First day of the NJ Marathon and the only event I'd be able to go to out of the four (work...), so i know I needed to pull out a win. The turnout was surprisingly good considering the blizzard the night before.
I was testing Luxchomp and Vilegar, but I couldn't get down the consistency I prefer for either, so I went with a deck that will usually get beat by both of them but I felt comfortable with, Gyarados.
Round 1: Andy - Luxchomp
He starts Luxray and Bronzong, I start double Unown R. I go off my first turn using dual balls, junk arms, and R's to get a Dos out with three karps in the discard and Mesprit to lock powers. I double drawer for two seekers to keep up the power lock. He gets out a few more basics but nothing that can really hurt me and I cruise to a win.
1-0
Round 1: Jeff AKA Luke M. - Gyarados
Luke's a friend and I gave him my list so I wasn't thrilled to play him this early (knowing it would be very difficult to make cut, even if the winner won out). I was hoping for a good game but he starts Unown Q and I with Unown R going second, I Collector for Q and Uxie and put on a Cyclone for the donk.
2-0
Round 3: Luke D. - Luxchomp
Luke's a nice guy but I never played him before, so I was intrigued to see how he was. Unfortunately, I have my god start of Crobat and Unown R to his Luxray and Bronzong and I pull my usual shenanigans and get a Dos out with three karps in the discard and power lock and kill his Luxray, he can't really get anything going under power lock so I bench him with Seeker by turn 3 and get the win.
3-0
Round 4: Evan B. - Dialgachomp
Very good friend who I also didn't want to face, but so goes Pokeman. My start is meh to his pretty good start, he takes the first prize with a Dialga on my Rescue Energied Gyarados and flips heads on Remove Lost, which obviously sucks for me. I am thankfully able to topdeck a Pokemon Rescue to get back out a Dos and he isn't able to pull into a Cyrus, Turn, or Warp to save his Dialga with Chomp, so I end up up knocking it out to turn the tide back my way. He gets back up another Dialga with 2 SP Metals and I use Cyclone to kill stuff on the bench while he knocks out a few Dos. It goes to 1-2 on prizes and me needing a SSU heads to both save my Dos (I had nothing otherwise) and reuse a Cyclone to kill anything on his bench and I get it.
4-0
Round 5: Kyle M. - Luxchomp
Faced Kyle a few times now and he's a super cool guy and an excellent player, his version is teched for Dos so I know I have to hit his set-up early. Unfortunately for me, his setup looks pretty good early with 2 Luxrays and a Crobat, but I go second which is huge so he can't get an early spray with Cyrus. I am able to get my setup going perfectly (with Mesprit locking) and knock out one of his Luxrays. His hand wasn't that great and I end up benching him by T4 I believe with Seeker.
5-0
Top Cut looks like this:
1 Me - Gyarados
2 Kyle Morris - Luxchomp
3 Luke M. - Gyarados
4 Brandon M. - Luxchomp
TC Round 1: Brandon M. (brother of Kyle) - Luxchomp
Game 1:
His deck is almost identical to Kyles, so same strategy as round 5 applies. I do basically the exact same thing I did to his brother and he scoops a few prizes in.
1-0
Game 2:
His start looks ok with a Dialga, Bronzong, and Garcohmp, but his hand is beyond horrible and mine's alright. I flip a few too many Dual Ball tails and I get out Dos on turn 3 unfortunately, but he literally draw passes for about 5 or 6 turns. I go up 3 or so prizes before he is able to take one with a Chomp X. I win by double flash biting an active Chomp X and tail revenging for the win.
2-0
6-0
Kyle beats Luke in 3 games, so I'm gonna have to beat him twice on the day to get my medal.
TC Finals: Kyle M. - Luxchomp
Game 1:
My start is bad and his is pretty good with two Luxrays. I really needed to flip one of two heads on SSU on my first turn to reuse a benched Uxie for five, I get double tails and go down in prizes really quickly. I try to mount a comeback when I am able to have him spray an Unown R and Azelf so I could setup with an Uxie I topdecked, by he was way too setup for it to matter.
0-1
Game 2:
He contemplated going straight to Game 3 so he can choose who goes first but opts to play game 2. My start looks pretty promising, but I find out my Azelf and a Karp are prized so I figure I'm screwed, I even use Bat and Expert belt tricks to get up two prizes but still can't find either of them, he thinks I'm going to go up big so he scoops for game 3 and I pick up my cards faster than I ever had in my life.
1-1
Game 3
He wants me to go first which is fine with me, I start with double Unown R and he starts with a Dialga active and benched Bronzong, he deafens me for a few turns which sucks but he breaks his Cyrus chain early to opt for a Collector which may have been his downfall. I go up 2 prizes but he takes a prize with a Luxray X on my Rescued Dos. I figure I have the game since I can knock out his Lux next turn but Pokepop reminds me that I don't have a BTS out, crap, I use SSU on my Uxie, get heads, drop it for three, get my BTS and kill his Lux X, he has no answers for that and scoops so we can go home.
2-1
7-0
I win my first tournament after playing competitively for a little less than 2 years undefeated, I was happy to finally bring home gold.
Props:
First ever win after a bunch of TC's
Beating Luxchomp FIVE times on the day.
Good turnout
Slops:
Luke losing in Top 4
Evan getting donked in his 3-1 match
Me not going to any other NJ Marathon tournies cause of work :/
Fairly crappy packs: Magnezone Prime, Mew Prime, and RH Rescue Energy, that's it.
Thanks for reading!
I was testing Luxchomp and Vilegar, but I couldn't get down the consistency I prefer for either, so I went with a deck that will usually get beat by both of them but I felt comfortable with, Gyarados.
Round 1: Andy - Luxchomp
He starts Luxray and Bronzong, I start double Unown R. I go off my first turn using dual balls, junk arms, and R's to get a Dos out with three karps in the discard and Mesprit to lock powers. I double drawer for two seekers to keep up the power lock. He gets out a few more basics but nothing that can really hurt me and I cruise to a win.
1-0
Round 1: Jeff AKA Luke M. - Gyarados
Luke's a friend and I gave him my list so I wasn't thrilled to play him this early (knowing it would be very difficult to make cut, even if the winner won out). I was hoping for a good game but he starts Unown Q and I with Unown R going second, I Collector for Q and Uxie and put on a Cyclone for the donk.
2-0
Round 3: Luke D. - Luxchomp
Luke's a nice guy but I never played him before, so I was intrigued to see how he was. Unfortunately, I have my god start of Crobat and Unown R to his Luxray and Bronzong and I pull my usual shenanigans and get a Dos out with three karps in the discard and power lock and kill his Luxray, he can't really get anything going under power lock so I bench him with Seeker by turn 3 and get the win.
3-0
Round 4: Evan B. - Dialgachomp
Very good friend who I also didn't want to face, but so goes Pokeman. My start is meh to his pretty good start, he takes the first prize with a Dialga on my Rescue Energied Gyarados and flips heads on Remove Lost, which obviously sucks for me. I am thankfully able to topdeck a Pokemon Rescue to get back out a Dos and he isn't able to pull into a Cyrus, Turn, or Warp to save his Dialga with Chomp, so I end up up knocking it out to turn the tide back my way. He gets back up another Dialga with 2 SP Metals and I use Cyclone to kill stuff on the bench while he knocks out a few Dos. It goes to 1-2 on prizes and me needing a SSU heads to both save my Dos (I had nothing otherwise) and reuse a Cyclone to kill anything on his bench and I get it.
4-0
Round 5: Kyle M. - Luxchomp
Faced Kyle a few times now and he's a super cool guy and an excellent player, his version is teched for Dos so I know I have to hit his set-up early. Unfortunately for me, his setup looks pretty good early with 2 Luxrays and a Crobat, but I go second which is huge so he can't get an early spray with Cyrus. I am able to get my setup going perfectly (with Mesprit locking) and knock out one of his Luxrays. His hand wasn't that great and I end up benching him by T4 I believe with Seeker.
5-0
Top Cut looks like this:
1 Me - Gyarados
2 Kyle Morris - Luxchomp
3 Luke M. - Gyarados
4 Brandon M. - Luxchomp
TC Round 1: Brandon M. (brother of Kyle) - Luxchomp
Game 1:
His deck is almost identical to Kyles, so same strategy as round 5 applies. I do basically the exact same thing I did to his brother and he scoops a few prizes in.
1-0
Game 2:
His start looks ok with a Dialga, Bronzong, and Garcohmp, but his hand is beyond horrible and mine's alright. I flip a few too many Dual Ball tails and I get out Dos on turn 3 unfortunately, but he literally draw passes for about 5 or 6 turns. I go up 3 or so prizes before he is able to take one with a Chomp X. I win by double flash biting an active Chomp X and tail revenging for the win.
2-0
6-0
Kyle beats Luke in 3 games, so I'm gonna have to beat him twice on the day to get my medal.
TC Finals: Kyle M. - Luxchomp
Game 1:
My start is bad and his is pretty good with two Luxrays. I really needed to flip one of two heads on SSU on my first turn to reuse a benched Uxie for five, I get double tails and go down in prizes really quickly. I try to mount a comeback when I am able to have him spray an Unown R and Azelf so I could setup with an Uxie I topdecked, by he was way too setup for it to matter.
0-1
Game 2:
He contemplated going straight to Game 3 so he can choose who goes first but opts to play game 2. My start looks pretty promising, but I find out my Azelf and a Karp are prized so I figure I'm screwed, I even use Bat and Expert belt tricks to get up two prizes but still can't find either of them, he thinks I'm going to go up big so he scoops for game 3 and I pick up my cards faster than I ever had in my life.
1-1
Game 3
He wants me to go first which is fine with me, I start with double Unown R and he starts with a Dialga active and benched Bronzong, he deafens me for a few turns which sucks but he breaks his Cyrus chain early to opt for a Collector which may have been his downfall. I go up 2 prizes but he takes a prize with a Luxray X on my Rescued Dos. I figure I have the game since I can knock out his Lux next turn but Pokepop reminds me that I don't have a BTS out, crap, I use SSU on my Uxie, get heads, drop it for three, get my BTS and kill his Lux X, he has no answers for that and scoops so we can go home.
2-1
7-0
I win my first tournament after playing competitively for a little less than 2 years undefeated, I was happy to finally bring home gold.
Props:
First ever win after a bunch of TC's
Beating Luxchomp FIVE times on the day.
Good turnout
Slops:
Luke losing in Top 4
Evan getting donked in his 3-1 match
Me not going to any other NJ Marathon tournies cause of work :/
Fairly crappy packs: Magnezone Prime, Mew Prime, and RH Rescue Energy, that's it.
Thanks for reading!
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