I'm a writer, and a good one at that, so unless you enjoy a good read, turn back now! You've been warned...

Well, I decided to come join the fun in Santa Clara and represent the Golden Gate city about a week ago after not being too sure whether I would go or not. I quit the game in December, and apparently, the very few that were still active in the game also quit, including our awesome scout, who some of you may remember as Vaporgecko. Being inactive for half a year, I figured I wouldn't do very good (part of the reason I didn't want to go), but I looked at what I had (mostly block 2 cards), and figured I could come down and compete just for fun. Plus I wanted to make top 8 after getting 9th at my last major tourney because I was 2nd in Swiss and 1st place, the always talented Brynsul, cut me ala diversity.

So looking around at what cards I had, I set out to make a deck. There weren't very many choices as the only influences on my deckbuilding were what cards I had that were still legal (3/4's of my collection is legacy, poor playset of Scourge of Zeus) and that it needed to be cheap to get the rest I would need for the deck. Who would it be? I originaly planned for Sakura off water (I've always been a rejection loop addict), but getting Feline Spike's was nigh high impossible and I couldn't even get Sardine Beach Special. So with no finisher I scrapped it. Not being able to play water which is all I knew how to do and the only one where I had all the cards, I went on twoheadeddragon.com to look at some new stuff and it hit me... Gen!!! Seeing Seigfried's stuff made me giddy and them being new and cheap I got some, and ended up with this deck: (insert deck link when I get it up... Haha).

Anywho, I get there, and just like my last major tourney forgot my sidedeck... So I ask around for some commons to throw in there and 2 Tiger Fury's that I didn't have. Then I play a quick warm-up with Iari, who I met a year ago. Halfway through our game they call the match-ups and low and behold... Iari is my first opponent. THat was definitely weird, and I was slightly annoyed we gave up our first game to just start over.

Round 1: Earth/Good Gen vs All/Chaos Terry (Iari)

Anywho, first game Iari takes quick control, as I get absolutely nothing. I was hoping for some Atoning's to show up, because the card is insanely awesome and deals with so many threats, but alas I don't and eat Ryu's Shin Shoryuken for a million speed-pumped with Kung-Fu Training. Next game, it's a back and forth struggle as I finally get some answers out. My Atoning's and Program Malfunction's hit his Chester's and I believe Red Lotus, which lets me Owlface a Blood Runs True and other stuff. However, the Kung-Fu Training's keep pumping attacks and I can't do anything about em. I gotta hand it over to Iari, becaise he knows how to play against Gen, and aggros out so that even with Battle Prowess, Holding Ground, and Amy's I'm stuck at about half health the entire game. It also helps that Terry can draw massive amouts of cards at the end of the turn and with no way to push through attacks (no Way's of Punishment =) so it's hard to ht Terry. Anyway's, I manage to hit him hard and wittle his health down... I throw some Gaishiki's but I swear every time I threw one, they're blocked by the same card... Bitter Rivals. To worsen things, he reversals with Sakura's Hadoken which pumps his health back up. The entire time I have Tag Along to fend off Terry's uber vitality gain, but he never uses the ability. Game's almost up and I decided to go for broke, and hit with Fury and use the Tag Along's I saved to get back some Plasma Beams, which he blocks and reversals with Sakura's Hadoken and finally uses Terry's ability to bring him to full! No way to kill him I just scoop and Iari wins 2-0.

Having already met at Kublacon 08, Iari's always awesome to play with and i hope to roll down to Santa Clara again to play with him and the rest of the Game Kastle crew some more. And on to the next round... which is a by! Anywho, the other guy who also has a by, and the tournament organizer asks, BlankaDude, (sorry, don't know your actual name... Haha) that we can play together if we want. As we sit down, he asks me if I want to play competitively, and though I really want to play for points so I can help my chances to top 8, he says he just wants to play for fun and I agree to it. It's not anyone elses fault I got a by, that's just how it goes...

Round 2: Earth/Good Gen vs Order Frogase (Steven)

First game I set up extremely quick while he flips a Lunar Slash to slow down his building pace. I managed to roll through with a playset of Program Malfunction's on the board and some Seal's and Olcadan's which he had no answer for, so I take the first game. Second game, he starts laying down the Bigger They Are's and Aquakineses along with Lord of the Makai to fuel his hand and momentum to ridiculous sizes. I set up quickly this game as well, but I also end up checking attacks. He tries to hit me with Kuzuryu and other attacks, but my vitality gain and damage reduction keep me in the clear. Getting frustrated with no attacks, I just continue to build. After a while, I see how much momentum he has, and figure I can get him to deck out, but he stops and so I try to attack for fatal but he uses Cutting Edge to keep him in the clear. Anyway, time is called before he has to deck out... At that point though, we're both so bored with the grey wall each other has we didn't really care too much. Course, this match didn't really matter too much since it was just for fun. And onto the next match.

Round 3: Earth/Good Gen vs Air Andrew Olexa (Marcus)

This was by far my favorite match of the night, because Marcus was hella cool. Being away for so long, and not really used to doing response wars, he helped me out as much as possible throughout the game. In the first game, I didn't really get set up too well. All I really had on the board was Blinding Rgae, which I think was useless because I don't he ran Olcadan's. Anyway, he sets up quickly and ends it pretty quickly with a Feline Spike. Next game was straight awesome. It was a back and forth battle the whole through. At the start, we both get set up, and after falling prey to Shooting Capoera shenanigans I start Revenant Calling those things each and every time and making sure they stay down. After a long while in baiting him to get rid of some of his control, I get Atoning's in there to snipe his Chester's. WIth a bit of control established, I start to hit him, but he's able to block a good chunk of them and keep alive. All the while, he's able to Olexa CC hack me at some oppurtune times and able to get 3 Inhuman perception, which makes most of my stuff useless, and at one point also uses them to stop all 3 of my Holding Grounds which were instrumental against Feline Spike. Finally, I throw a fatal Tiger Fury, which barely squeaks by when he checks a Feline Spike. In the final game, he doesn't get up a defense for Olcadan's while I have 2 on the board, and making sure I keep up all my defenses for fear of a Feline Spike OTK. However, he gets up 2 Program Malfunction's and tries to lower my defenses and almost knocks me out with time almost out. I breathe a sigh of relief when I survive, and on my turn, with time being called I try to kill him. However the checks weren't with me as I have to commit a lot for Tiger Fury and the Tag Along to stop his hack. He partial blocks the Tiger Fury, and I think I can wrap up a win with High Plasma beam with 2 foundations up, and only needing a 4 to win with the pump... Guess what?! I check a 3... It's tie. We shake hands and talk about how awesome a match we had before the next matches are called.

Before the next rounds, I ask around for scores and tell them I had a loss, by, and a tie. The response from everyone was that the by was gonna kill me. ****, man!! This major tourney was starting to look an awful lot like my last one where I barely missed the cut with a 9th place finish! I really, really didn't want that to happen again! However, there simply wasn't anything I could do, except play on.

Round 4: Earth/Good Gen vs Fire Astaroth (Allen)

There really wasn't much to say about this game because I was able to set up way too fast, which was something I was a little weary of, given Astaroth's effect. He played to Astaroth's strength, as he didn't try to even up the foundation total instead trying to force attacks through with a couple foundations. Astaroth scared me with that so I made sure to keep Tag Along and my Seal's ready. With what essentially read as a blank 28 Vit/ 6 HS character I took game 1, and he scooped the 2nd one with no answers to my deck.

So with a record of 1-1-1, I was a bit worried about my chances, but after finding out that 2 Hilde's were out due to diversity, I was bit more calm. So what would happen?! Would ssjsonic finally break through to top 8, and not come up just shy of the finish line?! Sadly... No. Just like last time I got 9th place and man did it feel like a kick in the balls... Twice?!! Are you kidding me?!! Oh well. It was cool. I got special prizes for being the top finisher with a Street Fighter character in the form of a gen action figure, and for getting cut just shy of the top 8 in the form of a Penny Arcade book. So that was infinitely awesome. Plus, I had gotten a Lord of the Makai earlier which was worth the trip itself. Haha.

Anyway's after that, still wanting a couple more matches, because really that is why I wanted to make top 8, to play more since my playgroup disbanded, I challenged who later turned out to be none other than Archimedes to a quick single game.

Bonus Round??? Earth/Good Gen vs Fire Hilde (Archimedes )

What was funny about this game was that I never looked at what Hilde did at all, even though I should of known she was capable of going off since 3 people ran her. Anywho the game was quick... I managed to set up really quickly, and take quick control of the game, while he checked badly at the start. Anywho, I went for broke pretty early and payed dearly because of a breaker:2. I figured it didn't really matter since I had Tag Along and he never hit me yet. Boy was I wrong... I never read Hilde, so when he attacked I Tag'd the wrong ability to my surprise and he hit me with a super pumped attack that killed me. Haha. It was all cool though. It was just for fun, and I'd like to think that if the match was for real, I would've read Hilde and been prepared for it. Plus, with the match ending early, I traded my extra set of Olcadan's for Darkness Blade's, which was super awesome of Archimedes.

Anywho, after all that, I took my stuff and headed home. Sadly, even though team's are tomorrow, I won't be there, which is kind of a bummer, but oh well. I don't think I would of had a team anyway. Haha. (If any of you guys who were there read this, feel free to say you would've loved to have me on your team, if only just to cheer me up!! Haha. Just saying is all)

It was blast, and I have to give major props to everyone who was there. It truly felt good to get back into UFS. But as far the future is concerned, is your favorite 9th place gonna still keep in the game? Honestly... IDK. I really don't wanna spend anymore money for a game that's dead back at home. Still, I'd like to think that I'll have at least 1 or 2 decks for the rest of Block 3, with minor updates to keep them competitive while not breaking the bank, so I can head down to GK and some other south bay stores to throw down every once in a while... Especially with the game getting back to healthier state. However, as whole, this might be my be all end all for UFS. Oh well. If this really is my last stop, then it was fun while it lasted, guys.

Alright. Well that's it. Everyone's had enough of my lame wall of text. You can stop reading now. Thanks.