Exodia beats the Gate Guardian 11/30/02 John Williams Greg's Sports cards Westfield, N.J. (Upper-deck tourney; all restrictions apply) Let me explain how the heart of the cards eluded me in the finals last Saturday. My deck: Creatures: 2x Gate Guardian 3x Suijin 3x Kazejin 3x Sanga of the Thunder 3x Nimble Momonga 3x Giant Germ 3x Giant Soldier of Stone 3x Aqua Madoor 2x Spear Cretin 1x Cyber Jar Magic/Traps: 2x Fissure 2x Tribute to the Doomed 2x Heavy Storm 1x Monster Reborn 1x Change of Heart 1x Pot of Greed 1x Dark Hole 1x Raigeki 1x Mirror Force 1x Solemn Judgment 2x Trap Hole 3x Magic Jammer Sideboard: 2x Card Destruction 2x Banisher of the Light 2x Princess of Tsurugi 2x De-Spell 1x Fissure 1x Tribute to the Doomed 1x Confiscation 1x Soul Exchange 1x 7 Tools 1x Snatch Steal 1x Stop Defense So anyway, there weren't a lot of people there today because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but still enough to have three rounds. I knew that the champs for the last few weeks were not going to be there, so this was the best chance for me to actually win for the first time. Still no Pharaoh's servant cards allowed, but that's OK Round one: Me vs. Alex (just learned a week ago) Not really needing to explain. His deck was too large, and he basically used creatures he got from a starter deck and a few boosters. I actually summoned a Gate Guardian into play! (Result: me 2-0) Round two: Me vs. little guy (forgot his name) He had better creatures than the first guy, and he had better game mechanics, but he didn't really have much of a chance either. Plus, he kept thinking he could drop a penguin knight into the graveyard from his hand to activate the effect. I had to help him out on that. (Result: me 4-0) Round Three: Me vs. Terrence (forgot his name, but I'm substituting) A much better kid with a large deck though. He actually had a shot at beating me. I generally rip him apart in the first game, but in the second, he has a comeback for every move I made. His Solemn Judgment in mid-game actually spelled my defeat, and I knew it. He kills my germ/miming combo before I can effectively use them. In the end he reborns a GG piece from my GY, then Magician of Faith's the monster reborn to get a Summoned Skull, and to add to the insult, he tributes my GG piece that he took for another Summoned Skull. In the third game though, I had total control. I broke his back with a second turn Kazejin that he could not overcome. But before I could defeat him properly, he flips over a trap card: ACID TRAP HOLE! Promo card! Instant DQ. I didn't feel bad for him though. He kept saying that on the Upper-deck website that it doesn't say you cant use them (it is true that on the main restriction page they don't state that, but if you look further, they do). (Result: me 6-1 (6-0?)) Finals: Me vs. Yunus (offensive EXODIA) The first game I made so many mistakes that I deserved to lose it by getting kicked from a forbidden foot in the butt. Instead, a 7-colored fish did the trick. I was trying so hard not to give him exodia, that I missed the frontal assault. The second game though, I side boarded in some effective cards. I took out two Aqua Madoors for 2 Banishers of the Light, one Fissure for a Confiscation, and the two Gate Guardians for two Card Destructions. My Cyber jar gets the banisher on the field very early in the game, which wreaks havoc on his game play. He can't get any magic back with a MoF, and every move he makes I counter, sending his card into the graveyard. Once he tried to summon a Summoned Skull which I then trap holed, sending both creatures from the game. All I really wanted was one of my discard cards to come out. My Suijin was trying to get through the massive amount of Creatures he laid in defense, when he pulled a fantastic move. He put his Black forest witch into attack, reborned a sangan, and attacked with both, thus getting the last two pieces that he needed, and he won. My next card was: CARD DESTRUCTION!!! Everyone said that I didn't believe in the heart of the cards enough. I guess not. I got crap out of my tourney pack, but my sponsored partner (using my Harpy deck) pulled a skull guardian. Cool. Until next week.