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ss4giel ssays...
Interview with a F00b-pire
11.19.05

Hey Pojo readers, it's me, Giel, and I have another article for you all today. Sorry about the lack of an article last week. I have been very busy moving into my new house and just didn't have the time to contribute a well written article to the site. I would also like to thank you all for you positive responses after writing my first article. Instead of the traditional articles, I decided that it would be a great opportunity to interview one of the most well-known and influential duelists in the world.

I hope you all enjoy as I interview, the one, the only, F00b.

Giel: Hey, are you ready?

David: Sure, *grabs mountain dew*

Giel: What is your full name?

David: My name is David "F00b" Simon.

Giel: So where are you originally from?

David: I have lived my entire life in Chandler, Arizona. It is just outside of Phoenix.

Giel: Where do you go to school right now?

David: I am currently a junior attending Arizona State University.

Giel: So David, what is your current UDE ranking in Arizona?

David: Well, the only UDE sanctioned events I have attended are the big ones like regionals and Shonen Jumps but they have gotten me to top two before. Right now, I am top five in AZ right now.

Giel: Yes, you are currently 5th. =) So how did you start playing Yu-Gi-Oh?

David: I was at my friend's house one day after playing basketball. I came inside to get some Gatorade and his brothers were playing Yu-Gi-Oh on the kitchen table. I remember Summoned Skull and multiple Graceful Charities. My friend and I used to be Pokemon champions and decided that I wanted to get into another card game, so I picked up Yu-Gi-Oh that night.

Giel: You used to play Pokemon? Any other card games you have played or are playing?

David: I have been serious about Magic and VS as well as Yu-Gi-Oh at the same time. Now that Im almost 21, Im really into Texas Holdem. ;-)

Giel: Yep, Holdem is becoming very popular among my friends as well. So what's your favorite card in the game and why?

David: My favorite card would have to be Magical Scientist. I mean, that little guy is the reason I started getting very creative with my decks. It also started my whole "maxed-out fusion deck" trend. Who wouldn't want a reason to sleeve up all those purple cards?  That eventually led me to create morph as well.

Giel: Well, at least youre very vulnerable to Memory Destructor, which inflicts damage equal to the number of fusion deck cards x100.

David: Hahaha as of now, that card does 19,700 damage to me in one swing.
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Giel: So is Morph is your favorite deck type?

David: Really, I like any deck that draws many cards. I'm a control player in every game I play. In addition, the biggest part is being able to control tempo throughout the game by drawing cards. Certainly, morph was one way to do that very well

Giel: Thats definitely true. So what are you playing nowadays?

David: In all honesty, I have about six or seven decks I switch up right now. I was planning on running a 3 Mystic Tomato, 3 Spirit Reaper, 2 Don Zaloog, 2 Creature Swap, 2 Last Will deck with 3 Dust Tornado, 2 Nobleman of Extermination and the warrior toolbox. It was made to get in as many Spirit Reaper attacks as possible on turn 2. I planned to run this deck at Gencon last weekend, but I couldnt attend. The deck also seems to be on the decline because of the release of the Dark World monsters, but Ill definitely have something good for Shonen Jump San Francisco. I can definitely promise that whatever I run will be innovative and make people think about their decks twice. I love shaking up the cookie-cutter-centric-metagame.

Giel: What's your worst loss in your Yu-Gi-Oh career?

David: Well, thats an easy pick. Anyone who was with me at last year's Nationals event probably caught wind of my story. However, you could sum up how that entire tournament went for me, in my 'worst loss' in either round two or three. I was playing my triple Airknight deck that I'd tested for nearly 6 months, complete with the 3 Book 3 Goat 3 Morph and 2 Decree. A couple turns into the game, this guy summons Breaker and uses its counter to destroy my face down spell, which activates my goats. A turn or two later, I bring out an Airknight, and trample over Breaker for 300 damage. I draw my card, and then set like two or three spells/traps. On his turn, with two goats still left on my side of the field, he Calls his own Airknight that he discarded off an early Graceful Charity and attacks a goat. He sets a trap and I Mystical Space Typhoon it in the end phase. (I also have Decree face down as well). On my turn, I go off like never before. Remember, I already have one Airknight on the field, and he's taken 300 damage. I Premature my second Airknight . I Snatch Steal his Airknight. Then, I enter battle. He activates a trap, I chain Royal Decree, and then chain Call of the Haunted for my fourth Airknight. I swing directly for 7600 damage to put him at 100 LPs. In addition, I drew four cards. My hand is full (6) and I have the four Airknights and one goat token on the field. He draws, gains 1000 LP from Snatch Steal and is at 1100. He top-decked Pot of Greed. He then plays it, sets a monster, and activates Swords of Revealing Light. On my turn, my board is full, and despite a full hand, I have nothing to counter the Swords of Revealing Light. He draws, gains another 1000 LP from the Snatch to be at 2100 LPs. He sets an m/t. and flips MORPHING JAR! I was just amazed. Not to mention, the cards he drew off the Morphing Jar flip included a 4 for 1 Lightning Vortex and two main decked Solemn Judgments. To make matters worse, my Black Luster Soldier Envoy of the Beginning had just been discarded along with five other cards to the Morphing Jar. He climbs back and uses, ironically, the Airknight to do the final damage against me with a set Spirit Reaper trying to recover.

Giel: Truly, I have never heard of such a turn of events. It must have been heartbreaking.

David: I was completely crushed after that, lol.

Giel: I can imagine. Since you will be attending Shonen Jump San Francisco, what team are you on and who is on this team?

David: Now we finally get to the good stuff. ;-) I'm a proud member of Team Savage along with some friends who are simply among the best in the game.  Our roster has switched up a little bit since the initial team but for now, we feature Jae Kim, Hugo Adame, Evan Vargas, Tony Lee, Nate Nielebeck, Matt Peddle, and Kyle Duncan. The experience I have from sharing ideas and testing with these guys only makes me love the game more. At SJC San Francisco, we expect to have most of our team in attendance. Weve all been waiting for a timely Shonen appearance. Im very excited.

Giel: Your team features quite the assembly of great players. Are you guys sponsored as of now?

David: No. Our old sponsor fell through, and the lack of funding is severely hurting our turnouts at recent Shonen Jumps. We sent two members to Atlanta, no one to Boston, no one to Chicago, and only three people to Gencon Anaheim. Although we always do well, we haven't had the chance to storm an event as a whole yet, because the lack of sponsorship means less money to fly everywhere.

Giel: What are your team's credentials? What are your credentials?

David: hmmm

Giel: I know there are a lot. ;-)

David: Every Savage member is established in their own right. In almost every event we attended as a team, we sent someone into the top eight with innovative decks. Jae "Jaelove" Kim, our fearless leader and Pojo writer, has top 8ed multiple Shonen Jumps with insane creativity. Hugo "the legend" Adame top8ed in the first Socal Gencon. Evan "Sand-Trap" Vargas top4ed in Pomona with his "Soul Control" archetype. Tony "the Sultan" Lee has gotten 2nd in three side events to almost claim a Cyber Stein. Nate "Rubberbandman" Nielebeck made his "Answer" deck famous when he top8ed in Houston. Matt "Conspire" Peddle was tearing it up before he ever joined the team, with back-to-back Canadian Nationals top eight appearances, an undefeated swiss in Indy, and a near top eight in Chicago, where he scooped to his teammates. Kyle "Super Trunks4" Duncan top8ed in Charlotte. As a whole, everyone is always solid and goes about x-2 (or better). As for myself, I'm Mr. 9th place. Between regionals and Shonen Jumps, I scored 8 9th place finishes the last year and a half. However, sometimes I succeed ;-). I did qualify for Nationals 3 years in a row, top 4 five regionals, and I've been to five Shonen Jumps and have gone x-2. But I'm hungry to get my "on the bubble" phase over with and blow through a tournament. Hopefully this will happen at San Francisco.

Giel: Wow, thats quite the amount of accomplishments. Who do you think are the best players in the game right now? Besides your own team of course. ;-)

David: I must say, all gossip aside, Paul Levitin has top 8ed four consecutive Shonen Jumps. That is amazing, and makes him the one to beat in San Francisco. I also greatly respect Wilson Luc as a commanding factor in the game, and I recognize the incredible skill of some other teams out there right now, like Overdose in the US and Superfriends in Canada. Of course, there are a couple more individuals of notoriety out there, but if I named one...I'd have to name them all ^_~

Giel: I have to ask, what are your opinions of the recent banning of Comic Oddysey?

David: Honestly, I'm disappointed that the situation occurred. The best part of this game is the competition. Why else would we go to such big events (I mean come on, the prizes aren't exactly like those in VS and M:TG)? Since I'm not sure what exactly happened I can't say too much what I think of the actual bannings, but their competition will be missed until they come back for the Shonen Jump in Canada.

Giel: You mentioned VS, would you like to see money as prizes for Yu-Gi-Oh?

David: There is nothing better than money. Nintendo DSes and Sony PSPs are alright, but they tend to be sold anyway. The Cyber Steins and Des Volstgalphs go for auction on eBay too. Anything outside of top 8ing doesn't even help pay for the trip itself. To make things easier, I feel that it would be great to give cash prizes and trickle them down, even if it means more rounds, higher tournament fees, and less pack distribution for prizes.  I was very excited about the $5K tournament in Anaheim a couple weeks back.  However, that didn't exactly pan out. I think the community is still eagerly awaiting a large cash tournament and it would have a high turnout and be greatly received, as long as there was plenty of advertisement for the event.

Giel: Alright, I just have a couple more questions. Do you have any advice for players that have just begun looking to bring their game to the next level?

David: When you pick up a new game, do what I did. Watch the best. Learn from them. Play them to see how they do things. Ask them to help you with your deck and to explain strategy to you and for any suggestions they might have. Soon enough you will get to a level where you can start using your own ideas to build decks and maybe even enter a tournament (and even beat the best!). At first, imitation is everything, but after just a little bit of practice, you can soon be innovating and, trust me, it feels great. Plus, most "Pros" get where they are because they love playing the game, and, if they're like me, they have no problem helping someone who isn't afraid to ask. :-) If you can make it to a Shonen Jump or a Regionals, you become better by playing against the best. The competition helps you improve. Even if you don't win, you're sure to learn things to improve your level of gaming.

Giel: Great advice from a great player. Lets wrap this up. What are your opinions on where Yu-Gi-Oh is heading? For better or for worse of course.

David: At first, I was disappointed with this latest ban list. I felt by speeding up the game with all these one for one-trade cards. It takes away a lot of the skill the game once needed. I don't particularly like relying on the opening 6 to win you the game. I also dont like any format where your opponent can net-deck, then "see card, play card" and do fine. This metagame is changing, more decks are breaking into the format, and the dark world monsters help balance out the crippling effects of Spirit Reaper and Don Zaloog. I feel that overall this could become a great ban list to play under.

Giel: Do you like the new SOI set?

David: I like one card. Sinister Serpent was my second favorite monster in the game. Any card that is created to be anything close to Sinister Serpent is special. And of course, the new Yellow Spring Frog seems to be just that: an advantage card that I'm looking to exploit to the fullest. It will have an effect on the metagame. It will slow the game down, and it will see play in most if not all decks as a pseudo-staple. Not that I'm a fan of cards that are so broken as to become instant staples, but I do think in the absence of GOOD defensive cards, a monster such as the new Frog could really help decks to get more creative ideas off the ground before they get crushed in the early game.

Giel: Thanks for your time F00b. :-)

David: Its been my pleasure.

There you have it folks. One of the most well known players opens up and talks about Yu-Gi-Oh. I expect David to do exceptionally well at San Francisco with an original deck. I hope you all enjoyed the article. Stay tuned next week for my next article.