Chicago Regional Tournament Report

So, we'll start with the two big things, my placement and the deck I was using.  I decided to go with Tom and Jerry this year, since I felt like it's one of the strongest possible mixed decks in the game right now, with its only major weakness being a straight OTT deck.  I'm running the same decklist that I have on this blog:

Starter - Flask Marmoset

4x Ruler Chameleon (Crit)
4x Triangle Cobra (Crit)
4x Psychic Bird (Crit)
4x Oracle Guardian, Nike (Crit)

Grade 1's

4x Silver Wolf
4x Coiling Duckbill
3x Tank Mouse
2x Chocolat
1x Tic-Toc Flamingo

Grade 2's

4x Binoculus Tiger
4x Silent Tom
3x Maiden of Libra

Grade 3's

4x CEO Amaterasu
4x Battle Sister, Cookie

Now, my standings.  There were about 360 people there, and I ended up 47th (Pics or it didn't happen?), losing in round 6.  There were less than 32 people for round seven it seems, so I could totally just say "top 32 if you don't count tiebreakers".  So, because I'm an egomaniac, we'll go with that.  Top 32.  I felt very fortunate that I got to use almost all of the tricks that the deck has to give, and neither myself nor my opponents were gradelocked in any of my games.   Now for the play-by-play.

Round 1: W vs. DOtE

I rushed the guy super hard.  I think he said he was a Pojoer (Flying Teapot?) and immediately knew who I was when he saw the mixed decks.  He had no idea what to expect when he saw the Psychic Bird boosting my Vanguard on turn 1.  I went second and drive checked into the Libra that I needed to ride, since I had no grade 2.  I put him to 4 damage turn 3, then he crossrode into DOtE with only one card left in hand.  I had a pretty good hunch he had no other DOtE's, and I ended up being correct.  He attacks, I no guard at 3 damage, he checks a grade 1 and 2, and I get put to 4.  I soul charge and check top-card with CEO seeing a critical and leaving it there.  I knew that he checked a grade 1 and 2 last turn with one unknown card in his hand.  I anticipated it being a perfect guard (it was actually a 10k).  Since he was at 13k defense and my row was Coiling and Tom, I decided to pump up Coiling a bit.  I used the effect of a Tank Mouse I already had out on Coiling, then called another one over it, doing the same thing, making Coiling a 15k boost, in case he checked double heals or some other shenanigans.  I use my unboosted row to swing at his grade 2, retiring that.  Then I attack with CEO, which he ended up one-to-passing from a misplay.  Had he guarded that attack, I would have gone in with a 28k 2 crit Tom, which is the first cool thing this deck can do.  Make crossrides shit their pants.  Dude was a total bro and I'm happy to say he beat his goal of not losing in two rounds.  I think he got to round 4.

Round 2: W vs. Pacifica/Vert

Only individual I fought with a bad deck.  Only individual I fought with a bad attitude.  Maybe the only individual I fought who wasn't aware of who I was or who didn't see someone walk up to me and be like, "Wait, you're that Tim?"  I was polite, didn't boast, didn't gloat.  I mean, for me, that's definitely my best behavior.  She was pissed that I was stomping her.  I mean, it sucks to be losing hard in the second round, but it wasn't like I was sacking her.  She drew into a great hand.  Continued to get great draws.  But she had to keep guarding with all of her boosters since I was intentionally leaving Tom at low power so she would do so.  She checked two stands with no front-row rear-guards to place them on since she had to guard Tom with all of them.  I used Tank mouse to make a Tom row hit an extra stage, to which she responds, "I don't think you can do that."  I explain to her that Tank Mouse only needs a Great Nature target and not a Great Nature Vanguard.    After this point her attitude switched from irritated to bitchy.  I get her to five, and with a break ride draw into Pacifica's skill for another +1, she only had 3 RG's out total that turn.  Even with the card draw and bouncing from Pacifica and break riding, I swing with my 21k Amaterasu which she had to no guard.  Crit.  Crit.  She looks absolutely livid (like the criticals actually mattered), refused to check her damage, and began picking up her cards and gathering her other belongings.  I extend my hand and say, "Good game."  She says, "No it wasn't!" and storms off.  Good game, I guess?

Round 3: W vs. Sephirot/Laurel

I got two Toms in my starting hand.  I get him to four damage very quickly since I had a double Tom whammy that they couldn't guard with grade 0's.  My inability to win dice rolls helped secure all of the rushes.  He ended up riding Laurel on his third turn, which pretty much secured the victory for me.  Tom trick #134 won the game for me.  He had enough grade 0's in hand to guard my Vanguard, and a few 1's and 2's, but not enough if I pumped Tom up.  I had no Tank Mouse or Binoculus out, so I wasn't in a good position to pump units up.  Then I looked at my Marmoset, and was like, "This is going to be awesome."  I used his skill twice on himself, since I was at 4 damage myself.  This made my Tom row 5+8+8, which is a nice 21k.  I scried a critical, so I took the game that turn.

Round 4: W vs. The Blood

I felt bad.  This was the only game that I felt like I turbo sacked.  I crit him turn 2 and double crit him turn 3.  I mean, 16 crit is there for a reason, but I still felt bad.  I apologized profeusly, but my opponent was like, "Nah man.  It's cool."  We wished each other the best of luck.  Then all of my friends left to go do other stuff since they got eliminated, and I was like, "NO!  Friendship!  I will lose if you don't support me with your friendship!  Has Yu-Gi-Oh! taught you nothing!"  My predictions ended up being true.

Round 5: L vs. The Blood

I secure an amazing rush early, getting the guy to 5 damage.  For the first and third turns after this, hitting a single trigger would have secured game for me... but he ended up winning the game of pressure, getting an ultimate break out, and continuously swinging for good numbers with crossridden defense.  I make a pretty cool move by using Marmoset to off himself while calling a Coiling to cycle it into a new card while using him as a pretty legit beater.  Each turn after the opening turns would start with me drawing a crit, soul charging a crit, scrying a non-crit, putting it at the bottom, and hitting two non-crits, save turn 4 when he had a perfect guard to handle the bonus crit Tom.  I made a big push on the fifth turn, sacking two of my boosters to hit some magic numbers.  A single crit could have won the game for me, but I only had 3 left in my 18~ card deck.  No cigar.  It was a great match all-around that could have gone either way.

Round 6: L vs. DOtE

He hit no less than 4 draws in the first 3 turns.  I knew he had his extra DOtE's in hand.  Since I got him to 3 damage on my first turn from hitting a crit, I was very surprised that he went straight for my rear guards since I was at no damage for a few turns.  He ended up amassing an enormous hand, but stayed at 3 for quite a while.  I was in a bad spot, though, since my first damage check was a Tom, and my first soul charge was a Tom.  I had a Tom in my opening hand, but he attacked it with his Vanguard Dragonic Overlord, and I didn't have the ability to guard that and his rear-guards from getting Tom.  I was able to prevent a bonus critical because of his decision, so I was literally at 0 damage to his 3 when he rode DOtE.  Since he used Conroe to fetch a Barri, I'm not sure that it mattered.  I kept guarding DOtE since it had a draw trigger booster, and as I said, I knew had that DOtE in his hand.  The guy made several misplays throughout the match.  He said he had only been playing for 2 weeks, and he was super surprised he got as far as he did.  I end up checking Tom with my scry, and with two gone I wasn't sure what to do.  I decided to put it at the bottom, but that might not have been the best choice.  He had two nulls and I had other units I could call to the front, so I wanted more things to guard with.  The game edged on into turn 5 or 6, I had 2 cards left in my hand, and I knew I had no chance to survive the next turn since I couldn't force out much guard over his 13k wall, I had no more Toms, and he had 9 cards in hand.  ~_~  But the card I drew into for turn was a Psychic Bird.  I moved it to soul and drew a card.  I swing with CEO at his Vanguard, and he no guards it since he's going to be able to block everything after that easily.  Since he was new, he didn't know about CEO's megablast.  Psychic Bird secured the 8th soul for me, so I was able to draw 5 from my deck, which put me back in the game.  A little cheesy, but it helped make up for (albeit way too late) all of the cards he drew into earlier.  I burn most of the cards to guard all of his attacks.  I have enough for a full field, and nothing more.  I end up hoping beyond hope that he two-to-passes me the next turn, since I had plenty of crits in my deck, and manmode was my only way out.  He's at 4 at this point.  He nulls me, I double crit, passing one trigger to each rear-guard.  He guards both of those and still has a good 2-3 cards in hand.  I didn't have enough to guard all of his units and have no heals, so I one-to-pass DOtE, win the one-to-pass, but lose to a rear guard attack.  Not much I could have done to sway the game back into my favor since my deck was at only 5 cards from sitting on CEO for so long.  No complaints though, I put up a hell of a fight given the circumstances and I'm very satisfied with the results that Tom and Jerry gave me for the tournament.

Kageroyals piloted by Dustin Henry - Side Special

Poor, poor Dustin.  He got sacked so hard.  ;__;  It's not him, it's me.  My luck did this to him.

Game 1 - L vs. Ezel

His opponent went first.  Dustin attacks, crits and it's now his opponent's turn.  Turn 2 superior ride into Ezel.  They use two self-damagers, bringing themself up to 4, limit break with Ezel getting a 9-10k out, and now he can't guard Ezel at all.    Double crit.  Power got passed to a RG row with a boost which also couldn't be guarded without dropping 3 cards.  The Ezel style superior rides are extremely tough for Kageroyals to handle since it's based around guarding Vanguard attacks early with single cards, and both Ezel's 1k for each GP rear guard and Twin-Drive!! get in the way of that.  Securing that into a double crit is the ultimate disaster for Kageroyals, because it takes away the cheap, single-card guarding advantage that the deck utilizes.  After losing all of the momentum in an instant, he attacks with his grade 2.  His opponent swings in again for huge numbers, and he just couldn't hold up.  Ezel has always been registered as a counter deck, but this is the absolute worst-case scenario for the match-ups.

Game 2 - L vs. Master Beetle Megacolony

He ended up taking a lead against his opponent and pushing them to 5 damage.  He gets knocked to 5 as well.  He starts his turn, attacks with Dragonic Waterfall, "persona blasts" for 31k, and his opponent is like, "Wow, 31k!  I can't guard that!".  Drive check 1, crit.  Drive check 2, crit.  His opponent says, "Wow.  I'm not even going to check my damage.  Good game, man."  Dustin, being a bro, is like, "Dude, check your damage.  You never know."  Heal.  Heal.  Heal.  Dustin loses the next turn.  Words cannot describe...