4's of their personality so anger couldn't win every match. Still, I built my deck toward anger raising more than survival and hoped for the best. Luck, however, had different plans in store. Round 1 (Vegeta vs. Daniel's Videl Deck) Out of all the people there, I had to face the only deck there that I knew I was going to lose to, Videl. It was also the only deck in San Antonio that I lost to. With a focused physical attack doing +3 stages and usually raising her anger 2 per combat and Vegeta starting at two stages above zero, I knew this was going to be a tough match. The first match (best 2 out of 3 games) started off bad, with Daniel doing 16 life cards of damage with Videl to me due to drawing NO blocks. To make matters worse, he discarded some of my key cards, including Red Double Strike and Black Defensive Stance. The first combat ended with him at 4 anger and me at a lagging 2. It started going downhill from there when Daniel managed to draw energy attacks that lowered my anger to 0 every time I reached 4 anger with no energy blocks. However, he drew an illegal card in his deck and as a result, I won the first match. After that, Daniel again beat me to a pulp in the next match after gaining a level and using Videl's level 2 power to lower me to zero and barraging me with physicals. The cycle repeated itself as Daniel won his second match against me by another wave of attacks lowering me to zero and continuing to lower my anger. Losing my first round was not a great way to start off a tournament. Losses: 1; Wins: 0 Round 2 (Vegeta vs. Dusty's Kid Trunks Deck) Actually, I wasn't expecting Dusty to be at the tournament that Sunday, but since these matches were timed, we didn't have much time to talk. After winning the coin toss, I went first. Kid Trunks' level 1 power of energy attack doing 4 life cards or powering him up to full if stopped intimidated me to pass my turn. Dusty decided to enter with his power right away, a smart move as I drew beefy physicals that lowered him to zero right away. We ended the combat by exchanging blows and us both being at zero power stages. On my next turn, I drew Orange Power Stance and placed it out in play and passed. Since Dusty is a person who loves to dive in combats aggressively, he declared and started with his power. What he missed, however, was my Orange Power Stance being out and my anger being at 4. After taking the damage, I used my power to go to level two and started unleashing my fury of physicals. I soaked up all of the damage from his physicals and played Power Stance to power up to full. By the time combat ended, I had taken over 30 life cards from Dusty's deck. However, I got to my level 3 before he ran out of cards in his deck. On the second match, I started off great, with me getting a Red Double Strike and defense that raised my anger. I won by main personality victory 4 turns later. Winning right after losing the first round made me feel better, but I couldn't help but feel my first loss cost me the tournament. Losses: 1; Wins: 1 Round 3 (Vegeta vs. Cory's Vegeta Deck) I knew I would have an advantage against Cory's Vegeta as he had chosen the HT level 1 with the power reading Vegeta named cards are discarded instead of being removed from the game. This was proved in the first match as I gained 1 level and Cory only 2 anger. Again, I used Red Double Strike to shoot my anger up 2 and with my power went up to 4 in the next combat. Declaring with Vegeta's level 2 power as my first attack won me the first match. I was beginning to realize the possibilities of Red Double Strike in a turbo anger deck along with one of the Kai Sensei cards saying once per game remove two non-combats in play. Anyways, in the second match, Cory started off much better as he was able to hold off my anger and beat me down in the process. However, during mid game, I was lucky enough to draw 2 Red Double Strike and Orange Power Stance. Of course, I declared and raised my anger 1. Cory took the damage and attacked with Hercule's Drop Kick, which I blocked with Blue Forearm Block to bump my anger to 2 and used Red Double Strike a last time to raise up to 3 anger. Cory passed because of secondary effect of Blue Forearm Block blocking his next physical attack and I used my power to go to 4 anger. What happened next? Losses: 1; Wins: 2 Overall In the end, the loss I suffered in the first round kept me from advancing to the finals. What was interesting was some of the people who never made it to the finals in regular tournaments actually qualified for the final rounds. Chris's Piccolo deck took the title and won a World Games starter and 6 World Games boosters for his efforts. And of course, Videl placed second place. This tournament taught me how to appreciate every card in my hand, good or bad and never, ever assume a card has no use in a deck (smiles mischievously at the Freestyle Mastery and Goten's Focused Blast). Any questions or comments over the tournament and/or deck building in general, e-mail me at ssj6gotenks2002@yahoo.com, and if you are looking for a place to play in the Fort Hood/Waco area, please come by House of Cards in Copperas Cove on Sundays at 2:00p.m. -Anthony Marquez