Regionals Report (LA 12/22/12)

[b0b3rt]

Report of regionals at LA Convention Center, Dec 22. Was running HERO Beat, deck list after report. Made Meta-call predicting heavy Rabbit/Atlantean presence.

Round 1 (Macro-Rabbit)

Game 1
I go second and during my draw phase he flips Macro. Thankfully I've drawn into Alius + Spark to get rid of it. Unfortunately I don't draw any answers for Rabbit a turn later and am forced to Judgment it. I manage to poke him with something, then he warnings my Stratos and begins to smash me with Acid Golem. I can't draw for crap.

Game 2
Can't remember how this game goes at all except that I keep massive advantage the whole time and eventually swing for game with double Miracle.

Game 3
I don't draw any monsters early so he pokes me with Sabersaurus. Then he flips a set Kabazauls and I have to Judgment the Laggia, which puts me to 3050. We go into an extended grind game and he finally tops another Rabbit, putting me at 650. I manage to get rid of Laggia somehow (Super-Poly?) and he has to Soul Taker me twice to stay in the game. Eventually I pull it out with an Alius swinging for game.

1-0

Round 2 (Macro-Rabbit)

Game 1
He's forced to Warning early and pokes me with Maestroke. I get rid of it and he has to Soul Taker whatever I've got on the field. I swing with T-King, he crashes with Sabersaurus. Then I drop a Miracle from my original hand and he can't get over Shining.

Game 2
I don't draw any monsters turn 1 and he pokes me with Kabazauls. Topdeck a T-King and swing over. He Soul Takers but has no follow-up. I Warning a Rabbit and continue to swing for minor damage. He has to Warning my Stratos, and then later Judgment a Miracle. I drop a second Miracle for game.

2-0 (Notes: So far my Meta-call seems to be paying off. HEROs are doing their job and smashing Rabbit.)

Round 3 (Gadget Stun, with T-King, Dyna, WU Rabbit, Macro)

Game 1
He starts off with a Gadget and two backrow. Then on my turn he flips Macro. Thankfully I've drawn Heavy to get rid of that threat. I have no idea what I'm playing, but I swing over the Gadget with Alius. He summons WU Rabbit and I become even more baffled. I swing directly, then Warning next turn when he tries to bring out a Rank 3. Game grinds itself out and a Shining gets blown up by a set Dyna. I warning a Gadget summon to put me to 1200, then drop another Miracle when he's at 2800 for game.

Game 2
I side in Skill Drain, Rivalry, and MSTs. Don't draw into any of them, of course, and get massively out-advantaged.

Game 3
Can't remember this game too well but I draw into Skill Drain mid-game when it's still useful and manage to grind out a win.

3-0 (Notes: WU Rabbit shits all over me. Thank god for Skill Drain.)

Round 4 (Agents)

Game 1
Guy I'm playing professes to be surprised at being undefeated Round 4. Given that he seems a little slow, I'm not surprised but try to steer the conversation to safer topics. He starts with Venus and inside, I :headdesk:, even though testing with a friend I beat Agents with and without siding. Traditionally it's been a bad matchup for me but that could just be Bubblebeat. Anyways, I lose game 1 without traps.

Game 2
I start with Stratos and he ditches Herald and Jupiter. Cheered by the fact that he's playing a scrub build, I set 2 and end. He keeps running into my backrow and Shining takes game after a few turns.

Game 3
He can't pull anything off after Jupiter turn 1 and Skill Drain renders Gachi useless later. I poke him to death.

4-0

Round 5 (Atlanteans)

Game 1
I don't draw any monsters my opening hand and when he drops Abyssspike I know I'm screwed. I stall with a set Honest and forcing my own Starlight but scoop so he doesn't get a good idea of what I'm playing.

Game 2
Siding in Soul Drains and Super Poly. I Warning a turn 1 Abyssspike and poke at him with Stratos for a couple turns. When I start poking at him with Alius and he still can't bring anything out he scoops.

Game 3
I Warning early to keep him from gaining momentum. Then I misplay by searching for Alius with Stratos instead of Bubbleman to go into Abyss Dweller. Thankfully he has no follow-up that turn and I manage to pull out a win shortly after.

5-0 (Notes: Neither T-King nor my side put in my work this matchup, unfortunately. Thankfully he drew trash game 3.)

Round 6 (Chain Burn)

Pre-Game: We chat a bit and I discover that it's his first regional. Congratulate him on going x-0, then wonder what on earth he's playing. After this we get deck-checked. It takes forever (like 12 minutes) and he ends up getting a game 1 loss for a few extra cards in his deck box, and I get told to replace a couple of HL cards. One of my friends who's also x-0 runs over and asks to borrow a Leviair because he got deck checked too and had a reversed number of Leviairs and Leviathans. Finally we start our match

Game 1
The fact that I like my opponent doesn't stop me from raging at this matchup. HEROs really have no answer except end-phase MSTs/Sparks, which doesn't often cut it. This game, it doesn't.

Game 2
Turn 1, I end-phase Spark a Secret Barrel and next turn end-phase MST a Chain Strike. I manage to continue the push and get rid of some of his Faders/Scarecrows. We go into time, but have an extension. Still, we soon go into turns. Eventually the game comes to a point where I'm at 2400 and he's at 2100, with three cards set. I attack with Blackship (never regretting the decision not to run Cowbow until now) and he flips Scapegoat. However he says "at the beginning of the Battle Phase" when he activates it, so I go straight into MP2 and send a token using Blackship's effect. There are like 6 judges watching and when we both move to note burn damage he tells me to read Blackship again and I notice that sending a monster to the graveyard is a prerequisite. I end my turn, pissed, but this is his second to last turn and it doesn't like like he'll pull anything off. He ends, I clear some tokens, and he flips Just Desserts. Game.

5-1 (Notes: Obviously I'm annoyed at getting scrubbed by Chain Burn when 5-0. Life goes on.)

Round 7 (Macro-Rabbit)

Game 1
He set a monster and a couple backrow and ends. I don't draw any monsters so I set Mirror Force and Judgment. He summons Sabersaurus and attacks, and I let it go through. MP2, he flips Kabazauls and I just about slap myself. I Judgment the Laggia and he Judgments my Judgment. At this point it's all over.

Game 2
He sits on Zenmaines the entire game and I draw not a single out (except Compulsory, which he Lances). End up getting poked to death.

5-2 (Notes: Still a bit saltly about last round, even more so now that I lost to my best match-up. At this point I'm just going for my invite.)

Round 8 (???)

My opponent doesn't show up, and a moment of hilarity ensues when the Judges ask people without opponents to raise their hands and like a third of the room does. Can't say I'm displeased with a free win at this point. Chain Burn is still undefeated, so I've got a decent tie-breaker.

6-2

Round 9 (Electrum/Gustav OTK)

Pre-game: I see that my opponent is Barrett Keys, and am simultaneously surprised and dismayed. He goes to my locals and I've played him a few times before. I thought for sure he'd have dropped by x-2. Then when he doesn't show up at my table I'm happy. Then, with 20 seconds left, I see him frantically running across the room, searching for table 31. He sits down and we engage in some petty banter, along with a Judge telling me that I could technically have gotten a game loss for not having my deck out on time, but telling Barrett he'd be a dick to push that. Hah.

Game 1
He sets a bunch and I poke at him with T-King for a few turns. Then he plays Fusion Gate and flips Chain Material. Not much good T-King + double Warning does at this point, really.

Game 2
I side in Skill Drain, Rivalry, and MSTs. I run into a Snowman and sigh. Eventually I out-sack him by topping Torrential, Miracle, and Dark Hole all in a row. He complains bitterly about me being a sack. Just like last time I beat him.

Game 3
Game stretches on, with him holding advantage for a while. I become confused when I don't see him pull out Gate or Material, but topdecking two Miracles saves my ass.

7-2 (Notes: Barrett gets super salty about getting sacked. Tells me he outplayed me being siding into HERO Beat, rendering my side useless. I laugh, remembering the Snowman that couldn't go off because of an active Skill Drain. Also he's playing a retarded OTK and managed to go x-3 at a regionals, so he shouldn't be bitching.)

Round 10 (Wind-Ups)

Game 1
He's got nothing for most of the game and beat him down. Finally, with 300 LP left, he drops Shark onto Magician and I Torrential. He scoops it up.

Game 2
I side into Skill Drain, Rivalry, and MSTs. He drops turn 1 Shock Master and calls spells. I didn't draw any, but he Bottomlesses my T-King and calls traps next turn for game.

Game 3
This game ends up being a lot more interesting, but ends with him sacking into Dark Hole, then dropping Magician/Shark. Of course he manages to read my Honest in hand and makes Adreus to pop Alius instead of Acid Golem. GG.

7-3 (Notes: I was at table 22 so am still moderately hopeful for getting top 48. 30 minutes later standings get posted and I'm 45th. Skanked, b****es.)

End notes: Out of the 15 or so friends who were there, only two others ended up getting invites. One was running Agents and went x-2, and another was running Countdown and went x-2-1 - he got 12th at the last Regionals, so he was just going for top 8. Actually pretty much all three of us were just going for top 8 since none of us want to shell out for a ticket to Chicago. But at least I can lord it over a friend who's been playing for 7 years and has never gotten an invite that it only took me 3 tries. Dude ran Sams. Genius. How do I think HEROs performed? Pretty good, overall. Compulsory was amazing and two Hero Blast sucked. Book and Lance were mostly dead, so if I don't try a build with Dyna I'm probably dropping them. Also going to try Thrasher since I got my hands on an Ulti, which is super sexy.

List:

9
[3] Thunder King Rai-oh
[3] Elemental Hero Alius
[1] Elemental Hero Stratos
[1] Elemental Hero Bubbleman
[1] Honest

17
[3] Miracle Fusion
[3] Gemini Spark
[2] Pot of Duality
[2] E - Emergency Call
[1] Reinforcement of the Army
[1] Forbidden Lance
[1] Book of Moon
[1] Dark Hole
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] Monster Reborn
[1] Super Polymerization

14
[2] Torrential Tribute
[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[2] Mirror Force
[2] Compulsory Evacuation Device
[2] Hero Blast
[2] Solemn Warning
[1] Starlight Road
[1] Solemn Judgment

Extra
[2] Shining
[1] Ab0
[1] Nova
[1] Gaia
[1] Tornado
[1] Escuridao
[1] Stardust
[1] Excalibur
[1] Ninja
[1] Utopia
[1] Abyss Dweller
[1] Papilloperative
[1] Maestroke
[1] Blackship

Side
[2] Snowman Eater
[3] MST
[1] Crossout
[1] System Down
[1] Super Poly
[3] Soul Drain
[2] Skill Drain
[2] Rivalry