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Welcome back to the “A View from the
Top” interview series with me, DeathJester, at
Pojo.com. This week I am interviewing a member of
Team Outphase, a solid player, and a cool guy all
around: Aaron McNeely. Enjoy!
DeathJester: What's
your full name?
Aaron: Aaron
Jacob Rodney McNeely
DeathJester: Where
do you live currently?
Aaron: Arlington,
Texas
DeathJester: Age?
Aaron: 17
DeathJester: Now,
for the fans...what is your current rank in Texas in
YGO constructed play?
Aaron: I
am currently ranked #10.
Aaron: That
will change once the points from Durham come in
though.
DeathJester: You
played in Durham?
Aaron: Yes
sir.
DeathJester: How
did you do? What was your record? Rank?
Aaron: I
didn't do too well. I went 3-3 drop.
DeathJester: Ouch.
Aaron: I
wanted to play Toolbox because I felt I was secure
with it;
very wrong choice.
DeathJester: Why's
that?
Aaron: In
a metagame filled with Dekoichis, Reapers, Mobius,
and Merchants it is hard to maintain the field
presence you need to take full advantage of the
Warrior Toolbox deck. This makes
your match-ups against flip flop control a lot more
difficult and more luck reliant.
DeathJester: Isn't
MS LV2 and Exiled enough?
Aaron: No
way. If
they get a face up Dekoichi against you it is pretty
much over unless you can force advantage your way, then
your MS LV2 and Exiled Force become useless if their
monsters are face up.
DeathJester: Well,
that’s obvious. Why not play bigger creatures in
case they do go face-up?
Aaron: True, but
if they have a lot of face-up and you do not have an
answer at the time then they will give you a big
hurt with Mobius.
DeathJester: I
understand that point, but it’s hard to believe that
a Toolbox deck wouldn't have decent attacking
creatures to kill Dekoichis in battle, unless you
ran the same advantage engine as FFC.
Aaron: I
know it is, but
I am one of the random few people that don’t draw
ROTA until late game.
DeathJester: Did
you even play any D.D. Assailants, Cyber Dragons, or
even Blade Knight?
Aaron: I
ran 2 D.D. Assailants and 3 Cyber Dragons. I
chose Ninja Grandmaster over Blade Knight because it
was about 3 in the morning when I was making the
final decisions to my deck
DeathJester: And
you had problems with face-up Dekoichis? You’re
either unlucky or you made bad game-play decisions,
lol.
Aaron: lol, I
think most people would agree that I am unlucky;
with the exception of Paul Lev he
thinks I am terrible, lol.
DeathJester: Lol.
DeathJester: Alright,
on to more general stuff...give me a run down of
your tournament credentials (Regional Top 8s, SJC
records, etc).
Aaron: Basically, I
have 5 Regional top 8s.
DeathJester: This
season or all together?
Aaron: All
together.
DeathJester: That’s
excellent.
Aaron: I
have one 7-2 at a SJC. It’s
ok, but not
great.
DeathJester: It’s
not that bad lol.
Aaron: We
haven't had any Regionals since December here in
Texas.
DeathJester: Oh
really?
Aaron: The
one on the day of Durham.
DeathJester: They
just forgot about you guys huh?
Aaron: And
the next 2 are on SJC days again. Well
they took away my Shonen Jump Championship too.
Fili and I were going to be able to defend the title
on our home turf.
DeathJester: That
sucks that they took it away.
Aaron: Yeah
especially since Fili won the SJC before and it
would be about 5 minutes away from his house.
DeathJester: lol
that’s cool, so
back to SJC Durham, what was the metagame there?
Aaron: I
heard about a lot of Double Don Triple Reaper, but
I only saw one or two of them. Most
of the metagame was: 3
Dekoichi, 2 Merchant, 3 Spirit Reaper, 2 Mobius,
and the basic magic/trap lineups. There
were quite a few stein decks due to the Pharaoh Tour
in Kassel.
DeathJester: Not
surprising at all.
Aaron: Yeah, there
were quite a few of teched Goldds and Sillvas.
DeathJester: That’s
definitely a popular trend, it makes sense.
Aaron: I
have play-tested random copies and they work
amazingly well; a
lot of people were expecting 3 Reaper/1 Don, and 2
Reaper/2 Don builds.
DeathJester: Are
you on a team?
Aaron: Yes
DeathJester: Well,
tell me a little bit about it lol.
Aaron: Well, we
have 3 SJC top 8s. Jason
Holloway has 2 and Fili Luna has his win. We
basically dominate Texas and surrounding states.
DeathJester: That’s
pretty good. I've seen Jason play at SJC Atlanta
when I judged it, he's a pretty solid player.
Aaron: Yeah
he is very good.
A lot of people seem to think that he is a
cheater/staller, but it is just because he takes his
time and thinks out his plays.
DeathJester:
If it takes you more than 2 minutes, you should be
called on stalling.
Aaron: Yeah
true, I
think that people were really just exaggerating
because they were not there timing his duels with a
watch. Sometimes
duels seem to drag on forever if it is FFC vs. FFC.
DeathJester: Oh
of course, that’s a very boring match-up.
DeathJester: What’s
the name of this team you have?
Aaron: Team
Outphase
DeathJester: Ah
Outphase, I’ve heard of you guys.
Aaron: We
have not had enough people go to SJCs to have a team
profile at one yet.
DeathJester: How
many do you need?
Aaron: Well,
we would at least to have the majority of our team
there; which
would be 4.
DeathJester: How
many members does your team have?
Aaron: We
currently have 7 members.
We are thinking about adding on an 8th member.
DeathJester: Who?
Aaron: Tim
Scott. He
was one of the best of his time when he dueled; he
just now got back into the game.
DeathJester: It'll
take him a while to catch up, when did he leave?
Aaron: About
a year and a half ago I think.
DeathJester: Wow...
Aaron: Yeah.
DeathJester: Lots
of practice to do lol.
Aaron: Yeah
I played him on Sunday and he still has a lot of
skill in him.
DeathJester:
I
hope he does well at his next competition.
Aaron: Thanks, he
will appreciate that.
DeathJester: Now,
let me ask a more in depth question...
DeathJester: What
do you think sets you apart from all other players?
Why?
Aaron: I
think what sets me apart from all other duelists is
that I have both a very conservative and erratic
play-style. I
switch on and off according to what kind of player
they are and I try to probe their thoughts and I try
to play knowing what they feel.
DeathJester: That’s
interesting, give an example.
Aaron: Ok
we were at a team war which was Team Outphase vs.
Team Havoc (the other big Texas team). I
tried to choose the best lineup I could, but there
were a couple changes due to players’ feelings. Fili
went first and took out their first guy Alex C. I
basically knew that it would turn out like that
based on Alex's conservative play-style and Fili's
aggressiveness.
Aaron: Then,
Gilbert from Havoc played Fili and just barely
squeezed out the win against him. Evan
Vargas was up next and it was basically a mirror
match and Evan lost due to some crazy top-decks. We
were down 2-1 and Ryan was up next.
DeathJester: Evan
always loses to top-decks lol (according to him).
Aaron: Lol, honestly
most of the time they are. He
is such a solid player that there are very few times
that he is actually beaten on skill.
DeathJester: lol
only Evan Vargas man…
Aaron: lol
DeathJester: he
complains about that ALL the time, I find it
hilarious.
Aaron: Yeah
it gets kind of annoying too. Well,
anyways Ryan lost to Gilbert so we were down 3-1 and
I was up next. Before,
I dueled him their team was all joking around and
talking some trash here and there which is what
almost any team would do in their situation.
I just sat down and calmed myself and thought of his
deck-type.
Once
I knew exactly how to play against it I could then
start talking some trash. I
would say things here and there to get them riled up
and make them over confident
DeathJester: lol, very
good.
Aaron:
That is one of the reasons I don’t do so hot at SJCs
as well it
is almost impossible to know your opponents
deck-type and play-style when you sit across the
table from them in a big competition.
DeathJester: How
so?
Aaron: Like
there are 400+ people at each Shonen Jump and unless
you go around scouting (which is cheating btw) then
there is no way to know your opponents play-style or
deck-type.
DeathJester: Have
you tried figuring it out as you play?
Aaron: I
have tried but it is very difficult because most
advanced players do not expose more that what is
needed at the table.
DeathJester:
That’s true; it’s hard to crack the players who have
a solid mental game.
DeathJester: How
do you deal with that?
Aaron: If
I cannot break their play-style then I will just try
to play as consistent as possible and conserve my
key cards.
DeathJester: That’s
the best way to go about it I guess.
DeathJester: alrighty,
next question
DeathJester: what
do you think is the most significant problem in the
TCG metagame that needs to be solved?
Aaron: I
think there needs to be more removal cards most
definitely and better prize support they
need to at least give out promo cards to 2nd place
in SJC and 3-4th
DeathJester: I
meant in regards to the Ban List lol
Aaron: Oh,
lol. Well,
the removal cards need to come back.
DeathJester: What
removal cards?
Aaron: Raigeki
and Duster.
DeathJester: lol
not a chance, we
have enough removal as is.
Aaron: If
you are that bad to overextend you should be
punished for it.
DeathJester:
Then we should get a more balanced form of mass
removal unrestricted, such as Torrential Tribute. Overextending
isn't necessarily bad either sometimes.
Aaron: While
that is true most people overextend and don’t know
that they are doing it and those are the ones who
should be punished. I
admittedly overextend every once and a while but it
is only when I need to gain field advantage and
press for the win
DeathJester: That’s
when you should overextend normally so I don’t
really see that as a bad thing, lol.
Aaron: Exactly.
DeathJester: Unless
you run FFC then you can’t overextend at all. Most
of the time those decks are incapable of
overextending.
Aaron: Yeah,
it is hard to overextend with FFC, but
I still think there are not enough removal cards to
stop the people who overextend too much.
DeathJester: I
agree that there aren’t enough ways to punish over
extension, but bringing back Raigeki and Duster is
ludicrous.
Aaron: Well
I haven’t really thought about it because I know
none of that is ever coming back.
DeathJester: At
the same time, I also believe that there isn't
enough punishment for playing monsters face-down.
Aaron: Yes, in
Japan they have all sorts of removal for f/d
monsters.
DeathJester: All
we have is MS LV2, Exiled, and Crossout at 2. Japan
has a lot of things they wouldn’t like us to have
lol.
Aaron: Yeah,
they need to give us some cards. I
thought the SJC card was going to be Shrink instead
of Des Volstgalph…what
a bummer that was
DeathJester: It'd
be nice if they released both Shrink and Shield
Crush.
Aaron: Yeah
those cards are hot in Japan.
DeathJester: But
who knows with the beef between Konami and UDE?
Aaron: Only
Kevin and Kazuki apparently.
DeathJester: Is
that it?
Aaron: Yeah
that’s about it.
DeathJester: Hmm,
I don’t see what the big deal is...just give us the
cards we want and need to have; that would be fair.
Aaron: Yeah,
it is totally unfair for us not to have the same
cards as them and
it is also unfair to Japan when they have to play
with only our cards in the World Championships.
DeathJester: Yes,
it makes for a really inconvenient tournament for
both parties involved.
Aaron: I
concur. If
it wasn’t a Japan based game it would be great
because we would have good prize support and we
would have all the cards.
DeathJester: I
know, but I suppose Japan feels that UDE is not fit
to make appropriate decisions concerning YuGiOh.
Aaron: I
am not so sure about that either. They
have done surprisingly well with VS system, so
I wouldn’t see any reason for Konami to distrust
UDE.
DeathJester: Neither
do I, but whatever on that one lol.
Aaron: Yeah, I
think I need to watch what I am saying though
because Kevin or Alex might get me for treason.
DeathJester: lol,
I find that unlikely...I think they would rather
appreciate hearing your opinion on the situation.
Aaron: Yeah
I am sure they would probably like to know some
insight about how players feel about the game.
DeathJester: I
agree. Is
there anything else you would like to say before we
conclude this interview?
Aaron: Hmm, nothing
in particular.
DeathJester: Lol
ok, thank you for your time Aaron and good luck to
you and Team Outphase
Aaron: It
was a pleasure speaking with you.
It was a pleasure speaking with Aaron
and learning about his insights on this game. I look
forward to speaking with him again ^_^. Be sure to
watch for him and Team Outphase at Nationals, they
are no joke.
That’s it for this week everyone!
Until next time, remember to play hard, think about
your moves, and most importantly…have fun!
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