YGO Locals Report - Not quite a sabbatical

Against my better judgment I decided to head over to Locals this weekend.  A bad idea I know when considering I'm not fond of the floodgate format we're in and Woodhouse now has possession of Qliphorts and the previous owner of the deck said it best; he's an idiot with a good deck that gets lucky and it's annoying to play against.

That said I had just finished my Vanguard deck and I really, really wanted to get some playtesting done so off to Readers I went...and found only 2 people.  Turns out alot of people weren't coming and much to our dismay we went over to Tramps, but not before I traded off some garbage cards for a 1st Edition Dante.

We arrive and there's only 2 other people.  Well shit it looks like I'm better off heading home and sketching or something when Nord, Damon and the 2 Asian guys arrive and we end up having enough people for a tournament.  I think this was Damon's first time playing at Tramps locals in years and he quickly found out why we left for Readers.  A few minutes later the pairings are done up and it's time for me to figure out how to play this game again, featuring Satellarknights.

Round 1 - vs Six Samurai (2-0)

Normally I'd make a crack about Samurais, bad players and leave it at that but screw it, the 4 people who read this do enjoy my commentary.  He opens with a Shi En and a Kizan, but no backrow which I clear with Castel and I out advantage him to victory game 1.  Game 2 I disrupt his first Acetiswhatever play while flipping up Calls, beat him within an inch of death and Cowboy him the following turn.

Round 2 - vs Denko Dolls (2-0)

This isn't actually as bad of a matchup as people like to think.  Winda is really the only threat to the deck so unless they make it, I don't really care much about their fusion spells.  This build of the deck is also light on backrow so I can be as offensive as I want and that's what I did here.  I opened with Bujintei Tsukyomi whose 2300 ass forced him to go Winda, then Castel to try and clear it which I negated with BTS.  It snowballed from there and despite him summoning Denko into my 4 backrow...he kind of did it when I had a face up Xyz on the field.

Game 2 he let me go first again which I think was a bad idea as I was able to set up answers to what was a really bad play of summoning Geddon Knight and dumping Falco and setting backrow, telegraphing the Shadow Games.  I ended up Novaing it and blow the game out from there, leaving him in topdeck mode and this time around he doesn't rip Fusion so I win decisively.

Round 3 - vs 4 Axis Fire Fist (2-1)

It's Cody.  The guy hasn't changed at all since I first played him back in 2010 and that's pretty bad.  Even Skull has grown (slightly) since I first met him.

In any case it's Fair Fists vs slightly Unfair Fists and game 1 I wipe the floor with him, bouncing his field away and using Cairngorgon to keep his Gyokku away from my traps.  Game 2 I made a horrendous misplay that let him flip Light Mirror on me and I couldn't clear it.  No MST, DT or Twister.  Didn't even draw another monster so I died.  Then it came full circle in Game 3 where I annihilated him with Deltaco and Trever.

Top 4 - vs Qliphorts (0-2)

I once again made the fatal mistake of giving Woodhouse too much credit and assumed he'd play the deck like the majority of Qli players.  Nope.  He pretty much blows through me game 1 with an OTK thanks to Trap Stun cutting off my CotH and the Field Spell, dropping both Disk and Shell while clearing my board.  I had a chance to Warning his Pendulum Summon and I should have done it, but opted not to as I wanted to negate his Disk (this was before he grabbed the Field Spell).  Game 2 he opens with Evac, Summoners Art, Skill Drain, Odd-Eyes and a beater which honestly is really fucking stupid against my deck.  I try to play out of this, hoping to draw into one of my 9 outs to Drain as I have Warning and Bottomless to break up any of his major plays.  He then proceeds to rip MST, blind space my Bottomless which was the better card for where the game was going, plays Qlip to make my Warning dead and beats me down to low LP.  At this point I finally draw backrow hate for the first time this match, pop the Drain and with Soul Charge and Unuk make a Castel to spin his Scout and Rhapsody to power it up.  He's got no cards in hand, no Scout and I have a 3200 attacker.

He rips Saqlifice and I scoop it up.  Sacked by Woodhouse, who'd a thunk it?

We go over to Robins and I talk Satellar theory with Damon.  We have some contrasting opinions on the deck and where it should go, but unlike typical pojoer or Regina player he's willing to give what I've presented a shot to see if he can apply any of the monster heavy style to the backrow style he's currently playing.  Then I had some games of Vanguard with Derrick where my deck operated kind of inconsistently which bothers me.  I think on at least 5 occassions with Yggdrasil when I used her effect and my opponent was at 3 damage I never checked a crit which annoys me as everyone I play AGAINST hits the trigger on their check.  I do like my Grade 1 lineup though.

Props
-Got a Dante for cheap!
-Topped with Tellars in a tournament that doesn't matter, yay...
-Roasted Cody so hard I'm sure I burned his mullet off.
-Utterly smashed one of the Asian players.

Slops
-Floodgates
-Swung with a 50000 Yggdrasil at the opponent.  Got no passed.  Profound sadness.

YGO Locals Report - Angel Attacks

I wasn't even going to play today.  I just wanted to come down and chillax, get some trades and grind a little in Radiant Historia.  Nord however insisted I play and pretty much bribed me by lending Qliphort, also known as Big Red Dogs, Space Jews and Angels for their AT Field like effect.  So I did!  Question is how well would I do as someone who had NEVER played the deck before, let alone watched many games where people didn't open well?  Well...

Round 1 - Bye

Bah.  What a buzzkill.  I ended up doing more trades, watching ARG and theory guarding with fellow Team Try Fighter Cobb (I'm now part of a new team in Vanguard and I am naming us Try Fighters #GUNDAMREFERENCES) over what I should run in my newly accquired Liberator deck in addition to the pretty decent cards I pulled from the first restock of BT15 we got in.

Spoiler Alert I later bought a box and pulled damn near busted.  Glendios and SP Overlord Break Ride?  Little Bit.

Round 2 - vs Furnimals (2-0)

And then I face him in the next round.  Obviously he's NOT going to win this one as he's playing a Tier 7 deck vs the arguable best deck in the format.  Sadly my opening play of Helix beats got slowed down by a D-Prison.  However because I opened with Odd-Eyes into Scout which never got MST'd ever in Game 1, I slowly built up a hand where I was able to go off with Disk and win.  Game 2 I Skill Drain beats.

Round 3 - vs Satellarknights (2-0)

I'm really saddened Woodhouse got this deck again.  Now I get the joy of watching this moron play a linear deck, make bad misplays and obvious telegraphs while opening busted as usual.

Anyway Game 1 went hella long as I had to force out his Novas with double Emptiness and take several hits in addition to searching with Scout to the point that I had 200 LP while also dealing with his near inf. backrow (whereas I basically had none except the 2 Emptiness I opened with).  Thus with an over 8000 difference in life and the obvious Cowboy coming on the following turn I OTK him.

Game 2 I opened with Qli + Saqlifice and had Warning for his only way around it and won.

Top 4 - vs Shaddoll (1-2)

If Qliphort are the Angels, could Dolls be considered Evangelions?  When you think about it Evas are puppets with souls being strung along by their pilots...

In any case Game 1 I have a pretty decent hand with Skill Drain and while I do lose Scout to a Shadow Games + Dragon play I'm confident I can at least grind this out and win.

Then he summons Denko Sekka and I cry inside as I had set Saqlifice in case of more pops with Dragon and couldn't use it.  The game pretty much spiralled out of control from there.  Game 2 is a bit of a blur, but I'm certain I either OTK him or set up an unbreakable board.  Game 3 will go down as one of my worst as we go a bit back and forth but I make some brutal misplays that I'm still kicking myself over.  More than once I forgot to use Trampolynx's bounce effect to get more value out of Scout, searched the wrong cards off of DOUBLE Saqlifice and failed to remember I had Solemn Warning set when he activated El Shaddoll Fusion on my turn.  Worse yet?  I forgot to Pendulum Summon when I could have and beat over his Winda and attacked for potential game.  Had I used Warning the match would have been mine.  However I didn't which meant I had given the Evangelions a chance to respond and when you let Evas do their thing...

Props
-I played Qli
-Got REALLY good pulls from BT15 and picked up a decent amount of Musketeers.  Soon Vera, soon.

Slops
-I played YGO during my intended break from the game.
-I shot myself in the foot so hard I don't even have a leg anymore.
-Spent too much...

CFV Locals Report - Eradicators' Last Stand

Dramatic much?  Well to be truthful it really is for me and this deck.  Between now and Christmas I'll only be able to go to Locals once more and when that time rolls around we'll be in Legion format and there's no way in hell Eradicators will be able to compete in that environment.  Even when Egg Helm comes out, I just don't see the deck being able to avoid its fate of becoming irrelevant.  Not when Brawlers are a much better Narukami Deck and I'll have access to Blue Flames (traded off my Blaus for a Liberator Core + Cash) and Yggdrasil.

With that said since today was the last tournament I'd be able to go to before Legion Format I decided to give Eradicators one last run, but not without teching it to deal with some troublesome matchups, namely Glendios and The Rebirth.  I'm confident in the deck's ability to handle everything else post BT 14 and 15, but those two have been giving even my Regalia deck a hard time.  My solution?  Run a pair of Tempest Bolt Dragon so that I can clear the board after both decks have commited a fair number of cards for their plays in addition to being a sometimes giant beatstick.  Since I'm running Tempest Bolt I also opted to cut my Draw Triggers in place of Stands after noticing that the OCG has been doing so.  Their reason?  To get more value out of their columns in addition to being 10k shields.  I wanted to see how well this translated over to the TCG.

Moot point as both Jordan and Nord weren't present.  OH WELL.  Actually we only had a small turnout, so the tournament ended up being a best of 3 style which after going through just a couple rounds I can already see it being a bad way to play out Legion games.  Those things are already long enough as is (unless one player completely dickbutts the other).

Round 1 - vs Revengers (Raging Form/Dragruler) (2-0)

G1 and 2: He opens up with multiple Raging Forms, doesn't see many triggers and I pick off his RGs while hitting my Stands and crit with Descendant.

Round 2 - vs Pale Moon (1-2)

G1: He's playing Pale Moon so I smash him.

G2: Fuck gradelock.

G3: Damage check and drive check beaters, then draw triggers for 4 turns straight.  There's really not much I can do with JUST a Vowing Sword Dragon on the board outside of hoping for double triggers, but I'm not Derrick.

Hey, if you're gonna say shuffling a hand of triggers back into the deck is pulling a me, then nailing clutch crits is pulling a you.

Round 3 - Bye

Pet Peeve of mine actually.  When I lose a game that I feel I had no business losing, I want to play immediately after in order to get back on track.  Getting a bye round following that kind of loss is infuriating as I'm forced to sit and wait while stewing over it.  So I went and bought some Pokemon cards and proceeded to pull foils I know I'll be able to trade for better stuff down the road.

Round 4 - vs Dimension Police (2-1)

Game 1 - I manage to keep my damage low so that I'm able to survive a Daikaiser into Great Daiyusha Break Ride turn, then kill him.

Game 2- Fuck Daikaiser.

Game 3 - I keep him at 3 damage until I'm ready to go off with a Ignition Dragon into Descendant combo and rack up triggers onto my Rearguard who is swinging for about 30k or something.  He actually just gives up and when I see his hand full of triggers ask why he didn't guard.  He complained that everyone was calling him out for running a cheap deck and I think his spirit was broken or something.  I KINDA want to give him sympathy, but...

1.) Star Gate is a bullshit nation.  All of their decks are retarded.
2.) Dimension Police are incredibly sacky and boring.  HURR HURR PUMP MY VANGUARD, SWING FOR EXTRA CRITS.  COMMANDER LAUREL RESTAND.  They're right up there with Dark Irregulars for most auto pilot deck in the game.
3.) Daikaiser is the single most degenerate, unbalanced and bullshit Break Ride in the game.  Don't give me any spheal over Dauntless/Nouvelle, Tetra/Trans-Core or Ethics/Reverse being overpowered.  They're just really dumb interactions.  When it comes to horribly designed cards, we have this asshole who for a counterblast gives you a Crit and Punting which has ridiculous interactions with the Dimension Police Clan.  Playing this card and playing around this card literally comes down to luck and while I admit Vanguard's luck factor is far more erratic than YGOs, there is still some room for basic card game plays like advantage/tempo and etc.  Daikaiser throws all of that out of the window for an all or nothing approach and that's no fun at all.  Luck happens and I know that, but relying on it and sacking to win?  I can't get behind that.

While I sort of feel bad for him getting ragged on by everyone, in the end you have to accept that this is going to happen whenever you play Dimension Police, Dimensional Robos and Daikaiser.  No competent players likes that deck.  They hate it.  Not surprisingly 95% of our Vanguard community hates Daikaiser with a passion.

So in short, fuck Daikaiser.

After that the tourney concluded and I got third place which disappointed me as I KNOW I would have gotten first had I not dropped my Round 2, which came as a result of bricking.  Sure tops here mean jackshit and competitive CFV in Canada may never go anywhere, but my pride as a competitive duelist demands that I do well and a gradelock game literally cost me 1st Place.

Now for my final thoughts on Eradicators;

It was a fun ride with them at the beginning.  I admit to buying into the hype that was the "best deck" and I was excited for Narukami to be the best.  Unfortunately over here Eradicators never managed to amount to anything compared to Kagero, Link Joker and later on Revengers.  Our lack of a restricted list had a major impact on their ability to play here as I feel Descendant's OCG Dominance came about as the result of DOTE, MLB and etc being banhammered.  Still I enjoyed the deck for what it was worth, but the number of bad beats I've had have really put a damper on my overall experience with the deck.  Gradelock, bricking, getting heavily sacked.  The lack of consistency compared to Kagero, the Paladins or Link Joker reared its head several times and it ultimately made me drop the deck a few months ago in favour of Regalia.  I've only played the deck about 3 times since summer and after today I doubt I'll ever play it again.  In regards to the Dragons of the clans and the ones I liked, here are my top 5;

1.) Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant
2.) Eradicator, Guantlet Buster Dragon
3.) Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon "Reverse"
4.) Eradicator, Spark Rain Dragon
5.) Eradicator, Tempest Bolt Dragon

Speaking of which Tempest Bolt was pretty okay.  He's a decent beatstick and the field nuke does come in handy now and then.  The Stand Triggers were also really helpful as it allowed for my 9ks and 10-12ks to get multiple attacks off.  Moment of the day had to be when I checked 2 stands and restood and entire column.

All in all it was a pleasurable experience with the deck, though I admit that I had more fun playing Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion and "The BLOOD" during the Limit Break Format.  In regards to the Break Ride Format that is coming to and end all I can say is thank god.  We've seen some really dumb shit happen during this time, but I'm afraid that the retardedness is not going anywhere as we head into the future.

The Legion Format is coming.

Props
-Played Eradicators!
-Getting Liberators!
-Picked up some neat Pokemon Cards?

Slops
-Fuck Gradelock
-Fuck Daikaiser
-Got third...

What the hell Bro?
-Tramps ordering only 3 boxes of Fighters Collection 2014.  I really wanted to see if I could pick up some Shotgun Blow Dragons, be a bad and run a pair in Eradicators for the lulz.

CFV Locals Report - Blunt Force

I'm going to be blunt on this one, which seems to be a thing with me and Vanguard as of late this week as I've more or less said "fuck it" to my usual ways of going about things where I take time and eventually get to my point and instead just cut right to it.  Sometimes this has involved calling out people or our entire community.  I even went so far as to bury the dinosaurs that when a card game changes, they can't adapt and subsequently get left behind, losing and never getting anywhere because they're stuck in their old fashioned ways of thinking and playing, much like a few people I've seen at YGO Lolcals (anyone who usually says "remember when just summoning a monster was good enough?" tends to be like this).

I admit that the end of my rant I basically came off as a self righteous prick with my "I'll lead the way, feel free to catch up" remark but hey, I'll play the role of the heel if it means I get my point across.

To my surprise however there was no fallout at Locals over that so I'm going to assume that what I said was the truth, even if some people cannot accept it.  Onto the tournament!

Round 1 - Regalia vs Monarch Liberators (1-0)

Before the tournament it was 99% agreed upon by everyone present that G-Assist is an amazing idea and should be legal ASAP.  This game proved why as my opponent Gradelocked the entire game and while he did hit crits a few times, it only meant that I'd be able to Limit Break that much faster.

Round 2 - Regalia vs Daiyusha Reverse (1-0)

I honestly can't remember the order of my Round 2 and 3 games, but I'm certain I played Dickbutt Police first.  I rush him extremely early with 7ks that he can't guard and I believe he's gradelocked for this one so the game doesn't last long.  We play a second game for fun while waiting for the round and I outgrinded him with my restands and Ordain Owl's ability to give me big numbers.  38k VG Minerva and 38K Rearguard Minerva is a thing.

Round 3 - Regalia vs Revengers (1-0)

I don't remember much of this one because it was really, really quick for a Vanguard game.  I'm thinking his hand was ass as he wasn't able to guard both of Minerva's attacks and my RG attacks.

Round 4 - Regalia vs Rebirth (0-1)

This one went right down to the bloody wire as I don't see Minerva for a long ass time and when this deck doesn't have her in play it becomes extremely underwhelming.  I hold out for a while though and even make it through the Break Ride turn but in the end I deck out and lose.

Round 5 - Bye

I played Final Fantasy VI Advance, yeah!

I ended up finishing 4 - 1  tied for 2nd place with the Kagero player and we all pulled ass from our packs because Vanguard prize support is awful.  I did however trade off my SP Trans-Core for a Glow-Up Bulb, Ulti Drill Warrior, Downerd Magician, 2 Foucault's, a Meliae and Lonefire Blossom (Gigavise yo!) which is AOK.

Then drama happened over the right to post spoilers in the Facebook group because I find it really fucking stupid that I have to avoid Facebook for several days if I'm unable to see a new episode of Vanguard because god forbid I have a job that keeps me from watching it.  Turns out I'm not alone with this and people agreed with me and now it is so.  Don't like it?

I know I rustled at least one person's jimmies with this report but well I DID say I was going to be blunt on this one.

Mega Man Battle Network Universe - Chapter 6

Kind of forgot to mention that I updated Ultimate Universe a while back and well, it's really apparent where things start to diverge when you look at the new Chapter 6 and this old one;

Chapter 6

“So…this is where everything happened,” Obelisk said as he stood in front of the large crater in the Forestheart, “And they said Jazz was destroyed in the blast?”
“Apparently,” Ryu replied a tad sceptical, “But if it is the Jazz that we’ve heard about, he’s probably still alive and kicking somewhere.”
It had been a month since the attack, and N.O.E.T. had fallen. Jack turned himself in not too long after AxeMan’s self-destruction, much to the surprise of the NetAce and everyone else. Chaud had also left Dentech City after, leaving only Lan and MegaMan as the only heroes to defend the city, other than the two ace battlers.
“Well, nothing’s happened since,” Obelisk stated as he swung his lance once, “Other than the occasional left over virus. Hmph, pushovers. Sometimes I wonder why we even came here, I’m yet to see a strong opponent.”
“That hasn’t been beaten by MegaMan,” Ryu murmured, “We may have to challenge those two someday, considering how well they placed in the Tournament.”
The slayer nodded as he stabbed his weapon into the ground and folded his arms over.
“Speaking of which, when is the next N1 Grand Prix?” he asked, looking up.
“In a couple of months,” the ace said, “Think we should enter? It’ll be far more challenging that those jokes that we went to back at home.”
“Why not? Maybe we’ll face MegaMan, assuming he isn’t knocked out yet,” Obelisk replied half-heartedly.
“My, aren’t we confident,” Ryu replied dryly, as he reached for the adaptor, “I’m jacking you out now.”
“Okay,” Obelisk said as he disintegrated into millions of pixels that quickly formed into the word LOGOUT, then vanished.

“Jack in! Sakura, power up!” Miaka shouted cheerfully as she sent her Navi into the Net Area of Dentech Academy; Testing Area.
A pink bolt of lightning struck the ground of the bland area as Sakura materialized from it and spreaded out her small pair of wings on her back.
“Ready, Kenny-Kun?” the operator asked to Ken.
“You bet,” he said as he whipped up his chord, “Jack in! MirrorMan, power up!”
A quick flash of light filled the area as the mirror plated Navi quickly formed in front of Sakura, a hand resting against his hip.
“Let’s go!” He said, albeit impatiently as the pink Navi drew her short sword.
“Okay!” Sakura shouted as she leapt up and shot at MirrorMan, showing very well that she was a quick Navi.
Sakura diced around and landed so she could quickly leap at the mirrored Navi’s backside, swinging her sword out as she closed in. Ken quickly warned his Navi, causing him to whip around at the last possible second and snap his arm up, blocking the blade with his mere gauntlet.
“Defence is our specialty,” the boy said with a smirk as he whipped up a chip, “Vine Arrow, Battle Chip in! Download!”
First a bow formed in MirrorMan’s hand, secondly a quiver materialized as a green coloured arrow was plucked from it. He leapt back, causing Sakura to stumble forward as he quickly fired off his arrow at her.
“Sakura! Slash like a maniac!” Miaka shouted, quickly chopping at the air in comical sight, causing Ken to sweat drop.
The Navi nodded as she swung several times, slicing the projectile apart with a smile. MirrorMan made no response as the pieces flashed green as vines erupted from them, wrapping around the blade. Sakura shrieked as she threw her blade down, the vines locking it to the ground.
“Not a bad move,” Ken said with an approving glance, “In the last fight she missed five times and my arrow still got her.”
“I know…” Miaka said with a sigh.
“Still want to continue?” he asked as he whipped up another arrow chip.
Before Miaka could reply, the bell rang and lunch was over. Both operators fell silent as they logged their Navis out.
“See you later,” Ken said as he left.
“Yeah, thanks!” the girl said before looking to Sakura, “Well, we’re getting better. We just need a big push.”
“Yeah,” Sakura said as Miaka went back to class.
“Oh…that will happen…soon enough,” a voice, belonging to a dark figure said from outside by an open window, “You and everyone else…”

---

EPIC FORESHADOWING IS EPIC.  But really, in the original here Ryu and Obelisk act like pricks (a byproduct of me being a bit of a douchebag on the RP Board at the time) while in the rewrite Estrel Galaxia is the Green Slayer's operator.  She has Ryu's backstory, but an entirely different personality

Locals Report - Can't Conquer the World with a Full Bladder

Well said random stranger.  Well said.

In any case tis the last locals of the format and I decided to go out with something silly, yet capable of winning thanks to its construction as opposed to dumb luck.  In this case I decided to try my hand at playing the Saffira Chaos deck that topped a random Regional and was the subject of a small discussion on DGz.  For those of you who aren't aware of this deck I'll explain it in a nutshell.

First up this is a Ritual Deck which you guys know I have a boner for.  The Ritual Monster in this case is;

And the spell is;

So we have a monster with 3 powerful effects and a Ritual Spell with a really underrated secondary effect.  Protecting Saffira from destruction via Bottomless or Dark Hole is clutch.  It also works in Damage Step so you can swing into Yamatos and force out Cranes from the hand, if need be.  Saffira's effects are also relevant as knocking cards, correcting your hand or recycling Veiler, Honest and BLS is bonkers.  However as good as the Queen is, she can be made better with the Ritual Djinns;

I think you can see where I'm going with this.  Summon a Saffira using these two as tributes and you get an untargetable monster that doesn't allow your opponent to Special Summon, thereby turning her into a near impossible to kill floodgate.  Sound familar?  That's because this deck's style ultimately plays the same as;

:D

In any case because Djinns are a thing, Tour Guide is definitely good and when a deck wants to abuse TGU, it also abuses Scarm of the Burning Abyss.  Throw in Mathematicians and some solid traps and draw support and you have yourselves a deck;

Side was tailored for our Meta which is a mixture of Tier 1, Tier 1.5, Tier 2 and Tier 99.  Leviathan Dragon is in as a "solid" opening Tour Guide play as I don't own a Dante and boy did I ever need him.

Round 1 - vs Lightsworn Ruler (2-0)

Oh hey, Magnus!  Wouldn't be a tournament without us paired up at the start.  As it was I kinda just floated with Tour Guides until I summoned a Saffira using Djinn Releaser's Break Ride effect Game 1, and kind of did the same game 2.  He had a Spark Dragon for the second game which was annoying, but Hymn's graveyard effect + Zenmaines outed it and that was that.

Round 2 - vs Batterymen (2-0)

I open with Veilers for his 9V and Charger, after that I eventually drop a Saffira and BLS so he dies.  Game 2 I BLS + Honest him so he's hella dead.

Round 3 - vs Mermail (2-0)

He opens with Pike + Dragoons (MBN) and  has Infantry + Marksman after that which is a concern as I have a Saffira + Releaser play but Infantry can out her, but he thankfully doesn't set backrow and I'm able to drop her with a set Emptiness and Preparation of Rites in hand.  When I told him he couldn't special summon he was completely bewildered and he must have read Releaser like 3 times.  He DID have a Mind Control though and tried to summon Megalo, but Emptiness kind of stopped that cold and come my turn I draw into Demolisher and proceed to setup a second Saffira using both Djinns.  At this point both he and his friend try to argue that the Djinns don't give her effects because they have to be on the field, which I flat out tell them no they're reading the card wrong.

Game 2 he opens with Pike and Abyssscale of the whatever.  It's the one that negates a spell card which is normally an awful card to play in Mermail, but it's situationally amazing here as I had Hymn AND Preparation of Rites.  Gonna say right now I hate it when people run bad cards that are situational as hell but against me they go off and I pretty much lose, therefore they are justified in running them.

I'm forced to take a hit while setting up Emptiness and Trap Stun and draw MST which is superb as I force out the scale, Summon Saffira and flip Vanity's to his Abyss-Sphere.  Saffira's discard effect resolves and I knock Abyssgunde out of his hand which is a tremendous blow and I ride Emptiness to victory.

Top 4 - vs Lightsworn Rulers (2-1)

Game one he mills poorly and an opportunity to swing with BLS, Giga Brilliant and Leviathan Dragon presents itself that I immediately take.  Game 2 was more of a grind and I'm one piece away from being able to go off, but he resolves Soul Charge and short of BLS I have no way of dealing with established boards so I die in a few turns.  Game 3 was really fuzzy outside of me hitting his Blaster with D.D. Crow which just crippled him and I grind out the duel, resolve Leviathan Dragon a few times and Giga Brilliant to eventually beat face and win.

Finals - vs Satellarknights (0-2)

I'd like to regale you with a tale of strategy, wit and all that jazz but honestly what it comes down to is whenever you play against Woodhouse in this game, you HAVE to open godly.  Otherwise he will sack the shit out of you.  Maybe not immediately, but eventually his insane luck will kick in and you'll suddenly get blown out.  To make matters worse I brainfart and try to Sorc while he has Caringorgon and he redirects it to my Djinn Demolisher.  He didn't even read it, he just picked it at random.  10 turns later because I couldn't tribute that card with Releaser for a Super Saffira he ends up winning the duel because Woodhouse is THAT GUY who runs Phoenix Wing Wind Blast in a deck that cannot support it "because it puts Denebs in my graveyard", spins Saffira and beats me to death with an ARK.

Game 2 he opens as always the perfect counter hand to what I'm trying to do.  Mathematician?  Warning.  Emptiness?  Wiretap.  Saffira?  Wind Blast.  This coupled with the games I'd played against him leading up to this where he always, always, ALWAYS gets lucky caused me to finally snap and I rage quit the duel while telling him flat out that he's a terrible player, wins a majority of his games through sheer dumb luck and left.  This is something that I've come close to saying several times over the last couple of months and well, I finally said it.  I didn't think to tell him that he only plays linear as fuck decks that take no thought because of his inability to strategize or improvise nor that it's a terrible mentality to be proud of sacking.  The guy is fucking awful and he relies on luck to win against better players.  Simple as that.  

And don't get me started on the monkey see, monkey do shit.  What did I see after a few rounds?  Him with Saffiras.  I hadn't even FINISHED the tournament and he's already trying to build the deck.  Oh bullshit on "I HAD these things all this time."  They were in your trade bait for the last month and you only pulled them out NOW because you saw me shrek people with it.

Good luck trying to play the deck I do.  You don't always open with a Ritual play.  Oh who am I kidding.  It's fucking Woodhouse.  He'll ALWAYS open with Saffira, Hymm, Demolisher and Releaser.

Props

-Got to play Blue Cards

-Crushed dreams

-Picked up Yang Bling for 150.

-Moved my Glow-Up Bulb Ultra for 30 dollars in value.  I just hope it gets reprinted in the LC.

Slops

-Failed the Tactical Evolution challenge.  WHY DO I KEEP PULLING RAINBOW DRAGONS!?  I JUST WANT SUMMONER'S ART!

-The Finals.  I am a bit upset at myself for snapping.  Do I regret calling out Woodhouse?  No.  I probably offended him or even pissed him off but SOMEONE was going to say it eventually.  He's just lucky it wasn't Nord.

Lolcals Report - Back to Roots

Originally wasn't going to bother with this as our tournaments are basically lose one round and you don't top and I've been the victim of some really bad beats this month (to the point that I'm considering taking a break again), but megamonkey insisted that I write SOMETHING as this blog has been a little barren, so here's a little something.

For some reason I felt the urge to "return to my roots" and play my oldest decks in both Vanguard and Yu-Gi-Oh! today.  In the case of Vanguard this meant rebuilding and updating my avatar, Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion to try and compete in the insanity that is post BT-15 and well, things went as expected.

Actually slightly better than expected.  The Blood may not be an amazing unit anymore, but he's still one of the only 3 Crossrides that Narukami have access to until Big Bang Knuckle Buster comes out and unlike Eradicator and Brawler, you don't have to worry about running subclan cards.  This means techs like Dragon Dancer Julia and old standbys such as Red River Dragoon are perfectly viable and the latter is actually very relevant.  I've forgotten just how good having an 8K Booster is and the numbers that Red River makes with my 10, 11 and 13ks can make it really difficult for opponents to guard for cheap.  Furthermore Vermillion's Limit Break is still REALLY good as clearing two rearguards is a powerful play and Big Bang Knuckle Dragon being able to do it for less cost will be really important in December.  I was able to give Dauntless/Nouvelle a fight, go toe to toe with Revengers and beat Liberators which is no slouch for an old, power crept deck.

Speaking of power crept.  I decided to play Disaster Dragon for Yu-Gi-Oh! for the first time since the debacle in Edmonton.  I usually play the deck once each format and that with the big three seeing consistent play in Regina that I'd actually have some good matchups.  Turns out Richard Clarke got a top 32 at his Regionals with the deck which great to hear as he's stuck with the deck all this time whereas I admit to losing faith in the strategy.  I really should immerse myself in the way of the Dragon again as Disaster could end up being the one deck I keep when I quit playing competitively next June.  In any case...

Round 1 - vs Burning Abyss (1-2)

Game 1 - I open with Koa'ki Meiru Drago and his heart sinks.  Matt had never heard, seen or played against the deck until today and I'm pretty sure Drago is on his shit list.  The game becomes a grind and ultimately I make a misplay that costs me dearly, he capitalizes and is able to make Volcasaurus to pop Drago and I really can't get back into the game.  I had 2 Masked Dragon in play and rammed both of them into something and summon Delta Flyer and Exploder Dragon (who got Wing Blasted), followed by Redox.  I had planned to make Leo, but wasn't running it.  Had I realized this I might have played that turn out differently (likely grabbing Flamvell Guard out of the deck to make Thought Ruler).

Game 2 - I lock him down with Drago with protection.

Game 3 - I drag this out thanks to Drago, Masked and a Ruler, but I run out of backrow and he makes a Dante and has the 2000 defense guy in play with time looming.  I have no choice but to try and Big Eye Dante away but he has Warning and I'm done.  Close game.

Round 2 - vs Artifacts (0-2)

Game 1 - I make the mistake of not having Tempest search out Drago through his discard effect and unfortunately he starts pooping on me with multiple Artifacts and hits an Honest off of Duality to my lone REDMD and no backrow.

Game 2 - I open with double Soul Charge, but no way to really abuse them.  Through a few turns I set up Drago, Stardust and eventually have enough food for Blaster in order to play around Prison, but he Breakthroughs Drago, Evacs Stardust, MST/Ignitions my only backrow and proceeds to shit all over me.

Round 3 - vs Toon Cannon Soldier OTK (2-0)

Game 1 - Drago doesn't do much outside of being a beater, but I'm eventually able to set him up with Stardust and Blaster to push through his backrow, then Castel away something to kill him.

Game 2 - I'm pretty sure I resolve Shrine and Soul Charge at some point and because of that I make Stardust.  However he gets beaten over by a Goyo Guardian that I made sure to BTS and end up trying to figure out how to clear it after drawing the Exploder Dragon that I wanted to pull out of the deck with the Masked Dragon I had in hand.  I could have summoned the Exploder and rammed it, but that would have left me open to who knows what.  Then I realized that my Flamvell Guard was still in the deck and that I could potentially make a Synchro play on the next turn should he swing into my Masked, so I set it and that's exactly what happens.  I make Hot Red Dragon Archfiend and blow up his Goyo, attacking monster and beat over the stolen Masked Dragon, summon ANOTHER Masked and then it went from there.

So I don't make it into top cut and the Asians do some scummy things to get the win, which come October we won't be allowing to slide.  I pull crap from my pack and we head to Robins where I first learned just how horrendous it is to play a non broken deck against Glendios and how utterly dumb multi ways are when you don't have a deck catered to it and when people run floodgates.  I also don't approve of the troll mentality of making a deck entirely full of anti cards just to ruin the fun of a multi way for the other eight players.  That's just douchy.

Props

-Playing with my old favourites!

Slops

-Getting KILLED because I played with my favourites.

YGO Locals Report - Delicious Nutella

Back to back reports?  I know it's a frightening thing.  Furthermore in two consecutive days I also played what was arguably one of the best decks in the format in two separate card games.

In this case Satellarknights, because Megamonkey was able to pick up a Deneb and 2 Novas to get started on his deck, which he let me borrow in order to play a completed Nutella deck in today's tournament.  Seeing as there were three Shaddoll decks present, this didn't mean I was going to shrek everyone.  Either way I was pumped to play the deck I had chosen to push when first revealed.  Excited to do Satellar plays.  I was ready to just dive right-

Round 1 - Bye

Oh god dammit.  Well now I get to sit on my hands for a round watching everyone else play.  Then one of the retards got the bright idea to go behind the counter and try to use the computer and ended up DELETING THE TOURNAMENT.

Like do you even comprehend when you do this?  Fucking helmets.

Round 2 - vs Shaddolls (2-1)

He's playing an incomplete build that I don't know will ever be finished.  Not for a lack of effort, but more of everyone who has good Shaddoll cards on them are building the deck as well, so trying to get them via trades is going to be difficult when you do something dumb like trade an entire binder for one card.

By the way overtrading like that, or Derrick Trades as we call them are incredibly stupid.  I know we make fun of Woodhouse all the time for being slow, but when I try to think about these kind of trades logically, I get dumbfounded every time.

In any case Game 1 is hazy but I win it with advantage in some way, Game 2 I brick hard and die and in Game 3 I resolve Shadow Mirror, make Omega and flip Emptiness during the standby phase to prevent Super Poly from fucking me over.

Round 3 - vs Batterymen (2-0)

I don't remember all the details on this, but I know I keep him from building advantage with negation for his 9-Vs and lock him out with Emptiness.

Top 4 - vs Batterymen (2-0)

Pretty much the same here.  Negates and disruptions keep him from comboing.

Final - vs Shaddoll (2-1)

This one was a legit build with all the bells and whistles, the mini Chaos Dragons and Emptiness so I had to be really careful.  On paper this is a bad matchup, but it's not completely unwinnable.  Satellars can beat Shaddolls if they play around Fusion and don't get outtempoed early.

Unfortunately in Game 1 I opened double Altair and didn't see anything else for a few turns and Dragon kept picking off things.  Eventually I hit Unuk with CotH and start rolling, even using Berserk to hit a Fusion out of his Graveyard and a Falco, but he flips his set Fusion, makes Construct and annihilates me.

Game 2 I flip and keep Shadow Mirror in play while swinging with Denebs and Unuks for a few turns and eventually win vs his Emptiness and Light Mirrors.

Game 3 was pretty back and forth.  I open with double Shadow Mirror and Soul Drain so I have the floodgates to keep him from playing, but not the monsters so I'm forced to take several hits I don't want to before I start looping Altair and Denebs.  I "bait" out a Warning with Blackship and eventually grind out his board with Castel, leaving him with only one card in play and nothing in hand...and he rips a Fusion off the top and makes Winda and things just go downhill.  I play as many Denebs and Unuks as I can to thin out my deck as I have 3 Breakthroughs, an Evac, a Prison and 2 Calls that I can use to get around Winda and I hit one of those through Upstart + Duality, out the Winda and win a few turns down the road, securing first place with Satellarknights on the first tournament I decided to play the deck in.

Woo!

Props
-Getting first place at Vanguard Locals and Yu-Gi-Oh! Locals back to back.  Shitty Regina Locals or not, that's still a feat seeing as there were some legit good decks at both.  Regina's Locals have gotten slightly better in terms of legit decks to play against as by next month there will be; Sylvans, Lightsworn Rulers, Satellarknights x3, Shaddolls x4, Mermails, Batterymen, Burning Abyss and Bujin.
-Spreading my delicious Nutella across white bread.  Mmmmmm...

Slops
-Bricking.  I'm actually confident that had I opened RoTA or Deneb in Game 1 of the Finals, I would have 2-0'd my opponent.

CFV Locals Report - Something something LIMIT BREAK

I don't really have anything witty to say here, other than this makes it two straight weeks that I've been able to go to Vanguard Locals.  I once again took Regalia as it's become painfully obvious that Eradicators have been power crept out of the game and I've got no choice but to wait until Brawlers are released if I want to do good with Narukami anytime soon.

Except for the whole Brawler Trial Deck not getting a release date.  WTF is with that?  The RP, GP and LJ Trial Decks, SP and Regalia extra boosters AND Fighter's Collection are all coming out in November, but BT 16 and Brawlers aren't?

Man I'm really glad I invested in this deck then.  That means I only have to drop money on updating Regalia for a post Legion environment and Yggdrasil is kind of good.

Anyhow tournament time;

Round 1 - vs Neo Nectar (Win)

He's playing the Venus Reverse deck, and it does some cute things while I'm trying to play out of a bad hand.  I'm able to ride to Grade 3 which is fine, but for about 5 turns I draw triggers and damage check rearguards so I'm forced to swing with Angelica and soak up some hits.  Then I hit a Draw Trigger, draw Minerva and Cross-Break, winning a turn later.

Round 2 - vs Aqua Force (Win)

A chance to avenge myself from last week!  Unfortunately he gets Grade Locked at 2 and I'm not, so this doesn't end up being close.

Round 3 - vs Gold Paladin (Win)

The classic matchup of he who hits triggers vs he who draws them.  He gets Ezel out quickly, but I keep killing off his rearguards so that when he rides Platina Ezel and goes for the ultimate break, he's forced to play out his entire hand and I've got defense for days and kill him the following turn.

Round 4 - vs Pale Moon (Win)

I steamrolled this guy, simple as that.  I hit a trigger during one of my four drive checks and kill him with Minerva.

Round 5 - vs Gold Paladin (Win)

This one also goes pretty quickly as he draws into too many grade 3s in hand and I kill him before he can Break Ride Spectral Duke.

After this we all decided to move to the basement floor because it was unbearably hot where we were playing, which everyone was thankful for...except two people dropped out because they were too lazy to move downstairs.  Lolwat?  Seriously?

Round 6 - Narukami (Win)

New guy that we spent a good five minutes explaining why pretending to be Ren or Leon is bad, and why saying Final Turn is not only disrespectful but can get you in shit in a tournament.  Unlike some people, he got the fucking hint.

This one shamefully went down to the bloody wire.  He was playing a trial deck + some random cards, but I Soul Charge all three of my Ordain Owls, which is a huge blow to my late game and whiff on my drive checks for a few turns.  I kill him with one card left in the deck.

Round 7 - Link Joker (Lose)

A combination of not having adequate defenses, getting rushed and having my front row locked screws me over before I get a chance to get rolling.  Unfortunately I need to be able to set up my soul for constant Minerva Limit Breaks in order to beat that deck and that's hard to do at 5 damage to 3 with Grade 2s and 3s in hand.

Despite the loss I finished with the best record and got first place, earning ANOTHER The Blood mat and a shitty prize pack because Bushiroad fails at making prize packs.

Then we all left and had pizza.  Iz good.

Props
-Got my first decisive First Place Finish.  Yeah I'm proud of that seeing as our tournaments have both skillful players and extremely sacky players.  Beating both is a feat.  Beating both in a single day should be an Achievement.

Slops
-Didn't go undefeated...

CFV Locals Report - Awkward Conclusion

Not a whole lot I can say on this one.  I went to Vanguard Locals with Regalia while hoping to pick up the one last Satellarknight Deneb and Nova needed to finish my deck and didn't get to accomplish that.  One guy bought 6-7 boxes of the Bermuda Triangle Extra Booster for like 400 and I just facepalmed.

Then the tournament began.

Round 1 - vs Great Nature (Loss)

Bricked terribly here with a combination of Gradelock for about 3-4 turns while damage checking/Soul Charging Minerva.  I was able to somewhat keep up due to my opponent not having much to work with outside of his G3, but when it came down to crunch time I crapped out.  Vanguard really needs to have a best of 3 format.  It makes losses due to gradelocking/trigger sacking far more bearable when the loser gets another chance to try and right things.  For gods sake their OTHER game (Buddyfight) does this.

Round 2 - vs Blaus (Win)

This guy had pretty much the complete deck, but lucky for me I had basically the ideal outs to keep him from building advantage, namely being able to guard his Blaukluger + Morgenrot + Mars combo and keeping him from having Blau rearguards so that Galaxy if it ever appeared wouldn't be able to effectively limit break.

Round 3 - vs Ginevous (Loss)

I really don't like blaming losses on crits, but this one really did come down to him getting 2 clutch ones before I could set up and start abusing Minerva.

Round 4 - vs Link Joker (Win)

I suppose I got lucky here due to him never having Chaos Breaker Dragon out (his G3 was Nebula Lord), but I also feel I played really smartly with my deck, utilizing Minerva's Limit Breaks to eat away at his resources while having only one attacking rearguard (9 or 12 k) to minimize the amount of damage that Locking could do to my deck.  As it was only my Booster got locked/relocked and I was able to set up a devastating turn with Ordain Owl pumping up Minerva + RG Angelica to 28000 and 21000 respectively.  I didn't win on that turn, but he lost about 6 cards in hand and his RGs and on the following turn I took it with the constant restands.

Round 5 - vs Bermuda Triangle (Win)

This one was the Prism build and it went the distance.  Damn near lost to the one thing's Limit break of +10k and a Crit, but a damage checked trigger gave me JUST enough power to keep his rear guards from doing anything else and I grinded out the win.

Round 6 - vs Majesty Lord Blaster (Loss)

Much like Round 3, bad beats decided this one.  I won't go into detail on this one outside of must be nice to hit clutch criticals while never drawing Heal Triggers ever.

Round 7 - vs Revengers (Win)

Lol at complaining about how broken Minerva is when in reality Raging Sack Dragon is one of the most bullshit cards in the game.  Of all the "restanding" Vanguards, Raging Form is arguably the best because of not needing a Counterblast for his ability.  That makes a HUGE difference over say, CB 1 or CB 2.

In any case I open and don't need to mulligan which I tell him, and because of this the world exploded and now we're all dead.  But seriously if I ever have to not mulligan in this game, chances are I'm probably going to scrap someone and it pretty much happened here.  We both hit heals and I keep killing off his RGs before I start going after his VG with Minerva and see two PGs while the third is damage checked.  The fact that he had to pitch one of his Raging Forms for the PG shows just how much pressure he was under and I was able to hold on for the win.

Unfortunately it was after this that Derrick's Geargia, Sylvans and something else were stolen and he flipped out.  We all decided it was best to call it a day as he refused to play out the tournament.  Then he found his stuff in another deckbox as we were all getting ready to leave and the crisis was averted.

Props
-"Minerva is scary"
-Watching ARG along the way to Locals and seeing Joe Giorlando playing Satellarknights.  Good to see him back, and playing my deck of choice.  Killed my phone battery though.

Slops
-Couldn't pick up the last of the Nutellas I wanted.  I was willing to go pretty far to get a Deneb, though nothing stupid like trading off 3 decks for a single card.

Win-A-Box Report - Screwed the Pooch

Skipped out on doing the last few of these and I apologize.  To be blunt at the last couple of Locals it's basically three rounds of swiss where I win 2, but lose one and bubble out of Top Cut despite playing a good deck, or something with a good theory behind it.  Sometimes the losses came from my opponent being a god damned sack (usually the robot) or just unfortunate things happening in the case of Mermail and Lv. 10 Gishki.

Both decks are actually quite potent, with the latter having really good matchups against big monster decks, Shaddolls and a decent HAT matchup thanks to Mound of the Bound being a tremendous blowout.  It was because of this I really considered taking Gishki to the Win-A-Box tournament in Saskatoon, the prize being a box of Duelist Alliance which I did want.  However some really wonky games on DevPro and a not so great Madolche and Evilswarm matchup made me reconsider.  The kicker ironically enough came from watching some duels with Satellarknights, which I am building grinding out against other decks.  Realizing that I plan on playing a grindy, advantage building deck with access to Rank 4s in the future I decided to build HAT on the basis of it being a similar style (at least the way I plan on building it, with Traptrix) in addition to having some experience piloting it (though not in a tournament.  Just mainly 10-15 DevPro games).  I came up with a list based on the concept of the deck that won Nats, tweaked it for the current format and for a wider variety of matchups as I felt that since Saskatoon as about twice the number of skilled players and decks as Regina (some will take offense to this, but I'm calling it as I see it) that I'd be facing not only Tier 1 decks, but Tier 1.5 and some strong Tier 2 decks like Batterymen.

That deck is legit as fuck by the way.  Holy shit 9V does ALOT.

Anyway it turns out I wasn't the only one from Regina playing HAT.  So was Magnus and to my complete surprise, Ryan who I was expecting to play Sylvans or Infernity.  The three of us were the only people at this 30ish tournament that played HAT while Tommu ran Sylvans and Shard played Batterymen.  I must say it was nice having other people to discuss the deck, matchups, siding and such while on the way to Saskatoon as I picked up on a couple neat things that I hadn't considered before.  I must also say that Saskatoon's locals is still superior to ours, both from a competitive scale and casual.  For one thing PRIZE SUPPORT!  You have to pay in order to get it but you know what I got?

-Astral Pack 5
-Duelist Alliance x 2

What do you get in Regina?

-A shitty Battle Pack.  Like seriously wow.

They also have singles you can buy, YGO supplies, a much cleaner and less smelly environment and you DAMN WELL BELIEVE I'm gonna talk about this.  For the love of Triple H is it really that hard to TAKE A GOD DAMNED SHOWER!?  There are some people in Regina who smell like ass to be around and it really makes Tramps unbearable at times, especially in the heat.  Only one person I think smelled in 'Stoon while everyone else was pleasant to be around.  That or maybe since all my rounds save Top Cut were played outside the shop in a nice, air conditioned mall I didn't notice it.  LOLSPOILERS.

In any hoo I stocked up on some Duelist Alliance packs and pulled Deneb, the burn dude, Ulti Baxia, Castel and Time-Space Trap Hole which I'm like "OMG SO DECKING RIGHT NOW" and the result was this;

3x Fire Hand
3x Ice Hand
3x Artifact Moralltach
3x Traptrix Myrmeleo
2x Traptrix Dionea
2x Maxx "C"
3x Mystical Space Typhoon
3x Upstart Goblin
3x Pot of Duality
1x Dark Hole
1x Soul Charge
3x Artifact Sanctum
1x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Black Horn of Heaven
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Compulsory Evacuation Device
1x Dimensional Prison
1x Space-Time Trap Hole
1x Solemn Warning
1x Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Wiretap

1x Constellar Pleiades
1x Artifact Durandal
1x Number 61: Volcasaurus
1x Abyss Dweller
1x Castel the Skyblaster Musketeer
1x Cairngorgon, the Anti Illuminescent Knight
1x Daigusto Emeral
1x Evilswarm Exciton Knight
1x Gagaga Cowboy
1x Lavalval Chain
1x Number 50: Blackship of Corn
1x Number 80: Rhapsody in Berserk
1x Number 101: Silent Honor ARK
1x Number 103: Ragnazero
1x Steelswarm Roach

2x Breakthrough Skill
2x Deep Dark Trap Hole
1x Acid Trap Hole
1x Needle Ceiling
1x Debunk
1x Dimensional Prison
1x Black Horn of Heaven
1x Soul Drain
1x Wiretap
1x Mind Control
1x Nobleman of Crossout
1x Twister
1x Maxx "C"

I'll talk more about the deck in a bit.  Let's get to some tournament action.

Round 1 - vs Lightsworn Ruler (2-0)

Game 1 was more close than I wanted it to be.  Maxx "C" kept him from going completely off, allowing me to quickly retake the game with hands and I was able to Berserk his Tempest and Tidal away before making Gorgon after he banished 2 JD's for Wyvern and milled the last.  However just as the game was pretty much done he hits his Blaster and now I have to keep him from annihilating me, which I do and win after he decks out.  Game 2 is slightly more in my favour as I see some of my sided cards, but he's still able to drop 2 Judgment Dragons, one of which I picked off with Moraltach.  The other one nuked my board and swung pretty deep at me, but Dark Hole and Dionea helped me win with time being called.

Round 2 - vs  Satellarknight (2-0)

The one guy who's got a complete Nutella deck.  Ooh boy this was going to be rough, which it was as I did everything I could to keep him from making Delteros Game 1 while having some really clutch Sanctums and traps for his Xyz plays and win.  Game 2 I resolved 3 Maxx "C"s which really, REALLY hurt the deck.  Unfortunately I damn near lost the game with a misplay against his Excition Knight summon while I had Pleiades and 2 Hands on field.  I opted to bounce my Torrential Tribute and not Fire Hand, thinking that I'd be able to pop the Knight after the nuke.  However I completely forgot that Hands can be made to miss the timing, which is what he did to just shrek me.  However thanks to the Hands I held and a clutch Evac Device, I'm eventually able to finish him off.

Round 3 - vs Constellar/Hands (2-0)

If you've read this blog and seen my channel, you know that I'm an avid Constellar enthusiast (lol Estrel Galaxia) so I was stoked to play against the deck.  The main can't really deal with hands and I have answers to the Extra Deck plays obviously and that's what I did.  Hands picked apart his field whenever Pleiades wasn't in play and whenever he did hit the board I had the answer to it.  I kept him from ever establishing control of the game and quickly 2-0'd him.

Round 4 - vs HAT (1-2)

Oh boy!  The Mirror!  This one was against Ryan and honestly things are a little hazy right now.  I know I'm gonna get ribbed for this but the first game wasn't really remarkable, the second went by a bit quicker than I imagined and the third went sour after a while as I couldn't draw a monster to keep me from being beaten to death by Ice Hand and my last chance at a comeback got killed through Breakthrough Skill and Prison respectively.


Round 5 - vs Agents (2-0)

Everyone kept saying this guy was really good but I'll be a bit brutal...no he wasn't.  I'd say this guy was on the same level as some of players in Regina.  Uranus is not a good card.  Sanctuary is not a good card.  Putting the two together is doubly awful.  The deck already has consistency problems and adding in bad cards doesn't help.  Just my two cents as a former Agent player.

Anyway the first game he has Venus which I try to Maxx "C", but it gets negated with Herald so he ends with a Gachi.  I resolve a few hands and draw a Soul Charge while he has Gachi Gachi and Herald of Pure in play with cards in hand.  I know for a fact I want to drop Ragnazero as I felt it was the best way of dealing with that board, but knew that a hand trap would be a problem so I opted to Xyz into Castel using my on field Hands to try and spin the Gachi, which got Veiler'd.  Cue Soul Charge into 2 hands into Ragnazero into free plusses that eventually won the game.

Then in Game 2 I just shreked him with trap holes, hands and Black Horns.

Top 8 - vs HAT (1-2)

Oh my god this took SOOOOOO long and I was really not in the best of condition for another Mirror match.  The Mirror is by no means boring and requires alot of careful thought which I like, but boy is it taxing on the player.  Magnus opened pretty badly in Game 1, but he was able to grind back into the game putting me on catchup to which I really could never recover.  I misplayed hard into a Bottomless and scooped it up.  Game 2 I win, but I don't remember all the details other than just being hella aggressive.  I know it's not really the best way to play the deck but I really, REALLY wanted to just get things over with and my gamble kind of paid off.  Game 3 was a back and forth affair with both of us hitting our stride with the deck.  I was able to setup the Lavaval Chain play, but that got broken apart while I kept him from ever establishing a board for a good portion of the game.  It literally came down to him having a Wiretap to my Dimensional Prison on his Hand, knocking me out of the tournament after an hour long grind.

Not bad seeing as we both did this on three hours of sleep.  Imagine if we were well rested!

Magnus went on to lose in the finals while Ryan was eliminated in top cut by Batteryman while the others lost in Swiss.  In regards to the tournament itself I enjoyed the event.  I was pretty happy with myself after each round as my losses came from my own hands, which means there's room for improvement.  I really enjoyed playing HAT and the Mirror Match sounds appealing...when I have the stamina for it.  I really underestimated just how much of a toll it takes on you and playing two Mirrors left me feeling shitfaced at the end of it.  As for the deck, I was also satisfied with it.  Time-Space Trap Hole did moderately well, Castel was amazing and all of the one ofs really worked out.  I'll probably continue playing it until Satellarknights are finished.

Props
-Topping what was basically a Mini-Regional
-Meeting up with the peeps from Saskatoon.  Was great talking with everyone
-Finally got rid of my Pokemon Holos that I didn't need.  Now for the online coupons.
-Doing good with HAT.  Discussing HAT with other players who've ran the deck longer.  I'm glad to hear that alot of my reasonings behind some plays and choices were really well thought of.  I actually changed someone's opinion on what he thought was a misplay into an optimal play seeing as I was damned if I do, damned if I don't.

Slops
-Misplayed at least 4 times
-For the love of god can I ever fall asleep early?
-Not picking up nearly the amount of Satellarknight stuff I wanted to.  Everyone who had Denebs and Alphas wouldn't trade or sell them.

CFV Locals Report - Taking Charge

Simple report this time around as sadly we only had 6 people in the tournament, and the person running it had to step out for about 4 rounds which meant I had to run it...which I'd never done before.

Oh boy.

It wasn't so bad.  Since I was the one calling the shots I decided to make the tournament best of 3 style because FUCK losing due to gradelock or getting double triggered.  Everyone was thankful for this until the last round when we all wanted to leave, so I made that a best of one.

I ended up taking Regalia to this to see how it would fare in actual rounds and bought some packs while waiting.  Then the tournament began;

Round 1 - vs Murakumo (2-0)

He didn't show, so I won and pulled a Nouvelle, 1st ED Rainbow Dragon ScR and FA Lysandre.

Round 2 - vs Dimension Police (0-2)

FUCKDAIKAISERFUCKDAIKAISERFUCKDAIKAISERFUCKDAIKAISERFUCKDAIKAISER

Round 3 - vs Seal Dragon (2-1)

This came down to either me dying on the Dauntless Break Ride turn due to not having enough shield or not.  Game 1 I didn't due to double trigger wheras G2 and G3 Minerva's Limit Breaks got me there with the help of a crit here and there.

Round 4 - vs Ezel (W)

I had amassed adequate cards in hand to withstand 2 of Grand Ezel's limit breaks, while getting off Minerva's and nailing a crit off of my 4 Drive checks.

I ended up placing tied for 1st and then called it a day after doing some more trades.

Props
-Got to play Minerva
-Picked up some sweet cards
-Pulled Nouvelle Vague.  Good thing I'm not playing Kagero.  I'd hate to put the money into Dauntless and Vague.

Slops
-Bought Tactical Evolution for Summoner's Art.  Pulled the Secret Rainbow Dragon.  FAIL.

 

Lolcals Report - Sacking Intensifies

Actually went to both CFV and YGO locals this weekend.  No need to write two reports however as the Vanguard one can be summed up as one of those days.

I went 3-6 and two of my wins came through sacking.  All the loses were due to a combination of bricking, gradelocking, getting sacked or just not being able to close it out.  I hate having to need to hit a critical to win games, but there were at least 7 situations where my opponent was at 4 damage and I just couldn't hit triggers off my drive check.  I can sure as hell draw them for turn and my opponents have no problem nailing me with clutch triggers.  Let's just say I lost a lot of confidence in Eradicator's ability to keep up with the rest of the decks in the format.

On the plus side, I scored a set of Tempest Bolt Dragons, 3 Ignition Dragons and 2 Dauntless Reverse that were put towards picking up Minervas, so now I have a fully complete Regalia deck.  Yay!

Now onto the YGO section which will be short as I couldn't participate in a full tournament due to family obligations.  So I decided to throw together a Scrap Deck and dick around with Pendulums and so on while siding anti Regina cards.

3x Scrap Beast
3x Scrap Chimera
2x Scrap Golem
1x Scrap Orthros
1x Scrap Goblin
3x Timegazer Magician
3x Stargazer Magician

3x Scrap Factory
3x Terraforming
3x Supply Squad
3x Scrapyard
3x Scrap Storm
3x Upstart Goblin
2x Soul Charge
1x Book of Moon

3x Royal Decree

3x Scrap Dragon
2x Scrap Twin Dragon
1x Scrap Archfiend
1x Stardust Dragon
1x Stardust Spark Dragon
1x Number 101: Silent Honor ARK
1x Number 83: Heartlandraco
1x Evilswarm Exciton Knight
1x Daigusto Emeral
1x Gagaga Cowboy
1x Abyss Dweller
1x Lavalval Chain

3x Mystical Space Typhoon
2x Light-Imprisoning Mirror
2x Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror
2x Nobleman of Crossout
2x Xyz Encore
2x Maxx "C"
1x D.D. Crow
1x Soul Release

After taking the time to tell people about the rule changes and some rulings regarding Pendulums things were underway.  Slight note though.  I absolutely hated the person who was running the tournament today.  I swear he's either retarded or a real slacker as he was pissing around on his phone for most of the time I was there or away from the counter (I've seen him texting while people are waiting for him to ring them through on cash register) which made it difficult for people to report their rounds.  I understand the usual person is having problems at the moment, but really?  Him?  Thank god I was there for the one instance a ruling was needed as Nord and Cobb were both away.


Round 1 - vs Agents (2-0)

One of the friends of the out of towners, I'd say he's okay at the game.  Some more time and he'll improve.  In any case this was his first time seeing Scraps and well I annhilated him.  Game 1 he sets  and a backrow to my Factory, Yard and Storm so I'm able to make Twin Dragon and keep him from having anything on field or in grave, ever.  Game 2 he opens with a Jupiter and a set I think and I throw a Beast at him with Factory to see if he's got Honest or something of those lines and force out a Prison that I chain Scrap Storm to and start comboing.  He's got a Chaos Sorc, but it's not enough to deal with Dragon and Twin Dragon so I kill him.  I should note that he blind spaced me twice when on two occasions he could have popped my Factory while I was trying to combo.  I told him as such and he got scolded by the others.

Round 2 - vs Sylvans (2-1)

He elects to go first and makes Dracossack + Felgrand and I don't have the cards to deal with that, so I concede Game 1, side in hand traps but opt to go second on the reason of needing the 6th card to have a chance of winning this.  He goes off on his turn, resolves Soul Charge ending with Dracossack and the Lv 7 and I feel all kinds of sad since I don't see my Maxx "C"s, but then I draw the card I need to go off and clear his board with Twin Dragon, then resolve Factory another time and kill him.  Game 3 he sets the obvious Mushroom, but I can't kill it since I'm holding an Othros, 2 Factory and D.D. Crow.  He goes off on the following turn, I consider Crowing his Princessrpout but hold off on it for a potentially more clutch play and well, he resolved Miracle Fertilizer twice and Soul Charged with 2 Lonefires which made me kind of upset since he only runs Charge as a one of in the deck.  He ends his turn with a Dracossack, Felgrand and something else I think while I've got 2 Factory and a Orthros in my hand.  ORE NO TARN!  *Arm snap*

Scrapyard.

Exactly what I needed.  I summon Beast, then Orthros with Factory in play to bait out the Felgrand, which he does.  After that I Exciton and resolve a Factory on the following turn and win.

Round 3 - vs Lightsworn Ruler (2-0)

It's Magnus!  And he's playing a good deck!  Sadly his Raiden milled terribly and I had Factory and Supply Squad plays to take advantage of his slow start, so I kill him quickly.  The second game he mills a bit better, but is forced to flip Vanity's Emptiness prematurely because I had 2 Supply Squad in play and a face up Goblin and he knew I had Orthros in hand.  The Emptiness dies off on his turn because of milling and I go off HARD thanks to Factory and Soul Charge, ending with Scrap Dragon, Stardust Spark, Golem and Abyss Dweller (Dragon had hit a T-Roar prior) with Book set for his Michael play.

After that I end up having to leave to attend a BBQ with family, and much free food was had.

Props
-Finishing Genesis.  I'm now set for the deck until the Extra Booster comes out.  Brawler and Regalia are probably going to be my main decks post BT16.
-Kicking ass with Scraps.  I gave Magnus the win since I was leaving after our round, but I was undefeated the entire day and only lost one game due to Sylvans doing Sylvan things.  I think the matchup is either or pre siding due to Twin Dragon being so good.  Pretty sure if I had even one more hour I could have gotten 1st.  Oh well it's not like we have any Astral Packs to win.

Slops
-Crashing hard with Eradicators.  My god did yesterday suck ass.
-I never once got to Pendulum Summon.  Without Odd-Eyes the Magicians are really difficult to use well.  I never drew them together and Timegazer is ass after making a board.

Edmonton Legional Report - Some things even Soose Can't Fix...

Well the big moment has arrived.  How did the Legional in Edmonton hosted by Justin Delhon go?

Fucking shitty.

Like wow.  This was just a giant misadventure you could say.  Sure I had fun in Edmonton and got to see the atmosphere of a REAL Yu-Gi-Oh! community with good players playing good decks and not shitty loltastic decks which means that I would actually gain something from playing them and perhaps grow as a player.

Get fucking salty all you want if I offended you with that remark but 90% of the playerbase in Regina is that level of casual and if you want to be really, REALLY good at the game, you HAVE to go try hard level.  I don't fucking care if people will bitch and moan at this but dammit I AM competitive, I WANT to be good and I WILL do what I MUST to be one of the best players not in Saskatchewan, because that's piss easy.  No I want to be one of the best Canadians in the game.  That is my fun.  Don't like it?  Too bad then.

So the trip starts with myself, Ryan and Cobb heading out to Saskatoon and we hit a vicious rainstorm along the way.  This shit was ridiculous.  We arrive in Toon Town and check out their Local Shop and holy shit, it's leagues above what we have to work with.

Astral Packs.  They have ASTRAL PACKS.

Oh and they sell their product at not bullshit rates.  3 Structure decks for 30 as a promotion?  Extra Booster boxes for under 50?  Fuck even Saskatoon is a giant step up from Regina as a Yu-Gi-Oh! community.

Then we head out on our long 7 hour journey until the GPS told us to go off the main highway to Edmonton for some...weird reason and as the result we end up being sidetracked by 4 hours and arrive so late that our goal of going to a Locals falls flat on its face.  We end up playtesting by ourselves and I'm convinced that Dragon Rulers are the thing for me as my Troll and Toad Order didnt come in time for Lightsworn Rulers....until while trying to fall asleep and failing (because god forbid I ever get a decent night's sleep before a Regional) I decide to switch to Disaster Dragon on the premise that LSR should be popular and this would be my chance to test the deck in what is one of Canada's best environments for dueling.  I ended up using this list;

Then came the big day, we head to the tournament after more misadventures because FESTIVALS and CONSTRUCTION EVERYWHERE.  I got to meet Delhon who is a pretty chill guy.  After some time passed the tournament began;

Round 1 - Disaster Dragon vs Lightsworn (1-2)

Game 1; I open with Koa'ki Meiru Drago and brickwall him for the win.  Turns out he opened triple Necro Gardna.

Game 2; I am able to get Drago out once or twice, but he has Lance to get over it and makes an enormous push that ends with me down to 200 LP to his JD and Lumina.

Game 3; I open with Shine, Soul Charge and Drago so I make Spark + Drago and beat for a bit.  He;s able to protect a Raiden Long enough to go into an ARK and take Stardust and it goes downhill from there thanks to Imperial Iron Wall and some really good mills.  I'm talking 3 Gardna, BTS and Skill Prisoner and my hand is Tidal and Tempest.  Time is called and I'm down by over 2k.   I have MST for Iron Wall, but that only makes his grave live.  With no way of ending the game in 5 turns I scoop.

Round  - vs Anti-Meta (0-2)

Game 1: This one was sad. He has near endless backrow and I don't see a single decree this game.  My monsters just keep falling to his traps and I eventually lose.  Why would you main Memory of an Adversary.

Game 2; Post siding this became a REAL grind.  Lots of pass and go.  He didn't want to attack my Masked Dragons and I didn't want to attack into his 5 backrow so I had to pass and wait with REDMD.  Sadly my two major points to turn the game around were stopped by D.D. Crow and his hands picked what I had left.  I scooped after being down to no monsters left in deck, field or grave.

Round 3 - vs Noble Knights (1-2)

Game 1; This guy was fucking awful.  I'm saying it now.  The Field Spell?  Really?  Just for shits and giggles too?  That's fucking terrible logic and yet this guy pushed my shit in games 2 and 3.  I won the first game because I was actually able to play protect the Drago with REDMD on board.  The other two though came down to "equip Borz with Gwen and blow up all your monsters."  It's really fucking sad that I had no means of stopping that.  After losing to this I dropped out of the tournament out of disgust with myself and my deck.

I'm going to upset people when I say this, but Disaster Dragon doesn't have it anymore.  I find it admirable that people believe in the deck but I'm going to be real here and say that it has been power crept to hell while being indirectly crippled by the banlist.  We NEED REDMD to 2 so bad it hurts, among other things.  There's no advantage generating, no unfair setups, no comboes.  Disaster is too fair of a deck to compete.  The deck does not have the tools needed to play Yu-Gi-Oh! in 2014 and no amount of cute little additions and tricks is going to change that.  In order for someone to top an event with Disaster and not some locals, they have to be one HELL of a good player.  I'm unfortunately not that caliber of a player.  I did well with the deck in 2010-2012 but it's again 2014 and I've felt that it's just never been the same.  I've tried playing the deck here and there but I've always felt dissatisfied with its performance and especially the consistency.

So as of now, I'm putting Disaster Dragon on the shelf.  I don't know when I'll play it agin, but it doesn't look like it'll be anytime soon.

After I eliminated myself I did some trades, picked up some swag and we all went back to the hotel to try and get some rest as between the 3 of us we had 5 hours of sleep, with me having only 2.  It sucks.  The next day we checked out and came back to Regina in much less time before, while dealing with even shittier weather.

And now I get to go back to playing at Lolcals.  Happy fucking birthday to me.  I'm so done with this next year.

Props
-Picked up some nice shit.
-Edmonton is hella nice
-Saskatoon for that matter

Slops
-Bricking, consistency issues
-Losing to matches I should on paper dominate.  One case was extreme luck.  The other was the guy was playing a better deck in just about every manner.
-Road mishaps.
-The weather

CFV Locals Report - Thunder Avatar

Ah yes, my once a month Vanguard Locals report.  I'm kind of getting more excited to play, but I think that comes from being nearly done building some new decks and therefore being able to play something other than Narukami, the best clan ever fuck you Kagero and Link Joker I don't care if your decks are disgustingly overpowered LIGHTNING DRAGONS ARE THE BEST.

So anyway I bought a little over a box of Champions of Cosmos and pulled a Galaxy, Monde, 2 Jupiter and 3 Blau Perfect Guards and an SP Asura Kaiser and pretty much have Blaus done outside of some online purchases that I'll get around to doing next week after the Edmonton Legionals are done with.  Soon CUSTOM ROBOT BATTLE will be a thing.  Until then I'll continue to tweak Eradicators until I'm able to come up with a build that I am satisfied with Pre-Ignition/Tempest Bolt.  Right now I opted to build the deck around Gauntlet Buster and Cho-Ou's retire skills with multiple Shuki and Hakusho to rush with beaters that'll be at +3000/6000 attack.

Round 1 - vs Bad Joker (W)

The guy had just bought the deck and it was only a core.  No Chaos Breaker or the like so I picked him apart with Gauntlet + beaters.

Round 2 - vs Ezel Paladins (W)

I retire his starter which kills his Superior Ride combo and set him up for a kill shot with Descendant.

Round 3 - vs Link Joker (L)

Bad matchup combined with a poor start and a misplay pretty much sealed it.  Once he resolved a few Chaos Breaker limit breaks I was unable to close up the gap in advantage and it became a rout.

Round 4 - vs Dimension Police (W)

That same Vowing Reverse that cost me the last round won me this one.  The reason I run the singleton Vowing is for the situations where my opponent is able to overrun me very quickly and I need to even things out and take back control.  Buster can clear stuff too, but Vowing lets me wipe more and after resolving 3 Limit Breaks to minimize his field and getting a little lucky against a Daikaiser Break Ride (he didn't punt my Perfect Guard) I was able to stave off his attacks and take over.

Round 5 - vs Oracle Think Tank (W)

Its the Magus build which I know almost jack about.  I notice it runs similarly to Sylvans but that's about all I can say at the moment.  He doesn't start amazingly well and with Gauntlet's limit break and a crit trigger I'm able to kill him at 2 damage.

Round 6 - vs Aqua Force (W)

This one I sacked a little as he was at 3 damage and I got 2 Critical Triggers off my twin drive which kills him.  I then get the all too frequently said "I was going to win on my next turn..." stuff that honestly annoys me.

Okay so what if "you were gonna win on your next turn"?  I don't fucking care.  For all you know I could have not lost on that turn.  Heal Triggers, adequate guarding?  I was only at 2 damage and even with 5 attacks several triggers would need to be hit in order to win that, and I could just as easily hit my own Heal Triggers.

Round 7 - vs MLB (W)

This one was stupid.  So I hit 2 Heal Triggers in a row, then he hits two heal triggers in a row.  Then when Majesty is attacking me he opts not to YOLO the drive check and puts his 2 crits on Rearguard that puts me to five damage.  Then I proceed to kill his entire field with 2 Gauntlet pops and 2 Cho-Ous and swing with a 5 Critical Guantlet Buster Dragon that proceeds to hit 2 Triggers over his massive guard and kill him in dramatic fashion.  I also had a 30k Cho-Ou line.  Deeeeeerp.

I end up tying for 1st Place with my only loss being to Lock.dek.

Props
-Topped again
-Pulled godly from Champion of the Cosmos!
-Picked up my last Cho-Ou, now the deck is done!

Slops
-The terrible play vs Link Joker.  Enabling a Chaos Breaker Soul Blast when I didn't need to was dumb.

CFV Locals Report - A Flash of Lightning

First up.  Time for the shots fired segment.  If I piss off people here then I'm pressing the right buttons.

Am I the only one who finds it obnoxious if not borderline douche-like to do stupid shit during duels/fights/etc?  Okay, every one in a while it is entertaining to go over the top ala the anime that these card games are based on with the "ORE NO TARN!", but it's really only fun to do so with an opponent who'll respond in kind.

Declaring Final Turn, pumping out music at max volume for an "epic move" that's really just a basic play and straight up pulling Ren shit like "I'm gonna beat you with this card" to someone who wants no part of that though?  Come on.  That's disrespectful.

Maybe I'm too serious about this stuff and my fun comes from having a simple game without the theatrics but I honestly find this shit to be really annoying.  If I want card games with explosions and drama then I'll fucking watch a card game anime.

Alright, now for the report.  I went to locals for a few rounds/to do trades and decided to take Eradicators for the tournament as Ginevous Aqua Force is...horribly outclassed in a post BT13 environment.  Wound up with a playset of Tidal Assault which is good in both Tetra Drive and Malestrom builds after some pack purchases and play started almost immediately.

Round 1 - vs Daiyusha Reverse (1-2)

Game 1 he ends up Grade Locked and I kill him.  Game 2 and 3 simply came down to me not having enough defenses to constantly handle Daiyusha Reverse's Limit Break or being able to hit triggers when I really needed them.  On the plus side my opponent doesn't do the awful play of throwing a whole bunch of cards into the soul to Superior Ride a Grade 3 from the deck.  Seriously it's not a good play.  You lose SO MUCH from it.

"But it wins games!"

Even if it'll win the game here or there, a bad play is still a bad play and justifying it with "it wins games" does not make it any less bad.  Throwing Armed Dragon Level 10 into an Armed Dragon deck can "win games" every once in a while too but does that justify it?  Hell no.

Round 2 - vs Ancient Dragons (2-1)

Bad matchup, but the player is prone to making misplays so I ended up winning the games that I didn't misride, which was obviously the one I lost.  In regards to misplays I mean more of I attack and he guards with enough shield that all I need is a 1 trigger to pass and I end up doing so and killing him through Guantlet Buster's Limit Break and such

Round 3 - vs Daikaiser.dek (2-1)

Game 1 went hella long and it was actually a good game of Vanguard given that I'm up against Dickbutt Police.  I grind him down and am able to stave off his Break Ride pushes and eventually win the first game, lose the second then win the last game because my opponent bricked hard and after having bricked terribly many times before I'm like "I should feel bad about this but...NO MERCY!" and do just that.  It ends up being a bit of a game and he's unable to punt things with the Daikaiser Limit Break to which I'm like THANK YOU HELIX.  I never hit a single Crit trigger in that game btw.  A couple heals and a draw though which is nice as I NEVER HIT HEAL TRIGGERS.

Round 4 - vs Shadow Paladin (2-1)

Its the Illdona build which means much hand advantage, but otherwise Eradiators take a giant shit all over the deck and that's basically what happened.  I pop things, swing with giant attackers, Descendant does his thing.  I only lost the second game due to a clutch double trigger when he needed 2 to pass.  Otherwise the one of Vowing Saber Reverse did dirty things, followed by Descendant.

After that I left for dinner at Memories with family.  32 bucks for a steak sandwich dinner?  Fucking gay.  I don't care if it's a fancy do restaurant.  That 30+ bucks I spent could have been three times more in food from even Boston Pizza.  Hell the Pita I had last night was just as filling but less than 10 bucks.

Props
-I'm pretty sure I finished in first place, if not second?
-Got my playset of Tidal Assault
-Bought 5 Flashfire, got Lysandre, Charizard EX, Shiftry and Miltank.  I'd say that's profit
-Perfect Guarding 3 Daikaiser Break Rides and succeeding.  NO PUNTING FOR YOU DICKBUTT POLICE.

Slops
-Bricking
-Paying for disgustingly expensive, but tasty food.