x-2 Scrub Monthly Report

Thinking about what cards I can use to replace my third "Black Whirlwind" and second "Allure of Darkness" with, I opted to change the build by adding "Dark Grepher" with a slower format in mind. Decided to swap "Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness" for "Blackwing - Ghibli the Hot Wind" due to synergy issues. Anyway, here's what I ran:


Monsters (20)
3 Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn
3 Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame
3 Blackwing - Bora the Spear
3 Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow
1 Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
2 Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North
2 Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor
1 Blackwing - Ghibli the Hot Wind
1 Dark Grepher
1 Dark Armed Dragon

Spells (9)
2 Black Whirlwind
1 Black Feather Treasure
1 Allure of Darkness
2 Book of Moon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Brain Control

Traps (11)
1 Trap Hole
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
3 Icarus Attack
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Royal Oppression

Extra Deck (15)
1 Magical Android
2 Ally of Justice - Catastor
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
2 Blackwing Armed Wing
2 Blackwing Armor Master
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Blackwing - Silverwind the Ascendant
1 Dark End Dragon
1 Mist Wurm

Side Deck (15)
3 Dimensional Alchemist
1 D.D. Crow
1 Morphing Jar
1 Book of Moon
1 My Body As A Shield
1 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
3 Delta Crow - Anti Reverse
1 Trap Hole
1 Trap Dustshoot

Woke up at 10:30 only realizing that this is the first time I will ever be playing in the new March 2010 format, tournament or casual. Got in the place very early and play tested against a "Fabled" deck with Paul Santiago. The build was working wonderfully. He then opted to use his "Blackwings" after a few rounds. Pairings for Swiss rounds was then posted and we immediately went to our respective tables.

After the brief announcement by Irwin, the head judge of the tournament regarding the upcoming sanction coming to the country, I was then ready-or not, for my first match with Gadgets.

Round 1: "Blackwing" vs. Gadgets
Game 1: I double "Black Whirlwind", but he was able to destroy every "Blackwing" monster I play, resulting in me getting mobbed by his Gadgets.

Game 2: His field is clear and I summon "Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North". He activates "Solemn Judgment". I respond with my own "Solemn Judgment". I summon "Stardust Dragon" and his deck has no answers against it.

Game 3: He brought out "Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier" and bounced my "Goyo Guardian". I got smashed afterwards my field being clear after that. What a bad way to start the tournament.

1-2, x-1

Round 2:"Blackwing" vs. "Lightsworn"
Game 1: You really can't come back after two successful "Icarus Attack"s.

Game 2: He plays "Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner" I activate "Royal Oppression". He tries to Summon "Celestia, Lightsworn Angel", I respond with more "Icarus Attacks". "Blackwing - Bora the Spear" made quick work out of him.

2-0, x-1

Round 3:"Blackwing" vs. Anti-Meta
Game 1: He cannot find a way to destroy my "Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame" with a "Black Whirlwind" in the open. His "Tiger King Wanghu" was smashed to pieces.

Game 2: I drew all the small "Blackwings" with him having a "Tiger King Wanghu" throughout the duel.

Game 3: Match proceeded to become a top deck war. He suddenly tops "Cyber Dragon" and destroys my "Blackwing - Ghibli the Hot Wind" with him having only 800 life points left. I top "Mirror Force". He tops "Caius, the Shadow Monarch". Good game.

1-2, x-2

Ughh tournament not looking so good at this point...

Round 4:"Blackwing" vs. Petit Inmato plants
Game 1: He synchros so much monster I was not able to respond properly, with my "Royal Oppression" being chained with his "Mystical Space Typhoon".

Game 2: He accidentally screws up and reveals his Face Down "Mirror Force", thinking it was "Bottomless Trap Hole", which he had in his hand. Given this knowledge, I synchro for "Stardust Dragon" and proceeded to win the duel.

Game 3: He gets double "Stardust Dragon" in the field with a "Goyo Guardian" to boot. He got them through "Mark of the Rose" targeting my "Blackwing Armor Master" with the help of "Spore". Too bad I had "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" in my Graveyard. I brought out "Blackwing - Silverwind the Ascendant" and a "Blackwing - Bora the Spear" from my hand, destroyed both "Stardust Dragon" with the help of "Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn". Ultimately in the end, I ended up with 3 different Synchro Monsters and he couldn't come back from it. This match was clearly the best game I had in the whole tournament.

2-1, x-2

Round 5: "Blackwing" vs. Horus lv 8
Game 1: He brings out "Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8" and attacks. I activate "Mirror Force". He flips "My Body as A Shield", I chain "Solemn Judgment". He scoops.

Afterwards he kept muttering about facing another "Blackwing" and opted to drop the whole tourney. How rude.

1-0, x-2

Round 6:"Blackwing" vs. Fader Monarchs
Game 1: He runs out of options fast as my "Shura - the Blue Flame" keeps ramming up his "Treeborn Frog" and "Battle Fader"s. I often respond with "Book of Moon" with his "Raiza, the Storm Monarchs", resulting in more "Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame" Special Summons.

Game 2: He opens with 6 different kinds of Monarchs in his hand and I was able to easily win the game and the match.

2-0, x-2

Closing Thoughts: Ended up taking 19th spot over 51 players. Pretty bad since almost all of the players I defeated had horrible standings and they were not able to push me up in the Swiss Rounds. Ultimately, Jomer Flores won the whole tournament, running "Lightsworn". It was a so-so experience overall.

Props:
Brought a very cheap "Blackwing Armor Master" for just $8. Thank you Tim Vivit!
Brought Oran-rief, the Vastwood for just roughly $1 (Yes, I play Magic: the Gathering as well)
Playing polite people
Play testing with Paul prior to the tournament
Playing against Chunky and his Plant deck
Playing personally with Irwin and his Flamvell Cat
Dark Grepher

Slops:
A lot of misplays where I fail to drop "Dark Armed Dragon" properly
Playing rude people
Scrubbing
Paul, William, Chunky and Dann scrubbing as well
Major headache after the tournament
Shelling out more money for "Yu-Gi-Oh!" than intended
Unable to sell cards to break even from total cost
Blackwing - Ghibli the Hot Wind

Sleeves for Nationals

In yesterday's Monthly tournament that I participated in(which will be covered in an upcoming post), Irwin, our official Judge, made some announcements in regards to the upcoming Nationals this June.

Aside from the usual stuff like card pool issues and the exact date of the said event, one more important issue was raised.

Apparently you can only use official "Yu-Gi-Oh!" sleeves in the Nationals. Ultra Pro, Player's Choice and any other type or brand of sleeve are absolutely forbidden.



And yes, I am referring to the "Majestic Dragon Sleeves" or the upcoming "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon Sleeves" for the TCG.

This is kind of perplexing because if I heard correctly, they don't allow the official sleeves on official tournaments in TCG areas due to them becoming easily mark-able. The sleeves also have a huge tendency to split in between edges. Needless to say, double sleeves are absolutely forbidden as well.

They come off expensive at Php300 for 50 pieces. Probably more than double the price for regular Ultra-Pro ones. Plus you need two sets to be able to completely sleeve your Side Deck as well for a grand total of Php600 (US$12). Good thing my deck is already sleeved properly prior to this announcement.

List of Forbidden Cards in Worlds

1. All Duel Terminal cards, potentially even cards included in "Hidden Arsenal". (Good thing "Ally of Justice - Catastor" and "Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier" does not belong in this category because they have OCG Gold Series reprints)


2. All cards that are unobtainable via regular packs. (Cards from the Limited Edition packs such as "Dark End Dragon", and possibly "Mezuki" belongs in this category. I am not sure about this one.)


3. Promo cards bundled in other products, video games, manga and magazine ("Thunder King Rai-Oh", "Infernity Archfiend", "Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness", "Starlight Road", "Elemental Hero Absolute Zero" etc.)


4. TCG exclusives not included in EXP2 (All TCG exclusives from "Raging Battle" and up)

I do not know if they will allow reprinted versions of cards from disallowed sets. ("Duel Terminal" versions of "Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier", "Goyo Guardian" or "Book of Moon", etc. or promo versions of "Beast King Barbaros" or "Dandylion", etc.)

Keep these information in your head as you plan out your build for the upcoming Worlds this June. There might be something wrong here but I think this is the complete list of cards that are forbidden in the said event.

From the Behind Victory

From Sherjack, the official distributor of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" in the Philippines.

"The Philippines is back in the Yugioh map baby!!!


Just got this wonderful news and I could not contain my excitement. It's 1:30 am now but I can't wait to share this to all of you. Konami is giving us the LOVE. We will have a Philippines representative for the World Championship to be held in Los Angeles this coming August 14. Our Nationals this June will determine who we will send to represent us all. Details will follow as things and venue has still to be worked out.

I've been ranting in this forum and to some of the players in person. Honestly, I was worried that what we promised last year about us going to the Worlds will never become a reality. I was very down and was thinking of giving up. Sales and tournament support from the players were nothing to brag about. But I guess the amount of products (specially the Asian English) we got were enough for Konami to give us a chance. Our reputation is at stake here that's why our company was willing to take a big risk of getting so much products. A lot of you know we're still stuck with a lot of the boxes. But I still can't thank enough those of you who were very supportive with your time and money. This Worlds achievement is for all of us. Yahoo!!!

Hope you can all spread the word. We still need all the help we can get in terms of outright sales and tournament support. We would not want our participation in the world stage a one and done. With everyone's help, we can make this an annual thing. "

Source: http://z3.invisionfree.com/ygocgph/index.php?showtopic=4076&st=0&#entry3853951

Consecrated Light

Great.

Only after 5 months and a few weeks did I know that players can still Flip Summon DARK monsters while "Consecrated Light" is on the field.

The Wall: Passable?

Most often than not, a duelist who choose to play "Yu-Gi-Oh!" competitively will encounter a, for a lack of a better word, wall. This wall is something that needs a lot of time and patience to be conquered. This so-called wall will block most aspiring duelists and it is also the one who segregates the "scrubs" from the "pros".

As I browse Pojo looking for SJC Nashville results (which is already irrelevant as I post this), I saw Roy St. Clair top SJC Nashville with "X-Sabers". Now this is something.

Then I recalled some posts at Pojo. I remember the threads dismissing "X-Sabers" as a deck without any potential. I also remember the posts that "X-Sabers" are totally outclassed by everything, in fact, the posts that says everything bows down to "Lightsworn" last format. As I laughed, I also saw a Space Fighter deck that topped along with "X-Saber" which intensified the whole experience.

This only proves that "Lightsworn" was not unstoppable last format. There were other decks capable of bringing it down. It was just the people that smelted the thought "Lightsworn">all in their heads after all. And sadly, one of them was me.

And an OCG player(Satoshi Kato) came out on at the whole event in the end. So much for "poor card choices" and "inefficient builds".

I think, in my current state, I am in front of the wall. It is just a matter of me going to attempt at crawling past it or stay in front of it. I have yet made my decision.

At Last

I've had it.

After getting x-4 in the February Monthly Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament in which I had to pay an additional P50 (roughly $1) just because I did not preregister, I check the online website for the Southeast Asia "Yu-Gi-Oh!" website because they have already made an online application form for duelists to be able to acquire the Duelist ID. About time.

To my dismay, the website only has the following countries accepted for registration:

There was no chance of the Philippines becoming sanctioned in the first place after all.

I guess this totally wraps up my "Yu-Gi-Oh!" journey. I hope you have enjoyed reading through my experience in this blog.

This might be the last turn for me and this blog.