Subject: CounterFusion Deck, Reynaldo K. Cruz, All Things Anime and Manga, Phoenix, AZ Deck Name: Counter Fusion Deck by: Reynaldo K. Cruz All Things Anime and Manga, 24th St. and Osborn, Phoenix, AZ, 85040 Tourney Date: September 28, 2002 Number of participants: 24 Deck particulars: Monsters: 23 Magician of Faith (mof) x3 Mask of Darkness (mod) x2 Man Eater Bug (meb) x3 Trap Master (trapm) x2 Witch of the Black Forest (wotbf) x2 Sangan x2 Red Eyes Black Dragon (REBD) x1 Summoned Skull (ss) x2 Thunder Dragon (thunderd) x3 Versago the Destroyer (vtd) x1 Beast King of the Swamps (bkots) x1 Goddess of the Third Eye (gotte) x1 Magic: 12 Polymerization (Poly) x3 Tribute to the Doomed (tttd) x2 Heavy Storm (hs) x2 Raigeki x1 Dark Hole X1 Pot of Greed x1 Change of Heart (coh) x1 Monster Reborn x1 Trap: 11 Fake Trap x3 (underated card) Seven Tools of the Bandit (seven tools) x3 Magic Jammer (mj) x2 Mirror Force x1 Waboku x2 Total Cards: 46 I know this might seem large, but with ThunderD, two Witch, two sangan, and Pot of Greed/MoF, it thins out pretty quick. Cyber Jar makes my deck very very much better. FUSION DECK: Black Skull Dragon (bsd) x2 Twin Headed Thunder Dragon (thtd) x2 Okay, so, here goes. This is my first tourney report, even though I've been reading pojo posts and reports for months and months. I've been with Yugioh before I even knew there was a card game, I just knew about the TV show. First episode I ever saw was the Mako Tsunami vs. Yugi ep., and I thought the strategy angle was pretty cool. When my little bro ended up getting his hands on a starter deck and some LOBEWD boosters, I was hooked, and we've been dueling together ever since. The store I duel at is awesome. They follow all official rules and restrictions, which means no Magic Ruler cards until the restrictions are updated. Which is too bad, because I have some alterations I want very badly to make to my deck. Cyber Jar would help me immensely. So would Spear Cretin. Bringing back Cyber Jar equals more drawing and more of my effect monsters. Just have to watch out for Soul Release, which my deck HATES with a passion, as you can see with all my recall effect monsters. Oh, and Hiro's Shadow Scout is a card I can't WAIT to use. On to the duels. There were 24 duelists, which meant the store made up two brackets, one 16 players and one 8 players. I was helping them as a judge, so they put me in the smaller bracket of 8, so that the larger one could begin and I could judge alongside one of the coolest guys ever, Mikey. After a few rounds of the first bracket, it was my turn up. As always seems to be the case, first round was against a newbie. Duel 1 Poor kid. Same deal as most young kids new to the game. Had to help him follow the rules as we went along. Typical stuff. High level monsters, no concept of tributing or mode changes/flip effect rules, etc. It went pretty quick. The first duel went sort of slow. I kept drawing effect monsters and magic cards. He nailed me for a few grand, but I finally got my fusions going, and it went downhill from there, with only a small MEB hiccup along the way. The second duel went pretty ugly for the poor little guy. I drew ThunderD on my first turn along with Poly, Heavy Storm, and Raigeki, MoF and Pot of Greed. Things went down hill pretty quick for him, I mean, c'mon, 5900 points of damage in three turns ain't bad. Fusion decks are great, you can score quick on the second turn if you're lucky. I later drew REBD and a VTD, brought back Poly with MOF, what a sweet girl, for Black Skull Dragon, and that was it. A short break, during which I resolved some issues, one of which had to do with a poor soul who had a Lord of D and a Curse of Dragon on the field, and then Dark Holed himself, thinking the LOD would protect his dragon. He had the duel in the bag, as his opponent's face down monster was some crap 4 star monster like Man Eating Treasure Chest. He ended up losing that first duel, then lost the second to a just desserts. Nasty card, that. Second Duel Ironically, I got to face the little kid who beat the Lord of D guy mentioned above. Tom is his name, the Lord of D guy, and he was expecting to win easily, but as described, ended up killing himself. Oh well. It's what you get when you don't read the FAQ's on the Upperdeck site. Learn and love 'em people, 'cause you can't argue with 'em. This duel was also an easy one. The kid had a direct damage deck, you know, Tremendous Fire, Princess of Tsurugi, Just Desserts. Too bad I can activate ThunderD while using TTTD. As a result, I got out all my fusions and all my counter cards, and it was me walking through the park while eating a piece of cake. His only chance was a CoH on my BSD, but I had a Magic Jammer that I used, along with ThunderD, and then I hit him another THTD on the next turn. I know that Fusion decks get a bad rap out there, but they're always fun to play, if, for nothing else, the look on everyone's face when: 1) they find out you have 3 Poly's, and 2) when people see you with an empty field versus a Blue Eyes, and you smack it down with a Black Skull Dragon. As an aside, I have to say that I picked Fusions for my deck archetype BEFORE I knew about the soon to be played out Cyberstein (Devil Franken) combo. So there. Duel Three, Final Round At the time, I didn't even REALIZE it was the final round, because I'd forgotten my bracket had only 8 duelists. Oddly enough, the chap I faced was someone I had faced in the finals at another store. This time I had a much easier go at it, because the previous time I had used a LastWill/UltimateOffering/Robbin Gobblin deck. Some people mock the HOTC, but it works. I went back to my beloved Counter Fusion, and it was all she wrote. Given that I actually knew this person, I can tell you that he runs an offensive Exodia deck, with Lord of D and dragons to pummel you while he draws the forbidden one. Personally, I think that's a bit muddled, but whatever floats your catamaran. He gave me no competition in the first duel. I brought out BSD and THTD within four turns and it was over. Second duel, I got out a sangan and a witch in my first two turns, then drew a Raigeki on my third, which I used to clear his field and attack for 2100. I knew it would leave me open to life point damage, but with their effects being activated when they croak, and me having Poly in my hand, I wasn't too worried. See, Witch lets me search for, of course, SS, which is only half of my BSD fusion, but Sangan lets me search for any of the three fusion substitute monsters. Heh heh. Which is what happened, as I used the Waboku I drew next to let me stall with sangan for another turn. Eventually he destroyed it, which I used to grab my fusion sub, but instead of bringing out BSD, I decided to trust in the aforementioned HOTC and go for a one turn kill. I drew mirror force, a seven tools, a thunder dragon, and a magic jammer in succession during the next four turns. At this point he had whittled me down to about 1500 life points ...and then I drew my second poly (the first I'd been saving for later, which was about to be my next draw), and set into events a very unpleasant surprise. I passed, letting him go. He used Lord of D and flute to bring out BEWD. He grins. He attacks. I Mirror Force. He grins again and uses seven tools. I shake my head and say "sorry buddy" and use my own seven tools. Next turn. You know it. I draw MOF, but know I won't need it. I poly for BSD, discard ThunderD, poly for THTD, attack for 6000, duel/match/tournament champion. Although I wanted a match with the winner of the first bracket, I didn't get it until we met at a nearby McDonald's after the store closed. I have to give him props, as he runs a Warrior themed deck. Invigoration, Judge Man, field effect cards. At least he's original. So that was it. I got a tournament pack with Bean Soldier, AW YEAH!, but that's alright, I have my fusion subs and a white hole already, lucky me. The only prize was first place points, but hey, everyone at All Things Anime and Manga is so much fun to hang out with, it's alright. Plus, they have a great collection of single cards at great prices. Anyone who's in Phoenix on a Saturday at 3 o clock should stop by. Maybe we can duel. Cheers. P.S. Everyone rush their local Toys 'r' Us, as they have the Yugioh Booster Tins. The variant cards ARE legal in tournaments, and they look like secret rares. Who doesn't want a Secret Rare Summoned Skull, BEWD, BSD, Dark Magician, REBD, or Lord of D? Well, maybe not the Lord, but, well, go grab 'em. They rock. Ebay is also good. P.P.S. Cards to add later...two REBD, one SS, two MegaMorphs, 3 Mystical Space Typhoons, 1 Cyber Jar, 2 Spear Cretins, 2 Hiro's Shadow Scouts Any responses etc. send to: Reynaldo K. Cruz hotc24@yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx