It’s Sunday and I finally found a free day where I can just
do whatever I want. During the past previous weeks all I had to wake to is
work, work, and more work. Since I managed to pull an all-nighter on Saturday
and completed everything in accordance to my client’s wishes I decided it was
time to test the waters with Hieratics for the new format. Despite having
slept, I headed down to Kuala Lumpur where my locals are held for a casual day
of dueling. Fully aware that it was Asia Plus Pre-Qualifiers today. I sat and
observe the crowd to get a feel of what they are trying out. There were a whole
bunch of decks being played so I suppose the Meta here hasn’t really taken
shape yet but Agents and Karakuris were a big hit. So, I decided to join my
friend’s team together with Izzat in order to get them qualified. Of course, I once
again played under another person’s name and sadly it wasn’t Mike’s. No Mikhail
Think action.
Prior to my free-lance projects, I did numerous testing with
wacky techs to further improve my chances with Hieratics in the new format. I
must admit after reading Baha’s comments on my previous post, that pretty much
made me go back to one of my scratched-out experimental techs. Not sure if he
was trolling me or whatnot but Baha got me convinced that Overdrive Teleporter
was a good inclusion into my Teleport Hieratics deck. Like seriously! No homo!
I guess it was some sort of reassurance kinda thing. I thank you Grandmaster
Baha for giving me courage and confidence to tread the extremes. LOL! Nevertheless,
let’s get into the tournament report. Temporary member of Team TFK reporting
in.
Asia Plus Qualifiers
Format: 3 Rounds of Swiss cut to Finals (Asia Advance)
Deck Used: Hieratics Overdrive
ROUND 1 (E-Tele Karakuri, Sorry I Forgot Your Name.)
GAME 1: I draw absolute garbage and died to his random Burei
pokes.
GAME 2: I had REDMD in hand. My opponent left and empty
field as he didn’t get to see my deck from the previous game. I personally
thank him for giving me a free game. Made a field of double Gaia Dragons,
REDMD, and Force Focus to slam Game 2 shut. He was shocked! Now we both know we
are each facing OTK-based decks. Off to Game 3!
GAME 3: He made double Burei before ending his turn without
any set card. I have Nebthet, Eset, Seal of Convocation, Tefnuit, Psychic
Commander, and Electric Virus in hand. It was once again Hieratics’ self-touch!
After making a Gaia Dragon and Volcasaurus I grabbed his Burei with Electric
Virus, popped the other one with Volca and proceed to attack for game.
XOO
TEAM RESULTS:
Leader (Aliff): O
Player A (Izzat): O
Player B (K’yde): O
(1-0)
That was a pretty good warm up. But I haven’t had a chance
to fully utilize the deck’s new tricks. It wasn’t long before Round 2 came
along.
ROUND 2 (T.G Agents, Yap Zian)
I was hoping he played Dark World like two weeks back but
instead he got his hands on T.G Agents. With staples. This is a good chance to
see how this new weapon of mine will fare against one of the top decks in this
country.
GAME 1: I drew into Overdrive Teleporter, Tefnuit, Su, Night
Shot, Hanzo, and Eset. He had Earth on field and no back-rows. Honest or not, I
combo off. Tefnuit into Su, Su into Teleporter, and I made Atumus to try and
bait Orange Light but he had none of the mentioned once. I guess he drew a
mediocre hand. Atumus grabbed Nebthet and popped Earth, Teleporter transported
his minions from a different time-space. Final field included: Gaia Dragon,
Hyper Psychic Blaster, Stardust Dragon, and a vanilla dragon with zero stats.
Let’s go to Game 2!
GAME 2: One Drago meant control, two Dragos meant the end.
Basically, I rushed him with double Dragos and he had no outs to them.
OO
TEAM RESULTS:
Leader (Aliff): O
Player A (Izzat): O
Player B (K’yde): O
(2-0)
ROUND 3 (Agents Angel, LCW)
Yes, again, LCW plays Yugioh. Don’t ask me why and LCW is
LCW. Entering this match, I was suddenly reminded of my traumatizing encounter
with Victoria. I kid you not! My head was literally filled with thoughts of
sudden Victoria popping up and summoning my own dragons to bite my head off.
Either way, revenge match!
GAME 1: He summons Earth if I remember correctly and sets a
back-row. When it came to my turn I drew into Night Shot. I have Tefnuit, Su,
Nebthet, E-Tele, and Lightpulsar in hand. Went for the usual Tefnuit+Su combo
hoping to bait Orange Light out if he has it. Apparently he did not. So, I went
for the kill. Gaia Dragoon, Lightpulsar, Nebthet, and Psychic Commander did the
job well enough. I’m halfway through my nightmare!
GAME 2: When it’s Agents, you know first come first Drago
treatment is the best deal. During this game, I was practically praying for him
not to have Electric Virus or Victoria in hand. Every time LCW draws my heart stops
for a couple seconds! He tried to Dark Hole the field but I had Lance to keep
my godly Drago safe. After that, it was Hanzo and Drago beat-down all the way.
YES, NO ELECTRIC VIRUS AND VICTORIA DÉJÀ VU!
OO
TEAM RESULTS:
Leader (Aliff): X
Player A (Izzat): O
Player B (K’yde): O
(3-0)
We got into Top 2 and waited for our final opponents. After
a couple of minutes pass by, Team TFK will be playing against Sung Lee’s team
in the finals. Better known as the Ampang Gang. During the wait, I managed to
scout out what deck Sung Lee was playing and my God it was fucking Exodia. Ivan
as usual ran his Six Sams. I was pretty confident about that. All that’s left
is to identify what my opponent (Michael Yap) is playing. It wasn’t long until my
questions were answered.
FINALS (Karakuri, Michael Yap)
Michael Yap is a popular player in Malaysia. Needless to say
their team was the crowd favourite and pretty much everyone assumed they have
already won. Michael is a cunning player, an old fox, and his bluffs are damn well
tricky. So, it was another OTK showdown.
GAME 1: Michael went first, set a card, and ended his turn.
I drew, set E-Tele and ended. He repeated the pattern. I looked at my hand and
thought for a second. At this point I didn’t know what he was running but it
really doesn’t matter since it has always been do or die for me. My hand card
consists of E-Tele, Eset, Su, Su, Seal of Convocation, REDMD, and Lightpulsar
Dragon. I went for my plays and he had no response. The pace was mine to decide
and my field consisted with REDMD, Lightpulsar Dragon, Stardust Dragon, and
Gaia Dragoon. I went for the knockout punch but was stopped by Book of Moon
slamming my REDMD face down on the board. 400 LPs left.
It was Michael Yap’s turn to do his shenanigans! He made
triple Bureido and had another Karakuri monster on board (I forgot its name.)
He proceeded to clear my field and left me with only one hand card which was
Hieratic Seal of Convocation. Fuck this shit! I draw and it was Hieratic Dragon
of Su! He has no set cards on the field and 400 LPs left! I searched out
Tefnuit and proceed to make Atumus special summoned my second Lightpulsar
Dragon, overlay Atumus into Gaia Dragoon, and pierce through his weak mechanical
bastard. Game 1 goes to me. It was a close call.
GAME 2: Again, Michael went first. He set one card and ended
his turn. I was slightly perplexed with his action. Hanzo, E-Tele, Overdrive
Teleporter, Tefnuit, Su, and Forbidden Lance in my hand. I summoned Hanzo for
my Ninjitsu Art of Super-Stealing. Slapped for some damage, set Lance and
Super-Transformation. When it came to Michael’s turn, he first played Mind
Control, I chained with Lance, and he went ahead to chain Book of Eclipse on my
Hanzo. WTF?! He than summoned a Tuner to Synchro into Black Rose Dragon and
slapped me back for 2400, ended. When it came to my turn I drew into ELECTRIC
VIRUS! I special summoned Tefnuit and than Su, tribute summoned Su for Overdrive
Teleporter netting me two vanilla dragons. Overlay Wattaildragon and Emerald
Dragon into Force Focus, used Teleporter’s effect to special summon two Psychic
Commanders, tune Commander and Overdrive Teleporter for Hyper Psychic Blaster.
I now control Force Focus, Hyper Psychic Blaster, and Psychic Commander.
Then I stopped. I took a second to observe his expression
and, yeah, it was a done deal. I went and activated my E-Tele for another
Psychic Commander. Force Focus, Hyper Psychic Blaster, and double Psychic
Commander attacked! It was game. We shook hands and wait for our respective
teammates’ results. Aliff ended up miraculously defeating Ivan. It was a
performance worthy of praise. Sung Lee and Izzat decided to complete their
ongoing match and stopped when the game they were playing ended. It was a
one-all-tie in their case.
OO
TEAM RESULTS:
Leader (Aliff): O
Player A (Izzat): Discontinued
Player B (K’yde): O
(4-0)
Team TFK ended up taking the spot. Both Izzat and Aliff did
amazingly well today. Good job and kudos to their effort! I suppose good shit happens when you play in a team with
chemistry. After that, it was time to earn some cash. I managed to make around
RM250 so it was all good. Today was a productive day. The deck played out well
and consistent enough. Even when I do not draw an OTK hand the deck with Hanzo allows
me to play a pseudo-control style before exploding into an onslaught. All my testing
are done for now. I am satisfied with how the deck is but I will certainly
continue to do some minor tweaks in order for it to be able to reach a higher
level of performance. This is all for today. I hope you enjoyed reading. All
and all, as always, remember to play smart, fight hard, or go home a loser.
Thank you for dropping by!
