Well before states I had not played this game in about a month. However, over the course of this month I continued to check The Gym and Beach for constant updates to prepare me for states. In my eyes there was no point in really play-testing. Great Encounters, in my opinion, really did nothing for the format except kill Absol and bring in Pachirisu. I knew that Floridians were either going to play Gardy/Gallade or Magmortar. there was no other deck that would dominate our metagame. I had the cards for both decks but, there was no way Magmortar could stand up to Gardevoir's consistency, power-locking, and ability to OHKO almost everything in the format. So then in contrast I have never really liked to play stage 2 decks ever since Pidgeot left the format, they can get really nasty hands. So I had to play Banette by default.
I had played Banette at a city championship, but this was only with Sabeleye and Minun. The only problem was that there was no easy way to get Banette in the discard pile every turn for a successful 80. Great Encounters changed all that, with Lunatune and Claydol. Banette became unbelievably consistent and in solitary matches I was able to score a banette in the discard pile every turn as early as turn 4. The ability to Bebe’s Research grab a banette then drop it with lunatune all while claydol replenishes your hand was too good to pass up. With Pachi now in the format there was no longer a need to even try and play tools giving me a lot more room within the deck. Blissy was unnecessary, I believe this because she throws off the consistency and seriously why play boost in a banette deck? Plus Crystal Beach was a definite play for the day and I cannot play a blissy deck AND use crystal beach. The only problem I faced was going against Magmortar I knew I could easily handle Gardy/Gallade. The only strategy I had against Magmortar was to take prizes early and warp point for the last few.
So I arrive at states meet up with Chromecatz, and other fellow players. I had what is called the "states curse" where I 3-3 at EVERY states so I am hoping I will break it this year. In my original list I played two windstorm, but they told me to drop them for another lake boundry and a warp point. Resulting in 2 Lake Boundry and 3 Warp Point, this was the best decision ever as I never needed windstorm the whole day. So lets start…
Round 1 VS (Forgot Name) with Flygon ex d/ Medicham
I see the Medichams in his deck during shuffle and think, I got this in the bag. So we start and I get a quick banette up with claydol by turn 3 and proceed to knock out a couple of his Pokemon. When I have about 4 prizes left he candies into Flygon ex d however, he can’t attack which gave me a free 80 on his Flygon, and then another KO after that. Once Flygon was gone he really did not have anything left and I won this one
1-0
Lunch break: Not much to say here beside my ex binder got stolen and I never got that back. Oh well I guess since exs are not played much anyway. I did have a Magmortar lv. X in there though.
Round 2 VS Miranda Craig with Hurricane/G&G
I have to admit I was a bit confused and enthralled by the Ralts and Totildile side by side on her bench at the same time. Still, she is a Craig so it wasn’t too out there. She started with Pachirisu and I started with Baltoy. She wiffs on energy while I am trying to get set up. Once she hits the energy she searches for Skitty and finds that her two Delcattys are prized. There is nothing much she can do from here as I proceed to KO her Pokemon. At one point I warp point a Ralts to KO a Magneton and the next turn she pulls into a Gardevior and rare candies but the free supporter still could not put her back into the game as I won on 6-0 prizes.
Round 3 VS Eric Craig with Feraligator/G&G
I was so intimidated playing Eric, he is a well respected player and is extremely intelligent in making moves. The only time I have ever beaten him was at a fun league event. He starts off with a Sabeleye and I am like, WHAT THE? I just attach to my shuppet and choose not to evolve. He hits me for 20, but is drawing dead. I evolve into Banette and KO his Sabeleye. He then starts to sacrifice various starters such as Furret and Stantler in order to get set up; I am consistently getting banettes in the discard to KO these. He KOs the first banette with Gallade, but I have the new Banette and a Lake Boundry for the OHKO. That puts me down to 2 prizes and he sends up Gator and KOs me easy. I warp point for the next prize, he brings up Gator again and KOs the new Banette easily. I then take the last prize through another warp point KO.
3-0
Round 4 VS Twitchy with Magmortar
Ugh, Magmortar. I knew my winning streak would hit a dead end sooner or later. I am good friends with Twitchy so I wouldn’t have been that mad if I would had lost. So we start and he gets Pachi and starts to set up pretty quickly with Delcatty. I start to KO some stuff and then he finally gets out a Magmortar who is in full power and KOs my banette. I lucky, thanks to some good cosmic cycling, have the strength charm and 2 plus powers for the OHKO. I KO the Magmortar and the game comes to a stand still for a couple of turns, I take about one more prize and then he gets out the big Lv.X and tries to KO me on a burn flip. I hit the heads and then warp point into a prize which leaves me with one prize left. Time is running close and he has 2 prizes and I have 1. The only thing I can do is to warp point but he has a Typhlosion on the bench that I can not OHKO. The only thing I can do is warp him up, which I do and strike for 80. Twitchy can not move the Typhlosion in time. Time is called making me the winner.
4-0
(I did win that game on time but I did not stall at all and where there is a will there is a way)
Round 5 VS Chris Bianchi with Gardy/Gallade LOCK
Well Team R was playing the best G&G deck at the tables and their X-0 records at the time proved it. I knew Bianchi to be a good player but I still believed myself to have some chance. I am going to try to remember this match my hardest but you have to realize I played his same deck about 8 times that day. I started off pretty good and I went to Roseanne’s Reasearch for my Lunatune for total t3 domination and he was prized! That slowed me down a lot but, I do remember winning this one on time but I was ahead in prizes about 1 to 3 and had the advantage. He did slow me down with the wagers and the Gardy’s, but I had claydol and they really did not help much and every time Gallade came out I had the answer with Lake Boundry.
5-0
Round 6 VS Alex Hill with Gardy/Gallade LOCK
This game was amazing! It was the hardest match all day. Alex is amazing at playing this deck and plans out all his moves thoroughly. He new the importance of Gardevior’s power lock attack and abused it whenever he had the chance, but I was owning him in the rock, paper, scissor matches which helped a lot. Consequencely, at the beginning of the game I took a good amount of prizes he came back a bit, using two Gardevior’s to infiltrate my discard pile, but I was still able to keep up the KOs. Time was called making me the victor. We played the game out and I ended up winning.
6-0
Round 7 VS Sean with Gardy/Gallade Cresselia
He starts with cresselia and I start off with shuppet. I ascend turn 2 and he evolves into Cresselia lv.X turn 3 and then proceeds to Candy into Gardevior PK. I easily one shot the Cressilia and then take out his basics while he keeps Gardevior PK in reserve only to have to use it allowing me to take my final prize.
7-0
So I end up 7-0 I am extremely excited that I am 1st seed at Florida States. I will try to recreate top 8.
1 Robert E- Banette and friends
2 Alex H- Gardy Lock
3 Omar I- Banette/Blissy
4 Richard F- Red Fraction
5 Chris B- Gardy Lock
6 Miami Mike- Gardy (mike style lol)
7 Martin S- Hurricane
8 Ryan V- Gardy Lock
Look at all that scrumptious Gardy I know right?
Top 8 Vs Ryan V. with Gardy LOCK
I have seen Ryan on the boards for a while he is widely respected and is a very well known player. I knew he was playing the Gardy deck but I think I had a good idea of how to handle it by now. In game 1 he drew completely dead revealing to me his hand filled with energies and evolutions(stage 2 decks are the devil).I finished him rather quickly KOing a large amount of basics.
8-0
Game 2 was a bit longer we both were drawing dead I had a Solrock active that I was not going to move for anything so I made it useful and began to power up my bench and I literally had energy on all my Pokemon before Solrock left the field. He revealed to me his hand again which was very reminiscent of the first one he had shown me. I then had a vast advantage and took the game from there.
9-0
Top 4 Vs Chris B. with Gardy LOCK
I played Chris earlier and it was implicit that I had the advantage. In game 1 he screws me over with wagers a couple of times before I get a claydol settled in and can win the game easily, he didn’t pull anything off the wagers to help him.
10-0
I start with a Minun. I believe and I warp out of it to totally finish this game. Unfortuantely by some miracle he pulls a celios and draws the game out a bit longer. Still, I was able to out speed him and take fast KOs crippling his set up.
11-0
To Chris and Ryan I am sorry about your horrible starts I truly wish our games could have been better than what they were
Top 2 Vs Alex Hill with Gardy LOCK
Okay I am in the finals VS the same exact deck…AGAIN! I am thinking, you have this game. The first game goes smoothly for me we both get good starts but he cannot handle Banette constantly accomplishing the OHKOs.
12-0
This game was a little rocky from the get go I start with minun again! He gets up two Gardy’s out of no where and has like a turn 2 claydol. Someone I manage to hang in this game and it comes down to my 2 prizes to his 2 I play a search card to see if I have a night maintenance to set up a shuppet for my final prize and it is prized
. I realize that I have lost but I play it out anyway I get down to 1 prize but with no banette to KO his gallade there is nothing I can do
12-1
Okay I get a godly hand and choose to go first and it is my banette with 1 energy to his ralts I am like yes I win. He top decks a Wager and jumps right back into the game. So we go back in forth on prizes but again I beat him in most of the wagers even though we both have claydol to breeze through our decks. At one point I am forced to use ghost head to KO a tauros and I put myself down to 1. I thought this was a mistake however it turned out to be the best play of the game since that banette stayed active for about 2 more turns, he was forced to pull it down saving my awaited benched Shuppet. When he does try to lock me with Gardy I have the banette awaiting on the bench for the KO. In the end I win because of my constant ability to grab a prize every turn and his inability to get rid of a crystal beach that I had on the field.
13-1
So there you have it I actually finally won something, 3 years playing this game and I finally win. I was extremely happy and I cried when I got home because, you try so hard to establish a name in this game and if you don’t accomplish something no one ever takes you seriously. It just feels good to now that I actually CAN win something.
Pros:
Winning of course
All the people who cheered me on
Banette Claydol and Solrock
Gardy/Gallade being played abundantly
Magmortar not seeing the top tables
Oh I forgot lol, Being the first African America Player to win a Florida State Championship in the Masters division(Greg you are too funny)
Cons:
Getting my binder stolen
The easily won matches in top 8
I had played Banette at a city championship, but this was only with Sabeleye and Minun. The only problem was that there was no easy way to get Banette in the discard pile every turn for a successful 80. Great Encounters changed all that, with Lunatune and Claydol. Banette became unbelievably consistent and in solitary matches I was able to score a banette in the discard pile every turn as early as turn 4. The ability to Bebe’s Research grab a banette then drop it with lunatune all while claydol replenishes your hand was too good to pass up. With Pachi now in the format there was no longer a need to even try and play tools giving me a lot more room within the deck. Blissy was unnecessary, I believe this because she throws off the consistency and seriously why play boost in a banette deck? Plus Crystal Beach was a definite play for the day and I cannot play a blissy deck AND use crystal beach. The only problem I faced was going against Magmortar I knew I could easily handle Gardy/Gallade. The only strategy I had against Magmortar was to take prizes early and warp point for the last few.
So I arrive at states meet up with Chromecatz, and other fellow players. I had what is called the "states curse" where I 3-3 at EVERY states so I am hoping I will break it this year. In my original list I played two windstorm, but they told me to drop them for another lake boundry and a warp point. Resulting in 2 Lake Boundry and 3 Warp Point, this was the best decision ever as I never needed windstorm the whole day. So lets start…
Round 1 VS (Forgot Name) with Flygon ex d/ Medicham
I see the Medichams in his deck during shuffle and think, I got this in the bag. So we start and I get a quick banette up with claydol by turn 3 and proceed to knock out a couple of his Pokemon. When I have about 4 prizes left he candies into Flygon ex d however, he can’t attack which gave me a free 80 on his Flygon, and then another KO after that. Once Flygon was gone he really did not have anything left and I won this one
1-0
Lunch break: Not much to say here beside my ex binder got stolen and I never got that back. Oh well I guess since exs are not played much anyway. I did have a Magmortar lv. X in there though.
Round 2 VS Miranda Craig with Hurricane/G&G
I have to admit I was a bit confused and enthralled by the Ralts and Totildile side by side on her bench at the same time. Still, she is a Craig so it wasn’t too out there. She started with Pachirisu and I started with Baltoy. She wiffs on energy while I am trying to get set up. Once she hits the energy she searches for Skitty and finds that her two Delcattys are prized. There is nothing much she can do from here as I proceed to KO her Pokemon. At one point I warp point a Ralts to KO a Magneton and the next turn she pulls into a Gardevior and rare candies but the free supporter still could not put her back into the game as I won on 6-0 prizes.
Round 3 VS Eric Craig with Feraligator/G&G
I was so intimidated playing Eric, he is a well respected player and is extremely intelligent in making moves. The only time I have ever beaten him was at a fun league event. He starts off with a Sabeleye and I am like, WHAT THE? I just attach to my shuppet and choose not to evolve. He hits me for 20, but is drawing dead. I evolve into Banette and KO his Sabeleye. He then starts to sacrifice various starters such as Furret and Stantler in order to get set up; I am consistently getting banettes in the discard to KO these. He KOs the first banette with Gallade, but I have the new Banette and a Lake Boundry for the OHKO. That puts me down to 2 prizes and he sends up Gator and KOs me easy. I warp point for the next prize, he brings up Gator again and KOs the new Banette easily. I then take the last prize through another warp point KO.
3-0
Round 4 VS Twitchy with Magmortar
Ugh, Magmortar. I knew my winning streak would hit a dead end sooner or later. I am good friends with Twitchy so I wouldn’t have been that mad if I would had lost. So we start and he gets Pachi and starts to set up pretty quickly with Delcatty. I start to KO some stuff and then he finally gets out a Magmortar who is in full power and KOs my banette. I lucky, thanks to some good cosmic cycling, have the strength charm and 2 plus powers for the OHKO. I KO the Magmortar and the game comes to a stand still for a couple of turns, I take about one more prize and then he gets out the big Lv.X and tries to KO me on a burn flip. I hit the heads and then warp point into a prize which leaves me with one prize left. Time is running close and he has 2 prizes and I have 1. The only thing I can do is to warp point but he has a Typhlosion on the bench that I can not OHKO. The only thing I can do is warp him up, which I do and strike for 80. Twitchy can not move the Typhlosion in time. Time is called making me the winner.
4-0
(I did win that game on time but I did not stall at all and where there is a will there is a way)
Round 5 VS Chris Bianchi with Gardy/Gallade LOCK
Well Team R was playing the best G&G deck at the tables and their X-0 records at the time proved it. I knew Bianchi to be a good player but I still believed myself to have some chance. I am going to try to remember this match my hardest but you have to realize I played his same deck about 8 times that day. I started off pretty good and I went to Roseanne’s Reasearch for my Lunatune for total t3 domination and he was prized! That slowed me down a lot but, I do remember winning this one on time but I was ahead in prizes about 1 to 3 and had the advantage. He did slow me down with the wagers and the Gardy’s, but I had claydol and they really did not help much and every time Gallade came out I had the answer with Lake Boundry.
5-0
Round 6 VS Alex Hill with Gardy/Gallade LOCK
This game was amazing! It was the hardest match all day. Alex is amazing at playing this deck and plans out all his moves thoroughly. He new the importance of Gardevior’s power lock attack and abused it whenever he had the chance, but I was owning him in the rock, paper, scissor matches which helped a lot. Consequencely, at the beginning of the game I took a good amount of prizes he came back a bit, using two Gardevior’s to infiltrate my discard pile, but I was still able to keep up the KOs. Time was called making me the victor. We played the game out and I ended up winning.
6-0
Round 7 VS Sean with Gardy/Gallade Cresselia
He starts with cresselia and I start off with shuppet. I ascend turn 2 and he evolves into Cresselia lv.X turn 3 and then proceeds to Candy into Gardevior PK. I easily one shot the Cressilia and then take out his basics while he keeps Gardevior PK in reserve only to have to use it allowing me to take my final prize.
7-0
So I end up 7-0 I am extremely excited that I am 1st seed at Florida States. I will try to recreate top 8.
1 Robert E- Banette and friends
2 Alex H- Gardy Lock
3 Omar I- Banette/Blissy
4 Richard F- Red Fraction
5 Chris B- Gardy Lock
6 Miami Mike- Gardy (mike style lol)
7 Martin S- Hurricane
8 Ryan V- Gardy Lock
Look at all that scrumptious Gardy I know right?
Top 8 Vs Ryan V. with Gardy LOCK
I have seen Ryan on the boards for a while he is widely respected and is a very well known player. I knew he was playing the Gardy deck but I think I had a good idea of how to handle it by now. In game 1 he drew completely dead revealing to me his hand filled with energies and evolutions(stage 2 decks are the devil).I finished him rather quickly KOing a large amount of basics.
8-0
Game 2 was a bit longer we both were drawing dead I had a Solrock active that I was not going to move for anything so I made it useful and began to power up my bench and I literally had energy on all my Pokemon before Solrock left the field. He revealed to me his hand again which was very reminiscent of the first one he had shown me. I then had a vast advantage and took the game from there.
9-0
Top 4 Vs Chris B. with Gardy LOCK
I played Chris earlier and it was implicit that I had the advantage. In game 1 he screws me over with wagers a couple of times before I get a claydol settled in and can win the game easily, he didn’t pull anything off the wagers to help him.
10-0
I start with a Minun. I believe and I warp out of it to totally finish this game. Unfortuantely by some miracle he pulls a celios and draws the game out a bit longer. Still, I was able to out speed him and take fast KOs crippling his set up.
11-0
To Chris and Ryan I am sorry about your horrible starts I truly wish our games could have been better than what they were
Top 2 Vs Alex Hill with Gardy LOCK
Okay I am in the finals VS the same exact deck…AGAIN! I am thinking, you have this game. The first game goes smoothly for me we both get good starts but he cannot handle Banette constantly accomplishing the OHKOs.
12-0
This game was a little rocky from the get go I start with minun again! He gets up two Gardy’s out of no where and has like a turn 2 claydol. Someone I manage to hang in this game and it comes down to my 2 prizes to his 2 I play a search card to see if I have a night maintenance to set up a shuppet for my final prize and it is prized
. I realize that I have lost but I play it out anyway I get down to 1 prize but with no banette to KO his gallade there is nothing I can do12-1
Okay I get a godly hand and choose to go first and it is my banette with 1 energy to his ralts I am like yes I win. He top decks a Wager and jumps right back into the game. So we go back in forth on prizes but again I beat him in most of the wagers even though we both have claydol to breeze through our decks. At one point I am forced to use ghost head to KO a tauros and I put myself down to 1. I thought this was a mistake however it turned out to be the best play of the game since that banette stayed active for about 2 more turns, he was forced to pull it down saving my awaited benched Shuppet. When he does try to lock me with Gardy I have the banette awaiting on the bench for the KO. In the end I win because of my constant ability to grab a prize every turn and his inability to get rid of a crystal beach that I had on the field.
13-1
So there you have it I actually finally won something, 3 years playing this game and I finally win. I was extremely happy and I cried when I got home because, you try so hard to establish a name in this game and if you don’t accomplish something no one ever takes you seriously. It just feels good to now that I actually CAN win something.
Pros:
Winning of course
All the people who cheered me on
Banette Claydol and Solrock
Gardy/Gallade being played abundantly
Magmortar not seeing the top tables
Oh I forgot lol, Being the first African America Player to win a Florida State Championship in the Masters division(Greg you are too funny)
Cons:
Getting my binder stolen
The easily won matches in top 8
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