Subject: Burns Them Down - Michael Sheng, Collector's
Corner, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Burns Them Down
Michael Sheng
Collector's Corner
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Oct. 26, 2002
A total of 48 people participated in this tournament.
First off, the deck:
Normal Monster:
Absolutely nothing here!
Effect Monster - 22:
Jinzo --- 1 (PSV -
000)
Invader of the Throne ---
1
Goblin Attack Force --- 1
(PSV - 094)
Cyber Jar ---
1
Man Eater Bug ---
2
Witch of the
Black
Forest ---
2
Sangan ---
2
Wall of Illusion ---
1
Magician of Faith ---
2
Cannon Soldier ---
3
Princess of Tsurugi ---
3
Parasite --- 1 (PSV -
003)
Hane Hane ---
2
Magic Cards -
14:
Ookazi ---
2
Raigeki ---
1
Change of Heart ---
1
Monster Reborn ---
1
Dark Hole ---
1
Messenger of Peace ---
1
Swords of Revealing Light ---
1
Mystical Space
Typhoon --- 1
Snatch Steal ---
1
Heavy Storm ---
2
Toll --- 2
Trap Cards -
9:
Magic Jammer ---
1
Magic Drain --- 1 (PSV
- 071)
Ceasefire --- 1 (PSV -
030)
Mirror Force ---
1
Gravity Bind --- 1
(PSV - 073)
Solemn Judgment ---
2
Just Desserts ---
2
Total Number of Cards:
45
Notes: 1. All
Pharoah's Servant booster pack cards are marked out. For details you may refer
to the spoiler list on Pojo's site.
2. Since no restriction list has been out for Pharoah's Servant yet, all PSV
cards are restricted to one per deck in this tournament just so it's still a
fair enviroment.
The idea for this deck is
really simple, control the field and do direct damage like crazy at the same
time using all direct damage cards packed in this deck. Messenger of Peace,
Toll, and Gravity Bind are the three main field control cards in this deck,
while Cannon Soldier will be the main damage dish out machine. Although the
original idea was mainly for a counter beatdown deck, I actually found this deck
to fair pretty well against a huge variety of decks.
It seems that 48 people was
too much for them to handle at once, so they divided everyone into three pools
with 16 people each. I was divided into pool C where no one knows me and I don't
know anyone either. So here we go:
First round: me vs.
Hassan
As far as beatdown goes, this
kid runs a standard beatdown deck with all the 1800 atk lvl4 monsters. First
match, I was unable to draw neither Gravity Bind nor Messenger of Peace for the
first 5 turns, so I have to rely heavily on my effect monsters such as Hane
Hane. Two Cannon Soldiers were in my hand and I know once I get out one of the
two cards mentioned the game is up for grab. He dropped my life points down to
around 2500 before I finally draw my Messenger of Peace. From that point on,
Cannon Soldier did all the dirty work while Princess of Tsurugi acted as the
side kick. Second Match, he surprised me first by bring out Relinquished the
first turn and sucked in my Cannon Soldier to attack my lp directly right away.
But this time things went much smoother for me, as Messenger of Peace comes in
the very next turn, so I Dark Hole the field, then lay down another Cannon
Soldier in my hand along with Messenger. He was unable to summon out any monster
for the next three turns, and non of the trap cards he had on the field was able
to interrupt any of my moves. The match goes down in 5
turns.
Record: 2 -
0
Second Round: me vs
Jeremy:
This kid's deck is a jack of
all trades, master of none. The lack of theme become the main disadvantage in
his matches. First match, I laid down Messenger of Peace the very first turn,
along with Just Desserts and Princess of Tsurugi face down. As much as
experience tells me, I know that he should come up with some sort of magic
removal in a max of 3 turns. However, things just seems weird in the first match
as he was keep on putting down monsters in face down defense and laying down
trap for 4 straight turns, while at the same time I laid down another 2
Princess, a Witch of the Black Forest, and a Hane Hane. I know time was right
when he had 5 monster on the field with 4 trap zones filled. So the 3 Princess
were flipped along with the Just Desserts, that's 7000 direct damage in one
turn, which drained down his life to 1000 right away. And the very next turn,
Heavy Storm, Dark Hole, and Cannon Soldier finished the job for me. In the
second match he was much more careful and lays down Burning Land, I smiled
when I saw that I have more lp than him at that time, and 500 direct damage
to both players each turn will hurt him much more than it hurts me. We chipped a
little at each others lp in between until he's at 2700 and I'm at 3300. I have 3
monster face down along with a Just Desserts on the field at the time and he had
2. And the next card I draw, Cannon Soldier, yes, the match winner for me. I
played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy his only face down card in the m\t zone
to eliminate any last minute threat, and Flipped over Just Desserts and Summoned
Cannon Soldier to tribute away all 4 monsters to finish the
match.
Record: 4 -
0
Third Round: me vs.
Ken
This is one of the better
players that I recognize of at the tournament place, and his deck consist of a
semi-beatdown/field control deck. In the first match, he was able to first knock
down my lp to 3400 while he's at a healthy 7950 up there. But on the next
move when I played Heavy Storm, he counterred with Solemn Judgment which I
believe is the turning point of the match. His lp dropped fast than I can say
"YEAH". Well, time to play a little mind games, I lay down the
Gravity Bind I drew on that turn, along with a Cannon Soldier face down.
His field consists of four 1800 atk monsters. On his next turn, he
attacks, only to find out all of his attack is held off until he can think
of some way to get rid of the Gravity Bind. Then the card I drew, oh
yeah, Raigeki, very nice, as I cleared the field, then tribute away the
soldier for Jinzo. For those of you don't know, Jinzo negates the effect of all
trap cards on the field. So he attacks lp directly, and on the next turn Ken was
unable to summon anything, while I drew another Cannon Soldier, and that ends
match 1. Second match, I cannot draw out any field control cards at the time,
while his lvl 4 monsters wiping away at my lp. And he had no m/t card down at
the time, so my Princess in my hand is just useless. Well, match 2 goes to him
and it all comes down to the final match. Once again, during the middle of his
final match he made another fatal mistake when he decided to attack at my Hane
Hane using Jirai Gumo. His lp once again dropped by half when he lost the coin
flip, and we are on about even levels at 2100 - 1250. And the very next card I
drew, ah, yes, Mirror Force, now all I need is a bait to let him attack at once.
So onto the field goes one of my Cannon Soldier face down again, and he seems to
grow over confident at his deck and summoned out La Jinn, just the card I was
waiting for :) It was a huge relief when he decided to attack at once and try to
finish me off, only to come up with nothing. The match went to me the next turn
when I played Ookazi and used Soldier to attack and tribute away all monsters on
my side of the field. Match 3 finally comes down to me.
Record: 6 -
1
Final of Pool C: me vs
Ernest
This guy here is just too loud
and too annoying, even his friends who come with him and sit besides us
during the match told him to chill a little. Anyway, he is another one of those
beatdown user. First match, his field is filled with 2 Summoned Skull, 2 La
Jinn, and 1 Fish, only to find that he can do nothing because Gravity Bind was
activated at that time. I stalled for about 2 turns, then I looked at the lp and
see he's at 2400 while I'm at 5500, so I made an aggressive move when I Heavy
Storm the field first, then Dark Hole the entire field, at last summoned Goblin
Attack Force to attack lp directly which drained him down to 100. He became all
hyped up and turns out to lose the first match when my next draw is my ever
favorite Cannon Soldier. Second match, lp all of a sudden mattered not as he
cleverly used Change of Heart on my Soldier to give me a shot of my own
medicine, then for the next few turns he was able to juggle around to take the
field in his control. However, near the end we both exchanged Cyber Jar and he
suddenly discovered he only has 1 card left in his deck. So surprisingly, this
match went to me when I decked him out 2 turns later.
Record 8 -
1.
The price for individual pool
winner was a pack of Magic Ruler, as I only got an Ameba of that.
Some after
thoughts:
1. "Heart of the Cards": as
funny as that phrase may sound, it is a good idea to believe in what you can
draw next :)
2. Field control is the top
priority for a burner deck, since this entire deck consists of 90% weak
monsters. Messenger of Peace and Gravity Bind played a huge role in achieving my
victory for me.
3. Protection. Those field
control card will become the main target of your opponent, therefore it's a very
good idea to keep some counter trap handy on the field as these cards needs
protection.
4. Although a burner deck is
usual build to counter a beatdown deck, yet in real life duel you'll most likely
to find the match splitting evenly between these two kinds of deck simply
because the success of a burner deck relies heavily on field control cards as
mentioned above.
Credit goes to Mike Spraklin,
for giving me endless advice and discussions on how to improve on a burner deck.
Thank you very much.
Michael
Sheng