Normally when I see Feroze Ramcharan at a Yu-Gi-Oh! event, he’s dressed in a judge shirt, running around answering questions. One of the early batches of Level 3 judges, Feroze really doesn’t get much chance to compete in events. It’s the common lot of higher level judges, so when I saw him at the Shonen Jump Championship tournament, I had to sit him down and talk to him about it.

Feroze is 23 and lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He traveled to Gen Con So Cal with longtime friend and fellow Level 3 judge Simon Sangpukdee. Taking advantage of a rare break in judging duties, they decided to head to California and squeeze in four days or so of gaming fun. So far, he’s enjoyed the experience and has found it a nice change from the “other” side of the tournament table.

Feroze has been playing Yu-Gi-Oh! for about two and a half years, picking up at Pharaoh’s Servant. He credits Simon with getting him into the game. “Simon really enjoyed the game, and since I liked games, he sucked me into it that way, and I’ve really enjoyed it too.
 
It’s great to be a Level 3 judge – there’s some prestige associated with it, you get a cool shirt to wear, and you sometimes get to go and judge at premiere events – but the drawback is that you don’t get to play all that often. Feroze doesn’t have any regrets in focusing more on judging than playing, but he definitely enjoyed the chance to sit down and play at this huge event, instead of dealing with answering rulings questions, checking decks, and collecting match slips. “Getting a first hand view of the tournament from the player’s perspective is something I’ve missed out on lately, I think it will actually be a lot of help in my judging.” Having a hard time sitting still when you hear the clarion call of “JUDGE!!”?

“Nope! Not at all!”

Feroze played a Machine deck at the event . . . why? “I had three Mechanical Chasers, so I figured I might as well use my TP cards. Once they unrestricted Limiter Removal, the deck became a lot more viable.” His deck has a few surprises in it. Feroze added two Barrel Behind the Door (“Those take a lot of people by surprise! Either they use Ring of Destruction or I do, then I come out with the Limiter Removals. I won a game doing that earlier.” ) and also Gravity Bind and Royal Decree. “I can use Royal Decree to get around my own Gravity Bind. I also maindeck one Kinetic Soldier, with all the Warrior decks out there. I’ve got some Fusions too, although I don’t run Magical Scientist, just in case I Change of Heart one.” Despite the new Machine type cards in Rise of Destiny, the only card from the new set that Feroze had added was Divine Wrath.

For his side deck, Feroze included Nobleman of Crossout and Giant Trunade, saying, “I like that card a lot. You can get your Premature Burial and Swords of Revealing Light back.” He’s also running Spell Shield Type 8 and Tribe-Infecting Virus as more tech against Warrior decks, and Greenkappa.

Having only played one round, Feroze couldn’t comment much on what was out on the field, but did well against a Fiend deck in the first round. “Gravity Bind really hurt him, then Limiter Removal finished him off.” He was a little surprised at some of the cards and decks being played at the event. There were the usual complement of Warriors and Chaos, but he also saw someone playing a deck built around Spatial Collapse, with Lava Golem. He also saw a one turn kill deck with Mokey Mokey King and Cannon Soldier that he thought was pretty unusual.

Feroze offered a positive opinion of the new tournament series. “I think a lot of people will be willing to travel to these to get the Cyber-Steins, or whatever else they start offering. And for $6, it’s a really good deal.” The next tournament in the series, at MegaCon in Florida, is much nearer home for Feroze, so it will be interesting to see if he attends it as a judge or as a competitor. 

And if the magnificent happened and Feroze took home that Cyber-Stein . . . what would he do with it? “At first, I was thinking . . . Sell it on eBay! For a minimum of $5,000! But I might keep it, cause it’s a Machine. But I’m also a collector, so I think I would like to keep it. I guess it depends.” It’s the kind of dilemma very few duelists would mind having, so it’s not likely anyone will feel sorry for him if he has to face it.