So Cities season is upon us again. I’ve only been playing semi-competitively since last year at Cities, but it’s probably my favorite time of the Pokemon season. Everyone travels together, scrubbing out and winning and eating lunch and being bitter bellossoms for weeks upon weeks, all the while taking the first (and most important) step towards earning a ratings invite. This is the first of probably 9 Cities I’ll be attending, and I trust each one will be as fun as the last.
Because Bremerton TOs always start their tournaments at ungodly hours, we head out at 7:30 AM to pick up my boy Chad Bosquez from the ferry. After a serious of events that leads to us almost boarding the ferry, almost running over a spike strip, and almost going the wrong way down a one way road, we arrive just as Chad is docking, meet him at Starbucks, and head out. He’s thinking of playing either DialgaChomp or Charizard, and I suggest that Charizard is probably the better play for this meta, depending on how much Gyarados was going to be there.
Due to the ferry schedule not matching the Poke schedule, we arrive about a half hour before registration even starts, which is fine as my boy Andrew Foley (2010 WA State Champion), back from military school for Thanksgiving weekend, needs a deck. Because I have everything relevant built like a boss, he looks through it all for a bit and decides to go with Dialga. He then has the gall to edit MY list for some godforsaken reason. He puts in Toxitank, takes out Staraptor FB, adds a few Power Sprays, and generally just makes the list his own.
With that squared away, my fiancée Ashley and I sit down to decide on our decks. She’s been set on Gyarados for a while, and we don’t really see anything that invalidates that as a decision, so we go for it. We see a few Gengar, so we put in a 1-1 Dialga G LV.X and a Combee, and we see a lot of mirror, so we make our list pretty consistent to hopefully be able to win in the mirror, foregoing a lot of techs. She sleeves up in her new, super pro Lugia/Ho-Oh sleeves, and that’s all taken care of.
I sit with two options in front of me: Sablelock or Machamp. Sablelock is undoubtedly the better choice, as I’m sitting in a room full of Gyarados, which Machamp has a bad match-up against. There are also a few Gengar decks here, and, although it’s never fun to play SP against them, it’s even less fun to play Machamp, and at least I’ve got Honchkrow SV to hit Gengar for weakness, and Blaziken FB to “Luring Flame” a Vileplume. There are some SP here, which Machamp would dominate, but I feel pretty confident in the SP mirror, especially considering that almost all of the SP is Dialga, and I have the aforementioned Blaziken. With Sablelock looking like the favorite…
I pick Machamp.
Here’s the list I ended up using…
|
Pokemon – 20 4-3-2/2 Machamp (SF-TM-SF/Prime) 4 Smeargle UD 2-1 Uxie 1 Azelf 1 Unown Q |
T/S/S – 28 3 Pokemon Collector 3 Bebe’s Search 3 Seeker 2 Looker’s Investigation 1 Palmer’s Contribution 1 Black Belt 4 Rare Candy 4 Pokemon Communication 3 Broken Time-Space 2 Warp Point 1 Luxury Ball 1 VS Seeker |
Energy – 12 7 Fighting Energy 3 Double Colorless Energy 2 Rescue Energy |
A few notes about the list…
- It may not be the popular choice, but I’m completely set on Smeargle as a starter. Ridiculously good here, especially with the Unown Q and Warp Points, giving you the possibility of doing multiple “Portrait” a turn. It does take away from the donk factor a bit, but, in my experience, it’s been an irrelevant amount anyway.
- I went with Black Belt over an Expert Belt after talking it over with a few local players, and deciding that the only match-ups where I really needed to do extra damage (Gyarados, mirror) were also the only match-ups where I could get behind on prizes, and, therefore, Black Belt was probably the better option. I’m not completely certain this was the correct choice as the situation only came up once during the tournament (which I suppose is a good thing…?).
- I traded the usual Copycat/Professor Oak’s New Theory for Looker’s as a metacall to counter Gyarados and be able to get out of terrible Trainer-filled hands against Vileplume. I saw nothing wrong with it, although I might try and go for 1 Looker’s and one of the aforementioned Trainers the next time I play the deck.
- Warp Point is such a strong card here, I wish I could play three. Against Gyarados or SP, chances are their benches are going to be all basics, and the ability to Warp Point into Machamp SF and get a cheap prize, all the while saving your Prime from damage, is amazing.
- Rescue Energy I’m unsure about at this point. If I was ever going to take it out, I think those slots would be reserved for more recovery (Pokemon Rescue, Palmer’s), but it feels like I should go with the energy over those as they’re trainers/supporters and don’t help versus Trainer lock. Still unsure about ‘em.
With all that being said…
The Report
Round 1: Bob Nolan w/ Feraligatr Prime + Kyogre/Groudon Legend.
I don’t know Bob personally, but his son is a skilled Junior player from our area, and they’ve always seemed like nice people. I get a pretty slow start with a lone Smeargle, but luckily he gets the same. I Portrait his Professor Oak’s Visit for two or three turns before we get anything rolling. Luckily, I’m able to get a Machamp SF out before he can get set up, and I start Taking Out his Jirachi RRs immediately, preventing them from using their Poke-Power.
I put him into a corner where he has no bench, and is forced to make his KGL active. He’s able to topdeck a Pokemon to bench (perhaps he searched for it, though I can’t exactly recall), but can’t really do much else and has to pass. I see a Seeker in my hand and play it, leaving him with no bench and a Basic that I can Take Out for the game.
1-0
Round 2: Nestor Garcia w/ Gyarados
Ahh, just the match-up I was hoping to avoid! In all actuality, I was kind of grateful that I would get to play a Gyarados early so that I could lose to it, and then hopefully face no others in the loser bracket. In retrospect, I guess the same could be said for facing it later, getting more wins and then having to lose to it, giving you a better chance of top cutting. Ah well.
We both get off to pretty slow starts. I open with a Smeargle, and, although he opens with Sableye giving him 2 Regices through a Collector and in the next turn playing both of those Regis and discarding 3 Magikarps, he can’t seem to hit the Gyarados/Supporter/Broken Time-Space for a few turns, allowing me to get somewhat set up.
I lead with a Machamp SF and start Taking Out his Basics while building up 2 Primes on the bench, exactly how the deck is supposed to work. The key to the game comes when he can’t hit any of his Seekers (probably the most important part of the match-up), and I’m overloaded with them, allowing me to heal at will while he has to rely on Super Scoop Ups and the like.
2-0
Round 3: ??? ??? w/ Victreebell
All apologies for not remembering this guy’s name. It was a long day, heh. He was someone I hadn’t met before, and I was pretty surprised to see a Victreebell deck sitting at 2-0. I was hoping to be able to play a drawn-out game so I could see exactly what it was he was using to succeed…
Unfortunately, he opens Bellsprout to my Machop. He goes first, attaches, and swings. I topdeck a Rare Candy, evolve to Machamp SF, attach an energy, and Take Out for game. We play a few fun games afterward, but they’re all pretty quick as well, not giving me a solid look at the deck. Ah well.
3-0
Round 4: Zane Nelson w/ Gyarados
Another Gyarados. Yay! Zane is one of the best players in our area, so I’m a little worried that the dream is going to die at this very moment.
We get set up and he gets a decent start, opening with Sableye and Collectoring for the average ‘Karp, ‘Karp, Regice start. Things get rolling from here, as I believe he’s able to get a slightly faster start, but I’m able to take the first few prizes. Eventually I get the “Fighting Tag” + Seeker combo going, and he can’t keep up, as I believe I take 4 prizes to his none
In the mid-game he starts to catch up though, as he takes a crucial prize and I’m unable to recover a Machamp in time for him to get even more set up. Eventually I get my Machamp back and start taking cheap prizes, eventually taking 5 to his 2.
Time is called, he’s turn 1 and is unable to take 3 prizes over the course of 2 turns. I’m 100% certain that he would’ve been able to pull off the win if time had not been called, but, hey, what can you do?
4-0
Round 5 Amelia w/ VileGar
Oh boy.
We set up, and I don’t get the donk.
I also don’t draw a Looker’s.
Then she Lost Zones one of my Machamp Prime.
Then I scoop.
4-1
I know that was a lame review, but there’s really nothing to explain about the match. Haha. I’ll add that, if there’s a lot of VileGar in your meta but your dead set on playing Machamp, the best thing you could probably do is reduce your reliance on Trainers and add in an Umbreon UD and the necessary energy. I wouldn’t recommend playing Machamp if your state is infested with Vileplume though.
With the Swiss rounds over, I go to watch Liam’s Seniors final match, where the double Poke Blower + tech in Gyarados actually wins him the match. With that over with, I get my deck in order so it can be deck checked, and await the top 4 seedings…
1st Amelia Bottemiller w/ VileGar (bsidewhat)
2nd Jake Small w/ Magnezone
3rd Kenny Wisdom w/ Machamp
4th David Cohen w/ Gyarados
Top 4: Jake Small w/ Magnezone
Game 1
He goes first, opening Magnemite to my Smeargle, attaches, and passes. I topdeck a Rare Candy, use it to evolve my benched Machop into a Machamp, and attach a Fighting Energy to it. I then Luxury Ball for an Unown Q, and extend my hand. Lame way to win, but hey!
Game 2
I open Uxie to his Magnemite, he opts for me to go first. I attach and Psychic Restore for 20. He drops a Pikachu on the bench and is able to Rare Candy into Magnezone, but I don’t believe he can attack. I attach to Uxie, Pokemon Communication for a Uxie LV.X, play a Warp Point, forcing his Pikachu active, and then play a Seeker, forcing him to bounce his Magnezone, and I swing for game.
I felt bad winning with two donks, but I suppose that’s the way the deck is supposed to work, and he didn’t seem too upset about it. Big ups to Jake for being the only rogue deck in the top cut! I wish I would’ve had the chance to see a little more of it.
Due to how fast our matches went, Amelia and David are still in game 1. I watch their game a little, and I think David wins without much trouble. The second game is much closer, with Amelia missing 3(!) “Fainting Spell” flips, and David lucksacing his way to the top! ;)
Top 2: David Cohen w/ Gyarados
Game 1
I don’t remember a lot about these matches, and I apologize for that. I was extremely tired, and it’s never fun facing a bad match-up in the finals. I managed to hold my own during this game, but my downfall came when I made an epic misplay by not using Fighting Tag to move 2 Fighting Energy to my benched Machamp, and then Seekering my injured Machamp, therefore allowing me to return the Double Colorless Energy attached to it to my hand and attach it to my active Machamp. For some reason, I just didn’t think I could attach the DCE or something. I dunno. I’m dumb sometimes.
0-1
Game 2
After making that misplay, I’m pretty upset with myself, so I’m not exactly looking forward to this game. The only notable action I took here was to use Smeargle’s Portrait three times in one turn, which was pretty neat.
0-2
Props:
Jeannes for hosting
Rose/Matt for TOing
David for judging
Liam for winning Seniors (bsidewhat)
Amelia for top 4ing
Slops:
Gyarados
