Regionals are over and I am home. It was a hell of a lot of fun to go there! 78 people entered into the tournament and the competition was fierce, but everyone seemed pretty relaxed and and the overall atmosphere was not stressing in the least. It was a bit nerve-wracking around some of the judges though, as they can be incredibly strict, even handing out game losses for rules infractions. But I didn't violate any rules so go me.

When me and Avery showed up, we had to fill out a piece of paper listing the contents of our deck and other general registration information. The judges checked each deck list to make sure it was legal and not using cards that are forbidden in tournaments, or cards restricted to 1 or 2 copies (normally you can use 3 copies of the same card). Those with erroneous deck lists were issued a game loss on one of their best-2-of-3 games.

My record was 3 wins and 4 losses, and Avery's was 5 wins and 2 losses.

First match: Me VS Monarch deck. Result: Loss
I couldn't get any momentum going. My opening hands were pretty bad and I didn't have enough to stop his initial pushes against my life points. It went by pretty quick but I still tried to hang on with what I had.

Second match: Me VS Different Dimension deck. Result: Win
I could tell this kid was pretty new to the game, so it was an easy win. I managed to beat him pretty quickly. His deck looked like it was mostly a retail structure deck with some extra cards thrown in. He seemed pretty upset about losing twice in a row, but that's just the way things go unfortunately.

Third match: Me VS Gladiator Beast deck. Result: Win
This match was interesting because the kid I was facing was issued a game loss due to having an error in his deck list. As a result, I was counted as having won the first duel, so he would have had to beat me twice in a row while I only had to win once. However, I could tell that his opening hand was terrible and I was able to lock him down very quickly with my Monarchs and push for a fast victory. Gladiator Beasts work best when copies of them are in the deck, such as Bestiari. I was afraid that after he attacked me with one of his monster, he would bring out Bestiari from the deck and destroy my facedown Solemn Judgment. He didn't, which surprised me. I later found out he had Bestiari in his hand. That saved me and let me finish him quickly.

Fourth match: Me VS Counter Fairy deck. Result: Win
Avery fought this player earlier and beat him, but I was a bit nervous going up against a Counter Fairy deck. These decks rely on Counter trap cards which are very hard to stop and rely on negating cards that the opponent plays. He had Divine Wrath to negate my monster effects, Dark Bribe to negate my Spells and Traps, Solemn Judgment to negate my anything, and a lot more I didn't get to see. The first duel was pretty close and there was no clearcut winner for most of it but I managed to pull ahead. In the second duel, I stuck in Nobleman of Extermination from my side deck to my main deck. It destroys a face down Spell/Trap card and if it is a Trap Card, both players remove any additional copies from their deck for the duel. I drew Nobleman early on in the second duel and hit his facedown Divine Wrath, which would have crippled my Monarchs. He didn't draw many of his Counter Trap cards during the game so I pulled on for a victory.

Fifth match: Me VS Twilight deck. Result: Loss
No, not the horrible vampire tween-pop book series. A combination of Lightsworn and Dark-based monsters like Phantom of Chaos and Dark Armed Dragon, these decks can be very powerful when played correctly. This one was pretty close and both of us held on for quite some time, but he turned it around at the very last minute just when I thought I had him, and he pushed for a massive rush which destroyed me in the third game of the match. This one was a lot of fun.

Sixth match: Me VS Lightsworn deck. Result: Loss
Oh boy, Lightsworn. Some rather "eh" opening hands and a lot of special summoning on his part managed to push him into victory. But I had Royal Oppression for a lot of the game to stop a lot of his special summoning, but he still managed to destroy it later on. He commented how he didn't like my deck's annoyance and how it kept pressuring him during the duel, hehe. Of course he wasn't being mean about it, I could tell by his voice. XD

Seventh match: Me VS Rescue Cat deck. Result: Loss
By this time, the results of the first 6 matches were posted, listing me at 37th and Avery at 8th with his 5-1 streak.
Rescue Cat, one of the most broken decks in the metagame right now. The first duel was pretty slow and I stopped one of his Rescue Cats early on, but he managed to use his other cards to whittle me down slowly, then summon a Dark Strike Fighter to finish me. The second duel neither of us made any ground or footing, but he managed to pull off the double Dark Strike Fighter-One-Turn-Kill combo on me and push.

After this, the final results were posted, Avery in 13th, me at 43rd. Roughly 15 people in the top 32 already had national invites, so I got one! I get to go to the national tournament this July!

*thuds to go to sleep*