Tournament Report - The Duelist Kingdom Championships 2008!

Another successful tournament has come and gone in the DKC series, where a Nintendo Wii and more were offered as prizes in the event. A total of 41 duelists made it for this competition, making it more of a hit than the DKC 2007 (which had a turnout of 38, give or take.)


THE SPECIAL CHALLENGE ROUNDS!

As usual, the first lap of the tournament (The 5-Round Swiss) involved the Special Challenge Rounds, where duelists, (in addition to trying to battle their way into the top 16 playoffs) competed against each other to see who could take home some prizes by fulfilling the conditions laid out in the special challenges. In each round, duelists picked their poison by drawing the special challenge each round out of my cowboy hat. Yes, you read that right. This lap was western themed, complete with wanted posters and my costume.)

Here are some of the challenges, and who won them:

Challenge #1: Attack of the 50-Foot Jinzo!
Objective: When you win your match, player whose opponent has the monster with the highest ATK value wins.

Winner: RAJIV TRIPATHI (Rainbow Dragon, 4000 ATK)

Challenge #2: Fastest Duelist in the West!
Objective: Be the first to declare a match victory.

Winner: SEAN ALEXANDER

Side Bonus: Be the last duelist to declare a match loss.
Winner: KUWESI GUERRA

Challenge #3: Dude, Where's My Graveyard?!
Objective: Win your match with the least number of cards in your Graveyard. The first duelist who declares a match victory with exactly 0 cards in their Graveyard automatically wins the challenge.

Winner: SEAN ALEXANDER (0 cards, used Macro Cosmos)

Challenge #4: It ain't over till the last card drops!
Objective: Win your match with the least number of cards remaining in your deck. The first duelist who declares a match victory with exactly 0 cards left in the deck automatically wins the challenge.

Winner: JOSEPH BAGOT (0 cards remaining, used Lightsworn monsters to mill the deck)

Challenge #5: Spell Cards ain't welcome around here, partner!
Objective: Win your match with the least number of Spell Cards in your graveyard. The first duelist to declare a match victory with exactly 0 spell cards automatically wins the challenge.

Winner: ANTHONY LEE-GONZALES (2 cards left)

Side Bonus: Win your match with the most Spell Cards in your Graveyard.
Winner: YUUSEF KHAN (7 cards)


The Special Challenge winners each received an envelope containing:

2 Boosters (from Strike of Neos, Phantom Darkness and Light of Destruction)
1 Tournament Pack or Duelist Pack

The Side Bonus winners received:

- One pack of 50 card sleeves
- One Ultra Pro deck box.


THE MYSTERY OF THE DUNGEON!

In addition to the prizes offered during the 5-Round Swiss, duelists had a side quest requiring them to take a tour of 'The Dungeon' (the main waiting area for the duelists), and solve the mystery of the dungeon.

According to the storyline, the last prisoner GUEST in the dungeon scrawled some crazy symbols on the walls of the dungeon, with this message written (presumably by one of the prison guards) next to it:

"OUR LAST PRISONER GUEST SCRAWLED THIS ON HIS WALL.
WE THINK HE'S JUST CRAZY.
OR....COULD THAT REALLY BE ALL?"

Several clues were also left behind for duelists during the course of the tournament. These messages appeared during the rounds written on the boards:

"Look closer at the signs." (There were wanted posters featuring Toon Gemini Elf all over the place. One of them had a special 'codebreaker' hidden behind it to decipher the scrawlings of the dungeon prisoner.)

"Look to the left!" (This was hidden by the menu for the cafeteria. Not noticeable at first glance, but this message actually points directly to the poster hiding the code.)

"Do you see what I see?" (If you looked very, VERY closely at the poster hiding the hidden envelope, you will see these words showing up through the paper.)


Once translated, the message scrawled by the prisoner GUEST, reads:

"LOOK UNDER THE TABLES!"

...as it turned out, the inmate had left behind a key, concealed under one of the tables. It took the duelists quite a while to find that key, let me tell ya.

One of them eventually found the key, and unlocked the steel box that contained another message:

"Somebody here has a gift for you. Ask them for the 'Summer Special'."


Originally, one of the girls who was supposed to be working the cafeteria was supposed to have the 'summer special' surprise waiting for the duelist who solves the mystery of the dungeon. Unfortunately, the girls did not show up, the cafeteria closed early, so I had to take over.


Upon asking for the summer special, the duelist received this:

- A copy of Shonen Jump Magazine, with a Special Edition "Van'Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord" card inside.





Winner: ANTHONY LEE-GONZALES



TOP SIXTEEN PLAYOFFS


There was a little controversy at the beginning to the playoffs. One duelist accidentally had his match wins recorded at '3', when it should have been '4', which made a lot of difference as several who made 3 wins were in the playoffs. Fortunately, my very dependable Tournament Organizer pulled a miracle and fixed the problem.

Duelists here had to battle each other in an Elimination Round until only 4 were left standing for the Semis. Many good duelists came and went, while others made it out on top. In the end, the following four duelists persevered:

- SEAN ALEXANDER
- YUUSEF KHAN
- NICHOLAS RAMROOP
- RAVI RAMDIAL

Of the four, Ravi is the only duelist there who was a previous DKC Champion (He won the Duelist Kingdom Championships 2006 two years ago.)

Each received a booster package containing 2 boosters and a Tournament Pack. To the delight of the crowd who let out a triumphant 'RAHH!!!!', Yuusef opened a Dark Armed Dragon in one of his boosters.


SEMI FINALS

Yuusef Khan vs. Nicholas Ramroop

This as one of the fastest matches that I have ever seen. So fast, if you blinked, you missed it. Yuusef took full advantage of the Lightsworn monsters and their ability to swarm, ending the first round on his very next turn. Nicholas managed to fight up in the second half, but, in the end, the Lightsworns and a Return from the Different Dimension spelled E-N-D for Nicholas.


Ravi Ramdial vs. Sean Alexander

Sean and Ravi have been very evenly matched rivals, even before this tournament, and here, it really shows. Sean played with a variant of a Remove From Play deck (using Caius, Macro Cosmos and D.D. Survivor) whereas Ravi duked it out with Monarchs. In the end, Sean made it out alive.



FINALS

SEAN ALEXANDER VS. YUUSEF KHAN

This truly was an epic battle, which swung so many ways. Yuusef had the upper hand at first, crushing Sean with Lightsworns in the first round, before Sean took the next round by playing it cool, right until he totally devastated not only Yuusef's swarm, but also his entire hand, with a Crush Card virus (offering up a Gravekeeper's Spy), taking the second round. In the deciding round, Things seemed bleak for Sean when Yuusef activated Beckoning Light to take back his Judgement Dragon to use on the next turn, but Sean used Premature Burial to summon back his Dark Magician of Chaos, using Heavy Storm, chaining to Return from a Different Dimension and attacking with all of his monsters (which included DMOC, Caius and two Gravekeeper's Spy cards) for the win.

Yuusef, as the runner-up of the tournament, received $250 TTD, and a 'Dark Emperor' Structure Deck.



TOURNAMENT MASTER MATCH

Sean Alexander vs. Ryan Rodriguez: Battle for the Wii!

Sean, having captured so many prizes already, had, in true Duelist Kingdom fashion, earned the right toface off against the deck made famous by Maximillion Pegasus himself- the Toons! In the first round, Sean took initiative by attacking with an Armageddon Knight, but hit my Marshmallon for 1000 for him instead. He then took a few hits from my Toon Gemini Elf when it hit his D.D. Survivor, but, in the end, he turned the match around by using Raiza, and then Caius.

In the second round, Sean didn't do so well. He failed to use his Solemn Judgment on my Jinzo, which cost him dearly, as Toon Gemini Elf appeared afterwards and began robbing his hand, followed by a drawn Neo Spacian Grand Mole, which would have left him for quite a brutal loop. The second round went to me.

In the last round, I attempted to mount an all out offensive with Jinzo and two Gellenduos. Unfortunately, the monster I had attacked face down with Gellenduo was a Gravekeeper's Spy, which cost me the two Gellenduos and added to his field. Toon GAF appeared soon afterwards, but was no match for Caius, which appeared and took my face down Mirror Force away. In the end, Sean won, Wii and all, and that was the end of the tournament.


KING OF GAMES 2008: SEAN ALEXANDER
PRIZE: 1 Nintendo Wii




AFTERTHOUGHTS


This was basically, my way of 'going out with a bang', as it marks my entry into semi-retirement concerning this game. I was pessimistic about the turnout at first, but, after seeing such a good audience, I have high hopes for the future.


With regards to the spectators, I had a bit of a zero-tolerance policy towards them, seeing as how quite a few tarded up an earlier tournament. Those who paid could stay, but those who didn't had to leave. I enforced this by carrying two security guards with me and doing a sweep of the area. If you're wondering why I did this, it's because some of those spectators were either thieves, or pessimistic complainers that would rather sell cards and make money than (in their words) "pay money to lose." The latter has been driving away a lot of people as of late, and I could not stand for it any longer.


My sponsor got me particularly angry at this event. We had a deal, but via e-mail and over the phone, that, in exchange for selling at the tournament, he would give me 1 Phantom Darkness Box. When I come over to him to pick up the box (which was going to be given away as a prize or sold to cover some of the tournament costs), he tells me that he couldn't give me the box, and tried to give me a tin and a structure deck worth half the amount the box would've brought. Mind you, somebody else made me that exact same offer, and I gave this guy a chance to counter offer, which he did. Only now, not only does he go back on the deal, but tries to offer me something worth far less than what was originally offered. Next time, I'm going to get it in writing. And probably not deal with him ever again, to boot.



Well.....that's about it from me.
I'll test the waters to see if it's feasible to hold another tournament next year.
Until next time, see you around , folks.


UN-OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK OF THE DUELIST KINGDOM CHAMPIONSHIPS 2008

Call To Adventure - Tournament Registration/Welcome to Duelist Kingdom
Confisco Grill - Cafeteria Area
Ocean Trader's Market - Merchandise Area
The Lost City - Intro: Pegasus' Search for the New King of Games
Marvel Super Hero Island/Sindbad Bazaar/Jurassic Calypso - Tournament
Toon Walk/The Wacky World of Jay Ward - Final Battle against the Toons
The Adventure Lives On - The Champion is crowned/End of Tournament


All songs are from the Universal Studios: Islands of Adventure soundtrack.