DM Home

Message Board

DM News Reports

Trading Card Game
Price Guide
Card of the Day
Duel Yammers - Fan Tips
Top 10 Lists
Tourney Reports

Featured Writers
JMatthew on DM
cecillbill's C-Notes
Hydromorph

Deck Garages
Dry’s Arsenal
Drizer's Dungeon
cecillbill's Dojo
Knives101's Lab
NFG's Garage
aka GDOG'S-VERSION

Spoilers
Base Set DM-01
Evo-Crushinators of
Doom DM-02
Rampage of the
Super Warriors DM-03
Starter Deck
Shobu's Fire Deck
Kokujo's Darkness Deck
Shadowclash Collector's Tin
Shadowclash of
Blinding Night Spoiler
Survivors of the
Megapocalypse
Disruptive Forces Decklist
Block Rockers Decklist
Duel Masters Starter Set (2)
Twin Swarm Deck
Hard Silence Deck
Promo Card List
Stomp-a-trons
Thundercharge
Epic Dragons
Fatal Brood
Shockwaves
Blastplosion
Thrash Hybrid

Video Games
Sempai Legends

Other
Staff

From: Lee Abrahams [mailto:death_slayer_of_worlds@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 6:50 AM

Subject: Control and Removal - Lee Abrahams - Patriot Comics, Sheffield, England

Removal and Control deck
Lee Abrahams
Date: 16th July 2005
Patriot Comics, Sheffield, England
16 entrants
5 rounds Swiss + top 8

OK. Thought I would drop you all a line from across the pond. I have to say that the game is not as popular over here as it is in the U.S but it seems to be growing. To that end I thought I would let you know how things stand.
My deck for the day was as follows:

Water: 22
4 x Aqua Guard
4 x Aqua Hulcus
4 x Emeral
4 x Illusionary Merfolk
4 x Corile
2 x Crystal Lancer

Darkness: 24
4 x Bloody Squito
4 x Locomotiver
4 x Horrid Worm
4 x Terror Pit
4 x Proclamation of Death
2 x Chaos Worm
2 x Chains of Sacrifice

So a sizable 46 card deck, but nothing too alarming considering the draw I had available. Plus the size of my deck actually got me out of a jam, but I'll leave that for later. The turnout was OK, but we usually get 20 plus when it is announced on the Duel Master website but today we weren't so lucky. I was in attendance with my compatriot Dan, who had won the last tourney courtesy of some blue/green cheese. He brought the same deck today.
After the usual round of minor insults and challenges we were off.

Round 1 vs Will (All Nature)

Will and I have met on numerous occasions and I have yet to lose. Today was no different. He was using the standard all nature deck. So plenty of Beast Folk and the requisite Barkwhip and Dual Fang evo. Plus the usual Natural Snare and Mana Nexus. Both rounds followed the same pattern of me halting early attacks with my blockers and rigging my shields via Emeral.
Once his evo creatures came into play I would kill them off with either a Terror Pit or Lancer. He managed to draw nothing better than a Torcon under his shields in both games as I cruised to victory.

2-0

Round 2 vs Rob (All Light)

Rob was using an all light blocker deck with Diamond Cutter and Holy Awe backup. I managed to get my smaller creatures on the field early in the first game, specifically a Horrid Worm, meaning he was discarding valuable blockers every turn. A couple of my spells got rid of the rest and it was an easy win.

Round two was the exact opposite. He managed to flood the board with blockers and even though I chipped away at them I had no way of getting through. Then he got Alcadeias on the field and it was all over. Typically I had a handful of dark spells and a Corile, but he finished me off in the same turn.

The final round was a war of attrition. We both managed to keep creatures to a minimum, he was using creatures like Miele to tap mine and then destroy then while I relied upon Proclamation and Terror Pit. I also used both Chains of Sacrifice to good effect to get rid of some of his more bothersome power creatures. The fact he was using Mist Rias sped up his creature draws, but I managed to use Locomotiver and sacrifice a few Horrid Worms to ensure his Diamond Cutters and Holy Awes were either discarded or in his mana zone.
We were both short on cards and neither of us had lost a shield when it became apparent someone was going to deck out. Luckily I had not played any Merfolk so he decked out first. A lucky victory that left me wondering why I had not added a couple of Crystal Paladins. Live and learn.

2-1

Round 3 vs Lee Parker (Fire/Darkness)

Lee and his brother Chris are excellent duellists, both in the top twenty over here, and they usually win the turneys. So I knew I was in for a challenge.
His deck was unusual. Made up mainly of cheap fire speed attackers, dark creatures that caused discard and various anti-blocker spells.

The first round I won, after a close call. As I managed to get blockers down early to stop him using Braid Claw and Rikabu. Though he did cause me some trouble with the new Fire bird that can't be attacked, but a swift Terror Pit later and it was gone. I attacked one of his shields, hoping to leave him with four and me with 6 attackers next go, but he pronounced that the card was exactly what he had been waiting for so I threw caution to the wind and finished him off. He got no shield triggers and, to my surprise I won.
He then told me that he had been bluffing. Grrrr.

The next round I lost thanks to a lack of blockers and that thrice accursed fire bird. He also used snake attack to remove most of my shields in one go.
Left defenceless he was one speed attack away from victory.
Guess what he drew?

Changing my tactics slightly I decided to build a wall of creatures and rush him at once. As he seemed to be lacking any shield triggers (for some reason he was not using Terror Pit, strange). Ironically he then managed to have four triggers, but they were two Critical Blades and two Comet Missiles, useless against my army and I won easily.

2-1

Round 4 vs Dave (Water)

I'd never played Dave before so was interested to see what he would do. His deck was the standard components of blockers and Aqua people to provide fodder for Lancer/Paladin. However, his creatures were no match for my increased draw power and destruction. Both games followed the same pattern, I would destroy any attackers he summoned while building a number of my own then I would use whatever spells I had left to thin out his blockers before attacking in force. An easy win.

2-0

Round 5 vs Chris (Water/Nature)

The other half of the fabulous Parker bros. Chris was using the dreaded water/nature combo. But I was assured of a top 8 place so I was not too worried about losing. In the first game he managed to get his Barkwhips into play early and I had no answer, I managed to get no shield triggers and lost swiftly.
Not looking good.

However, game two I controlled. Playing Corile to good effect and rigging no less than 3 Shields with Emeral I made attacking a costly choice. Once his Barkwhips were decimated I was free to finish him off. Game 3 followed a similar pattern, I saved my best spells for his bigger creatures such as Dual Fang and Crystal Lancer while sacrificing blockers to prevent shield loss. Once his big guns were gone I could play my remaining blockers to stall his punier creatures and then swarn him. My first ever win over Chris.

2-1

Game 6 vs Wakas (Darkness)

Into the top eight. I was feeling fairly confident as my friend Dan had beaten Wakas earlier on pretty convincingly. In the end it was my Merfolk who won this one. The sheer number of cards I had meant my options were open and I able to respond to any threat Wakas posed. I was slowed by a number of cheap darkness blockers, but as most of them died once they had won a battle the respite was short lived. The sheer number of creatures I was able to play meant that once I attacked it was game over, despite the fact he got 4 out of five shield triggers in both games.

2-0

Semi final: Chris (again)
My record vs. Chris is appalling to say the least. But todays win gave me confidence that my deck would prevail. We traded games to start with but in the last game I asserted control. He started well and had me down to one shield but I had managed to get rid of all his creatures from the field in the process. I then used Emeral to rig my last shield with a Terror Pit, a fact he was painfully aware of, meaning he would need three attackers to kill me. I then sacrificed a Horrid Worm to get rid of his last card which, to my joy, had been his last Crystal Paladin. I also managed to play ALL FOUR of my Merfolk in conjunction with Emeral, which gave me all the spells and Coriles I would need to stall him indefinitely. After that, victory was a forgone conclusion.

2-1

Final vs Dan (Water/Nature)

Dan had scraped through to the top 8, and I was surprised he had made it to the final. However, he had won the last tourney so I was not going to be underestimating him. On the positive side I knew he was using a deck almost identical to the one Chris had used, so with two wins against water/nature under my belt I was quietly confident. In both games I just sat back and waited for his big creatures to emerge before dispatching them with my spells. Emeral forced him on the defensive as he didn't want to attack my rigged shields. I also managed to luckily discard evo.
creatures nearly every time I played Locomotiver, leaving him with a lot of under strength beasts. In the secong game I manged to play Corile four times in a row, before attacking with 12 creatures. Game over.

2-0

Finally, I've won a tournament. WOO HOO. Though the big surprise was the fact I remained unbeaten all day, no one has managed that in quite a while.

I have to say that Emeral and Corile have just impressed me no end as each showed their worth countless times over. However, the surprise card of the day was Chains of Sacrifice which I added at the last minute. I managed to play it in most games and, as you can imagine, killing two creatures is enough to swing most battles. With the amount of cards I could draw I was always able to play mana so the 8 point cost was bearable. The down side was taking Chaos Worm, it came in handy a couple of times but my lack of evo fodder meant it usually went in the mana or opponents seemed to target my Horrid Worms when I played them, I should have taken Paladin instead.

The prize pot was slightly smaller than last time, but I got a promo and managed to pull a Super and Very rare from the packs I won. The real question now is:
what deck to use next.

Still I've finally won one, and managed to gain bragging rights over Dan by beating him in the final.
Truly a great day. Well, I'm Lee Abrahams drop me a line at:
death_slayer_of_worlds@yahoo.com

Stay lucky.