From: "Super Sheep7" To: Subject: NOT a Beatdown - Jimmy C - Collector's Cache, Overland Park KS Date: Thursday, March 27, 2003 8:16 AM Name: Jimmy Chen Deck: NOT a Beatdown =\ Date: Saturday, March 22, 2003, 2:00 PM Location: Collector's Cache, Overland Park, Kansas Format: 1 vs. 1 Single Elimination, all matches are best 2 out of 3 duels. No divisions according to age. This tournament was sanctioned by Upper Deck, so all normal deck restrictions and rulings apply. At the time of the tournament, there were no restrictions for Labyrinth of Nightmare. The Joey/Pegasus decks and all promo cards were legal. Number of comtestants: 57 people playing in a 64-person bracket Entry Fee: $3 Prize: The store was out of tournament packs, so prizes only went to those who placed in the top 4. Store credit was $75 for 1st place, $50 for 2nd place, and roughly $20 apiece for 3rd and 4th Hey, this is Jimmy, AKA J1mmyEatW0rld711 and SuperSheep7 on AIM and JimmyEatWorld711 on Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh ladder. This was only my third Yu-Gi-Oh tournament, and it was my second here at Collector's Cache. Cache is generally known around here as the hardest tournament, with a usually-full 64-person bracket every week. This week, the attendance was down a little bit, and I'm guessing that's because some people were away on spring break. This is my first deck report for Yugioh, but it's my third tournament. I placed first in one of them, but lost out third round to an Exodia deck the other time. Here's my deck I used. Special thanks to Tony, Octavio, Michael, and Jack for helping me make it and lending me a few crucial cards. :D Monsters: 20 3 La Jinn 2 Hysteric Fairy 1 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer 2 Goblin Attack Force 3 Nimble Momonga 1 Sangan 1 Witch of the Black Forest 1 White Magical Hat 3 Magician of Faith 2 Man-Eater Bug 1 Cyber Jar Magic: 18 1 Raigeki 1 Dark Hole 1 Change of Heart 1 Monster Reborn 1 Pot of Greed 1 Delinquent Duo 1 The Forceful Sentry 1 Swords of Revealing Light 2 Heavy Storm 2 Mystical Space Typhoon 1 Axe of Despair 2 Fissure 2 Nobleman of Crossout 1 Premature Burial Trap: 4 1 Imperial Order 1 Mirror Force 1 Waboku 1 Solemn Judgment Sidedeck: 15 1 Kuriboh 1 Ceasefire 1 Hysteric Fairy 1 7 Colored Fish 1 Exchange 1 Confiscation 1 Card Destruction 1 Soul Release 2 Prohibition 1 Hayabusa Knight 1 Masked Sorcerer 2 Dust Tornado 1 Man-Eater Bug (My sidedeck philosophy: If it works, don't mess with it =\ Meaning, if I win the first game of 2/3, I usually won't bother with the side...) Yes, I know the maindeck is 42 cards, but it really runs like a 40-card or lower deck because of the 3 Nimbles and 2 Crossouts, plus the Witch and Sangan. So it does run very smoothly. I'm surprised my deck did so well, seeing as how it was missing some cards vital to beatdown - Jinzo, Snatch Steal, and Call of the Haunted, to name a few. Plus missing the LoN cards. I really don't have a name for this deck. On Apprentice, I simply call it "removal". For this report, I figured I'd call it something stupid like "Not a Beatdown"... Anyways. The only tecH I used for this tournament was the single Waboku - as you can see, I was missing practically all of the LoN power cards (Mage Power, UWS, Cylinder, Gemini Elf, Bazoo, etc) so I figured I better put in some protection against them. The 2 MST was also put in there for kind of the same reason. I figure if I can save myself for one turn, then next turn I can play Storms or Fissures or whatever and remove the threat. The strategy of this deck is removal, plain and simple. 2 Storm+2 MST for magics and traps, 2 Fissure+2 Crossout+2 MEB for monsters, and WMH+Duo+Sentry for the hand. I get almost all of my damage with this deck from direct attacks, because of all the removal. Playing 20 monters plus no tribute mons means I will almost always have enough mons in my hand to play one a turn and keep the onslaught and constant removal going. I like to think my deck has no real weakness. Against beatdown, I should be able to maintain a good monster advantage, what with most beatdowns only playing 16 monsters nowadays. Against weenie, I can just MST/Storm the Grav Binds or I can just attack with my own weenies (Nimbles, Sangan, WMH, Witch, sideboard in a Hayabusa Knight). And practically half of my sidedeck is severe Exodia hate. :/ I got there about half an hour early, and tried to trade to get some of the stuff I desperately needed for my deck, but couldn't find anybody willing to trade. So, onto the tournament. I didn't take notes, and I didn't remember a lot of what exactly happened, but I'll tell what I remember. Yeah. One more thing. I'm absolutely HORRIBLE with names, and I only got a few...so...sorry if I didn't remember your name. I tried. ;/ --- Round 1: vs. Larry w/ Relinquished lockdown My opponent was about 30 years old (I'm 15) and had a weenie-Relinquished type of deck, using Gravity Bind, Hayabusa (I think) and with a few high-attack monsters mixed in there. Game 1: I saw him get a quick Harpie's Brother with Axe, and had a little bit of trouble drawing enough monster removal to get rid of it. He had at least 3-4 facedown M/Ts on the field practically the entire game and I only managed to draw into one Storm, which was Jammered. :/ This guy had a lot of the good LoN cards - I saw a Gemini Elf, a Cylinder, and a Mage Power all in this game. That being said, I ended up just overpowering him, after Fissuring and MEB'ing a bunch of monsters and he didn't draw any for a few turns. 1-0 Game 2: Pretty much the same story. I think it was partway through this game that he played Masked Sorcerer with Mage Power and had like 4 M/Ts down, that was the only time when I really felt any kind of threat from his deck. I eventually COH'd the Masked Sorcerer, forced an activation of a Gravity Bind, and later went on to kill it without much damage to me. At the end of the game, he had about 1500 LP left and I had around 4000. He has no monsters, and no M/T on the field, 2 cards in hand, and I had a Nimble and some other little attacker hitting him for about 2000 a turn. I play The Forceful Sentry, and see a Fiend Megacyber and a Black Illusion. I return the Fiend Megacyber. He knows that if he doesn't draw some kind of monster, he'll lose next turn - and he draws - ...Relinquished. And he already had Black Illusion in his hand. Scares the living crap out of me, but then I realize that he doesn't have the 1-star sacrifice necessary to play Relinquished. So, luckily for me, that's game. 2-0 On to round 2... Round 2: vs. Kid with large deck... Sometimes, before a game, you just know that it won't be too much of a challenge...there are just some of those telltale signs, ya know? Like a 60-card deck. Or having a St. Joan in your fusion deck. =\ Anyway, as the game started, I was a little bit afraid that I may have underestimated him. His first move was Gemini Elf in attack mode. =\ But, after I fissured the Elf, he had nothing but monsters with 1600 attack like Fire Kraken and it was smooth sailing. Same story with the second game. After disposing of Gemini and a few dangerous MTs, there were no real threats. 4-0 I'm now in top 16. On to round 3. Round 3: vs. Clown Control I talked a little bit with this kid before the tournament. I got a glimpse of his deck, and it was a pretty good-looking Clown Control. I hung around with this kid before the tournament, and I knew that he'd had plenty of tournament experience. It was kinda funny, listening to him try to psych me out and find out what kind of deck I played before the game. He was all like "Oh, gosh, I'm so bored, those last two rounds weren't even a challenge. I hope I don't fall asleep." Man. That's reeeaaaal corny, dude -_- Then he asked me if I played a "beatdown" - I asked innocently, "what's a beatdown?" He says, "do you play Summoned Skulls?" I respond, "Um, no." I think this led him to believe a few things that would inevitably come around to haunt him... Anyway, first game, he gets out a fast Dream Clown, the heart of his deck, and compliments it with a Hayabusa. Ph33r. I might've been in some trouble if he had an Axe on Hayabusa, but I managed to play some form of monster removal on HK before it happened. I eventually win this game not by using Storm/MST on his Gravity Binds (which were out a lot), but by just playing Sangan/WMH/Nimble combo with monster removal, and then reborning his Hayabusa, and attacking directly. Now I can see he's a little bit scared. He begins to do his little "That was boring" routine, and I say "Boring? Well you better step it up a little bit, you're 8000 lifepoints away from elimination." He mumbles something like "It's not boring anymore." ROFL :/ The second game was decided rather quickly. He goes first, plays 3 MTs facedown, and drops Dream Clown in attack mode. On my first turn, I cast a quick Heavy Storm, which he responds to with Solemn Judgment, halving his lifepoints to 4000. I figure he's protecting something real valuable, probably Gravity Bind + Mirror Force or something like that. Eventually, I had to kill the same Dream Clown 3 times before it finally went away (he used Reborn, Call of the Haunted, and Premature on it). Then I reborned it on my side of the field, used my own weenies to rush him under his Gravity Bind, and won much like the first game. XD r0x0r :/ 6-0 Onto round 4 and top 8... Round 4: vs. Beatdown This was a beatdown similar to mine, but with more of the LoN power cards. I saw lots of Bazoo and Kycoo in this match. Game 1, it was fairly close but I pulled out the win with the help of lots of Nimbles, removal, and constant attacking. =\ Game 2, it was close once again. I sidedeck in my Kuriboh, which is my only real beatdown tech, to be searched out with Sangan/Witch in late game to save my butt. Of course, it always seems to come out in a Cyber Jar, which is of course what happened in this game =\ Near the end, he had no monsters and no MTs, no cards in hand, and I had a Fairy with Axe. He topdecks and plays Snatch Steal and finishes off my last 2000 LP. Game 3, the rubber match. It was, once again, a pretty close game. It sure started off strangely - I had nothing but Man-Eater Bugs for about 10 turns, and he only had Magician of Faith. So my MEBs ate his facedown Faiths and I attacked with the two MEBs maybe 5 times before he got annoyed and just Mirror Forced them. But it was cool, I got him down to like 5500 with only MEB attacks XD. Soon enough, however, both of us started drawing into our heavier hitters. I don't really remember what else happened, but he got a Bazoo that was pumped up to 2500 for a few turns before I got rid of it. This game was really back and forth after the odd start. We both hit each other with lots of magic, and lots of removal of all sorts. It ends with him not having any monsters left, me with a Nimble and a Sangan or Witch (can't remember which one), attacking for a constant 2000. Good games. It was during the third game, I think, that I ran into a ruling that I was unfamiliar with - after Snatch Stealing a monster of mine, he played Giant Trunade and claimed that the monster that was Snatch Stolen remained on his side of the field, and the judge agreed with him. I dunno, I ended up winning anyway, but I'd never heard of that ruling. =\ 8-1 Sweet...I'm in top 4, which guarantees me some form of store credit. Round 5: vs. Exodia Yeah. I'd been itching to use my Exodia sidedeck, and here's my chance. Of course, the first game was played without the aid of siding. This guy had one sweet Exodia deck that he had obviously dumped a lot of money and effort into. He had 3 Penguin Soldier, the ones from the Joey deck, as well as the much sought after TP2 Morphing Jar in there. Game 1: I didn't play too well. He milled with Graceful Charity, got some good Magics, and searched with Sangan/Witch over and over again. It ended with him Cyber Jarring me, and getting Sangan in the Jar. He plays Graceful Charity, gets Dark Hole, and searches for the last piece. I had Solemn Judgment facedown, but elected not to use it to counter Dark Hole, because A.) I was at full life and B.) I had only seen 2 of his pieces...kinda stupid of me, I guess. Game 2: I sidedecked in all my anti-Exodia stuff. :) In case you're wondering, here's the list. 1 Ceasefire 1 Exchange 1 Confiscation 1 Card Destruction 1 Soul Release 2 Prohibition 1 Masked Sorcerer In this game, he played Graceful Charity first turn, and got rid of a piece. Later, he played Painful Choice, and I let all 3 of the pieces he chose go to the graveyard (I'm not really sure what he's trying to do here). Soon, he Backup Soldiers 3 of them after chaining my MT removal. I guessed he had Exodia head in his hand, and was just waiting for his other Backup Soldier to get that last piece. Luckily, I drew into one of my two Prohibitions, used it on Backup Soldier, and the game was pretty much done at that point. I Crossed out his 3 Faiths and his 3 Penguin Soldiers in this game, crippling his deck. Game 3: I left all my anti-Exodia side in there. He sidedecked for a while in between games. He got screwed pretty darn quick. After a little bit of sparring back and forth, he was at 1500 LP and had to play an Exodia leg facedown to shield his lifepoints. But, of course, I had Crossout ready, and that was the end of Exodia. It turns out his sidedeck had turned his deck into a semi-beatdown, with Summoned Skull, GAF, and Gearfried. But, his halfhearted beatdown was really no match for my full one. He stalled me out for a while, throwing down lots of monsters and just basically doing whatever he could to maintain his last sliver of life. I had a spare Prohibition in my hand, so I slapped it down and called Raigeki since he hadn't used his yet. This turns out to be a pretty good move later on. At the end, he Cyber Jarred, and got 2 of his Kuribohs and a Penguin Soldier in it. =\ More importantly, both of us got our Raigekis. At this point, he only has 7 cards in his deck, and I have about 10. He does a Sangan search and a Witch search, putting his deck at 5. I play Heavy Storm to get rid of my own Prohibition, Raigeki his Kuribohs and Penguin Soldier, play down my entire hand (it was all M/T) and then used Exchange to make sure he doesn't have any Kuribohs left, and he didn't, and I attack for the final amount. w00t. ;/ Now I know you're not allowed to Exchange when Exchange is your only card in your hand, but during the tournament I asked the head judge and he said you could. So, =\ 10-2 I am in the Finals. XD Round 6: vs. Beatdown The guy I was against came to me saying he was kinda tired, and didn't really want to duel anymore (we had been playing for 4 hours now...that's what ya get with huge brackets), and offered to split first place, giving us $62.50 in store credit apiece. I thought about it for a while, didn't want to get too greedy, and agreed and we shook hands. We then played a 1/1 duel just for fun, and to determine who would get the "points" for winning the tournament. I don't remember too much about this game, except that neither of us was really trying. He ended up winning by like 2000 LP because I couldn't draw any monsters. No big deal. :) So, I tied for first place. I was about to buy some singles to complete my deck (Jinzo comes to mind -_-) with the store credit but then I saw the prices. Jinzo itself was $59, which would have taken most of my $62.50. So, instead, I got 14 LoN packs and 1 PSV pack (hoping beyond hope for Jinzo/Call). Besides, I promised my friend Tony (he lent me a few of the cards I used in this tournament) that if I won, I'd save some of the prize for him...and that's kinda hard to do with buying only singles. =\ So, I kept 7 packs for myself and gave the other 8 to the other guys who helped me. I guess I should say that in all my life playing Yu-Gi-Oh, I have NEVER pulled a SINGLE super rare, ultra rare, and much less a secret rare from a pack. That's just how it goes. NEVER. My trading binder is full of pages and pages of crappy normal rares. ;/ My luck changed (for about 2 seconds) this time around. In the first LoN pack I opened, I pulled...Gemini Elf. SWEET! XD I played the whole tournament against kids who packed 3 of those. =\ I dunno whether to use it in my deck or just sell it or something... Of course, my other 6 packs were just ... crappy normal rares. I got a Spirit L (now I have 2 L's and an A...great...), among other junk. Not really anything useful. Overall, it was a great tournament anyway. Good games, great opponents, and getting the Gemini Elf is pwn. ;) Props: -Me...for winning the tournament! XD -Me for not having Jinzo, Snatch Steal, Call of the Haunted, Scapegoat, Penguin Soldier, United We Stand, Mage Power, Magic Cylinder, Gemini Elf, OR Bazoo The Soul Eater and still ... winning the tournament =\ =\ =\ -All my opponents for being good sports -Tony, Octavio, Michael, and Jack for lending me some cards ;/ -My shiny new blue covers :D -Collector's Cache for having awesome tournaments, and giving out lots of store credit for the winners -Collector's Cache for having judges that knew what they were talking about...er...kinda =\ Slops: -Me...for not remembering anybody's name =\ -Hysteric Fairy for having a useless effect and a really weird picture :/ -To that kid I played 3rd round with Clown Control with his really corny psych-out strategy... -The 6 packs that I pulled crap rares from -_- -Drawing Nobleman of Crossout all the time 0_o -Freakin Jinzo, Gemini, and Cylinder for being so hard to find... Tha's it. l8r y0. Thanks for reading. ;) -Jimmy AIM - J1mmyEatW0rld711 Email - SuperSheep7@hotmail.com I'd like to hear from you, especially if you've played at local KC tournaments.