matthewlow’s Portland Regionals 2004 Tournament Report

 

I get into Portland at around 7:30ish on Friday March 5th because my plane got delayed. I meet up with Jason (Anubiz), and in the room are a couple people, including Dave Bondi, Eric Gaiser, Gaiser’s friend Matt, Marty, Richie, and Sean. KonigRR also recognizes me.

 

Anyway after dropping off stuff, Dave, Jason, and I go back to do a little playtesting. Jason works on his Red SWK, adding Rush Mastery and other GT cards while taking out Power Hits. I’m able to beat Dave’s Vegeta but then he kills me with Black Gohan. After Jason easily beats me by anger, I tech in some Apocalyptic Battles and whatnot. For the most part, my deck looks ready. I end up crashing at around 3 AM, totally forgetting to eat dinner.

 

Saturday we wake up early at I believe before 8 and meet up with the others. Eric hooks me up with sleeves, and then he and Matt go add another CP to make it two in their Broly Saiyan decks just for me -_-. Anyway, I decide I better eat something, so I trek over to McDonalds, and then rush back to sleeve my deck and add in a Saiyan Inspection.

 

Chibi, long old time friend, meets me at the stairs of the room and I quickly take elements out of other decks to create a carbon copy of LowAlly.dec for him. A friend also needs me to make my Gohan Red TS Anger deck, so I’m going crazy trying to sign cards for people, write a deck list for Gohan, and put together two decks. This is all done in the matter of a few minutes as the tournament was about to start.

 

I’m good and ready to go with the good old Low Supreme West Kai Colorless Ally/Spirit Bomb.dec, or LowAlly.dec for short.

 

Round 1: LowAlly.dec vs. Baby Vegeta Saiyan Supreme Mastery North Kai?

This was a strange game, but more or less Tibbles messed it up for this guy. I got off a first turn ZWG I think, and also got A Burst of Energy soon after. I pass, and then in a little while he draws Saiyan Cliff Slam but doesn’t use it to discard ZWG for some odd reason… Tibbles said he couldn’t. He knocks me to zero, the Cliff Slams again and then forgets to discard ZWG yet again. Anyway, down there I just ZWG after a look at his hand, get a ton of allies out, and just eat him to pieces. Burst helps suck up a few stages, but for the most part he just doesn’t have much of a chance after that. He doesn’t even get off level 2.

 

1-0

 

Round 2: LowAlly.dec vs. Trunks NonTW Dende Ball Piccolo Sensei?

This was an interesting game. I figured I didn’t have too much to worry about, but this guy drove me to insanity. I almost lost this one, even though I had this game more than 3 times throughout the match.

First time I had two allies out close to full, one Energy Gathering on the table, with Hero’s Lucky Break and Energy Lob in my hand. Of course I don’t go and ESB him because for some stupid reason I think about ZWG him.

He Saiyan Appraisal Maneuvers my HUH???, but then I immediately Fond Memories HUH??? back in. He starts to turbo ball me, but then I Apocalyptic Battle him to level 3, which makes things really interesting. I scoop his drills and go to my broke level 3 power.

He does manage to pull one DB with his level 3 power, but to no avail. I manage to land HUH??? on him with 5 minutes left, but of course he still has nearly his whole life deck. He DDB4s a bunch of my allies as well, and thus that’s the DB to go. He knows with 5 minutes left, he needs to stall me to get a timed loss, but I’m not for that. I have no clue how to pull it off, but with 1 minute left, I get broke.topdeck. The Help of Earth and Energy Gathering are in my top 6. Put them out, enter with one Energy Gathering already in play, I believe Confrontation any threat, Help for Spirit Bomb, then Bomb his whole deck away for 51 right as Dan was 4 feet away from calling time.

 

2-0

 

Round 3: LowAlly.dec vs Piccolo Orange WGS Multiform North Kai Sensei?

You’re Inviteds help a bunch in this game, forcing him to enter when he has only 2 or 3 cards in hand. He gets off an Orange Rapid Attack with Multiform, but a Confrontation and a Champions of Earth ruin his chances of leveling turn 1, with me lowering his anger as well. I put out a ZWG and Saiyan Inspection and pass, and then YI him in. His hand consisted of 2 Rapid Attacks and some other physical -_-. I Inspection him which saved me the game, as otherwise he would of just used level 3 and 4 Multiform SS powers and won by anger. Instead of him being able to level using the level 2 power, he gets stuck at 4 anger level 2 and I just maul him to death with my allies.

 

3-0

 

Round 4: LowAlly.dec vs Trunks Orange MBS Dende Balls Piccolo Sensei? (SuperECP) Heh, Justin didn’t even know what hit him. I think I go first turn ZWG and something else and pass. He puts out some Orange Drill and Android 20’s Search Pattern and passes. I believe it is the following turn he Search Patterns my HUH???, and then I Confrontation him and take something, don’t remember what. He uses his Mastery and pulls I believe Focusing Drill and COGD naming CIT. I smirk, ZWG, drain to zero, Elder Kai Gohan to full, Gohan doing 2 life (thanks a lot), then Piccolo the Trained on his power. After that it is downhill for him, my allies shredding his deck to pieces, namely Pan and Krillin doing 10 a piece.

 

4-0

 

Round 5: LowAlly.dec vs Supreme West Kai Red Rush Anger/Physical Beatdown Hybrid North Kai?

I was a bit worried about this match up mainly because of the anger problems. Most of what I remember is stalling him from reaching level 2 with my standard Shield Destruction/Vigor Orb, and once he got there I Apocalyptic Battled him back to level 1. I managed to level to 2 with the GT leveling rules, but he uses Mouth Cannon so I end up staying on level 1.

I randomly pull a COGD and name Red Face Slap as I know he’s running it, and I was more worried about losing to anger than losing my allies. Later on I get a perfect setup with Help of Earth and 2 Energy Gathering and enter with Confrontation, but of course his hand is TES, Red Aerial Force, and Red Annihilation -_-, with me knowing that due to Bardock and Orange Gameshow Drill. I nuke his TES and then he Aerial Forces my ESBs. Fair.

I also drop Saiyan Inspection on him to slow down the regen and drawing card process, which ends up helping in the long run.

Somehow later on I start allying him to death, but I know he has Red Hypersonic Knockout or Red Pummel in his hand (something that draws the shuffles in the top discard). He Furys, and then I decide to Nail, and lo and behold Red Face Slap is the top card. He uses his card and draws up Face Slap. I almost fold… until I ask him what did I COGD. He goes… Red Face Slap with a groan. I smirk, and then ally him to death.

 

5-0

 

Round 6: LowAlly.dec vs Broly Red TS Anger South Kai (Onslaught) I honestly thought I was going to lose this one. Victorious Drill did nothing due to Paragus, and thus I needed to outrace him or draw Vigor Orb/Shield Destruction, which seemed to elude me. He manages to race up to level 3 with only a few allies out on my part. I somehow get a ZWG, a Help of Earth, and Energy Gathering on the table, and enter on him with Confrontation. Red Face Slap, EDB7, Red Double Strike, Broly’s Might. That’s good game, after a quick deck count. I take EDB7, let him Face Slap me, ZWG for 7 allies, Sphere his Double Strike, Lob for Help of Earth, Help for Earth’s Spirit Bomb, take damage from Might, then Bomb him for 24 for game.

 

6-0

 

Round 7: LowAlly.dec vs Supreme West Kai Red Rush Anger/Physical Beatdown Hybrid South Kai (Anubiz) Jason forgets to South Kai for some odd reason. Anyway I put ZWG and Help of Earth out, and he Invites me. Fair. He isn’t really able to do much though, and his turn he levels to 2. I manage to Apocalyptic Battle him to level 1, but before he Red Annihilations my ZWG and Help -_-. He also manages to Aerial Force my ESBs so none of that.

Each time I get a couple allies out he manages to take one away, so most of the game I was limited to two allies. He somehow levels to 3 with massive broken Toe Pierces and Red Axe Heel Kicks and Red Overbearing Attacks, and I WTLTH. Next turn my hand is Confrontation, Apocalyptic Battle, and something else. I Apocalyptic Battle, discard Big Man (3), but he discards Startled (1). Random eh? Jason doesn’t do much of anything, as after I use Krillin and he takes 10, that’s game as I have nothing else I can do.

 

6-1

 

I’m second seed into Top 32, so I think it’s all good. After a short break, I find out that Chibi is riding LowAlly.dec at 6-1 as well, which exceeded what I thought it would do.

 

Top 32: LowAlly.dec vs Goku Saiyan MBS Physical Beatdown South Kai He South Kais for Chi-Chi, but I’m like, fine. I Apocalyptic Battle to level 3 and start laying the beatdown. Allies come out like mad, and once I hit zero with a drainer, I just start off with I believe double Orange Distortion giving my allies +8 life each, and then my allies do all the work after a quick ZWG. He gave me a little scare with a Saiyan Heads Up, but it doesn’t hit.

 

Win

 

Top 16: LowAlly.dec vs Bulma Blue CS Namek DBs Piccolo Sensei When I saw him MP I go O_O. I’m like, fine… His deck was more or less your standard really good Blue DB deck with a poor choice for a MP. Combat enders, DB searchers, drill/board control, and so forth. His MP did nothing throughout the match; he could have been almost anyone else and it wouldn’t have mattered too much. I don’t think I even tried to energy him; I just tried to setup my board.

I Kick, then Scout his TES, and he turns around and Scouts my Kicks. Fair. He also COGDs my YIs, which probably won him the game. I ZWG, but can’t draw a drainer to win the game. Combat ends, and he gets out some massive collection of nons with HLB, DYJHT, Goku’s Capturing Drill, Bulma Finds a Drill (which I don’t recall being changed) and so forth. I wasn’t worried as I drew Namekian Friendship the following turn. My problem was I passed, and then he stares at his top 6 for a very long time. He finally takes Namek 4, 5, and 7, sweeps my nons and hopes of ESBing him, and ask if I have HUH???. I say no, and goes to me. I draw broke.topdeck: FA, WTLTH, and Champions of Earth, holding Confrontation and Friendship. I of course think I have this game in the bag now.

I enter with Confrontation. His hand is alt Namek 1, some other DB, 2 Blue Leaving, and Time. Whatever. I don’t think and take one Blue Leaving. He Leavings, draws his 3, puts out alt Namek 1, I believe alt Namek 2, alt Namek 6 and discards WTLTH with it, Blue Ball Gathering, and enters with Ball Gathering for game.

What I intended to do was Confrontation his Combat ender, Friendship his board control, then FA for Lob, Lob WTLTH for HUH???, and HUH??? a DB. Of course my mistake was not using Champions of Earth and taking Namek 1, throwing it at the bottom, then he couldn’t possibly topdeck all the DBs. Or it would have been hard to. If I had taken his DB, he would of Leaving, and the next turn I could Confrontation the Leaving and do the FA for Lob for HUH??? for the win.

Of course I randomly sensei out my Power of the Dragon -_-.

Oh well. Next time I‘ll remember alt Namek 6 discards a non-combat so I can’t rely on WTLTH in the small chance that my opponent will topdeck the last two DBs.

 

Loss

 

Props:

Jason for winning Portland

Whoever traded me foil Sugoro

Chibi for making LowAlly.dec live up to its name.

SuperECP for placing second with a deck that… we both knew would have died had I won my next match.

Tibbles for running an awesome Regional.

Dave Bondi and his mom for being cool people to talk to, and the random kicking the 76 Ball from Dennys to the hotel.

JSRCTS for letting me borrow You’re Invited last minute after my set was swiped.

People who had me autograph cards... bring allies next time!

People in my group; you guys were awesome to hang out with.

 

Slops:

Marty for giving me a regular foil Orange Distortion and not the alt.

Jason for discarding Startled -_- and not trading me foils and Remembering the Good Times.

People who had me autograph cards… then trade them -_-.

Bulma -_-.

 

It was awesome guys. Peace until KublaCon – San Francisco/Burlingame, CA Regionals.

 

 

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------

From: "Pojo's Help Desk" <help_desk@pojo.com>

Date:  Fri, 19 Mar 2004 07:20:32 -0600

 

I don't think so Matthew?  Unless you sent it the week my PC crashed?  But if it was in the last two weeks, that would be a no.

 

Bill

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Matthew Low [mailto:matthewlow@franceslow.com]

Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 10:59 PM

To: Pojo's Help Desk

Cc: jonnyo@pojo.com

Subject: Re: Week of 3-15 - DBZ COTD

 

 

Hey did you ever get the email about Portland Regionals? I sent you my

tournament report; just wondering.

 

This week was finals week. Sorry for being a bit late. I should be able to

get stuff done during spring break, so be ready.

 

Other interesting cards to take a look at:

 

Orange Distortion

Orange Gameshow Drill

Orange Aura Mastery

Sugoro Level 1

Gohan Level 1 GT

Elder Kai Level 1 GT

Krillin Level 1 GT

Pan Level 1 GT

Champions of Earth

Meanacing Evil

 

And so forth. Need more, I can make them up quickly.

 

 

3/16/04 - Tuesday

Black Crosscheck - GT Baby Saga

Ultra Rare - #247

Combat - Event

 

Power: Stop any attack. Your opponent discards the top 3 cards of his Life

Deck.

 

At first look this is just an uber hyped up Goku's Truce for Black. Decent

in some sense, but in my opinion, you'll see this played a whole lot more in

Focused than Expanded.

 

There are very few Event blocks played in Expanded due to the threat of

Trunks Energy Sphere. Outside of the ones like Time and Epic, there aren't

too many. The effect has to be good enough to make it worth possibly being

Sphered and you taking the attack. In Crosscheck's situation, that can go

either way.

 

Now what you need to do is take a good look at the new Masteries of GT and

analyze them. Black Scientific Mastery can abuse this card quite nicely

because the discards become removed, and forcing two more discards won't be

too hard. Sure it won't do a ton against DB because DB normally doesn't

throw attacks, but there will be situations when they need to (e.g. Blue

Betrayal, Orange Staredown, Energy Lob), and will have to debate about

Crosscheck seeing they need to save their Spheres. Black Energetic Mastery

can use this to help build the discard pile for a quick removal. This said,

something like removing their discard to level, then Crosschecking their

attack and removing those 3 cards to level yet again. Pretty messed up eh?

 

Don't forget that this card isn't removed from the game after use. Recursion

is very important as of late, especially in GT. Run three of these and you

will scare your opponent into not attacking you, as you can possibly deal

him damage with your funny block. Carpet Attack variations will possibly

welcome this as well.

 

Try this card out. I wouldn't bank on it for Expanded with the TES threat,

but it is still decent and easily playable. Focused has to only worry about

It's the Inside that Counts, and while it can hurt, it won't cripple this

card too much.

 

Expanded: 3.1 out of 5.0 (scare your opponent into not attacking you)

Focused: 4.6 out of 5.0 (easily combo with GT Masteries, almost considered

staple for Focused IMO)

Sealed: 5.0 out of 5.0 (you can't get too much better than this)

~matthewlow

 

03/18/04 - Thursday

Red Toe Pierce - GT Baby Saga

Ultra Rare - #252

Combat - Physical

Power: Physical attack doing 12 stages. Shuffle 3 Red Style cards in your

Discard Pile into your Life Deck. Remove from the game after use.

 

Good thing this card is removed from the game or there would be infinite

loops all over the place. Well not really but something to that effect.

You'd run out of Red cards to rejuvenate.

 

Alone this card has an amazing card effect. Twelve stages is nothing to

shake a stick at as it will knock your normal Z character to zero and

produce life cards, while your normal GT character will take a severe

beating. But still, big attacks don't mean everything. So what does?

Secondary effects of course.

 

The shuffling of the red style cards obviously connects to the new Red Rush

Mastery from Baby Saga. This Mastery is extremely good and will beat a lot

of people who don't see the power of Red's discard pile. More or less, it

will turn Toe Pierce into a wacked out Red Axe Heel Kick, and we all know

how good that card is.

 

Shuffling in three Red Style cards might actually be worse with less cards

to combo with, but still you can use that to your advantage. You can clean

out cards you don't want to draw up later on, leaving better cards to draw

up with Red Pummel, Throwdown, and Hypersonic Knockout.

 

This card should see a home in all Red Physical beatdown decks, and even

possibly other decks just for the recursion. Definitely a staple in Red

Rush; this card can easily do 18 or so stages thanks to the Mastery. Blazing

Mastery might not need this but could try it out.

 

Expanded: 4.3 out of 5.0 (Red Physical beats, especially Rush)

Focused: 4.5 out of 5.0 (ditto)

Sealed: 4.3 out of 5.0 (still a decent card overall)

~matthewlow

 

03/19/04 - Friday

Saiyan Ground Slide - GT Baby Saga

Ultra Rare - #253

Combat - Physical

 

Power: Saiyan Heritage only. Physical attack doing +5 stages. If successful

and you performed an attack in your previous Attack Phase this Combat, name

a Setup card. Search your opponent's Life Deck for all copies of that Setup

card and remove them from the game.

 

Decent. I don't see this card having an amazing effect on the game, but

still a decent card overall.

 

It is Saiyan Heritage only, so you should be able to pull off the effects

using the Saiyan Blitz Mastery. Problem is with lack of card advantage,

you'll be needing to throw another Saiyan Heritage only attack first, and it

won't be as easy at times.

 

It is a decent sized attack, but the strength comes in the if successful

effect. Only thing is there aren't too many Setup cards that Saiyan has to

get rid of to win the game. Saiyan goes straight out for the beatdown, with

some cards that have removal attached (Cliff Slam) or other amazing effects

(Charge, Power Beam). This one needs to hit, and you'd need to set it up as

well. That's the biggest problem with using it.

 

You can't just randomly throw this card out and make it good, so in a sense

it can easily become a dead card in your hand.

 

Saiyan already has Saiyan Appraisal Maneuver for DB variations in getting

rid of Non-Combats throughout the deck. This card is for more of the

beatdown variation. Sure if there's a setup that severely hurts your deck,

or you think it will be easy to setup using Blitz Mastery, try this card

out. It isn't removed from the game either, it can reused with Supreme

Mastery.

 

There aren't enough good Saiyan cards in Focused yet, so I'd run some of

these just because of your lack of options. You never know when it could

come in handy.

 

Expanded: 2.5 out of 5.0 (decent, but a bit situational)

Focused: 3.8 out of 5.0 (Blitz Mastery works wonders with this)

Sealed: 2.3 out of 5.0 (you'd need a Saiyan, but even then fulfilling all

the restrictions is a bit hard)

~matthewlow

 

03/23/04 - Tuesday

Black Scientific Mastery - GT Baby Saga

Rare - #187

Mastery

 

Power: All Non-Dragon Ball cards discarded from your opponent's Life Deck by

your Black Style cards are removed from the game. At the end of your turn,

if you removed 5 or more cards from your opponent's Life Deck from the game

in that turn, capture a Dragon Ball.

 

Interesting. This brings up the "mill" theme where you do direct damage to

your opponent's deck by just discarding. Dr. Myuu is a character that comes

to mind.

 

There are quite a few cards in GT that go straight for the life deck. Black

Covert Operations Drill, Black Leadership Drill, and Black Crosscheck come

to mind. With a bunch of instant discards of your opponent's deck, you can

easily little by little deplete your opponent's deck with little fear of

retribution due to the cards being removed. Your opponent won't be able to

rejuvenate or level anywhere as easily, and with that in mind you can just

mill away.

 

The ability to capture a DB after removing 5 cards is a blessing in its own.

This makes it so that you won't be crippled against DB decks because you

won't be forced to dish out the big attacks to steal DBs. Seeing DB blocks

attacks to keep their DBs around, all you'll need to do is get rid of their

Recoome's Vogue Drill and Goku's Capturing Drills and you are set to go.

 

That brings up the problem card; Recoome's Vogue Drill. Watch for this card

as it will probably be one of your worst enemies.

 

Try this Mastery out. It is quite good, and can easily complement some other

theme you want to go after. Removal is very important, especially in Focused

with decks like Red Rush and Saiyan Supreme that rely on the discard.

 

Expanded: 4.0 out of 5.0 (can bring some interesting archtypes into

consideration)

Focused: 4.5 out of 5.0 (decent Mastery with a lot of good support cards)

Sealed: 4.8 out of 5.0 (pulling a Mastery in Sealed is good, even though

this won't help much)

~matthewlow

 

3/25/04 - Thursday

Black Energetic Mastery - GT Baby Saga

Rare - #188

Mastery

 

Power: At the start of your Rejuvenation Step, your opponent discards a card

from his hand. When one of your other Black Style cards discards or removes

from the game the last card in your opponent's hand or Discard Pile, advance

your MP 1 level.

 

This is probably the strongest Mastery in GT. Some people can argue that Red

Rush, Saiyan Supreme, and Orange Aura are as well, but Black Energetic has a

lot of options you can look at.

 

Sure you can't win by MPPV, but you sure can ascend levels really quickly.

With Weakness Drill banned, this Mastery is more or less your new

replacement. When your opponent attacks you, they will most likely have 4

cards to work with to your five, assuming they don't use any card drawing.

With very little card advantage running around in GT, this Mastery can bring

it with a slew of discarding cards from your opponent's hand.

 

Energetic also gets strength from Black Clash and other cards that discard

or remove from hands or discard pile. You can easily start off with using

your Mastery, then entering and removing their one card discard and leveling

just like that. It isn't unusual to level twice in a turn with this Mastery,

clearly giving you the advantage in many situations. Expanded gives you

characters like Majin Buu with the Kid Buu level 3, and Focused gives you

Majuub and Rilldo to work with.

 

This is the Mastery to go with if you want to ascend levels and fast.

Expanded has a slew of cards like Black Body Destruction and Black Face Slap

that easily and help you out. Even A Hero's Heart is Strong and Kid Buu's

Prepped Crash can do work, clearing out the discard and then removing the

single card they discard due to your Mastery.

 

Card advantage, leveling, and removal in one. What else could you ask for in

a theme and Mastery?

 

Expanded: 4.7 out of 5.0 (lots of options to try out here; can easily become

on of the best archtypes)

Focused: 4.8 out of 5.0 (easily one of the top decks)

Sealed: 5.0 out of 5.0 (this gives you card advantage in Sealed.)

~matthewlow

 

3/26/04 - Friday

Black Clash - GT Baby Saga Preview

Uncommon - Preview #4

Combat - Physical (Backer)

 

Power: Physical attack doing +5 power stages. If successful, gain 2 power

stages and your opponent discards a card at random from his hand.

 

Imagine how broken this card was when it also did 8 life cards. This card is

still pretty decent regardless. Not to mention it is currently the only

styled Backer, which gives Black a really big boost that it probably doesn't

even need.

 

Making it a Backer allows access to this card every turn, and comboing

Energetic Mastery with this attack gives you major card advantage, not to

mention a big attack. This can still be played in some decks, but Face Slap,

IMO, is still probably the better bet. In Focused however, definitely give

this card a whirl in both your deck and as your Backer.

 

This is a decent card that your opponent is probably going to have to stop,

and hence it should help out your other attacks as well. Regardless, it

could help you level with Energetic, or just plain give you card advantage

in Scientific Mastery decks. It can possibly find homes in the Z Mastery

decks as well, but a lot less so after the nerfing of Black Clash's 8 life

cards.

 

I'd definitely consider this as a Backer over a main deck card, but either

way it is still a decent card. If you are going Black, you can't go wrong

with this as your Backer. Try it out.

 

Expanded: 3.9 out of 5.0 (a slew of other cards that are a bit better, but

still decent)

Focused: 4.7 out of 5.0 (aren't too many cards that are any better, while it

works with Energetic really well)

Sealed: 4.5 out of 5.0 (decent card to mess around with; probably throw in

all your copies if you can)

~matthewlow

 

 

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------

From: "Pojo's Help Desk" <help_desk@pojo.com>

Date:  Mon, 15 Mar 2004 11:44:02 -0600

 

Here's some cards for Tuesday, Thursday, Friday:

 

 

 

I asked for some GT cards, here's some from a variety of people:

 

 

 

This week:  Brolly:

 

 

 

Black Crosscheck

 

Red Toe Pierce

 

Saiyan Ground Slide

 

 

 

3/22 - Crimson

 

 

 

(Black Crosscheck) - ooops . we are already doing . so how about Black

Scientific Master

 

Black Energetic Mastery

 

Black Clash

 

 

 

I have more lists from more people I'll add later on to this list. 

 

 

 

Bill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--

matthewlow@franceslow.com

"You will not be allowed to do this to anyone else!" - Gohan

--

 

 

 

 

 

--

matthewlow@franceslow.com

"You will not be allowed to do this to anyone else!" - Gohan

--