Post-Regional Interview w/ Epler

This is a little late since the regional was like 2 weeks ago, but I blame homework!
Out of our guys that went, Epler did the best, so I thought I'd get an interview/tourney recap with him.

1. What deck did you play for the event and why did you decide to run it?
I ran T.G Wind-Ups!

2. Do you mind providing your decklist?
Main deck
Monster *20
2 T.G Striker
3 T.G Warwolf
3 Marauding Captain
3 Wind-up Hunter
3 Wind-up Shark
3 Wind-up Rat
2 Wind-up Magician
1 Wind-up Kitten

Spells *12
3 Wind-up Factory
2 Smashing Ground
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Monster reborn
1 Mind Control
1 Dark hole
1 Heavy Storm

Traps *8
3 Compulsory Evacuation Device
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgement
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Mirror Force

Extra
1 Gachi Gachi
3 Wind-up Carrier Zenmaity
1 Leviathan
2 Utopia
1 Utopia Ray
1 Wind-up Arsenal Zenmaioh
1 Catastor
1 T.G Wonder Magician
1 Brionac
1 Stardust
1 Trishula
1 Chimeratech Fortress

Side
2 Cyber dragon
2 d.d Crow
2 Zombie World
1 Dust Tornado
2 Shadow imprisoning mirror
2 Bottomless
1 Starlight road
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Chain Disappearance
1 Fiendish chain

3. Besides variations of the loop, could you go over some other cool combos you've found?
Well I really didn't do many combos besides the loop, but 2 things that really helped a lot were how easy it is to trish with the sharks and t.g mix in the deck and Wind-up kitten being able to get pulled out of the deck whenever I need it was the bomb.

4. If you were able to re-do the event and you could change any aspect of your deck, what changes would you make?
Well if I could re do it I would most definitely take out the mirror force that was a dead draw and put in fiendish chain that I sided. I think that would have helped a lot in some of the game ones I played.

5. What would you say are your deck's best and worst match-ups?
The best match match-ups would have to be Agents, Chaos, and Dragons.
The worst match-ups were Dark World, E-hero, and Dino Rabbit

The reason this deck is so good against agents is because it hits the hand and destroys there outs like krystia, Envoy, or Hyperion. Same thing with Chaos I was always hitting Envoy or Sorcerer before they could use them. Dragons are easy to beat because of hitting the things they rely on in the hand too.

The reason the deck is so bad against decks like Dark World is because of Deck Devy and how dumping Grapha to the graveyard can benefit them more than hurt the deck. The reason its bad against E-hero I feel is because of cards like Miracle fusion and all the anti meta they can mix in there hurts too. Dino Rabbit it struggles against if they go first. Other than that if you can go first you will be ok.

6. What decks did you play against at the regional?

1st round, 1-0
My first match up at regional was against agents. This match up I was not very scared about, because I knew that my deck gets rid of the hand which is a big hit on agents and there outs. I took this match pretty easy and won both games.

2nd round, 2-0
Going into my second round I was playing a chaos deck. This game I also won both rounds on. This one came pretty close, but thanks to the T.G. mix in my wind-ups Trishula was able to come out and end things.

3rd round, 3-0
The 3rd round was against a guy who had already beat one of my teammates earlier. He ran disaster dragon. I took game one by just getting rid of the hand quick before he could get anything out. I lost game 2 because he went first and opened up with future fusion which I had nothing I could do about. Game 3 I was able to go first. He opened with future fusion again, but I played solemn warning and beat him.

4th round, 4-0
Honestly my 4th round was a case of murder. I was not able to even tell what this guy was running. Both games he set one monster and a back row and I discarded his hand which were cards like tour guide and sangan so those could have been in any deck. Well I did that and bounced his set card with Kitten and had control from there.

5th round, 5-0
This one was crazy. I got selected for a deck check and my opponent forgot to write Trishula down so he had a game one loss. The next game he won with getting tengu out and spamming the field fast with synchros and setting a warning down which prevented me from shooting off next turn. Then going into game 3 I started with Marauding captain, hunter, 2 sharks, and compulsory, monster reborn. I looped him and had a big field ready. The next turn he just set and ended. I used compulsory on his down card and he scooped.

6th round, 5-1
This match up was against E-heroes. I was quick at discarding the hand first game and I stomped him. Going into game two he had rivalry of warriors and took control. I could not draw one MST or the dust tornado I sided in or heavy. I lost that one from not being able to get passed his control. 3rd round I shot off quick again and discarded his hand and set 2 back row. Warning and Compulsory. He has 3 cards in hand. He plays heavy and gets rid of my back row. Then he plays Miracle fusion. I was screwed once this happened. He also followed up with thunder king. He attacks over my Zenmaity and takes out Leviathan with shining. I wish I had a Zenmaines in this case. That’s how I lost my first game.

7th round, 6-1
My luck in this tournament was crazy. Again I was chose for a random deck check. This time my opponent forgot to unside so that gave him a game one loss. Next he chooses to go first. Plays a tour guide and gets sangan, then passes turn. I opened up good and looped him and took this game easy as well. He was playing Rabbit Glads, but I didn’t really get a chance to see much of it.

8th round 6-2
This game I had to play Dark world. I was pretty nervous about this match up, because they can be a big threat. I take him out quick game one though getting rid of his hand and winning. Then game 2 I side in shadow imprisoning and d.d crows. I open up good, but he goes first. Plays dragged down and gets rid of shadow imprisoning then. Just goes crazy with drawing and playing his set up. Before I know it it is my turn and he tributes grapha on my stand by phase for deck devy. I drop 4 of the 5 cards in my hand and only have a wind up factory left. Last game I was not happy with my opening 2 rat, one hunter, 1 magician, Fiendish chain, and 1 dark hole. I set fiendish chain and set magician. He plays dark world dealings and discards grapha. Then targets my set monster and destroys it. After that he plays a dark world returns it to his hand and specials grapha. Then he sets two and passes turn. I go to take my turn and of course he plays deck devy again and there goes my hand, Left with a dark hole and then the d.d crow I topped was useless. Moved on to scoop phase.

9th round 7-2
The last round was another one that didn’t last long so I really didn’t get a good chance to see what I was playing. I looped him two games in a row and he had no way of coming back.

7. I read a tournament report by the Darkworld player that beat you near the last round. He talked about a Mind Crush-Pot of Avarice incident. Could you elaborate on what happened?
Yeah well not much to elaborate on that I made a scrub mistake and when I was shuffling the two cards I had in hand I put the wrong one down. It was Pot of avarice and once he saw that and that I had 5 cards in the grave he mind crushed pot of avarice and sent me straight to scoop phase.

8. Will you be attending Nationals/WCQ? (It's at the end of June in Ohio.)
I plan on it. I want another teammate to get the invite first though before I know for sure. I know that they will so there's a good chance I will be there.

9. If there was anything about the regionals that you could re-do, what would it be?
Well it would be not to drop the pot of avarice for sure and I have been running Inzektors in my wind-ups lately and it is running really good. I just went undefeated at my last local with it so if I could go back I probably would have thrown them in there instead of the t.g mix.

10. If someone wanted to netdeck your deck and play it, what advice would you give them to improve their chances on doing well with it?
Well the best advice I could give is watch out for Maxx C and its not worth it to shoot off when they play that. The T.G engine is a great stall engine for a next turn set up so take advantage of that as much as you can.

11. Any cool/funny/weird stories that went down you'd like to share?
The only funny story I can share is how lucky I was at this Regional in some cases lol I had two deck checks happen to me throughout the tourney and each time that I had it happen my opponent didn't do something right. First one didn't write down Trish and the second one forgot to unside. You can't afford mistakes like that at a regional.