Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

California Regionals Top 64 Report (Audino)

SolarPichu

Member
Hey there! I know I didn't make it to Top 32, but I thought I would share my tournament adventure.

Before the Tournament: I initially was not planning on attending this event, but due to a recent resurgence in my roommate's soul for Pokemon, I accompanied him on his first tournament in Organized Play. I wasn't planning on winning; I simply wanted to enjoy the game, so I brought a fun deck. Those who know me know that I often play random rogue decks that usually aim for the surprise factor and speed (ie. LunaRock, Lucario/Palkia, etc.), with the exception to the Typhlosion/Reshiram deck I played at the LCQ, where I also placed Top 64 <See Report for Details>.

Deck Choice: I loved the Typhlosion/Reshiram deck, because once it was setup, playing was like warm, buttery toast. The thing that I discovered was that setup was too slow for me... I didn't want to wait until turn 2 or 3 to start domination. So this led to my next deck: Reshiram/Slugma. This worked out great turn 1; it was relatively easy to pull off the 120 damage, but if I didn't go first, I was often left defending against more than one Pokemon, and getting the energy consistently was a bit tough. You have to hope that the energy was there, and there was room for Shaymin. Although, I never experimented with Zekrom, I saw the same issue; there is only a limited amount of time for Zekrom to survive, and bench space was vital.

So how could I find a Pokemon that could start KOing turn 1, but also had the durability to last several turns later? Well, the answer my friends is Audino. After moderate success in playtesting with my Reshiram/Slugma deck, I thought, why not swap the 4 Reshiram for 4 Audino and see what happens? Well, surprisingly, I found it to be VERY effective. Now keep in mind that there is great risk in playing this deck. You may do 0 damage a game or 1000+, but at least statistically, you normally are doing a decent amount of damage.

Strategy: Audino loves Double Colorless Energy. And with Slugma and Shaymin/Energy Switch, you have a built in engine. Use Research Record to pile energy on top, use Active Volcano, and Celebration Wind, and you can have an Audino averaging 80 turn 1. Add PlusPowers, and you can pretty much kill everything. Now why is Audino better than Reshiram? Well, after turn 1, you still have 3-5 energy on Audino, which means next turn your potential damage always increases! It has great late game potential too. When resources become low, use Energy Returner to throw energy back into the deck to increase your odds of hitting an Active Volcano. Not much can stand up to an Audino with 8 Energy. Usually when active Audino has around 7-8 energy, and depending what's left on my opponent's field, I'll start powering up the second one. Anyway, you get the strategy, so on to the report!

ROUND 1 - ??? w/ Gengar/Mime Jr.
He starts with Gastly and Mime Jr. benched, I start with Audino. I see it's a Lost Zone deck, which is definitely in my favor, since I run only 9 basics. Gastly's Resistance prevents the turn 1 KO, and he precedes to retreat and start using Mime Jr. to throw stuff in the Lost Zone. Nothing terribly important, so I use Catcher to KO the Gastly and any other threats that appear. 5 turns later, I take my final prize.
(1-0)

ROUND 2 - Andrew w/ Mew/Mime Jr.
Another Lost Zone deck, except this one focused on Mew Lost Zoning Gengar. I get some quick KOs while he attempts to stall with Mime Jr. He manages to Sleepy Lost both Shaymin, but I'm not terribly worried, as his Pokemon have relatively low HP, and I also have Energy Switch. Eventually Slowking comes out, which becomes a slight neusance, but I continue to plow with Audino. I took all six prizes soon after.
(2-0)

ROUND 3 - Christopher w/ Mandibuzz/Kingdra
Well, unfortunately for Kingdra, I have Slugma to reduce it's attack power, and Mandibuzz isn't much of a threat either. I KO'd Mandibuzz before it could do anything, and my opponent had to resort to stalling with Kingdra. But with 8 Energy and Plus Power, it wasn't too much of a threat to Audino. My opponent did have an energy drought, which did allow me to have an upper hand early. I preceded to take all six prizes with Audino.
(3-0)

ROUND 4 - Tony w/ Reshiram/Typhlosion/Vileplume
Now this was a combo that I didn't see coming! I knocked out a benched Oddish ASAP, but then he precedes to grab two more. I figured I should start preparing for trainer lock, but it appeared both Vileplume were prized! Lucky me! So we proceed with Audino taking prizes. He manages to KO an Audino, I had lost one due to a failed Active Volcano, and the last one was my final prize. I manage to get down to one prize with one Audino and a Double Colorless, and the only way to win was to Catcher Gloom, and get two heads, as I had no cards left in my deck. I tell him he has a 75% chance of winning. Coin flip 1 was Heads... but the second one was tails. Great game though!
(3-1)

ROUND 5 - Jerry w/ Roserade Lock
Jerry got the turn 2 Plume, and started beatdown with Yanmega. Yanmega isn't too big of a threat, but the combination of trainer lock, plus Roserade really hurt. Early on I got 7 consecutive tails, which also didn't help. I took a risk in a confusion flip and failed, but that's how I play. As always, Jerry's combination of an effective deck with great skill proved triumphant. Great game!
(3-2)

ROUND 6 - ??? w/ Reshiram/Typhlosion
My start was not great, and his setup was perfect. He had 4 Cyndaquil turn 1, and I couldn't take the onslaught of Reshiram. Deck did not perform well this time.
(3-3)

ROUND 7 - Henry w/ Kingdra/Yanmega
He starts with Pichu and Horsea benched. I KO Pichu turn 1 and gain a quick advantage. He wasn't really able to recover quickly. I end up discarding two Audino through Active Volcano (which is why I can't wait for Super Rod!), so I needed to keep the two I have alive! Eventually it came down to the same situation as in game 4: I had to flip 2 coins. If either was Heads, I would win. First flip: Tails, Second flip: Heads. Good game.
(4-3)

ROUND 8 - Andrew w/ Yanmega/Magnezone
My setup is perfect, and I take out a Pokemon every turn, not giving him a chance to setup at all.
(5-3)

I come in 54th/245, which is a lot better than I expected. I'm gonna keep playing this deck because it is fun and effective, and I'm definitely looking forward to editing my deck to include Victini and Super Rod! If I play in another event this season, I'll play Audino again.

PROPS:
Audino
My Opponents
My Roommate
The Organizers and Staff
Good Luck
 
Last edited:
Hey there SolarPichu! This is Jerry from Round 4! (Had no idea you were SolarPichu, lol)

First of all Congrats on your great deck! Awesome report as well. Our match was by far the most memorable to me. I was really impressed with the speed and consistency of how often slugma's power worked for you. I consider my lock deck to be one of the toughest to fight through and your deck just keeped on powering through it. I keeped thinking the next day how crazy your deck would be with FlipTini, and then I come on here and see you talking about it, lol.

Can't wait to play against the updated version! Thanks for the great game!
 
Back
Top