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Mofox’s journey from Newbie to the UK National Tournament.
Another Turn by Turn Duel 
June 5, 2006

Mofox’s journey from Newbie to the UK National Tournament.

Duel 11 commenced immediately after duel 10.  I was still using the same deck from the last duel.  Although I had been beaten in just 5 turns I knew that the deck had produced the worst starting hand it could’ve produced.  I was hoping that this duel would go my way instead.

Paul says:

ok I drw 6

Paul says:

I set 2 s/t and end turn

This deck was about getting my opponent to top deck as soon as possible.  By setting 2 s/t I was enticing Ilya to over-extend and attack early.  I wasn’t to be disappointed.

Ilya says:

drw

Paul says:

I activate drop off

My deck had got off to a good start Ilya was down to 5 in his hand.  An over-extension from him now would leave his hand in a poor state.

Ilya says:

you made me drop off "the a. forces"

Ilya says:

normal summon my marauding captain

Was Ilya about to over-extend?

Ilya says:

response

Paul says:

no

Ilya says:

activate his effect and special summon blade knight

Yes he was, Ilya now only had 3 in hand to my 4, and my set s/t was gonna help protect me.

Ilya says:

response?

Paul says:

no

Ilya says:

I have this inkling that your set card will destroy one of my monsters so

Ilya says:

I activate Last Will

Ilya must have known that my set s/t was gonna kill one of his monsters so he played yet another card from his hand.  He was now down to just 2 cards in hand.  I was gonna take a beating to my life points, but at this stage in the game if I could get Ilya top-decking then I could easily turn that around.

Ilya says:

Marauding Captain attacks you

Ilya says:

6800-8000

Ilya says:

then Blade Knight attacks you

Paul says:

activate sak armour

Ilya says:

Blade Knight is destroyed

Ilya says:

Last Will's effect resolves in the battle phase

Ilya says:

allowing me to special summon . . ..

Ilya says:

mataza

Ilya says:

and she strikes you twice for 2600 damage

Paul says:

4200-8000

Ilya says:

I end my turn

It looks like Ilya had got off to a flying start he had taken out almost half my life points in his first turn.  However he had played right into my deck’s hands.  He had only 2 cards in hand and only 2 on the field.  My deck had plenty of field control options.  I had maxed out on Smashing Grounds and Sak Armours.  If I could draw into some hand destruction as well then Ilya would be on the ropes very quickly.

Paul says:

ok I drw

Paul says:

I activate smashing ground

Ilya says:

destroying my mataza

Paul says:

ok I summon dekoichi in atk mode and atk marauding

Ilya says:

4200-7800

Ilya was still miles ahead on life points but I now had field control.  His hand though was about to get worse.

Paul says:

I then set 1 s/t and end turn

Ilya says:

drw

At this point Ilya has 3 in hand and 0 on the field.  I have 2 in hand and 2 on the field.  Ilya is up on life points.

Ilya says:

I activate MST to destroy your set s/t

Paul says:

I chain time seal

By chaining Time Seal I had made Ilya’s MST useless.  Ilya was down to 2 in hand and wouldn’t be able to draw next turn.  My deck was working well.

Ilya says:

set 1 monster and end turn

Ilya is down to 1 in hand and won’t drw next turn.

Paul says:

ok I drw

Paul says:

I summon tsuku

Ilya says:

to flip deko fd and flip him?

Paul says:

Yep

Highlighting the benefits of Tsukuyomi, it is such a versatile card.  In this scenario I was using him to draw extra cards.  In case you didn’t catch it from my abbreviated descriptions.  I summoned Tsukuyomi and used his effect to flip Dekoichi facedown then flip summoned him in the same turn to draw a card.  I now have 3 in hand, to Ilya’s 1.

Paul says:

dekoichi atks your fd

Ilya says:

destroying marauding captain

Dekoichi had more than paid for itself in terms of resource advantage.  This is something that a lot of duelists throw about on the message boards all the time. +1 this and –1 that.  If we look at Dekoichi to see how I maximized his use.  Firstly I summoned him costing me a resource (in a way that is –1 to me) next he destroyed one of Ilya monsters costing Ilya a resource (I guess that is –1 to Ilya).  Next turn I managed (through the use of Tsukuyomi) to flip summon him and draw a card giving me a resource (a +1 to me leaving me at 0, when you consider it was a –1 to summon him).  Then he proceeds to destroy another of Ilya’s monsters losing Ilya another resource (another –1 putting Ilya at now –2).  So you can see that I managed to use Dekoichi to gain a +2 resource advantage over Ilya.  If you don’t understand this then email me and I will try to explain further.  Essentially I had done well with my little train.

Paul says:

and tsuku atks

Ilya says:

4200-6700

Paul says:

then I end turn and tsuku comes to hand... don't forget no drw this turn

I was catching up in life points and was dominating in hand advantage.  Ilya was down to his last card and had no drw this turn.

Ilya says:

I have one card left in hand

Ilya says:

set a monster facedown

Ilya says:

end turn

Ilya had no options and was now top-decking.  My deck had fulfilled its goal and now it was up to me to control the duel and whittle down Ilya’s life points.

Paul says:

I drw

Paul says:

I activate reinforcements of the army

I was worried about Ilya’s face down card.  A Morphing Jar or Cyber Jar now would turn things back around in Ilya’s favor.  I had just the answer in my deck.

Paul says:

and bring MSLV2 to my hand and shuffle

Paul says:

and I then summon the little warrior

Paul says:

use effect on your fd and then dekoichi atks directly

Paul says:

4200-5300

Ilya says:

you destroyed my mslv2

Paul says:

I set 1 s/t and end my turn

Ilya didn’t have either Jar but it was better to be careful.  I was catching up now on life points and Ilya had no cards on the field and was top-decking.  My deck had worked perfectly, with a little help from Ilya’s over-extension on the first turn.

Ilya says:

drw

Ilya says:

summon Cyber Jar

Ilya says:

response to Cyber Jar summoning (normal summon in atk mode)

Paul says:

     none

Ilya says:

cyber Jar attacks your ms lv2

Ilya says:

they are both @ 900 ATK

Ilya says:

both are gone

Ilya says:

and I end my turn

Ilya was desperate now.  In a desperate maneuver he suicides his Cyber Jar into MSLV2.  Not that it would’ve mattered if he had set it instead, as next turn I would’ve destroyed it anyway.  I suppose though that now MSLV2 was out of the way then Ilya could set monsters without worrying that I could remove them with MSLV2’s effect.  For example if he drew Morphing Jar next turn he could set it and get its effect when I attacked because I didn’t have MSLV2 on the field anymore.

Paul says:

I drw

Paul says:

I activate my newly drawn reinforcements

Paul says:

and bring Gearfried and summon him atk mode

Paul says:

deck shuffled after search

Paul says:

I atk with both gearfried and dekoichi

Paul says:

4200-2100

Paul says:

I end my turn

I had taken the lead in life points.  I saw my opportunity to go after the win and Ilya was still topdecking.  I had full control of the duel.

Ilya says:

drw

Paul says:

the game depends on your drw

Ilya needed a good card to pull this one out, with MSLV2 gone a Morphing Jar would help.  Also cards like Spirit Reaper or GK Spy could’ve held me off for a few turns so that Ilya could replenish his hand.  Swords of Revealing Light or even Scapegoat could’ve held me off for a few turns also.

Ilya says:

its good but you have tsuku in your hand

Ilya says:

normal summon Blade Knight [2000]

Ilya says:

response

Paul says:

no

Ilya says:

destroy Dekoichi

Paul says:

3600-2100

Ilya says:

end turn

Paul says:

I drw

Paul says:

I activate smashing ground

Paul says:

and summon strike ninja

Paul says:

and atk with strike and Gearfried for game

So there we have it a break down of another of my duels against Ilya.  Now before I get a load of emails claiming how I made this stupid mistake and that stupid mistake.  Please take into context where I am coming from.  This was my 11^th ever duel, and at the present I only have 30+ duels worth of experience to be able to analyse this duel.  I will no doubt have made some mistakes which is fine, and I do want to know what they are so that I can improve my only request is no bashing and no flaming.  I want your help but I won’t tolerate abuse.

So hopefully now, you newbies can see more of my thought processes and hopefully they will help you in your own duelling decisions.  This duel shows how the theory of a deck can sometimes come off perfectly in practise.  With a little help from Ilya’s early over-extension on the first turn and me drawing some of my good cards, (Drop Off and Time Seal) I quickly took control of the duel and finished Ilya off in just 6 turns.

For a while duellists were obsessive over the whole concept of hand advantage/card advantage whatever you want to call it and this duel shows how destructive a hand destruction focussed deck can be, hence why duellist felt that hand advantage was so important.  As soon as Ilya had lost his hand and was top-decking he was relying on drawing the card he needed.  There were some cards that would’ve helped him, like Scapegoat, Swords of Revealing Light, GK Spy, Spirit Reaper or one of the ‘Jars’. Otherwise his side of the duel had come down to luck. 

Thank you to all those duellists who confirmed that Ilya had activated his trap card the same turn he set it and had made a misplay.  In addition many have highlighted a misplay in our last duel regarding the Dust Tornado/Call of the Haunted chain.  It’s a common misplay (apparently) and it relates to the mechanics of continuous cards.  I’ll try to explain below:

Continuous cards (like continuous spell cards, continuous trap cards and equip spell cards) must be on the field during resolution for their effects to resolve, it is part of the mechanic of the card.  Call of the Haunted is a continuous trap card and as such for it to successfully resolve it must be on the field during its resolution.  Therefore when I chained Dust Tornado to Call of the Haunted I destroyed it before it resolved, therefore preventing it from resolving.  The chain worked like this:

• Ilya activates Call of the Haunted and selects his target E-hero Wildheart (at this point Wildheart is in the graveyard where is effect doesn’t work).

• I then chain Dust Tornado to Call of the Haunted selecting Call of the Haunted as my target.

• Dust Tornado then resolves destroying Call of the Haunted.

• As Call of the Haunted is a continuous card it must be on the field during resolution in order to resolve.  Call has been destroyed and therefore does not resolve and Wildheart remains in the graveyard.

This is taken from UDE’s Advanced Gameplay section of the Yu-Gi-Oh! site:

"Negate" vs. "Destroy" and Continuous Cards

Chaining "Mystical Space Typhoon" (or "Dust Tornado") to a card like "Raigeki" (or another Normal Spell or Normal Trap Card, a Quick-Play Spell Card, or a Ritual Spell Card) has no effect, as it does not negate the card's effect. So if "Raigeki" is activated, and the opponent chains "Mystical Space Typhoon" to destroy "Raigeki", "Raigeki"'s effect still resolves as normal.

But, if you chain against a Continuous or Equip Spell Card, or a Continuous Trap Card, with "Mystical Space Typhoon" (or "Dust Tornado"), the Continuous/Equip Card is no longer active because it is destroyed, and the effect does not resolve and disappears.

Example #1:

Step 1: Player A activates "Raigeki."

Step 2: Player B chains "Imperial Order" to negate the effect of "Raigeki."

Step 3: Player A chains "Mystical Space Typhoon" (or "Dust Tornado") to destroy "Imperial Order."

(resolve in reverse order)

Step 3 resolves first. "Mystical Space Typhoon" destroys "Imperial Order."

Step 2 would resolve next. "Imperial Order" has been destroyed though and its effect disappears.

Step 1 resolves. "Raigeki"'s effect activates as normal.

For the exact same reason, if you chain "Mystical Space Typhoon" to "The Eye of Truth", or "Premature Burial", or "Call of the Haunted", the effects from those cards never happen.

This was highlighted to me by many other duellists, so thank you all for your help.

Well I recently got back into some online duelling!!  Ilya was on hand to let me try out my current incarnation of my real-life deck.  I won 2-0 and showed no signs of any duelling rust.  I will post a turn-by-turn duel soon and also a full decklist of what I used during the duel.

I will be organising my online time soon to try and get in all the duel requests that have been made so far.  Please be patient I’ve been working hard at clearing out my emails that I’ve got backlogged and I’m still collating the information for my Ebay – Final Word article.

There have also been some great suggestions on building my deck from readers.  Just a quick note, telling me to put in all the popular (and expensive to get hold of cards) such as D.D. Assailant, Royal Decree, Morphing Jar etc. Is not going to be possible I have no funds at the moment to be spending on cards and will only be able to trade to get the cards I want.  Which brings me nicely to my entry into the world of trading.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be compiling my list of haves and wants and be putting up my trade list on Pojo.  Again I am looking for the lowest rarity of cards and I will swap my rares, super rares, ultra rares etc for these cards.  I want to make a competitive deck and not necessarily a holo’d out deck.

My email address is mofox9@hotmail.co.uk email me for any help or advice or even your opinions on my articles.  I would love to hear your opinions and if you have any suggestions to improve them then let me know.  I will reply to all emails that are sent to me.  Remember newbies no question is a stupid question.

Until next time fellow duellists!