Luke was present at YCS London's top tables. Photo taken from the official coverage site.
How
did you get into (competitive) Yu-Gi-Oh?
It’s odd, I kind of fell into it. I’d been playing a few small tournaments here and there back in 2003 when I was invited to some events run by Patriot Games in Sheffield. After the first few (fantastic) monthly Tournaments, and winning the store’s first City Championship in 2004 it only seemed natural to move up to Regionals across the country. I cut my Regional attendance for a few years at University, and only really got back onto the YCS circuit since I moved out to Belfast 3 years ago - when I found both the money and the people to go with on a regular basis.
It’s odd, I kind of fell into it. I’d been playing a few small tournaments here and there back in 2003 when I was invited to some events run by Patriot Games in Sheffield. After the first few (fantastic) monthly Tournaments, and winning the store’s first City Championship in 2004 it only seemed natural to move up to Regionals across the country. I cut my Regional attendance for a few years at University, and only really got back onto the YCS circuit since I moved out to Belfast 3 years ago - when I found both the money and the people to go with on a regular basis.
Which
Deck did you use and why? Did you change anything to it with the release of
Dragons of Legend?
Mermail, because it’s quite simply the best deck. It combines the consistency of Geargia with the explosive power plays and field lockouts that you see in Dragon Ruler. The abundance of options it provides mean that it can break almost any board state and can put a game beyond reach incredibly quickly if uncontested. Having been playing it on and off since Wind-Up was put down, my experience with the deck made it the natural choice for the Nationals event. The fact that it provides some of the most interactive and interesting mirror matches was an added bonus. I have to confess that I’ve not played a huge amount since Dragons of Legend was released. Obviously Soul Charge has wormed its way in (though I’ve yet to actually activate it…) and I’ve been playing Maxx “C” in the main deck to counter the huge swarm of Special Summon heavy decks that Soul Charge has flooded the meta with (It slots in where Upstart Goblin used to be). That left a lot of Side Deck space open, so I’ve been considering a few Copies of Fire and Ice Hand - both are fantastic cards that can effectively end a STUN matchup all by themselves.
Mermail, because it’s quite simply the best deck. It combines the consistency of Geargia with the explosive power plays and field lockouts that you see in Dragon Ruler. The abundance of options it provides mean that it can break almost any board state and can put a game beyond reach incredibly quickly if uncontested. Having been playing it on and off since Wind-Up was put down, my experience with the deck made it the natural choice for the Nationals event. The fact that it provides some of the most interactive and interesting mirror matches was an added bonus. I have to confess that I’ve not played a huge amount since Dragons of Legend was released. Obviously Soul Charge has wormed its way in (though I’ve yet to actually activate it…) and I’ve been playing Maxx “C” in the main deck to counter the huge swarm of Special Summon heavy decks that Soul Charge has flooded the meta with (It slots in where Upstart Goblin used to be). That left a lot of Side Deck space open, so I’ve been considering a few Copies of Fire and Ice Hand - both are fantastic cards that can effectively end a STUN matchup all by themselves.
Which
other things gave you the edge over the competition?
The players from Ireland and Northern Ireland have a friendly rivalry, and tend to end up playing different decks. This year that fell in favour of the North, who were playing Mermail against a very Geargia-heavy Irish player base. Naturally Atlantean Marksman swings that matchup heavily in Mermail’s favour, resulting in only one Geargia player (the runner-up) being able to take matches away from the North’s Mermail players over the weekend. Another major factor were the 3 copies of both Dust Tornado and Black Horn of Heaven played in the Side Deck, which allowed us to break open the floodgate cards and Rank 4 Xyz plays made by the STUN-oriented Geargia, Gadget and Fire Fist decks, while covering any other rogue match ups that happened to appear. MVP of the weekend though must go to Mermail Abyssleed - who, despite being a 1-of, managed to appear in at least a third of my opening hands, and was drawn by Reckless Greed and Upstart Goblin more times than I care to mention. The opening hand containing Mermail Abyssleed, and 3 Secret Rare copies of Maxx “C” was particularly fantastic - very nice to look at while my opponent beat me to a pulp…
The players from Ireland and Northern Ireland have a friendly rivalry, and tend to end up playing different decks. This year that fell in favour of the North, who were playing Mermail against a very Geargia-heavy Irish player base. Naturally Atlantean Marksman swings that matchup heavily in Mermail’s favour, resulting in only one Geargia player (the runner-up) being able to take matches away from the North’s Mermail players over the weekend. Another major factor were the 3 copies of both Dust Tornado and Black Horn of Heaven played in the Side Deck, which allowed us to break open the floodgate cards and Rank 4 Xyz plays made by the STUN-oriented Geargia, Gadget and Fire Fist decks, while covering any other rogue match ups that happened to appear. MVP of the weekend though must go to Mermail Abyssleed - who, despite being a 1-of, managed to appear in at least a third of my opening hands, and was drawn by Reckless Greed and Upstart Goblin more times than I care to mention. The opening hand containing Mermail Abyssleed, and 3 Secret Rare copies of Maxx “C” was particularly fantastic - very nice to look at while my opponent beat me to a pulp…
What
are the top contenders until PRIO becomes tournament legal, and how do you
think PRIO will affect the European Championship?
Dragons (with and without plants) and Mermail are definitely going to be huge contenders - as are Infernity if the weekend’s UK National Championship is anything to go by. I think that the boost given to Special Summon-heavy Adaptive Control decks by Soul Charge is going to put the format out of reach for those STUN-oriented decks that can’t play 4 Honest for the time being, especially since Dragons of Legend also released Fire Hand and Ice Hand, which are a slow, grindy Stun deck’s worst nightmare… Primal Origin is looking to shake everything up, with the whole Syvlan Archetype being a flashback to the Plant Synchro decks of old with a little bit of Dragon Ruler-esque Rank 7 magic thrown in for the ride. I think the deck’s going to be a big player in the run-up to Euros. Madolche and Artifacts are the dark horses - with Madolche getting literally everything they’ve dreamed of in Anjelly and Artifacts changing the way we play Spell/Trap removal. And as much as I dislike Bujin, Hirume gives players a whole new way to look at a deck that can now play up to 7 Honests. I think this year’s European Championship is going to be very interesting.
Dragons (with and without plants) and Mermail are definitely going to be huge contenders - as are Infernity if the weekend’s UK National Championship is anything to go by. I think that the boost given to Special Summon-heavy Adaptive Control decks by Soul Charge is going to put the format out of reach for those STUN-oriented decks that can’t play 4 Honest for the time being, especially since Dragons of Legend also released Fire Hand and Ice Hand, which are a slow, grindy Stun deck’s worst nightmare… Primal Origin is looking to shake everything up, with the whole Syvlan Archetype being a flashback to the Plant Synchro decks of old with a little bit of Dragon Ruler-esque Rank 7 magic thrown in for the ride. I think the deck’s going to be a big player in the run-up to Euros. Madolche and Artifacts are the dark horses - with Madolche getting literally everything they’ve dreamed of in Anjelly and Artifacts changing the way we play Spell/Trap removal. And as much as I dislike Bujin, Hirume gives players a whole new way to look at a deck that can now play up to 7 Honests. I think this year’s European Championship is going to be very interesting.
Any shoutouts or people you want to
thank?
Over a decade of play makes that a very long list, I’ll see if I can trim it down a little: The Yu-Gi-Oh! community across the country for making this a game worth playing. The store owners that provide places to buy product to play - they make this game possible. My parents and family for their support over the years. And Konami’s Organised Play Team that make our events the successes they are.
Over a decade of play makes that a very long list, I’ll see if I can trim it down a little: The Yu-Gi-Oh! community across the country for making this a game worth playing. The store owners that provide places to buy product to play - they make this game possible. My parents and family for their support over the years. And Konami’s Organised Play Team that make our events the successes they are.
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