Entering as the spring regional champion, I felt a bit of pressure to do well. A significant amount of preparation was required to have another good performance. For that purpose, Battle Roads proved to be an excellent testing ground. First, they gave insight into what the northeast metagame is like – mostly Hydreigon and Rayquaza. Second, I was able to play 7 different decks in 7 tournaments, giving me a good impression of what worked and what didn’t (we’ll just sweep the fact that 6 of those decks were Eel under the rug 
). And C, it gave me time to look at what the national metagame was shaping up to be, providing valuable feedback on other established top decks being played.
A week before regionals I threw away all my progress with Eels and decided to play Darkrai/Sableye. It’s donk proof, consistent and fast, all desirable qualities in 9 rounds of swiss. And by playing only 1 Sableye per game, the deck plays the 7 prize game better than any other. I also tested a crazy Eel deck with Bouffalant DRX with my friend Miro, which he ultimately decided to play. The concept is to combat the prevalence of EX’s in this format with single prize attackers like Zekrom BLW and Bouffalant DRX.
I make a last minute addition of 1 Terrakion and 2 Fighting Energy in hopes of improving the Darkrai match-up. All of this report is from memory so there may be some inaccuracies. I’m not posting names because I forgot some of them and this will save me the embarrassment of having those people call me out on it. I’ll only post the deck for each round, even if we clearly know each other. These were our final lists for the event:
4 Darkrai EX
4 Sableye
1 Terrakion
4 Professor Juniper
4 N
4 Random Receiver
4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Ultra Ball
4 Dark Patch
4 Energy Switch
3 Eviolite
2 Bianca
2 Enhanced Hammer
2 Tool Scrapper
2 Max Potion
10 Darkness Energy
2 Fighting Energy
--------------------
4-4 Eelektrik
2 Mewtwo EX
1 Raikou EX
1 Tornadus EX
2 Zekrom
2 Bouffalant DRX
4 Professor Juniper
4 N
4 Bianca
4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Switch
3 Level Ball
3 Ultra Ball
2 Eviolite
2 Max Potion
1 Super Rod
1 Skyarrow Bridge
8 Lightning Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
Tournament: Autumn Regional Championship
Location: Philadelphia Convention Center
Attendance: 306 Masters, 9 rounds of swiss on Saturday & top 32 through finals on Sunday
Round 1: Rayquaza/Eelektrik
He goes first and is able to get 3 Eelektrik in play turn 2 because of Emolga. The price of that start was having a supporter drought for the first few turns, allowing me to spread damage to his Eels starting from turn 3 before he could make any use of them while simultaneously hitting an active Mewtwo for 90 twice. After finally topdecking a Juniper, he is able to Dragon Burst one of my Darkrai for a OHKO, but with few or no Eels left in play, the advantage of my faster set up combined with Night Spear bench damage eventually put me in an unbeatable game state. GG
1-0
Round 2: Rayquaza/Terrakion/Eelektrik
He mulligans, showing Lightning and Prism Energy, so right away I know he plays both Rayquaza and Terrakion. My strategy was to Enhanced Hammer away the Prism before he could get a Dragon Burst or Land Crush off, but it didn’t work out that way because he waited to attach them until the turn of attack. He goes first, getting 3 Tynamo in play. I play a supporter and bench Darkrai, followed by a Junk Hunt. He benches Victini, which is trouble for me because I don’t play Switch. The next multitude of turns degenerate into my Sableye getting paralyzed 4 times followed by a KO with Raikou’s Thunder Fang. The situation is compounded by the fact that I have no supporters and only 1 of my 2 Darkrai are powered up. Meanwhile, he maintains an 8+ card hand but I know it’s awkward because he barely plays any cards for several turns. I Catcher Rayquaza EX and Night Spear, putting 30 on Victini. He Catchers my benched Darkrai with no energy and continuously paralyzes it while refusing to play the N that is undoubtedly in his hand. I Max Potion 60 damage off to prevent Rayquaza EX from KOing it next turn. Dragon Burst KO’s the Darkrai with no energy 2 turns later, but I topdeck N and take 3 prizes off Rayquaza EX and Victini, tying the game. He KO’s another Darkrai and I KO another EX after Ning him down to 1. He only has Rayquaza DV with 30 on it and 3 Eelektrik in play and promotes Rayquaza with 1 Lightning. The N and top card gave him a Catcher and Juniper (not too surprising because there were 3 Juniper left). A Darkrai without Eviolite is Catchered. Juniper, Terrakion, Prism, Dynamotor. I think it’s all over as I wait for him to play the Switch but he just extends his hand, missing the game by 1 card. GG
2-0
Round 3: Hydreigon/Darkrai
He gets a relatively slow start and I have a turn 3 Night Spear. He has 3 Deino in play and there’s only room for 1 Darkrai, so I KO the Darkrai and N him to 4, hoping he won’t be able to get an attack going next turn without the free retreat. It works and he ends his turn with Junk Hunt. The 3rd Deino really ends up being costly because I’m able to set up a 3 prize turn by KOing it and an EX because he is unable to draw Max Potion the entire game. This puts me at 1 prize left and I have the Catcher next turn to take it. GG
3-0
Round 4: Eelektrik/Terrakion
He has absolutely nothing to work with for the first 5 turns except 3 Tynamo and every Thunder Wave attempt to paralyze fails. I have an average start but that’s enough to take a commanding 3 prize lead because there is absolutely no resistance. My hand is a bunch of Juniper, N and Catchers. Obviously I can’t play the N, but Juniper would mean throwing away 3 Catchers and lots of supporters, which I’m very hesitant to do with my conservative play style. He eventually gets a Raikou and Terrakion with Eviolite in play. I Night Spear the Raikou once. He Volt Bolts a Sableye. The prize count is 3-5 in my favor. I can Night Spear Raikou and go down to 1 prize, but then he can Retaliate for a KO and I would only have 1 energy in play because of my stubbornness to not play any supporters, giving him an opening to sweep through 3 more Pokemon with Land Crush. I Junk Hunt instead, which was definitely the right play because he N’s me to 3 instead of the 1 it would have been if I Night Speared. He is able to make a massive comeback, though, taking down 2 Darkrai with Land Crush. In the end, he has a benched Raikou with 120 damage, a fully charged active Terrakion with 70 damage, and a benched Terrakion with 1 Lightning Energy. I N him to 1, Catcher the Terrakion with 1 Lightning, and Junk Hunt because I can’t Night Spear that turn. He doesn’t get Switch for 2 turns and I am able to Night Spear twice to simultaneously KO Terrakion and Raikou for 3 prizes. GG
4-0
Round 5: Empoleon/Accelgor
He seemed a bit nervous about playing me, but I assured him that he is a good player, since we were both sitting at table #1. Anyway, Accelgor decks dream about playing against decks like mine that don’t have Switch. I go first with Sableye and Darkrai to his Emolga. I play Ultra Ball and Random Receiver that turn, but choose to Confuse Ray instead of Junk Hunt because those Items weren’t necessary and the 10 damage would set up a KO from 2 Night Spears. It might have also prevented Call For Family with 2 lucky flips, but I got tails. On his turn he benches Piplup and Shelmet, doesn’t play a supporter and chooses to CFF for 1 more of each. However, CFF had to be powered with a DCE. I play N, get another energy on Darkrai and Junk Hunt. He gets Empoleon and Accelgor in play but can’t Deck and Cover yet without a DCE. I am forced to Juniper away both Max Potion and although I can attack that turn, I choose to Junk Hunt both of them back, since they’re so important in this match-up. He KO’s Sableye with Attack Command. The game proceeds at a very slow pace. He has an Accelgor, Shelmet, Emolga, Mew EX and 2 Empoleon in play. I am able to get 2 prizes between his attacks with careful Catcher plays that force him to waste Switches. He also discards a Switch with Diving Draw once. Mew EX continuously paralyzes me instead of Accelgor, which leads me to believe the others must be prized if Shelmet hasn’t evolved yet. I find a turn to put 30 damage on it, hoping to prevent one turn of Paralysis with Catcher on Empoleon (he’s already gone through 3 Switches), followed by another Catcher to KO both Shelmet and Accelgor. There are 3 Catchers left with about 10 cards in the deck, but I can’t draw into them. I Max Potion twice to keep Darkrai alive longer. Time is called with the prize count 4-5 in my favor. I’m turn 0. By this point he’s run through his entire deck with 2 Empoleon in play and I have no N in my hand, so Deck and Cover is guaranteed. My active Darkrai is heavily damaged, but not to the point that Empoleon can KO it yet. My only supporter is Juniper with 7 cards left in the deck, so I can’t play that and just pass. On his turn (turn 1), he Deck and Covers, leaving Darkrai in range of an Attack Command KO. I go over my options and think I lost. There’s no way to take a prize and he’s guaranteed to go down to 3 next turn. I Juniper to draw the last 6 cards of my deck, 3 of them being Catcher. That Shelmet still hasn’t evolved and it’s just sitting there with 3 retreat, so I Catcher it and pass. He doesn’t have another Switch (this appears to be a common theme) and I win the game with 0 cards left in my deck and only 2 prizes taken. GG
5-0
Round 6: Rayquaza/Eelektrik
This game was recorded by The Top Cut. I’ll provide a link when it’s uploaded. In summary, I have no supporters for the first few turns of the game until he is forced to bail me out with N and the game proceeds with neither side dominating board advantage. One turn he painfully Junipers away 3 Catcher. This is the first game I actually attack with Terrakion, but he gets an amazing turn and is able to Dragon Burst it for the KO. It comes down to whether he has a Switch + Lightning Energy or Switch + the 4th Catcher to Dragon Burst a Darkrai. He has the former, but plays Switch first with Rayquaza EX active despite Skyarrow being in play. Nothing can retreat and he N’s, hoping to draw another Switch. He doesn’t and I draw a Catcher to take 3 prizes off the Rayquaza EX and Eelektrik. GG
6-0
Round 7: Rayquaza/Eelektrik
This game was also recorded by The Top Cut and the link will be provided when it’s uploaded. Basically, he doesn’t get energy for the first 3 turns, which allows me to KO his Eels before they’re of any use. As a result, he can’t cycle between Rayquaza and the residual damage from Night Spear adds up. There was one turn where drawing a Skyarrow or Switch off an N would have given him a chance in this game, but he drew neither. I also didn’t see Max Potion in either of these last 2 decks, which really put the game out of reach when it could’ve been otherwise. My Sableye is hit with an epic Dragon Burst for 300 damage, but Darkrai takes the last prize. GG
7-0
Round 8: Rayquaza/Eelektrik
Yay, 3 in a row. This time the game is totally one-sided. He has absolutely nothing for almost the entire game and Darkrai sweeps through all the Tynamo, Eelektrik and Rayquaza in play. GG
8-0
Round 9: Darkrai/Shaymin/Roserade
The goal of this deck is to squeeze your opponents into submission. I go first with the best start I’ve had all day, getting a turn 2 Night Spear on his Sableye while hitting the benched Roselia for 30. He has no supporters and scoops after that. GG
9-0
Wooo! First seed out of over 300 people. Even if I didn’t win the tournament again, this was an accomplishment in itself. Miro finished 7-2 12th seed with Bouffalant, suffering utter defeat to a Hydreigon and Ho-Oh. We leave right after our games are over, before the standings are even posted because it’s going to be a 1.5 hour drive from New York in the morning (we didn’t want to pay for a hotel). I find out I’m playing against a Hydreigon in top 32 and I’m confident in the match-up. Miro is playing against a Rayquaza. We start next morning at 8:15.
Top 32: Hydreigon/Darkrai
Game 1: I have no supporters to work with for most of the game and just live on topdecks. I still set up and apply pressure because he has no Hydreigon out for a while. We exchange hits between Darkrai and Mewtwo. I discard a Blend Energy with Enhanced Hammer and after he sees that, he discards his other Blend Energies with Ultra Ball and Juniper. This resulted in him having an energy shortage later in the game. Somehow, despite only playing 2 supporters the entire game, I win by topdecking a Juniper the turn before he had the game and drawing the energy and Catcher needed to KO a damaged Darkrai for the last 2 prizes.
Game 2: I draw a dead hand and he KO’s my lone Sableye on turn 3 with Mewtwo.
Game 3: I get an incredibly good start with a turn 2 Night Spear. Combined with going first, it allowed me to KO the only Deino in play, leaving nothing but a few EX’s and 1 energy. He couldn’t set up a Hydreigon all game and I KO’d a Zweilous, Mewtwo and Darkrai to take the other 5 prizes with him taking none. GG
10-0
Top 16: Darkrai/Terrakion/Hammers
Game 1: I have another blistering start going first, being just 1 Energy Switch away from having a turn 1 Night Spear. Turns out it was irrelevant because he has no supporters and I just KO his last Pokemon on turn 5.
Game 2: This is where the advantage of him having more Terrakion came into play. I tried to Catcher them before a Land Crush could occur, but that meant leaving his Darkrai alone. There was a crucial turn where I was able to Land Crush his Darkrai using the only 2 Fighting Energy in my deck. He plays N, needing a Fighting Energy and Energy Switch out of 5 cards to respond with Retaliate, otherwise I take an insurmountable lead. He gets both and I lose from there.
Game 3: My hand is Sableye, Darkrai, Darkness Energy, 3 Dark Patch and Ultra Ball. Noooooooooooooo. I basically draw pass for the first 3 turns before topdecking a Bianca for 3, from which I draw 3 supporters. Crushing Hammer nails any hopes I have of making a comeback. He rolls through my set up with Darkrai, Terrakion cleaning up the intestines of my Pokemon. GG
10-1
I finish in 9th place, getting 50 Championship Points and 18 packs. Miro lost in top 32 in a sudden death scenario in game 3 after time was called. We stay to watch top 8 through the finals. Congrats to Ryan Sabelhaus for winning the tournament with Darkrai/Sableye/Hammers. It was a blast and I’ll be at the winter regionals in Virginia this January hoping to do even better.
- Michael Skoran (Hamster)
). And C, it gave me time to look at what the national metagame was shaping up to be, providing valuable feedback on other established top decks being played. A week before regionals I threw away all my progress with Eels and decided to play Darkrai/Sableye. It’s donk proof, consistent and fast, all desirable qualities in 9 rounds of swiss. And by playing only 1 Sableye per game, the deck plays the 7 prize game better than any other. I also tested a crazy Eel deck with Bouffalant DRX with my friend Miro, which he ultimately decided to play. The concept is to combat the prevalence of EX’s in this format with single prize attackers like Zekrom BLW and Bouffalant DRX.
I make a last minute addition of 1 Terrakion and 2 Fighting Energy in hopes of improving the Darkrai match-up. All of this report is from memory so there may be some inaccuracies. I’m not posting names because I forgot some of them and this will save me the embarrassment of having those people call me out on it. I’ll only post the deck for each round, even if we clearly know each other. These were our final lists for the event:
4 Darkrai EX
4 Sableye
1 Terrakion
4 Professor Juniper
4 N
4 Random Receiver
4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Ultra Ball
4 Dark Patch
4 Energy Switch
3 Eviolite
2 Bianca
2 Enhanced Hammer
2 Tool Scrapper
2 Max Potion
10 Darkness Energy
2 Fighting Energy
--------------------
4-4 Eelektrik
2 Mewtwo EX
1 Raikou EX
1 Tornadus EX
2 Zekrom
2 Bouffalant DRX
4 Professor Juniper
4 N
4 Bianca
4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Switch
3 Level Ball
3 Ultra Ball
2 Eviolite
2 Max Potion
1 Super Rod
1 Skyarrow Bridge
8 Lightning Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
Tournament: Autumn Regional Championship
Location: Philadelphia Convention Center
Attendance: 306 Masters, 9 rounds of swiss on Saturday & top 32 through finals on Sunday
Round 1: Rayquaza/Eelektrik
He goes first and is able to get 3 Eelektrik in play turn 2 because of Emolga. The price of that start was having a supporter drought for the first few turns, allowing me to spread damage to his Eels starting from turn 3 before he could make any use of them while simultaneously hitting an active Mewtwo for 90 twice. After finally topdecking a Juniper, he is able to Dragon Burst one of my Darkrai for a OHKO, but with few or no Eels left in play, the advantage of my faster set up combined with Night Spear bench damage eventually put me in an unbeatable game state. GG
1-0
Round 2: Rayquaza/Terrakion/Eelektrik
He mulligans, showing Lightning and Prism Energy, so right away I know he plays both Rayquaza and Terrakion. My strategy was to Enhanced Hammer away the Prism before he could get a Dragon Burst or Land Crush off, but it didn’t work out that way because he waited to attach them until the turn of attack. He goes first, getting 3 Tynamo in play. I play a supporter and bench Darkrai, followed by a Junk Hunt. He benches Victini, which is trouble for me because I don’t play Switch. The next multitude of turns degenerate into my Sableye getting paralyzed 4 times followed by a KO with Raikou’s Thunder Fang. The situation is compounded by the fact that I have no supporters and only 1 of my 2 Darkrai are powered up. Meanwhile, he maintains an 8+ card hand but I know it’s awkward because he barely plays any cards for several turns. I Catcher Rayquaza EX and Night Spear, putting 30 on Victini. He Catchers my benched Darkrai with no energy and continuously paralyzes it while refusing to play the N that is undoubtedly in his hand. I Max Potion 60 damage off to prevent Rayquaza EX from KOing it next turn. Dragon Burst KO’s the Darkrai with no energy 2 turns later, but I topdeck N and take 3 prizes off Rayquaza EX and Victini, tying the game. He KO’s another Darkrai and I KO another EX after Ning him down to 1. He only has Rayquaza DV with 30 on it and 3 Eelektrik in play and promotes Rayquaza with 1 Lightning. The N and top card gave him a Catcher and Juniper (not too surprising because there were 3 Juniper left). A Darkrai without Eviolite is Catchered. Juniper, Terrakion, Prism, Dynamotor. I think it’s all over as I wait for him to play the Switch but he just extends his hand, missing the game by 1 card. GG
2-0
Round 3: Hydreigon/Darkrai
He gets a relatively slow start and I have a turn 3 Night Spear. He has 3 Deino in play and there’s only room for 1 Darkrai, so I KO the Darkrai and N him to 4, hoping he won’t be able to get an attack going next turn without the free retreat. It works and he ends his turn with Junk Hunt. The 3rd Deino really ends up being costly because I’m able to set up a 3 prize turn by KOing it and an EX because he is unable to draw Max Potion the entire game. This puts me at 1 prize left and I have the Catcher next turn to take it. GG
3-0
Round 4: Eelektrik/Terrakion
He has absolutely nothing to work with for the first 5 turns except 3 Tynamo and every Thunder Wave attempt to paralyze fails. I have an average start but that’s enough to take a commanding 3 prize lead because there is absolutely no resistance. My hand is a bunch of Juniper, N and Catchers. Obviously I can’t play the N, but Juniper would mean throwing away 3 Catchers and lots of supporters, which I’m very hesitant to do with my conservative play style. He eventually gets a Raikou and Terrakion with Eviolite in play. I Night Spear the Raikou once. He Volt Bolts a Sableye. The prize count is 3-5 in my favor. I can Night Spear Raikou and go down to 1 prize, but then he can Retaliate for a KO and I would only have 1 energy in play because of my stubbornness to not play any supporters, giving him an opening to sweep through 3 more Pokemon with Land Crush. I Junk Hunt instead, which was definitely the right play because he N’s me to 3 instead of the 1 it would have been if I Night Speared. He is able to make a massive comeback, though, taking down 2 Darkrai with Land Crush. In the end, he has a benched Raikou with 120 damage, a fully charged active Terrakion with 70 damage, and a benched Terrakion with 1 Lightning Energy. I N him to 1, Catcher the Terrakion with 1 Lightning, and Junk Hunt because I can’t Night Spear that turn. He doesn’t get Switch for 2 turns and I am able to Night Spear twice to simultaneously KO Terrakion and Raikou for 3 prizes. GG
4-0
Round 5: Empoleon/Accelgor
He seemed a bit nervous about playing me, but I assured him that he is a good player, since we were both sitting at table #1. Anyway, Accelgor decks dream about playing against decks like mine that don’t have Switch. I go first with Sableye and Darkrai to his Emolga. I play Ultra Ball and Random Receiver that turn, but choose to Confuse Ray instead of Junk Hunt because those Items weren’t necessary and the 10 damage would set up a KO from 2 Night Spears. It might have also prevented Call For Family with 2 lucky flips, but I got tails. On his turn he benches Piplup and Shelmet, doesn’t play a supporter and chooses to CFF for 1 more of each. However, CFF had to be powered with a DCE. I play N, get another energy on Darkrai and Junk Hunt. He gets Empoleon and Accelgor in play but can’t Deck and Cover yet without a DCE. I am forced to Juniper away both Max Potion and although I can attack that turn, I choose to Junk Hunt both of them back, since they’re so important in this match-up. He KO’s Sableye with Attack Command. The game proceeds at a very slow pace. He has an Accelgor, Shelmet, Emolga, Mew EX and 2 Empoleon in play. I am able to get 2 prizes between his attacks with careful Catcher plays that force him to waste Switches. He also discards a Switch with Diving Draw once. Mew EX continuously paralyzes me instead of Accelgor, which leads me to believe the others must be prized if Shelmet hasn’t evolved yet. I find a turn to put 30 damage on it, hoping to prevent one turn of Paralysis with Catcher on Empoleon (he’s already gone through 3 Switches), followed by another Catcher to KO both Shelmet and Accelgor. There are 3 Catchers left with about 10 cards in the deck, but I can’t draw into them. I Max Potion twice to keep Darkrai alive longer. Time is called with the prize count 4-5 in my favor. I’m turn 0. By this point he’s run through his entire deck with 2 Empoleon in play and I have no N in my hand, so Deck and Cover is guaranteed. My active Darkrai is heavily damaged, but not to the point that Empoleon can KO it yet. My only supporter is Juniper with 7 cards left in the deck, so I can’t play that and just pass. On his turn (turn 1), he Deck and Covers, leaving Darkrai in range of an Attack Command KO. I go over my options and think I lost. There’s no way to take a prize and he’s guaranteed to go down to 3 next turn. I Juniper to draw the last 6 cards of my deck, 3 of them being Catcher. That Shelmet still hasn’t evolved and it’s just sitting there with 3 retreat, so I Catcher it and pass. He doesn’t have another Switch (this appears to be a common theme) and I win the game with 0 cards left in my deck and only 2 prizes taken. GG
5-0
Round 6: Rayquaza/Eelektrik
This game was recorded by The Top Cut. I’ll provide a link when it’s uploaded. In summary, I have no supporters for the first few turns of the game until he is forced to bail me out with N and the game proceeds with neither side dominating board advantage. One turn he painfully Junipers away 3 Catcher. This is the first game I actually attack with Terrakion, but he gets an amazing turn and is able to Dragon Burst it for the KO. It comes down to whether he has a Switch + Lightning Energy or Switch + the 4th Catcher to Dragon Burst a Darkrai. He has the former, but plays Switch first with Rayquaza EX active despite Skyarrow being in play. Nothing can retreat and he N’s, hoping to draw another Switch. He doesn’t and I draw a Catcher to take 3 prizes off the Rayquaza EX and Eelektrik. GG
6-0
Round 7: Rayquaza/Eelektrik
This game was also recorded by The Top Cut and the link will be provided when it’s uploaded. Basically, he doesn’t get energy for the first 3 turns, which allows me to KO his Eels before they’re of any use. As a result, he can’t cycle between Rayquaza and the residual damage from Night Spear adds up. There was one turn where drawing a Skyarrow or Switch off an N would have given him a chance in this game, but he drew neither. I also didn’t see Max Potion in either of these last 2 decks, which really put the game out of reach when it could’ve been otherwise. My Sableye is hit with an epic Dragon Burst for 300 damage, but Darkrai takes the last prize. GG
7-0
Round 8: Rayquaza/Eelektrik
Yay, 3 in a row. This time the game is totally one-sided. He has absolutely nothing for almost the entire game and Darkrai sweeps through all the Tynamo, Eelektrik and Rayquaza in play. GG
8-0
Round 9: Darkrai/Shaymin/Roserade
The goal of this deck is to squeeze your opponents into submission. I go first with the best start I’ve had all day, getting a turn 2 Night Spear on his Sableye while hitting the benched Roselia for 30. He has no supporters and scoops after that. GG
9-0
Wooo! First seed out of over 300 people. Even if I didn’t win the tournament again, this was an accomplishment in itself. Miro finished 7-2 12th seed with Bouffalant, suffering utter defeat to a Hydreigon and Ho-Oh. We leave right after our games are over, before the standings are even posted because it’s going to be a 1.5 hour drive from New York in the morning (we didn’t want to pay for a hotel). I find out I’m playing against a Hydreigon in top 32 and I’m confident in the match-up. Miro is playing against a Rayquaza. We start next morning at 8:15.
Top 32: Hydreigon/Darkrai
Game 1: I have no supporters to work with for most of the game and just live on topdecks. I still set up and apply pressure because he has no Hydreigon out for a while. We exchange hits between Darkrai and Mewtwo. I discard a Blend Energy with Enhanced Hammer and after he sees that, he discards his other Blend Energies with Ultra Ball and Juniper. This resulted in him having an energy shortage later in the game. Somehow, despite only playing 2 supporters the entire game, I win by topdecking a Juniper the turn before he had the game and drawing the energy and Catcher needed to KO a damaged Darkrai for the last 2 prizes.
Game 2: I draw a dead hand and he KO’s my lone Sableye on turn 3 with Mewtwo.
Game 3: I get an incredibly good start with a turn 2 Night Spear. Combined with going first, it allowed me to KO the only Deino in play, leaving nothing but a few EX’s and 1 energy. He couldn’t set up a Hydreigon all game and I KO’d a Zweilous, Mewtwo and Darkrai to take the other 5 prizes with him taking none. GG
10-0
Top 16: Darkrai/Terrakion/Hammers
Game 1: I have another blistering start going first, being just 1 Energy Switch away from having a turn 1 Night Spear. Turns out it was irrelevant because he has no supporters and I just KO his last Pokemon on turn 5.
Game 2: This is where the advantage of him having more Terrakion came into play. I tried to Catcher them before a Land Crush could occur, but that meant leaving his Darkrai alone. There was a crucial turn where I was able to Land Crush his Darkrai using the only 2 Fighting Energy in my deck. He plays N, needing a Fighting Energy and Energy Switch out of 5 cards to respond with Retaliate, otherwise I take an insurmountable lead. He gets both and I lose from there.
Game 3: My hand is Sableye, Darkrai, Darkness Energy, 3 Dark Patch and Ultra Ball. Noooooooooooooo. I basically draw pass for the first 3 turns before topdecking a Bianca for 3, from which I draw 3 supporters. Crushing Hammer nails any hopes I have of making a comeback. He rolls through my set up with Darkrai, Terrakion cleaning up the intestines of my Pokemon. GG
10-1
I finish in 9th place, getting 50 Championship Points and 18 packs. Miro lost in top 32 in a sudden death scenario in game 3 after time was called. We stay to watch top 8 through the finals. Congrats to Ryan Sabelhaus for winning the tournament with Darkrai/Sableye/Hammers. It was a blast and I’ll be at the winter regionals in Virginia this January hoping to do even better.
- Michael Skoran (Hamster)