I always prefered practical writings over theoretical ones. This is because even if a deck theoretically should work, in practice is can easily perform otherwise. Some players are great at looking at a decklist on paper and making great changes to it, but I find nothing beats practical playing for testing, and even the greatest theoretical deck builders in the world find practical testing an essential asset.

Sure, it might be great to analyze percentages, play styles and analysis of deck lists, but I find looking at actual games so much helpful. Why did a player do such a move instead of another move in that context? What is the best move in this that scenario? These are the types of questions I ask that help improve my game. Percentage analysis might be great, but in an actual match, instinctively knowing the correct move is faster than running the percentages, and this instinct can only be gotten through hours of play. Play styles are great and important, but an aggressive player will naturally tune his deck into an aggressive version through play testing and a conservativ player will tune his deck into a conservative version similarly.

By practical writings, I do not mean the typical tourney reports where it normally looks something like this (which is entirely fiction):

Round 1: DAD, game 1, I swarmed him quick with Irou, Grandmaster and Shien. Game 2, I got Crushed by recovered with Grandmaster and topped into Zanji for game.

Round 2: Gadget, I just swarmed him twice quickly both games FTW.

These reports don't really offer anything except maybe entertainment if you're really into other people's tournaments. Practical writing for me means that at least some plays are explained thoroughly and a summary of a duel should be at least detailed enough to make out the game state at that point.

That said, theoretical writings are still very useful as all decks start from a theoretical concept. But there's no replacement for practical application. This is why I'll go through my regionals tournament and point out what I did wrong, because the only thing better than learning from your own mistakes is learning from somone else's. Oh, I made plenty of mistakes, resulting in a 2-3 drop record. If you're allergic to bad players, you might want to shy away from this one.

Anyway, I wanted to play Dark Armed Dragon (DAD) because it was available and I was tired of going rogue. My friend suggested I should go zombies with DAD and I was just like "no!", and I would have to run at least 1 copy of Dragon Zombie in my sidedeck because it fits the deck so well. More on that later though. Here's the deck I played:

3 Dark Armed Dragon
2 Dark Nephthys
2 Destiny Hero - Malicious
1 Darklord Zerato
1 Dark Magician of Chaos
1 Destiny Hero - Plasma
1 Jinzo

1 Card Trooper
1 Cyber Valley
1 Dark Grepher
1 D.D. Crow
1 Destiny Hero - Disk Commander
1 Destiny Hero - Fear Monger
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
1 Morphing Jar
1 Phantom of Chaos
1 Sangan
1 Spirit Reaper

3 Destiny Draw
2 Allure of Darkness
1 Brain Control
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Premature Burial
1 Reinforcements of the Army
1 Scapegoat
1 Trade-In

1 Crush Card Virus
1 Escape from the Different Dimension
1 Return from the Different Dimension
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Dustshoot

I built this deck the night before, which is an improvement from last regionals when I built a deck 30 minutes before the tournament.

I didn't hear the judge call player's meeting so I missed it completely. I was still wrriting my deck list during the player's meeting at a far off table. When I saw everyone seated for round 1, I thought that was the player's meeting. So I sat down at my seat then saw everyone with their mats out and pile shuffling their decks. I was like "Why's everyone shuffling? Isn't this just player's meeting?" I asked my opponent then he says it's round 1 and so I rush off to submit my deck list then quickly seated at my table at began the match without a mat, calculator or anything, because those stuff were with my friend who was sitting out this regionals but came for trading and stuff. Lesson #1: listen to the judges' announcements.

Round 1: Necrovalley

He must have thought I was a complete beginner from the situation above, but this match was really easy, although I did misplay something.

Game 1, I won the die roll and went first and just set a monster with face down Heavy Storm. He goes, sighs, then sets 4 spell/traps and plays Necrovalley. On my turn, I had Jinzo in hand, but instead of summoning Jinzo then Heavy Storming, I Heavy Stormed first, which he naturally counters with Dark Bribe. Shoot. I'm pretty sure he had Solemn Judgment though but 4000 LP is a lot. I think the reason I Heavy Stormed first was that I was attracted to the advantage that play would have given me if the Heavy Storm resolved, and the Necrovalley really messed up may cards in my hand so I wanted to get rid of the Necrovalley. Summoning Jinzo would be a better play because Heavy Storm can be stopped by both Dark Bribe and Solemn Judgment whereas Jinzo can only be stopped by Solemn Judgment, so Heavy Storm being negated is twice as probable than Jinzo being negated. Lesson #2: before making a huge play, think about it first, even if just for a few seconds.

Anyway, I then summoned Dark Grepher and just beat him down. He did nothing for a couple of turns except taking damage from my Dark Grepher. He eventually had to stop my attacks with Book of Moon hen Scapegoat. By this time I also had a Fear Monger set. When he was down to 1 Sheep token (why does ScapeGOAT make SHEEP tokens? They're different animals), he finally got a Gravekeeper's Commandment and attacked over my Dark Grepher.

I topped into a DAD. At this point, my hand was Premature Burial, Phantom of Chaos, Monster Reborn, Brain Control, D.D. Crow and 2 DAD. I couldn't get rid of the Necrovalley which made much my cards useless. I summoned DAD, which he negates with Solemn Judgment. He was now at 2300 LP after the negation. At this point he had 1 face down spell/trap remaining. I decided to go for game by flip summoning Fear Monger, summoning D.D. Crow, then playing Brain Control on Commandment to attack for game.

So why did I go for game instead of just ending for the more conservative play? He obviously had a bad hand so I should take advantage of that instead of letting him recover. If his facedown card was a negation of any sort, even though he could negate Brain Control, I would be screwed anyway as I wouldn't be able to take down Necrovalley because of his negation. If I didn't do anything, he could just draw into more negation or just monsters to stabilize in which case Brain Control becomes worse and worse. I would also lose my Fear Monger, which is crucial when 4 cards out of hand were unusable. If his facedown was Torrential Tribute, at worst I would lose my D.D. Crow and Fear Monger and he would lose his Commandment, Sheep token and Torrential Tribute. I get a slight advantage in this, and this he would only save himself with Torrential Tribute if he was confidant that I had Brain Control in my hand. The worst case scenario to go for the win is Mirror Force, since I would lose a lot stuff and I would've been better off to not go for game. But Mirror Force is only 1 card compared to the many cards that if face down meant I should go for game.

Game 2: This game was rather uneventful. We did little for the first two turns, and then I tribute my face down Sangan for Jinzo to search for Snipe Hunter which I sided in. The Jinzo resolves against his 2 face down spell/trap which I was quite surprised to happen. He had 2 facedown monsters and I attacked his face down Sangan, and he searches for Gravekeeper's Spy. He couldn't get rid of Jinzo on this turn and just sets a monster. I summoned Snipe Hunter and chose to destroy the newly set one, which is likely set to handle Jinzo. In particular, it was likely Gravekeeper's Guard to bounce my Jinzo. The die roll goes well and destroys his face down Gravekeeper's Guard.

I chose to not Snipe his facedown mosnter for 2 reasons: I didn't want to discard anything from my hand and I was quite sure I didn't need to snipe it because the biggest problem would be Gravekeeper's Spy, which the face down monster likely is not because he didn't flip it in the initial turns. If it was another Gravekeeper's Guard, he would have flipped it already on his turn. So I just attacked and it was Dark Mimic. He couldn't get rid of Jinzo, but summoned Gravekeeper's Spy and destroyed my Snipe Hunter with help from Book of Moon. I played Brain Control and summoned Stratos to attack for game next turn.

Round 2: Plants

He seemed like a nice 30 year old guy but not a very experienced player. Both of his friends (I assumed they were his friends because they wanted him to win, although the two guys were much younger, around 13-15).

Game 1, I won the die roll and had an OTK hand but since I couldn't attack, I just set a Heavy Storm and ended. The only cards that could have really saved him were Spirit Reaper and Threatening Roar, with the latter unlikely played main deck. On his turn and summons Spirit Reaper. Shoot. Alright, I'm not that screwed because I can still kill him next turn if he doesn't make me discard Monster Reborn. He attacks and discards Monster Reborn. Oh dear. On subsequent turns he proceeds to bring out 2 Gigaplants and drop me to 1700 LP. I was top decking by now (i.e. nothing in hand and on field), because hte OTK hand really fell apart without the Monster Reborn, and a Lightning Vortex hit my field of 3 monsters quite badly. I had Malicious in graveyard and top into Crush Card Virus. I special summoned Malicious and Crush'd his field away, but topdecking Darkord Zerato, Destiny Draw and Dark Magician of Chaos after is just karma I guess, and he beats me down soon after.

Game 2, I sided in a D.D. Crow and The Transmigration Prophecy. Although Gigaplant doesn't target, I'm sure he didn't know that and they could still stop Blazewing Butterfly. I attacked into UFO Turtle with Stratos first turn, and he searched out Lonefire Blossom. He got out Gigaplant after chaining 2 more Lonefire Blossoms. He gemini summoned Gigaplant and I use D.D. Crow in response to his effect. As predicted, he didn't know the ruling and I got away with it. Some call this cheating but I call it an encouragement to know the rulings for your own deck. I top deck into DAD but he Dustshoots it away. I took control of Gigaplant with Brain Control, attacked then tribute it for Jinzo. He was in trouble as he couldn't kill Jinzo. I'm guessing his deck had very little monster removal aside from Lightning Vortex. He just sets a monster, and I top into another DAD next turn for game.

Game 3: He Dustshoots my DAD away first turrn, but he had no monsters other than Blazewing Butterfly for the entire game. I brought him down to low LP with Dark Magician of Chaos, and with The Transmigration Prophecy, Sangan and Crush Card waiting, he couldn't recover, epsecially when I top into DAD. I wonder what he drew because how can so many cards be dead in a plant deck?

Round 3: DAD

I said earlier that I had a 2-3 record, so this is where the losing starts happening. We got deck checked and the judge tells him to get new sleeves after the round. Deck checks are the worst things in the world as they order your cards and it takes a lot of pile shuffling to randomize the deck. As a result, card type tend to aggregate. Game 1, I summoned Stratos then Dustshooted his hand, which would otherwise be an OTK. Instead, he just sets Spirit Reaper and ends. I top decked to Allure of Darkness, which converts my previous hand of useless level 8 darks into a turn 2 OTK.

Game 2, my monsters were all clumped together and I had a hand of a Dark Nephthys, all 4 of my level 4 and below warriors and Reinforcements of the Army. He opens with Stratos into Malicious into Destiny Draw to Allure of Darkness. I start off with Strato into Malicious into end turn. He does something that gives him a few +1's but I live for the turn. I to into Sangan and I'm like ugh.... He gamed me next turn.

Game 3, this is is reverse game 2 as I drew several Destiny Draws but nothing to go along with it. He pretty much repeats his steps in game 2 and I lose. I blame deck checks.

Round 4: Monarchs

He was a local player at the card shop I attend. I don't play him very often though for some odd reason, maybe once or twice in my entire Yugioh playing life.

Game 1, I had an all monster hand. He sets a face down monster and ends. I set Disk Commander and end. He tributes his Treeborn Frog for Raiza and attacks for 2400 damage. I draw and set Disk Commander. He tributes Treeborn Frog for Caius to remove my Disc Commander for 1000 damage, then attacks with both Monarchs for game. That took like, 3 minutes.

Game 2, I sided in 2 Rugs. My opening hand was a Darklord Zerato, Morphing Jar, Pulling the Rug, Pulling the Rug, Stratos and Destiny Draw. I summon Stratos to search for Malicious then play Destiny Draw discarding Malicious. I draw Disc Commander Rug and Morphing Jar. I set one of my Rugs. He sets a spell/trap, then Dustshoots me getting rid of my newly drawn DAD. I attack into Scapegoat and I set Morphing Jar. He thought the facedown was Disc Commander and so left a Pot of Avarice in his hand. On my turn, I flipped the Jar then played some Destiny Draws an Allure of Darkness. I summoned Card Trooper and attacked. On his turn I Dustshoot his hand and returned a Gravekeeper's Spy and left his hand with nothing immediately playable, and noted a Mirror Force. He sets a face down spell/trap. I summon a Fear Monger to attack for damage. He flips Mirror Force.

Misplay of the day... I even wrote down on paper that he had Mirror Force! The misplay was simply due to me nothing taking the time to think before I played. Lesson #3: write notes, then actually consult them when making a play.

With that aside the game evetually went to the point where he had nothing and after I attacked with Spirit Reaper a couple of times and he ended up with 1800 LP. I didn't draw anything to take advantage of this and he tops and sets a Gravekeeper's Spy. I shift Reaper into defense and waited for something to kill the Spy. After checking my graveyard, I had 1 card left to kill his now 3 monster defense, and that was Phantom of Chaos copying Darklord Zerato. Sadly, it was the last card in my deck and when I summoned it he negated with Solemn Judgment. I had Mystical Space Typhoon face down to destroy Solemn Judgment but didn't use it because I misplayed again. Lesson #2: Before making a game breaking play, look at all your cards.

It actually didn't matter since he had 1800 LP and I only had 1300 ATK on the field, but a misplay is a misplay. I didn't have anything threatening in my hand to tempt out a Solemn Judgment to lower him to 900 LP either. So I decked out next turn.

Round 5: DAD

I don't want to write about round 5 because I don't remember it that well so nothing useful will come out of it. If I did write it, it'll be like "Game 1, I swarmed him fast. Game 2 I got owned by D.D. Crow and Game 3 by Kinetic Soldier when I only had Dark Grapher and Phantom of Chaos in hand", which is precisely the useless tourney report I describe in the introduction.

So 2-3 means no prizes and that's a drop. I think I learned a lot though thorugh my misplays, and I hope you do too. The nice thing is my friend who didn't play but traded got a good deal for a Dark Creator. If I were to change the deck, I would add in put in Fires of Doomsday for something for *gasp* Destiny Draw, which will reduce slightly the chances of getting destroyed by a tribute monster hand.

Until next time, ciao.

Tags: Yugioh Regionals Dark Armed Return

Related to: Yu-Gi-Oh!

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