But when the organizer announced that Sixth Sense and Return were banned for the event (it's 90% competitive but not official Konami tournament), I decided to give a shoot
Tested all builds of Dragons for 2-3 weeks, ended up with this
Taking mathematics into consideration, the deck size of 40, 41 or 42 didn't matter much about how you draw your cards, especially when there're no retarded limited cards that everyone wants to draw asap. With 42 cards I have space to main deck all the cards I want to without having to cut anything. This was actually my best decision during preparation. I have no "winning card" in this deck, and versatility is never bad at all. Had I have to cut the deck down to 40, I think I would drop a Card Trooper (Patrik Rieder's style) and Solemn Warning. 2000 LP = too much cost sometime, and once in the tournament I was taken down to 1500ish and top deck Solemn Warning, but luckily I had Thought Ruler Archfiend to gain my life back and Warning was actually the game definer
Some other reasonings:
Trooper: Milling and drawing is good. Despite not playing Scarecrows, I had enough traps to protect myself from Crimson Blader
Book: Book followed by Crimson Blader = mad good
MST with Trap Stun: Hitting Ravine is crucial, and 2 anti-trap cards is not enough for me. This is just my personal preference, but I don't like playing one-of, so 2 MST and 2 Trap Stun seemed to be good
Bottomless Trap Hole: Just like PWWB, this card makes your opponent lose one colour. The cool thing is that everyone tends to summon Blaster/Redox first to play around a possible Maxx "C", so if I had a BTH set, I was more likely to hit the 2 more important dragons than the 2 other
No Sarcophagus: Enough draw engine to get to all colours I need, also I have traps to buy time
No Scarecrow: Yeah as I said, I have enough traps. The deck sometimes didn't work like Dragon Rulers at all, I just summon a level 8 synchro and back up with 2-3 defensive cards for the win. Stardust Spark + Emptiness win them all, and I never really missed Scarecrow
Red Dragon Archfiend: Because I didn't have my 2nd Crimson Blader or Ancient Fairy Dragon. An alternate tribuet fodder for DDV and EEV too, because I don't like tributing my Thought Ruler or Colossal
Fencing Fire Ferrets: I hate Ophion
DDV: Side against Mermails or Dragons. I actually hit 2 Debris, 1 Card Trooper and 1 Scarecrow with this thing over the course of 3 turns once during the tournament
Now onto the quick report
Round 1: Dragon mirror
G1: Was back and forth. At one point I hit him with Crimson Blader, he flipped Raigeki Break, I chained Trap Stun and put him under the lock. He had to leave the field open, and I had a chance to finish off with Star Eater but I misplayed and make Scrap Dragon instead. He had Scarecrow, and Blaster effect, ended his turn with a monster I didn't remember. I pushed back, he flipped Emptiness, I showed my 2nd Trap Stun and that was GG. I didn't have enough damage, but he was locked under his own Emptiness and couldn't turn it off
G2: It went into time. I had a slow start, took damage so I had to make Thought Ruler to gain some life back and set DDV. Next turnI hit him with DDV (just like mentioned) but he had 4 colors to my 2. I hit for 5200 with Blaster and Tempest, had nothing left, and made Dracossack with Bottomless set. His turn, he summoned Redox and Tempest, thought for like 5 minutes, then made... Dracossack? I know I win at this point, so I just let it go. He realized his misplay and condeced
Actually had he made Gaia, I'd have Bottomelss'd it right away. Since he took too much time for game 1, game 2 went into time and I was sure to secure the win with traps
1-0
Round 2: Dragon mirror (but not actually mirror)
G1: He passed. I summoned Trooper, milled shit, attack into... Gagaga Gardna? 1 turn later I realize Gardna is too good (discard 1 to protect itself from battle = no Crimson Blader allowed), and fucked up all my plays. Next turn he hit me with Mythic Wood, Mythic Water, Queen Dragun Djinn and whatever
G2: He activated Charge of the Light Brigade for Lyla, milling 2 colours in the process. I have 2 colours and nothing else, so I just summon Colossal Fighter I think. Next turn he showed 2 DDR and a bunch more things to finish me off
1-1
Round 3: Dragon Dragunities (with Tidal)
G1: I was outpaced. Having no draw or mill engine is bad against Dragunities
G2: I started with Stardust Spark and set 5 traps. He passed, I just summon Blaster and attacked. He was stopped by the traps, and I secured my game with Trap Stun
G3: At one point he had 2 set and 2 Dragons in hand, 5600 LP left, locked down under my Crimson Blader but he had Blaster for it. My turn, I Ravine'd Poki Draco, Debris it back but the Debris was Raigeki Break'd. So I Redox'd my Blader, summon back my Blaster (2800 + 2800 + 200 = 5800) but Blaster was Raigeki Break'd again. I had to pass. He was left with 2 Duxes, a Tempest and a Tidal. He topped Flamvell Guard, make Colossal Fighter and locked my under Blader. I drew blank and scooped
1-2
Round 4: Blackwing
Yeah with this score...
G1: I had few dragons, he had too much protection and Whirlwind + Shura to push for enough damage before I get my deck going
G2: I beat him down with Card Trooper, Fencing Fire Ferret and Blaster
G3: He started with Zephyros, Bora into Master Key Beetle, targeting Emptiness. I looked at my hand: Tempest, MST, 2 Fencing Fire Ferrets, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and Cards of Consonance. It's typically bad, but against the lock, the 2 Ferrets suddenly seemed so broken. I rammed one Ferrets to clear Emptiness, and the 2nd cleared Beetle. He drew no monster after that, and once I got my draw engine together, I win
2-2
Round 5: Ninja? I think it was White Dragon lockdown.dek
Needless to say I win game 1 with Trap Stun and game 2 with Skill Drain
3-2
Top 8: Dragon Dragunities (same guy from round 3)
G1: Was outpaced yet again
G2: Stardust Spark + Emptiness. I could have MST'd my own Emptiness and push for game but I feared Scarecrow so I decided against it. He didn't have Scarecrow, but instead he had 2 Blasters, combined with his top-decked Dark Hole, he cleared my Emptiness and Torrential Tribute. Luckily when he pushed (including Electric Virus on my Stardust Spark) I have my last trap, PWWB, to secure the win
G3: We both started slow with 4 set traps on each side. I had double Swords, so 3 turns after I was ahead thanks to a top-decked Tidal. I established the lock ofStardust Spark + Emptiness yet again. This time he formed a huge chain link including Book of Moon and 2 MST to clear my Emptiness, then hit my Stardust with Blader. I took the hit, but had enough defense to survive. And then I Big Eye'd his Blader, hit him. He was under the lock, summoned Dux, equip Phalanx just to survive. I read a top-decked Veiler but couldn't do anything about it, so I just attacked then set MST. I hit with Ravine with MST, leaving him with Tempest and Redox as his only 2 colours. I had Debunk for the Redox and I win
Headed to top 4 but decided to split as it was late
Thoughts after the tournaments:
1. Trap Stun and DDV are so good
2. Everyone should have 2 Crimson Blader. Many a time I could have put 2 Blader on board to secure the game, but I couldn't, and my lone Blader was stopped by trap. Had I have the 2nd one I'd have went like 5-0 instead of 3-2 after swiss
3. Castle sucks
4. Different approach to Dragon Ruler (Spark set 5) is cool. Emptiness should be mained again, I swear
