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Mofox’s journey from Newbie to the UK National Tournament.
Another Turn by Turn Duel 
June 15, 2006

To conclude the past 2 duels I have quickly put up the final duel in the match up between me and Ilya.  Duel 12 commenced immediately after duel 11.  I was still using the same deck from the last duel.  This was the first time Ilya and me had gone for a full match.  The score was 1-1.  Ilya had dominated the first duel and won in 5 turns.  I had dominated the second duel and won in 6 turns.  It would be interesting to see who would win the decider.  As a brief reminder Ilya had crushed me in the first duel after I had the worst starting hand ever.  I had ripped Ilya’s hand apart in the second duel leaving him top decking and controlled the field to eventually take the duel.  This duel would highlight the benefits of good field control.  Keep an eye out for a really old school combo!!!

Ilya says:

8000-8000

Ilya says:

got my 1st 6

Ilya says:

end turn

Ilya was up to something and I wasn’t sure what.  He either had a really crap hand or he had a really good hand and was setting himself up for something big.  I decided to try and disrupt his plans and protect my life points a little in case he was planning a big charge.

Paul says:

I drw

Paul says:

I summon Don Zaloog and atk you directly

Ilya says:

pick a card from 1 to 6 (randomly)

Paul says:

and I pick the third card in your hand from your left

Ilya says:

DDWL

Paul says:

6600-8000

Paul says:

I set 1 s/t and end turn

Ilya says:

drw

Ilya says:

activate smashing ground

Ilya says:

response?

Paul says:

no

Ilya says:

normal summon

Ilya says:

Goblin Attack Force

Ilya says:

response?

Paul says:

no

Ilya says:

Goblins attack

Ilya says:

response?

Paul says:

activate sak armour

Ilya says:

ok

Ilya says:

end turn

Hmm strange not exactly a huge turn like I was expecting.  Perhaps Ilya did in fact have a bad hand.  His field was now empty and I decided to try and keep it that way.  Although my deck’s aim is to destroy the hand, it had very good field control options in it, so I decided to try and control the field.

Paul says:

I drw

Paul says:

I summon gearfried in atk mode and atk you directly

Paul says:

4800-8000

Paul says:

I set 1 s/t and end turn

Ilya says:

drw

Ilya says:

set 1 monster and end turn

Now it was becoming more obvious that Ilya had a bad hand.  I needed to capitalize on this and I had set just the right card to do so.

Paul says:

I drw

Paul says:

I activate my fd trap Blast with chain and equip it to Gearfried

Now that is an old school combo.  The great thing about it is that it involves a 4 star warrior monster (easily searched by Reinforcements of the Army) and only one other card.  The only downside was that it was a trap card.  However that could play into your hands.  You set, your opponent activates MST, you chain and equip to Gearfried, it is destroyed via Gearfried’s effect, and you use it to destroy a card on your opponent’s field.  You lose 1 card and your opponent loses 2, excellent!  This deck also contained Smoke Grenade of the Thief to keep on attacking the opponent’s hand.

Ilya says:

let me guess

Ilya says:

destroy my fd mon

Paul says:

yep

Ilya says:

its dd assailant

Paul says:

I summon strike ninja and atk with both mons

Paul says:

1300-8000

Paul says:

I then set 1 s/t and end turn

I was totally dominating the field.  Considering that the deck is designed around destroying the hand it was doing well in controlling the field.  I was ahead in life points and Ilya really needed something big to pull it back.

Ilya says:

drw

Ilya says:

activate giant trunade

Ilya says:

response?

Paul says:

no

Ilya says:

activate reinforcement of the army

Ilya says:

for command knight

Ilya says:

set 1 monster

Ilya says:

and end turn

Paul says:

ok I drw

Paul says:

your field is just Command Knight right?

Paul says:

sorry just a set mon

Ilya says:

you don’t know if my set monster is Command Knight or not, but yes, lol.

Ilya says:

wow

Paul says:

I wasn't trying to pre-empt you sorry

Paul says:

I forgot you set it

Inadvertently I correctly identified Ilya’s face down monster.  When dueling online you sometimes picture your opponent’s field to help you play.  I think that I had thought about it in my head, that Ilya had just set Command Knight and then accidentally mentioned it.  Its defense was too high for me to take it out so I had to back off for a turn.

Paul says:

I set 1 mon and 1 s/t and end turn

Ilya says:

drw

Ilya says:

normal summon Blindly Loyal Goblin

Ilya says:

response

Paul says:

yeah I activate my fd trap blast with chain and equip to Gearfried and then destroy your blindly loyal goblin

Ilya says:

end my turn

Again Blast with Chain had proved to be a useful card.

Paul says:

I drw

Paul says:

and end my turn

I still couldn’t get past that Command Knight.  It was worrying me that if it stayed on the field any longer Ilya would either draw into a card he needed or be able to tribute summon.

Ilya says:

drw

Ilya says:

your field please   . . . . .

Paul says:

Gearfried FU atk, Strike Ninja FU atk (with necklace equipped) and a set mon

Ilya says:

amount of dark monsters in your GY please . . .

Paul says:

just the one

Ilya says:

offer as tribute my face down Command Knight for Mobius the Frost Monarch

Just as I had thought Ilya had managed to summon a tribute.

Ilya says:

 I activate Pot of Avarice

Ilya says:

command Knight, Blindly Loyal Goblin, DDA, GAF, DDWL to my deck

Ilya says:

shuffle

Ilya says:

drw 2

Ilya says:

set s/t

Ilya says:

have Mobius destroy Gearfried

Ilya says:

1300-7400

Ilya says:

end turn

I had no way of getting rid of Mobius in my hand I needed to draw something good.

Paul says:

ok I drw

Paul says:

I think this could be game

I had drawn exactly what I needed.

Ilya says:

maybe

Paul says:

I activate heavy storm, respond?

Ilya says:

no

Ilya says:

bottomless is gone

Paul says:

I activate smashing ground

Paul says:

mobius gone

Paul says:

and atk with strike for game

Ilya says:

game, set and match

So there we have it a break down of another of my duels against Ilya.  Now before I get a load of emails claiming how I made this stupid mistake and that stupid mistake.  Please take into context where I am coming from.  This was my 12^th ever duel, and at the present I only have 30+ duels worth of experience to be able to analyse this duel.  I will no doubt have made some mistakes which is fine, and I do want to know what they are so that I can improve my only request is no bashing and no flaming.  I want your help but I won’t tolerate abuse.

So hopefully now, you newbies can see more of my thought processes and hopefully they will help you in your own duelling decisions.  I won my first full match.  After getting defeated so quickly in the first duel.  I came back strong to take the last 2 both in 6 turns each.  If that shows one thing it is not to give up even if you have just been beat pretty easily.  My old school combo worked well in this duel and twice it helped keep control of the field.  Ilya had a bad hand this duel, and he struggled to maintain any field presence.  Even when he managed to get Mobius on the field he still couldn’t keep him there.

Now, I have been reading avidly Julia Hedberg’s articles on chaining (they are very very good for newbies like me) and I have been wondering about something when analysing this duel.  It relates to her most recent article about starting new chains within chains and simultaneous effects.  If the situation occurred as I mentioned above in regards to MST being activated and targeting Blast with Chain.  It would work something like this:

Chain Link 1: MST

Chain Link 2: Blast with Chain

It would resolve backwards so, Blast with Chain resolves first and I equip it to Gearfried.  Gearfried destroys it and it get its effect but you can’t just put that into the middle of the chain so how does that work?  If someone could explain to me then I would appreciate it and put the answer up to the newbies.  In fact if by some stroke of luck Julia reads this, then how about the Head Judge of the US National Tournament 2006 gives us her definitive ruling on this situation.  Now that would be cool!

Look out for my next article.  Up until this point I had been relatively successful and I know some of you guys have been praising me on my abilities so far.  Next article is about what happens to many newbies when they first start out.  Getting schooled by a far superior player.  In my 13^th and 14^th ever duels I take on a 2005 US Nationals Qualifier.  His claims to fame are beating Dale Bellido and Paul Levitin and also going 6-0 and duelling at table 1 at the 2005 Nationals before scrubbing out in the final rounds.  School was in session that day and I was on the receiving end of a very tough lesson in how to duel.

My email address is mofox9@hotmail.co.uk email me for any help or advice or even your opinions on my articles.  I would love to hear your opinions and if you have any suggestions to improve them then let me know.  I will reply to all emails that are sent to me.  Remember newbies no question is a stupid question.

Until next time fellow duellists!