“Purity of Light" by Tripping Billies
Tournament Report: March 22, 2003
Dave's Card Shop: Phoenix,
AZ 24th St. and Osborne
32-player tournament
Once again, I performed as judge for the earlier stages of the
tournament. This would be my last time playing and judging. Season 2 ended for
Dave’s store this day. The official end date being March 28th,
however we would be playing again on the 29th, which would mark the
beginning of Season 3. (And hopefully the season 3 packs, which thus far are
eluding us.)
Entering this tournament I had, for the most part, clinched first
place for the season in the store. I had decided prior to the tournament to
create a new deck based on the theme I had attempted earlier when Pharaoh’s
Servant was released: A light-type deck.
Gone were earlier uses of Maha Vailo and equip cards. In were the
new blood of Labyrinth of Nightmare and the Joey Starter Deck.
I had built the deck in the morning before the tournament and had
not play tested it yet. All ideas and card inclusions were based purely on
theory, but also somewhat on experiences I had with the previous light deck.
-------------------------------- Deck Contents
--------------------------------------
------ Monsters (22)
1 X Blue Eyes White Dragon (SDK version, but entirely holo)
1 X Jinzo
2 X Soul of Purity and Light
1 X Goblin Attack Force
1 X Gemini Elf
2 X Hysteric Fairy
2 X Shining Abyss
1 X Witch of the Black Forest
2 X Wall of Illusion
2 X White Magical Hat
1 X Sangan
1 X Cyber Jar
2 X Penguin Solder
1 X Morphing Jar
2 X Magician of Faith
------ Magic (16)
1 X Change of Heart
1 X Graceful Charity
1 X Heavy Storm
2 X Luminous Spark
1 X Megamorph
1 X Monster Reborn
2 X Mystical Space Typhoon
1 X Nobleman of Crossout
1 X Pot of Greed
1 X Premature Burial
1 X Raigeki
1 X Snatch Steal
1 X Swords of Revealing Light
1 X United We Stand
------ Traps (7)
1 X Call of the Haunted
1 X Ceasefire
1 X Imperial Order
1 X Magic Cylinder
1 X Mirror Force
2 X Waboku
------ Side Deck (15)
1 X Kuriboh
1 X Morphing Jar #2
1 X Delinquent Duo
1 X Ekibyo Drakmord
2 X Exchange
1 X Heavy Storm
1 X Nobleman of Crossout
1 X Painful Choice
1 X Scapegoat
1 X Spiritualism
1 X Fairy Box
1 X Magic Jammer
1 X Solemn Judgement
1 X Trap Hole
The idea was to use Luminous Spark to keep power advantage for all of my light types. Soul of Purity and Light was good as a special summon, and its weakening effect ment all unpowered-up beatdown monsters would be under or equal to its strength at best, but Waboku is there just in case.
No Hoshiningens. You would think they would help, but experience had shown me that they tended to be dropped first. No Shining Angels either. Same deal occurred with them. With only two equip cards running, Maha Vailo was out as well.
The Blue Eyes White Dragon is there for moments when his power warrents it. He is my odd all-foiled version that I got in a Kaiba Starter Deck. Not sure how it happened, but it does look nice.
----- First Round -----
Tripping Billies Vs. M (Forgive me for not remembering)
So this was going to be the inaugural round of the Light deck. I went into the match against a guy I had never played before. Using a deck I was not yet experienced with didn’t make things any better.
First Match: Started of in his favor. He nailed me for an even 1000 early on with Hayabusa Knight, the other attack being blocked by my defender. My Blue Eyes White Dragon ended up in my Graveyard. I wanted to take advantage of this, but he got to it first: reviving it and then applying Horn of the Unicorn and Black Pendant to it. He was able to nail me direct with this for 4200, leaving me with 2800.
I could have been worried, but I knew what I had in my hand: Snatch Steal and Megamorph. Unfortunately for him, he did not have a counter for either, so I took my Blue Eyes back and used Megamorph to do 8400 in one shot, taking his LP from 8000 to 0.
TB: 2800 M: 0
Second Match: I was hit for 1600, but this proved to be my only loss. My Hysteric Fairy got one shot in, but was eliminated thereafter. Waboku protected me until I got Soul of Purity and Light out with my Luminous Spark put into play. I shot direct for 2500. Add the Goblins to this later on. I ended the match by summoning Jinzo.
TB: 6400 M: 0
----- Second Round -----
Tripping Billies Vs. Alfred
Alfred is an one of the vet tourney player at Dave’s. I hadn’t played against him in the tournament for a while, so it was a welcome change. I had no idea what directions his deck had gone since the last time. He didn’t know yet that my Machine Deck had been put away in favor of something new.
Every counter move I did in this match was “that’s gay,” by the way…
First Match: All of our matches turned into games of back and forth. One player trying to counter the other. Made for a more exciting match-up then usual.
This would be the “Penguin Match.” Both of us were running Penguin Soldiers and Magicians of Faith. He utilized Swords of Revealing Light to protect his Magician of Faith. I had used Penguin Soldier earlier on to help recycle my Magician of Faith after using her flip-effect. After seeing me do this he got the same idea, only he was protected by the Swords of Revealing Light.
We each were nailed earlier on by Jinzo. (1 hit for each of us, respectively) The Goblins ended up doing the same thing, leaving us tied on two occasions. It wasn’t until the Magician and Penguin recycles began that things got interesting. We each would recycle the effect: he choosing Swords of Revealing Light, myself choosing my Mystical Space Typhoon (MST). I knew I could use my MST to take out his Swords, but when I managed to get it back the Sword were always down to one, so there wasn’t too much sense in doing it without a good hit to back it up. He would have another M/T card by this time, and I would use MST on those instead, hitting his Mirror Force in the process. (To which he replied with the quote of the game “that’s gay.” Everytime I did something, in fact.)
He had open field advantage on me twice, using his Magician of Faith to attack me directly. (a result of the Penguin – Magician recycles) I had Mirror Force set for several turns, but did not feel Magician of Faith was worth it.
I special summoned my Soul of Purity and Light, only to have him Solemn Judgment it, taking his life down to 900 at the time. (He had 1800 at this point.)
But my normal summon did him in, ending the Penguin Match.
TB: 2400 Alfred: 0
Second Match: Alfred’s Nimble Momongas slowed me down in this match. (the rats) We each dinged each other back and forth for a bit, but his Nimbles kept him in the green. At one point I used Snatch Steal on his Gearfried the Iron Knight. We both forgot his “destruction of equip cards” effect, which led to a replay when I realized what had happened. Fortunately we had not played too far ahead, so we reset back to me using Snatch Steal. It was destroyed and I played from there. I had destroyed a Nimble, and instead of having him reset his deck search I decided to destroy it again, then the next one he brought out.
He had the LP advantage till the end, when I managed to clear the field, then unleashed an assault with my Goblins and the revival of his Goblins, ending the match.
TB: 1850 Alfred: 0
Which was also gay. Heh heh. Nothing I can do about that, I suppose.
----- Quarter Finals -----
Tripping Billies Vs. Chris
At this point my deck theme was out in the open and being described as “notorious.” I don’t see how it got that title so fast when I just made it that morning. Well, Chris is one of the better guys, I think, so I knew this match would prove interesting. He has brought Bazoo into the mix, and I knew that one by repuation.
First Match: I got hit by his Goblins with a direct shot, then dinged by some light attacks from there. I managed to get around them by Special Summoning my Soul of Purity and Light, which together with Luminous Spark kept me protected against even his Bazoos. It was a stall tactic, and I knew it, but it kept me protected for a little while, allowing me to get Chris down to 2900 LP.
I then lost my Soul, but I came back with the oddest of all things, a Penguin Soldier with United We Stand. I hit for 1550, leaving him with 1350.
On his next turn he set a monster. I had Nobleman of Crossout in my hand, and with nothing in his M/T zone to be concerned about, I used it and discovered it was Witch of the Black Forest. (Never a good one to have Crossed-out) I was then able to attack directly.
TB: 2500 Chris: 0
Second Match: This time I found myself down from the Bazoo. He used it against me with the removal of some cards from his graveyard to get a 2500 direct shot. I managed to wipe the monkey out and did my own damage leading him down to 4600.
A few turns down the round I got hold of Monster Reborn and used it to take his Bazoo. (first time I have ever gotten to use one) I used its effect and removed traps from my graveyard, since I had no way to get them back anyways, so I utilized them once more to power up Bazoo for a direct 2500 shot of my own. I kept the Bazoo for the next turn, but did not use its effect again. I soon lost it, but even then I managed to push through.
TB: 5500 Chris: 0
----- Semi-Finals -----
Tripping Billies Vs. M (Younger)
I have forgotten yet another name.. This was the first time I had seen him at our tournament. He was younger, probably 8-10, and getting to the semis was a good accomplishment for him. I figured he must be up to something in his deck or he would not have gotten this far. He was a good guy and the match-up was a fun one.
He was using Gravity Bind in his deck, but unfortunately it did not match the goal of his deck, causing a deal of lock-down in the first match. Strong beatdowns with Gravity Bind tend not to mix. He had to resort to Hayabusa Knights during this, but with no equips.
First Match: This was the match with Gravity Bind. I hit once with my Penguin Soldier and a United We Stand, since it was the only guy who could attack at the time, taking him to 1550. I tributed my Penguin Soldier in response to him setting another card, and then used Jinzo for a direct shot, going to 4050. He took control of my Jinzo and used it as a tribute for Summoned Skull.
At this point he forgot his own Gravity Bind and attempted to attack. I made note of the error, so he took back the attack. The game then slowed for a bit as Gravity Bind prevented both of us from making any attacks.
I was able to special summon my Soul of Purity and Light, which I kept mostly to weaken his monsters. Light of Intervention added to its bite, taking it to 2500.
We both continued on, but with Gravity Bind that neither of us drew any MT removal to get rid of. It wasn’t until I managed to use revive my Jinzo using Call of the Haunted that I was able to get around Gravity Bind for the attack and win.
TB: 8000 M: 0
Second Match: My Hysteric Fairies got to get in a couple of shots this time. I received a shot a couple shots myself, going down to 5700.
I managed to get him down to 1500, from my Hysteric Fairies and from his attacking my set monsters with his Hayabusa Knights. Scapegoat furballs appeared, slowing down my assault. It was taking time hitting the furballs, and I knew that was bad, but then I drew Ceasefire. I had two strong effect monsters on the field at the time, so I took the risk that he would set a monster and not attack. I set Ceasefire and waited.
His turn came and he set a monsters, just as I had hoped. I activated Ceasefire. He was unfamiliar with it, so I explained it. He could not counter Ceasefire with any of the cards he had at the moment, and it turned out his monster was an effect monster. 3 effect monster led to 1500 damage.
TB: 5700 M: 0
I congratulated him on reaching the semi finals. I wanted him to know that he should be very proud of this and not feel to bad that he didn’t make it to the finals. I think he will come back next time. Hopefully utilizing Gravity Bind differently.
----- Final Round -----
Tripping Billies Vs. The Unstopable
Me and Izaiah in the finals. Perhaps it is destiny! Or maybe it is just coincidence. Whatever the case, Izaiah had already seen my deck so he knew what I was running. It would come down to surprise and countering, just like our other matches.
First Match: For the first match someone else kept track of our points, but naturally they got distracted and we had to take care of it ourselves. Just can’t trust the young-uns.
I attacked directly with my Hysteric Fairy, taking him to 1800. Next turn he summoned La Jinn, but held off on attacking due to my Imperial Order, which I had activated previously and paid for one turn. On my next turn I used Change of Heart to nab the La Jinn, then attacked with both, leaving him with 2600. In order to not let him get back his La Jinn, I used Hysteric Fairy’s effect to tribute it along with La Jinn to gain 1000 LP, taking me to 8300.
He had the summon advantage next turn, but I had Waboku and used it to protect myself. I brought set Morphing Jar, and used it effect later on to cause Unstopable to have to discard a nearly full hand. I drew Soul of Purity and Light from this, and with the light monsters in my graveyard I special summoned Soul of Purity and Light.
Soul of Purity and Light caused some problems. He used Snatch Steal and took my Morphing Jar. I waited till his battle phase and used an MST I had set in the previous turn to get Morphing Jar back.
I can’t recall what happened next, but with the monster advantage I pulled through.
TB: 8300 Unstopable: 0
Second Match: This match I got nailed twice for 2500 each shot. Summoned Skull having its fun. The goblins joined in as well, taking me to only 700.
Here is where I managed to make a stand of sorts. I did two shots of 3400 and 700 during the match taking me to 700. Cyber Jar saved me by giving me Light monsters I could use to hold him off. I had Shining Abyss, White Magical Hat, and Witch of the Black Forest out, with Luminous Spark powering my light monsters up to 2100, 1500, and 1100 respectively. He had a Witch of the Black Forest in attack mode, which I could have used my White Magical Hat to attack so I could use its effect, but I forgot that he was powered up by Luminous Spark.
Next turn Izaiah used 2 fissures to take me down to only having Shining Abyss. I lot Luminous Spark, then Jinzo finished me off.
TB: 0 Unstopable: 4800
Final match: This was it. We found ourselves alone in the store at this point, just playing to see who would win the tourney. Izaiah used Confiscation to remove one card from my hand, but found that the choices available where not pretty. He had allowed me to keep my Nobleman of Crossout once before, so this time he decided not to let me keep it due to “karma.” I could certainly understand.
I did get Imperial Order early on, and I paid for it for two turns. I hit him with Hysteric Fairy and White Magic Hat, allowing me to remove one card from random. But Jinzo would show up negating my Imperial Order. He cleared my field with magic, then hit me with Jinzo, Witch of the Black Forest, and Sangan. Getting me down to 2100.
I came back from this with my own magic, and with two minor hits I got him down to 1750. This is when things got interesting.
I had no monsters on my side of the field, and two cards in my M/T zone. He had no monsters at the time, but he had drawn some from searching effects. His M/T zone was empty.
He checked the LP and saw that he could get me in one shot with Goblins. At this time some other guys from the tourney had returned and became interested in the situation. Izaiah voiced that he wanted to attack, but was concerned about Magic Cylinder, which he knew I had in my deck.
Part of him wanted to kill and finish me off, while the other wanted to play it down and just wait to see what would happen. This is when the others in the room began egging him on to attack. Izaiah asked to see my graveyard several times, perhaps trying to calculate the odds as to what I could be hiding in my M/T zone. Two cards. Could have been anything, really.
He debated letting fate decide by tossing a coin. He let this pass. Someone asked to see my cards, and I would not allow it. I figured at this point ANY change to anyone’s behavior would give it away.
The egging continued. Maybe just they wanted to see him nervous. I really don’t know, but Izaiah summed up and decided to attack. Balls to the wall. All or nothing.
He summoned the Goblin Attack Force. He attacked…
And walked into Magic Cylinder.
Needless to say, he was not pleased. I didn’t say a word. I figured he wasn’t in any mood to hear anything then.
So by pure psychological warfare, I had won.
TB: 2100 Unstopable: 0
We shall never listen to those guys ever again. (Naturally, they tried to say they hadn’t said for him to attack. Yeah right.) He looked at my cards and saw what he had and would have drawn to see if things could have been different. He was convinced he could have won had he played differently. I really don’t know what would have happened, but we really have no way of knowing now.
Prizes: Izaiah got 2 LON packs for second and I got 3 LON packs for first. We each got an ultra rare, which was pretty sweet. He got the Destiny Board and I got United We Stand.
We both agreed it was one hell of a match. Hadn’t seen anything like this before. I think it was a great way to close out Season 2 at Dave’s Card Shop.
I was quite happy with my light deck. It had proven itself to be more resilient on its first run out of the gate then I could have ever hoped. Given more time I am sure I can tweak it to be even meaner.
So goodbye season 2 and goodbye to my tourney dueling at Dave’s. I will keep on judging, no doubt there, but my participation will not extend to being in the tournament.
Props:
To Izaiah for being a great player and giving us that match for the record books.
To Dave for hosting and Amanda for dealing with the raging children.
To all the players who put up with me being the tourney for the last 2 months of season 2. I don’t think they will miss me playing.
To our Troops in Iraq for doing their duty, even if they may not want to. We owe them a great deal, and I wish them the best in this endeavor. Whatever our feelings on the “war”, we all do agree that they need our support.
To Mattel for making Dungeon Dice Monsters and even using the official molds. Everyone has their stance on it, but I am pleased with the job they have done.
So long to season 2. Hope I get a trophy… They sure are nice.
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Today’s Experiment…………… “fairy”ly effective.