Duel Masters Tournament Report
Steven Cantrell
Galactic Quest in Lawrenceville, Georgia
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Five Dollar Entry Fee
Eighteen Duelists
Four Swiss Rounds
Today we had a normal, DCI sanctioned
tournament. The solid turnout of eighteen people
included a few newcomers from our Five Civs
tournament. Look forward to more of these
reports on a regular basis now that my soccer
season has ended.
Nature
[16]
4x Crow Winger
4x Bronze-Arm Tribe
4x Barkwhip, the Smasher
4x Rumbling Terahorn
Light
[20]
4x Sarius, Vizer of Suppression
4x Miele, Vizer of Lightning
4x Magris, Vizer of Magnetism
4x Craze Valkyrie, the Drastic
4x Holy Awe
Darkness
[08]
4x Locomotiver
4x Terror Pit
Total: 44
Mana Curve: 3.9
As you can see, I figured it was time to give
the Murky Riptide a rest. This is a new deck I
created during the past week. Props go to
NMZmaster on the Realms for coming up with the
basic concept. The build looks nice on paper,
but I had precious little testing before the
tournament began. My first opponent is none
other than...
Round One: Vs. Lee Sandow
(Black/Blue
Control)
Lee and I are somewhat of rivals. I enjoy
dueling against him because we present such a
challenge to each other. This time felt a bit
different than usual because it came in round
one.
The first duel started badly. I could not find a
way to kill one Horrid Worm, so he took several
shots quickly. Lee ripped my hand to win easily.
In the next game Valkyrie busted out at all the
right times. I had a field day tapping creatures
to slaughter them. Even Lee’s solid Lost Soul
could not hinder my swarm. I won with most
shields still remaining. Then we began the
deciding duel. Both of us pulled of some nice
moves to keep the duel close for a while. Then
Lee summoned a simple Zaagan to cause trouble.
My chump blockers took the fall before I could
come up with a solution, so Lee won rather
abruptly.
Record: 1-2
Cumulative Record: 1-2 duels, 0-1 in matches
Round Two: Vs. Shaun Coleman
(Red/Black “Thing”)
Shaun is a complete n00b.
Justin
Couch already dismantled him in the first round,
so I came in pleased with the great match up. My
only worry was becoming too complacent and
giving the kid a shot.
His Pyrofighter Magnus caused major trouble when
he got going in the mid-game. My Locomotiver
luckily solved that problem after a couple
shields went down. Then Shaun summoned big
Double Breakers two turns in a row. I handled
Zaagan with Valkyrie, and then managed to turn
on the offense. Bark and Valkyrie together
finished off Shaun one turn before he could have
killed me. In our second game, Shaun failed to
draw Pyrofighter. He could only become a minor
nuisance with kill spells like Proclamation. I
took that game with all five shields remaining.
Record: 2-0
Cumulative Record: 3-2 duels, 1-1 in matches
Between rounds the store owner, Kyle Puttkammer,
forced me into a duel against him. He still runs
a Nature/Water/Darkness combination featuring
Rumbling Terahorn. My tapping effects of
Valkyrie, Miele, and Awe worked to perfection
against his creatures. I won with two shields
left to spare.
Round Three: Vs. Stephen Fordham
(Black/Blue
Merfolk)
Stephen is the oldest and best of the three
Fordham brothers. Despite being only about
twelve, he really is a pretty good duelist.
Unfortunately the kid still abuses Merfolk long
after the fad has ended.
Duels number one and three were nearly the same.
Valkyrie made a powerful tandem with Crow Winger
by tapping his creatures and then attacking
them. I managed to take most of his shields at
once both times. Stephen did however win game
two. We were evenly matched until he pulled off
two Merfolk draws. Everything went downhill in
that duel, but I still won the match overall.
Record: 2-1
Cumulative Record: 5-3 duels, 2-1 in matches
Round Four: Vs. Patrick Smallwood
(Blue/Green)
Patrick and I are paired against each other way
to often. I swear we duel at least every other
tournament. Anyway, Patty has played some
variant of Blue/Green for quite a long time. By
now I know exactly how to manhandle his deck
strategy.
In Patrick’s own words, “I whipped him”. Miele
started by tapping stuff so Sarius/Crow Winger
could kill it. He never really presented a
threat because I kept any evolution bait off the
board. Most of his shields disappeared in one
clean swipe by my swarm. In duel two he managed
a couple Barkwhips to attack me. One hit a
Terror Pit shield triggered and the other fell
to a hardcasted Pit. From there my own Whips won
with ease to finish the tournament.
Record: 2-0
Cumulative Record: 7-3 in duels, 3-1 in matches
The Aftermath:
My record was good enough to claim fifth out of
the eighteen people. Tyler Smallwood finished
first using Survivors, Jason Marella second with
Pyrofighter, and Justin Florio third with Future
Slash deckout. Overall the day went well
considering I ran an entirely new deck. This fun
build will see more play in the future (maybe
next week). My prize was one pack, containing
nothing spectacular, and a Marinomancer promo.
There is also a rumor going around that T&T Toys
closed up shop. This means the Invitation
Circuit(s) will thankfully be at Galactic Quest
instead.
Props:
Fifth place finish not bad at all
Completing this deck even though it cost me $16
for 2 Valkyrie
Justin Fordham rushing Lee to death
Slops:
Lee letting Justin Fordham rush him to death
Matt Gracek and Stephen Fordham STILL running
Merfolk
My DCI ranking slipped somehow
I’m always open to discuss strategy, decks, etc.
My AIM contact is Smcman7 or email
Smcman7@aol.com. Let me know what you think
of these reports so I’m not wasting my time
writing them. Good luck to all in the upcoming
Circuit events!