So in the early afternoon, after I got back from class, I decided to go rent the newest Underworld movie from the Redbox and watch it while I made some more changes to my deck for the box tourney. Not even Kate Beckinsale's hotness could help that movie be better, good lord. The special effects look like they came from the 1990's lol. Speaking of Kate Beckinsale, I don't think I ever mentioned that I saw her about 2 feet away from me while my wife and I were in the Bahamas for our honeymoon. My wife had no idea who she was as she doesn't really keep up with celebrities and new movies and whatnot, but I instantly knew - sooo hot! :)
So I take off for T&M's around 4, go to the Panda Express across the street for some food, bring it back and surprisingly Shiggs and Paul are already there, as well as Brandon and his posse. Play a couple games with Paul, and the rest of the team shows up which I was surprised about because I didn't expect Nate and Donut to show up. More and more people show, and eventually sign-ups start. The store is apparently charging $5 for the box tourney now, we're all like "uhh what happened to it being $3?" as the people that were there last week (which includes me) for the store manager's announcement about it specifically remember him saying $3 entry. Still, at $5, it was still a good price (more on that later lol).
The room is actually pretty crowded with players, and someone starts a rumor that there's like 30 people signed up for the tourney. I'm just like "holy crap I didn't think there were even 30 YGO players in the area", but turns out the number of people that actually signed up was 21, even though there were 30-some people there. So we wait and wait, then wait some more, and it's nearing 7PM but the tourney hasn't started. People are frustrated at this point since it should've started like an hour ago, but the guys that run the show tend to chill in the back and play computer games and whatnot rather than get things going or helping customers in general. Not trying to slay anyone, but there have been plenty of times where I've stood at the front counter for like 5 minutes just to buy a pop (or soda, depending on where you're from). We finally get started, attendance is 21, and we're all like "hopefully we play scrub pubs first round" lol.
Round 1 vs Brian (Warrior)
Not much to say about this match - the guy was trading literally through 80% of the entire match, I'd be like "summon Dragonfly?" *wait a few minutes til he finally looked over* "sure" "effect?" *another minute* "sure" etc etc. I think I beat him in about 3 or 4 turns each game, taking no LP from me in the process. I think he knew he'd lose so he just didn't care (not trying to be cocky).
OO
Record: 1-0
Round 2 vs Nate (Inzektor)
I was looking forward to this match to see how Nate's Inzektors have changed since the last time I played him, which I think was at the last Gamer's Haven box tourney.
Game 1 was a little more back and forth, but both games he never got a whole lot going while my deck ran very smoothly. I also go into a Crimson Shadow Ninja which put in work.
OO
Record: 2-0
Since T&M records game wins, I gave him a game so he'd at least have the extra point to help out his record. OXO
Round 3 vs Donut (Hero)
Another match I looked forward to, as I hadn't played Donut in like forever. I was also curious to see how my deck would perform against Heroes in general, as I do think it's still a bad match-up.
Game 1 - I go into an early Crimson Shadow which stays on the field for like a million turns. It was kinda funny to me since prior to today, I had never gone into it since most situations called for Tiras instead. I really liked the Ninja.
Game 2 - I have to play the "bait the backrow" game as I know he has a Chain Disappearance set after grabbing it with Duality. Eventually I get rid of it and can get my Dragonfly plays off.
OO
Record: 3-0
At this point the only undefeateds left are Link, Zach, and myself. It had earlier been said that we'd do 4 rounds of Swiss then a cut to top 8 with top 4 getting prizing, but because it was getting late and everyone was bitching, they decided to just do 3 Swiss rounds to top 4 cut. I thought people were gonna start a riot lol, a lot of "well I'm not comin back here again"s etc etc. I can sympathize as I'd be tight in that situation too, especially when it happens because of things out of the players' control (like the tourney starting an hour and a half late). There majority of people were 2-1, so I agree that there should've been another round to further distinguish them since the one 2-1 to get in basically just makes it in by luck/coin-flip. If there had indeed been 4 rounds then top 8, we would've been there til like 1AM though, so it was kind of a lose-lose situation.
So top 4 was Link (Chaos Dragon), Zach (Hero), me (Inzektor), and Mike H (Lightray).
Since prizing was to top 8, 5th thru 8th just wanted to get their prizing and leave, but for some reason the store was like "we need to wait for the top 4 to finish". I'm just like "theoretically what difference does it make for how top 4 finishes up?" I can't stress enough how upset people were with how the whole tourney went down, and especially for how it ends at the very end.
Top 4 vs Zach
Game 1 - I again bring out an early Crimson Ninja but he ends up using Maestroke to turn it face-down and then Dark Holes it and my Sangan later on. Over the next few turns I get control of the game and win.
Game 2 - He wrecks me with Shadow Mirror pretty much. I hold off with Messenger of Peace, but eventually he clears my field and I lose after 2 attacks from Bubbleman.
Game 3 - After the game he shows that he opened absolutely terrible, like 3 Miracle Fusion and other dead stuff. I have the Heavy Storm but never play it for fear of Starlight Road since he sets 5 backrow. I just play the conservative bait/MST game and it doesn't take long to win thereafter.
OXO
Record: 4-0
So at this point it was me and Link in the finals again. It's 10PM now, and my wife is like "where you at?" every couple of minutes. I really do have to go and Link offers me the split since he had heard that it was going to be a box for 1st and 15 packs for 2nd. The difference wouldn't be all that bad realistically. What happens though, is when we get up to the counter, they're like it's a box for 1st, then 15 dollars in store credit for 2nd. It took Link a while to comprehend this, and I'm just like "it went from here *hand up high*, to down here *hand low*". Then he's like "so basically 2nd gets dicked?" and the manager's like "yea pretty much". I think we were both kinda dumbfounded at how they could make the difference so large, but we each get our half a box and settle on 2 packs of PHSW each since there wasn't much else to use the credit on. I guess we're kinda spoiled in how Uncle's and GHaven do their box tourneys, in which 1st gets a box and 2nd gets like half then so forth, but come on..it goes from a box to a whole 4 packs for 2nd? I dunno, I've always been a firm believer of having a more evenly distributed prize pool rather than essentially winner-take-all. Especially in a poorly-ran tourney such as this one. If you think about it, basically anyone that lost a match wasn't going to "make it", and as I've said before, I hate that crap.
We go in the back, and Brandon comes up to me and is like "if you pull the Rank 4 Dragon Queen I'll give you $25 for it." I'm just like sure! I end up pulling a Cardcar and the Dragon Queen thing and a few other holos while Link pulls janky poop. I felt really bad about the whole thing so I told him to just take all the cards I pulled (minus the Car), and told him about Brandon buying the Queen for $25 and asked if he'd give Danny any of the Evo-Rota card there was because he needs a set. I figured that was the least I could do, and I wasn't going to be greedy and keep the "$25 Dragon Queen" as well. Since I already had 3 Cars, I told him I'd trade it to him if he wanted it but he basically says nah you're gonna sell it and it was too high at its current price. I wouldn't sell it now anyways, as I think it's good and will get better over time. Danny is building a deck to run 3 as well, so keeping it can benefit the team overall.
As for my build, I made the changes that I said from yesterday's post, and catered it to the T&M meta of more Hero/Beater-ish decks.
Deck: 40
Monsters: 19
10 Staple Bugs
2 Ladybug
3 Cardcar D
2 Effect Veiler
1 Gorz
1 Sangan
Spells: 12
1 Hole
1 Reborn
1 Heavy
1 Book
1 Foolish
3 MST
3 Duality
1 Lance
Traps: 9
2 Call
2 Torr
2 Warning
1 Solemn
1 Safe Zone
1 Fiendish Chain
I finally had the guts to take Sword out, which I can confidently say helped in the consistency factor of the deck a lot. My goal was to increase consistency while minimizing dead hands, and I almost never got into the "unplayable hand" scenario. The deck ran like butter today :) Because of the meta I went down a Veiler, and because of the Veiler cut I wasn't going to run BLS. Gorz is also more applicable in this kind of meta. I really didn't draw it that much, or when I did, I didn't need it at that stage in the game. When I'd have it in my hand though, I always felt "safe", in case my opponent was able to clear my field. Sangan also helped me in getting the Inzektor piece I needed at the time; it helped my goal of increasing consistency.
As for spells, I upped the Duality to 3, which was alright. My logic was that I wanted to open/go into a turn 1 Cardcar as often as possible, and again helps in getting the Inzektors you need, or whatever else. If I already had Car in my hand, usually I'd grab a trap or something for defense. The main Lance was alright, I did it because of seeing so many OCG lists with the 1 main Lance, to be honest.
Traps were fairly standard, I opted for the Chain instead of a 2nd Safe Zone simply because I'm not comfortable with Safe Zone yet. I also saw a more-recent OCG list that had 1 Safe Zone, so I figured I'd just go with that. I have a weird love for Fiendish Chain, I just like its versatility in that it can stop effects and protect my monster, rather than it being a 3rd Veiler where my bug can just get ran over by whatever monster (like am I gonna Veiler a Stratos for it to run over Centipede? I'd rather Chain to stop effect and battle).
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