Preface (written by BigSpooky)
"First, there was the great Spooky and his army of Killer Squirrels. But as King Spooky grew older, he found it increasingly difficult to maintain control of his vast armada as he once had. So the king bestowed the right to wield the awesome power of the Killer Squirrels on a select few. This is the story of one brave man who hearkened to the task..."

Welcome back to another exciting edition of Squirrels Gone Wild!  People seem to like the name so I'm sticking with it.  I've been on a short hiatus because of finals with school and having to move back home from college so that's where I've been the past several weeks.  That leads me to my next subject, I'm no longer in Washington DC anymore, so sorry Dream Wizards peeps, but you're going to have to wait until August before you can face Squirrels again, and trust me, you will see them again... MUAHAHA!!!  Anyway,  until it's time for me to return to Washington DC, I'll be playing back in my hometown of El Paso, TX.  Now, let me tell you that this tournament scene is WAY different than what I'm used to in DC.  DC tournaments are usually 90 or more people and just about everyone has at least one Jinzo.  Here, the place was about 1/4 the size of Dream Wizards with 1/4 the turnout (though I heard that they usually get about 30 people) and a lot of people were still trying to trade for Jinzo.  I'm also the only person here to possess a Morphing Jar.  In DC there was at least one other kid with one.  Of course, I did see some Mechanical Chasers (TP1 and TP3) and a Needle Worm, so there were some elite cards about.  Speaking of Morphing Jar, I swear every single person in the store today made me an offer.  Thanks, but no thanks guys.

One last thing, the response to Killer Squirrels Online (KSO) has been phenomenal.    Last I checked we were about 30 members strong (up from the original 5) and still growing.  I think Killer Squirrels are taking Yu-Gi-Oh! by storm!  As a matter of fact, one of my Dream Wizard's pals informed me that people are now coveting their Squirrels and refusing to trade them.  I think I had a large part to do with that by showing everyone how playable they actually were.  :)

My deck is virtually unmodified from it's previous incarnation, which sucks because LOD was released and I don't have a single card from it (yet).  Needless to say, I would be at a disadvantage, but that's ok, because I have SQUIRREL POWER!

Anyway, with introductions out of the way, it's now time to kick it SQUIRREL STYLE!!!

SQUIRRELS GONE WILD (42 cards)

MONSTERS (17)

Tribute
1x Barrel Dragon
1x Jinzo
Non-Tribute
1x Cyber Jar
2x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2x Gemini Elf
2x Magician of Faith
2x Penguin Soldier
1x Witch of the Black Forest
3x Nimble Momonga (KILLER SQUIRRELS!!!)
1x Sinister Serpent
1x Morphing Jar (Yes, American TP2-001!)

MAGIC (19)

1x Change of Heart
1x Dark Hole
1x Heavy Storm
1x Harpie's Feather Duster
2x Tribute to the Doomed
2x Nobleman of Crossout
1x Monster Reborn
1x Pot of Greed
1x Premature Burial
1x Raigeki
1x Snatch Steal
1x Swords of Revealing Light
2x Graceful Charity
1x Scapegoat
1x Painful Choice
1x United We Stand
1x Mage Power

TRAPS (5)

1x Call of the Haunted
1x Mirror Force
1x Skull Lair
1x Imperial Order
1x Magic Cylinder

SIDEBOARD (15)

1x Delinquent Duo
1x The Forceful Sentry
1x Card Destruction
1x Sangan
1x Confiscation
1x Tornado Bird
1x Collected Power
1x Seven Tools of the Bandit
2x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Magic Jammer
1x Exchange
1x Curse of Fiend
2x Hayabusa Knight

    Ok, here's the basic strategy for the deck (try to keep up):  Make your opponents lifepoints less than or equal to zero.  The sideboard is basically to take down theme decks like Exodia  Of particular note is Tornado Bird, which I decided I could search for with Sangan and Witch of the Black Forest if I came against a Destiny Board deck.  I also put 2 Hayabusa Knights in case I faced a Gravitiy Bind deck.  In such instances, I would be able to convert Squirrels Gone Wild into Squirrel 2.0 by swapping out the Kycoos.

    Those of you who remember my last report will notice a couple of slight changes to my deck.  I took out Summoned Skull in favor of Barrel Dragon.  I figured with Graceful Charities and Painful Choice, getting him into the graveyard would be fairly easy, and then bringing him back with one of my 3 graveyard resurrection cards would be awesome and put in another Gemini Elf just for kicks.

And so the story begins...

    Ok, those of you who've read my previous tournament reports know I have a knack for being almost late to any tournament I go to... and many other things for that matter.  However, in a bizarre twist of fate I managed to make it RIDICULOUSLY EARLY to this tournament, despite it starting an hour earlier than the one in DC.  I got there with about 45 minutes to spare, instead of the normal 5.  Don't ask me how that works.  I think it has something to do with the fact that I don't have to take public transportation here at home.  I'll be interesting to see how next week turns out because next week the store is closing early and they're starting the tournament an hour earlier.

Looking around at this crowd I saw... no one I knew (for obvious reasons).  One thing I did notice though was that there was only one adult, and that I was the next oldest person there.  I signed up for the tournament and then plopped down into a chair and gauged the crowd.  The crowd, instantly smelling fresh meat, looked at me and asked if I played Yu-Gi-Oh!  I promptly busted out my deck and binder.  People, instantly sensing that I wasn't a noob from my collection of cards and deck, asked if I had played before and I told them my situation.  Surprizingly, many of them had heard of me (wasn't expecting that).  I played someone for fun and waiting for the pairings to be posted.  As I waited I made friends with this guy Blain and he told me who were the best duelists at this store, which is always good to know.  A while later pairings were posted and it turns out I had to face Abel, the #2 guy in the store.  Just my luck today I guess.  Anyways, it was time to DUEL!

Round 1: Kris (That's me!) vs Abel [Beatdown]
Abel plays a strong beatdown deck.  He apparently doesn't have any trouble attaining LOD cards, because his deck contained the dreaded Injection Faerie Lily!

Duel 1: This duel went fast.  Incredibly fast.  I went first and set a monster, next turn he Change of Hearted it and then tributed it for Summoned Skull and then hit me for 2500 points.  Next turn I Snatch Stole his Summoned Skull, played Gemini Elf and hit him for a mean 4400 life points.  Next turn he played Heavy Storm, then Snatch Steals my Gemini Elf, plays his Gemini Elf and that was game.  Where were my squirrels when I needed them?  :(
Me: 8000-5500-0
Abel: 8000-3600-4600

In almost every instance of me losing the first duel at a tournament, I came back to win the next two duels.  I was hoping for some of that trademark luck now.

Duel 2: I decided to try my luck going second this duel.  I Noblemaned his facedown monster and then played Kycoo and attacked.  In the blur that followed, I somehow managed to whittle his life down to 5500 and destroy his Injection Faerie Lily (Yes!).  I think Yami Kris must've taken over, but then we use the mind shuffle tactic again and I made a slight tactical error.  I used Painful Choice to get my Sinister Serpent and to put Barrel Dragon into my graveyard, but I never drew any of my graveyard recursion cards.  Abel, on the other hand, got just about all his Graceful Charities and his Pot of Greed in one swoop (and even used a Graceful twice courtesy of Magician of Faith).  I joked about him trying to deck himself, but in all actuality I was pretty afraid because he had some sick card advantage over me.  My fears were realized when he Snatch Stole my Gemini Elf, Change of Hearted My Witch of the Black Forest, Premature Burialed his Injection Faerie Lily (NO!) and Monster Reborn my Barrel Dragon.  It was mad overkill by all his staples.
Me: 8000-0
Abel: 8000-6200-5500-4700-2700

For the first time ever I went only 2 duels in the first round.  Abel actually went on to win the entire tournament, so props to Abel.  It just sucks getting eliminated in the first round.  That's only happened to me once before.  Don't worry, I have a box of LOD on it's way over here though and Squirrels Gone Wild's going to get a booster shot (aka, Injection Faerie Lily) and will come back stronger than ever.  Also, if my the next matches I played was any indication, I probably wouldn't need much additional tuning of my deck.

Just for Kicks 1: Daedalus (That's me too!) vs Mike [Beatdown]
Mike's ranked number 1 in the store.  He told me he was testing out a new deck today.  Mike also got a bye for the first round or two, so I challenged him after playing Abel.

Duel 1:  I went first and set something irrelevant (probably Penguin Soldier).  He Nobleman of Crossouted it and then played Injection Faerie Lily and hit me for 3400.  Injection Faerie Lily is nasty.  I played Tribute to the Doomed on his Lily, summoned Gemini Elf, and sent the twins to attack.  Next turn Mike plays Goblin Attack Force to kill my Gemini Elf.  A few turns later he gets out his own Gemini Elf, Raigekis, Monster Reborns his Lily and attacks for the win.  I'll say it again, Lily is sick!
Me: 8000-4600-4200-0
Mike: 8000-6000-4100-2100

Well, I figure I was pretty rusty from being out of practice and without LOD cards.  All in all I didn't fare too poorly though.  Of course, he did do 4000 damage to himself so... :-/

Just For Kicks 2: Professor Squirrels (Also me!) vs Jason [????]
Jason was another cool duelist who I met at this store.  Unfortunately I can't remember a thing from these duels.  I know Jason was missing cards for his deck so he played me with only 32 cards.  They weren't stolen, he was just trying to get some of the cards he needed, but he hadn't acquired them yet.  What was funny was that the judge came by and thought the duel was part of the tournament, which it wasn't.  Jason and I laughed about that.

Duel 1:  I wish I could remember something about these duels, but I can't even remember Jason's deck type.  This wasn't because I didn't like Jason or that he wasn't a good duelist, it's because I am an idiot.
Me: 8000-5800-6600-7200
Jason: 8000-7000-4400-3000-200-0

Duel 2:  I'm pretty sure I played Jason 2 or 3 duels.  I wish I had taken better notes, but being in a new setting I was all disoriented and more concerned with meeting new people than playing.  What's even more retarded is that I don't remember this loss at all.  I might not even have been to Jason, but I'll say it was just because he was so cool anyways ;)
Me: 8000-4100-0
Jason: 8000

I had fun playing Jason.  I didn't care he was playing with an illegal deck because it was still fun.  Plus, it wasn't like it was broken illegal, just missing some cards.  I think part of the reason I can't remember too much from this duel is that I was talking to Jason more than playing.  That seems to make a lot of sense.

Just For Kicks 3: Squirrel Master Kris (Wooo!) vs Blain [Fire Princess]
I think around this point in time Blain got eliminated from the tournament.  Then he managed to trade for some Fire Princesses that he had been wanting for this deck.

Duel 1:  I drew a total of two monsters this entire duel: Penguin Soldier and Gemini Elf, both of which got killed.  However, I was able to send all of Blain's Fire Princesses to the graveyard.  That should've been game but without a single monster on my side of the field, I fell to Cure Mermaid and UFO Turtle.  Sometime in the middle of this duel I decided that it was pointless to keep track of Blain's life points cuz they were growing so rapidly.
Me: 8000-7500-4600-3900-2500-0
Blain: 8000-7200-8200-8400-(irrelivant)

Blain was fun to duel against and we laughed at my graveyard which was probably every single magic and trap card in my deck.

Just For Kicks 4: Squirrel Master Kris (Can't think of many more names) vs Some Kid [Beatdown/Fiend/Destiny Board]
This little kid came up to me and wanted to duel.  I agreed and we started.

Duel 1:  This duel went painfully fast.  I don't know why, but I always pull insane hands against the least daunting opponents.  I mean, come on, 6800 in one swoop?  That's disgusting.
Me: 8000-9000-8800
Him: 8000-1200-0

Duel 2:  Ok, this duel the kid made a tactical error and set 3 M/T cards first turn.  During my turn I Heavy Stormed expecting things like Magic Cylinder and/or Seven Tools.  Instead I watch as Snatch Steal and a couple other cards go to the graveyard.  At this point I was SHOCKED.  A Killer Squirrel hit him early a couple of times but he brought out an 1800 and killed my Squirrel.  I netted 200 life points in the process and  I then used my new squirrels as tribute for my Barrel Dragon.  Using the machine's effect, I flipped tails, heads, and then... heads!  Woo!  So long 1800.  Then came a 2600 blow to his life points.  Barrel Dragon's effect worked again the next turn and with the help of Kycoo, that ended the duel.
Me: 8000-8200
Him: 8000-7000-6000-3400-0

After this duel I told him that he should've held onto his Snatch Steal instead of setting it.  I told him that he could've used it to take my Barrel Dragon away from me, that would've been evil.  :)

Duel 3:  I hit him with my Witch of the Black Forest early on, and then played Swords of Revealing Light.  During his turn he played some Mask that targets magic cards and does 500 points of damage to that Magic card's owner.  Next Turn I Heavy Storm (I can't be taking damage!), Nobleman his face-down monster, play a Squirrel, Monster Reborn my Gemini Elf and attack him for 4000.  Next turn Raigeki took out his only defended and everything ran over him.
Me: 8000-7500
Him: 8000-6900-2900-0

After this duel I saw that he had set a Spirit Message L.  Besides the fact that you can't do that, I didn't know he even had all the Spirit Message pieces in his deck.  It turns out that he did in fact have all the pieces.  I spelled them out for grins.  Final, D-E-A-T-H, Final.  I asked to look through his deck and pulled out about 6 cards that I thought were pretty bad, like the Mask.  I told him that it'd work better without those cards and he seemed to agree, but he wanted to keep a couple of the fiends I pulled out for Dark Necrofear.  I told him to go ahead, but that La Jinn and Kuriboh would be good replacements for those cards.

Just For Kicks 5: Squirrel Master Kris vs Blain [Yata Discard]

Blain came back to duel me with what he called his "real" deck.  The Fire Princess deck he just wanted for fun.  Plus, both him and I know how unlucky I had been in the previous match.  I'll let the scores do my talking, partially because I don't want to type it all out, partially because I can't remember it all.  Needless to say, I had much better luck this time around.

Duel 1: 
Me: 8000-7700-4400
Blain: 8000-6100-4300-3300-0

Duel 2:
Me: 8000-6000-6800
Blain: 8000-7200-5400-4400-0

Duel 3: 
Me: 8000-6900-5900-4600-3600-3300-2600
Blain: 8000-7000-6000-5000-4900-4100-3100-2800-2500-1500-1400-0

Duel 4: 
Me: 8000
Blain: 8000-6200-2950-0

What's Good and Pure:
-Me, for not having to walk and/or take public transportation for once.
-Blain for giving me the heads up and being cool (and subsequently, joining KSO)
-Jason for being cool to duel against
-Abel and Mike for beating me.
-BigSpooky just because I should thank him for something
-Beanie Planet for hosting the tournament.
What's Evil and Wicked:
-People who think a deck list and a tournament report are the same thing... you know who you are.
-Me for losing in the first round.
-Abel for trying to trade my Morphing Jar for crap rares.
-For my consolation pack giving me no love
-Thieves... they suck...
 

Comments?  Suggestions?  Want to know more about KSO?  E-mail me (Kris!) at rage4zero@yahoo.com