Work closes up early Friday night due to really bad weather, so I get a head start on the 3 1/2 hour drive to St. Louis, but the bad weather makes it more like a 5 hour drive. Kristin and I meet Tyler, Tyler and Steven at the hotel they're staying at. We playtest and lend each other cards and end up deciding to run G&G (me), G&G (Tyler F), Magmortar (Kristin), Gatr (the other Tyler), and Banette(Steven). We finally get to sleep at 3 or 4. Wake up at 7ish, get going by 8ish, get to B&B Games around 9. We write out our lists, get checked in, and walk down the street to a donut shop and eat sweets until we're sick.
Here's what I played:
2 Pachi
3-2 Furret
2 Ralts DF
2 Ralts SW
2 Kirlia SW
3 Gardy SW
1 Gardy X
2 Gallade
1-1 Claydol
1-0-1 Dusknoir
1 Unown G
=24
2 Roseanne's
4 Celio's
4 Candy
1 Wager
2 Steven's
1 Warp
2 Night Maint
1 Lake Boundary
1 Phoebe's
1 Battle Frontier
1 Strength Charm
1 Pluspower
=21
6 Psychic
2 Fighting
1 Cyclone
4 Double Rainbow
2 Scramble
=15
It's based on Austin Reed's deck from KY states, with a couple modifications to suit my playstyle and a few techs to help the Magmortar matchup (Battle Frontier, Unown G to prevent Typhlosion discards)
Round 1: Rachel A (G&G + Absol)
She gets an Absol start and goes first. I get a Sentret start and have candy + Furret in my hand, but she discards an energy. I draw a ralts, bench it, attach to it, empty my hand of trainers (a strength charm and a battle frontier I believe), get T1 Keen eye for Kirlia and energy. She starts building up a Gallade on the bench and discards another energy. I draw Gallade, evolve to Kirlia, attach another energy, keen eye for a second Gallade and another energy. She retreats to Gallade and flips 1 to kill Furret. I bring up my Kirlia, evolve, attach, flip 3. She brings up her lone absol, benches a Ralts, and baleful winds a warp point and something else. I draw cyclone energy, attach to bring up Ralts, and psychic cut for ko. Absol's up again. She benches a second Absol. Another baleful wind for nothing. I psychic cut again. She draws for her next turn and concedes.
1-0
Round 2: Tariq E (Magmortar)
He gets a Pachi start to my Sentret start and fills his bench. On T2 I Celio for a furret, only to find that both are prized. I figure that's okay because I have a benched Baltoy, so I look for my Claydol but that's prized too. Great. =/ He gets a beautiful setup with double Blazikens and Delcatty and a big Magmortar. I get some pretty decent draws off of Stevens and get a Gardy set up, which in turn gets my Dusknoir out to shuffle in the Magmortar he'd been working on. I start Psylocking on turn 5 I think, while getting a Gardy swarm built up on my bench. He copycats a big hand and almost recovers but I Wager it all away and continue the Psylock swarm until he's sacked his Delcatty and a Blaziken to get a Magmortar out, but by then I'm up by 4 prizes and have a full bench of powered up Gardies/Gallades.
2-0
Round 3: Rachel B (Houndoom)
She gets a Houndour start but has trouble getting out Houndoom. I get an early Gardy and start copying her Mars every turn until she's down to a zero card hand. A Gallade takes out all of her pokemon.
3-0
Round 4: Joe C (G&G)
I get Sentret start to his Ralts, groping for a Celio T1. He puts me to sleep but it doesn't matter because I evolve to Furret T2, bench a Ralts, attach to it, and start doing my keen eye. He starts his turn before I've picked out my two cards, and I see him evolving to Gallade to KO my Furret, so I get scramble and candy. I bring up Ralts, Celio for Gallade, evolve, attach scramble, and Psychic Cut. He brings up a Pachi, benches a Minun and draws 2. Plays a draw supporter. Doesn't get anything he can use just then, but he CFFs to fill his bench. I attach to Gallade, start setting up a Claydol and Dusknoir on my bench, and Psychic Cut again. I end up getting some decent draw going on my end while taking a 2 or 3 prize lead, and Dusknoir shuffles in his Gardy when he finally gets one set up. He ends up getting another one set up with scramble but I 2hit it. Time runs out and I'm ahead by a couple prizes.
4-0
Round 5: Joseph something (G&G)
I go first, he has a lone ralts. I get a Gardy on T2, he Celios for Kirlia, attaches DRE and snipes my Gardy for 30. I drop lake boundary, telepass Celio for my Claydol, get my hand down to two cards, and put them on bottom to draw 6. I pull the DRE I needed, retreat and Psylock for 100.
5-0
Round 6: Tyler F (G&G)
He's running almost the same list as me, with a couple small differences. Like, he doesn't run Unown G and I do. Guess what I start with! So it takes me a while to get anything set up. He brings up a Gardy to kill Unown, I bring up a Furret and keen eye for a Claydol and Kirlia, but the prize he pulled from killing Unown was his Wager and I never beat Tyler in RPS and my 3-card hand is trash. He has the game from there.
5-1
So nobody ends up going undefeated in swiss, but I'm the highest ranked 5-1 because 4/6 of my opponents ended up going 5-1 (I think, not 100% sure).
Top 8 looks something like this? I'm guessing at the order here:
Me
Jake
Bela
Joseph
Tariq
Rachel
Tyler
Joe
Jake and Tyler only play one game and it takes an hour. Jake wins. Bela and Rachel get through their first two games fast and then the last one is a nail-biter. Bela wins. I don't know what happened in Joseph and Tariq's game, but Joseph won.
Top 8: Joe C again
Game 1
I get a great setup (minus Claydol, he's prized) while his is a little slow because he started with Plusle and had the energy to retreat with but not the energy to CFF or anything else after he retreated. He ends up eventually filling his bench (even though I used my Dusknoir against him in swiss - lol?) but his bench is full of basics while mine is full of Gardies, Gallades, and Dusknoir. I shuffle in a Ralts with energy and start Psylocking. He never really gets anything out.
Game 2
He has Ralts candy Gallade DRE and energy. He goes first and puts my sentret to sleep. I have most of the same stuff he has in my hand, so I let him kill sentret, then candy Gallade scramble Psychic Cut for 180 benching him. GGs
6-1
Top 4: Bela (Magmortar)
Game 1
My hand is Unown G, candy candy candy Gardevoir double rainbow, psychic. He kills the Unown T3 with a Magmar.
Game 2
This was a really good game, he played most of the time with a bench of 3 even though my Dusknoir was prized. But I get the Psylock going and his Lv.X is prized and other than that I can't really remember the turn by turn details.
Game 3
He gets an awful start to my T1 Gardy, T2 Lv.X. I bring down his Skitties and Cyndaquils. He has a supporter and energy drought and can't get setup. Ugh donk games are so disappointing, especially when you're playing against amazing players like Bela where legit games just blow your mind. I wish rounds 1 and 3 could've been half as good as round 2. Too bad we don't have a mulligan system.
7-1
Top 2: Jake (G&G)
I don't remember the details, but it was all ver' nice. They let us drag over the big comfy office chairs from the video game area, and we joke around the whole time, with a decent crowd watching the matches. I think he won game 1 and I won 2, and in game 3 we're tied at two prizes but I've got the right setup to win the game and he has run out of DRE and stuff. He did a keen eye for some stuff so I telepass his Wager to get rid of it. First time we tie. Second time, at the throw, he throws the "magic rod" (which of course beats everything) and we all start laughing. I go around the table and give him a hug. He scoops, we clean up, I offer to buy him dinner, and we pick up our trophies and junk.
8-1
Then we all find a Gamestop and play in the Brawl tournament. Steven ends up getting second place with Shiek. Yay! We stick around the store until midnight so Tyler can buy the game and bring it back to our hotel only to find that the TV doesn't have the right hookups to connect my Wii. So we go down the street to Walmart but it's closed. Since when do Walmarts close? Oh well. So Sunday we get lunch and then part ways, I get home around 7 only to find that the Gamestop I reserved my copy of Brawl at is already closed for the night. So that's why I had time to write such a lengthy report. Hope you enjoyed reading. Let me know if I remembered any details incorrectly.
Props
Steven, Tyler, Tyler, Kristin, Jake, Bela, Adrian, Rachel, and everyone I met at the tourney. You're all amazing.
Great venue
Great judges
Great weekend
Slops
Bad weather
Still haven't gotten to play Brawl =/
Here's what I played:
2 Pachi
3-2 Furret
2 Ralts DF
2 Ralts SW
2 Kirlia SW
3 Gardy SW
1 Gardy X
2 Gallade
1-1 Claydol
1-0-1 Dusknoir
1 Unown G
=24
2 Roseanne's
4 Celio's
4 Candy
1 Wager
2 Steven's
1 Warp
2 Night Maint
1 Lake Boundary
1 Phoebe's
1 Battle Frontier
1 Strength Charm
1 Pluspower
=21
6 Psychic
2 Fighting
1 Cyclone
4 Double Rainbow
2 Scramble
=15
It's based on Austin Reed's deck from KY states, with a couple modifications to suit my playstyle and a few techs to help the Magmortar matchup (Battle Frontier, Unown G to prevent Typhlosion discards)
Round 1: Rachel A (G&G + Absol)
She gets an Absol start and goes first. I get a Sentret start and have candy + Furret in my hand, but she discards an energy. I draw a ralts, bench it, attach to it, empty my hand of trainers (a strength charm and a battle frontier I believe), get T1 Keen eye for Kirlia and energy. She starts building up a Gallade on the bench and discards another energy. I draw Gallade, evolve to Kirlia, attach another energy, keen eye for a second Gallade and another energy. She retreats to Gallade and flips 1 to kill Furret. I bring up my Kirlia, evolve, attach, flip 3. She brings up her lone absol, benches a Ralts, and baleful winds a warp point and something else. I draw cyclone energy, attach to bring up Ralts, and psychic cut for ko. Absol's up again. She benches a second Absol. Another baleful wind for nothing. I psychic cut again. She draws for her next turn and concedes.
1-0
Round 2: Tariq E (Magmortar)
He gets a Pachi start to my Sentret start and fills his bench. On T2 I Celio for a furret, only to find that both are prized. I figure that's okay because I have a benched Baltoy, so I look for my Claydol but that's prized too. Great. =/ He gets a beautiful setup with double Blazikens and Delcatty and a big Magmortar. I get some pretty decent draws off of Stevens and get a Gardy set up, which in turn gets my Dusknoir out to shuffle in the Magmortar he'd been working on. I start Psylocking on turn 5 I think, while getting a Gardy swarm built up on my bench. He copycats a big hand and almost recovers but I Wager it all away and continue the Psylock swarm until he's sacked his Delcatty and a Blaziken to get a Magmortar out, but by then I'm up by 4 prizes and have a full bench of powered up Gardies/Gallades.
2-0
Round 3: Rachel B (Houndoom)
She gets a Houndour start but has trouble getting out Houndoom. I get an early Gardy and start copying her Mars every turn until she's down to a zero card hand. A Gallade takes out all of her pokemon.
3-0
Round 4: Joe C (G&G)
I get Sentret start to his Ralts, groping for a Celio T1. He puts me to sleep but it doesn't matter because I evolve to Furret T2, bench a Ralts, attach to it, and start doing my keen eye. He starts his turn before I've picked out my two cards, and I see him evolving to Gallade to KO my Furret, so I get scramble and candy. I bring up Ralts, Celio for Gallade, evolve, attach scramble, and Psychic Cut. He brings up a Pachi, benches a Minun and draws 2. Plays a draw supporter. Doesn't get anything he can use just then, but he CFFs to fill his bench. I attach to Gallade, start setting up a Claydol and Dusknoir on my bench, and Psychic Cut again. I end up getting some decent draw going on my end while taking a 2 or 3 prize lead, and Dusknoir shuffles in his Gardy when he finally gets one set up. He ends up getting another one set up with scramble but I 2hit it. Time runs out and I'm ahead by a couple prizes.
4-0
Round 5: Joseph something (G&G)
I go first, he has a lone ralts. I get a Gardy on T2, he Celios for Kirlia, attaches DRE and snipes my Gardy for 30. I drop lake boundary, telepass Celio for my Claydol, get my hand down to two cards, and put them on bottom to draw 6. I pull the DRE I needed, retreat and Psylock for 100.
5-0
Round 6: Tyler F (G&G)
He's running almost the same list as me, with a couple small differences. Like, he doesn't run Unown G and I do. Guess what I start with! So it takes me a while to get anything set up. He brings up a Gardy to kill Unown, I bring up a Furret and keen eye for a Claydol and Kirlia, but the prize he pulled from killing Unown was his Wager and I never beat Tyler in RPS and my 3-card hand is trash. He has the game from there.
5-1
So nobody ends up going undefeated in swiss, but I'm the highest ranked 5-1 because 4/6 of my opponents ended up going 5-1 (I think, not 100% sure).
Top 8 looks something like this? I'm guessing at the order here:
Me
Jake
Bela
Joseph
Tariq
Rachel
Tyler
Joe
Jake and Tyler only play one game and it takes an hour. Jake wins. Bela and Rachel get through their first two games fast and then the last one is a nail-biter. Bela wins. I don't know what happened in Joseph and Tariq's game, but Joseph won.
Top 8: Joe C again
Game 1
I get a great setup (minus Claydol, he's prized) while his is a little slow because he started with Plusle and had the energy to retreat with but not the energy to CFF or anything else after he retreated. He ends up eventually filling his bench (even though I used my Dusknoir against him in swiss - lol?) but his bench is full of basics while mine is full of Gardies, Gallades, and Dusknoir. I shuffle in a Ralts with energy and start Psylocking. He never really gets anything out.
Game 2
He has Ralts candy Gallade DRE and energy. He goes first and puts my sentret to sleep. I have most of the same stuff he has in my hand, so I let him kill sentret, then candy Gallade scramble Psychic Cut for 180 benching him. GGs
6-1
Top 4: Bela (Magmortar)
Game 1
My hand is Unown G, candy candy candy Gardevoir double rainbow, psychic. He kills the Unown T3 with a Magmar.
Game 2
This was a really good game, he played most of the time with a bench of 3 even though my Dusknoir was prized. But I get the Psylock going and his Lv.X is prized and other than that I can't really remember the turn by turn details.
Game 3
He gets an awful start to my T1 Gardy, T2 Lv.X. I bring down his Skitties and Cyndaquils. He has a supporter and energy drought and can't get setup. Ugh donk games are so disappointing, especially when you're playing against amazing players like Bela where legit games just blow your mind. I wish rounds 1 and 3 could've been half as good as round 2. Too bad we don't have a mulligan system.
7-1
Top 2: Jake (G&G)
I don't remember the details, but it was all ver' nice. They let us drag over the big comfy office chairs from the video game area, and we joke around the whole time, with a decent crowd watching the matches. I think he won game 1 and I won 2, and in game 3 we're tied at two prizes but I've got the right setup to win the game and he has run out of DRE and stuff. He did a keen eye for some stuff so I telepass his Wager to get rid of it. First time we tie. Second time, at the throw, he throws the "magic rod" (which of course beats everything) and we all start laughing. I go around the table and give him a hug. He scoops, we clean up, I offer to buy him dinner, and we pick up our trophies and junk.
8-1
Then we all find a Gamestop and play in the Brawl tournament. Steven ends up getting second place with Shiek. Yay! We stick around the store until midnight so Tyler can buy the game and bring it back to our hotel only to find that the TV doesn't have the right hookups to connect my Wii. So we go down the street to Walmart but it's closed. Since when do Walmarts close? Oh well. So Sunday we get lunch and then part ways, I get home around 7 only to find that the Gamestop I reserved my copy of Brawl at is already closed for the night. So that's why I had time to write such a lengthy report. Hope you enjoyed reading. Let me know if I remembered any details incorrectly.
Props
Steven, Tyler, Tyler, Kristin, Jake, Bela, Adrian, Rachel, and everyone I met at the tourney. You're all amazing.
Great venue
Great judges
Great weekend
Slops
Bad weather
Still haven't gotten to play Brawl =/
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