Rolling With The Top Dogs, 10

After a long awaited week, I am finally able to get in touch with one of the most respectable players in TCG. Known also as Clau-Di-Oh! This time, all the way from Austria, allow me to introduce Claudio Kirchmair! He is definitely someone I would call a good role model and an inspiring duelist. Also, I’ve changed the format of how I conduct interviews and hopefully readers would prefer it much more. Without further wait, go ahead and read up on another finest member of United Gosus. Enjoy!

CLAUDIO KIRCHMAIR

1.Let's start of by introducing yourself. Please tell us a little bit of who you are.

Hi, my name is Claudio Kirchmair, I'm 25 years old and from Austria in Europe. I study "Software-Development & Economy" at the Technic University Graz and work as a Software-Developer at the same time. I like to travel, meet new people and enjoy my life

I play the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading-Card game since 2005 (10 years now) and I'm a proud member of the team "United Gosus". If you want to read more about my competitive record visit please: http://www.unitedgosus.com/team/claudio-kirchmair/

2.Before going into serious business. Do you've a favourite deck, which deck(s) is it?

I love all kind of Control decks, where you have more resources than your opponent if everything works well. In other words, i like decks which gain card advantage while controlling your opponent. My all time favourite deck was Tele-Dark Armed Dragon because the better player would win the majority of all games.

3.This is a 'lil something everyone wants to know. Are there any YGO cards you especially like? I mean, favourite card(s).

My all time favourite card is "Elemental Hero Stratos". He's pure card advantage because he's stronger than most normal summoned monsters and he also adds another HERO monster to your hand. I won a lot of games with him and had a lot of success when i used this card in tournaments (e.g. European Championship 2008, Austrian Nationals 2009, etc.).

4.Okay, going into business. How long have you been playing YGO and what is your personal opinion on the state of the game right now?

Like i mentioned before, i played since 2005 which means this is my 10th year now. Maybe i should celebrate a kind of anniversary now

I still like the game and i love the changes they made with the new Exceed monsters because it made every normal monster or effect monster stronger than before and it also added a toolbox.

5.Apart from improving skills, being competitive means understanding the current situation of the format. What do you think of the format as of now and how is the Meta in your country performing at the moment?

The format is great as always. Of course there are some cards which are too strong like "Tourguide from the Underworld", "Rescue Rabbit" or "Wind-Up Hunter" but this kind of cards will always exist in Yu-Gi-Oh. The Meta in Austria should be Hero or Chaos Dragon because most players in Austria won't spend a lot of money for decks.

6.What deck are you running at the moment and how is it performing in the format, in your opinion? And, just out of curiosity, why do you choose that deck as your weapon of choice?

I play Rescue Rabbit because it has the best Control monsters of the current game. It has more copies of "Solemn Judgment" than every other deck and "Evolzar Dolkka" is another broken card which can be summoned pretty easy. You can also adept the deck to every matchup and it's pretty versatile. It's also the most consistent deck with the best overall matchup and a good player can win nearly every game with it in the TCG.

7.This is a personal interest of mine. Do you think TCG exclusives are capable of making an impact in the OCG competitive scene by the time they arrive? Is it positive or negative?

They will change the OCG Meta a lot because nearly every deck benefits from "Tourguide from the Underworld". I think Rescue Rabbit would become the new Meta when the TCG exclusives arrive. It's a positive impact because you will see a hybrid of the TCG and OCG and maybe there will be new decks developed which were not discovered yet.

8.YGO is serious business nowadays. Are there any specific preparation taken by you to get yourself ready for major events? How does it help you?

I test a lot with the "United Gosus" team members on Dueling Network (http://www.duelingnetwork.com/") to learn new moves or get a better view about certain matchups. I also discuss a lot with them and scroll through every big event coverage in the past to find new ideas / certain card choices / good plays. I also try to enjoy the whole weekend when I'm at a big tournament to get the most out of the event / experience.

9.Side-decking has always been an important part of the game and many players still aren't familiar with it. What do you focus on in your side-deck and how do you decide on which card is effective enough to be included?

I try to eliminate every card from the main deck which is bad in the current matchup. In the best case i can swap all of them and have a lot of confidence going into the next game. I also try to play a lot of versatile cards which i can side against more than one matchup. That also means that you can't run always the most efficient card but it's better overall. I prefer to side more cards out to avoid bad / death draws than having one specific card against a single matchup.

10.Continuing from the question before. Side-decking sometimes reduces the synergy in your main-deck. Do you side in a specific order to prevent that from happening, is there a formula you apply while side-decking?

I don't like decks where i can't side out a lot of cards because it would break the synergy. That's why i like Rescue Rabbit a lot because you don't have that kind of problem. One solution would be to avoid such decks and another one would be careful boarding. When i played Dark World at the YCS Brighton I sided "Dark World Dealings" and "Broww, Huntsman of Dark World" out to reduce the core of the deck a little bit and add more space for the sideboard cards. You have to think about that before an event, which cards aren't too necessary and how they interact with the rest of the deck.

11.I'm sure a lot of players are interested in your methods of seeking improvement as a competitive player. What do you do exactly to be a better player?

Read a lot of coverage and look for good plays or mistakes, analyze them and try to understand them. Then go over and play against better players and if you lose try to find the point in the game which was deciding. If you made a mistake then remember it and try to avoid it in your future games.

12.The banned list has always amused us. So, let's say Konami gave you the right to ban a card, which card(s) would it be? Why?

Currently "Wind-Up Hunter". I don't like handless-loops because i want to play with my opening hand against my opponent's. Starting with only one or no card makes absolutly no sense for me and it has nothing to do with fun.

13.By banning a card, what if Konami again gave you the chance to un-banned a card, which card(s) would it be? Why?

That's a hard question because every card has a reason why she stays there. I think "Metamorphosis" would be my choice because it would make some fusion monsters more popular and it's also hard to fit fusions in the current extra deck which is clogged with exceed- or synchro monsters. You will always have the problem, that some decks will abuse this card in combination with "Cyber Twin Dragon" but level 8 monsters are not that common in the current decks.

14.Apart from the banned list, if you given an opportunity to change a part of YGO, what would it be and why?

It would be interesting to change the amount of special summons per turn. In the beginning of Yu-Gi-Oh! the most special summons you could have made were like 3 and today it's nearly an infinite amount. Setting a limit would reduce the one-turn-kill chances and slower the game a little bit. It's a hard decision but it would balance the game a little bit. The question would be the limit but they would need to test that careful.

15.Last question, are there any players out there that you think should be in this section? Who do you think Digital Mortal should interview next?

Rodrigo Togores, because he has the same passion to travel to big events around the world like i do. I consider him also as one of the best players in the game and he's also a good friend of mine. He is very focused when he plays a deck and you can learn a lot from him if you watch his games.

Thanks for the possibility to share my thoughts and greetings to all readers. With the best regards from Claudio Kirchmair: „Play fair, be patient and have a lot of fun during playing!“

http://www.unitedgosus.com/team/claudio-kirchmair/

It was a pleasure to have Claudio included in Rolling with the Top Dogs and I would like to thank the man himself for spending some time to do an interview. Thank you Claudio and much appreciated! Also, check out United Gosus’ page for more information regarding Claudio and the team itself. The links are located above. Shout-outs to United Gosus! Best of luck to the team and Claudio himself in their future endeavors! I hope you like this interview and have learned something from it. Till next time, remember to play smart, fight hard or go home a loser! Thank you for reading!