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.
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