OFFICIAL TOURNAMENT REPORT.....and now, for my favorite part of hosting a tournament.....THE OFFICIAL REPORT! Fun time!
(insert obvious sarcasm here)
All kidding aside, though, the tournament has a pretty decent turnout.
51 duelists were in attendance, a one-up from the 40 we had last year in October.
Believe it or not, we had some first-time duelists who had never competed in a tournament making their first appearance there. Well, who was
I to turn them away, eh? If they wanted to see what the tournament scene was like, what better place than the Duelist Kingdom Championships?
Anyhoo. Before I start beaning you guys senseless with cheap product placement here, let's go on with the report.
The tournament kicked off at 12:30 (an hour later than advertised, due to some duelists and the food arriving a bit late), and, as is the tradition in the Duelist Kingdom Championships, we started off with the Special Challenge Round Robin tournament. Basically, each round in the round robin tournament had some special task for duelists to accomplish, their prize being a Shadow of Infinity Booster Pack. Here are the results for that:
SPECIAL CHALLENGE RESULTS:ROUND ONE: FASTEST VICTORYWinner: Sean AlexanderBasically, this challenge was just as it says. Whoever netted the fastest victory before everybody else wins this challenge, and Sean pulled it off, once again (in the last tournament, this challenge was set and also won by him.) Not as quick as the last time he won, but he did, all the same.
ROUND TWO: STARVATIONObjective: Whittle down your opponent's deck the lowest when you win a match. An overall victory by deck-out instantly wins this challenge.Winner: Chris Deolall (4 cards remaining in opponent's deck)
People were really curious as to what the heck I meant when I wrote 'Starvation' as the theme of the next challenge. To sum it up, 'Starvation' tests duelists to see just how badly they can whittle down their opponent's decks when they win their match. Of course, Total Starvation would instantly win this challenge (that is, completely running your opponent out of cards to win your match.) We had a false alarm when we believed somebody won by total starvation, only to find out that it was one round he won. Apologies to that person. Chris Deolall damaged his opponent the most by dropping him down to 4 cards, and that was all she wrote.
ROUND THREE: ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT JINZO!!!Objective: Win your match by having the most powerful monster (in terms of ATK) on the field at the time of victory.Winner: Aaron Byron (Cyber End Dragon, 8000 ATK due to Power Bond's effect)...and people started to think I went absolutely nuts when I announced this one. Even more so when I started to draw a big 100-foot Jinzo attacking Tokyo on the whiteboard. Anyhoo.......
Basically, when people won their matches, they had to do it with the baddest monster they could pull it off with, one with the highest attack they could muster. End of Anubis (2500), Injection Fairy Lilys (3400 and 4400, respectively) and Horus LV8 (3000) all vied for the prize, but Aaron just layed the smackdown on all of their behinds by whipping out a Cyber End Dragon with Power Bond. Did I mention that this was with three Cyber Dragons and a Proto-Cyber Dragon helping him on his side? Just.....YIKES.
ROUND FOUR: CROCODILE HUNTER!Objective: Remove the biggest monster (in terms of ATK) from your opponent from play.Winner: Sean Alexander (Dark Magician of Chaos, 2800 ATK)
The Crocodile Hunter challenge was back and in full swing (fortunately, sans the God-awful Steve Irwin impression this time), and people were sent to nab the biggest cro-er.....
monster and put it out of play. This one should have been quite interesting, seeing as how Crossout and the D.D. cards were commonly played. Sean Alexander won this challenge by using Book of Life on a Dark Magician of Chaos, netting a 2800 ATK behemoth and winning the challenge. Crikey. Am I getting a sense of deja vu here?
ROUND FIVE: THE A-TEAM CHALLENGE!Objective: 1) Win a round WITHOUT a single Trap in your Graveyard, OR; 2) Win your match with the LEAST number of Trap Cards in your Graveyard.
WINNER: Joel Gayah (0 Traps)
I pity tha foo' who don't dial 1-800-COLLECT!
...er, whoops. Wrong A-Team. Sorry.
Anyway, this ended remarkably FAST.
No sooner did we issue this challenge when Joel beat his opponent without as much as a single Trap used, even besting Sean Alexander's time when he won the 'Fastest Victory' prize! Wow. Basically, just like the card 'A-Team Trap Disposal Unit', we wanted to test how well duelists could fare without Trap cards. Well, seeing as how Joel won so quickly, I guess they'd fare okay.
Unfortunately, this round started a bit late, due to some technical difficulties (and some seriously BAD technical difficulties, to boot). Thankfully, SPK got everything running a-okay to continue with the tournament.
So, when the dust cleared, there were only 8 people left standing, all of whom received prizes for them reaching this far:
- Sean Alexander
- Ravi Ramdial
- Cliff John
- Shurland James
- Akil Jones
- Kafele Greene
- Chris Deolall
- Joel Gayah
As SPK noted, this was probably the first time, amidst ALL the speculation, that the UWI faction has made such a presence in the finals in the tournament, with 3 of those finalists being from that group. Their presence would be felt even stronger, once the semi-finals rolled around, with top contenders such as Sean Alexander, Akil Jones and Cliff John knocked out of the semis, and two previously unheard of contestants making it to the top! this caught most by sheer surprise, as the tournament became one for the underdogs, prompting some cheer from the crowd, glad to see some fresh faces step up to the plate.
SEMI- FINALISTS- Ravi Ramdial
- Shurland James
- Kafele Greene
- Chris DeolallRavi was proud to represent the UWI faction, as he raised his hands in triumph and shouted 'UWI-OH making it to the finals!!' to which he received thunderous praise from the crowd. Shurland was also impressive as well, as this was his first time making it so far in a tournament. Fate, however, would decide that only one of them could make it to the top, as they were paired against each other in the Semis. Everybody in the semis fought with both calculated thought and savage brutality, resulting in the finals, which would pit :
FINALS- Ravi Ramdial vs. Kafele GreeneThis one was just tense. Both of these duelists studied each other's moves as they played, playing with the careful precision and ruthless agression that got them this far. In the end, Kafele's back cards could not save him when the time came, as he saw monster after monster smashed by Ravi's Spell Cards such as Nobleman of Crossout and Smashing Ground. In the end, Ravi Ramdial, a previous underdog in the tournament rankings, had become the Duelist Kingdom Championships 2006's new KING OF GAMES!
For his troubles, he netted the grand prize of $500.00 and a Vorse Raider tin (the prize structure changed at the last minute to accomodate even MORE prizes.) However, he had to face one more challenge:
TOURNAMENT MASTER MATCH:Ravi Ramdial vs. Ryan RodriguezPRIZE: ONE RISE OF DESTINY BOOSTER BOX.....me. This time around, I made sure that my beloved Toons put on a show for all to see, with my favorites Toon Gemini Elf, Toon Cannon Soldier and Toon Goblin Attack Force all making an appearance on the field, prompting Ravi to consider his moves carefully, especially since, mixed up with those, were some troublesome cards like Gear Golem the Moving Fortress and Cyber Dragon tossed into the fray. Ravi turned the tables on me in the first round by using Spirit Reaper and knocking my Gear Golems and Cyber Dragons out of existence, but I came back in the second round with a Toon Gemini Elf beatdown when I drew Toon Table of Contents to get Toon World, just the card I needed to nax that damn Spirit Reaper and his damn defense. Wow. Did THAT catch him by surprise, eh? By the third round, we had whittled each other to his 1700 LP to my 400 LP. I drew Snatch Steal as my only card against a Pyramid Turtle, Injection Fairy Lily, Spirit Reaper and an unknown face down monster. With no other choice, I took his Turtle, only to be negated by a set Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying my only chance at defense and winning Ravi his well-deserved Booster Box and the respect of duelists everywhere in attendance. Well done, my friend.
Now, during the course of the tournament, I also gave away Door Prizes. Here's a breakdown of what was offered, and why:
DOOR PRIZES:- Sean Alexander (for being the 1st to register and the longest lasting duelist out of those who lost in the Quarter Finals, won a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon and a Chazz Princeton Booster Package)
- Matthew Gittens (won the Ultimate Dragon Draw for a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon)
- Jason Regalado (won the 'Get the Green X!' Pot Luck Draw for a Jaden Yuki Booster Package)
- Chris Deolall (for being the longest lasting duelist out of those who lost in the semi finals, won a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon)
We also had a BEST OF SHOW PRIZE, which was awarded to the duelist who showed the true spirit of Yu-Gi-Oh!, as voted by myself and SPK. The winner was:
- Sean Alexander.
After all, in every tournament he has been in, he has never once failed to put a smile on our faces with his own unique style of dueling and sassing his opponents, showing a level of confidence and bravado shown only by a few. Well done.
SUMMARYOverall, the tournament was a success, netting a whole lot less cons than the last. In a nutshell:
PROS:
- Bigger turnout than the last tournament;
- Seeing some fresh, new faces entering the dueling scene for the first time;
- Finally having some food on site for the tournament;
- No incidence of theives whatsoever;
- Everybody went home happy;
- ...especially me. I got a holo- Toon Table of Contents, some money in my pocket, and inspiration to start working on the next Championships!
CONS:
- Tournament was a bit delayed, starting an hour later than scheduled.
- Despite being told otherwise, some unregistered people tried to sneak in. Fortunately, we managed to get them out, but just how in the heck did they get in the second time? Bleargh. Whatever. At least no damage was done.
- Well over half of the people I invited didn't show up, owing to exams (which is why I'm considering August as the month for the next tournament in 2007) and other reasons. Then again, I accounted for those people not coming, and I actually expected a few people to no-show the event. Well, next time.
- The sheer stress and the bottles of Aspirin you have to go through to run a tournament like this. I mean.....GEEZ.
Well, guys, thanks to you once again, the Duelist Kingdom Championships 2006 was a success, and we thank you all for coming. Stay tuned for the next installment of the Duelist Kingdom Championships, which will take place in 2007!
Better come prepared........
