At about 11:15 Sunday morning I found out there was a tournament online with an invite on the line. I've not done an online tournament in a long time, and while double elimination was spooky, I figured I needed the practice anyway so I joined Patreon and donated to GoatFormat.com and then entered with about 5 minutes to spare. But what to run? I ran a suboptimal Chaos Warriors build at GGP Avon, my first tournament in years, and fixed the deck afterward, but there was one problem that was bigger than the deck: the meta is overrun with Warriors. Hard to be a clever boy in a room full of clever boys. So, I knew I'd need something different. But what else did I have even remotely ready? Well, how about Samurai Soul Control? I asked myself; it was designed for a Warrior meta, after all, and it is my most recent pet deck. Why do a write-up on it if I didn't believe in it?
The deck performed to my satisfaction, but I misplayed hard in multiple games. Round 1 was versus JDZ: I bodied him because I drew everything I needed. Round 2 was versus sdlkilla: it didn't go well for me, lol. Dude opens Duo both games, and that hurts Monarchs pretty bad, but Duo didn't cause my losses. Game 1: I misplay by going for Phoenix too early, as well as by Swapping a Sasuke #4 while my opponent had backrow. Always keep the samurai by your side. I think this game might've gone slightly differently, could have won it but eventually lost control of the field and lost my Snatch to a critical Dust when I drew into Mobius :( Game 2: I misplay by tributing my Twin-Headed Behemoth for Mobius rather than using Soul Exchange to do it, so I could hopefully pop backrow and run over a King Tiger. Always take the guaranteed path to get monsters off their board, you need to stay ahead on the summon to make up for the tempo loss of Soul Exchange's missed Battle Phase anyway and you can't afford to whiff a Mobius on a Book of Moon like I did, leaving your opponent's monster intact. I then follow up by bluffing an S/T, but of all the ones I choose to bluff with, I choose RotA? Never do that. I'm afraid of Don Zaloog so I also end up setting a Brain Control only for it to get MST'd. Basically, don't try too hard to play around Don that you lose your best stuff to S/T removal. One of the perks of the Monarch deck is that you don't put a lot of stuff in your S/T zones. I forgot what deck I was playing, forreal. Round 3 was versus Lukaz Game 1: He draws the nuts, and I had never actually seen anyone use a Xing Zhen Hu before, so I walk into that play like stepping on a rake. Lesson learned. Game 2: I misplay badly, turning a Kamakiri to defense mode while fighting a Warrior deck. Of course Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke follows and wrecks me. I also should've played Graceful Charity sooner, digging for another answer to backrow. This deck NEEDS Mobius and Decrees. This game makes me ponder swapping my ratios of Mobius to Thestalos from 2:3 to 3:2. I also pitch a Phoenix to Graceful when I probably should have pitched Swap; this pays off though, letting me steal the game when I Swap a Serpent I topdecked for either a Blade Knight or Kycoo; either would do enough damage to win. Game 3: I brick and he opens Duo. It doesn't get much better from there. I miss a critical opportunity I had to Brain Control + Metamorphosis his Don into a Darkfire Dragon and then he beats me down on the following turn with a lethal Brain Control of his own. I think this game was winnable, or at least prolongable. Considering how many misplays I made, I'd say the deck is plenty capable, so I'm going to stick with it for awhile. It's kinda funny, I only fought Warriors and I was trying to beat Warriors; I think I brought the right deck just not the right skills.
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July 2023
C. G.I'm a long time TCG player who decided to start a website dedicated to my favorite games. If you want to support the site, here's my Patreon.
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