The World Championships Experience
16 Jan 2010 | Alex Antonios
The World Championships Experience
How much motivation do I seriously need to take a free $2000 trip to the most prestige gaming event in Yu-Gi-Oh…?
To start this article off I want to get you all into my frame of mind before leaving for Japan. Firstly, I hadn’t picked up a deck after nationals, which was over 8 weeks prior to worlds… in fact I had played in 2 events this entire year. Secondly, I had no interest in travelling 10 hours to get to Japan for the purpose of playing in a 24 man event. Thirdly, staying in a hotel with players which I assume would be a bunch of egotistic douche bags isn’t really my thing. Fourthly, I would be missing an important week of University, forfeiting a lot of mandatory work affecting my overall grade and the jerks wouldn’t let me do make-up exams. And lastly, how was I expected to do well with zero testing? It’s not logical to just think you’re better than someone else if you haven’t prepared for an event that they have spent extensive hours testing for. Oh and also, just between you and me, I didn’t want to finish in any position other than first, and with no testing, in an untouched format (The world championships banlist) it was just not logical to expect.
So in this frame of mind I was very close to just not going, honestly I had actually decided a few times just not to go and was changing my mind frequently. But in the end, with the encouragement of a few idiots ‘Its worlds, everyone will be bad, if you don’t win you’re trash’ – I’m sure it won’t be hard for any Sydney players to guess who this was, and from others the typical ‘Its free, 5 star accommodation!’ ‘A free trip overseas’ or even ‘what type of idiot turns down a free $2000 trip’ – the word ‘free’ turned into an insult every time I heard it for about 2 months. Oh and knowing that Chris (The New Zealand National Champion) was going was kind of encouraging, I had met him before and I knew him to be a great guy… who would have done testing!
Thursday 6th August 2009
A hasty drive to the airport saw me walking in the doors and seeing Chris Gehring promptly early and waiting, seated in plain sight.
AJ: Hey man, did you wait for me long?
Chris: Te he he he, no looks away and blushes I just got here.
AJs thoughts: WTF is this
AJ: Ahhh ok – lets go get our tickets
Chris: Te he he he, ok.
The above conversation may or may not have happened.
But basically for the duration of our 2 hour waiting period at the airport, our 10 hour travel time on the plane, our 40 minute wait in Japans larger than life airport, and the 2 hour bus ride to the hotel I was gradually brought up to date by Chris and what his ideas of the format were, we did some testing, bounced ideas around and talked about Worlds in general.
Upon arriving at the hotel we met the Americans – and my first impression of them was me wanting to throw up, the smell was assaulting my ability to think straight. It wasn’t until the next day that I found out that Roy St. Clair (The more outgoing/ funny of the four American reps) had a run-in with a young baby on the plane, resulting in Roy’s loss as the child threw up all over him – that’s what that smell was! – I’m not joking; a kid threw up on him. We also met a range of officials for the event, had photos taken, exchanged some conversations with a few people, and then ultimately escaped to our rooms. Chris and I ended up roomed next to each other so did a little more testing, and then died of exhaustion – we had an early morning as sightseeing was tomorrow.
Friday 7th of August
This was one long day of sightseeing – all competitors, other than the Japanese, were forced to go. It was enjoyable in its own way, but I wouldn’t say it was fun. We did some tasting of food, had some attempts at Japanese traditions, took lots of photos, and talked more about deck choices. At this point I’d like to inform you that there were only 3 choices we were really discussing; Cat Syncro, Gladiator Beasts (GB) and Blackwing – that was the entire Meta (Or should have been anyway, no other deck was tier one).
Toward the end of the day Chris and I ended up mixing with three other competitors, Esteban (South American Champ), Eduard (2nd at Euro Champs), and Rodrigo (DS Spanish Champ). We ended up hanging around them for the remainder of the trip; they turned out to be an asset to the World Championships experience.
For the next part of my article I’m going to steal the words of Chris Gehring, as I couldn’t say it better myself;
“Once our tour was over we went back to the Hotel and were told our decklists were due within thirty minutes… Wow, that was bad news for AJ and me. We didn’t have anything made up. AJ was favoring Blackwing, and I was going to use GB or Necro Cat. AJ realized that GB was the best meta call as it’s the “safe” deck. We make up a random GB deck and tested 6 games vs BW to which it just dominated. Tak, from Konami called my room saying we had to hurry up and that we were the last to hand in our lists. This was two hours after the supposed thirty minutes we had. We were still writing our list while going down the elevator. As we were looking over it we had 17 monsters, the 17th being Secutor. We both agreed that was too much and cut the Secutor. During our six games of testing, the first two I drew it opening hand and got so mad I threw it against the wall….”
I must add to this that every time Chris drew a Secutor in testing he actually threw it against a wall and conceded the game! The sight of the card put him on tilt; he reacted as if he was traumatized by the card. I recall asking him about it at some point, I believe his response was ‘the card is garbage aye, stupid donkey GB, honestly if I draw the card one more time I’m gonna rip it aye’. – This was said in a thick New Zealand accent, I almost died of laughter.
After handing in our deck lists we had a run-in with the German champion Vittorio Wiktor in the elevator. If there was a person with a bad reputation at this event it was him; cheating, bad sportsmanship, an ego above that of human capacity – the guy just had it all going for him. He opted to open the conversation describing how good he was, proceeding to tell us how our nationals were very small, and then continuing on to mention all his victories in Germany. Chris and I decided to play conservatively, I was attempting not burst out laughing almost in vain, as he was talking a smile was twitching at the corners of my mouth, but he was too absorbed in himself to notice. After he and his 2 travelling companions left the elevator I distinctly remember bursting out laughing, Chris joined in and we headed to our room. If there was one person I really wanted to play, it was now him.
Our Decklist
Decklist:
MONSTERS: 16
2 Test Tiger
2 Rescue Cat
2 X – Saber Airbellum
2 Gladiator Beast Laquari
2 Gladiator Beast Samnite
1 Gladiator Beast Bestiari
1 Gladiator Beast Murmillo
1 Gladiator Beast Darius
1 Gladiator Beast Equeste
1 Sangan
1 Summoner Monk
SPELLS: 11
3 Book of Moon
2 Gladiators Proving Ground
1 Smashing Ground
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Brain Control
1 Giant Trunade
TRAPS: 13
3 Solemn Judgment
3 Waboku
3 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Dimensional Prison
SIDE-DECK: 15
3 King Tiger Wanghu
3 Mind Control
2 Dust Tornado
2 Cold Wave
2 Gladiator Beast War Chariot
1 Gladiators Proving Ground
1 Summoner Monk
1 Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness
Saturday 8 August 2009
Getting a good nights sleep, Chris and I had a slow breakfast and just enjoyed our surroundings. After standard pre-event discussion, another round of laughs at Vittorio’s expense and some casual discussion with a few players at breakfast we were on our way to the event. It turned out we were placed on the same bus as Roy St.Clair and overheard that we weren’t the only ones that copped Vittorio’s lecture last night, the Americans also had a comical run in, Roy was pleasantly re-enacting Vittorio’s antics for the entire buses amusement.
At the event we also met up with Japanese players, and one, Satoshi Kato, was especially friendly – keen to try out his English. I talked to him before, during and after the event – he turned out to be a great guy, and he even showed us around Tokyo, dined with us, and helped ease the tension of the language barrier when visiting restaurants.
As the event started all the players wished each other luck as pairings were posted.
Round 1 – Alexander Antonios (Australia) – Gladiator Beasts
vs. BYE
After I saw this I blanched and was fairly annoyed, honestly what the hell? I had to wait over an hour doing nothing now. Other players noticed I had a bye and the trash talk started – Chris Gehring leading the pack. I then got moved out of the gaming area (As I’m not allowed to watch) and visited a few stores for the next hour… I’m now utterly bored.
Win… BYE
Total 1-0
Round 2 – Alexander Antonios (AUS – Gladiator Beasts) vs. Benjamin Hong Hwee Tan (SNG – Blackwings)
Ben was a very nice guy, one of the quieter players. After the match we talked throughout the weekend. It was a long 2 game match, each game taking forever…
Game 1. This match-up is all about playing around cards, setting the right amount, and not overextending into a Icarius Attack – with that in mind game 1 was very straight forward. I always set chainable cards or bluffs, allowed him to almost kill me, then wiped his board in one turn with a heavy storm/gyzarious play – Blackwing players shouldn’t over extend in this matchup either.
Game 2.
His side deck was unbelievably anti-GB. But in the end it was only a matter of playing around what I assumed he sided in – mainly royal oppression, that meant no tagging out, and relying on my traps for defense, which was enough in the end. He drew two oppressions and I never tagged, he summoned creatures and I used Bottomless/Book/Solemn/ Dimensional Prision to stop him.
With a minus two straight off the bat – because of the oppressions he drew opening hand, the game was well in my favor as long as I played around them
Win. 2-0
Total 2-0
Round 3 – Alexander Antonios (AUS – Gladiator Beasts) vs. Sharief Al-Aziz Mahomedredja (NLD – Synchro Cat)
Another nice yet quiet guy
Game 1.
Sharief attempted to OTK straight off the bat, I had the Waboku, but he was still in a good position, it took me about 4 turns to stabilize, but in the end game one went my way.
Game 2.
For you that don’t know, there is such a thing as over side decking, and Sharief without doubt did it. In game 2 I assumed he had oppression down, so once again didn’t tag, at one point he had 4 cards down and I refused to summon or tag out. It turns out he had Mirror of Oaths, Royal Oppression, Torrential Tribute and a Book of Moon down, every time he would summon or attack with a monster I simply used one of a variety of trap cards to neutralize the attack and I eventually won after the Book or Moon/Torrential play bought him a turn.
Win. 2-0
Total 3-0
Round 4 – Chris Gehrig (NZD – Gladiator Beasts) vs. Alexander Antonios (AUS – Gladiator Beasts)
We both laughed at this. Both undefeated Chris offered the old dice roll win. I thought about it and shrugged, he made me pose for a bad photo, then the dice fought in a scurry of blows, 5 vs 5, 4 vs 4, 2 vs 2, then finally 6 vs 3 – I won and let out a happy laugh, Chris seemed pretty down and I was close to just offering him the win, I honestly didn’t care and was sure I was going to top 8, but then the judges were looking at us. Chris asked if I wanted to play a friendly and my train of thought changed. We basically threw cards at the table and played so stupidly fast we drew spectators.
Game 1.
Chris plays first with Solemn, Bottomless, Reborn and Cat – that’s the OTK hand and the games over in one turn – Save your good hands for the real games champ!!!
Game length – 10 seconds
We decided not to side deck to save time…
Game 2.
I draw another average hand, but he draws the average monster hand.
Game Length – 30 seconds
Game 3.
Chris flops his hand on the table and I scoop, it was the reborn/cat hand again – wasting your good hands again Gehring?
Game Length – 5 Seconds
We stand to hand in our result slip to the amusement of the players, and the amazement of the crowd and judges, we didn’t really even play but they thought we did, so it was all quite amusing.
Game 2-1 – Chris Gehring’s way… oh wait! 2-0 my way!
Total 4-0
After this Chris doesn’t forget to tell the entire world that he conceded to me and that he didn’t lose. I just shrug and wish I gave him the win, I didn’t care and listening to the ‘We played and I won 2-1’ story was very tiring.
Round 5 – Alexander Antonios (AUS –Gladiator Beasts) vs. Yen-Jui Chien (TWN – Gladiator Beasts).
Game 1
Yen didn’t speak English, but he made up for it with utter silence and aggressive play. He’s what I like to call the ‘All in player’. He won the die roll, set a magic/trap and set one monster, I summoned a Darius, he answered with bottomless, and I defensively set 2 magic/trap… he then tried to OTK me the next turn, going all in… I used a timely torrential for a 2 for 1 (he used recue cat), then when he Reborned his recue cat for X-Saber and Samnite I used torrential… it was then practically a top decking war which I won due to my slight card advantage, and for those of you who are going to ask why I didn’t torrential the first Rescue cat – it was because got 2 X-Sabers out of his deck and there isn’t much reason to do that unless your reborning, plus it would only be a -1 for me if he did nothing but attack.
Game 2
Now we both had 3 mind controls post side deck and for those of you who don’t know, that means that you being conservative is essential, patience is now of utter importance, and you must be aware every creature you summon can be turned into a liability. He once again drew reborn and rescue cat, but I was saved by wobaku, he traded all his GBs for better ones after attacking for zero damage. I then mind controlled him to gain advantage, next turn he mind controlled me, I used a timely book of moon preventing him from syncroing, then the game was in my favor there after.
Game 2-0
Total 5-0.
http://www.yugioh-card.com/uk/events/championships/World_2009/satellite.html
http://www.gameplayer.co.nz/1336a1.page
With day 1 of the event over, the standings looked like this:
1 – Alexander Antonios (AUS – Gladiator Beasts) – 5 Wins
2 – Chris Gehring (NZD – Gladiator Beasts) – 4 Wins
3- Man Man Lai Au (HKG – Gladiator Beasts) – 4 Wins
4- Yen-Jui Chien (TWN – Gladiator Beasts) – 4 Wins
5 – Kian Sim Kee (MYS – Blackwings) 4 Wins
6—Benjamin Hong Hwee Tan (SNG – Blackwings) 3 Wins
7 – Roy St. Clair (USA – Blackwings) – 3 Wins
7 – Lee Hong Kyu (KOR – Gladiator Beasts) – 3 Wins
9 – Kazuma Ishikawa (JPN – Gladiator Beasts)
10 – Michael Kohanim (USA – Gladiator Beasts)
11 – Vittorio Wiktor (DEU – Synchro Cats)
12 – Sharief Al-Aziz Mahomedradja (NLD – Synchro Cat)
13 – Ryan Newburn (USA – Blackwings)
14 – Kazuki Mutsuoka (JPN – Synchro Cat)
15 – Sebastien Legay (BEL – Synchro Cat)
16 – Kris Ferber (USA – Synchro Cat)
17 – Satoshi Kato (JPN – Gladiator Beasts)
18 – Esteban Almeida (ECU – Synchro Cat)
19 – Charles Easton (CAN – Synchro Cat)
20 – Yuya Abe (JPN – Synchro Cat)
21 – Ryosuke Kasuga (JPN – Synchro Cat)
22 – Eduard Alvarez Carrera (ESP – Synchro Cat)
23 – Jose Hernandez (MEX – Lightsworn)
24 – BYE
Now I’m sure you’d like to visit my train of thought at this point, it went along the lines of ‘Man, I really want to have some Ramen for dinner, I wonder if Satoshi knows any good places around here’. But honestly I just didn’t feel like I played an event, 23 people just doesn’t make for a competitive atmosphere, although I’m sure the other 22 players may disagree. Either way, I would still not be satisfied unless I had placed first at the end of the event, a Top 8 meant very little to me.
Upon arriving back at the hotel, lots of trading/buying/selling and general interacting were happening in the hotel lobby. Chris and I decided we didn’t want to test anymore, so we went out to dinner with our 3 friends from sightseeing and Satoshi – who lead the way to a nice sushi restaurant, unfortunately not Ramen. For the record, I was playing Roy tomorrow and Chris was play against Lee Hong Ryu, he was extremely confident as he had beaten Lee swiftly in Round 5. I looked over what I knew about Roy’s deck list and got a good nights sleep, running over how I wanted to play the match-up. He was playing 3 Blizzards, 3 Icarus, 2 Threatning Roar and that’s all I really knew that stood out at the time. It wasn’t until later I discovered he wasn’t maining Solemn Judgment.
Sunday 9th August 2009
With sleep gained and breakfast completed we proceeded to meet in the lobby and be ushered onto the bus, I ended up seated next to Ben (my round two opponent) who had also top 8’d. Ben was telling me about the TCG scene in Singapore, and then expressed his happiness at top 8’ing – that’s all he wanted from the event. I was kind of shocked at this – ‘You don’t want to win?’ in a truly nice guy fashion his reply came in the form of ‘it would be nice, but I’m happy with what I have done so far’. He asked me what I wanted from the event, I didn’t want to seem like a douche’ in light of his modesty – but I also didn’t want to lie, so I promptly changed the topic, he didn’t appear to notice.
As we arrived at the event scene, we experienced lots of waiting, a pirate show, and had ample time to talk with the other top 8 competitors. I talked with Roy extensively, who seemed very… nervous? I just assumed it was a show, a poker face – Roy had played in many premier events. He asked me about my VS System carrier, as he was a popular player himself; we discussed this for a while then got down to business.
Top 8 Round 1 – Alexander Antonios (AUS – Gladiator Beasts) 5 Wins
vs.
Roy St. Clair (USA – Blackwings) 3 Wins
Players often write extensively about their losses, much more than their victories, as a loss is usually etched into your mind. Despite the event been over 4 months ago, I remember every play of this game but I’d like to be brief.
Game 1
I received the blessing of a few early 2 for 1’s, just a few bad percentage plays from Roy, and took firm control of the game – But I didn’t draw any trap cards except one bottomless (and two book of moons) – the game dragged on and I was at a +6 in card advantage: 3 Magic/Trap, 2 Monsters, 2 In hand – Roy had one in hand and then drew for his turn – taking him up to 2.
AJ 8000 – Roy 1800
You think that would be game over yeah?
No….
Unfortunately for me, 2 of my Magic/Trap were bluffs – Gladiator Beast Proving grounds, Roy Summoned Blizzard and used its effect and Syncrod into Goyo – I used Bottomless. I expected Roy to then scoop, but instead he thought for a long… long time. He had three Darks, so I instantly knew what he had.
My Murmulo was in the grave, and my Bestari removed from the game – I didn’t draw a Smashing or Book of Moon after that – aka I lost after 3 turns… to his Dark Armed Dragon (for you who couldn’t guess)
In the background
Chris Gehring had lost and was basically in shock, in-between our game he got a few words in about his match – he got beaten very savagely and wasn’t afraid to say so, his worlds report is at this link if anyone is interested:
http://www.gameplayer.co.nz/1336a1.page
It’s a great read.
Game 2
This started off much like game one – I had a + 4, he had one turn left to live – he had used Heavy Story and Mystical Space Typhoon.
AJ 5600 – Roy 1700
He had only 2 in hand – he drew to three. I had 1 Magic/Trap, 3 Monsters and 3 In hand.
You think that would be game over yeah?
No….
He topped and played Nobleman of Extermination – I lost my Book of Moon – He played Blizzard … Goyo… Dark Armed… remove 3 darks… 5600 damage… tournament over.
Post Tournament Experience
After the games Roy got a few apologies in, but I wouldn’t hear anything of the sort. Roy was a great guy, and a fine player – I wished him luck for the rest of the event, had a few short words with a couple of the players and staff who asked about my game – I just smiled and shrugged- – telling bad beats stories doesn’t really get you anywhere. I decided to spend the rest of my day checking out the shops in the area and later came back and hung around for the finals.
It was Benjamin Hong Hwee Tan (Blackwing) VS Yen-Jui Chien (Gladiator Beasts) in the final. It was a final held in the midst of a huge crowd of people that could see your every play (and misplay) – Ben ended up winning.
The Hotel playing Vittorio Wiktor for Money
After not making top 8 Vittorio had gone very quiet – but he had been playing some of the other players for cards/money and Chris Gehring had watched one such game where Vittorio stacked a CCV – they caught him and he denied it – this was while we were still at the event.
For those of you who know me, egotistic people tend to annoy me – so I asked him if he wanted to play for money, he agreed and I said it would be 10,000Yen – $100US a game. After he understood what the amount was he declined… he wouldn’t play me.
After some talking, trash talking, and bagging him out with the help of the crowd of people behind me he agreed, but I couldn’t use my Gladiator Beast deck… he said his Cat Syncro had a bad match-up – obviously a lie. He said if I used blackwing he would play – I looked to Roy, sitting to my side
AJ: Roy can I borrow your Blackwing deck?
Roy: Dude, this guys a beep, beep him.
AJ: C’mon, it will be fun.
Roy: Blackwing has a horrible game 1 against Cat Syncro – its 70-30 in his favor and he knows it.
AJ: After sidedeck?
Roy: About 60-40 your way.
AJ: Good enough for me.
Roy goes to his room to get his deck and we wait, I have a long talk with Vittorio as he had stopped talking trash and was congratulating me… and among other things… praising me for my play style…? I stopped listening after a while.
Roy came back and Vittorio announced we would only be playing game 1’s, no side decking. Roy almost punched his face in, and a huge argument broke out between the people behind me and Vittorio – Roy leading the onslaught. I looked at Vittorio and agreed, everyone gave me a look saying I was insane, but I was very much fine with almost any terms Vittorio wanted – I had given out much greater advantages then this when playing for cards.
We played for the next 5 hours, the crowd gradually dwindled until it was Roy, myself, Chris, Vittorio and about 5 other people. We said many goodbyes to other players in between games, perhaps never meeting them again. After about 4 hours I was $220 up – then Vittorio’s luck started to change, his hands got better, and his top decks were mostly lucky…it was at this point I was told Vittorio started cheating – I was only told this afterwards… why the people standing behind Vittorio let this go on I have no idea. I ended up $40 down. After I was told what Vittorio was doing and why he started winning I confronted him about it.
AJ: You cheated me man, what the heck, we’re basically playing for fun and you cheated me?
Vittorio: yet yet (no no), I do not cheat you (his English wasn’t very good).
AJ: (I point to the people who had seen him cheat… they shyly turned away) they saw you, and it explains why your luck was so good.
Vittorio: (Puts his arm around me) You are good player, I do not cheat you, I just get lucky.
AJ: Promise me Vittorio, promise me you didn’t cheat me…
As the conversation continued Vittorio ended up sarcastically admitting he cheated, we all knew he was been serious, and he eventually subtly admitted cheating – then Roy and Vittorio got in a huge argument. At this point it was about 6am and we were all dead. I told everyone not to worry about it, I looked at Vittorio and told him I didn’t care and Chris and I went up stairs to bed.
The last Day in Japan Monday the 10th of August 2009
The last day was filled with site seeing, sad goodbyes, more shopping, and extended conversation with Satoshi – I knew a little Japanese and was starting to get the hang of the language. I talked more with other players, including Vittorio – who seemed like a decent guy to me now (Despite his compulsive lying and cheating). As it got late and our flights were at 5:30pm everything came to a close – another round of farewells followed, with the words ‘I hope I see you again someday’ flying everywhere – with this done a long journey back to Australia followed and I arrived home to add about 20 people to facebook – It’s funny how these things work. I can’t say the trip was unreal, or I would like to do the same thing again. But for someone who hasn’t experienced World Championships it’s a lot of fun – I hope that one day you can make it to. Oh and as the winner of Worlds gets an invite to the next years, if you – my reader – do win this year, say hello to Ben for me!
For discussion.