Locals – 1/11/14

Where should I start?  Well, I went to my local tournament without my wallet.  No money, no licence, nothing.  I forgot it while I was gathering everything to go.  I was going to see if anyone was interested in any of the cards I had for trade and then see if they’d buy them so id have my entry fee, but nobody wanted anything.  I was even offering cards out of some of my decks . . .

When we were about to start I counted 15 people so I figured it would just be easier if I didn’t play anyways; otherwise one player would have a bye every round which is not only boring, but makes matchmaking less accurate.  When I said I wasn’t going to play, the other players got upset and started asking why.  When I said I didn’t have any money, virtually every other player there offered to loan me the entry fee.  It was nice to see they all cared that much but that was the only highlight of the day.

I really wanted to use my new Burn deck but chickened out at the last minute before deciding to just go with something I was more familiar with.  My first match was against one of the best players there and he was using Fire Fists.  My Blue-Eyes and I lost in a landslide.  My second match was against an average player, like myself, but I once again fell short.  He was using Constellars, and even though I put up a decent fight, I still lost both games.

For round 3, I was the “lucky” one chosen to have a bye.  With an 0-2 record, a bye, and only 4 rounds, I considered leaving right then.  There was absolutely no way I would make it to the finals but I stayed just to see who I would play next.  About halfway through the round, as a few matches were wrapping up, I got to play a duel just for fun with one of the beginning players.  He was using a Ninja deck and I won, but it wasn’t much of a motivator for the next round.

My final match was against a pretty decent player and he was using Harpies.  I knew it was hopeless from the start but I’m not one to give up without trying.  It’s hard to keep any advantage in games with him because his deck has been extremely consistent every time I’ve seen him play.  I held on with only 700 life points during one of our two duels, but after a few turns he was finally able to XYZ into Gagaga Cowboy and finish me with effect damage and win the match.

Overall I was very unhappy with how the evening went.  Not only did I lose every game in the tournament, I now owe another player $5.  I hate owing people money.  I was also disappointed with my deck.  I had been having good luck with the Blue-Eyes deck but Saturday I did not.  I was drawing every single bad hand the deck could give me.  But it really made me question how prepared I am for this format.  At least last format I had a chance with my Dragunity deck.  This time I have nothing that’s capable of keeping up.

Fire Fist decks are very powerful this format and Constellars are pretty tough as well.  My versions of those two decks are not complete and far from competitive.  Noble Knights will be very strong after the new set, Legacy of the Valiant, comes out this month and I have not a single card to build that deck.  My Evilswarms are complete finally, but with Rank 4 decks being the most powerful right now, Ophion just isn’t going to be very helpful.  Really, I just have nothing for this format.  I feel like sitting out until the next ban list comes out, but I really don’t think I’ll have anything good in the future either.

The only other thing I could do is stop chickening out and run my Burn deck.  It will be very weak against any deck that runs a lot of backrow removal, especially Harpies with their field spell card on the field.  However, it doesn’t have many other weaknesses.  When it works, it prevents the opponent from doing anything while slowly beating them to death with effect damage.  That said, most players hate playing against Burn decks because its pretty boring and frustrating, so I don’t know if my friends would appreciate that.

This is how I feel 90% of the time I play

I don’t know.  Tell me what to do.  I’m very frustrated and annoyed.  Everyone at my locals tells me to keep playing or I wont get better, but I can’t do better if I’m using decks that can’t compete.  But even if I had a really good deck, I imagine I would play it poorly.  I don’t even feel like I can win when I go to my locals any more.  I know going in that I will not be in the finals, so I’m basically throwing away my entry fee every week, without any hope of ever seeing a prize.  I used to joke that they only wanted me there for an easy win, but I think I’m starting to actually believe it as well . . .

Locals – 12/28/13

I was very excited and looking forward to going to my locals after I opened my gifts on Christmas.  I had new cards and a new deck to try but I didn’t get to stay very long.  My fiance and I had another family dinner to go to so I was only able to stay for a little over an hour and a half.  That wasn’t long enough to join in the tournament, but it was more than enough time to do some trading and have a few practice duels.

I was using my Blue-Eyes deck which featured 3 Blasters so it wont be legal come January 1st, but it was pretty effective on Saturday.  I played 2 duels against one of the guys who is on about the same skill level as I am.  He was using an Infernity deck and pretty much dominated the first game.  Neither of us changed any cards for the second duel so I knew my only hope was to go in strong and attack fast with my big dragons.  I didn’t draw well, but neither did he.  I was able to pull off the win but for a while I wasn’t sure it would happen.

For January I think I’ve come up with a variation on my Blue-Eyes deck that will use one Blaster and one Tidal.  Because of my hatred for Dragon Rulers and what they’ve done to my Dragunity deck, I really didn’t want to use them at all.  However, I have all the dragon rulers and if I don’t use them they’ll just sit in my binder not being used.  Besides, they have such good synergy with virtually all dragon decks that its hard to avoid using them.  They really should just be banned all together.  I’m still testing the new deck on DevPro but once I’m happy with it I’ll post the list up here.

Trading on Saturday was a win-loss really.  On Christmas, in one of my tins, I pulled one of the more expensive Mermail cards and since I only need a few more cards to build a Mermail deck I thought I’d try to get a few in trades.  I got a few good cards, but I had to take a hit on one of the cards I bought a while back for my Dragunity deck.  Trident Dragion was at $30 back when I bought it and I traded it away at current value which is a lot lower.  But it’s probably for the best, since my deck is no longer usable and I always got in trouble when I tried to go for an OTK with Trident Dragion.  I lost some money but I got rid of an unusable card and moved one step closer to a complete Mermail deck.

Next Saturday will be the first local tournament using the new banlist, so I’m excited to see what everyone does.  I know several people are trying new decks so that will be pretty cool, but its also a lot of work getting prepared for a new list.  Regardless, I can’t wait.

Let me know what you think about the new banlist and what decks you think will dominate.  I don’t know what will be topping competitively but I have a feeling that Fire Fists and Constellars will continue to dominate my locals.  What are the dominant decks at your locals?

2014 Format Woes

I already hated Dragon Rulers and all the people who use them, but now I really hate them.  Until the new banlist was posted, Dragon Rulers only affected me when I played online; nobody used them locally.  Unfortunately, Konami decided to ban Dragon Ravine instead of the dragons themselves.

So now the Dragons will still be usable as tech support in other decks (like Blaster in any fire deck, etc) while the Dragunity archetype is now utterly annihilated.  Way to go Konami:  Produce one of the most overpowered decks in the game’s history, sell lots of tins, make all the money, ban Dragunity . . .

I know I haven’t posted much lately but I’ve still been going to locals almost every weekend and for the most part I stuck to playing Dragunity.  I was getting pretty darn good too but now it looks like all that practice and time spent tweaking my deck was wasted.  I should’ve sold my deck when Vajrayana spiked in price a few months ago.

Regardless, there’s only one more weekend before the 2014 banlist kicks in so I’ve gotta figure out what I’m going to do.  None of the other decks I have are even close to competitive.  Not like the Dragunity deck was anyway.

The Verz-Laggia deck is still decent but the decks that are going to be big in 2014 aren’t big synchro decks so Ophion isn’t as useful as he was for the past few months.  My Constellar deck is still missing 3 Sombres.  That really limits my ability to make plays.  My Fire Fist deck is still incomplete since I’m missing a lot of the extra deck.  My Battlin Boxer deck just doesn’t hold up well at locals.  It’s really simple to use and fun sometimes but the guys at my locals can walk all over Lead Yoke.  My Blackwing deck is really good and I have had some decent results with it, but I don’t enjoy playing it.  The card art is meh, the combos are meh, and the only exciting thing it does is drop Kalut on an unsuspecting opponent.  My Blue-Eyes deck is fun online but I’ve yet to test it at locals since its very inconsistent.  Plus it ran 3 Blasters which will be limited to 1 come January.

And of course Dragunity is dead now.

So here I sit, twiddling my thumbs.  Not sure what to do or where to turn.  Do I run an incomplete deck that has the potential to do good if I continue to upgrade it, or do I run a good deck that I don’t really enjoy playing with?

On a happier note, here is a comment I thought was awesome from someone over at Pojo regarding Dragon Rulers and their players:

Screw neutering them, Konami needs to ban them, then we need to get every E-Dragon card and every E-Dragon player, then burn the cards and ban the players. We will then scrub all memory of them from the world, overthrow the leaders of Konami, merge the TCG and OCG banlists, and get caught up with the three sets we’re behind. Rainbows will arc across the sky, the format will be diverse, Sega will make good Sonic games again, and the console wars will cease as all of the machines fuse to create the Wii Xbone Ps4 U. The entire Middle East will sink into the sea, the troops will be brought home, people will realize celebrities are stupid, and the Notorious B.I.G. will descend from heaven as an angel to be president so he can create world peace with his raps. 4chan will release a compendium of their greatest greentexts, Bravest Warriors will replace Adventure Time, and Nintendo will build a theme park. But best of all, Valve will finally release HALF LIFE 3.

Suggestions and comments regarding the coming banlist are welcome.  I would love to hear what everyone else thinks about the decision to limit the Dragon Rulers and ban Dragon Ravine.  My only hope is that sometime in the future Konami will release a Dragunity specific Dragon Ravine.  A “Dragunity Ravine” if you will.  Something that will make it usable only in the Dragunity archetype so that it can’t be abused in the future.

Back to Blogging

I took a little time off because things were hectic at home.  I had friends coming to town every weekend and was staying busy at work.  Plus I had to dog-sit 2 Labs for my mom for 2 weeks.

But I wasn’t completely yugioh-free.  While I wasn’t blogging, I was still playing and building decks.  I completed a Blue-Eyes deck that I really like and I almost finished a Fire-Fist deck.  I’ll be trying to get the deck lists posted in the next few days but don’t hold me to it.

I was also able to place in the top 4 (3rd) at my locals for once.  It was a great feeling.  I went in unprepared with a different variant of my Dragunity build that I hadn’t practiced with much and placed 3rd out of 12 people.  I beat out at at least 5 people who compete at regionals very regularly and 3 that I know have been to nationals.  I played against Blackwings in 3 matches, winning 2.  I beat out a Ninja deck as well.  I lost to a Gladiator Beast deck.  I can’t recall the other matches but they weren’t anything special.

This weekend I guess I’ll be all alone because there is a regional qualifier in Maryland that most of the locals will be going to.  I don’t care as much about competing anymore so I can’t justify spending the money to go.  Maybe a few people will show up . . .

Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say for now.  I have ideas for some topics I want to write about so hopefully I’ll have some posts up in the next few days.