Rogue from the Start

May 25, 2012

by Max Begley

Hey YuGiOh community! I’m Max Begley from Omaha, Nebraska and my YuGiOh career has been relatively short with very few tops anywhere, even at my own locals. I do, however, feel like I bring a much-needed rogue deck style perspective to the table. Here’s a little bit about me.

I started playing in May of 2011 upon persuasion of my friends. I picked up a Dragunity starter deck and played with it for about 2 days until one of my friends suggested I try out Gravekeeper’s and after picking up 3 copies of the Marik Structure Deck I was well prepared to visit one of our local card shops and start dueling! Still short Recruiters and Royal Tributes I piloted the deck to a solid 2-2 record. After building and topping with some “for fun” decks like Morphtronics and Ojamas I built Gladiator Beasts and took them to my first regional event in Lenexa, Kansas.

After getting lost and sick on the way we made it just after round one had started, so we all took the round one loss. Then an embarrassing round two loss to Cloudians pretty much crushed my hopes of getting a nationals invite for that event, but I vowed that I would get an invite to nationals that day, and I like to think that’s where my friends and I decided that we wanted to become the best YuGiOh players in the world.

Some months later at the YCS Kansas City I finally had put together A Hero Lives Gladiator Beasts but after a couple rough losses to Dark Worlds I was out for the event, and decided maybe it was time to retire GBs for a while. I spent the time between then and April just jumping between decks, playing random things until one day one of my friends had an open spot to a regional in South Dakota. For 40 dollars I hitched a ride with him in an attempt to do well with a deck I had built 3 days before the event, a deck that I attended my first tournament with, Gravekeeper’s.

I went into the day not really expecting much but by round 5 when I was undefeated I knew there was hope I could top with a rogue deck that I really, truly enjoyed playing. After a loss to Inzektors I was devastated, but able to come back and get 6th place! It was surreal, a friend running Gravekeeper’s had gotten 7th as well, and we were jumping for joy when we read our names on the standings sheet. In the top 8 match I actually lost to a great player running Gravekeeper’s as well! With almost half representation in top 8 at a regional I felt like GK’s may have what it takes to do well at a YCS, so I packed my things and headed to Chicago to see how I fared.

Now, if you remember the top 32 listing there was a Gravekeeper player who topped. Unfortunately it wasn’t me. After a few losses to Chaos Dragons I was out for the event but I’m planning on coming back with a vengeance in Columbus for nationals! I really believe that a rogue deck has the chance to do well in Columbus, because of Chaos Dragons poor matchup against a skilled rogue deck player. A well protected Necrovalley easily shuts down Dragons, and a lot of rogue deck players have tricks up their sleeves for the meta and for big monsters especially. This proves to be a big challenge for dragons, since all of their stuff is huge and is easily countered by a Bottomless Trap Hole, Smashing Ground, or a Soul Taker. The utility the rogue decks bring to the table is what I think will be able to take the meta by storm.

As a Gravekeeper player I hope to lead us to a win in Columbus, but we’ll see what takes the meta by storm in the coming weeks to Columbus! What do you honestly think has a good chance of doing well, and what do you think will end up winning? If you think there’s going to be an upset in the “meta” why do you think that? Remember, it’s never too early to start preparing, and Play Hard or Go Home!