SQUIRREL STEAMROLLER !
Vintage
Stock Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
July 12, 2003 40 People $5
Winner
– 5 booster packs 2nd – 3 booster
packs 3rd – 1 booster pack
Top
Deck Games Tulsa, Oklahoma July 12, 2003 50
People $3
Winner
– 3 booster packs 2nd – 2 booster
packs 3rd & 4th – 1 booster pack
Wizard’s
Asylum Tulsa, Oklahoma July
13, 2003 50 People $3
Winner
– 5 booster packs 2nd – 3 booster
packs 3rd through 8th – 1 booster
pack
Top
Deck Games Tulsa, Oklahoma July 14, 2003 20
People $3
Winner
– 3 booster packs 2nd – 2 booster
packs 3rd & 4th – 1 booster pack
Wow! It sure as been a while hasn’t it? Welcome again to another one of BigSpooky’s
tournament reports. I am your excellent
host, BigSpooky. And, as always, my
sidekicks… the Killer Squirrels!
To
those of you who’ve been wondering where I’ve been, I’ve had quite a bit going
on lately. Work has been murder (that’s
just an expression… I’m not an assassin), I’ve been vainly trying to get
enrolled into the Master’s of Accountancy program at the University of
Oklahoma, and KSO has been going crazy.
With all that has been going on lately, I’ve had trouble finding time to
sleep, much less write tournament reports.
However, I did want to write a report for the christening of my new deck
– SQUIRREL STEAMROLLER!
First
a few props to issue. I’d like to
congratulate all of the qualifiers for the Worldwide tournament at Madison
Square Garden (particularly Tapion/Rick Anderson – winner of the Central
Region). I’ve heard a BUNCH of duelists
complaining that the selection process for the Championships was unfair… and
even a few who boasted that they could beat the best. Well, O misinformed ones, I have news for you: I am one of the
best, and I couldn’t hang with them! I
ended up taking first at the official tournament in my area 10 out of the 14
weeks in Season Three. Yet, several
people still finished ahead of me in the Central Region.
I
don’t doubt that many of you braggarts could beat me or any other duelist once
or twice. But to be as good as the
qualifiers are requires consistently performing at a high level. So, while the whiners might win one or two
duels, the champions would in the remaining 98 out of 100. It’s a real shame that so many duelists out
there feel that they need to criticize the best rather than congratulate
them. I, however, do not suffer from
this lack of self-esteem. To one and
all of the qualifiers: I commend you and wish you luck representing our country
at Madison Square Garden in August!
I’ve
decided to skip my usual rant, since there isn’t really anything that has been
bothering me too much (except for the worthless wastes of human flesh known as
“Thieves”… but most of you are well aware of my feelings towards them). I would, however, like to take a quick
moment to remind all duelists out there that, while Yu-Gi-Oh! is a lot of fun,
it is only a game. Whether we win or
lose the game won’t matter in the long run.
It’s the character that we build when we duel that helps
us become better… both as duelists and as people.
Bottom
line: Winning duels is fine, but really unimportant overall. Being courteous to your opponents, taking time
to help others, and being a good sport (and, thereby, becoming a better person)
are the real rewards that each of us should be striving for. Those are all things that will help us
become winners in the game of life!
ON
TO THE DECK!!!
SQUIRREL
STEAMROLLER ! (40 cards total)
Monsters (17)
Airknight
Parshath
Bazoo
the Soul Eater X2
Exiled
Force
Goblin
Attack Force X3
Marauding
Captain X2
Nimble
Momonga X3 (KILLER SQUIRRELS!!!)
Sangan
Spear
Dragon X3
Witch
of the Black Forest
Magic (17)
Change
of Heart
Dark
Hole
Graceful
Charity X2
Harpie’s
Feather Duster
Heavy
Storm
Monster
Reborn
Mystical
Space Typhoon X2
Nobleman
of Crossout X2
Pot
of Greed
Premature
Burial
Raigeki
Reinforcement
of the Army X2
Snatch
Steal
Traps (6)
Call
of the Haunted
Imperial
Order
Mirror
Force
Waboku
X3
Side Deck (15)
Cyber
Jar
Possessed
Dark Soul X2
Sinister
Serpent
Card
Destruction
Delinquent
Duo
Exchange
Fissure
X2
Mystical
Space Typhoon
Painful
Choice
Soul
Release X2
Swords
of Revealing Light
Torrential
Tribute
OK,
before I get any e-mails on the subject, I know that I need a Jinzo. Aside from that small deficiency, this deck
runs remarkably well. I’ve had to tweak
it a bit here and there, but it’s pretty solid overall.
I decided
to switch to a beatdown deck after my Squirrel 2.0/2.1 deck got hammered at
three consecutive tournaments. With the
release of Spear Dragon, Airknight Parshath, and [shudder] Possessed Dark Soul,
a lot of the strategies that I used to make Squirrel 2.0 successful were no
longer viable. So I toyed around with a
few different deck ideas (including a Fire-type deck with Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi that
was absolutely EVIL!) I finally settled
on this deck.
Saturday
10:00 AM – Vintage Stock (official tournament)
Well,
after an unbelievable run of TEN consecutive official tournament victories, I
had lost in the early rounds four weeks in a row. To make matters worse, some of the stronger duelists in the Tulsa
area had decided to “invade” my store for more of a challenge. Last week, I wasn’t up to the challenge as
Sammy (The Unstoppable Sammy – #2 in Oklahoma) demolished my Fire deck in the
third round.
Now
it was time if those who desired to crush King Spooky would be able to hang
with his new deck – Squirrel Steamroller!
KSO
Notes: There were a plethora of
KSOers in attendance today: SquirrelMasterTate (Alex), OMSstuud (CJ), Milkman
(Cody), Jake Rake (Jake), and Mr. Zero (my brother). Good luck to all!
First
round - BigSpooky gets a bye
It’s
good to be the king!
KSO
Update: Alex unfortunately went out
in the first round, but all the other KSOers won the first round in high style…
especially Jake… who took out David (one of the top duelists in Tulsa) pretty
handily.
Second
Round - BigSpooky vs. Jordan (Beatdown)
Wasn’t
much to the duel. Jordan was relatively
new to the game. He hit me a couple of
times (for 1800 and 600), but he also ran headlong into a Squirrel. From there, my Bazoo and my Squirrels
cleared a path for me to victory.
Final
Score: 6600-0
KSO
Update: While CJ lost round two to
my next opponent, everyone else in KSO advanced. However, round two was tainted by the fact that Lance (one of the
more respected duelists in Tulsa) threw a tantrum and forfeited his match to
Cody.
What
was Lance so upset about? He believed
that he could chain Waboku to the activation of Injection Fairy Lily’s effect,
and thereby make Cody pay 2000 points while he took no damage (NOTE: Cody was
using Lily to attack directly).
The
sad part of this tale was not that Lance was whining about not being able to
play this illegal move, but the fact that he was whining at all. As I have said many times, we adults in
Yu-Gi-Oh! have a responsibility to act maturely in every situation. If we don’t, then why should any of the kids
behave themselves. I fear that Lance
was so obsessed with winning and being right that he let it affect his actions
adversely… and, in my eyes at least, lost a lot of respect as a sportsman and a
duelist.
Third
Round - BigSpooky vs. Ben
(Yata/Gravity Bind)
I
had absolutely no business winning this duel.
Ben should have Yata-locked me.
Fortunately, I was able to play Premature Burial on my Spear Dragon so
that I could get my draw phase back.
Ben tried to be aggressive by summoning his Marauding Captain (equipped
with an Axe of Despair) and special summoning a Cyber Jar (in attack mode…
LOL). However, the ability to draw
proved to be the key as I pulled one of the Possessed Dark Souls that I had
side decked.
Final
Score: 300-0
KSO
Update: Once again, all KSOers moved
on into the quarterfinals – Mr. Zero would be facing The Unstoppable Sammy;
Cody would be facing Eugene (an up-and-coming “invader” from California whose
deepest desire seems to be beating me); and I would be facing Jake (only six
people in the quarters, I know… don’t ask me how it works!)
Quarterfinals - BigSpooky vs. Jake (Relinquished/Gravity Bind)
While
he didn’t have Yata-Garasu in his deck for me to worry about, Jake’s deck is
formidable in its own right. Fortunately,
Possessed Dark Soul’s effect works on Relinquished, too. Realizing his mistake too late, Jake
discovered the folly in absorbing my Witch of the Black Forest with his
Relinquished. I Heavy Stormed (and
thereby used Witch’s effect to grab my Possessed Dark Soul), summoned and
tributed my Possessed Dark Soul to get his Relinquished, then absorbed his
Sonic Bird and punished him with it. He
was able to go on the offensive for a while… but only against my Squirrels.
Final
Score: 9100-0
KSO
Update: Along with me, Mr. Zero won
(by pulverizing The Unstoppable Sammy).
Cody also eeked out a victory, but controversy once again reared its
ugly head. Cody attacked Eugene’s facedown
monster with Jinzo, then attacked directly with his Injection Fairy Lily for
what was supposedly the duel.
Unfortunately, Cody only had 1900 LP left, so he wouldn’t have been able
to win the duel. But by the time that
Eugene realized this, they had both picked up their cards.
Let
this be a lesson to all: KEEP TRACK OF YOUR SCORE WITH PEN AND PAPER!!!
Poor
Cody… controversy seems to follow him and Lily everywhere.
Since
there were only three people in the semifinals, we ended up having to draw to
see who would get the bye. As it turned
out, I got it once again.
Semifinals - BigSpooky gets a bye
KSO
Update: While Cody did slap my
brother around quite a bit in the first duel, Mr. Zero should’ve won the second
duel easily. However, he was more
focused on the fact that he had to use the restroom (there are no public facilities
at Vintage Stock), and missed an obvious move for victory. So Cody took the duel and the match.
OK
invader… let’s see if you can dodge the Steamroller… heh heh heh!
Finals - BigSpooky vs. Cody (Yata/Gravity Bind)
Duel
1 – Not much to say here… Cody punished me by Change of Hearting my Goblin
Attack Force, and hitting me with it and his Hayabusa Knight equipped with
United We Stand (7500… owie!). I
couldn’t do much after that as he played Raigeki and hit me for the remaining
500 with his own Killer Squirrel.
Final
Score: 0-8000
Duel
2 – Cody was still gloating about his two turn win when I thrashed him in one
and a half turns in this duel. My Cyber
Jar (which I side decked in to deal with Yata-Garasu) gave me a Goblin Attack
Force, Spear Dragon, and Bazoo. Raigeki
and Heavy Storm cleared the way for my baddies, and a Marauding Captain and a
[snicker] Killer Squirrel of my own finished the duel.
Final
Score: 8000-0
Duel
3 – This duel did last longer than either of our previous two. But it was not a lot different from the
second one in its composition. While I
did take some damage from my Delinquent Duo, my Airknight Parshath did most of
the talking… particularly to Cody’s Scapegoats!
Final
Score: 7000-0
No
controversy here… SPOOKY WINS!
The
aftermath: Sammy turns out to be stoppable after all; Eugene doesn’t get to be
the man, since he didn’t beat the man; and, BigSpooky is still the Alpha
Squirrel at Vintage Stock. It looks
like I finally have a deck that’s a worthy successor to Squirrel 2.0…
…
at least until Pharaonic Guardian comes out and messes things up again!
The
rest of the tournament report will be a quick rundown of the other tournaments
that I participated in this weekend… not a lot of detail.
Saturday
2:00 PM – Top Deck Games
How
I wish they’d make Top Deck an official tournament. There’s more room, the format is better, and all of the good
duelists in Tulsa are usually there.
If
only it weren’t so hot all of the time!
First
round - BigSpooky vs. Mike
He
was able to hang with me for a bit in the first duel, but the Squirrels came
rolling through eventually.
Spooky
wins in two.
Second
round - BigSpooky vs. Brandon
He
runs a deck very much like mine… sans Squirrels. Apparently they made the difference as I edged him out in both
duels.
Spooky
wins in two.
Third
round - BigSpooky vs. Ryan
Never
an easy duel against Ryan. While he’s
relatively new to the tournament scene, he has a formidable deck, and he runs
it rather well. He usually wins as many
as he loses against me. Still, I was
better today.
Spooky
wins in two.
Semifinals - BigSpooky vs. Sammy (The Unstoppable Sammy)
While
I like dueling Sammy because it’s a challenge, he is awfully good. I can usually tell before a duel if I’m
going to be able to win… except whenever I duel my brother or Sammy. But I did manage to win this one.
Spooky
wins in three.
It
was me and my brother in the finals.
Since this wasn’t an official tournament, we decided to split the
victory. The packs all go to the same
place anyway.
Sunday
12:00 PM – Wizard’s Asylum
Big
tournament at Wizard’s Asylum this week… over fifty people. Among them was my friend Marc, his son
Jordan, and [pant] [pant] his daughter Toni.
Toni is a cute eighteen year old who plays in tournaments once in a
while with her brother and dad. The
older teenagers are usually falling all over themselves when she’s around. Not that I don’t understand… she makes me
wish I were ten years younger!
As
it stands, I’m a lot closer to her father’s age! :P
Shout
out to the KSO members in the crowd – Cody, Jake, and Zeke
First
round - BigSpooky vs. Ludwig
Ludwig
is another one of the new faces to the tournament crowd. He has some great cards, but still doesn’t
use them quite as effectively as he could.
That is about the only thing that allows me to still win against him.
Spooky
wins in two.
Second
round - BigSpooky vs. Marc
Ah
the joys of age-matching. I knew it wouldn’t
take long before the two oldest people in the store were matched against each
other. I also knew it wouldn’t take
long before Marc started beating me.
Spooky
loses in three.
Third
round - BigSpooky vs. Laurence
My past
string of thrashings over Laurence has come to an abrupt halt lately. He’s managed to take me down quite a few
times recently… today notwithstanding.
Spooky
loses in three.
With
a 1-2 record, I knew I wouldn’t make the elimination rounds. So I bid my fellow KSO members “Adieu!”;
slapped Sammy around a bit (Who’s your daddy?
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!); took one last look at Toni (heh heh!); and headed
home.
KSO
Update: I found out later that Jake
won the tournament. Way to go,
Jake! Props from the Spookster!
Monday
6:00 PM – Top Deck Games
The
Monday evening tournaments have only recently become popular at Top Deck. For a while, there were only six people
participating!
First
round - BigSpooky vs. Devin
Riding
on the coattails of his father (Laurence), Devin abused me in the first
duel. But I was able to make a comeback
in the second and third duels.
Spooky
wins in three.
Second
round - BigSpooky vs. John
While
John has a very formidable Dragon deck, he does tend to be a bit too aggressive
with it. Not even two mighty Blue Eyes
White Dragons are immune to a Mirror Force!
Spooky
wins in two.
Third
round - BigSpooky vs. Dat
One
of my favorite duelists in Tulsa had returned from a trip to Houston. Dat is every bit the duelist that Sammy is…
without all of the arrogance (that and the fact that he’s never called me “Mr.
Princess”). Leave it to BigSpooky to
ruin Dat’s homecoming.
Spooky
wins in two.
Semifinals - BigSpooky vs. Sammy (The Unstoppable Sammy)
Rematch
from Saturday? Sure, Sammy. And I’ll even let you get lucky (EXTREMELY
lucky) in the first duel so that I can come back and toy with you in the second
duel. As for the third duel, I’ll take
that one, too!
Spooky
wins in three (Who’s your daddy?)
Finals - BigSpooky vs. Travis
On
one hand, I feel really bad for Travis because he’s had some rough things
happen in his life lately. On the other
hand, I often feel like slapping him silly because he acts like a spoiled
bratpunk. While I do wish that he
didn’t have to deal with some of the problems that he has to deal with
(problems that no one should ever have to go through ), I didn’t feel too bad
about beating him.
Spooky
wins in two.
Four
tournaments, three firsts. Not bad at
all. My deck still needs some work, but
I think it will be ready for the weeks to come.
Heck,
Pharaonic Guardian should make things even more interesting!
Props:
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA !!!!
Because we
are living in the greatest country in the
entire world!
So don’t be afraid to show some pride!
And don’t forget to support out troops!
Squirrel
Steamroller – For providing an outstanding replacement for Squirrel 2.0… and
showing everyone how versatile Squirrels can be!
Killer
Squirrels Online! (and all of its members) – Helping everyone become better
duelists and better people. Too cool!
All
of my opponents that I dueled this weekend (even TUS) – I had fun… I hope you
did, too!
Alex
– For a really cool gesture of friendship a few months back. You may not be tall, but you’re a giant in
my eyes, buddy!
Vintage
Stock, Top Deck, and Wizard’s Asylum – For hosting the tournaments.
Toni
– Just for being you [drool!] ;)
Slops:
Lance
and David – For whining and complaining at the Vintage Stock tournament. Nothing wrong with acting like a child… IF
YOU’RE A CHILD!!!
Me
– For provoking Lance and David
The
Backwards Knights (Dark Age, Majin Towlie, Colonel Sanders, and company) –
Because I figured that I should mention them in here somewhere.
Vintage
Stock – Match play? Pretty please? I’ll give you a cookie!
Bad
Sports – Who’d have ever thought that I would be putting Lance and David in
this category?
Whiny,
little bratpunks – Lance and David aren’t really “little”, but…
Thieves
– Much like Cartman feels about Stan and Kyle, “I hate you guys… I really,
really hate you guys!” But not in a
humorous, South Park-ish kind of way… more in a “die slowly and painfully,
then burn forever in Ha Des” kind of way.
Comments,
suggestions, death threats? Send them to BigSpooky1@hotmail.com
. No online trading offers, please… I’m
just too paranoid. You can thank that
liar, cheat, and thief Steven for that!
If
you have any questions, need help with your deck, or you want to become a
member of Killer Squirrels Online!, please send your e-mail to one of
these addresses:
Daedalus/Kris rage4zero@yahoo.com OMSstuuud/C.J. OMSskater08@aol.com
SquirrelMasterTate/Alex shortysact@aol.com Milkman/Cody milkman406@yahoo.com
Metalhead
Squirrel/Patrick GreenSlime27@aol.com
All
of these individuals are very good duelists, and they have my utmost
respect. They will be more than happy
to answer any questions you have or to help you with your deck.
If
you want to become a member of Killer Squirrels Online!, then please
send an e-mail (including your decklist and a link to your most recent
tournament report) to one of the above e-mail addresses (membership will not be
approved without a decklist AND a link to a tournament report). If you’ve never posted a tournament report,
then send us a decklist and a paragraph stating why you think good
sportsmanship and fair play are important to the game of Yu-Gi-Oh! People who have not written a tournament
report will be approved for temporary membership (to become full members once
they write their first report!)
You
can also visit the official KSO homepage at:
http://209.242.16.197/auction_pictures/Cards/images.html
And
chat on the KSO forum at:
http://209.242.16.197/cgi-bin/yabb/yabb.cgi
(Don’t
worry, Pojo… we aren’t trying to compete with you! We all still think that you’re the bomb! ;)
“What’s
not to like? Custard? Good!
Jam? Good! Beef?
GOOD!” - Friends