Subject: Counter Fusion Deck, by Reynaldo K. Cruz, All Things Anime and Manga, Phoenix, AZ Counter Fusion Deck by Reynaldo K. Cruz Tourney Location: All Things Anime and Manga 24th St. and Osborn, Phoenix, AZ 85040 Tourney Date: 10 12 02 Time: 4pm till close/end of tourney Deck Composition: Fusion Deck: Black Skull Dragon x3 Twin Headed Thunder Dragon x3 Monsters: 23 Summoned Skull x3 Red Eyes Black Dragon x2 Goddess of the Third Eye x1 Vasago the Destroyer x1 Thunder Dragon x3 Witch of the Black Forest x2 Sangan x1 Seven Colored Fish x3 Man Eater Bug x2 Magician of Faith x2 Cyber Jar x1 Invader of the Throne x1 Barrel Dragon x1 Magic and Trap: 23 Polymerization x3 Tribute to the Doomed x3 Heavy Storm x2 Giant Trunade x1 Snatch Steal x1 Raigeki x1 Monster Reborn x1 Change of Heart x1 Pot of Greed x1 Dark Hole x1 Mystical Space Typhoon x1 (use to have two, took one out for a Tribute to the Doomed that I got in a booster tin, what luck!) Mirror Force x1 Magic Jammer x2 Seven Tools x2 Solemn Judgement x1 Greetings and Salutations fellow duelists! I'd like to start off this tourney report much like the end of the first season off Yugioh!, in the middle of an episode. That is, I never sent in last weeks report, so I'll start there, albeit briefly. Results first...I lost in the semi finals. Bummer, but I've finished lower, and hey, if the worst you could finish was the semis, what a great thing, eh? No, I'm not Canadian. One more thing! My deck description is the same as above, except I didn't have the extra Tribute TTD, and I didn't have the 7 colored fish. Forty two cards then. First Round: The inevitable newbie match. Why does it seem that it's always the way? Nothing wrong with it, as you get to instruct someone in the ways of Yugioh, plus it's almost a guaranteed win. Not like in Street Fighter, when occasionally a random rookie could beat you by pushing all the buttons...no, not in Duel Monsters thank you. The floor was wiped. Without counter cards, it's really hard to survive unless you draw a perfect hand and your opponent (in this case me) draws crap, and even then, you can usually make it work. Unfortunately for the little kid, I didn't draw crap, and the match was quickly over, 2 duels to none. I fused for Black Skull twice, and Twin Headed three times. Second round: Slightly more intense dueling here. I only fused for Black Skull once, then quickly saw him get wiped by a Cyber Jar the next turn. It went three duels, and the last one I won by using Snatch Steal and Change of Heart to summon Barrel Dragon. On the next turn after that, I got his effect and finished it off. Third Round: This was the end of the road for me, though I didn't know it, and sure felt like I was going all the way. My opponent was this kid named Miguel, who I'd never dueled before. Quiet. I felt good about my chances, and off we went. First turn, he plays Gravekeepers Servant, a card I loathed very much that week, but since have learned NOT to fear. I made the mistake of stalling, waiting to get Heavy Storm, seven tools, dark hole, etc. Only problem was, he got to set up too, and it turns out he had all the good cards that I had. Who'd a thunk it? Second duel I just attacked, and ended up smoking him with Barrel Dragon and Black Skull. Third duel, well, lets just say that flipping Cyber Jar on your turn when you only have effect monsters that are four stars isn't so good. Especially if your opponent draws Raigeki, Change of Heart, and Monster Reborn. Funny thing was, I had him down to 1700, and me at 6000. Next turn, he changes of heart my face down Magician, tributes for his Summoned skull. Then he reborns a previously killed off Summoned Skull. Then he summons La Jinn. He attacks for 6800, duel and match. Ugh. Now. The Present. 10/12/02 Went in confident, as I had just judged and ran a previous tournament, and between settling disputes, I dueled and slaughtered everyone I played. Round One: Again with a rookie. Ah well. I was polite but gave no mercy. He took a total of 800 life points away in the two duels. I drew miracle hands. An example of this would be: first turn: 7 Fish, Thunder Dragon, Poly, Tribute TTD, Change of Heart, Summoned Skull, Heavy Storm. I kid you not. Round Two: Now we're talking. A match of previous store champions. Me and Victor. He's a good duelist, and I knew I was in for a tough fight. It was an odd match. It went three duels, but none of them were close. Duel 1: I went first. Drew 7 Fish, Poly, Summoned, Versago, Pot of Greed, Magic Jammer, Seven Tools, and Heavy Storm. Set down 7 in attack. Set Seven Tools, playing a hunch/hope. He draws his sixth card, sets down a bunch of Magic and Trap, including Grave Keepers Servant (stupid card). I smiled to myself, remembering not to worry, and just to attack. I drew, played Heavy Storm, he played Fake Trap, I seven tools, he seven tools, I'm satisfied. Why? He blew two trap cards, I used one. I flip 7 Fish, fuse for Black Skull, and attack for both. I lose a Goddess and another 7 Fish to Grave Keepers, but knock off 3200 life points. From there, I ran into a Cyber Jar, but I had drawn Raigeki and Monster Reborn, he had no counter cards, and that was duel 1 for me. No life points lost. Duel 2: Almost the exact opposite. He drew all the right cards, and I only nailed him with 1000 points from Sangan. Duel was over in four turns, which was much shorter than the first duel. Ouch. I was mildly concerned. Duel 3: Back to how it should be! It was sick. I was able to use Mystical Space Typhoon on two of his Gravekeeper's, and wiped him out with two 7 Fish and a Barrel Dragon, whose effect I got to activate twice. Once killing a Cyber Jar (!) and the other killing a Magician of Faith. Semi Finals: This was one of the toughest matches I've ever won. Ivan was my opponent, and I was somewhat overconfident, as I had dueled against him extensively at post-tourney McDonald's gatherings, and had never lost a match, and only lost one duel throughout. Duel 1: This duel did nothing to lower my confidence. 7 Colored Fish and Black Skull Dragon ruled the day, along with Mystical Space Typhoon killing off his Gravekeeper's (damn card), which at one point eliminated my Poly right after I drew Thunder Dragon at the beginning of my turn. Urgh. Duel 2: This went down hill fast for me. He used Raigeki on Cyber Pod, discarded his Summoned Skull with Magic Jammer against MY Raigeki, then Reborned it the next turn, along with Change of Heart against my Man Eater, and that was duel. Urrrrgh. Arrrggh. Duel 3: Little bit of tension beginning to make my shoulders tight on this one. We traded blow for blow for three turns, and then it started to look grim for me. He was able to whittle me down to 2600 life points with about 6000 of his left before I began a miraculous come back. Cyber Jar was the key here, as he had a field full of monsters when he attacked it, and I had only one seven tools on the field. When CJ flipped, I drew Barrel Dragon, , Magician of Faith, Snatch Steal Tribute TTD, and another card I don't remember. He drew La Jinn, Mask of Darkness, Man Eater Bug, Seven Tools, and some other card, I think Sangan. Yes, it was. I Snatched his Lajinn, TTTD his Mask (Discarding Barrel Dragon), fused for Twin Headed Thunder Dragon, and ended my turn. I did this because I knew he had a Man Eater, and I wanted to force him to make a choice. Does he destroy my face up Twin Headed, or one of my face down threats? On his next turn, he flipped man eater, destroyed my Magician, and tributed for Summoned Skull, which he used to destroy my invader of the throne. On my next turn, I ACTUALLY DREW MONSTER REBORN. HOTC, it aint no joke. I destroyed his Skull with Thunder Dragon, and used Barrel Dragon's effect to eliminate his Sangan. He used the effect, drew a card. My turn, I draw, don't remember what I get, poly I think, eliminate magician, attack again. He's now down to five hundred, I'm at 2600. I'm thinking I might come back, I could win this. He draws. He uses tribute to the doomed on my thunder dragon, and then plays change of heart on Barrel. He attacks. I have one hundred life points left. I draw. It's tribute to the doomed. I discard poly. I attack. Match. One hundred freakin' life points left. I couldn't believe I pulled it out. I lost in the finals. But I didn't much care, as I had pulled out a truly epic match. Worthy of the anime in my humble opinion. Finals: Me versus Curtis, a very cool guy who usually just judges but had to duel so that we could have sixteen players and not deal with round robins or byes. I won the first. Black Skull, 7 Fish, and two Tribute TTD finished it off in four turns. He won the next two. Second one was close, and a bit interesting. I used solemn judgement on his flash assailaint, he seven tools, I seven tools, he uses solemn judgement. At this point, I'm at 3000, he's at 3300. Weird stuff. He squeaked it out by 1200. Third duel just didn't go my way. Drew crap, couldn't make it work. He chipped away with Flash Assailant and Summoned Skull. Ah well. Did much better though, and am thinking of adding Relinquished to my deck. Everyone have a great week of prep for next week's duels. Peace. counterfusion24 can be reached at: hotc24@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith.yahoo.com