"This is it," thought Reisa, surveying the field before her. "I'm going to win!" On her side of the field, Bujin Susanowo stood as a formidable obstacle well protected with the Bujingi Turtles and Bujingi Hares in her graveyard, along with the Bujingi Crane in her hand. No matter which of the four Dragon Rulers her opponent summoned back from the graveyard, they weren't going to be able to run over her ultimate monster.
Or so she thought. Her opponent banished Debris Dragon and Dandylion from their Graveyard to Special Summon Redox, Dragon Ruler of Boulders from their graveyard. They then normal summoned Flamvell Guard.
"Oh please no-"
Her opponent then used the two monsters to Synchro Summon Colossal Fighter, one of the few monsters Bujins actually had to fear. It was a 2800+ ATK monster that could Special Summon any Warrior-Type monster from its controller's graveyard when it was destroyed by battle – including itself. It was currently sitting at 2900 ATK due to the Crimson Blader her opponent already had in their graveyard.
Reisa stared forlornly at her lone card in hand, Bujingi Crane. She wouldn't be able to do enough damage with it to wipe out her opponent's 2000 LP, and as she was only sitting at 500 LP herself the game was as good as over. She conceded.
"…And that's the wrap," the commentator declared. "Glade will advance to top 16!" Reisa quickly exchanged a handshake and a dialogue of "good game" with the victor before making her way out of the building.
"I was so close…" she thought fighting back tears. Reisa had been trying to make a name for herself in the competitive Yugioh scene for awhile now. The Yugioh playerbase as a whole was actually fractured into three distinct groups. There were those that played "Modern Yugioh" a format that contained ever increasing new Archtypes such as Performapal and Nekroz and Kozmo. The people who preferred this format loved that the meta game always continued to change and new cards always continued to be released. Those against this format said the cost of staying competitive was too high, and as more broken (a term used among players to mean "unbalanced") cards continued to be released, the game as a whole suffered as it became "play the newest 3-4 decks or lose".
One of the other major three formats was Goat Format. This brought the game back very close to its origins with a 2005 cardpool, and was the easiest format for players new to the game to start with as Synchros, Xys, and Pendulums didn't exist then and card effects in general were much simpler. Opponents of the format argued it had too many unbalanced cards around such as Delinquent Duo, Graceful Charity, and Metamorphosis and that the format in general was too slow. While Modern Yugioh could certainly be too fast paced for many players, not everyone thought the game had to be taken as far back as Goat Format to fix it.
This lead to the final division between the two formats, which used a 2014 cardpool. It was known as HAT format, named after the Hands, Traptrix, Artifact deck (HAT for short) that was at its peak during this time. While HAT was certainly a strong Meta deck, it was far from being one of the only decks that could compete. HAT format was the most diverse in the game's history, where 30 decks if not more where all able to compete on relatively equal ground. Examples of decks found in the format included HAT, Geargia, Mermails, Fire Fist, Infernity, Bujins, Dragon Rulers, Madolche, Prophecy, Evilswarm, Harpies, Sylvan, Hieratic…there were simply too many to list. It was truly a Golden Age of Yugioh, at least in Reisa's opinion. Opponents of the format argued that having so many meta decks made it too hard to side properly, thus lowering skill due to unforeseen bad matchups. Reisa thought this actually increased skill as you had to build your deck to be able to combat as wide a variety of decks as possible, but to each their own. She wouldn't be able to convince them, but HAT was the format she had chosen to pursue nonetheless, and she'd been giving it everything she had.
But it just didn't seem to be enough. She'd always get so close to topping events and earning an invite, but she never quite seemed to make it there. It was frustrating, and she wasn't quite sure how to fix it. Once she arrived back at her apartment she booted up her computer and went to the HAT forums site. Quickly locating the Bujin Discussion Thread, she made a post. I'm having a hard time beating Rulers. Anyone got any tips? The Bujin community was an openly helpful one, and she was sure it wouldn't take more than a few minutes for replies to come flooding in. She decided to fix herself a sandwich while she waited, as she really hadn't had time to eat properly during the regional. Fifteen minutes and two PB&Js later found her browsing the replies to her inquiry.
Drax: I hate Rulers too, I can't believe they weren't just banned outright. I call them Drulers cause it's an abbreviation that sums up my opinion on them. XD
Teddy: What variant are you facing? Plant Rulers, Mythic Rulers, Lightsworn Rulers…? It's hard to help without knowing which one. Though Royal Prison works decently against most of them.
Arvin: It's probably because you're bad and your deck sucks. "Drulers" are an easy matchup.
The last comment came from Arvin. Though he was certainly a talented player that came up with many successful innovations, his attitude left a lot to be desired. Unfortunately he was considered the chief "Bujin Authority" for his vast experience with the deck, and so any venture into the Bujin Discussion Thread was likely to be met with a post from him. And if he didn't think you were up to his skill standards, his posts could be quite rude. Choosing to ignore Arvin, she instead responded to Teddy. I think it was most likely Plant Rulers as they were playing Dandylion. But thanks for the advice, I'll give siding Royal Prison a try.
Her immediate business settled, Reisa decided to browse the team recruitment pages. Teams were groups of people that participate in wars and other events together. The "3v3" was one of the more common events teams participated in. Each team entered with 3 players and assigned them a letter, either "A" "B" or "C". You would play against the player on the other team with the same letter as you. Once all games were concluded, the team that had more wins was declared the victor. Some 3v3 events even opted to share the banlist between all players (only 1 of any limited card per team, etc.) making it even more of an exciting challenge. Most of the top teams even had Team Houses, a living space shared between team members so you could practice and talk theory-oh (yugioh theory) together almost 24/7 thus improving yourself to be even better. To Reisa it sounded like a dream come true, and though not everyone shared her opinion, most people would be willing to move to a team house if it meant getting on a top team such as Crown4.
Originally teams had no limit on the number of members they could contain, but this lead to the top teams recruiting all the best players as "benchwarmers" just so they could make sure their main roster wouldn't have to face them. The other teams were complaining there was no one good left to recruit, and some benchwarmers expressed discontent at being recruited but never being allowed to compete. This lead to the eight person team maximum rule being implemented to allow a wider variety of skilled teams. The downside is it meant the top teams were almost never recruiting as their rosters were always full.
Sure enough Crown4, Eliminators, Knights of Old, and Banishment all had their recruitment pages closed. There were a few mid-level teams recruiting such as Lucky Day and Ace of Spades, but Reisa doubted they would even be interested in testing her with her poor performance record. She probably could get on a low level team such as $Ching$ but she promised herself she would keep trying until she was good enough for mid-level. Sadly, it looked like that was going to be awhile.
With nothing else left to do, she went to YGO Online and decided to get in a few games before bed. The practice could only help her, and maybe it would clear her mind of the crushing defeat she'd suffered earlier.
"Attack with Shi En for game." And that sealed the round 1 win for Reisa's locals. She had decided to bring out her Six Samurai deck to give her mind a break from her Bujins. So far it seemed to be working. Locals usually didn't offer that much in the way of prize support anyway so it wasn't like she'd be missing out on much if she scrubbed ("scrubbed" meaning placing poorly enough to not earn anything for her efforts). She reported the score and found her next opponent. As she won the dice roll, she got to go first.
Reisa normal summoned Kagemusha of the Six Samurai and used Asceticism of the Six Samurai to Special Summon Elder of the Six Samurai from her deck. She then Synchroed them into Naturia Beast and ended her turn. Her opponent set a bunch of backrow (spell and/or trap cards) and passed. Reisa drew Six Samurai United and activated it. She then Normal Summoned Legendary Six Samurai – Kageki and used its effect, and her opponent responded by chaining most of their backrow. "Chain Burn. This is going to be over quick." Reisa negated the Chain Strike with Naturia Beast, and Syncho Summoned Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En with Kageki and Kagemusha which she had Special Summoned with its effect. She won shortly thereafter.
Game 2 was a bit more difficult. She was having extreme difficulty getting the combo pieces she needed to make a Synchro, and her opponent burned her Life Points all the way down to 1200. Eventually she was able to get Shi En, but her opponent kept stopping her attacks with cards like Threating Roar and Thunder of Ruler. Not wanting to risk allowing her opponent the change to do anymore burn damage, Reisa let them through. She was eventually able to summon Legenday Six Samurai – Mizuho and begin popping (destroying) her opponent's backrow with it, but then they switched to using Battle Faders and Swit Scarecrows instead. But they inevitably ran out, and Reisa claimed victory over the match.
Round 3 had her facing an opponent wearing sunglasses. She thought it quite odd at first as they were in a shaded building, but quickly found her inability to gauge his facial expressions unnerving as she was sure she must seem like on open book. Reisa went first and summoned Kageki, but her opponent responded with Effect Veiler, leaving her unable to make a Synchro. She set two backrow and passed. Her opponent activated Fire Formation – Tenki but she chained MST (Mystical Space Typhoon) to it, preventing the search. They then Normal Summoned Bujin Mikazuchi. Bujins. Wasn't expecting that. This is going to be interesting…. They attempted to attack Kageki, but Reisa activated Mirror Force, destroying their monster. They set one card and passed.
Resia drew and looked at her hand which contained Kizan, Kagemusha, Mizuho, and Asceticism. She thought for a moment and realized she had the ability to OTK (one turn kill) though her opponent's facedown card did worry her. Eventually she decided to simply go for it. If it was anything but Mirror Force or Torrential Tribute, she should be fine. If not, onto the next game. She Special Summoned Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan with his effect and used Asceticism of the Six Samurai to bring out The Six Samurai – Zanji. She then Normal Summoned Legendary Six Samurai – Mizuho. She direct attacked with her four monsters, dealing 7200 points of damge to her opponent's Life Points. In her MP2 (Main Phase 2) she overlayed Kizan and Zanji for a Defense Position Gagaga Cowboy and used its effect to finish the game.
Game 2 went much worse. Her opponent started by using Fire Formation – Tenki to fetch Bujin Yamato and Pot of Duality to grab Royal Decree. As Reisa had opened with many of her side cards for Bujins (Light-Imprisoning Mirror, DNA Surgery, Soul Drain) the Royal Decree did not bode well for her. Her opponent ended by using Yamato's effect to pitch Bujingi Hare for Bujingi Crane. Try as she might Reisa was not able to out the Royal Decree, and her dead side cards weighed her down. She quickly lost game 2.
Game 3 Reisa made a first turn Naturia Beast and set Light-Imprisoning Mirror, Macro Cosmos, and Mystical Space Typhoon. Her opponent set a monster and 4 backrow and passed. Should I attack? He has an awful lot of facedowns…what if it's a trap? She thought for a moment, but remembering the bluff set in the first game and how her opponent sided into Royal Decree in the second game, she found it unlikely that they would have any real traps to worry about. She attacked his set monster with Naturia Beast, and he moved the destroyed Bujingi Turtle to the graveyard. Deciding it was safe, Reisa went Kageki into Kagemusha into Shi En in her MP2. Her opponent wasn't able to do much of anything on his turn, and it wasn't long before Reisa claimed the win.
That put her into round 4, otherwise known as the finals. Reisa went first. This hand…it's awful. She summoned Legendary Six Samurai – Shinai in attack mode and set Bottomless Trap Hole before passing. Her opponent used Dragged Down into the grave to discard her Six Samurai United. She was left to choose between a hand full of Darkworlds. This isn't going to end well… Sure enough it didn't take long before her opponent was able to pitch Grapha to destroy her set Bottomless . Add that to the advantage they kept accumulating with Reckleess Greeds and their field spell, and Reisa went down quick.
Game 2 Reisa opened the best she had the whole tournament: double United, Elder, Grandmaster, Ascetisim, and MST. She activated both Uniteds, summoned Elder, Used Ascetisism to summon Kagemusha, and drew 4 cards off the Uniteds: 2 Kizans, a Compulsorary Evacuation Device, and Ascetisism. She played Grandmaster of the Six Samurai, made Naturai Beast, Special Summoned both Kizans, and set all her backrow so she had no hand to drag down or mind crush. She passed and her opponent tried to resolve 2 dark world dealings on their turn but Naturai Beast stoped both of them. They couldn't do much except set a monster and pass and on her turn she draw Kagemusha. Reisa overlayed her two Kizans for Gem Knight Pearl, summoned Kagemusha and used Asceticism to get Elder and make Shi En. She dealt massive damage and her opponent scooped after drawing for turn.
This is it. This last game decided the winner of this tournament. Her opponent went first and summoned Zure, Knight of Darkworld and set four backrow. Reisa looked at her hand of two Kagemusha, Grandmaster, Double-Edged and two MST and decided she really only had one option. She normaled Kagemusha, specialed Grandmaster, and Synchroed into Blackrose Dragon and used its effect. Her opponent chained Skill Drain, she chained MST to it, and they chained reckless greed. After it was all said and done, her opponent was left with three cards in hand and wouldn't be able to draw for the next two turns. Reisa sether other MST and Double-Edged and passed. Her opponent played The Gates of Dark World but she sniped it with her set MST. They summoned Snoww, attacked with it, and ended their turn. Reisa drew into Legenday Six Samurai – Kizan. She summoned Kagemusha, specialed Kizan, and Synchroed then into Naturia Barkion. Barkion destroyed Snoww, dealing 800 damage and she passed. Her opponent couldn't draw as they were still locked under Reckless, so they passed without doing anything. Reisa drew and summoned Hand of the Six Samurai and flipped double ended sword technique special summoning Kizan and Grandmaster. She attacked with all her monsters for game.
Reisa collected her prize packs of Legacy of the Valiant and made her way to a burger joint for dinner. She opened her packs while waiting for her food to arrive. Most of them contained nothing special, but one held a Number 101: Silent Honor ARK which caused her to let out a loud "YESSS!" which caused the workers to stare at her strangely, but she didn't even notice. Number 101 was a $50 card after all, and getting it this way saved her from having to buy it herself. She put it with her deck so there would be zero chance of ruining it with ketchup, and thanked the server as they brought her meal. By the time she finished and arrived back home, it was after midnight.
Reisa browsed through the comments on the tournament report she had written. There were several that read good job or congratulations and even one from the resident troll Wrecker telling her "Locals don't count and yours sucks anyway if it's full of Dark World and Chain Burn." She promptly reported that one. Though there was a comment from Terry that caught her eye:
Teddy: Great job Reisa! Though you forgot to mention what variation of HAT format this tournament was though. I'm guessing it was pre-HAT format, right?
HAT and Goat format, both had what was known as 'variations' or different parts of the same overall format. Goat format had Exarion-Goat, pre-Exarion-Goat, and Cyber Dragon Goat for example. Reisa normally didn't pay that much attention to Goat format, but she thought Exarion-Goat was the most popular of the three as most players seemed to like playing with Exarion Universe legal (not available in pre-Exarion-Goat) but didn't want to play with Cyber Dragons running around (which were legal in Cyber Dragon Goat).
While Goat format variations were named after cards, HAT format variations mostly followed banlists. Pre-HAT, April Hat, and July HAT were the main three HAT variations to choose from. April HAT was the most popular HAT format, named after the April 2014 banlist. In April HAT format all cards from Primal Origin and earlier were legal and the rule changes to allow each player to control their own field spell and having the first player not draw a card during their draw phase hadn't been implemented yet. Pre-HAT format also used the April 2014 banlist, but cards before Dragons of Legend were legal. Pre-HAT format is called such because HAT wasn't a deck at this time, as the Artifact part of the deck wasn't released until Primal Origins. Having Dragons of Legend banned also meant that Soul Charge wasn't legal for this format, which is a main reason why some people preferred pre-HAT format as Soul Charge is clearly the most busted (unfair) card in the other two variations.
The last variation is July HAT, which used the July 2014 banlist and introduced the double field spell and first turn draw rule changes. In July HAT, all cards released before Duelist Alliance are legal. Though the Realm of Light structure and Time Space Showdown decks were technically released at the very end of the April format, they are only considered legal for the July format as they would have only been legal for a very short time in the April format (3 days in the Space Time case). The July variation also had errata to Bujingi Turtle allowing it not to work in the Damage Step (and thus not being able to stop Fire Hand) much to Reisa's dismay. Each variation had its pros and cons, making it difficult for Reisa to choose a favorite.
She responded to Teddy's inquiry. Yeah it was pre-HAT. I'll edit that into the OP, thanks for pointing it out. She briefly scanned the rest of the comments to see if there was anything of note. Her eyes caught on a post by a user named Nova.
Nova: Sounds like you did pretty good. I'm forming a team known as Syndicate, would you be interested in joining? The link is in my sig.
Reisa clicked the link. The team only had a few members at the moment. She checked their YGO Online profiles and found they did have positive win loss ratios, if only barley. Not that her own ratio was any better. After giving it some though Reisa decided to fill out the team application. They didn't have a team house or anything, so she wouldn't have to worry about that either. After all, what did she have to lose?