“Legendary Aqua” deck --With rant, and my plea for help!

Creon316

Space Coast Games, Palm Bay, Florida

26 participants

8/9/03

Hey all, this is my first submission. Nice to meet ya. I’ve been competing in tournaments for several months now, and after this last one, am ready to call it quits after 7 months of this hobby. I guess I’m sending this in the hopes that I will get some helpful advice, because I’m probably overreacting. And I’d like you all to learn from my mistakes. Anyway, on with the report.

After 2-3 months of gathering cards and planning, here’s the deck I came up with, after deciding to step out of my usual Gravity Bind deck. The cornerstone was “A Legendary Ocean,” and I built around that.

(This may not be 100% accurate deck list, because after yesterday I threw all of my cards in a shoebox and put them away. Have to go from memory…)

“Legendary Aqua” (54 total)

Monsters: (31)

(3) Legendary Fisherman

(3) Aqua Spirit (Heeeere, Goblin Attack Force!)

(3) Island Turtle

(3) Aqua Madoor

(3) 7-Colored Fish (hmmm…I have 3 of all these…maybe that’s part of the problem)

(2) Deepsea Warrior

(2) Star Boy

(2) Cure Mermaid (you wanna Gravity Bind? Fine!)

Amphibian Beast

Suijin (used to put Last Turn in this deck to use w/ him, but that’s too chance-y)

Jinzo (So what if he temporarily negates Tornado Wall, it’s JINZO! Won’t he rust in that ocean?)

Penguin Soldier

Catapult Turtle (Mostly for Defense, or in case of a stall/burn deck)

Cyber Jar

Sangan (get out Yata or Sinister Serpent—didn’t put a witch in this deck)

Magician of Faith

Sinister Serpent (mostly keep this guy around for Magic Jammer)

Yata-Garasu (thought I would get a chance to use it, so I threw it in)

Magic: (13)

(3) A Legendary Ocean

Terraforming (always shows up in the first hand for some reason)

Malevolent Nuzzler

Giant Trunade

…and of course the staples:

Dark Hole

Pot of Greed

Raigeki

Heavy Storm

Mystical Space Typhoon

Harpie’s Feather Duster

Monster Reborn

Trap: (10)

Raigeki Break

(2) Tornado Wall

(2) Magic Jammer

Gravity Bind (Sentimental value, really, and to get nice 7-colored fish effect with ocean—3 stars and 2000 ATK)

Magic Cylinder

Imperial Order

7 Tools

Call of the Haunted

(..A little heavy on the normal monsters…I can never get a deck below 50 cards that I like.)

Side Deck—at least what I can remember. I chose these to combat Exodia or Burn decks. Keep in mind, I used to play heavily with a Gravity Bind deck, so I know most of the tricks.

Magic Reflector: in case someone went heavy on M/T removal, to protect the Ocean

Mask of Dispel: in case they use Axes, Nuzzlers, or some kooky burn deck

Servant of Catabolism: 700 direct damage, in case they pull Gravity Bind

Inaba White Rabbit: Same thing. (This would hurt me if they have Spring of Rebirth.)

Jinzo #7: Help his big brother out in case of a burn deck.

Prohibition: You name it. (Didn’t occur to me to swap this in for round 2, I was sorry. Marauding Captain, anyone?)

Graverobber’s Retribution: In case of Bazoo.

Skull Lair: Eehh.

Soul Release: Anti-Exodia.

Exchange: Same thing.

Reverse Trap: In case of heavy power-ups, or Bazoo. Puts him in a diaper and forces him to learn sign language.

Collected Power: Again, if they go heavy on power-ups.

Last Turn: Just in case. Although I never seem to have the problem of being below 1000 life points—usually I lose with 3000-4000 point direct attacks in one turn.

After Genocide: I’m not sure if this works yet—check it out. I have Ocean on the field, meaning Legendary Fisherman isn’t affected by magic cards. I activate Genocide, have Fisherman attack a monster with higher defense. I take damage (or not, if Tornado Wall is active), but don’t lose my guy since it was a defending opponent. At the end of the turn Genocide kills the defender, but my Fisherman is unharmed. Have to look that one up. Didn’t get to use it today though.

-Graverobber: Have never actually played this guy. Thought it might be useful if they go heavy on Magic cards.

-Finally, Nobleman of Crossout. I’ve never actually used this guy. He could have saved me today…

(16) cards in my side deck. So sue me.

The tournament started 90 minutes late, and there were 26 people. Then the guy running it says there will be no loser’s bracket because they don’t have time. :-P In the meantime, I played 2 casual duels.

1^st duel: Me vs. some little kid with “a prototype deck”.

-All of this kid’s cards are in different colored sleeves. I told him that’s not permitted, he said he doesn’t know what they are anyway. I tell him it’d be real easy to have your Magic cards in green sleeves, monsters in gold, etc., but just let it go. (Hey, that’s a good idea actually. For cheaters.) A die roll let me go first. Right away I got Ocean, Terraforming, and Tornado Wall in the first hand. I played Terraforming to get another Ocean from my deck, activated that, set Tornado Wall and Magic Jammer, put an Aqua Madoor in defense, and ended.

-He plays Jirai Gumo, and I had to remind him to do the coin flip. He won that, barely killing my 2200 defense Madoor. Ok, not bad.

-Next I drew Aqua Spirit. I put the downed Madoor out of commission to special summon her, then placed an Island Turtle in defense, and passed.

-His turn, I flip Jirai Gumo to defense mode with Aqua Spirit’s effect. BWAHAHAHA! By this time he’d put a face down monster, and summoned that Insect thing that gets an attack boost if other insects are face up. He attacked my defending Turtle, and I told him he’d just lost about 1000 points. I, and the two onlookers we had by now, had to remind him about the face up insect requirement, and so he finally flipped his other face down, which was indeed an insect. (This was during the BATTLE phase, but we let it go.) It still ended up with the same attack as my Turtle’s defense. He says he’s attacking anyway, I said Fine, nothing happens! He tries to Change of Heart the turtle, but I Magic Jam it.

-My turn. I drew another Ocean, giving me 2 in the hand and 1 on the field. I was already holding a Legendary Fishmerman, so I summoned him (no tribute—thank you Ocean), my turtle changed to attack and destroyed his defenseless Jurai Gumo, the Aqua Spirit killed his supporting insect, and my Fisherman killed the other insect. Heavy life point damage since two were in attack mode. At this point, he tries to activate Magic Jammer against my ocean, which has been in effect since turn 1. Hoo boy. Again we had to remind him of the rules. This was AFTER I activated a set 7-Tools to stop that—okay, I forgot too. We took it all back. After that attack, I asked him what his life points were. He says he doesn’t know, he relies on other people to keep track. Who IS this kid? I tell him he needs to know that, and he says probably 2000. Fine, he’s toast anyway.

-His turn, he draws and says “dangit!” and sets one in defense.

-My turn, I draw Change of Heart. HAHAHAHA! I use that on his face down, it was something lame, and attacked with all 4 for the win.

Final score: Me 8000 / Him 0

Later I saw that kid playing someone else, and he had “Forest” in his magic/trap zone. Ugh. Just begging to be pantsed and dragged around the track.

Okay, so far I like this deck, it was my first time playing real opponents with it. I started putting it together about 3 months ago, and now it’s going to pay off! One of the onlookers challenged me to a single Duel.

2^nd Duel: Me vs. some guy with what looked like a Weenie Rush deck.

This one made me sweat a little. I started thanks to a die roll. While I was busy setting up defenses, he unleashed Servant of Catabolism and Jinzo #7. (Did he peek at my side deck?) I was never able to draw Legendary Ocean, which would have complemented my set Tornado Wall nicely. I left an Aqua Madoor and Island Turtle in defense mode while he hit me with both weenies for 2 turns. On the 3^rd or 4^th turn I activated Raigeki Break and killed his Jinzo #7, and then Monster Reborned it and started hitting him directly. By now he had 4 M/T facedowns. I played Harpie’s Feather Duster. HAHAHAHA! One was a magic drain, but I easily stopped that by giving up Change of Heart. Then on the next turn, I finally realized that there was no Gravity Bind in play, and as I was getting ready to use Aqua Spirits mode-change effect again to at least keep Servant from attacking, I finally just flipped over my defenders and made short work of the little ones. Don’t know what I was thinking. About that time, he had destroyed the reborned Jinzo #7 and summoned yet another one, and set a M/T card. I drew Malevolent Nuzzler. Sheesh—no Ocean, no Fisherman, nothing! I had lost my Island Turtle and Aqua Spirit by this point, from his Dark Hole. I summoned another Aqua Madoor and used Nuzzler, attacked his Jinzo #7, and got Magic Cylindered. Fine, only 1900 damage. He cringed when he drew again, attacked with Jinzo #7. This time I attacked with Madoor and got rid of the little pest. He again cringed on his next draw, but activated a Call of the Haunted on Servant of Catabolism. I drew Suijin, actually played my recycled Harpie’s Feather Duster (I flipped a Magician somewhere in there) strictly to destroy the haunted Servant, and get a direct hit with a pumped up Aqua Madoor. He drew another crap card, set it, and trembled with fear. I drew another Aqua Spirit. Just to annoy him, for the deathblow I special summoned Spirit, tributed her and Madoor to summon Suijin, and finished him off with a 2500 direct blow.

Final score: Me 3200 / Him 0

Ok, I REALLY like this deck! Did that without my Ocean! I traded with the other onlooker. I gave him Amazon Archer and …I forget what else for Dark Jowls of Demise and…I forget what else. They were all Commons anyway. I now have 2 Dark Jowls. It’s a water monster, may come in handy some day. I also traded with the kid next to me—I gave him Spellbinding Circle for Gravity Bind. I never really use SC that much, and am still a Gravity Bind aficionado at heart, so this brings my Bind count up to 3. I had my old Bind deck with me, but didn’t play with it today. I’ve got 1 Messenger of Peace—should get 2 more. Get a Fire Princess or 2, and I’ll go back to what I know.

Finally the tournament was starting. Here’s where things went sour.

1^st Match: Me vs. some kid with a major league Warrior deck

Let me pause here and rant. You know what, I just hate today’s Warrior decks! My first stab at a deck when I began playing was dedicated strictly to Warriors. This was about the time Pharaoh’s Servant came out. You what, back when I was your age, the best monsters we had were Sword Hunter, that pirate ship thing, Goblin attack force, and the best magic’s were Malevolent Nuzzler, Sogen, and Legendary Sword, and you know what, we were happy with that! I used to walk a mile uphill everyday, in the snow and burning hot sun, just to get Mask of Darkness in my hand just so I could recycle “Reinforcements!” I finally gave up on that, and then a little set called Legacy of Darkness came out, and now suddenly EVERYONE wants to have a warrior deck! I was doing it before it was cool, you young whippersnappers! None of that Warrior Returning Alive, no Marauding Captain, no Exiled Force…MAN! You kids today don’t appreciate anything! We had to rely on Trap Hole or Penguin Soldier for monster removal, and we were HAPPY! Yes sir, back when I was your age, there was no clearing a field to do 4100 direct damage, my mom and dad gave me an Ookazi they’d found in the dumpster while looking for scraps, spanked me till I was as blue as the mold on my cold supper, and said I’d just have to make do with that! Sometimes I even had to use a Magician of Faith to recycle SPARKS! NUTRIENT Z? The A. Forces? Pah, we would have laughed! While sitting in that dark, cold room with the electricity turned off for the 4^th time that month, I dreamed of one day owning an Enchanted Javelin, just to prove my old man wrong…Oh dad, there were so many things I never got to say, why’d you have to get in the car that day….

Okay, I seem to strayed from my point. Back to the 1^st match. Me vs. some kid with a Warriors Gone Wild deck.

-Once again I win the die roll. Man, I need to run a Dice Jar, or Blind Destruction, or something. Maybe that Needle Wall from PGD, I think it’s called that. Once again, right off the bat I pull an Ocean, Terraforming, and Tornado wall, along with my Sinister Serpent, an Aqua Madoor, and the Cure Mermaid. I activate Terraforming to get that out of the way, the other kid groans, I play Ocean, set Tornado Wall, and put Serpent in defense. Goodbye, hand advantage.

-He summons a Gearfried and hits my facedown Serpent. Looks pleased with himself.

-I drew my 2^nd Tornado wall, set it too, returned Serpent. (For some reason I always place Tornado Wall on the far left M/T zone, by the Field card—if people catch on I’ll be asking for trouble.) I set Aqua Madoor, now with 2200 DEF, figuring he’ll attack it thinking its Serpent. 400 free damage. I’d set a Magic Jammer by this point too.

-He summons a Marauding Captain, then pulls out ANOTHER Captain with its effect. I think—at any rate, he already had 2 captains out. Uh-oh. Now he’s invulnerable. But I was right, he attacks my facedown with Gearfried. When that didn’t work, he lays down a Snatch Steal; however I Jammed it using Sinister Serpent as fuel. He has to end his turn.

-I knew I had some time with my 2 set Tornado Walls, and another Ocean in my hand. So I draw—my third Ocean. Oh well. I get Serpent back. Unable to attack yet, I set my Mermaid in defense, figuring I’d keep Serpent handy for later. Pass.

-He draws, and then he gets cocky. He announces he’s going to hit me big. He normal summons his freshly drawn Goblins. Then he takes his time activating a Monster Reborn and a Premature Burial. With 5 Warriors ready, with the 2 Captains, he attacks my mermaid, then pushes the remaining 4 at me, to which I respond with Tornado Wall. BWHAHAHA! He groans and passes.

-I drew Raigeki break, and set it. I put serpent in defense mode, and had to pass.

-He draws, kills serpent, and then passes.

-I draw Penguin soldier, set it, and pass. He didn’t attack for some reason. Guess he figured he’d wait for some M/T removal.

-I draw AQUA SPIRIT! and get Serpent back. Now we have some fun. I don’t remember the exact details of this, but all at once I was able to activate Raigeki Break (had to explain what it did) and kill one of the Captains, putting the first chip in his defense. Then I attacked the remaining Captain with Aqua Spirit. I had been able to use Aqua Spirit’s effect to put a goblin in defense mode, making it penguin food.

-His turn, he mystical space typhoons my Tornado Wall. (Looks like he got what he wanted, but he should have targeted the Ocean, it would have wiped them both out before I could activate another Ocean.) His remaining Goblins attack and kill Aqua Spirit, but I still get no LP damage thanks to my OTHER set Wall. Now he’s really squirming. He had put another card in defense mode.

-I pull LEGENDARY FISHERMAN! Yes! Now the pain begins. I summon him, kill his goblins with my penguin, and attack his face down with Fisherman. He flips it.

It was a card that I now hate. I have never played with it, have rarely even seen one. For this card, I denounce Upper Deck AND Konami. I am never playing Metal Gear Solid or Castlevania again. This is far too broken! I completely disagree with this card and everything that the game stands for.

It’s got a picture of what looks like broccoli with rocket boosters. Yes, it was FIBER JAR. I wasn’t actually familiar with the specifics, and now in a cold sweat, began asking stupid questions like do I get to summon low level monsters like other Jars, does he forfeit his next Battle Phase, do I just sit here with an open field? Nope. I lose all around. Keep in mind I’m 27, and this kid is 8-10. I had a fit, I was ready to start cussing him out. I blamed the whole unfairness of this on him. I was ranting “That’s not fair!” and “I don’t even get to defend myself?” My voice had risen to an Urkel-like pitch. If his dad weren’t sitting next to him, I probably would have grabbed his collar across the table and shook him, demanding he do something about the text on that card.

I forget what I drew, because it didn’t even matter. He summoned a Marauding Captain and pulled out Goblins with it, hit me directly. I didn’t get my Ocean-Wall combo, put something in defense, then he summons Spear Dragon, hits my defender, and then wipes me out with Captain. He gleefully told his dad that Fiber Jar saved him. I begin talking smack to his dad about how unfair that is, and he tells me that’s why people use it.

Final score: Me 0 / Him 7200 (only damage was from his Premature Burial)

Yes, Nobleman of Crossout could have saved me. So could a dozen other cards. Oh well. So much for my killer deck, 3 months in the making. I was really angry, but it was time for round 2. This didn’t take near as long.

-Calmer now, I decided to go first, as usual pulled Terraforming the first hand. I used it to activate Ocean, but didn’t get Wall to go with it. Did get Monster Reborn though. I set the usual defense and passed.

-Once again, he starts with Marauding Captain and swarms with Goblins. 1-2, I take direct damage from Captain.

-I drew Cyber Jar. That’s better. When I activated its effect, HE drew one too. We played back-to-back Cyber Jars to build up hand. I lost a Sangan in there and searched Serpent. Then I pulled Aqua Spirit. (3 in the deck, they’re never far.) I laid a downed water monster to rest and summoned her, and attacked his defending goblins with Island Turtle. Then I slipped up and tried to Monster Reborn the freshly killed goblins and then attack, but the kid reminded me I can’t summon during a battle phase. Really losing it by now, I took it back and said never mind then. (They would have made a nice wall anyway—I wasn’t thinking clearly anymore.)

-His turn, I switched his Captain to defense mode with Aqua Spirit so it’s one less threat. He summoned a Spear Dragon and just barely bumped off Spirit.

-I used my Reborn on Aqua Spirit (should have used the Goblins now, I guess), targeted the Spear Dragon since it was now defending. I also drew my Catapult Turtle and set him in defense. (4 stars with Ocean in play)

-He summoned something else, and wiped out my two monsters, doing slight damage via Spirit’s attack mode.

-I pull FISHERMAN! Okay, good. I summon him in attack mode and destroy that Captain. He can still attack my points directly, though…damn loopholes.

-He pulls some 1800 attacker and hits me directly since Fisherman is busy looking for Charlie the Tuna. Ouch, sorry Charlie.

-I draw—STAR BOY! Yes! Now my fisherman gets a 500 ATK boost and is safe from magic. And now Star Boy and his 1050 ATK protect my life points a little. (He gets his own Water boost!) I put Star Boy in attack mode, and kill his attacker with a 2350 ATK fisherman. May have hit directly with Star Boy, I can’t remember. Doesn’t matter though.

-Here’s where it ended. He plays Marauding Captain AGAIN, swarms in Exiled Forces, tributes them to kill Fisherman (he’s not safe from card effects), and then kills Star Boy.

-I think I drew Amphibian Beast here, but couldn’t summon him. That was that, he summons still more Goblins on his turn and AGAIN kills me with a Goblin-Captain combined attack. (I thought goblins didn’t like humans, didn’t you ever see the movie Labyrinth? That Captain looks like a porn star, any minute the armor will hit the ground and corny music will start.)

This put me out of the tournament in the first round. I’m not a happy camper. I did a couple trades, then left. When I got home, I took all my cards out of the sleeves, threw them in a shoebox, turned my card album upside down and shook all my cards into it, threw in my deck box and game mats, and said to hell with this game. I quit. I have spent LOTS of time, thought, money, and resources trying to put a good deck together, and I get ousted in the first round by a little kid with a rich dad? This is crazy.

Upper Deck, I have smelled the sin on your souls! I find this game really intriguing, but I give up. I just wanted all of you to learn from my mistakes. You can do all the deck building you want, do all the eBay sniping you can afford, but some day you will lose like I did, maybe even to some fat 7 year old with a Moe Howard haircut and a Lord of D. deck.

If you’re still reading this, you are either bored or a true Yu-Gi-Oh fan. To you, I say, what about girls, young man? School? Jobs even? Have you thought about college? There are better things to do with your life. One of the first things I’m going to do with my new freedom is hit eBay or the flea market and get rid of these damn things. I would have started a bonfire, but a lot of them are worth some good money. I’m not stupid. I just get ill with 8-year olds. Shoot, I may just go to next week’s tourney and dump my shoebox upside down, and say have fun kids.

I think I’m over-reacting. This is my plea for help. I don’t think I want to give this up entirely because of one loss to a Fiber Jar. If anybody has some deck building advice, or about life in general, please talk me down from this ledge.

Before I go though, a bonus tip from my Gravity Bind deck: I always seem to pull Painful Choice on the first draw. So I started planning ahead. I keep 3 Marie the Fallen One’s in there. When I play PC, I always choose those 3, Sinister Serpent, and usually Minor Goblin Official or some other crap card it’s too early for. People always seem to pick a Marie—therefore I get 2 of them in the graveyard, and get Serpent back on the next hand. It’s a simple matter to tribute for that last Marie and get her killed off, or else wait till I have 7 cards in hand and discard her. It’s worked for me many times, it could work for you too.

Props & Slops:

Props:

-Me for making a fellow burner real happy with the Amazon Archer trade

-getting my 3^rd Gravity Bind

-making my last opponent sweat at least a little by breaking through a Marauding Captain duo

-largest turnout I’ve ever seen at this tourney

-Terraforming, for never letting me down

-To the guy sitting to my right during the tournament—his opponent played Confiscation, saying that he gets to see his hand, and so he turned up a palm and said he could talk to it as well. The other guy said No, what you’re holding. His other hand was in his lap, and he said “You really wanna know what I’m holding?” Guess you had to be there.

Slops:

-Anyone who doesn’t keep track of their own points—what am I, your secretary?

-No loser’s bracket? What do I have to look forward to then?

-Me for getting so upset and mourning the loss of time that I’ve put into this hobby, subsequently questioning my worth as a human. (It wasn’t just the game, there is other stuff going on, yes a girl is in there somewhere, and this was just the last straw.)

-Upper Deck for not doing something about Fiber Jar’s effect. They can put more clothes on the Gemini Elves, make Skull Lair and Bazoo TOO powerful, but they can’t fix this.

-The kid with the insect deck. Ha hah ha! At least I had SOME fun.

-Also me, for trading 2 foils that I never use for 3 commons I will use heavily if I ever play again. Everyone ridiculed me—apparently I’m not supposed to trade cards I don’t use for ones that I will, just because they’re shinier. I’m not distracted by shiny objects.

-Me for walking into a TV hanging from the ceiling and getting a corner jammed into my skull as I was leaving. Like I wasn’t angry enough.

-The cards in my deck that I didn’t see once through 4 games—Yata Garasu, Pot of Greed, Dark Hole, Raigeki, Deepsea Warrior, Imperial Order, Jinzo…no wonder I lost! Maybe too many cards IS my problem.

-Not thinking to use Royal Oppression against the Warrior deck—would have stopped him cold.

Advice? Ridicule? Suicide Hotline? I want to hear it.

Creon316, FORMER duelist

-Email: creon316@att.net

AOL Instant Messenger: crooner316 (Maybe I could handle an AIM duel—it’d be fun to try.)