September 2020

What made you choose this deck for the tournament, and what were your tech choices?
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Well, to be frank: judging from the results of the last YTC combined with every locals and discussion leading up to this YTC it became kinda clear that if you weren't exactly abusing Dogmatika or using a deck that consistently put up with their advantage, then you were at a major disadvantage before the hands were even drawn. I saw that nobody was really interested in Fossils (and rightfully so) because their main deck monster had been banned in tandem with their core card being put at the .5 value, so, I decided to just take Dogmatika and run with Fossils for the most part. Shaddolls naturally fit in because well... resolving Nadir just wins games... or in a lot of the YTC's case, matches. Technically speaking, the Dogmatika cards themselves in tandem with Fossils are pseudo-techs, as for how they work in my list is solely dependent on capitalizing on Maximus gameplans (which usually is just the opponent going for Rafflesia - who lines up perfectly for a Skullgios or Skull King target - or N'tss) and my closing out the game thereafter. The entire concept of the games was to identify the amount of turns I could pursue lethal in and find a way to get there without misstepping.
Techs of choice: Different Dimension Ground, Blazing Mirror Force, Forbidden Chalice/Lance/Droplets, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Skull Meister, Ghost Belle. Some of these cards technically could find a place in the main deck, but this list wasn't really focused on being responsive, it was about being proactive. I never got to really make use of my tech choices in the ways I desired since I had only faced exclusively Dogmatika opponents until Top Cut.
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Would you make any changes to the deck?
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Predaplant Chlamydosundew could be dropped. That's about it really. If Fossil Fusion could find its way to my hand easier then I would be able to consistently OTK with the deck, but due to its restrictions, there's a pretty low ceiling to how much you can do with Fossils as a whole. When Dogmatika is finally hit, I expect the deck to be pretty much unplayable, but in the event I would ever revisit it, I would probably just switch to a Shaddoll / Gem-Knight build or something. Not sure. Nadir just enables a lot of silly things really.
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How did your matchups throughout Swiss and Top 4 go?
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As stated before, all of my matches in Swiss were just against Dogmatika. Of the 23 or so entries, 12 of them had been on the archetype so it was expected that I would face at least 2 during my run, but upwards of 3? Pretty unexpected, and really killed the experience for me in all honesty. The bane of my deck in almost every match was Lost Wind. It was only ever really enjoyable because I went up against a lot of the really skilled players the format had to offer, notably some individuals that I try to emulate with my builds and tech choices and such. It probably didn't show really in any of my matches with them that I was happy to face them, but I wish that we weren't just abusing the objectively best deck in the format for it, lol. My favorite match hands-down was when I faced Shameless on his Thunder Dogmatika list. Lotta highs, lotta lotta twists and turns. As much complaining as there was about Punishment resolving within the community, each of my opponents who had resolved it against me had proceeded to lose thereafter. In a lot of instances it was due to being unable to develop anything outside of setting cards or summoning Fleur. It wasn't that difficult for me to play around known removal, especially when I would force my opponent into it, preventing them from using the ED just because they wanted to Raigeki Break me. Barring the highly un-interactive match against Sera, pass, it was all-around a good time.
In Top 4 I finally faced a non-Dogmatika list, misplayed a ridiculous amount, and lost because I respected too much of Burritos' backrow. I was playing under the impression that if the cards that were face-up on the field weren't an issue and were never actually going to be one, then I would just have to dance around his backrow until I would come out on top. In all honesty, I probably should have just swallowed my pride and turtled behind Shaddoll control setups and Punishment, but meh.
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Do you have a favorite play of the tournament?

Most of it was just in-the-moment sorta things. I never really performed any advanced tactics or plays, I really just determined the turns the game would end in and respected the highest (known) threats that I could afford to. If there was something to give then... in my match against Wtrain on his Frightur Dogmatika Shaddoll list there was a pretty complicated gamestate where he was trying to clear my board and get around my Skullgios and Fleur; however, thanks to the prevention of Cruel Whale and Kraken being unable to target Skullgios, I had managed to survive the turn, use Keystone to shuffle back my Skullgios, and use Fossil Fusion to return him to the field and swing for game.
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Moving forward, what cards do you think should be banned or restricted, if any?

Ecclesia and Nadir. There was no reason both of them should have been Unlimited at the exact same time for this event or the previous one. Outside of centralizing cards, Ice Dragon's Prison is likely on the chopping block; though, I managed to play around it quite a bit in all honesty.