To the two people who were expecting a different title all I have to say is psyche!
But really this Regionals was both good and ugly and I wish it could have gone better, yet at the same time I'm okay with how some things turned out. The trip itself was filled with much drama as there was whining, backstabbing and politicking behind peoples backs to the point I thought I was in a booking meeting where Triple H and Hulk Hogan were fighting to see who would go over. People were upset and it got to the point that one person dropped and I considered it as well, but decided to come along regardless while ignoring some jabs made at my expense from ironically enough one of the people who threw a bitchfest in the first place.
So we head out to Winnipeg and for once the weather was not shit. We make it to Jordan's OP as hell place and meet up with the other clique and at this point I sleeve up my Igknight deck so that they'd think I'd be using it at the tournament and side accordingly when in fact I planned to use Clownblade, but then Matt blew my cover and I was like "oh well." and after switching back to Clownblade we all futilely try to sleep for the next day.
We all wake up and are late getting to the venue as there was barely enough time to get registered and I was unable to pick up a second Exciton Knight but decide to roll with it as I was not confident in Igknight's ability to play against Shaddolls and Qliphort which were in droves including all 3 players of the other clique. Shard I can understand as he's been playing the deck forever and like Colby and Dark World for the longest time only plays it after getting a top with the deck. Colby and Damon on the other hand literally picked up the deck because they got destroyed by it and tried to build it with the hopes of helmeting their way to a top to which I was less than impressed. Colby I can see why as like Dark World it's a deck that takes absolutely zero thought or interaction with the opponent except this time around fucking with your opponent's hand has been replaced by floodgating them to death. Damon on the other hand I just facepalmed inwardly at as he already had Satellarknight, zero experience with Qli (though again, doesn't take much to play them) and by switching to Qli made his Burning Abyss matchup harder while basically opening himself up to getting smashed by any competent Doll player as they'd likely had more experience playing vs Qli, but he likely had no experience dealing with Dolls outside OMGFLIPFLOODGATES.
Hell Tellarknights even topped this Regionals.
As for me, well...
Round 1 - vs Blackwings (2-0)
This guy was horrendous. First up he was playing Blackwings in 2015, he shat his entire hand on his turn 1, played the Level 1 Tuners and made Vortex the Whirlwind to my hand of Retaliating Cs and I forget what else. I just know I ARK his Vortex and read that his set was a Mirror Force and kept him from resolving Whirlwind. Game 2 is a bit hazy but I'm pretty sure I ARK an Armed Wing and make Diamond to blow him out of the game.
Round 2 - vs Qliphort (1-2)
Floodgates! Floodgates everywhere! More than the eye can see! Yeah there was no way I was winning this one as he drew godly two games in a row and I could not answer Lose 1 Turn, Emptiness and Soul Drains before Qliphort Stealth annihilated me in all of his poorly designed stupidity. Seriously why did they give that thing a "cards cannot be activated in response to this effect" effect?
Round 3 - vs Satellarknight (2-0)
He opens with Rai-Oh set a couple which were revealed to be Fiendish Chains and Call of the Haunteds so it takes me a while to finally get that thing off the board but it's pretty clear at this point he's playing Tellars. We both make some misplays (me forgetting to Archfiend off my chained ARK) as he reads my set S/T as a Torrential and tries to Triverr it, but instead I blow him out with Warning for Game 1. Game 2 was a bit back and forth as I opened with some multiple Rank 4 shenanigans to his Maxx "C", but I'm able to keep him from getting his ball rolling, Rhapsody his 2 Denebs and swing with my Rank 4s and win.
Round 4 - vs Watt Burn (1-2)
The moment I saw this guy I got the vibe of him being another one of those randy people you meet on DN as he didn't know a majority of what my cards do and flips up stalling battle cards like Thunder of Ruler as I'm building a board. Then he flips Ceasefire and 3 Just Desserts to burn me for 6000 damage and I'm left dumbfounded (no Damage Jugglers were drawn this game). Game 2 I have a Damage Juggler for a huge burn play and I have Warning to stop his Wattdragonfly and Castel for his Watt battle phase stopper thing and kill him. Game 3 I don't have a Damage Juggler in hand nor see my Decrees and am not able to summon a turn 1 Trapeze Magician without leaving myself open to Lava Golem so he burns me down to 2800 and stalls out the rest of the match with Swift Scarecrow, Waboku and lastly when he had no cards on field or in hand rips Threatening Roar and beats me in time with flipping Watt Burn. Wonderful.
At this point I decided to drop out of the tournament as now I was X-2 with my most recent loss opting to drop out himself and the turnout was only 65 people meaning I had zero chance of topping and I didn't feel like playing out the rest of the day when I could be trading and hanging out with people and enjoying myself than playing 3 more rounds while likely on tilt. In regards to my deck it actually performed well as most of the hands I drew were playable and the theory behind the card choices were solid, I just failed to draw optimal hands against my worst matchup and got Yu-Gi-Oh!'d in another instance. The mainboard itself was prepped to deal with Dolls and Nekroz with 6 "C" cards and I drew Retaliating "C" in every single game I had it in so on paper I would have annihilated Dolls/Nekroz? Whose to say. The deck is fun as hell (unless you play burn, but nobody has fun playing that...) and I urge people to give it a try. Clown Blade is by no means a bad deck just because one card got banned. It can still function very well.
The tournament continues without me and Ryan ends up getting 5th place with Clown Dolls, Shard scrubbed out, Matt got 17th place as is tradition, Magnus finished 20th and both Damon and Colby got fucked over by the bubble (sucks, doesn't it), complete with Damon getting visibly upset and from what I heard very salty over being "so close" to the top.
After that there was a win a mat tournament that I entered with Igknights. I played against a horrendous BA player but I didn't open Library which G1 is your win con against the deck and Game 2 didn't see any of my floodgates (yeah yeah hypocrite I know) and got wrecked by Spell Shattering arrow and drew poop. It's okay though, we all went for wings and to Jordans for shenanigans including but not limited to cubing, watching Cody opening fucking busted, swapping stories of scrubs in action and just having a blast the entire night when I was awake followed by going to Galaxy the next day in which I talked Pokemon with Cameron and got some sweet swag. Hell the Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon Mat might even be mine as I know Ryan will part with it if I give him a good enough deal. Plus I finished my other decks! So with that said I'm now officially done giving two shits about the game until DOCS comes out when Nord, Matt, Magnus and I will break Performages.
Fun times will eventually be had. Just not while the format is utter shit. Ryan may be finding some enjoyment in this. But not I.
Props
-Seeing one of my buds get the top
-Seeing no Qliphort decks topping
-Getting to watch the Synchron Extreme Structure Deck Tournament. God that entertaining.
-Picked up much swag
-Finished Red-Eyes, Gem-Knights, Vespiquen
-Got to hang out with the Winnipeg crew again.
-Snagged some hilarious photobombs.
-Despite my Round 4 opponent and the drama leading up to this event I was not the saltiest person this weekend. ;)
-Jordan's parents.
Slops
-I'm now 3 for 8 on the Regional Circuit. This is not exactly good for my confidence.
-Qliphort
-Floodgates
-Losing to a deck that on paper I should auto-win because of Trapeze Magician and to a player who I had to call a Judge to confirm that yes, you cannot chain the MST you just set on your turn. "I didn't know about that." It's in the rulebook!
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