Kevin Hor is one of the most outspoken members of Team Comic Odyssey. As a member of a group of polite, refined duelists, Hor stands out because he’s always speaking his mind or cracking jokes. As the side event champion and Cyber-Stein winner of SJC Orlando, he’s earned the right to run his mouth a little. Everyone seems to want to be part of Comic Odyssey if they’re in the Pasadena area, and Hor’s success is part of that.
“I’m playing umm, that D.D. Assailant-removal stuff with Chaos. It’s just something I’ve been used to. I tried a lot of other decks, like Zombies, Burner, and Beatdown, and just . . . it didn’t seem to get it done. I felt that that was my best choice, though so far it’s not working as well as I’d like it to. But we’ll see.”
“I think that people should play decks they feel comfortable running. If it works it works, but if it doesn’t you shouldn’t.” He felt that personal style was a big issue in Yu-Gi-Oh!, which is something I agree with. “It’s all personal opinion. I think that netdeckers just play decks because they win, even though they might not know how to use it or don’t like the cards. Sometimes that’s fine, cause some decks have core cards that you just can’t do without. But the thing I don’t like about netdecking is the lack of original ideas. You can’t just live your life following people.”
I asked him if he was playing in the official team tournament on Sunday. “The team picked five other players who they felt were better than me for that specific purpose. But we’re going to do our own little side thing. I’ll be playing in that. I think I have to play in it because the whole beef between Team CO and Savage is because of me, sort of.” The “side thing” in question is a much-vaunted five-on-five showdown between Team Savage and Team Comic Odyssey.
I asked him about what he meant, saying that the conflict was because of him. For all the hubbub around the Savage/CO feud, few really understand how it started.
“At the Las Vegas Shonen Jump I was playing SandTrap [Evan Vargas] for cards and he thinks I beat him by pure luck.” I asked him for more details.
“We were both playing for cards, and bumped into each other. Neither of us really knew who the other was. We played for ante, each putting up Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning and Dark Magician of Chaos. We went one-one for the first two games. The last game was tight, we were both in topdecking positions. It was really close and I had the better luck, topdecking a Black Luster Soldier. He felt he used all skill, and that I used all luck. Ever since then it’s just been flaming and trash talking, all over the Internet and this and that, et cetera. So now, here we are.”
I asked him what he thought of the new Advanced list. “I think some decks got really powerful, like Zombie decks are as popular as Chaos decks, even though they have a lot of drawbacks. There’s a more varied field than I thought I’d see though, definitely.”
Who was the man behind the Cyber-Stein win? “I live in Los Angeles, and I’m only 17. I’ve been playing the game since it came out. I think our team is a good thing, it’s brought us together more as friends than a team, we’re like family now, in a way. It’s definitely taught me how to be a better player and also a better person. I think the people that hate us are either jealous or don’t know who we really are, they just go by what people say about us. We try to be friends with everyone. I think the people who are talking trash about us need to open their eyes a little, get to know us.”
Like I asked Juan Cardenas, I was interested in knowing how Hor felt about being part of Team Comic Odyssey: “It feels really good to know that you’re one of the top players in the nation. You walk into some Regional and play someone and like, your opponents recognize you. It’s not like I like scaring people, but it feels good to be looked up to. It’s given me the confidence that I need to take my game to another level. I think it has disadvantages and advantages. I think the biggest disadvantage is that people see us as the enemy, or target us. For instance, a lot of judges at these tournaments really don’t like us. I guess they’re tired of seeing us win a lot or something, we don’t cheat, but they always watch us like hawks. I don’t think that’s fair.”
“The advantages are like, we work together as a team to get the job done. The money split is really nice. We’ve been saving the money from Cyber-Steins we’ve sold, and now nobody needs to pay for their trips to nationals. We’ve got a big team, and since everyone is dedicated, nobody’s getting left behind.” Wow! Knowing their team is something like twenty people strong, I had to ask him if he really meant that everyone was going to Nationals. “Yup, everybody’s going. Everyone is really putting their all into these events, so nobody’s being left behind.”
Wow. No wonder everyone wants to be part of the team.