The_A_Team
New Member
Pokemon 26
4-4 Ambipom (TM-TM)
4-4 Weavile
2-2 Slowking (UD-CL)
1 Tyrogue
1 Boufallant 91
1-1 Donphan (HS-HS)
1-1 Xatu
Trainers/Supporters 22
3 Pokemon Collector
4 Professor Oak's New Theory
3 Professor Juniper
4 Seeker
2 Dual Ball
4 Pokemon Communication
2 Switch
Energy 12
4 Double Colorless
4 Rainbow
4 Special Dark
Whenever I'm preparing for a tournament, I want to play a red face powder deck. Something “red-faced powder” that somehow, everybody missed. Something appeals to me about the creativity necessary, courage needed to break from the pack and try something new. Not to mention the edge of having a deck that nobody's tested against endlessly.
And I could play rogue at every tournament. The problem is, I also want to do well.
And there have been rare occasions where I have gotten to do so. Arceus killed at Battle Roads, as did Forretress/Emboar (MD-CL = best format ever!). I even won Canadian Nationals 2009 with a fairly rogue SP variant. Coming into Masters, I found I had to compromise that rogueness when it came time for a major tournament.
Last year I played Gardevoir/Gallade at provincials, Gyarados at Regionals and Gardevoir/Gallade again Nationals. They were fun decks to play, and I made top cut at all of those events, but a part of me was upset at having to compromise my integrity to do well.
This year, I played Lostgar at provincials and Gengar/Machamp/Vileplume at Regionals. The latter was pretty cool, but I don't think I can claim originality for combining two cards that have been archetypical for years.
Going into nationals I again knew that I wanted to do well. But it was pretty shaky ground. The format had just changed in a big way, even the rules of the game were different (not in a way I approve of). The week before nationals, I committed to testing hard. I had DonChamp and Magneboar and ZPS built, as well as the less popular Donphan, Tyranitar/Samurott, Yanmega/Cinccino, and Muk/Vileplume. My Dad and I tested those against each other, and at some pickup tournaments run by my wonderful mother.
Magneboar seemed clunky to me. It was a tank once it got going, but it took a while to do that, and my Dad was skeptical of the Cleffa start from the beginning. Donchamp was impressive with its high HP, big damage and fast Earthquakes. ZPS was cool too.
Floating around the whole process were a couple more rogue ideas that didn't get built until we were a fair bit down the road. Feraligatr/Delibird/Ampharos (sucked), MewBoar (which my Dad ended up playing. Pretty good deck actually), and Ambipom/Weavile. I built it on Thursday, and I loved it. It beat the crap out of Magneboar, even taking the Cleffa start into account. Judges, Astonish, and Claw Snag let me stay on top. We moved straight on to ZPS, which was a really tough match up. It set up so fast, it was hard to get them under control and start rolling through things. I put in a 1-1 Donphan, though, and that got it back under control. Even if a Zekrom gets set up, you can knock it out, and maybe the next one, and then start giving them bad draws while you slowly knock everything on the board.
We tested Donchamp, which was tough, and is where the Xatu tech came from. I'm glad, because it for sure one me a game at Nats. We tested pure Donphan, which was a pretty terrible matchup for me. I tried a Slowbro HS tech but found in the end that it wasn't really worth it. Some of the trickery got taken out to make the deck more consistent but really, the matchup came down to the fundamental philosophy of the deck. If you can prevent them from getting going, you win. If not, it's the Water Temple of Pokemon matches, except there's no reset button in a tournament.
I kept saying to my Dad, “Man, you gotta talk me out of playing this, it's too crazy!” but thankfully, he didn't. He kept it real, and got me to make the deck good enough to be competitive, and encouraged me to play it, and so I did.
The morning of, I made my decklist, packed all the decks I could get my hands on (even though I never use any of the extra ones), grabbed my RealD 3D glasses with punched out lenses and the logos scratched off the sides with a butter knife (they were a hit), and my Dad and I were off.
I arrived at the tournament, just barely on time, and managed to massively inconvenience Paul the judge by not actually having my deck with me when I went to get it checked, and insisting upon resleeving beforehand. I was the last one to get my deck checked, and I was this close to getting a round 1 and 2 loss
.
I checked in with my friends, saw Jared for the first time in months, scolded him for not putting Pluspowers, Junk Arms, Reversals, or Bouffalants in his Donchamp (mostly Pluspowers), and got myself in the state of calm I needed.
Opening announcement, my Mom (Head Judge of Juniors) totally burned Jason Larabee
“Can I play in Juniors?”
“Sorry, we go by birth year, not maturity level.” (Oh snap!)
Pairings are up, I find my table and sit down, ready for a fun day of Children's Trading Cards.
Round 1 v Sean P. with Mewgar
Sean is like, one of the nicest guys in the world. This is clear to anyone who takes the time to talk to him for even a few minutes. We start with some truly Brolific observation of the hotness of the girl at the next table, and the match begins. I go first, Sneasel against his Mew. Collector grabs me Aipom, Sneasel and Slowpoke, I attach to Aipom and Imitate for a few cards. He sees off his Gengar into the lost zone. On my turn, I claw snag, and seeing that he's got more cards than I can discard in one go, I opt to knock out his Mew gradually with Astonish destroying his hand. By the time I knock it out, he's gotten a few Pokemon into the Lost Zone, but I've gotten rid of his twins and judges, so he has no search. He throws a second Mew at me, and gets another Pokemon, but at this point, I've got control of the top of his deck with Second Sight, and I only need to get rid of his Mew, Mr. Mime, Mime Jr. and Gastly for the win. Over a few turns I do so, with Tail Spank and Seeker/Claw Snag, and grab the win. Good game Sean.
Round 2 v Boucherit N. with Yanmega/Vileplume/Sunflora/Bouffalant
It's strange how often a person you've never met before shows up with a deck you've never seen before. I complement him on the cool Gengar art on his mat, and his well-coordinated matching purple sleeves and we're off. I'm fairly confidant here, because in testing, Ambipom's Astonish proved it can keep Yanmega's hand so low, that they can't reach you, and Tail Spank can discard cards when you need that. However, he manages to topdeck into a Sunflora, which gives him the power to increase his hand size when necessary, and prevent my ordering of his deck. As a result, I never really get the lock on, and Judges and Copycats were frequent. I remember being afraid of his Bouffalants, causing me to set up my Donphan, which OHKOd one of his Bouffalants after IT OHKOd an Ambipom. Donphan didn't last long though, because I forgot to evolve it as soon as possible to minimize linear attack damage. Even still, the bench damage I did gave him some snipes. Fortunately, I was able to mess his hand up to a point where he does not have a guaranteed attack every turn, Bouffalant took some prizes(I definitely used Head Charge at least once) and I come up barely on top of the prize tussle, by one prize. Closest game of swiss, GG Boucherit.
Round 3 v Kon C. with Machamp Stantler
I'm honestly frightened going into this match, because in those pickup tournaments I mentioned, Kon was on a 3 game win streak against me. When I see he's playing Machamp, a part of me it's not one of the dark decks he kept beating me with, but a part of me dreads the matchup. He's got some supporters early on, but I get my Weavile/Ambipom/Slowking on and give him a dead hand. Unfortunately for me, he's got a very well constructed deck. Out of the three options I had out of Second Sight, I was never happy about what I gave him. I had to give him a lot of energies too, and by the time I had the lock on, he already had two Machops in play. I took a prize or two by sniping around his Stantler start, but eventually I had to give him enough energies to retreat and start hitting with Machoke. I retreated Weavile and killed it with a Confuse Ray from Xatu (something I never thought of when I was building the deck). I go on to get some cheap prizes until he again builds up some energy, this time to do Crushing Punch for 40 on Xatu. Here, he misplayed by discarding my DCE instead of my Psychic energy intsead of my Rainbow, letting me Psywave for 120. He KOs Xatu, and a Seeker and a Faint Attack get rid of his Bench Machoke and Active Machamp giving me the win. GG Kon.
Round 4 v AJ with Reshiboar
I'm worried here too, because I know AJ's still harboring a grudge from Battle Roads where I beat him with Forretress/Emboar. He's got a bad hand, with barely any support. Ambipom/Weavile doesn't let people recover from bad hands. I get the lock on pretty fast, and although he grabs a couple prizes with a Reshiram, I knock out his few Pokemon for the game. He did make a minor mistake, not realizing he could Junk Arm for a Communication and PETM for an evolution to Communicate in for a basic, but I can't say with confidence that it would have helped him. GG AJ.
Round 5 v Zach L. Magneboar
Zach aptly points out that we haven't played before at nationals. This kind of chills me out, because he usually beats me at City's and BRs. I go first to his Tepig, grab some basics, attach, Imitate and pass. He Communicates for a Cleffa, benches it and passes. I evolve to Ambipom, and Seeker and Tail Spank give me the T2 donk. Sorry it had to go this way Zach, when we play, we have some great games. GG.
Round 6 v Simon L. w Magneboar
Simon and I also usually end up playing at big events. He's a good player, who really emerged this year. He reminds me of the T2 Alommomola donk he got on me at a pickup tournament a few weeks ago (crazy story) and we start. I go first and Tyrogue donk his Cleffa. Fast game, and I feel bad, but he's not upset. Some wise words from Simon, “Live by the Cleffa, die by the Cleffa”, and that's exactly what he would go on to do later in the top 8. More on that later.
At this point, I'm pretty ecstatic, because I know I've made the cut. I found out Reed's the other 6-0, and get ready for what I know will be a fun match, because Reed's a fun guy.
Round 7 v Reed M. with Kingmega
Most relaxed match of the day. We both know we have a spot in the top 16, so we spend the whole shuffle period and first few minutes of the game joking around. The tactical error I made In this game, was not sniping the benched Cleffa when I could have. I instead assumed I could go for a prize trading strategy like I did against Boucherit, which turned out to be false. I should've known, since I barely beat Boucherit anyway, but there you go. I get a lock on, knock out his first Yanmega, but then Cleffa catapults him back into the game, and he eventually overwhelms we with a combination of that, and Spray Splash knockouts, like on the Tyrogue I used to knock out his Cleffa. I've gotta say, the Kingdra IS what makes this much better that a normal Yanmega deck. Extra damage and a fast 60. Great deck, and great playing. You totally deserved that Ugly Cup trip, and I'm glad you'll be representing Canada at worlds.
So I come out of swiss with my experimental ability to lock down Yanmega being far less than my theoretical ability. Ah well. C'est la vie. I've got a positive attitude for tomorrow, and after dinner at Mandarin with some great people, I'm completely stuffed, and ready for a good night's sleep.
After said good night's sleep, I decide to check out the forum about Nats, and see what's up. I loved seeing the general reaction to the Ambipom/Weavile in top cut. There was a good amount of surprise, the appropriate amount of disgust and some praise, which I greatly appreciated. To those open-minded enough, it's a great deck! Try it out! Trust me, I failed the deck more than it failed me. And to those naysayers, it definitely can beat Cleffa. You just need to make sure that you can Claw Snag after every Eeeek, and when that doesn't kill the hand, do Astonish. Faint Attack KOs straight through Sweet Sleeping face, and in a best case scenario, Tyrogue donks turn 1
Anyway I get there, change 1 sleeve, sit down, and chat with Matthew, a nice guy who's doing great for his first year in Masters, representing Mewgar in the top cut. We're excited, and.. .we play!
Top 16 v Matthew B. with Mew Jr.
Game 1
After asking the judge if pokemon put in the lost zone count as prizes (lol) he's off to a great start. By turn 4, no word of a lie, he has SIX Pokemon in my lost zone! It was ridiculous! By turn fourn though, I've got his hand locked down hard, and Second Sight gives me deck control. As I get rid of his Mews, I worry as the Juniper in the top 3 cards of his deck turns into a Juniper and a Lost World, and after the one turn he Second Sights himself with HIS Slowking, A Juniper, Lost World, and Twins. Gulp. Smart guy that he his, the turn he sees this is his top 3, he plays his whole hand, giving me nothing to Astonish and screw up his deck order. Luckily, I've been sitting on a Seeker the whole time just in case, and I Seeker, Astonish, and he topdecks something less than desirable (probably another Revive or Defender or something), and the lock is back on for the duration on the game, while Weavile knocks out the rest of his Mime Jr.s, Mimes and Slowking. GG Matthew.
Game 2
He's got a terrible start, made worse by speedy hand disruption. Between Slowking, Weavile, and Ambipom, he never really gets anything going. A Spiritomb start turns into a few more basics, and he gets one or two in the Lost Zone, but I get the win without too much resistance. Notable, I actually used Beat Up to win this game! It was crazy, but Sneasel with two Special Darks was the best way to KO that Spiritomb with its darned -20 to Colorless. Is it Neo Genesis in here, or is it just me?
Top 8 v Simon L. with Magneboar
This whole match is recorded, so you can check that out on the Skyfox Games website once it gets posted. Simon and I were very excited about being on camera
Game 1
He grabs from early prizes with Reshiram while I'm getting set up. By the time I knock it out, he's got Magnemite, Emboar, and Cleffa, and before too long, he's Eeeking, making my job difficult. I stay on top of it though, with Claw Snag and Faint Attack, and force him into a situation where he has a trapped Emboar active, without enough energy to attack, and Magnemite and Cleffa on the bench. And here is where I made the game losing misplay (you can see it on the video). I seeker, and when he picks up Cleffa, I for some reason think that it would be a good idea to switch to Donphan and try to lure him into misplaying by not putting the Cleffa down, winning with my second Seeker. Not a good assumption to make ever, especially in the top 8. What I SHOULD have done, is retreated Ambipom, and sniped around the Emboar, knocking out his Cleffa or his Magnemite. Then I should have set up Emboar for the knock, and Seekered right before I KOd it, giving me the win. Instead, I got stuck behind a Donphan, and Rescue Energy let him Communication, and Eeeek let him get Magnezone going, and that was pretty much it. Sloppy on my part, but GG Simon.
Game 2
This game went pretty well generally for Simon. He had a crazy Cleffa swarm right off the bat, which gave him a Magnezone and the game. Generally his Eeeeks outlasted my Claw Snags, and he got the game. I desperately tried to deck him by Tyrogue stalling after running down most of his Reversals, but I knew he almost definitely had the game. Tactically, I guess I could have Astonished in the Sweet Sleeping Face of his Cleffas, but that's chancy, and it would have taken a looooong time to go through his Cleffas that way, for all of which I wouldn't have deck control. GG Simon, you played it well.
Overall, Nationals was as amazing as it always is. Seeing good friends and playing a good game, is really why I'm still playing this game. I did well, but I've still got a ways to go.
I can't say for certain that I would have won if I hadn't made that misplay in Game 1, but I could have, and I know the deck didn't do as well as it should have. Which is why I'm giving out the list, encouraging anyone and everyone to try it . I had a great time at Nats playing this deck, and I'm sure anyone could. Just watch out for those Cleffas, and snipe them while they're on the bench!
Special Thanks
My Dad was incredibly supportive throughout the entire process, and throughout my entire life, especially where it pertains to Pokemon. He was there all along, putting me first, and helping me and my deck get where we needed to be. I understand that you sacrificed a lot to help me do as well as I possibly could, and I appreciate that so much, I can't put it into words. You're just as much a part of my Pokemon experience as having a deck, and I'm lucky, because everyone's got a deck, and there's only one you. Thanks Dad.
4-4 Ambipom (TM-TM)
4-4 Weavile
2-2 Slowking (UD-CL)
1 Tyrogue
1 Boufallant 91
1-1 Donphan (HS-HS)
1-1 Xatu
Trainers/Supporters 22
3 Pokemon Collector
4 Professor Oak's New Theory
3 Professor Juniper
4 Seeker
2 Dual Ball
4 Pokemon Communication
2 Switch
Energy 12
4 Double Colorless
4 Rainbow
4 Special Dark
Whenever I'm preparing for a tournament, I want to play a red face powder deck. Something “red-faced powder” that somehow, everybody missed. Something appeals to me about the creativity necessary, courage needed to break from the pack and try something new. Not to mention the edge of having a deck that nobody's tested against endlessly.
And I could play rogue at every tournament. The problem is, I also want to do well.
And there have been rare occasions where I have gotten to do so. Arceus killed at Battle Roads, as did Forretress/Emboar (MD-CL = best format ever!). I even won Canadian Nationals 2009 with a fairly rogue SP variant. Coming into Masters, I found I had to compromise that rogueness when it came time for a major tournament.
Last year I played Gardevoir/Gallade at provincials, Gyarados at Regionals and Gardevoir/Gallade again Nationals. They were fun decks to play, and I made top cut at all of those events, but a part of me was upset at having to compromise my integrity to do well.
This year, I played Lostgar at provincials and Gengar/Machamp/Vileplume at Regionals. The latter was pretty cool, but I don't think I can claim originality for combining two cards that have been archetypical for years.
Going into nationals I again knew that I wanted to do well. But it was pretty shaky ground. The format had just changed in a big way, even the rules of the game were different (not in a way I approve of). The week before nationals, I committed to testing hard. I had DonChamp and Magneboar and ZPS built, as well as the less popular Donphan, Tyranitar/Samurott, Yanmega/Cinccino, and Muk/Vileplume. My Dad and I tested those against each other, and at some pickup tournaments run by my wonderful mother.
Magneboar seemed clunky to me. It was a tank once it got going, but it took a while to do that, and my Dad was skeptical of the Cleffa start from the beginning. Donchamp was impressive with its high HP, big damage and fast Earthquakes. ZPS was cool too.
Floating around the whole process were a couple more rogue ideas that didn't get built until we were a fair bit down the road. Feraligatr/Delibird/Ampharos (sucked), MewBoar (which my Dad ended up playing. Pretty good deck actually), and Ambipom/Weavile. I built it on Thursday, and I loved it. It beat the crap out of Magneboar, even taking the Cleffa start into account. Judges, Astonish, and Claw Snag let me stay on top. We moved straight on to ZPS, which was a really tough match up. It set up so fast, it was hard to get them under control and start rolling through things. I put in a 1-1 Donphan, though, and that got it back under control. Even if a Zekrom gets set up, you can knock it out, and maybe the next one, and then start giving them bad draws while you slowly knock everything on the board.
We tested Donchamp, which was tough, and is where the Xatu tech came from. I'm glad, because it for sure one me a game at Nats. We tested pure Donphan, which was a pretty terrible matchup for me. I tried a Slowbro HS tech but found in the end that it wasn't really worth it. Some of the trickery got taken out to make the deck more consistent but really, the matchup came down to the fundamental philosophy of the deck. If you can prevent them from getting going, you win. If not, it's the Water Temple of Pokemon matches, except there's no reset button in a tournament.
I kept saying to my Dad, “Man, you gotta talk me out of playing this, it's too crazy!” but thankfully, he didn't. He kept it real, and got me to make the deck good enough to be competitive, and encouraged me to play it, and so I did.
The morning of, I made my decklist, packed all the decks I could get my hands on (even though I never use any of the extra ones), grabbed my RealD 3D glasses with punched out lenses and the logos scratched off the sides with a butter knife (they were a hit), and my Dad and I were off.
I arrived at the tournament, just barely on time, and managed to massively inconvenience Paul the judge by not actually having my deck with me when I went to get it checked, and insisting upon resleeving beforehand. I was the last one to get my deck checked, and I was this close to getting a round 1 and 2 loss
.I checked in with my friends, saw Jared for the first time in months, scolded him for not putting Pluspowers, Junk Arms, Reversals, or Bouffalants in his Donchamp (mostly Pluspowers), and got myself in the state of calm I needed.
Opening announcement, my Mom (Head Judge of Juniors) totally burned Jason Larabee
“Can I play in Juniors?”
“Sorry, we go by birth year, not maturity level.” (Oh snap!)
Pairings are up, I find my table and sit down, ready for a fun day of Children's Trading Cards.
Round 1 v Sean P. with Mewgar
Sean is like, one of the nicest guys in the world. This is clear to anyone who takes the time to talk to him for even a few minutes. We start with some truly Brolific observation of the hotness of the girl at the next table, and the match begins. I go first, Sneasel against his Mew. Collector grabs me Aipom, Sneasel and Slowpoke, I attach to Aipom and Imitate for a few cards. He sees off his Gengar into the lost zone. On my turn, I claw snag, and seeing that he's got more cards than I can discard in one go, I opt to knock out his Mew gradually with Astonish destroying his hand. By the time I knock it out, he's gotten a few Pokemon into the Lost Zone, but I've gotten rid of his twins and judges, so he has no search. He throws a second Mew at me, and gets another Pokemon, but at this point, I've got control of the top of his deck with Second Sight, and I only need to get rid of his Mew, Mr. Mime, Mime Jr. and Gastly for the win. Over a few turns I do so, with Tail Spank and Seeker/Claw Snag, and grab the win. Good game Sean.
Round 2 v Boucherit N. with Yanmega/Vileplume/Sunflora/Bouffalant
It's strange how often a person you've never met before shows up with a deck you've never seen before. I complement him on the cool Gengar art on his mat, and his well-coordinated matching purple sleeves and we're off. I'm fairly confidant here, because in testing, Ambipom's Astonish proved it can keep Yanmega's hand so low, that they can't reach you, and Tail Spank can discard cards when you need that. However, he manages to topdeck into a Sunflora, which gives him the power to increase his hand size when necessary, and prevent my ordering of his deck. As a result, I never really get the lock on, and Judges and Copycats were frequent. I remember being afraid of his Bouffalants, causing me to set up my Donphan, which OHKOd one of his Bouffalants after IT OHKOd an Ambipom. Donphan didn't last long though, because I forgot to evolve it as soon as possible to minimize linear attack damage. Even still, the bench damage I did gave him some snipes. Fortunately, I was able to mess his hand up to a point where he does not have a guaranteed attack every turn, Bouffalant took some prizes(I definitely used Head Charge at least once) and I come up barely on top of the prize tussle, by one prize. Closest game of swiss, GG Boucherit.
Round 3 v Kon C. with Machamp Stantler
I'm honestly frightened going into this match, because in those pickup tournaments I mentioned, Kon was on a 3 game win streak against me. When I see he's playing Machamp, a part of me it's not one of the dark decks he kept beating me with, but a part of me dreads the matchup. He's got some supporters early on, but I get my Weavile/Ambipom/Slowking on and give him a dead hand. Unfortunately for me, he's got a very well constructed deck. Out of the three options I had out of Second Sight, I was never happy about what I gave him. I had to give him a lot of energies too, and by the time I had the lock on, he already had two Machops in play. I took a prize or two by sniping around his Stantler start, but eventually I had to give him enough energies to retreat and start hitting with Machoke. I retreated Weavile and killed it with a Confuse Ray from Xatu (something I never thought of when I was building the deck). I go on to get some cheap prizes until he again builds up some energy, this time to do Crushing Punch for 40 on Xatu. Here, he misplayed by discarding my DCE instead of my Psychic energy intsead of my Rainbow, letting me Psywave for 120. He KOs Xatu, and a Seeker and a Faint Attack get rid of his Bench Machoke and Active Machamp giving me the win. GG Kon.
Round 4 v AJ with Reshiboar
I'm worried here too, because I know AJ's still harboring a grudge from Battle Roads where I beat him with Forretress/Emboar
. He's got a bad hand, with barely any support. Ambipom/Weavile doesn't let people recover from bad hands. I get the lock on pretty fast, and although he grabs a couple prizes with a Reshiram, I knock out his few Pokemon for the game. He did make a minor mistake, not realizing he could Junk Arm for a Communication and PETM for an evolution to Communicate in for a basic, but I can't say with confidence that it would have helped him. GG AJ.Round 5 v Zach L. Magneboar
Zach aptly points out that we haven't played before at nationals. This kind of chills me out, because he usually beats me at City's and BRs. I go first to his Tepig, grab some basics, attach, Imitate and pass. He Communicates for a Cleffa, benches it and passes. I evolve to Ambipom, and Seeker and Tail Spank give me the T2 donk. Sorry it had to go this way Zach, when we play, we have some great games. GG.
Round 6 v Simon L. w Magneboar
Simon and I also usually end up playing at big events. He's a good player, who really emerged this year. He reminds me of the T2 Alommomola donk he got on me at a pickup tournament a few weeks ago (crazy story) and we start. I go first and Tyrogue donk his Cleffa
. Fast game, and I feel bad, but he's not upset. Some wise words from Simon, “Live by the Cleffa, die by the Cleffa”, and that's exactly what he would go on to do later in the top 8. More on that later.At this point, I'm pretty ecstatic, because I know I've made the cut. I found out Reed's the other 6-0, and get ready for what I know will be a fun match, because Reed's a fun guy.
Round 7 v Reed M. with Kingmega
Most relaxed match of the day. We both know we have a spot in the top 16, so we spend the whole shuffle period and first few minutes of the game joking around. The tactical error I made In this game, was not sniping the benched Cleffa when I could have. I instead assumed I could go for a prize trading strategy like I did against Boucherit, which turned out to be false. I should've known, since I barely beat Boucherit anyway, but there you go. I get a lock on, knock out his first Yanmega, but then Cleffa catapults him back into the game, and he eventually overwhelms we with a combination of that, and Spray Splash knockouts, like on the Tyrogue I used to knock out his Cleffa. I've gotta say, the Kingdra IS what makes this much better that a normal Yanmega deck. Extra damage and a fast 60. Great deck, and great playing. You totally deserved that Ugly Cup trip, and I'm glad you'll be representing Canada at worlds.
So I come out of swiss with my experimental ability to lock down Yanmega being far less than my theoretical ability. Ah well. C'est la vie. I've got a positive attitude for tomorrow, and after dinner at Mandarin with some great people, I'm completely stuffed, and ready for a good night's sleep.
After said good night's sleep, I decide to check out the forum about Nats, and see what's up. I loved seeing the general reaction to the Ambipom/Weavile in top cut
. There was a good amount of surprise, the appropriate amount of disgust and some praise, which I greatly appreciated. To those open-minded enough, it's a great deck! Try it out! Trust me, I failed the deck more than it failed me. And to those naysayers, it definitely can beat Cleffa. You just need to make sure that you can Claw Snag after every Eeeek, and when that doesn't kill the hand, do Astonish. Faint Attack KOs straight through Sweet Sleeping face, and in a best case scenario, Tyrogue donks turn 1 Anyway I get there, change 1 sleeve, sit down, and chat with Matthew, a nice guy who's doing great for his first year in Masters, representing Mewgar in the top cut. We're excited, and.. .we play!
Top 16 v Matthew B. with Mew Jr.
Game 1
After asking the judge if pokemon put in the lost zone count as prizes (lol) he's off to a great start. By turn 4, no word of a lie, he has SIX Pokemon in my lost zone! It was ridiculous! By turn fourn though, I've got his hand locked down hard, and Second Sight gives me deck control. As I get rid of his Mews, I worry as the Juniper in the top 3 cards of his deck turns into a Juniper and a Lost World, and after the one turn he Second Sights himself with HIS Slowking, A Juniper, Lost World, and Twins. Gulp. Smart guy that he his, the turn he sees this is his top 3, he plays his whole hand, giving me nothing to Astonish and screw up his deck order. Luckily, I've been sitting on a Seeker the whole time just in case, and I Seeker, Astonish, and he topdecks something less than desirable (probably another Revive or Defender or something), and the lock is back on for the duration on the game, while Weavile knocks out the rest of his Mime Jr.s, Mimes and Slowking. GG Matthew.
Game 2
He's got a terrible start, made worse by speedy hand disruption. Between Slowking, Weavile, and Ambipom, he never really gets anything going. A Spiritomb start turns into a few more basics, and he gets one or two in the Lost Zone, but I get the win without too much resistance. Notable, I actually used Beat Up to win this game! It was crazy, but Sneasel with two Special Darks was the best way to KO that Spiritomb with its darned -20 to Colorless. Is it Neo Genesis in here, or is it just me?
Top 8 v Simon L. with Magneboar
This whole match is recorded, so you can check that out on the Skyfox Games website once it gets posted. Simon and I were very excited about being on camera
Game 1
He grabs from early prizes with Reshiram while I'm getting set up. By the time I knock it out, he's got Magnemite, Emboar, and Cleffa, and before too long, he's Eeeking, making my job difficult. I stay on top of it though, with Claw Snag and Faint Attack, and force him into a situation where he has a trapped Emboar active, without enough energy to attack, and Magnemite and Cleffa on the bench. And here is where I made the game losing misplay (you can see it on the video). I seeker, and when he picks up Cleffa, I for some reason think that it would be a good idea to switch to Donphan and try to lure him into misplaying by not putting the Cleffa down, winning with my second Seeker. Not a good assumption to make ever, especially in the top 8. What I SHOULD have done, is retreated Ambipom, and sniped around the Emboar, knocking out his Cleffa or his Magnemite. Then I should have set up Emboar for the knock, and Seekered right before I KOd it, giving me the win. Instead, I got stuck behind a Donphan, and Rescue Energy let him Communication, and Eeeek let him get Magnezone going, and that was pretty much it. Sloppy on my part, but GG Simon.
Game 2
This game went pretty well generally for Simon. He had a crazy Cleffa swarm right off the bat, which gave him a Magnezone and the game. Generally his Eeeeks outlasted my Claw Snags, and he got the game. I desperately tried to deck him by Tyrogue stalling after running down most of his Reversals, but I knew he almost definitely had the game. Tactically, I guess I could have Astonished in the Sweet Sleeping Face of his Cleffas, but that's chancy, and it would have taken a looooong time to go through his Cleffas that way, for all of which I wouldn't have deck control. GG Simon, you played it well.
Overall, Nationals was as amazing as it always is. Seeing good friends and playing a good game, is really why I'm still playing this game. I did well, but I've still got a ways to go.
I can't say for certain that I would have won if I hadn't made that misplay in Game 1, but I could have, and I know the deck didn't do as well as it should have. Which is why I'm giving out the list, encouraging anyone and everyone to try it . I had a great time at Nats playing this deck, and I'm sure anyone could. Just watch out for those Cleffas, and snipe them while they're on the bench!
Special Thanks
My Dad was incredibly supportive throughout the entire process, and throughout my entire life, especially where it pertains to Pokemon. He was there all along, putting me first, and helping me and my deck get where we needed to be. I understand that you sacrificed a lot to help me do as well as I possibly could, and I appreciate that so much, I can't put it into words. You're just as much a part of my Pokemon experience as having a deck, and I'm lucky, because everyone's got a deck, and there's only one you. Thanks Dad.
