WCQ: Spain Nationals 2018 

Tournament Report

Hello United Gosus nation! 

It’s been a while since I wrote one of these, especially after dropping by Round 4 at YCS Chile just a week prior. First of all, a few people did ask me why I ended up playing the Spanish Nationals instead of Ecuadorian Nationals. Basically it came down to personal reasons, I had promised my mom that I would take her to Europe this year and May just happened to be the perfect month. For that reason, I was going to miss my country’s nationals, I contacted the tournament organizer and he gave me the green light on whether I was able to play.

After that, I had to convince my mom to let me take a day off (maybe two) for a tournament in Madrid. My cousin was graceful hosting us, she agreed to take care of my mom and take her around the city. As a side note, I could have played a different Nationals but Spain just made sense since my mom could easily make her way around because of the language and Adrian Dursun had agreed to travel to also play at the event! 

Since I’m traveling and literally writing this report while I fly from Barcelona to Paris, I’m going to go into some more detail of my trip alongside the event, hope you guys don’t mind. I just miss having more detailed reports.

I got to Madrid on Wednesday (May 2), I was a day late for the Real Madrid v. Bayern Munich game (worst part of my trip so far). At first the jet lag didn’t really hit me that hard but after we had dinner, I was falling asleep at the table. Went back for a “quick” nap that turned into a four hour nap so I missed the first half of the Roma v. Liverpool game. After that, I ended up going to bed at like 4 AM, so I would be able to adapt my sleep schedule. 

The next day, we went to Toledo on a bus, it’s a nice little city on a hill near Madrid famous for the swords that used to be produced in the old capital of Spain (at least that’s what I heard). Its streets are very small, hilly and full of pedestrians, kind of reminds me of central Quito (my home city in Ecuador). When we got back, I sent my mom back to the apartment and I went on my way to Wanda Metropolitano since I had scored a ticket for the Atletico Madrid v. Arsenal (Europa League) that morning. There I met up with my cousin’s boyfriend, it was a great experience.

On Friday, we decided to go to Segovia another city near Madrid but larger than Toledo. It’s famous for a few reasons. First of all, it has one of the longest Roman aqueducts, it was quite impressive and in a way it kind of splits the city in half. It is also a host to Alcazar, a castle originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, and a military academy since then. They’re famous for their cochinillo (roasted pig), we had to try it, sort of reminded us of hornado (traditional dish from Ecuador).

Going back to Yu-Gi-Oh! related things, after losing to mostly unfortunate events in Chile, I decided to not get poisoned over bad results and stick with Pendulum FTK. Later that day, Dursun was on his way to Madrid, we were able to meet at the Gran Via and catch some steak for dinner. After hanging out for a bit, we got back to the apartment and made some final choices on our lists. After talking with Esala Wathuthantrige, I just ended up switching Twin Twisters for Red Reboots and went to sleep at like 3 AM.

• Round 1: 2-1
  • Vs. Jorge Longarte (60-card Dino) Dice Roll: Lost
    • G1: He combo’d me and I couldn’t come back.
    • G2: Couldn’t FTK but made a good enough board.
    • G3: Went second and took control of the game from the start.

• Round 2: 2-1
  • Vs. ABC Dice Roll: Lost
    • G1: Buster is a hell of a card.
    • G2: Couldn’t FTK but made a good enough board after he cherries me.
    • G3: Won when my on board Ogre destroyed his Ravine.
• Round 3: 0-2
  • Vs. Mekknight Invoked Dice Roll: Won
    • G1: Had to risk Ogre for FTK, he had it and won from there.
    • G2: He had Ogre and when I tried to game him he Gamma’d my Vemon, he won the grind game.
• Round 4: 2-1
  • Vs. True Draco Dice Roll: Won
    • G1: Couldn’t FTK but made a good enough board.
    • G2: He Anti-Spelled then Mind Crushed my 3 Evenly Matched in hand.
    • G3: My first FTK of the tournament.
• Round 5: 2-0
  • Vs. Altergeist Dice Roll: Won
    • G1: Couldn’t FTK but made a good enough board.
    • G2: Evenly on my turn he chained Typhoon to summon Multifaker, taking his on board Anti-Spell, won from there.
• Round 6: 2-1
  • Vs. True Draco Dice Roll: Lost
    • G1: Lost due to not being able to activate Spells.
    • G2: He was at 700 with Master Peace (with bullets in the GY), Imperial Order on the board got to his Standby and asked me if his Order got destroyed, I replied that he just lost, We get into a huge argument, eventually the HJ decides that I was right and we get a 20 minute extension.
    • G3: He opens Maiden, 5 sets and Diagram after a Card of Demise, he flips Anti-Spell, I chain Red Reboot and OTK him.
• Round 7: 2-0
  • Vs. True Draco Dice Roll: Won
    • G1: FTK him.
    • G2: Beat him by setting Poison, later making Tornado Dragon and getting rid of his Anti-Spell.
• Round 8: 1-2
  • Vs. Adrian Dursun (True Draco) Dice Roll: Won
  • I had to play my teammate, at least it wasn’t the bubble, but we didn’t know for sure at the time.
    • G1: Pendulum Call with Darkwurm, into FTK.
    • G2: He makes me go first and OTKs me.
    • G3: I make him go first (mind games cause we know each others’ decks), he opens with Ogre that he tributes, next turn he Cherries me and I have little options against his Master Peace.
• Round 9: 2-0
  • Vs. True Draco Dice Roll: Lost
    • G1: He makes me go first cause he thinks I’m playing True Draco like Dursun, he gets FTK´d.
    • G2: I smokescreen into no since cause I’m unsure of his deck, win with Tornado Dragon destroying Anti-Spell then eventually burn him for game.

13th Place after Swiss

• Top 16: 2-1
  • Vs. Oliver Vera (Trickstar) Dice Roll: Won
    • G1: He Ashes my Pot of Desires, I risk into FTK draw off Electrumite and I miss but make a good enough board burn for half the life and then attack for game my next turn.
    • G2: He beats me with Scapegoats in to Knightmare plays.
    • G3: I play around Ogre and burn for 4500, but he Ogres the second Venom in turns, his hand is pretty weak and I destroy his board with Supreme King Dragon Clear Wing for game.

Top 8: 1-2

Vs. (Spyral)

I could have tried to play game 3 a little differently and try to draw for Evenly another way, think if I did, I would have won.

I lost right on time to make my flight to Barcelona, had to have everything ready and meet my family at the airport stop to switch my bags. If I had made it further in the tournament I had a plan B that my mom was ok with. I was able to see parts of the stream, specially when Dursun was able to turn around that game three in the semifinals.

Overall it was a great event, took longer than I expected but thought the judges did a good job even with what happened during my round 6. I was happy to always have the complete 40 minutes to play each round when it went that long. 

I would like to thank my teammates from United Gosus, primarily Adrian Dursun for the cards he let me borrow and for going out of his way to play at the same nationals. Great job on the win man, you deserve it, I’m very proud of you. Also to Esala, my cousin for letting us stay at her place and the awesome people I met in Madrid! And obviously a shoutout to our sponsors: Ultimate Guard and Owayo.