A Report from the City of Roundabouts

A Report from the City of Roundabouts: Yu-Gi-Oh! (and My New Life) in the Nation’s Capital
By Jamie Alexander

I’ll talk briefly about how things are going in general over here, for all of those that are interested (if you are not, feel free to skip ahead). So, my parents and I left first thing on Tuesday morning, about quarter-past five in the morning, to drive to Canberra. Skipping all of the boring bits – driving for hours and hours, with absolutely nothing to do whatsoever – we arrived in a tiny town called Narrandera, which is right next to the Murrumbidgee River. After having the worst night’s sleep I had ever had (seriously, do motels test their pillows? Mine felt like it had a brick inside it), we left again (not so early this time, about eight) to finish the journey to the Big Roundabout.

We arrived at about three in the afternoon. We went to the motel first, put all of our stuff away, and then I went to see my new home. The person I’m living with was still on holidays then (she was getting back the next day), so her father showed me around: it’s a gorgeous little flat, tucked away down the back of a dead-end street behind a lush garden – it feels like a cave – and the suburb is really quiet. Just the way I like it. After that we went out to the local shopping centre, which is about the size of Marion. It has everything there, except a card shop (damn!). To finish the day, we just went back to the motel and lazed around. The pillow was only slightly better.

Depending on your point of view, Canberra is either a beautiful city or a dump. Me? I’m in the former mindset: it’s made up of a series of suburbs joined together by highways, and in between each suburb is nothing but grass, trees and wildlife – you know how Americans think Kangaroos hop down our main roads? They actually do in Canberra!

The next day (that is, Thursday) we took all of my stuff over to my new home to move me in. I met, Tiffany, my new roommate for the first time. She’s amazing: she’s absolutely gorgeous and honestly the nicest person I have ever met. I needed some extra things – a desk, a chair and a bed-side table – so my parents and I went across town to Fyshwick, where all of the home-related things are – a quick digression: what is the number one thing you would least expect to see at a homemaker centre? How about a strip club? How about an adult store? How about three adult stores? Okay, try all of those. That’s right, in amongst all of the furniture and furnishing stores was a strip club and three adult stores. What a great city. Anyway, after we got my new things we went back to the motel for the night because my room wasn’t quite ready yet (why does flat pack never go together properly?).

On Friday, we went back to the flat to finish setting up and moving me in. Yes, everything went together fine this time (yay, Bunnings!). In the afternoon, my parents and I went to the clinic for a meeting: Gary, the owner, who is engaged to Skye, Tiffany’s sister and one of the Directors of the clinic, showed me around and walked me through the contract before I signed it. After that, we had tea and I went back to the flat to spend my first night in my new home. Ah, my own pillow!

The next and final day before the tournament (and the last day before I actually get to the point of this report), was spent lazing around the flat and working on my next essay for the blog. That night however, my parents and I went to Skye and Tiffany’s parent’s house for a barbeque. We chatted for about three hours afterwards.

Okay, Sunday. Tournament day! I had known about this tournament for quite some time now; it was a qualifier for the GoodGames 5K tournament. You see, for the last couple of years, GoodGames, which is a NSW, VIC and ACT wide gaming store chain, holds a series of qualifier tournaments throughout the year. Then, at the end of the year, everybody who qualified competes for a five-thousand dollar prize pool: the first place is fifteen-hundred dollars, second is five-hundred I think, and so on. I had been talking with a guy on Pojo who lives in Canberra, and he said he would be there (his screen-name is Wayfarer, for all of my fellow Pojoers). So, my parents dropped me off at GoodGames, and I went in, not really knowing what to expect.

The store is absolutely gigantic! It has a shopping area, which is mostly full of Warhammer, but there is all of the newest Yu-Gi-Oh! stuff as well; then, there is, inside the store (no need to go to an adjacent store or the food-court), a huge tournament area with about twenty three-person tables. It’s amazing. It’s just a pity it’s on the other side of Canberra to where I live, and they don’t do tournaments every week – it’s about every two or three weeks. So, I went up and registered. The guys who work there are awesome, really welcoming. I had a look in their folder and bought a First Edn. Ryu Senshi for my Traditional Extra Deck for three dollars, then had a walk around to see what other people were doing: a lot of people were playing Warhammer, but there were a few Yu-Gi-Oh! players there, so I watched them. They were a little noobish: one was playing Junk and Debris with Quickdraw, and the other was playing Fish OTK with 7-Coloured Fish. That’s right, 7-Coloured Fish. I know.

Some other people started turning up by then. I traded my spare Dandylions, the Super Rares, for an Absolute Zero and a Hobby League RotA, so I was pretty happy, because people on Pojo will want the Zero. Steve, the guy from Pojo, turned up after about another half-an-hour. He's a pretty cool guy. Steve and I had a good chat and looked through each other’s binders: he has some really nice stuff, but was very impressed with my vast collection of CP and TP holos. Nobody, and I literally mean nobody, has CP and TP holos here. He bought my Thunder King for twenty-five dollars, and then everybody else started turning up. In the end we had about twenty-four people.

Round 1

This was a pathetic match, to be honest. I was playing some kid who was using Amazonesses. It was too easy I don’t even remember how it went. Steve won his match, too,and he was playing Sabers.

Record: 1-0

Round 2

I played a regular next. He was playing Scraps, and I was really surprised by how well they did. He wasn’t bothering to play all of the new rubbish Konami released in the last pack, so it turned out to be quite a challenge. I lost the first game to a dreadful hand: Debris Dragon, MST, BTH, BoM, Cold Wave. I drew Ryko, set it, and then proceeded to mill three more Spell Cards. The next game i opened up much better, let him commit cards to the field (he was a very aggressive player) and then just Black Rose nuked he field for pluses. The third game was easy because he drew rubbish.

Overall, he was pretty good and it was a decent match.

Record: 2-0

Round 3

I’m really annoyed about this round. He was playing Lightsworn (with all commons and Gold Judgments, I might add), and, after beating Hamsa in the finals on Monday, I was fully confident about winning. However, fate intervened and I drew all Monsters in both games. It was disgusting.

Record: 2-1

Round 4

Necessarily annoyed after the round three loss, I went into this game determined to win. So, I sat down and the noob playing the Fish OTK aforementioned sat down in front of me. Somehow he had managed to go 2-1 with 7-Coloured Fish. Yeah, I know. First game I open really well and destroy him. Second game he opens nuts and gets the OTK on the second turn. Third game I open really well again, but continue to mill Spells and Traps off of Ryko (people wonder why I refuse to play it?). He wasn’t good, though, and the deck was even worse than Fish OTK normally is, so I still win.

Record: 3-1

The Top 8 is announced, and I made it. Steve did, too. However, I have to play Eugene again, the guy playing Lightsworn that I lost to in round three. And guess what? I draw rubbish again, and he draws really well. First game, he goes first, activates two Solar Recharges and summons Lumina for a Special Summon, and ends with Necro Gardna and four Lightsworn in the Graveyard with Wulf, Lumina, Garoth and three card in the backrow. Shit. The next game was quite similar. Thus, I bombed out in the first round of Top 8. Steve played against Six Samurais and lost the first round, as well.

The Deck

I decided to play Plant Synchro. I ended up playing the exact same build I won with on Monday, only swapping out the second Pot of Avarice for a Spirit Reaper. However, Plant Synchro is far too slow and far too inconsistent to be any good, I think; I’m going back to playing Ryko-less Quickdraw. I will concede that I forgot to put Giant Trunade in, which seems like a massive oversight on my part (whoops!), but it's still too slow and too prone to dead hands. Oh, well, it’s only Advanced Format.

Monster:

3 Debris Dragon
3 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
2 Lonefire Blossom
2 Dandylion
1 Spirit Reaper
1 Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
1 Sangan
1 Glow-up Bulb
1 Spore
1 Tytannial, Princess of Cammelias
1 Necro Gardna
1 Plaguespreader Zombie
1 Card Trooper

Spell:

3 Book of Moon
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Mind Control
1 Cold Wave
1 One for One
1 Foolish Burial

Trap:

2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Seven tools of the Bandit
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Mind Crush

Okay, so that’s it for my report: I hope everybody enjoyed reading it, but if anybody has questions, don't hesitate to ask. Also, don’t forget to check my blog every month for a new essay, and I’ll most likely be starting a new trade thread on Pojo soon, so make sure out check that out, too. I expect a report of the Traditional Format Win-a-Box, as well, Nick, if it is interesting in any way.

-Jamie

Glad to see your settling in nicely.

I'm curious to see your roommate. Hehe I'd suggest moving in on that.

I'm surprised you mained the Dustcrush combo. I never did like it that much.
and suprise suprise, LS players sack here too

also, the strip club part is making Canberra sound fairly fun, might have to fly over for a visit

I can give you a mini-Breakdown of what happened Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Friday:

I played Tuningware Synchro.
14 people played, i got sacked in last round by Michael (surprise surprise)

Saturday:

Played Six Samurai.
Win a Box meant lots of people, i think there was 25-30 people.
Matt came first with Gravekeeper's (George's Son)
I went 3-2 (horribly draws mixed with over sacky players)

Sunday.

Played Six Samurai once again.
Average turnout, roughly 22 people (i think...)
I came first (how can i go first with Advanced Style Samurais in Traditional... seriously....)
Mark and some of the guys came down. Kinda boring considering there was only 3 other good players there......

If you happen to find any Rare Six Samurai United's, send them too you. We'll call it a Pojo Trade and get free iTrader refs ( considering your living interstate now)
I've also decided to play Six Samurais because they're ridicoulously consistent ( i always open with Gateway + United, or can set up to win with good Sets)

and i can write up a Report for the Trad Win-A-Box, although doubtful it will be really entertaining.

Nice to here your having fun in Canberra :3

Is there a Win a box trad tourney at SCW?

My report on saturday was just sacked by LS and got over ran by gk's somehow, I was playing Machinas so Iunno why I lost to GK's...

As for your deck, I think 19 monsters is way too low for 3 Rykos, I thought there was some rule that applies with milling such as 22 of higher? Something like that, hope you have a nice time in canberra

Yes. 23rd January i believe.

Sounds pretty good over there and hope you have a great time.

Ok, so will you be staying in the CBD in Sydney/Melbourne for nats? if so we definatly need to catch up then.

My report is:

Friday: 3-1, 2nd place, got sacked by Michael in 3rd round (sacked cold wave)

Saturday: 3:2, 6th place, Lost to Matt in round 4 and Michael AGAIN in round five, but i pulled a super debris from my prize so not too bad...

Sunday: 4-1, 3rd place, Lost to tyson's 18 banned card traditional deck while i was playing 3 in my BW

over the weekend i got a lot of trades though so if u ever want to trade just look me up on Pojo (if you don't know already my username is Mikal)

Do they have Traditional tournaments over there?

Nick: I was really surprised by the strip club and adult stores. All of our politicians are supposedly against pornography and related things, but they have them in their own backyard. What's more, they're advertised on the radio every hour. What the hell does Julia Gillard and all the other wankers at Capital Hill think they're going to do if they can't even clean up their own home?

Anyway, sorry to hear about your bad hands. You had bad hands, I had bad mills... I think its this format; it's not a very good one, because all of the decks are too inconsistent, and with inconsistency comes luck and with luck comes a lack of skill. It's not really a good format to be a good player.

Tim: Correct, the ratio of Monsters to Spells and Traps to succssefully utilize the mill mechanic is at 22:18. However, I was only playing 1 Pot of Avarice (I don't like it much because it's a dead draw), so I went with a slimmer line-up. Also, Plant Synchro has so few Monsters that it actually wants to mill, I decided to play more Spell and Trap support instead. As I said, though, I'm going back to playing Ryko-less Quickdraw: Quickdraw is much faster, much more consistent and much more versatile, and I hate Ryko.

You need to think through your moves more, that's why you lost to Matt. He's quite a good player, it doesn't matter what he's using. You need to think through every possible play, along with every possible outcome, before you commit to anything; once you've done that, run through everything again to make sure you haven't missed anything. That's how I play.

Mikel: I'm not sure where I'll be staying for Nats. I know you guys didn't like the motel we stayed at last year, but I had no problem with it. And yes, we will definitely catch up - we'll go out for tea or something.

Boody Michael. That's exactly what I'm talking about: it's too easy to lucksack in this format.

I've just started a new trade thread myself, so check it out.

Lucazard (sorry, not sure who you are): no, they don't have Traditional Format tournaments over here. It's the only problem with Canberra. However, I'll continue to study Traditional Format and update my blog, so make sure you check it out.

There's a big tournament coming up. It's called CANCON, and it's a huge gaming convention set over three days (Saturday, Sunday and Monday - it's a long weekend, I beleive). If I end up going, I'll do another report.

-Jamie

My hand was terrible, 2 gadgets in opening hand is poo!!!

I agree with this format, it has been inconsistent lately and about sacking, does this mean because monster reborn and dark hole came back

Lets also not forget about lightsworns, even though you have 22 or higher monster count it is STILL luck, milling is 100% luck and there's no skill towards it, how about I attack your facedown to finish the game, omg you milled 2 dandylions and a necro gardna, next you sack debris which revives dandy, nuke the field and get 2 tokens LOL! In other words lightsworns milling isn't exactly reliable!

Maybe the deck needs less traps and spells so your can increase those chances to mill monsters then activate your pot of greeds [avarice], avarice is there for pluses that's why you need a higher monster count so then the ryko's will work more consistently.

Isn't there a more consistent way to dump cards to the grave? I think the deck with the most milling/dumping is probably machinas or worms [future fusion].

this format is pretty shit so im gonna pla screw around decks... again...

Tyson and Tim: the reason the milling mechanic doesn't work in Quickdraw and Plant Synchro is that there is so few cards that the deck actually wants to mill - about five in the average build (two Dandylions, one Spore, one Glow-up Bulb and one Plaguespreader Zombie); now, the reason the milling mechanic works in a dedicated Lightsworn build is that it wants to mill all of its monsters, which is approximately twenty-two. Which one has a higher chance of milling the correct monsters? The first one, with a ratio of 5:35, or the second with a ration of 22:18. This is why it baffles me that people still persist to play Ryko in Quickdraw and Plant Synchro.

And as for Pot of Avarice, that card is nowhere near being a good enough reason to use the milling mechanic: it's still far too inconsistent, and for another thing the deck has the chance of milling those Pot of Avarices. If you want to get pluses off PoA, you play Merchant-Pot-Turbo.

Mikal: I'm with you. Good thing I brought my Des Lacoodas with me, although a new idea would be nice. I'm thinking about someting to do with Dark Mimic...

-Jamie

Hey Jamie, hope your settling over there well ! =)
I have to disagree with you on Rykos and Avarice in Quickdraw Plants...
I run 3 Avarice and 3 Ryko with 1 Hamster and 1 charge. In most of my games, it is very rare that more than 6 cards will be milled (usually a Ryko or a Charge will be 1 of those 6) but it is extremely rare for me personally to not mill something that I need in the grave, even if its Tytannial while im sitting on monster reborn. As far as 3 Avarice go, the build i have spams and floats and mills sooo much, that is is RARELY a dead card ! I have even been known to play 3 Avarice in 3 turns, just because of how quick i can fill the grave. So the bottom line for me is 3 Ryko speed up my deck A LOT, and 3 Avarice constantly give me pluses, but like i said mabey its just a luck factor...

Take care Jamie

Jamie_Alexander wrote:
Mikal: I'm with you. Good thing I brought my Des Lacoodas with me, although a new idea would be nice. I'm thinking about someting to do with Dark Mimic...

-Jamie

Dark mimic is soooooooo cool, i would try a gravity bind/level limit area B lock with them...

Damien: i knew you would disagree with me. which is fine; no Yu-Gi-Oh! theory is absolute, just like no scientific theory is absolute. Anyway, thanks for the wishes of good luck, and I give you my own.

Mikel: Stall is boring, I need something cool to play. I'll keep thinking, and, since you guys can't see me play my fun decks anymore, I'll probably post them on the forum.

-Jamie