Subject: The Deadly Dragon Deck, Eddie Rodriguez, Fred's Hidden Comic Shop, New London, Connecticut

The Deadly Dragon Deck, Eddie Rodriguez, Fred’s Hidden Comic Shop, New London, Connecticut - October 24, 2002

 

Deck Contents:

 

3x Blue-Eyes White Dragon

3x Lord of Dragons

3x Curse of Dragon

1x Tri-Horned Dragon

3x 7 Colored Fish

3x Man-Eater Bug

2x Witch of the Black Forest

2x Trap Master

 

3x Flute of Summoning Dragon

3x Soul Exchange

1x Change of Heart

1x Pot of Greed

1x Raigeki

1x Dark Hole

1x Monster Reborn

2x Last Will

2x Mystical Space Typhoon

 

1x Magic Jammer

1x Seven Tools of the Bandit

1x Mirror Force

3x Trap Hole

 

Total 41 Cards (However, having the Pot of Greed, Witch, and Last Will cuts my deck down)

 

I’m an older (28) player and a long time Magic player.  I joined this tournament with my son (8).  This was my third or fourth time playing, but I used my Magic experience to construct a killer deck (plus checking out pojo.com for the best cards). The strategy of my deck is to get my powerful Dragons into play using the flute or using my opponent’s creatures as Tribute using the Soul Exchange and Change of Heart.  Secondary to that I keep my opponent at bay with my monster/magic/trap removal.  I use the Witch and the Last Wills to get my combos going.

 

There were only about 10 people that showed up for the tournament.  First Prize was a LOB Pack, a Magic Ruler Pack and a Metal Raiders Pack.  Second Prize was a Magic Ruler Pack and a Metal Raiders Pack.  Third was a LOB pack.  This was an elimination style tournament.  I can’t go into too much detail of all my matches but they all went pretty much the same.

 

1st Opponent (my bad luck, I got paired with the local champion; I think on purpose because I was the oldest player there)

 

He had a smirk on his face as we sat down.  I placed a box on the table that said “Recipe” on it.  He asked what that was and I said “Recipe for Destruction”.  He laughed.  I opened the box he grunted disapproved as I pulled out my deck; it was in black-backed protective sleeves.

 

We shuffled and flipped the coin, I won the toss.  I went first and we began.  Our first few turns were pretty tough as we kept using magic and trap cards to kill each others monsters.  He was playing a Fiend deck (big surprise).  He laughed and joked about a Curse of Dragon I had brought out.  After about 20 minutes, he had managed to bang me down to 1500 life points, he was unhurt at 8000 life.  He had just played a Summoned Skull and I Trap Holed it.  He had 1 face-down monster and 1 card in his Magic Trap Zone.  I had no creatures in play, and all I had was a face down Last Will on the Field.  I had 2 BEWDs in my hand, a Curse of Dragon and a Flute of Summoning Dragon.  I drew a card and the best combo I ever did happened.  I drew my Change of Heart.  I played Change of Heart and took his face down monster, once I had it, I thought for a moment and decided to flip it. It was a Trap Master.  I targeted his one card and it was another Trap Hole.  So that was gone.  I played Last Will and used his Trap Master as Tribute to my Curse of Dragon.  I searched my deck and Special Summoned the Lord of Dragons then I played the Flute of Summoning Dragon and summoned both Blue Eyes.  He yelled “No!” so loud that everyone turned and watched as I proceeded to do 8000 damage and kill him in one turn.  He cursed and muttered for a while as we shuffled.  He kept telling me I was “just lucky”.  Since I had won I decided to go first on our second match.  I drew my opening hand and gasped. (Lord of Dragons, Flute, Tri-Horned Dragon, 7 Colored Fish, Pot of Greed)  I used Pot of Greed and got a Man-Eater Bug and a Trap Hole.  Then I did my dragon combo and got out the Tri-horned Dragon on my first turn!  He was never able to keep a creature in play as I killed them quickly and destroyed his magic/trap cards.  He also was never able to kill the dragon because of the Lord.  He killed my Lord once but I used Monster Reborn to get it back. He died quickly. 

 

All my other matches were downhill after that; either they sucked or were scared of me.  I faced an Exodia Deck that failed because I blasted every defense he brought up.  A few Fiend/Spellcaster decks fell before me.  Even a burn deck was present, which gave me more trouble than some of the others. Every single match I was able to get my combos and I quickly went up the ranks.  I was suddenly the new hero as everyone was now watching how my deck played.  Finally it came down to my last match.  It was my son vs. me!  He was also using a Fiend Deck that I built for him.  Our matches were long and tough and we came down to one match each.  In our last match he had the upper hand with a summoned skull and 2 La Jinns with Dark Energy. Yikes I had nothing in play!  I drew a card; Dark Hole.  I smiled at my son as I looked through my cards and came up with a combo.  First I played a Witch of the Black Forest face up; no response.  I played Dark Hole and he snarled.  I searched for my Lord of Dragons and got my Dragon combo again and I Summoned a Blue Eyes and a Curse of Dragons.  I was able to finish him for the victory.

 

My deck did much better than I thought it would.  I always had an answer to my opponent’s decks, and I always got my combos out.  I did a lot of trading and buying for this deck but it was worth it.  I shared my prizes with some of the other younger kids at the tournament.  I had a lot of fun and will never forget the ex-champion’s expression.

 

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: eriberto@snet.net.  Thanks for reading!