Cory Bruner Clown Deck Game Castle, Loveland, CO Sep. 21, 2003 Fourth tournament for me. Once again using my (slightly revised) clown deck. Entry fee: $5.00 Prizes: Every entrant gets a TP3 pack, winner gets three TP3 packs. My Deck - inspired by someguy's Clown Control deck Total Cards: 41 Monsters Dream Clown x3 - Clears a path for my other monsters. Crass Clown x2 - Does the same thing, but a bit less effectively since it can't attack under Grav Bind. Hayabusa Knight x2 - My main attackers, can inflict upwards of 2000 points per turn. Sounds good to me. Giant Soldier of Stone x2 - Nothing short of a Lily will take these guys down when Gravbind is out. Magician of Faith x2 - Get back Messenger, Raigeki, or whatever I need. Yata Garasu - Yata-lock is always fun. Witch of the Black Forest - Grab just about anything from my deck. Sangan - Grab any monster. Big Eye - To stack the deck in my favor. Cyber Jar - It's annoying, and it's effective. Magic Messenger of Peace x2 - Keep 'em under wraps while I draw for some Clowns. Mystical Space Typhoon x2 - The trap-smasher. United We Stand - Giant Soldier becomes 2100+, Dream Clown becomes 2000+, Hayabusa becomes 1800+... Mage Power - Quick and effective power boost. Change of Heart - Grab their monster for a turn. Raigeki - Clear the way for Yata or Hayabusa. Dark Hole - Same as Raigeki. Monster Reborn - Get back one of my monsters - or one of theirs. Heavy Storm - Another trap-smasher. Harpie's Feather Duster - Trap-smasher #3. Pot of Greed - Two free cards. Graceful Charity - Restricted to 1 now. Grr... Traps Torrential Tribute x2 - Stops Yata, and just about anything short of a Jinzo. Gravity Bind x3 - The main focus of my deck. Keep 'em locked down. Magic Jammer x2 - Stop Heavy Storm cold. Imperial Order - Free Magic Jammer, but can be troublesome if I've got Messenger out. Mirror Force - For ruining any good assault. Magic Cylinder - Power-ups can be a bad thing... Solemn Judgment - Negates just about anything. My Side Deck Black Illusion Ritual - Brings out Mr. R. Relinquished - Bring a heavy attacker under my control and keep him safe with Gravity Bind. Soul Release - Exodia Smasher. Nobleman of Crossout x2 - In case my opponent likes Man-eaters a little too much. Guardian Sphinx x2 - Crass Clown's big brother. Swords of Revealing Light - Just in case I need _more_ control of the field. Injection Fairy Lily - 3400 damage in one turn's pretty good. Card Destruction - Another anti-Exodia. Exchange - Grab one of their cards when I've got a handful of nothing. Sinister Serpent - Spares me from a little discarding. Premature Burial - A little extra revival for my Clowns or Hayabusas. Snatch Steal - Jinzo/Ha Des, eh? I'll take that! Mask of Restrict - In case I need to even things up a bit. Nine entrants this time. We each drew our numbers, and I got the "Bye," meaning i would automatically move on to the second round. After doing that, I was pitted against - who else - the same guy I've lost to in two of my three prior tournaments. First Round - Cory vs Stephen K (Beatdown/Card Removal deck) Match 1 I got him locked with Gravity Bind pretty quickly, but with repeated uses of Skull Lair (which I've rapidly grown to dislike) followed by Monster Reborn and Snatch Steal he ended up using two of my own Dream Clowns against me most of the match. I finally put a stop to it, but then a Raigeki Break left me defenseless to an assault with a few heavy-hitters. Match 2 I fared better this time, almost getting him in a lock with a Crass Clown and Yata. He struck back with Cyber Jar, though, and then got rid of Yata with Skull Lair (by this point, I'm considering buying every Skull Lair I see just so I can burn them). Late in the match, both our LP totals were running low we were both rapidly running out of cards. It didn't look good near the end; my deck had no monsters left (a Sangan search confirmed this), a handful of magic cards, and Imperial Order on his side of the field, and two cards left in my deck. Then he decided against paying the life total, leaving me free to revive Hayabusa Knight, equip him with Mage Power, and setting my remaining magic cards to power him up to 3000 attack, finishing him off and marking my first victory against him. Match 3 This one went by much quicker; he played Delinquent Duo right off the bat, chucking out my Messenger and Dark Hole. I came back at him next turn with Hayabusa, Mage Power, and a handful of set cards, dropping him to 2000 LP but emptying my hand. A Feather Duster and a Yata draw later, he took me down to 100 LP. I drew nothing that would help, then conceded the match. --- So, if not for a well-timed Delinquent Duo and a poorly-timed drawing of Yata-Turkey, I may have scored my first victory against him. Got another TP3 pack, this time containing Darkfire Dragon, Final Flame, and the same rare someone gave me last time - Kwagar Hercules, thus continuing the record of total number of Ultra and Super rares I've found in packs: 1 each. Eh, maybe I'll do better next time. - Cory B You can reach me at saltyspage@hotmail.com