Breaking The Curse, 11

I haven’t had much time to go online or blog lately as opposed to my own belief that October will be a slightly lenient month for me when it comes to work and personal priorities. But I did promise more post and insights. It’s been about a week and a half of absence for me in online social networking and blogging so here I am doing my best to catch up on loss time once again. Weird enough, as soon as I come online for some quick Yugioh catch-ups I see quite a number of players announcing their retirement or at least some point of reduction in their Yugioh-related activities. Nothing surprising to be honest as the game has taken a step of change from the times people were actually familiar with it. Having said that, there always will be those who stay and make the best of it I suppose.

Yesterday was one of the two days anime festival in Taiping. First of its kind in Taiping and my friends had a shop setup to promote and sell their items. Cross Game, Malaysian duelists should be familiar with this name. They organized a Vanguard and Yugioh tournament so I thought it would be nice to head down and give them a little support. So, off I went to participate in Cross Game’s Yugioh tournament. It’s been awhile since I played in any tournaments.

Cross Game’s Taiping Anime Festival Tournament

Format: 2 Rounds of Swiss cut to Top 4

Deck Used: Hieratics 

ROUND 1 (Evol, Yong)

GAME 1: Didn’t know what the fuck was happening but it was nothing out of control. Played around his Raggia with a Tragoedia and went for OTK the next turn. Dragons are bigger and stronger than dinosaurs I guess that makes all the difference.

GAME 2: He made a Soldde and ended his turn. I set two cards and end my turn. He attacked and I Compulse his dino back. When it came to my turn I drew into Tefnuit while holding double Su and a Seal of Convocation. Game over.

OO

(1-0)

ROUND 2 (OOPArts, Nicholas Ong)

GAME 1: Not sure what my opponent was playing so I made a Photon Streak Bouncer to hold my field while having Compulsory Evacuation Device and Forbidden Lance set as protection. Apparently that Bouncer alone was good enough to score me a game. Bad hand for my opponent I suppose.

GAME 2: My turn to draw into unnecessary cards. I took a few OOPArts poke and had to endure it out. It wasn’t long until I drew into the correct cards I needed for an OTK. End field consisted of Gaia Dragoon, Gaia Dragoon, Wattaildragon, and Gustav Max.

OO

(2-0)

Those with perfect scores were automatically qualified for a seat in the Top 4 and we were to wait for others to play it off before continuing our conquest to the top. For now, it was only me and a friend of mine that had full-win results so either way we would have to face each other later in the tournament.

TOP 4 (Hanzo Hieratics, Elvis)

The long wait is finally over!

GAME 1: Garbage hand and died to his OTKs. Double Veilers and a Gorz wasn’t enough to save me till my next draw. 

GAME 2: Back and forth farming at both ends. Frankly, it’s a waiting game if you know how to play in a mirror match. My opponent wasn’t patient enough so I dropped the great C-bomb on him. He thought he had no choice but to continue with his combos and I drew, drew, and drew. By the time he was done with his self-touch I was holding over 20 pieces of cards! Baited whatever he had with Gorz and dropped a Trag with 20k plus ATK. We all know what it means.

GAME 3: One Drago to rule them all. I kept his Hanzo under control with Veilers and I think he kept drawing into useless back-rows so that was all I need to wrap this one up. Good game it is.

XOO

(3-0)

FINALS (Mermail Atlanteans, Thian Siang)

One of the three players I consider as the best players in Taiping. I haven’t gotten any real chance to play against Mermail Atlanteans at a competitive level so this might come in handy as experience needed to combat them in the future.

GAME 1: I forgot how i lost. Probably some IMBA stuff happened. LOL!

GAME 2: He made a Gachi Gachi with Diva and an Atlantean. Next turn, he made a big push with Marksman and another Mermail (I don’t remember their names yet), I waited for the right time to drop Gorz and did that. When it came to my turn I combo off and made a field of Gaia Dragoon, Photon Streak Bouncer, Gorz, and 2200ATK Gorz Token. It wasn’t enough to kill him but definitely enough to clear his Gantetsu and Mermail. 

Going onwards, he made Scrap Dragon the next turn and ram into my Bouncer. However, he did not use Scrap’s effect to pop another monster. I was left with Gorz, Gaia Dragoon, and Gorz Token while holding a Heavy Storm. When it came to my turn I rip a miracle Forbidden Lance off the top of my deck and went for Game.

GAME 3: The game went a bit slower and we both farmed for what we needed. I dropped a Maxx “C” to stop him from going off as I am not confident enough to mount a comeback with the cards I was holding. The game dragged on a bit more as I fought off two major rush with Tragoedias. Thian Siang cleared the first Trag with Dark Hole and the second one with a Snow Giant. He ended without a set card. I drew into Tefnuit, the card I was waiting for. Combo off by going into Atumus and than a Volcasaurus to clear his Snow Giant. Made double Gaia Dragoons and paused to consider the possibility of a Gorz. I had the necessary means to handle Gorz but I wanted to end it this turn. I went for the first onslaught and he did nothing so that only means one thing, this match is as good as mine.

XOO

(4-0)

I got myself a play-mat and five packs of REDU as first place prizes which gave me absolute junk except for Soul Drain but life goes on. This was a good warm-up for the upcoming Asia Plus Qualifier. Here comes the end of today’s post. I’ll be sure to update again before October ends and hopefully with more exciting news. Before I forget, Hieratics are not dead. LOL! I’ll do a tech update for Hieratics within these few days and I promise you it is worth the read. Thank you for reading and remember to play smart, fight hard, or go home a loser!