YGO Locals "Report" - Par for the Course

Since I had to work this past weekend I had to take a pass on coming down to Tramps and trying to bounce back from my Regionals performance.  So instead I'm going to have a little fun here and write up a totally legit (fake) report that'll somehow wind up being pretty close to legit considering how hilarious(ly awful) locals can be.  Ahem;

After what happened last weekend I decided that this time around I'd play a deck that I felt 100% comfortable with even though I have no idea how its Kozmo matchup is in the form of Blue-Eyes.  Due to my amazing powers of amazing I got a hold of a playset of Alternative White Dragon and when I asked Nord if I could play them he was all "like fuck you are" but then I gave him his set and he was like "ayy lmao" and that was that and by that I mean he played the deck too.

Round 1 - vs Fire King Kozmo (2-1)

Of course I'm up against Magnus.  Wouldn't be a locals without us paired up round 1.  Game 1 I open with a Spirit Dragon play backed up by Emptiness which he can't clear so I steal the win while in Game 2 I open pretty poorly and can't clear his Dark Planet + Kaiser Collosseum setup so I lose.  Game 3 I can't even call a game as he opened with all of his field spells + Terraforming and it all goes downhill from there.

Round 2 - vs Magician Pendulum (2-0)

I need to come up with a nick name for this guy since calling him Ryan would be confusing since the Ryans I usually talk about on the blog are either good at the game (which this guy is not) or don't play anymore (which I wish was the case here).  Anyway Game 1 I open with Spirit Dragon which pretty much shuts his deck down if he can't clear it which sadly this guy does as he opens with Raigeki and a Pendulum Summon play, but nothing threatening while I've got Wingblast + Ancient Stone + Silver's Cry to crack his board followed up by Alternative White Dragon and Gospel of Revival in order to make Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon to take his Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon, Rank it up into Darkmatter Dragon and cripple him.  Game 2 he makes me go first and I open with a hand that lets me make Spirit Dragon AND Silver Dragon with Wingblast set so he pretty much can't play the game. I think I made him cry.

Round 3 - vs A pile of shit.dek (2-0)

So somehow Phillip managed to stall out Woodhouse long enough to raw draw Exodia 2 games in a row and that's why we ended up playing at this point of the day.  WELL OKAY THEN.  Game 1 I slowroll a win off Azure-Eyes bringing back Dragon Spirit to clear his grind cards and being able to make Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon because his deck is bad and usually gives me the time to do convoluted things.  Game 2 he goes first and sets a monster with a backrow and passes while I opened Melody + Trade In + Gospel so I cleared his monster, brought back Blue-Eyes and made Darkmatter Dragon before playing Lullaby of Obedience to summon his Winged Dragon of Ra - Phoenix Mode out of his deck (he misread the card and thought I got to choose what happens and for the lulz I choose not to argue) and beat him with it.

Top 4 - vs Raidraptors (2-0)

Ultimate Falcon gets summoned in Game 1 but I beat it over with Darkmatter Dragon and flip Emptiness when he tries to make a comeback while in Game 2 I chain Ghost Reaper to his Double Force and banish all his Ultimate Falcons to completely blow the game out.  So this is what it's like to Hungrybox people.

Finals - vs Blue-Eyes (2-1)

Figures the first tournament where legit Blue-Eyes are played Nord and I have to play the mirror in finals.  Sadly this match was straight up bullshit as in Game 1 we both bricked terribly.  I opened with all 3 of my Blue-Eyes and Ancient Stones while he opened with all of his draw spells.  I eventually topdeck an Alternative White Dragon and start playing the beats game with it and Spirit Dragon before he finally starts to see some monsters.  Unfortunately the game is too far gone and I start seeing my revival spells to clear his board and win.  Game 2 I make a Spirit Dragon backed by Emptiness but it gets offed by a Kaiju and he promptly goes off and kills me.  Game 3 I open draw spells + monsters and Soul Charge so I wind up making a board of Azure + Silver before normal summoning Ko'aki Meiru Drago and setting Wing Blast before passing.  He draws Maxx "C" a turn too late and scoops since I have 2 Gospel of Revivals in grave so he has no way of clearing my board and winning.

So I end up finishing the day with only 2 whole losses which is a nice step up from Regionals while Nord and I talked Blue-Eyes theory which included potentially maining Kaiju since most of them are Trade-In targets.  In addition to that Woodhouse started asking people for Koa'ki Meiru Dragos since we both played the card and because Aliens won an regionals last weekend Evan ordered the deck.  After all that we went to Robins to play Nord's "special" cube where all archetypes work with each other and it was just as much of a gong show as you could imagine.

Props
-Shrekked everyone
-Got to play Blue-Eyes!
-Beating Phillip with his own card
-Sacking the utter shit out of Bad Ryan.
-Ghost Reapering a Towers clone.  God it feels so good telling them "no, we ARE going to play actual Yu-Gi-Oh!  Get that shit out of here."
-Seeing Kody get shit on by Crystal Beasts

Slops
-Bricks
-Sacking the utter shit out of Good Ryan

So whatcha think?  Pretty accurate if I do say.

Narukami Lists - Post Fighter's Collection 2016

We all know that when it comes to Cardfight!! Vanguard I love me some thunder dragons.  Well I figure why not periodically post my decklists while making updates to them throughout the year like some other blogs while occasionally giving my thoughts on how certain builds fair in the format.

So with that said let's get this show on the road!

Kaiser

4x Dragonic Kasier Crimson
3x Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion
1x Dragonic Vanquisher

4x Demonic Dragon Berserker, Chatura
4x Voltage Horn Dragon
3x Dragonic Deathscythe

4x Dragon Dancer, Anastasia
4x Crown Holder Dragon
4x Mighty Bolt Dragoon
2x Rising Phoenix

8x Crit (4 Malevolent Djinn, 4x Lightning of Triumphant Return, Reseph)
4x Draw
4x Heal
1x Lizard Soldier, Saishin

4x Conquering Supreme Dragon, Conquest Dragon
4x Conquering Supreme Dragon, Dragonic Kaiser Warning
2x True Eradicator, Finish Blow Dragon
1x Lightning Dragon Knight, Zorras
1x Air Element, Seabreeze
2x Metal Element, Scryew
1x Dark Element, Dizmel
1x Lightning King Spirit Emperor, Vritra

Brawler

4x Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Buster
4x Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Dragon

4x Brawler, Skyhowl Dragon
2x Brawler, Big Bang Slash Buster
2x Brawler, Big Bang Slash Dragon
4x Demonic Dragon Berserker, Chatura

4x Dragon Dancer, Anastasia
4x Secret Fist Brawler, Koukon
4x Mighty Bolt Dragoon
1x Brawler, Wildcloak Dragon

8x Crit (4 Malevolent Djinn, 4x Brawler, Street Fight Dragon)
4x Brawler Draw
4x Brawler Heal
1x Lizard Soldier, Saishin

4x Conquering Supreme Dragon, Conquest Dragon
4x True Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Turbo
1x Lightning Dragon Knight, Zorras
2x True Eradicator, Finish Blow Dragon
1x Air Element, Seabreeze
2x Metal Element, Scryew
1x Dark Element, Dizmel
1x Lightning King Spirit Emperor, Vritra


Vanquisher

4x Dragonic Vanquisher
3x Blitz Spear Dragoon

4x Demonic Dragon Berserker, Chatura
4x Voltage Horn Dragon
4x Rock Climb Dragoon

4x Dragon Dancer, Anastasia
4x Mighty Bolt Dragoon
4x Chain-Bolt Dragoon
2x Rising Phoenix

1x Malevolent Djinn
4x Lightning of Hope, Reseph
3x Draw
3x Dragon Dancer Vianne
4x Heal

4x Conquering Supreme Dragon, Dragonic Vanquisher "Voltage"
4x Conquering Supreme Dragon, Conquest Dragon
1x Lightning Dragon Knight, Zorras
1-2x Conquering Supreme Dragon, Voltechzapper Dragon
0-1x True Eradicator, Finish Blow Dragon
1x Air Element, Seabreeze
2x Metal Element, Scryew
1x Dark Element, Dizmel
1x Lightning King Spirit Emperor, Vritra

With the release of the G-Guardian mechanic I should note that it's going to be harder for some G-Units to do their thing.  Finish Blow Dragon is going to struggle with Scryew being able to make it easier to 2 pass the thing while Dizmel makes Dragonic Kaiser Warning turns considerably weaker than they used to be.  Thankfully most decks only run him at one so once you've baited the first one out, then you can attempt your final turn push.  With the expansion of the G-Zone Brawler, Kaiser and Vanquisher can all max out on Conquest Dragon and their signature boss strides without question, followed by some number of Zorras and Finish Blows for the first two decks as one is a costless form of pressure that will bait a PG or get some needed binds for Vritra while the other can still potentially kill the opponent if you're reading that they don't have a PG or a G-Guard play.  Vanquisher has the option to run Voltech due to its focus on binding and the card is pretty solid as a 1-2 of that can potentially clear and bind 3+ cards after the deck gets rolling which will make Voltage turns that much stronger.  He also punishes Gear Chronicle players who leave any of their units permabound and will have potential in the Chronofang matchup if that ever becomes a thing.  Lastly Seabreeze needs to be ran as a one of as Narukami has some good GB1 units (Voltage Horn, Vianne) that can punish people who try to play the Grade 2 game.  Vritra will be replaced when we get our clone of Denial Griffen who I hope to got gets to retire something in the front row and bind it upon being placed on Guardian Circle.

Winnipeg Regionals Report - Punting harder than WWE Creative

Just ONE thing.  You just had to do ONE thing.  Alas much like not booking Taker vs Sting at WM last year and now kicking yourselves for it I basically fucked myself out of a likely top due to a really bad mental slip and it's going to be something I won't live down for a long time.

But how did we get here you ask?  Well let me tell you!

For this Regionals I borrowed Matt's Kozmo deck with a list in mind that I felt had solid theory though Ryan was unsure and Evan immediately disagreed despite my reasoning which I thought was sound.  Then when Cody (Winnipeg's best player and one of the best in Canada) came to the place we were staying at and showed his Kozmo deck he ended up saying the exact same things to which I mentally fist pumped as it meant at the very least my line of thinking was correct in that you did not want to run 3 ofs for pilots in the Fire King build as you need more ships to pop and drawing the things will make it harder to combo.  You're better of summoning them off your ships during the EP.  In addition we had both said that maining Farmgirl was awful as you rarely ended up being able to summon it and land a hit as long as Prime Monarch existed among other things.  With that in mind I finalized my main deck and spent a good amount of time tweaking my side before hitting the sack and for once getting more than 3 hours of sleep.  The next day we arrived at the venue, I picked up 2 Magic Deflectors and after a long process of getting my decklist legit the tournament began;

Round 1 - vs Deskbots (2-0)

This was his first Regionals and he definitely showed signs of having the jitters that come with being at an event of this type for the first time.  In addition to that he was playing Deskbots which are a awful no matter what r/yugioh tells you so I stomp him in both games.

Round 2 - vs Kozmo (2-0)

Game 1 he doesn't see Kozmotown and I do which in itself makes winning the mirror match an uphill battle thanks to my considerably higher advantage.  In addition to that I'm certain he didn't see my 2nd Forerunner coming and I had Deflector for his E-Tele to win Game 1.  Game 2 he opens with a Pilot into Darklady set backrow play and shotguns Emptiness during my Standby Phase which I can only assume was out of expecting me to side in Kaiju.  Well in a rare case of meeting one sack draw with another I opened with Raigeki and used it to nick that problem, drop a Wickedwitch and start beating face as he doesn't draw a ship and eventually has to CotH his Lady back which I eventually deal with as I had a hand full of ships and I'm certain I resolve a Tincan at one point.  Basically I opened better both games and won because of it which is pretty much any mirror match in Yu-Gi-Oh! these days.  Skillful play my ass.

Round 3 - vs Yobooboo (2-1)

Game 1 I brick really terribly with a hand of multiple Maxx "C" which are terrible vs his deck and some other unplayable cards.  I set a bluff to see what he would do and scoop without revealing what I was playing in order to get the advantage in siding.  It pays off as he doesn't know what to bring in and I open with an Island combo to make a board that he can't answer and I win in a few turns.  Game 3 is more of a back and forth game as he opened with Macro Cosmos for the third straight time among other floodgates that I eventually answer thanks to Kozmotown allowing me to recycle Slipriders and Pilots while he thankfully never sees Card of Demise and as such his deck becomes the pile of shit it actually is and he loses.

Round 4 - vs Yobooboo (1-1)

Of course I play this cancer twice in a row.  Turns out an entire team of cancer players came that Cody warned us about.  Lucky me.

Anywho we get deck checked and while nothing bad happened the fact that my deck is returned organized as monsters/spells/traps means I have to do a considerable amount of shuffling to ensure I don't brick and sadly my shuffles weren't enough.  I open pretty poorly and have to deal with a turn 1 Emptiness that I can't clear for the life of me.  Worst off I make a brutal misplay by failing to realized I could have used Kozmojo to out the Emptiness by forcing out a Secret Move to self destruct the Emptienss before he entered his attack step and afterwards tag out to a ship he couldn't clear.  Instead I do it on attack declaration and miss my chance.  I eventually concede and we head into a retarded game 2 where Anti-Spell and Iron Wall are active because what the fuck is playing actual Yu-Gi-Oh! right?  God this game is shit.  Regardless we're doing a fine job of not letting the other play as I stick a Dog Fighter on the board which I ran specifically for Demise.dek as the Tokens are bigger than Yosenju and Qlis but this guy ends up taking it off Creature Swap which normally would be GG, right?  No this is where the match becomes silly as during my Standby he makes a token and I summon Forerunner in response to his Iron Wall flip or something.  I just know I have the thing in play.  During his Standby he summons another token followed up by 2 Yosenju but realizes he can't bounce Forerunner with 1 and passes to which I hold my breath as if he gets greedy and summons a third token during my Standby I win the game....and he does!  I mentally fist pump as he has now filled up 4 of his 5 monster zones with monsters and as the result he can't drop multiple Yosenju in order to out my Forerunner and now Darklady off CotH.  He realizes this during his turn and ends up throwing a Token into my Lady in order to clear space to summon his guys which I successfully kill with Lady as he for once doesn't have a Secret Move.  At this point time is looming and my LP is at 7500 so I make it a point to not attack, gain life with Forerunner, negate his monsters with Lady and eventually get a Tincan out, resolve its effect and tribute summon Landwalker to ensure he can't break my board.  At this point we have a crowd around us and people are lolmazed at the game state of his 5 set backrow including Iron Wall and a Tenki that I negated with Deflector, Dog Fighter and 3 tokens to my Anti-Spell, Kozmotown, Forerunner, Darklady and Landwalker.  At this point I've almost got the game in hand and the draw secured but I draw Yaksha for turn and realize if he stays alive for a turn and I draw into Wickedwitch (which thanks to mulligans would happen) I can Utopia the Lightning and beat him to death.  This succeeds as he doesn't attack my set Yaksha and on the following turn I flip it up, summon Witch, make Lightning and clear his board.  He reads him a few times to understand the effect and between his effect, Darklady and me making it clear that I was only going to attack wit Lightning until he died he ended up scooping.

Round 5 - vs Xyz Monarch (1-2)

Game 1 he summoned Majesty's Fiend and I outright lost.  Game 2 I open with Anti-Spell and am able to drop a Dark Destroyer off Tincan backed by Mojo which I use to clear his one of his sets followed by Sliprider killing his other set before I go off and kill him the following turn.  Game 3 I open with a bad hand made worse by his Erebus hitting my Teleport to completely kill my chance of playing around Either/Stormforth which he did have.  On his turn he does more Monarch things, drops Either and another Erebus and OTKs me in what was probably the most sacky game of the tournament.

Round 6 - vs Xyz Monarch (2-1)

Game 1 he drops Majesty's Fiend and I outright lost.  Getting real tired of this shit.  Games 2 and 3 though he opened with triple Brilliant Fusion and I'm going to assume Garnet as he never played them in order to at least get a chump blocker and as such I kill him quickly.

Round 7 - vs Fluffal (0-2)

Game 1 I open with the worst hand of the day; Both Island, mini Garunix, Terraforming and Kozmotown.  I scout to see what deck he plays and scoop it up and move into Game 2 in which I open much better and even do a decent job of keeping him from going completely off as Fluffals can kill you out of nowhere.  I even get to the point where I have an OTK set up and ready to go...except either because I was still tilted from Game 1 or because I got way ahead of myself in excitement I make the misplay of summoning Shark Fortress thinking Cyber Dragon Infinity's attack would be too low to get the OTK...except I don't use his effect!  By the time I realize this it's too late for me to do anything about it so I swing with everything to leave him at 300, leave a Stawman with Dark Destroyer in hand and Dark Lady on the field to make sure that Fluffal Wolf can't nuke my board.  He starts comboing which I expected because Toy Vendor is actually a horribly unbalanced card, the player is apparently a notorious sack and after seeing that I wasn't going to use Wicked Witch to negate his Fluffal Tigers and instead save it for his Wolf...he plays Dark Hole to wipe my board, power through my Forerunner and other ships and I whiff off my tincan search and lose the game as the result.

So because of my deck utterly crapping out when I desperately needed it to not and because of my own stupidity I ended up losing out on what by all accounts a guaranteed top as I know for a fact that if I won Game 2 I very well would have won Game 3 due to playing what was the superior deck and at the risk of sounding like a smug bastard also being a better player.  Unlike the situation with Fat Chris I kept my cool and no salty tears were shed and I was able to keep calm for the most part.  I'd say that a good portion of this came from the fact that my spirit was broken out of what happened and I if I was angry is was the "too pissed to get mad" kind.

After that we went to Movados, played Magnus' Cube in which I made a Lightsworn Deck and brought out Exterio with Metamorphisis.  The next day I picked up a Blue-Eyes deck core and wrote this report.

In regards to the deck I played it ran well for the most part.  Kozmos as I mentioned before have a decently high brick rate and the Island build does not run enough defensive cards to play out of its brick hands which is an aspect I dislike about the deck.  The vaunted Fire King Combos also do NOT happen nearly as often as people hype it up to be.  Instead you're going to just Island a Ship, bring out Strawman and bring back the ship to summon Tincan/Darklady and pass.  In regards to the game itself I think it's utter shit and I don't see that changing until after Nats.  For the love of god Konami just nuke the fucking format.

Props
-Picked up Reapers
-Picked up everything for Blue-Eyes.  Just need Alt. Dragon and Chaos Max
-Despite a losing effort I still finished higher than last time.  17 and under club represent yo!
-Fucking up Deskbots.  I'm going to say right now that anyone who plays that deck competitively is a shit player.
-My Cube deck was sweet
-Picking up OTS foils


Slops
-In 3 days I already have no more tolerance of Dat Boi memes.
-Not topping, obviously
-Misplays
-Bricking
-Losing to Floodgates featuring monsters
-That Round 7 punt.  I might as well call myself McCallum.
-Ryan cutting a guy off in the parking lot.  I'm still speechless.
-No Olive Garden.  I was so hyped...