Hello, all you Pojoers, and welcome to another edition of Anteaus’ History of Yu-Gi-Oh! Today we’re going to take a trip back in time, to a time that I remember incredibly well and really wish that I could go back to again. It was a time when Yata-Garasu still reigned supreme, when Chaos was just a thought in the back of some Research and Development geek’s mind, and the greatest decks of the era consisted of pre-negation and the ultimate form of lock. It was back in early 2004, not long after Dark Crisis came out, back when Pojo’s Tourney Reports were still read by everyone and the TCG Tips section was still amazing, and I went to a tournament. It was a local tournament, and it was amazing.

At my local card shop, in its heyday, Yu-Gi-Oh! was huge. It was easily the most-played card game there, and the number of Yu-Gi-Oh! players compared to Magic: The Gathering players were amazingly astounding (redundant saying is redundant). There was an in-shop ranking system akin to the current UDE system, with points being the reigning factor, and it was always a treat to see what the newest rankings were. At any given tournament, you would have 30-40 people vying for the coveted #1, and more and more people were coming from all over to play the top players at our store, and I was lucky to count myself in that crowd.

The tale I’m about to regale you all with covers the morning of February 21^st, 2004. Many details have been lost in the years between, but all sources are being drawn from this article, written by myself almost five years ago.

I remember that morning incredibly well. I was only 15 at the time, had no job, had no car, and was living with my mom in a two-bedroom duplex in Camas, Washington. My friend Logan had his mom take us to the car shop (called The Batcave, or just Batcave) every week, and in exchange for a ride I’d typically let him use some cards he needed. He and I, along with our mutual friend Jesse, made up one of the first teams to come out of the southwest Washington region, and we would do fairly well at tournaments, but rarely would we break into the semifinals or (God forbid) the finals. Today, however, was different.

I got into the car (in the backseat, of course), and proceeded to run through my decklist with him. We were comparing cards, and at that time I was running a crazy version of Yata control, as seen in the article (linked above) as well as my Looking at the Past series, where I explain a bit about what the deck was. In case you’re too lazy to follow the link, I’ll post the decklist here:

Wierdo Control Deck

Monsters (15):

1x Yata-Garasu
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
1x Fiber jar
1x Exiled Force
1x Sangan
1x Witch of the Black Forest
1x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
1x Jinzo
1x Vampire Lord
1x Sinister Serpent
2x Giant Orc
2x Don Zaloog
2x Marauding Captain

Magic (16):

3x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Delinquent Duo
1x Heavy Storm
1x Forceful Sentry
1x Monster Reborn
1x Raigeki
1x Dark Hole
1x Swords of Revealing Light
1x Pot of Greed
1x Confiscation
1x Change of Heart
1x Snatch Steal
1x Premature Burial
1x Graceful Charity

Traps (8):

3x Drop Off
1x Imperial Order
1x Mirror Force
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Ring of Destruction
1x Magic Cylinder

Sidedeck (15):

3x Penguin Soldier
2x Robbin' Goblin
2x Mystic Tomato
2x Magic Drain
1x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
1x Necrovalley
2x White Magical Hat
1x Amazoness Swords Woman
1x Mage Power

It relied on the controlling power of my Spell lineup (here referenced as “Magic,” which was the prevalent term for Spell cards before Magician’s Force came out), coupled with the raw power of my monster lineup to set the pace of the game, while relying on my Trap cards to respond to anything my opponent might be able to throw at me. It was a great mix between speed, strength and control, and many people had a hard time countering the speed of my deck, which was what made the deck so good.

My friend Logan, on the other hand, played a straight-up Beatdown deck that would make the oldest of players of proud. Three copies of just about every beatstick monster on the planet, coupled with Mage Power and United we Stand, and many more cards made his deck predictable but amazing at the same time – no one could really counter his huge ATK monsters, and he and I sat swapping theory about what made our decks so great. We ended up deciding that we’d play a match to see who was running the better deck (though we played almost every day at school).

We pulled up to the store and met Donny and Jesse, the other two members of our then-christened trade group (unbeknownst to us that we were actually the beginnings of a Yu-Gi-Oh! team), and waited in the blistering cold for the store owner to show up. I remember talking to Donny about our different decks, and explaining to him how Exodia needed to be ran in order to be effective, and I remember him blowing me off, saying that he would dominate my deck should we ever play in the tournament (how ironically prophetic that was). Brad, the owner, finally showed up, and we proceeded out of the blistering cold and into the warmth of the shop, finally able to take off our coats, toss them aside, and marvel at the new cards that had shown up during the week.

It was always a treat to go into the shop and see the new things that they had acquired, because it not only gave us something to do, but it allowed the local card-shop-economy to flourish. The shop would acquire great cards for cheap, then sell them to us for more expensive prices so they’d turn a profit, and in turn we dominated at the tournament with these cards and won our money right back (in in-store credit). What made the system work was that there was definitely a top echelon of Yu-Gi-Oh! players in the store, and not only did they bring their friends to play every so often, but players would come from Portland and Longview to play these amazing players (although at this time I wasn’t lucky enough to be included in their ranks – but soon), feed money into the shop, and it flourished.

Brad pulled out the newest booster set and opened a box up – Dark Crisis. Perhaps one of the weaker sets, it nonetheless gave us Vampire Lord and the Archfiend archetype, which put a major dent in the game (almost ruining my deck in the process). My friend Donny and I each bought a pack, and I remember his jealousy when I pulled out a Vampire Lord, and he pulled a Dark Flare Knight. He ranted and raved, but he calmed down after a bit, and pretty soon was just excited to be playing at the tournament, like we all were. It was a real treat every Saturday, because we got to see our friends, hear stories, swap cards, and just have fun.

The new rankings came out, and both my friend Logan and I made the Top-15, with me just squeaking in there at #14 and Logan pulling a respectable #8. Jesse finished 21^st and Donny was 37^th, but this really didn’t reflect their skill as much as it could have. They were talented duelists, but would often build wacky decks to play and subsequently would get knocked out first round. At this time, there were no round-robin tournaments: if you lost, you were out for good. It was definitely a career-maker for me, because it forced me to play my very best, and I can honestly say that my play now was nothing compared to my play four years ago.

We mingled for a bit, swapping cards and shoring up our decklists before they were due in, and ultimately I succeeded in getting much-needed cards for my deck, as well as Logan shoring up his and Donny putting the final touches on his amazingly bad Exodia deck. He never took my advice; why, I can’t begin to explain, but I was always the better deck builder than him, and he always ignored my advice. His draw engine was based on Spear Cretin and Card of Safe Return, and it was amazingly unreliable and, dare I say, downright awful. It was, therefore, written in the stars that he would be destined to play me first round.

You’ve all seen the deck I was playing, and I wish to God I could find Donny’s deck for you, but it’s been lost to the annals of history, never to return. Needless to say, it was over quite quickly, but I’ll try to break it down the best I can. In the first game, it was just a flurry of hand destruction, field control, and absolute domination. Every card in my deck had a purpose, and every single slot was filled with a card that I could use at one point or another in the duel, and my deck flowed in such a way that I would almost always have an answer for what my opponent threw at me. Donny was upset, however, when (in the first game!) I had played all three hand control cards on him in three turns, then proceeded to drop down my Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer to remove his pieces from the game. That’s how the build worked so well – I utilized my hand destruction and my Don Zaloogs to set the pace of the game, then use my Goblin Attack Forces or (in Donny’s case) my other random one-of monsters to beat face, if I couldn’t get a Yata lock. The deck had multiple outlets for victory, and I knew the deck so well that I could seamlessly transition from one to the other.

Needless to say, Donny was angry, and quickly dismantled his Exodia build to try and build a Warrior deck like mine, sans Yata. This, I told him, was a good idea, because I knew how much speed was a factor in duels, and nobody seemed to want to believe me at the time. Warriors, in that day and age, were incredibly fast, and they tended to win games, and Donny’s subsequent build (built mostly by Logan and myself) would eventually rival my deck for supremacy in subsequent tournaments.

I was happy, though, that I would be playing in the second round, but this round would be one of the toughest of the day (and one of the most memorable of my dueling career). I played a kid named David, and I can’t for the life of me remember his last name. If you remember, David, and are reading this, let me know via e-mail so I can post who I played. The kid was amazing, however, and his deck was quite similar to mine, sans the Warrior aspect. He ran a deck that was very similar to the 2003 National Champion’s deck, including the Mystic Tomatoes and the Gemini Elves. It was fast and dirty, and often times would do some crazy things to swing the advantage back to his side.

The first duel of the match was a fairly even back-and-forth, with him utilizing his cards to their full capacity in order to pull out the win. It was heavy hitting, with me swinging with Captains, Orcs, Don Zaloogs, and some hefty doses of pre-negation via the Big Three (Confiscation, Forceful Sentry and Delinquent Duo), but David just kept matching my blows with his own, utilizing his own monster lineup to slowly wear down my deck to next to nothing. By the time I was locked, he had only the Yata-Garasu in his hand, and absolutely nothing on the field. But it didn’t matter, because I was still locked.

The second duel was quick and dirty. I had dropped a Giant Orc out of my main deck, opting instead for an Amazoness Swords Woman to deal with some of his larger monsters, as well as give me another option to drop down should I fall behind. This change was perhaps the best move I could have made in that situation, because that Swords Woman certainly came in handy. He tried to gain the upper hand early by dominating the field with an Injection Fairy Lily; however, his lack of hand disruption early in the game allowed me to decimate his hand (dropping him to only two cards in hand on turn 2), play Snatch Steal and take his Injection Fairy Lily, drop myself a Maruading Captain, then a Don Zaloog, and smash face for 6000 LP, dropping him quite quickly to zero with just one more attack. The third duel went just as quickly, and I quickly made it to 2-0 on the day.

After beating a relative newcomer in David (he had no ranking at Batcave), I was surprised to see my next pairing: Kaiba (yes, it was a nickname), who was ranked 5^th, and (at the time) was one of the most feared players at the shop. I was really nervous as I sat down opposite him, but as soon as we started playing my fears went out the window and I was playing the game I love. My confidence returned in full after beating him solidly in the first duel, and my victory (though, in retrospect, seems paltry) propelled me to beat him once again in the second duel. Neither game was too eventful; my Captains, Don’s, Orcs, hand disruption and Yata made quick work of Kaiba, and a well-played Ring of Destruction at the end of the first game helped me cement the victory.

At this point, everyone was somewhat surprised that I had made it into the Top-8, especially since my deck before that day was so inconsistent (although the build was different), but it ended up being no fluke as I was slated to play the second-ranked player there, right behind my friend Matt. Matt, unfortunately, didn’t make it that day, which most definitely helped me to place in the semifinals.

Jason sidles up across from my seat, sits down, and offers his hand. “Good luck, man,” he says with a smile, and I reply with a quick “good luck” and just as cheerful a smile. However, the duel itself was all but friendly, as we began the game swapping pre-negation cards and some banter with our respective monsters. The duel broke out when he set his Fiber Jar. I actually played Dark Hole, hoping to get a free double-summon with Maruading Captain, but he played Imperial Order! However, I was not to be outdone, and quickly chained Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying the negation card and allowing Dark Hole to work its magic. With no back field, Jason was wide open to a Captain-Don combo, then set a simple Spell/Trap and ended.

Jason drew into a Drop Off, set a monster, and with only one card in hand and one on field passed the turn to me. I broke out here, with a great Raigeki dropping his Sinister Serpent, and proceeded to summon Giant Orc and beat face, leaving him with no cards in his hand and 600 lifepoints. He drew his card, and before he could play anything at all, I flipped over my face-down Ring of Destruction on Giant Orc, winning the game.

Jason suddenly knew that I was no chump at the game, and the easy win he was expecting was going further and further away. We both went to the side deck, but I didn’t opt to change anything, and Jason was swapping cards in left and right. However, this did him no good, as his draws were terrible and I drew nothing but cards that could help me win by turn 3. He finally fell by his own Reflect Bounder (which I had Reborned), and his hand quickly shot out in congratulations. We laughed and joked a bit, and I explained how my deck ran and he was in serious awe as to the speed of it, going so far as to say it was one of the most unique builds he had seen in quite some time.

I was in the finals! This had never happened to me before, and I was seriously stoked to be playing in the Championship, which (at the time) was extremely coveted. We had a whole crowd around us as the match started, and as it got underway people were talking and chatting about our respective decks. I heard my friends Logan and Jesse talking about my build and how well it had been doing, but also how they doubted I could overcome Josh’s similar build. They were right.

As soon as the first duel started, I knew I was in trouble. I ran 15 monsters, and somehow in the first six cards I drew, I only received monsters. Needless to say, my deck needed its Spells to function properly, and Josh’s superior monster lineup proceeded to wipe the floor with my DEF-lacking monsters. Sidedecking did me no good either. As the second game started, it was the same story as the first game, and I was at the mercy of his superior Trap lineup (decked out with a TP4 Royal Decree). He and I decided to share the prize money, and we each bought some cards that we needed.

Overall, the tournament was a success. It was the first time that my reputation as a duelist was solidified in that amazingly diverse and difficult Southwest Washington metagame and it showed me that my deck could be top-tier if I played the deck right, made few mistakes, and kept a cool head. But most importantly, what it showed me was that I could win, and that mentality carried over from week to week, until I began winning tournaments week after week. It took some time, but my build became well-known, I became well-known, and I was even #1 on the Batcave rankings list for three weeks, until I was finally dethroned by a punk with a great Chaos build.

After that, the game began to decline until few people showed up to the tournaments. Now, the shop is more heavily geared toward Magic: The Gathering, with two different tournaments over the weekend, and not a single Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament. I fell out of the game, stopped going to the card shop, and now with a family (I have a lovely wife and a beautiful daughter) I have even less time to devote to the game I love. But I still try, and I still reminisce plenty, and I have made it my goal to help younger, more inexperienced duelists become what we all know they can be: the next Yu-Gi-Oh! superstar.

Thanks for reading,

Anteaus

As always, you can contact me at anteaus44@hotmail.com.