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Tournament of the Five Civilizations
Steven Cantrell
Galactic Quest in Buford, Georgia
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Five Dollar Entry Fee
Fourteen Duelists in 14under division
Four Swiss Rounds, Top 4 Cut

This past weekend was the Tournament of the Five Civilizations as many of you know. It was held at the new Buford location like the Invitation Circuit. I arrived around eleven to begin filling out the deck list, trade, and play some practice matches. There were a few less entrants than I was expecting. The older division was especially low, with only ten people, but Slack and both Smallwoods showed up late or it would have been thirteen. Now take at look at my beloved Purple Deckout:

Water [19]
3x Emeral (3x JDC)
4x Aqua Hulcus (2x Circuit, 2x McDonalds)
4x Corile (4x TotFC)
4x Illusionary Merfolk
2x Thrash Crawler
2x Energy Stream

Nature [12]
2x Crow Winger
4x Bronze-Arm Tribe (4x Atari)
2x Cryptic Totem
4x Mana Nexus

Darkness [13]
3x Bloody Squito
4x Locomotiver (4x JDC)
4x Terror Pit (4x Circuit)
2x Lost Soul

Light [04]
4x Holy Awe

Total: 48 Cards
Mana Curve: 4.16

Gotta love those shiny promos! I still need to track down four foil Holy Awes and two more Circuit Hulcus though. This deck is basically the same as what I won the Circuit with. Just switched out Faerie Life for Crow Winger. It incorporates all the major themes of Water, Darkness, and Nature together. Around 12:30 Kyle finally posted pairings for round one. I would be in the 14under division this time...


Round One: Vs. Stephen Fordham (Black/Blue/Green/Awe)
Stephen refused to tell me which deck he was using beforehand. I quickly found out why. He decided to make an exact copy of my deck just because it beat him in the Invitation Circuit.

This round started off badly. I got pwned. Twice. Stephen was casting Merfolk left and right before there was any way for me to stop him. It eventually came down to me only able to prolong his eventual victory with some blockers and destruction. Words cannot explain what really happened. He just came out quickly, grabbed control, and never allowed me to catch up. Choking in the first round is usually a bad omen for me, but if anything this only strengthened my resolve to win.

Record: 0-2
Cumulative Record: 0-1 matches, 0-2 duels
His key cards: Illusionary Merfolk, Lost Soul, Cryptic Totem



Round Two: Vs. Keith Lawson (Blue/Green Aggro)
Having lost the first match, this meant I was paired up against someone else who lost as well. Keith appeared to be an easy opponent at first glance.

He began with a nasty Barkwhip swinging away. After about three of my shields went down, Keith hit topdeck mode like most decks attempting to rush. From then on my field continued to steadily grow while his was dwindling. Cryptic Totem led the final rush around turn fifteen. Our next game was similar. This time he summoned Barkwhip around turn four, then rammed it into my waiting Thrash Crawler. After that I simply assaulted his hand resources for an easy win.

Record: 2-0
Cumulative Record: 1-1 matches, 2-2 duels
His key cards: Barkwhip the Smasher, Aqua Hulcus, Aqua Guard



Round Three: Vs. Shaun Coleman (Red/Black Aggro-Control)
Let it be known that I don’t enjoy playing Shaun at all. His deck consists mainly of kill spells and speed attackers, so he just drops whatever is needed more at the moment. It requires absolutely no skill to play and is quite boring to face.

Game one started off on rocky ground as Shaun summoned both Pyrofighter and Horrid Worm early on. He continued to smack shields until Bloody Squito, Corile, and some hand destruction came to the rescue. After surviving that near disaster, several Merfolk draws led to my victory. The next duel was even easier. Lost Soul and Locomotiver were extremely effective mid-game. He almost could have won with several Speed attackers in the end, but my shields were well stocked via Nexus and Emeral. Another swarm win took the match.

Record: 2-0
Cumulative Record: 2-1 matches, 4-2 duels
His key cards: Pyrofighter Magnus, Horrid Worm, Rothus the Traveler

Round Four: Vs. Nicole Geary (Yellow/Black)
Somehow I forgot to take her picture. Anyways, Nicole is the sister of my round one opponent at Invites. At this point I was hoping for a win to make Top Four.

She had a fairly simple deck focusing on tons of blockers and Diamond Cutter. I quickly planned out a strategy to combat the unusual amount of defense. All I had to do was swarm the field with as many attackers as possible, and then cast Holy Awe to unleash my army upon her vulnerable shields. That worked in spectacular fashion both games, giving me another match victory.

Record: 2-0
Cumulative Record: 3-1 matches, 6-2 duels
Her key cards: Diamond Cutter, Tons of blockers, Slayers



Top Four Semifinals: Vs. Justin Fordham (Black/Blue Control)
My record as the third seed meant Justin and I would duel to move on or go home. His brother Stephen, undefeated through the Swiss rounds, was paired up with Brandon Schmidt. Matt missed out even though he had a 3-1 record as well.

This match was honestly quite disappointing. I was proud of the little guy for making it this far, but he hardly put up a fight at all in our duels. Justin played all the regular Black/Blue stuff, which made his moves very predictable. A heavy dose of control and swarmage sealed our two games in my favor. I doubt that we went past turn ten either time, as both matches ended quickly.

Record: 2-0
Cumulative Record: 4-1 matches, 8-2 duels
His key cards: Hopeless Vortex, Aqua Hulcus, Crystal Lancer

Top Four Finals: Vs. Stephen Fordham (Black/Blue/Green/Awe)
Stephen defeated Brandon in the other semifinal, giving me an opportunity to avenge the first round loss. This game is literally a mirror match, so the final would be decided by skill and, inevitably, some luck....

This first duel had to be one of my longest, most intense battles to date. I had it made with Cryptic Totem and a couple weenies. But even though he couldn’t use triggers, the hand advantage turned the tide in Stephen’s favor. We continued to duel for another ten or so minutes until he had me reeling. With enough firepower to take me out over two turns, Stephen made a greedy, costly mistake. He hit a set Holy Awe before having his creatures take out mine. On my turn I went all out to finish his final shields and win. After that severe blow, the next duel only got better. Stephen summoned Merfolk twice, and both times I promptly responded with Lost Soul. This time Cryptic Totem led my swarm for the final win of the tournament.

Record: 2-0
Cumulative Record: 5-1 matches, 10-2 duels
His key cards: Illusionary Merfolk, Lost Soul, Cryptic Totem

The Aftermath: An excellent day. Winning in the finals of course meant first place for me. Stephen Fordham placed second in my division, leaving Brandon and Justin tied for 3/4th. The older division went to a guy named Oscar who showed up after not playing Duel Masters for some time. Justin Couch, Jason Marella, and Tim Jones were the rest of the 15+ top four. Overall everything went well. Now let’s wrap this report up.

Props:
- Winning my first Five Civs event!
- Finally getting one of those plaques.
- Trading for more shiny promos.
- Root Beer between rounds is good. ^_^

Slops:
- Kyle only gave me 18 packs for first place.
- Team GQ in 15+ not winning their division.
- My Kaijudo Master wristband seems to have disappeared.

So that concludes yet another major tournament report. Expect my writings to be less frequent what with school started here and my retirement from Duel Masters only a couple months away. I’ll try my best to check in whenever possible though. Feel free to hit me with an email at Smcman7@aol.com or on AIM as usual. Till next time...