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Carrotizer on YuGiOh
1/12/05 San Diego Regional
January 14, 2008

            I left my house at 9: 35 in the morning.  Knowing I was pushing the time limit, I was shocked to see a traffic accident on the highway to the downtown.  I arrived at San Diego Convention Center at 10:05.  Although I knew the event was supposed to start at 10:00, it usually started slightly later.  Luckily the tournament organizer postponed the end of registration, considering the traffic.  So, I paid $15, registered, and looked around. 

            To be honest, I expected the metagame to be about fifty percent Macro, twenty-five percent Light and Darkness Dragon, ten percent Demise, and fifteen percent of Baboon Burn, DDT, and other decks.  I had a little bit of time to test my deck against Demise + Lava Golem (well, it does work with Trade-In).  Without assistance from my Side, I won both matches.  Well, Lava Golem was…a questionable, but an interesting tech.

             I saw Adam Corn and John Umali (Umali came often to the local store), and wondered which archetypes they chose to run.  Soon, the deck lists were collected and round 1 pairings were up.  64 pairings, 128 people.  7 rounds.

            Round 1: Macro vs. DDT

Game 1: I won the roll and went first.  Not knowing what my opponent ran, I merely set 1 Dark Bribe, 1 Macro Cosmos, and summoned D.D. Survivor.  Next turn, my opponent summoned Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude, and I immediately realized there was more than 1 DDT in the tournament (one person from the local store also ran DDT).

            After clarifying that Diamond Dude’s effect is nullified if the Spell Card is not sent to the Graveyard, I bought some time with Macro Cosmos.  However, it ended up helping my opponent instead because D.D.M. – Different Dimension Master brought back Stratos, and I was overwhelmed by card advantage. 

            Game 2: Same as game 1, except Dimension Fusion was the winning card.

            I was disappointed to earn 1 loss so quickly, and also surprised to play against DDT.  It is a shame that I could not get 2 more copies of Dark Bribe.  I also didn’t’ know that this was the only game that I would use Vortex Trooper. 

            Round 2: Macro vs. Macro.

            Game 1: I didn’t know what I was playing against, and after seeing what he chose to destroy with Breaker, I knew he ran Macro as well.  After using Solemn Judgment, I drew 2 Dimensional Fissure and 1 Macro Cosmos.  Survivors were run over by bombardment of Monarchs.

            Game 2: There was some ruling disagreement.  I had slightly better field position, and my opponent used 3 copies of Dark Bribe already.  When he summoned Survivor, I activated Solemn Judgment against the summon.  I tried to tell my opponent that D.D. Survivor never technically “hit” the field, but I got “where does it hit then, your ***?” as a response.  It was very tempting to notify the judge about it, but something just told me it would not do.  I just ran him over, fair and square.

            Game 3: After fierce mirror match, timely Mind Crush took D.D. Survivor away.

I was relieved to win because I misread his bluff and it almost cost me the game.

            Because round 2 took all the time available (even 2 minute extension that I received), I was unable to get Subway for lunch (darn it).  After learning that Starbucks was located just downstairs at the end of lunch, I was enervated.  I hoped fruit snacks would give me enough blood sugar.  

            Round 3: Macro vs. Six Samurai

            Game 1: Fortunately I knew my opponent used Mask of Restrict, and was able to adapt the playing style.  Drawing Raiza at the right moment scored the win.

            Game 2: Unfortunately, Mask of Restrict was activated during my first Draw Phase, and I did not have any removal to take it out.  After stalling a bit with Marshmallon and Spirit Reaper, Zanji ripped through and won.

            Game 3: Game was simplified, and I Tributed D.D. Survivor to summon Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch without Dimensional Fissure/Macro to take down Grandmaster of the Six Samurai.  Although my opponent drew Mirror Force next turn, saved Solemn Judgment sealed the victory.          

Round 4: Macro vs. Macro

            Game 1: My “novice” Snipe Hunter missed 3 rolls in a row, and I could not land the finishing blow, forcing me to crash 2 Raizas.  He came back with D.D. Survivor and Raiza.

            Game 2: My Thestalos discarded Destiny Hero – Disk Commander into the Graveyard and I was surprised to see Destiny Hero – Fear Monger bringing back Disk Commander.  He switched into Light and Darkness! Yet after I drew Dimensional Fissure (DR04), his cards were useless.

Game 3: I won.

Record: 3-1

            Round 5: Macro vs. Monarchs (Table 13)

            I played an opponent who I knew to be a good player.  I assumed that he knew what I was playing.

            Game 1: Knowing he used 3 Spies and 1 Guard, I set 1 Gravekeeper’s Spy also.  Unfortunately, he outran me by 1 step.  His Spy flipped, Raiza came down, and I was forced to either play aggressively with Brain Control and try to take back field presence, or buy 1 turn with Marshmallon.  I chose aggression and lost the game next turn to Brain Control when my Thestalos discarded 3^rd Gravekeeper’s Spy in his hand, instead of Raiza or Brain Control.  Ouch.

            Game 2: I was just outplayed by my opponent when my hand was Dustshoot’ed 1^st turn.  After that, he flipped Morphing Jar, and I drew into 5 monsters.  He ran me over after few turns when he used Book of Moon that I read but could not stop on Morphing Jar to draw into Zaborg the Thunder Monarch.

Record: 3-2…darn. 

            Round 6: Macro vs. Burn (Table 17)

            I never played a burn deck in the Regional.

            Game 1: I took a gamble with Solemn Judgment, and realized my failure when he played Nightmare’s Steelcage.  Wave-Motion Cannon finished me.

            Game 2: I won in 2^nd turn.  He used Solemn Judgment on my Solemn Judgment, and I used Snipe Hunter to destroy his 1 set monster, and flipped Gravekeeper’s Spy for a quick win.

            Game 3: After a conservative series of plays, I summoned Raiza the Storm Monarch.  He asked me what the target was, and after consideration, I picked out an important Spell/Trap (could not see it…).  He attempted to Solemn the Monarch, but it was too late to negate the summon (since he recognized the successful summon when he inquired the target).  The misplay cost him the game.

            I got to see the Lava Golem + Demise play against “Small City” deck from a local player.  Nightmare Wheel and Lava Golem, “old school” cards, ended up winning a game.

Record: 4-2

            Round 7: Macro vs. Demise  (Table 8)

            Another fellow player from the local store.  I had no clue about his deck.  We briefly converse before beginning.

            Game 1: He summons Manju, and immediately we laugh. After lowering his LP below 2000 with Enemy Controller against Scapegoat, I stalled with Marshmallon to buy enough time.

            Game 2: Miscalculation left my opponent’s LP at 2100, instead of 1800.  I lost next turn L.

            Game 3: I Mind Crush’ed against his Advanced Ritual Art, and lowered his LP below 2000.  He did have 5600 ATKer on the field, but could not get through Marshmallon.

            End result: 5-2, 23^rd. 

            Well…I got 3 packs, and pulled nothing.  I could have done better with more testing prior to the event.  I made many misplays throughout the day.  Hopefully I will learn.  I was also disappointed to have X-2 record for 3^rd regional.  And I missed Top 10 List of 2007.  Darn.

            Macro was probably the dominating force, since I was literally surrounded by Macro players during the entire day.  Practically everyone sided D.D. Survivors, and Macro players (including me) sided Kinetic Soldiers to counter that (well, I did).

            Light and Darkness Dragon, after so much hype, seemed to disappear.  All I know about Top 8 is that Adam Corn and John Umali both made within Top 4 (in the standings after 7 rounds), and 1 Gladiator Beast made it. 

            Well…I would bring lunch with me to the next regional.  That’s one lesson I learned.

By Paul Yeem – Carrotizer @ paulyeem@gmail.com