Calming The Flames Within, 2

Whaddup readers? I hope you guys are doing well. I assume by the title you know what this post is about. Yes, WCQ 2013 ended just a day ago and a big congratulation to Zack Teoh for his win. To Zack, if you are reading this, you deserve the win and I know you are one of the most hardworking player to strive for glory and victory. Again, you deserve the win and I wish you luck in Las Vegas. I pray you do well and take the trophy home. Good luck! Now back to my part of the story. Before going any further, let me confess this, I had no expectations going into MAS WCQ 2013. I had little to no time at all for play-testing expect during those random Seed Qualifiers I scrubbed. A week before I contemplated whether or not I should even join because of zero effort invested into my form. So, to those who thing this is a rant post, you are wrong. LOL!

When I heard plenty of big names from Singapore were going to come down and compete, I made up my mind. I decided to join the championships just to get a chance to play against Singaporean duelists who are better than me. Call it suicidal if you want but that is how I learn and improve best. I couldn’t let this chance slip away. So, yeah, I borrowed half of the deck I played and went into the tournament. Pre-tournament, being a smartass I decided to go ahead and celebrate with a few close friends. We jammed from 7.00pm till 12.00am (all the fuckin’ head-banging and shredding) going Metalcore all the way. After that, we all decided to head down to a friend’s newly opened bar and drank from 1.30am till 5.00am. Man that was the stupidest way to prepare yourself for a major tourney. I kid you not it was dumb but it was fun at the same time (if you want to win a tournament and have spent months preparing for it don’t do shit like that.) So, I finally got home around 6am and all I did was watch mirror match videos in Youtube while constructing my deck.  I reached the tournament venue just around 9.30am.

DAY 1

FORMAT: 7 Rounds of Swiss cut to Top 32 qualifiers for Day 2

DECK USED: Dragon Rulers

It was initially supposed to be Single Elimination but was instead changed to Swiss on the day itself. Before participating I expected to scrub in round 2 or 3 since I never have the luck to play early Single Eliminations. But with no expectations I headed into every game playing as calm as I can and put everything onto the board so I wouldn’t regret anything.

ROUND 1 (Mermails)

I think I played Mango (I am not sure.) But the dude I was playing against was one of the members of Asia Plus 2012’s finalist. So, yeah, a good player right from the start. That’s what I wanted.

GAME 1: I chained Maxx C to his Abyssteus and he ended his turn after that. When it came to my turn I special summoned Tempest via Lightning ditching Redox (I had only two colours: Lightning, Redox, Reactan), I took some time to consider the best play to make sure I don’t die and decided to make an early Crimson Blader to lock him off Megalo, Tidal, Gaios plays. He cleared my Blader through Sphere into Linde then Spike ditching Infantry. I draw into another Lightning (life sucks but its cool). I made Dracossack spawn two kid planes, set a card, and ended. He did the mumbo jumbo with Spike and Gunde plays at his turn and tried to go for the kill with Megalo equipped with that 800 ATK booster and sacked something for Megalo’s effect but Megalo died to my Divine Wrath. Next turn, I drew into Blaster and it was GG.

GAME 2: He went first and tried to start off strong with Abyssteus again but I had Maxx to save my ass. I drew into REDMD through Maxx bro. Instead of stopping he went ahead this time into Bahamut Shark which I Veilered. When it came to my turn I had four colours so you know the drill. He should have stopped when I threw Dirty “C” but maybe he was worried. That risk alone told me he had nothing to fend off my plays. Or maybe he was nervous who knows.

OO

(1-0)

ROUND 2 (Dragon Rulers)

This guy was funny. He gave quite a number of in-between-comments like “smart kid”, “good play”, and whatnot. I am not sure if he was sincerely complimenting me or being sarcastic. LOL!  Either way, my mind was too focused (or too high) and all I knew was look at the board fuck the rest. There were a few instance where I spoke Japanese in this match. Just to mind fuck him.

GAME 1: I held my ground long enough crawling through his constant Maxx C and Veilers but eventually two colours wasn’t enough to go against Super Reju and four colours. 

GAME 2: I opened with Veiler, Super Reju, Dark Hole, Heavy Storm, Monster Reborn, drew into Reactan and thought to myself I was gonna scrub this round so hard. BUT he did no samba instead summoning an Eclipse Wyvern and attacking for 1600 during his turn! I drew into another Veiler I almost died of heart attack. I was expecting a LaDD play next turn and true enough he went into LaDD but misplayed when he tribute Wyvern for LaDD and I netted a free negation. It was my move again and this time God bless Malaysia I drew a fucking Redox! I was never that happy for only having one colour! So, I went Reactan ditch Redox=NEGATE into Dark Hole=NEGATE into Heavy Storm=NEGATE and fucking went into Crimson Blader because that was my only offensive move. He had no Veiler, forgot to SS Wyvern back when LaDD died, i Reju into Burner and REDMD during my End Phase. He ended his turn and I ended the Game. I somehow managed to crawl back into the match.

GAME 3: I got Dirty C and he played too conservatively. We played a grinding game and few turns later I Dark Hole his field and “Bladed” his Dracossack. He topped nothing but put on a bad poker face. I killed him the next turn.

XOO

(2-0)

ROUND 3 (Dragon Rulers)

I played Alex Yeo this round and was fucking happy about it. He had more credentials than me, played longer than me, and was definitely better than me. So, yeah, win or lose I gain something out of it.

GAME 1: Usual slow grind game when opponent Dirty C you. He eventually got the upper hand and killed me with Dracossack+Burei+Gaia Dragoon. If I remember correctly but I was sure he gave me cancer this game.

GAME 2: I open subpar but had one Maxx C and Scarecrow to survive two turns. Slow grind again until he made Dracossack, tribute his tokens for Blaster, E.Virus my Blaster, and tried to go for game. I ALMOST FORGOT TO DROP SCARECROW! FUCK ME WHAT WAS I HIGH ON!? But he was kind enough to let me replay. Not sure if he knew he was a better player but I took the opportunity he gave and never looked back. During my turn I again made Big Eye and Crimson Blader (forgot how). He Veilered my Crimson Blader and proceed to Big Eye my shits the next turn. It didn’t kill me but left me paralyzed (I think a part of me dropped inside.) I was holding Reactan, Book of Moon and I topped a HOLY MOTHER OF GOD ECON! Summon Reactan take Blader through ECON whacked his Big Eye and ended. I had ample amount of Life Points left to survive and three colours in my Graveyard. He thought for a bit and conceded. Not sure what happened there.

GAME 3: Let’s just say I open the dirtiest hand I ever had in my career of Yugioh and gave him cancer. I know I luck-sacked hard this match.

XOO

(3-0)

ROUND 4 (Prophecy)

GAME 1: Batel attempted to conjure some demonic magical shit but Zeus was on my side. Divine Wrath sent him flying crispy. I just needed to push as much as I can to win and I did so. 

GAME 2: He misplayed badly by flipping Mental Drain before calling John to join the party and apparently topped another John during his next turn. My hand was slow and he eventually got THE PROPHECY CANNOT BE DENIED COMBO but by that time I had Dark Hole, Book of Moon, and Last Day of Witch. Whole match was basically about Reactan and Stream beats before going into Direwolf to pop his Mental Drain. After all that, it was Dragon-Sex. I gave my opponent cancer.

OO

(4-0)

ROUND 5 (Verz)

SHERWYN!!!

GAME 1: I misplayed bad for not sending divine thunder onto his lowly Rabbit. A couple of turns later he gave me cancer with Ophion and Imperial Iron Wall’s help. I think Verz hate me because I sold them off. LOL!

GAME 2: I gave him cancer with IMBA hand.

GAME 3: Game went back and forth to a point where I could have won if I made Gaia Dragoon instead of Dracossack. I was betting on the fact that he didn’t have Reptiless Vasuki in hand but he did so my airplane crashed due to system failure. I was holding Electric Virus (he would have to make Ouroboros to clear my field and survive next turn.) Alternative to that would be summoning all the monsters he had, clear my tokens, and Wolf my plane. I contemplated slightly but indeed Gaia Dragoon was the best play to make at that moment but I failed to realize that instead opt to go conventional. Sherwyn gave me cancer again. He showed me Vasuki, Kagetokage, Castor, and another Verz. GG…Read wrongly FML.

XOX

(4-1)

ROUND 6 (Mermails)

GAME 1: I drew subpar but double Divine Wrath kept me alive long enough.

GAME 2: My opponent went first and tried to go YOLO with Teus but I had Dirty C to stop him. He left Abyssteus in attack position. I made Crimson Blader and won from there. I think he was pretty nervous.

OO

(5-1)

ROUND 7 (Dragon Rulers)

I played against Jeff Soh this round. We were both sure to qualify for Day 2 so whoever won or lost it doesn’t really matter. But I was pretty sure I would lose this match. He has better skills and knowledge about the mirror compared to me plus he is a legend. Anyway, it was an interesting and educational match for me. We basically played the whole Dragon Rulers mirror match. We went from Crimson Blader phase to Colossal Fighter phase switching to Dracossack and Big Eye phase and finally to Armory Arm phase. What did I learn? The list goes a long way but some highlights that are important would be conserving your Graveyard and Extra Deck resources, PLAY THE THIRD BIG EYE, learn how to play grind games, and use your brain. I lost but no doubt I gained so much more from this one match. To Jeff, if you are reading this, thank you for sharing your knowledge!

(5-2)

I finished 10^th after the Swiss rounds.

DAY 2

FORMAT: Single Elimination

DECK USED: Dragon Rulers

I was disappointed as soon as I heard that. As mentioned earlier, I don’t do well in tournaments where its Single Elimination right off the bat. I kept the same mindset but it was harder to focus this time. I guess all the partying before Day 1 kicked in. Anyways, it didn’t bother me. I went in expecting to have fun and nothing else mattered.

ROUND 1 (BEWD Prophecy)

I got my wish again to play against big names. This time I was up against Clarence Foo. 

GAME 1: He gave me cancer.

GAME 2: I somehow managed to give him cancer.

GAME 3: Big misplay on my part. It came to a point where I cleared his first Soul Drain previously and I had a tribute Blaster on my field. I forgot about the “tribute” part and allowed his Jowgen’s effect to go through. After that, Soul Drain number two said hello. I drew no outs and offered him a handshake.

XOX

That’s the end of my run. I had plenty of fun and will probably continue competing with that sort of mindset (relax and all in not party like hell before tourney.) I don’t see the point of taking things seriously anymore especially with all the politics going on here and there. Just not worth the time and competitive play shouldn’t fall to such an extent. The next time I join another major event it will be the same “game-by-game” and “no fucks given” mindset. But, of course, I’ll still practice to improve my skills. LOL! And here comes the end of this post. Thank you for reading!