Regional Report

As is my custom, here’s a report from my most recent Regional event, however good or bad it may be.

I should start off by saying that this is Kyle writing, because as a point of context that’s rather important. The Seattle Regionals was held this last Saturday (3/8/14)  and I attended along side Matt, Justen and a slew of other names from our locals. Both me and Matt went with Lightsworn variants employing Dragon Rulers, he ran some standard Chaos (Sorcerer and BLS) and I ran Chaos Dragons both of us varied on the Lightsworn portion. Justen ran a Ghostrick deck which still had a lot of kinks. I ended the day 6-3 in 63rd place (out of just shy of 400 people), as I predicted on the Battlin’ Boxers podcast which hasn’t been uploaded yet. Matt was 5-4 and Justen by some divine magic went 3-2-4, that means he tied 4 times. I’m sure he’ll talk about that on the podcast after the Boxers one, so I won’t really get into that. Safe to say Justen legitimately stalled… a lot.

First thing, here’s the deck list I used:

Monsters (33):

• 3 Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
• 3 Lyla, Lightsworn Sorcerer
• 2 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
• 1 Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
• 1 Jain, Lightsworn Paladin
• 1 Shire, Lightsworn Spirit
• 1 Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon
• 2 Judgment Dragon
• 3 Darkflare Dragon
• 2 Lightpulsar Dragon
• 2 Eclipse Wyvern
• 1 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
• 1 Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos
• 1 Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls
• 1 Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms
• 1 Debris Dragon
• 2 Card Trooper
• 3 Necro Gardna
• 1 Rainbow Kuriboh
• 1 Effect Veiler

Spells (4):

• 3 Solar Recharge
• 1 Charge of the Light Brigade

Traps (3):

• 3 Needlebug Nest

Extra Deck (15):

• 1 Star Eater
• 1 Black Rose Dragon
• 1 Orient Dragon
• 1 Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack
• 1 Number 11: Big Eye
• 1 Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger
• 1 Constellar Ptolemy M7
• 1 Hieratic Dragon King of Atum
• 1 Queen Dragun Djinn
• 1 Number 101: Silent Honor ARK
• 1 Starliege Paladynamo
• 1 Diamond Dire Wolf
• 1 Lavalval Chain
• 1 Constellar Hyades
• 1 Leviair the Sea Dragon

Side Deck (15):

• 1 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
• 1 Redox, Dragon Ruler of Boulders
• 2 Maxx “C”
• 1 Rainbow Kuriboh
• 2 Black Dragon Collapserpent
• 2 White Dragon Wyverburster
• 2 Mystical Space Typhoon
• 2 A Wingbeat of a Giant Dragon
• 2 Forbidden Lance

About the meta, this Regionals was really strange in my opinion. The decks people where playing where highly unpredictable. There was a reasonable amount of Fire Fist and Geargia making up the majority of the top players, a small handful of Mermails and then almost no Hieratics or Prophecy. I personally did hear of or see any other Hieratic or Dragon Ruler variants at the entire event and the only Prophecy decks I knew of at the event where the two people that where within my group. (one of which got 19th, he ran 2 Book of Eclipse main and it put in work) There was an absurd amount of Harpies at lower tables and a whole crap ton of Lightsworn decks floating around the middle to upper tables, which was weird (luckily I didn’t play a mirror, although I think I would’ve won after observing the builds of those players) There was one Chaos Dragon player at the top tables which I found strange, since he didn’t appear to be doing anything special. I also saw a lot of Raccoons, Gravekeepers and Cyber Dragon decks.

Round 1: Me vs. Kelvin (Cyber Dragons)

Game 1: I go first set Needlebug Nest, he goes plays Power Bond and summons Cyber Twin Dragon I play Needlebug, don’t hit a Gardna, time for game 2.

Game 2: I got first play Charge mill a Lumina search Lumina. Use Lumina, discard Lyla summon Lumina, second Lumina discard Wyvern, banish JD summon Lyla mill 9. Safe to say I’ve never lost after an opening like this.

Game 3: He opens okay, but no Power Bonds this game, so that’s nice I guess. I sided in my extra Kuriboh just in case anyways. I open rather bland and get a slow start, but he doesn’t play any cards that can control the field so I can still setup. I end up boiling us both down to no hands, where I have the advantage because I can beat him down with Dragon Rulers, and I do just that and win.

1-0

Round 2: Me vs. Aaron (Cyber Dragons, again)

Game 1: I got first, a monster that mills and Needlebug Nest. I let him pester me for a turn or two then OTK.

Game 2: I immediately mill 3 Necro Gardnas when I mill with a Needlebug Nest which prevents him from investing monsters allowing me to setup further and end with JDs.

2-0

Round 3: Me vs. Justin (Noble Knights)

There was also quite a fair amount of Noble Knights at the event now that I think about it. Two people from our group where running it, one of them got top 8, the other had some really bad luck I kept watching him draw doodoo hands and lose.

Game 1: He goes first does Borz and equips it a bunch; Excaliburn Destiny combo if you know the deck. I just kind of sit back and mill while he thinks he’s in control of the game. Then I play a JD which he Veilers then I summon my second JD and pay 3 times for it to clear his board, summon 2 Dragon Rulers attack for game.

Game 2: He goes first open Borz again pretty much the same shtick. I go open doodoo bad, summon Jain end my turn bad. I slowly die.

Game 3: I go first summon Trooper mill end. He goes summons Lavalval Chain, tops Medraut and sets 3. My turn summon Lyla random hit, use Blaster effect in grave he chains Rivalry of Warlords, which was probably a mistake on his part. I decide to just sit back a while because I know he’s trapped as long as he has Chain and Rivalry. He does nothing for 2 turns while I mill. Then I pop Rivalry on the 3rd turn and OTK.

3-0

Round 4: Me vs. Chris Hentz (Geargia)

Chris Hentz is one of the bigger names in our area, but I only read his first name when I read my match-up so didn’t know until after when somebody told me his full name. It was pretty obvious after a couple of turns though that he was skilled in Yugi-mons.

Game 1: He opens Thunder King set 5… grand. I summon Trooper mill 3 and attack into T-King and to my surprise it goes through. I draw 1 off Trooper then end. He End Phase plays Geargia-Gear summons Geargiano and Mk II. He draws, summons Gear Giant X, searches Armor, sets it and ends, I assume he doesn’t attack because of Gorz or Trag potential. I go, summon Lyla and hit a Call of the Haunted, which is not a good hit. and end mill 3. He goes, does Geargia stuff, ends with another Gear Gigant X and Armor still and Accelerator and 2 cards in hand still 4 cards set. I do stuff with Debris and JD and it ends with me having a REDMD face-up with a fiendish chain on it and him with Armor set and 1 face-down and four cards in hand because of Maxx “C” and I end. He summons Silent Honor and absorbs then a third Gear Gigant and attack for game.

Game 2: Turn 1 open Lumina Lumina Lyla end. Mill 9. He summons Armor Specials Accelerator then makes Exciton Knight and goes boom then sets 2. I summon Lyla use its effect, he Veilers. I end. He attacks with Exciton I use Gardna. I go, summon Eclipse make Lavalval Chain detach Eclipse send Blaster summon Blaster search JD, summon JD and nuke, he has no response I attack set Lance and Nest and end. He draws then scoops.

Game 3: He goes first, Arsenal into Armor set 2. I open really bad: JD, Darkflare, Tempest, Lumina, Lumina, Ehren. If I had been smarter I know how I should’ve play this hand, but I was a fool. I summon Ehren and attack he plays D-Prison, then I realize I lost at that point. He goes, summons 3 Gear Gigants and attacks. I go draw 3rd Lumina and summon Tempest by banishing in hand JD and Darkflare and attack one and then summon Lumina, I don’t mill a Necro Gardna so I scoop.

The smarter play would’ve been to summon Lumina first turn instead of Ehren. I was preoccupied in my mind with the need to remove the armor from the field, when it was actually far more important I get a Lightsworn in the grave and that I start milling. I had Darkflare and Tempest in hand, meaning I could easily setup a Debris play and break any setup he had next turn (like 3 Gear Gigants). If I had milled or drawn in combination a DARK and a Dragon monster I could’ve made this play:

• Lumina, discard Ehren revive Lumina.
• Lumina discard JD summon Ehren.
• Summon Darkflare banish DARK and JD.
• Darkflare pitch Tempest send Eclipse, banish JD or REDMD from deck.
• Summon Tempest banish Eclipse and Dragon add JD or REDMD.
• 2 Lumina into Leviair revive Eclipse. Eclipse and Ehren XYZ into a Rank 4 dependent on the scenario.

3-1

Round 5: Me vs. Tien (Chaos HEROs)

This guy has been a judge at our Regionals before if I recall correctly.

Game 1: I end up sitting on a Lightpulsar Dragon for the longest time, thinking he has a Dimensional Prison and the game draw on forever until when I’m right about to deck out and have baited out all but his last back row and have yet to see a Mirror Force or Dimensional Prison and I summon everything and attack anyways because I was going to mill the rest of my deck at the end of my turn and he ends up not having either so I win. After that game he said he was running them, he just didn’t draw them.

Game 2: I had the potential to when this game, I just read what he would do incorrectly. He goes first Duality-s into Neos Alius and summons it and sets 3. I assume by the way he did his turn he had a Gemini Spark face-down. Game one I bluffed a Ryko with an Eclipse Wyvern and he didn’t attack it for a long time so i was thinking that he would second guess my set card a second time and Spark it so I set a Wyvern instead of my in hand Ryko. He doesn’t play Spark, summons Kycoo and attacks with it then Alius. My turn I set Ryko and he Sparks it on my next, so I guess he was the one who read me. He attacks with both and banishes some of my names. I set my 2nd Ryko, but he summons a 2nd Kycoo on his next turn and I scoop after I see my next draw.

Game 3: I open milling 2 Eclipse and Blaster among other things, I summon the Blaster immediately to prevent Kycoo from locking my JDs away. He goes summons Alius attacks then sets 1. I go summon and attempt a Lumina play, he chains Maxx “C” and I only go Lumina Lumina Lyla at which point he Torrentials. I have enough names in grave to summon the 2 JDs in hand as well as the Blaster and a REDMD in hand, but game 1 I saw both Gorz and Trag in his deck so I didn’t want to take the risk. He goes summons Alius again and attacks for 1900 again sets one and ends. I go and summon JD and nuke and he chains Hero Blast adding back an Alius. I probably should’ve went H.A.M. at this point but decide not to just to be safe. I attack he plays Trag, then I nuke again because I don’t want him to take control of my JD. He goes plays Dark Hole I chain Lance, then he summon BLS and Alius and attacks for game because I didn’t mill any Necro Gardna all game. We both looked at the scenario after the game and there was no way for me to win unless I went in completely. I would’ve had to do double JD, then Blaster and then banish a JD for REMD and summon another Dragon and attempted to attack for game through his Tragoedia.

3-2

Round 6: Me vs. Dustin (Battlin’ Boxers)

I thought it was ironic after doing the Battlin’ Boxer podcast that I’d play against Battlin’ Boxers, especially since on the podcast I declared that this deck should never win.

Game 1: I go first, Lumina Lumina Lyla end. He goes, Headgeared plus Sparrer inot Lead Yolk set 2. I start by using Lyla, he chain Fiendish, I revive a second Lyla hit his other back row which is Lance. I then summon Silent Honor and absorb Yolk, then use a Dragon Ruler banishing Eclipse, then Leviair revive Ecipse, XYZ for Paladynamo and then another Dragon Ruler and attack for game.

Game 2: He goes first, same opening as last game except only set one. I go and play Solar discard Lyla and I draw a Lumina. I summon Lumina discard something summon Lyla. Lyla destroys his back row. I summon Collapserpent because I randomly decided to side in 1 copy. I XYZ for Silent Honor absorb again. Then summon Blaster and Tidal and attack for game.

The entire match lasted 5 turns!

4-2

Round 7: Me vs. Kevin (Cyber Dragons, AGAIN!)

I have no idea why I played so many Cyber Dragon decks. My opponent this round claimed it was because I was a magnet, haha, pun intended.

Game 1: I open slow, and he controls most of the beginning of the duel. I summon a Paladynamo and negate his Volcasaurus and then he uses Threatening Roar so I can’t kill it then makes a Gaia Dragon, which was kind of annoying. I end up making Black Rose and going boom then attack for game with Dragon Rulers.

Game 2: He opens really weak, then I open Lumina Lyla Needlebug Nest and pretty much control the entire game. I only take damage on the last turn of the game for paying 1000 for JD.

5-2

Round 8: Me vs. Wenbo (Fire Kings)

Lightsworn aren’t so hot against Fire Kings. The deck has the potential to win really fast, which is annoying so you’re not given time to setup with bad hands, and the deck can ignore Necro Gardna because of Garunix and can also ignore any setups because of Garunix.

Game 1: He goes first plays Tenki add Yaksha, summon Yaksha set 3. I summon Trooper and ram, he uses Yaksha to destroy Barong in hand. His turn he adds Circle. He summons Barong and attacks then plays Generation Shift, destroys Barong and adds a Barong then Specials a Yaksha and attacks again then plays Circle and summons Barong and attack again. My turn he adds an Onslaught with Barong. I summon Lumina and activate its effect discarding Eclipse Wyvern he chains Veiler. ( I should’ve discarded an in hand Lightpulsar so I I could then discard Wyvern and Darkflare, because that would allow me to attack) I go to end phase and attempt to mill and he says I can’t so we get the judge and after a long while of deliberation with the head judge he says I don’t mill. On the next turn he attacks for game.

Here’s how the milling thing works. During the end phase the turn player has optional priority to use there milling effect (or other end phase effects such as Spirit bouncing effects) which they may pass on and give priority to the opponent. Then opponent can then choose to continue Veiler’s negation with their optional priority or pass priority to the opponent. Obviously the opponent will pass if I passed to continue negating. Then the turn player is given back priority but now it’s mandatory priority and the player must use their effect to mill, but Veiler still negates at that point so no milling occurs. Then, priority passes to the opponent and it is mandatory priority to end Veiler’s effect so Veiler’s negation ends.

Game 2: I go first, open well, and even before I JD he knows I’m going to OTK and scoops.

Game 3: I open sub-par so I’ll need time to setup. He goes, summons Bear sets 2 ends. I summon Trooper mill then attack over Bear, he goes summons Barong and attacks. I go and summon Lumina and discard something he Veilers. I realize I again should’ve discarded a Lightpulsar because this time I had a Jain and REDMD in hand as well. End phase he play Generation Shift destroying Barong adding Barong. Standby he adds Onslaught. He play Onslaught and gets Garunix then summons Barong. He attack with Garunix then Barong, then plays Circle on Barong to revive Barong and special summons a Yaksha from hand then attacks for game.

5-3

Round 9: Me vs. Lloyd (Evilswarms)

Lloyd is from my locals, he’s an older gentleman with darker skin, maybe an islander, but I don’t really know. He’s a nice dude. I was pretty sure he was playing Evilswarm going into the match.

Game 1: I go first, Lumina Lumina Lyla end. He goes, summons T-King attack I Necro then he sets 5. Systematic dismantling then OTK on my next turn.

Game 2: He opens T-King set 5 again! This time I make a much more slow decent into his back row. I end up using Lightpulsar to burn his T-King then revive it again and make some chump damage he uses a Forbidden Dress in their at some point. He draws and does nothing then ends. I end up summoning JD and nuking and his back row was 2 Pandemic, 1 Infection and 1 Dark Illusion so he opened really bad.  Sorry bro! Then I attack for game.

6-3

And that’s that!

From our locals both Devin and Ricky got in the top 48 (which was the invite cut) using their Earth, Wind and Fire control decks Devin went 7-2, Ricky 6-3. Ricky and Devin played the final round which was kind of dumb. Rob from our locals was the guy with Prophecy who got 19th going 7-2, he was determined to get top 8; so close! A different Justin from our locals got top 8 with Noble Knights.

What I learned?

• I need to mill on my first turn no matter what.
• Veiler has no place in my deck.
• I should side more Baby Dragon and Caius because that’s really good.
• Maybe I should side that and Rainbow Kuriboh and Veiler together.
• Raidennnnnn…..

Thoughts on deck changes. Here’s some cards I thought about using after the event was over:

• Hieratics
• Dragon Shrine
• Fiend Comedian
• One Day of Peace
• Magical Stone Excavation
• Upstart Goblin
• Pot of Duality

Written by: Kyle