Well to make a long story short I went through 7 rounds of Swiss X-0 with a draw and finished in 1st Place. After THAT I won my Top 8 match and finished the tournament basically undefeated as there were no more rounds after that. Gotta admit it's pretty nice to bounce back so strongly in my second ever regionals after scrubbing out so badly the first time around and being rewarded a Mat, Binder and Nats invite for my hard work. In regards to what deck I ran it shouldn't even be a question!
I ran Disaster Dragon of course! Now let's get this show underway;
Pre-Tournament - I came to Winnipeg with an Anti-Meta Disaster Dragon build in mind (totally a netdeck of DragonDuelistGirl's build because anyone who plays T-King, Veiler and Maxx "C" in Disaster is clearly copying her. Despite you know Kim Just Jenson playing the deck at Worlds and Omar Ramirez getting Top 16 at YCS Ecuador with it long before DDG posted up her build. It still amuses me that a Wind-Up player made that accusation) but through testing I just did not draw consistently decent hands. To me a good hand consists of T-King/KKMD + 1-2 pieces of protection. I hate opening Drago/T-King and not having backrow to keep them safe and I rarely drew my hand traps. Inzektors and Heroes decimated my deck in testing and I spent the next couple hours trying out different ratios and I came to the conclusion that the deck just does not work for me. This isn't surprising as some variants just run better in the hands of different people. That all said I scrapped the Anti-Meta version, rebuilt my post ORCS deck then lastly modified it to support 2 Light and Darkness Dragon as I figured he would be a real bitch for people to deal with like Laggia. Armed with LaDD Control and my Feraligatr Prime Pokemon TCG card I'm set for the next day.
The Tournament - We arrive at the place its being held and I trade for a third Super Rare Masked Dragon which sees immediate use (yay playset of matching rarity. I absolutely loath having a trio of cards and 2 of them are one rarity and the other isn't). I also bought some singles, sleeves and got some awesome pulls (Wind-Up Shark) as usual from booster packs while scoping out the area to see what decks were being played (I spotted the Triforce, Samurai, GBs, T.G.s, GKs, Blackwings, Scraps, Stun, Chaos Dragons, Dark Worlds and Agents) before signing up. Most of the judges from fall are back again and I remember them being very efficient so I'm feeling pretty confident any ruling issues will be dealt with quickly. They tell everyone that Acid Golem isn't legal for play yet since the Shonen Jump isn't on shelves yet while answering questions while waiting for the computers to be fixed (like Shi En vs Inzektor Hornet). After the delay pairings are done and we begin. ADVENTURE TIME!
Round 1 - Vs Asceticism Six Samurai (1-1)
This guy seemed a bit new to the game or ignorant in how his cards worked as on a couple occasions I had to tell him what he could and could not do (such as trying to negate Solemn Warning with Shi En). Anyway Masked Dragon put in serious work here getting Exploder Dragon out to kill his Synchros or Divine Dragon Apocralyph to tune with the Delta Flyer I had in my hand to make Dark End Dragon which got rid of his Grandmaster and set Kagemusha while steamrolling my way to victory. Unfortunately in game 2 he opens Gateway plus united and I draw no means of stopping his pluses. Darkness Metal Dragon is able to hold the field but he's able to topdeck enough samurai to put Shi En to 3000 three times and kill my field (in hindsight I should have let Shi En negate Future Fusion then Compulsed the bugger away) before time is called. Both of us are in the middle of side decking when the Judge comes over and declares the match a draw. I feel disappointed and relieved at the same time as I probably would have won the last duel given the way things were going but I was also thankful to not be heading into round 2 with a loss.
Round 2 - vs Dark World (2-0)
Terrible build imo. You should never be running Goldd and Silva in a Dark World Deck, especially 2 of each! Koa'ki Meiru Drago thrashed him good before he was able to kill it with Kahkki, Guerilla of Dark World and then summon a bunch of monsters at once. By this point I've got Totem in grave with LaDD in hand so I drop it and kill a monster before he sacks off his three monsters and summons...the Wicked Eraser?
I've got 3 cards on field so he's able to beat over LaDD and I summon back Koa'ki Meiru Drago, beat over Eraser and I take it from there. Game 2 I negate a Grapha bomb with Shadow Mirror, steal it with Monster Reborn and summon REDMD for an easy game. After this match I encounter the Yugitubers behind MastersofYugioh and do a deck profile for them before quickly re-shuffling my deck. This came back to bite me hard. Why you ask? Because in game one of my next round...
Round 3 - vs A Hero Lives Glads (2-1)
I open with LaDD and no other monsters! He sets one and passes to which I Sarc out Future Fusion and pass turn. After this he does Test Tiger plays and I end up staring down a Heraklinos and have NO out to him. I scoop it up and bring in over half my side deck which gets me the next two victories as I stop his tags and he's got no answer to Red-Eyes Wyvern and Koa'ki Meiru Drago's attack stats. Notable moments include booking a Gyzarus that tried to nuke my backrow and beating over it with Wyvern while hitting Solemn Warning with MST and using Judgment to stop his War Chariot. The guy takes the loss pretty hard (because I beat him with Dragons without using Future Fusion? I actually sided it and Gold Sarc out expecting D Fissure...) and demands that I top the tournament since I beat him. Hoo boy.
Round 4 - vs Dark World (2-1)
Unlike the first guy this was a legit Dark World deck with most of the bells and whistles (I think he didn't have Tour Guide) meaning how well I'd do here would be dependent on what kind of hands we had and if he could get his deck rolling within the first couple turns. In game one he did just that and I can't actually recall how things went. I just remember staring down Grapha and Dark Highlander. I bounce back in game two by MSTing his face down card which allows me to play Future Fusion without fear and ultimately play the "protect the Drago" game that I used to pull off last format. He's unable to kill it and I win. Game 3 I get a turn 1 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror (two of them!) and things quickly become one sided as Darkness Metal Dragon just keeps swinging for 2800 damage over and over again.
Round 5 - vs Inzektors (2-1)
It had to happen. The deck is the most popular of the Triforce in Winnipeg yet ironically I was up against a fellow Sask. player. Anyway I open up with a spell/trap hand and no means of stopping his +4s. I do get LaDD out but he manages to burn it down to 1500 attack, beat over it with Centipede and kills what I revive for the win. Game two we go back and forth with our monster removal and negation but I'm able to get Future Fusion off and protect my monsters with Chain and Veiler. Game 3 I get Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror off and it completely shuts him down getting me a hard fought win over my worst matchup. I later learned he had no Decrees in his side deck as he couldn't get any before the tourney. I'm still pleased I won.
Round 6 - vs Chaos Dragons (2-0)
Oh wow. The dueling gods must have liked me this day or something as this was basically a free win. Chaos Dragons lose SO hard to Disaster Dragon and it was no different here as he overextends in game one with E. Wyvern into REDMD followed up by Darkflare Dragon and Vice Dragon after I Sarc out Future Fusion, set Masked Dragon, Book of Moon and I think Call of the Haunted. All I remember is getting Exploder Dragon to kill his REDMD and Book->Attacking over Darkflare with Red-Eyes Wyvern then overpowering him with Future Fusion + Darkness Metal + Koa'ki Meiru Drago. Game 2 I got Koa'ki Meiru Drago out and not surprisingly it slaughtered him earning me a completely one sided victory and my fastest match of the whole day (I beat him with 20 minutes left in the round). After this the GB player checks up on me and informs that I'd likely be going up against the only other undefeated player in the tournament who was running T.G. Drain.
...Goodie.
Round 7 - vs T.G. Drain (2-0)
I'm pretty excited at this point that I'm playing at the top table but upon staring down Photon Sabre Tiger plus backrow this is replaced by dread. I slowly make my way through his minefield of spells and traps (dealing with Skill Drain in the process) while eventually being able to summon a Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon which he just can't get over. Game 2 we both draw nothing but spells and traps (among those being Heavy Storm and Dark Hole!) before I eventually hit a Wyvern and try to make my way through his backrow (and reborn his King Tiger Wanghu) and force out his Solemn Judgment as I try to MST his Skill Drain. I bait out the Starlight Road with my Dark Hole and negate it with Warning before summoning a KKMD and chop his life points to under a thousand before it dies because I have no other monsters in my hand. After this I end up using Chain, Book and Compulse to keep him from killing me with T.G. Warwolf, topdeck Red-Eyes Wyvern, Storm his backrow and go for game.
After this I breathe a HUGE sigh of relief after overcoming an extremely difficult battle and earning myself a guaranteed spot in the top 8 by finishing first after all of this insanity. My friends come to give me congrats (and the GB player) and I just kinda sit there enjoying the moment before deciding to continue by accepting the Nats invite and competing for the trade binder you get by winning your top 8 match. There would be no more duels after this so I basically had to win one more match and I'd essentially win the entire tournament. You bet it was time to get my game on!
Top 8 - vs Inzektors (2-1)
Same guy I faced a couple rounds back and not surprisingly things went the same here. I lose game 1 and my side deck puts in work for the other two. Game 3 is much closer though as both of us just throw all kinds of monster hate at each other while I force out his Solemn brigade with Normal, Special and Call of the Haunted summons before I draw a Darkness Metal Dragon with Totem in grave and push for game and the tournament.
Not gonna lie it feels pretty good getting a 1st Place Top 4 finish with a deck that I really enjoy using as opposed to something "that wins" like Rabbit and being the ONLY Disaster Dragon player among 80 people. Now for the Props and Slops portion of this report;
PROPS
-Masked Dragon engine was extremely helpful in getting what I needed to handle threats. In the Inzektor matchups where he's terrible I sided him out for more effect negation.
-Koa'ki Meiru Drago still wins games and does so with his awesome trollface.
-Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon is far and away the most underrated Boss monster in the game. People keep forgetting he's an easily summoned 2800 beatstick and only BLS can take the guy out in straight up battle. He was my best monster and then some this day.
-Gold Sarcophagus was extremely helpful in getting to those needed cards.
-3x Call Of The Haunted worked out very nicely in getting to in yarded REDMDs, Drago, Masked and Delta Flyer (especially so in the T.G. Matchup where 2 Call Of The Haunted and Mind Control allowed me to perform 2 Synchro Summons in one turn).
-Siding in the 3 Effect Veiler alongside 3 Fiendish Chain in the main gave me alot of Monster Negation. There is no such thing as too much effect negation.
-Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror was a complete boss. Single handedly decimated Dark World and Inzektors.
-Many shiny cards were accquired.
-Feraligatr card powers are not limited to godly box openings. He also gets Regional wins!
SLOPS
-Despite running Light and Darkness Control I barely summoned LaDD. For the life of me I couldn't draw him at an opportune time and when I got to Future Fusion the game states required me to dump things other than DDA + LaDD. I also never got the loop off.
-2 LaDD is way too much now. I also sided him and Totem out in almost every matchup due to fear of D.D. Crow or Macro. Still he's just like Evolzar Laggia in that he has the "n00b effect" where if you summon him against someone whose never encountered it before he will force out all kinds of bad plays just so they can kill it. I'm going to cut 1 of him and a Totem for other cards.
-Made some sub optimal plays in hindsight.
-Drawing no monsters when I really needed something to keep me from taking those 1800-1900 swings.
And that's literally everything I've got to say. Thanks to everyone who wished me luck while I was preparing for this over Dueling Network and I hope you enjoyed my report. As for the deck I used at this event I'm not going to be posting a list up here instead that will be a Youtube video that I will upload in the next couple of days so keep your eyes peeled for that. Until then remember folks; If it's Blue then you know its True!
...
God that was terrible.
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