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...
Saturday, 30 August 2014
Saturday, 23 August 2014
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.
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.
Sunday, 17 August 2014
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.
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.
Saturday, 2 August 2014
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.
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.
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