As expected, too little time to test left me sticking to my guns and running the deck I'd achieved most success with, Plant-Zombies, sticking to the same list I ran on Wednesday. The event was to be 7 rounds of swiss with no cut to top 8, and 9 qualifying slots for the European World Championship Qualifier.
Round 1 - Dragunity - OO
Both games started with him setting up with a Dragon Canyon, but I manage to handle his threats in both games, despite Red Dragon Archfiend proving to be more difficult to deal with than expected! I make a stupid misplay in game 2, missing an easy win and thus allowing the game to draw out to time. A Black Rose Dragon followed by a Spirit Reaper in time let me lock up the game thanks to the thousands of life gained by Thought Ruler Archfiend earlier in the game.
Round 2 - Samurai - XOX
A pretty typical matchup against Samurai made the absence of Puppet Plants in my sideboard a painfully clear weakness. In the first game he Shi En locks me on the first turn, and that's that. Game 2 he fails to go off and I manage to fight back and leave him top decking into Dimensional Fissure. Ouch! The third game leaves me with a monster clogged hand whilst he gets the nuts.
Round 3 - X-Sabers - OO
He started off with a seemingly solid back row setup, but it turned out much of it was a bluff, and after taking a few hits from Emmersblade I break through and wipe him out. The second game followed in a similar vein, power plays breaking through a lack of real or effective defences.
Round 4 - Quickdraw - OO
A very fast match, I start off with the nuts and swarm for fast wins in both games, whilst blocking his comeback with Warnings each time.
Round 5 - Debris Plants - XX
A deck check leave me stressing and worrying, whilst watching the good players around me ending their first games before we could even shuffle. We eventually start, and in both games he starts with good plays whilst I draw incredibly clunky hands with bad, mixed engine pieces.
Round 6 - Samurai - OXO
This proved to be quite a a tightly played match, and I was determined not to lose to Samurai a second time this tournament. His win was, yet again, down to an incredibly weak hand on my part and a Shi En for him. Both of my wins were a result of having more powerful individual cards that turn the tide faster than anything the opponent can manage.
Round 7 - Gravekeepers - XX
Well, I managed to get this far without facing the enemy, so I suppose it was inevitable that I give my opponent a bye this late in the tournament. Game 1 I died fast with a double Avarice starting hand. Game 2 was very drawn out, with answers flying back and forth whilst I tried desperately to break through his defences. I eventually try and fight back pushing with a Cyber Dragon, but he manages to top deck the perfect answer in a Cyber Dragon of his own, letting him defeat me with a clean shot from Chimeratech Fortress Dragon.
Conclusion - 4-3
I was certainly disappointed after going into the final match on 4-2, as I felt I could actually do well this time. Still, 4-3 wasn't too bad having only been back in the game properly for a couple of months. If I'd had the time to test properly, I likely could've pulled another win, but more importantly I might've made a different deck choice. As I mentioned in my last local report, the engines in the deck can on occasion conflict, and this tournament made that conflict painfully clear far too frequently for my liking. As Nationals is likely out of my reach, this could well be my last qualifier this season. I intend to try a few different decks over the coming weeks in the run up to Hyper Librarian's legality, so if anyone has any suggestions do let me know.
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