To the guy I took a foul win from:

I am terribly sorry for that, it’s a very very bad experience, I know, I’ve faced this too. But I assure you, I wasn’t planning to rule shark you to begin with. Me, Mike, Andrew, Kyde and  Sharmir all thought that Aset could be set and played like this for months, till 10 minutes before the match, when head judge ruled it impossible. At that moment, I was top decking with my life at 300, Pot of Duality got me Convocation, I was more panic than calm, you should know that. I wasn’t thinking straight and played based on instinct rather than thinking. Naturally I set Aset Dragon, being the play I have always done.

                It was not until my opponent brought up the ruling announcement moments ago where I remembered it. I started defending myself because I don’t want to lose the match because of some ruling that was so drastically different from what I’m used to. I know anymore would sound like excuses, but I am truly sorry for that, and I did quote that game as the most shameful game I’ve ever played in my last post. I’ll take blame for everything regarding that move; BUT if my opponent is accusing me cheater for something else, such as when I trick him into playing Maxx C at the wrong timing, I would not take blame for that. Because tricking your opponent into the wrong move via dialogue is the unspoken rule of trading card game.(ie, declare to him I’m playing Tfenut’s effect to special a Dragon in a provocative manner to make him not drop the Maxx C just yet, and capitalize on his lack of ruling knowledge on Maxx C when he drop it after I summon)

                I’m not sure whether this is a case of rule sharking or not, but whatever it is, I take the blame. I’ve heard news from my friends; it is highly likely he is thinking I was favored because I am friends with judge Cookie. Cookie//Joshua is a good judge, while he can be an ass at times; his judgment is usually unbiased when it comes to things like this(like how he looked through half a dozen of sites just to confirm the ruling of LightPulsar VS ExaBeetle, wanting to confirm his call before actually calling it). There is a standard procedure of doing stuffs and previous examples of similar cases were ruled in the same way as this, committer gets foul 1, and game goes on. Please do not hurt our good judge’s reputation. And because of this rule, I continued with my defense because I know this was how the judges do things.

Also, thanks Alex Yeo and Jason for backing me up at that moment, I really appreciated it guys. Especially since we never really talk to each other outside of the dueling table, in Jason’s case, we even had an argument over a ruling the last time we talked.

If anyone of you are friends with my opponent that match, please help me direct him to this, as I have no idea who he is and how can I contact him. Please treat this as a sincere apology on my part.

Re:Chaos Dragons - the dark horse of WCQ

Called It!! Remember weeks ago I posted a blog post stating this deck would make an impact on WCQ, I was expecting it to top, winning the event was beyond of my expectations. I revericed so many comments stating that TCG and OCG are different, and all I was saying are mere predictions based on a format that does not exist. And Dato Tan became my reference.

Remember when I said I would do well if my meta analysis was right, it was right. Problem was my opponent was Alex. I knew Machina Gadget is gonna be strong this format, hence I mained CyDra, but Alex proves a force too strong for a single CyDra in main, 3 Virus in side to handle. Partially because I was trying to bait him into a bad play and win from there. After the match, it hit me "this is Alex ... what are the odds of him making a bad play ..."

WCQ report

A day before the event I play tested with multiple Hieratic builds and just found nothing really suits me. Came back to my original build with CyDra instead of PWWB as tech, but the deck just doesn't move smoothly.

Before my game, judge announce that Aset Dragon could not be set, I didn't know this as I assume it being the same thing as Sirocco and such. After brief discussion, it was concluded that the move was not possible.

Top32: VS Inzektor

Duel 1: He set a monster and a S/T. I set Safe Zone and farm with CCD. He flip Damsel, equip Gruf, I play Veiler on it, he then swings for 1000. I play MST and drop an OTK on him.

Duel 2: I was leading him by a lot, having Macro face up, Safe Zone face down. He has Gruf equipped with Hornet, 3 S/T. I special summon CyDra, holding Aset, I wanted to go into Tyrus, but I don't want to risk Warning. I attack with CyDra, he chain 2 Lances to make me drop 1600 attack point, however, this was not possible because the 2nd lance would negate the first 1, making me only dropping 800 and would kill his Inzektor, sadly I wasn't quick to realize that, and went downfall from there.

Duel 3: I didn't open good and the duel drag on to the point that I'm at 1800 and him at 1000. I Torrential his Zenmain and Damsel, he attacks me with Zenmaines, in the end turn, he forgot to pop my set card, maybe luck is on my side? I play my facedown Duality and get Convocation, grab Aset and set both that and Storm. Ending. My opponent was about to draw for his turn, but realize that my move was illegal, he ask me to replay that, my point was I didn't realize that and he already acknowledge it. Jason and Alex both backed me up and Cookie(the judge) came in and stated to him that he has correct my mistake when I commit it, giving me a foul 1 in process, duel goes on. His Zenmaines can easily walk over Aset, but his chose to put it in defense and set 2. I flip Storm and set Torrential. He summons Damsel and I clear the board, now I have nothing and he has a Veiler(POD) only. I drew for turn REDMD, my balls shrunk and I cursed my luck, passing hopping he drew nothing. He set his monster and a S/T. I drew Aset next, knowing I won't have another chance of wining, I make REDMD and summon Gaia, attacked ... and game.

After the match, I wanted to apologize to my opponent for making an illegal move but he was obviously not in the mood to be entertained, so I kept it to myself. This was easily my most shameful win in my 10 years of playing, I do realize this. I only won this game because I was friends with a lot of big names there and no one knew who my opponent was. Conspiracy much.

Top16: VS Machina Gadget - Alex Yeo

I'm still in a losing streak against Alex, I played him at least in 6~7 events and always drop when I met him. Oddly enough, maybe my guilt from the previous match was haunting me or something, I just can't imagine myself beating him this time, since he helped me out a lot the last game. Regardless, the game has to go on.

Duel 1: I open good, holding both REDMD and BLS early on. When I got the chance to attack, I summon Aset and Su, Su got Warning'ed, I got Emerald Dragon out, I banish the dragon for REDMD, Alex played Raigeki Break, I flipped Safe Zone, summoning Su from the grave, and attacked for 2200. His turn came, played Storm on me, I chained Book to save my REDMD, he summon a Gadget, Reborn another, make Giganto X, searches for Gearframe, ditching both Gadget for Fortress. Giganto X walk over Su and Fortress attacked a facedown REDMD. I main deck CyDra, so I was hoping I could draw into it, but no, sadly, I pass, wanting to save my BLS for an opening, but died next turn to his rush.

Duel 2: I open the randomest hand ever, Heavy, MST, MST, Dust Tornado, Emerald, Virus. Maybe its because I knew I would lose with a hand like this, I don't feel nervous any longer, and made better plays. He summons Gearframe, gets Fortress, attacks and POD for Raigeki Break, sets 3. I play MST from hand, wanting to chain everything off, but he chain his targeted Compulse on his Gearframe. I summon CCD and drew. He summons his Gearframe again, gets Cannon and attacks. I MST and Dust his back row, he chains Raigeki Break, ditching his Fortress to kill his Gearframe, obviously not wanting me to drop Tfenut, and also telegraphing to me he has no Veiler. I play Reborn on his Fortress and attacked. He summons a Gadget and drop Fortress, both Fortress kills each other, he gadget attacks me and he pass after setting 1. I play storm, drop Tfenut and then tribute for Aset, made Atum, summon REDMD, Aset, special Su, make Focus Force and Gaia, drop Virus for game.

I was surprise how I made a comeback with that opening hand, I honestly thought that I'm gonna 2-0 drop when I pulled that opening hand. I guess over predicting on his part plays a part.

Duel 3: I open Virus, Cydra, MST, Dust, CCD, Torrential, a very good hand in comparison to the last game. But that lead to my downfall as I began to think how am I gonna win instead of playing conservative, the feeling of finally beating Alex after all these years was pulling me away from making good judgment. I started by blind MST his backrow, hit a mindcrush, he lets it go. Summons CCD, set Dust and Torrential, he flipped Mask of Restrict. He summons Gearframe, I played Torrential because I didn't want to see a Giganto X, but in fact, I should have left it because I have Torrential to keep me in game and also CyDra to win if he really did over extended but not kill me, he drops Fortress next and swing for 2500. I Dust his facedown and make Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, swing for 2000 and passed. He Dark Holed me and summon Gadget. I topped a REDMD (before the 3rd game, I was debating whether to keep 3 REDMD or 2 REDMD and a BLS, I went with the former; but I really wished I gone with the latter at this point), not having Catastor in extra, I can't go Virus and Veiler, I passed, he rushed and win next turn.

After the match, we had a bried discussion on how the game should have went, he told me that he was originally gonna play conservatively, but felt he needs to end the game before I pull anything.

Normally I would feel real bad if I scrubbed in top16, but I feel nothing today, I felt a lot worst losing to Sam at ACQ. Maybe because of the guilt from top32. Sung Lee won with Chaos Dragons, which made me and Andrew go LOL, since we debated on whether to play Chaos Dragons earlier yesterday and the day before, but we both know we can't mill as well.

Slight Update

Sorry for not blogging for a week, I was busy rushing all of my assignments so I can have my weekends (last and this coming) free. I have 4 assignments (2 which require prototypes) and a FYP (final year project for those of you who don't know) this semester, its gonna be chaotic. But I manage to get a deal with my lecturers to finish everything in 2 months so I would be free on the weekend for Worlds.

Planning ahead of myself here, I know. But I am feeling pretty confident here as the only big name in the country I have yet to take a win from would be Malaysian God Sam, and I want my revenge match. Anyone else, I say I have a 50/50 chance of winning, and that statistic could be significantly higher if my meta call is right (not revealing yet!), but that works both ways, if I somehow scrubbed this coming weekend, that means my meta call went the other way round. Not to sound arrogant or anything but I need my morale boost!

Side deck choices for the WCQ Malaysia // Nationals format

WCQ Malaysia is next Sunday, to the duelist participating, I wish you the best of luck (of cause, my main goal is to take the title for myself, not gonna lie). Also, it should be a given that you have already decide upon your decklist and strategies as last minute work usually doesn’t go well. You also need enough time for practicing, no matter how good you think you are with your deck, your contenders are some of the best duelist in the whole country , take no short cuts, play test with good players. This weekend would most likely be your last chance to play test, so, unless you have something really important you HAVE to attend to (ie, life…), please make use of this last play test session.

Now, some of the guys out there may still have doubts on the side deck you should be preparing. This isn’t uncommon, as most players here tend to focus too much on their main deck. But you play 2 or you 3 matches with your side, knowing and not knowing how to utilize this usually determines the winner. I’ve repeated the importance of the side deck numerous times before, and I shall do it again now. Please, understand and build a good side deck, IT IS IMPORTANT! And again, don’t take short cuts, play test with the side decks as well, I know many who just prepare a side deck that has the outs to all the decks he/she might face, but face a difficult decision on what to take out for the swap-ins.

Personally, if you run a deck that can play Skill Drain, you should definitely play Skill Drain. Decks that could run Skill Drain include Dark Worlds, T.G (uncommon here though), Hieratics (yes, Hieratics is a deck that could do well under Skill Drain), Chaos Dragons (BUT, the main reason why you wanna play Skill Drain is Inzektors; Chaos Dragons have no problem for Inzektors, so I don’t think you need to run it, but theres always this option) and arguably, Rabbits. Having Skill Drain in the deck lets you play some of the more powerful but non-chainable traps, Mirror Force and Dimension Prison (more so for the latter) comes into mind. Prison is a very powerful card, the main reason it doesn’t see plays is because of Inzektors, but it is very effective against rogue decks like Dark Worlds, Gravekeepers and Chaos Dragons; it also does well against more established decks like Rabbits and Machina. Having Skill Drain also means you can side this in even against decks like Hieratics. Although it’s still not that good against Inzektors, but hey, a card that can do damage to all decks aside of 1 is good side deck material.

Next, you MUST have cards in your side that deals with the graveyard. Be it DD Crow, Macro Cosmos or Transmigration Prophecy. These cards will be of use this format, half the decks in the format needs constant utilization with their graveyard. Cut that off, and you’ve already in the winning side. Inzektors could look into Dimension Fissure once more, and when I say “could”, I meant, put serious consideration into it. Dimension Fissure was a card that Inzektors played when they were introduced into the game, then dropped out of favor for other cards. Now, I think this is a good time to revisit this card. Firstly, this card stops Veiler, an Inzektor’s number 1 annoyance while not affecting your game play at all. Secondly, Dark Worlds backed with Skill Drain can really do a lot of damage to Inzektors, and this card does more damage to them; also, Chaos Dragons, which have a fairly good matchup against Inzektors (which I know the TCG guys reading this would disagree) also dies to this card. While lacking the element of surprise like the ones shown with DD Crow, this card (and Cosmos) back itself up with raw power.

Extra bit of spell and trap removal is encouraged, not necessary depending on your build. The best side deck cards at the moment are majority continuous spells and traps. If your deck dies to one of these, an extra copy or two of Dust Tornado, Night Beam won’t hurt. It will, if you don’t have these and your opponent side in a hate. Personally, I prefer Dust Tornado over Night Beam because of my playstyle, and I trust my ability in reading face downs. I don’t like my opponent flipping the face down Continuous Trap or play Necrovalley when I’m holding Night Beam either. While considerably slower, it suits my play style a lot more than Night Beam, but this choice is player’s preference.

To summarize things, in your side deck, you’ll need (1) Outs to popular decks, (2) Outs to bad match ups, (3) Outs to hates, and if possible, (4) Something effective with the element of surprise. Thanks for reading, this blog post is majorly targeted towards duelist that has troubles with side decking (obviously); feel free to drop a comment regarding interesting side deck choices, especially if that something isn’t controversial, additional choices and information is always good. 

Super Inzektor Hate Hieratics!!

On contrary to the blog post name, I do not hate Inzektor as a deck at all, just saying. Because I see a lot of guys saying stuff like they hate Inzektors and stuff, just to clarify, I'm not one of them. Well, guys who say this usually hates every single topping deck they do not own themselves. And back to topic!

monster (22):

3 Hieratic Dragon of Su
3 Hieratic Dragon of Tfenut
3 Hieratic Dragon of Aset
3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
1 Wattail Dragon
1 Emerald Dragon
3 Card-car D
2 Effect Veiler
2 Tragodia
1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy

spell (13):

3 Pot of Duality
3 Hieratic Seal of Convocation
3 Mystic Space Typhoon
2 Forbidden Chalice
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm

trap (5):

2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
2 Skill Drain
1 Solemn Judgment

Yes, basically I have main decked 2 of each effect hates in monster, spell and trap form. Why not 3 Veiler and 3 Skill Drain, or even lower the hate count? Torrential Tribute missing?

If I can leave Skill Drain up on the field, I pretty much win because Hieratics are still very big even after they've turned vanilla. But, Skill Drain is slow, if I chain it to 1 of their effects, a MST will ruin my negation, people now main all 3 of their MSTs here. Veilers are here to stop those effects when I have no Drain; also stopping those turn 1 plays (especially Cardcar D), but I found the 3rd copy stuck dead most of the time.

As you might have know from the previous post, I love Forbidden Chalice. Here, it serves as a transition between Skill Drain and Veiler. Also, it helps me kill those Morphing Jar #2's. I don't have much more to discuss on Chalice here, refer to my previous post. Simply put, I want to cover as many ground as I can, even it means playing fewer copies of the same card.

Why no Torrential? Simple, the only reason we play Torrential on a Damsel or Centipede is because they will plus off it, now they can't, my monsters will be bigger than their Inzektors.

I've come to like this build quite a bit now, since I can focus my side deck to mirror match, Machina Gadget and Dark Worlds more.

CA Seed Qualifier Report "Are You Thirsty, Bro?"

Helped my mom at her office since 8am in the morning, manage to finish work by noon and rush to CA, luckily it was only a 10 minutes drive from my mom's office. Tourney starts late, because of some unforeseen issues, head count was low, 12. Partially because Card Arena (CA) is basically a Vanguard hangout, not YGO. And many don't even know where this is. I found this place only because Mike knew the way; Rauzes brought him there once.

Because I've already qualify for top32, my only objective was to help either Kyde or Mike out. But one of my closest YGO friend, Fishtank showed up, and now I have no idea who to support. I came into conclusion, help no one, let them settle things off themselves. I use this tournament to test out Chaos Dragons in OCG. While the turn out was small, more than half of the players are constant locals topper, so this would be a great chance to put this deck to work.

Also, I build a side deck 5 minutes before the matches starts, but basically I just import my Hieratics side deck with a little changes. Just before the tourney, it was announce that the format would be single elimination, well, I don't particularly mind since winning this means nothing more than proving my deck, unlike the others who are trying to qualify.

Deck used : Chaos Dragons

Match 1 : VS Dark Worlds

Duel 1 : I open Future Fusion but my hand doesn't really have any plays, so I just summon Lyla and milled, just to get my engine going. He pop my Future Fusion with Grapha and Gates, and attacked over Lyla, setting 1. I summon Pulsar and Lyla, trying to pop his gate, he flipped Skill Drain. I played Dark Hole just to get some damage in with Red-Eyes. He is now at 4200. He then got a whole field of 2 Graphas, a Snow, Gates and Skill Drain out, drop me to the 2000s. I was only holding Lyla and Judgment, Skill Drain was in the way and JD could only crash with a Grapha who would come back the next turn. I drew for my turn, HEAVY STORM!!! Judgment clear the field after storm got Skill Drain (and Gates) and both my monsters did 4700 to my opponent. Luck was with me at this point since I don't main deck MSTs.

Duel 2 : He starts with Gates, set 4 and a monster facedown, obvious Morphing Jar. My whole hand was monsters, I topped deck a Storm, but he had Judgment for it. His advantage from Jar was too big and killed me next turn with Grapha, Goldd and (a reborned) Dark Flare. He showed me he had Card Destruction and another Grapha together with Snow in hand, so it doesn't really matter.

Duel 3 : I start by summoning Lyla and setting MST. He played Dealings, ditching Broww while I ditch Wyvern. He played Gates but I had MST. He sets 1 and passes. I played Lyla's effect, hitting BTH. I proceed to do my stunts and summon a bunch of big monsters in one turn.

OXO

1-0

Match 2 : VS Inzektor - LCW

Duel 1 : I open with Future Fusion but just seem to get the engine started. He controlled the whole board while I watched. I dropped a Trago on him to try do some damage and start my combo, but he had mind control.

Duel 2 : Recharge 3 times in my first turn and filled my grave good. That also nett me 2 Veilers in hand. Beatsticks and Veilers win you games.

Duel 3 : Both players didn't draw good this game. But my opponent misplayed by playing Torrential Tribute when I summon Light Pulsar, killing my Pulsar, Trago and his Centipede. I got REDMD back and brought back Pulsar. I banish Trago and Wyvern for BLS.

XOO

2 - 0

Match 3 : VS Inzektor - Fishtank

Duel 1 : I open with Future Fusion and Veilers. Setting Ryko. He can't get pass this and loss.

Duel 2 : My opponent played Allure and banish Hornet, that means either he has a hand where he can get multiple Hornets, or his Screwed. He summons Card Trooper to mill, suggesting the latter, since I know Fishtank isn't one who mills for no reason playing Inzektor (unlike myself who would mill with Card Trooper just for fun). I couldn't start my combo because I don't have a Dark in Grave, I topped a DD Crow, used it to banish Sangan from his grave and start the combo. Didn't kill him there but he didn't see Hornet for the whole game.

OO

3-0

At this point, the finals would be me and Zack, both of us are already in the top32 for WCQ, but the winner gets a playmat, so we still decides to play for it. Effectively, the 3rd/4th placing is much much more important because 3rd place gets into top 32. I don't know who to support, since it was Fishtank vs Kyde. We didn't start our finals right away since I want to watch their match and Zack was tired. Grats to Kyde for winning; the thing that determine the match was effort I believe, don't get me wrong, Fishtank is a good duelist, but he has to balance his focus on both YGO and Vanguard; while Kyde only plays YGO (with Jspeed bro!).

Finals : VS Hieratics - Zack

This is weird, because normally I would be the one piloting Hieratics. I know I'm in the disadvantage; while Chaos Dragons has better top decks and broken plays, Hieratics are very very much better consistency wise. I know this, I own both these decks and you don't know how many times I've tested these decks against each other.

Duel 1 : I open with an ok hand, but needs minimal set up, I hold 2 Tragos, Pulsar, BLS, REDMD and Wyvern. I set Wyvern and passed. He did Tfenut, Su, REDMD on me, I wasn't really bothered, but he had a tech in the for Enemy Controller to grab my Trago so his Gaia could deal the last 2600 damage on me.

Duel 2 : I open Lyla and milled Reborn, Dark Hole, BLS. Not the best of mills, he summons Drago. I have Jains in hand because I know how much of a bitch Dragos are, but he played control the whole game and never has less than 3 Backrows, can't touch his Drago at all, I finally summoned Jain (I was saving it because it was my only out to Drago, and waiting for Storm, but I need to kill Drago now) he had Enemy Controlled, I milled both my Electric Virus during the end phase, he lol'ed. Effectively kicking me out of the game because those were my only outs left to Drago.

XX

Placing : 2nd place

Conclusion : I'm not playing Chaos Dragons in WCQ, while it is good, it still has the most random hands and mills, and we don't have Tourguide. It can do good against Inzektors, but falls prey to Hieratics; my initial reason for playing the deck was because there won't be much Hieratics around, but now, that is no longer true as the number of Hieratics has officially become META level in Malaysia.

Play tested with Mike and Kyde (and Zack for a lesser degree) till 10:30 pm at night, reach home at 11. Took a shower and went to bed immediately.

What Happened yesterday :

1. Mike Scrubbed!!
2. Mike finalized a very very consistent Inzektor build (don't expect me to review it) after a lengthy session of test play and card to card evaluation.
3. My initial plan to play Chaos Dragons in WCQ is completely crushed, sticking with Hieratics from now on.
4. Vietnamese Curry (which I had for dinner at Asia Cafe) was good, if your in that area, check it out! But this is for those who like spicy stuff, as even I found them spicy.
5. New term unlocked "Are You Thirsty, Bro?" - I don't know what this means as I wasn't paying attention when they first used this term, bu it has something to do with Malaysian-God Sam.