Report from the Sarajevo Regional Tournament

A long drive with friends and a weekend of Yu-Gi-Oh! is something I do not get to do often nowadays, so it was nice to be on the road and attend a regional in another country for fun again. Overall, the event on September 8 was great, and I made 16th place at the regional, out of 77 duelists. Sadly, I didn't top the tournament.

I wasn't sure what to play this weekend, trying to decide between Runick Chimera and Branded Chimera, but I eventually settled for the latter the night before. The deck is mostly straightforward and has room for a lot of non-engine cards, which help you interrupt or break boards. Overall, the deck performed very well and only bricked maybe twice during the whole event. Below is the list I used, followed by a rundown of my matches.

Round 1: Adventure Synchron (Win, 2-1)

I lost the dice roll and my opponent decided to go first. The only real interruption in my hand was , but my opponent looped me for two cards with , including said Super Polymerization, all while fielding both and . I tried to play around his stuff with my Branded cards, but scooped before revealing my Chimera cards when it was obvious this game was unwinnable.

Game two, I went first and set up my board with , while ripping one card out of his hand with . It was too much for him to play through and he eventually conceded. We moved on to game three, where he went first but, I believe, did not open too well and only looped me for one card. This time I still had Super Polymerization and got to break through his board, although the rest of my hand wasn't too good. We kept taking turns, and he damaged me with Omega. Eventually, I drew and managed to set up a big board made of Chimera, Dragoon, and , entered the battle phase one second before time was declared, and was able to put in enough damage to turn a potential loss into a last-second win.

Round 2: Tearlaments (Draw, 1-1-1)

I won the dice roll and made Chimera the King of Phantom Beasts on the first turn. I ripped one card from his hand during the end phase, and it turned out to be , kickstarted his plays during my turn. It was a long game full of back and forth interactions. I believe it lasted around 20 minutes or so. Eventually, he overwhelmed me and pushed for game.

I went first in game two and made a Dragoon while still insisting to rip a card from his hand during the end phase with Chimera. I know it was stupid, but what were the odds of hitting another Reinoheart? Amazingly enough, that was exactly what happened, but I negated its effect with Dragoon. Eventually, he played through my interruptions and cleared my board with . He was low on resources after that though, and I managed to win the game. We went on to game three, but time was called after he passed the turn to me. It was a bit of a let down to not finish the match, but overall, it was one of the most enjoyable duels I had that weekend.

Round 3: Exosister (Loss, 1-2)

I remember losing the dice roll, but I don't remember much about the duels themselves, except that game one took a considerable time. We kept going back and forth, and he eventually took the game. Game two, I went first and drew into , which really disrupted his plays. I eventually made and swung for game. He went first during game three and gained 800 life points through the effect of . I was oblivious to time and proceeded to make my plays. I would have needed 15 more seconds to set up my board and push for damage when time was unfortunately called.

Round 4: Tribrigade Lyrilusc (Win, 2-0)

Definitely a deck I wasn't expecting to see. I won the dice roll and went first. I set up , supported by a , with plenty of follow-up during his turn. He couldn't play through my board; I made and attacked for game. Game two, he went first and set up two copies of to bring out . I interrupted him with a , then with some hand traps as he tried to extend with his Tri-brigade cards. During my turn, I again finished him off using Chimera the Illusion Beast, which I have to admit is a very underrated card.

Round 5: Floowandereeze (Win, 2-0)

This opponent actually won against a friend of mine earlier during the day, so it was technically revenge for my teammate. I won the dice roll and proceeded with the standard board. I also had in my hand. He couldn't play through my interruptions and ended up conceding. We went to game two and he set up a strong board which included , , and another monster, as well as . Luckily, I had in hand and broke through his monster setup thanks to . Playing through the rest of his interruptions was somewhat tricky though. Although the life point difference was in my favor, it was very much a back and forth game, and I was forced to use my two copies of on him during two consecutive turns to clear his board. Eventually, I out-resourced him and won the duel.

Round 6: Adventure Synchron (Loss, 0-2)

Ironically, the game was against one of my friends who made top 16 at a remote YCS last year. He ended up taking fifth place at the regionals. I lost the dice roll and had only an , which was far from sufficient to interrupt his plays. He ended up hand-looping me for two cards with while having and . I tried to play through his interruptions, but it was futile, honestly. Game two began and I went first. I opened five non-engine cards and ended up setting three cards and passing. I had enough interruptions with , Impermanence, and to stop him from playing. However, we both ended up top-decking, and when I finally drew into , he had the Ash Blossom to stop it. I consider this the only match where I was truly outplayed and helpless.

Round 7: Unchained (Win, 2-0)

This was the last round of the tournament. I won the dice roll and set up a strong board that he was unable to play around. He conceded within five minutes and admitted that he bricked. He went first during game two and ended up on a board consisting of and . Although it seems like a simple board, it is difficult to play around. Luckily, I had the perfect hand for it. I normal summoned and then used to make using his Caeser. I do not remember much afterwards—only that the game was intense, with him pushing me to my last 200 life points while slowly running out of resources himself. and were immensely helpful during the game. We both ended up top-decking when he was down to his last 1,000 life points. Once I drew and revealed it, he admitted defeat around five minutes from time.

Final Remarks

Overall, it was a very enjoyable weekend. We all had fun, although most of our group didn't end up doing too well at the event. As for the deck itself, I have no complaints. I believe the ratios were perfect. Super Polymerization honestly was the MVP of the deck, along with the Chimera engine itself. and put in a lot of work. The only underwhelming card in the main deck was , but I still don't consider it a bad choice. In any case, the deck will evolve after the release of Age of Overlord, and I will keep tinkering with it to improve it further.

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