Keepers of the Grave
Shawn Patton
Oxford Valley Mall
Mall Tour Langhorne, PA
Janurary 24th, 2004

There were thousands of duelists...
4 Person mini-tournaments
Winners get to duel the duelist leaders
A win against them means you can sign the
Duelist King Book, you get a red lanyard for
your ID instead of a black one, and you get
a really small Millenium Puzzle Pendant.

My Deck (43 cards)

Monsters (18):

Cyber Jar
Exiled Force
Giant Orc
Gravekeeper's Assailant x 3
Gravekeeper's Chief x 2
Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier x 3
Gravekeeper's Spy x 2
Injection Fairy Lily
Jinzo
Sangan
Spirit Reaper
Witch of the Black Forest

Spell Cards (19):
Change of Heart
Delinquent Duo
Graceful Charity
Harpie's Feather Duster
Magic Reflector
Mirage of Nightmare
Mystical Space Typhoon x 3
Necrovalley x 3
Pot of Greed
Raigeki
Snatch Steal
Swords of Revealing Light
Terraforming x 2
The Forceful Sentry

Traps (6):
Imperial Order
Mirror Force
Ring of Destruction
Rite of Spirit x 3

You can also view the deck (and card descriptions) here:
http://www.yugioh-deck.com/ViewDeck.php?deckid=47951085

So, I decided to bring the Gravekeeper's to the Mall. I also had my
Maha Vailo deck as backup : )
I had emailed the mall people earlier, and they said to get there at 8am
even though it starts at 10am because last year there were 16000 guests
over both days. I took their advice, and I was glad I did... the lines got
long fast.

The mall had signs up all over for Yu-gi-oh and there were Dueling Grounds
scattered around. Dueling grounds consist of some folding tables and chairs
and dueling mats, just in case you were wondering.

Anyway, I waited in line till registration. A couple duels broke out while
people were sitting on the floor in line waiting. I actually had just started one
with the kid in front of me when the line started to move, ah well.

When you sign up you get a duelist holographic ID card on a black lanyard, a free
card (I got Dreamsprite, whoo hoo :), an appointment card for the 4 person tourneys,
and a bag full of yugioh ads (basically).

First Duel!
Me vs. Bob (beatdown/control hybrid)
I was the first in line at my appointed Dueling Field for the four person tournaments.
I chatted with the event staff there, teaching them about the game because they knew
nothing about it (don't worry, the duelist leaders were the judges, not the event staff).
Eventually they opened the field up, letting in all the people with that time appointments.
I sat down across from my first opponent, Bob. Bob and his son were there competing
and it started out pretty well. Although, I only had a couple monsters and soon those
were gone and I was drawing mostly spell... he got a Jinzo out and that put a stop to
my Mirror Force and Rite of Spirit. At one point I searched for my own Jinzo, when I
should have searched for Injection Fairy Lily to kill the Jinzo... I lost.

Me: 8000 - 5600 - 2400 - 1600 - 600 - 0
Him: 8000 - 6500 - 5000

This is where I realized it was only one round games... that is, I lost, so I'm out.
I left the field, pocketing my now useless sidedeck... arg. The line to get another
time card was almost half the length of the mall by now, but luckily the 4-person
tournaments have stand-by lines. Basically, they fill the tables with card holders
each 15 min time slot but if there are empty seats, they take people from the standby
line. So I waited in that for a little and got back in within like 10 minutes, it was
great. While waiting I made some changes to my deck, I removed a Terraforming and a
Gravekeeper's Spy for Exiled Force and Swords or Revealing Light. This change proved
a good idea in the 1 round only duels I had the rest of the day.

First Duel (2nd time)
Me vs. Justin (semi-beatdown with 3 capsules)
This duel was not too difficult, although I was ready for the worst after Bob...
I had Forceful Sentry in opening hand and when I played it I saw some 1500 beat monsters
as well as a Gift of the Mystical Elf. That put me a little at ease and I pulled
off the win.

Me: 8000 - 7900
Him: 8000 - 6100 - 4600 - 3100 - 1700 - 0

Second Duel
Me vs. Joe (weird direct damage/beatdown...)
That got me to the second of the 4 person tourney rounds, and I went up against Joe,
an older gentleman with thinning hair. This guy went first and brought out Armor Exe,
giving me a little speech about why it's such a good card and that it doesn't matter
about its effect if you bring it out first turn, etc... I was like, ok, fine. He then sets
3 s/t cards and ends. My first turn begins and in standby he Rings and Barrels Armor Exe
giving me 4800 damage. Woah... anyway... I fought valiantly back and I had a Jinzo at one
point with him having no hand and no s/ts... and he top-decks Injection Fairy Lily...
It didn't take long for him to finish me after that... game Joe.

Me: 8000 - 3200 - 2200 - 300
Him: 8000 - 5600 - 3600

First Duel (3rd time)
Me vs. Bob (can you believe it)
Well, back to the line for me... ah well, this time, I'm in line in back of Bob.
Looks like he lost some duels as well... Anyway, guess what, we both get in
the next time slot and we're paired again. Sheesh... Anyway, I thought the Exiled and
SoRL trade I made might help me, but it didn't. Actually, he took me down quick, but
then I finally got the cards I needed and I had swarming keepers and a clear field
ready to make my great come-back when they called time! They called time! Ahhh!!!!

Me: 8000 - 7300 - 6200 - 5100 - 1700 - 700 - TIME!
Him: 8000 - 6000 - TIME!

First Duel (4th time)
Me vs. David (beatdown)
Never knowing whether I could have beat Bob (yes, I know it looked dim), I got back
on line... this was getting ridiculous. Anyway, as soon as I got in the line of 2 people
they called for 3 people, and I got right back in! Ha! Whoot! I sat down across from
David. I got a good start and I kept it going, the gravekeeper's swarmed... oh yeah!

Me: 8000 - 7900 - 6100
Him: 8000 - 7800 - 7200 - 4600 - 4200 - 2700 - 0

Second Duel
Me vs. Jeffery (beat/control hybrid (I think))
Well, I was determined not to have to wait in that line again. So I moved over to
Jeffery and got ready. Right off the bat I used RoD on his Spear Dragon, giving us
both 6100. Then he goes and Snatch Steals my Giant Orc... not too smart in my opinion.
Anyway, he had that thing like the whole game, giving me health... and since I knew
Time called games went to the person with the most health, I was excited...
My Necrovalleys really hurt his Monster Reborn : )
Eventually I spear soldiered my own orc (on his field). Also, I had Mirage of Nightmare
out for four turns! I couldn't find my MSTs... Anyway, I usually had 1 card, so I drew
3, and then 1 on my draw phase. So I would have 5 cards when he randomly discarded 3.
Now, the first 3 times, I slowly realized he would always take the middle three cards.
Well, guess what, the 4th time, I left Harpies Feather Duster and a Monster (can't remember
which) on the outside, and sure enough, he took the middle 3. I cleared the field of s/t
and it was over for him... Let that be a lesson to people! Never take the same cards each
time, your opponent might notice... granted, it took me 3 tries : )

Me: 8000 - 6100 - 3600 - 4600 - 5600 - 3400 - 4400 - 2500 - 3500 - 4500
Him: 8000 - 6100 - 3900 - 700 - 600 - 100 - 0

Well, I had finally won a 4 person tournament! I got a card with a time (in 15 min) that
I'd have to duel a Dueling Expert or something like that. These were people hired by
Upperdeck, wearing suits, and given their pick of cards to make decks. I saw an Exodia
Butterfly deck, a really good control/yata, and the guy I dueled, a Speed Warrior Beatdown.
I sat down across from this guy, and we exchanged names, turns out he goes by his middle
name, Sean. Looks like it's gonna be a Shawn on Sean match people!

Deulist Leader/Expert Duel!
Me vs. Sean (Speed Warrior Beatdown)

Well, I won the flip and got to go first. My opening hand was pretty sweet, I must admit.
I had Necrovalley, Spy, Magic Reflector, Delinquent Duo, Forceful Sentry, and an MST. I
severly hurt his hand, taking a dark hole with Forceful and two other good ones with DD.
Then I set Spy, brought out the valley and protected it and ended my turn. He starts off
with a measly 3 cards, and summons DD Warrior Lady to attack my Spy. Surprise, you take
500 damage. He chose to remove both from play, set a s/t card and ended. I was pretty sure
it was the Mirror Force I saw before ; )
With the MST I took out the Mirror Force and I used the Spear Soldier I searched for with Spy
to attack him for 2000, boom!
He brought out a GAF and rammed it into my Mirror Force. I attacked again with Spear Soldier.
He brought out another GAF and got me for 300. I brought out another Spear and toasted him
for 2000 over his GAF after getting rid of a Trap with another MST.
He set something.
I brought out Chief, bringing back Spear and took the win. Whew.

Me: 8000 - 7000 - 6700
Him: 8000 - 7500 - 5500 - 3500 - 1500 - 0

So, I did it! I beat the Duelist Leader and as reward I got a red lanyard for my mall tour
id around my neck, I got a really small Millenium Puzzle Pendant (like, 1cmx1cmx1cm),
and I got to sign the Duelist King book. It's this big book in a glass case with parchment-
like pages that winning duelists sign for all eternity. Anyway, all the pens the upperdeck
people had were blue (and taken from the local Marriot I might add) so I signed in my black
pen I keep in my pocket, oh yeah, different is cool, trust me.

Excited over my victory I did some duels for fun before my appointment to test for level 2
judge status. I won a couple, lost a couple... Anyway, around 2pm I tested and passed the
Level 2 Judge test, so I accomplished both my goals for that day. Whoot!

Props:
Getting to beat the Duelist Leader!
Dueling very nice duelists!
Becoming a Level 2 judge!
Seeing thousands of duelists everywhere!

Slops:
Getting killed by that RoD/BBtD on Armor Exe combo : )


In conclusion, the mall tours are awesome! Try to go if you can, but get there early!

Feel free to contact me (Shawn):
spatton@andrew.cmu.edu