Hello UG Nation, I am Nicolás Vera.

I am writing about what just happened at the South American WCQ and my journey to become the Continental champion.

There are too many ways to be out of a tournament and not going is probably the worst because you don’t even have the chance of doing what you love. So, I would like to give a big shout out to Galo Orbea. I couldn’t have made it there without your support, you are the best.

After weeks of testing I realized that I wanted to play Salamangreat, because I felt confident with the deck. Along the way I also tried Orcust but I decided not to use it because during testing I felt it was too fragile versus hand traps on top of it I would brick with it too often.

Said that, I’ll give you a quick review of the rounds.

DAY 1

Round 1: Versus Walter Tavares with True Draco, Dice roll: L; Win
Game 1: I open nuts along with Cyclone for the Mystic Mine.
Game 2: I was lucky and drew double Twin Twisters so and I wiped his board easily.

Round 2: Versus Juan Carlos R. with Orcust, Dice roll: L; Win
Game 1: I won because I made a decent board + Dweller.
Game 2: I stopped him with hand traps.

Round 3: Versus Juan Manuel Z. with Sky Striker, Dice roll: L; Draw
Game 1: He played slow and managed his resources well to win
Game 2: I did more damage than him and we drew.

Round 4: Versus Edson Antonio R. with Altergeist, Dice roll: L; Win
I had Ash for his Pot of Extravagance all 3 games.
Game 1: I won don’t remember much about it.
Game 2: We go into grind game and Multifaker was enough to control me.
Game 3: After few turns he forced my rage, I pop a Waking the Dragon, he search his Extra Deck, then looked at his banished cards, looked through his Extra Deck again and Special Summoned a Hexia, after that turn, I did enough damage with Heatleo for game.

Round 5: Versus Jean Claude Valdivieso with Salamangreat, Dice roll: L; Win
We had tested together Friday night.
Game 1: I OTK him via Fusion of Fire.
Game 2: He let me go first and I take too much advantage from it, I resolved Sanctum and it was game.

Round 6: Versus Brian Nicolas with Salamangreat, Dice roll: L; Win
Game 1: I make a decent board and win from there.
Game 2: Win via Fusion of Fire.

Round 7: Versus Paulo Roberto Goncalves with Salamangreat, Dice roll: W; Lose
Game 1: We were in a grind game, I ‘compre gazelinha’ (drew gazelle) for game.
Game 2: I sadly bricked.
Game 3: After Paulo resolved two Desires he normal summoned Jack Jaguar went into Balelynx, searched field and did enough damage to win.

DAY 2

Round 8: Versus David Samuel R. with Salamangreat, Dice roll: L; Win
This match was decisive since I had to win to make into Top 64. I lost game 1, won game 2 and in game 3 he open the nuts. I baited his roar, Normal Summoned Falco he activated Sanctum and I negate it with ash. After that I gain control of the board and win that duel. After that I had a secure spot in the top cut.

Round 9: Versus Gustavo Alfonso M with Salamangreat, Dice roll: L; Lose
Game 1: He won, because of Avramax effect.
Game 2: I won.
Game 3: In the grind game I needed any Salamangreat monster to win, sadly I didn’t and lost the match, I was calm after losing since I was locked in.

TOP CUT:

Top 64: Versus Felipe B. with Sky Striker, Dice roll: W
Game 1: I won game one after him Evenly’d me.
Game 2: He let me go first, I drew the MVP of the match, Imperial Order. I won from there.

Top 32: Versus Carlos Perez with Dino Orcust, Dice roll: L
Game 1: He full combo me.
Game 2: I open a strong board plus hand traps.
Game 3: When time was about to be called, once again Heatleo’s effect stole the game.

Top 16: Versus Rafael Hernandez with Orcust, Dice roll: W
We had a deck check before the round.
Game 1: I full combo, win from there.
Game 2: Sadly my good friend Rafita bricks really bad, set one monster, pass.

Top 8: Versus Francisco Salas with Salamangreat, Dice roll: W
This might have been the hardest match of the day. I bricked all three games!
Game 2 & 3: I drew scythe in my opening hand, and both times my opponent destroyed it with Twin Twisters, and because of that I could win the match.

Top 4: Versus Arnold Nadaban with Orcust, Dice roll: L
Game 1: was too long. I barely stop his combo with one hand trap and after some turns of back and forth, Arnold had Longirsu + Dingirsu and 2400 life points left. I drew Will of the Salamangreat, Special Summoned a Stallio with it, made Wolf, bounced Dingirsu, then I use all my cards to make Borreload, steal Longirsu and attack for game.
Game 2: I drew 3 hand traps, Phantazmay and Circle. Phantazmay gave me a second Veiler and after that with no cards left Arnold passed.

Finals: Versus Nicolas Godoy with Orcust

So FINALS, just one more duel for the dream. Maybe at this point I should’ve been nervous but I wasn’t, I had no emotions I felt like a robot. In that room all of my friends that attended were rooting for me. I won the dice roll, so we shuffle each other decks and started to play.

Game 1: I started with the perfect hand. Strong board plus Abyss Dweller, two hand traps and an Infinite Impermanence set. My opponent can’t do much against that, so in my turn I OTK’d him.

As we started to side for game two, I saw Juan and Galo’s face; they looked like as if they were going to have a heart attack right then, I don’t know how they managed to drain all my emotions. I was thinking, just one more game, one single to finally reach my dream, we finish siding, shuffle each other decks and Godoy said: You go first. I was like, “me?”

I drew perfect again, 3 hand traps plus Foxy and Gazelle. So I make the standard board and pass. He starts playing and I resolve Lancea, I held my ash after some of his plays, he made a Galatea and with 2 cards left he activated Shaddoll Fusion which I negated with my Ash, he Special Summoned Dingirsu, activated Terraforming for Mine and passed. My board in that moment was Wolf, Phantazmay and Stallio.

I knew in that moment that I had game, so I made phoenix and tried to pop the mine, Dingirsu saved it. Then I discarded a Salamangreat card to Special Summon Foxy and pop the Mine. After that, I just Special Summoned as many monsters as I could and proceed to attack for game. I couldn’t describe how I felt until that moment. I went down, hugged Juan and Galo, seconds later I broke into tears.

Well those were all my rounds at the SAWCQ 2019. I ended up using every single card in my Main, Extra, and Side Deck. I truly believe that the deck discussions with my UG team members, testing and card choices made me feel that the Salamangreat was the right choice.

This journey wasn’t easy. Being a duelist requires a lot of time, effort, and sacrifice. I really love this game, it became part of my life a long time ago. I like lots of things about this children’s card game but what I like most is the opportunity to travel around the world, meet new people and create memories. There are also a lot of hilarious stories from each trip, 22 stories that we can’t share with everyone but that make this game magnificent.

It is hard to believe what just happened last weekend. It was the day when a dream came true and I’ll never forget it. I truly believe dreams are meant to be chased, so my advice is to keep fighting for your dreams even if they seem impossible, even if people think you are insane. If you want to achieve something you need to be patient and be willing to fail multiple times, because we learn from our mistakes, take courage from our failures.

Some people would think this championship is a one person achievement, but that is completely wrong. One essential part of this honor is all the people that encouraged and supported me to keep fighting for my dream.

And that is why I want to thank every single member of United Gosus, they are not just my team but my family. Thank you guys for the time you tested different decks with me, for all the card discussions, advice, and specially for the wild PDF that we got a few hours before the SAWCQ. It turned out to be like a bible and obviously deck building, I just have to mention these wonderful guys: Khang Pham, Julio Valls and Juan Sebastian Andrade for helping me with the deck and last but not least a big shout out again to Galo for giving me the spicy tech for the deck.

I also want to thank my family and friends who do not know a single thing about this game that I love but support me unconditionally because they know this is my passion. And finally special mentions to Fabricio Revelo and little Sophia thanks for lending me cards when I need them.

I would also like to congratulate Galileo de Obaldia and Michelle Verissimo for earning their spots for Worlds via playoffs, great job guys!

To conclude this report the last shout out to our sponsors Ultimate Guard and Owayo.