Today I participated in a local tournament in NY’s Neutral Ground. Surprisingly there wasn’t as many people as usual entering. (Must have been the rain) But nonetheless, I decided to be in the tournament. I usually don’t end up winning tournaments. For those of you who know me you know I refuse to run any Tier 1 deck. And for those who don’t. See last sentence. Why? Two reasons. 1- I’m a non-conformist. 2- $300 bucks for cardboard just doesn’t seem right. I like the challenge and while running a deck more tier 2 or 3 based, the victory is just so much sweeter.

Now on to the tournament. In this tournament, I ran my main deck. Plasma Control. The deck list is:

Monsters

3 Destiny Hero – Plasma
1 Dark Magician of Chaos
2 Grinder Golem
2 Cyber Dragon
1 Jinzo
3 Cyber Valley
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
1 Elemental Hero Wildheart
2 Marauding Captain
1 Snipe Hunter
1 Sangan

Spells

3 Trade In
2 Reinforcement of the Army
2 Machine Duplication
2 Fires of Doomsday
1 Enemy Controller
1 Brain Control
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Monster Reborn
1 Premature Burial
1 Scapegoat
1 Lightning Vortex

Traps

2 Threatening Roar
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Torrential Tribute

Side Deck

1 D.D. Crow
1 Twister
1 My Body As A Shield
1 Dust Tornado
1 Mirror Force
1 Threatening Roar
1 Return From The Different Dimension
2 Pulling The Rug
3 Silva, Warlord of Dark World
3 Puppet Plant

First match-Plasma Control Vs. Dark Gaia OTK

Round One

The first match went by pretty fast. I won the dice roll and opened up Reinforcements to get Stratos and I searched out Plasma. Then set scapegoat and ended my turn. He opened up with reasoning. I then assumed he was running Samurai, so I called 3. And out comes Dmoc. He then retrieved his reasoning and activated it again. Still not convinced I called 3. And he milled his entire deck to the graveyard. He then activated Phoenix Blade and put Dark Calling to the top of his deck, which now was the only card he had remaining in his deck. He attacked my Stratos and ended his turn. At his end phase I activated Scapegoat. I had in my hand Plasma and no other real back up. So I summoned Plasma and set some spells for a bluff then sucked up Dmoc. He activated dark calling and brought out Gaia at 6500. After a good smack with him against my Plasma, he realized he didn’t have enough to OTK me and scooped.

Round 2

He opens up the round strong with reasoning, and I call 8. He drops Phantom of Chaos and summons Grinder Golem to my side of the field. Then mimics Norleras in the Graveyard and blows up everything. Then uses Reborn on Grinder Golem. I call the judge to ask if the move is playable. He looks it up and confirms it. Apparently after a card is successfully special summoned they can be summoned again even though it says they can’t. It’s funny because I used to think that. Guess I was right. Either that or judges are incompetent. (Not all) I draw into nothing and can’t recover.

Round 3

I side deck into another threatening and 2 D.D. Crows. I open up with Stratos search out Plasma. I set Threatening and end. He opens up again with reasoning and I call 4. He drops his Phantom of Chaos to the graveyard. I look though his graveyard and see Norleras. He then activates card destruction and I drop Plasma, Wildheart, Grinder Golem, and Marauding and chain D.D. Crow to remove his Norleras. Only to see him drop another one. I draw into another D.D. Crow, Plasma, Trade In and Premature Burial. He sets and ends. I draw a Grinder Golem and attack with Stratos for 1800. Then I summon GG on the opponents field and I sack Stratos and the tokens and drop Plasma and I suck up GG. He opens his turn up and uses Premature on Phantom of Chaos, then he activates another reasoning and I call 8. He drops his Dmoc, then Reborns him and gets back Dark Calling. He summons Gaia again at 6500. He attacks with Dark Gaia and I activate threatening. He Solemns and smacks me for 3200 and 2800. I immediately activate D.D. crow and remove his Norleras. He ends. I draw a monster reborn and bring back Stratos who I use to search for Plasma, I Trade In Plasma and draw Sangan and Lightning Vortex. I Vortex and summon and smack for game.

Second Match-Plasma Control vs. Dark Armed Dragon

This was my best match and basically I wont be able to describe it in too much detail because of all the combos played.

Round 1

He wins the dice roll and opens up with Strike Ninja and a face down. I Space his face down Torrential Tribute and Brain Control his Strike Ninja. Then sack for Jinzo and attack for 2400. I set Scapegoat and end. This was followed by basically me summoning Plasma for a half lockdown. He scooped around 3rd turn.

Round 2

He opens up with Card Trooper and mills 3 he drops CCV, DAD and another card I don’t care to remember. I was too psyched about the first two. He sets a back row and ends. I start with Reinforcements for Stratos and Plasma and he Torrentials. I set Scapegoat and Threatening and end my turn. He sets a monster and special summons Dark Grepher through Dasher. Then did some other draw stuff. He sets 2 and summons another monster somehow and I can’t remember. He attacks I TR and he ends. I Scapegoat at the end phase and draw. I premature Stratos and search Wildheart then summon Plasma. I normal summon a Cyber Valley and remove a goat to draw two. I suck up that monster I can’t remember and attack his Grepher and face down. I set a BS card and end. He Heavies my back row and somehow destroys my Plasma. I think it was Cyber Dragon but I think I’m wrong. Some cool combos blah blah lost memory. Basically. I lock him and not a damn DAD was big enough to stop me. Take that metagame. I basically come out on top and woop DAD 2-0.

Third Match-Plasma Control Vs. Judgment Dragon

I was up against one of my “friends” in this match and basically this is what happens both rounds. Mill, Mill, Swarm, Mill, Phantom of Chaos, Norleras, Blow up, No card advantage. I get beat 2-0.

Final Match-Plasma Control Vs. Six Samurai

From what I heard the guy I was playing was a stacker. I tend to believe this and I’ll tell you why.

Round 1

I open up with Dustshoot only to see a hand with Shogun some magic card and 3 GRANDMASTERS! I should have 40 card shuffled this guys deck. But I wasn’t worried at all. Six Samurais have never been a problem for my deck. I summon Stratos and set Fires of Doomsday. I end. He summons Grandmaster and Yaichi and smacks Stratos. I FOD at the end phase, summon Marauding and summon Plasma. This is where it goes to hell. A strong start leads to a normal summoned Snipe which he Solemns for half his life points. I suck up Grandmaster and smack Yaichi. Did some crap then ended. Basically something happens I smack a Zanji instead of Grandmaster, he wins off of Space Typhoon and smacked my Plasma. He stack swarms and I can’t recover.

Round 2

I side in 3 Puppet Plant and open up with Reinforcements Stratos and 2 back row. He stack swarms and I block with TR. I use puppet Plant and take his Shogun, Retrieve Stratos from the grave and get Wildheart. I smack and sack and bring out Plasma. He Solemns. Some other crap happens, I block I summon Plasma and and attack. He Mirror Forces, Solemn, he Solemns. I loose 2-0.

Lessons learned.

1. Always attack the monster with the higher attack then your Plasma’s original. It makes Space Typhoon win games.

2. If someone tells you you’re playing a stacker. 40 Card shuffle their deck.

3. My deck CAN compete with DAD and OTK‘s. And that makes me happy. I made mistakes when playing the Samurais, but I wont next time.

4. ALWAYS STOP PHANTOM OF CHAOS.

5. Stratos loves everyone who plays him. WHY DOES HE ALWAYS COME FIRST TURN!? If it’s not him it’s Reinforcements to get him out.

So I came out 2-2 and got nothing. But hell a win over OTK and DAD. Thta's a victory for me. Until next time. Play with all you got. And no stacking. =O