After not playing for virtually the entire year because of the terrible state of the format, I decided to judge at my States. Afterwards I realized that this format is indeed simply terrible, and I also realized that in order for it to get better, the rogue players needed to become more dedicated to their craft. I was a bit washed up bit I figured why not give it a shot.
Immediately I set to work on a Tangrowth, Exeggutor, Sceptile deck with surprisingly good results. The gaping weakness though turned out to be, as expected, the Magmortar matchup. The only thing saving it from being an autoloss turned out to be Exeggutor. If your could get average luck with the coinflips when a Magmortar had 3 or 4 energy on it the matchup got much closer. Unfortunately I realized that so many Magmortar simply scramble to prevent me from flipping for them. Even after a couple weeks of perfecting the deck and a lot of dedication put into it, I was forced to scrap it. I had a little less than a month left until Regionals and no deck to play. Until I found help in unexpected places.
I’m working on some homework on the computer when Jimmy Ballard pops out of nowhere on Aim and tells me to playtest a deck of his codenamed “Four Corners”. This was rather strange because Jimmy and myself haven’t exactly had a healthy relationship. It was not so much that we didn’t get along, it more that we just avoided each other. We both always ran rogue, our play styles were just very different. So I look at the deck thinking it’s a joke or something and I immediately fell in love with the concept and what it can do. It quite literally countered the top 4 decks with positive matchups in all of them. I continued to change it up often and ended up with my final version about a week before Regionals.
James Flint and myself differed slightly on our lists because he ran Absol ex as opposed to Jolteon*, a DRE instead of the Castform, and a Wager replacement to a Copycat. Ultimately the Absol ex and Jolteon techs made the difference.
After taking off work for Saturday and Sunday, Friday night I headed over to pick up my cousin Victor who decided to play my Sceptile deck in Seniors. After playtesting his deck against Magmortar, we got to sleep around eleven and got up the following morning at 4:30. We headed over to Camille's(Pokemama's) house to pick up some cards that she let us use. Gotta love that woman. Getting up at 6 AM on a Saturday to allow Ash(my sister), Victor, and myself to have a shot. After a few hours of driving we arrived at the Chula Vista Resort. We headed to Mcdonalds to get some breakfast. Talk about some expensive fast food. 50% increase on everything. Finally we get to the tournament.
Upon arriving I realized that my Japanese Cresselia Lv.X could not be played without a translation which I didnt have. I spent an hour trying to either buy or borrow a Cresselia with no luck. With only minutes to spare before I had to turn in my sheet, Troy was able to print me a translation. Troy saved me from having to run a 1-1 Cress which I feel would have crippled the deck immensely.
A good friend of mine, Dan Nord, gets called out by the PTO for being one of the dozens of people talking. It was just the first of a string of incidents where I really questioned the quality of the PTO. I’m generally not one to bash but he was rude and arrogant all day.
I loaded up my Arithmetic deck and finally began
Round 1- Arithmetic- James Flint
Literally the one person in the field that I wanted to play the least. He knew the mirror much better than I did and he was my training partner for the deck. Worst round 1 matchup I have ever had. We both got terrible starts and traded Banettes for the first 3 prizes each. Once we started rolling I misplayed by dropping a Jolteon* to kill an active Banette when I could have just moved a damage over with Cressalia. It very nearly lost me the game because I needed the drop later and was forced to attempt a Dragon Rage for the win instead and I nailed both heads for the win. It was a tough win to swallow but I knew if we met in top cut he would take me out. 1-0
Round 2- Darkrai, Honchkrow, Wigglytuff
This match was extremely frustrating. He would use Wigglytuff to put both active asleep and but the stadium he had prevented darks from becoming asleep. I had an excellent start with a Turn 2 Claydol and proceeded to get everything in play just as he did. He played very slowly though and when time was called I was up on prizes 5-2. I’m fairly certain I would have had the game anyway but I just questioned why he would play so slowly when he was down on prizes. 2-0
We got to have a lunch break at this point. My group decides to go to the Subway about 10 minutes away. Upon arriving we find out that its not open. A subway not being open at noon on a Saturday. So we immediately drove back to the Chula Vista with 35 minutes left in our lunch break. The problem was the parking lot totally filled to the max. We had to drive around waiting for someone to leave before we could park and it took 20 minutes to do this. Once we parked and got inside with a little over 10 minutes left, we stood in line for the food at the resort but barely moved at all in the 5 minutes we were there so realized that we had to get back. Terrible choice in venue if you ask me.
Round 3- not even sure exactly, some kind of blissey, Gardevoir, etc.
I saw so much randomness in this match. I started with a Karp and had a mentor, I proceeded to not get any more trainers for 10+ turns and just constantly set pokemon up just to try to stall out until I drew into something but it never came. I’m really not quite sure what happened in this match. The deck usually doesn’t reply like this. He used a Blissey with a couple energy on it to slowly beat me. How the dude was 3-0 I’m really not sure.
I was fairly worried at this point because I knew only 5-2’s would get in and James Flint was already 1-2. I looked at Tim Metro’s new rogue deck I had have to admit I was impressed. The way it was running I was thinking it would win the tournament.
Round 4- Magmortar/Cess Lock- Alex(Big Chuck)
I have never actually played Alex before, we’re pretty good friend and stuff but I was actually looking forward to playing him. Unfortunately his turn 1 cessation crystal changes my mind really quick. This deck has a gaping weakness to Cess but I never figured it would be a problem since so few people run it. He just slowly built a magmortar with a cessation on it and laughed while I couldn’t move damage, could use claydol, and couldn’t even attack with Gyrados (Gyrados gives mag a really hard time). He slowly plowed through me. I might have taken a prize. Either way it wasn’t pretty.
2-2
Wonderful now I had to win out to top cut
Round 5- Tsunami, Hurricane, whatever you call it, same list that got 3rd at Illinois States.
I had a perfect start as I utilized warp points to force the Skitty kills before he could evolve. Without the Skitty’s he just fell apart. Discarding the Jolteon* out of my hand got me a little angry but he only took one prize because my Banette’s Ghost head. This one really got my confidence back. 3-2
Found out that in Seniors; Victor went 2-3 and missed the cut, Dan Nord (running Arithmetic) went 4-1 was the 5th seed, and Toby N. (running a Banette/Gyrados deck I made for him a few days ago) went 5-0 and was the top seed. I was fairly pleased so far with their results.
Round 6- I’m really sorry, just drawing a blank. I won. If anybody can fill me in here feel free to. 4-2
I have to win to Top 16 and so does Flint.
Round 7- John- Arithmetic
Not at all what I was wanting. John is such a good player and in the few weeks since I met him I found out he’s a cool guy too. Really didn’t want to be in a situation where only one of us makes the cut. I get a Claydol about 7 turns later than he does but I still manage to set up much better. He just keeps sending up basics and I keep taking them. Once I am able to get the Claydol running, which was much later than it should have been, I just took control and he lost. Sorry man. 17th is the worst spot to get. You have it a great run. 5-2.
I make the cut as the 10th seed and I play Ryan (Biggenzzz) who I’m sharing a hotel with later that night. I was really getting sick of having to play close friends. We both agreed to no hard feelings. James also makes the cut as the 14th seed and had to play Matt Alvis.
Top 16 Ryan- Gardevoir/Gyrados
Game 1
We both knew plenty about each others decks going into these matches, it was going to be close but I knew the Cress weakness kills had to win me the game. Either that or turn 2 him with Banette which I did. Sorry man. 6-2
Game 2
This was much closer. We both had solid starts and my Banettes were giving him fits but I was unable to take control. Eventually it comes down to him having 3 prizes left to my 2 after I killed his active. He sends up a Gyrados with 110 damage on it, I send up my Cressalia Lv.X with a psychic on it. Other than Gyrados no damage is in play and I have already used my Jolteon. I energy switch the only other energy I have in play to the Cressalia then I am forced to mentor to get the Castform and attach it for the 2 prizes.7-2
Ryan played so respectably throughout the game. I forgot to draw a prize card after I shuffled a Banette back in to the deck and he let me take the prize card without a second thought. Great job man running a rogue deck.
James also wins against Alvis, which means we have 2 Arithmetic in top 8. The problem is that if we both win, we play each other in top 4. Also Dan Nord won Seniors with Arithmetic. That guy is so darn good at this game. Making us proud man.
Top 8- Vince B. GG with Dusknoir
Game 1
I knew he ran the Dusknoir since my good buddy Chris Cobi narrowly lost to him in top 16. I immediately made sure I kept the bench space to a minimum but I had trouble with that because I had my first Jolteon* start of the game, greatly narrowing my options for bench space. Even though the lack of bench hurt I was able to utilize my Banettes and Warp points to destroy his Gallades and he was forced to use a Dusknoir when I had 1 prize left to his 3, he was able to take 2 more prizes before my Gyrados put a stop to it and I took the game.8-2
Game 2
This game just didn’t go good for him at all, I had a solid start and he just kept pushing up basics trying to draw into something but it never came. I 6-0’d him. 9-2
Good job getting so far Vince. For a recently returned player you did a really great job getting that 3rd seed after swiss.
James lost to Jason, which meant that I would have to play a Plox in Top 4. I would have preferred to play James to guarantee a Arithmetic in top 2 but a Plox was a good matchup. Unfortunately I didn’t realize what a toll 11 tough games and not enough sleep took on me.
Top 4 Jason K- Plox
Game 1
This was a really good game. I had a great start and proceeded to just give him a hard time all game and took a nice little prize lead. That’s where the trouble started. He was able to abuse his scramble and eventually I got locked in the end and just scooped to start the next game. 9-3
Game 2
I had less than 20 minutes for this game. I was starting off pretty bad and just consistently misplayed myself into a bad situation. He ended up locking me with 7 minutes remaining. Realizing that he would easily slow play me for the win I just scooped it.
So I took 4th place overall. Not too bad considering I haven’t done much of anything in this game for years.
Props
Camille for getting me everything I need and lending me her support
Troy for hooking me up with the translations on the Cress
Jimmy for giving me the chance
Devin for helping me out along the way
The Excellent judging staff
Ashley for giving me a ride
Dan for winning
Jason for winning
Toby for getting that nice 5-0 swiss
Rogue decks in top 16
The Chris’ for running that sweet spread deck
Tim Metro for his originality, missed cut with 23 seed
Ryan for making top 16 with rogue
Jay for proving his consistency
James Flint for getting Top 8 with Arithmetic
Jolteon*, best tech ever
ALL THOSE ARITHMETIC PLAYERS OUT THERE
Slops
Misplays
PTO being so rude for no reason
Terrible venue
No parking spots
Immediately I set to work on a Tangrowth, Exeggutor, Sceptile deck with surprisingly good results. The gaping weakness though turned out to be, as expected, the Magmortar matchup. The only thing saving it from being an autoloss turned out to be Exeggutor. If your could get average luck with the coinflips when a Magmortar had 3 or 4 energy on it the matchup got much closer. Unfortunately I realized that so many Magmortar simply scramble to prevent me from flipping for them. Even after a couple weeks of perfecting the deck and a lot of dedication put into it, I was forced to scrap it. I had a little less than a month left until Regionals and no deck to play. Until I found help in unexpected places.
I’m working on some homework on the computer when Jimmy Ballard pops out of nowhere on Aim and tells me to playtest a deck of his codenamed “Four Corners”. This was rather strange because Jimmy and myself haven’t exactly had a healthy relationship. It was not so much that we didn’t get along, it more that we just avoided each other. We both always ran rogue, our play styles were just very different. So I look at the deck thinking it’s a joke or something and I immediately fell in love with the concept and what it can do. It quite literally countered the top 4 decks with positive matchups in all of them. I continued to change it up often and ended up with my final version about a week before Regionals.
James Flint and myself differed slightly on our lists because he ran Absol ex as opposed to Jolteon*, a DRE instead of the Castform, and a Wager replacement to a Copycat. Ultimately the Absol ex and Jolteon techs made the difference.
After taking off work for Saturday and Sunday, Friday night I headed over to pick up my cousin Victor who decided to play my Sceptile deck in Seniors. After playtesting his deck against Magmortar, we got to sleep around eleven and got up the following morning at 4:30. We headed over to Camille's(Pokemama's) house to pick up some cards that she let us use. Gotta love that woman. Getting up at 6 AM on a Saturday to allow Ash(my sister), Victor, and myself to have a shot. After a few hours of driving we arrived at the Chula Vista Resort. We headed to Mcdonalds to get some breakfast. Talk about some expensive fast food. 50% increase on everything. Finally we get to the tournament.
Upon arriving I realized that my Japanese Cresselia Lv.X could not be played without a translation which I didnt have. I spent an hour trying to either buy or borrow a Cresselia with no luck. With only minutes to spare before I had to turn in my sheet, Troy was able to print me a translation. Troy saved me from having to run a 1-1 Cress which I feel would have crippled the deck immensely.
A good friend of mine, Dan Nord, gets called out by the PTO for being one of the dozens of people talking. It was just the first of a string of incidents where I really questioned the quality of the PTO. I’m generally not one to bash but he was rude and arrogant all day.
I loaded up my Arithmetic deck and finally began
Round 1- Arithmetic- James Flint
Literally the one person in the field that I wanted to play the least. He knew the mirror much better than I did and he was my training partner for the deck. Worst round 1 matchup I have ever had. We both got terrible starts and traded Banettes for the first 3 prizes each. Once we started rolling I misplayed by dropping a Jolteon* to kill an active Banette when I could have just moved a damage over with Cressalia. It very nearly lost me the game because I needed the drop later and was forced to attempt a Dragon Rage for the win instead and I nailed both heads for the win. It was a tough win to swallow but I knew if we met in top cut he would take me out. 1-0
Round 2- Darkrai, Honchkrow, Wigglytuff
This match was extremely frustrating. He would use Wigglytuff to put both active asleep and but the stadium he had prevented darks from becoming asleep. I had an excellent start with a Turn 2 Claydol and proceeded to get everything in play just as he did. He played very slowly though and when time was called I was up on prizes 5-2. I’m fairly certain I would have had the game anyway but I just questioned why he would play so slowly when he was down on prizes. 2-0
We got to have a lunch break at this point. My group decides to go to the Subway about 10 minutes away. Upon arriving we find out that its not open. A subway not being open at noon on a Saturday. So we immediately drove back to the Chula Vista with 35 minutes left in our lunch break. The problem was the parking lot totally filled to the max. We had to drive around waiting for someone to leave before we could park and it took 20 minutes to do this. Once we parked and got inside with a little over 10 minutes left, we stood in line for the food at the resort but barely moved at all in the 5 minutes we were there so realized that we had to get back. Terrible choice in venue if you ask me.
Round 3- not even sure exactly, some kind of blissey, Gardevoir, etc.
I saw so much randomness in this match. I started with a Karp and had a mentor, I proceeded to not get any more trainers for 10+ turns and just constantly set pokemon up just to try to stall out until I drew into something but it never came. I’m really not quite sure what happened in this match. The deck usually doesn’t reply like this. He used a Blissey with a couple energy on it to slowly beat me. How the dude was 3-0 I’m really not sure.
I was fairly worried at this point because I knew only 5-2’s would get in and James Flint was already 1-2. I looked at Tim Metro’s new rogue deck I had have to admit I was impressed. The way it was running I was thinking it would win the tournament.
Round 4- Magmortar/Cess Lock- Alex(Big Chuck)
I have never actually played Alex before, we’re pretty good friend and stuff but I was actually looking forward to playing him. Unfortunately his turn 1 cessation crystal changes my mind really quick. This deck has a gaping weakness to Cess but I never figured it would be a problem since so few people run it. He just slowly built a magmortar with a cessation on it and laughed while I couldn’t move damage, could use claydol, and couldn’t even attack with Gyrados (Gyrados gives mag a really hard time). He slowly plowed through me. I might have taken a prize. Either way it wasn’t pretty.
2-2
Wonderful now I had to win out to top cut
Round 5- Tsunami, Hurricane, whatever you call it, same list that got 3rd at Illinois States.
I had a perfect start as I utilized warp points to force the Skitty kills before he could evolve. Without the Skitty’s he just fell apart. Discarding the Jolteon* out of my hand got me a little angry but he only took one prize because my Banette’s Ghost head. This one really got my confidence back. 3-2
Found out that in Seniors; Victor went 2-3 and missed the cut, Dan Nord (running Arithmetic) went 4-1 was the 5th seed, and Toby N. (running a Banette/Gyrados deck I made for him a few days ago) went 5-0 and was the top seed. I was fairly pleased so far with their results.
Round 6- I’m really sorry, just drawing a blank. I won. If anybody can fill me in here feel free to. 4-2
I have to win to Top 16 and so does Flint.
Round 7- John- Arithmetic
Not at all what I was wanting. John is such a good player and in the few weeks since I met him I found out he’s a cool guy too. Really didn’t want to be in a situation where only one of us makes the cut. I get a Claydol about 7 turns later than he does but I still manage to set up much better. He just keeps sending up basics and I keep taking them. Once I am able to get the Claydol running, which was much later than it should have been, I just took control and he lost. Sorry man. 17th is the worst spot to get. You have it a great run. 5-2.
I make the cut as the 10th seed and I play Ryan (Biggenzzz) who I’m sharing a hotel with later that night. I was really getting sick of having to play close friends. We both agreed to no hard feelings. James also makes the cut as the 14th seed and had to play Matt Alvis.
Top 16 Ryan- Gardevoir/Gyrados
Game 1
We both knew plenty about each others decks going into these matches, it was going to be close but I knew the Cress weakness kills had to win me the game. Either that or turn 2 him with Banette which I did. Sorry man. 6-2
Game 2
This was much closer. We both had solid starts and my Banettes were giving him fits but I was unable to take control. Eventually it comes down to him having 3 prizes left to my 2 after I killed his active. He sends up a Gyrados with 110 damage on it, I send up my Cressalia Lv.X with a psychic on it. Other than Gyrados no damage is in play and I have already used my Jolteon. I energy switch the only other energy I have in play to the Cressalia then I am forced to mentor to get the Castform and attach it for the 2 prizes.7-2
Ryan played so respectably throughout the game. I forgot to draw a prize card after I shuffled a Banette back in to the deck and he let me take the prize card without a second thought. Great job man running a rogue deck.
James also wins against Alvis, which means we have 2 Arithmetic in top 8. The problem is that if we both win, we play each other in top 4. Also Dan Nord won Seniors with Arithmetic. That guy is so darn good at this game. Making us proud man.
Top 8- Vince B. GG with Dusknoir
Game 1
I knew he ran the Dusknoir since my good buddy Chris Cobi narrowly lost to him in top 16. I immediately made sure I kept the bench space to a minimum but I had trouble with that because I had my first Jolteon* start of the game, greatly narrowing my options for bench space. Even though the lack of bench hurt I was able to utilize my Banettes and Warp points to destroy his Gallades and he was forced to use a Dusknoir when I had 1 prize left to his 3, he was able to take 2 more prizes before my Gyrados put a stop to it and I took the game.8-2
Game 2
This game just didn’t go good for him at all, I had a solid start and he just kept pushing up basics trying to draw into something but it never came. I 6-0’d him. 9-2
Good job getting so far Vince. For a recently returned player you did a really great job getting that 3rd seed after swiss.
James lost to Jason, which meant that I would have to play a Plox in Top 4. I would have preferred to play James to guarantee a Arithmetic in top 2 but a Plox was a good matchup. Unfortunately I didn’t realize what a toll 11 tough games and not enough sleep took on me.
Top 4 Jason K- Plox
Game 1
This was a really good game. I had a great start and proceeded to just give him a hard time all game and took a nice little prize lead. That’s where the trouble started. He was able to abuse his scramble and eventually I got locked in the end and just scooped to start the next game. 9-3
Game 2
I had less than 20 minutes for this game. I was starting off pretty bad and just consistently misplayed myself into a bad situation. He ended up locking me with 7 minutes remaining. Realizing that he would easily slow play me for the win I just scooped it.
So I took 4th place overall. Not too bad considering I haven’t done much of anything in this game for years.
Props
Camille for getting me everything I need and lending me her support
Troy for hooking me up with the translations on the Cress
Jimmy for giving me the chance
Devin for helping me out along the way
The Excellent judging staff
Ashley for giving me a ride
Dan for winning
Jason for winning
Toby for getting that nice 5-0 swiss
Rogue decks in top 16
The Chris’ for running that sweet spread deck
Tim Metro for his originality, missed cut with 23 seed
Ryan for making top 16 with rogue
Jay for proving his consistency
James Flint for getting Top 8 with Arithmetic
Jolteon*, best tech ever
ALL THOSE ARITHMETIC PLAYERS OUT THERE
Slops
Misplays
PTO being so rude for no reason
Terrible venue
No parking spots
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