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.