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29 May 2009
Yu-Gi-Oh! New Zealand National Championship 2009
James White
Congratulations to Calum Rickard, New Zealand National Champion 2009! Calum had no easy job having to fight his way through the most impressive top 8 ever seen including three previous National Champions and other high profile players. Calum first had to dispatch Shismeng Cai who placed 1st after 8 rounds of swiss, followed by a semi-final against Sam Smith who had just beaten Calum in the round 8. The tight semi-final vs Smith went to game 3, where Calum blew Smith and the specators away with a spectacular opening sequence of plays, ending turn one with Goyo Guardian, Red Dragon Archfiend and Judgment Dragon on his field!!! The second semi-final saw an exact repeat of Nationals 2008 with Game 2 of the final was remarkable. An early Trap Dustshoot revealed a "Terrible Hand" from Calum which was soon partially fixed with a timely Solar Recharge. Chris's turn 1 Colossal Fighter was joined by Stardust Dragon but to the suprise of the crowd watching the two big beaters where turned to defense position when Chris announced that Callum was holding double Honest, enough to finish Chris off after playing Solemn Judgment and Skill Drain had already been activated. This was confirmed for Chris a few turns later when Calum was exposed with Crush Card Virus. The honest call was incredibly intuitive as Calum was holding two and soon after, three Honest. The game entered an series of set pass, pass pass, face down summon pass, pass pass, pass pass.....this went on for more than 25 turns! with Chris knowing exactly that Calum was desperately trying to draw multiple Trap Eaters to clear the Skill Drain. It got to the point when Chris's regular request for game state information stopped being how many life points were remaining or cards in hand, but all that mattered were how many cards in deck! Calum patiently waited, not playing any of the multiple Charge of the Light Brigade or Solar Recharges in hand, just happy to draw into all the pieces of the equation he needed to break through Gehrings wall of defense. After more than 1 hour of game two alone, Calum drew the last card in his deck, the third Trap Eater. Dark Armed Dragon was already in play for Calum, so clearing all the Skill Drains was all that stood between Calum and the Championship. Double Solemn and a second set Skill Drain was not enough to stop the overload of Heavy Storm, Trap Eaters and a lethal synchro into Dark Strike Fighter. Graciously Chris Gehring extended the hand congratulaing Calum Rickard on becoming the 2009 New Zealand National Champion!
Star players from around the country are in attendance, including the current and two previous National Champions. Speculation has been that we will see the first two-time champion today but there are many rising names who are fighting hard for the title. Stay tuned for coverage of the big names and emerging stars. The players errupted in applause during the player meeting to James White's annoucment of an "awesome future for Yu-Gi-Oh! in New Zealand.... with new feature events, player resources and promotions under the new partnership between Konami, Hobby Co and GamePlayer". Discuss on the Game Player Forums
Final Placings - New Zealand National Championship
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Team Execution members Sam Bell and Chris Gehring playing a card for card mirror match for a spot on the final table. Gehring got it and the dream of back-to-back Championship titles was on!
