I'm going to be lazy and cut and paste the report I did on Pojo from the Austin, TX regional I went to a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy!
Well, here's something I never thought I'd be writing...usually whenever there's a regional near me, I'm judging it. The last major event I've gotten to play in was SJC Gencon SoCal last December, so I'm a little rusty.
5:30 AM rolls around (because I'm too cheap to go the night before and get a motel) and Phil (hguy333) comes by my house with his grandparents' sweet truck. We pick up Steven (Arias, no Pojo name) a half hour later, and then grab Jake (I dunno what it is now, he just got unbanned) an hour or so later in BFE. With that, we crank up The Killers and settle in for the long road to Austin. On the way down, Steven pimps out my deck and I make some sidedeck adjustments to deal with Cyber Stein OTK (
Kuribohs and
Wabokus mainly). I wound up playing what I referred to as "Teched Out Chaos", which was not quite cookie cutter. Maining
Wave-Motion Cannon and
Brain Control were Steven's fixes, I threw in
Skilled Dark Magician as anti-
Tsukuyomi/Exarion tech, and I borrowed a
Delinquent Duo and ran it for the first time ever. After getting confused by the directions I printed out online, we got directions from a gas station and made it to Thor's Hammer right on schedule.
I was the big guy wearing the Green Lantern shirt and using the Green Lantern playmat, by the way.
1st Round - Me vs. Oh, you've got to be kidding me...Steven Arias
Yep, out of 117 players, I get paired up with: a) The guy who knows (literally) every card in my deck, b) the guy who beats me on a regular basis at our home store in Lewisville, and c) the guy who Top 4'd at the 2004 Nationals.
Game 1: Me: 8000-6100-4200-2300-800-0
Steven: 8000-6400-3400-2400
I only saw a couple of monsters all game, and was pretty much owned. I got off WMC for 3000 and that was about as much offense as i mustered.
Game 2: Me: 8000-7000-6700-5900-3500-1600-0
Steven: 8000-6600-4200
More of the same...a few turns, then GG. I'd like to claim that I was distracted by the kid next to me who was announcing his plays like he was auditioning for the cartoon ("My
Magic Cylinder is the perfect answer to your dragon's attack!"), but I was just plain beat.
Round 2: Me (0-1) vs Jake Herman
Game 1: Me: 7700-4500
Jake: 7000-5400-4600-2200-0
I ram my Skilled Dark into his Airknight, he
Widespread Ruins my
Sangan, so I grab DD Warrior Lady. Next turn, he Prematures and sacs for
Jinzo and slaps UWS on him for a 3200 direct attack. Next turn, I set my MoF, but he thinks it's DD Lady, so he doesn't attack. I was going to flip her to get back my
Brain Control, but I topdecked
Snatch Steal instead, so i grabbed his
Jinzo, summoned another monster and swung for game.
Game 2: Me: 8000-7000-6700
Jake: 8000-5700-5400-3100-2300
Next game, he starts with
Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei, I Duo his Silent Magician LV 8 out of his hand, then I get out Thousand Eyes and it was pretty quick from there.
Round 3: Me (1-1) vs. Adam Perez (Team Cosmic Comics and Cards)
Game 1: Me: 8000-7000-6000
Adam: 8000-7200-6900-2100-3100-0
I Duo him right from the start, then again the next turn to clear his hand...then attack his
Morphing Jar and give him 5 new ways to kick my heiney. I kept up a good wall of monsters for a while, then Snatched something of his for a big hit. Next turn, BLS comes out and its game over. At this point, I'm thinking 6-1 might be doable.
Game 2: Me: 8000-7200-5600-3700-2100-300-0
Adam: 8000-7300-5800-3900-2300
This game, I was doing okay in the early game, then he came on strong in the middle and finished me off fairly handily. I can't remember what else happened, so pretend it was awesome and let's go to:
Game 3: Me: 8000-7000-5850-3950-2350
Adam: 8000-7700-5800-5700-4100-3100-1600-200-0
Early Duo to start, then some back and forth for a few turns. I can't remember for the life of my what hit me for XX50 points, but I was watching my Top 8 chances fly away at this point. My deck came through for me though, and I won a squeaker that could have gone either way.
Round 4: Me vs. Josh Herren (Team Havoc)
Game 1: Me: 8000-6100-4200-2500-900-0
Josh: 8000-7200-6200
Game 2: Me: 8000-7000-6200-4500-2800-0
Josh: 8000-6300-4400-1400-1200-400
Not much to say here, Game 1 was all him. Game 2 I was closer, especially after firing off WMC for 3000. I get out my BLS, but instead of removing his facedown, I attacked it with Exarion hoping for some easy damage. Next turn, he summons his BLS, but I chain Torrential to keep mine from going out of play, hoping for a Call. He brings his BLS back, I MST the Premature, he Calls it back, and I have nothing to stop it from taking out my last 2800 LP. Wish I'd made some different plays, at least made it to a third game. Good guy to play against though.
At this point, I'm 2-2, but I should have good tiebreakers. The odds of a 5-2 making it are slim, but if I can at least go 2-1 the rest of the day, I can give Steven some help with his tiebreakers, so I decide to keep playing (plus, where was i gonna go?). At this point, I play my personal Trinity: Rocking out to the Pixies, enjoying a refreshing Jones Green Apple Soda, and putting my hair in pigtails...because who wants to lose to a guy in pigtails?
Round 5: Me (2-2) vs. Samuel Huynh
By now, I'm down on table 35, which I prompty declare to be "where all the fun happens".
Game 1: Me: 8000-7000-6000-5100
Samuel: 8000-6300-3000-2000-300-0
Samuel was playing Burn, as I found out when I attacked into a
Des Koala with my Exarion. He played
Ojama Trio on me as well, but I used Tribe to clear them off of my field. A couple turns later, I chain Torrential to his
Stealth Bird and clear his field, then get down to business. WMC goes off for 3000, and after having to take out his Level Limit Area B 3 times, i finally get the win.
Game 2: Me: 8000-7900-6900-
Last Turn
Samuel: 8000-7000-3000-
Last Turn
I side in my standard anti-Burn stuff,
Des Wombat,
Ceasefire, an Extra WMC, and Mystic Swordsman LV 2. He does some siding too, as I find out soon after when he flips up Jowgen and then on my turn plays Wall/
Last Turn/GG one me. I knew the 4000 WMC was too good to be true.
Game 3: Me: 8000-5000
Samuel: 8000-2000-0
Now that I know he's got
Last Turn (which I should have known when he sided before Game 2, but I was sleepy), I toss in a couple of Elephant Statues of Disaster, and shuffle up for Game 3. A early WMC and an Elephant Statue in hand make me feel confident, and I'm able to fire it off for 6000 with two monsters on the field and a fairly full hand. He tributes both my monster for
Lava Golem, but my set
Ring of Destruction goes off in my draw phase for the win. He had
Last Turn set, so the Elephant Statue was a little extra win insurance.
Round 6: Me vs. Roger (didn't get his last name, he found me before I made my way to the pairings)
Game 1: Me: 8000-7700-6400-7400-4400-2400-1600
Roger: 8000-7000-4600-5600-6600-3600-2800-2200-300-0
Can't remember a lot of specifics, but he was a lot of fun to play against. I Snatched his monster, he Snatched it back, we both gain a little LP back before he Heavy'd. Someone rang someone's BLS, and I think my Exarion got in the last shot.
Game 2: Me: 8000-5900-3800-2100-1900-900-500
Roger: 8000-7000-6900-4800-4000-2300-500-0
Roger wanted to take it to a third game, i just wanted to get out of there with a win. I strike first with
Sangan, he plays
Cyber Dragon, then gets rid of my
Sangan for a couple of clear shots at my LP. I Ring it, then we go back and forth for a few turns. Finally, I've got Dust and Duo set, he has 2 cards in hand and a set monster. I attack, hoping for
Morphing Jar, but it's MoF and he gets back Heavy. I don't want to lose my Dust, so I play Duo in MP2 and discard his Heavy (lucksack). He draws, plays Swords and ends. I summon a DD Assailant, he summons
Cyber Dragon next turn and takes me down 400, so we're both at 500 LP and topdecking. I just need a monster, since I can Dust his Swords and he has nothing else set. I draw my card...and it's Wave Motion Cannon! I play it and end my turn. He draws...and it's
Nobleman of Crossout! I draw and launch for the game, he looks at his next card and it's MST! I wouldn't have had a monster for 2 more turns, so thank you WMC for my round 6 win.
Round 7: Me vs. Jason Holloway (Team Outphase)
At this point, before pairing went up, I'm thinking about dropping to make sure that Steven gets a +2 from me, instead of taking the chance of losing, going 4-3, and only giving him a +1. Steven is 5-1, so if he wins, he's in, and if he loses, he'll have a good chance if any 5-2's make it in. I decide to stay in, and then immediately start to regret it when i see that I'm paired against Jason Holloway. Jason is the first player that I played (except Steven) who I recognized from regionals that I've judged, and I know he's good. Then i calm down a little, and tell myself that this is the reason I came down to Austin in the first place, to see how I compare to players who play in regionals all the time. I roll out the Green Lantern mat, silently curse Texas for being so freaking hot, and then shuffle up and start playing.
Game 1: Me: 8000-6200-5100-3300-2500
Jason: 8000-6400-4600-0
First game starts well, I get some early shots in with Breaker. He Snatches my Exarion, slaps me with it, Books it, then slaps me again with it the next turn. I draw BLS and decide to take a chance by overextending myself and hoping he doesn't have anything set to stop me. I
Brain Control my Exarion and Summon BLS and that's game.
Game 2: Me: 8000-7300-5400-6400-3400-2500-1700-300
Jason: 8000-7000-5100-4800-1800-0
Now that I had one game in the bag, I was able to breathe a little easier. Even if I lost in three, getting one game win against Jason would have been a pretty good performance. This game turned into one of the most fun games I've ever played ever in my life. The action was back and forth as each of us would have the advantage, then the other would play defensive and finally regain control of the momentum. He had my Thousand Eyes Locked, but I'd somehow gotten rid of his
Tsukuyomi, so I just stopped playing monsters for a couple turns, trying to get something that would save me. I was able to Premature Tribe and discard to get rid of his TER and Breaker. I got BLS out at one point, but kept him in defense mode and removed his
Spirit Reaper. He had (I think) a defense mode Exarion, and defense mode
Sangan. I decide I need to make a move, so I remove
Sangan, then Morph BLS into
Cyber Twin Dragon, and attack only to get
Mirror Force'd. End of the game, I'm at 300, he's at 1800. I draw WMC and play it. He draws the last card in his deck. I draw the last card in my deck, and realize that I can either launch WMC for the game, or just end my turn since he's out of cards. I launch, offer the handshake, then sit back in my chair and just stare at the board with (i'm sure) a big stupid grin on my face.
As it turned out, 5-2 wasn't enough to get into Top 8, so Steven finished 9th with a +25 Tiebreaker 1. I finished 19th overall, Jake got 29th and Phil got 30th. Steven got 4 packs for his finish and pulled 4 foils, I got 1 pack and got DD
Trap Hole. I, like an idiot, a
Greed to play Steven for cards and lost a Horus LV 6 in about 4 minutes...maybe giving Phil back the Duo and Breaker I borrowed from him was a bad idea. I hung around and talked to folks for a while, then the crew loaded up and after a quick stop to the Asian market next door for Pocky, we hopped in Truckasaurus. No trip to Austin is complete without a trip to the Czech Stop in West for kolaches, so we grabbed some for the trip home, then went home.
Hey, i get to do Props and Slops now!
Props:
The Flying Spaghetti Monster, through whom all things are possible
Phil- For driving, for loaning me cards, and for introducing me to the greatness of The Killers
Steven- For pimping my deck out
Mary- For inspiring the pigtails
Kolaches- For being delicious
Lewis and Steven- For being rocking judges
Everybody I played- For being good people to play against. No disputes, no trash talking, and I never had to call a judge over for a ruling. Everyone shook hands with me afterwards, win or lose
Sheila- For being a cuter TO than Jim
Thor's Hammer- For being full of comic books, even though i didn't have the money to buy them all
The Asian Market- For having cheap Pocky, crazy things in jars, and cute Asian girls working there
Slops:
Texas- for being hot and making everyone sweaty and miserable
Farting judges
My brain- for forgetting actual details of games
Austin- For being very far from Denton, causing me to spend a long time in a truck when I have long legs and a bad back
MANTIS- For pairing me with Steven
M.A.N.T.I.S.- for being a crazy sci-fi show about a guy in a crazy suit, solving crime
Don't know when the next tournament I can get to will be, but I'll definitely be playing in another regional soon...although I do miss the guaranteed payout that comes from judging
