Deck Name: Gradius: The Futuristic Fighter Vic Viper Name: Voltaire Abaya(thunderv11@yahoo.com) Location: A World of Books, San Leandro, CA Date: 4/5/03 Deck List: Monsters(14): Jinzo 3x Gradius 3x Guardian of the Throne Room 2x Overdrive Cyber Jar 2x Bazoo the Soul Eater 2x Cannon Soldier Magic(18): Swords of Revealing Light Change of Heart Raigeki Dark Hole Pot of Greed Monster Reborn Premature Burial 2x Graceful Charity United We Stand Mage Power 3x Cyclone Laser Limiter Removal 2x Fissure Heavy Storm Traps(8): 2x Skull Lair Imperial Order Mirror Force Call of the Haunted 2x Solemn Judgment Magic Jammer Total: 40, +15 Well, ummm... I finally got my Little Idea off the ground. My machine/Gradius beatdown is finally here. I also like to call it an Insta-Kill deck... just add water. ;) Anyhow, what it does is it makes Gradius BIG(biggest I got was over 11000) and causes him to pierce through anything. Jinzo's there to help so traps won't get in his way. Scapegoat? BAM! Pierces right through. I had someone with a 5800 attack Kycoo try to penetrate one of Gradius' buddies' offense. No luck against a 8900 attack creature. It's not QUITE done yet. Need 3 Options and 1 Barrel before it's done. $6 to enter 1 TP3 Pack for entering, 3 for winning Round 1: Voltaire vs. ??? Well. Someone newer than me. ;P So, I didn't get his name, but he says he's relaitvely new to the game. He's only been playing with his nephew or something like that and it's his first time at a tournament. For Yu-Gi-Oh!, that is. He's a longtime Magic: The Gathering player... which is kinda the opposite of me. I'm just recently getting into Magic and I've been playing Yu-Gi-Oh! unsuccessfully for a while now. He starts off by setting a monster in defense mode. I draw my five, then set Premture, Heavy and play Gradius in attack mode. I play Cyclone Laser and "Mage Power" and attack. It's a Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams... something like that. 1800 defense, though. I pierce through, doing 1700 damage. Next turn, 2 sets, 1 monster in defense mode. I attack. First he chains Enchanted Javelin, then Waboku. Neat. His lifepoints go up to... something REALLY high. Next turn he sets something else. I start mounting my insane offensive. I start by Dark Holing my 00ber-Grad and doing some stuff. I remember he had a tribute monster in face-down defense mode. I'm thinking... Lab Wall, M-Shield or even worse... Marie. But it turns out it's just Beast of Talwar. In a few turns, I take over his Beast from his grave and I take the win. Whoo. This'll technically make it harder for him to win 2 in a row. Will luck last, or...? This round starts out pretty clean and strong. I hit him a bit, he hits me. He seems to be getting the hang of it. It's a very different game from Magic. Especially that this game makes you have to have a calculator or be able to do math in your head. I can do the latter, so ;P. Anyhow, I get a glimpse of how he is not just a random player off the street when I see that he's got a Cyber Jar. Bam! Just like that, my field is cleared... I get Gradius, Guardian and Cyber Jar. His intimidating monsters cause me to go defensive. He plays a few things and lets me go. I go on a rampage. Graceful. Bam! Grab 3, toss 2. Flip the Jar. Boom! I get Bazoo and Guardian. He gets a few. Man-Eater is one I'm concerned about. But, *FLASH* a thunderbolt clears his field. With it, rain and winds come down... all that's left is a wet monkey and a machine. I summon Cannon Soldier. I add to its strength with United. ...I start counting, counting... is this it? Yes, it is. I remove their limits... I can hear sounds like the whistle of a train... followed by an abrupt crashing. I look at the lifepoints. They roll down and end at 0000. I sigh off a sweatdrop. Without Jinzo, Solemn or Gradius on the field, so many things could've gone wrong with that play. Round 2: Voltaire vs. Donald Meh. Well, one problem with this deck, other than the major deck space taken over by Cyclone Lasers and Graduises, is that all machines that are level 4 and under... are weaker than your average beatdown monsters. That is, of course, aside from Mech chasers. Let's face it... I've got a damn budget. I got no chasers. At all. Well, that problem manifests itself here. Well, with me, you got to take your chances. If you go defensive, I'm cutting through your defenses straight at your lifepoints. Gotta go toe-to-toe with my machines with your more powerful beatdown monsters. Fast, too. If I can get my 2500+ Gradiuses out, well, you're going out fast. Limiter and big Gradius... they can rip through most stuff. Especially if Jinzo's protecting them from stuff. Scapegoat? Gradius will rip right through it with a ripple... so fast you won't know what's been hitting you. Back to the duel. Well, undoubtedly, he plays beatdown. I just can't get my monsters big enough fast enough. I try to hold his forces down bit by bit... but unfortunately, the attack strength on my monsters are 1200, 1400, 1600 and 1650. Even the Bazoos who help out can't do much for me. Not so bad this round. I manage to get a foothold on things. I get 2 monsters on him. I attack and... scapegoat. Forgetting that I had Jammer down, I just kill 2. Next turn, he plays swords. I jam that. Meh, at least he's down by 2 goats. I manage to use my Overdrive to run over some of his monsters a little later. But, ultimately, his monsters manage to take over the field and decimate my forces. Highlights: -After the tournament, I get to play Nick... and WIN. I won 2-1... the first win I registered was a 1-turn-kill. Heheh. You should all know that The Winged Divine Dragon of Ra isn't the only one with that capability. -Yes, finally. I made it past the first round. *smiley, smiley* -Registered 5 wins so far with this deck. Plus, I FINALLY got that last Cyclone Laser I needed for this deck. It was 6 weeks in the making, and it has finally come to the light. Seems I'll be running this deck quite a bit longer. -YESS!! Pulled a tourney RARE. It's a Patrol Hobo... errr... that is... Robo. Guess what? At 1100 for 3, it's going in! ;) Fun! Fun! Fun! -Got a Sinister Serpent today. Had a Solemn laying around in my extra deck, so I traded it for one. Yeah, yeah... I know what you're all about to say... bad trade, should've bought the game, right? Ummm... no. I don't have $40 to spend on a game I can't even play. Meh. Cons: -I need some help against beatdown, man... grrrr... -Voltaire Abaya(Eternal) -Thunderv11@yahoo.com -Note: Watch out next week for my Gradius/Machine deck. Fweh!!!