The ARG Championship Series came to Raleigh and brought a little home field advantage with it. I didn’t
have to drive for hours, spend the night in a seedy hotel, or deal with
unfamiliar accents. Surely, this
southern boy could give these foreigners a good ‘ole Dixie whupping.
Uh huh …
Unfortunately this tournament was in the right place at the
wrong time. Had it been a week earlier,
I would have had a shot. Instead, the tournament was coincident with the release
of Next Challengers, which forced me to deal with an even stronger contingent
of Shaddoll and Burning Abyss monsters.
Of course, the astute doolist was either playing one of the
archetypes or had traded their mother for Qlipharts. Since I had to make mortgage payments, I was
forced to continue with the decks I already had. Besides, our home already had a Burning Abyss
player. Given these constraints, I
decided to go with an updated Geargia Karakuri deck. Perhaps, a $9 set of Augers could add enough
speed to make the deck competitive again.
Round 1-2: To
paraphrase the late Johnny Cash, my little Gears and I quickly fell into a
burning lake of fire. While it may be
pricier to pick up the inferno’s intrepid tour guide*, Fire Lake is the card
that dictated my doom. On three
occasions in the opening rounds, my opponent went plus 3 or more with this card.
I was able to slow my 2nd round opponent down
with Rivalry of Warlords. However it was
not a particularly wise choice. When you
are staring at X-2, there is a temptation to side in too many cards. Desperation
can push you to dump the cards that make your deck work. In retrospect, I would have been better off
to side in the three Shadow Imprisoning Mirrors and left it at that. 0 – 2
Round 3-4: My
third round opponent played Yang Zings.
I jumped out with a large field of monsters early in the duel. Normally,
this array of Karakuri power is enough to end the game in a turn or two. However, this is not the case when Yang Zing
Creation is on the field. Those pesky
wyrms kept coming back like a Yugi edition of Wack-a-Mole. Nevertheless, I was able to win game 1 in time.
I played Satellarknights in round four. Having instant access to Cycle Reader makes
this match-up a bit unfair. Still, I was glad to have an easier win. 2 – 2
Round 5-6: I have
to thank my 5th round opponent for showing me the true futility in
playing a tier 2 deck. Between Foolish
Burial, Mathematician, or Sinister Shadow Games, Shaddolls can start the
graveyard train effects by turn one or two.
While Yugioh has had more annoying openings (e.g Wind-Up Loop), this
combination is very difficult for the average deck to overcome.
The 6th round paired me with a very pleasant
Geargia player. Perhaps, he was just
glad to see someone else playing the deck.
He played a rank four build that used Machine Dupe and pulled off the
triple Auger once. Nevertheless, the
Karakuri monsters were a bit overwhelming. 3
– 3
Round 7-8: I was
hoping to finish 5 -3, despite knowing that this record would not get me remotely
close to the top. In a repeat of round 5,
the Shaddolls dashed even this small dream.
I did manage to win round 8 against a Burning Abyss player. He summoned Majesty’s Fiend in game 2 but
this turned out to be a bigger problem for him then me. I simply played a bit of defense, gathered my
resources, and went in for the kill once I drew into Breakthrough Skill. 4 – 4.
Final Thoughts: It is not a coincidence that my losses were to
Shaddolls and Burning Abyss and my wins were against other decks. The Yugioh Meta is quickly becoming a three
dog race between Shaddolls, BA, and Qlipharts. The best counter to the first
two decks is sitting in a structure deck box to be delivered in January**. Unfortunately, our hero does little against
the third dog. From time to time, you
will see a rogue strategy amongst the winners, but don’t kid yourself. Diversity has been replaced by a three-headed
monster, which is precisely what Virgil found at the end of his trip.
* Virgil is the tour guide for Dante through the Inferno
** Masked Hero Dark Law will be in the Hero structure deck in January
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