California Team League 2016 - Seven Seas

   So I've never updated since forever thanks to work draining all my energy away. Besides, Silver Thorns didn't really get anything interesting, neither did Prisms (I'm SUPER HYPED for CB3 though). Now, having done Team League a week and a half ago... I think I might as well write a new post.

   I've actually been tinkering and messing with Seven Seas all this time (along with Prisms, but not much change happened to Prisms lol), and that was the deck I brought to the team league. This might actually be the first time I brought a "meta deck" to any tournament in my life, but that's because I actually like how Seven Seas plays, so I don't really mind playing it at all. I mean, by now I think it's pretty clear and obvious that I almost play technical clans exclusively lol.


   Overall, during the team league, our team got knocked out at round 6 (there are 8 rounds total), however, my personal score of the day was 5:1, and the only loss was to a Gluttony Dogma that literally drove check into penta-triggers (crit, heal, crit, and then heal, crit) when I was on 2 damage (with no PGs in hand) to his 5 (face down) damage and 0 hand. Thanks to this, I now have PTSD when facing Gluttony Dogma. Adding in all the casual games and local tournaments I played, Seven Seas has performed exceptionally well for me. Actually I think I suffered a total of 1 losses at local tournaments overall over the course of playing and testing this deck (it was to a 6th heal). Obviously local tournaments don't really mean that much because it is a biased sample (my locals typically do 5 pre-rounds and then top 8), but that's not the point. The point is that given how often I play this deck, the win-loss ratio I get is pretty ridiculously skewed, and that says something.


   Anyways, the deck list is as follows:

FVG:

• Undying Departed, Grenache *1

Triggers *16: (12 Crit/4 Heal)

• Assault Command, Carignan (Critical)  *3
• Ghoul Cannonball (Critical) *2
• Jimmy the Ghostie (Critical) *2
• Knight Spirit (Critical) *1
• Rough Seas Banshee (Critical) *4
• Doctor Rouge (Heal) *4

Grade 1 *13:

• Dancing Cutlass *3
• Seven Seas Helmsman, Nightcrow *3
• Tommy the Ghostie Brothers *3
• Waterspout Djinn *4

Grade 2 *12:

• Ruin Shade *4
• Seven Seas Master Swordsman, Slash Shade *3
• Skeleton Cannoneer *3
• Witch Doctor of the Rotten Sea, Negrorook *2

Grade 3 *8:

• Lord of the Seven Seas, Nightmist *4
• Seven Seas Sage, Plegeton *4

G-zone *8:

• Loved by the Seven Seas, Nightmist *4
• Ghostie Great King, Obadiah *2
• Mist Phantasm Pirate King, Nightrose *2

Tournament Report

Our team got eliminated on round 6 - team was SinBuster-Daikaiser, Pure Chaos, and Seven Seas (me).

Game 1 - vs. Blade Wing (Win)

Achievement Unlocked:
"Slash Shade Slayer"

   This game was funny. The guy G-assisted for G2, and never quite got the tempo. Knowing he's DI, I play the resource game and pop his stuff with Cannoneer and burn his resources with Slash Shade. Yes, including popping his FVG before he could use it; I'm very r00d. Being behind and low on resources, he didn't want me to break ride and decided to try to deck me out. Here's the thing though: you really can't expect to deck someone out when you have no advantage engine to tank and stall while the other guy can continue to spawn full fields and throw power-lanes and multi-attacks at you. But he tried anyways, and this game is where the legend of the strongest Slash Shade was born.

   He used his stride VG to attack my... Slash Shade, including a Gilles de Rais attack, three times. Yes, THREE. Never in my life have I seen such a powerful Slash Shade, solo tanking three stride vanguard attacks all by himself. The legendary Slash Shade is then sealed away in a golden frame and displayed in my Halls of Fame. Knowing he's trying to deck me out, I continue to do my thing and stride Obadania because he... has no resources. He dieded the death pretty quickly, and he couldn't even Gilles me on his 3rd stride because he was still 2 souls short. After the game he kept blaming everything on the G-assist, and even said he was trying to deck me out, and seems to be very suprised at seeing how I still strode into my Obadanias and even continued to use Ruin Shade's skill (I was using it to hit 16k).  "Did you know what I was trying to do?" Yes, I do know. And I also know it's ineffective.


Game 2 - vs. Diablo (Win)

   The moment we STANDO UP ZA VANGARDO, my opponent says he's never played against Seven Seas before. I opened the game with 3 G3s, 1 G2, and 1 G0, and had to G-assist for my G1, and it was a PG-G. I did manage to take control of the game and kept control of the game with an iron grip after that, controlling his field, hand, and resources very well. Thanks to Slash Shade, not only was I able to burned his resources and put him high in damage, Slash Shade also gives me permanent units on the field to prevent myself from being dunked by Phantom Blaster Diablo. He was then forecd to go all in with Spectral Blaster Diablo dunk (or be guaranteed to lose next turn), and being the tank that 7Cs is, I soaked it and sit comfortably at 5 damage while sitting on Nightmist (I guarded the 1st attack with like 6 cards and PG'd the 2nd). He dieded the death of Nightmist BR + Nightrose 5-attack dunk the following turn.





Game 3 - vs. SGD Blaster (Win)

You don't wanna mess with this dog.

   This was a very close game; too close actually. SGD Blaster is a pain in the ass to play against (and honestly, I find it to be a much better build and much more difficult to play against than Thing Blaster), and he opened the perfect rush hand, going Blaster Friend Barcgal, Llew on turn 2. I was  rushed to 4 damage before I'm even on G3, and he kept on refilling the field with Benon, and Miron for mad plusses. However, having practiced with a friend of mine for quite a bit, I never gave him more than 1 open damage, and that drastically lowered his effectiveness. I had to keep popping his RGs, gain hand, attack RGs and only keep his damage in check the whole damn game (even going as far as passing
crit to a booster so he doesn't get more than 1 open damage). Eventually he was forced to drop his entire hand to attempt to dunk me, and I had to NG @4. Alas he didn't check any crits (he's not going 12 crit; looks like a 4 Margal build as I did see Margals). He dieded the death of Nightmist BR + Nightrose 5-attack dunk the following turn. He got pretty mad after this game because while his team kept winning up to this match, he lost all of the games before this somehow and when he finally opened a perfect hand, it became his 3rd loss of the day.


Game 4 - vs. G-PM (Win)

G-PM, a tragic story.

   This guy had the perfect soul setup before striding (Darkside Princess, Paratrooper, Crescent Moon Juggler, and Harri crit), double-critted me the turn he rode to G3 (Harri), and I had to G-assist for my G3, missed it, and G-assist again next turn, and then finally got to G3. He was at 5 damage due to my early pushes (he ran Cat in Boots as starter so his early game was dreadfully bad. Kids, this is why you should't run that pos as a FVG). He stride Lunatec first stride, made a 30/32/32 field, and I tanked it; I almost ran out of hand, but the push wasn't enough. Next turn, I re-rode Plegeton to call Negrorook and Hollowed it, Strode into Nightrose, called Ruin Shade and traded in it for a Nightcrow, and dunked his 6-card hand with 5 attacks. I really wish G-PM were better, but when your opponent missing g-assist, you double critting your opponent, and have the perfect 4~5 card setup really quickly, your opponent didn't sack triggers, and it still isn't enough to win you the game, you know the deck is dreadfully bad.




Game 5 - vs. Ancient Dragons (Loss)

I now sleep in fear of this thing

coming out from under my bed.

   This was my only loss of the day. I had him in control, popped his RGs, burn his resources, and put him to 5 damage all face down when I'm comfortably sitting on 2. He tried to Pearly Titan me and I guarded that too. I was pretty far ahead, and he was forced to attempt to Gluttony Dogma dunk me 2 because otherwise he's guaranteed to lose next turn, and that turned into a turn that is so overwhelming that it is PTSD inducing. I happen to not have another PG, and he went RG (Hypnohang) -> RG (Iguanogorg. I guarded both RG attacks) -> Dogma -> checks crit, heal, crit, all to his revived Iguanogorg *2 lane-> Dogma -> checks crit heal with a 47k Iguano lane on the side. I dieded the death. Penta-triggers OP, plx nerf. We also lost this round because one of my teammates died to triple crit breaking his 3-to-pass pretty early.


Game 6 - vs. G-Novas (Win)

I remember this guy did absolutely nothing.

   This one was pretty easy. Bully & retire RGs (Cannoneer + Slash Shade combo OP) and he lost all steam and was dead meat on the platter. He then dieded the death of Nightmist BR + Nightrose dunk.
However, we lost this round because both my teammates died to triple triggers, again, and that concluded our team league for the day.



   Overall, I felt pretty good about our team because all the losses today were due to triple/penta crit/triggers (all the games lost by my teammates were broken 3-to-passes), meaning really, just bad luck. I mean, there really isn't much to complain when the only losses are 3-to-pass being broken, and your teammates even won against their direct counters (eg. the pure Chaos player killed a Messiahs deck). Overall, things obviously could have gone better, but it wasn't bad at all.