Hand Control/
Hybrid
Ryan Cooper
A World of Books San Leandro, Ca.
1/ 18/ 04
42-50 People Participated in the tournament
1st place: 5 tournament 4
packs
Every one else: one Tournament pack 4 for
entering
$6 entry fee: advanced
Well, this is the very
first time I have posted a Tournament Report, but definately not the first time
viewing Pojo.com. I went to A World of Books in San Leandro with my Hand Control
deck that I have had to recover after missing 12 cards in it and trust me, when
you have a lot of Holofoils, 12 can be excrutiating to lose. I had to trade
every extra I had in order to get them back, but I got them all in the nick of
time for the tournament.
If you read Edwin and the rest of Springfield’s Finest, you will know that last week a kid named David went to the tournament and recently became a member of Springfield’s Finest and got to the Semi-Finals. Well, I was at his house early in the morning and we waited for his parents to drive us to the tournament which was like 2 minutes away from where we lived. After his parents came, we talked, then was off for another exciting tournament at around 11:00.
The tournament didn’t start until another 3 hours, so we had a lot of time to kill. His parents dropped us off, gave us some money for lunch, and we were off to find some different strategies, and study people’s decks. This being my first time going to their tournament, since I normally go to Hobby Town USA because it’s on the way from church, I was quite nervous of what people would think, because apparently Edwin and David who both go to my school, has told everyone how I own Hobby Town every week, and they wanted to see what I was all about. Me knowing them from their reports was nervous to know what they would say.
So anyway, David was starting to know every one, so he went over to some kid with a Zombie Deck and dueled with his 1st Turn Win Scientist Deck. Needless to say, he got owned 5:1. What a failure :P After that, we went towards Billy and some of the other Springfield Members to watch some duels and wait for Edwin and James to come. I wanted to especially meet James since I heard a lot about him from Edwin, so I stayed near Springfield knowing he would be there.
As a side note: I think Billy is the funniest one of the whole team. Every thing he said was just hilarious, so when I was there, I almost forgot I had to piss because of 2 Sobes and a 24 oz. Coca Cola.
An hour and a half went by and we signed up, but yet James wasn’t there yet. By that time Edwin was there showing his collection of cards from the Binder and trading a Lava Golem for 2 Archfiend Soldiers. He didn’t care, he had like 7 and IMO it was a good trade for him. By that time, I couldn’t wait and had to go to Tacoria for the Bathroom I went and right when I passed one of the shops by the tournament, David walks in front of me and heads toward a kid coming out of the store. Of all the people it happened to be James himself, which of course didn’t recognize me, but David and him were talking and when James was about to leave, David calls out to him and says this is Ryan from the Hobby Town USA. He turns around, pauses and flips me off with a smile on his face. I thought it to be funny and odd at the same time. Anyway, I go to the bathroom, come back, and they are by a table talking, trading, and dueling other people waiting for the tournament to start. The entire time I was thinking, I hope I will at least pass the 1st round seeing as how I do every time at Hobby Town. Then again, in my opinion it is a weak tournament and a lot more bigger, challenge, and fun here at A World of Books.
After dueling some more friends who came to the tournament, I was ready to duel in the actual tournament. The judge was collecting all of the money and signing up names and pairs and since there were like over 70 people there including Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced brackets, it would take a while. What a way to make you suspenseful…
As I watched people duel, I saw some of my friends dueling for cards. My friend Brian dueled this kid named Jared for one of his cards while he put up his 1st edition Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer. The entire time I was thinking, man, I know that name from somewhere, and it occurred to me that he was one of the people trying to be a member of Springfield’s Finest. Right there I thought, Oh crap Brian’s gonna lose his Kycoo, and sure enough, with the attempt of trying to use a Dark Magician Deck, his second Deck, he got scraped by Jared and lost the Kycoo. It didn’t phase him, and especially when he put up his Dark Magician Girl for a Don Zaloog later on and won the Don Zaloog. Good Shit Brian.
Anyway, now the tournament was about to start and as I heard the names called out, one thing came to mind: Don’t pair me up against a member of Spring Field! After I heard my name, I walked up there and was given the pack for entering, and faced not a member, but a pretty much ok Player which name I didn’t get. So anyway, now onto the Deck Itself, and then round one of the Advanced Bracket:
Monsters: 14
1x Jinzo
1x Vampire Lord
1x Archfiend Soldier
1x Don Zaloog
1x Spirit Reaper
1x Sangan
1x Witch of the Black Forest
2x D.D. Warrior Lady
1x Sinister Serpent
1x Magical Scientist
1x Yata Garasu
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
1x Tribe Infecting Virus
Spell Cards: 18
1x Raigeki
1x Dark Hole
1x Pot of Greed
1x Change of Heart
1x Feather Duster
1x Monster Reborn
1x Heavy Storm
1x Premature Burial
1x Nobleman of Crossout
1x Graceful Charity
1x Snatch Steal
1x Creature Swap
1x Forceful Sentry
1x Delinquent Duo
1x Confiscation
3x Mystical Space Typhoon
Trap Cards: 8
1x Mirror Force
1x Ring of Destruction
1x Imperial Order
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Torrential Tribute
3x Drop Off
40 Cards Total. Yes, I have Exiled Force, an extra Don Zaloog, and etc., I just choose not to use them. Too many of one thing can be owned by Tribe Infecting Virus.
Ryan (me) Vs. Kid with Burner Deck
When he came to get his pack people from Springfield told me he ran a Burner, so I was a little more Confident about going against him, and then I heard people yelling and found out he pulled Breaker. Damn, I knew I wouldn’t get anything good after that. We went to a table and took our decks out and shuffled, cut, same ol’ same ol’. We rolled a dice to see who goes first and it was in his favor. He starts by only setting one s/t card and ends his turn. I was like, whoa, this will be fast most likely. I draw and Heavy right off the bat. It was Ceasefire.. So I proceed and summon Don Zaloog and attack, taking out Giant Orc or something to that effect. The whole match proceeds with me ripping his hand out, and in the end, he had no cards, one defense, and 1 s/t card face down. I had a D.D Warrior Lady on the field, and Yata in my hand. I was a little worried of the Trap, but, I saw his expressions from before, and they weren’t happy, so I proceed by summoning the Bird and just pretend he has nothing good. I attack, remove, then attack with Yata. He smiles and says that’s game. Whew, first duel finished. I noticed that I wasn’t calm at all because I was shaking, and that gave him a better advantage since he came every week knowing what to do.
Duel two was very close. He started off by setting a few cards, and I used Delinquent Duo, and some other cards and in the middle close to end of the duel, I have a Kycoo on the field, and 1 set card. He had one card in hand, no cards on the field. I attack, lowering him down, removing some cards from the grave. He summons Dark Jeroid attacking my Kycoo, bringing me down to 1300, and him at 2400. I draw Premature Burial, and summon Tribe Infecting Virus, with one card in hand, being Premature Burial which I didn’t want to discard for the effect. Instead, I start thinking if I should Revive something back like Kycoo, being the strongest card in there, bringing him down to 200, and me to 500, or Use the effect and just attack directly assuming he doesn’t have anything to destroy me next turn. I couldn’t use Premature right then and there. He had Burner cards, and I might be in danger letting him draw and use one, so I set Premature as a Bluff so I can use it next turn if need be, and making him nervous with my face down, so I attacked his Jeroid with Virus. He draws and sets a monster. I draw crap Breaker and summon him, attacking with Virus, and it happens to hit his Cyber Jar. We draw and he gets a lot of flip effects, and I make a nOOb mistake and forget to look at his Traps and Spells. I was so nervous, I didn’t think about it. I saw he had GAF and Witch, and I had Sinister and Archfiend, so I summon Archfiend, and set Sinister Serpent. I set a Waboku, and some other stuff, and let him go. He Sets a Trap with a grin, Monster Reborns my Sangan, and I’m like, ok. He sets it in defense, ends his turn, and right when I draw, he activates Ceasefire, ending the duel. Good shit guy, now I know why he took Sangan. For the Fun of it :P
Ok, now I notice he has a second chance to wipe me out and have me lose in the first round. Now it was time to really start thinking strategically. Don’t get me wrong, it was easy the first duel, and easy the second, but he just got an edge the second. I needed to finish this quickly, and advance to the Second round. Afterall, I win at Hobby Town. Why not get passed first round here?
3RD duel is kind of blank, but I do know that in the end, I wiped out his field and hand, and had Kycoo, Archfiend Soldier and one of his Change of Hearted monsters and my Vampire Lord on the field. If that wasn’t enough to finish him off, I activated Ring of Destruction on Vampire Lord for more Damage, ending the duel and advancing me to the second round of the tournament.
Ryan: (2-1)
Now that that was done, I started to get my confidence back and notice it isn’t as hard as I put it out to be. I looked around, and the people from Sprongfield asked if I managed to pass first round and I said yeah, and watched other people duel. David unfortunately lost in the first round because he couldn’t get the win on him. Oh well, better luck next week when me and him get some more cards from China Town in Oakland. From all of the excitement, I forgot to post my victory, so James came around and asked if I won and posted my win, and when I did, I noticed who I was matched up against and knew it would happen.. I went up against James, the leader of Springfield second round.
Round 2
Duel 1:
Ryan(Hand Control Hybrid) Vs. James (Hand Control)
Hoo boy, I knew what I was in when I went against him, but for some reason I wasn’t too nervous as I was in 1st round. Guess because if I were to lose to anyone, I would like it to be James.
1st round went by fast. He dominated with Tomatos, a Don, and set me up for the Yata Lock in the end, I think. Drop Offs took roll in this one too. I almost had him in Lock but he used Scientist and his own Negators to finish me off.
Duel 2:
Now I knew I was gonna lose, but not without a fight. At this time a few people were crowding around us. I proceeded to go by starting first. I did pretty much ok this match. I DD’d his Tomatos, got him to top deck, and right at the end, he had set 2 cards face down, and for some reason, I had a feeling they were bluffs. He had no hand, no Monsters, but those 2 cards on the field. I made another dare and summoned Yata to attack mode and hit him. He let it go through. Right there I had a jump start to my heart thinking I had him in a lock. I summoned again, and kept attacking, yet he still took damage. I said, “ Is it a Lock?” yet he still took the damage. Right there I knew I had locked him, but he was going to make me go through the whole process and I kept drawing, and drawing, and setting cards so I wouldn’t have to Discard as much. By this time, we had collected a huge crowd of people and they noticed I had kept on Yata Locking, and he kept taking the hits, calculating it on the Calculator, and I kept attacking, discarding and repeating the process. My friend said I didn’t have him, that I would deck before I lock him and that I should just summon a Hight attacking monster and hope he doesn’t get anything good, but I kept telling him to leave me alone, that I knew what to do. James is intelligent. He knew he was Locked, but yet kept on taking it. If I was gonna lock him, he was gonna make me go through the process, and trust me, it was a long process. I respect him for that. Then, I saw that I had 10 cards in the deck, 5 cards in the s/t area, and a full hand of monster Reborn, Heavy, and Premature, and others I could have used. Damn, I needed to use them. He had 2800 LP and I had 10 cards in the Deck. I would do only 2000 lp Damage and Brian said, just attack with a high attack monster. James after that point told him to back off and let me concentrate which I was glad for. I summoned until he had 1900 Lp and then, I summoned DD Warrior Lady and attacked, waiting for him to do Something which he didn,t so after that, I activated Ring on My DD setting off 3000 Lp Damage, and ending the duel in my favor.
Man, I was so glad I was able to beat him once, and all I had to do is do it one more time and I would be happy.
Duel 3:
He started off by going first, and although I can’t quite remember a lot, I know that he dominated with Tomatos and Drop Offs again and sooner or later, I was either Locked, or had a loss of LP. Well, I had lost to James, and was proud of it. People were saying they were proud that I got to that point at least. We shook hands, then I watched his duels from there. In the end, it was James and Edwin, a member from Avalanche, and this other guy in the finals. James went against Edwin, and the other two dueled. James proceeded to beat Edwin (failure :P) and the guy from Avalanche proceeded to win against the other guy who lasted a while. It was a nice duel, too.
Finally. Leader from Springfield Vs. Leader from Avalanche. The first duel went to James I think as he used Tomatos and Drop Offs to Dominate against The other guy. 2nd duel went to Leader from Avalanche, and the third was the most exciting one. They had all of the people from Avalanche on his side, and the people from Springfield’s finest on the other side. Man, all I saw was James’ hand, and it looked good. I won’t say what he had in respect to James because I’m sure he doesn’t want people knowing what he had, but I will say that it came to the end with James’ Exiled running into his Exiled (James, you should have sacked instead. He could have had Mirror Force or Cylinder, but I assume you knew what you were doing) and then the other proceeded by setting one s/t, and then, James went for a dare and attacked with Yata Garasu. At that part, it all slowed down for me, and I thought, I hope it goes through, let it go through, and then the guy looked at his face down, and activated Magic Cylinder. I was like, damn, but greatful that it wasn’t Mirror Force or Torrential. Next turn, he sets a card, and lets James go. James summons Yata, and attacks, waiting, and the guy lets him go through with it! After that, James kept attacking, then he got Heavy and the other guy admitted it was a lock. Good shit James!
Well, James won the tournament and got his 5 packs. After that, me, David, Brian, Edwin, Billy, James and 2 other people walked over to Taco Bell, ordered food, ate it, and did some trades. Edwin noticed his pack was hella hard, so he weighed it, and yep, sure enough it was a Holo Tournament 4 pack, and he opened it and Got…..
Chain Destruction! :P Crap, yes, but Holofoil none the less. After that, Edwin and David went to Safeway, and while we were throwing our stuff away, they had already left by then. They went and bought * cough * stuff and met up with me James, Brian and the others back at the tournament. We talked, dueled, and had fun until James and some others left to go play Basketball. Me, Edwin, David, Brian and some others dueled until Edwin was picked up by his parents and me David and Brian were picked up by David Mom. All in all, I had a hella great time and hope to come back soon, because it is so much more fun then Hobby Town can ever be.
Now for Props and Slops:
Props:
To A World of Books being the best Tournament ever.
To James for owning me and the rest today.
To Edwin for having a good personality, and bein a good friend.
To Taco Bell today.
To the whole Springfield’s Finest Team.
To Hobby Town for making it too easy to win :P
To Springfield’s Finest for being hella hard.
To Pojo for their reports.
Again, Springfield’s Finest for their Tournament reports.
Slops:
To losing to James 2-1 after the tournament again.
To the crap I got out of the Pack.
To Hobby Town for being so Weak.
To Hobby Town for their crap Packs.
To Hobby Town ( Dang there’s a lot) for having no competition.. Weak Sauce..
To David for losing first round. Failure..
To Brian. See above for details.
Ryan Cooper- 1st place in Hobby Town. Ownage.
E-Mail address: toonmstr@yahoo.com
AIM Screen Name: Rarehntr
Feel like stoppin by and givin me an E-mail? Go ahead. Complain, Comment, whatever. Happy Dueling.