I play at A to Z Comics in Blue Springs, MO. This is THE tournament to go to if you want to compete against the best in this region. This isn't league play at the Toys are Us. These guys are for real, and it's taken quite a lot of time for me to even make the finals with a Clown deck! I was told by the current Hot-shot (4 consecutive wins), that I was the only person he remembers getting to the finals with a "Weenie" deck. The biggest reason for this, is because this is the land of the Removal/Beatdown. With all the Magic/Trap removal around, and then couple that with monster removal; the Clowns never worked well enough to get me higher than 5^th for the longest time, (I did stay at 5^th place for about 3-4 weeks in a row, that was frustrating…)

We play 4 people throughout the day, and keep record of all 3. I believe they call this a "Swiss Round". Then, after everyone has played 4 rounds of 3 games, those that are still undefeated (3 games complete one duel) after playing 4 people (the 4^th round pitts all undefeated players against other undefeated players), move on to the finals. If there are no undefeated players, then the top 4 would be decided by number of individual games won. If you lost one duel all day, you'd probably have a record of 3 matches won and 10 games won. And that would beat out someone who had won 3 matches and only 9 games. If there is a tie after that, then everyone's total life points from all 4 matches are added up, and that will decide the final 4. It's hard to figure out at first, but you eventually get used to it. It's also a great environment to learn in, because you play 4 different people, you aren't eliminated if you sit down to your first game with the original winner.

Now, on to this week…

If you are squeamish about reading, you should move on to another report. I wore a voice recorder, to be able to remember more, and this got very technical. Be warned.

I remember Kyle (I don't use last names for internet security reasons) from his first duel back about 6 weeks ago. He's gotten a lot better since playing Battle Oxes and Rouge Dolls. I'm going to have to start remembering to jot down my opening hand, but for now, please bear with me. 1^st turn, I set a Penguin Soldier face down, and a Gravity Bind. Then let him go. He attacked with a 7 Colored Fish and I activate my Gravity Bind. Then, (this surprised me coming from him) he played 7 Tools of the Bandit on my Gravity Bind! Whoa, good going Kyle! So, my Penguin died, but did leave him with an empty field. And I had saved a Messenger of Peace in case of something like that. So, when I went to play my Messenger, he activates a Magic Jammer!!! Awesome move Kyle! But, I had that covered and countered with my own 7 Tools! We were now both at 7000. I then set a Crass Clown, which Kyle then Acid Trap Holed! I couldn't get anything done! I played Graceful Charity, didn't get much, set a Magician of Faith. Set a couple cards and ended my turn. Flipped my Magician and got back the Charity, and played it. I know I had some good cards somewhere! I didn't panic, but I did not have the options that I needed. He had monsters on the field that I couldn't remove. I set a couple more cards. And then summoned a Dream Clown, which he Trap Holed! Wow, this was starting to get ugly. Somehow, my Messenger has survived this long. I did have a Jammer set. He activates a Solemn Wishes, to bring him back to 8000. I'm still setting monsters, and I'm not scared anymore of a Heavy Storm, because of his active Solemn Wishes. Then he plays Nobleman of Extermination on my Magic Jammer! So I lose two from my deck. He then played a Jar of Greed, and then I attacked his 7 Colored Fish, to take 700 points and get out a Penguin. On my next turn, I flip a Mask of Darkness. And then play Raigeki. I go to attack with three monsters, and he activates SCAPEGOAT, so I play IMPERIAL ORDER, then he activates 7 TOOLS OF THE BANDIT, then I played 7 TOOLS ON HIS 7 TOOLS!!! COUNTERMEASURES!!!

He took 2200 points, then I set a monster, and ended my turn. He raises to 7300, I'm at 3900. I then attack his Cyber Jar to give him a Sinister Serpent and a Parasite Paracide. I then attack his Serpent, and Reborn a Dream Clown to attack his Parasite. I shuffled that into my deck, and when we open our eyes, it's not too far from the top of my deck, maybe 2-3 turns. He got his Serpent Back, and got 500 points.

I kept Imperial Order up to keep him from playing Dark Hole, which he tried. He flipped another Solemn Wishes. I flip my Hiro's Shadow Scout, to hopefully get rid of more magic so I can be safer from his spells. He had to discard his Monster Reborn, I then destroyed his Serpent my Dream Clown. I summon Morphing Jar #2 in attack mode, to give another 800 points to the onslaught. I then attack with a Killer Squirrel, the Jar, and Hiro's Shadow Scout, for a total of 2450. That dropped him to 5750. He got 1000 points. He summoned a Harpie's brother and set a couple other cards. I then have to think hard about weather I want to keep paying the Imperial Order. I don't pay for the Imperial Order, I played the Monster Reborn I brought back with my Magician. I get a 7 Colored Fish from his Graveyard. I kill both by attacking his Harpie's Brother, attack with 4 creatures for 3450 points. I end by playing a Messenger of Peace. He's now at 4300. His turn. He plays Heavy Storm but I can Jam it, he plays Swords of Revealing Light, which flips my Magician of Faith, so I bring back Raigeki. My turn, I draw his Parasite Paracide, and take 1000 points. I'm at 2100 with Messenger of Peace out. I play Raigeki, and if it wasn't for his Swords, would be game over soon, I have 5 monsters out. He summons Sangan, to attack my Magician, and I take 700. I'm at 1400 and he's at 5300. Next turn. I pay for my Messenger of Peace, I set a monster, and destroy Sangan with the Dream Clown. After he bumps himself up to 6300, he plays Giant Trunade, and then replays Swords of Revealing light. I play Nobleman of Crossout on his face down Penguin, I have to take one out of my deck. He plays Fiend Megacyber. I activate a Gravity Bind. I destroy the Fiend MegaCyber with Dream Clown, and I'm in my 1st turn under Swords of Revealing Light. I reset my Dream Clown, and he's still building points. Kyle is back up to 8300 points. This game is extremely long now. I played Nobleman of Crossout on his Sinister Serpent. The Swords have pretty much saved him. The Swords end and I'm just trying to end the game as quick as I can so I play Pot of Greed, summon another Dream Clown, I flip Nimble Momonga. I destroy the Fiend Megacyber with my first Dream Clown. It won't matter long, I know I only have about 2-3 cards left in my deck. He plays something like a Dian Keto, and I just tell him that we can call it 15,000 points. I'm still at 1,100. I draw my last card, and call it quits. Great job, Kyle!!!

We are very close to the 10 minute warning, so we're both trying to speed things along. I really want to get this rolling, so I don't go to my side deck. I was thinking about bringing in the Shallow Graves and maybe a Soul Release, to deny him his flip monsters if they are in there. But I just go straight up, without giving him any second-guesses this game. I'm thinking to myself that I had underestimated Kyle based on how he did against me last time. He's gotten much better, so I don't mess around this time.

I open up with a Messenger of Peace, set a pretty good Magic, and play Card Destruction, with the only monster that I had (Hiro's Shadow Scout) in order to get some more monsters that can do something. So, I discard 3 and draw 3, I have a Dream Clown on the field. He plays Monster Reborn on his Summoned Skull, and sets a monster. I play Nobleman of Crossout on his facedown, I was able to destroy his Summoned Skull with one Dream Clown, and then attack with the other Dream Clown, but he activates Scapegoats, which keeps me off his lifepoints. On his turn, he sets one monster facedown. On my turn, I switch my Clowns to destroy the facedown Cyber jar, and then he's left with 1 Goat. On his turn, he plays Noblemen of Extermination on a face down Gravity Bind! I have to remove two from play, but I still have one in my hand and an active Messenger of Peace. I'm at 7700, I can remove one Goat by switching my Clowns (which was a tactical error, I should have just attacked with that Clown to keep him in attack position) and I then attack with a Sangan and a Dream Clown. He then plays Swords of Revealing Light. His field is clear, I activate Imperial Order in order to keep up my onslaught, but alas, he plays 7 Tools on my Order. So I'm going to have to wait. Kyle is now at 4800. He plays Giant Trunade, to bring Swords back to his hand. He then plays Nobleman of Crossout on my Penguin Soldier, I have to remove all of them. He then plays Swords again. I play Messenger of Peace again, and then we switch turns pretty quickly. He plays Goblin Secret Remedy, for a quick 600 life boost. I was able to Baitdoll one of his Magic Jammers. I then can attack with a Sangan and two Dream Clowns, for 3,400. Kyle is now at 2000. It's my turn again. I can switch my Clowns again, and then attack with another 3400, to end the game.

Now, I'm running quickly to start the next game. I know that if it ends now, Kyle would win on Life Points.

Kyle goes first, and brings out Sangan in attack position. I bring out a Dream Clown going to kill it directly, but he plays Solemn Judgement!!! Yes, that might be all I need. He must be terrified of the Dream Clowns! He's at 4000. And I end. He plays Nobleman of Extermination on my first Magic Jammer. He killed all my Jammers in the first 3 rounds! He brings out his Summoned Skull to attack me directly. I'm at 5500.

I set a Penguin and end, he attacks the Penguin, and I send them back to his hand. I can attack with my Killer Squirrel! He then activates a Solemn Wishes, I play Nobleman of Crossout on his Cyber Jar! And then he's at 2,500! He's now at 3,000. TIME IS THEN CALLED! I'm at 5,500, and he's at 3,000. I'm winner of the last and I get the match. That was close. Kyle has turned into a half decent tactician, but could focus more on a consistent Strategy. As it turned out, I probably would have taken it anyway, because he said, the only other monster he had besides the Sangan was his Summoned Skull. So, it probably bought him a little more time.

Match goes to me: 1/2

My second match was against Chris who said that he played in different areas but this was his first tournament at this store. I hadn't seen him before, but he didn't do too badly if he was a newbie. So let's assume not. Chris decided to go first, set a face down monster and a couple in his M/T Zone. On my turn, I play Swords of Revealing light before placing a monster (so that if it were a Man-Eater Bug, it wouldn't hurt me). It was a Penguin Soldier, which one of the guys I was next to tried to tell him that he had to put it back into his hand, which I had to correct him. If the controller can return up to 2 cards back into their owners' hands, then the controller can choose zero monsters. So, he had a face up Penguin, I played Card Destruction, discarding Hiro's Shadow Scout, since it was a little early to try and give him more monsters and traps. (I only try for the Hiro's effect once I have a pretty good lock on the game.) I also ditched a Messenger of Peace, to get two cards. He had to draw 4. I got no monsters, and so I remained with a monster less field. I did get a Nobleman of Crossout, which I was able to play on his facedown my next turn. I think it was Witch of the Black Forest, (which I have to write a dissertation about, because the way Nobleman of Crossout is written, and because of the ruling about Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, logic should dictate, that you'd get the effect from your Witch and/or Sangan. But, that's not how it's ruled at Upperdeck.) On his last turn under Swords, Chris summoned La Jinn and activated a Robbin Goblin, and ended his turn. He tries to attack and I activate a Gravity Bind. I remain with a clear field for at least 3 turns. I finally pull a Graceful Charity, play it, and still, no monsters. I was able to use Bait doll on one of his Trap Holes. He is then able to summon two Penguin Soldiers, and attack for 1500. I get my other Graceful Charity on my next draw. So now I can set a monster. And end my turn, he says a prayer of thanks, and I know what's coming and I'm ready. Harpie's Feather Duster, and I play Magic Jammer. Chris will then try to play a Tribute to the Doomed, but I'll Jam that too, cause I'm desperate to have a monster on the field. I flip Penguin Soldier and return two of his cards to his hand, He then returns by putting a Malevolent Nuzzler on a Penguin Soldier to kill my Penguin. I take 700. On my turn I can flip summon my Crass Clown to return his Penguin to his hand, without the Nuzzler. Set a new monster, and end turn. He has a naked Penguin and a Harpie's Brother on the field. I then switch my other Crass Clown and bring another to the field. He tried to play a Dust Tornado from his hand, which wouldn't have mattered, cause I had a 7 Tools set already. He played a Fissure and got one of my Crass Clowns. On my turn, he played his Dust Tornado, which I countered with 7 Tools, I set another Crass Clown…I brought my other Crass Clown to Def and then flipped my Penguin to attack but he played Call of the Haunted. I was at 4850. On his turn he summoned Zombra the Dark, and then I set another monster, switched my Crass Clowns, I was able to send Zombra back to his hand, and I then summoned a Dream Clown. He plays a Pot of Greed, and set a face down monster. On my turn, I can destroy his face down monster with one Dream Clown, I then summon another Dream Clown, but can't yet attack, because of the monster brought back from Call of the haunted. Next turn, he brings out another 7 Colored Fish, (what he brought back with Call the Haunted. So, on my turn, I destroy one, with the D Clown, return another (with the Call) to his hand, and when I go to attack, he activates Scapegoat. Then we discuss the Call of the Haunted issue when the monster leaves the field but is not destroyed. He plays his Killer Squirrel, and puts a Nuzzler on it! And then he puts a Meteor Crush on it too! I then try to explain to him which of my clowns would make the best target, because he was going to attack one of the spent Crass Clowns. So he attacks my attack mode, Crass Clown??? Which I tried to keep him from doing, but oh well. On my next turn, I can then use my Dream Clown, to kill his Squirrel. I then reset my Crass Clown, and bring out my Squirrel! I attack him for 2950. Chris is at 3100 points. I'm at 4500. He sets a monster, and I can destroy that, and end game there.

Next round, I was more confident. Chris wants to go first. I play a Greed, Pot of and bring out the Killer Squirrel to attack his Man-Eater Bug. He brings out his Harpie's Brother with a Nuzzler, I activate Imperial Order to soften the blow a bit. I'm at 6200 points, I don't pay for the IO, I set a Magician of Faith, play Card Destruction, draw 3 and I play Swords of Revealing Light. He plays Tribute to the Doomed on my Magician. Activates, Dust Tornado on my Swords, plays Call of the Haunted to bring out Summoned Skull, tries to attack my life points, and then I activate my Gravity Bind. I set a monster and play Raigeki, and end turn. I flip summon my Crass Clown to return his 4 star back to his hand. He can just set it again next turn, but at least he can only set one per turn. So then I can flip a Mask of Darkness, to get back my Imperial Order, I attack his Harpie Brother with my Nimble Momonga to give me an extra 200 points, and let me bring two more out to the field, but I only have one in my deck, so I just get 200 points. Chris then plays Dark Hole, I Imperial Order it. I pay the 700 to come down to 5700. I then switch C Clown to return his only monster, and attack for 1900 point. Chris is at 6100, he sets a monster and ends. I pay 700 points for the IO. I reset the C Clown and end. I don't pay for the IO this time, I play a Graceful Charity, and then let Chris go. Chris plays fissure, on my Mask of Darkness, tries to Mystical Space Typhoon my Bind, but I can Jam it. We go under 10 minutes at this point, but I’m pretty well in control. He plays Harpies's Feather Duster, which I can Jam that too. I flip a Magician of Faith to get back Raigeki, play it, and then attack with a Killer Squirrel and a Magician of Faith for 1300, I then set Penguin Soldier. He sets a monster, and then I flip Penguin Soldier to return Magician of Faith to my hand, and his one monster to his. I also set a Penguin Soldier. Next turn, I have a reset C. Clown, and can send another monster back to his hand and attack. Reset, rinse and repeat. I whittled him away by 1300-1450 points per turn.

3^rd round, Chris goes first again. He plays Graceful Charity. I played Swords and I can't remember what else I did on my first turn, but it wasn't smart. He plays Dust Tornado on my Swords, and he kills my C. Clown in Def position. This is getting kinda shady, but he plays Trap Hole, and I play card destruction, and I don't think he's got any monsters on the field, because I take 1,000 from him. He plays Tribute to the Doomed on my Sangan, and attacks me for 1800, I'm at 6200. I can then play Messenger of piece, and flip Penguin Soldier, to return two, to his hand, and he Magic Cylinders my Penguin's attack. So I took 750 points. I have a C. Clown set, so I flip him and return one to his hand and can attack with C Clown, Killer Squirrel, and a Penguin. Next turn, he attacks my Squirrel with his Squirrel to do the same thing that I did to him. At that point, time was called. I was again, ahead. And have another match.

I'm now at 2/5

My third round was against a young lady named Laura who was the cousin of Chris. I complemented his playing style, but they saw his score sheet, so she got spooked before we even started. But she had a lot of heart, and never gave up, and ended up taking pride in being the person who survived the longest all day up till then. First game started out a extremely slow, as she tried to find a way around my defenses, but she didn't have anything to counter or kill. I opened with Swords, and set a C. Clown. Next turn she set a monster. I then brought out the Clown and attack for 1350. I also set Penguin Soldier. I then flip the Penguin to return the Penguin, and her cards to our hands, I reset the Penguin, and attack with the Clown. I then bring out the Sangan to attack her Penguin. And she returns my Sangan and C. Clown to my hand. She played a Goblin's Secret Remedy, and set another card. I brought out a Killer Squirrel to attack her face down monster. It turns out to be a Spirit of the Harp. I take 1000 points. I'm at 7,000 she's at 5300. She set another monster. I flip a Penguin, to clear her field, and attack with the Squirrel and the Penguin. She will then attack my Penguin with a Harpies Brother. I'm at 5950, she is at 4250, I can flip C. Clown and forget to attack. She then kills my C. Clown again, with that Harpie's Brother. I still have a Crass Clown in my hand which I set the next turn, along with playing a Messenger of Peace. I switch the C. Clown again, and bring out a Killer Squirrel to attack again, she brings out that same Harpie's Brother, so I'm pretty sure she doesn't have any other monsters, (unless she has two Harpie Brothers in her hand.) Next turn, the Clown is switched, I have an open field, summon another Squirrel and finish the game.

The second game was absolute torture. She was totally enthralled with winning this thing, and so, she used every resource available to her. She was using her Penguin Soldier with a Sword of the Deep seated attached to kill my Dream Clowns when I'd reset them. I managed to get a Gravity Bind out quickly, and had her locked down, but she kept trying and trying and trying. I even got to the point that with the use of the Morphing Jar #2, all of her Dust Tornadoes were in the Graveyard, but she never got the hint. That game lasted the longest, and my recorder went out, so I don't remember what happened though the rest of the game. But she was never able to do enough damage to me to make any difference, and I just continued to eke out the victory, little by little. My biggest problem, was that I was getting Crass Clowns with a Gravity Bind out. I finally pulled a Dream Clown, when I could finally flip a C. Clown to clear the field, to finish her life points from 1200 to zero.

This game turned out to be a draw, because, I played Crass Clown in attack mode, I then played Snatch Steal on her 7 Color fish, and right after that, she asks, "Is it too late to trap hole your Crass Clown?". I thought for a second, and then I said OK, cause it wouldn't matter in one second. I hadn't technically attacked yet and time was called. So she claimed it was a draw because we were both at 8000 points. I was kind of amused, because she didn't let it go. Specifically, if she hadn't wasted time asking me to bend the rules for her, then I would have had time to have said the word Attack. So, no biggie, I let it go, complemented her inventiveness, and thought to myself what am I going to do if I miss finals because of a Draw? I tried not to think of it.

I'm at 3/7

This next duel amused everyone in the room, because both my Daughter and I are pretty well known and respected around these tournaments. So guess who was undefeated as well? That's right, and on the 4^th round they match as many undefeated players together as they can as the final weeding out process. So, you can see what's coming, Spooky308 vs His very own 13 year old Daughter! And then everyone starts booing me and groaning when I call for a side deck change! I felt like Rodney Dangerfield…I mean it's not like she didn't too. I couldn't help it either. Up until now, I had been using a 3^rd Crass Clown, and the Barrel Dragon had started out in the side deck. But Brittany plays a Beatdown with the Lord of D combo in it? I tried to talk her out of it but she knows better than I do…By all rights, she does play it well, and when Legacy of Darkness comes out, she'll have even better performance. But, I brought in the Barrel Dragon, because I thought it would slow the deck down! I was just trying it out against a deck that used a lot of 2 Tribute monsters, all be it with a Dope combo to help get them out. But I wasn't looking to smash her. But, that's how it turned out.

Game 1, I pulled my first hand, and had something like, a Gravity Bind, a Killer Squirrel, Monster Reborn, and a Pot of Greed. She insisted that she go first. I was wondering why? Cause she's trying to run a Beatdown deck? Anyway, I set a Gravity Bind, and what do I get with the Pot, but a Barrel Dragon. She plays Shadow of eyes on my Hiro's Shadow Scout on the first turn, and I let her attack it with a Harpie's Brother (see, I'm letting her get into a groove). I think I had a Jammer set too. I knew exactly what was going to happen. So, I set a Killer Squirrel. And wait, she plays a Lord of D. (she had the combo already?) and I jammed it. Discard Barrel Dragon. She doesn't see it coming, cause she cheers. Then she Heavy Storms (I thought she'd use MST), and kills my Gravity Bind (which I activated with her Lord of D.). And attacks my Squirrel! I'm at 7850. I have two Killer Squirrels on the field. She ends her turn. I monster reborn the Barrel Dragon, and set a Magician of Faith. I didn't get a lucky flip, so I had to just attack her Lord of D. straight up. 3400 down. Her next turn, I she attacked one of my Squirrels in attack mode, with a Harpie's Brother, so I get 200 points. Next turn I get the flips of the coin, flip, my Magician, and then reborn her Harpie's Brother to end the game.

Second Game started slow. I set a monster in defense mode, and played Card Destruction. I didn't get much. She played Dark Hole or something similar, and I took a hit from her Sangan and a Harpie's Brother that she Reborned. I was able to draw a Messenger of Peace which slowed her down, then I don't think I had much, I probably set a Crass Clown, and didn't have much else. She played Change of Heart and hit me with my own Clown, which was the only monster I had down. I'm at 4750, she has 8000. We do the switch up for a couple turns. What I call shadow boxing, where we both make moves, but we're either ready for them or have counters, and can absorb what the other tries to do. Not much to remember, but eventually I was able to do 2100 points with a Hiro's Shadow Scout and a Crass Clown. The next turn I pulled a Raigeki, but I didn't use it, because, I was trying to give her a chance to recover if she could. But she just played too timidly to really hurt me, and I realized that she'd never get the momentum back. So, a couple turns later, I played the Raigeki, and attacked with like…Crass Clown, Hiro's Shadow Scout, Killer Squirrel, and a Magician of Faith. Brittany is at around 2750 and I'm at 4250 or something from the Messenger. The next turn, she set a monster, and I pull, the Barrel Dragon. So I stop paying the Messenger, Tribute off the Magician and the Scout to bring out the big one. My flips suck, so I attack it with the Barrel Dragon. It was a Man-Eater Bug, and she kills the Barrel Dragon. I can attack with C. Clown and a Killer Squirrel. The next turn, she sets a monster in Def. I use Monster Reborn on the Barrel Dragon, I'm able to destroy her face down Cyber Jar, with the Barrel Dragon, and that's game.

Third game

I just couldn't keep the cards out of my hands, I got a Graceful Charity, and a Swords in my first hand. I played the Graceful Charity, and got another Graceful Charity, and some crap, the next 3 cards were Monster Reborn, Barrel Dragon, and a Dream Clown. I discarded the Dragon, and some other crap, Summon Sangan, set a Gravity Bind, and reborn the Big One. I flip the Quarters, and get it good, destroy her face down Witch of the Black Forest, and she said she got a Cyber Jar. I attack her straight up. 4400 to go. She set a monster face down, and my next turn, I can bring out a Dream Clown, I get good flips again, and it's over now.

Brittany, I'm pretty sure you weren't playing as well as you could have. I was holding back waiting for you to play one of your great games, but, if you don't rise to the occasion, then I'll go ahead and do it. Just like Yugi told Joey, (paraphrase) "We have to both play our best, so that the best duelist moves on". That was the episode at the end of the one series on the Island. I do sit and watch it every once and a while!

I guess I came out of the Swiss round in Second place, because they put me against John first up, for the single elimination section. If this were "Olympic" type play, this would be the Quarter-finals, and we'd all play each other, then the two losers would play each other, and the two winners would play each other, but I guess by this time everyone is getting ready to go home. That's definitely how I read the vibe from John, who I think went on to win the whole tournament. It's either that or he holds me in such open contempt as to think that he didn't even have to pay me but the most basic respect. Now, I'm sure that John was tired, and when grunting and groaning about my "Stall Deck", when he was able to win, at least win with some grace! Jeez, after winning once, don't sit and cause a scene, because I want to go to my side deck, When it's going to take the Judge a couple minutes for me to do a side change, have some patience so that you can at least win against my best game! Not that I'm bitter, cause as you remember, I went ahead and played without my side, probably cause I'm still inexperienced in the finals, but don't act like I wasn't worth your time. You could learn some manners, but, I guess you were tired. Next time, I'll pay you the same respect, and go ahead and use my side deck.

The first game was off to a pretty good start. I got John to attack my defense position Killer Squirrel with his Gemini Elf. He then attacked another one of my Squirrels with his Goblin Attack Force, and I got another Squirrel. I don't know what else happened, but I went up to 10,000, which probably meant that he killed my last Squirrel with his Gemini Elf, and then hit my life points with his Goblin Attack Force. I'm at 8700. I don't remember much after this, but I think we went a couple rounds and he was able to Mirror Force me, and possibly brought out a Waboku to protect his Def pos Goblin Team, and hit me again, to bring me down to 4300. The next turn he ended the game. Which I can see how that would give him a sense, that I was contemptible, but he started aching like he'd missed his Midol, so I played him without going to my side deck for more 7 Tools, and a better monster selection, he was able to do a lot of recursion, with Call of the Haunted, and Premature Burial, so I would have probably brought in some Soul Release, and maybe a Shallow Grave. But, it's alright. I've learned my lesson.

The second game went fast as well, John has, plenty of Magic and Trap removal, which meant that he was able to hit me right off with a Goblin Attack Team, then I got a Messenger of Peace out, and he was able to remove that after a turn or two. He cleared my field with a Raigeki, and then was able to bring me down to 500 points in one turn, and it was over after that. Thank you for a quick game, John. I wish I could remember enough of it to figure out weather it was my fault or weather I need to make changes to the deck. Congratulations, just try to be a more gracious winner next time, I have the same right to play the best that I can as you do.

Now on to the round for places 3-4. This was one of my buddies Robert, this was his first time in the finals and played a good Control/Beatdown. He was also a lot more polite. The first game was over very quickly, he was able to get out Jinzo on the second turn after I'd already had to activate my Gravity Bind. I didn't have anything to help. I went from 8000>5600>1000>0.

I couldn't bring in anything to slow him down after Jinzo came out. I called for a side deck change, and Robert waited patiently (amazing concept) only to realize that I already had my anti-Jinzo cards in! I got pretty nervous at this point, but I've taken Jinzo down before. We started the second game, and I had a hand that made me feel good about the Jinz, a Messenger of Peace and plenty of Penguins. I play a Messenger right out of the gate, but hold out on the Penguins for a while to build up some attackers. I got him down to 5250 with a Crass Clown and Penguins and such, and then, after 4 turns he played Change of Heart on my Hiro's Shadow Scout and attacks me with it? Then he Tributed that for his Jinzo, which didn't do any good because I had a Messenger on the field. I went from 7600 down to 6950. This was after he was desperate enough to Dark Hole after the first attack, and he didn't have any other monsters that could get under the Messenger. Then I pull a Monster Reborn that I can use on my Barrel Dragon that is currently in my Cemetery. I stopped payment on the Messenger of Peace going into this turn. I had to attack his Jinzo to get it off the field, cause I didn't get lucky on the flips. But case in point, after that attack, I reapply another Messenger from my hand! He set a monster, and I was able to take him down to 850 the next turn, and after his draw came up empty, he conceded.

On to the breaker! This one was very nervous between both of us. I was able to activate a Grav Bind in the first couple rounds, and clear his field to do 1,000 with a Sangan. I then was able to get out a Dream Clown to get him down to 4800. He tried to Raigeki, but I can activate Imperial Order. Soon, he's at 2600, and I'm continuing to pay 700 per turn to insulate me from any type of magic. I'm able to keep switching Clowns the rest of the game, and it's over in a total of 7 turns.

That was the best performance that I've ever had, and I'm very glad that I came in 3^rd! Thank you Robert for a great duel.

Props and Slops?

For Someguy, who I recollect as the brainchild of the Clown Army, (Thank you, even though it took me awhile to figure out how to get one to work for me)

To Brittany, who won 3 complete rounds!

To Kyle, who has really turned into a great duelist.

For Debbie, who runs A to Z Comics, for hosting the Tournaments, putting up with people leaving their trash all over her store and being rude.

For Debbie, who runs the tournaments. This includes Jeremy and all the other guys that help you out. If it weren't for you guys, we wouldn't have a tournament to report on.

For pulling a Mage Power in the Packs that I got from winning store credit!

For compact voice recorders that allow me to get so detailed.

To Punks that leave their trash around a great store and don’t respect other people enough to just be polite.

To other punks that think that they can steal from My youngest daughter (or anyone else for that matter)! The only thing saving you is that I can't prove it. You think you're getting away with it, but you'll think differently when you're doing hard time and can't figure out where your life went to $**>

For compact voice recorders that allow me to get so detailed.

Spooky308@comcast.net