Revival of Beatdown: ShowTime. Serf. A World of Books. San Leandro, CA. Monsters: 20 1 Jinzo 1 Jirai Gumo 2 Dark Elf 2 La Jinn 2 7 Colored Fish 1 Harpie’s Brother 2 Sangan 1 Witch of the Black Forest 3 wall of illusion 2 Cannon Soldier 3 Nimble Momongas Magic: 12 1 Change of Heart 1 Pot of Greed 1 Raigeki 1 Dark Hole 1 Monster Reborn 1 Snatch Steal 1 Heavy Storm 1 Mystical Space Typhoon 2 Nobleman of Crossout 2 Fissure Trap: 8 1 Michi-zurf 1 Mirror Force 1 Imperial Order 1 Call of the Haunted 1 Trap Hole 1 Dust Tornado 2 Light of Intervention (Lights...Camera...ShowTime!) Total 40 Tournament on March 2, 2003 (Official UpperDeck Tournament) WARNING: this is a very long report, make sure you have a lot of time. Before I get to the tournament report, I have two things to cover: 1) the KForce1 "controversy" and 2) the Revival. 1) Last week, as many of the tourney report fans know, KForce1 offered me a spot to be on their team. They gave me an invitation, and instead of me shaking their hands and joining their team, I grabbed their hands, kicked them in the groin, and proceeded to give them "Stone Cold Stunners." Well, I got all of them except for one, Kevo Kaiba, who got the better of me with SomeClowns (hey, Guy!). =) Why did I not join, and stun them instead? With so many duelists joining their ranks, and a number of pretenders and perpetrators wanting to be KForce1, I had to be crazy to not accept membership to an elite and powerful dueling team. Well, when the offer was extended, instead of saying yes as expected, I asked if ZeenO was also invited. ZeenO has formed his own group to help him battle KForce1. ZeenO was not invited and earlier he had asked me to join his team. (I felt like LeBron James, everybody wants me, I’m just waiting for a Hummer!) ZeenO and KForce1 all assumed that I had joined a team already. The truth of the matter is that Stone Cold Serf is a one-man wrecking crew. I’m not on a team because DTA kids, Don’t Trust Anyone. The only person you can rely on is yourself. I’m friends with everybody and cannot choose sides. I can’t main deck with anybody, I’m side deck only. Alan, I don’t take my clothes off with any team, I take my clothes off on my own! And that’s the bottom line, cause Serf said so! 2) Now, for the Revival. If you looked closely, or even at all, at my deck list above, you’ll notice I went back to beatdown this week. That’s right, back to beatdown. Back to the Deck That Owned All (DTOA). My very first deck was a beatdown called DTOA. Don’t think I’m full of myself and picked this name; the name was chosen by all the duelists that the DTOA slaughtered. When I ran this deck, I was nearly unstoppable and is a major reason why I was Season 1 champ. If it’s so good, then why did I stop? Well, I was at a point where I was winning constantly and felt bad about beating everybody. So, I took my deck apart and threw in a bunch of cards. Surprise, surprise, I stumbled upon the Disruptor. The Disruptor Deck was even more deadly and with that deck, I beat ALL kinds of deck. With the Disruptor, I was winning so much and felt worse that I started letting people advance during tournaments instead of me, even though I beat them. As time went on, the Disruptor declined and I’ve been looking for a deck I would be happy with. I tried FlashFire and Thriller, but I wasn’t sure yet. So on the night before the tournament, I disassembled FlashFire and attempted to make a new deck. I found out I didn’t have all the cards needed for my new idea. It was getting late and I was getting tired, what deck would be the easiest to make? ShowTime! This deck has a lot of my old beatdown cards, but with new ideas. Cannon Soldiers for extra damage. Nimble Momongas to speed my deck up and give me extra LP. Dark Elves were my signature cards during the beatdown days. Crossouts and Light of Interventions to combat flip effect monsters. Notice how my deck has no flip monsters at all? I want all monsters to be seen, to be shown. ShowTime! 1st match Opponent: Dan (Exodia) Dan came out of nowhere a while ago, but he has now become an advanced tourney regular. He started out with beatdown, and this is the first week he’s tried Exodia. I knew he had Exodia because when he was shuffling, a piece popped out. ShowTime! First duel, as soon as we were drawing cards, the gears were already turning and I was thinking of a way to combat Exodia. I didn’t bring any anti-Exodia cards with me and decided that the only way to win was to bring his LP down to zero faster than he can put up a defense and draw the pieces. So, just like any beatdown deck, I just kept attacking. I was able to get Jinzo early, so that screwed him up a bit. I was at 6600 (one hit from his Cannon Soldier) when I brought him down to zero. Second duel was almost the same as the first. I started with Sangan, that died and I got the Witch. That died and I got Jinzo. Then Dan was able to use Dark Hole to clear the field. But I had Call of the Haunted on the field and brought back his worst nightmare. Um, let’s see. I just kept attacking . This time I ended with 6100 LP. One bad thing did happen during this duel. I had Mirror Force in my hand and Jinzo on the field. Since traps don’t work while Jinzo is out, I didn’t set it. While it was in my hand I dropped it. Instead of letting it fall and hit the ground, I tried to catch it with my legs. Good news, I did catch it. Bad news, I bent it in half while catching it. Coulda let if fall. Shoulda let it fall. 2nd match Opponent: Rare Hunter Mike a.k.a. "Rishid" (Clowns) Rishid is one of the Rare Hunters (that’s their team name) that come to World of Books. They are definitely an up-and-coming team, as their performance against KForce1 showed today. Since Rishid took out a KForce1 member and is a Rare Hunter, I had to be careful. In case I lost, I put up my Mirror Force (which he didn’t know was bent). He put up a Magical Hat. ShowTime! First duel, before this started, Rishid sided out some cards. I guess he thought I was still running FlashFire. He got some decent hits in, bringing me down to 3600. But I was able to search for Jinzo and that stopped his Gravity Bind. He was able to slow me down with Messenger of Peace, but I took his LP to zero with Cannon Soldiers and Wall of Illusions attacking. Second duel was delayed a little while he went to his side deck again. He was able to stall me for a bit with Messenger (6 turns in all). But every now and then, I was able to get in a few 1800 hits and some Cannon Soldier launching. The final move had the whole field open, and us drawing card by card. I was at 6550 and he was at 1600. My turn and I drew a La Jinn. Check this strategy out. The field was open. He had no cards in his hand. I had one card in my hand. I summoned La Jinn in attack mode. Then I declared an attack. I won! This Rare Hunter wasn’t taking my rare card! 3rd match Opponent: AzNPlaya (One Shot) Playa has been very impressive lately. After finishing his quest and finding his deck, Playa has been in the Championships the last two tournaments. If he beats me today, that would be three in a row that he makes it to the Championships. Bandit Keif had already advanced and would face the winner. By the way, before this started, Playa went to McDonald’s with ZeenO and kept me waiting for 30 minutes. This made me angry and I would show him no mercy! I also wanted revenge for him beating me in the Championships two tournaments ago. ShowTime! First duel, Playa takes an early lead. I kill his Momonga and he gets 1000 LP. Later on, I get my Momongas out too and I gain 1000 also. I bring him down to 4400 and I’m at 1300. I also have the advantage. I had Reborned his GAF (DEF mode) and had a Harpie’s Brother (ATK mode). He had a Cannon Soldier left. Next card he draws, Raigeki. Game over for me. With Playa winning the first one, it made it theoretically harder for me to win two in a row. I heard Yugi’s voice: "Don’t duel for revenge, duel for the heart of the cards." Second duel, I decided to stay put and not side deck. I had control right from the beginning and my beatdown monsters rip up his LP. My first hit took out 4700 LP, then next turn 1400 from Cannon Soldier, then two monsters launched to bring him down to 900. Next turn, I Call of the Haunted Jinzo back, and attack for the win. I finish with 3400 LP and push him to a final duel. Third duel was a classic. Just like all good duels, a crowd had gathered and were making crowd-sounds after each move. Ooohs, aaahhs, and woahs. This started eerily similar to the first. He gets Momonga out and gains a 1000 LP. I hit him little by little bringing him down to 7400. Next thing I know, he gets a Barrel Dragon out. The effect clears my field and I get hit for 2600. But I don’t worry, I’m calm. Next turn I play Dark Hole and Reborn his Barrel. From then on, it was downhill for Playa. His own Barrel Dragon, bribed to work for me, was his down fall. I was able to get the 50% effect to work 2 out of 3 times; what are the odds of that, Bandit Keif? On to the Championship against my evil rival, Bandit Keif! 4th match Opponent: Bandit Keif (Redline) If you wanna know what happens, check out "West Coast Champs: Serf vs Keif". Oh yeah, 20 more days 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. to clumsy people that catch cards with their legs. Serf buffserf@yahoo.com