The Duelist Spice Session #1 with Oomar Hingun

Oomar finished Top 4 of the Grand Championship 2020. As one of the premier members of the tournament participating in his 5th Grand Championship, he talks about his experience and goes in-depth about his deck building processes – in a Highlander format in which he is very familiar with.

Interviewer:
So, 5th Grand Championship participation! How was the experience this time around?

Oomar:
Yet to win it still – the only elusive win. So the chase continues... But the concept of a Highlander format was amazing - definitely one of the most fun Grand Championship I have been in.

Interviewer:
How did the deck worked out?

Oomar:
Good shit! I had almost forgotten the painful bliss of how it feels to brick with this deck. Great reminder of good old days. *laughs*

Interviewer:
You opted for Spyrals with an Orcust engine, and lots of going-second cards. Guide us through it and how/why you chose this route after knowing about the Advanced Highlander stipulation?

Oomar:
I went with Spyrals as I believed that in a fresh Advanced Highlander format, the biggest advantage a duelist can possess over another, is their own comfortability in their deck. Everyone knows that I am very familiar with the deck, and my previous Spyral builds frequently featured multitudes of 1-ofs anyways, so it mimicked a Highlander build in a sense. Also, if my opponents were to have any PTSD over the Spyrals cards, it sounded more and more like a great plan. That is why I felt a duelist will be best-served in this kind of event, if he is familiar about the odd and weird plays. Orcust is one of the most recursive strategies in such format – so it was a natural fit-in. As for the abundance of going-second cards, I figured most decks would prefer to go first in such a format. So, playing more of a heavy board removal type deck, seemed like the way to go for me.

Interviewer:
Any other engines which was first considered in early drafts but which didn’t make the final cut?

Oomar:
The Danger! engine. Dangers! were an inherent part of even the final draft, which included a little less of the side-board going-second cards and an engine which allowed OTK and most important, added more consistency to the deck. However, a certain tall chap (censoring: Enn long p*l*n) didn’t lend me the cards in time.

Interviewer:
Ok, moving on, to some of the card choices; you didn’t play the SPYRAL MISSION – mainly Rescue and Assault - which normally features in Spyral builds. Why so?

Oomar:
Did not felt like it was appropriate in such a format. They are not as searchable without Masterplan and as such, it felt odd to play cards which will not do anything on their own. I do not think I needed more bricks after that Semi-Final anyways.

Interviewer:
About techs which feature in “normal” Spyral builds, how good was the feminine touch brought by SPYGAL Misty and Charming Resort Staff?

Oomar:
As much of a meme, Misty is also ridiculously busted, as the draw effect is not a hard once per turn. Charming Resort Staff was also quite useful in three duels – so that was definitely a correct choice. I maintain that this deck’s forte is about knowing the weirder plays in-within the archetype, such as Misty or Last Resort’s direct attack effect.

Interviewer:
About the Orcust engine, you played the counter trap in the side deck over the main deck. Did you value Return and Babel more?

Oomar:

The orientation was to go-second with the deck, so that was the first decision to not main deck it. Also, the deck prefers to end with Dingirsu in the final board over an Orcust link – making the counter trap dead in that scenario.

Interviewer:

While the orientation, to fit in the going-second cards, is obvious - there are some nice techs in the main deck like Sales Pitch. How well did that work out?

Oomar:
Not as well as I would have hoped as it required niche scenarios where opponent would need to search in that specific turn where I would draw it. However, the theory-o was there - that it could search ANY card in a Highlander format.

Interviewer:

The main deck Waking The Dragon is also very spicy, despite not really featuring usual extra deck targets like Exterio, Ultimate Falcon ect...

Oomar:

My targets to summon off Waking the Dragon, were all from the maindeck. It gives the option to access Orcust engine through Armageddon Knight and Orcust Knightmare. It can also bring out Pankratops as a big threat after opponent tries to destroy my backrow. In some instances, I could also summon a Link-4 but the primary targets were all in the maindeck, including SPYRAL cards like Tough.

Interviewer:
The Extra Deck looks pretty much defined – are there anything you could not fit it?

Oomar:
I wanted to fit in more XYZ monsters – especially good Rank 4s and also Rank 1s, which will provide me more options. However, the Extra Deck space is so tight, that I could not.

Interviewer:
The Side Deck features so hot spice with Spiritual Entanglement, Poison of Old Man and especially Magic Cylinder.

Oomar:
Magic Cylinder is about proving dominance – cards that only alpha males would dare to play. I really like the two other cards but unfortunately, they didn’t get to shine as much as I would have wanted to.

Interviewer:
Are there cards/techs which you never accessed over all the Rounds of the tournament?

Oomar:
Many of them. I didn’t see each of the different handtraps. I didn’t see some of the blowout cards. As I said above, I also didn’t see some of the side-deck techs.

Interviewer:
So, overall, how was the experience of a Highlander format?

Oomar:
I feel that the general reception has been so much positive and enjoyable, that we probably will see most, if not all, future Grand Championships in same format.