Lo(l)cals report - Testing Maiden Prophecy

Last week, the Blue-Eyes Structure deck was released and last weekend was a locals in one of the places I attend. So instead of continuing to fine-tune my current Prophecy build, I re-arranged the deck to fit in the Maiden engine (3 Maiden, 1 Blue-Eyes, 2 Azure-Eyes & 1 Star Eater) and see what it would give (no, I don't have that much time to test it on online platforms).

It’s been a while since the Destelbergen location organized a (decent) tournament, but this is the first in quite a while. To my surprise there were 18 people (yeah, that’s a lot in my eyes). 5 rounds of locals here we go.

Round 1: VS Stijn (Evilswarm)

• Game 1: I start and versus Evilswarm player's that's a blessing. I quickly overpower him with World and High Priestess. I can keep Ophion of the field with Book of Fate and the game is quickly ended.
• Game 2: The tables are turned. He opens Ophion and I’m stuck trying to get rid of Ophion after Ophion. The High priestes and World in my opening hand DID NOT help. Again, I did not see any Maiden or Blue-Eyes. I use a Compulsory Evac device and a Phoenix Wing to prevent him from searching another Pandemic, but he already had the other two in his hand/field (ah, f**k). I had trouble coming back and he finishes it off with a Crazy Box + EEV. Yeah, that’s game.
• Game 3: I open up horrible, but I do have a Veiler, a Breaker and Vanity’s Emptiness. Those three cards help me survive and pick his deck apart (since he doesn’t have MST). When I thought I had enough materials in my hand, I get rid of Emptiness, get Priestess on the field but I’m unable to make game. That was my mistake. He turns the duel around quickly and when I needed a good topdeck, my deck returns me a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Yeah, that’s the only card of my Maiden “engine” I saw in this round.
• End result: OXX

Analysis: In this game I made the mistake to keep the Blue-Eyes engine in (even if I didn’t saw a damn’ card of it), since it wouldn’t do much good against Ophion. I did notice that my deck has a weakness to Evilswarms, but they have trouble handling Vanity’s Emptiness in return. I lost the game however, because I was too impatient and got rid of my Emptiness too soon.

Round 2: Vs Karel (Reptillianne)

• Game 1: Not much to say. He said his deck was a troll deck and troll decks don't do much against my kind of deck. He doesn't get the right cards and I quickly overpower him. This time I open with maiden, so Azure-Eyes quickly goes to the field. One turn later Star Eater appears as well. And one turn later it’s Blue-Eyes, Star Eater and Azure-Eyes. Ouch.
• Game 2: This time he does get the right cards to make him troll me. But I get rid of his key-cards too easily for him to actually stand a chance.
End result: OO

Analysis: First time I actually get the Maiden engine going. It feels really good. Azure-Eyes is hard to get rid of and with another Maiden+Blue Magician + a revived Blue-Eyes, Star Eater is very easy to make in this deck.

Round 3: Vs Worms (forgot this guy's name)

• Game 1: I open quite horrible, but I’m able to survive with my Spellbook Magician and a Gagagashield (no matter what you say, I like this card so I'll keep playing it). He hesitates to turn his defensive combo of Xex & Yagan into an offensive one when I have no good cards in my hand and that allows me to grind it through and make a come-back. But this duel takes time. I think we spent well over 30 minutes on this one duel.
• Game 2: We quickly go into time, but I’m able to give him the most damage in the end.
• End result: OO

Afterword: I recognize a beginning player and give him some tips and point out where he made mistakes, so that he can learn from them. Even though his deck wasn’t all that well-made to win, his plays were solid and well-thought out (the force is strong with this one).

Round 4: Vs Karel (Chain Burn)

• Game 1: A real back-and-forth game. I’m able to quickly get Azure-Eyes, Star Eater and another Blue-Eyes on the field, but when facing Chain Burn, that big field ended up turning against me. A few ruling questions are answered. Like, when Star Eater attacks, does Battle Fader work (yes) and does Swift Scarecrow work (the attack continues, but the battle phase ends after that). I actually win, because he thinks he has no more way out and surrenders… only to realize five minutes later that he could've won (he had Dimension wall). So I guess I lucked out.
• Game 2: I side out the maiden engine (since it only works against me) and side in some hate. But the cards that work the best against him is the constant Book of Fate bouncing his chain cards to his hand and recycling the Fates with Eternity and Tower. The sided Debunks take care of his Fader/Scarecrow and I make game shortly after that.
• End result: OO

Analysis: Yeah, the Maiden engine works against the controller when facing Chain Burn, that much was clear. But Debunk was godlike in this match-up. I said it before; it is one of the best side-deck cards in this format; that is no mistake.

Round 5: Vs Hendrik (Plant Rulers, LS variant)

• Game 1: A game that takes long and goes back-and-forth. I use Magician’s Circle to get Maiden on the field, but quickly notice my opponent played the Lightsworn variant of Dragon Rulers when Lyla hits the field instead of Veiler (Okay, I did NOT expect that). He has trouble attacking my Maiden, because he realizes his Crimson Blader’s effect is bypassed by Maiden during HIS turn. But I’m unable to summon ol’ Blue-Eyes during my turn and I can’t get enough resources to get over his monsters. I end up losing after a very long duel.
• Game 2: We quickly run into time (the first duel took once again well over 30 minutes). A hand-held Tower keeps him from activating Dragon Ravine and my cards are able to stop his combo’s. In the end, most of his dragons are Banished and this time around I still have my combo-cards. I’m able to take the most lifepoints away from him (even though some bystanders told me I could've made game as well if I didn't play so defensive in my last turn) and thus win in time.
• End result: XO (time = tie)

Analysis: We both played well, but made some mistakes. Sometimes I banish the wrong spell card, or return the wrong banished card to the hand, stopping my combo’s in their tracks. He on the other hand often chained Maxx “C” on the wrong moments. First time I didn't make much of it, but the second time (when we were in time) the judge saw it and told him it was too little too late.

End result: 4th place (Hendrik 3rd place). The winner was a Mermail deck.

Afterthought:

The Maiden engine melded really well with the rest of the deck (at least if I see her, lol). I tried Magician’s Circle to get Temperance and Maiden on the field more quickly, but the requirement to set the card and attack the turn afterwards is a let-down. And the moment I did use it, the opponent had a Spellcaster stronger than mine. So I’ll keep experimenting with other ways to get my casters on the field more quickly (One for One maybe?).

Ohter than that, Vanity's Emptiness remains one of the best traps of the format, closely followed by Debunk.

So now I'm testing what other variants would turn out (like using Dark Magician to get Azure-Eyes for the lolz).