So this weekend was a special one, my personal favorite of each year, the weekend i get to see my family, my team mates, my best friends, and take to the state of the Chicago Regional qualifiers. I was woefully unprepared for them, due to craziness in life, and I had a shitty vanguard and shitty buddyfight deck, and I just wanted to see friends.
I don't scrubbed out of vanguard, then had a crazy fun night watching everyone i know getting unhealthily drunk, but that is all another story, im gonna skip to the fun part for me, Buddyfight.
Fast forward to sunday morning, we arrive at the venue after coralling our hungover and staggered friends, figuring out where to store the car, and leaving the hotel room. I realize i never did figure out my deck fully, and do some edits, realizing i forgot some commons for a side deck, and jack Tim's side deck pretty much. I make some changes, then start filling out the decklist, making a prediction that would later bite me in the ass "Man, I hope I dont top 8, I care so little filling this out ill get in trouble for sure"
alas, the tournament begins, and I roll with it.
Round 1: Dungeon world (Or was it magic world) - Win
I honestly dont even remember what happened this game, he played pretty bad, and I used this time to get a better feel of my deck. I won 2-0 easily, with second game giving me a win via Mimic With a Prize being my center while he had 1 life.
Round 2: Danger Danger! - Win
This guy was crazy fun, but I knew when he flipped the flag with Cerberus I had it. His deck was basically a trial deck, and Danger has a terrible match up, especially with how I play. We had tons of fun, but in game two (while i was one game ahead) I Dangerous Fused into two Form a Party...which is good game.
Round 3: Dungeon World- Loss
This was when I first met Bryan, he was wearing a kickin hat, and he had a subtle confidence. I knew from the way he held himself, that I was in a lot of trouble. One of my strengths, that led me to victory, is that I can read people well. Bryan I could tell knew what he was doing, but he didnt let it turn to arrogance. We traded off game 1 and 2, and went to game 3, but a few misplays and bad draws led to him whupping my ass. He had more practice, and didnt mess up nearly as much as r1 and r2 players, so I had no chance to capitalize on that. It was a blast, we talked for 5 min after, and I made a great friend there.
I also made an amazing play of swing Drum+ Addrick to his center, while he was at one, activating his glory seeker, then when it succeeded the battle damage happened and ended it
round 4: KATANA WURLD- Win
As round 4 started, I knew i would have fun, it was my BFF Timmy Tim. At the start of Game 1, I honestly was considering scrubbing on purpose, and played badly for that reason. I knew my deck was inherently at an advantage, and I knew tim wanted the win more than me. I decided to gamble on him making a single misplay, based on knowing he likes to punish me. I called Tasuku while he had some Explosion thing that I knew would destroy size 1s, he used it and then realized what he did.
Game 2 I opened nuts, I had brave drum, Meteor rain, gummi slime, pillars, divine protections. So I of course did the smart thing. I charged Brave drum, and the one i drew next turn, I played Meteor to the center, and I stopped myself from being able to defend, then went triple offensive gummy slime. I lost that one badly, due to telling an amazing hand to go to hell, and playing fun.
Game 3: Tim and I cat fighted about rulings and sharking each other, and the judge kinda stared at us, and got annoyed. I eventulaly won with the ultimate formation: Him at 2, call Tetsuya to the left, Gummy to center, Sheila to the right. TRIPLE LINK ATTACK. GUMMY SLIME DOUBLE ATTACK. GUMMY SLIME OVER KILL.
I won, Tim got salty.
Round 5: Dungeon World - win
Here I met the second guy I made great friends with, Colyn. This dude was chill, we had tons of fun,and nuts games. Upon our introductions and small talk pre-game he said something beautiful "So are you 4-0 too?" And I knew I was in top 8 for sure if I won. I got Paired up, a great great feeling. The games where pretty rough, but I took it 2-0, and we laughed, shook hands, and said we would meet again in the finals. He then gave me a super cool sleeve for my flag, and a foil Gummy Slime. Did I mention how awesome of a guy he is?
ROUND SUSPENSE: Will and i were both 4-1, and we waited. and waited. and waited. Sadly will got screwed out by 1 place, and I outdid him solely because I was paired up, making my tie breakers insane (and 2 of hte people i faced were top 8 too) . During this time I get called up twice, now because I am actually half blind I messed up serial numbers, and got in trouble there. They let me off due to the blindness. I also forgot to put in Tetsuya on my decklist, giving me a game loss. My prediction from the start came true. We all laughed, I truly was a dumbass.
TOP 8 BEGIN
Quarter Finals: Seiger World- Win
Now, because of my game loss I went in slightly worried, I did 2-0 most opponents. But no safety net hurt. Then I saw my opponent, wearing a fedora, and truly exemplifying it. I knew already he played Ancient world, and heard him mention it. He then found his flag and life counter were missing, adn started being rude as hell to judges. Cue anger rising. He then refused to use scratch pad for life, because " My life changes so much its too much effort" I responded " so does mine, its not big deal..." and he got pissed as his friend said how much his life changed, and as a judge set flag down " Ugh so much for surprise of what i play. No one knows how to shut up" he groans, and complains. I tell him i didnt see his flag, which is true, but I already knew what he played.
I knew that the match would be mine, if I could win game one. Luckily I open strong, and can tell he doesnt know what he was doing. He asked instantly " Do I draw and charge, or charge then draw? what order do I do my opening hand and gauge, hand first or gauge?" which was all I needed to know. He doesnt open seiger, so I go aggressive instead of my usual baiting-control play style. He plays a random Size 3 out, and I ask what it does, and he snaps at me that it does nothing, getting ruder and ruder. I refuse to lose this one. Due to his deck not giving him seiger, and me going out quick with Tetsuya-Sheila-Dungeon enemy, i win quick.
Now that I can side, I know I have it. My side deck was built for this. I stick in about 7 cards. Game 2 begins. He throws out seiger round 3 i believe, and he gets Arrgogant, I can tell he thinks he has me badly. He continues to clear my field for a few turns, and I wait. I can tell he has the next form in hand, and my chance comes when he pays one gauge for 2 life or something. Putting him to two gauge, when he thinks I cant clear both soul and kill seiger. I then play the Rolling Stone I had saved since turn 2, killing it. He gets pissed. I then declare " I have you at 7 to my 10" for life totals, and he either takes that as "My end" or just is in too big a hurry, and tries to take his turn. This causes a Fiasco, and I could let him get game loss there. But I know what he drew, and I want to make this hurt him worse. we fix the game state, he gets a warning, I continue my turn.
I call out Tets, Sheila, and Doge. I proceed to drop him to nothing, seeing the anger well up in him. Good, the guy was a dick. He acts saltier , i feel better. Tim gets more angry and so does Will, I have an invite.
Semi Finals: Dungeon world rematch!
I sit down and see my next opponent...Colyn. I am ecstatic. We chat, and laugh that we made it this far. Luckily, I had gotten his playstyle down. I knew he prefered a slow paced style, where he controlled field and he had a tendency to play out his Brit Bird turn 1 if no other creatures in hand. This all proved true, so when he dropped blade wing turn 1 I dropped 3 creatures I normally wouldnt, knowing he had no other creatures, and that he had a single protection spell. I was right on my bet, and took out Brit Bird. I kept up an aggressive play, and 2-0'ed
Tim and will still were salty, but at least I got us all a hotel room.
Finals: Dungeon World Rematch!
This time I met Bryan again in the finals. Time to take back the game. Game one I managed to take after a tough time, game two he took. Game 3 was where it went crazy intense. He sided in dungeon enemies, which was a great call, their high defense would have been hard but luckily my deck was based around high stats, and i sided in fate skeletons to help. At the apex of the match he had a soulguard in center, and I bet he had a divine protection, I attacked once, then had Sheila and Soma up, if I attacked with a link and was wrong, i would win off penetrate. I instead attacked with sheila, and he had to defend. I then attacked with soma, no penetrate, but I destroyed his monster. I left my center open, knowing he had a tendency to attack the center whenever he could, and he swung 7 damage, putting me to one. I managed to tetsuya-shiela-fate skeleton to win the next turn, taking the match, adn the tournament.
After words we exchanged a handshake, laughs, and we talked about how crazy fun that was, and promised to play again.
Overall it was an insane tournament, and I learned a lot about my deck. I lucked out in that I was really good at reading people, it made up for the fact that my deck had many issues, and it was an event i would happily do again. I cant wait to see everyone at nationals, and it will be a blast.
