3 - Opticlops

3 - Giant Germ

2 - Mystic Tomato

2 - Dark Jeroid

2 - Kuriboh

1 - Summoned Skull

1 - Witch of the Black Forest

1 - Sangan

1 - Yata-Garasu

1 - Pot of Greed

1 - Graceful Charity

1 - Painful Choice

1 - Mirage of Nightmare

- Monster Control

1 - Change of Heart

1 - Snatch Steal

2 - Creature Swap

1 - Dark Hole

1 - Raigeki

1 - Delinquent Duo

1 - Confiscation

1 - The Forceful Sentry

3 - Mystical Space Typhoon

1 - Heavy Storm

1 - Harpie's Feather Duster

- Monster Recursion

1 - Monster Reborn

1 - Premature Burial

1 - Imperial Order

1 - Call Of The Haunted

1 - Mirror Force

1 - Ring of Destruction

2 - Exchange

3 - Possessed Dark Soul

2 - Newdoria

1 - Dark Ruler Ha Des

2 - Book of Moon

2 - Burning Land

1 - Nobleman of Crossout

2 - Megamorph

The idea here is searchers. It’s the quickest fiend deck I’ve run into yet (except for my idiotically running 3 necrofears, when it would be far more sound to run 2). Also, I’m one of the few and the [proud] that run 2 creature swaps. I’d hope that looking over the list of monsters I run, it would be fairly apparent why I choose to do so.

Anyway, I got to the store about 15 minutes before sign-ups, and the tourney started a good half-hour after that. In the interim, I managed to duel a couple whiny types with profile decks (Every card that’s big in the local metagame assembled in the exact same way). They always jump at the opportunity to duel a themed-deck, thinking it’ll be an easy win, and help further assure them that they don’t suck in spite of their inability to place past 10^th round. On to the match-ups.

He was a quiet, pudgy sort of kid, and I hadn’t expected to have any trouble with him. As things turned out, he put up a much better fight than I expected.

He only got one good hit in on me this match. His hand was full of elves, and he had played 3 by the fourth turn or so. In spite of not taking much damage, it was a long match: he loved flip effects and older-style defense monsters (Stone Soldier, etc.). My germs did ALL the work this one: the only other monster that hit the field was a Dark Jeroid. I’ve never seen germs flood the field like this. He took 2000 points of germ-death damage.

Haus: 8000 - 6300

Anthony: 8000 - 7000 - 5000 - 3000 - 0 (Yes, that’s three Giant Germs)

This one took a lot longer than the last. He put up a good fight, but a nice hand on my part ended up keeping him wondering where his monsters were. He never kept anything on the table for very long. A lot of suicidal Mystical Tomatoes (Ketchup Bombs, as I call them) kept his monsters down and out, and got me the speed I needed to get two necrofears onto the table. Again, he had all three elves, but they did NOT make the Opticlops cry. Dark Jeroid makes Elf cry.

Haus: 8000 - 5700 - 4900 - 3800

Anthony: 8000 - 5500 - 4600 - 3800 - 1400 - 0

As all my matches with him go, this was intense. I opened up with a confiscation, and he got all mumbly because I removed his goblin attack force, and he had no spectacular magic or traps in hand. He plopped out a Gemini, dropped my Tomato. I took the pain, and searched a Jeroid onto the field, popping his elf down to 1100. On my turn, I Heavy Stormed into an Imperial Order. Realizing he had no real protection (The Order was his only M/T), I changed my plans for a creature swap combo, and just dropped a germ on the field. Suicided the germ, killed the elf with the Jeroid, attacked straight with the other two germs. He wasn’t feeling this, but it didn’t matter. He made the key mistake of neglecting to pay for his Imperial Order. He did fight back for a while with wabokou and kuriboh, but the early germs and a painful choice saw me summon ALL THREE necrofears over the course of the game. When I broke through, I broke through with a vengeance.

Haus: 8000 - 7000 - 6500 - 5700

Oakley: 8000 - 5400 - 700 - 0

He was demoralized, but not down and out. We exchanged blows for a good long while, but a trap-laden hand ended up keeping me damage-free. I didn’t want to Yata lock him (He hates being Yata locked, and he’s a friend, so it’s a small allowance to give) so I used my searchers to bring up Kuribo. Eventually, fields and hands were empty or small, and it came down to top decking. I only remember the last two turns pretty well. He had a witch out, and I drew a creature swap. I reborned my 1 germ (Painful Choice brought it to the graveyard early on, and amazingly neither of the others had been drawn all game), swapped it over, and hit him for 2600 (100 over the germ, 500 for the germ’s death, and 2000 when the other two hit the field.) His turn comes, he plays Raigeki and drops a Gemini (searched out by his witch that just died) getting in a solid hit. I hurt. I draw into a reborn, bring back a Germ, and swap it over to his field. Swing means game, on the mark: 900 over the germ, plus 500 from it’s death effect.

Haus: 8000 - 6100

Oakley: 8000 - 5500 - 5200 - 3800 - 1400 - 0

I was afraid of playing this guy. I’ve known him for a little while, maybe a couple months. He’s got damn near everything, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem is that no matter how bad a day he’s having, no matter how bad he’s losing, I always seem to turn his luck around. Additionally, while most of us at Monkey Head know each other and don’t typically dip into our side decks when playing against each other, he does.

A short game with a few big blows tossed around. I think I played a first turn duo, but it hardly slowed him down, on account of the dreaded Sinister Serpent. I’m looking at the life points and trying to remember what happened, but all I can tell you is what I have written in the notes from the first match: he tops a Change of Heart and snags my Skull, then plays a Marauding Captain, not special summoning anything else, for game. The rat bastard.

Haus: 8000 - 7000 - 3700 - 0

Wankovich: 8000 - 5000 - 4200 - 3900

A long ass game starting with my drawing a forceful sentry and a delinquent duo first turn. I played forceful, sent back his exiled force, and having seen plenty to get rid of, I decided to play the duo as well. I got what I wanted, though I forget what that was in retrospect. I played a painful choice, and he decided to be coy and gave me the Yata I had stuck in there to narrow his choices. I guess he figured I wouldn’t get a lock off with what he had. A preposterously long while later, I yata locked him. It was a really tense game, so I didn’t leave many notes. Take a look at the life scores and let your imagination do the work.

Haus: 8000 - 7000 - 6600

Wankovich: 8000 - 7500 - 6600 - 5600 - 5400 - 4900 - 4400 - YATA

This game only lasted maybe 10 turns, but for the time it took it may as well have lasted 30. We REALLY had to use our thinkers on this one. I sprung a first turn Confiscate, and then spent the rest of the game wishing I had made another choice. He had a Lily and a Fiber Jar, and I knew the Fiber Jar would hurt me much worse if he held onto it, so I ditched the loathsome thing. Henceforth, I lived in fear of his Lily, basing every single move I made around it. He dropped off my Yata, denying me that salvation, but much to my dismay he delayed playing the Lily. By careful maneuvering, I cultivated my hand, and went for one enormous all-or-nothing swing. It pushed him to the brink, but he had apparently cultivated his hand, too. He defended for a couple of turns, played drop-off on me in the mean time, and then put together his own all-or-nothing for game.

Haus: 8000 - 7000 - 6800 - 3700 - 2900 - 0

Wankovich: 8000 - 5500 - 4500 - 900 (Grr! All I needed was a germ to go suicidal…)

- Not facing Clanton in the first round…again.

- To whoever won. It wasn’t Wankovich.

- The Taco.

- Only having to Yata Lock once for a win.

- Oakley making my win feel like a loss (I hate beating friends).

- Wankovich making my loss feel like a loss.

- Only getting one Taco.

- Not getting a prize.