So Regionals was this past weekend, and as I had never been to one, I was really excited/nervous to go. I didn’t really know what to expect, but the location was close, and I had a lot of friends who went as well. I was debating between bringing my ZTB Gear Chronicle deck or my newly re-made Tsukuyomi deck. In the end, I decided to bring ZTBs because I had already practiced with them a lot at locals, and I didn’t want to get trashed for playing OTT when I knew they’re in a bad spot. So without further ado, here is the ZTB deck list I brought.

Grade 4:

Chronodragon Nextage x3 (I would have played this at 4, but I couldn’t find one in the area to buy)

Chronodragon Gear Groovy x2

Interdimensional Dragon, Chronoscommand Revolution x2

Interdimensional Dragon, Chronoscommand Dragon x1

Metapulsar, Split Pegasus x1

Metapulsar, Huang-long x1

Interdimensional Beast, Metallica Phoenix x1

Air Element, Sebreeze x1

Highbrow Steam, Arlim x1

Highbrow Steam, Raphanna x1

Interdimensional Dragon, Heteroround Dragon x1

Retroactive Time Maiden, Uluru x1

Grade 3:

Chronojet Dragon G x4

Chronojet Dragon x2

Chronofang Tiger G x1

Grade 2:

Chronospin Serpent x4

Pulsar Tamer, Lugal-Ure x4

Pulsar, Shiftbullet Dragon x2

Chronobeat Buffalo x2

Grade 1:

Chronoethos Jackal x4

Steam Tamer, Arka x4

Steam Breath Dragon x3

Pulsar, Stratos Falcon x1

Steam Maiden, Mesh-kia x1 (I would have played this at 2, but again, it was sold out everywhere)

Grade 0:

Chrono Dran G x1

Chrono Dran x1

Steam Battler, Ur-Watar x1

Vainglory-dream Gear Cat x1

Pulsar, Hypnosis Sheep x4

Pulsar, Rush Boar x2

Chronovalley Rabbit x4

Chronotherapy Hamster x4

I named my deck list “Not Cancerjet” because I was focusing on a ZTB beat-down/re-stand build instead of the typical, boring, and over used time-leap build. Perhaps my record would have been better if I had brought Cancerjet instead of ZTBs, but I firmly don’t want to play that way.

Round 1:

My opponent “No Show”s. What a great way to start the day! I got a free win, but I didn’t get the chance to earn the win, test my deck, or calm my nerves before…

Record: 1-0

Round 2:

I ended up playing at table 7 due to my overwhelmingly great win in Round 1. Turns out I’m playing against Aqua Force, which, as an OTT player, gives me terrible match-up vibes. He’s playing a Blue Wave build, which I thankfully know how to play. Turns out that neither of us opened up with a Grade 3, so I end up smashing into his rears to try and remove his board presence as fast as possible. We play the grade 2 game for a while, trying to avoid each other’s Sebreeze, though he later tells me he didn’t have one after I choose not to swing with a column that would have given him 2 open CB. He’s down to only 4 cards or so in hand (2 being Grade 3s) and 2 damage when… I mess up. I ride Chronojet Dragon G, and drop a Grade 2 and an Arka to stride into Chronoscommand Dragon. Big mistake. Not only is Chronoscommand Dragon a terrible first stride, I had to drop a grade 2 and a PG to go into him because my field wasn’t set up for Split Pegasus or Metallica Phoenix, and my bind zone wasn’t set up for Huang-long. I swing with my basically vanilla stride, and it turns out that he had a PG. Since I was at high damage, his next turn Commander Thavas stride kills me, and it’s all my fault for riding to Grade 3 when I knew I shouldn’t. Honestly, I shouldn’t have been so afraid of a potential Sebreeze. He was playing Blue Waves!

Record: 1-1

Round 3:

I was shocked when my opponent and I both flipped up Chrono Dran G. I had never played a mirror match before, and I really didn’t think that anyone else would be playing a build that was almost card for card the same as mine. I rushed him pretty hard and removed his important rears. Then, I rode first to Chronojet Dragon G, and he rode to Chronofang Tiger. I strode first into Split Pegasus, and then into Gear Groovy to end the game with a Hypnosis Sheep re-standing a Shiftbullet that had over 30k attack and a crit. He didn’t stride at all. It was a picture perfect game for me, and I think that he just got really unlucky with his inability to stride. Regardless, it was a very fun game to play. I ended up asking him to see his G-Zone. Turns out he was playing Chronofang ZTB to my Chronojet ZTB.

Record: 2-1

Round 4:

I had been beaten pretty badly by a Luard player at locals the week before (that player ended up in the Top 8), so I was not feeling confident in this match-up at all. Most of the game can be summed up with my look of horror at all the free stuff and easy pluses Luard can do. I contemplated staying at grade 2 for the entire game (which probably would have served me better) but I decided against it simply because I didn’t want to be afraid of Luard. Staying at Grade 2 felt like cowardice, so I decided to face him head-on. I ended up surviving past 2 Aurageyser Doomed, and a Spectral Diablo before I was killed by PBD while I had a heal trigger and PG in hand. Yeah, that’s totally fair. I could have guarded with Arlim for a one to pass… if he didn’t use Hoel and Kahedin to make his Vanguard’s power surpass Arlim’s 25k shield. If only Far Away Time Maiden, Uluru had been released, I could have stood a chance that turn.

Record: 2-2

Round 5:

My opponent sits down to reveal a custom Susanoo playmat. I thought for sure that it was a bluff of some sort. There was no way that someone could have brought Susanoo to Regionals and gotten to 2-2 with it. So then he flips up Ikutsu-hikone and I realize that he isn’t kidding at all. At that moment, I knew the game was mine. There was nothing he could do that I wouldn’t know how to counter. I spent the majority of the game staring in awe at his deck build. He was playing a Dark Cat, and Yakushiji instead of Lozenge. He was also playing Gelee as his back-up. He rode to grade 3 first, and sacked me from 2 to 5 damage in one shot. Knowing he was playing 12 crit made it a bit of a challenge because I had to guard almost everything to avoid getting smacked with criticals. I first strode into Split Pegasus to build my board, while also flipping up Chronoscommand Dragon. He G-guards and strides into Miroir, calling Pudding to the rearguard, and committing 3 other rearguards to the board. I guard, then stride into Chronoscommand Revolution. I get to keep my two rears, and he loses 4 cards in total. I then proceed to smack him really hard. He strides into Kamususanoo, drawing until he has 6 cards in hand, which is enough for him to survive my next stride into Gear Groovy. He strides Kamususanoo to draw until he has 6 cards in hand, again. At this point, we only had 5 minutes left in the round, and I didn’t want to lose because of Susanoo’s ability to not die. I end up bouncing an Arka from the drop to my hand, and then calling a lot of ZTBs to the board including Arka, and some triggers, like Hypnosis Sheep. I had about 10 face-up cards in my G-zone at this point. The power overwhelmed him and I won. No dice Susu, but good job getting to Round 5.

Record: 3-2

Round 6:

Remember how I said that I had gotten smacked by Luard at locals last week? Well, right after that I was smacked by Victor (last week was a bad week at locals for me). Guess who came to meet me round 6? Hi Victor. At this point it was late in the day and the round took forever to get started. I start off pretty strong by smacking at his rearguards. Honestly, the rest of this game is kind of a blur that I assume is induced by lack of food and sickness (did I mention I had a cold all day?). All I remember is that I stode into Split Pegasus. Then he strode into Meteokaiser, Victor. At this point I was at high damage. This is where I messed up. I end up using up 2 Lugal-Ures on the field and 1 in my hand to guard his last rearguard attack. The only card left in my hand was a Chronojet. I draw… Chronotherapy Hamster. If only I had taken the last attack instead of guarding I would have had the pressure necessary to make my Gear Groovy turn lethal. As it was, he managed to survive and stride into Favorite Champ. RIP. Again here, the OTT player inside took over and refused to take the 6th damage heal because that kind of risk is not something that OTT rewards. In OTT, if you take a 6th damage, you’re dead 99% of the time. In Gear Chronicle, 6th damage heals happen all the time. Another game I could have won.

Record: 3-3

Round 7:

Another “No Show”, another free win, another lost opportunity to get some serious practice. RIP.

Record: 4-3

I don’t think I did half-bad for my first ever regionals. Everyone I talked to told me that I did better than they did at their first regionals. I guess we’ll have to see what happens next time. One day, I will make OTT top again (though I guess bringing OTT would be the first step to making THAT happen). I was overall surprised that I didn’t face more Gear Chronicle match-ups. I was really looking forward to seeing how well ZTBs could do against Time Leap. It’s definitely a better match-up than Luard or Victor anyway.