Hey guys pgmcsskater again. This time I’m going to be talking about my Battle Roads results in Cornelius, NC. For weeks, I have been play-testing Blastoise and LuxPhan trying to decide what to run for this Battle Roads at league. Up until 4 days before the tournament, I decided on Blastoise and then I got 56 out of 60 cards to make Charizard fully reverse.
Because of my stupid love for almost fully reverse deck and the idea that I will surprise everyone at the tournament with a totally different deck then what I was originally going to run, I chose to run Charizard/Spiritomb.
This deck has proven itself at NC States this year, so I wanted to try it. I mean it trainer-locks your opponent, hits for ridiculous amount of damage and has 160 HP with belt. I felt this would be rogue enough to stand a decent chance against the massive swarms of Jumpluffs in the area and all the new Kingdra builds. For 4 days straight, I play-tested and play-tested to decide what was the best build. After 3 days, I felt that I had the consistent build for Charizard. So, I decided on 3 Spiritombs, Ninetales MT and Warp Energy techs to help aid Charizard.
Even though I was 2 Pokemon Reversals and 2 Rare Candy HSU from having a fully reverse Charizard deck, I felt I was ready. Yet, the night before the tournament, I swapped out Ninetales MT for a Judge thinking it would help me disrupt and put cards back into my deck so I don’t deck out.
It had been a while since I was in the tournament setting. I love the feeling of excitement and apprehensiveness when registering and talking with all of your friends. There were going to be 21 Masters, so a Top 4 with 5 rounds. After all the decks were checked, it was time for the tournament.
Round 1: Regigigas MIKE MENTAL REYNOLDS
Well I knew this match was not going to be easy since I saw I was going to play Mike Reynolds, who is #3 in the state. I really thought he was going to play Jumpluff, but found out he was going to play Regi before the tournament. My strategy was to reversal up something and then trainer-lock him. Well, it looked good for me when he had a Giratina Let Loose start and I had the lone Charmander. So I go first, and “Call for Family” a Vulpix. He can do anything and flips tails on scoop up. I felt I had it.
I Pokemon Collector-ed a Spiritomb, Cyndaquil, and Charmander, retreated and LOCKED, so he can’t Super Scoop the Giratina or play Warp Point. With this, I thought I was going to roll. Two turns passed and I had 2 Rare Candy, 1 Charizard, Typhlosion and Belt, along with an SSU and Reversal, and 3 fire energy in my hand. I thought I had the game from here. But I kind of forgot I was playing Mike and he got the Pokemon Collector for Regice, Mesprit and Uxie. He, then, Regi-Moved the Spiritomb and gets a HEADS on SSU and Let-Loosed my hand. That basically gave him the game because I could not recover. GG
0-1
Round 2: BYE
Dang it could this day get any worse. I hate byes because they don’t help you at all. After the 20 minutes was up, I was ready for Round 3.
1-1
Round 3: TTAR and Ursaring
This was a new player so I had the game in the bag. GG
2-1
Round 4: Machamp Alex Daus
Dude this game was nerve racking from the get-go. I start with a lone Cyndaquil and get nothing with going first. I didn’t even get to “Beat” him LOL. So, he goes second. This is what made me quiver the whole game. He said he may have the donk, so I didn’t want to lose because of a donk. However, he doesn’t pull it off and he gets pissed. I would too especially with my deck. From there on he made constant mistakes, not because he’s a bad player, but he was pissed throughout the game. First, he doesn’t get the donk, I reversal Claydol, then I judge his great hand, and plus Charizard has a resistance to fighting. He took 3 prizes and I took 5 before time was called. GG
3-1
Round 5: Glaceon
So this was the type of match I would have loved to have if there was one. He didn’t run Lucario GL so I was glad, and I lock his Level Maxes. I wanted a Spiritomb, but I haven’t had one all day, why should I start then. I get the lone Cyndaquil start again. I have to belt it to stay alive and I don’t draw any of Roseanne’s Research or Pokemon Collector’s. GG 3-2 I played him again and dominated.
Glaceon, Machamp (Tom Wise), Regigigas, and Kingdra (Stefan Daus) make it to top four. I left but I think Machamp won because Mike played Stefan and he had already lost to Mike before and Machamp should run through Glaceon. Top 2 are Mike and Tom and Tom should be an auto-loss for Mike. (He didn’t run Unown G).
Well, I was slightly disappointed, but I had fun. I had a winning record and did well with a deck that I played for 4 days. I ended up coming in 6th place out of 21 Masters. My friend Jon Skinner came in 5th with his Speedra build, beating me only by a few percentage points. Props to the last minute switch for Judge, saved me in a few games, Mike for doing well with Gigas, meeting a new person, Tom Wise, and getting a Starcraft 2 Beta Key! (Why am I not playing that now?) Also, for the first time, I noticed there wasn’t a single Luxchomp or any SP deck there. It went mostly rogue.
Thanks guys for reading and I hope this deck will do me well in the future.
