The Metagame - March 2012 Format

So after seeing the banlist, having a month long rage, and quitting, I decided I still wanted to play simply because I am a glutton for punishment apparently, and therefore what better way than to write a blog post. So since my last post, a LOT has happened, but instead of a ridiculous paragraph, have some bullet points:

• The Banlist has been revealed effectively killing off plants.
• Multiple YCS tournaments have been and gone, with a multitude of decks winning them.
• Dino Rabbits have basically confirmed themselves as the top deck, with Wind-Ups and Infernities fairly close behind. Following those decks are decks such as HEROes and Dark Worlds.
• Hidden Arsenal 5, Order of Chaos, SD:Dragons Collide, Ra Yellow Mega Pack, Premium Pack Collection and Starter Deck: XYZ Symphony have all been released into the game, with Galactic Overlord closely approaching.

So as you can see, a lot has happened which I've had to soak in quite thoroughly since deciding I seriously want to get back into this game. After looking through all my options, I decided the deck I was personally going to build was...HEROes!!!

HEROes have gone through a lot since there initial release, transforming from that one deck that Jaden Yuki used in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX into a very strong meta choice for a number of formats now. However, to some degree, they are even more powerful now than they have been before. So lets break it down. Perhaps the strongest card in the deck is Elemental HERO Stratos. This card has 2 really powerful effect, however one of these is a lot stronger than the other. Simply put, it allows the player who summons it to add one HERO from their deck to their hand. Now in most of the recent builds, the optimum target has been the second most useable HERO in the deck, Elemental HERO Neos Alius. While this card may appear to be simply a 1900 vanilla beater, the support that exists for this card is what makes it truly shine. As a gemini monster, the card Gemini Spark becomes a very powerful card for the deck to use, letting the user trade 2 cards for one of the opponents, and then an additional draw. However, once Neos Alius hits the grave, it still remains useable due to 2 cards. The first of these is Hero Blast. Although this card may not be able to hit powerful beaters of over 1900 Atk, a lot of the cards in the meta fall below this, and therefore make this card insanely annoying to a player who may be trying to set up a strong play or field. And then as an added bonus, Neos Alius returns to hand for additional use. The second card that allows Neos Alius to exist in the graveyard is probably the more powerful of the 2, and will also work as the decks boss monster in most cases. That card is Miracle Fusion. Once a pioneer card of sorts, introducing fusing from graveyard, the card has become so much stronger with the release of the attribute HERO fusions, Absolute Zero and The Shining in particular. With a dead Neos Alius and either a water or light monster in the grave too, you can summon either a 2500 beater with a Raigeki effect upon field removal, or a 2600 beater which gains 300 for each HERO that has been banished, as well allowing the user to add up to 2 HEROes that have been banished back to the hand when it's sent to the graveyard. Other cards that add force to this deck include E- Emergency Call, Reinforcements of the Army and Super Polymerization.

The decks playstyle is fairly simplistic. Keep playing 1900 beaters down with a backrow, and stop all your opponents plays with advantage-gaining 1-for-1's, then when they were in a bad situation, drop a Miracle Fusion, and win with a boss monster. This style lasted for a long time, however recently, the introduction of Xyz into the game has allowed another card, as well as another style to emerge. That card is Elemental HERO Bubbleman. The reason for this? 1 play can help spell it out. Summon Stratos adding Bubbleman to hand. Set a backrow, and then special summon Bubbleman. The Xyz into Blade Armor Ninja and hit for 2200 x 2. If Monster Reborn was one of the backrows, this is doable again for a field of 2 Blade Armor Ninjas and 4 backrow. However this deck really doesn't enjoy it's monster hands. What this means is that you have a more OTK based HERO deck with a few more consistency issues. Even more recently, an even more hyper aggressive version has begun to show it's face incorporating A Hero Lives into the build.


As this post will hopefully convey, HEROes have a few ways to be build, and are quite a damn strong deck. Not sure what the next post will be about, or when it will be, but hopefully it should be sooner rather than later. Until then, always remember, a top hat always beats a top deck.

The Metagame - December 2011

It's been a while since I last did this, mainly due to a lack of interest in the game. However, during this time, the metagame has formed quite interestingly in a way I did not expect. With the release of the Dark World structure decks, dark world have become a valid threat to the game, however probably not on the scale that many thought it would. With the release of Photon Shockwave, Dino Rabbits (hate the names Konami's website gives decks) have sprung forth with their game breaking one turn XYZ plays. However, both of these decks were expected. It is not a deck that has surprised me though. More the resurgence of a single card, that has helped warped the game as we know it: Maxx "C". The card most popularly rose in Billy Brake's 'Good Stuff' deck which he topped 2 consecutive YCS''s with. The card is very simple in what it does, however the plays that can be made with it are a little different. Mainly, it all comes down to timing. Dropping a Maxx "C" on a random special summon may seem like a good idea, as it will instantly replace itself with a card from your deck, which could seem more useful. However holding off, and waiting for what seems like a swarm coming could be better. But maybe an example to put this into perspective would help. Say your opponent has just normal summoned a Reborn Tengu, with all remaining copies in deck by presumption, along with a Spore in grave and a Lonefire Blossom. Your opponent then decides to revive said Spore. Now would be a perfect time to pitch Maxx "C". First of all you will net yourself a card, however, there is more significance to this play. Your opponent now has a weak defence Spore along with a Tengu. Should he be willing to synchro with the 2, he will also allow you to net another 2 cards off of Maxx "C". However, what if he decides to simply end with a single backrow. You now have knowledge to some degree that this backrow has the ability to protect his field. This is the kind of play that Maxx "C" allows, and is perhaps the main reason players opt to play 2-3 in all decks. Simply because it allows advantage and information, also maybe allowing you to draw into your OTK stoppers etc.

I'm going to end this post here for today, with a hope that you have a better understanding of why Maxx "C" is considered such a powerful card in the current meta.

The Metagame - Sept 2011 Part 3

This is the third part of a multiple-part discussion about the TCG side of Yu-Gi-Oh! Since the banlist peaked its...interesting looking head round the corner, many things have changed, more so than any other format this early on, at least from my personal experience. This time I want to cover a few topics in one post, as I don't really think I have as much to say on each. So without further ado...

Lightsworn! Some people love them, some people hate them. I personally dislike this deck a lot, but I will attempt to withhold personal bias for the sake of this posts integrity. The new banlist has definitely lent a helping hand to lightsworn in the form of a much less backrow heavy format in comparison to the past year, as well as the unlimiting of Judgment Dragon and the semi-limiting of Necro Gardna. This had a lot of duelists blindly running back to Lightsworn with the mindset that it would be the best deck to play. However, even with all these changes, I personally do not believe this. While the helpful factors are quite helpful, the major reason that Lightsworn saw a lot less play in the previous 2 formats is because of the damage that had already been dealt by previous banlists, namely the limiting Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, Charge of the Light Brigade, Honest, and at the time, Necro Gardna. While Necro Gardna has been given a chance to reign at 2, the other 3 aforementioned cards still retain a limited status. This hinders Lightsworn decks a lot. Charge allowed them a tutor, as well as helping to set up all the other plays in the deck. Lumina was a strong choice of search for Charge, as well as facilitating most of the swarm and milling power of the Lightsworn deck. Honest was the icing on the cake, allowing the smaller monsters to live, while allowing strong pushes against strong looking fields. Because of the lack of these cards, I do not feel that Lightsworn can have as strong of a presence on the metagame, at least not in the current way that the deck is commonly built. That is not to say that the deck will not be seen or played. Many will stick by this deck, and will play this deck. The chances are if you are to enter a high level tournament that you will at some point take a loss to this deck, as it can open extremely well. Judgment Dragon still remains as one of the most powerful monsters in the game, and now has free reign with its unlimited status. This deck can also play Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning quite potently, as well as his weaker brother Chaos Sorcerer. In closing, this deck has a lot of tricks at its disposal, as long as it is able or allowed to set up correctly. The difficulty the deck will now have to do this though is what puts me off this deck a lot.

The second topic I want to discuss is the big swap: Giant Trunade being banned, and Heavy Storm being limited once more. This has probably been done to death, but here are my thoughts on the matter. I do not feel Heavy Storm should have ever been expelled from the game, and as a result 2 formats of imbalance passed, with backrow heavy decks beginning to reign supreme. Only with the creation of powerful cards such as T.G. Hyper Librarian and Reborn Tengu were decks finally able to gain enough power and advantage to switch this power shift. However, now Heavy Storm is back. But first, lets compare Giant Trunade with Heavy Storm. The former allows a temporary field clearance, with less ways of countering, however, if played correctly instantly pushed the game heavily in the Trunade-ing players favour, or simply ended the game in some cases. The latter delivers a more permanent clearance approach, however at the cost of carrying the word 'destroy', leaving it vulnerable to cards such as Starlight Road and Stardust Dragon. The permanance factor is a necessary one however in stopping backrow heavy decks from reigning, as they have done. Unfortunately, another change on the list appeared: the complete unlimitation of Mystical Space Typhoon. What this has done is scare a number of players into believing that backrow heavy decks are practically impossible to play. At first, I was one of these players, however, not so much anymore. If played correctly, a backrow heavy deck can still exist. Also multiple factors must also be taken into account. Since the number of quickplay spells and traps within the main deck has plummeted, many decks have decided to opt to play 1 or 2 Mystical Space Typhoon instead. However, that is not to say that there will not be people who do actually play a full playset. I do not think this has as big of an impact on the game as it could do, however, the psychological impact is quite high, and that could be the difference maker. Also, a players ability to hold onto an MST instead of wasting it will still be as invaluable as ever.

Despite everything I may believe, all the above topics will still have a large impact on the metagame, and all players should be aware of this. Hopefully this post helps you be ready for this in some way.

The Metagame - Sept 2011 Part 2

This is the second part of a multiple-part discussion about the metagame for the TCG side of Yu-Gi-Oh! However, I would like to elaborate on exactly what the TCG side means. Originally, this simply meant the difference in card pools between the TCG and the OCG. However, quite recently this all changed. The changes which created such a difference were the OCG adapting a new rule about how monsters no longer retain priority on ignition effects, and the TCG counting XYZ material as being on the field. Due to the latter ruling, the card Tour Guide from the Underworld became a Tier 0 card. What this meant was that any deck that didn't include Tour Guide in it basically suffered an auto loss. Effect Veiler as a result became even more of a staple than it was, and the game between the OCG and the TCG were completely different. However, a week ago the XYZ ruling was revoked, helping to bridge the gap between the 2 game states. Previously, I stated how i was going to talk about Tour Guide, however, I do not feel it needs to be talked about right now, and therefore will approach a different subject: Agents.

Agents are a deck which has become incredibly strong because of 3 aspects. The first of these was "Structure Deck 20: Lost Sanctuary" being released, bringing with it a plethora of insane cards for the archtype. The second aspect was the release of the XYZ monsters, namely Gachi Gachi Gantestu, even turning Mystical Shine ball into a card to be feared. The third and final aspect was, of course, the September 2011 banlist. While the banlist didn't really help Agents by giving them any real new tricks to use (save for Black Luster Soldier), it definitely didn't take anything away from them. With the banlist basically weakening every deck of the previous meta, Agents now have been able to come forwards and show their true dominance. There is a fourth aspect that may have helped, however I do not see it as much of a defining factor. This aspect is the fact that Agents captured first place at the World Championships. This may have made people even more aware of the decks power, but I do not believe it had any real impact on there current dominance.

So what makes Agents so powerful. Without any hesitation, I will say Master Hyperion. In my personal belief, this card makes Black Luster Soldier seem like any other card, and the reason for this is simply the fact that Hyperion exists at 3. While this may seem like random bias, this card does not have a difficult summoning condition. In fact, it can be simply tribute summoned for 2 tributes if need be. But nobody is going to do that. For the small price of banishing a "The Agent" monster from your hand , field or, the most likely scenario, graveyard, this boss of a card comes crashing down, ready to end the game. How does it do that you may ask? With its second ability. By banishing a Light Fairy-type monster from your grave, you can select 1 card on the field and destroy it. While this IS a once per turn ability, it usually would not matter. However, this cards nature is even more deceptive than it seems, mainly due to 1 other card that is commonly played in most Agent builds. The graveyard manipulating effect Hyperion only helps to allow free reign for another Juggernaut: Archlord Kristya. I could go WAY into depth about this card, but there is really no point. You simply manipulate your graveyard with Hyperion, then when you have 4 fairy-type monsters in your grave, you play this card for free, banning all special summons until it leaves. If summoned by its own effect, you also get to add a Fairy-type monster from your grave to your hand. And finally, if Kristya IS somehow destroyed, if it would then hit the graveyard, it would simply place itself back on top of the deck, ready to be played again. These 2 cards are obviously completely idiotic, however, what makes them truly idiotic is how easy they are to sustain.

The final pieces of the puzzle rest in the hands of The Agent of Mystery - Earth, and The Agent of Creation - Venus. Earth's role in the deck is simple: Search out Venus, then either be used as fodder for the Herald of Orange Light (A Spell Speed 2 monster version of Divine Wrath for this deck), or as a level 2 tuner for tuning with. Venus on the other hand is a deceptively powerful card. By paying 500 life points, you can special summon 1 Mystical Shine Ball from your hand or deck to the field. At first this seems not all too powerful, however, it can be. If all 3 balls are in your deck, by paying 1500 life points, you can decrease your deck count by 3, allowing you quicker access to your boss monsters, as well as giving yourself an advantage of already getting 4 fairy-types on the field. This is a number Kristya likes a lot. From here, if you have a The Agent of Mystery - Earth on the field, you could make a Trishula. If this is not the case, you could overlay 2 of them into a Gachi Gachi Gantestu. This would give you a 2000 Attack Venus, as well as a much stronger defence which can give you time to gather a game winning hand.

The cards I have mentioned today are simply the core of an Agent deck. there are many other aspects that help Agents become as strong as they are, however, I feel these are the main points that needed to be discussed. I apologise for how long this post is, but it was personally what I felt needed to be mentioned. This deck is probably going to be the number 1 deck to watch out for, and I hope this post has helped you understand too.

The Metagame - Sept 2011 Part 1

This will be a multiple part discussion about the metagame for the TCG side of Yu-Gi-Oh! Now you may be asking yourself, what is there to say that we don't already know. The answer to this - not much, but i'm gonna try and put a few points into perspective.

The newest forbidden list has had some ups and downs, what with the unbanning of Heavy Storm, and perhaps more importantly, Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning. For anyone who played in formats where this guy was previously limited, this decision will come as a shock to some degree. However, Konami have seemingly been testing the waters by way of seeing the impact that allowing multiple Chaos Sorcerers run free would bring to the game. And to be quite frank, having Chaos Sorcerer in the game for the past year and a half hasn't been too bad, as the card wasn't universally useful as it was a few years back. Once Gold Series 4 emerged, with a reprint, we had suspicions, and the list has only confirmed these suspicions. So now this colossus has been set free to rule the game, how does the game change. Unlike Chaos Sorcerer, Black Luster Soldier is a force to be reckoned with. Its first ability is a beefed up version of Chaos Sorcerers, allowing the banishment of any monster. This means that simply setting a Ryko will not suffice in killing this monstrosity. However, BLS also comes with a second ability, allowing it to attack once again in a row, should it destroy a monster in battle. With a staggering 3000 attack, it will be able to pull off this job quite easily, and as a result, finish games quickly, living up to its name as a boss monster. This card is so powerful, that any deck that can fit a small number of dark and light monsters into it should find the extra room to play this thing. In short, it is expected to be played everywhere. However, there are a few other things to note about this guy.

For starters, he is a light monster unlike Chaos Sorcerer. This gives him insane synergy with Beckoning Light and Honest, obviously making him a good fit in Lightsworn and Twilight decks, with Beckoning Light allowing him to be replayed many times. Another thing that should be noted is his affiliation as a Warrior. At first this may not seem too important, but this can have certain repercussions. Although not really a strong deck, this does give Immortal Bushi a boss monster to stand beside. However, more importantly is its ability to be recurred by The Warrior Returning Alive. This card would have previously been noted as a bad card, however, being able to pick up a dead BLS from your graveyard, and then instantly replay it definitely has its perks. This could become handy for Junk Dopple decks, which have a plethora of useful targets for this card. Junk Dopple also has a very simple ability of being able to create an Armory Arm very easily, and should it be equipped to a BLS, and it attacks a field of simply one attack position monster, the game is basically over right then and there.This situation can be replicated by and inhand Honest. Obviously this card comes with idiotic ability, but there are other reasons for this. That reason is the currently auto-include cards of any deck. The first of these is Tour Guide from the Underworld, which I will go into depth about in the next blog.

Obviously Black Luster Soldier is going to be a staple of the upcoming format, and players should be definitely aware of its presence, as you will be beaten by this card at least once.

Dr Pepper is the greatest drink in the world (Zapped Giants Open Tournament Report )

Ah, the tradition pre-report ramble. I would like to see I was prepared for this event and was fully confident about placing, but I wasn't all my prep time actually went into an Askalti Darksteel build I was fairly happy about, until I played Mage control. My deck just couldn't handle mystic denial as my cards cost too much and often it would a horrible 2 for 1 that gave them room to recover. So I came back from wednesday night looking at my rare folder and noticing I still had a velindra deck but I didn't like Kel'thuzad. Basically for me it turned to if you steal 2 or more Dethvirs you probably win, otherwise they work through your field especially with the huge interupt free turn you've just given them.

So I looked at Ysera, considering I'd recently got my 2nd. The draw and mend seemed good and meant I could probably rely on winning long games, the 40 health was great I've got to say and it tested really well on sat. Plus the extra draw meant I could tech in a netherbreath spellblade to sometimes just lock a game away. The one of regalia was because that was all I had.

Now the stash cards, the main reason I included them was because I needed some kind of free answers to aggro, as I was lending my Brodericks to Josh. I had 4 Sava'gin and 2 Cairne, so I decided to use them, probably would've preferred more Cairne than Sava'gin ideally. Amazingly this seemed to also help ysera be more consistent as mages don't have all the time in the world to be questing consistenly and that 15 health boost was great. Subsequently tho I went for draw 2 or easy to complete quests as well, to either help Ysera or help win the long game . Oh and the rituals of power was something to try out as well as extra insurance vs kel'thuzad.

Sounds like I had a plan eh? I should also mention this was done at 3am after I came back home after a night out at Post-Mortem and a few hours at the student union xD. So the next day I crawled out of bed, got into the shower and ambled my way across town to Fanboy3, where I tried a new hangover treatment of Dr Pepper which seemed to do the trick, and then i wrote down my decklist showed it to Josh and proclaimed "I've janked up a tier 1 deck".
After some chatting the pairings went up and we were off ....

......to a bad start apparently
Round one - Jonny (strawdonkey) Koo'zar (0-1)
http://phadalus.blogspot.com/2011/02/zapped-giants-open-ii-19-february-2011.html
I gotta say, when you haven't playtested a control deck before, seeing the fastest rush deck across the table to quite unnerving. Jonny covered the game in his blog but from my perspective I stashed sava'gin turn 1 to try and kill the rosalyne he played. It didn't :( and after some trading and stalling, i ended up losing to that same Rosalyne and a spell surpressed Ruby Flameblade.
Afterwards we played a friendly, of velindra vs lorala the dancing (from team rampage's blog the same deck oli was trying out today), the deck seemed powerful but ran out of steam quite quickly.

Round two - Ozzy (Treeborn Frog Emek the Equalizer (1-1)
Ozzy started off with a bloodsoul and i had a spider (cairne token :D) i took beats from the bloodsoul and replicated with my spider. i then played a dethvir and ozzy follows suit, so i do the standard velindra thing and stole it. The game carried on for a bit but ozzy just couldn't deal with the double dethvirs, especially once i had undercity on the field. Really fun game tho and i was constantly in fear of the holy talents that didn't turn up unfortunately for ozzy.

Round three - Scott Triton (All-in Rush) (2-1)
Scott started off strong with a broderick i believe but i have some removal and undercity to make sure my life never goes about 12 dmg. He went all-in on turn 3 i believe with a babaganoosh which i had to flip on and try and deal without using wubs. I eventually managed to wrestle control over his topdecking and dethvir locks the game up. I was genuinely frighted by babaganoosh plus men hitting field on turn 3 and I played rather poorly dealing with it. But fortunately going all-in also gives me a bunch of breathing room once I do.


Round four - Paul Velindra (3-1)

ah the control mage mirror match, a big ball of fun. My plan was around turn 10 to minise the amount of dethivrs he could take unfortunately he has a lot more targets in my deck than most velindra decks, but at least these targets die. First few turns involved some passing, i did at one point played a field of 2 Sava'gins and a spider (:D) which was swiftly dealt with. I resolved a mana sapphire however and paul doesn't. My hand contained nether fissure x2 which meant i was no longer worried about Kel T. The game was ended by me playing dethvir followed by Sava'gin and then protecting them during Paul's turn. I hit him once with both, he looked at his next card and offered the handshake. Funniest thing was WE FINISHED BEFORE TIME! :D Turns out the janky tech really helps the mirror match.

Round five - Keith Goblin Shaman (4-1)
I was worried about fancing goblin combo but it was a death rattle deck. This game went on for a while as Keith ran out of steam early, as he completed 2 copies of all things in good time and a lot of them were death rattle cards and I couldn't draw an endgame to help finish it off. Eventually tho i go Ysera with regalia and manage to beat down some goblin shaman. If he managed to get a saurfang out and get some death rattle shennanigans going I'm sure the game would've gone a lot differently.

Round six - Joseph Sadowski - Durzion (Searing Light Burn) (4-2)
This was a long game and Joe saw my Sava'gins when i played keith and was disappointed when i played none. I mull'ed into an interuptless hand and joe eventually had a field of 3 searing lights, 3 devouring plagues, 2 were spell supped but he oppressed one eventually. While i had a cinnamon roll. I eventually go ysera and then mess up completely by exhausting everything for a mana sapphire, joe then showed me his fourth great elekk and burned me with the remaining cards in hand. I was annoyed that I made such a silly mistake but moved on..... eventually.

Round 7 - Oliver Gehrmann - Erondra Frostmoon (5-2)
This was another long game and another that went to time. I spent most of the game drawing, occasionally interupting and making sure Oli got no usage out of the Lich King's effect. Eventually time was called I spent the turn i was on making Gladiator's regalia, then my next turn turning into ysera and my final turn was spell suppressing deathcharger so Oli couldn;t everfrost in response to the netherbreath spellblade i played next. i cracked open a manasapphire and healed for game. Not proud of this game, but since it was my only game that i did it, i was relatively happy with my deck now.

Round 8 Jack Fejer - Triton (5-3)
I gotta say scimitar scares me after this game, the recurrent threat of a krol blade is enough to completely throw off my game if I don't get to the late game, where cinnamon rolls really start packing value. But unfortunately we never got there. Jack resolved the scimitar on turn 5 and proceded to beat me with it, iirc he managed to army of the dead his guys and hit me with them again for game. I've gotta say Jack played well and I didn't, I was exhausted and did things like play a blizzard into a vuz'din xD.

Nevertheless I was happy with how I did as was Josh, so we watched some yugioh and prepared to hear how we ranked. After some pack launching courtesy of Ross at unsuspecting folk, we then got told there were 10 ppl on 5-3 :o. As Ross went ever closer to the top 10, I was pretty nervous then came 9th and Ross handed over the packs to Josh :( but I was pretty happy that I made top 8 :D.

Until I realised all 3 of my losses were in it and I was playing Jack in the first round xD.

Top 8 Jack Fejer. (0-2)

After Jack took a more awesome pic of myself, we shuffled up and began our games. Unfortunately never of them went much better for me than before. In both games a Extract of Necromantic Power hit the field early, and I occasionally got locked out by Vuz'din. I struggled to stabilise and wasn't able to either deal with threats or get a stream of cards into my hand. Nevertheless I was pleased to do as well as I did.

So i got some more packs and pulled another Sava'gin and some other stuff I'd been looking for. I really enjoyed playing so many people that I've never faced before, as well as seeing that the game truly is alive and well in the UK now :D.
So thanks to Ross, Dave and the other organisers for a great tournament and I hope the next one is just as fun.

Oh and here was the decklist

2 Ysera the Dreamer

4 Dethvir the Malignant
4 Sava'gin the Reckless
2 Cairne, Earthmothers Chosen

3 Spell Suppresion
4 The Taste of Arcana
4 Blizzard
2 Brittilize
3 Conjured Cinnamon Roll
4 Mana Sapphire
3 Nether Fissure
3 Mystic Denial
2 Roaring Blaze

1 Gladiators Regalia
1 Netherbreath Spellblade
4 Wubs Cursed Hexblade

4 A Question of Gluttony
4 Boon of Alexstraza
2 Everfrost
1 Rituals of Power
3 Undercity

So any comments and if you're one of my opponents and think I've left something out let me know ^^. Thanks for reading.

Tournament Report - Zapped Giants Open II @ Fanboy 3, Manchester (19th February 2011)

So apparently it is necessary for me to write one of these things. However, a few things to begin with. I don't remember too much about the event, mainly peoples names being forgotten, so my apologies in advance. 


So I start the day at about 9am when I wake up. I get myself ready, and then leave to get a tram into Manchester, as I only live a couple miles out. I arrive at about 10:20 when I am reminded that deck lists are required at these events. Oh goodie :/. As I check through my deck, I realise that there are a few things I did not like, mainly the 2 Darkness Callings and the 4 A Question of Gluttony. I quickly get hold of another 2 Darkness Calling, however I am not able to find Overseers Shadow :/. With time getting slimmer, I decide to write out my deck list. It looked a little like this:


Triton the Sacrilegious

2 The Lich King


3 Broderick Langforth
4 Deathcharger
3 Vuzdin
2 Johnny Rotten
4 Dethvir the Malignant
2 Kilix the Unraveler


3 Entomb
3 Strangulate
3 Tuskaar Kite
4 Corpse Explosion
3 Army of the Dead


4 Blackout Truncheon
3 Edge of Oblivion
1 Scourgeborne Battlegear


4 Eye of the Storm
4 Darkness Calling
4 The Boon of Alexstrasza
2 A Question of Gluttony
2 Cleansing Witch Hill


A few notes about the deck. I first of all only have access to 3 Broderick Langforth, and would preferably be playing 4. This deck hadn't had a lot of testing if i am truly honest with myself, and I felt the numbers I was using were good. There are no Extracts in this deck as I am not fully sure where mine ave disappeared too. I am not fully sure what possessed me to play Eye of the Storm, let alone 4 copies of it, but ah well. The final card to talk about is Scourgeborne Battlegear. This seemed like an interesting card to play a tech copy of, and didn't truly seem to have many downsides, It seemed like a strong card to me, and therefore I played it.


So the tournament starts, and we are informed that it shall be an 8 round tournament with a top 8 cut, with 43 people entered. And so we begin here.


Round 1 - Kat Donahue - Zaritha
To be honest, this match up doesn't scare me too much, as what I've played against Zaritha, I feel confident about. Kat sets up the renewal of life plays with Brokentoe, Darkness Calling and Gromble the Apt. Meanwhile, I try to counter this with Corpse explosions on Mikael, removing big pieces from the grave. When the Renewal of Life hits the board, I entomb it quite quickly on the next turn. Eventually I play Scourgebourne Battlegear, and it goes unanswered, giving me ghouls and burning for 3, eventually capturing me the game.
1-0


Round 2 - Vince Turner - Velindra Sepulchre
This is a match up which i don't fear as much as used to, however having played Vince before, I know how well he can play this deck. I figure this game is a race towards turn 10, as Kel'Thuzad switches the nature of this game around completely. The game goes how you would expect the mage matchup to go, until turn 4, where I am able to successfully get an Edge of Oblivion out unanswered. This gains me quite a few points on him. By my turn 10, I have gotten him to 18 damage. I stash a strangulate, and double Corpse Explosion finishes of the Undead Mage.
2-0


Bonus Round - Greggs - Steak Bake
This is a match up I hate immensely. Piping hot steak bakes are my natural enemy, and somehow, I manage to get some of the pasty in my hair. Luckily this is an illegal maneuver, and gets the Steak Bake a warning. However, this didn't go down well, and he persistently argued against this, forcing the warning to be upgrade to a game loss. ^_^


As we returned from our epic quest to gregg's back to Fanboy 3, we took a seat, and suddenly, a wild Lammy appeared. He was forced into the tournament with a 0-2 BYE loss. Now the tournament was at 44 players.


Round 3 - A man whose name I have forgotten (sorry D:) - Boarguts the Impaler
After looking at the hero, I realised that he would be playing death wish, and mulliganed for Vuz'din. Unfortunately, I did not see a Vuz'din within my new hand either. He opens up with Guardian's Plate Bracers, and is able to follow up with double Death Wish and an Edge. I am able to truncheon him for 2 turns, but this is in vain, as I had nothing else really to follow up with. I entomb the Bracers, as Edge is much weaker now, but he drops a Saurfang on the table, with a Kor'kron Vanguard to back it up. Nearly dead, I am able to answer the Saurfang with a Corpse Explosion, but a second Saurfang hitting the table straight after forces me to offer the handshake.
2-1


Round 4 - Johnny Roberts - Witch Doctor Koo'zar
As soon as I see this hero hit the table, I grimace intensely. While Corpse Explosion is a very nice answer to this deck, you still need to have an ally to remove. Not drawing a Corpse Explosion in my opening hand, i mulligan desperately for one. My deck is unkind to me once again and decides that an army of the dead will suffice. As you'd expect, Johnny has the nuts for a hand, and drops one drop after one drop. I get dangerously close to death, and hope to draw a corpse explosion. Unfortunately this is not the case. A babaganoosh is dropped on the board, and a turn 5 death awaits me.
2-2


Round 5 - A man whose name I have also forgotten (sorry D:) - Souldrinker Bogmara
Another scary rush deck, however this time I have been given the Corpse Explosion. However, this is unnecessary, as a mulliganed hand from my opponent gave him no 1 or 2 drops, playing only 2 Death to the Traitor King. He plays a Promises of Darkness, but still doesn't draw many things to use against me. He plays another Promises of Darkness, but still isn't able to follow up with anything. I then play an Edge of Oblivion. He plays a Gurabashi Arena, followed by a Krixel Pinchwhistle. I play a Dethvir, and then he plays a Hesriana with no target. Eventually, he is able to get quite a few guys on the table, but a Corpse Explosion finishes this game off.
3-2


Round 6 - Christopher Reilly (I think :/) - Caleb Pavish
Rogue?!?!?! The problem with this deck is that I personally had no idea what to expect. I'll be honest here. So I mulliganed for a stronger hand, as I didn't think my current hand would be as strong, with the only card of use being a Vuz'din. Big Mistake. I end up with an incredibly weak hand, which gets poach'd. Suddenly, I am being hit with weapons and having poisons thrown at me :/. This isn't helped by the Master Poisoner that is also on the table. My deck decides I don't deserve a Vuz'din, and the venom within my undead body finally takes me. Goddamn you Vuz'din.
3-3


Round 7 - A man whose name I have once again forgotten (sorry D:) - Alliance Druid (Don't remember this either :/)
To be honest, there wasn't much to say about this game. I drew a nice curved hand, complete with Deathcharger, Tuskaar Kite and a Dethvir. He drew a Concerted efforts, and that was the only quest of the game. He got a Mikael and an Adam on the table, but Deathcharger killed both of these quite promptly. He got a hibernate off on my Dethvir, but nothing else much happened, and I was able to dominate the rest of this game. 
4-3


Round 8 - Guess what, I forgot :/ (sorry D:) - Loraala the Frigid
I don't really remember too much about this game. By turn 7, I hadn't tried to commit much to the board, while he had an Ossus the Ancient out. I also realised he was counting his resources, so I telegraphed a Kel'thuzad, so I made sure to play around it, and sure enough, KT came down turn 10. With the Ossus preventing him from doing any combat damage, I was able to play around it quite nicely. I was able to get a Lich King into play, and from there started killing off the allies he took with KT. I played a Scourgeborne Battlegear, killing my own Ossus I was forced to take with Lich. From here, after lich'ing back many Dethvir's and a Kilix, this game finished quite strongly.
5-3


Well that was the last round. Wondering how well I had done, waited to find out while Ross began launching packs at people across the room. He got down to 11th place, and I started to realise the possibility that i had top 8'ed. Then i realised that the elusive 9th place existed as well. Sure enough, I came 9th place :/. On the plus set, my team mate made top 8, so not all bad.


After that, the top 8 started, and i decided to have a couple friendly's with people around the store, some from other card games. All in all, a really good event, where i got to meet a lot of new nice people.

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Remember folks a top hat always beats a top-deck.