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RikotheFoxKid on Yu-Gi-Oh!
Top 64 w/ Artifact Shaddoll:
WARNING: This report is LONG.
A year and a half ago I managed to snag 15th place at the
March 2013 Regional Qualifier in Frederick, MD using Mermail.
I have only been able to attend two events since then as a
result of school and general lack of events in my area: the
June 2013 Regional and the ARG Event in Washington, D.C.
While I do not believe I did badly at either of these
events, I did fail to acquire another top at both of them.
On top of having to skip two regionals in a row due to prior
commitments, it certainly felt like I had hit quite a dry
spell after that one top.
When I first tried Shaddoll, I was very impressed with the
Deck. It reminded me of how the original Mermail Deck
functioned in how it had a lot of power plays and a near
endless amount of options. I soon realized that I had found
another Deck that would carve a special place in my heart; I
felt extremely comfortable with it. When I heard of another
regional happening in October, I knew that Shaddoll was the
Deck I would bring.
Deciding the build to use involved a one month process that
included testing endlessly in the mirror match with my
friend as well as keeping track of all tournament reports to
see what was happening. I tried everything from Thunder
Dragon to Mini Chaos to Artifact to Lightsworn. Early on it
seemed that the Artifact build was performing the best, and
I had prior experience with the cards due to my brief stint
with HAT, so I tried it and found that it was my favorite.
After Patrick Hoban won with his Lightsworn build, I tried
it, but could not really find success with it. It just
didn’t work for me. When the October banlist hit I no longer
felt obligated to run that build so I stuck to my gut and
decided on Artifacts.
I also considered playing either the 60-card BASH Deck or
the 50-card Shaddoll Deck ran by Billy Brake and Jeff Jones
respectively. However, I decided that with such short time
to test them (2 days with the former and less than 2 hours
with the latter) it was best to stick with what I knew. Had
I had more time, I probably would have seriously considered
that 60-card Deck; I love the theory behind it.
I normally post my Decklist last, but I figured I’d go
through my thought process with it before going into the
report:
Monsters: (19)
3 Shaddoll Beast
2 Shaddoll Dragon
2 Shaddoll Falco
2 Shaddoll Hedgehog
2 Shaddoll Squamata
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
3 Artifact Moralltach
1 Felis, Lightsworn Archer
3 Mathematician
Spells: (8)
1 Book of Moon
1 Foolish Burial
1 Raigeki
3 Shaddoll Fusion
1 Soul Charge
1 Super Polymerization
Traps: (13)
3 Artifact Sanctum
2 Breakthrough Skill
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Shaddoll Core
3 Sinister Shadow Games
3 Vanity’s Emptiness
Extra Deck: (15)
1 Constellar Pleiades
1 Number 61: Volcasaurus
1 Castel the Skyblaster Musketeer
1 Evilswarm Exciton Knight
1 Leo, the Keeper of the Sacred Tree
1 Arcanite Magician
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Armades, Keeper of Boundaries
3 El Shaddoll Construct
2 El Shaddoll Winda
Side Deck: (15)
3 Maxx “C”
3 De-Fusion
3 Forbidden Lance
1 Mind Control
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 The Transmigration Prophecy
Regarding the Main Deck, my Shaddoll lineup stayed
relatively consistent, though I was running 3 Hedgehog until
the night before. On a whim I decided to cut one of them to
fit in Soul Charge; this change really paid off in several
games so I am really glad I did it.
Felis was horrible; in testing I always made good use of
her, but at the actual event I drew into her so many times
it was ridiculous. I ended up siding her out every game
because the only matchup where threatening a Black Rose was
an optimal play was against Burning Abyss, which I never hit
in its pure form.
When I learned Raigeki was coming off of the banlist, I
decided that, no matter what, I would main it. It actually
ended up being the MVP of the Deck; I literally did not lose
a single game where I played it. Unlike Dark Hole, Raigeki
can be used not only to get out of bad situations, but also
to capitalize on good situations. With the amount of power
that Shaddoll can place on the board in one turn, I found
that I could often make a strong setup and then just clear
the path for victory. Initially I was unsure if Raigeki
would make an impact on the game; I now firmly believe that
the card should have never been unbanned.
The Extra Deck had to be played around with after I put in
Soul Charge. I had a pretty solid lineup that got
compromised when I had to put Pleiades into it. I initially
cut Leo but decided that it could be useful against Burning
Abyss, so I ended up cutting Silent Honor ARK instead; I
figured that Rank 4 plays were so rare anyway, and in pretty
much any case making Castel was just as good if not better.
I debated cutting down to 2 Construct but kept the 3rd
to be safe; the third one actually won me a game, but
outside of this I never used three so I’m still back and
forth on this.
I decided to be a little different with the Side Deck;
normally I play 2 copies of several different cards that
could go into multiple matchups, but this time around I
decided to play 3 copies of cards that were only useful in
one or two matchups, but were incredibly flexible in said
matchups. This actually paid off, and it performed really
well. Maxx “C” was the only disappointment, but this was
because I never hit a pure Burning Abyss Deck.
De-Fusion was beautiful in the mirror match. I could use it
to stop opposing summons, get rid of Fusions already on the
board, and even used it in one instance to push for game.
Forbidden Lance was great against any backrow heavy Deck.
Mind Control wins the mirror match.
I decided early on to not main MST. The only Game 1
floodgate I was truly afraid of was Vanity’s Emptiness, and
I already had several answers to it in the Main Deck. I
decided to reserve it for matchups where I expected more
floodgates. I actually didn’t side it in for the mirror or
Burning Abyss at all.
The Transmigration Prophecy was my wild card. I had decided
to put it in to deal with rogue matchups like Mermail, Fire
King, and Bujin. I only sided it once, but it won me the
match, so I’m glad I used it.
Sorry for the wall of text. Here’s the actually tournament
report.
Round 1: Vs. Bujin Shaddoll
Game 1: I won the die roll and drew into a pretty clumpy
hand. I set Hedgehog and Sanctum and passed. He drew for
turn and played Kaiser Colosseum, which I responded to with
Sanctum into Moralltach, popping it. He then summoned Yamato
and sent Hare to the Graveyard. After a couple of turns of
set up, with him having Yamato and Susanowo, I managed to
Soul Charge into two Moralltach for a Constellar Pleiades. I
bounced Susanowo and ended my turn. On his turn, he
surprised me with a Shaddoll Fusion, as up until that point
I thought he was playing pure Bujin. The Construct was able
to give him enough momentum to the point that I was
overwhelmed, even with Pleiades.
Game 2: I debated siding The Transmigration Prophecy, but
decided against it. I got a relatively clumpy hand again,
and he got a Royal Decree. I never drew into MST, but I
managed to get Armades on the board. He still managed to
play around it though after anticipating a De-Fusion and
blind MST’ing it, allowing him to make Construct. I had
Emptiness facedown so if it weren’t for Decree I might have
won.
After the game I told him about The Transmigration Prophecy.
He admitted that it was a really good idea and I should have
sided it in. He also explained that Emptiness is pretty
useless in the matchup because the Bujins can play around
it. I kept these in mind.
0-1
Round 2: Vs. Evilswarm
Game 1: I once again drew a really clumpy hand, so I just
started a slow setup. He summoned a Castor and I groaned. No
matter how hard I tried I couldn’t stop Ophion from coming
out and I quickly got pummeled. Dark Illusion stopped Dragon
and Squamata from popping it.
Game 2: This time I managed to stop him from getting two
Level 4’s on the board for most of the game. Between
Moralltach and Squamata I was able to simply poke him into
the ground.
Game 3: He opened Rescue Rabbit, but I managed to bait his
Pandemic with a Book of Moon, chain Breakthrough Skill to
it, and then summon Moralltach to get rid of Ophion. I
actually had control of the game until he topdecked a RotA
to grab Castor, getting out another Ophion. I had no out
after that.
0-2
Despite my loss, I commended the guy for being the first
Evilswarm player I ever met who wasn’t an asshole. Just
about every Evilswarm player I met before him was very bad
mannered.
After signing the slip, my team captain, who was judging,
saw it and said, “Man, Kyle, what’s going on today?” I
explained that I kept drawing horrid. I got really
discouraged at this point, wondering if I was even good
enough to play the game. It would take a miracle to get
through the rest of the day.
Thankfully, I’m pretty good at creating miracles.
Round 3: Vs. Koa’ki Meiru
Game 1: I caught a glimpse of a Diamond Core while the guy
was pulling his Deck out, so I knew before the match started
what it was. Despite this, he got an early lead, though
Raigeki dealt with the Drago he summoned. I made a horrid
misplay in which I Soul Charged down to 1900, made Black
Rose, nuked and ended, knowing perfectly well he had an
Urnight in his hand for game. Sometimes I’m really dumb.
Game 2: Fate finally decided to give me a good opening hand
so I got a strong setup going. He got another Drago out but
thankfully I had managed to open Raigeki again. I ended up
just plowing through the game thanks to Forbidden Lance.
Game 3: He opened Urnight and Drago, but I managed to open
Raigeki AGAIN. I summoned Mathematician, which baited out a
Breakthrough Skill, and then used MST on his one face-down,
a Lance, which he used to drop Math to 700. I then dropped
Raigeki, and momentum stayed in my favor from that point on.
The game winning play was when I Soul Charged for four,
ending with a board of Construct, Winda, Castel, and a
facedown Falco and Squamata. Even with a Breakthrough Skill
for Winda the board applied enough pressure for him to be
forced to play Exciton Knight, which got him nowhere since I
got four Shaddoll Monster effects out of it. Momentum stayed
in my favor and I won.
I stopped doubting Raigeki and Soul Charge at this point.
1-2
Round 4: Vs. Fire Fist
Game 1: This guy was bad. Really, really bad. He was a very
abrasive and impatient man who not only got mad whenever I
made a misplay (i.e. attacking with a monster that was
Fiendish Chained), but also did not understand how the
Damage Step worked; he insisted that if Armades attacked
Fire Hand (which I had read as his face-down thanks to a
Duality revealing his second one) its effect would still go
off because it occurred AFTER the Damage Step. I informed
him he was wrong, and that it activated DURING
the Damage Step; he didn’t bother contesting it. After I
won he told me I was wrong, and I once again told him he was
wrong, but he said it didn’t matter. At some point in this
game I also attempted to Super Poly a monster that was
Lanced, and he yelled at me about how that doesn’t work and
told me I just wasted a Super Poly. I shrugged it off and
just used a Fiendish’d Winda instead to make a second one,
which won me the game.
Game 2: No Hands this time around, but the guy pretty much
opened nothing but floodgates. One of them was Stygian
Dirge, which I literally did not care about at all, and
another was Non-Fusion Area, which was a nuisance but
something I could play around. The main threat was
Dimensional Fissure, which I popped with MST. I could have
popped a face-down Moralltach instead, but I didn’t really
want to deal with him trying to tell me it wasn’t a Spell
Card, so I left it face-down. After getting rid of Fissure
and Non-Fusion Area I was free to do what I wanted, and
Lance picked off his Bears. I won very quickly.
The guy signed the slip and didn’t even wait for the judge
to come pick it up before leaving. The judge laughed it off
and told me not to worry about it.
2-2
Round 5 and on begins what I call the Shaddoll Massacre. I
hit nothing but Shaddoll variants beyond this point, which I
was more than happy about given my extensive practice in the
mirror match. I went 2-0 through all of them until the final
round.
Round 5: Vs. Shaddoll Artifact
Game 1: I opened with the standard “make Construct, Tribute
it for Beast” play, which I did in anticipation for a
possible mirror. I kept the momentum of the game throughout
its entirety, but the blowout was when I dropped BLS, it got
hit by Moralltach, and I Soul Charged into it and Construct.
He didn’t recover from that. I actually was not sure what he
was playing, as I had only seen Moralltachs, and was
guessing either Satellarknight or a mirror. My mind went at
ease when he dropped Falco to make Black Rose, but I had the
answer to it, and he scooped.
Game 2: As fate would have it, I drew into two more blowout
cards this game: Mind Control and Super Poly, the latter of
which I drew after he tried to Mind Crush my Shaddoll
Fusion. Blessing my newfound luck, I proceeded to body him
again, using Raigeki to wipe his board and attack for exact
game.
3-2
After this, I decided that Shaddoll has what I call “five
Return from the Different Dimensions”: that is, five cards
that heavily shift the momentum in your favor and can very
likely win you the game. These cards are BLS, Soul Charge,
Super Poly, Raigeki, and Mind Control. The only one I didn’t
see at all in this matchup was Raigeki.
Round 6: Vs. Bujin Shaddoll
Game 1: This one started as reverse of Round 1; it seemed
like normal Shaddoll until he dropped a Fire Formation –
Tenki on me. After cursing my luck, I still managed to push
through the game for a victory.
Game 2: Remembering my mistakes from Round 1, I sided out
all copies of Vanity’s Emptiness and sided in The
Transmigration Prophecy. This ended up winning me the game;
he had a setup of Hare in Grave and Mikazuchi on field, and
summoned Turtle to make Susanowo. I used Compulse to bounce
it back, he summoned Hirume and ended, and I flipped
Transmigration to put Hare and Turtle back in the Deck. The
amount of momentum gained from that play was so much that he
just could not fight back. I once again wiped the board with
Raigeki and attacked for exact game.
4-2
Round 7: Vs. Lightsworn Shaddoll w/ Sephylon
Game 1: The guy didn’t seem to be really focused on the
game. I couldn’t tell if he was just being a jerk or if
something was bothering him. Regardless, I played it out and
got the advantage thanks to Moralltach.
Game 2: He opened Raiden and milled both of his Sephylons,
and I used Mind Control to take it and used it with Math to
make Arcanite Magician. After whittling down his Life to
1200, he summoned Lyla, popped a card and passed, and I
summoned Volcasaurus for game.
He shook my hand, explained that he was still salty over a
match he lost due to a Deck Check (he had game but the
judges refused to let him finish the move, he got a Game
Loss, and lost Game 3), and wished me luck.
5-2
I was feeling insanely confident at this point; I had gone
from two early losses to 5 straight wins, including four
back-to-back 2-0’s. I really felt like I could turn this
around.
Round 8: Vs. Satellarknight Shaddoll
Game 1: I got the opening play and, as fate allowed, opened
a great hand yet again. I started with Mathematician for
standard setup plays and then passed turn. He summoned
Deneb, which I Breakthrough’d, and became the next person to
surprise me with a Shaddoll Fusion into Construct. Despite
this, I had enough early momentum to keep the game in my
favor.
We had a Deck Check between rounds that went for about ten
minutes. We complained to each other about having a Deck
Check this late in the tournament, but when we got them back
nothing bad happened to either of us, so we continued on.
Game 2: He opened poorly and was forced to make Construct
with Altair and Dragon. That was a good sign for me as I
quickly got the game under my control. To finish it off, I
used Fusion to make Winda with Dragon and Beast and popped
his one backrow, attacked, and used De-Fusion to deal an
extra 4100 for game.
6-2
I was feeling absolutely fantastic at this point. All I had
to do was win one match to ensure my second invite.
Round 9: Vs. 60-Card Burning Abyss Shaddoll (BASH)
Game 1: I looked at the guy’s Deck and said, “That doesn’t
look like forty.” He smiled at me and said, “It’s not. It’s
sixty.” I grew scared; in the short time I played with Billy
Brake’s 60-Card BASH Deck, I knew that it was actually very
threatening. I was hoping to not lose it all here. Lucky for
me, I got a really strong opening and just plowed through
him. He had a wall set up but once I dropped Raigeki he
scooped.
Game 2: He opened Kuribandit and milled Graff, Hedgehog,
Squamata, Fusion, and Sinister Shadow Games. He grabbed SSG,
then added Beast and milled Core to grab Fusion. The end
result was something I consider more broken than the
stupidity I pulled off in Round 5. Despite this, the game
went back and forth throughout its entirety, and I had the
momentum for a long time. Unfortunately, he clutched out a
Vanity’s Fiend. With both of my Breakthrough Skills gone and
all of my Shaddolls in Graveyard, my only hope was to bounce
it with Compulse and draw BLS. Lady luck did not support me
in this endeavor.
Game 2 lasted for so long that we only had 3 minutes to do
Game 3. I grew very fearful of losing in time, and jested
that I should have sided Ceasefire. Deciding that I wanted
an answer to the Shaddoll aspect of the Deck (having sided
entirely for the Burning Abyss side), I decided to side in
my three De-Fusion. In my haste, however, I made what would
be my fatal error; instead of siding out Maxx “C”, I sided
out Forbidden Lance.
Game 3: My luck ran out. I drew a subpar hand which
consisted of a dead Maxx “C”, and he was able to apply an
endless amount of early pressure, dealing as much damage as
possible. Every attempt I made to be aggressive fell to
Karma Cut or Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. On turn 5 of End of
Match Procedure, I was down to 3900 against his 8000.
Realizing all I could do was make Construct and attack, I
did so, swung at his Winda to kill it, and then shook his
hand.
Losing in time sucks.
6-3
Despite this, I was still holding out for a potential top.
Losing Rounds 1 and 2 was bad, but I prayed that winning out
until Round 9 would balance this out. I just needed to be
within the Top 48 to get my invite.
The results went up, and my heart sank as I saw the number
58 right next to my name.
So close, yet so far. I was one victory away from achieving
my second regional top. Despite this, I couldn’t stay bitter
about it. I could still say that I made Top 64, and I came
out of nowhere from a poor start to ultimately ending with a
6-3 record, including winning twelve games in a row. I may
have failed to snag my invite, but I could not have been
much prouder of my accomplishment. I was also immensely
proud of all of my friends, and congratulated them all, even
if they may not have done particularly well. For two of
them, this was their first regional; one managed to go 5-3-1
with Artifact Shaddoll and the other went 6-3 using
Satellarknight with teched Kagetokage and Gentlemander. I
reassured them that this was incredible for a first regional
(considering my first one back in ’08 ended with me going
1-6).
If you managed to stick through this long report, I commend
and thank you. I know it got lengthy, but I feel like
overall I had an incredible experience. Maybe someday I will
once again get that elusive top.
Until next time,
~Kyle Steven Beggs, aka “RikotheFoxKid” |
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