Locals Report: 10/17/10

I entered a tournament at D20 in Alameda, California, and here's how it went. The store is very nice. There are two areas with 4-5 tables for dueling. It's free to enter and everyone is very friendly. I would recommend these Sunday tournaments for casual and competitive players, as there are both kid and adult tournaments.

I entered with a Plant Synchro deck, much like the one that placed 1st at YCS Philadelphia. The decks I saw around the shop included Infernity, X-Sabers, Blackwings, Frog Monarchs, Dark Synchro, and Zombies.

Round 1 vs. Infernity
Early in game 1, I saw a few Dark World monsters getting their effects off with Infernity Inferno, but they didn't cause too many problems. The trouble began when my opponent played Infernity Launcher and abusing Infernity Mirage, Infernity Beetle, and Hundred-Eyes Dragon. There was very little I could do against Mist Wurm, Stardust Dragon, and other Synchro monsters being summoned in one turn.

I had to turn my game around in the next duel, side decking Effect Veiler, and D.D. Crow. I happened to draw them in my opening hand, which helped immensely, and won the next two matches my countering my opponent's moves with Solemn Judgment, and the recently popular, but classic card, Seven Tools of the Bandit. A well timed self-removing Caius the Shadow Monarch and the aforementioned Seven Tools won me game 3

Round 2 vs. Dark Synchro.
The deck seemed like a solid build, but as I know from experience, Dark Synchro decks don't have the "oomph" that current top tier decks have and I 2-0'd for a x-0 record.

Round 3 vs. Blackwings
I kept his first turn Black Whirlwind from gaining him any advantage by using Bottomless Trap Hole and Book of Moon on 2 Sirroco the Dawn. My mistake was setting a second Bottomless Trap Hole instead of Dimensional Prison, which was useless against his Gale the Whirlwind. A miscalculation on my part, a Black Rose Dragon with no follow up, and the fact that his Bora the Spear turns my Fluff Tokens into 1700 damage lost the next game, and I moved to a 2-1 record.

Top
I was given a bye in the next round, and as time was running low, the 4 x-1 players each played one match and the winners split 2nd and 3rd prize. I played against Frog Monarchs. My opponent kept a constant stream of Treeborn Frog and Ronintoadin, but he couldn't keep up with my Caius and Synchro monsters in game 1. Effect Veiler kept his monarchs from doing anything, and Caius made short work of his Light and Darkness Dragon. I got the last pack of The Shining Darkness with my store credit, but didn't pull anything.

This is a very nice store and I'll be playing there every Sunday that I can, either trying different decks or perfecting the Plant Synchro deck to my playstyle.