Pulse. Serf. A World of Books. San Leandro, CA. Monsters: 20 3 Mystic Tomato 2 White Magical Hat 2 Magician of Faith 2 Sangan 1 Witch of the Black Forest 3 Nimble Momongas 2 Cannon Soldier 3 Hane Hane 1 Jinzo 1 Cyber Jar Magic: 12 1 Change of Heart 1 Pot of Greed 1 Raigeki 1 Dark Hole 1 Monster Reborn 1 Snatch Steal 1 Swords of Revealing Light 1 Mystical Space Typhoon 2 Nobleman of Crossout 1 Delinquent Duo 1 Forceful Sentry Trap: 8 1 Mirror Force 1 Imperial Order 1 Call of the Haunted 2 Waboku 3 Magic Drain Total 40 Tournament on March 9, 2003 (Official UpperDeck Tournament) Still no luck in getting the cards I need for my new deck, which will hopefully be permanent (if it works). And since I wanted a more challenging deck, I broke up ShowTime and came up with something new. Same as last time, I made another Saturday night creation. The night before the tournament, I put together a new deck. I knew that a lot of people would be packing their decks full of LoN cards, but I go the opposite way. I bring cards back from Magic Ruler, knowing that each set is weak to a certain set. Shhh, it’s my little secret. You think those suckers on Fear Factor eating bugs are "brave?" I’ll tell you what "brave" is; "brave" is running with your shoelaces untied; "brave" is putting your hand in the toilet to pick up something you’ve dropped in it; "brave" is making a whole new deck and not play-testing before a tournament. That’s "brave!" This new deck is called Pulse. The reason why is that everyone that plays it and against it, it is guaranteed that your Pulse will quicken and your heart will beat faster with excitement. It could be from the deck, or maybe just my good looks. Either way, feel your Pulse quicken! 1st match Opponent: Oliver (Some kind of Beatdown) This was a non-tourney match. Occasionally, when I have time, I play a lot of people for fun. Having a reputation as a decent duelist, I get a lot of challenges. Well, Oliver had just played and beaten Bandit Keif in a duel earlier. The whole time, he kept telling people how he beat Keif and he wanted me next. So, here’s a young blood, trying to jump all the way to the top of the pillar. But there were two things he didn’t know: 1) Keif had told me that he let the kid win. Keif said if you want a real duel, join the advanced bracket and meet him there. 2) I don’t let people win, you have to earn bragging rights against me. Duel, I went first and right away reduced his chances. My initial 6 card draw was Snatch Steal, Magician, Sangan, Imperial Order, Pot of Greed and Delinquent Duo. I always win when I get PoG and Duo in my first hand. I played PoG, got Forceful Sentry and Nobleman of Crossout. Here’s how I reduced his chances. I play Duo, lost a 1000LP, then played Sentry. He just went from 5 cards to 2. I set Sangan in DEF. He goes and he doesn’t have many options left, so he goes to DEF. I draw and get Cannon Soldier. I play Crossout to get rid of his Defense. I summon Cannon Soldier and both attack. Right from the start, I have card advantage and board control. He doesn’t even touch my LP. In 4 turns, it is over. He’s left sitting at the table with his head in his hands, in total shock. I don’t blame him, it’s hard to think when your thoughts are being interrupted by the BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! of your heart from Pulse. Oliver, you have potential, but you need to keep playing and practice more. Playing people that are better than you is a good idea, a good way to learn. But playing the best is suicide; it will be too quick for you to learn anything. 2nd match Opponent: Marcus, the Penguin Knight (KForce1 Beatdown) Last time I faced off against the Penguin Knight, it was for the championship. I don’t know if he’s gotten better or what, but I know he hasn’t been in the finals in a while. But since he is a low-ranking member of KForce1, this should be a nice warm-up. First duel, I bring him down slowly to 4300. But since he runs a Beatdown, I needed a good hand of Defense and specials. I didn’t get any of it this duel. I’m at 5400 and his Jinzo brings me down to 3000. Then a Gemini Elf is summoned and I am left to block one monster a turn. So his Jinzo kills my DEF monster and Gemini knocks my LP down to 2100. Next turn, I can’t do anything but block again, so he finishes me off. Just like my deckname, my Pulse starts beating faster. Am I about to lose? Is this what I get for not play-testing? Second duel, I decided not to side deck. The reason was that I never got any of my special cards that were essential to the deck. I guessed that if I do draw it, the duel might end differently. I get off to a bad start and am down right away to 5700. Luckily, I get a Cyber Jar and that turns the tide. I get Jinzo out and start bringing him down. Thanks to my combos, I re-used Swords 3 times. I win with 5200 left. Now my Pulse is calmer and I see the Penguin Knight starting to sweat. It was also nice and sunny, in the 70s. Third duel, the Penguin Knight pulls out his binder, and flips through about 5 pages of cards, and said he was side-decking cards in. I usually make people count their side deck out before the match, but what the hey, it’s only a low-ranking member of KForce1. He exchanged a couple of cards. He must have took the right cards out and put the wrong ones in, because I won the duel with 8000 LP left. My first hit brought him down to 7200. Then he used Solemn Judgment and he had 3600. Then I attacked and launched with Cannon Soldier for the win. I congratulated him on a good duel and shook his hand; man, his palms were sweaty. Pulse will do that to you. After the duel, I told him "Take me to your leader." And sure enough, my next opponent was no other than... 3rd match Opponent: Bandit Keif (you ain’t touching my LP deck) Since ShowTime had left Keif’s Redline with a Salvaged title, nobody wanted it anymore, including Keif. With a deck full of LoN cards, the leader of KForce1 came with a whole new deck. Out with the machines, and in with the Fairies. I think the deck name I’ve given it is close. Again, Keif’s deck is classified, see his report for the contents of his deck. I knew Keif wanted revenge, I’ve been on a winning streak lately. First duel, Keif was calm and confident in his new deck. All this time, people had been trying to guess my new deck, but my answer was "DTA". Keif rolls higher and goes first, plays DEF. I crossout and attack. He turns the table quickly and I am now on the defensive. I get careless and attack one of his monsters in FACE UP defense with one of my monsters that have LESS attack power. Yes, I still make stupid mistakes. I manage to bring him down to 3900 while I’m holding on at 3000. Then he clears my field and gets Summoned Skull (I was surprised that he had this in his deck) and another monster to give me a loss for the first duel. Since I lost, my Pulse started beating fast again and I knew it would theoretically harder for me to win two in a row, doubled and exponential now, since I’m playing against the man-that-loves-odds. Second duel, I hold steady and decide not to side deck. Keif is sitting back with a grin on his face, he knows he has me on the ropes. I go first and play defensive. The duel starts out in my favor, I Change of Heart and Snatch Steal two of his monsters, along with my Jinzo, and hit him for 4200. He brings me down to 6100. Snatch Steal stays on for the whole duel and at one point, I’m stuck with 5 monsters on the field and not being able to attack, thanks to his Swords. I had brought him down to 1500, but by the time Swords wore off, he was at 4050. Then Keif does me a favor and kills a Magician I had in face up DEF. This opened up a spot and I was able to Monster Reborn Cannon Soldier. With the famous attack and launch combo, the duel was mine. As my Pulse slows down, Keif’s start speeding up. I look at his face and notice that a vein on his left temple was throbbing. First slowly, then it kept throbbing faster and faster. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! My good looks must be getting to him. Third duel, everything lined up perfectly for me. I got Delinquent first hand again and take the 1000 to reduce his hand. I bring him down to 3800 thanks to Jinzo. He gets some Momongas to stall for a bit and that brings him up to 5300. Keif was doing his patented "self-healing." I had to put a stop to this, or the duel would be lost. I get a big hit of 2700 to bring him to 3600. Next turn, Jinzo comes back thanks to Call of the Haunted and I win with 7000 LP. Keif and I shake hands and congratulate each other on a good duel. He seemed surprise that I was able to win after losing the first. Keif’s new deck is good, and I know Keif will make the necessary changes to make it better. 4th match Opponent: PinayMai, Isis, Ishizu, I don’t know. (Earth-themed Beatdown) PinayMai had changed her name, but I forgot to which one, so I’ll call her X. My third KForce1 opponent. Would I be able to complete a Hat Trick? One thing’s for sure, KForce1 is a good dueling team and if it wasn’t for me, they would have owned all 4 spaces in the finals bracket. Saiyans, where you at? Rare Hunters, where you at? First duel, X starts out with Battle Ox, Dream Clown and Gaia Power. I was able to get rid of Gaia Power to bring her monsters attack back to normal. I bring X down to 6100 and she now has Jirai Gumo on the field. Luck is on X’s side and Jirai’s flips only hurts her once out of 5 in the whole match. I eventually get beat down to zero. My Pulse starts beating faster again, wait, déjà vu. This has happened all day. I’ve lost the first only to win the next two. Let’s see what happens. Second duel, I had to side deck. During the 1st duel, I noticed that X had cards to counter my deck. So I sided in cards to counter her counters. It worked good enough. The duel was really close. I had her down to 1200 while I was hanging on with 900. At one point, I had two Jinzos on the field. One I Snatched from her, the other I summoned. I draw a Cannon Soldier to end the game. (This card has won me many games, and I’ve lost a lot to it also). X shows me her hand; her hand is shaking violently. I was getting her nerves jittery. She knew that it was now anybody’s game. Third duel started out good. For X. She Delinquent Duo me first turn and I got a taste of my own medicine. She then attacks with a Gemini Elf. I’m playing defense and she gets Jirai Gumo out. Gemini kills my Defense and Jirai attacks. This was the only time her flip failed. She went straight down to 3500. Next turn, there is a Gemini and two Jirais. Yikes! I draw and get a Sangan. With no magic cards in my hand, I was done. I had no choice but to place my hand over my deck. Good job to X! She dueled like a pro and definitely earned the Championship. Even though I didn’t win, Pulse had done its job. It made everybody’s Pulse that played it and against it excited. A Saturday night creation had made it to the Championship again. Oh yeah, 2 more weeks until the UpperDeck YuGiOh mall tour makes a stop in San Francisco. March 22 and 23. The top duelists at World of Books will be there to represent. Here’s your chance, Bay Area Duelists (and duelists from Sac and far away if you are crazy enough to drive this far) to come duel with us. 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