Wind-up wins European Championship Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yeah, you hear it correctly. After Wind-ups have won the North-American Championship, they also win the European Championship.

Stefano Memoli (Italy) has taken the victory from Chaos Dragons. Congratulations to him.

Stefano might not sound unfamiliar, as he's also been one of the European representatives in 2010. Let’s hope this experience works out for him.

Great coverage, as usual

Thanks to the great coverage (as usual) of the European coverage team, we know pretty much everything we needed to know, like:

• Who will represent Europe at the World Championship
• What the deck lists are of the top 32
• Who was that awesome to actually summon the Dark Magician during a feature match?

Us, Belgians

And how did the Belgians do?... Yeah, not that great, huh. Most known names gave up after 6 or 7 rounds (including known names as Max, Kim and Sebastien).

The Belgian that got the highest rank was Michael Languedoc, who got a respectable 108th place. Still too low to get a top-64 spot.

Wind-ups on the rise

But the most important thing is… Wind-ups won again. After everyone dissed them a few months ago in favor of Chaos Dragons, they’ve come back with a vengeance. Wind-up and their ability to pick apart the opponent’s hand is something to be feared, after all.

Until next time

V out.

Predictions for the Forbidden & limited list for September 2012

Look at the time of the year. It’s July, so it’s time for the September F&L predictions (you know, the banlist that we shouldn’t call a banlist anymore).
Keeping in mind that Inzektors, Rabbit-type decks and Chaos Dragons / Hieratic Dragons are the most popular decks right now; and keeping in mind that Konami only hits things they’re not planning to profit from in the next six months; this is the F&L list I have in mind

Forbidden:

• Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: Brionac is a key card in many FTK and OTK ever since this card was first introduced. It’s also known that getting this card on the field may give you the win. We also know that Konami is trying to get rid of all broken cards of the past (like Goyo and Trishula in previous lists), so I guess this card is an easy pick to become forbidden.
• Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning: Konami experimented with this card through priority loss, then through hitting T.G. Agents. But it keeps popping up too frequently to be good. I love this card, but it’s better if it becomes forbidden again.
• Monster Reborn: Honestly, do we even need to explain why? The card is broken and wins games by itself. Also, the lack of a reprint with the new problem-solving text ever since it came off the forbidden list, hints that it’s not going to stay.
• Mind Control: Ever since synchro’s came out, this card has become a costless brain control. The XYZ appearing only helped its popularity. This card needs to go.

Oh Black Luster Soldier, no-one must ever know of our forbidden love.

Limited to 1:

• Inzektor Dragonfly: This card defines how bad Konami makes their cards. Each time an equipped inzektor card is sent to the graveyard, you can spam the field? With cards like giga-mantis & Zektkalibur, who cares about it once-per-turn restriction on equipping? Getting this card on the field starts every Inzektor loop. This card needs a limit, literally.
• Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon: Forget Future Fusion. THIS is the heart and soul of every dragon deck out there. Future fusion may be the ideal “dump everything to the graveyard” card, but with limited access to this card, dragon players have to play more conservative. Once this dragon is banished, both Chaos Dragons and Hieratic have limited outs. And don’t forget… with access to only 1 REDMD, that rank 10 mechanical phallus (as LFN put it so nicely) is nearly impossible to summon.
• Leviair the Sea Dragon: Part of the “dragons that aren’t dragons” group. Most people use 1 only. Those that use 2 only abuse its effect to bring the bunny back to the field. This is an easy way to hit rabbit decks without beating the rabbit too much.

Semi-limited:

• Inzektor Hornet: The ultimate destroyer should take a hit too. Less of this card means less destruction. It doesn’t mean less effect triggering, as Hopper and ladybug are great too!
• Rescue Rabbit: Putting the rabbit at 1 would kill the rabbit-type deck, but at 2 it’s still playable. If the rabbit keeps causing trouble, it can still get limited in March ‘13.
• Mezuki: It’s a statement I’ve been making for a while now. Zombies are dead right now (bad joke, I know). The last few zombie cards that have been printed are mediocre to plain bad (even pain painter isn’t all that great), so they need a boost. Mezuki to 2 would increase its popularity again. But honestly… Zombies need a (good) XYZ monster.
• Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind: Of all my picks, probably the most controversial choice. Blackwing have been hit enough, we know it. Gale is a powerful card with its special summon ability and its effect to halve attack power. But synchro's have a declined usage and Gale by itself is only 1300 attack. Not to mention, I'd rather see this card coming back than Kalut or Black Whirlwind.

Don’t ban me, please :3 I’m too cute to be forbidden.

Unlimited:

• Archlord Kristya: Remember they semi-limited this card last September? What did it cause? A bunch of laughter, that’s what. Hardly anyone played triple Kristya (too much dead weight). Since Agents see less play, this can come back at 3.
• Summoner Monk: This card’s effect was why it was put at 1. This card’s cost is why it’s back at 2. But even with XYZ and Ultimate Offering Gadgets, I hardly see people playing this card (let alone twice), because discarding spell cards remains a high cost, especially with Effect Veiler around.
• Level Limit – Area B: Returned to semi-limited previous season. XYZ bypass this card just as easy as Gravity Bind. It is more annoying for non-xyz monsters, though, so I guess that’s the reason why it’s still not unlimited yet. But give it a shot. We’ll see what happens.
• Swords of Revealing Light: People were hardly playing it at 1, its use didn’t increase when returned at 2 and its use is probably not going to increase at 3.
• Primal Seed: Only if BLS-EOTB is forbidden, of course.

So as I pray… unlimited Swords works.

Things that should get hit/return, but probably won’t :

According to me, the following cards should be limited or forbidden. But I don’t think Konami’s going to touch them :

• Premature Burial – limited (with Monster Reborn & Brionac forbidden): In my eyes, Premature Burial is less good than Monster Reborn. It has a (small) cost, is limited to your own graveyard and forces your monster in attack position. Edit: Okay, I had it explained. But if Brionac & MR become forbidden, then this guy can get off the list. Less bouncing back means less abuse.
• Future Fusion – forbidden: The instant win card for chaos dragons, but a key card in other decks that use fusions. Konami’s held back on banning this card. I would be happy if they did, though.
• Limiter Removal – forbidden: The infamous OTK card for Machine decks. If your opponent does not have a Gorz or Battle Fader in his hand, this card means instant OTK. This card is broken as hell, but won’t get touched, as Konami’s trying to sell their Geargia’s.
• Wind-up Carrier Zenmaity to 1: I feel Zenmaity and/or Hunter should be limited in usage, to limit the amount of cards they can discard from the hand. But we have to admit: The only victory Wind-ups have achieved was the Nord-American WCQ, because people forgot to put Veilers and Maxx-C’s in their (side)-decks (*facepalm*). In OCG it’s doing nothing at all. Also, TCG has certain “world premiere cards” like Rabbit & Shark, that Japan is getting in their Extra Pack 5 in September. Konami’s not going to cut their own veins and hit Wind-ups.
• Spore return to 1/3: Plants are dead and synchro monsters have a declined usage. Glow-up Bulb and Trishula were bigger problem cards than Spore. Bring this card back already; I don’t care at what limitation. But seeing Kevin Tewart gave so much effort into explaining why this card and bulb are banned, I don’t think they’re going to return it to us this fast.
• Sangan - forbidden: Rather than Tour Guide, I would like to see this card banned. It’s a generic searcher. It gets nearly everything to your hand (Rescue Rabbit, Wind-up Rat, Inzektor Dragonfly / Hornet, Effect Veiler…). But Konami’s been holding back on this one for ages, so I don’t see why they would hit it this time.
• Number 6: Chronomaly Atlanto, aka OOPArts Atlanthal - limited: What was Konami smoking when creating this card? Yes, I know; they’ve limited its use a little (target 1 numbers card, that numbers has to be sent to the grave together with 1 xyz material, no battle phase, blablabla), so that FTK is very hard to achieve. But still, this card is bad news for the game. Why won’t they hit it? It has a planned release in august in TCG. Would be weird if they hit it now.

Final thoughts

If you’re not playing at an upcoming YCS, or at a World Chamionship Qualifier or the World Championship itself, start selling your inzektors while they’re still worth something and start buying Wind-ups while they’re getting cheaper.
Because unless Abyss Rising has a broken archetype, or Return of the Duelist holds the next broken TCG world premiere card, Wind-ups will (most probably) be the winner of the September 2012 Forbidden & Limited list.
Until next time,
V out.

YCS Sheffield = battle pack YCS

When I returned from Werchter, I noticed a few updates on Yu-Gi-Oh! news.

the tins got their product page (if you didn't get the newsflash, both tins include Wind-up Zenmaines) and the product page of Return of the Duelist appeared.

Another thing that got announced were 2 new European YCS's. YCS Sheffield (weekend of September 8) and YCS Barcelona (weekend of december 1st).

Considering the low amount of YCS's Europe gets when compared to the US, I was quite happy to hear this.

But then I started reading the following :

So the main event of YCS Sheffield is going to be a Battle Pack tournament instead of the usual Advanced Format. Lol, what?

the people I spoke to at my locals could hardly believe what they heard or were simply angry because of this change. this isn't some local Pegasus League tournament or a side-event of a YCS, we're talking about the MAIN EVENT being Battle Pack Sealed.

YCS Toulouse had a little over 400 participants. Wanna bet this one ain't gonna get 200? Because, seriously, who is willing to pay hundreds of euro's for travel & stay to participate in a battle pack tournament?

Konami continues with the reassuring words:

This change does not mean that every YCS from now on will be Sealed Pack – YCS Barcelona will be again played in Advanced Constructed format. However, we do plan to host some of our future YCS events as Sealed Pack

Let's hope not.

V out.

Battle Pack Tournament

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted anything on this blog. I have been busy with a project for work with limited internet access. And meanwhile at home I rediscovered how addictive Civilization V really is (answer: really addictive).

But I have been preparing a few blog posts, so I'll update frequently in the next few days (before I leave to Rock Werchter at least :-P).

Well, let's start with the latest.

Battle Pack

Yesterday, we had a Battle Pack Sealed Tournament at our locals. Quite a few people showed up. There were 32 people present, which was more than usual for a Pegasus league tournament. But I guess the popularity of Battle Pack sparked the interest of many people.

We got 8 packs each (and 2 for price support, lol) and had to make a deck of minimum 20 cards.

The content of my packs:

• no “money” cards. No Tour Guide, Lance, Chalice, Tirus, Adreus,… But I did get a Solemn Judgment and a Gorz (which saved my ass a few times).
• 3 XYZ monsters: Leviathan Dragon, Utopia & Gem-Knight Pearl. Pearl and Utopia were used.
• Beat sticks, but no noteworthy effects: I put in Phantom of Chaos, but somewhere along the duels I noticed that none of my monsters had effects great enough for Phantom to use. But for some reason, I always had him and Creature Swap in my hand at the same time, which ended up being one of my combo’s :-P
• Forbidden cards: Raigeki (amazing card) and Premature Burial. Burial, combined with Autonomous Action Unit, allowed me to revive a few monsters.
• Draw power: 1 Reckless Greed, that’s it. My friend opening his packs in front of me had Pot of Greed, Pot of Duality and Graceful Charity (lol, what?)
• Fun card of the day: Bait Doll. Yeah, I did hit a spell from time to time, but I also hit a Solemn Judgment (on turn 2, lol) and a CED(which forced the opponents monster back to the hand), which was hilarious. I might end up using this card again in real-life, just because it’s funny.
• Card of the day: surprisingly: Spell Shield Type-8. Whether it’s fending of a Forbidden Lance/Chalice or a more dangerous Snatch Steal or Change of Heart, this guy jammed it. In this way of playing, my Spell Shield ended up being better than the Magic drain my opponents used (most of the times I had one or more spell card(s) in my hand).

The duels

Round 1: Versus guy that returned to the game after 7 years or so:

Beat him with some trouble (2-0). My beat sticks were strong, but hardly had effects, which I noticed is a downside. He was pleased with the learning experience from the match and I gave him some hints afterwards (he didn’t use cards like Book of Moon or Raiza the Storm Monarch). Thanks to the hints, he won the next three rounds, which was better than he ever expected (he was grateful for the help).

Round 2: Drago

First game, I ended up with 8 of my 10 support cards in the first 10 cards I got from my deck. I ended up losing because I couldn’t keep any monster on the field. Not to mention, he MST’d my Solemn Judgment in both games. Second round was closer, but I still ended up losing. (0-2)

Round 3: Rueben

This player was good. But in both Games I won with a close victory. (2-0)

Round 4: Julie

It was probably due to her crazy boyfriend next to her acting all weird, but she couldn’t focus on the game. She made several mistakes. I easily won 2-0.

Round 5: Guy whose name I forgot

This was the most exciting one and most memorable one. I might submit this to Konami’s come-back stories for Battle Pack.

First game, I won. Second game, he won (due to an early Solemn Judgment I used).

In round 3, his latest attack dropped my life points from 1900 to 400, while he had well over 5000 left. Next turn, I was able to use Raigeki to clear his field, even though I didn’t have any monsters. I set a Power frame and passed. His next turn, I used Solemn Judgment to stop his normal summon (down to 200). I pulled Reckless Greed and set it, hoping my opponent wouldn’t draw a monster. My opponent’s next draw was Treeborn frog (he cursed, I was happy). He summoned it and attacked, reducing my life points to 100). Next, I top decked Blast with Chain (fail), but Reckless Greed saved my life, as the two extra cards gave me Exarion Universe and Gene-Warped Warwolf (yes). I summoned Warwolf and crushed his frog.

Due to 1 set spell or trap, he couldn’t revive the Frog. He tried to finish me off by attacking Warwolf with Zombyra the Dark, but I used Blast with Chain on Warwolf, keeping it (and me) alive. When I attacked him directly, he used Metal Reflect Slime to defend himself. Next turn, he passed. Since I couldn’t draw and my warwolf couldn’t defeat his Slime, I passed as well. Then he got another monster and set 1 card. Next turn I summoned Exarion Universe and attacked his monster, which he defended with Power Frame. When he tried finishing me off by attacking my Exarion Universe I ended up defending my monster with exactly same trap (Power Frame). Realising I had two monsters of 2500 attack, he summoned another level 4 monster and XYZ summoned Utopia to defend himself (Utopia & the Slime).

I had my two monsters with 2500 attack and with the effect of Reckless Greed gone; I draw Exiled Force and summoned it. My opponent saw Exiled Force and panicked. I attacked Utopia twice with my 2500 beaters to bait Utopia’s negation (due to him panicking, he forgot he could allow a suicide). With no XYZ materials left, I targeted Utopia with Exiled Force, which resulted in his automatic destruction. In main phase 2, I tributed Force to destroy his Slime, together with his confidence to win. I had my two monsters with 2500 attack and he had an empty field with something over 3000 life points left. As his next top deck was a Forbidden lance with no monster to support it, he conceded. I had 100 life points and 4 cards in my deck left, but I won anyway.

Price support

With 4 wins, I ended up getting 5th place. We didn’t get those special Battle Pack cards (have they even been distributed in Europe?). But next to the 2 Battle Packs everyone got as price support, 5th to 3rd place got an extra Turbo pack booster (ooh, the new one), 2nd place got a playmat (lol, the Crow one) and 1st place got a Premium Pack tin (nice).

The Turbo Pack didn’t have much (elephant statue of disaster, Gemini Imps & preparing to intercept), but one of the price Turbo packs got me a starfoil Fabled Raven and a Rare Tour Guide from the Underworld. Win!

Next to that, due to the high amount of attendees, I was able to get some good trades. So the day ended really well.

The battle pack tournament was surprisingly fun.

Soon more posts... I promise.

V out.

Forgotten secondary effects

A while ago, I stole an opponent’s Ally of Justice Decisive armor through Tragoedia’s effect, by discarding Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. My opponent looked at me with a surprised look. He looked at Tragoedia's card’s text and slapped himself on the forehead, because he “forgot Tragoedia had that effect”. If there would’ve been a rank 10 xyz out, I would’ve showed him what happens when you forget things like that.

And that’s what I wanted to talk about in this post. There are a lot of monsters out there that people use frequently, but they tend to forget certain parts of their effect.

Tragoedia

Tragoedia is the first of these monsters. Special summoning itself when receiving damage, gaining attack equal to the amount of cards in your hand x600, stealing opponent’s monsters & changing its own level are all part of his effect. It wouldn’t be the first time I see a seemingly dead Tragoedia laying around on the field, because people forgot they could use his last effect to perform an easy XYZ summon.

Elemental HERO Stratos

People use Stratos as a recruiter to get Elemental HERO Neos Alius, Bubbleman or god knows what else to their hand. It has happened to me that an opponent special summons Stratos (while he controls another E-Hero) and decides not to use his effect, because "all HERO monsters were already removed from the deck". Good for me he forgot about Stratos’ other effect or that Mirror Force on my side of the field wouldn’t have survived.

Thus again, the habit of using Stratos’ first effect so many times pushed my opponent to forget there was a secondary effect.

Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer

When somebody pointed out at me that Kycoo was a great tech to fight against Chaos Dragons, I looked kind of surprised. I mean, sure he can banish 2 monsters when he inflicts battle damage. But how could an 1800 attack monster stop an army of boss monsters that are so easily summoned? He then suggested I should take a look at the WHOLE card effect.

Yes, I was guilty of the same force-of-habit. I’ve used Kycoo so many times for his first effect that I forgot his secondary (continuous) effect, where the opponent cannot banish monsters.

Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness

Gorz is perhaps the king of all monster cards in this category. Everyone knows his most prominent effect. While you control no cards, when your opponent attacks you, you can special summon him and summon the infamous Gorz Token (Kaien), whose attack equals the damage you just took.

Then what do people forget about him?

• Kaien (the token) is not a DARK fiend (like Gorz), but a LIGHT Fairy. This means you can use Honest’s effect on it! People tend to forget about this, because a token card doesn’t show attributes or types, and the only visible card is Gorz himself, who’s is almost literally screaming that he’s dark! It’s not the first time an opponent called a judge because I used Honest to boost Kaien’s attack, but it’s a perfectly legal move.
• This card can be tribute summoned! Sounds logical, but people forget this. People have a tendency to not use Gorz and wait until their opponent can attacks them directly. The most stupid thing I’ve seen is people wasting tributes on Stardust Dragon, Utopia or Leviathan Dragon to aim for a suicide attack, when they might as well tribute summon a stronger monster!
• The most forgotten effect… Gorz can be special summoned when you take effect damage! No, you don’t get your token in this case, but your opponent takes the same amount of damage as you. And considering Chain burn has increased in popularity, this is an effect to remember.

So I went and bought a box of Battle Pack...

So I heard the plea of Tewart, saying you should buy battle pack, together with your friends. So I did… I went to the shop with two of my teammates and we each bought a box (lol).

I opened it when I got home and boy; it sure surprised me what was in there.

• TWO Tour guides from the underworld (I couldn’t believe it when I pulled that second one. I thought I was losing my mind for a second).
• Tiras, keeper of genesis (starfoil – those extra stars look good on him)
• Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon
• forbidden Chalice & Forbidden Lance
• Pot of Duality & Solemn Judgment
• Heavy Storm & Magic Cylinder (both starfoil)
• Jinzo & Breaker the Magical Warrior starfoil (breaker looks awesome in starfoil, Jinzo not that much)
• Blackwing – zephyros the Elite & Phantom of Chaos (both starfoil, it looks cool on them)
• Snowman eater Starfoil (the stars look like it’s hailing next to the falling snow, cool).
• Fabled Raven, Psi-Blocker & Hardened Armed Dragon
• 2x Gem-Knight Pearl, 2x Gachi Gachi, 2x Leviathan Dragon, 2x Utopia (1 starfoil), and an army of Zenmaister and Grenosaurus (ugh).
• Lots of other good cards (Caius, raiza, Machina Fortress, Divine Wrath, Ryko, Makyura the Destructor, the tricky, Beast King Barbaros, Reckless greed, Morphing jar, Battle Fader…)

A few thoughts:

• This box was amazing, when I compared it to those of my mates. One of them got 0 tour guides, and 1 tiras; the other one got 1 starfoil tour guide & 0 tiras/adreus.
• I bought the last box the shopkeeper had, so: yes, there IS a rush on the product. Don’t wait too long when it comes out in the US next Tuesday, or you won’t have any left.
• Water attribute cards look amazing with starfoil, as it seems as it’s snowing/hailing on them. Certain other cards look amazing in starfoil as well (breaker, Heavy Storm, Zephyros).
• Starfoil does not look good on certain dark old cards like Black Witch of the Forest and Jinzo.
• Due to the strange (but cool) effect, it’s hard to get the full effect of starfoil prints on picture / camera.
• The new rare lettering is hard to notice on XYZ monsters (white instead of white) and effect monsters (black vs black). You can feel the lettering, though.
• The starfoil card can literally be anything from the set. It could be a Tiras (amazing), or a Shadow Spell (lol, what?), so don’t be too down if your first pack has a bad card in starfoil.
• The chance of getting a starfoil variant of another card that’s in the box is also higher than expected. I got both variants of Jinzo, Utopia, Shadow Spell, Witch/forest, backup warrior (fail), blizzard dragon and Liberty at last.
• I noticed the pack distribution was as follows: good pack – bad pack – good pack – bad pack. This might’ve been just my box, but it’s something to keep in mind if you buy single boosters.
• I did not get Fiendish Chain, Harpie’s Feather Duster or King tiger Wanghu (awh). But I guess I can’t complain, considering what I did get. Due to the amazing cards I got, I was a little hyper last evening (those that called me might have noticed).

Should YOU get Battle Pack: Epic Dawn?

Let’s put it this way: If you lack a lot of cards in this set, or if you’re new in this game, the answer is: “HELL YEAH”! The amount of competitive cards you can get from this set is worth its price tag. The prices of a booster box of Battle Pack is lower than a booster box from the latest set and the chance of pulling good cards are higher in Battle Pack than f.e. Extreme Victory.

On the other hand, if you’re a card seller, or if you already have a play set of all the cards (safe Gem-Knight Pearl & Backup warrior) from this set, the answer is: maybe not. If the only reason you got this, was Pearl & Backup warrior, then I can assure you, they’re not that hard to get from the set. Not to mention: Pearl is gonna get two other prints soon (Duel terminal 6b & Hidden Arsenal 6) and Backup warrior is not a great card.

V at Regionals

Yesterday, there was WCQ Regional at my locals. I went there, but there was an underwhelming amount of twenty-something attendees. That’s a low amount for a qualifier. Could it be a backlash from the unusual high amount of attendees at nationals last week? Who knows?

As the judges waited a bit longer for more people to show up, I walked around, looking at the Qualifier mats that was price support. I was drooling over what I saw. It wasn’t the Grapha mat from last Regionals, it wasn’t the Heliopolis mat from nationals… It was the Ninja mat I wanted! That encouraged me to get into that top-8.

We waited for quite a bit, but finally end up giving in our deck lists and going into the first round.

Round 1: Vs Albert (Ninja Dragons)

It’s fated. At nearly every tournament we both attend, I’m going up against this guy. I like this guy, because he builds different decks nearly all the time. Some of them are good, others are bad. Some are original and fun to play against. Most of the times I win, but there have been several occasions where he surprised me and beat the living crap out of me. This time, he brought Ninja Dragons (cool).

• Game 1: I get Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon on the field, together with two Lightpulsar Dragons. I overlay both dragons for Photon Strike Bounzer, surprising him for already having the card (lol). He couldn’t do a damn thing anymore. He drew a Hanzo, but as my Bounzer would only negate it, he lost automatically.
• Game 2: He gets two Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragons on the field, together with Lightpulsar Dragon. He counts 8100 damage and comes to the conclusion he just OTK’d me (wow).
• Game 3: For the first time in our duel, he can get his ninja stuff going. I can play around the first Super-Transformation, but get hit by the second. But a topdecked Dark Hole & Victoria turn the duel around. I win.
• Result: OXO

Round 2: Vs. Kim, the national Champ (Inzektors) – Feature match!

From the moment I saw the matchup, I thought: “Cool, versus the champ and his Dino Rabbits”. It would be the first time playing against a Dino Rabbit deck in an actual tournament. We sit down at the Ninja mats (cool), in front of the camera; which I accidentally knock away (woops). The moment I talk to Kim about me facing the national champ and his Dino Rabbits, he says he brought another deck to this tournament. Boy, was I in for a surprise…

• Game 1: I quickly notice I ain’t facing Dino Rabbits when Dragonfly and co. hit the field. As usual, I lose the first game to “the ultimate self-touch deck”.
• Game: 2: It starts off well when I use Chain Disappearance on his Tour Guide (lol). Then I try using Veiler in a chain when he activated Safe Zone. He explains I couldn’t do that because Safe Zone prevented his Dragonfly from being Veilered. At that point I wanted to beat up that teammate of mine (the one that topped nationals). Two days before, he explained that it worked the opposite way, even against my arguments. Due to believing him (he didn’t realize he was wrong, until I put the facts in his face), I lost that game, when I should’ve won! (CURSES!)
• Result: XX

Round 3: Vs. Karel (Darkworld)

I face this guy from time to time. Nice guy, but a bit of a dork. I try to be nice to him, as he seems a tormented soul with a heavy past. But sometimes even I can’t help myself boasting a little when laughing together with my friends. I’m going to remember apologizing to him next time; I may have been a little harsh on the poor guy.

• Game 1: He can’t get his Darkworld cards in his hand (He normal summoned Snoww) and loses fast.
• Game 2: He suddenly gets Chaos Hunter on the field (my arch-nemesis), but he didn’t saw Honest supporting my Light Dragons, so I beat him.

the second game onward, my memory’s a little vague. So I’m not sure if I won 2-0, or 2-1.

Round 4: Vs Stijn (Inzektors)

I got in front of a fellow Chaos Dragons player, only to find out he switched over to Inzektors as well. Why is everybody changing to inzektors, for crying out loud? Oh, well.

• Game 1: I lose the dice roll, he gets his inzektor stuff going, I lose (familiar scenario).
• Game 2: I get Future fusion, get Chaos Monsters, I banish his key cards. I win.
• Game 3: I misjudge a face-down Solemn warning, when It actually was a Torrential Tribute. I wanted to keep my REDMD alive, so before I used REDMD’s effect, I Tried triggering the Warning by summoning Lyla, only facing Torrential Tribute and missing the chance of getting Lightpulsar’s loop. This misjudgment costs me this round. Aaaaaah…
• Result: XOX

Round 5: Vs Unknown (the bugz!)

I faced one of the few French guys that bothered coming to our area for the qualifier. Apparently he’s the buddy of Sebastien Gonzales, one of Belgium’s best players. So, I’m prepared for anything.

• Game 1: I have a bad opening hand and can’t protect myself against them swarming bugz (not again...)
• Game 2: Somehow I get Eclipse Wyvern in the grave, but my field remains empty. He plays Dimensional Fissure on me (gee, I didn’t see that one coming) and attacks me with Spirit Reaper (Okay, he got me there!). Next turn I surprise him with Return from the different Dimension, bringing back my two banished Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragons, using their effect to bring more boss monsters and overwhelm his attack-positioned reaper.
• Game 3: This exciting match goes back and forth. My deck shows its anti-inzektor potential, by banishing his hornet at least two times, veilering his Centipedes before they do a lot of damage & using Chain Disappearance on his Dragonflies. He counters my boss monsters with various traps. We go into time, but in the end he has to give in. For once I had the right cards at the right moment, making the right decisions.
• Result: XOO (Yes!)

Since there were less than thirty players, there were only 5 rounds, so that was it. Together with Maarten, another familiar face at locals (another one of those guys I face nearly every tournament), we joke about getting into top-8. We both realize it’s impossible with 2 losses. We both wanted that Ninja mat, as we're both Ninja fans.

Final standings are given and I end up being 8th place, to my own surprise. They seriously had to film my face when they announced me being in top-8, I was overjoyed, as I won that Ninja mat I wanted so badly! Maarten, on the other hand, was not that happy. He got 9th place, missing out on that mat. I could read the disappointment from his face. The organizer handed out the notes for qualification for the European Chamionship (in Italy). He handed one over to me, to my surprise. I thought only 1 person for each 6 players got qualified? Well, we’ll see whether or not I’ll get an official invite in my mailbox, or not. It’s not like I can go to Italy either way (lol).

Thoughts in general:

People are switching over to inzektors more and more. It’s a sad thing and I’ll be glad when September comes and puts an end to that self-touch deck.

The organizer held back on price support. I find it hard to believe that the winner gets the same price as the 8th place (me). It’s not really fair for a guy that won all rounds to get the same price as the guy that he beat in the second round.

Keep your eyes on Inzektor Players! If it isn’t re-using used monster effects, or getting to many cards in their hand, it’s misunderstanding their own cards. Safe Zone appears to be the latest tech card in the deck, but many players use it wrong! Remember the following:

1. Veiler that Dragonfly or Centipede BEFORE your opponent activates Safe Zone
2. you CANNOT attack directly with a monster equipped with Safe Zone!
3. You CANNOT prevent the destruction of a DEFENSE-position Dragonfly by activating Safe Zone.
4. When Safe Zone is removed from the field, that Dragonfly you tried to protect is destroyed & vice versa.