Crush It! Serf. A World of Books. San Leandro, CA. Monsters: 20 3 Troop Dragon 1 Magician of Faith 1 Summoned Skull 2 Sangan/Witch of the Black Forest 3 Nimble Momongas 3 Cannon Soldier 1 Inaba White Rabbit 1 Cyber Jar 3 Mad Swords Beast 2 Spear Dragon Magic: 12 1 Change of Heart 1 Pot of Greed 1 Raigeki 1 Dark Hole 1 Monster Reborn 1 Snatch Steal 1 Premature Burial 1 Swords of Revealing Light 1 Mystical Space Typhoon 1 Heavy Storm 2 Graceful Charity Trap: 8 1 Mirror Force 1 Imperial Order 1 Call of the Haunted 1 Magic Cylinder 2 Solemn Judgment 1 Magic Drain 1 Ceasefire Total 40 Sunday, June 15, 2003 I've been getting a lot of emails, asking why I haven't been posting tournament reports. Two things happened: 1) UpperDeck does not allow Judges to participate in the same tournament. That makes sense, that way, the Judge is impartial. Well, since I usually judge at World of Books, I stopped joining tournaments. I could have kept my points and kept playing in tournaments by playing at Collector's Corner on Saturdays, but... 2) I got busy and YuGiOh dropped down on my priority list. Instead of giving up things for YGO, I started doing things other than YGO. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great game and I still enjoy playing, but sometimes you get burnt out and need a break. That doesn't mean that I won't join tournaments ever again. It's just the way it is for now. Anyway, since I've been playing less frequently, I've also been out of practice. So about a couple of weeks ago, I started playing more to get back into "dueling form". It was tough. I was making more stupid mistakes than usual and the confidence wasn't there yet. On Sunday, I decided to bring my deck and duel after the tournament. I didn't play, since I Judged. I knew that I'll get some good duels after the tournament, and I also knew that Bandit Keif and the rest of KForce1 were coming to play (they also took a break). So this is not a tournament report. This is a dueling report. But who cares? I played 5 people, and played Bandit Keif last, so you can pretend it's a tournament. 1st match Opponent: Black Joker, formerly ZeenO (Gravity Bind) Black Joker, or BJ for short (haha!) got a Yata two weeks ago, so he got rid of his Exodia Deck and went to Gravity Bind/Clown/Hand Disruption. BJs deck is good, but he's still working out the bugs. First Duel, BJ gives it to me. He opens up with Delinquent Duo and slowly takes me apart with White Magical Hats and Hayabusa Knights. I couldn't put up much of an offense since he had me frozen with Gravity Bind. He wins with 6800 LP left. Second Duel, I had to sidedeck if I wanted to win. I put in one Dust Tornado and another MST. Sidedecking helped, since my troops were now free to attack. His defense mode monsters couldn't hold up against the charge of the Mad Swords Beast. And even if my Beast stalled for a little bit, his tag team partner Cannon Soldier made sure to shoot damage directly at his face. It still took me more than 10 turns to beat him, but I had him on the defense for most of the duel and won with 7200 LP left. Third and deciding duel, it was more of the same. The only difference is that I got in one huge hit thanks to a Cyber Jar flip that went my way. 4700 in one turn. Then I followed that up with a 2500 Ceasefire. Finished it up with the ever-reliable, trademarked Cannon Soldier launching party. Throughout the duel I kept taunting him to use his Yata, but he never got the chance because he couldn't clear my field. Since this was just a fun match, he wanted one more duel. Who am I to say no to BJ? If BJ wants to give me one more, I say "yes, please!" This duel was more competitive than the last two. He got some hits in with Hayabusa and brought me down to 3850. But I was doing little hits here and there with Inaba, and they added up. He was down to 1600 and I finished him off with a big hit from a Witch, a Sangan, and a Troop Dragon. 2800 total. He had enough so he left. 2nd match Opponent: Kevo Kaiba (KForce1 Crush Deck) Kevo's deck is what I am trying to make right now. Fairy Crush monsters (AirKnight, Spear Dragon, etc) plus Robbin' Goblin. I think this deck- type would be vicious; so does he, apparently. Lucky for me, his deck was not yet complete (missing some cards). He was also one of the two people I faced all day with no Yata. Everybody else seems to have one. First duel, this was quick. He cleaned me out fast, about 4 turns at most. He got Robbin' Goblin early and discarded my whole hand in two turns. With no cards to play, I quickly lost. I got him down to 5600, but those were just little hits. Second duel, like the Hulkster caught in a Sleeper hold with his arm and fist pumping up and down, energy came back to me. This match was not over. His overpowering forces had me on the ropes, down to 200 LP. But thanks to my trusty Cannon Soldier, I was able to attack and launch for the win. Third duel had me in control. I was chipping away at his LP with frequent 1000 LP hits, then one big 2800 hit with Witch and Troop Dragon. I followed it two turns later with a 2000 Ceasefire burn. I had him down to 600, while I was at 5000. He puts a monster in DEF mode. Next turn, I draw Mad Swords Beast and I command it to Crush It! The monster flips over and it's a Sangan, with a puny defense of either 600 or 800 (I don't remember). Anyway, 1400 Beast minus Sangan's weak defense equals enough for me to win. I shake hands with him and we congratulate and talk for a while. We always have good duels and like to talk about concepts for decks. I mentioned to him that I was also trying to make the same deck he had. 3rd match Opponent: Voltaire (Warrior Deck) Voltaire has become a regular at World of Books. He always seem to have a new deck type every week. He also has a Yata. Today he had a Warrior Deck. First duel was close. We had been exchanging hits back and forth. I had 800 and he had 1150. It was an open field for both of us. No cards for both of us, and whoever drew the first monster wins. I go and get MST. I place it face down. He goes and gets Magic Jammer, I MST it. I go and draw Imperial Order. Not what I need right now. His turn and he draws Gearfried, game over. Second duel, being a little more familiar with his deck I made better decisions in this duel. One thing that did surprise me was he had a face down DEF monster and I had the Mad Swords Beast out. I ordered the Beast to Crush It! and WHAM! The Beast ran into the 1700 DEF of Invader of the Throne. Later on, he's at 1900 and I'm at 2650. He has no monsters on the field, one face down card. I have nothing on my side. I draw and get Monster Reborn. I activate and Reborn Cannon Soldier, he chains Solemn Judgment. He's at 850. Good move, but I had a backup plan. I play Premature Burial and bring back Cannon Soldier for the win. Third duel was a little faster than the second. This was because Voltaire played and early Solemn Judgment that brought him from 7200 to 3600. I then start chipping at his LP with Inaba for a couple of turns. Third time I try it, he splashes me with Torrential Tribute. Bye-bye Spirit monster. But the damage had been done, he was now in range for a Cannon Soldier launching party. And that's exactly what I did. We shake hands and Voltaire finally relaxes. He tells me that he gets really nervous when he plays me. I also get nervous when I play, but you need to control it and focus. 4th match Opponent: Mr. Robinson (Toon Exodia) Yes, exactly, don't ask. This guy is insane, ask him yourself and he'll tell you he's insane. A 50 card Toon Deck with Exodia thrown in for flavor. By the way, he was the second person that did not have Yata. Both duels were quick, about three turns each. I lost a total of 500 LP in both duels. The fact is David plays for fun and not for competition. It's always fun playing David and listening to his insanity. In one of the duels, I Reborn Exodia's left arm and slap him with it. Exactly. 5th match Opponent: Bandit Keif (the original KForce1 Redline) Today was Keif's comeback to tournament dueling at World of Books. He came with slight modifications to his Redline. Not going to comment much but he did have Yata. As soon as people saw that we were going to play, a crowd started to gather. An epic battle was being waged just like old times. First duel, I got beaten with all the trademark Keif moves, all that was missing was the infamous "Redline! Game." He kept increasing his LP, that gave me trouble, and he finished with 8000 LP. He had no trouble cleaning up my LP as he beat me quickly. Keif was a little bit shocked to hear that I had won all my matches for the day. Clearly I didn't prove it here. Second duel was very close. He had me at 6300 and I had him 6500. He knocks me down to 2800 with a big 3500 hit. I retaliate with 4500 hit in one turn. Two words: Cannon Soldier. This monster is amazing. Trust me. With him at 2000 and me at 2800, this duel was going to the wire. A couple of turns go by where we just set monsters, no attacking at all. Then I draw my other trump card, Ceasefire. There were just enough effect monsters on the field for me to win. Third duel was a throwback, flashback, Serf vs Keif duel. That means that it lasted forever. With the annoying reset button, that only prolonged the duel. I was slowly reducing his LP with monsters such as Inaba and Cannon Soldier. For my LP, I was killing myself with Solemn Judgment. I Solemned an early Jinzo, went from 7900 to 3850. After a couple of reset buttons and me at 3150, I Solemned again to 1575. By now, he was at 2500. I shoot a bunch of monsters at him and he's at 500. He uses Ceasefire on me, two monsters on the field, and I'm at 575. Cyber Jar goes off and I have 3 monsters on the field and he has none. But he uses Raigeki. He has no monster, my turn. I draw Premature, but I can't use it. So I set it. He Dusters and he draws a monster, but he sets it. Hmmm, the attack must be less than 600, or he would have finished me off. From experience playing against Keif, I have a guess on which monster it was. I figured the DEF would be around 500. I draw and get Mad Swords Beast. I summon the Beast and order it to Crush It! I was wrong on which monster it was, but I was right on the DEF. It was 500. 1400 minus 500 gave me the win. We shake hands and congratulate each other. Of course it was another great duel, I don't expect any less from a duelist of Keif's caliber. With Keif getting back into dueling mode and seeing the decks used in the metagame, I know he will be adjusting his deck and he'll only get more dangerous. What’s up! to the hardcore Yu-Gi-Oh! gamers at a World of Books. Get lost! to the thieves that steal cards. Serf buffserf@yahoo.com