swanton1717
Member
This past weekend I attended 2 Battle Roads within the Kansas City area. I wrote a report for the Saturday event over on Celadon City Gym. You can check that out here!
On Sunday, I decided to play Garbodor. I have been testing the trash bag Pokemon for several weeks and have been pretty impressed. I thought it would be a good play for Sunday since the Top 4 of the Saturday event consisted of 2 Hydreigon/Darkrai EX decks and 2 Eelektrik variants. I also saw hardly any Tool Scrapper on Saturday!
Here is the list I ended up using on Sunday..
Pokemon: 12
4x Trubbish NVI
3x Garbodor
3x Terrakion
2x Registeel EX
Energy: 13
9x Fighting Energy
4x Double Colorless Energy
Trainers: 35
4x Professor Juniper
4x N
4x Bianca
2x Random Receiver
3x Heavy Ball
3x Ultra Ball
4x Pokemon Catcher
4x Exp. Share
3x Eviolite
4x Switch
Although I am not certain that this is the best Garbodor variant available to us, Registeel EX and Terrakion both work very well together! Registeel EX can set up OHKOs for Terrakion and Terrakion can set up Pokemon to be Triple Lasered for multiple prizes. Of course Terrakion also has a type advantage against a great majority of the popular Pokemon at the moment.
I originally had Rescue Scarf in here because I figured it was the most optimal tool for Garbodor attachment. However, they were quickly cut because I often had to attach an Exp. Share to Garbodor because I drew it early. I realized that I didn't care what was attached to Garbodor as long as he got a tool quickly. Rescue Scarf was next to useless attached to non Garbodors. As a result, I dropped them for Eviolites which are far more useful on my attackers.
So on to the report. We ended up having 42 Masters at Collector's Cache. As a result, we had 6 rounds of swiss and a point pay out to the Top 8.
Round 1: v.s. Empoleon/Emolga/Lapras
I went first in this game and opened with an active Registeel to his Emolga and Piplup. I benched a Trubbish and Terrakion, attached a Fighting Energy to Registeel and passed. He used Call for Family grabbing two more Piplup. I evolved to Garbodor and attached an Exp. Share. He didn't run Tool Scrapper, so he was never able to use Diving Draw. I attached a DCE and an Eviolite to my Registeel EX and then used Triple Laser hitting the three Piplup. He played 2 Rare Candy and evolved the 3rd Piplup to Prinplup. He benched another Emolga and hit my Registeel EX for 60. I attached a Fighting to the Terrakion and Triple Lasered the Empoleons and Prinplup putting them at 60. My goal was to power up another Registeel EX and Triple Laser the Empoleons 5 times total to knock them out leaving him with a field of useless Pokemon. On his turn, he benched a Lapras, evolved his Prinplup to Empoleon and hit my Registeel EX for 70. On my turn, I benched another Registeel, attached a Fighting and an Exp. Share to it and then put another 30 on the 3 Empoleons (they were now at 90). He plays an N and draws 2 Max Potion to completely heal 2 of the Empoleon. Obviously, I had to change my strategy a bit at this point. He knocked out my Registeel EX, I put the Fighting Energy onto my benched Registeel EX with Fighting and promoted my Terrakion. I attached a Fighting and an Eviolite to him and Retaliated putting the active Empoleon back up to 90. He hit me for 70 and then it was my turn again. I attached another Fighting to Terrakion, Catchered up the benched Empoleon that he had healed and Land Crushed putting it also back at 90 damage. He attached to this Empoleon and knocked out my Terrakion and I put a Fighting onto the benched Garbodor and Registeel EX with Exp. Shares. I promoted the Registeel EX and had to hope that he had no more Max Potion. I did 30 to the 3 Empoleons, putting them at 90. He did not have any more Max Potion so he hit me for 80 (I only had a Garbodor on the bench). On my turn, I laid down a Terrakion, attached a Fighting, played N and then knocked out all 3 Empoleon leaving him with 2 Emolga, 1 Lapras and a 3 card hand. Over the next few turns he is able to get another Empoleon out, but I had Catchered up the Lapras and he is never able to get that out of the active position. So I Triple Laser the 2 Emolga and a Piplup he benches after putting 2 Piplup back in the deck with Super Rod and using Call for Family. Very good game!
1-0
Round 2: v.s. Garchomp/Altaria
I also went first this game! Over the first 3 turns, I get a 3 Fighting Energy on a Registeel EX along with an Eviolite. However, I cannot find a 2nd tool for my Garbodor after playing lots and lots of Supporters. I should have just attached the Eviolite to Trubbish early on. I finally get an Exp. Share for Garbodor on Turn 5. At this point, her field is 4 Altaria and 2 Garchomp with 60 on them and some damage on the Altarias. I keep Catchering up the Altarias to prevent her from using Garchomps 2nd attack. She didn't run Switch so she had to keep retreating the Altarias. She also didn't run Tool Scrapper so she was never able to do more than 40-60 the rest of the game. In this matchup, my strategy was the same as the one I used against Empoleon- knock out all of the attackers simultaneously and then use N. She opted to Max Potion her Altarias instead of Garchomp- I assume she did this because she wanted to preserve her energy. Anyway, I got 90 on both Garchomp before she knocked out my Registeel EX. I then promote my 2nd Registeel EX and get Garchomps up to 120. She Catchers up my Garbodor and hits it for 60. I play a Switch, promote Registeel, play an N and Triple Laser- knocking out both Garchomp and putting more damage on some of her Altarias. Over the next few turns, she tries to Catcher stall while she attempts to get out some more Garchomp. However, she is not successful as I have a lot of Switch left. I knock out 3 of the Altarias along with a Gible for my last 4 prizes.
2-0
Round 3: v.s. Hydreigon/Darkrai EX
I went second in this one and opened with Terrakion to her Darkrai EX. We manually attached until we both got 3 Energy on our actives. I was able to get a Garbodor on turn 2 with a Tool. She also didn't play Tool Scrapper so she was never able to use an Ability. On her third turn, she Catchered up my Garbodor, hit it for 90 and put a 30 on my Terrakion. On my 3rd turn, I Land Crushed the Darkrai EX for the knock out. She Catchered up my Garbodor that she hit for 90 and used Confuse Ray to knock it out. On my 4th turn, I get another Garbodor with a Tool. I Land Crush her Sableye. Leaving her field with a Deino and a Hydreigon. She promotes the Deino, lays down a Shaymin EX+Blend+Eviolite and then plays an N. I get a pretty horrible hand. However, I do not attack the Deino- my strategy is to just hit around the Deino with a Registeel EX once I get one and a Switch. Since Deino has a 2 retreat and she needs another energy for Shaymin EX- she'll have a hard time using Revenge Blast. She starts attaching to Deino- getting ready to retreat. But I eventually get a Switch to bring up my Registeel EX with an Evioite. I also Catcher up her Hydreigon- basically preventing her from ever attacking again because there is no way to get that Hydreigon out of the active unless I knock it out. I just start Triple Lasering and she quickly Scoops.
3-0
Round 4: v.s. Hydreigon/Darkrai EX
I went first and was pretty happy to see an active Darkrai EX to my Trubbish start. On turn 3, I Switch for a benched Terrakion with an energy, evolve to Garbodor and play a Tool and then play an N hoping to get another Energy for Terrakion. Unfortunately, I wiff and the game proceeds to go very, very down hill. He realizes there is no point in laying down Deino, so he just goes aggro with Darkrai EX- thus preventing me from Catchering up useless benched Pokemon and locking them in the active position. Over the next three turns, he plays 3 Catchers, 3 turns in a row to simultaneously knock out 2 Terrakion and Night Spear my 3rd Darkrai EX before I am able to get 2 Energy onto it. I scoop after I wiff on the Switch in an attempt to protect my Terrakion because there is no way I can knock out his Darkrai's.
3-1
Round 5: v.s. Terrakion EX/Groudon EX/Lucario/Vanilluxe
I'm not quite sure what the strategy of this deck is...but there you have it. I went first again and opened with a Registeel EX and he opened with an active Groudon EX, Riolu and Terrakion EX. I bench a Trubbish, attach an Eviolite to the Registeel EX and play N after mulliganing 3 times. I attach a DCE and pass. He attaches to Groudon EX and passes. I lay down some more Pokemon, evolve to Garbodor and attach a Tool (I'm not sure at this point if any of his Pokemon have Abilities) and Triple Laser his 3 Pokemon. Over the next several turns he lays down a Vanilite, attaches some more Energy to Groudon EX and is able to hit my Registeel EX once with Giant Claw for 60 damage. I eventually get a Pokemon Catcher and promote a Groudon EX he had benched. I then Triple Laser for the rest of the game. In total I Triple Lasered 6 times with the same Registeel EX knocking out a Riolu, Vanillute, Groudon EX and Terrakion EX for 6 prizes. I think he ran a very low count of Switch because his goal was to switch Pokemon with Slippery Soles. However, due to Garbotoxin, he never would have been able to use this Ability.
4-1
Round 6: v.s. Eelektrik/Rayquaza EX
This game was a complete shut out, I got the worst start of the day and he got a very strong opening and went first. I open with an active Terrakion and a benched Registeel EX to his Rayquaza EX. I don't get a Supporter until turn 4 and, by turn 3 he was doing 180 damage with Rayquaza EX- knocking out my Registeel EX. I finally get a Supporter and lay down another Terrakion with Exp. Share and Retaliate for 90. He lays down a 3rd Eelektrik, and Switches to the benched Rayquaza EX after using Dynamotor 3 times to it to hit my active Terrakion for 180. He is able to do 180 for the rest of the game- I am never able to get a Garbodor on line. I lose very quickly. It is very hard to deal 180 on turn 3, 4, 5, 6 etc.
4-2
So anyway, the standings are posted and I end up getting 8th! My only losses were to the 1st and 4th place finishers. Here is what the Top 4 looked like..
1st- Chad M w/ Hydreigon/Darkrai EX
2nd- Michael B w/ Eelektrik/Rayquaza EX
3rd- Vance K w/ Hydreigon/Darkrai EX
4th- Brit P w/ Eelektrik/Rayquaza EX
Based on the Battle Roads this weekend- it would seem like these two decks are the two to beat. Hydreigon and Eelektrik variants both dominated the top tables at the Kansas City Battle Roads this weekend- earning all 8 Top 4 spots over the 2 days.
In regards to Garbodor/Terrakion/Registeel EX, I still believe it is incredibly strong. Had I not missed that Energy drop in Round 4 or had I gotten a decent start in Round 6, my deck could easily have made the Top 4. Unless people start playing Tool Scrapper in mass quantities, Garbodor will be able to take many of the Championship Points available to us over the next month or so. I don't think I'd make any changes to my list other than maybe another Energy...I have no idea what I'd drop, however.
I would love to find room for my own Tool Scrappers but I just don't think that will happen. If you have any suggestions as to what I could cut, I'd love to hear what you have to say!
I had such a blast this weekend and have lots of people to thank for this. On to the props and slops!
Props
- Anthony for riding along with me and continuing the long standing tradition of fun Pokemon trips.
- Charlene for letting Anthony and me stay with her.
- Brit, Michael and Mitch for providing lots of fun conversation and company on Saturday and Sunday.
- Steve for running a great event!
- A-Z Comics and Collector's Cache for hosting the Battle Roads.
- Jacks Stack BBQ and the Chinese place located next to Cache for great food!
- Clue viewing party on Saturday night..funniest movie ever.
Slops
- Failing to get enough for a Top 8 kicker on Saturday.
- Accidents and excessive rain over the weekend.
- Not being able to listen to the theme of the weekend (Put it Down by Brandy) enough.
Thanks for reading.
+6 CP
~Colin
www.celadoncitygym.com
On Sunday, I decided to play Garbodor. I have been testing the trash bag Pokemon for several weeks and have been pretty impressed. I thought it would be a good play for Sunday since the Top 4 of the Saturday event consisted of 2 Hydreigon/Darkrai EX decks and 2 Eelektrik variants. I also saw hardly any Tool Scrapper on Saturday!
Here is the list I ended up using on Sunday..
Pokemon: 12
4x Trubbish NVI
3x Garbodor
3x Terrakion
2x Registeel EX
Energy: 13
9x Fighting Energy
4x Double Colorless Energy
Trainers: 35
4x Professor Juniper
4x N
4x Bianca
2x Random Receiver
3x Heavy Ball
3x Ultra Ball
4x Pokemon Catcher
4x Exp. Share
3x Eviolite
4x Switch
Although I am not certain that this is the best Garbodor variant available to us, Registeel EX and Terrakion both work very well together! Registeel EX can set up OHKOs for Terrakion and Terrakion can set up Pokemon to be Triple Lasered for multiple prizes. Of course Terrakion also has a type advantage against a great majority of the popular Pokemon at the moment.
I originally had Rescue Scarf in here because I figured it was the most optimal tool for Garbodor attachment. However, they were quickly cut because I often had to attach an Exp. Share to Garbodor because I drew it early. I realized that I didn't care what was attached to Garbodor as long as he got a tool quickly. Rescue Scarf was next to useless attached to non Garbodors. As a result, I dropped them for Eviolites which are far more useful on my attackers.
So on to the report. We ended up having 42 Masters at Collector's Cache. As a result, we had 6 rounds of swiss and a point pay out to the Top 8.
Round 1: v.s. Empoleon/Emolga/Lapras
I went first in this game and opened with an active Registeel to his Emolga and Piplup. I benched a Trubbish and Terrakion, attached a Fighting Energy to Registeel and passed. He used Call for Family grabbing two more Piplup. I evolved to Garbodor and attached an Exp. Share. He didn't run Tool Scrapper, so he was never able to use Diving Draw. I attached a DCE and an Eviolite to my Registeel EX and then used Triple Laser hitting the three Piplup. He played 2 Rare Candy and evolved the 3rd Piplup to Prinplup. He benched another Emolga and hit my Registeel EX for 60. I attached a Fighting to the Terrakion and Triple Lasered the Empoleons and Prinplup putting them at 60. My goal was to power up another Registeel EX and Triple Laser the Empoleons 5 times total to knock them out leaving him with a field of useless Pokemon. On his turn, he benched a Lapras, evolved his Prinplup to Empoleon and hit my Registeel EX for 70. On my turn, I benched another Registeel, attached a Fighting and an Exp. Share to it and then put another 30 on the 3 Empoleons (they were now at 90). He plays an N and draws 2 Max Potion to completely heal 2 of the Empoleon. Obviously, I had to change my strategy a bit at this point. He knocked out my Registeel EX, I put the Fighting Energy onto my benched Registeel EX with Fighting and promoted my Terrakion. I attached a Fighting and an Eviolite to him and Retaliated putting the active Empoleon back up to 90. He hit me for 70 and then it was my turn again. I attached another Fighting to Terrakion, Catchered up the benched Empoleon that he had healed and Land Crushed putting it also back at 90 damage. He attached to this Empoleon and knocked out my Terrakion and I put a Fighting onto the benched Garbodor and Registeel EX with Exp. Shares. I promoted the Registeel EX and had to hope that he had no more Max Potion. I did 30 to the 3 Empoleons, putting them at 90. He did not have any more Max Potion so he hit me for 80 (I only had a Garbodor on the bench). On my turn, I laid down a Terrakion, attached a Fighting, played N and then knocked out all 3 Empoleon leaving him with 2 Emolga, 1 Lapras and a 3 card hand. Over the next few turns he is able to get another Empoleon out, but I had Catchered up the Lapras and he is never able to get that out of the active position. So I Triple Laser the 2 Emolga and a Piplup he benches after putting 2 Piplup back in the deck with Super Rod and using Call for Family. Very good game!
1-0
Round 2: v.s. Garchomp/Altaria
I also went first this game! Over the first 3 turns, I get a 3 Fighting Energy on a Registeel EX along with an Eviolite. However, I cannot find a 2nd tool for my Garbodor after playing lots and lots of Supporters. I should have just attached the Eviolite to Trubbish early on. I finally get an Exp. Share for Garbodor on Turn 5. At this point, her field is 4 Altaria and 2 Garchomp with 60 on them and some damage on the Altarias. I keep Catchering up the Altarias to prevent her from using Garchomps 2nd attack. She didn't run Switch so she had to keep retreating the Altarias. She also didn't run Tool Scrapper so she was never able to do more than 40-60 the rest of the game. In this matchup, my strategy was the same as the one I used against Empoleon- knock out all of the attackers simultaneously and then use N. She opted to Max Potion her Altarias instead of Garchomp- I assume she did this because she wanted to preserve her energy. Anyway, I got 90 on both Garchomp before she knocked out my Registeel EX. I then promote my 2nd Registeel EX and get Garchomps up to 120. She Catchers up my Garbodor and hits it for 60. I play a Switch, promote Registeel, play an N and Triple Laser- knocking out both Garchomp and putting more damage on some of her Altarias. Over the next few turns, she tries to Catcher stall while she attempts to get out some more Garchomp. However, she is not successful as I have a lot of Switch left. I knock out 3 of the Altarias along with a Gible for my last 4 prizes.
2-0
Round 3: v.s. Hydreigon/Darkrai EX
I went second in this one and opened with Terrakion to her Darkrai EX. We manually attached until we both got 3 Energy on our actives. I was able to get a Garbodor on turn 2 with a Tool. She also didn't play Tool Scrapper so she was never able to use an Ability. On her third turn, she Catchered up my Garbodor, hit it for 90 and put a 30 on my Terrakion. On my 3rd turn, I Land Crushed the Darkrai EX for the knock out. She Catchered up my Garbodor that she hit for 90 and used Confuse Ray to knock it out. On my 4th turn, I get another Garbodor with a Tool. I Land Crush her Sableye. Leaving her field with a Deino and a Hydreigon. She promotes the Deino, lays down a Shaymin EX+Blend+Eviolite and then plays an N. I get a pretty horrible hand. However, I do not attack the Deino- my strategy is to just hit around the Deino with a Registeel EX once I get one and a Switch. Since Deino has a 2 retreat and she needs another energy for Shaymin EX- she'll have a hard time using Revenge Blast. She starts attaching to Deino- getting ready to retreat. But I eventually get a Switch to bring up my Registeel EX with an Evioite. I also Catcher up her Hydreigon- basically preventing her from ever attacking again because there is no way to get that Hydreigon out of the active unless I knock it out. I just start Triple Lasering and she quickly Scoops.
3-0
Round 4: v.s. Hydreigon/Darkrai EX
I went first and was pretty happy to see an active Darkrai EX to my Trubbish start. On turn 3, I Switch for a benched Terrakion with an energy, evolve to Garbodor and play a Tool and then play an N hoping to get another Energy for Terrakion. Unfortunately, I wiff and the game proceeds to go very, very down hill. He realizes there is no point in laying down Deino, so he just goes aggro with Darkrai EX- thus preventing me from Catchering up useless benched Pokemon and locking them in the active position. Over the next three turns, he plays 3 Catchers, 3 turns in a row to simultaneously knock out 2 Terrakion and Night Spear my 3rd Darkrai EX before I am able to get 2 Energy onto it. I scoop after I wiff on the Switch in an attempt to protect my Terrakion because there is no way I can knock out his Darkrai's.
3-1
Round 5: v.s. Terrakion EX/Groudon EX/Lucario/Vanilluxe
I'm not quite sure what the strategy of this deck is...but there you have it. I went first again and opened with a Registeel EX and he opened with an active Groudon EX, Riolu and Terrakion EX. I bench a Trubbish, attach an Eviolite to the Registeel EX and play N after mulliganing 3 times. I attach a DCE and pass. He attaches to Groudon EX and passes. I lay down some more Pokemon, evolve to Garbodor and attach a Tool (I'm not sure at this point if any of his Pokemon have Abilities) and Triple Laser his 3 Pokemon. Over the next several turns he lays down a Vanilite, attaches some more Energy to Groudon EX and is able to hit my Registeel EX once with Giant Claw for 60 damage. I eventually get a Pokemon Catcher and promote a Groudon EX he had benched. I then Triple Laser for the rest of the game. In total I Triple Lasered 6 times with the same Registeel EX knocking out a Riolu, Vanillute, Groudon EX and Terrakion EX for 6 prizes. I think he ran a very low count of Switch because his goal was to switch Pokemon with Slippery Soles. However, due to Garbotoxin, he never would have been able to use this Ability.
4-1
Round 6: v.s. Eelektrik/Rayquaza EX
This game was a complete shut out, I got the worst start of the day and he got a very strong opening and went first. I open with an active Terrakion and a benched Registeel EX to his Rayquaza EX. I don't get a Supporter until turn 4 and, by turn 3 he was doing 180 damage with Rayquaza EX- knocking out my Registeel EX. I finally get a Supporter and lay down another Terrakion with Exp. Share and Retaliate for 90. He lays down a 3rd Eelektrik, and Switches to the benched Rayquaza EX after using Dynamotor 3 times to it to hit my active Terrakion for 180. He is able to do 180 for the rest of the game- I am never able to get a Garbodor on line. I lose very quickly. It is very hard to deal 180 on turn 3, 4, 5, 6 etc.
4-2
So anyway, the standings are posted and I end up getting 8th! My only losses were to the 1st and 4th place finishers. Here is what the Top 4 looked like..
1st- Chad M w/ Hydreigon/Darkrai EX
2nd- Michael B w/ Eelektrik/Rayquaza EX
3rd- Vance K w/ Hydreigon/Darkrai EX
4th- Brit P w/ Eelektrik/Rayquaza EX
Based on the Battle Roads this weekend- it would seem like these two decks are the two to beat. Hydreigon and Eelektrik variants both dominated the top tables at the Kansas City Battle Roads this weekend- earning all 8 Top 4 spots over the 2 days.
In regards to Garbodor/Terrakion/Registeel EX, I still believe it is incredibly strong. Had I not missed that Energy drop in Round 4 or had I gotten a decent start in Round 6, my deck could easily have made the Top 4. Unless people start playing Tool Scrapper in mass quantities, Garbodor will be able to take many of the Championship Points available to us over the next month or so. I don't think I'd make any changes to my list other than maybe another Energy...I have no idea what I'd drop, however.
I would love to find room for my own Tool Scrappers but I just don't think that will happen. If you have any suggestions as to what I could cut, I'd love to hear what you have to say!
I had such a blast this weekend and have lots of people to thank for this. On to the props and slops!
Props
- Anthony for riding along with me and continuing the long standing tradition of fun Pokemon trips.
- Charlene for letting Anthony and me stay with her.
- Brit, Michael and Mitch for providing lots of fun conversation and company on Saturday and Sunday.
- Steve for running a great event!
- A-Z Comics and Collector's Cache for hosting the Battle Roads.
- Jacks Stack BBQ and the Chinese place located next to Cache for great food!
- Clue viewing party on Saturday night..funniest movie ever.
Slops
- Failing to get enough for a Top 8 kicker on Saturday.
- Accidents and excessive rain over the weekend.
- Not being able to listen to the theme of the weekend (Put it Down by Brandy) enough.
Thanks for reading.
+6 CP
~Colin
www.celadoncitygym.com