Hello everyone at 6P! I have written a few articles in the past, but ever since the National preparations started, I was too busy to write anything new. Anyway, I am here today with a report about the National Championship in my country, so I hope you like it.
This was my first Nationals and I have only been playing the game for roughly a year. I was pretty nervous and way too sleepy because I had to wake up pretty early to be at the event. Also, I would like to say that it was a cold morning. TOO. FREAKING. COLD. Luckily for me, my friend and teammate Sebastian got us lift in a car with a Senior player to go to the event. Sweet!
I have been playing LuxChomp all year, and it was by far the best deck and I felt it was the deck I was most comfortable with, so I saw no reason to change it. Sure, everybody was bound to know what I was playing beforehand, but I had changed my list many times, so it wasn’t that big a problem.
What was a problem though, was the fact that my testing didn’t go as smoothly as I had planned. No matter what I did, I couldn’t beat Sebastian’s DialgaChomp once Snowpoint Temple hit the field, so I was a bit worried, and I barely got even win records against the rest of the team, Javier’s LuxChomp and Diego’s DialgaChomp.
When we get to the event, I go around looking at what the Meta looks like. As I had expected, Gyarados had little representation, so my decision to cut the Lucario GL was right after all. I also had time to say hi to a few old friends, and chat a bit before registration started. It was cool to see again people I haven’t talked to since Cities.
When registration ends, we are told that there is a total of 27 Masters (our Nats is not open; you need to win an event to get an invitation) so we got 5 rounds with a Top 4 cut. Also, the event would be played under MD-BW format, which meant Trainers on T1, and a true donk-fest.
Crap, everybody was expecting a Top 8 cut, so competition would be harsher than we thought, with not much room for mistakes.
Round 1: Martin Garcia (LuxChomp) vs Rodrigo Nuñez (LuxChomp)
Well, right off the bat a mirror match. And against a good friend who knows my list. Ok, not good.
Anyway, Rodrigo and I are always facing each other at premier events, so this has turned to some kinda rivalry thing by now. We both start really weak, he with Toxicroak G promo, and I with Uxie, and I go first.
I had DCE in hand, Unown Q and Collector, so I try to go for the donk, search for Crobat G, Dragonite FB and Uxie, “Flash Bite” the Toxi, lay down Dragonite, attach DCE, and “Set Up” for 5. And nothing. The only thing i got was another Uxie, so I Set Up again, and fail miserably again.
With the donk no longer a possibility, I “Galactic Switch” the energy to Uxie, “Psychic Restore” to the bottom, and send another Uxie active. He goes, tries to “Leap Away” but fails, so attaches and passes.
I continue to “Psychic Restore” to the bottom, while drawing dead. It doesn’t seem like he has it any better, but no longer tries to “Leap Away”, so I thought he had Twins in hand. As expected, he does, and he goes off from there.
Fortunately next turn I topdeck Uxie LV.X, level up the active, and “Trade Off” for a Judge, which I use immediately. From there, we start the Garchomp exchange, but with Uxie LV.X on the field, I had the upper hand, with 2 DCE. At some point he “Bright Looks” one of my benched Chomps, and KOs it with “Snap Attack”, and I’m met with my first important decision.
I could revenge with either Toxicroak Promo or Dragonite FB. I look trough his discard, and see both Dragonite FB and Uxie there, so I decide that Toxicroak has a better change to survive a revenge. As expected, he has no answer to it, and from there I take my last two prizes with a combination of Luxray and Dragonite.
WIN 1-0
Round 2: Martin Garcia (LuxChomp) Vs Diego Cassiraga (DialgaChomp)
Second round against the best player in the country, and a very respectable world-class player? And even worse, a teammate who knows my list and play style? Sweet. Anyways, I know the Dialga match up pretty well, and LuxChomp has an inherent advantage, so I have confidence if I play well, I have a solid change to beat him.
Unfortunately my first search with Collector informs me that again in this match, and like in the rest of the tourney, my lone Luxray GL LV.X was prized.
Anyway, aside from that my start is pretty solid, and I get Uxie LV.X out by turn 3, getting a lot of pressure on him, and breaking the Deafen Lock pretty quickly. He takes the first KO with his Garchomp LV.X with E-Gain however, but I have the answer in my hand, with a DCE and Dragonite.
In my hand I have Twins, DCE, and Cyrus, as im one prize down; I decide to go for Twins to grab DCE + E-Gain, but immediately stop. His Garchomp is left without energy, so this could be my best chance to use Ambipom G, and save my DCEs for later.
This sounds good, so I search DCE + Ambipom G, and everything goes well. Except for a little detail.
I HAVE NO BENCH SPACE.
I still don’t understand how in the world I could have missed something so obvious; maybe I was too nervous, or just spaced out. The thing is that I wasn’t able to return the KO, so he just retreated, and played defensively with Dialga, because the time was about to finish. I try to “Bright Look” something in a desperate attempt to tie the score, but he was excepting this, and im met with a Power Spray, so i end up losing by time 6-5.
After the match, he shows me his prizes, and I see 3 DCEs there, which only makes me feel even worse after that stupid mistake that cost me a match that was already in the bag.
LOSS 1-1
Round 3: Martin Garcia (LuxChomp) Vs ??? (DialgaChomp)
Sorry I completely forgot your name, so if you read this, place tell me so I can fix it.
I got lucky since I was paired with a 2-0, so this was my chance to grab a win, and steal a few opponent’s points to go up the standings. Anyways, this match was actually really short since I donked him.
With B&W rules, getting turn 1 kills was actually quite possible for LuxChomp.
So he starts Skuntank G to my Garchomp C and Bronzong G, and I go first. I Collector for Dragonite, Uxie and Unown Q, play down the Dragonite and attach Unown Q to Garchomp, attach DCE to Dragonite, and Set Up for 4, trying to get an E-gain.
I got it at about the 3rd card, so I just retreat and Mach Blow for the game. After that we play another game for fun, and I completely steamroll trough his deck, and taking the match 6-3 on prizes, so that made me feel a little better about the donk.
WIN 2-1
Round 4: Martin Garcia (LuxChomp) Vs Mariano Viejo (Gyarados)
What? Really? The only Gyarados at the event, and I have to face it without Lucario GL?
I was cursing my luck, but I decided that even without Lucario, I had Belt and Twins, so if a played really well, victory was still possible.
He starts Sableye to my Luxray, and impersonates for a Collector, grabbing 2 Karps and an Uxie.
On my turn I attach to Luxray, and Collector for Uxie, Crobat and Garchomp, then Set Up for more cards, getting an Uxie LV.X, and a Luxray LV.X, cool.
On his next turn he tries to “Quick” to Sableye, which I Spray to avoid the Turn 2 Gyarados, and then Impersonates again for Collector. However he doesn’t grab the fourth Karp or the Azelf, so I figure both are prized, in an incredible lucky turn for me.
Then that’s it, I have to win the match without giving up prizes, so he can’t grab the last Karp or the Azelf.
On my turn I Level Up Uxie and Luxray, then “Bright Look” the Unown and “Bite” it for my first prize.
He “Flash bites” my Uxie X and something else, and “Regi-moves”, then hits the active for 60.
I retreat, attach to the second Luxray basic, and flash impact Gyarados for 90. He can’t do much, so just hits me back for 60.
I then Judge him, and kill the Gyarados, hoping to disrupt him enough. Tough luck for me, he gets a Collector and two heads on SSU, playing 3 Uxies on one turn, and getting another Gyarados out to KO my Luxray, but fails to grab either Azelf or Magikarp.
Since he didn’t play Expert Belt on his new Gyarados, and had already wasted 2 Crobats and one Poke Turn, I decide to go the Garchomp route, to try and bait the Expert Belt, so I attach to Garchomp, Level Up, attach Belt to the second Luxray, and then am met the second important decision.
On his bench there are two Crobats, one Regice and one Sableye. In his discard, there is a Poke Turn, 2 Junk Arms, and one Pokemon Rescue. I figure it would be harder for him to bring back the dead Crobats than to simply Poketurn them, so I Dragon Rush both, one at each turn, with 3 DCEs still on my deck.
To avoid giving up prizes, I cycle my Garchomps with Poketurn, and finally draw the Aaron’s I needed, getting back my Luxray X.
Then I simply “Bright Look” the Regice, and score a KO with “Flash Impact” for 90 thanks to the Belt plus a Crobat G. He then looks at his hand and discard, and concedes.
WIN 3-1
Round 5: Martin Garcia (LuxChomp) Vs Nicolas Redondo (DialgaChomp)
This was a really irritating match, because the guy started getting a few snipes with Garchomp C drawing like 3 DCEs in 3 turns, and drawing everything he needed.
I didn’t even draw one until almost the end of the game, so things were looking quite bad for me. Even so, somehow I managed to stay in the game, just one prize behind him.
At a certain point, I see him looking over my shoulder during my turn, and realize he is watching at the clock, and playing slowly on purpose.
I ask him to play a little bit faster, but he ignores me. A few turns later I call the judge, but there is nothing he can do, since the time is already over with me one prize behind.
I still have a really superior set up to his, so I have confidence if I can tie the game, I can win on the extension, or on sudden death.
On his first turn of the +3, he gets a Dialga active to replace the Garchomp I had just KOed last turn with my Dragonite, level it Up, and just Deafens me.
I understand im in deep trouble, he is just planning to stall with Dialga so I can’t tie the prizes. I get a little flustered, and really angry, but what can you do.
Instead, I try to focus on the match, and plan ahead, I play a Cyrus, and search for Poke Turn, energy, and Aaron’s, attach the energy to my basic Luxray, and “Mach Blow”, to force him to retreat or Poke Turn, and break the deafen lock on my second turn.
This doesn’t work, however, as he Poke Turns, and brings another Dialga, attaches, and uses “Deafen”, yet again.
This is it. If I can’t get a prize, then I’m done for. But I still can’t Poke Turn, and don’t have enough energy to retreat and attack with Luxray. So what can you do under those circumstances?
Then a little phrase comes to my mind.
“Just roll the dice, and everything will turn out nice.”
And that’s what I did. I attach to Dragonite, play the Aaron’s for a second Luxray and energy, lay down the Luxray, and say “Giant tail: heads I win, tails you win”.
Result: Heads.
Dialga goes down, and I tie the prizes in my last turn, so we go to sudden death. He brings out the other Dialga, levels it up and attaches a Belt to it, but it’s futile. I have two Luxrays on my bench, and he only has one Spray left on his deck, so I just “Bright Look” a Crobat G and “Flash Impact” for the game.
WIN 4-1
I’m quite happy to have such a great record on my first nats, and even better, since Diego beat Javier on the 4-0′s match, it means my resistance should be quite high, so my chances to make top cut are actually good.
After all the rounds are over, here is what the top cut looks like:
1st Diego Cassiraga w/ DialgaChomp
2nd Javier Favilli w/ LuxChomp
3rd Martin Garcia w/ LuxChomp
4th Patricio Walsh w/ LuxChomp
So now I have to play against Javier, a fellow team member that knows me quite well, and we use almost the exact same list, just 3 cards different. I was in for a pretty difficult game.
Top 4: Martin Garcia (LuxChomp) Vs Javier Favilli (LuxChomp)
Match 1:
We both open Garchomp C, but he goes first. He shows me the DCE and E-Gain, so there is nothing I can do.
LOSS 0-1 (4-2)
Match 2:
This is a real match. I choose to go first, but I have nothing in my hand, so I try to bait a Garchomp C kill to use my Twins. Javier falls for it, and I grab two DCEs, to start the Colorless war pretty strong.
I somehow manage to get a “Time Walk” trough his Spray, and grab my Luxray LV.X, and on the same turn get my Uxie LV.X online. In addition, knowing what prizes to get was pretty important, since I had 1 more DCE, a Cyrus, and my Judge there, and that let me plan my revenge KOs easier.
With these two I can get a lot of pressure on his (now weaker) set up.
After that, I just stay in command in the prize exchange. Having one more colorless attacker than him helped out a lot, but he managed to catch up with a few creative plays, until he fails to revenge my Garchomp C LV.X, and I took my last two prizes shortly after.
WIN 1-1 (5-2)
Match 3:
Javier decides to start this time, and sets two basics. My hand is brilliant, Collector, Cyrus, Call, DCE, Spray… the only problem is my only basic is Chatot.
So yeah, we flip basics, and it’s his Luxray against my Chatot. He plays some things, like SP Radar and Pokemon Communication, attaches Lightning, and “Set Up” for like 5, grabbing a Cyrus as his last card, he then “Flash Bites” Chatot, and “Bite” for the game.
LOSS 1-2 (5-3)
Well, all in all, it was my first Nationals, so I think I did extremely well, not only accomplishing my objective of making top 4, but even getting as far as 3rd place, and closing a great season.
I don’t know if a will be going to Worlds, my rank isn’t quite there yet, so I depend on Brazil’s National Championship, but I still have chances to go.
At the end, the event was won by Patricio W. so huge props to him, who beat both Diego and Javier, and is going to Worlds with a travel and accommodation award to represent us.
Good luck man, I’m really envious, you little punk. xD
Well, with that said, here are the props and slops.
Props:
- 3rd place on my first Nats
- The SWEET medal, even tough I still haven’t got it.
- Losing only to donks, and a huge misplay on my part.
- Heads on Giant Tail
- Achieving my personal objective of Top 4.
Slops:
- Donks
- Problems with rulings and sanctions on the other top 4 match between Diego and Patricio.
- So few people in Masters =(
And lastly, my LuxChomp list, since Worlds will be played in the HGSS-on format, I don’t think it matters much anymore, but anyways, here it is:
| Pokemon – 19
3 Garchomp C SV |
Trainers – 29
4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy |
Energy – 12
4 Call |
Well, see ya, and good luck to those going to Worlds!
