That’s just how I do things. The problem, however, is that I wanted to be the best in too many things. I just got asked if I wanted to disc jockey at an event next week and maybe a month ago I would have said yes but now I have to say no. I just can’t be the expert at everything that I want to be. I have to pick some things and focus on them. Hobbies, career, life. There’s just so much to do and not enough time to do it.

Did I have fun playing Yugioh? You betcha. More than I did doing probably any other hobby I’ve had in a long time. It just took so much of my time. You might notice that I’m not saying it was a waste of money. Sure, it cost me some cash, but I spent more monthly on random acts of kindness for my wife than the card game. It really wasn’t eating into my wallet that much.

Will I ever go back to the game? I’d love to, but I just don’t know. Maybe when my son is older if he gets any interest in a card game I’ll pick one up again and play it with him. I always saw a father and his sons at the weekly Yugioh tournament I attended and that seemed like a good thing. Until then, though, I’ll have to take a break.

Round 1: Fabled ×○○
Round 2: Draguinity ○×○
Round 3: Samurai ×○○
Round 4: Vayu Turbo ○×○

I’d have to say Fabled and Samurai were the hardest to play against. Draguinity and Vayu Turbo only got me when I opened poorly, otherwise I was able to use the wide variety of options available to me to take care of what they had to offer. Fabled ran Royal Decree and that shut me down game one. Game two was a bunch of back and forth with me eventually stalling with a Colossal Fighter with Effect Veiler support. Game three I got lucky and he drew poorly.

Samurai can still be ridiculous even with Gate at 1. Them opening with Gate and a Six Samurai United or the new token gatherer that lets them release it to summon a Samurai with level equal¹ to the number of counters on it still means they can have a menacing field with little work. When they don’t do this, dealing with the Synchro Shien is still troublesome. It’s a grind either way.

For Draguinity and Vayu Turbo it’s just making my big plays before they can make theirs. Having Veilers in the main helps immensely and I really miss Book of Moon for these matches.

Unfortunately the matches all took a long time so when it came time for the finals it was late and I had to go take my wife to the hair salon like I had promised. Feels bad to have to drop before the last match, but finally making it to the finals was pretty sweet. Now all I have to do is win sometime.

1. It may also be less than, I don’t know.

Unofficial Tournament
Round 1 vs Katakuri
Katakuri sure can swarm. Despite that, I was able to hold off with a variety of plays and eventually win. Unfortunately these games have slipped from my memory.

Round 2 vs Perfect Declarer
Both games started the same way. I opened a bunch of monsters an one spell or trap. Even though I went first both games, I was unable to do anything when Perfect Declarer was dropped. I didn’t have enough resources to get rid of the negating son of a gun, so when Kristia hit the table, I was pretty much locked down and out.

Chaos Plants is good fun. I think I’ll be sticking with it for this format since I won’t have the time or money to build another deck.

Ah, another day of Yugioh Tournaments another set of misplays. Today, not all of them were mine though.

Round one I’m playing against Perfect Declarer and he’s got me locked for a few turns but I finally have a chance to capitalize with him holding only one card in hand. I use Monster Reborn on a Helldog, play another one and ram them each into two of his monsters and grab some more Flamvells. He’s only holding one card and has nothing but the perfect declarer. I synchro into Trishula and ask him if it’s okay. He plays Solemn Judgement, I counter wiht my own . I ask if I can activate his ability and if he has any responses. He says it’s okay to go ahead. I pick the 3 cards to remove and he says he’s going to negate Trishua, but it’s a bit late by now, isn’t it? I explained this and he accepted his mistake and move on with the game. I checked with a friend afterwards and I was technically correct. That said I felt a bit bad, but I did ask and he just didn’t know how the cards work. I probably could have still won the game but I felt a bit sketchy. Game two I was able to win with little effort.

Round two I’m playing against Blackwings and am low on monsters. He started off with a Rai-Oh which was holding me back from playing my Pot of Duality. He plays a Trishula taking out the one monster I had and hits the Pot in my hand. I’m left with 2 Gaius in hand, a Trap Stun and Book of Moon set. He attacks with Trishula and mistake one, I book it. Since this was the first damage I was taking I could have let it go through. Next turn I draw and play Rekindling to get some fodder for Gaius. He counters with Royal Oppression and I Trap Stun. Play Gaius and hit the Royal Oppression. Why? I don’t know. All I had was Gaius, and he did have the Book of Moon when I attacked into Trishula. Big mistake. With my hand I couldn’t special summon any time soon. Target the Trishula and at least we’re on a semi-even field. I quickly lost after that.

Game two I booked a Shura and forgot to check it’s Defense. I draw Flamvell Archer, try to attack over Shura and that’s not happening. While I had a Stardust as well, I had to ram that into his Chaos Sorcerer to prevent myself from losing. I figured that I could release the Archer to use it’s ability even though I had no other Flamvells. That’s not the case. Shura swept over the poor little Archer and got a Vayu. Things went to hell after that and I was out of the tournament.

At the very least, I’m figuring out my mistakes and still having a good time playing. I wish I had a bit more time to work on my deck and play test but with the JLPT coming up the fact that I can get out to play a little bit is enough for me.

So this time I placed second after five rounds. Ended up getting ¥1000 in store credit, which I didn’t expect so I just grabbed a second Dandylion to complete my pair.

Round one I played Gladiator Beasts and somehow managed to prevent him from getting me locked down. Game two, although, my chair touched an electrical source¹ that should have been protected, but wasn’t after years of wear. Long story short, sparks went flying, everyone freaked out and I got a hell of a shock. Forty minutes later they turned off that electrical spot and let me resume my game. I was a bit frazzled and made a misplay and lost that game. Thankfully, I got my shit in order for game three.

Round two was Blackwings. Book of Moon and Enemy Controller make Black Whirlwind and Kalut hard to get off, and Flamvell Helldogs make short work of the remains. I sided in D.D. Crows for game two and opened up both of them. I thought I was in trouble, but after stalling for a good while, both Crows crippled my opponent at the right time and I was able to swing for victory.

Round three was against Elemental Hero Shining Spam.dec which I usually lose to. Gravekeeper Spies kept his monsters at bay and I somehow managed to slowly gain an advantage and win. Gorz helped make game three really short. I’m quite happy, since the guy I beat tends to place highly in the tournaments, and this was the first time I’ve beaten him.

Round four was once again Blackwings and I was a bit confused about my opponent. He made lots of mistakes and had some pretty weird card choices. I’m not sure how he got so far into the tournament playing like he did against me. Maybe he was tired or perhaps he got lucky earlier? I’ve no idea but I quickly beat him both games without even looking at my side deck.

Round five was, holy shit not again, Blackwings and I was getting really tired of seeing them as you can imagine. Game one he goes crazy and takes me out quickly, but I do the same to him game two. Game three is a bit of back and forth with me having very few monsters and once again holding two D.D. Crows since my opening hand. I stopped Vayu and Dark Armed Dragon, but was unable to capitalize on that and he got out DAD once again followed by a Trishula. Thinking I was fine with a Brain Control in hand, he hit my only dark monster in my graveyard with his own D.D. Crow when I tried to play a Chaos Sorcerer. I’m not sure if I misplayed here, but there was no way for me to damage enough for the win without the Sorcerer even if I did blow up his DAD by itself. Even then, Trishula would still be waiting to take me down. I was short on monsters and drew nothing to save me and lost game three.

I’m still happy, though. Despite getting electrocuted I did place second. My Flamvell deck has been running pretty smoothly ever since I decided to replace Caius with Ryko. A few more tweaks here and there and I do believe I’ve got a solid deck on my hands.

1. I have no idea what you call it. An electric line was running out of it..

Anyway, I was happy with my playing and made better plays than I usually do. Tournament report follows.

Round 1 Versus Undead
Underestimating your opponent is a terrible thing. Although, when you’re playing against a kid who has no side and only six cards in his extra deck, it’s hard to think he’s on top of his game. Game one he drops Raioh and passes. I Book of Moon Raioh, swing with Flamvell Firedog, get a Magician, swing, synchro into Stardust and set a Dimensional Prison. He creature swaps me for a zombie dragon, I DP the attacking Stardust and take 2400 when the dragon kills itself. Alas, he has nothing to protect himself and I slowly build up an attack force due to a gravekeeper’s spy and Caius. Game two we’re going back and forth until he seemingly randomly Blackroses, clearing the field. Lucky for him, I have nothing and the next turn he swarms me for the win. Game three was a repeat of the first and I proceed onwards.

Round 2 Versus Blackfeathers
Game one I Book of Moon and Bottomless Trap Hole his monsters until I get a chance to Heavy Storm his back row and Firedog over one of his booked monsters. I win shortly after.
Game two we’re taking out each other’s monsters back and forth until he summons a Blizzard with me having nothing but a bottomless. For some reason, I use it on his special summoned Bora. I think I was fearing Dark Armed Dragon, but he proceeds to hit with Blizzard, pass, I draw nothing and he swarms to win. Game three seems to be going the same as two until I have a chance at Dark Armed, clear his back row and Rekindling to smash his face in.

Round 3 Versus Lightlords
Game one I prevent him from milling and Flamvell swarm to win. Game two he gets a good mill going and my in hand DD Crow isn’t looking very usefull. Now, did you know there is a Lightlord that pierces? Yeah, and it’s the one that gets bigger for each Lightlord name in the graveyard. Sadly, I forget to read cards when I should and set a face down Firedog against it. Had I set it to attack and used DD Crow, I would have survived one more turn. But instead I learned a lesson about confirming card effects. Game three he is milling, but not really benefitting from it. I decide to stall his efforts hoping to win by deck out. He gets down to one card in his deck with nothing but one trap in play. At this point he heavy storms despite my lack of set spells and traps. Clearly, he is hoping to use Gorz. I draw a Gorz of my own, pass and let him draw his last card. He does and then surrenders.

Round 4 Versus Synchro Cat
I knew exactly what deck this guy was playing and knew that Mind Control would clinch me the game. Never saw it. Both games he trap stuns me at the proper times to prevent me from doing any damage and clinch his win. I got outplayed, plain and simple. I didn’t even get one win.

Top 3/4 Decider Versus Blackfeathers
Game one and two were similar to round two. Who can swarm first. Game three he has Royal Oppression out and is holding me down until we’re both in the 1400 range. He drops Blizzard, I use Royal Oppression, he chains Cyclone to destroy RO. Sadly, that doesn’t stop RO’s effect. My turn, I summon a Flamvell Magician and attack for game.

So, I came in third. There is nothing of value in the tournament packs, so my two gave me nothing for my win. Still, I’m happpy because I played some players who normally top and did well against them.

I’ll post my deck later this week, I think. The idea is not my own but there are a few ideas that I threw in that turned out well. After a few more tweaks I’ll hopefully be topping the tournament one of these days.

Went out with John tonight to do some poking around at the card shops. Found a bunch of good stuff for good prices. Very happy with getting the leftmost card for around a dollar considering that I’ve usually seen the card go for around approximately $10.

The rarity of the cards in Yugioh is still something I haven’t gotten used to. Magic The Gathering had three. Common, uncommon, rare. Then they introduced foils and they were harder to get, but still the same concept. Three different types, common, uncommon and rare.

Yugioh has about 500 rarities as far as I can tell. First Editions, Special Editions, Common, Rare, Super, Ultra, Ultimate, Fuck you it’s expensive because it is. Some cards could only be gotten in certain ways like buying a book or a game or a $60 toy. And maybe sometime later Konami feels like printing the card again to make it easier to get but often not. It’s confusing and leads to some cards being pricy as fuck, and I’d like to stay away from said pricy as fuck cards.

I get the idea of rarities. It gets people buying more cards. What I don’t get with this game is the popular cards that were only available in limited ways. Put them in a pack and people will buy that pack to get the cards. The secondary market suffers but I’m not sure how that would hurt Konami as they don’t make money off that. And if people are buying packs, the stores are making a bit of profit, albeit not as much. Could keeping the secondary market healthy mean stores are willing to buy more product? Perhaps that’s the key.

Either way, I think I’m going to keep my deck ideas steered away from those $40. Thanks, but no thanks.

Monsters
3|Sovr|Level Eater
3|Abpf|Battle Fader
2|Fotb|Raiza the Storm Monarch
2|Sovr|Quickdraw Synchron
2|Sovr|Dark Simorgh
2|Sdde|Caius the Shadow Monarch
2|Rgbt|Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame
1|Csoc|Plaguespreader Zombie
1|Anpr|Blackwing – Mistral the Silver Shield
1|Dlg1|Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1|Jump|Dandylion
1|Soi|Treeborn Frog
1|Crms|Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
1|Mrd|Sangan

Spells
2|Ptdn|Allure of Darkness
2|Lod|Creature Swap
2|Sdrl|Foolish Burial
2|Ast|Enemy Controller
1|Mrd|Heavy Storm
1|Tlm|Brain Control
1|Sjcs|Gold Sarcophagus

Traps
2|Lod|Bottomless Trap Hole
1|Mrd|Solemn Judgment
1|Lon|Torrential Tribute
1|Fet|Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
1|Mrd|Mirror Force

Extra Deck
1|Tdgs|Goyo Guardian
1|Tdgs|Stardust Dragon
1|Csoc|Black Rose Dragon
2|Abpf|Drill Warrior
1|5ds1|Junk Warrior
1|5ds1|Colossal Fighter
1|Sovr|Blackwing – Silverwind the Ascendant
1|Crms|Blackwing Armor Master
1|Ha01|Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1|Dtp1|Ally of Justice Catastor
1|Tdgs|Magical Android
1|Tdgs|Red Dragon Archfiend
1|Sjcs|Dark End Dragon
1|Anpr|Ancient Fairy Dragon

Round 1 Versus Twilight
Game one went pretty quick with me hitting an early Stumbling and Lightsworn really want to attack. Gorz came out when I hit him with a Giant Rat but a Blade Rabbit next turn took care of Gorz’s dude. His next turn he put Gorz into attack position and I hit him with a Book of Moon. By the time Gorz could wake up I was able to slam him down with the Rabbit’s twist and a few more slaps to the face took him down. Game two was long as hell. I kept fearing a Judgement Dragon but it never came. Not sure why he wasn’t running it. I just kept up the stall and he eventually decked out.

Round 2 Versus Norleras
I had actually playtested against this guy earlier in the day at another shop. Never saw this deck before but it’s quite the interesting one. Basically it runs off of Phantom of Chaos using the effects of various big-ass dragons to get big monsters going or Norleas to blow the fuck up out of everything, make both players lose their hands and then draw a card. Unfortunately for him both games I was able to keep everything he played down. The one time Norleas did go off, he didn’t draw anything useful and I topdecked an Airbellum and put him in a bad spot. Both games were over pretty quickly. Good guy, though. Hope to see him around again.

Round 3 Versus Macroless Macro
Solemn Judgement being at one means timing when you pay half your life has to be pretty damn worth it. I took a risk game one by Solemning his turn one Banisher of the Radiance. (My Bottomless Trap Holes were on vacation this day, it seems.) Since I had a Airbellum out, I got lucky and hit one of his monsters and proceeded to take him down while preventing him from getting another attacking monster out. Game two he got a Chaos Sorcerer pretty quick and I stalled him for a while until he hit a Heavy Storm and proceeded to smash my face in. Game three an early Banisher of the Radiance came out after I had used Rescue Cat to get me a Magical Android that he removed with Bottomless Trap Hole. With No Entry!! and Call of the Haunted set, I put off No Entry!! forgetting to chain Call of the Haunted to get my Blade Rabbit back and kill his Banisher. Basically, I fucked the goat and forgot to tickle the balls. After that he pretty much smashed my face in with a big monster, I think it might have been Caius.

Third Place Determiner Versus Macro Skill Drain
Lost this one because I forgot to side in Trap Eaters game two.
Game one I hit his Skill Drain with a Solemn Judgement and proceed to take care of every monster he places with either Bottomless Trap Holes or Clowns and Rabbits with Stumbling. Giant Rat swings for the win.
Game two went on forever. He got Skill Drain and Macro out and without Trap Eaters and my Heavy Storm somewhere on the bottom of my deck (Cyclone was used early on to take out a Macro to prevent DD Survivor from coming back.) it was just a long wait while I paid 100 a turn for Messenger of Peace. Finally joy came across my opponent’s face when he drew a card and proceeded to make a play I had to check up on later but it turns out he was right. He dropped Beast King Barbaros tributing three monsters to activate the effect I thought would be stopped by Skill Drain. Then, he used Book of Moon on the Beast King so when his effect would resolve as he was face-down instead of face-up. Crazy, I know. Had I put in the Trap Eaters and gotten rid of his Skill Drain before Macro Cosmos came out, things could have gone differently. Alas. Game three I had a bad starting hand and he flew out of the gates.

Final Thoughts
Book of Moon is ridiculous good. Messenger of Peace is still a toss up because it is great stall and very useful but I wonder if I can’t just replace it with something that lets me win faster. Had I remembered to side in the Trap Eaters game 2 I might have come in third. The sideboard needs the most work I think, but mostly my siding skills need to be brought up to snuff.

20 Monsters
3 Dream Clown
3 Marauding Captain
3 Jutte Fighter
3 Drill Synchron
3 Don Zaloog
3 Giant Rat
1 Critter
1 Zero Gardna

11 Spells
3 Stumbling
3 Book of Moon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Giant Trunade
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Reinforcements of the Army

9 Traps
3 No Entry!!
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgement
1 Torrential Tribute