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Duel Masters Tourney Reports

From: Lee Abrahams
To: dmcrew@pojo.com

Subject: Inspired by cecillbill - Lee Abrahams - Patriot Comics, Sheffield, England

Inspired by cecillcill
Nationals Qualifier (Top 6)
Patriot Comics, Sheffield, England
Date: 15th October 2005
5 rounds swiss, followed by top 8
#2 entry (26 participants)

Having seen the weird and wonderful decks that cecillbill runs I simply had to give them a go, especially Phal Eaga which is so underappreciated it s untrue, plus I wanted to use some Light cards for a change. However, there is nothing worse than just taking someone else s deck and blatantly ripping it off so I decided to change a few things for my own preferences and that of my meta. Firstly, I like to have plenty of cards in hand to counter whatever my opponent throws at me, so I decided to use some Merfolk and Energy Stream, along with Hulcus. I also ran a number of cards at three copies, especially spells, as with Phal Eagas effect I didn t feel the need to max everything out. Plus I like to keep my decks as streamlined as possible even with draw, in this case 50 cards.

4 x Aqua Hulcus
3 x Emeral
3 x Corile
4 x Ill. Merfolk
2 x Thrash Crawler
2 x Energy Stream

4 x Senitine Jade Tree
4 x Sarius, Vizier of Suppression
3 x Phal Eaga
3 x Holy Awe

4 x Locomotiver
3 x Terror Pit
2 x Lost Soul

3 x Pyrofighter
2 x Searing Wave
2 x Apocalypse Vise
2 x Baza Dragon (don t make me spell it)

Round 1 vs (forgot .whoops) Nature/Fire
The qualifiers had attracted a lot of first time players (which is great) and this youngster was one of them. He was using a lot of old school cards like Braid Claw and Burning Mane, with a dash of speed attackers thrown in, notably Twin Cannon Skyterror.
However, he didn t seem to be packing any destruction spells or shield triggers which proved to be his undoing.

Both games followed the same pattern. I would play small creatures early and rig my shields via Emeral, then I would use blockers to stall his weenie attackers before swinging for the win. He was clearly a new player so I took my time and let him look at any of my cards that he hadn t seen before, and I give him a few tips on his deck etc. When it s your 1st tourney you need all the encouragement you can get, I know that from experience.

2-0

Round 2 vs Dan (W/N/D/F)
Dan is a friend of mine, but as I actually built his deck for MY cards I knew what to expect. He was also using a control deck but had gone for extra mana via nature in order to get a jump on his opponent. What he lacked were my annoying light blockers and Holy Awe which proved to be the difference. So basically he had draw via Merfolk/Hulcus, destruction via Fire/Darkness, mana from nature and the usual bounce hand discard.

In game one. I set up my shields early, using Emeral to lay down Awe. Then I slowly built up mana, while flooding the field with Hulcus, blockers and Corile.
Once I had enough I used Vise to clear his field and then Pahl Eaga to get Vise back in hand, he couldn t maintain a presence after that and I repeatedly used Baza to smash his shields for the win.

Game 2 was a bit closer. He decided to build a few creatures and then chip away at my shields. I also had a few creatures on the field, plus some blockers. I used Lost Soul to clear 6 cards from his hand right after he played Merfolk. He then attacked with five creatures but the first one hit Holy Awe. Oh yeah.
With all his creatures tapped I used my field to mop them up and then the game followed the same pattern as the first. He tried to get some presence and then play Cryptic Totem but the big man met a Terror Pit going the other way. He then declined to attack when I had four shields and he had 7 creatures. I played Vise next turn and destroyed 6 of them, ouch, he couldn t believe it but that was the end.

2-0

Round 3 vs Chris Leeson (5 Civ control)
Chris (aka liliun) had already won the Coventry qualifier, so I knew this would be tough. He assured me his deck had weaknesses but I refuse to believe anyone who does so well on a regular basis. So with that in mind off we go. He was using nature for mana (b.arm/faerie life) water for draw
(hulcus/stream/memory) light for recursion
(phal/forbos) and fire for destruction. He also had Cryptic Totem and Bolmeteus as finishers.

The first game was a marathon. I got him down to no shields within about 6 turns. But then he managed to pull out Baza Dragon and used it to systematically destroy my creatures. I managed to Lost that away and then he pulled out Bolmeteus and started to go to town. I pulled a Baza of my own and destroyed this guy only to be Lost Souled in return. However, late game I managed to get some blockers out and rig my last shield with awe. He used a Nexus but only had a Crystal Memory to use it with. With a Hulcus on the field and a Pyrofighter in hand I swung for the win. I had about 7 cards left in my deck.

The second game was the total opposite. I decided to rush him early and hope for the best as he seemed to have very few shield triggers. I played Emeral turn 2, Hulcus turn 3 and then Pyrofighter turn 4. By turn 6 he was down to one shield and I had 2 Pyrofighters in hand. Game over.

2-0

Round 4 vs James (The Englishman) (W/F/D control) English was using the usual 3 colour control, however, he had forgotten to add in the Vise I recommended to him on pojo so I felt a lot better about that. I also don t think he was using Baza Dragon, or he just may not have drawn it. Either way it was these two cards that proved the difference.

I pretty much owned him in both games. The only form of mass removal he had was Searing Wave, which he never seemed to get when needed. Meanwhile I was using Vise to get rid of his weenies and Baza to destroy anything bigger. He was unlucky to run into a Holy Awe in the first game, at which point I cleared out his field. Then it was a case of chipping away for the win. The second game was almost identical in form, with him unable to maintain any solid presence and me using my spells to good effect. Phal Eaga recycled Vise when I needed it and Energy Stream when I wanted options (I played it about 4 times). He couldn t find a way past my blockers and I moved in for the kill.

2-0

Round 5 vs Chris Parker (Fire/Water)
Chris deck used water bounce and fire removal to keep the field small, while he would then build enough mana to play Twin Cannon or Baza Dragon to go for the win.
However, my deck had removal options such as Locomotiver and Soul to counter that threat, plus I could use Emeral to rig Terror Pit to my shields.
Whereas once I played Baza Dragon he had no counter.

He won the first game with a ridiculous chain of draws. He pulled all four of his Coriles in a ROW. I mean, what are the odds? As you can imagine this left me with no field presence, no new cards and very little mana. He then pulled out Baza dragon and it was all over. I consoled myself with the fact that he couldn t possibly draw the same cards again.

The second game my deck worked a bit better. I was able to get Emeral out early and put in a Terror Pit deterrent, then I managed to play a couple of Merfolk which netted me a Lost Soul which I promptly used. My own Baza Dragon kept his field presence to a minimum and I swung for the win once I had 5 or so creatures.

The third game followed the same pattern as the second. This time Chris used Rothus and Meteosaur to keep my field low, but my spell recursion was able to remove any threat he played until I got some big hitters on the board to go for the win.

2-1

Top 8 vs Wakas (Fire/Darkness)
Wakas was using an unusual rock beast deck, which basically had a lot of smaller creatures and then the two rock beast evo creatures. He also had in some darkness blockers and Terror Pit etc. But he lacked any kind of discard which made his deck vulnerable to my draw options. This round was delayed a long time as someone had stolen Lee Parkers deck as he gave out prizes to all of the losers. It was someone who had come along with one of the newbies and everyone was outraged as you can imagine. But everyone rallied around and loaned Lee the cards to play on, which was great so kudos to Ben, Will and Chris Leeson for helping him out.

Both games followed the same pattern. I would play early blockers to prevent any rush, while using Hulcus, Stream and Merfolk to boost my hand. He was able to play his evo creatures a number of times but they never stayed on the board for more than one turn thanks to Terror Pit and Phal Eaga. I would wait until Baz came into my hand and then go for the win.

2-0

Semi-final vs Chris Parker (again)
At this point I wasn t too fussed about losing. As I had guaranteed myself a spot at nationals (plus, by beating Wakas I got my friend Dan a spot too) and I had also snagged a swanky t-shirt. All we were playing for now was a few boosters (which I didn t need) and pride.

This time Chris didn t get any luck at all, he seemed to have an awful hand in both rounds. The second game I played Emeral three times in a row and placed a Terror Pit, Locomotiver and Holy Awe under my shields.
But he never kept enough of a field to attack them anyway. I managed to win this 2-0 but Chris asked if we could put it down as a 2-1 to help his ranking.
He s a nice guy and we had two good matches so why not.

2-1

Final vs Chris Leeson
This time all of the cards went liliun s way. It was the exact opposite of the first match. He owned me in both games, although they both went on for a lot longer than they needed to. The difference this time was the fact he was able to play Bronze Arm and Faerie Life early game. This gave him a great mana advantage and meant he had access to the more powerful spells I lot sooner than me. In the first game alone I lost 13 cards to two well timed Lost Soul. Plus he got Forbos out this match which he hadn t before, such was his mana advantage he could play forbos and still cast Vise etc.

I wish he had gone for the kill sooner, he certainly had the creatures. But he didn t want o get me any card advantage and played a smart pro game, waiting till Bolmeteus hit the board in both games to finish me off.

He got revenge for my earlier win and my rather fortunate win over him in the final of the last event here. But it goes to show how evenly matched our decks were, I beat him 2-0 then he beat me 2-0. It all came down to who got the best hand early game it would seem. But kudos to him for winning.

0-2

Well, another good day as I got to my 3rd consecutive final. My major goals were to qualify and get a t-shirt so mission accomplished all round. Plus, Dan qualified so I ll have company on the way to nationals. Chris Leeson and I are becoming something of adversaries so I look forward to our next match as we always seem to have long arduous duels. My deck worked well, but obviously the cheers must go to cecillbill, though I can see why she uses Forbos as it was a pain when two hit the field against me in the final. But by the time the nationals come around a new set will be out so everyones decks will probably change by then anyway.

On a personal note I have spare copies of every common/uncommon from every set, plus most of the rares and very/supers too. So if anyone from Sheffield needs ANYTHING for the Nationals let me know and I ll help you out. Anything except shinies you can have free as I have tons. Especially Lee Parker who needs to replace his stolen deck, just mail me.

Props
Got 14 boosters (which I ve yet to open, ha ha) Qualified for Nationals Got me a nice T-shirt Played some great games

Slops
Someone stealing Lee s deck
Being called Chuck Norris again (ha ha ha) Burning my tongue on a hot Steak Bake (they need a warning on) They ran out of promo cards (POO!!!)

Thanks for everyone who turned up and good luck at Nationals. I know liliun may also do a report and if his is different to mine it s because I ve done this from memory whereas he made notes. So believe him not me, as my recollection gets hazy once the adrenaline kicks in. Feel free to email me with any questions (or Sheffield folk, with any card requests for Nationals I can also do loans of you have nothing to trade).

Lee Abrahams: death_slayer_of_worlds@yahoo.com