The Average Netdeck 1: Chris Pittao

The Average Netdecker 1
05/07/10

Chris Pittao
Deck Credentials:
1^st place SJC Edison (at this point in time largest event ever) after swiss
Top 16^th SJC Edison
Lost on the bubble at YCS Washington or Virginia to be edited after
Drop at Canadian Nationals

THE PLAYER:I wish I had met Mr.Pittao earlier in my yugioh career. The man is one of the nicest players you will ever meet in the game. Out of the many douchebags (no offense) in our game, he is quite a joy to play with and talk to. A very experienced player, he offers insight, and is not afraid to hide it. His credentials include :

2nd Canadian Nationals 2006
2nd SJC Baltimore 2006
T4 SJC San Mateo 2007
T8 SJC Orlando 2006
T16 SJC Chicago 2007
T16 SJC Detroit 2008
T16 SJC Orlando 2009
T16 SJC Edison 2010
Midwest Team Challenge Winner.

Now if you’re an average player like me , you netdeck. To all you flamers and haters, its part of the game. It really helps you develop yourself as a player. It’s hard not to and I stick to it. On two separate occasions I have netdecked Mr.Pittao and have had two different results. I netdecked his gadget-monarch deck, didn’t get really good results. However I owe something to him. His deck from SJC SAN MATEO, or in his words SAN PITTAO, btw its a lot healthier if you can make other players laugh. Anyways back on topic, his deck won me my areas biggest tournament of all time, there were 42 players at that tournament, and his deck without ddraws, an ladd deck brought me victory. He innovated. He’s skillfull he’s smart. When I was paired against him at Canadian nationals I was excited and also very happy that he wasn’t a douchebag. He traded talked with me and his deck was great. So ive decided to talk about it because I feel he was snubbed for not getting a feature match at EDISON.

THE DECK:
Monsters:
3x Caius the Shadow Monarch
1x Sangan
3x Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
1x Chaos Sorcerer
1x Celestia, Lightsworn Angel
2x Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
3x Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
1x Wulf, Lightsworn Beast
1x Plaguespreader Zombie
1x Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
1x Dark Armed Dragon
1x Card Trooper
1x Necro Gardna
1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1x Spirit Reaper

Spells:
1x Heavy Storm
3x Solar Recharge
2x Pot of Avarice
3x Book of Moon
1x Charge of the Light Brigade
1x Brain Control
1x Allure of Darkness

Traps:
1x Mirror Force
1x Royal Oppression
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
2x Dimensional Prison

Side Deck:
1x Royal Oppression
3x Legendary Jujitsu Master
3x Mirror of Oaths
3x System Down
2x Needle Ceiling
3x Trap Hole

Extra Deck:
1x Blackwing Armor Master
1x Armory Arm
1x Magical Android
1x Black Rose Dragon
1x Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1x Goyo Guardian
1x Stardust Dragon
1x Mist Wurm
1x X-Saber Urbellum
1x Arcanite Magician
1x Ally of Justice Catastor
1x Colossal Fighter
1x Red Dragon Archfiend
1x Tempest Magician
1x Thought Ruler Archfiend

Now this deck went undefeated at the swiss rounds at EDISON. The sjc was the largest one to date. He lost in top 16. I liked the deck a lot because it reminds me of the old way of playing yugioh, control, waiting, establishing prescence, and then pressing for game in one turn. In the end, the game is so different now, its shennaningans almost with xsabers, and back with dsf, or even infernities. Chris Pittao’s deck is a blast from the past. He’s made changes since EDISON but I wont mention what they are.

Monsters:
3x Caius the Shadow Monarch
3x Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
3x Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
2x Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
1x Sangan
1x Chaos Sorcerer
1x Celestia, Lightsworn Angel
1x Wulf, Lightsworn Beast
1x Plaguespreader Zombie
1x Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
1x Dark Armed Dragon
1x Card Trooper
1x Necro Gardna
1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1x Spirit Reaper

Straight forward in the deck cards I will not explain
Sangan, Gale, and Gorz

First things first. Pittao plays three Cauis, he’s the type of player to conserve cards and make extremely calculated plays. Caius can remove any card on the field. In the current format Cauis removes any Synchro, he removes d-prison, face down rykos, frogs. The only things that are regularly played that can really stop Cauis is attacking a ryko, being destroyed in battle, and torrential, Bottomless and mirror force, in sidedecks, pulling the rug. Cauis is a beast in the deck.
In a sense its kind of like the lightsworn monarch deck piloted by TOM MAK at Us nationals? Or SJC Philidelphia. I think It was before synchros were released. It’s kind of back in the day with destiny heroes, he uses his lightsworn monsters to filter through his deck. One of the best plays of the deck is to flip up ryko, destroy a back row, pitch three, and then drop Cauis. He gets rid of two cards for one of his own. The same if he can protect lyla, he has basically four mst’s in his deck, three with 1700 attack. Celestia is another monarch in a sense , destroying two cards for the price of four of your deck. WUlf rounds of his eight lightsworn monarch’s and its there for two reason, if it gets pitched it’s a 2100 beast stick or a card to discard for solar recharge. It’s 4:2 ration for his draw cards. Chaos Sorcerer with plague spreader is broken in the deck, its very quick to summon chaos sorcerer , remove a monster and then synch with plague spreader for a level 8. In a top decking war, Chris has many answers. Even with dimensional prison’s running around, Cardtrooper is a monster in the deck, setting up many plays for his two pot of avarice, again like many old decks, trooper then pot is amazing to pull off. The hamsters search out , ryko’s keeping field prescence. Necro Gardna doesn’t see much play anymore but it helps Chris if he pitches it because it protects him against an otk, and it also protects monsters for tributes. Spirit reaper also helps in situations where It helps last another turn. Dark Armed Dragon, wins games. If he conserves his cards right he drops dad with synchros on the field and wins.

Spells :
1x Heavy Storm
3x Solar Recharge
2x Pot of Avarice
3x Book of Moon
1x Charge of the Light Brigade
1x Brain Control
1x Allure of Darkness

Allure, Solar Recharge, Charge filter through his deck. They provide draw power. Book of moon provides protection. He can flip down monsters or protect his own. The pot’s are amazing fueling plays for chris’s synchros and getting back cards he discard. Heavy storm and Brain Control win games.


Traps:
1x Mirror Force
1x Royal Oppression
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
2x Dimensional Prison

Only thing I have to say about this, Royal Oppresion wrecks decks.

Final thoughts: The deck is a window in to the past, play it right and you will learn a lot of things. You will learn how to play. The deck can Synchro every monster. It can explode on turns or wear you out. For the average duelist it’s a lot of fun. Thank you Chris Pittao
Until Next time

-Dizon Out

Article One : A Little Bit About Me

Article One
A Little Bit About Me

05/07/10

To those who don’t know me, quote me as Dizon. Im a duelist from the Toronto area whose been playing for years. I started playing competitive yugi-oh around the cookie cutter monarch format, around the time of SJC SAN JOSE where chainstrike was introduced. I guess that was awhile back. Most of us players don’t have the money, or the time to invest in playing decks like the Adam Corn’s or Dale and Lazaro’s of the yugioh world. However what ive loved about the game is that progressively its become less of a rich man’s game and has become more about the skill of the player. I don’t know who told me this but it still rings through in me significantly, they said “the game is 85% what you have in your deck , 10% luck, and 5%skill”. In my own personal beliefs luck place such a huge factor in this game, the man who said id rather be lucky then good saw deeply into life. Not many of us know how deeply luck influences us in this game. In a top decking war you either top a monster to attack for game, or a miserable mst that does nothing, if they have a monster next turn. However the skill comes in when two players play without the factor of luck, when it comes to using the best plays with the cards in their hands. I recently competed in Canadian nationals, and the games I did lose I contribute to misplays on my part, often we blame others, or our opponents, but 85% of the time the reason we lost is ourselves.
I think im getting off topic, the point of this blog, is to help others, and help myself. “every man is smarter then me in one way, and in that I learn from him”. Maybe you can learn something from me, maybe I can learn something from you. Yugioh is a game of humans, it is a game of people. My brother who was eleven at last years Canadian nationals, had his deck stolen, one of the judges gave him a dark armed dragon, two others gave him mats. In the end that made me stay in the game, acts of kindness, too often we hear of stackers, and cheaters and thieves, but there are still some good out there. Im a dedicated netdecker, innovation is key, innovation is great, but im here to play. I get some ideas to improve but we are a community. Sometimes I wont make sense, but I hope you keep coming back, I might enlighten you.

-Dizon Out