You all know how there are Pokemon Regionals, right? Of course you do! That’s all that SixPrizes normally talks about during the weeks after State Championships. However, as we all know, Pokemon told us some very interesting news which kind of really overshadowed an important tournament. And, for once, I was able to participate, so let’s get started, shall we?
Coming in with my GatrZone (list to follow report, but please read!) and no friends other than my friend who was new to the game (he went 2-6 with a terrible loaner deck, but I’ll explain his tournament after mine), I had no idea what to expect walking into a competition with 181 people in my division.
Look at how fluffy he is! Now he hits for 120 to knock out your Luxray!
ROUND 1: WITH VILEPLUFF
My first pairing was against a Vilepluff. What a way to start a high-level tournament, taking on a really competitive deck and seeing exactly what my flaws are so I know what I have to cover during my later matches….
It was a nice thought. He set up his Vileplume, Jumpluff, Cherim (damage reduction one), and something else while I set up my Feraligatr and Magnezone.
He took a couple of prizes, and then I proceeded to knock out his Jumpluff with Lost Burn. After that, it was my game, because his other Hoppips were prized and he couldn’t keep up with my damage output.
1-0
ROUND 2: ANDREW GRAY WITH UXIE DONK
Donk.
No, seriously, a donk.
Yes, I won with a donk. I started Spiritomb, he started Unown R, I went second, Collectored, attached electric to Magnemite, Darkness Graced, he passed, I evolved again and attached to Magnezone, Unown Q, game.
2-0
Played him afterwards, and it was a really well constructed (though pretty standard) Uxie Donk deck, but one that could actually compete if it wiffed on the donk, which it did on a couple of matches. He was good company to have in a sea of people that I didn’t know.
ROUND 3: PAUL WELLS III WITH LUXCHOMP
Every. Single. Article.
Alright, so I enter this match like I would with any other SP match, concentrating on getting that quick set up and avoiding Power Sprays. With a deck that runs a lot of Poke-Powers, I wasn’t too concerned with this match-up, but I knew that this was an experienced SP player, so I had my work cut out for me.
I started off well, getting set up and taking four prizes to his two pretty quickly, and then it all went downhill from there. I was wiffing on energies for 5-8 draws, unable to draw into anything and eventually losing to Garchomp snipes on my belted Magnezones.
It was at this point that I noticed my deck needed some discarding cards to help with the possibility of a late-game drought.
2-1
However, I was talking to him a couple of matches later, and he was talking about his worlds ranking and his invite. I decided to look it up, and it turned out that I was playing against the 12th ranked player in the world and I had a good chance of actually beating him. I was amazed. But anyway, onto…
ROUND 4: PAUL RUIZ WITH LOSTGAR
Not much to say here. I start setting up one turn later than he does, even though I had the advantage of going second (darn Collector was the second card I drew). We trade prizes/Pokemon, and when we’re at 2 left to go a piece, he pulls Palkia G LV.X to take the other two from my bench and play Lost World for game.
2-2
After obtaining this loss, I realize just how scary LostGar is, even though I’ve always considered it a minor threat. Maybe it’s just because I encountered a perfect set up and Magnezone is pretty slow, but if that’s what we’re going to see next rotation, I’m kind of scared.
Don't worry. You'll be better after the cycle. As long as Arceus is still legal.
ROUND 5: DONALD WITH CHARIZARD
I was a little scared going into this matchup, because I know how powerful Charizard can be if the right person is playing it (i.e. NOT ME.).
Of course, his deck box and sleeves gave away what he was playing, so I began preparing mentally for the matchup, knowing that if worse came to worse, I would have to use Feraligatr to hit for a negligable weakness.
However, I ended up not needing to use that strategy at all, as he is unable to set up quickly, and I set up properly within a couple of turns like I normally do. He takes two prizes during the whole game, one Spiritomb and one that I don’t remember, while my Magnezone takes out everything fairly quickly.
I think he may have over-teched or he was just drawing bad the whole time, but I was alright with it. Of course, he may have been relying on me to play BTS, but I didn’t drop one the whole time.
3-2
ROUND 6: DAVID WITH STEELIX
I thought I’d get an easy match with this one, but it turned out to be really stressful. I start Uxie and he starts Unown Q active and Voltorb benched. I go first, attach, and claim the first prize. He Collectors for Spiritomb, Onix, and Uxie, and that’s when I started getting scared.
He Darkness Graces for Electrode Prime, and I start setting up as quickly as I possibly can. Unfortunately, he sets up faster than I do, and I have to keep on sending up my techs and basics to stall until I can one-shot his Steelix. Not to mention that he keeps on power-locking me for four turns straight, meaning no Portrait, Magnetic Draw, Quick, or Rain Dance.
After the power-lock stops, I take advantage of it, placing down all of my energy and taking out his fully-prepared Steelix, he can’t set up his second one, and I power through the rest of his Pokemon.
4-2
This is the reason that I prefer using Feraligatr over Regirock. If Regirock gets power-locked, you can’t get enough energy on the field in the short amount of time that the power-lock is broken. Feraligatr, however, makes sure that you can take advantage of that break and you can play all of the energies that you’re going to need for a while before they start the power-lock again.
ROUND 7: ROBERT PELTO WITH TYRANITAR
He goes second, with a seemingly good start, being able to bring out an Uxie, even with a Spiritomb start. Unfortunately for him, all of his draws are against him and he never hits a basic that can evolve or a Supporter beyond Interviewer’s Questions.
It was bad for him, because it allowed me to take my set-up and take four prizes in four turns before he ran out of Pokemon. During this game, I made a really strange play though: I poisoned my own Spiritomb, just so I didn’t have to use a Warp energy to retreat it, but I made sure that no matter whether he attacked with his Uxie or not, I would know who I was bringing up for my turn.
5-2
ROUND 8: DAVID WELCH WITH SABLOCK
How many more articles are you going to be in?!?
This is the match that I need to win to get into the Top 32 cut of the competition. I know that I have to be on the very top of my game in order to win this one. And I think I did that, I’ll explain that afterwards.
We both start off pretty slow, taking our time in setting up, before my opponent opens the floodgates by using Overconfident on my damaged Spiritomb. With my opponent prepared for this match like a boss with his Toxicroak G, I decided to see if I could draw him into bringing it active after I knock it out.
I use my Skunktank G’s Posion Structure so that I only have to discard one energy and Toxicroak G doesn’t get the attack boost. After going through his turn, he puts up the Toxicroak G, but as I’m placing the less-than-expected damage on Magnezone, he realizes his mistake and calls it back before it’s official, attempting to Leap Away, which he does successfully.
This is where all the skill of the play I made was negated due to luck and probably the reason why I lost that match. That one extra KO would have reduced the number of times he would have done maximum damage to my Magnezone, and when the game went down to the last prizes, he was able to Revenge Poison my belted Magnezone with his own belt.
Otherwise, I think it would have gone in my favor, but it was a really close game and I really enjoyed it.
5-3
THE AFTERMATH
I failed to get into Top 32, but I was still amazed by my performance at my first Regionals, ending up being so close to making top cut, almost literally by a coin flip (I can only speculate whether that is true or not). I ended up being 41/137, but if you take the original count of 181, that number looks much better.
But now to take the important things that I gathered from this tournament, even though I don’t know who won/will be in the Top 8 of this tournament.
People still play lots of different decks
I don’t know if you noticed, but I did not once play the same deck twice at this tournament. ”But Logan, I’m sure the ones that won…” Are SP. I know, but there’s a possibility that they all won’t be. But if you can’t take care of any of the other decks, then you’re not going to make it.
Some of the matchups are easy for SP to take down, and some of them are a little harder, and sometimes you just don’t know what to do in the matchup. You have to be prepared for any situation. Another aspect of this is that everybody has a different play style.
Mine, I’m finally discovering, is high-energy, high-power decks, which goes against everything SP and the metagame stands for, so I have to find a way to work with that play style, and that’s the reason I run GatrZone.
The camaraderie of the tournament is amazing
Because I didn’t come with anyone other than my friend who had never played before, I found that the atmosphere was really great for meeting new people. And everybody was encouraging all of the other players that they faced to win. I believe that was the best part of the tournament.
Even if you lost to the person you were playing against, even if it was a bitter loss, or even if you donked them, you wished them all the best because their win resistance helps you out in the long run of the tournament. I really enjoyed that positive atmosphere.
Even a loaner deck can win
My friend Oliver went 2-6 using this deck:
| Pokemon – 23
1 Chimchar MD #56
|
Trainers – 16
2 Professor Elm’s Training Method
|
Energy – 21
21 Fire |
Honestly, he almost went 3-5 in a furious battle against a Feraligatr/Lanturn deck, taking out two Feraligatrs and getting the prize count to 1-1 before he was taken out by a Lanturn.
Be aware, sometimes luck will be against you. And that’s when you either have your other two Seedots prized (his first win), or your lone Vulpix gets hit by Moferno’s attack for 30 and you then hit tails on the burn (his second win).
My deck needs work
My deck worked almost to perfection, but there are things that needed to happen in certain matches.
It needs more outs, it needs to be a little bit faster, and it needs to discard cards, possibly and most likely with Junk Arm.
I don’t know exactly how to fix this, but maybe you guys can help me.
| Pokemon – 24
3 Magnemite TM |
Trainers – 19
3 Pokemon Collector |
Energy – 17 |
The Skuntank G helped me in a couple of matches, though during the LuxChomp match it was a dead draw, and that’s when I needed draw power the most during the late game. I may not need the Palmer’s I put in, but it was never a dead draw because I was always able to shuffle it back in.
Please provide suggestions and I’d like to thank all of the Texas Regionals attendees for the great competition you provided! I hope to see you all next year!
