Squirrel Wars - Episode 4: A Squirrel Hope
Vintage Stock Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
March 8, 2003
45 People
Five Dollar entry fee
Winner - 5 booster packs
2nd - 3 booster packs

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

S Q U I R R E L W A R S

(Sorry... I don't have big budget effects like George Lucas does)

Hello again, Pojo people! I'm back again for more tourney reporting from the *ahem* great state of Oklahoma (not really a galaxy far, far away, but close enough). Thanks to all of you who sent me e-mail on my last post... I appreciate whatever feedback I can get. I hope I can keep you entertained with my riveting saga about a young man (no... not Luke Skywalker... me!) and his battle against the evil forces of darkness. Well, not really... but, it sure sounds cool, doesn't it?

I went to three tournaments this weekend, so I'm posting three separate reports. So, since I have a lot of typing to do, I'm going to get right to the reporting.

Attack of the Killer Squirrels!!! (40 cards total)

Monsters (19)
Cyber Jar
Gearfried the Iron Knight
Goblin Attack Force
Magician of Faith X2
Man-Eater Bug X2
Nimble Momonga X3 (Killer Squirrels!!!)
Sangan
Summoned Skull
The Fiend Megacyber
Trap Master
Wall of Illusion X2
White Magical Hat X2
Witch of the Black Forest

Magic (12)
Change of Heart
Dark Hole
Fissure
Heavy Storm
Monster Reborn
Nobleman of Crossout
Nobleman of Extermination
Pot of Greed
Premature Burial
Raigeki
Snatch Steal
Swords of Revealing Light

Traps (9)
Call of the Haunted
Dust Tornado
Imperial Order
Magic Jammer
Mirror Force
Seven Tools of the Bandit
Trap Hole X2
Waboku

Side Deck (15):
4-Starred Ladybug of Doom
Sangan
Trap Master
Wall of Illusion
Card Destruction
Confiscation
Delinquent Duo
Eternal Rest
Nobleman of Crossout
Nobleman of Extermination
Chain Destruction
Magic Drain
Seven Tools of the Bandit
Trap Hole
Waboku

For those of you who remember my last post: you can see that I now have all of the "staple" cards that were absent from my last deck. But... I STILL HAVEN'T RECEIVED MY JINZO!!! An address mistake on the money order delayed its delivery about three weeks (Curse you, Western Union), so I am going into this weekend one weapon short.

As always, this tournament was a single-duel, single-elimination tournament (i.e. you lose, you're out!) I don't like it, but since Vintage Stock has the only Upper Deck sanctioned tournaments in the area, I'm in no position to quibble.

Before the tournament, I did some trading to acquire some tough to find cards for a friend of mine (shout out to Steven). I managed to get a Nobleman of Crossout, a Pot of Greed, and... AN IMPERIAL ORDER!!! I was pretty stoked about that... until I found out that Steven had traded for one of his own earlier that day (D'oh!)

After that, it was time for some warm up duels with Justin, Josh, CJ, Mason, and Justin again (he was mad that I didn't use my tournament deck against him in the first duel, so he challenged me to another using my tournament deck... it wasn't pretty). Finally, the saga... er... tournament begins...

First Duel - BigSpooky vs. Donny (Basic Beatdown)

Poor Donny. I think I faced him in my first tournament, where I beat him with my Gaia Power deck. Sad... my deck is much stronger now.

Not much to say about this duel... it was over in about five turns. I did take damage from him attacking my Man-Eater Bug with a Darkfire Soldier and my own Imperial Order. But my Summoned Skull and a Snatch Stolen Harpie's Brother pretty much owned the field.

Final Score: 6050-0

Second Duel - BigSpooky vs. CanOpenR/Laurence (Umi/Tornado Wall/Legendary Fisherman)

Aw, man... why do I end up always facing one of the top two duelists in the store in the second round? Oh well... I beat him once, so I could do it again (assuming that a divine intervention occurred to remove the Magic Cylinder and Tornado Wall from Laurence's deck).

I opened the duel by playing Pot of Greed. Then, in what I believed to be a clever move, I played Magician of Faith facedown (hee hee!) Of course, Laurence promptly Dark Holes it (Aaaaarrrrgh!!!) He then attacks with Harpie's Brother for 1800 damage. However, fate was on my side as I drew a Killer Squirrel. I set it face down, and Laurence attacked (Woohoo!!! Life points for Spooky!) The next few turns were uneventful... at least until I drew my Cyber Jar. I managed to keep Laurence from attacking it, then I flipped it on my turn. Fate was with me as I drew four monsters to his one. Two turns and one Snatch Steal later, I had won it (though his Magic Cylinder took a hefty chunk out of my life points when I attacked with Summoned Skull).

Final Score: 800-0

Third Duel - BigSpooky vs. Josh (McDonalds)

I call Josh's deck a McDonald's deck because he runs Cosmo Queen and Millennium Shield in it. The opening was basically both of us trying to get our tribute monsters out - a Summoned Skull for me and a Millennium Shield for him. I did take some damage early on when I attacked his Millennium Shield with my Summoned Skull. But that made his the Millennium Shield easy prey for my Fissure card. My joy was quickly squashed next turn when I attacked his facedown monster with my Summoned Skull to reveal... Kiseitai (dang flying leech!!!) Unfortunately, the 1250 life points Josh got each turn at my poor Summoned Skull's expense wasn't enough to keep me from decimating his life points. After a few summons and a Premature Burial on my part (along with the destruction of several of Josh's monsters by Summoned Skulls), Josh was sitting at zero.

Final Score: 6700-0

Semifinals - BigSpooky vs. DragonDueler/Lance (Exodia... or is it?)

This duel would've been hilarious if not for the fact that it was so stressful. The previous week, Lance crushed me 0-7600. This week, though, he was running Exodia. So, I did something that, at the time, seemed clever by swapping out a few cards for Confiscation, Delinquent Duo, and Card Destruction. It wasn't until about halfway through the duel that I realized that Lance had swapped his Exodia deck for his normal Beatdown deck... just for me. How sweet!

I began the duel by playing my Delinquent Duo ("Dang! No Exodia pieces!") From there, Lance did a dance on my life points, which knocked me down to 4600. Fortunately, I managed to con him into attacking a couple of Squirrels to boost me up to 6600. Unfortunately, Lance hadn't quite finished his jig. A few turns later, the score stood at 3800-7000 (Lance's only damage coming from a stray shot from my Sangan). He had equipped a Hayabusa knight with an Axe of Despair, and set his sights on my facedown card. But, in a rare moment of brilliance on my part, I blew his Axe of Despair away with Dust Tornado, and he took 200 points of damage from my Witch of the Black Forest. After destroying his Hayabusa Knight, my Witch steadily chipped away at his life points, until the score sat at 3400-3800. After a Dark Hole on my Witch (that allowed me to pull my Summoned Skull), I set a Trap Master to get rid of his facedown trap card (which I knew to be a Trap Hole). And, while I did manage to get rid of the Trap Hole (and 500 of his life points in the process), I quickly paid for it when he laid into my Trap Master with a Goblin Attack Force equipped with an Axe of Despair. Clinging to hope at 1000 life points, I used Snatch Steal on his Goblin Attack Force, tributed it for Summoned Skull, and attacked for 2500 points of damage of my own. Unable to pull a monster cards, Lance lost his remaining 400 life points in the next turn.

Final Score: 1000-0

So now I'm 2-2 lifetime against Lance. And both victories without Jinzo. Not bad...

Finals (aka Devin Déjà vu) - BigSpooky vs. Colton (Balanced Beatdown)

You know, after the beating I received from Devin a few weeks back, you'd think that I'd stop underestimating kids by now. Well, you'd be wrong.

I played terrible in this one. Granted, Colton had an insanely lucky draw, while I drew only a mediocre hand. But I really did most of the work for him. I started with a Killer Squirrel facedown. Colton promptly played Change of Heart, tributed for Summoned Skull, and attacked me for 2500 damage. Well, one good theft deserves another, so I drew Snatch Steal, took his Summoned Skull, and attacked him back for 2500. He responds with Raigeki (geez!) and hits me for another 2000 with his Dark Elf. Next two turns, I draw Dark Hole and Raigeki, which I use to destroy his monsters. Unfortunately, I only have The Fiend Megacyber in my hand... which I can't play because he only has one monster on the field. So I can't defend against him directly attacking my life points. Finally, I draw a Man-Eater Bug and set it on the field. He responds with a facedown card of his own.

Now it's time for a quiz: If you have a Man-Eater Bug on the field, The Fiend Megacyber in your hand, and your opponent has no magic or trap cards on the field and one facedown monster, what do you do?
a) Flip the Man-Eater Bug in your hand to destroy his facedown monster, then tribute the Man-Eater Bug for The Fiend Megacyber
b) Flip the Man-Eater Bug in your hand to destroy his facedown monster, then tribute the Man-Eater Bug for The Fiend Megacyber
c) Flip the Man-Eater Bug in your hand to destroy his facedown monster, then tribute the Man-Eater Bug for The Fiend Megacyber
d) Flip the Man-Eater Bug in your hand to destroy his facedown monster, then tribute the Man-Eater Bug for The Fiend Megacyber

Well, the answer I chose was e) Idiotically play the Nobleman of Crossout in your hand, then have to choose if you want to waste the Man-Eater Bug to bring The Fiend Megacyber on the field. Of course, I chose not to waste the Man-Eater Bug. Next turn, Colton plays one more monster facedown along with a facedown magic/trap. Then, I finally make the move I should've made one turn earlier by flipping my Man-Eater Bug to destroy his facedown monster, then tributing it to bring The Fiend Megacyber on the field... which Colton Trap Holes (Aaarrrrgh!!!) One attack from a Goblin Attack Force finished off my life points and gave Colton the win.

Final Score: 0-5500

I gotta quit playing down to these kids...

Well, I ended up winning three packs of Labyrinth of Nightmare cards. I didn't pull any good rares. I did, however, get Bait Doll and Skull Lair. You'll get to see them in action in my next tournament report.

Props:
Colton - for beating me and winning the tournament

Devin - for doing the EXACT SAME THING two weeks ago that Colton did today

Justin, CJ, Mason, Donny, Laurence, Josh, and Lance - Thank you for the duels

Vintage Stock - for hosting the tournament

Slops:
Me - for being a moron and losing to Colton because I didn't take him seriously

CJ - For losing in the first round because he didn't play Solemn Judgment when his opponent played his THIRD Ground Collapse (dude... all those monsters won't help you if you don't have anyplace to put them). In all fairness, though, I think he did misplay it, since you did have a monster on the field...

Vintage Stock - Why won't you do best two-out-of-three... I might have had a chance against Colton then. Of course, I probably would have ended up losing to Laurence or Lance...

Bad Sports - No explanation necessary

Comments, suggestions, death threats? Send them to BigSpooky1@hotmail.com. Please do not send me offers to trade cards... I don't have that many good extras, and the ones I do are in high enough demand here in Oklahoma.

I'm also available for online duels in Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist League. E-mail me if you would like to duel sometime. Non-ladder duels only please... those ladder duelists are way too uptight.

Enjoy my tourney report? Then please read the next chronicle in my dueling saga - Squirrel Wars - Episode 5: The Squirrels Strike Back.