Tournament Report

General Information:

Deck Name: Medieval Muscle

Archetype: Warrior Speed/Beatdown

Builder: Matt Cortese, age 16

Location: Showcase Hobbies and Collectibles in Waterford, MI 48327

Date: Saturday, October 25th

Time: 2:00 to 6:30

Type: Single elimination bracket-style matches. The first duelist to win 3 duels advances(3/5 format).

Participants: 24 in the advanced bracket(duelists of age 13 or older)
Entrance Fee: $3.00

Prizes: 1st-10 MFC booster packs, 2nd-5 MFC booster packs

-Each participant received one free MFC booster upon entrance fee payment.

Seems like the second word in my deck name changes with every report, doesn't it? Well, I'll try to keep it the same for awhile. This is my third tourney report sent in to Pojo.com. Enjoy.

-2 Tribute Monsters, 16 Non-Tribute Monsters, 17 Spell Cards, 5 Trap Cards

Tribute Monsters:

Airknight Parshath x1

Non-Tribute Monsters:

Marauding Captain x2

Goblin Attack Force x2

Breaker the Magic Warrior x1

Injection Fairy Lily x1

Witch of the Black Forest x1

Magician of Faith x1

The Forceful Sentry x1

Harpie's Feather Duster x1

Mystical Space Typhoon x1

Swords of Revealing Light x1

Nobleman of Crossout x1

Reinforcement of the Army x1

Ring of Destruction x1

Call of the Haunted x1

Tournament Report:

After arriving at the shop just minutes before signup began at 1:30, I scrounged my pockets and looked around to see if anything was worth trading for. Wouldn't you know the owner didn't want a single one of the cards I had up for trade, so I resorted to trading with some fellow duelists. I was able to get an LOB Dark Hole and another set of Gobbies, but the big catch of the day was trading Ha Des and 15$ for Breaker and Luster Dragon, two cards I have had my eye on for awhile. After running through a few strategies and testing out my deck with some casual duels, the signup began. I got crap in my free pack of Magician's Force, the normal rare Tribute Doll. Soon after the first round's matches were assigned and I was greeted by my first opponent.

Match 1 [Matt vs. Erik]:

I first faced a younger member of the advanced bracket, by his looks he aged about 13-14. He didn't talk much and neither did I. His deck looked to be no less than 60 cards and I had no trouble defeating him 3 duels in a row. Some cards I remember him using were The Bistro Butcher(I allowed him to hit me for 3600, then after drawing 6 cards in 2 turns I let loose my beatsticks), La Jinn, and other obsolete 1800ATK-pointers. The favorite duel of mine in this match would have to be treating him to an Injection Fairy Lily slaugher. He-llo nurse!

Match 2 [Matt vs. Brad]:

Or at least I think that's what his name was... I can't remember exactly. He hadn't come here often before because I'd never seen him. He used a beatdown similar to mine with 2 Geminis, 2 Lusters, and a Spear Dragon but no Warriors. It also had some hand control elements to set up for Yata locks. This guy was tough; he actually knew what he was doing. He won the first duel out of a good situational hand and my lack of drawing playable monsters. After that, I beat him down early in the second duel by using Duo and ridding him of his beatsticks on the first turn, using PoG, and maintaining field and hand control while psyching him out by setting multiple Spell/Trap cards. He attempted a Heavy Storm and I countered with IO. Next turn I let IO die and sac some Gobbies in DEF mode for my Jinzy, equip him with Mage Power(I had Call of the Haunted, Ring of Destruction and Monster Reborn facedown), and hit him for a cool 4400 to end the second duel. In the third duel, I fell victim to a quick Yata lock. Stuck with useless cards in my hand such as Raigeki and Airknight, I was forced to concede in order to move on to the next duel. The score was 1-2, and not looking too good. It was at this time I decided to focus on every move of every turn to ensure my success if at all possible. The duel was long and arduous, he popped Fiber Jar on me twice before I finally gained field control with Lily on my side. I only had Lily and Spear Dragon on my side but his field was clear, but had 2 facedown Spell/Trap cards. I had 1800 lifepoints left so attacking with Lily and using her effect would mean suicide, and the time limit was nearly up so he would win by default. Attacking with Spear Dragon was certain death because I knew, with my luck, he had Magic Cylinder facedown. He was at 1100 lifepoints. I set 1 facedown Spell/Trap, summoned Marauding Captain, and ended my turn. Next turn he draws, activates Pot of Greed. In response, I chain my facedown card Ring of Destruction on my own Captain, and won the duel by a hair. Btw, his facedown cards were Waboku and Magic Cylinder(whew! I knew it!!). it was 2-2 now, and I was already exhausted. I got lucky though, the next duel was easier than I thought. He apparently got a sucky first draw and I beat him with little resistance, with a horde of warriors. Later I learned he had been planning on winning the tournament.

Match 3 [Matt vs. Fish]

Onto the semifinals. Man, what a day. I didn't really care if I lost this one because I had already gotten the two things I wanted most out of the day: the few cards I needed to upgrade my deck; and a tense, epic match with a talented opponent. When I found out it was Fish I was facing next, I couldn't help but laugh. Incase you haven't read my previous tourney reports, Fish(not his real name, I hope) is the skinny young dust-blonde kid with the leather jacket and the goofy smile that is always leaving his cards at the store and cracking jokes in the middle of the most serious duels. Well, this time he was really determined to get those MFC packs I guess, because he was a lot harder to play against than the first time I faced him and beat him to win the tournament last month. His deck is the generic beatdown with hand control, no Yata(thank god). Pretty much like mine with a few changes, no Airknight and Gemini Elves/Breakers instead of Warriors. The details from the first few duels are a bit blurry, though I can distinctly remember he won the first duel, then I won the second, then he won, then I won. It, like the previous match, was a back-and-forth war. Only difference was, we had an extended time limit and a bunch of kids were watching us now that there were only 4 duelists left. So anyway, it gets down to the final duel again. I really think I have no chance to win it at all, since my two previous victories were seemingly out of luck. He nails me early on to bring my lifepoints below 2000 and maintains field control, and I begin to sweat. He has a Gemini Elf and a Witch all in ATK mode waiting to decimate me next turn. My hand? Witch and Mage Power. Well, Mage Power was useless. So I set it and the Witch also. Next turn(he has no cards in hand) he attacks first with Gemini, and I get to search. There was absolutely nothing that could help the situation. I was at 900 LP's and it was about time to give up. I chose Lily just for effect(It's one of my favorites) and hoped to draw Raigeki or something. I draw Graceful Charity and activate it, he chains with IO. I'm screwed. I summon Lily and end my turn, and next turn I met my demise. Later on I realized that if I wasn't in such a panic I probably would have been wiser to search out Cyber Jar. D'oh. No matter though. I forget who won the finals, but it wasn't Fish.

I guess some kid came into the store and had the "power" to look at a booster pack and tell whether it had something good in it(super, ultra or secret rare). He bought 3 packs and got Diffusion Wave-Motion, Amazoness Swords Woman and XYZ. We were trying to figure it out and it might be these tiny white dots in between two strands of Yugi's hair on the picture, on the red part of his hair. The more dots maybe, the rarer the card. Or maybe we're just insane with paranoia and the kid was lying about his "power" and was just plain lucky. At any rate, he pretty much raped the MFC box of its treasures, so when the tourney winners came up to receive their prize packs, they got diddley-squat. The first place winner got 10 packs and nothing better than normal rare. So I didn't feel so bad about not winning.

-To that awesome trader who was willing to give up some of the hottest MFC monsters for my trading fodder.

-To the store owner, who never fails in holding the best tournaments this side of Detroit, with the best prizes and the hardest competition, and who is always on the lookout for whatever cards I'm looking for at the time(even if he can't remember my name lol).

-To Brad and Fish for giving me the some of the most challenging duels yet.

-To that prophesizing kid who stole all of the goods out of the MFC box.

-For my horrible luck in missing next week's Halloween tournaments, with costumes and raffles and loads of fun.

-To my former fellow duelist whom I taught the art of dueling, Michael White, for selling his Yu-Gi-Oh! deck and spare cards for Magic: the Gathering cards(nothing against M:tG, but come on, YGO's the most popular TCG in the world man! At least decide to sell your goods when I'm in town to buy them!!)

Well, thanks for reading my long tournament report, thanks to Pojo for posting it, thanks to UD and Konami for their... erm... stuff that they do, and thanks to Showcase Collectibles and Hobbies, who will always be my home for Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic needs.

Questions, comments, conerns, compliments, tips or rants? E-mail me at bammjc@juno.com. I'd love to hear from ya.

"Heart of the cards?" It's not about luck or money, it's about being able to manipulate your hand and your opponent's as well, gain card and field advantage, and maintain that advantage. In other words, Yugi Motou is a newb."