Locals Report - 9/11/2010 - Machina

Hey guys, it's GuitarSlam,

Sorry about the one month break from blogging. Once I got back from vacation I was just so relieved that I kinda forgot about putting up new content, but I'm back now and I intend to continue making blog posts. So let's get back into the trend of local reports!

As the title says this is the report for my local that happened this weekend. This local was very interesting for me, as it happened to be the first time that I've ever won the tournament! Yep, that's right, I finally broke through getting 2nd and 3rd by actually winning the whole thing! Well, you guys will read about that in a second.

I had never ran Machina before yesterday when I randomly decided to make up the deck since I had the cards lying around. I tested it about 3 times, made a couple changes and then went to locals today. Enjoy the reading!

Round 1: Machina vs. Lockdown (Pacman style)

Game 1: Messanger of Peace + The Dark Door = I had 6 cards in my deck at the end of the duel... I managed to Monster Reborn my Gale (uber tech), synchro for Black Rose, and bomb field. Then special summon a Fortress, use Limiter Removal and hit for game.

Game 2: Same kind of lock down as game 1 but I beat him down with Grand Mole : D He couldn't stop the Grand Mole abuse and I won.

1-0

Round 2: Machina vs. Quickdraw

Game 1: He wasn't able to get out his synchros fast enough and I overran his tokens with Gadgets. A well timed Fortress and Force combo won the game.

Game 2: I didn't draw anything... it was really sad. He just killed me quickly. Quick game.

Game 3: It was a really close, with him at 4000 and myself at 2700. At the end when I had no backrow he top decks a Dark Hole, summons Lonefire, tibs for Tytannial and attacks for game. Oh well, it was close.

1-1

Round 3: Machina vs. X-Sabers

Game 1: I opened well with a Gearframe and some backrow. I hurt him whenever he tried to do something productive I had an answer. I won.

Game 2: Rinse and repeat game 1. He did get Hyunlai out but it didn't matter. I was able to respond to anything he did. He got really mad at me but whatever. I win : P

2-1

Round 4: Machina vs. Amazoness

Game 1: Too much Machina swarm. Fortress, Fortress, Gearframe, and Smashing Grounds. Get wrecked.

Game 2: The exact same thing as game 1 (have you noticed this trend?). I found out how much the Amazoness guy hates Machina. He's typically a nice guy but he wouldn't shake my hand after the match and everything. He later apologized but I still feel he acted a bit foolish.

3-1

Round 5: Machina vs. Light Control (run by uber Cocky Guy)

Game 1: I Trap Holed his Wattgiraffe, played around his Honests, and he couldn't recover. I won with the typical Fortress play.

Game 2: This was a very close duel. We were each down to under 1000 LP and he top decked Dark Hole. Ugh... I lost this way twice today...

Game 3: God is he cocky... he kept telling me how he drew the perfect hand to defeat me. Trap Hole his Wattgiraffes and Smash his Honests and he auto loses. I just wrecked him and all he could say is how he couldn't pull what he needed... sure, keep telling yourself that.

4-1

Top 8: Machina vs. Monarchs

Game 1: Machina swarm at its finest. He set up his Treeborn early but he still couldn't gain advantage due to all my Bottomlesses. I won in about 4 turns.

Game 2: He used Battle Faders to stall for a while but no Treeborn early hurts. It was a quick win, he complained about not being able to draw his important cards. Man, I played a lot of annoying people today... oh well, it is what it is.

5-1

Top 4: Machina vs. X-Sabers

Game 1: He had a lot of back row constantly so I played conservatively with Gadgets and Grand Mole. A well timed Mirror Force wouldn't allow him to gain advantage over me. I won.

Game 2: I swarmed early and set up my protection. He was able to clear my field of all my Machinas and get me down to about 2000 LP but I got some of my field presence back with Gadgets. At the end when I attacked for game he activated Mirror Force but Dark Bribe shut him down : D

6-1

Finals: Machina vs. Machina

Game 1: He got out double Solidarity and proceeded to beat me down to 2200 LP. I managed to turn the game around when he attacked me with 2 Fortresses. I played D-Prison on 1 and Booked the other. Next turn I set up a bit and ended. He flipped his Fortress and I Trap Holed it (Trap Hole ftw!). Then I used Solemn Warning on his Monster Reborn and he couldn't come back. I won.

Game 2: He Machina swarmed me. After such an epic 1st game, it kinda sucked to get wrecked so quickly in the next game.

Game 3: I opened with a Gearframe, Scrap Recycler, and a Royal Oppression. I summoned Gearframe, searched Fortress, pitch it and Recycler, equipped Fortress with Gearframe, set Oppression, Book of Moon, and Bottomless. Oppression 100% won me the game. He couldn't do anything and I had already set up my field. It was a quick and amazing win.

7-1

So thank you guys for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. As I said before I'm really happy that I finally won the tournament after all of these times attending.

See you guys later.

My Sept. 2010 Banned List

Hey guys, it's GuitarSlam,

Continuing on my blogging from overseas (this time I'm in Scotland) I'm going to be bringing you guys a brand new blog (yay!). Instead of making another deck profile (since I've made one of those recently without a tournament report in between) I'm going to post about what I would change on the banned list for September 1st. I'll post each change and then give my reasons for each change, so let's begin!

____________________

Forbidden:

Rescue Cat

Limited:

Infernity Launcher
Black Whirlwind
XX-Saber Faultroll
Swap Frog
Substitoad

Semi-Limited:

Infernity Archfiend
XX-Saber Darksoul
Destiny Draw
Allure of Darkness

Unlimited:

Chain Strike
Cyber Dragon

Alright, let's begin analyzing my choices. Some of you may be completely confused by my choices but please read on. It never hurts to hear multiple opinions (and if you guys still disagree with me please leave comments telling me why!!).

Forbidden:

Rescue Cat: This card sets up way too many plays for way too many decks. The obvious deck that benefits the most of Rescue Cat is X-Sabers (allowing for Aribellum pokes, Hyunlei synchros using Darksoul, and multiple X-Sabers for Gottoms E-Call). Cat can also be splashed into Gladiator Beasts and makes a Naturia control deck called Pineapple Cat (which if it lives up to the hype is going to be really good). All of these things added up makes Rescue Cat too good for the current meta.

Limited:

Infernity Launcher: This spell allows for the Infernity loop to happen. You can't reuse Archfiend nearly as often if Launcher doesn't continue the loop. No loop, no broken synchro plays. Having this card at 1's going to allow Infernities to continue being a good deck, but not overly good.

Black Whirlwind: In the US meta, this limit probably isn't warranted... but in Japan's meta Blackwings are Tier 1. Whirlwind gives Blackwings tremendous advantage, especially if you have multiple on the field. Summon Shura, search Gale and Kalut, synchro for Armor Master and now if you summon another BW it's nearly invincible in battle. If we're only looking at the TCG, I keep this card at 2. Combine with the OCG and Whirlwind deserves to be at 1.

XX-Saber Faultroll: Another card that X-Sabers lose that sets up big plays. No more Gottoms E-Call, Faultroll, go for Gottoms, trib to burn opponent's hand, another Faultroll, etc. Faultroll at 1 doesn't allow X-Sabers to do the Gottoms loop nearly as often, slows the deck down, and doesn't allow them to reuse their grave as much. A limit is clearly warranted.

Swap Frog: Say goodbye to the consistency of Frog Monarch and Frog FTK. This guy allows for repeated dumping of Treeborns, Ronintoadins (which, as you can see, I don't think are the problem in the FTK), and general deck thinning. The fact that you can return him to your hand to reuse at a later time doesn't help his case either. Put it at 1 so the engine is still alive but much less consistent.

Substitoad: Same principal as Swap Frog. The limiting of this card's going to hurt the consistency of the FTK and still allow Ronintoadin (which I don't believe is broken in it's own right) to stay legal. Make this card harder to draw and the FTK isn't nearly as much of a problem anymore.

Semi-Limited:

Infernity Archfiend: Another change that will stop Infernities from doing their loop nearly as often. If you remove it from the grave you don't have to worry about multiple copies still waiting to be used. Having it at 2 also reduces the chances of topping it with no cards in hand, a truly broken play.

XX-Saber Darksoul: Less searching is always a good thing when it comes to hurting decks. A slight limit on Darksoul will allow you to see less of a toolbox from X-Sabers. I don't want to kill that aspect entirely so a Semi-Limit seems right.

Destiny Draw: I didn't like this card at 1 at all. It became completely irrelevant and killed the Destiny Hero engine. Monarchs are too slow to abuse this card and Tele-DAD is dead and burried... I don't see why people are afraid of this card now. The only reason it was limited for this format was because of Zombies last format and they were abusing Mezuki and Burial from a DD much more than this card. Allow for some draw power in the game and let Destiny Heroes become viable deck options once more.

Allure of Darkness: Same idea as D-Draw. Allure was used more this format than D-Draw is currently being used but it's still not the same. I've seen some dark decks not even run Allure simply because it's not worth the space at 1... and that's just plain not right. Allure should be at 2 so that, once again, it's worth the slot in the deck but doesn't break the game (like I feel it does whenever it's at 3).

Unlimited:

Chain Strike: Some of you may be saying, "Who the hell cares if this card's at 2 or 3? Burn's dead." Not necessarily. I have a Chain Burn deck that's actually pretty good and a 3rd Chain Strike could be really beneficial... but let's face it, even if this change happens, burn's not coming back. Chain Strike to 3 would help out a deck that really needs it but it's not going to break the format or anything. I think we'll be safe if this card goes to 3.

Cyber Dragon: I'm a bit afraid of this pick but I really want to try it out. There may be some negative consequences due to this change but I don't think it's going to be the worst thing in the world. It'll allow for Cyber Dragon decks to be at full strength (which actually may be viable as a Tier 2 deck with the support that's out now) and it'll make it so that people can't just leave their machines on the field forever. Since Fortress Dragon's being reprinted, meaning everyone will have it (which is a pure counter for the Cyber Dragon decks. As long as they don't OTK you, you can just summon your own Cyber Dragon and fuse with all of their monsters). Without Fortress Dragon being reprinted I would be afraid of too much power for Cyber decks, but the fact that nearly everyone's going to be able to counter the deck, even if it does have a lot of power behind it, makes me willing to try having a format with 3 Cyber Dragons.

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So there you guys go, those are the changes that I would make to the banned list this September. I'm not trying to predict that Konami will do, because I know that getting that right is nearly impossible, so keep in mind that these are just the changes I would like to see, not the changes that I expect to see.

I hope you guys like what I would do but even if you don't, please make sure to comment on this blog entry! This entry, more than any other entry that I've written so far, is extremely debatable. There are many different opinions on how the banned list should be handled and I'd love to hear what you guys think!

See you guys later.

Deck Profile - Classic Monarchs

Hey guys, it's GuitarSlam,

Well, even from London I'm going to give you guys an update (I know, I'm so nice :P). I've gotten a request to make deck profiles for two different decks - Classic Monarchs and Gladiator Beasts. I have a complete Glad deck ready but I think it'd be better to talk about my favorite deck type of all time: Monarchs.

The best Monarch deck this format is clearly Frognarch, or Frog Monarch. Now I've play tested with Frognarchs and understand the strategy but, although it's extremely good, it's definitely not my favorite Monarch variant. No, the deck that I love is what I began running last year, Classic Monarch. This type of deck revolves around dark monsters and flip effects, kind of like Cornarchs from the Tele-DAD era. I know it's not as fast as Frognarchs, but it sure is a whole lot of fun to play. So without further ado, I bring you... Classic Monarchs!

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Monsters: 23

[3] Caius the Shadow Monarch
[2] Raiza the Storm Monarch
[2] Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
[2] Prime Material Dragon
[2] Destiny Hero - Malicious
[1] Dark Armed Dragon

[2] Krebons
[1] Psychic Commander
[2] Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive
[2] Gravekeeper's Spy
[1] Gravekeeper's Guard / Descendant (players choice)
[1] Plaguespreader Zombie
[2] Mask of Darkness

Spells: 10

[2] Book of Moon
[2] Soul Exchange
[1] Allure of Darkness
[1] Emergency Teleport
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Pot of Avarice
[1] Brain Control

Traps: 8

[2] Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
[2] Raigeki Break
[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Mirror Force

Alright, let's start examining the deck. The Monarch line-up is fairly standard: triple Caius is a must, along with doubles of Raiza, Thestalos, and Prime Material. These cards give you advantage by removing your opponent's cards while Prime protects your other monsters. Malicious matches up really well with the double Krebons, allowing for a level 8 synchro easily. It can also be tributed for a Monarch if you really need tribute fodder. Dark Armed's run for obvious reasons - you run a lot of darks and have ways to control the number in your graveyard.

Dekoichi, Spy, Guard/Descendant, and Mask of Darkness are all flip effects that give this deck speed and power. Dekoichi is a free draw, Spy gets either more tribute fodder or destruction power, and Mask allows us to reuse our plethora of disruptive traps.

The spell cards are extraordinarily simple. Protection due to Book of Moon, destruction with Storm, MST, recycling with Pot of Avarice, and even Soul Exchange. Add in an Allure and an E-Tele for speed and you have a simple, effective spell line-up.

The traps of this deck really allow it to mess with your opponent. Double Wing Blast and double Raigeki Break both either slow down your opponent or get rid of threats on their side of the field. A lot of people have questioned my decision to run Raigeki Break in this deck, but here's why: Discarding in this deck isn't a bad thing (Malicious, Plague, PoA) and Stardust doesn't run around crazy like it used to. It's personal preference; if you'd rather run Divine Wrath or Compulsory Evacuation Device over Raigeki Break, go for it. I personally like the added destruction that Raigeki Break offers.

*An Alternative Idea*

If you wanted to make this deck a little faster (which I'm actually thinking about doing) you could make a few small changes to the monster cards that will dramatically increase the speed of the deck. Here's what I might do as an alternative to the given set:

-2 Mask of Darkness
-2 Gravekeeper's Spy
-1 Gravekeeper's Guard

+2 Dandylion
+2 Ryko
+1 Pot of Avarice

This set of monsters would probably be a bit more successful on the competitive circuit. By adding more destruction with Rykos (and milling to speed up the deck) along with the token abuse that Dandylion allows with the Wing Blasts and Raigeki Breaks, you're going to have more tribute fodder and speed through your deck quicker. I think that with the extra milling and the fact that you're going to want to reuse your Dandys, an extra Pot of Avarice will round off the changes nicely.

So there you have it. A classic Cornarch-esque deck with plenty of power. If you wanna go really old-school Monarch, go with the first build. If you wanna go the route of a bit more speed, give the second build a try. Both decks are fun and can surprisingly hold their own very well.

See you guys later.

I'm Going on Vacation :D

Hey guys, it's GuitarSlam,

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, I'm going on vacation :D My family and I are leaving tomorrow and we're heading overseas to England and Scotland!! It's going to be an amazing trip and I'm absolutely pumped!

The only thing is I'm not sure how often we're going to have internet while we're gone. From what I understand there are going to be some opportunities for me to get onto a computer and post something but it could certainly turn out that I won't have internet until I get back (which is on August 18th, by the way). If I can get to a computer for some time I'll try to post up a new deck list. It'll be my new pet deck, the fun one that I've been working on for the last two days. Hopefully something will be posted during this time.

Until then, make sure to check out my YouTube channel. T-ton and Zepf (someone you'll meet in a few videos) can upload vids so there will be new content. Until next time...

See you guys later.

Tournament Report - 7/31/10 - Gadget

Hey guys, it's GuitarSlam,

So after writing my article on Anti-Meta Gadgets a few days ago I knew that I had to give them a try at locals. They performed very well and even though the deck had a couple losses, they were extremely close (you'll see when you read it).

Round 1 - Infernity

This guy's a very good player and a cool guy. I always seem to play him close and this was no exception. It was this round that told me how well Gadgets match up against Infernities.

Game 1 - Early D-Fissure and a Banisher really slow him down. He doesn't want to make very many plays because he'll lose his monsters. He finally does, getting out a couple synchros, but Lightning Vortex wins the game shortly after.

Game 2 - He Infernity wrecked me. Mist Wurm and plenty of other synchros killed me quickly.

Game 3 - I look at my opening hand and I believe I've got game wrapped up. 2 D-Fissures, a Banisher, and a Crevice from the Different Dimension. I get set up and on his next turn he flips Imperial Iron Wall... damn it! I couldn't remove his monsters so he proceeded to Infernity wreck me again. Oh well, I was close so I'm still feeling good.

0-1

Round 2 - Blackwings

She's the only girl at our locals so I feel a little bad for her in that respect (she's there with her boyfriend but still, it must suck being the only girl). She's pretty nice though. At least she keeps a positive attitude in that situation.

Game 1 - I set a monster and pass. She opens up Sirocco, Bora, Bora, Gale... I take too much damage early and can't recover.

Game 2 - This time she opened up Sirocco, Bora, Bora. I took the damage but a Jujitsu Master top decked her Bora. Smashing Ground and a Bottomless followed and I was able to recover that strong opening play of hers. I won after a little bit.

Game 3 - I destroyed her in this duel. Bribing her Heavy and then Oppressing her needed special summons didn't leave her with any options.

1-1

Round 3 - Skill Drain

This deck really took me by surprise. Gadgets are meant to take down the meta (special summoning and mid-attack monsters until they capitalize). It was really hard to counter a deck that doesn't special summon and can throw out high attack monsters through normal summoning every turn.

Game 1 - This one was back-and-fourth for a while but I didn't have enough monster destruction in the end. Being able to summon Barbaros (3000 atk) and Dual-Mode Fuciller Beast (2800 atk) for free with Skill Drain is epic.

Game 2 - He didn't have as many big monsters and I had Smashing Grounds and Fissures out the wazoo. Gadget pokes ftw :D

Game 3 - Repeat game one but take out the back-and-fourth part. He just steamrolled me :(

1-2

Round 4 - Infernity

This kid's pretty cool and a solid trader. If you ever are looking for a specific card (or just want to trade something randomly) he'll be there and will probably find something that he'll want.

Game 1 - Neither one of us wanted to make many moves against the other (well in my case, I couldn't. He had a Necromancer in def. mode and I didn't have monster destruction >.<). He finally drew into the all important combo cards and did the loop.

Game 2 - This game was amazing for me. I drew into most of the side decked cards (2 D.D. Crows and 2 Crevice from the Different Dimensions). Every time he tried to get something from the grave I was able to remove it from play. I took away all of his options, leaving him with nothing to do but scoop.

Game 3 - This game dragged out forever. We each kept chipping away at our opponent's options until I finally got him when I Creviced his Necromancer and Beetle. One Fissure later and I held the duel in my hands until I finally won.

2-2

Round 5 - Machina Gadgets

This guy played quickly and didn't speak much. He was alright after the match though.

Game 1 - Royal Oppression owns Fortress. That combined with D-Fissure and I win games.

Game 2 - I opened with 3 Gadgets in hand so I didn't have any protection. He opened with Gearframe into 2 Fortresses... I scooped the next turn.

Game 3 - We kept trading Gadgets in battle until he tried to get out Fortress. I Oppressioned him and it was over after that.

3-2

Even though I had 2 losses, one was against Anti-Meta (Skill Drain) and one was because he drew the perfect card. I can't complain about how my deck reacts in that kind of situation. I'm planning on using this deck again at a different locals soon. We'll see how it works then :D

See you guys later.

Deck Profile & Article - Anti-Meta Gadgets

Hey guys, it's GuitarSlam,

Today I want to discuss a deck concept that I started playing around with after my Flamvellsworns weren't nearly as consistent as I would have liked last week. I had tested my Lightsworns (and then Flamvellsworns) for weeks and I knew what it could do. I made a deck profile on YouTube and here on my blog discussing the power and amazing combos that the deck had at it's disposal. Then I get to the tournament and it didn't perform well. Monster clogged hands, no real constructive plays, and just bad draws. This made me remember an idea that I had thought of last year: Unless you're fast enough to keep up with the top decks, you've gotta bring them down to your level.

It's not to say that Lightsworns aren't fast enough to keep up with X-Sabers or Frognarchs, it clearly is. If you open Recharge, Charge, Lumina, Garoth, mill Wulf, there's not much more you could have done. The problem is that that kind of opening only happens once every fifteen games. Most of the time you're getting a hand of monsters and few milling options. Consistency is the key; you may have a lot of speed but if you can't use it when it's needed, there's no point in being fast.

So I began wondering what I needed to do to be successful at the tournament. I knew that I could just chalk up the poor weekend to bad draws and try again but I felt that something drastic needed to be done. I thought about my theory on having speed and consistency and I realized that I needed to remake a deck. I hadn't played anti-meta in about a year but it was time to go back. I began remaking Anti-Meta Gadgets.

The theory behind Gadgets is that you're always going to have a monster in hand with plenty of one-for-one (1-4-1) monster destruction at your disposal. If you can manage to hurt your opponent's game plan drastically while putting a continuous steam of monsters on the field, you're in a really good position. It doesn't matter that Gadgets are a slow deck; they have the ability to drag your opponent down to the same speed. Being really fast and really slow do the same thing when you play X-Sabers; it levels the playing field.

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Monsters: 16

[2] Green Gadget
[2] Red Gadget
[2] Yellow Gadget
[2] D.D. Warrior Lady
[2] Legendary Jujitsu Master
[1] Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
[1] Thunder King Rai-Oh
[1] Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
[1] Tragoedia
[1] Banisher of the Radiance
[1] Wattgiraffe

Spells: 11

[3] Smashing Ground
[1] Fissure
[1] Lightning Vortex
[2] Book of Moon
[2] Dimensional Fissure
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps: 14

[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[2] Royal Oppression
[2] Dimensional Prison
[2] Dark Bribe
[2] Threatening Roar
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Solemn Judgment
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Starlight Road

If you're not used to Gadgets you may look at this deck list and go, "What? 14 Traps and 16 Monsters?! That'll cause too many clogged hands!" That's an understandable fear but don't worry, it doesn't happen. You only want to draw 1 or 2 monsters in your opening hand because the rest of the cards are going to hurt your opponent.

The Gadgets are included for obvious reasons; they thin the deck and give you a constant flow of monsters. D.D. Warrior Lady is more 1-4-1 destruction and Jujitsu Masters slow down your opponent by making them lose a monsters and stopping them from drawing anything new. Kycoo and Banisher of the Radiance are graveyard hate and both can shut down Infernities and any Frog deck. The tech monster is Wattgiraffe. Don't hate on this card until you've tried it. I thought it was dumb too until I got wrecked by a Wattgiraffe in a tournament (you can read about that in my last tournament report). It's a free 1200 damage that can get past big attackers that are in the way and it also stops Gorz if it hits first when your opponent's field is clear (they take the damage first, then Gorz activates. By then it's too late, Wattgiraffe's effect kicks in). The monster line-up is simple and good at what it does; messing with your opponent.

The spells are even simpler than the monsters. Smashing Ground, Fissure, and Lightning Vortex kills your opponent's field, clearing the way for your Gadgets to poke the life point count. Dimensional Fissure has the same purpose as Kycoo and Banisher. If you take the grave away from a lot of decks now, they fall apart. The rest are staples.

The traps are huge in this deck. They provide protection for
your monsters and stop your opponent's plays. Royal Oppression stops all special summoning (and since you don't do any in this deck, it's an absolutely amazing card to play). Bottomless and D-Prison are more 1-4-1 destruction. Mirror Force, Solemn, Torrential, and possibly Starlight Road are staples. The trap that no one expects is Dark Bribe. A lot of people write this card off because it lets your opponent draw a card. Who cares! If an Infernity player's going to activate Heavy Storm on your field of D-Fissure, Oppression, and Bribe, aren't you happy you can negate Storm? Otherwise your opponent just got the green light to OTK you. If you learn to use Bribe at an appropriate time, it's an amazing card.

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Well that's the deck, I hope you guys enjoyed it. It's really quite cool that a slow deck with a lot of cheap, common cards can have such an impact on the meta. Try this deck out for yourself, you may just put down your plethora of meta decks and come to the dark side (Uklazar would be so happy to know I made a Star Wars reference :P).

See you guys later.

Tournament Report - 7/24/10 - Flamvellsworn

Hey guys, it's GuitarSlam,

As promised, I'm posting up my tournament report for this past weekend. It was a 5 round tourney with a top 8 playoff. As the title indicates, I used Flamvellsworn. I wanna tell you how I did right now, but then you may not read the article :P

Round 1 - Frognarchs

This kid was really cocky (he always is though, what did I expect?). He told me how he couldn't lose to Lightsworns once he saw what I was playing (did I mention he was cocky?). He's a few years younger than I am but I've gotta admit, he's not a bad duelist. He's just plain annoying.

Game 1 - I start off with Solar Recharge to get the milling going. I believe I set a Ryko and pass. He beings the typical Frognarch stuff with Swap Frog and Treeborn. Over the next few turns he starts the Monarch stuff, getting in a Caius and a Raiza. Due to Honests he's down to 3800 lp. I summon Judgment Dragon, nuke the field, summon Aurkus and attack for game.

Game 2 - He wrecked me. I didn't draw particularly well and he got out 3 Raiza on consecutive turns. I was forced to scoop quickly...

Game 3 - This one was more back-and-fourth. We each kept hitting each other for a bit of damage here, a bit of damage there. Unfortunately for me, he got out a Caius the turn before I was going to Celestia for game and I lost :( I can accept losing, but it's pain to lose to a overly cocky kid.

0-1

Round 2 - Light Oppression Stall?

This was easily my weirdest matchup of the day. He was running a lot of stall cards and light monsters that could be boosted by Honest. As the ultimate kicker, his main card was Wattgiraffe (I know what you're thinking. The card's better than it sounds).

Game 1 - I couldn't do anything. Solemn, Dark Bribe, Oppression, and Honest wrecked me. I couldn't believe what I had just lost to.

Game 2 - Same as game 1. I gained a lot of respect for the deck and for the player. It's a really weird deck but if you know how to run it, it shuts down everything that it goes up against.

0-2

Round 3 - Dark Beat Down

Kind of part dark synchro, part dark beat down. I don't know how to classify this exactly.

Game 1 - I used Celestias and Judgments the way they were supposed to be used. Royal Decree really hurt this guy. He didn't have anything to stop my big plays.

Game 2 - Same as game 1. Opening hand of Decree, Recharge (mill Wulf), Celestia, and JD kills people pretty quickly.

1-2

Round 4 - Blackwings

This kid was the brother of the kid that I played in Round 1. This kid was a lot less cocky and overall more enjoyable to play against.

Game 1 - I synchroed into Stardust early and protected him. Royal Decree stopped Icarus once he Kaluted over Stardust. I won after a little bit.

Game 2 - Celestia and Judgment win games. Simple as that.

2-2

Round 5 - Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode

This guy was fairly cool. We talked a little bit after the match but that was it.

Game 1 - My early Decree protected his own Firedogs for when they synchroed into Stardust. After a Colossal Fighter (thanks to Rekindling) and a Judgment Dragon, I won with little difficulty.

Game 2 - He must have pulled crap during the duel because he was playing defensive the entire time. Then when he finally made an offensive push late in the duel I had Mirror Force :P

3-2

I didn't end up making top 8 ('tis the breaks when you lose your first 2 matches). It's alright though, because I was able to watch tton in t8, t4, and the finals! He ended up getting 2nd place, congrats to him :D

Well I hope you guys enjoyed reading about my semi-fail tournament. My deck worked well at times and showed some inconsistencies at others. All-in-all, I'm still satisfied with the day.

See you guys later.