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Rex Mendoza's Shonen Jump Experience

From: Rex Mendoza [mailto:pnoypride619@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 9:20 PM

Rex Representing: TEAM ARTIFEX


Monsters - 17

Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
2 Vampire Lord
Airknight Parshath
2 Blade Knight
DD Warrior Lady
Sinister Serpent
2 Pyramid Turtles
3 Spirit Reaper
Tribe Infecting Virus
Breaker the Magical Warrior
Sangan
Magician of Faith

Spell - 18

Pot of Greed
Graceful Charity
Delinquent Duo
Lightning Vortex
Swords of Revealing Light
Snatch Steal
Metamorphosis
2 Scapegoat
2 Book of Life
Heavy Storm
Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Creature Swap
Card Destruction
Premature Burial
Nobleman of Crossout

Traps - 5

Mirror Force
Call of the Haunted
Torrential Tribute
Dust Tornado
Ring of Destruction

Side Deck - 15

Jinzo
The End Of Anubis
Mobius the Frost Monarch
Magician of Faith
Swarm of Locusts
Mystic Tomato
Exiled Force
2 Waboku
Nobleman of Crossout
Ceasefire
Hallowed Life Barrier
Dust Tornado
Berserk Gorilla
Book of Moon
Fusion Deck - 18
3 Dark Balter the Terrible
3 Dark Flare Knight
3 Dark Blade the Dragon Knight
Dragoness the Wicked Knight
2 Fiend Skull Dragon
Reaper on the Nightmare
2 Ryu Senshi
3 Thousand Eyes Restrict

Pre-Tournament

We arrived in Pamona at about 10:30 thinking we would be late. Registration was supposed to end at 10:00. Fortunately the event was HUGE and had a record of 459 competitors so it took a while longer. My four friends and I signed up and joined the team tournament representing our store TEAM ARTIFEX. Eventually we were seated and our deck lists were collected. Sooner or later, pairings were posted and I found my seat.

Round 1

Rex VS Dominic

Game 1

Dominic was playing a standard Chaos deck with the exception of a few interesting choices such as Autonomous Action Unit. I began the game with a Graceful Charity and discarded an Airknight Parshath. Unfortunately he was prepared in the form of Autonomous Action Unit. He whittled down my life points from there and took game one.

Rex: 8000-7500-6300-6200-5400-3700-2400-500-200-0

Dominic: 8000-6500-6200-5600-4000-3700

Game 2

This game started off better with a Delinquent Duo of my own. From that point I maintained hand advantage with my spirit reapers and slowly took game 2.

Rex: 8000-7200-5300-3500-3200

Dominic: 8000-7800-4800-4500-4200-2500-500-0

Game 3

My starting hand was HORRIBLE! 2 Magician of Faith, Dust Tornado, Mystical Space Typhoon and Lightning Vortex. The game turned around when I drew a Delinquent Duo on my second turn. I reused it with one magician of faith and blew away his field with the rest of my cards. I pressed the advantage and finished off the match.

Rex: 8000-7000-6000-4300-3600-2800

Dominic: 8000-7000-6200-4900-500-0

Round 2

Rex VS Sergio

Game 1

Sergio was running the infamous Horus deck. This first game I was dominated. He was able to get out both Horus Level 6 and Horus Level 8. With my lack of magic cards I wasn't able to recover.

Rex: 8000-7000-6300-5300-3600-1600-200

Sergio: 8000-7600-7300-0

Game 2

This game was close in the beginning with each person stalling a bit. The big mistake he made was accidentally drawing an extra card. Though he may or may not have seen it, without calling a judge over, we proceeded with the normal ruling by keeping the card on top and revealing the card. It was a Delinquent Duo. With that knowledge I set most of my cards and kept my hand at only 1 card. This way he would have a dead card that would be a waste to use. I came up with the win in this game.

Rex:8000-7600-6200

Sergio:8000-7600-7300-6700-2100-0

Game 3

I dominated this game. My life points were untouched. This is mainly because he had a horrible draw. After I was declared the winner he revealed both Horus Level 6 and Level 8 in his hand without any way of sending it to the field.

Rex: 8000

Sergio: 8000-7700-5700-1700-0

Round 3

Rex VS Mario

Game 1

Mario was running a standard Chaos build and is a regular at the San Diego Comic Odyssey. We both began with a set monster and a set S/T. He was able to MST mine during the end phase. He then proceeded to flip his face down Magician of Faith, retrieved his MST back, and Creature Swapped for MY face down Magician of Faith. He then began to slowly take bits away from my life points and I ended up losing.

Rex: 8000-6500-5300-3700-23300-1700-1400-1100-800-0

Mario:8000-6400-5200

Game 2

This game began pretty slowly but was dominating for me. The only damage I took was a Ring of Destruction to a 1600 Blade Knight.

Rex: 8000-6400

Mario: 8000-6400-6100-3100-1100-0

Game 3

This game is also a bit fuzzy for me. But I do remember hitting a Delinquent Duo in the beginning and maintaining some sort of advantage throughout the game.

Rex:8000-6400

Mario: 8000-7700-4300-1900-0

Round 4

Rex VS Carlo

Game 1

Carlo was also playing a Chaos deck with Legendary Jujitsu Master. This game was devastating for me. He was able to Graceful Charity a total of 3 times and managed to Metamorphosis for a Dark Balter the Terrible. I lost.

Rex: 8000-7700-7200-5600-4000-3000-0

Carlo: 8000-6400-5400-3800

Game 2

This game was a lot better for me. I started off with a Delinquent Duo and Pot of Greed. I was barely touched. The biggest life point damage was from my own Delinquent.

Rex: 8000-7000-6700

Carlo: 8000-7700-5800-5300-5000-1200-0

Game 3

This was a really close game. During the end he had me at a mere 1200 life points. But thankfully I gained one thousand from his Snatch Steal. I fought back and was able to take the win.

Rex: 8000-7000-5500-4700-1200-2200

Carlo: 8000-6500-4900-3300-0

Round 5

Rex VS Omar

Omar was running a standard Zombie build. To save you space you can read of this match on Metagame.com under this link: http://www.metagame.com/yugioh.aspx?tabid=33&ArticleId=1591

I'll just merely say that because of time I was awarded the win. Also, here are the life point totals.

Game 1

Rex: 8000-6200-5200-4400-3800-3400

Omar: 8000-6200-5200-4900-4100-3100-1100-700-400-100-0

Game 2

Rex: 8000-6400-6100-4700-4600-3200-2900-1200-0

Omar: 8000-6500-4900-5900-5600-5300-3600-3400

Game 3

Rex: 8000-6300

Omar: 8000-6400-5600-4600-2800-2300-TIME

Round 6

Rex VS Jacob

Game 1

Jacob was running the popular Warrior Chaos build with DD Assailants. This game was incredibly close! we were both defending our life points fairly well until I was left with mere 100 life points. Thankfully, I was able to gain 3000 back because of Snatch Steal. But I still ended up losing Game 1.

Rex: 8000-7000-5900-2000-100-1100-2100-3100-1600-0

Jacob: 8000-7200-6400-6100-5500-4000

Game 2

This game went a lot better for me. I was only taken down to 6200 life points as I dominated with my beloved Spirit Reapers.

Rex:8000-6400-6200

Jacob: 8000-6400-6100-4000-3700-2100-0

Game 3

This was an incredible and hard fought duel. At one point I had the advantage but he took it right back with his Tribe Infecting Virus. Unfortunately he was able to maintain that advantage and he beat me fair and square. He cause my first match loss of the day leaving me at a total of 5 wins and 1 loss.

Rex:8000-6000-4000-1500-2500-3500-4500-900-1900-300-0

Jacob: 8000-7000-6700-2700-1900

Round 7

Rex VS Anthony

Game 1

At this point I was pretty nervous because I could not lose again in order to make top 8. Anthony was running the ever so popular Chaos build but he simply couldn't get the advantage this game. I was able to pull off the Pyramid Turtle, Creature Swap combo and brought out a multitude of Spirit Reapers. I left him handless in only a few turns. I wont this game with ease.

Rex: 8000-6400

Anthony: 8000-6400-5200-4700-4400-4100-2100-1800-1500-0

Game 2

This game I also dominated. I once again left him handless in a matter of turns. He managed to get in one hit but it simply wasn't enough. He eventually scooped because he knew he couldn't come back from the disadvantage he was at. At that point I was now 6-1. Two more wins would ensure my place in top 8 considering my good tie breakers.

Rex: 8000-7000-5700

Anthony: 8000-7700-5800-6800-forfeit.

Round 8

Rex VS Cory

Game 1

This game was another dominating one from me. Cory was running a very interesting Silent Swordsman build that took me by surprise. I even made the mistake of attempting to Creature Swap for his Level 3. At least I still won.

Rex: 8000

Cory:8000-5800-5600-2600-1000-400

Game 2

In contrast to the first game, he dominated me. I didn't even touch his life points.

Rex:8000-7000-5600-2600-300-0

Cory: 8000

Game 3

This game was pretty sad for him. Not because he played badly, but because he had a horrible hand. He must have drawn every trap card in his deck including his Royal Decree. He was forced to activate it and was left without anything else to do.

Rex: 8000-7000

Cory:8000-6600-3900-1200-0

Round 9

Rex VS Keanson

Game 1

Well this was it. In order to make top 8 I would need to win this game. Keanson was running a wild build of Zombie and Sacred Phoenix Of Nephthys. This game he totally took me by surprise with the Sacred Phoenix. Once it hit the field I was left in awe. I was forced to Lightning Vortex it and without any way to destroy it from there, he was awarded Game 1.

Rex: 8000-6400-4000-1600

Keanson: 8000-6400-5600

Game 2

This game had me making horrible errors. The first one being not attacking with a spirit reaper. I had a spirit reaper in defense to his spirit reaper in defense and attack position Vampire Lord. I premature burialed Exiled Force, summoned DD Warrior Lady and mistakenly proceeded to attack. If I were to Exiled Force his spirit reaper FIRST, then put my Spirit Reaper in attack mode, I would have been able to remove his Vampire Lord via DD Warrior Lady, and attack directly removing a card from his hand. This may have been the main error that cost me the game. The second error was late in the game when I had a face up Blade Knight on the field to his second Vampire Lord. I attacked in an attempt to suicide so i could special summon the BLS I had in my hand. But unfortunately I forgot that I had two cards in my hand and because of that, I ended up losing in the last round, BARELY missing top 8.

Rex:8000-7000-5000-4700-2700-1900-1400-1000-700-0

Keanson: 8000-6400-5600-3600-2600-1500

POST ROUND WRAP UP

Well overall I ended up ranking 13 out of 459, which is, in my opinion, a great accomplishment. I was greatly disappointed because I had also missed out on my chance to qualify for Nationals. BUT!!!! To my great surprise, it seems that if members of the top 8 were already qualified for nationals, the invitations to Nationals would be passed down to the next player. In the top 8 there were 4 people who had previously qualified: Wilson Luc, Eric Wu, Emon Ghaneian and I believe, George Diaz or Mario Begay. This meant their invitations were passed down to the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th place finishers. But since the 9th ranked person, Evan Vargas was already qualified, the invitation was passed down to ME!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!

I was so ecstatic that for my incredible performance I received a box of Flaming Eternity and a invite to Nationals that I couldn't sleep until late that night. Overall this was a wonderful experience and I would like to express my gratitude to Upperdeck Entertainment, Shonen Jump Magazine, SCGE events, and all my opponents today who were great sports!

Props:

GETTING A BOX AND AN INVITATION TO NATIONALS!!!!

A GREAT experience

Good draws and my beloved Spirit Reapers who helped me maintain hand advantage throughout the whole day.

Slops:

Barely missing top 8

Making too many mistakes in the second game of my last round.

If you need deck help or would like to contact me, you can reach me at pnoypride619@yahoo.com.

PEACE