Alright. This tournament report, I guess, is going to be quite a lengthy one. It all started on the Thursday before the tournament’s host day – Saturday. I had been out of the game for a month now, which meant I hadn’t had any play-testing time; however, I still didn’t have a completed version of my deck – I knew what I wanted to play, and had all of the cards coming in, but at the time I didn’t have a deck of cards. I finally received all of my cards on the Thursday and was able to assemble my deck, but I had yet to test my deck out. I sleeved my deck, which meant my extra and side deck as well. I still had something important to do – I had to place cards in my binders. This obviously took an immense amount of time and this was reaching around 8pm the night. I was flying to Johannesburg (venue for Nationals) at around 7am the next morning, which meant I had to be at the airport at 6am. I finished packing my stuff at around 9pm and printed-out a couple of the decklist sheets. I was off to bed.
I woke up at around 4:15am the next morning to get some exercise in before I left for the airport. I got ready and finished packed the rest of my stuff and was off to the airport from my home at 5:30am. I got to the airport and checked-in and sat in the lounge for some time. I then boarded and was off to Johannesburg. I arrived in Johannesburg around 9am and was driven by my one friend to my hotel with my dad and my other friend (Props to the friend for driving me around Johannesburg!). I arrived at my hotel around 10:30am and I just dropped my stuff off and checked-in. We then went to go and fetch the rest of the group (excluding the Nationals 2010 champion) from the hotel where my friend whom drove me around stayed. We then went to mosque at around 12pm. We then went to lunch (J’s – the starters were average, but the “main” was good!) and we then headed back to my hotel room around 3pm to get some testing in. When we arrived at my hotel room, we had discovered that the 2010 National Champion was staying 2 doors away from me! He then joined us for the play-testing session.
The session, I must say, was actually not at all that eventful. I ended up losing my first two matches to my friend (props to him for making the top 16!) and then beating him in the next two matches. We called it a draw. He was playing Inzektors. I then played the mirror a few times and was able to win most of the time. I then played against my other friend (props to him for grabbing a spot in the top 16 – where he should’ve had top 8, but was “conned” out of the top
and he was playing Final Countdown. I managed to win majority of the games. I then played against my other friend whom drove me around and his Chaos Dragons proved too good – he beat me in two straight matches! I then finished writing-out my decklist while the rest of the group went back to their respective rooms and hotels. We then went down to the mall for supper and immediately came back. I had pizza and I bought my dad one too, where I kept some for lunch the next day, as I knew there was no place to travel to in order to get food at the venue. We then came back and barely play-tested and everyone just went back to their rooms and hotels to write down their decklists. My other friend, the 2007 National Champion (props to him for finishing 4th!) and I also wrote-out our decklists and I ended-up changing two Smashing Ground for two Soul Taker. We went off to bed.
The tournament day was upon us. We woke up at 6am and got done – showering and whatnot as well as making sure we had everything in our backpacks. I brought my pizza from the previous day along as well as a 1.5L bottle of water. We ate breakfast, where the 2010 National Champion joined us as well as his dad and when my other friend came to pick us up, he dropped his bag in my hotel room (not the Yu-Gi-Oh! bag) and we left for the venue. We arrived too early, but some of them hadn’t completed their decklists and the one whom was driving hadn’t decided on which deck he wanted to play yet – Chaos Dragons or Inzektors. The players from Durban also arrived shortly after and we conversed with them before the tournament organizer showed up. We entered the building and my friend made some great trades! Registration started and we were all ready – or so we had hoped. This is what “Team Cape Town” was playing:
Props must go to “Mo-Mo” who kept me entertained before the tournament with his remarks about my deck and me making remarks about his. He really tried to help my friend complete his deck! Thanks. Oh and his girl friend who also kept me entertained.
Muneer Cassiem (friend who was the designated driver) – Inzektors
Siddeeq Orrie (2010 National Champion) – Inzektors
Irshaad Parker (National First-Timer) – Inzektors
Yannick Yang (National First-Timer) – Final Countdown
Uqail Abrahams (2007 National Champion) – Inzektors
Mutaalib Gaffoor (Me – 2009 National Champion) – Dino Rabbit
The tournament started at 11am.
Round 1: Niven Singh - Chaos Dragon (9th place)
Game 1:
He won the die roll and got to go first. He set a monster and passed. I then summoned Rescue Rabbit
which got the Effect Veiler, but I still removed it from play. I then set a back row and passed. He flipped he set Ryko, which I activated Torrential Tribute on. He then summoned Lyla and Darkflare Dragon and when on the following turn I summoned Tour Guide and he once again used Effect Veiler, I knew I was in a bad position. It got even worse when I set 2 back row cards which got destroyed via Heavy Storm the next turn. Needless to say I lost the game.
Game 2:
I got to start this time around. I didn’t start as well as I would’ve liked – I summoned a Sabersaurus and a back-row and passed. He summoned Lyla on his next turn to which I used Bottomless Trap Hole on. On the following turn I normal summoned Kabazauls and got a Dolkka. He couldn’t really get any field presence. But then he summoned a Darkflare Dragon and attacked over my Dolkka. I then used Leviair next turn to use a Rabbit that had got the Effect Veiler earlier in the game and got a Gem-Knight Pearl. I then managed to ride that to a victory.
Game 3:
He got to start this game. He started by setting a monster and ended. I then set a Torrential and passed. He flipped his Ryko and I chained my Torrential. He then summoned Lyla. I then summoned Dolkka next turn and set a Macro Cosmos and a Bottomless Trap Hole. He couldn’t keep much presence and when I summoned Leviair and then Thunder King, and flipped my face-down Macro Cosmos up before attacking his face-down monster. He was in an almost top-decking situation. I ended-up taking the victory.
1-0
I went over to go and check how the rest of my teammates were doing and it was looking 50/50. Uqail, Yannick and I won our games, while Siddeeq got a bye. Irshaad and Muneer ended-up losing their opening matches.
Round 2: Corne Mouton – Six Samurai
Game 1:
He got to go first and ended his turn by setting two cards to his back row. I had a Rescue Rabbit but had no other monsters and knew he must’ve had a way to get rid of it. So I replicated his move by setting two back row cards. He then activated Six Samurai United and then Shien’s Smoke Signal searching out Spirit of the Six Samurai. He then summoned it to which I activated Solemn Warning. I then summoned the Kabazauls which I drew and attacked. He took it. He then didn’t get much going and I kept attacking with it for the win. I remember him attempting to summon a Kageki with another Six Samurai United activated but he lost soon after I destroyed it. He ended up getting 2 free draws
but they weren’t enough.
Game 2:
He didn’t start off that well. He summoned Kageki but I had the Effect Veiler to stop its effect. He then set a back row and passed. I then summoned summoned Sabersaurus and attacked over the Kageki after activating MST on his face-down. Nothing much happened in the next few moves. We were both almost down to top-decking. I remember myself having a Sangan to which he summoned a few monsters to only walk into a Torrential Tribute. Sangan got me a Rescue Rabbit. He then set a back row and ended. I summoned Thunder King and attacked. I had a Book of Moon set at the time. He then drew to two cards in-hand with a back row and I had a Book of Moon set with a Thunder King face-up and a Rescue Rabbit in-hand. He then summoned Mizuho and then Special Summoned Grandmaster. I chained Book of Moon to put Grandmaster face-down and he chained Cunning! He then summoned Kagemusha and Synchro Summoned to only have his Catastor negated by my Thunder King. I then summoned Rabbit next turn and brought-out Laggia. I won the match on my next turn.
2-0
I then went around checking how my friends were doing and this is how it was: Uqail was unbeaten; Yannick, Siddeeq and I were too, whereas Irshaad and Muneer registered their first wins.
Round 3: Krishen Govender – Inzektor (Becomes the National Champion)
Game 1:
He got to go first after winning the dice roll. He summoned Dragonfly and used Ladybug to get a Centipede and had an eventual field which consisted of: Tiras and 2 back-row cards. I then went and summoned a Rescue Rabbit which got turned down with Book of Moon and passed my turn. He managed to go into another rank 5 next turn and there was not much I could do.
Game 2:
I got to go first and summoned a Sabersaurus and 2 back-row cards. He then attempted to summon a Dragonfly and it got hit by Effect Veiler. On the following turn I activated MST on his only back-row card and summoned a Jurrac Guaiba and attacked over the Dragonfly. I won from there.
Game 3:
This was a really intense game. He got to go first and immediately opened into a Crimson Ninja and set a back-row. I activated MST on the back-row and summoned Rescue Rabbit to get two copies of Sabersaurus. This move which he did next shows why he deserves to be the champion: he then used the Ninja’s effect to detach a material and prevent it from being destroyed. I then set a card and went into Dolkka. He then attacked and I used Lance and he tried to use his Ninja’s effect and I negated it. I remember a few turns passing where I lost control after not being able to get more board presence and having used-up all of my materials from Dolkka. He then summoned Centipede and equipped the Hornet in his grave and I flipped my Macro. He then summoned Zenmaines on the following turn having got over my Dolkka somehow and he then had a field of a face-up Zenmaines and Hornet equipped to a Centipede. I then negated his Zenmaines’ effect and used my Guiaba to get over it and go into Laggia. He then top-decked MST and I used Laggia to negate and I won a few turns later!
3-0
I went to go and see how my teammates were doing and this is how it went: Uqail, Yannick and I were all 3-0, while Siddeeq and Irshaad were 2-1. Muneer was 1-2. It was the lunch break. I got my pizza from the car and I shared it with the rest of my teammates.
Round 4: Christopher Fritelli – Inzektor (1st after Swiss)
Game 1:
There actually is almost nothing to say about this game. He got to go first and summoned a rank 5 XYZ and this was my opening hand: 3 Kabazauls, 1 Jurrac Guaiba, 1 MST and something else. I put up a bit of a fight but it was to no avail.
Game 2:
Pretty much the same, except vice-versa. I opened into 5 trap cards and he had every monster to bait them out. I used two Torrential Tribute and a Solemn Warning before drawing my first monster. He then used Dragonfly to get rid of it and a back-row and I knew I was in a bad position, but I never gave up. He then summoned a Leviathan and Spirit Reaper. I summoned Rabbit and went into…didn’t matter. He had Dragonfly next turn again and I was down to top-decking.
3-1
I was a bit disappointed, because there was nothing I could’ve done. I went around to see how my teammates were doing: Uqail was 4-0, Yannick and I were 3-1, as well as Siddeeq and Irshaad. Muneer was 2-2.
Round 5: Irshaad Parker – Inzektor (Teammate)
Game 1:
He got to go first and ended his turn by setting two back-row cards. I then summoned a Kabazauls which got destroyed. I ended my turn by setting an MST. He then ended his next turn by setting a monster. I summoned the Rabbit after destroying his only set card with my MST and went into Dolkka. It went downhill for him then and there.
Game 2:
He opened-up by setting a monster and 2 back-row cards. I then used MST on his one before summoning a Laggia and attacked into a Snowman Eater. I then set Torrential and ended. He then used Dragonfly but I used Torrential and won after summoning another Rabbit a few turns later!
4-1
I went to go and check around once again and this is how it was: Uqail lost in time and was 4-1, as well as myself, while Yannick was 3-2 as well as Siddeeq and Irshaad. Muneer was 3-2 as well.
Round 6: Shawn le Roux – Chaos Dragon (Youngest player at the event – 13)
Game 1:
He went first and set a monster and ended. I then summoned Rabbit and went into Dollkka. I attacked over the Ryko and negated it. Set a back-row and passed. He then summoned Darkflare a few turns later and attacked over my used Dolkka. I then summoned Gem-Knight Pearl and with a Solemn Warning and Bottomless set I was confident. He summoned a Lyla to only have it got met by a Bottomless and the Darkflare got hit by a Warning.
Game 2:
He set a monster and ended. I summoned Kabazauls and destroyed his face-down Ryko. I then set Solemn Warning. He activated Future Fusion and I activated Solemn Warning. He then set another monster and passed. I then summoned Guiaba and attacked over Ryko to fetch another one. I set 2 cards and passed. He summoned a Lightpulsar to only get it destroyed and set another card. I then summoned another Kabazauls and went into Dolkka and flipped my set Cosmos and attacked over Sangan. I won from there.
5-1
I then went around once again seeing this: Uqail also 5-1, Yannick was 4-2, Siddeeq was 4-2, Irshaad was 3-3, and Muneer was also 3-3.
Round 7: Hung Yu Chang – Inzektor
Game 1:
He set a monster and ended. I summoned Dolkka and won.
Game 2:
He did the same thing and so did I.
6-1
Standings after Swiss:
Christoper Fritelli – 6-1 (Inzektor)
Mutaalib Gaffoor – 6-1 (Dino Rabbit) (Me)
Uqail Abrahams – 6-1 (Inzektor)
Krishen Govender – 5-2 (Inzektor)
Rishay Dhanraj – 5-2 (Dino Rabbit)
Matthew Markgraaff – 5-2 (Dark World)
Jivesh Dhanraj – 5-2 (Chaos Dragon)
Treven Govender – 5-2 (Hieratics)
Top 8: Jivesh Dhanraj – Chaos Dragon (2nd eventually)
Game 1:
I summoned Laggia and passed. Next turn I summoned Sabersaurus and then the following turn was a Dolkka.
Game 2:
I opened into 5 traps and a Kabazauls. He had a decree. I put up a fight but couldn’t do enough without my traps. No MST in site, or a Soul Taker.
Game 3:
Exactly the same as game 2. He opened into a decree and I opened into five traps.
Overall I had a really great time, even though I never managed to take the victory. I would like to say congrats to Yannick Yang and Irshaad Parker for placing in the top 16 in their first Nationals. I would also like to congratulate my other teammate – Uqail Abrahams for coming 4th. I would like to say a very well done to the winner – Krishen Govender who is honestly the nicest player I have ever met.
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