KCGT 2020 #1 Global Interview - gift

Congratulations on your 1st place Global! How do you feel?

The result was very surreal, I love this game and to do so great in an event with so many good players is definitely a good feeling. I simply wanted a top 100 score initially, so this went far above my expectations.

Anything you want to tell us about yourself?

I am a Canadian player who has been playing Duel Links since 2017. Prior to this I used to play TCG on Duelingnetwork and Devpro. At the moment, I simply want to keep improving and being able to lead my team, Bricks & Potatoes, to as much success as we can. My ultimate goal is to get to worlds and I will be trying my best to get there next year.

What's your favorite deck in Duel Links and why?

Historically, my favourite deck is Vampires but as of right now, it is definitely Crystrons. These kinds of decks are extremely consistent, usually have a lot of options in terms of playmaking, and have extremely high ceilings. I feel like I have a lot more control playing these kinds of decks than playing a deck like Blackwings for example, and I feel like I can actually try to outplay opponents with these decks. I love the grinding aspect of these decks and slowly trying to gain advantage throughout the duel.

What do you think about this meta? How did it influence your decks choice during this KC GT?

I like this meta a lot, however, I can see people disliking it for sure. If you play a deck like Cyber Dragon, then your decision making is very limited and you don't have a lot of interesting lines to play. So I can see why people dislike it or think its boring. On the other hand, playing decks like Crystrons or Ritual Beasts, you have a lot of interesting matchups (with many different things you have to learn for each matchup). I knew that people would play very aggro decks this KC GT, so I knew playing something like Crystrons or Ritual Beasts would be perfect. Decks like Dragunity and Cyber Dragon can absolutely destroy many decks with their ability to constantly open their combos plus backrow hate. However, with Crystron, a simple Loading... set up can stop even the best Dragunity and Cyber Dragon hands, so I felt that if I wanted to truly perform well in this event, that I would have to play a lot of Crystrons.

Anything you’d like to say about your decks?

Crystrons were my most successful deck, and despite its unpopularity among many, I absolutely love this deck. It's very consistent and win or lose, I always have a chance to play. I like that I can go over past duels and have so many things to think about, while with some other decks, there is only so much I can do sometimes.

How you feel when you saw the results?

As I said earlier, I was very happy when I saw those results. I've been playing KC Cups since 2017 and have always wanted to win one. It's still surreal to me and I want to continue working hard to set my self in the best position to hopefully continue to perform well.

How did you feel during the whole Event? How many hours did you play?

I quickly fell into a trap of playing decks like Cyber Dragon and Blackwings Day 1. I had some bad hands with Crystrons initially which was why I switched to these decks (was definitely a mistake) As a result, Day 1 was truly not a pleasant day and I ended up playing a lot. I believe I played over 200 games on this day, and most of it was spent either OTK'ing my opponents or getting OTK'd back. Near the end of the day, I managed to get a streak going to finally end at 65.9k. On Day 2, I played a little over 100 games and on Day 3 I probably played only 20 to 30 games. I was still keeping up with the rankings and was put into a position where I had to win twice in the final 30 minutes to beat TsunTsun. It was a bit stressful but was luckily able to get two very good matchups. By going with a high win rate deck like Crystron, I ended up not having to play a lot, especially on Day 3.

What was your experience with the decks you faced during the KC GT?

I had a lot of experience against the decks I faced, which I definitely owe to my friends and teammates. I have been practicing often for the past few months and knew exactly what to do in every matchup as a result. Dragunity ended up being very popular, and even though I did not have much experience against that in particular, I realized quickly that a Loading... set up was absolutely devastating against Dragunity (and with See You Later! , I had the potential to bounce back my Loading... and set it up again).

With these results, what decks/skills would you ban/rebalance?

I feel like a lot of decks have simply been very relevant for a long time, so honestly I think Konami just needs to do whatever it can to help pave the way for newer decks to be relevant. Crystrons, Elementsabers, Shiranui, etc. all deserve a hit, just because they've been relevant for far too long. They don't necessarily have to kill any of these decks, just minor hits and slowly releasing slightly more powerful decks.

Lastly, do you have any Shoutouts you would like to make?

There are far too many people to thank, but my friends, my Team/Clan Wars teammates from Bricks & Potatoes, and teammates from other leagues were all great and I'm thankful for each of them. Just by being there and offering second opinions, really helped my mindset and helped me make decisions for the event.

Winning Decklist: