After going 4-3 and missing top cut at both States I went to, I was starting to lose a lot of faith in VileGar. It’s clunky, absolutely dies to a fast setup or anything that can OHKO Spiritombs early, and I have some of the worst luck ever when it comes to flipping Fainting Spells. Or drawing into anything I need.
(No joke when I say that I’ve spent multiple turns floundering around because I had no way of searching out Pokemon, and then I Looker’s'd myself into a hand of three Pokemon Collector and drew nothing but Bebe’s and Collector the rest of the game.)
Regardless, after a “eureka” moment, I decided to stick with it. It’s really the only deck that I know how to use, after all.
I had an a capella concert that Friday night before the tournament, so I wasn’t able to go attend the pre-tournament festivities, but I got a ride down to St. Louis after the performance, got, like, no sleep, and woke up ready to do a mediocre job at this tournament, too.
| Pokemon – 27
4 Gastly TM |
Trainers – 20
1 Pokemon Communication |
Energy – 13 |
So before I get started with the report, just give me a moment to explain some of the things I did.
Before I start with the most glaringly obvious addition to the standard VileGar list, I’ll tackle the other Pokemon. The 2-1-1 Vileplume doesn’t get out as quickly as a traditional 2-2-2, but it does get out fast enough, lets me cut room for other cards, and doesn’t clog up my hand nearly as much later.
By cutting down, I’m actually improving consistency a little bit, if that makes any sense at all. This is also a HUGE metagame decision — I expected (and saw) a lot of DialgaChomp and VileGar, neither of which really threaten Vileplume that much. If the meta were LuxChomp-heavy like everywhere else seems to be, I’d definitely go 2-2-2.
The extra Oddish is there for the consistency. If I can get Oddish out easily, I can just Grace my way up to the ‘Plume.
3 Spiritomb decreases the odds of me starting with it, but it also means less dead draw. Instead, I put a Chatot in as a last-ditch consistency tech just in case my hand is just /that/ bad. I actually didn’t use it much, but then again, there were situations where I completely forgot I ran it, so I’m neutral on it. Cutting the Spiritomb didn’t hurt too much at all, but Chatot I’m not too sure about. I’ll probably drop it for a Copycat.
Pokemon Communication is there for the added consistency before I trainerlock, or against Dialga, which I expected a lot of. Luxury Ball can’t search out LV.X’s — specifically, Gengar LV.X. As for no Palmer’s Contribution, that’s a card I dropped a long time ago. I hate using it for my Supporter for the turn instead of a Twins or a Bebe’s or something that can help me get Pokemon back on the field. Between Rescue Energy and my thick line of Gengar, I don’t miss Palmer’s at all.
Now for Blaziken. The week after States, I thought to myself, if I’m not running Palmer’s, Cyrus, or any other way of searching basic Energy, what’s stopping me from running Rainbow Energy to open up a whole new realm of teching my deck out? Immediately, the first thing I thought of were Steelix and DialgaChomp, two really iffy matchups for VileGar. What do both decks have in common?
On top of that, with cards like Bronzong G, Regice, and Regirock surging in popularity, Luring Flame can be used to mess with my opponent in a lot of different matchups. Plus, Jet Shoot does the magic 80 damage to OHKO almost all SP basics you’ll see.
Then, I realized that the damage counter from Rainbow Energy also solves the problem with decks like Steelix or Magnezone running Skuntank to do that extra 11th damage counter on Gengar to bypass Fainting Spell and Rescue Energy. Essentially, I’m forcing the Fainting Spell flip and the Rescue Energy. Considering Skuntank gave me huge problems in States, that’s a definite plus.
Playtesting yielded positive results, so I stuck with it.
Anyways, the report!
Round 1: Richard V. with Magnezone/Regirock
Figures, of the 130 or so other people at the tournament, I got paired against one of my playtesting partners. Yay.
So I started Gastly to his Magnemite, sans Collector. But I Bebe’s'd for Uxies and decided to forgo the trainerlock and steal prizes after seeing his slow setup. Bad move. I had to two-shot anything on his side of the board (can’t one-shot anything except pixies with a Crobat drop), so he was able to get a Magnezone Prime out and started the Regi Cycle cycle with multiple fighting energies in the discard pile.
By that point, my bench was filled with useless things, so in one of my more brilliant maneuvers of the tournament, I wasted my attack Psychic Restoring an Uxie to the bottom to free up some bench space. Then, I Shadow Room the active Magnezone, and then he KOs my Gengar. Fainting Spell. Heads. On a Magnezone with 60 HP left. Go figure.
Then the real problems arise when he plays one of five Trainers in his deck by setting up and Expert Belting another Magnezone Prime. I’m not able to KO his Magnezone, and he’s able to KO multiple Gengars with Regirocks cycling back and forth, and while I’m able to KO a Regirock, I’m unable to flip any heads on Fainting Spells to KO that belted monstrosity, so I lose in short order.
Before you say anything, he had a Warp Energy in his hand the entire time. Looker’s'd him once, and then Poltergeisted later in the game — Blaziken would have only gotten itself killed. The joys of playing against a playtesting partner. =(
0-1
Round 2: Josh K. with MewDos
He started Mew with my Gastly, and I started freaking out. If it was MewPerior with a Mew start, I was done for. I could just kiss top cut goodbye. But he starts\ed by Lost Zoning a Gyarados, which means much better news for me.
With my Gastly Pitch Dark trainerlocking for me (Haha, can’t Regice around that one!), I was able to set up a Gengar fairly quickly on my bench. He got the first KO on my Spiritomb, so I played Twins to get Vileplume set up and started Poltergeisting Mews off the field.
He was able to keep a steady stream of Mew Primes, but he couldn’t OHKO my Gengars, while my Gengars could OHKO his Mews. Multiple Rescue Energy, a second Gengar, and a Fainting Spell heads pushed me ahead in the prize trade, and he was eventually stuck with Regice active, which I Shadow Roomed to death. Good game!
1-1
Round 3: David C. with Regis
In one of the less fun games of the tournament, I started Gastly and Oddish to his Regigigas SF. Immediately, I thought Regigigas, but he benched a Registeel and a Regice shortly afterward. He left that Regigigas active and tried to build up other Regis on the bench, but I was able to use his stalling to my advantage and leisurely got Gengar and Vileplume set up.
For the rest of the game, I just Shadow Roomed the Regis he kept benching for some reason for a lot of cheap prizes.
Eventually, he caught on and stuck a DCE on the active ‘Gigas to hit me for 10. So I hit it back with Poltergeist for a OHKO. Then he sent out that ‘Gigas LA he’d been charging the whole time, used Bebe’s for the LV.X, and then hit me with Giga Blaster. Ouch. So I just Luring Flamed his Regice active and continued sniping around it for the game.
2-1
Round 4: Andrew M. with Magnezone/Regirock
We both started slow that game — my Spiritomb to his Magnemite. My hand was dead, dead, dead. He got a Collector turn two or three. Fun.
Regardless, he had difficulty getting the other cards he needed, and I finally topdecked a Looker’s. Both of our hands looked painful, so I shuffled and drew into something decent. I started slowly getting Gengar/Vileplume set up while he struggled to get his Magnezone out.
Eventually, he dropped a Sunyshore City Gym and a Skuntank G to pester my Spiritomb, and I responded by Warping Spiritomb out of the active, leveling up my Uxie, and then retreating back to Spiritomb to Darkness Grace some more. The way the math worked out, that left Spiritomb at 10 HP, and if he Poison Structured for the KO, it’d be knocked out going into my turn. I had a Twins in hand, too.
So he called Poison Structure, I used Twins, and between Twins, the other Twins I grabbed from my prizes, and Uxie LV.X, I was able to get fully set up.
Thanks to Rainbow Energy’s single damage counter, he was unable to use Skuntank to bypass Fainting Spell and Rescue Energy, while I Shadow Roomed Skuntank and eventually his Magnezones to death while he struggled to get Energy in the discard pile for Regirock. Rescue Energy and Fainting Spell helped, too.
I don’t think I Poltergiested a single time that game, either. =P
3-1
Round 5: Matt B. with Speed Machamp
I started Spiritomb and Oddish to his Machop. Machop looked promising. Problem? Gloom was prized and I had the most craptastic start I could’ve asked for.
So after a bit of both of us draw/passing, I finally topdecked a Bebe’s, which I used to search out Uxie, and started finally getting myself set up. Off the Set Up, I hit a Pokemon Collector, so the next turn, I used that to get myself started. He got a Regice out shortly afterward, but by that time, I already had the Vileplume out.
Looker’s Investigation nabbed me an Energy and confirmed what I thought — speed Machamp. I Luring Flamed his Regice active and started sniping around it with Gengar, and he scooped.
4-1
Round 6: Mike G. with Magnezone/Machamp
This is where things get interesting. We both started Uxie, and he went first. He hit me with Psychic Restore, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep playing if I didn’t get another basic out. I Looker’s'd myself (I told him, “Looker’s Investigation. Me. I’d like to see what’s in your hand, though.”)
Luckily, I drew into a Spiritomb and an Uxie, so I played those down and Psychic Restored to the bottom.
After that, I started haphazardly getting myself set up with Bebe’s Search and Darkness Grace. I had the Oddish on the bench, Vileplume in hand, and a Gengar with a psychic energy on it when he KO’d my Spiritomb for his second prize. I had no way of getting another Spiritomb out, so I sent out Gengar to pull a Twins from my prizes.
He was able to use that trainerlock-free turn to get himself set up some more (most notably slapping both a Machamp and a Magnezone Prime onto the field with the help of Rare Candy). He couldn’t do too much, though, so he attached and passed. I attacked his benched Magnezone, but the next turn, he searched for a Ditto, put a Rainbow Energy on it, and Shadow Roomed my Gengar.
I can’t say I saw it coming, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected, either. I couldn’t attack with very much on my field right now, and leaving Gengar out would be a really stupid move. The only two other Pokemon I could attack with were Uxie LV.X (Psychic Restore for 20, then he Zen Blades me for 60 — not cool) and Azelf (Lock Up so he can’t retreat, while slowly killing his Ditto — very cool). So I did just that.
There was a couple turns of that, and when his Ditto hit 50 damage, he topdecked the Warp Energy to Warp it back to his bench and Take Out my Azelf with his Machamp. I responded by sending Gengar back out and Shadow Rooming his Ditto. Then, I Poltergeisted his Machamp for the KO.
Just in case he tried to pull something like that again, I slapped a Warp Energy on my benched Uxie LV.X so I could Zen Blade his Ditto later, especially as he’d KO’d my Azelf and I didn’t run recovery. Well, just as I thought, he used Palmer’s to return a Magnezone line and a Ditto to his deck, and subsequently got it back out. (He Collectored for it, and I Looker’s'd it away, but he drew it again — and another Rainbow Energy. Damn it.)
But this time, I was prepared. Just as planned, he Shadow Roomed my Gengar. I retreated, attached to Uxie, and Zen Bladed his Ditto.
If he retreated, Ditto would be KO’d. If he responded with his own Zen Blade, I’d just retreat to my benched Uxie and then Psychic Restore whatever he sent out after Ditto fell. So he attached a fighting to Machamp and Psychic Restored Ditto to the bottom. That left only a Machamp with a fighting and a Magnezone with nothing on his side of the field. He sent out Machamp, and I retreated to Gengar and Poltergeisted. With nothing else he could do, he scooped after a long and close battle. Well fought and good game!
5-1
Round 7: Andrew N. with Scizor/Exeggutor
He started Scyther and Exeggcute. My starting hand was Oddish, Psychic Energy, Rainbow Energy, Rescue Energy, Bebe’s Search, Broken Time-Space, and Vileplume. I went first.
During his turn, he burned through his hand with tons of trainers, so I knew I had to get the trainerlock rolling ASAP. However, my topdecks were, in order, Psychic Energy, Broken Time-Space, Blaziken FB, Rainbow Energy, and Chatot MD. I ended up using Bebe’s for the Spiritomb to trainerlock, and after he OHKO’d that with Scizor, walling with Vileplume with a Rescue Energy on it.
By the time Chatot hit the field, it was already over. By the time I made a misplay of epic proportions and tried to Jet Shoot with my Blaziken that had a Rainbow attached to it, it was still already over. I don’t remember a single Gengar ever hitting the field that game.
5-2
Round 8: Luke S. with DialgaChomp
Another friend of mine, he ended up getting third or fourth at Illinois states with this same deck, losing only to Pooka. So I was in for a treat.
I started Oddish to his Unown Q and Bronzong G, which sounds amazing, but really isn’t, considering the only energy I had was Rescue and I had no Collector. So instead, I dropped my hand size the best I could and Set Up with the Uxie I Bebe’s'd for, and couldn’t hit any energy at all. So I had to burn my Rescue to get Oddish out of the active and sent out Gastly to Pitch Dark.
While I slowly and haphazardly built up my Vileplume and Gengar, he took a couple quick prizes with Dialga G LV.X. The only thing stopping him at this point was the fact that his hand wasn’t the greatest despite his DGX sitting on the field. That, and he flipped six tails in a row on Pokemon Contest Hall. (There, Luke, I put it in the report. Happy? =P)
I put a Blaziken on the bench and stuck a Rainbow on it, which made him much more wary of using Dialga. He retreated Dialga, sent out an Uxie (that had a Psychic on it), and started building up his benched Garchomp. I took the risk, stuck a Rescue Energy on my Blaziken, and Jet Shot his Uxie for a much-needed prize. He responded by Dragon Rushing my Blaziken. Big deal.
Meanwhile, between Blaziken drama and him KOing a couple Gengars (and me Shadow Rooming as usual), I was drawing and using Trade Off and finally hit that Twins to get Gengar LV.X out. Luckily, he didn’t have a Power Spray in hand when I finally leveled down that Dialga and started Shadow Rooming for prizes.
By that point, he had one prize and I had two, and I figured time was running out soon, so I sent out Uxie LV.X and Psychic Restored to the bottom. That left only a Gengar LV.X active and a Vileplume on the bench, both undamaged. No Dragon Rush for you!
He used Copycat to copy my gargantuan hand, and so I Looker’s'd that away. He responded by sending out Chatot and using Mimic to copy my hand again. Right about then, time was called, so I Looker’s'd that away, too, and KO’d Chatot with a lucky Poltergeist off his draws.
That left us both at one prize, so he promoted Dialga. He leveled it up, burned through his hand, and Set Up for four. He Flash Bit, Poke Turned, Flash Bit, Galactic Switched an Energy from Garchomp to Dialga, Poke Turn, Galactic Switched another Energy from Garchomp to Dialga. Then he Second Striked my Gengar for 70, hoping to KO my Gengar and bring it to the Fainting Spell flip, which I’m notorious for failing all the time.
So I Leveled Down, and he Power Sprayed. Feeling confident, I dropped Crobat and used Flash Bite. He Power Sprayed that, too. So I used Seeker to pick up Crobat, and he picked up his damaged Bronzong, so I Flash Bit and Shadow Roomed his benched Uxie for the game. Good game!
6-2
—
That left me seeded as 18th (lowest seed among the 6-2′s — woot!). Five of my friends from the U of I area also made top cut (including Luke, whom I just beat), so we went to Denny’s for a celebratory dinner.
The next morning, after some misadventures trying to get there on time, we all made it to the store, ready to begin top cut. Well, I was. I can’t vouch for anyone else.
Top 32: Christopher B. with LuxChomp
Game 1:
This one was fairly uneventful. I started Gastly and Spiritomb to his Dialga, and while he got set up with Dialga G LV.X, he was stuck with it active and couldn’t do anything about it. That gave me ample time to get a Gengar set up, and when he finally Poke Turned it to send out a Luxray to KO my Spiritomb, I had the Vileplume set up, too.
And then I topdecked Looker’s to shuffle his Dialga away. After that, it was just me Shadow Rooming and Poltergeisting my way to victory, and he scooped.
Game 2:
I started Spiritomb and Unown Q. Can’t remember what he started, but it wasn’t phenomenal either. My first few turns consisted of me draw/passing while he struggled under trainerlock, and then I finally topdecked a Bebe’s.
I started building a Gengar with Spiritomb, and after I Looker’s'd my terrible hand away, I finally got started setting up. He KO’d two Spiritomb before I was able to play Twins to finish the Vileplume/Gengar setup.
By that point, I was down three prizes, but with trainerlock blocking Poke Turns and some key Flash Bites with Crobat G, I was able to steal a lot of prizes. Unfortunately, he was also able to take some prizes on Gengars and some benched Pokemon, and the next few turns consisted of a slowed-down prize exchange.
Then, he dropped Bronzong G. Perfect opportunity! That’s when I surprised him with Blaziken and Luring Flamed the Bronzong. The next turn, I leveled it up and Warp Energied it to the bench. While Bronzong was stuck active, I Shadow Roomed an Uxie and a Garchomp C LV.X to death.
He spent three turns building enough Energy on that to retreat it (having to use his last Aaron’s to get that third Energy), and he sent out Dialga G, leveled it up, and Poke Turned the Bronzong so I couldn’t Luring Flame it anymore. He Poke Turned the Dialga and hit my active Gengar with Claw Swipe from a Garchomp C LV.X.
Time was called during that last turn, and I was down a prize — he had one left while I had two. I noticed, all he had on his bench were a Luxray GL LV.X and two Dialga G, none of which had any Energy. All of their basic forms I could KO with Blaziken. Even with the +40 damage, all he could do is hit my Blaziken with Luxray for 30+40 damage.
Even if he sent out Dialga and leveled it up, he’d need to have the Energy Gain, a lightning energy, and a way to get Dialga out of the active to KO my Blaziken. So I leveled up Gengar, leveled down his Garchomp, retreated to Blaziken, and Jet Shot it for the KO. That left us tied.
His turn, he sent out Luxray and Bit Blaziken for 70. Then, I Leveled Down and Jet Shot it for the game. Good game!
Finally, that silly Blaziken did some good work for me. No more “secret techs” that ended up backfiring horribly!
7-2
Top 16: Evan M. with Gyarados
Game 1:
Huzzah for uneventful Game Ones. He started lone Magikarp and Sea Sprayed for nothing. I started Uxie, Bebe’s'd for a Crobat G, and Flash Bit + Psychic Restored for the donk. Good thing, too, because the rest of my hand was pretty terrible.
Game 2:
This time, my start was excellent (and my second start the entire tournament where I got a Pokemon Collector within the first five turns!). I started two Gastly, an Oddish, and an Uxie to his Sableye. He Impersonated a Collector for the ‘Karp, ‘Karp, ‘Ice, and I used Pitch Dark to trainerlock him while I set up Vileplume and Gengar.
Pitch Dark kept the trainerlock up despite Regice, which crippled his setup so I was able to successfully set up a Gengar. Then, when he KO’d my Spiritomb, I used Twins to seal the deal with Vileplume.
Even after he tried to Judge me, I drew into a Bebe’s Search and Set Up to get my hand back. Two Gengars and Rescue Energy meant that I could cycle between the two, taking bench prizes with Shadow Room while he continuously activated Fainting Spell.
Eventually, it hit heads and his Gyarados was KO’d. That left me with a few precious turns to wreak havoc on his board while using Looker’s to keep him from his Combee. He got it eventually, though, and set up another Gyarados. The next turn, it KO’d my Gengar, and I hit heads on Fainting Spell for the last prize.
8-2
Top 8: Marcus E. with Steelix
Game 1:
He started lone Uxie versus my Oddish. Not a phenomenal start, but a start nonetheless. I searched out a Spiritomb and retreated Oddish to my bench to start getting set up. While I was Darkness Gracing my way to a Gengar/Vileplume, he started getting a Steelix set up with Special Metals.
Eventually, he brought out Regice and started dumping his trainer-heavy hand, so I sent out Gengar to Shadow Room it. He didn’t have Gaia Crush completely charged up by that point, so he just had to use Energy Stream for some damage.
Around then, I Leveled Up my Gengar to give it more HP and to prevent him from knocking it out with Poison Structure. He responded by Energy Streaming again to put Gengar at exactly 100 damage. I knew that if he used Energy Stream and Poison Structure, my Gengar was gone, no Fainting Spell, no Rescue Energy. So I dropped a Rainbow Energy on it to put it at 30 HP, hoping to force him to use Energy Stream.
However, he dropped an Uxie, paid the full retreat cost to retreat, dropped an Energy on Uxie, and hit me with Psychic Restore and that final 14th damage counter with poison between turns. Well played.
I had another Gengar on the bench with just a Rescue on it, so I could send that out, drop a Rescue on it, and start sniping again, or I could play it risky and pull my favorite Blaziken trick. So I decided to do the latter.
That Skuntank sat active for a while because he kept flipping heads for burn, and he was unable to retreat, so I continued sniping his bench. Finally, it went down to burn and he sent out his powered-up Steelix to hit my Gengar.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have Blaziken powered up to return the favor (that, and he had three special metals on it — I’d need a Crobat drop and I didn’t have any bench space), so I responded with a Poltergeist. It didn’t KO the Steelix, so it hit Gengar again. Fainting Spell. Heads. He scooped.
Game 2:
This start was truly divine, and probably the second of two starts all tournament where I started with a Pokemon Collector in hand. He started Uxie again versus my Gastly, Spiritomb, and Oddish. I set up two Gengars and a Vileplume quickly while he drew dead for several turns. I started by Shadow Rooming some prizes, but finally, the opportunity arose where I could sweep his entire board with Blaziken without fear of a return KO. So I did just that, OHKOing three Steelix in a row for the game.
9-2
Top 4: Taylor M. with Scizor/Magnezone
Game 1:
This is the same person who beat J-Wittz last round and I already had a pretty poor track record against Scizor. Oh, boy.
It was a mediocre start. Not quite sure what I started with — probably a Spiritomb. She started Scyther and was able to get a Scizor Prime out and swinging with two metals on it. However, I made the same misplay I made last time and tried to Poltergeist with a Gengar that had a Rescue Energy attached to it.
Fainting Spell flipped tails while I tried to shadow room her bench, and while a second Fainting Spell knocked it out, I only drew a single Psychic/Rainbow Energy all game (though I pulled a second one out with Twins). She had another Scizor on the bench with a couple metals on it, so I had to scoop. She had one prize to my four or so.
Game 2:
This game, I started Spiritomb and Gastly to her Magnemite. I got a Gengar out and swinging early, and took a bunch of cheap prizes against her Magnezone SF and Uxies, and when she finally got a Scizor out and swinging, Fainting Spell hit its second and final heads for this match. She scooped.
Game 3:
And thus, Lady Luck decided to deny me my chance at the $1,000 scholarship. I started horribly. Not quite as horribly as against the other Scizor, but bad enough so I had to rely solely on Spiritomb to set up while she stole a lot of KOs against them.
I ended up having to Looker’s myself twice to finally get set up, and by that time, she had a Scizor Prime with a lightning and two special metals on it. Fainting Spell. Tails.
So I sent out a benched Gengar I was able to charge up and Poltergeisted for a meager 50 damage. She decided to go super-aggressive and attached a third Special Metal and used Super Connectivity to put another Metal on it. Fainting Spell. Tails.
I sent out a Gengar to Shadow Room it for the KO. She sent out Magnezone Prime and used Lost Burn for her last prize. Just for fits and giggles, I flipped for Fainting Spell. Tails.
9-3
In the end, I got my box of Firestarter Call of Legends, and a promise to have a medal mailed to me in the future. Not bad for my first Regionals!
Stuff I Learned:
If you’re a VileGar player, substituting some Psychics for Rainbows might not be a bad play. It greatly improves your matchup against Steelix, Magnezone, Dialga, and other decks that rely on manipulating damage output to KO your Gengars with poison or something similar. However, it worsens your already iffy matchup against Scizor Prime.
Shadow Room > Poltergeist. If your VileGar strategy revolves around Poltergeisting huge numbers of trainers in your opponent’s hand, you’re doing it wrong. Take a hint from LuxChomp and snipe things off the bench — only use Poltergeist if you know you can do as much damage as you want to or if you really want to see your opponent’s hand.
Scizor is surprisingly powerful, just because so many decks run special energies. Taylor’s Scizor/Magnezone deck was pretty pro — hit hard and fast with Scizor, and once those are gone, start using Super Connectivity and Lost Burn to hit hard late-game. I can’t imagine it having a stellar matchup against DialgaChomp or anything running Blaziken (and some actual fire energies), though.
Similarly, Magnezone/Regirock is a force to be reckoned with. It had a huge showing at Missouri.
So thanks a ton for reading through this monster of a report, and if you have any comments, please post them! =)
Props:
Vince for holding an awesome tournament
Blaziken FB for being surprisingly useful
My parents for driving me there
Ryan A. for giving me a ride back
Slops:
Epic fails against Scizor — don’t forget Red Armor!
Fainting Spell!!! *fistshake*
Pokemon Collector avoided me like the plague in almost every game. I run four of them.
