Cyrus
Iron Chef - Master Emeritus
Pre-tourney: Before this event, I had pretty much decided on Jumpluff. Unfortunately though, figuring out the exact right list was a challenge beyond belief. This uncertainty was compounded when the Thursday before the tournament, Stephen S. and I were throwing around ideas for a Kingdra/Machamp deck on AIM. Although it was extremely promising, as well as a deck that's very fitting for me (I love Kingdra, after all), I decided to stick with Pluff since I anticipated a heavy amount of Gardevoir at this Regional, particularly from the Louisiana and Mississippi invaders.
By and large, I felt good about said Garde matchup; however, I knew that both Luxchomp and Jumpluff mirror would be big, so I decided to throw in Azelf MT (Downer Material) and Mesprit LA for those matchups. However, I needed one more master stroke...So in came Looker's! So between the standard Luxray, AMU lock, and Looker’s my list was extremely disruptive, and highly unlikely to start with lone Hoppip due to 16 basics.
Also, regarding the Fulop list, which has become the standard for Jumpluff netdeckers everywhere, there was one minor beef I had with it – one that most people who have been building stage two decks for years will kind of look at funny. So, I fixed that issue I had, and the deck began to run much better in the early game.
So, in true Kettler form, Billy and I show up fashionably ON TIME, ready to be the last of those deck checked. Since we had hit the hay earlier that night, he wasn’t sure what to cut in his Shuppet deck to fit two Copycat, so he just opted to sack two R for them. We also needed two cards: a Luxray GL LV.X for his deck, and a fourth Jumpluff for mine (until the end of this event, I hadn’t purchased a single pack of this set, and had been constructing my Jumpluff line thanks solely to trades from Phillip and Caroline, two new players in the College Station area I’ve been helping prepare for Regionals). A very, very nice Garland leaguer, whose name unfortunately escapes me at the moment, let me borrow his Jumpluff, and Andy Meier miraculously had an extra Luxray GL LV.X for Billy to borrow. Hot DAMN!
After the deck checks finally conclude, I meet up with Martin Moreno ( whom I greeted as “Adam Lambert”), Cameron , Robby (winner of the HeyTrainer.org popularity contest), Brent, Demarcus, Weldon (Rokman), Adam Garcia (my Facebook son, who will undoubtedly continue to shame and disappoint me for the rest of his God-forsaken life), Justin, and Chas (who I didn’t know).
Anyways, I'm boring you all (and myself) with the details, so let's just get into the report!
Round 1: VS Mike Mullan (Gardevoir/Absol)
Mike had scored a pretty unbelievable win against me in round two of Texas States by means of Team Galactic’s Wagering away my perfect hand (I was using Shuppet not-donk), winning said Wager, and then Absol SW Baleful Winding away my entire hand by turn two. This game, however, I was ready for vengeance.
I have a pretty decent double Baltoy start going first, draw, and pass to his active Absol. He then Baleful Winds me, and – for the love of all that is good, did “not” hit my Claydol, and got stuck discarding a Jumpluff instead! From there I proceed to setup perfectly, and score a T2 Jumpluff with two claydol on the board. Knowing full well that he still had the Dusknoir from States, but also recognizing how big my board was already bound to be, I decided to go a reverse strategy against his noir: rather than constrain my bench, I would simply make it so perfect that there’d be no way he could harm me with it. Then, for when he’d finally get it out, I would bench Luxray GL and Mesprit LA simultaneously, guaranteeing the Bright Look KO on Noir for the next turn. This strategy pans out perfectly, and although he’s able to pull off the Psychic Lock every now and then, his setup was mediocre enough to force him into leading off with Gallade, which was what ultimately did him in. (1-0)
Win (1-0)
Round 2: VS ??? (Shuppet)
This guy seemed to be new, as I had never seen or met him at an event before; however, he was running a pretty solid Shuppet list.
Anyways, this game we’re both off to relatively slow starts, but I draw into Downer Material and get rolling. I jump(luff) ahead quickly via Mass Attack, but eventually he fishes out his Mime. Eventually I get Luxray GL LV.X going to nab me prizes, as well as a three energy Mass Attack eventually.
Win (2-0)
Lunch break was an experience in and of itself, since a police officer nearly bashed into the left side of my car. Had I not veered to the right just in time, he doubtlessly would’ve bashed the left side of my car in, thus “killing” my dreams of winning Regionals. I was livid, but fortunately Billy got the son of a *****’s license plate number, so when life stops being so hectic, I plan to report him.
To top it all off, Subway didn’t have provolone cheese. How am I supposed to live through a tournament without provolone cheese?!
(Just kidding about that last part – their cold cut combo’s are actually really good
)
Checking up with Phillip, Caroline, and Sara (Caroline’s good friend), I found out that their entire caravan was holding up in the rounds, all with a shot at top cut still. Before the break ended, I also forced my Facebook son (Adam Garcia) to go get me a sandwich and vodka. I then proceed to beat him into a bloody pulp for back-talking me.
Round 3: VS ??? (Jumpluff)
This guy was running an unusual list: heavy Unown G count, at least two night maintenance, Detour Jirachi, no Luxray, and no crobat G. I go first with a Mesprit/benched Unown Q start and pass to his T1 Jumpluff, but fortunately he’s unable to retreat or Warp Point out the pluff for a KO on my Mesprit. From there, it becomes a really basic exchange of KOs, with me in the lead until I whiff on a return knockout, despite heavy deck thin playing..
At that point I realize that the game is instantly lost unless I work some magic with Luxray GL, so I opt to search it out, promote an uxie, and psychic restore, dealing 20 to his Jumpluff. He then proceeds to score a chump KO to even prizes 2-2, and that next turn I Level Up, Bright Look an Unown G’d Claydol, finally get out Jumpluff, Expert Belt it, and Leaf Guard for 70, forcing him to Warp Point or let it die. As expected, he burnt his first Warp Point freeing the Dol, and scores a KO with his 20 damaged pluff to make it 1-2 his favor. I then promoted my Belted Pluff, double flash bit his, and then dropped the mirror savior: Looker’s Investigation. Upon seeing the second warp point in his hand, I immediately opt to shuffle in, and Leaf Guard for 50 to KO, forcing him to hit the Warp for game. He, hoping to pull it, BTS’s into his THIRD claydol, and Cosmic Powers three times:
#1 – whiffs
#2 – whiffs
#3 - ………WHIFFS!!!
Since I made it impossible for him to do 140 damage for the win without use of more than just Expert Belt (80 of his damage + 40 of mine -30 for leaf guard = 20 short), he just retreats and passes. I then just flash bite the 70 damage Claydol and Mass Attack for the win. Fantastic game, and very well played by my opponent.
Win (3-0)
Round 4: VS Caleb Cline (Feraligatr Prime/Starmie)
Like everybody else sitting around me, I’m a little surprised to see Gatr doing so well; however, I’ve tested this deck before, and know that if it hits the right matchups, it can absolutely wreak havoc. Unfortunately for my opponent, Jumpluff is one of his weakest matchups, so I just went nuts with the usual Jumpluff nonsense and won.
Win (4-0)
Round 5: VS Adam G. (Luxray GL/Garchomp C)
Although he had kind of an “ehhhh” starter in the form of Drifblim FB (one of his unusual Jumpluff techs, coupled with a single copy of Technical Machine TS-2 Devolutor that would later deal Martin Moreno a swiss loss), none of that really mattered, because I was stuck with no draw, no search, and…Psychic Balancing for two turns in a row. Although I desperately wanted to go Chatot against him, it was prized, and he had stockpiled way too many sprays by the time I finally saw something (turn four or so). This was just “one of those games” that I expected to lose at the tournament: if you don’t have a vomit hand, then you have to account for losing at least one swiss game to a donk. Although this wasn’t a donk by any means, it “was” one of those rough games.
Loss (4-1)
After the match, I dealt out a couple hands with Adam for fun, with him winning the first fun game, and me “winning” the second (we had to put up ‘cause we got kicked out of the area, lol). Needless to say, this was making me a little more nervous about my Luxchomp matchup than testing had shown. Goes to show you that you can deal out decks on Apprentice or Redshark all day long, but things may surprise you come game day.
Round 6: VS Mikey P. (Gardevoir)
With Mikey going first, his start isn’t bad in the least: active ralts, Psychic attached, and then Future Sight to, in all likelihood, engineer a T2 Psychic Lock on me. However, my start hand is pure, unadulterated God, and I fill my bench up with two Baltoys, a Luxray GL, Mesprit Psychic Bind, and a FTKO via Jumpluff, which secures a useless turn for him. I then start bright looking targets, and never look back. It was a sorry thing we couldn’t have a good game, but we would later meet in top cut to have a much better series.
Win (5-1)
Round 7: VS Stephen (Jumpluff)
No, not the Silvestro kind, but for the video games, he pretty much is Silvestro-esque.
Long story short, his hand is bad, mine is decent, and Mesprit + Looker’s is amazing in the mirror. End of story.
Since there was a lot of time in this round, I forced my Facebook son (Adam Garcia) to go get me a sandwich and vodka. I then proceed to beat him into a bloody pulp.
Win (6-1)
Round 8: VS Chas (Luxray GL/Garchomp C)
Before the round starts, I go into “Facebook Dad Mode” again, and start badmouthing my boy. Chas hears this, and misinterprets this as me actually insulting Adam, who is a member of Team Rocket (Supreme Leader of the Texas branch, per the card Rick gave him). I then explain my extremely anti-sotg behavior to Chas in context, and then…It all makes sense.
He gets out a fast start with an Ambipom KO on one of my two Hoppips this game, but I begin the Pluff magic, as well as get out a quick AMU lock. I then proceed to play at least half the game without ever using Cosmic Power, and get a nice lead; however, thanks to some nice Power Sprays of his, he makes a comeback. Although the game is a very close 6-5 affair, I had board control the whole time, and once he was out of Power Sprays, Flash Bite+Mass Attack was an easy affair.
Win (7-1)
After all was said and done, I finished the swiss 7-1: third seed, and one of the few 7-1s. My Facebook son finished swiss in second seed, and Will “The Iron Hammer” Berry finished 8-0. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Oklahoma players in my years of playing, it’s that they’re an extremely skilled group despite their (relatively speaking) microscopic player base. This is the second year that an Oklahoma player X-0d the Southern Plains Regional swiss, which shows that they’re always a force to be reckoned with at these big events.
If you’re curious about how the tournament would stack up from here, here’s the FULL BRACKET, constructed by Michael Weldon et al. Although it "spoils" the path to the first place, you can still read the below matches for elaboration:
http://i.imgur.com/9ongl.png
T32: VS Mikey P. (Gardevoir)
Game One: although it wasn’t so much a situation of god start vs. no comeback potential, the game played out how much of my Gardevoir testing did: Jumpluff outspeeds, outguns, and even outdefends the standard Garde build.
Game Two: Mikey’s Spiritomb absolutely decimated me this game. Although I mount a pretty decent comeback, my whiffs were a little too big to seal the deal. With approximately 8 minutes left in the match, I consider my options, and decided to stick it out a turn to see if I topdeck what I need to save my butt. A couple minutes later, and I concede so that I avoid the sudden death coin flip rule.
“Game Three”: I force him to go first, Nidoran to my Baltoy, and I force him to scratch. Time is called about 3/4ths of the way through my turn as I am Uxie setuping for three. Since all it takes to win the match is a simple Expert Belted Psychic Restore + Crobat Flash bite, I opt for that, and thus win the series.
Win, Loss, Win, for a match Win (8-1)
At this point, I’m getting a little tired, as well as…Giddy (“Git-tee”), and begin to sing Tiny Tim’s “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” in the best falsetto voice I could muster. I think I got at least half a dozen “what the ****” looks from various people, which amused me greatly.
T16: VS Paul (Gardevoir)
Game One: His start’s pretty good (I think two Claydols turn two?), and mine is so-so. Since I know Paul to have played Palkia for virtually the entire season, I misplayed my starter vs him, choosing to go with Mesprit instead of Baltoy (didn’t want to give him a FTKO); however, when I see the Gardevoir stuff, I internally smile (standard Gardevoirs are a good matchup for Pluff) “and” grimace (for the misguided approach). Plus, it helped that his list played far less disruption than Mikey’s, who ran at bare minimum three TGW in our series.
Anyways, despite his great start, mine quickly became the standard pluff-goes-and-vomits-all-over-the-field type setups: whenever he would attempt to build an attacker, I would simply gust it up. To conserve time, he scooped.
Game Two: Once again, Spiritomb gives me a little bit of trouble. Despite three consecutive Mimics, I just could not hit a playable hand (literally that is – I kept whiffing supporters).
Miraculously, though, he himself sets up amazingly slow, which gives me a chance. Eventually it turns into a pretty classic struggle, but proper timing of Leaf Guard+Mass Attack sealed the deal for me in a 6-4 affair.
Win, Win, for a match Win (9-1)
After the way my T16 started, I was sure to pay careful attention to the matchup to the right of me between Martin Moreno, a former National Champion and defending Regional Champion, and Albert, a player who top cut his first tournament ever. Due to having played a very solid game versus Martin, utilizing Spiritomb, Dusknoir, and energy drops to pretty impressive levels, he seals the deal, and pulls what was probably the biggest upset of the tournament. However, I know exactly what he’s playing, so I could plan accordingly.
T8: VS Albert (Flygon/Machamp)
Game One: he has a pretty legit setup, but I FTKO with a Pluff and immediately make this flychamp build fight uphill. I limit my bench pretty carefully, and, unlike the first game of the tournament, I can’t opt for the impossible-to-screw-over-with-Dark Palm setup, so I just go for good old-fashioned bench limitation, coupled with benching Mesprit whatever turn I need a full bench. This works fine, and prevents him from pulling a comeback.
Game Two: unlike my previous games versus Spiritomb, I didn’t have a hand with no supporters, and could just comfortably setup without any trouble, getting a T3 Jumpluff and a Claydol. From there, I blow out what was a mediocre setup for him. Glad to play you Albert, and fantastic job doing for doing so well at your first Regional cut!
Win, Win, for a match Win (10-1)
Since Adam, William and I all got done pretty quickly, we just shot the breeze for a good 35 minutes, and began to play off of one-another’s hysteria brought about by sleep deprivation.
This was easily the second funniest moment of the whole tournament, as we were all very, VERY bad off (especially me, since the only sleep I had for three days was about eight hours).
Eventually the other matches concluded, so Adam and I would finally get our rematch. Oi vey.
I think before this match I started randomly singing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." I don't even know why, to be perfectly honest - maybe I was just wanting some female companionship or something.
T4: VS Adam Garcia (Luxray GL/Garchomp C)
Game One: see round 8 of the swiss, plus a very good, timely Looker’s against him. AMU lock was once again MVP, and I drew all six prizes fairly quickly; IIRC, Andy Meier had one of those “…Woah, did he just do that?” looks on his face, lol. :X
Game Two: He tries to get some attacking going with a mediocre start, but I draw a beastly setup against him, and am able to pull off an absurdly good T2 without getting Power Sprayed once. Eventually Downer Material hits play, and the moment I remind him of it when he announces Mimic on a zero energy Chatot, he opts to scoop.
With our top cut match done in approximately 15-20 minutes, now comes the funniest moment of the tournament: our SECOND round of sleep-deprived conversing. Adam’s probably going to post at least one video on Youtube eventually, so if he does, then I’ll post It for you all to see. It’s some pretty stupid, lame, and…Amazingly hysterical stuff, especially in context. Just remember that one minute conversations involving june bugs, cigar shop owners, and “giddy-ot”ing are pretty dang funny.
Win, Win, for a match Win (11-1)
T2: VS Will Berry (Luxray GL/Garchomp C)
Game One: I go second, and FTKO his lone Crobat.
Game Two: This is…Ahem, much closer, but I get an absurd turn two Two Cladyol + Jumpluff against him, without getting hit by Power Spray once. I get an early lead, and am forced to rig my bench up in a way that gives me no flexibility for Downer Material “or” SP drops, which limited my ease of KO’ing 110 HP guys. However, Expert Belt did the trick on his Garchomp C LV.X, and – not seeing any comeback due to my hand loaded with Jumpluff lines, Bats, Poketurns, etc, he just decided to scoop.
Win, Win, for a match Win (12-1)
So yeah, a fairly anticlimactic finish to a massive tournament, but a satisfying one nonetheless. To be perfectly honest, I was just happy getting past T16 for the first time since my win back in 2007, but a win is nice too. : )
PROPS:
-Billy (Drrtybyl). When we were little kids, we used to hate each other, but nowadays, he’s so amazingly cool of an older brother, he’s lame. Or maybe the other way around? Idk, but either way it’s a compliment! You did a great job in the swiss, and did justice for our deck. Too bad about the 61 card debacle, especially since that 61st card was more of a hindrance to you than anything (Shuppet can’t afford not thinning when it needs to), but you took the situation in stride. I’m very, very proud.
-The Garland league member who let me borrow his Jumpluff. I owe you a Jumpluff, as well as a pack as thanks.
-Andy, for letting my brother (technically me when I gave my brother my own Luxray GL LV.X to use) borrow the Luxray GL LV.X. You too have a pack coming your way the next time I see you.
-Texas, the greatest Pokemon-playing state anyone could live in. You know you have a true community when the process of borrowing becomes so nonchalant, Martin and Dana can leave all their cards behind in Dallas, yet still play exactly what they want to. This state is truly amazing.
-My Facebook son, Adam. Despite the fact that you utterly failed to get me my sammich and vodka (you little piece of crap), you made me proud by T4’ing for the third consecutive year in a row. I know it’s frustrating to whiff on the big win three times, but eventually things will go your way. As I said, you’ll get your due eventually, so just be patient.
Oh, and thanks for the swiss loss. Ohohoho.
-“Scarlett” (Charlotte). Although you were very self-conscious about your judging, I honestly think you did a stellar job! In fact, you were probably the strongest judge of the day, so kudos to you.
-All of the crazy, zany, funny stuff
-Tiptoe Through the Tulips
-Whichever judge jokingly accused me of taking an 8-ball of cocaine before the tournament due to how hyper I was acting. You know you’re one straightedge 21 year old when you don’t even know that an illegal substance “comes” in sizes of 8-balls! Lol. Remember kids: MASTER TRAINERS DON’T DO DRUGS!
-Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
-The event in general was very well done. Y’all put on a great show, Cook clan, and I’m proud of ya!
-Lookers, AMU lock, and “that extra speed thing I added” that made the list do so well.
-Jumpluff
-Everyone from HeyTrainer doing so much justice for the site, especially Emre and Jwittz!
-My/Patrick’s protégés, as well as the protégé of the protégés! Hope you three do some damage in the Houston Battle Roads.
-Overall fun day, good times, and a much-appreciated second major win.
Slops:
-POP having had prizes cut from third and fourth for the third year in a row. Adam deserves at least $1500 from you guys for what he’s done the past three years and you know it.
-An overall net deducation in skill needed to win this game. Although it remains complex, as well as benefits those most consistent players like Fulop, Hornung, etc, the minimum skill level for decks like Jumpluff as opposed to older decks (e.g., Ludicolo) are like night and day. While Jumpluff does require careful playing and several precise actions, it just isn’t what Ludicolo was back in 2005-2006, especially since the strategy set per turn/strings of turns is on a much easier level. I kind of miss the days where you could actually spend an entire game orchestrating a game-winning combo utilizing over half a dozen single copies of cards.
-My time with this game being nearly up. I've still got a good year or so left, but I'm almost at the end of the road.
Thanks for reading, and take care,
~Takettsi Johnabaki
By and large, I felt good about said Garde matchup; however, I knew that both Luxchomp and Jumpluff mirror would be big, so I decided to throw in Azelf MT (Downer Material) and Mesprit LA for those matchups. However, I needed one more master stroke...So in came Looker's! So between the standard Luxray, AMU lock, and Looker’s my list was extremely disruptive, and highly unlikely to start with lone Hoppip due to 16 basics.
Also, regarding the Fulop list, which has become the standard for Jumpluff netdeckers everywhere, there was one minor beef I had with it – one that most people who have been building stage two decks for years will kind of look at funny. So, I fixed that issue I had, and the deck began to run much better in the early game.
So, in true Kettler form, Billy and I show up fashionably ON TIME, ready to be the last of those deck checked. Since we had hit the hay earlier that night, he wasn’t sure what to cut in his Shuppet deck to fit two Copycat, so he just opted to sack two R for them. We also needed two cards: a Luxray GL LV.X for his deck, and a fourth Jumpluff for mine (until the end of this event, I hadn’t purchased a single pack of this set, and had been constructing my Jumpluff line thanks solely to trades from Phillip and Caroline, two new players in the College Station area I’ve been helping prepare for Regionals). A very, very nice Garland leaguer, whose name unfortunately escapes me at the moment, let me borrow his Jumpluff, and Andy Meier miraculously had an extra Luxray GL LV.X for Billy to borrow. Hot DAMN!
After the deck checks finally conclude, I meet up with Martin Moreno ( whom I greeted as “Adam Lambert”), Cameron , Robby (winner of the HeyTrainer.org popularity contest), Brent, Demarcus, Weldon (Rokman), Adam Garcia (my Facebook son, who will undoubtedly continue to shame and disappoint me for the rest of his God-forsaken life), Justin, and Chas (who I didn’t know).
Anyways, I'm boring you all (and myself) with the details, so let's just get into the report!
Round 1: VS Mike Mullan (Gardevoir/Absol)
Mike had scored a pretty unbelievable win against me in round two of Texas States by means of Team Galactic’s Wagering away my perfect hand (I was using Shuppet not-donk), winning said Wager, and then Absol SW Baleful Winding away my entire hand by turn two. This game, however, I was ready for vengeance.
I have a pretty decent double Baltoy start going first, draw, and pass to his active Absol. He then Baleful Winds me, and – for the love of all that is good, did “not” hit my Claydol, and got stuck discarding a Jumpluff instead! From there I proceed to setup perfectly, and score a T2 Jumpluff with two claydol on the board. Knowing full well that he still had the Dusknoir from States, but also recognizing how big my board was already bound to be, I decided to go a reverse strategy against his noir: rather than constrain my bench, I would simply make it so perfect that there’d be no way he could harm me with it. Then, for when he’d finally get it out, I would bench Luxray GL and Mesprit LA simultaneously, guaranteeing the Bright Look KO on Noir for the next turn. This strategy pans out perfectly, and although he’s able to pull off the Psychic Lock every now and then, his setup was mediocre enough to force him into leading off with Gallade, which was what ultimately did him in. (1-0)
Win (1-0)
Round 2: VS ??? (Shuppet)
This guy seemed to be new, as I had never seen or met him at an event before; however, he was running a pretty solid Shuppet list.
Anyways, this game we’re both off to relatively slow starts, but I draw into Downer Material and get rolling. I jump(luff) ahead quickly via Mass Attack, but eventually he fishes out his Mime. Eventually I get Luxray GL LV.X going to nab me prizes, as well as a three energy Mass Attack eventually.
Win (2-0)
Lunch break was an experience in and of itself, since a police officer nearly bashed into the left side of my car. Had I not veered to the right just in time, he doubtlessly would’ve bashed the left side of my car in, thus “killing” my dreams of winning Regionals. I was livid, but fortunately Billy got the son of a *****’s license plate number, so when life stops being so hectic, I plan to report him.
To top it all off, Subway didn’t have provolone cheese. How am I supposed to live through a tournament without provolone cheese?!
(Just kidding about that last part – their cold cut combo’s are actually really good
)Checking up with Phillip, Caroline, and Sara (Caroline’s good friend), I found out that their entire caravan was holding up in the rounds, all with a shot at top cut still. Before the break ended, I also forced my Facebook son (Adam Garcia) to go get me a sandwich and vodka. I then proceed to beat him into a bloody pulp for back-talking me.
Round 3: VS ??? (Jumpluff)
This guy was running an unusual list: heavy Unown G count, at least two night maintenance, Detour Jirachi, no Luxray, and no crobat G. I go first with a Mesprit/benched Unown Q start and pass to his T1 Jumpluff, but fortunately he’s unable to retreat or Warp Point out the pluff for a KO on my Mesprit. From there, it becomes a really basic exchange of KOs, with me in the lead until I whiff on a return knockout, despite heavy deck thin playing..
At that point I realize that the game is instantly lost unless I work some magic with Luxray GL, so I opt to search it out, promote an uxie, and psychic restore, dealing 20 to his Jumpluff. He then proceeds to score a chump KO to even prizes 2-2, and that next turn I Level Up, Bright Look an Unown G’d Claydol, finally get out Jumpluff, Expert Belt it, and Leaf Guard for 70, forcing him to Warp Point or let it die. As expected, he burnt his first Warp Point freeing the Dol, and scores a KO with his 20 damaged pluff to make it 1-2 his favor. I then promoted my Belted Pluff, double flash bit his, and then dropped the mirror savior: Looker’s Investigation. Upon seeing the second warp point in his hand, I immediately opt to shuffle in, and Leaf Guard for 50 to KO, forcing him to hit the Warp for game. He, hoping to pull it, BTS’s into his THIRD claydol, and Cosmic Powers three times:
#1 – whiffs
#2 – whiffs
#3 - ………WHIFFS!!!
Since I made it impossible for him to do 140 damage for the win without use of more than just Expert Belt (80 of his damage + 40 of mine -30 for leaf guard = 20 short), he just retreats and passes. I then just flash bite the 70 damage Claydol and Mass Attack for the win. Fantastic game, and very well played by my opponent.
Win (3-0)
Round 4: VS Caleb Cline (Feraligatr Prime/Starmie)
Like everybody else sitting around me, I’m a little surprised to see Gatr doing so well; however, I’ve tested this deck before, and know that if it hits the right matchups, it can absolutely wreak havoc. Unfortunately for my opponent, Jumpluff is one of his weakest matchups, so I just went nuts with the usual Jumpluff nonsense and won.
Win (4-0)
Round 5: VS Adam G. (Luxray GL/Garchomp C)
Although he had kind of an “ehhhh” starter in the form of Drifblim FB (one of his unusual Jumpluff techs, coupled with a single copy of Technical Machine TS-2 Devolutor that would later deal Martin Moreno a swiss loss), none of that really mattered, because I was stuck with no draw, no search, and…Psychic Balancing for two turns in a row. Although I desperately wanted to go Chatot against him, it was prized, and he had stockpiled way too many sprays by the time I finally saw something (turn four or so). This was just “one of those games” that I expected to lose at the tournament: if you don’t have a vomit hand, then you have to account for losing at least one swiss game to a donk. Although this wasn’t a donk by any means, it “was” one of those rough games.
Loss (4-1)
After the match, I dealt out a couple hands with Adam for fun, with him winning the first fun game, and me “winning” the second (we had to put up ‘cause we got kicked out of the area, lol). Needless to say, this was making me a little more nervous about my Luxchomp matchup than testing had shown. Goes to show you that you can deal out decks on Apprentice or Redshark all day long, but things may surprise you come game day.
Round 6: VS Mikey P. (Gardevoir)
With Mikey going first, his start isn’t bad in the least: active ralts, Psychic attached, and then Future Sight to, in all likelihood, engineer a T2 Psychic Lock on me. However, my start hand is pure, unadulterated God, and I fill my bench up with two Baltoys, a Luxray GL, Mesprit Psychic Bind, and a FTKO via Jumpluff, which secures a useless turn for him. I then start bright looking targets, and never look back. It was a sorry thing we couldn’t have a good game, but we would later meet in top cut to have a much better series.
Win (5-1)
Round 7: VS Stephen (Jumpluff)
No, not the Silvestro kind, but for the video games, he pretty much is Silvestro-esque.
Long story short, his hand is bad, mine is decent, and Mesprit + Looker’s is amazing in the mirror. End of story.
Since there was a lot of time in this round, I forced my Facebook son (Adam Garcia) to go get me a sandwich and vodka. I then proceed to beat him into a bloody pulp.
Win (6-1)
Round 8: VS Chas (Luxray GL/Garchomp C)
Before the round starts, I go into “Facebook Dad Mode” again, and start badmouthing my boy. Chas hears this, and misinterprets this as me actually insulting Adam, who is a member of Team Rocket (Supreme Leader of the Texas branch, per the card Rick gave him
). I then explain my extremely anti-sotg behavior to Chas in context, and then…It all makes sense. He gets out a fast start with an Ambipom KO on one of my two Hoppips this game, but I begin the Pluff magic, as well as get out a quick AMU lock. I then proceed to play at least half the game without ever using Cosmic Power, and get a nice lead; however, thanks to some nice Power Sprays of his, he makes a comeback. Although the game is a very close 6-5 affair, I had board control the whole time, and once he was out of Power Sprays, Flash Bite+Mass Attack was an easy affair.
Win (7-1)
After all was said and done, I finished the swiss 7-1: third seed, and one of the few 7-1s. My Facebook son finished swiss in second seed, and Will “The Iron Hammer” Berry finished 8-0. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Oklahoma players in my years of playing, it’s that they’re an extremely skilled group despite their (relatively speaking) microscopic player base. This is the second year that an Oklahoma player X-0d the Southern Plains Regional swiss, which shows that they’re always a force to be reckoned with at these big events.
If you’re curious about how the tournament would stack up from here, here’s the FULL BRACKET, constructed by Michael Weldon et al. Although it "spoils" the path to the first place, you can still read the below matches for elaboration:
http://i.imgur.com/9ongl.png
T32: VS Mikey P. (Gardevoir)
Game One: although it wasn’t so much a situation of god start vs. no comeback potential, the game played out how much of my Gardevoir testing did: Jumpluff outspeeds, outguns, and even outdefends the standard Garde build.
Game Two: Mikey’s Spiritomb absolutely decimated me this game. Although I mount a pretty decent comeback, my whiffs were a little too big to seal the deal. With approximately 8 minutes left in the match, I consider my options, and decided to stick it out a turn to see if I topdeck what I need to save my butt. A couple minutes later, and I concede so that I avoid the sudden death coin flip rule.
“Game Three”: I force him to go first, Nidoran to my Baltoy, and I force him to scratch. Time is called about 3/4ths of the way through my turn as I am Uxie setuping for three. Since all it takes to win the match is a simple Expert Belted Psychic Restore + Crobat Flash bite, I opt for that, and thus win the series.
Win, Loss, Win, for a match Win (8-1)
At this point, I’m getting a little tired, as well as…Giddy (“Git-tee”), and begin to sing Tiny Tim’s “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” in the best falsetto voice I could muster. I think I got at least half a dozen “what the ****” looks from various people, which amused me greatly.
T16: VS Paul (Gardevoir)
Game One: His start’s pretty good (I think two Claydols turn two?), and mine is so-so. Since I know Paul to have played Palkia for virtually the entire season, I misplayed my starter vs him, choosing to go with Mesprit instead of Baltoy (didn’t want to give him a FTKO); however, when I see the Gardevoir stuff, I internally smile (standard Gardevoirs are a good matchup for Pluff) “and” grimace (for the misguided approach). Plus, it helped that his list played far less disruption than Mikey’s, who ran at bare minimum three TGW in our series.
Anyways, despite his great start, mine quickly became the standard pluff-goes-and-vomits-all-over-the-field type setups: whenever he would attempt to build an attacker, I would simply gust it up. To conserve time, he scooped.
Game Two: Once again, Spiritomb gives me a little bit of trouble. Despite three consecutive Mimics, I just could not hit a playable hand (literally that is – I kept whiffing supporters).
Miraculously, though, he himself sets up amazingly slow, which gives me a chance. Eventually it turns into a pretty classic struggle, but proper timing of Leaf Guard+Mass Attack sealed the deal for me in a 6-4 affair.
Win, Win, for a match Win (9-1)
After the way my T16 started, I was sure to pay careful attention to the matchup to the right of me between Martin Moreno, a former National Champion and defending Regional Champion, and Albert, a player who top cut his first tournament ever. Due to having played a very solid game versus Martin, utilizing Spiritomb, Dusknoir, and energy drops to pretty impressive levels, he seals the deal, and pulls what was probably the biggest upset of the tournament. However, I know exactly what he’s playing, so I could plan accordingly.
T8: VS Albert (Flygon/Machamp)
Game One: he has a pretty legit setup, but I FTKO with a Pluff and immediately make this flychamp build fight uphill. I limit my bench pretty carefully, and, unlike the first game of the tournament, I can’t opt for the impossible-to-screw-over-with-Dark Palm setup, so I just go for good old-fashioned bench limitation, coupled with benching Mesprit whatever turn I need a full bench. This works fine, and prevents him from pulling a comeback.
Game Two: unlike my previous games versus Spiritomb, I didn’t have a hand with no supporters, and could just comfortably setup without any trouble, getting a T3 Jumpluff and a Claydol. From there, I blow out what was a mediocre setup for him. Glad to play you Albert, and fantastic job doing for doing so well at your first Regional cut!
Win, Win, for a match Win (10-1)
Since Adam, William and I all got done pretty quickly, we just shot the breeze for a good 35 minutes, and began to play off of one-another’s hysteria brought about by sleep deprivation.
This was easily the second funniest moment of the whole tournament, as we were all very, VERY bad off (especially me, since the only sleep I had for three days was about eight hours).
Eventually the other matches concluded, so Adam and I would finally get our rematch. Oi vey.
I think before this match I started randomly singing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." I don't even know why, to be perfectly honest - maybe I was just wanting some female companionship or something.
T4: VS Adam Garcia (Luxray GL/Garchomp C)
Game One: see round 8 of the swiss, plus a very good, timely Looker’s against him. AMU lock was once again MVP, and I drew all six prizes fairly quickly; IIRC, Andy Meier had one of those “…Woah, did he just do that?” looks on his face, lol. :X
Game Two: He tries to get some attacking going with a mediocre start, but I draw a beastly setup against him, and am able to pull off an absurdly good T2 without getting Power Sprayed once. Eventually Downer Material hits play, and the moment I remind him of it when he announces Mimic on a zero energy Chatot, he opts to scoop.
With our top cut match done in approximately 15-20 minutes, now comes the funniest moment of the tournament: our SECOND round of sleep-deprived conversing. Adam’s probably going to post at least one video on Youtube eventually, so if he does, then I’ll post It for you all to see. It’s some pretty stupid, lame, and…Amazingly hysterical stuff, especially in context. Just remember that one minute conversations involving june bugs, cigar shop owners, and “giddy-ot”ing are pretty dang funny.
Win, Win, for a match Win (11-1)
T2: VS Will Berry (Luxray GL/Garchomp C)
Game One: I go second, and FTKO his lone Crobat.
Game Two: This is…Ahem, much closer, but I get an absurd turn two Two Cladyol + Jumpluff against him, without getting hit by Power Spray once. I get an early lead, and am forced to rig my bench up in a way that gives me no flexibility for Downer Material “or” SP drops, which limited my ease of KO’ing 110 HP guys. However, Expert Belt did the trick on his Garchomp C LV.X, and – not seeing any comeback due to my hand loaded with Jumpluff lines, Bats, Poketurns, etc, he just decided to scoop.
Win, Win, for a match Win (12-1)
So yeah, a fairly anticlimactic finish to a massive tournament, but a satisfying one nonetheless. To be perfectly honest, I was just happy getting past T16 for the first time since my win back in 2007, but a win is nice too. : )
PROPS:
-Billy (Drrtybyl). When we were little kids, we used to hate each other, but nowadays, he’s so amazingly cool of an older brother, he’s lame. Or maybe the other way around? Idk, but either way it’s a compliment! You did a great job in the swiss, and did justice for our deck. Too bad about the 61 card debacle, especially since that 61st card was more of a hindrance to you than anything (Shuppet can’t afford not thinning when it needs to), but you took the situation in stride. I’m very, very proud.
-The Garland league member who let me borrow his Jumpluff. I owe you a Jumpluff, as well as a pack as thanks.
-Andy, for letting my brother (technically me when I gave my brother my own Luxray GL LV.X to use) borrow the Luxray GL LV.X. You too have a pack coming your way the next time I see you.
-Texas, the greatest Pokemon-playing state anyone could live in. You know you have a true community when the process of borrowing becomes so nonchalant, Martin and Dana can leave all their cards behind in Dallas, yet still play exactly what they want to. This state is truly amazing.
-My Facebook son, Adam. Despite the fact that you utterly failed to get me my sammich and vodka (you little piece of crap), you made me proud by T4’ing for the third consecutive year in a row. I know it’s frustrating to whiff on the big win three times, but eventually things will go your way. As I said, you’ll get your due eventually, so just be patient.
Oh, and thanks for the swiss loss. Ohohoho.
-“Scarlett” (Charlotte). Although you were very self-conscious about your judging, I honestly think you did a stellar job! In fact, you were probably the strongest judge of the day, so kudos to you.
-All of the crazy, zany, funny stuff
-Tiptoe Through the Tulips
-Whichever judge jokingly accused me of taking an 8-ball of cocaine before the tournament due to how hyper I was acting. You know you’re one straightedge 21 year old when you don’t even know that an illegal substance “comes” in sizes of 8-balls! Lol. Remember kids: MASTER TRAINERS DON’T DO DRUGS!
-Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
-The event in general was very well done. Y’all put on a great show, Cook clan, and I’m proud of ya!
-Lookers, AMU lock, and “that extra speed thing I added” that made the list do so well.
-Jumpluff
-Everyone from HeyTrainer doing so much justice for the site, especially Emre and Jwittz!
-My/Patrick’s protégés, as well as the protégé of the protégés! Hope you three do some damage in the Houston Battle Roads.
-Overall fun day, good times, and a much-appreciated second major win.
Slops:
-POP having had prizes cut from third and fourth for the third year in a row. Adam deserves at least $1500 from you guys for what he’s done the past three years and you know it.
-An overall net deducation in skill needed to win this game. Although it remains complex, as well as benefits those most consistent players like Fulop, Hornung, etc, the minimum skill level for decks like Jumpluff as opposed to older decks (e.g., Ludicolo) are like night and day. While Jumpluff does require careful playing and several precise actions, it just isn’t what Ludicolo was back in 2005-2006, especially since the strategy set per turn/strings of turns is on a much easier level. I kind of miss the days where you could actually spend an entire game orchestrating a game-winning combo utilizing over half a dozen single copies of cards.
-My time with this game being nearly up. I've still got a good year or so left, but I'm almost at the end of the road.
Thanks for reading, and take care,
~Takettsi Johnabaki
Last edited:
