Pidgeotto Trainer
New Member
You’ve been warned. :wink:
Well this was certainly a memorable weekend for me as I’m sure most of you know by now.
I’ll start with how I got around to my deck. Sometime in June I saw a Exeggutor/Electrode ex deck on neo by Hot Mustid. Anyways I started testing Exeggutor/Electrode ex with Hot Mustid’s list about the weekend of nationals ( I wasn’t at nats) and messed around a lot with the list. I continued to test it through July and got other Electrode ex ideas including Electrode/Steelix SS seeing that I could Pow up to stall and spin tail a lot. Those 2 decks ideas, Spin tail and ohko I continued with and made Gorebyss/Electrode and Tyranitar/Electrode, the 2 decks I brought to worlds. I tested just about every day thru July and August with Lackey since I have a mac.
I pretty much only tested with myself since everyone I know has Apprentice not Lackey. I recorded each game on a word document. I came to worlds with Tyranitar/Electrode as my #1 option as it’s the most versatile against a random field. It can ohko, it can spin tail, it has so many options. It was only slightly losing to t2 but had an edge on everything else. I really liked the 1-1 Cargo, 1-1-1 Pidgeot as it was very space friendly and more than not was an advantage over my opponent. A key card to the consistancy of my deck was adding Jirachi dx about a week before worlds. I already posted my list here: http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23302&page=1&pp=25
I packed a lot Monday. I spend most of the day updating my binder which had a lot to update since the TRR pre-release. I keep thinking of all these random cards I might need so I’m up to 8 am packing while I talk a bit to Levi (Monkeyman) on aim. Among many other cards, I find my 3 japanese packs from last year’s worlds, I Forgot I had gotten an Electrode ex! I joke with Levi that it’s fate lol.
I arrive tuesday after having to go thru Phoenix and 100 degree weather first =/. Wednesday my mom and I go see UC-San Diego and the BIRCH aquarium. I had seen late monday night Irwin-Malek posting there would be a 7PM tournament wednesday night in the lobby. There of course was no room in the lobby so I go running around the whole hotel area for about a half hour looking for pokemon players. I dodged thru the convention center where the pokemon stuff was getting ready and where they were having the tiny train convention.
I go back to my room and call some of the other Seattle players who arrived Tuesday but they aren’t in. I go to the lobby again and there’s Irwin-Malek, SuperTyranitar and his dad (forgot his screenname). We get joined by another English player and someone else after waiting nearly an hour in the lobby. We finally go find some tables at the back of a closed deli. In less than an hour, our party of 6 had turned into 25-30 people. We all get kicked out at 10:30, by the cops no less. :wink:
Afterwards, I go with levi and some others to Freddy K’s room. I talk with freddy about Electrode/Gorebyss vs ZRE which was a deck he had and play 1 game before I leave.
Thursday I play pretty much the whole day, almost everyone who wasn’t here came Thursday. Through Wednesday and Thursday Electrode/Tyranitar had been 15-3 against competitive decks so I was quite happy. That record of course did not count a loss to my friend Wes (Gengar)’s Monarchy as that wasn’t a competitive deck. :wink: I also try to tally on a little notebook how many of each popular deck I see while walking around. I tallied over 100 decks. T2, Ludi, Rock-Lock, Metagross, and Slowking were all pretty even along with seeing 30% of the field was rogue. This was favoring Electrode/Tyranitar, my only deck that had no real auto-losses and only very slightly losing to t2.
Friday I don’t test as much but the big story I hear about 1 PM probably is that all the Japanese are playing ZRE. This really worries me as I don’t know my ZRE matchup too well. ZRE is one of those decks that when everything works it’s unbeatable and if the Japanese would all run it they must find it unbeatable a high amount of the time. Matt (ArticJedi), I and others speculate on how to find out about how the Japanese list looks and who has a ZRE to test against. After I register and play a couple games with Sebastian (GrandmaJoner) I wait to see the beginning of the grinder. I had hoped to see some Japanese playing and see what the ZRE list was like. No Japanese were in the grinder.
After I get some dinner I find Freddy K, Levi and others in the free play ‘tent’. Freddy K somehow gained a list that was supposed to be what they were all playing. From what I heard then it sounded like this information was confirmed. People start copying the list for themselves and building the deck. Expecting this, I had gone and gotten my stack of over 120 random commons left over from sorting my binder that week. Using a sharpie, I proxied 2 of the Japanese ZRE lists for myself and others to test. We tested ZRE for a few hours, the results were odd.
Dark Slowking which seemed like an auto-loss was being beaten with 4 admin. Medicham was beating ZRE I found out later on ZRE’s inconsistancy which we all noticed. I got 3 games in vs the ZRE and barely won each of them but it was so close that it worried me. I was feeling like the Japanese would outplay us again with this deck. It was a frustrating night, at some point I jokingly slammed my hand down and said, “that’s it, I’m playing Yugioh.” :lol:
At about 10:30 Freddy K and Matt were going to go to Levi’s room to test more and invited me. I was going to follow them but was also waiting for Gordon (SlimeyGrimey) and Jeremy (11) (Ancient Pokemon Trainer) to follow me and when I turned back to Matt and Freddy I had lost them. Gordon, Jeremy and I run into the nearest building’s lobby area but don’t find them. We stand around for about 10 minutes, pick up hitchhiker Mike Ch. (11-14) of Oregon and go up to Gordon’s room to try to find Levi’s room by phone. After waiting like 20 minutes and making 6-7 calls we find out they’re in Stuart’s room. It’s now past 11 the night before worlds and our group of 4 was still wandering about. We get in the elevator and about 7 kids get out. We go in to find that every button has been pushed =/. We go down one floor and get off to find the stairs. The stairs smelled like a restroom =/. This was not the most expected way to spend the night before worlds.
We instead see Matt in the tent area and head there. We hear Stuart’s room is being half-exclusive, half-full for testing so we just stay in the tent area. We create a meeting of randomly assembled Northwest players and SlimeyGrimey to break the format starting at 11:30 the night before worlds. We have Me, Matt, Gordon, Mike Ch., Greg who grindered out from Seattle and Lucas who grindered out from Seattle. Honestly it wasn’t a big name committee at all but we get some crazy ideas going.
Thinking about ZRE and T2 we think of Ninetales, and then we think of Dewgong as it would ohko the Magmar in ZRE. But wait, Dewgong only does 10 to Ray ex, too slow. Greg keeps suggesting Ninjask DX for ZRE but it doesn’t stop Electrode ex. Somehow we get on Jumpluff which seems like it has a lot of potential. It beats Slowking, ZRE and Ludi but what about the other decks? We spend a few minutes figuring out the Jumpluff errata so Pure Power ko’s it as well. We then start thinking Sharpedo ex with pluff as it seems pretty good in the metagame and fits the whole free retreat thing. As we continue to try to break Jumpluff, Matt basically says forget this let’s just play what we were going to play. He gets the cards for Cham, I get the last ones I need for my deck, Gordon decides on Rock-Lock. We all leave at about 1:20 AM.
I also gave Matt Yuen that ZRE list we had late that night and he played it the next day to go 7-1! Magnechu also played that list in 11-14 and went 8-0 but both of them lost in t32. Of course we find out the next day only a small percent of the Japanese were playing ZRE and the one I saw was a completely different list.
I fall asleep at 2 and wake up at 6, unable to get back to sleep. At 6:56 AM I break the format with Machamp/Jumpluff lol. Too late to have 2nd thoughts now.
With my 4 hours of sleep I head down and de-sleeve my deck on a table outside the convention center and sleeve with summer blue sleeves that were mostly new and a few from my MLB Showdown deck. I had actually gotten the sleeves from my old league the Northgate Mall Wizards of the Coast when they were in their closing sale.
We all wait around for a long time in the tournament area. I talk with Matt and some others and sit with Gordon as we hear about the # of rounds and GL Phil’s birthday seranades.
Finally we get seated but then wait an extra half hour it seems because of the 30 extra people. The first pairings have me against Jeff from my league. We test the dice and combined to get 14 straight tails. I get 3 straight tails with all 5 of my coins as well so I just go back to the dice. The pairings don’t change but at least we can start.
Round 1 vs. Jeff Canfield (Dark Slowking)
We know each other from league but it’s apparent he is going to play Slowking to its strongest, as in taking a very long time. Honestly Jeff was better at playing slowly with Slowking than anyone I had ever seen. I was amazed at the subtleties Jeff took like taking a card out of his hand, scratching it on the table a few times and putting it back in his hand. This was how Slowking was supposed to be played. I did not have a good start, I could not get Pidgeot out and Magcargo was getting neutralized usually. I call over a judge at about 17-18 minutes left as the pace of the game was starting to get ridiculous. Jeff does go faster and even then the judge tells him he is going a bit too long. I am struggling to get energy but I have quite a few on Tyranitar.
He is up 6-3 and decides twice not to ko my active Voltorb. Time is running out and I don’t have the energy to retreat and ko so I play Electrode ex and make myself down 6-1 with less than 10 minutes left. I ohko the active Slowking and Smooth Over for an admin. He points to Buffer Piece though and I had already taken a prize!!
The judge stops play for a second but I quickly read Buffer Piece and as I thought it gets discarded the turn after you play it. 2 turns had passed so I was okay. He puts up a Slowking with 2 nrg, he also has one other slowpoke with no nrg on the bench. He hits me for 90 with the darkness, shard and 2 tools and I had 10 dmg from rainbow so I’m at 100 dmg. Perhaps because he didn’t want to take too long with the judge there or just out of luck, he forgot to cunning the admin.
I admin him to one and ko the active slowking. He gets an nrg for Slowpoke but sees he can’t amnesia to stall as I can ko with Grind or Bite Off and concedes with 3 minutes left. Jeff and I shake hands and understand that we both had to play the game regardless of who our opponent was. He had to try to use up time and I had to call a judge on it. There was no hard feeling afterwards.
1-0
I enjoy my couple minutes after the win which was great after starting 0-2 at worlds 02 and 0-3 at worlds 04. Before I know it the next round is beginning.
Round 2 vs. Bin Xiu (Rock-Lock)
I find out Bin was one of the few who had grindered in the night before and that he was from Arizona. I have a decision to make on the first turn of the game. I start with Jirachi and have celio, swoop and 4 energy and go 2nd. I decide to celio for t2 sparce since my hand is so bad I don’t want to discard Jirachi. Once I sparce on t2 I realize I got a bunch of nrg in hand so I just get Magmar and don’t even use Jirachi again. I should’ve just swooped into t1 sparce. We’re both getting built kind of slowly, it’s hard to tell when he’s gonna be ready to attack. A few turns in I finally have both Pidgeotto and Dark Pupitar (obviously trying to avoid using Candies vs rock-lock.)
However on his turn he is ready and rock tms with sand dmg tyranitar and Amphy in play. If I evolve again he just needs another Rock and he ko’s the Pidgeotto and Pupitar and I’m pretty much done. The only move I see is the following, I play Electrode and Extra Energy Bomb. I pow the nrg off sand ttar and pow up a Jirachi. I then Clutch Jirachi with Pidgeotto basically making him get switch (if he even plays it) and rock tm and if he wants more ko’s he’ll need an nrg for sand ttar. Well my prediction is mostly wrong, he wishing stars, quick searches and actually plays a switch. (Briney is more typical)
He then puts up the pupitar with 2 nrg, evolves to spin tail ttar, attaches an nrg and spin tails getting three prizes, more than I expected putting him at 1. Next turn I just try to sudden flash, I think I got tails but I expect he had Heal energy anyways. I have to think if that one turn advantage I could’ve had swooping to sparce t1 would’ve been the one extra turn I needed before he rock locked me.
1-1
We go to lunch break now, things feel pretty so-so at 1-1 but I still have a good chance unlike last year’s lunch break where I was 0-3 lol.
Round 3 vs. Tom Dolezal-Tank Engine (Ludicargo)
I knew he placed 2nd at nats with Ludicargo so thats what I was expecting and I was right. My setup is not great but good enough. I think Pidgeot may have been prized. He was getting absolutely nothing though, no supporters, evolutions or anything. He even resorted to Slugma Collecting. Seeing I had some time I Smoothed Over for specific cards that I need to ensure I get the combo (Electrode enough nrg on to tyranitar to ohko stuff) out rather than looking for draw which I would do if I might be outsped in setup. He continues to get absolutely nothing though, I felt bad for him. I easily ohko thru everything.
2-1
Right as my game is ending my stomach really starts hurting. I probably had too much to eat at lunch. I run to the restroom and get back with a few minutes before my next game but my stomach still hurts a lot. It was like that for the next few rounds. Once I start playing though, my focus takes my mind off the pain.
Round 4 vs. Marco ? from Finland (I think) (Dark Slowking)
Well for the first or maybe 2nd time ever with this deck, both part of the Magcargo and Pidgeot lines are prized. This is a good matchup though and he has a terribly slow start but I do as well. We go about 4 turns in, he has an 8 card hand to my 4 but he still hasn’t gotten Slowking and hasn’t had an nrg every turn. I don’t have search and I should win a game where we both get setup so I admin. He thanks me. :rolleyes He gets rolling a bit faster than me, he gets 2 ko’s before I play 3 pows to load all his energy onto 1 slowking on his bench and copycat. Next turn I’ll have enough to Extra Energy Bomb and get enough nrg for Tyranitar to ohko. He attaches and retreats the lone Slowking for the one with 4 nrg now and ko’s something. I use Electrode to load ttar and ohko making it 5-1 in his favor.
He sends up Jirachi and attaches to a benched slowking and benches another Slowpoke which is a mistake. As soon as I see the 4th pokemon drop I decide to spin tail for 4 prizes which will be just as fast as ohkoing for 4 prizes. (I’m more worried about getting 4 before time than getting 5 overall.) I spin tail with 2 darks attached. There’s about 7 minutes left. He’s taking a bit too long on some decisions now. I reluctantly call over a judge for the 2nd time today to watch for timely play, I believe it was Chrisbo. This guy was not trying to stall but he was taking a little too much time on a couple decisions and that was going to cost me the game. After 2 spin tails and I ko Jirachi he sends up the Slowpoke and then attaches a 2nd nrg to the benched slowking. I simply draw and spin tail right away.
He is now up 3-1 with 2 Slowking with 60 dmg each, one with 2 nrg, one with 0 nrg. He takes a bit of time deciding which to send up and the judge asks him to decide. I’m not facing the clock but know by my watch there is about a minute left. He then concedes showing me a hand full of tools, no other basics or anything. He said he didn’t want to win on time. Once again I barely beat the clock in a 6-1 comeback vs slowking. Chrisbo tells me after the game Marco’s plays were borderline but it was a nice thing for him not to try to win on time and I feel the same way.
3-1
Between rounds 3 and 4 and rounds 4 and 5 I was still in a lot of pain and was also really tired. I just slouch in a chair between rounds. I get an adrenaline rush before each game though. I often play similarly in chess league matches I have after school when I’m really tired. I’ll often rest right in the middle of the game on my opponents turn, even having my head on the table. Then, once I hit the last 30 minutes I’m wide awake. It was like this for me in these middle rounds, except the resting was between games.
Round 5 vs. Japanese player (I thought I wrote down the name?? He didn’t t32) (Rock-Lock)
After getting so-so starts through 4 rounds I finally get an awesome start. My first legitimate t1 Sparce with energy, t2 Magcargo, t3 Pidgeot thru Pidgeotto and t3 or t4 Tyranitar thru Pupitar. With all my early searches I get magmar going and get darks and scrambles in the discard quickly. He isn’t getting much but right before I’m ready to attack he gets Dark Pupitar up and gets heads on explosive evolution and gets Sand ttar.
My setup is way ahead though. He put Rocket’s Hideout in play but still I get Dark, Dark, Dark, Scramble, Scramble, Heal on Spin Tail ttar for 140 dmg. He didn’t have any other nrg on larvitars so no threat of another sand and dre for ohko. He had ko’d something with the bench damage, probably a sparce or something, I remember he had 3 prizes left. I proceed to Pow+ohko another Sand Ttar and a Pidgeot (forget the order.) He is left with nothing. I’m up 1-3 when he puts up his last pokemon D Amphy and does 70. To top off the win, without scrambles activated, I do 140 damage with grind with 10 energy cards attached. :biggrin: I remember this opponent in particular kept talking to himself in Japanese, angry with himself/ the game.
4-1
I still feel horrible between games but somehow I’m winning as I’m hearing all my other friends struggling with 3-2s and 2-3s. Before the game Nick Caporelli (Hot Mustid) who I’d talked to several times during the week says he’s also 4-1 and predicts we’ll face each other. Sure enough:
Round 6 vs. Nick Caporelli-Hot Mustid =-->]-[0t (V)uSt|d<--= (Medicham-Pow)
Medicham I had tested a lot during the summer, I thought it was about 45-55 not in my favor. Those Medichams played Reversal not Pow though, and Pow won’t be nearly as effective against my deck than others. By the end of the whole worlds week I ended up 3-2 vs pow cham including practice. Anyways, my game vs Cham is always a race to get my combo so I can ohko cham and not have them ohko it back. I’m getting my copycats and admins which is what I need vs cham. He is Pure Powering around but decides that his best strategy is to get enough ko’s that I can’t use Electrode. He gets a couple ko’s that I think he could’ve left for later and given me less control with my pows.
I get Electrode in play and get a large copycat. He has played Team Aqua Hideout, so I pow his cham to the bench for an energy-less jirachi, (he knew I could pull out a ohko out of nowhere with my deck so he had benched something.) I play Pidgey, Candy, Pidgeot and gain search. The sequence of events in this game is quite fuzzy for me unfortunately. He gets stuck behind that Jirachi and I don’t remember if I use Electrode or not but I pow and ko his only cham. Having Pidgeot was a huge help. Now stuck with basics and a small hand he can’t even get an energy off of Wishing Star. He takes a really long time on that Wishing Star, telling me he has nothing. I try to kindly say he’s taking long enough and he assures me he won’t stall me out since we had met and all that and I believe him. Still I keep my eye on the clock. He does get nothing though and I keep spin tailing and pick up all my prizes. Fortunately Nick made t32 as well but had some bad luck vs a rock-lock. Nice meeting you Nick, you were pretty much the only person I couldn’t find to sign a card later. :frown:
5-1
I’m feeling a bit better now, still tired etc. but now just needing to go 1-1 to make t32 is making t32 really seem like a reality.
Round 7 vs. Brent Siebenkittel-Spazcrackers (Ludicargo Lanturn/Articuno)
Early on this game looks easy. He loads a full bench including 2 slugma and a Chinchou. He isn’t using Rain Dish Lotads and Lombres either. He even discards a Switch off a TV Reporter. How am I not gonna win this easily with Powing Magcargo and Spin Tail? Well first he plays Battle Frontier, thats alright I got Magcargo in play and a great setup. He ko’s something with Ludi so I don’t even need to use Electrode. I Pow up Magcargo and Spinning Tail with a Scramble. He plays Articuno Ex?!?! Well that certainly works to get Cargo out of active and that attack discards my scramble. Fortunately, I have another in my hand. I still have tons of ko’s waiting so I pow up Cargo again and spin tail again.
Now he plays Briney, how many switchers does he have? He ko’s me with Ludicolo. I’m not ready with another Tyranitar + Scramble so I send up Pidgeot which will make him need a Strength Charm to ko which there’s a good chance he won’t have since he already has shown to have a ton of tech and Lanturn. He has Charm of course and goes up 6-3, I spin tail again picking up 2 ko’s of a Chinchou and a Dunsparce. With Rock TM I can ko a ludi, and a Magcargo next turn. (I have forgotten something in this game, but somehow I have Dark Tyranitar with no dmg, with scramble and Darkness using Rock Tm to make it 2-3.) I choose Rock TM over Spinning Tail as I also discard the dre he played on a new lanturn which was a mistake. I have the perfect plan now up 2-3, I will evolve to Electrode, Extra Energy Bomb to go down 1-2 and pow up and ko an Articuno for the win. He sees it too and plays Warp Point, all I have is Magcargo and Voltorb so he’ll get a ko and ruin that strategy. I put up the voltorb and he plays ANOTHER Articuno Ex!!? to ko it. Thats 2 Articuno, Switch, Warp Point, and Briney! 5 switches all besides Charm and 2-2 Lanturn. Unbelievable.
There’s not much time left, if he goes ahead my scrambles activate again and I will Pow Articuno for the win but with 2 minutes left he won’t ko until time runs out. I bench another voltorb and play Rainbow on it. I do 40 with ttar to Articuno. He had attached a basic nrg last turn to that Lanturn. Now he retreats the Articuno for Lanturn and attaches DRE to do 80 to tyranitar. There’s about a minute left, no way he’ll give me another turn after he ko’s Tyranitar so I take my time thinking and time is called. I take a good long time looking for a play, he’s only used 3 DRE, he has Ludi and Cargo out so I know he can fetch the 4th. 80 will ko anything I can get out even Electrode that I can evolve to since I attached Rainbow. I can do 70 with trode but not 80 as I need to discard both nrg to tyranitar to retreat. Then I see the Heal energy in my hand and realize I can make Electrode ex have 90 HP and out of Lanturn’s range. I retreat and do 30, I’ll be able to ko anything by doing 90 next turn. (This was the only game I attacked with Electrode the whole tournament I believe.)
He says out loud I hope it’s not prized. He ludicargo searches but then uses Prof. Oak’s Research which I ALMOST shuffle my hand in for thinking it’s admin. The judges and Brent stop me though. He can only do 80 with another Dre and I attack with Electrode again for the win. He told me his Rock Tm which would’ve won him the game was prized. When you have 2 Articuno, Switch, Warp Point, Briney, Charm, 2-2 Lanturn, a partridge in a pear tree AND a Rock Tm something better be prized :wink: . He then blames himself for not letting me shuffle in my hand for the loss but Heidi Craig I think it was says I probably would just not get my hand back so I would’ve won anyways. Hey, I’m in Top 32!!!11 Brent made top 32 as well.
6-1
Making top 32 off-sets my stomach enough that I feel better. Thinking top 32 could still be held today, I ask Matt (articjedi) to use his phone to call my dad to see if I can get some medicine. Matt also asks the judges for some medicine without me asking him. Thanks a lot Matt, you didn’t have to do that for me especially since you had a make or break game coming up round 8. Of course I’m not worried about my next match. Turns out I’m facing Matt Moss. Moss is probably the funniest person I met at worlds. He starts talking about how he should concede to screw up Ness’ and Chuck’s resistance lol. Anyways we play.
Round 8 vs. Matt Moss-Moss Factor (Medicham-Pow)
Since the game doesn’t mean that much, the first few turns are just him going, “what the heck is this deck?? I’m so confused.” I can’t draw anything though so it really doesn’t matter. I go turns and turns of top decks without supporters. He’s just building up Pure Power damage. I also make him waste more energy attachments with Sudden Flash and him using Island Cave. Normally my huge supporter drought would be way too long to have any chance but when I top deck a copycat there’s a little hope. I have a tyranitar with 100 damage in play and am down 6-3. He has an active Medicham with 4 nrg and a benched one with 2.
I play a pow to gust for the other medicham. Assuming he has an nrg in his 14 card hand my only shot is play pow gust, pow away nrg, pow away nrg, pow gust and he’ll just have a cham with no nrg. If I had more than 30 hp left I would just need 3 pows as he couldn’t be able to ko with pure power, he’d need sky kick. I also need Electrode ex to get the nrg to ohko cham. I copycat for 14, get Electrode but only 2 of the other 3 pow. I think I use them both to just make his active cham have no nrg but don’t energy bomb and ko as that will lose right away unless he didn’t have an nrg in that 14 card hand. He does and retreats and ko’s the Tyranitar. I lose a couple turns later, just a bit more hp on tyranitar left and maybe I could win which would’ve been amazing considering my supporter drought. Didn’t matter anyways.
6-2
I was at table 2 and watched some of the table 1 game between the last 2 undefeateds, Go Miyamoto and my friend Matt Yuen (Trekiev.) I gave Matt the phantom Japanese zre list at about 12:30 the night before and he played it up to table 1! Go was playing a zre that looked absolutely nothing like the list we had. He had reversals for one thing and tech Ninetales HL for mirror and Medicham. I wish I had seen more of it. Go won, I don’t see how he could lose with such good mirror tech.
I am very pleased to hear top 32 is being moved to Sunday when I might actually get some sleep lol. Everyone is then waiting for the final standings, I know at least Sebastian (GrandmaJoner) and Paul from Seattle (Hoennash) are 5-3 and hoping but neither makes it. Most 5-3’s did not.
I immediately find my pairing, I am 11th seed which means I’m playing 22nd seed Steve Perucca. As the top 32 players get in line to turn in their decks I start asking people if they know Steve Perucca’s deck. (I soon realize this must be SteveP on gym.) Moss tells me it’s a ZRE and that he had seen him play Ness earlier. I ask a few others but that was the best info I got that night. I also realize that night I’m the only 15+ Northwest player left, the only other Washingtonian left besides me is Stuart in 11-14.
I went back to my room and thought extensively about ZRE vs my deck. I had barely won all 3 of my games vs the phantom Japanese list but they were really close. Many weird situations can happen with Electrode vs Electrode. Anyways I go to bed and get 7-8 hours of sleep.
I woke up the next morning feeling much better compared to Saturday. I go down to the convention center and everyone is waiting outside the tournament area. I remember Moss had said Ness had played SteveP so I asked him about it. After Ness asked Moss if he should tell me I find out that SteveP’s list is very, very different than a typical ZRE like the one from the phantom japanese list we were testing on friday.
Steve doesn’t use Magmar, he uses recharge Voltorb and Electrike. He has Manectric ex (watch the no trainers attack), dx manectric, Electrode ex, Zappy and DX Rayquaza ex. 3 Frontier 1 Space Center was important to find out, I just won’t even go for pidgeot. I remembered some of the posts SteveP had made on gym talking about Zapdos decks more specifically against Medicham and using Electrode to bring all that energy back after a Zapdos had fallen or had been er2’d to death. I realize he must not play like normal zre where you try to trode right away but he must play it like zappy and not trode until one Zappy falls. This seemed obvious after thinking about no magmar and those arguments on gym.
I sit down and realize I had seen SteveP a couple times during the week, but didn’t know who he was until now.
Top 32 vs. Steve Perucca-SteveP (Zapdos/Rayquaza/Electrode/ex/Manectric/ex)
I reached my limit of characters for a post, thats a first.
Well this was certainly a memorable weekend for me as I’m sure most of you know by now.
I’ll start with how I got around to my deck. Sometime in June I saw a Exeggutor/Electrode ex deck on neo by Hot Mustid. Anyways I started testing Exeggutor/Electrode ex with Hot Mustid’s list about the weekend of nationals ( I wasn’t at nats) and messed around a lot with the list. I continued to test it through July and got other Electrode ex ideas including Electrode/Steelix SS seeing that I could Pow up to stall and spin tail a lot. Those 2 decks ideas, Spin tail and ohko I continued with and made Gorebyss/Electrode and Tyranitar/Electrode, the 2 decks I brought to worlds. I tested just about every day thru July and August with Lackey since I have a mac.
I pretty much only tested with myself since everyone I know has Apprentice not Lackey. I recorded each game on a word document. I came to worlds with Tyranitar/Electrode as my #1 option as it’s the most versatile against a random field. It can ohko, it can spin tail, it has so many options. It was only slightly losing to t2 but had an edge on everything else. I really liked the 1-1 Cargo, 1-1-1 Pidgeot as it was very space friendly and more than not was an advantage over my opponent. A key card to the consistancy of my deck was adding Jirachi dx about a week before worlds. I already posted my list here: http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23302&page=1&pp=25
I packed a lot Monday. I spend most of the day updating my binder which had a lot to update since the TRR pre-release. I keep thinking of all these random cards I might need so I’m up to 8 am packing while I talk a bit to Levi (Monkeyman) on aim. Among many other cards, I find my 3 japanese packs from last year’s worlds, I Forgot I had gotten an Electrode ex! I joke with Levi that it’s fate lol.
I arrive tuesday after having to go thru Phoenix and 100 degree weather first =/. Wednesday my mom and I go see UC-San Diego and the BIRCH aquarium. I had seen late monday night Irwin-Malek posting there would be a 7PM tournament wednesday night in the lobby. There of course was no room in the lobby so I go running around the whole hotel area for about a half hour looking for pokemon players. I dodged thru the convention center where the pokemon stuff was getting ready and where they were having the tiny train convention.
I go back to my room and call some of the other Seattle players who arrived Tuesday but they aren’t in. I go to the lobby again and there’s Irwin-Malek, SuperTyranitar and his dad (forgot his screenname). We get joined by another English player and someone else after waiting nearly an hour in the lobby. We finally go find some tables at the back of a closed deli. In less than an hour, our party of 6 had turned into 25-30 people. We all get kicked out at 10:30, by the cops no less. :wink:
Afterwards, I go with levi and some others to Freddy K’s room. I talk with freddy about Electrode/Gorebyss vs ZRE which was a deck he had and play 1 game before I leave.
Thursday I play pretty much the whole day, almost everyone who wasn’t here came Thursday. Through Wednesday and Thursday Electrode/Tyranitar had been 15-3 against competitive decks so I was quite happy. That record of course did not count a loss to my friend Wes (Gengar)’s Monarchy as that wasn’t a competitive deck. :wink: I also try to tally on a little notebook how many of each popular deck I see while walking around. I tallied over 100 decks. T2, Ludi, Rock-Lock, Metagross, and Slowking were all pretty even along with seeing 30% of the field was rogue. This was favoring Electrode/Tyranitar, my only deck that had no real auto-losses and only very slightly losing to t2.
Friday I don’t test as much but the big story I hear about 1 PM probably is that all the Japanese are playing ZRE. This really worries me as I don’t know my ZRE matchup too well. ZRE is one of those decks that when everything works it’s unbeatable and if the Japanese would all run it they must find it unbeatable a high amount of the time. Matt (ArticJedi), I and others speculate on how to find out about how the Japanese list looks and who has a ZRE to test against. After I register and play a couple games with Sebastian (GrandmaJoner) I wait to see the beginning of the grinder. I had hoped to see some Japanese playing and see what the ZRE list was like. No Japanese were in the grinder.
After I get some dinner I find Freddy K, Levi and others in the free play ‘tent’. Freddy K somehow gained a list that was supposed to be what they were all playing. From what I heard then it sounded like this information was confirmed. People start copying the list for themselves and building the deck. Expecting this, I had gone and gotten my stack of over 120 random commons left over from sorting my binder that week. Using a sharpie, I proxied 2 of the Japanese ZRE lists for myself and others to test. We tested ZRE for a few hours, the results were odd.
Dark Slowking which seemed like an auto-loss was being beaten with 4 admin. Medicham was beating ZRE I found out later on ZRE’s inconsistancy which we all noticed. I got 3 games in vs the ZRE and barely won each of them but it was so close that it worried me. I was feeling like the Japanese would outplay us again with this deck. It was a frustrating night, at some point I jokingly slammed my hand down and said, “that’s it, I’m playing Yugioh.” :lol:
At about 10:30 Freddy K and Matt were going to go to Levi’s room to test more and invited me. I was going to follow them but was also waiting for Gordon (SlimeyGrimey) and Jeremy (11) (Ancient Pokemon Trainer) to follow me and when I turned back to Matt and Freddy I had lost them. Gordon, Jeremy and I run into the nearest building’s lobby area but don’t find them. We stand around for about 10 minutes, pick up hitchhiker Mike Ch. (11-14) of Oregon and go up to Gordon’s room to try to find Levi’s room by phone. After waiting like 20 minutes and making 6-7 calls we find out they’re in Stuart’s room. It’s now past 11 the night before worlds and our group of 4 was still wandering about. We get in the elevator and about 7 kids get out. We go in to find that every button has been pushed =/. We go down one floor and get off to find the stairs. The stairs smelled like a restroom =/. This was not the most expected way to spend the night before worlds.
We instead see Matt in the tent area and head there. We hear Stuart’s room is being half-exclusive, half-full for testing so we just stay in the tent area. We create a meeting of randomly assembled Northwest players and SlimeyGrimey to break the format starting at 11:30 the night before worlds. We have Me, Matt, Gordon, Mike Ch., Greg who grindered out from Seattle and Lucas who grindered out from Seattle. Honestly it wasn’t a big name committee at all but we get some crazy ideas going.
Thinking about ZRE and T2 we think of Ninetales, and then we think of Dewgong as it would ohko the Magmar in ZRE. But wait, Dewgong only does 10 to Ray ex, too slow. Greg keeps suggesting Ninjask DX for ZRE but it doesn’t stop Electrode ex. Somehow we get on Jumpluff which seems like it has a lot of potential. It beats Slowking, ZRE and Ludi but what about the other decks? We spend a few minutes figuring out the Jumpluff errata so Pure Power ko’s it as well. We then start thinking Sharpedo ex with pluff as it seems pretty good in the metagame and fits the whole free retreat thing. As we continue to try to break Jumpluff, Matt basically says forget this let’s just play what we were going to play. He gets the cards for Cham, I get the last ones I need for my deck, Gordon decides on Rock-Lock. We all leave at about 1:20 AM.
I also gave Matt Yuen that ZRE list we had late that night and he played it the next day to go 7-1! Magnechu also played that list in 11-14 and went 8-0 but both of them lost in t32. Of course we find out the next day only a small percent of the Japanese were playing ZRE and the one I saw was a completely different list.
I fall asleep at 2 and wake up at 6, unable to get back to sleep. At 6:56 AM I break the format with Machamp/Jumpluff lol. Too late to have 2nd thoughts now.
With my 4 hours of sleep I head down and de-sleeve my deck on a table outside the convention center and sleeve with summer blue sleeves that were mostly new and a few from my MLB Showdown deck. I had actually gotten the sleeves from my old league the Northgate Mall Wizards of the Coast when they were in their closing sale.
We all wait around for a long time in the tournament area. I talk with Matt and some others and sit with Gordon as we hear about the # of rounds and GL Phil’s birthday seranades.
Finally we get seated but then wait an extra half hour it seems because of the 30 extra people. The first pairings have me against Jeff from my league. We test the dice and combined to get 14 straight tails. I get 3 straight tails with all 5 of my coins as well so I just go back to the dice. The pairings don’t change but at least we can start.
Round 1 vs. Jeff Canfield (Dark Slowking)
We know each other from league but it’s apparent he is going to play Slowking to its strongest, as in taking a very long time. Honestly Jeff was better at playing slowly with Slowking than anyone I had ever seen. I was amazed at the subtleties Jeff took like taking a card out of his hand, scratching it on the table a few times and putting it back in his hand. This was how Slowking was supposed to be played. I did not have a good start, I could not get Pidgeot out and Magcargo was getting neutralized usually. I call over a judge at about 17-18 minutes left as the pace of the game was starting to get ridiculous. Jeff does go faster and even then the judge tells him he is going a bit too long. I am struggling to get energy but I have quite a few on Tyranitar.
He is up 6-3 and decides twice not to ko my active Voltorb. Time is running out and I don’t have the energy to retreat and ko so I play Electrode ex and make myself down 6-1 with less than 10 minutes left. I ohko the active Slowking and Smooth Over for an admin. He points to Buffer Piece though and I had already taken a prize!!
The judge stops play for a second but I quickly read Buffer Piece and as I thought it gets discarded the turn after you play it. 2 turns had passed so I was okay. He puts up a Slowking with 2 nrg, he also has one other slowpoke with no nrg on the bench. He hits me for 90 with the darkness, shard and 2 tools and I had 10 dmg from rainbow so I’m at 100 dmg. Perhaps because he didn’t want to take too long with the judge there or just out of luck, he forgot to cunning the admin.
I admin him to one and ko the active slowking. He gets an nrg for Slowpoke but sees he can’t amnesia to stall as I can ko with Grind or Bite Off and concedes with 3 minutes left. Jeff and I shake hands and understand that we both had to play the game regardless of who our opponent was. He had to try to use up time and I had to call a judge on it. There was no hard feeling afterwards.
1-0
I enjoy my couple minutes after the win which was great after starting 0-2 at worlds 02 and 0-3 at worlds 04. Before I know it the next round is beginning.
Round 2 vs. Bin Xiu (Rock-Lock)
I find out Bin was one of the few who had grindered in the night before and that he was from Arizona. I have a decision to make on the first turn of the game. I start with Jirachi and have celio, swoop and 4 energy and go 2nd. I decide to celio for t2 sparce since my hand is so bad I don’t want to discard Jirachi. Once I sparce on t2 I realize I got a bunch of nrg in hand so I just get Magmar and don’t even use Jirachi again. I should’ve just swooped into t1 sparce. We’re both getting built kind of slowly, it’s hard to tell when he’s gonna be ready to attack. A few turns in I finally have both Pidgeotto and Dark Pupitar (obviously trying to avoid using Candies vs rock-lock.)
However on his turn he is ready and rock tms with sand dmg tyranitar and Amphy in play. If I evolve again he just needs another Rock and he ko’s the Pidgeotto and Pupitar and I’m pretty much done. The only move I see is the following, I play Electrode and Extra Energy Bomb. I pow the nrg off sand ttar and pow up a Jirachi. I then Clutch Jirachi with Pidgeotto basically making him get switch (if he even plays it) and rock tm and if he wants more ko’s he’ll need an nrg for sand ttar. Well my prediction is mostly wrong, he wishing stars, quick searches and actually plays a switch. (Briney is more typical)
He then puts up the pupitar with 2 nrg, evolves to spin tail ttar, attaches an nrg and spin tails getting three prizes, more than I expected putting him at 1. Next turn I just try to sudden flash, I think I got tails but I expect he had Heal energy anyways. I have to think if that one turn advantage I could’ve had swooping to sparce t1 would’ve been the one extra turn I needed before he rock locked me.
1-1
We go to lunch break now, things feel pretty so-so at 1-1 but I still have a good chance unlike last year’s lunch break where I was 0-3 lol.
Round 3 vs. Tom Dolezal-Tank Engine (Ludicargo)
I knew he placed 2nd at nats with Ludicargo so thats what I was expecting and I was right. My setup is not great but good enough. I think Pidgeot may have been prized. He was getting absolutely nothing though, no supporters, evolutions or anything. He even resorted to Slugma Collecting. Seeing I had some time I Smoothed Over for specific cards that I need to ensure I get the combo (Electrode enough nrg on to tyranitar to ohko stuff) out rather than looking for draw which I would do if I might be outsped in setup. He continues to get absolutely nothing though, I felt bad for him. I easily ohko thru everything.
2-1
Right as my game is ending my stomach really starts hurting. I probably had too much to eat at lunch. I run to the restroom and get back with a few minutes before my next game but my stomach still hurts a lot. It was like that for the next few rounds. Once I start playing though, my focus takes my mind off the pain.
Round 4 vs. Marco ? from Finland (I think) (Dark Slowking)
Well for the first or maybe 2nd time ever with this deck, both part of the Magcargo and Pidgeot lines are prized. This is a good matchup though and he has a terribly slow start but I do as well. We go about 4 turns in, he has an 8 card hand to my 4 but he still hasn’t gotten Slowking and hasn’t had an nrg every turn. I don’t have search and I should win a game where we both get setup so I admin. He thanks me. :rolleyes He gets rolling a bit faster than me, he gets 2 ko’s before I play 3 pows to load all his energy onto 1 slowking on his bench and copycat. Next turn I’ll have enough to Extra Energy Bomb and get enough nrg for Tyranitar to ohko. He attaches and retreats the lone Slowking for the one with 4 nrg now and ko’s something. I use Electrode to load ttar and ohko making it 5-1 in his favor.
He sends up Jirachi and attaches to a benched slowking and benches another Slowpoke which is a mistake. As soon as I see the 4th pokemon drop I decide to spin tail for 4 prizes which will be just as fast as ohkoing for 4 prizes. (I’m more worried about getting 4 before time than getting 5 overall.) I spin tail with 2 darks attached. There’s about 7 minutes left. He’s taking a bit too long on some decisions now. I reluctantly call over a judge for the 2nd time today to watch for timely play, I believe it was Chrisbo. This guy was not trying to stall but he was taking a little too much time on a couple decisions and that was going to cost me the game. After 2 spin tails and I ko Jirachi he sends up the Slowpoke and then attaches a 2nd nrg to the benched slowking. I simply draw and spin tail right away.
He is now up 3-1 with 2 Slowking with 60 dmg each, one with 2 nrg, one with 0 nrg. He takes a bit of time deciding which to send up and the judge asks him to decide. I’m not facing the clock but know by my watch there is about a minute left. He then concedes showing me a hand full of tools, no other basics or anything. He said he didn’t want to win on time. Once again I barely beat the clock in a 6-1 comeback vs slowking. Chrisbo tells me after the game Marco’s plays were borderline but it was a nice thing for him not to try to win on time and I feel the same way.
3-1
Between rounds 3 and 4 and rounds 4 and 5 I was still in a lot of pain and was also really tired. I just slouch in a chair between rounds. I get an adrenaline rush before each game though. I often play similarly in chess league matches I have after school when I’m really tired. I’ll often rest right in the middle of the game on my opponents turn, even having my head on the table. Then, once I hit the last 30 minutes I’m wide awake. It was like this for me in these middle rounds, except the resting was between games.
Round 5 vs. Japanese player (I thought I wrote down the name?? He didn’t t32) (Rock-Lock)
After getting so-so starts through 4 rounds I finally get an awesome start. My first legitimate t1 Sparce with energy, t2 Magcargo, t3 Pidgeot thru Pidgeotto and t3 or t4 Tyranitar thru Pupitar. With all my early searches I get magmar going and get darks and scrambles in the discard quickly. He isn’t getting much but right before I’m ready to attack he gets Dark Pupitar up and gets heads on explosive evolution and gets Sand ttar.
My setup is way ahead though. He put Rocket’s Hideout in play but still I get Dark, Dark, Dark, Scramble, Scramble, Heal on Spin Tail ttar for 140 dmg. He didn’t have any other nrg on larvitars so no threat of another sand and dre for ohko. He had ko’d something with the bench damage, probably a sparce or something, I remember he had 3 prizes left. I proceed to Pow+ohko another Sand Ttar and a Pidgeot (forget the order.) He is left with nothing. I’m up 1-3 when he puts up his last pokemon D Amphy and does 70. To top off the win, without scrambles activated, I do 140 damage with grind with 10 energy cards attached. :biggrin: I remember this opponent in particular kept talking to himself in Japanese, angry with himself/ the game.
4-1
I still feel horrible between games but somehow I’m winning as I’m hearing all my other friends struggling with 3-2s and 2-3s. Before the game Nick Caporelli (Hot Mustid) who I’d talked to several times during the week says he’s also 4-1 and predicts we’ll face each other. Sure enough:
Round 6 vs. Nick Caporelli-Hot Mustid =-->]-[0t (V)uSt|d<--= (Medicham-Pow)
Medicham I had tested a lot during the summer, I thought it was about 45-55 not in my favor. Those Medichams played Reversal not Pow though, and Pow won’t be nearly as effective against my deck than others. By the end of the whole worlds week I ended up 3-2 vs pow cham including practice. Anyways, my game vs Cham is always a race to get my combo so I can ohko cham and not have them ohko it back. I’m getting my copycats and admins which is what I need vs cham. He is Pure Powering around but decides that his best strategy is to get enough ko’s that I can’t use Electrode. He gets a couple ko’s that I think he could’ve left for later and given me less control with my pows.
I get Electrode in play and get a large copycat. He has played Team Aqua Hideout, so I pow his cham to the bench for an energy-less jirachi, (he knew I could pull out a ohko out of nowhere with my deck so he had benched something.) I play Pidgey, Candy, Pidgeot and gain search. The sequence of events in this game is quite fuzzy for me unfortunately. He gets stuck behind that Jirachi and I don’t remember if I use Electrode or not but I pow and ko his only cham. Having Pidgeot was a huge help. Now stuck with basics and a small hand he can’t even get an energy off of Wishing Star. He takes a really long time on that Wishing Star, telling me he has nothing. I try to kindly say he’s taking long enough and he assures me he won’t stall me out since we had met and all that and I believe him. Still I keep my eye on the clock. He does get nothing though and I keep spin tailing and pick up all my prizes. Fortunately Nick made t32 as well but had some bad luck vs a rock-lock. Nice meeting you Nick, you were pretty much the only person I couldn’t find to sign a card later. :frown:
5-1
I’m feeling a bit better now, still tired etc. but now just needing to go 1-1 to make t32 is making t32 really seem like a reality.
Round 7 vs. Brent Siebenkittel-Spazcrackers (Ludicargo Lanturn/Articuno)
Early on this game looks easy. He loads a full bench including 2 slugma and a Chinchou. He isn’t using Rain Dish Lotads and Lombres either. He even discards a Switch off a TV Reporter. How am I not gonna win this easily with Powing Magcargo and Spin Tail? Well first he plays Battle Frontier, thats alright I got Magcargo in play and a great setup. He ko’s something with Ludi so I don’t even need to use Electrode. I Pow up Magcargo and Spinning Tail with a Scramble. He plays Articuno Ex?!?! Well that certainly works to get Cargo out of active and that attack discards my scramble. Fortunately, I have another in my hand. I still have tons of ko’s waiting so I pow up Cargo again and spin tail again.
Now he plays Briney, how many switchers does he have? He ko’s me with Ludicolo. I’m not ready with another Tyranitar + Scramble so I send up Pidgeot which will make him need a Strength Charm to ko which there’s a good chance he won’t have since he already has shown to have a ton of tech and Lanturn. He has Charm of course and goes up 6-3, I spin tail again picking up 2 ko’s of a Chinchou and a Dunsparce. With Rock TM I can ko a ludi, and a Magcargo next turn. (I have forgotten something in this game, but somehow I have Dark Tyranitar with no dmg, with scramble and Darkness using Rock Tm to make it 2-3.) I choose Rock TM over Spinning Tail as I also discard the dre he played on a new lanturn which was a mistake. I have the perfect plan now up 2-3, I will evolve to Electrode, Extra Energy Bomb to go down 1-2 and pow up and ko an Articuno for the win. He sees it too and plays Warp Point, all I have is Magcargo and Voltorb so he’ll get a ko and ruin that strategy. I put up the voltorb and he plays ANOTHER Articuno Ex!!? to ko it. Thats 2 Articuno, Switch, Warp Point, and Briney! 5 switches all besides Charm and 2-2 Lanturn. Unbelievable.
There’s not much time left, if he goes ahead my scrambles activate again and I will Pow Articuno for the win but with 2 minutes left he won’t ko until time runs out. I bench another voltorb and play Rainbow on it. I do 40 with ttar to Articuno. He had attached a basic nrg last turn to that Lanturn. Now he retreats the Articuno for Lanturn and attaches DRE to do 80 to tyranitar. There’s about a minute left, no way he’ll give me another turn after he ko’s Tyranitar so I take my time thinking and time is called. I take a good long time looking for a play, he’s only used 3 DRE, he has Ludi and Cargo out so I know he can fetch the 4th. 80 will ko anything I can get out even Electrode that I can evolve to since I attached Rainbow. I can do 70 with trode but not 80 as I need to discard both nrg to tyranitar to retreat. Then I see the Heal energy in my hand and realize I can make Electrode ex have 90 HP and out of Lanturn’s range. I retreat and do 30, I’ll be able to ko anything by doing 90 next turn. (This was the only game I attacked with Electrode the whole tournament I believe.)
He says out loud I hope it’s not prized. He ludicargo searches but then uses Prof. Oak’s Research which I ALMOST shuffle my hand in for thinking it’s admin. The judges and Brent stop me though. He can only do 80 with another Dre and I attack with Electrode again for the win. He told me his Rock Tm which would’ve won him the game was prized. When you have 2 Articuno, Switch, Warp Point, Briney, Charm, 2-2 Lanturn, a partridge in a pear tree AND a Rock Tm something better be prized :wink: . He then blames himself for not letting me shuffle in my hand for the loss but Heidi Craig I think it was says I probably would just not get my hand back so I would’ve won anyways. Hey, I’m in Top 32!!!11 Brent made top 32 as well.
6-1
Making top 32 off-sets my stomach enough that I feel better. Thinking top 32 could still be held today, I ask Matt (articjedi) to use his phone to call my dad to see if I can get some medicine. Matt also asks the judges for some medicine without me asking him. Thanks a lot Matt, you didn’t have to do that for me especially since you had a make or break game coming up round 8. Of course I’m not worried about my next match. Turns out I’m facing Matt Moss. Moss is probably the funniest person I met at worlds. He starts talking about how he should concede to screw up Ness’ and Chuck’s resistance lol. Anyways we play.
Round 8 vs. Matt Moss-Moss Factor (Medicham-Pow)
Since the game doesn’t mean that much, the first few turns are just him going, “what the heck is this deck?? I’m so confused.” I can’t draw anything though so it really doesn’t matter. I go turns and turns of top decks without supporters. He’s just building up Pure Power damage. I also make him waste more energy attachments with Sudden Flash and him using Island Cave. Normally my huge supporter drought would be way too long to have any chance but when I top deck a copycat there’s a little hope. I have a tyranitar with 100 damage in play and am down 6-3. He has an active Medicham with 4 nrg and a benched one with 2.
I play a pow to gust for the other medicham. Assuming he has an nrg in his 14 card hand my only shot is play pow gust, pow away nrg, pow away nrg, pow gust and he’ll just have a cham with no nrg. If I had more than 30 hp left I would just need 3 pows as he couldn’t be able to ko with pure power, he’d need sky kick. I also need Electrode ex to get the nrg to ohko cham. I copycat for 14, get Electrode but only 2 of the other 3 pow. I think I use them both to just make his active cham have no nrg but don’t energy bomb and ko as that will lose right away unless he didn’t have an nrg in that 14 card hand. He does and retreats and ko’s the Tyranitar. I lose a couple turns later, just a bit more hp on tyranitar left and maybe I could win which would’ve been amazing considering my supporter drought. Didn’t matter anyways.
6-2
I was at table 2 and watched some of the table 1 game between the last 2 undefeateds, Go Miyamoto and my friend Matt Yuen (Trekiev.) I gave Matt the phantom Japanese zre list at about 12:30 the night before and he played it up to table 1! Go was playing a zre that looked absolutely nothing like the list we had. He had reversals for one thing and tech Ninetales HL for mirror and Medicham. I wish I had seen more of it. Go won, I don’t see how he could lose with such good mirror tech.
I am very pleased to hear top 32 is being moved to Sunday when I might actually get some sleep lol. Everyone is then waiting for the final standings, I know at least Sebastian (GrandmaJoner) and Paul from Seattle (Hoennash) are 5-3 and hoping but neither makes it. Most 5-3’s did not.
I immediately find my pairing, I am 11th seed which means I’m playing 22nd seed Steve Perucca. As the top 32 players get in line to turn in their decks I start asking people if they know Steve Perucca’s deck. (I soon realize this must be SteveP on gym.) Moss tells me it’s a ZRE and that he had seen him play Ness earlier. I ask a few others but that was the best info I got that night. I also realize that night I’m the only 15+ Northwest player left, the only other Washingtonian left besides me is Stuart in 11-14.
I went back to my room and thought extensively about ZRE vs my deck. I had barely won all 3 of my games vs the phantom Japanese list but they were really close. Many weird situations can happen with Electrode vs Electrode. Anyways I go to bed and get 7-8 hours of sleep.
I woke up the next morning feeling much better compared to Saturday. I go down to the convention center and everyone is waiting outside the tournament area. I remember Moss had said Ness had played SteveP so I asked him about it. After Ness asked Moss if he should tell me I find out that SteveP’s list is very, very different than a typical ZRE like the one from the phantom japanese list we were testing on friday.
Steve doesn’t use Magmar, he uses recharge Voltorb and Electrike. He has Manectric ex (watch the no trainers attack), dx manectric, Electrode ex, Zappy and DX Rayquaza ex. 3 Frontier 1 Space Center was important to find out, I just won’t even go for pidgeot. I remembered some of the posts SteveP had made on gym talking about Zapdos decks more specifically against Medicham and using Electrode to bring all that energy back after a Zapdos had fallen or had been er2’d to death. I realize he must not play like normal zre where you try to trode right away but he must play it like zappy and not trode until one Zappy falls. This seemed obvious after thinking about no magmar and those arguments on gym.
I sit down and realize I had seen SteveP a couple times during the week, but didn’t know who he was until now.
Top 32 vs. Steve Perucca-SteveP (Zapdos/Rayquaza/Electrode/ex/Manectric/ex)
I reached my limit of characters for a post, thats a first.
