July 2020
Top 4:
What made you choose this deck for the tournament, and what were your tech choices?
I choose to play Generaider because they were hit on the banlist pretty hard, so I wanted to show off what they could do even with a major nerf. To help supplement the gameplan of Generaiders, I played Sky Strikers because I hadn't seen anyone play them recently.
I had 2 non-standard techs in my deck. Gizmek Kaku and 2 underused Pot spell cards. Gizmek Kaku was a great synergy piece because it was a level 9 which works well with the level 9 support I was playing for Generaiders and with Sky Striker since the links fulfilled Kaku's summoning conditions. The non-standard pots of Pot of Desires, which often had 0 downsides for drawing 2, and Pot of Dichotomy, which was a mini Pot of Avarice with negligible downsides, helped me out card advantage my opponents.
Would you make any changes to the deck?
The core concept of the deck is solid but, slight tweaks should be made to keep up with the banlist and new product. The only problem I had with my list was I was playing too many level 9 Generaiders which often clogged my hands. Probably 2 of the level 9s could be cut to improve the list.
How did your matchups throughout Swiss and Top 4 go?
I faced a ton of strong opponents in Swiss. Probably the hardest opponent I had in swiss was Cocobird. Their Fluffal deck was extremely explosive and could tear through any disruption I had. I barely won due to them missing a scarm search. In top 4, I had a runback against Cocobird. Cocobird's draws in top 4 were bad and they didn't even get access to their Sky Striker engine which lead to a 2-0 victory for me. Finals with GuiltyGearxx were very close and I am not sure if I faced him again, if I would win. GuiltyGearxx is very skilled and his mastery of the game definitely showed.
Do you have a favorite play of the tournament?
My favorite play of the tournament happened game 3 of the finals. My opponent was using the effect of Ancient Warriors - Masterful Sun Mou to add Zhuge Kong to hand. Usually how it would go, is that the adding to hand effect would trigger the effect of Zhuge Kong as Chain Link 1 to special summon itself, which would then allow Sun Mou as Chain Link 2 to bounce a card, then they would be able to make a r4nk. The finals game I had Harr, Generaider Boss of Storms on the field. His effect triggers whenever an opponent adds a card to hand from deck to force the opponent to get rid of a monster from hand or field. So, after the Chain Link 1 of Zhung Kong, I used the effect of Harr as Chain Link 2. This stopped Sun Mou from activating and it forced my opponent to get rid of the Zhung Kong in hand so, they couldn't make a r4nk either.
Moving forward, what cards do you think should be banned or restricted, if any?
From my experience in this tournament, I would suggest for 2 cards to be hit, Titanocider and Lightning Storm. Titanocider is an amazing powerhouse which could win games by itself in certain matchups while never really being useless. Lighting Storm is also very strong. I initially thought that it would be balanced by its own restriction but, after seeing it being activated in decks that had a ton of field spells and continuous spells, I am unsure if the restriction is as hard to meet as I first thought it would be.
Wtrain
Guiltygear
What made you choose this deck for the tournament, and what were your tech choices?
For Trinity Zoodiac Lunalight, the goal is to start with zoo and accumulate resources for Lunalights to eventually build up to powerful combos, however by abandoning fusion monsters I chose to focus on using tiger to bring back a monster every turn thus allowing an infinitely repeatable XYZ summoning combo. The lunalight combo is a minimum 2 card combo so it isn't particularly difficult to get to early in the game, and the zoos can usually set it up by turn 3 if not disrupted. The deck focuses on reaching the Lunalight combo but the Ancient Warriors are also good removal and backup ways to access XYZ monsters. If possible, using Tratrix Rafflessia on the first turn is a good way to dissuade other combo decks, so i also used several hole cards. The rest of the deck is cards that offer decent disruption for my opponent's first turn plays. I believe handtraps are not that optimal in large deck sizes so i kept the deck as small as I could manage. The deck is pretty consistent and has plenty of 1 card combos, so you have the advantage if you can stop the opposing deck's key plays.
Would you make any changes to the deck?
I'm open to making changes, but nothing specifically springs up, thinking about the future meta is the main thing that would drive changes.
How did your matchups throughout Swiss and Top 4 go?
I prepared for combo decks because I fear it the most, since i feel like i have a bigger advantage in games that are longer. Playing against
Pendulum, I did have the advantage of using wavering to search my key Lunalight monster; tiger. Pendulum boards are variable and the ones my opponent had could not properly deal with sun mou. Against earth Machines, I lost because of multiple urgent schedules putting up huge damage, I need to actually find my disruption to deal with that, despite having a ton of engine. Against dark machine/abc, I aimed to stop my opponent from setting up, they were able to push through eventually, but i still inflicted enough damage to win out. Against another striker machine player I mostly just retained advantage, though I took a lot of damage, the defense from rafflessia was enough to live. In top cut I played against shark with curse necrofear, i prepared for this deck a lot in deck building and got lucky enough to use my counters. For the final match i played against striker/ generaider. Though I had answers for the backrow i wasn't able to deal with loptr well enough.
Do you have a favorite play of the tournament?
Anytime I can use eagle booster is pretty satisfying.
Moving forward, what cards do you think should be banned or restricted, if any?
Sun Mou, and Titanocider should be hit.
Cocobird
What made you choose this deck for the tournament, and what were your tech choices?
I know Fluffals quiet well. When I first joined the trinity server, I saw a Fluffal list and copied it... then a month or two later when I had more free time, I joined a locals and realized a problem with the deck, and made some adjustments. A tech choice I really like is Dark Fusion, makes Tiger untargetable which is so clutch. A tech choice I ended up hating is Patchwork Fluffall. Honestly embarrassed to say I completely misread it and it totally sucks. Sided it out every game.
Would you make any changes to the deck?
Take out patchwork Fluffall! I think make a tad bigger Striker engine as well. Play less hand traps. Realized this format they aren't as good, and would rather play summonable monsters that help me progress the game state.
How did your matchups throughout Swiss and Top 4 go?
Matchups went pretty well. Don't think I ever faced a deck that I couldn't just beat stylistically wise. My two losses was against the eventually winner of the tournament, who was on Generaider Striker. In Swiss, I almost beat him but FORGOT SCARM SEARCH... sigh (lol) and in top 4 my bad deck choices with the hand traps caught up to me and I just didn't draw good enough. But really, since the Frightfur fusions are so OP and the deck can bait a lot of stuff out and OTK somewhat easily even with the Trinity restrictions, the deck doesn't have a lot hugely horrible matchups in Trinity. Backrow is quiet scary though matchup wise.
Do you have a favorite play from the tournament?
Either using Slash Draw to recycle my fusions. Or using Wings' effect to draw 2, then search, and then Pot of Greed to just get so much advantage.
Moving forward, what cards do you think should be banned or restricted, if any?
I don't know the format well enough tbh. This is literally my first monthly Trinity tournament and my 2nd ever Trinity tournament. I personally hope none of my cards are banned because I like this deck so much! That being said Edge Imp Chain being able to be played at 3 is a tad ridiculous since why it's good has nothing to do with the Unbound effect. It's what makes the engine go and if you kill that card, it is very tough to play the deck.
Shameless
What made you choose this deck for the tournament, and what were your tech choices?
I knew some kind of Ancient Warrior variant was going to top, and i dislike the unga bunga of AW. I also thought SH4RK was gonna be the most represented deck. Turns out I was the only one on it. Kinda odd, considering going first uninterrupted is an automatic -2 advantage to your opponent.
Tech choices were Gizmek Kaku and Phantazamy. Not really techs per se, cause they were sides, but I figured I'd run into Orcust variants. I did. These two cards utterly dump in the deck, to which I've won matches of them.
Would you make any changes to the deck?
Probably changing out some fringe tech choices for draw and consistency plays. I had this huge issue of having really bad opening hands a lot of the time. Three games of the YTC I started with no monsters outside of 1-2 handtraps.
How did your matchups throughout Swiss and Top 4 go?
Fine? Kind of average. No games really stood out. Most of them I won from a gigantic snowball effect from Malice loops. Most opponents would try and get rid of it, and then be completely unable with Bahamut into Toad. Or vice versa.
Then I got utterly roflstomped by an AW variant round 1 of topcut cause they opened every counter.
Do you have a favorite play from the tournament?
I'd say it was a TGU -> Ancient Brain -> Ahashima play, but it got negated on TGU's summon. I would've ended on Ahashima + Castel for an spell/trap pop and a spin. Oh well, tis how the game is.
Moving forward, what cards do you think should be banned or restricted, if any?
I'm still of the camp that Sun Mou needs to get axed. Bahamut needs to get axed, cuz of its Toad target. Malice still needs to go, especially since I've won games off Malice alone.