What’s up guys, this is Alberto Marazzi from UG and i’m about to tell you my experience at the WCQ French Nationals 2018 held in Rouen this past weekend where I ended up losing in top 64. Before going into the tournament, I just want to sum up a little bit my trip, starting things off from Friday. So on Friday at around 1 am Marcello, who should have flown with me to France as well , messaged me saying he was sick and he had vomit so from that moment on my adventure began. I arrived in Paris pretty early in the morning, around 8.30 am, and I took a bus from the city centre so to arrive at the station of “Porte Maillot ”. Once arrived I took the subway but I got lost twice because in Paris, if I’m not mistaken, there are 14 differents trains to take so it took me quite a while to arrive at the train station of Paris St Lazaire. Unfortunate in the city there are some strikes in this period and train traffic is not regular, so I waited half an hour at the station and after 8 hours I finally arrived in Rouen. The city is great, weather awesome and food is like “oh my god”. The location was closed on Friday but I luckily got the cards I was missing from some friends( shout out to Loan and Kimo) and by saying so let’s going into the tournament! This was the biggest National France has ever had, almost 600 players attended, so we had 10 rounds of swiss followed by top 64.

Round 1 vs True Draco 2-0

I won the dice roll and I started G1 with 3 rivalry but thanks to a topdecked demise I was able to win G1. G2 he decided to go first and thanks to Awekening the dragon I was able to special summon Raidraptor ultimate falcon that sealed the game.

Round 2 vs True Draco 1-2

This is probably the match I remember the most for the bad way I lost. I basically won G1 and lost G2 due to his field advantage: g3 was really long and we entered indeed in the end of the round. In my last turn I only have a master peace unaffected by monsters and traps, no cards in hand and no  othercards on the field, while he had 2 set down cards(one was terraforming because in his turn he received a warning because he forgot ha had finished all 3 diagrams). He drew for turn, flips stormforth and summons maiden..

Round 3 vs gear deck 2-0

I don’t remember that much about this much because he was playing also some cards I was not used to see but it was a pretty fast match.

Round 4 vs 60 card zombie 2-0

I lost dice roll and he had a huge combo, shutted down in my turn by amano diagram demise and master peace. G2 he bricked, passing his turn with just a raiden.

Round 5 vs 60 card zombie 2-0

Another 60 card deck. This time I won the dice roll and rivalry in G1 was decisive to seal the game. G2 he started passing his turn, his hand was full of ashes and ogres but they were not enough to stop one master peace.

Round 6 vs pendulum 2-0

First pendulum of the weekend. I lost the dice roll and I was really scared of beingn ftk’d but fortunately he was not playing ftk. I was able to win both games without having good hands as well, I remember I won G1 thanks to “infinite permeneance” and G2 was really long but it was not enough for him to come back into the game.

Round 7 vs pendulum 2-0

So basically I won the dice roll and I set 5. My opponent activated pot of desire and after he banished 10 cards, I noticed 2 different colour sleeves. I then called the judge and they deck checked us. They decided to investigate and they decided to dq my opponent.

Round 8 vs true draco 2-1

G1 and G2 were really long, that’s why we enter into G3 almost at the end of the round. I let him start G3 and he started with diagram maiden and 3 backrow. I activated diagram, set on and he cyclone’d my set which was “awakening the dragon”, he asked me for a translation and he started saying something in French which I cannot say here hahaha but yeah raidraptor won me the game again.

Round 9 vs Abc 0-2

2 years ago, when it was paleo and abc format, I remember that abc  was the easiest match up I’ve ever had in my life. He started G1 with one set monster and 2 s/t. I activate diagram, he activated order :) and I had 4 other unplayable spells. G2 I got evenly’d for 5 and I lost in like 5/6 minutes.

Round 10 vs world chalice 2-0

I was on the bubble so even though I knew around 20/25 people would have made it to the top 64 with an x-3 record, I wanted to win just to be sure I didn’t have any surprise. I remember that G1, after losing the dice roll, I opened 2 amano 2 master peace and heritage and I was like ok let’s go into g2 but he didn’t have a good hand too so I was able to come back thanks to a 6^thcard diagram. G2 he bricked hard and 2 master peace were enough to assure me a spot into the top cut.

I ended up 18^thplace and I had to play dinosaur in the top 64

Top 64 vs dinosaur 0-2

I was pretty unlucky in this match and there’s not that much I can say honestly. G1 he let me start and I pass my turn with diagram, maiden and a set infinite. He summoned oviraptor, I chain maiden to his eff and he had ogre and he ended that turn with laggia and 2 other monsters. G2 I let him start and he passed his turn with oviraptor and one backrow. I set 3, activated diagram and on diagram eff he chained twin twister. My 3 backrow were 2 “awakening the dragon” and 1 “ true draco apocalypse”. You can imagine what he hit then hahaa. After losing the diagram I just passed my turn and he summoned Armageddon knight, sending diagram to the grave and he popped my trap. I didn’t have in my extra deck “ the last warrior from another planet” that could have won me the game and then he was able anyway to win, because raidraptor was enough.

It was a pretty nice experience anyway, I really enjoyed being in Rouen even though I was lonely let’s say and I hope you guys enjoyed my Instagram stories as well! Don’t forget to check out my decklist on our Youtube page and see you all at the WCQ in Berlin!

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