Hi Yugibro`s ,
Today I want to do a short tournament report about YCS Prague, which was held on 28th of February where i reached 3rd place. Unfortunately I can’t remember each match that I played but I will try to give you as much insight as possible on my tournament experience.

For me it was a pretty obvious choice to play Nekroz at YCS Prague. I’m the type of guy who follows the OCG Meta regularly and prepare myself theoretically months before. True, you can’t compare their Meta with our current meta because of the different Forbidden & Limited Lists and the lack of some exclusive cards. But you can try to theoretically transfer decks and single cards to our current meta and imagine their success. So my decision to play Nekroz was made months ago. After that I followed and analyzed many top OCG Nekroz Deck lists and watched many YouTube gameplays. Yes, YouTube is a really great ressource to get free information. Next question was, how could I afford Nekroz as a normal student? The thing is I always try to play the best deck and most of the time the best deck is quite expensive because the cards are rare and the demand is high.

What I’m actually doing is to recycle my main deck core with the new upcoming meta deck for my prediction. What does that mean? Trying to sell the best deck after a big tournament for the highest price possible and keep that money for the upcoming new deck. During the whole season playing with the best deck I’m playing many non-premier events to make the most of my investment and gain some money back. Furthermore you gain more experience and you cant get enough experience even after 10 years of competitive playing. So as an example I sold my Shaddoll deck after YCS Madrid and kept that money for the next deck, which was Burning Abyss, and after Burning Abyss I joined the blue club aka Nekroz. Sadly there were only 2 weeks after release to test with the deck and I highly prefer to test in real life. I truly hate to play online because it kind of annoys me and I think you can gain more experience in a real life tournament. Then university interrupted my preparation for the YCS and I couldn’t attend a single event and I was really upset about that. So I was not so confident before Prague, but of course university has priority number one. A few days before YCS Prague I watched many high rated DN matches in the evening and honestly it really gave me more insight on the deck with some untypical plays. Of course I talked a lot with my team, other friends and exchanged opinions, which helped a lot as well. This helped me to become confident again which is my philosophy!

Finally it was Thursday and I travelled with the tour bus from cologne to Prague, which was like a 9 hour trip. Normally I prefer flying but this time the YCS was announced really late and the plane tickets were already too expensive and the tour bus was a good and cheap alternative (66€ back and forth). After arriving I met my other teammates and we went out for dinner and eventually ended in a club after celebrating Claudio’s birthday, which was hella fun. Friday, after the hangover, we went to the venue, I borrowed some missing cards and made some more minor changes on my list by exchanging minds with other well known players.

For further explanations on many cards please check out my exclusive Deck Profile on my Youtube Channel :

Saturday, time to DDDDDDuel*…

1. Round vs. Nekroz (Tom) = Lost 1:2
He played really well and his hand was better. But I got my revenge in top 16 against Tom. Losing first round in a big tournament is always really bad, but I had to keep my focus!

2. Round vs. Qliphort = Won 2:1

3. Round vs. Satellarknight = Won 2:0

4. Round vs. Nekroz = Won 2:1

5. Round vs. Satellarknight = Won 2:1

6. Round vs. Qliphort = Won 2:1

7. Round vs. Nekroz (from team jolly roger) = Won 2:1

So I ended Day 1 with a 6:1 record

Sunday, time to keep up…

8. Round vs. Nekroz (Kristoffer Nielsen) = Lost 2:0
First game I made the Djinn Releaser Of Rituals lock and he unfortunately had the out in his first hand.
Game 2 he went for the Djinn releaser of rituals lock and I HAD the out with Book Of Moon but the rest of my hand bricked so hard that I couldn’t make any move, really poor (But I got my revenge at top 8 )

9. Round vs. Qliphort (national dutch champion) = Won 2:1
Game 1 I stopped his big Qliphort army with a Book of eclipse and in my turn I blew up the whole field with a devastating Evilswarm Exciton Knight and followed up with a Nekroz of Trishula. Game 2 I bricked hard. Game 3 I opened with a Denko sekka to his 2 backrow, Qliphort carrier and Saqlifice. I ended up with Denko Sekka, Nekroz of unicore and Nekroz of trishula and there was no coming back for him.

10. Round vs. Nekroz = Draw 1:1
Game 1 took very long with many back and forth plays, which eventually he won. I knew he was siding Vanity’s Emptiness and I took a gamble to side out my Mystical Space Typhoon. If he had it in his first hand then he had it – if not I was good. Meanwhile only 5 minutes were left. I let him start and of course he had Vanity’s emptiness with a Nekroz of Valkyrus in the front. My only out left in my deck was Raigeki so I had to stop his attacks with with Book of Eclipse and Nekroz of Valkyrus plays. Time was called. He couldn’t deal any damage and on his last turn I flipped emergency Mystik wok and the duel ended in a draw.

My total score was 7 Wins: 1 Draw: 2 loss and I really hoped that this was enough.
Luckily I ended up coming in 30th place and I was really happy about that.

Top 32: Time to rock…

Top 32 vs. Nekroz Jake Quinsee = Won 2:1
Second game I was under his Shared Ride and I figured out that I have to take the challenge and try to otk him. I ended up with Manju of the ten thousand hands, Nekroz of unicore, Nekroz of Trishula and Nekroz of Gungnir while holding a Nekroz of decisive armor and Mystik Wok in my hand. I knew he was playing 3 Effect Veiler so I tried to make him believe I cant otk him if he negates my Nekroz of Gungnir so he would negate my attack of Manju of the of the ten thousand hands with his Nekroz of Valkyrus. I tried to go to the battle phase and he Effect Veilered my Nekroz of Gungnir. The plan went off and he tried to negate my first attack which was Manju of the ten thousand hands with his Nekroz of Valkyrus, I chained my Mystik wok on my Manju of the ten thousand hands and the rest of my attacks was enough with Nekroz of decisive armor in my hand.
Game 3 he let me start and I summoned Senju of the thousand hands and he immediately Effect veilered it where I was very confused. But the rest of his hand was not good enough and I won after time was called.

Top 16 vs. Nekroz Tom = won 2:0 my Revange
Game 1 I won with the Djinn releaser of rituals lock and game 2 I had a really weird first hand including 1 Effect Veiler, 1 Artifact Lancea, 2 Vanity’s emptiness and 1 Preparation of rites. Luckily I was playing Dance Princess of Nekroz. Activated Preaparation of rites to get Nekroz of brionac, which got me Dance princess of the nekroz. Summoned her and set 2 Vanity’s emptiness. This little lock won me the whole game. Mid game he topped a Kycoo The ghost destroyer but I had the Nekroz of Decisive Armor to give Kycoo the ghost destryoyer a majestic head-butt.

Top 8 vs. Nekroz Kristoffer Nielsen = Won 2:1
I cant remember the game but Kristoffer is a really sportsmanlike guy.

Top 4 vs. Burning Abyss Lost 0:2
Game 1 I have do admit that I messed up. I never played with nekroz against burning Abyss. I know that’s not an excuse but it still makes some difference. In the midgame I accidently illegally activated Nekroz Cycle, I really thought that I had a Nekroz of Clausolas left in my grave. But unfortunately for my fault I removed it the turn before for a Nekroz ritual spell to search another. Yes, I should have looked up my grave before. But after intense playing the whole weekend multiple hours and excitement in a semifinal feature match this can unfortunately happen. I’m still very salty about that. Who knows how the duel would have ended if I wouldn’t have committed to this mistake. But these are the rules and it’s my own fault. So I tried to forget my Game one and concentrate on Game 2. I let him start because I’m playing Denko Sekka in side and can better go off. My hand was really decent with 2 Preparation of rites, 1 Manju of the ten thousand hands and Nekroz of brionac etc. I discarded my Nekroz of brionac and he chained his mistake to it, which was literally neck wrecking for me holding all the searchers in my hand. I knew if I don’t draw any spell trap removal in 2 or 3 turns this will be over for me. Unfortunately I didn’t draw any out and conceded after 5 minutes of “dueling”.

Full Top 4 Match:

http://www.twitch.tv/officialyugiohchannel/c/6227042

Overall Matchups:

8 Nekroz
2 Qliphorts
2 Satellarkights
1 Burning Abyss

This was my Tournament report and how I prepared myself for the event. Thanks for reading. I hope you guys enjoyed my article and if yes please leave a thumbs up/comment. I really tried to give you a good insight. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks again for your awesome support and cheering for me. I really appreciate that.

“Be always confident with your deck!”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Soner Güngör is an Office Manager in Finance and is studying economic business in Germany. Soner is a founding member of United Gosus, and has served as a member of the Player roster since August 2006. To learn more about Soner, please visit his Member Profile.