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 Yugioh Tournament Reports

Chain_Strike_Burn_Deck_Eric_Engelmann_Other_Realms_Gaithersburg_MD

January 20, 2007

16 contestants

I'm a 52-year-old collector introduced to the game by my young son. For this tournament I thought it would be fun to play a Chain-Strike Burn deck, with which you either win or lose very fast, giving me time to watch my 8-year-old son play his matches, and to do some trading and discussion of the new Gadget cards. I net-decked from Mike Rosenburg's build as described on Metagame.com ( http://www.metagame.com/yugioh.aspx?tabid=33&ArticleId=7825 ). The only change I made was to substitute a Morphing Jar for a Waboku, because I didn't want to risk having to put two Wabokus on a chain, because I could chain on Morphing's effect and draw 5 cards, and because I just like playing the Jar. My side deck was really an afterthought. Except for the MST and Heavy Storm (against Royal Decree), Offerings to the Doomed (against Jinzo), and Des Wombat (against another Burn deck), I didn't plan on using any of them.

Here's the deck:
3x Accumulated Fortune
1x Ceasefire
3x Chain Detonation
3x Chain Strike
2x Dimension Wall
3x Fire Darts
1x Graceful Charity
3x Just Desserts
1x Magic Cylinder
3x Ojama Trio
3x Ookazi
3x Poison of the Old Man
1x Ring of Destruction
1x Scapegoat
3x Secret Barrel
1x Threatening Roar
3x Tremendous Fire
1x Waboku

1x Morphing Jar
40 cards total

Side deck
2x Des Wombat
1x Draining Shield
1x Magician of Faith

1x Mystical Space Typhoon
3x Nimble Momonga
3x Offerings to the Doomed
1x Premature Burial
1x Remove Trap
1x Spirit Reaper
1x System Down

Other Realms is a very casual venue, with several other games typically running simultaneously. Deck clinics and casual dueling/trading start around 10, I'm told, but I usually arrive around 12:45 for the 1:00 tournament. The fee is $8, and each player gets one pack for playing and another if they go undefeated in three rounds. It's not UDE sanctioned, and the play varies from inexperienced 6-year-olds to Regionals top-8 class players. I've heard they are joining the Hobby League soon (due to my suggestion?).

This Saturday there were 16 registered contestants and a few more players hanging out.

My first match was against Zack, a 14-year-old playing an eclectic/random deck. He hadn't see a Chain Strike Burn deck before, and, despite me having pretty poor draws, I had enough time to easily get the burn out. He had no side deck, and had no Jinzo, Royal Decree, or Des Wombat in his deck, and so had no real chance against this build.

My second match was against Sergei, whom I'd characterize as an expert player. He was running a machine build with Gadgets he had bought in the new structure deck an hour before. Unfortunately, he drew Jinzo in his second turn of our first duel, and I elected to scoop. I sided 3 copies of Offerings to the Doomed in hopes of getting his Jinzo. Fortunately, he had loaned his Royal Decrees to a team-mate, thinking he wouldn't want them in a trap-heavy Gadget build, so he had limited siding options. Second duel I drew well and finished him in two turns without taking any damage at all. Third duel he drew Jinzo on turn two, and I couldn't draw Offerings to the Doomed in time to kill it. I was further distracted by my son, Noah, who was playing next to me and sulking that there was no way he could beat his opponent's deck after his first duel loss. This despite playing a SJC top-eight Monarch build deck I had loaned him. Both Sergei and I gave him the usual lecture on playing for fun, and I assured him he really could win, and that he definitely should not drop out of the tournament. He soldiered on.

My third match was against Nicholas, another expert player. He runs eclectic decks that do well against almost anything. He described his deck as a Nudoria/Kuriboh build. He knew what I was playing and wasted no time maximizing speed of attack damage. First duel was a race to 0 points, with me down to just 1200 when I drove him to zero. For the second duel he sided-in Jinzo, and drew it in his opening hand, laughing at my third Jinzo misfortune. Again, my sided Offerings to the Doomed never appeared. The third duel I drew two Just Deserts and an Ojama Trio, plus other chainable support. I still had 6100 points when he arrived at 0. I ended up 2 and 1 for the day.

I finished in time to watch my son playing his final duel, undefeated, and heading for the honor of being the youngest player to ever go undefeated in Other Realm's Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament history. He had gathered quite a following of the younger players to watch. As I watched his struggles, it was really hard to keep from giving advice. He was blessed with an opening Treeborn Frog and plenty of Monarch draws, but he never set or discarded the Frog (he told me later he really isn't a Frog kind of guy???), but kept setting Dekoichis and Tomatoes instead. He still managed to overwhelm his opponent's greater skill, but weaker deck, in the third duel of the match.

Hopefully he'll remember this the next time he wants to give up. What a great lesson for a young boy! Made my day.

I did a few good trades, Noah pulled a couple cards I needed in his prize packs, and he had a great time excitedly explaining the details of his victory to his politely nodding, but uncomprehending, mother and grandparents that evening.