Dueling "C": Journey to ACQ: Ken Sir

Mission Report: ~~December 16th, 2001~~

May 22nd, 2016

Starting the day

Woke up at 0600hrs to meet DAM SON.
I don't even wake up so early in the morning for work or school. TT_____TT

So we took the MRT (that's the name for our country's train transport system.) and alighted at Esplanade MRT station, the location of the event venue.

We arrived the train station closest to the event.

Arriving, we first met up with K.X. and proceeded to look for breakfast. Many shops were closed as it was still early (0730hours) and GeoTheBacon soon joined us. With so many shops closed, what better place to have breakfast than at good old McDonald's.

Yeah... We are having Mac again. Ken Sir says sarcastically.

We ended up buying some takeaway for the other members of the crew for different reasons.
Meow Heidi had to attend some judge briefing and couldn't buy breakfast on his own.
Traveller of the Burning Herpes was ..... well, late. Hooray~

So that, we did. And soon, the entire crew was here.

Breakfast eaten, and prepared to start the day.

Arriving...

We sat outside, at the entrance of the convention room, waiting for it to be opened and we had a little chat among ourselves. Reminding each other of the seemingly-trivial-yet-important-things, checking our decklist AGAIN and noting the usefulness of respective side deck cards.
Soon, the doors to the room opened, and so did registration.
Having waited at the entrance, Team Cancer became the first few to register. xD
Would we be the first few to make it for the cutoff to top 25 too? We certainly hope so. Many of us have never invested so much time and preparation for an event like this. And with so many friends backing us up, offering to lend us cards and teach us the pros and cons of the many different meta decks, we really did not want to let them down.

Soon, we were registered, so we just sat at a nearby table as the other players got registered. 126 slots for registration and so many people competing to be the next KING OF GAMES.

The entry gift sleeves were quite nice though. I dig the shiny glossy green.

GeoTheBacon's briefcase is also equally deserving of a picture. It was recently completed with the help, creativity and resourcefulness of Burning Herpes -sama. It would have been more iconic if he was piloting a Blue-Eyes deck though, but nevertheless...

The Deck boxes are held upright by button magnets. Creative eh?

Before we knew it, registration was completed and closed. With all slots filled up, the pairings for Round 1 was released...

so we all decided to head to our respective tables...

As everyone got seated, Head Judge for the day, Colin Ang, begun to give out instructions for the day's event.
All of which included, but are not limited to, the time-called procedure, Rules and Regulations and an introduction to the Judge team of the day.

And after the long speech filled with instructions ended, everyone eagerly started to play after Colin announced that we may begin.

Everyone was so restless that no additional prompting was needed.

Let the games begin!

Round 1 - Vs Heroes OO

My opponent's deck was build more for fun than competitive and relied more of the fusion aspect of the HERO archtype. He tried to go ahead to build his field but Anti-Spell Fragrance slowed his deck down. Winning the dice roll and going first allowed me to activate my traps during his first turn, and a timely Solemn Strike left him exposed and wasted his normal summon. Unable to special summon, he was rushed down by my Yosenju monsters the next turn.

Game 2 was also a fast one due to my trap choices. He fusion-summoned monsters were eliminated by Compulsory Evacuation Device and Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon was summoned to ensure that any cards summoned by him wouldn't prevent me from taking my win for the first round.

After the game, we exchanged a few comments about the HEROes deck builds and trap lineup and I suggested that he might want to change his deck's build. With that, the day started off pleasantly.

Round 2 - Vs PK BA XX

I drew badly with very few trap cards. My attempt to replenish my hand with Card of Demise only led me to draw into more monsters, non of which was capable of running over Blue Layer Xyz without the aim of Yosenju Tsujik. Yosenju Kama 1 also choice a perfect time to go MIA. I eventually lost after he proceeded to gain his resources via mills and searches, completely interrupted.

I went into Game 2 siding heavily, believing that my side deck would cripply his graveyard-reliable deck. After all, I do have Stygian Dire, Macro Cosmos and Rivalry of Warlords. However, it is as if I jinxed it. I drew into ALL of my Solemn card series in my deck. Needless to say, Solemn Warning was dead when I drew into it, as I was dwindling at 550LP. Despite having Marco Cosmos on the field, I was unable to seize Game 2. His monsters went into beatdown mode without going into xyz summoning.

Round 3 - Vs Metalfoe OXO

Winning the dice roll, my opponent opted to go first. He didn't have a strong swarming field, but merely summoned Cyber Stein and called upon Naturia Exterio with the hefty fee of 5000LP. Feeling confident the he managed to set a lock-down, he ended his turn with 2 set cards.
I summoned Yosenju Kama 1 and Tsujik, which made him lament about the matchup. Exterio was bounced by Kama 1, making the 5000LP he paid in vain. Fearing the two backrow cards, I xyz summoned into Number 39: Utopia. Before I could special summon Number S39: Utopia The Lightning, he flipped summon his Vanity's Emptiness, so I went ahead and attacked Cyber Stein with Utopia instead, leaving him at 1200LP.
He tried to turn the tables with his other face down - Metalfoe Counter - to special summon a monster, but the next turn, I ran over that monster with Utopia and dealt the finishing blow with my newly drawn Kama 2.

He started stronger at Game 2, managing to summon Ultimaya Tzolkin, which led to the summon of Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon. Being able to negate monster effects, Crystal Wing slowed down my plays and I was forced to bank on my spells and traps. A poor lapse in judgement of not negating Ultimaya with Solemn Strike, and instead bet on Drowning Mirror Force, would eventually cost me the game, as Ultimaya summoned Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayerafter another card was set. Ignister would later succeed in removing my facedown threat (twice!!!) and he wins the game by attacking directly.

Game 3 was very nerve-wrecking for me. I ended my turn with 4 trap cards but without protection. Twin Twister would have been the end of me and costed me dearly. It was truly do or die. I flipped Anti-Spell during his standby, but he attempted to destroy it with Mystical Space Typhoon. Thankfully, I had a second copy chained which would later win me my game.
He set a card which he would later activate - Pot of Cupidity, but it didn't lead to any extended plays, but merely setting another card.
Sensing his desperation to rely on spells, I xyz summoned into Lightning Chidori in Main Phase 2 after attacking and reducing his lifepoints. Chidori got rid of the face down and pushed him further into a already-tight spot.
His final attempt to remove Chidori via Archfiend Eccentrick was thwarted by my Solemn Strike, upon which he conceded, lamenting that he was incapable of any plays with Anti-Spell face up.

Despite being an opponent which was quite fierce and intimidating, where he exerted pressure by question the legibility of my plays (such as allowing Demise to resolve before returning Yosenju to my hand), he showed off his friendly side as we discussed our gameplays as we were siding out our cards. Winning Game 3 brought me confidence once more, as hope arises that I would be able to make it to the cut offs.

Round 4 - Vs D/D/D OXX

omg it is Bahamut84 of DuelingDays.

I took the first game after disrupting his plays, mainly due to Kama 1's bouncing effect. Compulsory on legs coming through. His D/D/D Oracle King D'Arc and D/D/D Hexblood King Siegfried was sent back to the extra deck, which allowed a rush down by my two Kama 1s and Kama 2. I managed to take him out the next turn,after I reduced his field advanatge with Lightning Chidori. He flipped his Dark Contract With the Witch and it cost him 2000LP in total, which would eventually cost him Game 1.

I lost Game 2 despite leading in life points after a few good beatdowns. D/D/D Dragonbane King Beowulf D'Arc and Siegfriend launched into a massive field swarm and OTKed me. Having sided out Torrential Tribute for a better board control backrow, I lacked the responsive threats needed to block out his attack. I lost, without being able to do anything.

Time was called as we entered Game 3. I won the dice roll and was forced to go first, drawing into only one Yosenju. Already I knew this was gonna be tough.

Macro Cosmo stopped his plays for a while but he cleared it with D/D Orthros.
He did his summons and manage to get a total of 5800LP attack at me. Kali Yuga summoned at main phase 2 attempted to clear my backrow, but Starlight Road prevented that. Nevertheless he set up his defense with D/D Swirl Slime summoning D/D/D Oblivion_King Abyss Ragnarok and using its effect to respawn pulling Siegfriend. Having Yosenju Kama 1 in my hand and Stardust on the field, I couldn't find my way out to deal damage to him. At Turn 2, my last battle phase of the game, I had no choice but to concede.

I left Round 4 with a heavy heart, knowing that I couldn't have won that round despite making the best of what I have. My deck build simply has too much exposed flaws and couldn't compete with DDD's deck resources and recycling.
With 2 Win and 2 Loss, my luck was like a see-saw that day. Win Lose Win Lose.

Round 5 - PK BA OXX

I didn't really put much hope into this game but I played anyway out of respect for my opponent. Also, I did wake up so early on a Sunday morning. So I was also betting on the small chance of being one of the two people to make it for the top 26 cut off.

I won game 1 after he couldn't have any outs of Pet Phantasmal Dragon. After a series of controlling the field with Compulsory and Solemn Strike, I was able to dwindle his resources and finally won myself the game.

He probably sided in Swords of Concealing Lights for Phantasmal and it came in handy in game 2 by allowing Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to get rid of it when it was face down.

Game 3 was a war of attrition with the tides turning every turn. Rivalry of Warlords kept him at bay, but he easily got rid of it after opting to remain his warriors, allowing the summon of The Phantom Knights of Break Sword.
Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal went everywhere - one destroyed by Bottomless Trap Hole, one later sent back to the deck, and one sent to the graveyard by choice due to Rivalry.
Eventually, time was called when we were both tied at 8000LP and he managed to deal the damage needed to win him the game and round.

And with that, my attempt to make it for the cut off flunked and I went to have lunch in disappointment. The only solace was GeoTheBacon making it for the top cut off. So the rest of us went to have our long-awaited and long-overdue lunch at Burger King.

When one fails to become the King of Games, he becomes one with Burger King instead

As for GeoTheBacon's adventures in the Top 32 realms, I shall leave it to him for sharing his experience in his own blog post.

I received timely updates from my other friends after I left the event for dinner with my ex-classmates, and was glad to hear that Jeff Soh made it to the finals.

(it would be cool if the finals was between a Dark Magician deck and Blue-Eyes user though. #justsaying)

Photo Credits: Yugioh Edition Singapore

Moving forward:

I believe the current trap choices of my Yosenju deck is too passive in nature, especially for my side deck, allowing for board control at the expense of actively responding to my opponent's traps. Decks such as D/D/D which constantly reuse/recycle resources are also always a problem that I had to deal with since EMEm/PePe days.
My Yosenju hits grave, that's the end of their story, end of the line.
Their monsters hit grave? Fuse using spells! Fuse using slime's effects! Reborn them using monster effects! Temujin! Ragnorak! =3=

Well, some things, we got to make do, I guess...

Anyway, here is my decklist:

Going to be taking a few weeks off from Yu-gi-oh, after all the time invested in preparation for this big event. I look forward to change my deck's build to include Yosenju's Secret Move and Yosenju Shinchu L. Many other measures will also have to be taken to answer my deck's disadvantage of being incapable of recycling resources. Meta decks excel at recycling resources, ensuring that a single card can turn the tables and tides. D/D/D's is indeed unparalleled... perhaps I should try piloting the deck someday. It kinda reminds me of Junk Doppel, the deck I am extremely fond of due to my sentimental attachments to 5D's anime.
After all, readers who stuck with me since the beginning would probably be sick of hearing me doing every single report about Yosenjus. xD

Many thanks to all...
On behalf of the entire Dueling Cancer team, I would like to express my gratitude to the Judge team for their hard work and unwavering determination in making today a better experience for all players. Judging is no easy job and I always feel that they never got the credit, thanks and appreciation that they truly deserved.
From answering trivia questions patiently and providing full card text, to clearing misunderstandings and misconceptions about the time-called procedures.

I would also like to extent my congratulations to Soh Jun Yuan, Jeff for his success today in winning the title of Asia Championship Qualifiers Champion for Singapore.
I recall surfing the net for updates on blogs and facebook for jeff's match in 2011. 5D's being my fav anime, I was thrilled to see Junk Doppel making it into the finals. During his match against Six Sam, I was rooting for him the entire game length.
It was both nostalgic and fun to relive and revisit the moment today, as he clutch his victory in a Blue Eyes Mirror Match.