Sorry for the belated report, everyone. The holidays caught up with me and it wasn’t until tonight that I realized I had completely forgotten to write this. Anyway, thanks to the kind souls that reside in Mike M. Gage R. and Shiela R, I was able to get a ride to the Lakewood, WA City Championships at The Game Matrix.
I decided to stick with LuxApe with a splash of Garchomp and Dialga, but (spoilers!) have since moved onto LuxChomp. More on that later…
There are 38(?) players in the Masters division which means 6 rounds and a top 8 cut woohoo!
Round 1: Ross C. w/ LuxChomp
Oh boy, I get to play perhaps the best player at the tournament in the first round! Heh. I actually do better than I thought I would, taking the early lead by a prize or two, but Toxicroak G promo proves to be too much for my Luxray to handle. He ends up winning by one prize on time. Not much more to say really, your basic, stressful SP mirror match. Am I the only one who hates playing those? Oh, and I have two regrets about this game: Making a major misplay by spraying his Leap Away instead of Bright Look, and taking such a long turn that Ross thought I was slowplaying. I try not to do that too much and I hope it didn’t leave a sour taste in anyone’s mouth, as it was completely accidental. 0-1
Round 2: ?? w/ Infernape/Blaziken
Unfortunately I can’t remember this guys name, which is a shame as he was really great. Unfortunately the game we played was not as great. He opens with Infernape 4 and Blaziken FB, attaches, and passes. I get a god start and within a couple turns he scoops as he has nothing he can do. Hey, at least it wasn’t a donk! 1-1
Round 3: Mike M. w/ Machamp
This is the guy who gave me a ride, and he, along with his family (B-Siiiiide!) were the first people within the community to really support us and our league, so we have quite the bond. I know he’s playing Machamp, so I prepare for the worst, but when he flips a Baltoy and goes first I get a strange feeling in my stomach. Yup, I donked again. I am so terrible at this game. 2-1
Round 4: Alex B. w/ Flygon
This is probably my first real game of the tournament. He opens with a Baltoy and Trapinch, and I’m able to get a pretty sweet set up with Garchomp to snipe most of his early game stuff and take the lead by a few prizes. He gets a Nidoqueen out and gets a prize or two. After taking the Nidoqueen out with Garchomp, he tries to set up a Flygon, and is successful until I drop Lucario GL to seal the deal. Winning 4 prizes to 2, I believe. I was actually kind of scared at this match-up and got very lucky by getting Garchomp out so fast. Always a pleasure to play Alex. 3-1
Round 5: Ryan M. w/ Rampardos
I have to admit that I raised my eyebrow a bit when I saw a fossil on the other side of the board, but that look quickly turned to horror as he takes out everything I have within just a few turns until all I can do is pray to get heads on “Remove Lost” flips. Which I don’t, heh. He runs through me and I think wins 6 prizes to 3. An odd little Rampardos deck that runs similar to Kingdra spiked my interest, but unfortunately I didn’t get to speak with him about it much. 3-2
Round 6: Trevor W. w/ LuxChomp
Oh boy another SP vs. SP match! Ha, nah, Trevor and his family are great people and it’s always a joy to see and play against them. This goes about how you could expect, with me getting lucky with a few top decks and eventually making it 5-5 on prizes. It’s my turn and I know that I can drop an Uxie for 4 cards, potentially get a Poke Turn, and be able to give myself at least another two turns. So I play my cards right, check my discard pile, and play the Ux–I’M HAPPY FOR YOU AND I’MMA LET YOU FINISH, BUT POWER SPRAY IS ONE OF THE GREATEST CARDS OF ALL TIME!- 3-3
So I miss the cut at 13th or something like that, but I had a great time and played some really interesting games. As much as I love to win (and I do love winning), I also love when I can play well-thought out games that wear you out, as well as teach you something. What did this scenario teach me? Bronzong G and Toxicroak G promo can be your friends, heh.
Until next time!
