Tournament Report – 4th Place – Costa Rica

On March 27, 2018 by Soner Güngör

Hi guys,

Galileo de Obaldia here with a brief report from YCS Costa Rica. Although life has been hectic as of late, Costa Rica was the first of 5 large events that I plan to attend within 4 months (YCS Chile, YCS NJ, Nationals and WCQ being the other 4).

I didn’t get much of a chance to test, and I really wanted to play something different than True Draco or Pendulum Magicians. Unfortunately, they do not necessarily play “fair” Yu-Gi-Oh, so on the plane, I decided to play True Draco despite never having played the deck before (for those who know me, this is my worst habit that occurs all too often. Particularly because I usually only attend 1 or 2 events per format. It severely limits my chances in the tournament.)

Before diving into the report, I want to give a shout out to all my friends who gave me tips and lent me cards. There were so many that I don’t want to say any names because I always forget one and it comes back to bite me!! Instead, I’ll mention countries: Panama! Mexico! Costa Rica!

As for the event, just three things to say:

1. Thanks to some very kind people, I didn’t struggle at all to put the deck together. Love you all!

2. Costa Rica is definitely one of my favorite places on earth. Not because of the city per se, but rather the people. They are so nice, and it is always a pleasure to see them.

3. Thanks to my United Gosus family for all the guidance and support. Special shout out to Adrian Dursun, Mr. True Draco himself for all the last minute tips that allowed me to have a quick learning curve. Without him, I would have 100% not topped.

I finished the Swiss rounds with 6 wins – 1 draw – 2 losses. I played 2 Magicians, 4 True Draco, 1 Paleo, 1 Mekk Knight Invoked and 1 (60) card Lightsworn Zombie. Below the round-by-round with a key highlight of interesting plays:

R1: True Draco. (1-2)

G1: He opened Anti-Spell and I drew 3 Anti-Spell in my own hand. Things starting smoothly!

G3: I was told going 2nd is better. So I sided heavily to go 1st. He went 1st and I drew all my traps. Lesson learnt.

R2: Zexal Magician. (2-0)

My friend who lent me 3 Card of Demise <3. He laughed because he thought he would get an “easy” Round 2 after losing round 1!!

He showed me the Zexal combo after the match. I thought it was “cute”. I was wrong..

R3: Paleo. (2-0)

He flipped 1 card accidently while shuffling, Dupe Frog. Fortunately I won the die roll, and even though I bricked, I summoned a “bad” Master Peace that I knew he would struggle to get over.

Don’t ever reveal your deck before G1 guys! It’s such a huge advantage for your opponent.

R4: Magician. (2-1)

My teammate Juan-Sebastian Andrade :( (such bad luck on the pairings)

R5: 60 card LS Zombie. (1-2)

G3: I go 1st and bricked really heavily. It happens.

R6: True Draco. (2-0)

R7: True Draco. (2-1)

He was playing a funky build that threw me off. G3 was really scary because I had to do a bad Evenly Matched because neither wanted to commit.

R8: True Draco. (1-1)

My friend Ariel Hidrie who gave me lots of tips before the tournament! We went into time G2, and I was too low on life from an Imperial Order while I couldn’t push enough damage.

R9: Mekk-Knight Invoked. (2-0)

I had no idea what these card did. I didn’t know they were popular, and G1 my inexperience with them almost cost me as I set a card in the same zone as my monster (T1: I didn’t know what I was playing). Lesson learnt. My board looked like a checkers board G2!

Phew! Close call after starting awfully. Top #19 (Counting only major Konami events).

Topcut

Two things about the topcut.

1. 6 Panamanians topped. That was 2x our fair share due to representation. I’m very proud of all of them.

2. The top cut was STACKED. Multiple YCS champions, WCQ champions, and well-known/respected players.

Top 32: Magician. (2-1)

Top 16: True Draco. (2-0)

My good friend Carlo Carrillo (Mexican National Champion). I keep knocking him out of top cuts. You’ll get me one of these days ;)

G1 was crazy. I played a really bad Pot of Desires which removed all monsters except 1 Maiden and 1 “Rocky”(Amano Iwato). I almost scooped, but I won with only 1 card left in the deck – the “Rocky”. Never lose faith!

Top 8: True Draco. (2-1)

The “other” Panamanian in the top8. Aurelio is just 16 years old, and was doing amazing in his first YCS.

He bricked G1, I bricked G2.

G3 was extremly scary. It got to a point where he had way too much advantage on me. The only way to win was to out his Master Peace, and avoid at all costs having the 2nd one come out.

I baited his Master Peace and dropped my own. He Demised for 3 twice and Heritage for 3. I ignored everything except for Diagram, knowing he couldn’t win unless he hard drew the Master Peace. Fortunately, he didn’t.

Top 4: Zexal Magician. (1-2)

Adrian Madriz, eventual winner. One of the nicest, cleanest, best players I know. Big congrats.

G1: S+T Master Peace on his turn was enough.

G2: He opens full Zexal combo. I realized that True Draco can get over his field as long as you draw Trap+Monster or Master Peace. I didn’t.

G3: I drew turbo. I drew awful. Multiples of everything, but 0 Monsters, 0 Diagram/Terraforming. He Evenly Matched.

3rd/4th: Zexal Magician. (0-2)

Jonathan Vasquez. We always laugh together after every failed top cut run. Same as above, literally, except starting from G2.

G1: Full Zexal combo.

G2: Brick.

Even thought the last 4 games of the tournament I didn’t really play, the deck was overall really solid. I am glad I decided to play it. It was easier to pilot at the last moment, than a combo deck like Magician.

The major thing for me from this tournament was that now I am ranked #1 on both champrank and united gosus ranking (pending update). This is definitely on my short list of biggest accomplishments in the game, given that I would estimate I have played less than half (Probably even 1/3) of the amount of tournaments of anyone else in the top10.

People always ask me, what my best achievement was, or what am I most proud of. After giving it some thought, I’d say the following (In order):

5. 1-2-3 worlds placing in 3 attempts.

4. 23-0 during Nekroz format WCQ & worlds. This was a great format, and I was able to practice by attending a few events, which is usually my major weakness.

This run (Which I believe is the longest winning streak ever), at the very highest level, culminated in the toughest loss I have ever taken. It shouldn’t take away from the fact of how proud I am of this run, which ended in the final seat, G3 of the World Championship in Japan, in front of thousands of fans. The dream (almost) came true.

3. Consistency. #1 Rank with very few tournaments. (Unofficial top rate of ~70%)

2. Being the only person to win all 3 major tournaments: YCS, WCQ and Worlds.

1. Being a United Gosus member and of course World Champion. No doubt.

 

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