With the New Year comes the implementation of the new OCG January 2015 Forbidden and Limited List. The new Forbidden and Limited List brings about a fresh metagame as the dominance of Nekroz is cut short by the limitation of Senju of the Thousand Hands and Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands.

Tellarknight is my weapon of choice for this tournament. It is not the best deck around, but I am hoping that my metagaming would allow it to go far in the tournament.

 

 

 

 

My opponent opened really well in Game 1 with Qliphort Scout while I had no way to clear it. Drawing into Harpie’s Feather Duster managed to bring me back into the game, as I had Dark Hole in my hand.

Side Out	Side In
1 Call of the Haunted 2 Compulsory Evacuation Device 3 Fiendish Chain 2 Constellar Alpha	1 Mystical Space Typhoon 3 Twister 1 Dimensional Prison 1 Dust Tornado 2 Fairy Wind

In Game 2, I managed to do an early Evilswarm Exciton Knight to clear his board, and follow with a Number 16: Shock Master.

Match Result: OO

 

 

In Game 1 my opponent was unable to piece together his Rituals as I negated his Mermail Abysspike with Fiendish Chain. I managed to control the game with a crucial Solemn Judgment on his Nekroz Cycle when he was down to his last 2 cards.

Side Out	Side In
1 Mystical Space Typhoon 1 Call of the Haunted 2 Compulsory Evacuation Device	2 Diamond Dust 1 Dimensional Prison 1 Imperial Iron Wall

In Game 2, I opened really bad with no monsters in hand. I was eventually taken out by The Nekroz Armor of Trishula.

Time was called before Game 3 began. I opened with a lot of trap cards, so I opt to go into Bujintei Tsukuyomi to get a +1. I followed with a Gagaga Cowboy on the next turn to deal the game winning 800 damage. My opponent had a Harpie’s Feather Duster to clear my trap cards, but he couldn’t break through my 2 monsters in defense position.

Match Result: OXO

 

 

Game 1 saw my opponent opened really good with a Number 95: Galaxy Eyes Dark Matter Dragon. I was able to answer that with Stellarknight Delteros, which became Constellarknight Diamond in the Main Phase 2. A crucial Fiendish Chain on Mythic Tree Dragon stopped my opponent in his track.

Side Out	Side In
2 Mystical Space Typhoon 1 Call of the Haunted 2 Constellar Alpha	2 Maxx “C” 1 Dimensional Prison 2 Imperial Iron Wall

Game 2 my opponent opened with a poor hand filled with The White Stone of Legend. An Instant Fusion for Elder God Noden followed with Monster Reborn made it a quick game.

Match Result: OO

 

 

Game 1 was swiftly over as my opponent had the nuts draw of Masked HERO Anki fetching Mask Change, turning Elemental HERO Stratos into Masked HERO Divine Wind and finally ending with a Super Polymerization into Vision HERO Adoration. I took 6900 damage in that Battle Phase.

Side Out	Side In
3 Fiendish Chain	1 Mystical Space Typhoon 1 Dimensional Prison 1 Compulsory Evacuation Device

In Game 2, my opponent made the mistake of destroying my set card instead of Call of the Haunted with his Ice Hand when he had ran out of Fire Hand in his deck. That left my Thunder King Rai-Oh on the field to control the game.

Game 3 was a lock down with Number 16: Shock Master, while I had a Dimensional Prison to answer his Fire Hand.

Match Result: XOO

 

 

Game 1, my opponent opened with double Black Whirlwind and a Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame. Despite having Harpie’s Feather Duster to answer the 2 Black Whirlwind, the pressure from Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame with Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind and Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow was overwhelming. A timely Compulsory Evacuation Device on my Stellarknight Delteros was checkmate.

Side Out	Side In
3 Fiendish Chain	1 Mystical Space Typhoon 1 Dimensional Prison 1 Dust Tornado

In Game 2, my opponent managed to summon Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier which severely crippled me and I was unable to answer that.

Match Result: XX

 

 

Going 4-1 in a 40 players tournament is pretty good, but I am still slightly disappointed. My personal prediction of HERO, Nekroz and Qliphort in the metagame was spot on, but I failed to account for Blackwing. The recent Premium Pack 17 propelled Blackwing back into the competitive scene.

With Black Whirlwind at 3, Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind at 2, Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow at 3, and the addition of Blackwing – Kris the Crack of Dawn allows Blackwing to flood the field and OTK like the metagame of 2009’s Shura, Bora, Bora, Gale, Gale.

Blackwing – Pinaka the Waxing Moon also allows the Blackwing player to get easy pluses with Icarus Attack.

The strength of Tellarknight lies in its ability to adapt to the metagame by adjusting its choice of Trap cards. My current choices of Fiendish Chain is good against Nekroz, Compulsory Evacuation Device is good against HERO and Shaddoll, while Bottomless Trap Hole is good against Qliphort. Moving forward, I would have to find space for Torrential Tribute and Starlight Road to combat against Blackwing.