April 14, 2020

YAL 2019 individual runner up: Ritish Juggurnauth's journey in 2019

Having finished in the top 10, during the YAL 2018, my main objective for the YAL 2019 league was to simply clinch the first place. Our team ended 2nd losing the 1st place on the last league event and it was also an objective to get 1st place in 2019.

I was more confident about being able to compete with the best duelists there. The turning point was the Grand Championship 2018 where I managed to win against duelists I've never defeated before. It was then that I stepped up a level and started believing that I can win events. Even though I was the runner up, I came out winning much more than I expected.

From there I've practiced more and more to get to know my deck even better but not just. I also learned all the mechanisms, strats and everything that I could about other decks that I could face at Adilsons. It paid off to an extent as I was winning a minimum of 4 out of the 5 games most of the time during the league events and ending 2018 with a 3rd place during the Nationals.

Having gone through the whole of 2018 playing Altergeist and being successful, it was without any hesitation that I opted for it for the YAL 2019 too. And it started well with 4 wins during the 1st League event and 12 points in the bag.

However, the deck soon started to struggle with the emergence of Salamangreat which at full power was faster and in all honesty was much better than Altergeist. I kept on playing Altergeist and still managed to do well but it was costing points falling short to Salamangreat most of the time.

It was time for a change and I chose to go with Subterror or Guru Control as it was a deck that fits my style of player that had a better matchup vs Salamangreat + the other decks present there and also had the potential to Otk. It also is a very oppressive deck and Altergeist does, it badly annoys opponents and this is what I enjoy the most.

Arjun, another tough opponent was the one that was leading and the challenge to catch him up was the real motivation. As far as the team was concerned, we gave up on it given the leaders were clearly out of reach and our team was not working too well. So halfway through, I focused only on trying to win the League.

Soon 5 duelists regrouped on top of the table including myself and we're all in contention to win it. It went all the way down to the last league event where I could have won it but missed out and ended on the 2nd spot.

It was a much competitive season with many players striving and getting the second spot ahead of many top players was an achievement. Still, a bit gutted about losing to only a few points but such events are won on small details.

There is no secret in how to progress and top. Firstly, you need to get yourself a deck that is competitive, fits your style and it should most importantly be a deck you like. Secondly you need to be regular both in terms of time and performance.

I am looking forward to the 2020 season with the same firm intention to end the season on top of the league table. See you there.