So, yeah. Just to say a little about myself, I have been playing this game off and on for the last ten years, officially making a return last September after a 4 year hiatus. Even still, I have been playing inconsistently since returning because of school, and now because of a work (I am a school teacher). So, the format is still pretty new to me, but I am enjoying the learning process.
This was my first tournament in the past 5 years, called a “Battle Roads.” So, without further ado, here is my deck list, and what happened.
The list as follows:
|
Pokemon 4 Rampardos PL 3 Cranidos PL 1 Baltoy GE 1 Claydol GE 1 Whismur SV 1 Exploud SV 2 Uxie LA 1 Relicanth SV 1 Chatot MT |
Trainers 4 Skull Fossil 3 Bebe’s Search 3 Roseanne’s Research 4 Fossil Excavator 3 Broken Time-Space 4 Rare Candy 4 Pokedex Handy910is 2 Warp Point 1 Cynthia’s Feelings 2 VS Seeker 4 Poke Drawer + 1 Palmer’s Contribution 1 Luxury Ball |
Energy 9 Fighting (Basic) |
I’ve never been one to play top tier/ archetype decks, even during the old Feraligatr, Magcargo days (you old schoolers know what I’m talking about) but this was the most consistent deck I could build aside from Speedrill, and I definitely wasn’t playing that.
Round 1 VS Leafeon LV.X/ Shaymin LV.X
The guy playing this is actually one of the better players in my league and part of the reason why I teched in Exploud. Grass is popular in my area, believe it or not.
So we started the game both with Uxies and no bench. Could of been worst for me, but whatever. I attached a fighting to Uxie, and Psychic Restored for 40, due to weakness on my opponents end. He drew, attached to Uxie, played Volkner’s Philosophy and burned a card from his hand to draw two. I could tell he was in dire straights, judging by his facial expressions, and the fact that he didn’t play any bench Pokemon. He then ended his turn with a Psychic Restore of his own. From this point, I believe I top decked a fossil, played BTS, attached to the fossil, played a Cranidos and then a Rampardos, retreated Uxie, and “Head Smashed”.
Now some of you are thinking “He could of just Psychic Restored for the win,” however, I did this just to annoy the kid. He’s cool though, no hard feelings.
(1-0)
Round 2 VS Darkrai LV.X/ Honchcrow LV.X
This round was quick as well. He opened up with a Darkrai MD, and I with Skull Fossil. He went first, drew, attached a basic Dark Energy to Darkrai MD, then swung with “Dark Slumber”. I take ten. On my turn I draw, played down two Pokedex Handy910is to obtain a Poke Drawer + and a fighting Energy card (being that I didn’t have any Fighting Energy in my opening hand). I then proceeded to play down BTS, attached to Skull Fossil, played down both Poke Drawer + to retrieve a Rampardos and a Fossil Excavator, BTS into Rampardos, then swung with “Head Smash.”
This guy is really cool and wasn’t upset. He ridiculed me for telling him earlier I was playing a slow deck.
(2-0)
Round 3 VS Gyarados w/ techs
Sooooo, I lost this one due to a game changing error. We both had horrible starts; he started with one Magikarp and no bench, I with a Whismur and no bench. I can only remember that key moment (my epic mistake) after his second turn when he played a BTS, a Sableye on his bench, retreated Magikarp for Sableye, then “Impersonated” for Roseanne’s Research. I draw, played down Uxie, attached to Uxie, retreated Whismur and sent Uxie up.
Then my mouth dropped. I totally had two Warp Points, Luxury Ball, Skull Fossil, and a Rampardos in my hand and instead had attached to the wrong Pokemon and lost the chance to kill his Karp on the bench before Gyarados the terrible would rear its ugly head. Ugh. I also figured he didn’t have any Pokemon Rescue in his hand due to a remark he made when he drew one several turns later in the match. He had already discarded two Karps with one being prized along with a Gyarados or two (not sure). I managed to take a prize next turn, then the turn after with Warp Point and kill his Claydol (which he cringed over), but along with Azelf, a Uxie, and a lone Gyarados, he managed to get his other Gyarados (I’m assuming he was maybe running 3), then took a prize against my first Rampardos and drew out his fourth Karp.
I managed to hang in there, but over all, the repeated swarming of Gyarados doing 90 for no Energy, with the occasional Crobat G and PlusPower, caught up with me. In then end, we both only had one prize left before he took his last against Rampardos, after utilizing Crobat G’s “Flash Bite,” Poke Turn, and two PlusPower for the OHKO win.
Afterwards, I told him what I had done and he replied that “Had you done that, I would of lost.” He then told me my mistake would “Eat at me for the rest of the day and thanks, for not doing that,” as we shook and went on to the next round. Lol, cool guy though, hopefully will get to play him again soon.
GG
(2-1)
We had a break here so that door prizes and all that other fun jazz could be dealt with. The Juniors and Seniors were finished now, with some 7 year old girl going undefeated with “GeChamp” in Juniors, and my friend, Angela, winning Seniors with an “SP Toolbox” deck. Congrats to both!
I ended getting my raffle called to win some sort of theme deck with Arcanine G on the box. I gave it to a six year old boy who didn’t have any cards. Charitable, aren’t I? Lol.
Round 4 VS Mighty Muktank
I knew this kid from league, and I also knew he has a lot of potential to be a great player. This match is kinda a blur to me, because it lasted so long, and I was still being “eaten” by the fact that I made such a dumb play error in my previous round.
His deck started off just as quickly as mine, due to the fact I had a slightly slower start with Rampardos, yet again. I took a small lead against him because of the fighting weakness of Mightyena. He actually tried to get around that by stating that Rampardos’ “Iron Skull” ignored weakness, which resulted in a judge’s decision, but the answer was obvious.
However, he actually managed to take the lead with Mightyena and the infamous Toxicroak G Promo, getting heads with key flips on “Leap Away.” This is when I realized I should be running Plus Powers in my deck, or at least a 1-1 Diglet/ Dugtrio PL tech. Would of made this match and the next a whole lot different.
I almost folded because I felt as though my deck was loosing steam, being that I had burned through all my Warp Point, 3 Fossil Excavator, all my Rare Candy, a VS Seeker, and a BTS (with one apparently being prized and the inability to draw the next), when I realized that, I had teched in Relicanth SV, and used Roseanne’s Reasearch to grab it and a Fighting Energy. With Relicanth, I started spreading onto key Pokemon of his like the Toxicroak G Promo and Mightyena to set up for “Mold Breaker,” hitting for a whopping 60 damage, before it got ko’d.
I managed to turn the game around and pull ahead by one prize in the last five minutes of the match. The kid ending up folding right as time was being called.
(3-1)
Sooooooo, managed to make top two because of something being called “Resistance,” which I don’t remember from back in the WOC days, but apparently it did exist, according to the judge. The Gyarados guy lost to BlazeRay earlier, so we were both 3-1, but he got bumped to 3rd due to resistance.
Finals: Round 1 VS BlazeRay
This kid was super sure of himself, and was apparently from NC. Wasn’t much of a talker either. We did the shuffling thing and started.
This was short and sweet. I whiffed on the turn one which would of been excellent being that I went second and all he had was a Luxray GL start with no bench. You could tell he was super nervous. However, I started with Whismur, and this allowed him time to set up next turn, gust up one of my fossils I had played down, and whack it. I then proceeded to draw into Baltoy, drop it on the bench, then Roseanne for a Uxie and a Energy. He Power Sprayed the Uxie, and I folded being that my hand only consisted of 3 Rampardos and a Cranidos, with him being already set up by turn 3 and me drawing into nothing.
Round 2
Again, he had a crap start and I missed the turn one donk, yet again. I managed to hang in there though, swarming with 3 Rampardos before he actually set up. After gusting up my Baltoy again and whacking it, he slowed me down considerably. I had already played 2 of my Roseanne’s for energy and a Chatot; I didn’t draw into any more nor a VS Seeker.
He managed to get two key flips with the Toxicroak G Promo that cost me the match. We were both down to one prize before he pulled the victory with another “Bright Look” on one of my recycled fossils. I was kicking myself for not running Plus Powers in my deck after this one.
(3-2)
So lesson learned: PlusPower has a lot more clout now than it did back in the day.
Afterwards, I got my four packs and pulled a Palmer’s, VS Seeker, and a Staraptor FB LV.X along with some random rares. I ended up trading the Staraptor for a Gardevoir LV.X.
All in all I had a fun time and it was a great learning experience, and am proud of myself for placing 2nd after 5 years of not playing. I am glad I got back into the game.
We were one person short in Masters of having a top 4, but regardless, here are the ranking from the BR.
Top Decks:
(1) BlazeRay
(2) Rampardos w/ techs
(3) Gyarados w/ techs
(4) Rhyperior LV.X/ Delcatty
Thanks for reading!
