Monday 23 May 2016

Journey to ACQ: Traveler of the Burning Herpes

(22/05/2016, Day of Asia Championship Qualifiers 2016 Singapore) Awkward. I overslept.

Woke up at around 7:40 AM (even though my alarms were set at 6:00 AM and 6:30 AM). Welp. Thankfully I managed to hitch a ride from a family member and didn't turn up too late. In fact, I showed up at the event site before Ken Sir and DAM SON, who were out buying a nutritious meal of Macdonald's, and GeoTheBacon, who was still on his way. I found a cozy spot on the floor and made myself at home like the awkward human being I am, and eventually the members of Dueling Cancer assembled. 

Making full use of the minions around me, I quickly filled in the deck registration form only to have a friend point out that we were to use Yu-gi-oh! official sleeves (I've been using UltraPro for the longest time). As a last resort to avoid being disqualified before I even set foot in the event hall, I re-sleeved my Main and Side deck into the distributed ACQ 2016 Sleeves. Flashy.

Oversleeping? Check.
Didn't read the tournament rules properly? Check.

Well aren't we off to a great start!

ACQ 2016
132 Players, 5 Round Swiss, Top 26 Cut-Off (and addition of Seeded Players for a Top 32)
Format: Advanced Format
Deck Used: Control Volcanics


But not that Chain Burn shit.











Below is my deck list (feat. Nisekoi play mat because Onodera is best girl);


Deck building was never really one of my strong points.




















Round 1: Blue-Eyes OXO

Game 1: Win

My opponent won the dice roll and opted to go first. Dropping a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to a graveyard, he special summoned a Galaxy Soldier, which allowed him to add another Galaxy Soldier to his hand. Dropping a The White Stone of Legend, he proceeded to special summon his second Galaxy Soldier (though he does not get the search, as Galaxy Soldier's effect to search is once per turn), adding Blue-Eyes White Dragon from his deck to his hand instead. My opponent then exceed summoned into Cyber Dragon Nova and then into Cyber Dragon Infinity. He then normal summoned Sage with Eyes of Blue, and added Effect Veiler (a Level 1 Tuner) to his hand. Looking satisfied with his field, he ended his turn.

I opened with a playable hand, setting a Volcanic Shell, Vanity's Emptiness, and Blaze Accelerator Reload and ended my turn. In my hand was Volcanic Scattershot, Creature Swap, and Volcanic Counter. My opponent seemed pretty wary of my cards, as I had not revealed the deck I had prepared. During my opponent's Standby Phase, I activated Vanity's Emptiness and successfully baited Cyber Dragon Infinity's effect to negate. I then opened my Blaze Accelerator Reload with effect during his Main Phase, discarding Volcanic Scattershot, and drew into another Volcanic Shell. Volcanic Scattershot's effect activated and I successfully destroyed my opponent's field (dealing 1500 damage in the process). My opponent, perplexed at the situation, ended his turn with an open field. Drawing into Maxx "C", I then discarded Volcanic Shell as draw fodder and drew into Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light. Using the effect of Volcanic Shell in my graveyard, I paid a 500 LP cost to add another copy of itself to my hand. I then flip summoned my previously set Volcanic Shell, and normal summoned the Volcanic Shell that I had just added to my hand, and exceed summoned into Ghostrick Dullahan, and then into Ghostrick Angel of Mischief. At this point, my opponent looked rather confused. "What deck is this dude running?" I figured something of the sort might have been running through his mind. I proceeded to ram Ghostrick Angel of Mischief into my opponent like the adorable beat stick she is and set Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light, ending my turn.

LP Check: Me @ 7500 / Opp @ 4500

My opponent cooled his head from the rather strange Rank 1 play and somehow brought out a Blue-Eyes White Dragon (it was a long day so I definitely didn't remember every detail). He decided to try to take out my Ghostrick Angel of Mischief but I activated Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light, saving my monster but at a 1000 LP cost. In his Main Phase 2, I dropped Volcanic Counter as fodder and drew in a Fiendish Chain. I then drew into Magic Planter on my next turn, and activated it by tributing the Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light. I didn't draw into anything worth mentioning so I set the Fiendish Chain, changed Ghostrick Angel of Mischief to defense position, and ended my turn. Being a typical Blue-Eyes deck, my opponent revealed a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to special summon a Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon. Overlaying his two monsters, he exceed summoned into Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon and this mofo stole my Ghostrick Angel of Mischief. He then had the nerve to rank her up further, turning the adorkable Rank 4 into Number 95: Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon. Unwilling to banish any of my monsters, I Fiendish Chain-ed him and proceeded to banish the Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light from my graveyard, protecting me for the turn.

Now this is when things got downright cheesy.

Drawing into Dark Hole, I activated it to clear the two direct threats I faced. Setting one monster, I just hoped my opponent wasn't running Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon. To my relief all he did was special summon another Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon and attacked into my monster. His turn ended swiftly and I was about to send my opponent on a roller coaster of emotions. Normal summoning Maxx "C", I then activated the Creature Swap I had kept hidden in my hand all this while. My opponent's eyes widened in disbelief as I casually switched the places of the only 2 monsters on the field. A flurry of curses spewed from under his breath as I attacked Maxx "C" with the Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon I had stolen. Unable to recover, my opponent scooped and we were off to a better start than before.

I sided out 2 Twin Twister's and sided in 2 Ojama Trio's, as I had figured that my opponent was playing more of a Rank 8 deck rather than with all the Synchros.

Game 2: Lose

Nothing much to say here, I bricked and couldn't get over Blue-Eyes White Dragon. In order to not waste time, I conceded and we carried over to the next and last game.

Game 3: Win

I opted to go first, and I had set up a pretty decent field and graveyard after a few turns, most notably 2 Volcanic Counter's, all 3 Volcanic Scattershot's, and 1 Volcanic Shell. In my hand was Creature Swap (by far my favourite tech card) and Volcanic Doomfire. I was at 5500 LP, having taken a hit from Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon, who later on tagged out for Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon (though the latter was flipped face down for all of eternity thanks to Endless Trap Hole). My opponent had 5600 LP at the time from taking the combined power of Ojama Trio and Volcanic Scattershot and ended his turn by special summoning Galaxy Solder in defense as a last resort. I paid the 500 LP cost to add another Volcanic Shell to my hand, and normal summoned the bugger. At first I was going to attack the Galaxy Soldier, since it had 0 Defense as compared to Volcanic Shell's mighty 100 Attack. Flipping through my graveyard, I noticed the 2 Volcanic Counter's just chilling there.

FWIP. My opponent must have seen something he didn't like as he D.D. Crow-ed me. Worried that we were both thinking of the same thing, I asked him for the target, and he proceeded to banish Volcanic Shell, a grave misplay on his part. But hey, that's all part of the joy of playing a rogue deck in a big tournament such as this. I declared attack on the face down Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon using my Volcanic Shell, eating 2900 damage in the process, which activated the 2 Volcanic Counter's in my graveyard. As part of their mandatory effect, both were banished and my opponent ended up taking 5800 damage, ending the game.

Round 2: D/D/D OXO

I'm not too familiar with D/D/D cards so this segment won't be elaborated too much on. In short it was a bad match up but I had somehow managed to pull through.

Game 1: Win

I honestly can't remember what happened, but I won. Yay?

I sided out 2 Twin Twister's and 1 Harpie's Feather Duster for 2 Lava Golem's and 1 Endless Trap Hole.

Game 2: Lose

A combination of brick opening hand and my opponent opening with a beautiful hand led to my defeat by a near OTK.

Game 3: Win

The back and forth was real during this game. The versatility of my opponent's archetype is pretty incredible, ranging from solid Synchros like Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon and PSY-Framelord Omega to various backrow negation. Needless to say, he depleted my resources quickly and it was only thanks to using up all 3 of my Magic Planter's in the opening turns that I managed to hold on.

LP Check: Me @ 7500 / Opp @ 8000

My opponent had Formula Synchron and D/D/D Doom King Armageddon on the field and little to no hand cards. On my side was Ghostrick Angel of Mischief making her second appearance of the day, with a Creature Swap in my hand. I had already depleted my supply of Volcanic Shell's and Volcanic Scattershot's and no Volcanic Counter remained in my graveyard. It was my turn. Taking a leap of faith, I attacked Formula Synchron and proceeded into Main Phase 2, where I activated Creature Swap to take control of D/D/D Doom King Armageddon

The rest of the story gets messy as cards were being activated across the board, life points being lost, along with my top decking of Dark Hole and the grand debut of Volcanic Doomfire. Attacking with Volcanic Doomfire and a Royal Firestorm Guards I had on the field (which shuffled back my Volcanic Scattershot's and 1 Volcanic Shell), I brought my opponent down from 5000 LP to 300 LP while I remained healthy at 7500 LP. My opponent managed to take down my boss monster with Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon, and attacked into Royal Firestorm Guards with a revived D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc, bringing me down to 3400 LP. With D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc sitting there menacingly, I couldn't figure out a way to burn the remaining 300 LP. That is, until, I drew into my last copy of Creature Swap, which along with the lone Volcanic Scattershot in my hand, made for a pretty risky play. Normal summoning Volcanic Scattershot, I saw my opponent's eyes dull as I revealed Creature Swap. Following through, he gave me possession of D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc in return for Volcanic Scattershot. Unable to prevent the destruction by battle and subsequent damage, my opponent accepted his defeat by the hands of his own monster.

Round 3: Heroes OXX

Round 1: Win

Quite possibly the last entertaining duel of my day. My opponent won the dice roll and opted to go first. He normal summoned Destiny HERO - Diamond Dude, activating his effect to reveal Harpie's Feather Duster. Jokingly he threatened, "you better not set any cards arh!" He set 4 and ended his turn. Looking at my hand, I had 2 Blaze Accelerator Reload's, a Magic Planter and a flurry of Volcanic monsters. I set one of my Blaze Accelerator Reload's, fully understanding that it would be destroyed on my opponent's turn. 

As expected, my opponent destroyed my face down (but not before I discarded Volcanic Shell as draw fodder) and proceeded to direct attack me.

Ow.

I set my remaining Blaze Accelerator Reload and ended my turn. During my opponent's Main Phase 1 (before he entered Battle Phase), I decided to activate Blaze Accelerator Reload's graveyard effect, throwing a Volcanic Scattershot from my deck to the graveyard, burning him for 500, as well as allowing my to throw 2 more Volcanic Scattershot's in order to destroy his monsters. 

The dude Solemn Strike's my Volcanic Scattershot! Dude! Not cool. I took another direct attack from Destiny HERO - Diamond Dude and discarded a Volcanic Scattershot from my hand as draw fodder, subsequently dealing another 500 LP of damage.

LP Check: Me @ 5200 / Opp @ 5500

I normal summoned Volcanic Rocket, hoping to add another Blaze Accelerator Reload to my hand, but this kid decides he wants to Solemn Judgement and negate my summon. Low on resources, I paid 500 LP and added a Volcanic Shell to my hand, discarding it as draw fodder and drew into Fiendish Chain. I then activated the effect of the second Volcanic Shell and added the last copy into my hand. 

LP Check: Me @ 4200 / Opp @ 2750

My opponent didn't seem to draw into anything worthwhile and attacked, only to be stopped by Fiendish Chain. He shrugged and ended, while I drew into Royal Firestorm Guards. I normal summoned Royal Firestorm Guards and successfully got it's effect off, reshuffling the Volcanic Scattershot's and Volcanic Shell's back into my deck and replenished my dwindling hand. I attacked Destiny HERO - Diamond Dude, dealing 300 damage, and activated Magic Planter, sending my face up Blaze Accelerator Reload to the grave. I had drawn into Vanity's Emptiness, and I had set the card as a safety precaution as Heroes like to special summon their annoying counterparts. My hunch was right and my opponent drew into A Hero Lives, to which I opened Vanity's Emptiness. Left with 1225 LP, no monsters, and no hand, my opponent scooped and decided to side against my "Anti-Meta".

I sided out 1 Drowning Mirror Force and 1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness for 2 Lava Golem's.

Round 2: Lose

My opponent opted to go first and normal summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh. Setting 4 cards, he ended his turn. I opened with Volcanic Shell, 2 Lose 1 Turn's, 2 Starlight Road's, and drew into an Endless Trap Hole, talk about the brick. I set Volcanic Shell and 3 face downs (1 of each). The whole game was basically a Thunder King Rai-Oh beat down feat. some other Heroes.

Round 3: Lose

Masked HERO Dark Law makes me a sad duelist.

Round 4: Dark Magician XX

Game 1: Lose

My opponent won the dice roll and opted to go first. He locked me down with Eternal Soul, Secret Village of the Spellcasters, and a Dark Magician on the field. Unable to do anything, I scooped.

I sided out 1 Dark Hole, 1 Starlight Road, 2 Creature Swap's for 2 Lava Golem's and 2 Ojama Trio's.

Game 2: Lose

Eternal Soul, Secret Village of the Spellcasters, and a Dark Magician lockdown part 2. I went first this time, only to delay my inevitable defeat by slowly taking 1000 LP costs from Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light. Needless to say, I got wrecked by none other than Yugi Muto.

Round 5: Chain Burn XX

Game 1: Lose

It was a pretty good day until found out I was matched up against a Chain Burn deck for the last round. 

Don't even bother about the siding, I don't have anything to counter the deck.

Game 2: Lose

I opted to go first, hoping to at least establish some sort of field. I opened with 5 traps, which all served as protection against special summoned monsters or attacks. Feeling done with the game, I scooped and left.

F@%# Chain Burn.

Outcome: ELIMINATED Pre-Top 26


All in all, I felt that today was rather fulfilling. This will probably be my last tournament (though I may still join local rankings on occasion if I'm free and the other members of Dueling Cancer are participating), and I'm glad that I got to bring a version of the first real deck I owned to this event. The unlikely win against D/D/D, and the cheesy plays against Blue-Eyes, heck, even the lone Diamond Dude slowly chipping away at my LP. I'm starting to put Yu-gi-oh! behind me as I look forward to University life, but I'll still be around to finish up some articles and (try to) maintain some level of editing within the blog. Now all that's left is to prepare a bomb-ass collection binder worthy of my childhood.

Peace,

Traveler of the Burning Herpes



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