Any Given Sunday v2.6
Michael Lucas
Jahinie Productions -- Munhall, PA
14 participants
9/14/03


Well, this was going to be a difficult one, to say the least.  The night before the tournament, I end up getting horribly sick.  Not to mention that my rival, Jesse, gained 400+ points from me missing two weeks (and him winning both of them).  So I would need two miracles - a recovery from the flu, and a win at the tournament.  Luckily, I would be given divine aid…the flu was held off for the time being…as for the other part…you'll have to read.

Deck = 43;

Monsters = 16;
2 Gemini Elf (No drawback beatstick)
3 Goblin Attack Force (The beatstick to beat other Beatsticks)
2 Spear Dragon (Punish other GAF players, DEF lovers)
2 Kuriboh (Block direct shots after an opponent's field clear)
1 Sangan (Search = good.)
1 Witch of the Black Forest (Purely UNRESTRICTED search = better.)
1 Exiled Force (Whatever my other monsters can't handle, he can.)
1 Fiber Jar (Turn the tides)
1 Jinzo (Don't have to worry about traps stopping a direct assault)
1 Yata-Garasu (LOCK!)
1 Sinister Serpent (Anti-opponent's Yata)

Magics = 20;
2 Nobleman of Crossout ("When it comes to Beatdown, it's not the face-up monsters
you're worried about.  It's the face-downs." ~ Me)
1 Heavy Storm (Field clear = good)
3 Mystical Space Typhoon ("3 MST in EVERY Beatdown!")
1 Delinquent Duo
1 Confiscation
1 The Forceful Sentry (Hand disruption = great)
1 Dark Hole
1 Raigeki
1 Change of Heart
1 Pot of Greed
1 Monster Reborn
1 Harpie's Feather Duster (6 Staple Magics.  Can't pass 'em up.)
1 Graceful Charity (I consider it the Seventh Staple now)
1 Mirage of Nightmare (Sweet drawpower)
1 Premature Burial (Secondary reborn)
1 Snatch Steal (Second Change of Heart)
1 United We Stand (The one equip worth playing)

Traps = 7;
2 Waboku (Save my monsters, my Life Points.  CHAINABLE.)
1 Call of the Haunted (Third Reborn.  CHAINABLE.  Negate opponent's Reborn.)
1 Mirror Force (Too good to pass up, even if not chainable)
1 Imperial Order (Block magics)
1 Magic Cylinder (It wins games.)
1 Ring of Destruction (Monster destruction.  Direct Damage.  CHAINABLE.)

We only had 14 people, and a few people I definitely feared (Jeremy, John, and his other friend showed up…a new guy who had a decent Beatdown, and then Jesse…Cory wasn't there because he was at a Pokemon pre-release tournament.)  The object was to beat Jesse as quickly as possible, and go as far as I could.  Round 1 pairings were called…JESSE.  This is what I needed.  Do or die time.  If he wins, he'll go up another 200 points.  If I win, I can regain DESPERATELY needed lost ground.

Round 1:  Any Given Sunday vs. Jesse's Hyper Beatdown
Duel 1:
I go first and get a great start.  I summon Sangan and end.  He used Confiscation, and got smacked by the Sangan next turn.  Then it was a Spear Dragon war; He takes 1900, he takes 1900…I take 2100 (Spear + Yata).  I Dark Hole, summon Witch, and ATK.  He gets nothing.  I summon Yata and ATK for game.
8000-6100 (Spear) - 4000 (Yata/Witch) - 3200 (Premature) - 2300 (?) to his 8000-7000 (Confis.) - 6000 (Sangan) - 4100 (Spear) - 3300 (Premature but I MSTed) - 2200 (Witch) - YATA

Duel 2:
This game was mine from the start.  He goes first but only sets a monster.  I DD to limit his options.  I end up taking his Spear with Snatch and using my own Spear for a LOT of damage.  He gets no monsters, except for a GAF he used to take out one of my Spears.  I still had 4300 left at the end.

8000-7000 (Duo) - 4700 (GAF) - 4300 (GAF vs. ATK  mode Spear) to his 8000-6100 (Spear) - 4200 (Spear vs. Defense Spear) - 5200 (Snatch Steal) - 3300 (Spear) - 4300 (Snatch) - 3300 (Confiscation) - 0 (2x Spear Dragon)

Sidenote:  After that, Jesse was docked his 21 points for the day for outside coaching of another match.  So any points I got today would be unopposed!

1 ½ miracles down, ½ to go.  I need to win to maximize my chances.  Luckily, the rest of my bracket was insanely easy.

Round 2:  Any Given Sunday vs. Tyler
Duel 1:
These matches were fairly uneventful.  I Graceful and discard 2 GAFs.  I summon a Spear, set a M/T, and end.  He sets and ends.  I CoH (it was a Royal Keeper, so I flip it, so it's at 1900), play another Spear, and ATK for 5700.  His turn, he kills a spear.  My turn, I premature a GAF and win.
8000 - 7000 (Confiscation) - 6200 (Premature) to his 8000 - 2300 (3x 1900's) - 0 (GAF)

Duel 2:  More of the same.  He turn one Card Destructions and kills what was a great hand.  He sets a monster, 2 M/Ts and ends.  I Harpie's Feather Duster…unopposed.  Change of Heart…A MAGICIAN OF FAITH!  I flip it, regain Delinquent Duo, and kill his hand entirely.  I play UWS on a GAF and attack directly for 4200.  His turn, nothing.  The last two turns are hazy, but I got GAF to kill him exactly after a Spear Dragon hit his MoF for 1500.
8000 - 7000 (Duo) to his 8000 - 3800 - 2300 - 0

My next Duel would be against one of either two very easy Duelists.  They used cards like Ominous Fortunetelling, set Magics face down, and misplayed many cards.  I would go up against a guy named Rob.

Round 3 (Semifinals):  Any Given Sunday vs. Rob
Duel 1:
I go first.  I summon GAF, set a M/T, and end.  His turn, he sets a mon and ends.  My turn, I Nobleman his Sangan, Premature another GAF (Charity), and smack for 4600.  His turn, he summons La Jinn.  It gets Ringed for 1800 to each of us.  My turn, nothing.  His turn, he kills a Goblin in Defense.  My turn, summon my third Goblin, game.
8000-7200 (Premature) - 5400 (RoD) to his 8000 - 3400 - 1600 (RoD) - 0

Duel 2:
I Confiscated early, then RoD'd something (forgot what, but it was up to 1900.)  I Premature a Spear and hit him with it.  He sets a DEF monster and ends.  I Spear his 200 DEF monster and he's down to 2500.  He gets nothing and I win in two turns.
8000-7000 (Confiscation) - 5100 (RoD) - 4300 (Premature) to his 8000-6100 (RoD) - 4200 (Spear) - 2500 (Spear vs. 200) - 900 (?) - 0

So I was in the finals, within about 20-30 minute of Duels.  I had to wait almost an hour for the other Duels to finish up.  It was Jeremy vs. Tom (The guy with the decent Beatdown mentioned above).  Tom's error of not playing Mirror Force early on cost him the Match, and Masked Beast, Sinister Serpent, Nimble Momonga-toting Jeremy would face me in the finals.  Could I take an extra chip away from Jesse's rankings?

FINALS:  Any Given Sunday vs. Jeremy's Unorthodox Beatdown
Duel 1: 
He sets in DEF and ends.  My Spear clips a Nimble and does 800 after the healing.  One's in his hand, because he only special summoned one from the Deck.  He shifts the Nimble into ATK and plays a Kycoo:  I Kuriboh.  I Raigeki and summon a GAF to do 2300.  He Prematures Kycoo, summons a Squirrel, Squirrel takes out GAF, Kycoo does 1800 and removes from my GY.  My turn, I summon Gemini, Snatch his Nimble, and CoH his Kycoo for game.
8000-6200 (Kycoo) to his 8000-7200 (Spear vs. Nimble) - 4900 (GAF) - 0 (Gem + Nimble + Kycoo)

Duel 2:
This one was fast as well.  I Confiscate and summon a Sangan.  His turn, he CoHs the Sangan, attacks with (or Prematures, can't remember) Kycoo...Kuriboh (?) - I hit his Kycoo with a GAF.  Sangan got destroyed somehow?  (I can't remember the middle of this Duel for some reason, and only have the LP totals to refer to.)  I remember MSTing a Premature this game…I have a 3 monster force (GAF + Sangan + Gemini) and he topdecks Swords and plays it…and my draw is MST, taking it out, along with the rest of his LP.
8000-7000 (Confiscation) - 6000 (Sangan?) to his 8000-7500 (GAF vs. Kycoo) - 4600 (Gem + Sangan) - 0 (GAF + Sangan + Gem)

I only got 2 packs as a prize, and my pocket scale tells me they don't contain holos…the packs are sitting on my dresser as we speak.  I'm going to pull the old switcheroo (take them to a store and swap them with packs that have holos, judging by my scale).  If I'm going to win two packs, I want them to have holos, damnit.

Sidenotes:  I Dueled John (one of Jeremy's friends) for the heck of it earlier, and he got me down to 2400 in one round, but failed to clinch.

I also dueled Tom for fun (after the tourney) - and successfully overruled Jahinie (judge/store owner) on Waboku.  (Thank God for new PDFs)  Apparently another store Tom went to MISRULED on Waboku by telling them that Waboku blocked Life Point damage but didn't save monsters.  (If it didn't save monsters, WHY WOULD I PLAY IT?)

Props:
Cory not being there to add to the opposition
Jesse losing in Round 1
Jahinie for penalizing Jesse his daily points for the outside coaching he committed
Waboku for saving monsters

Slops:
2 packs for 1st place
Neither of the packs have holos, necessitating the need to pull a switcheroo

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