Charlotte's Yugioh Regional, September 2013

487 doolists competing for 48 Regional Qualifying Invitations … and all 487 crammed in a space that “accommodated” 600. In fact, Charlotte’s Regional last weekend felt like card-games-on-airplanes.  Taking your seat was like shimmying through a car window. Let’s face it, some of our Yugioh playing brethren take up a bit of space. 

Despite these obstacles, my Gears lived up to my expectations.  I made some errors, but the deck itself performed well.  I did learn that I can’t roll dice worth a damn.  In 9 rounds, I won 1 dice roll.  Here is the blow-by-blow:

Rd 1: Dragunities – Lost dice roll – O, X, X

I take game one by setting up Karakuri/Geargia shenanigans using 2 Call of the Haunted.  It was too much too soon.  Game 2 found me in a hole quite early.  I was at 200 LP within only a few turns. Game 3 was a well-fought duel.  In fact, I had the chance to win if I had remembered to use Burei’s effect to put his Blaster in defense and run over it with Crimson Blader. However, I was preoccupied with thinking of ways to steal it with Big Eye. 

So 1 game … 2 lessons: Never become so focused on 1 fix that you overlook others and don’t forget about all of your monsters effects.  Sure it’s simple, but its easy to forget in the heat of battle.

0 - 1

Rd 2: Prophecy –Lost dice roll – O, O

This match went much easier than it should have.  The first game was the typical Spamakuri.  The win in the second game was set up by a Black Rose board wipe.  One observation: I saw several players using Reckless Greed and none of them seemed to Prophet in a big way. I was quite happy to see them not draw in the coming turns.

1 – 1

Rd 3: Dark World – Lost dice roll – X, O, O

I’m not a Dark World hater, but I don’t particularly like playing against them.  The first round I attacked into a Morphing Jar, which led to the activation of three DW monster effects – not good.  I have to thank Debunk for games 2 and 3.  This card put 3 Graphas in the removed from play pile. 

This match also added to my ongoing tumultuous relationship with GeargiaGear.  I had the card set when he activated Dealings.  I already had 1 Geargiano in hand and there was an MKII in the grave. For a moment I thought, I should chain GeargiaGear just in case the next card is a level III Geargia.  I was clairvoyant … though not very bright. I didn’t chain the card because I wanted 2 level 4 machines on the field.  My greed was rewarded with  a happy little Geargiano on the Dealings draw.

                2 – 1

Rd 4: Gadgets – Lost dice roll – X, X

I was quite relieved to see a Gadget deck.  Gears versus Gadgets feels like a match among friendlies.  At the very least, it’s a deck I know very well.   

However, this knowledge did not serve me well.  Probably my biggest error was pushing too hard in game 3.  I walked into too many traps when I should have just laid back with my Fortress and attached Gearframe. Part of this was fatigue, part was the emotion of feeling the game slip away, and part was the knowledge that he was one draw away from Redox.  Still my impatience cost me my dreams of YugiGlory.

Chances for topping seem a bit remote … still I press on.

2 – 2

Rd 5: THIS SPACE IS FREE!

My opponent dropped.  He was quite decent about it.  He announced his plans to drop as soon as we sat down.  It saved me the hassle of waiting for an opponent that doesn’t show and it gave me the chance to get something to eat. 

3-2

Rd 6: Karakuri – Lost dice roll – O, O

If playing Gadgets is like playing with your cousins, playing Karakuri is like playing with your Uncles.  It can get a little rough.  These were the StarEater games.  My opponent brought out that monster 3 times.  I compulsed it once, played Smashing Ground once, and stole it with Big Eye.  All the fun stopped when I summoned Vanity’s Fiend – the killjoy Aunt of the deck.

Once again, I wrestled with GeargiaGear.  When the card is good, it is very, very good; and when it is dead, its awful. My opponent decided to take the Maxx "C" Challenge and put 5 additional cards in my hand.  The five were: 2 MKII, 1 Geargiano, 1 GeargiaGear, and 1 Swift Scarecrow.  This is what I had to fight the onslaught of Karakuris and StarEaters.  I’m not quite sure how did it.

4-2

Rd 7: Gadgets – Won dice roll – O, X, X

Finally, a dice roll goes my way and the game unfolds just like I wanted it to. Trap Stun shuts down his backrow and it’s GearSpam for game.  I started to get a little heady – maybe I could run the table and top?  

Though you shouldn’t blame the losses on one card, I was seriously hurt by D.D. Crow.  Twice he stopped my Fortress plays using this little hand trap. If you're not careful, these kind of plays can really throw you off.  Your perfect out is gone.  One often fails to remember that when DD Crow is played, there is little more than gadgets in the guy's hand. It's easy to think about that now; at the time, I couldn't recover.

4-3

Rd 8: Dragunities – Lost dice roll – O, time

I tend to stay in tournaments.  I realized even with two more wins that my tiebreakers pretty much sucked.  However, I paid my money and I was going to squeeze every last dime out of it. 

As it turned out, this was an epic duel. 

My opponent jumped out quickly with the Dux/Phalanx/Ravine play.  Within two turns, he erased the LP advantage from 2 Upstart Goblins.  Then the real fun began.  He summoned Thought Ruler and I found myself staring at a score of 14,300 to 1200.  Meanwhile, MST and Effect Veiler were laughing their collective asses off from my side deck.  I seriously thought of scoping the game. I only stayed in because his engine seemed to be dying down. He did have several back row set, but most Dragunity/Dragon players are light on the traps. Maybe there was hope!

It is amazing what you can do with Redox and a mound of earth monsters in your grave. I play 29 monsters and they are all earth.  Redox went from the grave, to defense, to the hand, to summoning one of the few synchro monsters I had in the graveyard.  Within a couple of plays, I had a full complement of Spamakuris.  I won the duel with 800 LP and 3 cards left in my deck.  I also had 1 turn left in time. 

My opponent was understandably upset but he handled it well.  I did run into him again in McDonald’s while I was getting caffeinated for the ride home.  I appreciated the chance to talk to him once the heat of battle was done. 

5-3

Rd 8: Constellars – Lost dice roll – O, X, O

My opponent was not able to get much going in game one. He didn’t draw into a monster until the 3^rd turn. By then the GeargiSpam engine was working.  The second game was one with the magical popping Bear. I won game three with Rivalry, a card I put into the side deck at the last minute.  It causes real havoc for this deck.

6-3

I came in 70^th place, which feels about right.  I don’t claim to be God’s gift to Yugioh.  I may have topped if the dice went my way. Then again, if you look over my wins and losses, there does not seem to be a relationship between dice rolls and success.  

I do love the deck.  I would challenge people on the notion that it is a linear deck. It’s not Wind-ups, but there are a lot of options at each turn.  Furthermore, I continue to learn new subtleties about the deck.  For example, if you do not set monsters a lot, you probably will be able to set a Karakuri tuner as a bluff for Armor.  I found this out when I set Nisamu.  I should have just normal summoned him.  I also think the deck needs a Rank 3 monster so that MKII is live when it is drawn.  Extra Deck space is tight, so this will take more thought. 

I’ll continue to tweak it through the format … or at least until Mistake is released. I'll give a more complete decklist later.