kirwin3180
Member
“Ambition - an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction”
Pre-Tournament
I just want to start the report by thanking Matthew Koo, Bidier Jing, Geneses Pabuna and Anthony Sinclair for the endless hours of frustrating nights of testing. This victory was as much there’s as it was mine.
I am not trying to brag in this next passage, more-so express a series of frustrating events leading up to 2012 nationals. I have been playing for 5 years now and in the first four years playing there was literally one tournament (2009 eastern Canadian regionals) I didn’t top cut at. I’ve accomplished so much in the first four years I never thought I would do. With that being said, this 2012 year has been so frustrating for me. I did not top cut at any event in regards to 2 regionals, 2 states, cities marathon. I’ve had people come up to me telling me I’ve fallen off, I’ve been lucky…disregarding anything I’ve ever accomplished in this game so far. Half way through this pathetic season I slowly began realizing that the only way for me to go to worlds was going to be through nationals. I wanted the invite more than anything.
The lead up to nationals was that on the weekend of June 23rd I tested with the guys mentioned above. I really loved klingklang/vileplume I felt it had so many auto-wins and it is almost unbeatable in swiss. My only caveats with the deck were that top-cut was going to be incredibly hard; you were virtually playing against your opponent and time. I also brought a quad-entie I had tweaked. Any annoying cards you can think of were in my original list: Crushing hammers, lost removers, moo-moo milk, potion, and max potion….etc.
The deck suffered from some problems; the main problem with the entie deck was its inability to stop a mewtwo that had been celebration winded for 9-10 energies (you give up 4 prizes) the next problem was you lived and died with the flip cards in your deck. As mentioned above partly due to the reason I had lost so many games this year was because of cards like crushing hammer and dual-ball, too many of my games were decided based on dice rolls and I didn’t want to go into nationals playing a deck involving any flips.
The third deck I really considered playing was cmtt. It was very consistent and had solid matchups over every deck.
The week before nationals I had to rule out klingklang out of my equation. I knew I needed to get to top 4 and I couldn’t win 3 straight top cut matches with that deck. Ultimately it came down to quadentie or CMTT. The night before Nats was easily my most frustrating night of Pokémon ever, all my decks ideas were failing one after the other and it felt like I couldn’t win a game. It must have been 4 A.M when I was just so frustrated that I went to bed. I went to sleep knowing tomorrow I’m going to just pick up a standard/consistent darkrai deck we had been using in practice and just try and go in there 50/50 vs. the whole field.
I woke up at 7 A.M because I couldn’t sleep and I respect Bidier so much for doing this but I woke him up and begged him to play one game with me. Bidier didn’t hesitate and played what I wanted him to play. Part of my success in this game has been based off small tweaks or weird combinations to decks I thought were already popular (lost removers in luxchomp…healers in Plox). I played one game with Entie vs. a standard Darkrai list. I lost but I had all the information I needed to tweak the deck. After formulating a new list with Bidier and Anthony we left for nats. Keep in mind I did not have a complete deck going into nationals I needed to get half my cards at the vendor. (Keep this fact in mind, its going to be important later on in this report)
We get to the venue and I have 15 minutes to complete my deck and hand in my deck-list. I fill in my deck list within 10 minutes and buy the rest of my deck within a safe amount of time. My team came clutch again and Matt was able to find me enough mewtwos for my hypothetical deck list.
By the end of this chaos my quad entie deck was nothing like the lists I saw online or had originally built 3 weeks prior, it was so teched out it was almost not even an entie deck anymore. I addressed all the decks original problems to deal with mewtwos and speed darkrais. I also removed all flip cards in general; I scrapped all hammers and used ultra balls over dual.
I don’t remember the exact numbers, but we were informed that it was 8 rounds and top 32.
Tournament Report
Game 1 – Don (Accelgor/gothitelle/dodrio/sunflora/disruption trainers)
one factor that saved me this game was attaching eviolite to my enties before gothitelle was set-up. By the time he had the lock going I had attacked his gothitelle with a burn attack before he set-up his dodrio. This is huge because this turn he finally missed a switch or junk arm he had to leave his gothitelle active. With Burn it died coming back onto my turn. This gave me access to catchers and healing cards. I removed all damage that had been caused by deck and cover. Knowing this was my only turn with catcher I contemplated what to kill. I decided to kill the doduo which paid off huge. Because he used all his switches and junk arms early game even when he was able to deck and cover his gothitelle was inevitably going to die. He couldn’t keep up with the gothitelles any longer and once I had access to catchers + healing again I took the last 3 prizes in 3 turns. Great game Don! If it wasn’t for my eviolites I definitely would have been screwed.
1-0
Game 2- Gino (Zekeels)
Zekeels is probably my favorite matchup because they don’t do a lot of damage, they have constant streams of damage which doesn’t add up to a lot when you factor in with potions and eviolite it would take up to 4-5hko on one entie. I set-up my first entie and proceeded to kill his eels. As a desperation move he sent up mewtwo and celebration winded enough energy to kill my entie. I retaliated with my surprise mewtwo which sealed the game. We always seem to have really thorough long drawn out games.
2-0
Game 3 – Kyruem/exp share + techs
As soon as he flipped over Kyruem I knew I was in trouble. I completely factored this deck out of my testing regiment. I came up with an on the spot strategy which was to catcher everything that didn’t have energies and do constant streams of burns or 90’s depending on which kyruem it was. While slowly getting a lot of energies on the board. A couple of surprise shaymins costed me prizes but I was able to shaymin all my board energies onto a massive mewtwo + N. my strategy worked and I was able to ohko both his kyruem ex’s. Great game and it was nice to see you cheering me on later on day 2.
3-0
Game 4 – Alaric (ex’s + vileplume)
Alaric always plays innovative decks so it didn’t surprise me when I found out he was playing another really cool deck. He drew dead for 3 turns which allowed me to set-up my back up attackers + techs for the late game against his heavy ex’s. When he was finally able to setup the vileplume + reunculus my constant streams of 90 damage finally caught up and he was forced to sack a bunch of Pokémon with damage swap. I was able to take the last two prizes with a celebration wind onto a fresh mewtwo. Good Game Alaric, I always enjoy playing you and your creative decks.
4-0
Game 5 – Laurence (zekeels)
For some reason this game I was unable to find my catchers so I couldn’t use my normal game plan of just tanking and killing eels. Instead I was forced to set-up kills on zekrom thundurus. What saved me this round was the fact that I baited him with an entie with no energy. I knew it was a risky play but I played a dry entie knowing I could switch/max potion it next turn. He didn’t have an N and he took the bait, he was surprised 2 out of the 3 cards in hand were switch + max potion and I was able to charge my bench entie while killing his active attackers. By the time he finally used the mewtwo strategy it was too late in the game and I had everything set-up to retaliate it the next turn. The quote of the match was definitely “wait…did you just heal 200 damage?”. Great game Laurence, you were really nice to play against.
5-0
Game 6 – Mike (zekeels)
Turn 1 he needed to juniper a dead hand with an eel. This was significant later on in the game because after I killed his first eel, he realized that the one I killed + the one he discarded + the one that was prized he was just playing zekrom now. With no eels this matchup is anything but fair, by the time he does have enough energies to attack I can set my board up to clear any damage he does for the rest of the game. Good game Mike, very funny and humorous even in defeat.
6-0
Game 7 – Edward (Tornadus ex + terrakion + Landorous + Mewtwo + hammers, hammers and hammers)
This game was a mess from start to finish. I think he might have missed one crushing hammer the entire game so I virtually had no energies ever on my board. With no acceleration I couldn’t keep up once he set-up. I was never remotely close to taking a prize and he kills my last entie via mewtwo.
6-1
Game 8 – Simon (Darkrai)
He goes first and gets the t2 spear on my entie. I survive the early onslaught thanks to max potions while charging various Pokémon. When I’ve finally stabilized I decide to shaymin all my energies onto a fresh entie and take control of the game. Even with scoop-ups and max potions he cant afford to 3hko an entie. He decides to start a mewtwo war by killing my entie via celebration wind(déjà vu?) I retaliate the mewtwo with my own and the prizes are at 2-3 for me. His board consists of smeargle , shaymin, darkrai (90 damage). He promotes smeargle and he is able to hit a scoop-up. He picks up the shaymin to my surprise and uses it for another mewtwo combination with dark patches. I monitor my resources pretty carefully but I was unsure if my last catcher to kill the darkrai was in the deck or in my remaining prizes. I energy search to look through my deck and confirm its there; I proceed to juniper my remaining deck and catcher his injured darkrai for game. Very exciting game.
7-1
Day 1 concludes with me in 4th place. I ask around an confirm I’m playing Terrakion/landours/Groudon in top 32.
Day 2
Earlier in this report I mentioned that I rushed writing my deck list and made on the spot modifications leaving my house + hoping in the car. Because I signed off on my deck list the series of events that occurred that morning made me realize how stupid/lazy someone can possibly be…
To start the morning I was super-confident, my deck was performing like I anticipated however all my good feelings when to shambles when the head judge asked to talk to me in private. She informed me that my deck-list was filled out wrong. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening. I couldn’t believe in 5 years of playing this game, after all the tournaments I’ve been too, the time when I finally make a mistake on writing a deck-list is going into Nationals top-cut. I’m so embarrassed and devastated I felt like I was eliminating myself from the tournament. She informs me that my punishment goes as followed: I had to replace cards not written down on my deck list with energies (1 entie and junk arm) as well as receiving game 1 loss in top 32. I never gave up though, despite all the frustrations I experienced this year, despite not finding a thorough deck in practice and despite this incident I still knew this didn’t change what I NEEDED to do. I NEEDED to make top4, no matter what happened. My friends immediately noticed a change in my disposition and attitude, I have never been so angry at myself before in my life. It was even more frustrating when word gets around to everyone and people constantly ask you “how could you make such a stupid mistake?”. I will never make an excuse for a mistake I make and this incident was solely based on my inability to have a deck ready until 9 am the day of. Live and learn.
TOP 32
AJ (Terrakion + Landoros + Groudon + Mewtwo)
Game 1: Deck-List Loss
Game 2: I start Terrakion and I draw dead for 4 turns. I’m forced to attach a fighting and fire energy to my terrakion and start catchering heavy retreaters to buy time. I finally hit a ultra ball and get a smeargle. I switch into smeargle and I am finally able to use a supporter. I bench an entie and the next turn I retreat smeargle into entie and celebration wind terrakions energies on him. I finally get my lock on him where I can heal off any damage he does. He surprises me with a mewtwo + celebration wind(feels like everyone played this combination today ahah) I am able to close this game with mewtwo retaliation + catcher on his damaged groudon.
Game3: we have opposite luck in retrospect to our last game. I start entie to his landorous. He doesn’t appear to have a supporter for numerous turns. By the time he finally retreats into a smeargle I’ve set up two enties with enough healing cards to suffice for the rest of this game. I win 6-0.
Good Game A.J
8-1
TOP 16
Fangda(Electrode + terrakion + zekrom + other techs)
Game1: I get an entie set-up and set-up bench back-up attackers + techs. I start feeling the after effects of the lack-of junk arms. I cant heal damage like my original list was intended to do. Because I cant heal my entie he kills it via energymite and bolt strike. I’m very hesitant but I don’t have a choice but to attack with mewtwo even with no backup plan. I start sweeping with mewtwo and become comfortable to estimate he doesn’t play mewtwo. By the time he finally kills the mewtwo my entie + potions are all set-up.
Game2:For some reason this game I could not find heavy balls/ ultra balls/ basic Pokémon. I had 2 enties all game, and even after countless supporters I cant get a third basic going. He kills my entie and even after I use all healing cards possible on the second one I cant keep up. I have no other Pokémon to charge with grand flame. I loose game 2.
Game3:I have a Dream start and start steamrolling + healing by turn 3. he never mounts anything serious on offense. A 0 energymite seals the game for me.
9-1
Now onto my most intense match of the day. I get stuck paired up against Matthew Koo, someone I play test with and someone who I’ve known since the beginning when I first started this game. Anyone who has bothered to read my reports in the past know I give a lot of credit to my team for my success and it sucks having to play my friend for a worlds invite.
TOP 8
Matt K. (CMTT)
Game1:By turn 2 he starts attacking with tornadus ex against my eviolited entie. As he attacks my entie I kill his celebis and any other cheap stuff as much as possible. We trade shots with power blast + grand flame, he comes out on top and retreats his injured tornadus ex. He engages the mewtwo war finally and the prizes are 4-4. I have a plan to catcher his 150 damage tornadus ex and kill it with entie and for the final two prizes x-ball the mewtwo. I promote smeargle and portrait + use my own juniper. At this point our decks are very thin (<5 cards) so our smeargles become useless. Despite having drew 14 cards I cant find a catcher and obviously no junk arms. I cant even surprise attack with my x-ball this turn because crucial cards remained in what was left in my deck. I’m forced to grand flame the mewtwo for 90. he attaches a DCE to the mewtwo and he has enough energy on board to ohko a eviolited Entie…ouch. I top-deck mewtwo and I am finally able to retaliate his mewtwo. However he had enough cards in hand to drop a mewtwo to x-ball for his last two prizes.
Game2: It went exactly like game 1, very careful plays as I heal any damage caused by his t1 tornadus ex. This game was progressed exactly like game 1 except he noticed his shaymin was prized so he couldn’t pull a celebration wind into a massive x-ball. Because he cant pull this move off I deny every prize with max potions + potions. By the time he finally gets the shaymin I have enough counters to win the mewtwo war.
Time is called as we are shuffling and we go to sudden death.
Game 3: He opens celebi to my entie. He goes first and rolls double tails on dual ball. He random receivers for N and he cant play it knowing we would go to one card each. It would be far too dangerous to him and his celebi in sudden death. He drops terrakion and Forrest breath + attaches to it. On my turn I attach to entie and eviolite him then pass. He has 3 cards in hand at this point and he plays junk arm for the random receiver and he gets a juniper. He junipers and plays sky arrow, eviolite (on celebi), tornadus ex + dce and hit me for 40. I energy search for a fire energy and have a crucial catcher to play. I can either trap the terrakion up or I can risk the burn flip on celebi where he can retreat for free if he does miss the flip. I decide to play it safe and catcher his terrakion and 30+ burn him. I also N to put us both at 1 card, the card I drew was a catcher. He draw passes and gets hit with burn. I draw and don’t draw the energy I need for game. I hit him again for 30 and he gets hit with burn again. The terrakion has a total of 100 damage. He draws and is able to retreat the terrakion with 3 energies (sky arrow) and hits me again for 40 with tornadus ex. I draw and catcher his terrakion for game.
10-1
Very bittersweet moment for me, I said something and I accomplished it. Despite all the obstacles I overcame everything and earned my spot at worlds yet again. But I knew how disappointed Matt was.
TOP 4
Zach L – Darkrai Mewtwo
These games were recorded. I will provide the link when they become available to me.
just as filler here are quick summary of what happened.
Game1:he engaged the mewtwo war. I competed but ultimately couldn’t finish.
Game2: despite t2 spear I am able to heal off damage and start my assault. About half way through the game he realizes his darkrais do no damage to me so he switches into mewtwo. I x-ball for game.
Game 3: Time is called and I kill a smeargle via burn damage. On his turn1 he hits me with night spear. I max potion my entie on turn 2 and on his turn 3 there is no way he can ohko me.
11-1
Great game Zach, you’re a fantastic player and these were probably our best games yet.
TOP 2
Mike – Zekeels + mewtwo’s
Links + commentary:
game 1 part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mNjYt92WGw&feature=plcp
game1 part2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlYUFroT3uA&feature=plcp
game2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-dYVztDcJg&feature=plcp
[filler]
Game1: we both set-up. I preserve my entie via potions while grand flaming his eels. He begins the mewtwo war and I finish it.
Game2: he draws completely dead….so dead he’s forced to attack with smeargle. Yes, I repeat smeargle. I make sure I get rid of my supporters via ultra ball and proceed to win within 4 turns
12-1 =)
There you have it!...I acknowledge the fact that some people might not respect the value of what was achieved, but I owe this victory + deck choice to the endless hours of play testing, to the frustrating nights, to the arguing, to the training partners, to the sacrifices my friends made to come here, to my team. No matter how frustrating this year has been, I’ve come out on top. This victory is as much mine as it to the people who’ve helped me get here. Geneses P, Anthony S, Matt K, Bidier J and Juan L have helped me immensely over the years and I know even when I’ve moved on from Pokémon I can always count on these guys.
I want to thank the tournament organizer + judging staff. You guys did a fantastic job as usual and you guys don’t get enough credit for the perfect tournaments that are run.
Last time I was in Hawaii I was eliminated in top 8 at worlds 2010. I have unfinished business there and I need some redemption for 2011 worlds.
Thanks again to anyone who took time out of there day to read my report. I appreciate all the support after the tournament up until now. Considering how I was brought into this game I truly believe anyone can succeed, you just have to want it more than the guy staring across from you.
Thanks,
CL
Pre-Tournament
I just want to start the report by thanking Matthew Koo, Bidier Jing, Geneses Pabuna and Anthony Sinclair for the endless hours of frustrating nights of testing. This victory was as much there’s as it was mine.
I am not trying to brag in this next passage, more-so express a series of frustrating events leading up to 2012 nationals. I have been playing for 5 years now and in the first four years playing there was literally one tournament (2009 eastern Canadian regionals) I didn’t top cut at. I’ve accomplished so much in the first four years I never thought I would do. With that being said, this 2012 year has been so frustrating for me. I did not top cut at any event in regards to 2 regionals, 2 states, cities marathon. I’ve had people come up to me telling me I’ve fallen off, I’ve been lucky…disregarding anything I’ve ever accomplished in this game so far. Half way through this pathetic season I slowly began realizing that the only way for me to go to worlds was going to be through nationals. I wanted the invite more than anything.
The lead up to nationals was that on the weekend of June 23rd I tested with the guys mentioned above. I really loved klingklang/vileplume I felt it had so many auto-wins and it is almost unbeatable in swiss. My only caveats with the deck were that top-cut was going to be incredibly hard; you were virtually playing against your opponent and time. I also brought a quad-entie I had tweaked. Any annoying cards you can think of were in my original list: Crushing hammers, lost removers, moo-moo milk, potion, and max potion….etc.
The deck suffered from some problems; the main problem with the entie deck was its inability to stop a mewtwo that had been celebration winded for 9-10 energies (you give up 4 prizes) the next problem was you lived and died with the flip cards in your deck. As mentioned above partly due to the reason I had lost so many games this year was because of cards like crushing hammer and dual-ball, too many of my games were decided based on dice rolls and I didn’t want to go into nationals playing a deck involving any flips.
The third deck I really considered playing was cmtt. It was very consistent and had solid matchups over every deck.
The week before nationals I had to rule out klingklang out of my equation. I knew I needed to get to top 4 and I couldn’t win 3 straight top cut matches with that deck. Ultimately it came down to quadentie or CMTT. The night before Nats was easily my most frustrating night of Pokémon ever, all my decks ideas were failing one after the other and it felt like I couldn’t win a game. It must have been 4 A.M when I was just so frustrated that I went to bed. I went to sleep knowing tomorrow I’m going to just pick up a standard/consistent darkrai deck we had been using in practice and just try and go in there 50/50 vs. the whole field.
I woke up at 7 A.M because I couldn’t sleep and I respect Bidier so much for doing this but I woke him up and begged him to play one game with me. Bidier didn’t hesitate and played what I wanted him to play. Part of my success in this game has been based off small tweaks or weird combinations to decks I thought were already popular (lost removers in luxchomp…healers in Plox). I played one game with Entie vs. a standard Darkrai list. I lost but I had all the information I needed to tweak the deck. After formulating a new list with Bidier and Anthony we left for nats. Keep in mind I did not have a complete deck going into nationals I needed to get half my cards at the vendor. (Keep this fact in mind, its going to be important later on in this report)
We get to the venue and I have 15 minutes to complete my deck and hand in my deck-list. I fill in my deck list within 10 minutes and buy the rest of my deck within a safe amount of time. My team came clutch again and Matt was able to find me enough mewtwos for my hypothetical deck list.
By the end of this chaos my quad entie deck was nothing like the lists I saw online or had originally built 3 weeks prior, it was so teched out it was almost not even an entie deck anymore. I addressed all the decks original problems to deal with mewtwos and speed darkrais. I also removed all flip cards in general; I scrapped all hammers and used ultra balls over dual.
I don’t remember the exact numbers, but we were informed that it was 8 rounds and top 32.
Tournament Report
Game 1 – Don (Accelgor/gothitelle/dodrio/sunflora/disruption trainers)
one factor that saved me this game was attaching eviolite to my enties before gothitelle was set-up. By the time he had the lock going I had attacked his gothitelle with a burn attack before he set-up his dodrio. This is huge because this turn he finally missed a switch or junk arm he had to leave his gothitelle active. With Burn it died coming back onto my turn. This gave me access to catchers and healing cards. I removed all damage that had been caused by deck and cover. Knowing this was my only turn with catcher I contemplated what to kill. I decided to kill the doduo which paid off huge. Because he used all his switches and junk arms early game even when he was able to deck and cover his gothitelle was inevitably going to die. He couldn’t keep up with the gothitelles any longer and once I had access to catchers + healing again I took the last 3 prizes in 3 turns. Great game Don! If it wasn’t for my eviolites I definitely would have been screwed.
1-0
Game 2- Gino (Zekeels)
Zekeels is probably my favorite matchup because they don’t do a lot of damage, they have constant streams of damage which doesn’t add up to a lot when you factor in with potions and eviolite it would take up to 4-5hko on one entie. I set-up my first entie and proceeded to kill his eels. As a desperation move he sent up mewtwo and celebration winded enough energy to kill my entie. I retaliated with my surprise mewtwo which sealed the game. We always seem to have really thorough long drawn out games.
2-0
Game 3 – Kyruem/exp share + techs
As soon as he flipped over Kyruem I knew I was in trouble. I completely factored this deck out of my testing regiment. I came up with an on the spot strategy which was to catcher everything that didn’t have energies and do constant streams of burns or 90’s depending on which kyruem it was. While slowly getting a lot of energies on the board. A couple of surprise shaymins costed me prizes but I was able to shaymin all my board energies onto a massive mewtwo + N. my strategy worked and I was able to ohko both his kyruem ex’s. Great game and it was nice to see you cheering me on later on day 2.
3-0
Game 4 – Alaric (ex’s + vileplume)
Alaric always plays innovative decks so it didn’t surprise me when I found out he was playing another really cool deck. He drew dead for 3 turns which allowed me to set-up my back up attackers + techs for the late game against his heavy ex’s. When he was finally able to setup the vileplume + reunculus my constant streams of 90 damage finally caught up and he was forced to sack a bunch of Pokémon with damage swap. I was able to take the last two prizes with a celebration wind onto a fresh mewtwo. Good Game Alaric, I always enjoy playing you and your creative decks.
4-0
Game 5 – Laurence (zekeels)
For some reason this game I was unable to find my catchers so I couldn’t use my normal game plan of just tanking and killing eels. Instead I was forced to set-up kills on zekrom thundurus. What saved me this round was the fact that I baited him with an entie with no energy. I knew it was a risky play but I played a dry entie knowing I could switch/max potion it next turn. He didn’t have an N and he took the bait, he was surprised 2 out of the 3 cards in hand were switch + max potion and I was able to charge my bench entie while killing his active attackers. By the time he finally used the mewtwo strategy it was too late in the game and I had everything set-up to retaliate it the next turn. The quote of the match was definitely “wait…did you just heal 200 damage?”. Great game Laurence, you were really nice to play against.
5-0
Game 6 – Mike (zekeels)
Turn 1 he needed to juniper a dead hand with an eel. This was significant later on in the game because after I killed his first eel, he realized that the one I killed + the one he discarded + the one that was prized he was just playing zekrom now. With no eels this matchup is anything but fair, by the time he does have enough energies to attack I can set my board up to clear any damage he does for the rest of the game. Good game Mike, very funny and humorous even in defeat.
6-0
Game 7 – Edward (Tornadus ex + terrakion + Landorous + Mewtwo + hammers, hammers and hammers)
This game was a mess from start to finish. I think he might have missed one crushing hammer the entire game so I virtually had no energies ever on my board. With no acceleration I couldn’t keep up once he set-up. I was never remotely close to taking a prize and he kills my last entie via mewtwo.
6-1
Game 8 – Simon (Darkrai)
He goes first and gets the t2 spear on my entie. I survive the early onslaught thanks to max potions while charging various Pokémon. When I’ve finally stabilized I decide to shaymin all my energies onto a fresh entie and take control of the game. Even with scoop-ups and max potions he cant afford to 3hko an entie. He decides to start a mewtwo war by killing my entie via celebration wind(déjà vu?) I retaliate the mewtwo with my own and the prizes are at 2-3 for me. His board consists of smeargle , shaymin, darkrai (90 damage). He promotes smeargle and he is able to hit a scoop-up. He picks up the shaymin to my surprise and uses it for another mewtwo combination with dark patches. I monitor my resources pretty carefully but I was unsure if my last catcher to kill the darkrai was in the deck or in my remaining prizes. I energy search to look through my deck and confirm its there; I proceed to juniper my remaining deck and catcher his injured darkrai for game. Very exciting game.
7-1
Day 1 concludes with me in 4th place. I ask around an confirm I’m playing Terrakion/landours/Groudon in top 32.
Day 2
Earlier in this report I mentioned that I rushed writing my deck list and made on the spot modifications leaving my house + hoping in the car. Because I signed off on my deck list the series of events that occurred that morning made me realize how stupid/lazy someone can possibly be…
To start the morning I was super-confident, my deck was performing like I anticipated however all my good feelings when to shambles when the head judge asked to talk to me in private. She informed me that my deck-list was filled out wrong. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening. I couldn’t believe in 5 years of playing this game, after all the tournaments I’ve been too, the time when I finally make a mistake on writing a deck-list is going into Nationals top-cut. I’m so embarrassed and devastated I felt like I was eliminating myself from the tournament. She informs me that my punishment goes as followed: I had to replace cards not written down on my deck list with energies (1 entie and junk arm) as well as receiving game 1 loss in top 32. I never gave up though, despite all the frustrations I experienced this year, despite not finding a thorough deck in practice and despite this incident I still knew this didn’t change what I NEEDED to do. I NEEDED to make top4, no matter what happened. My friends immediately noticed a change in my disposition and attitude, I have never been so angry at myself before in my life. It was even more frustrating when word gets around to everyone and people constantly ask you “how could you make such a stupid mistake?”. I will never make an excuse for a mistake I make and this incident was solely based on my inability to have a deck ready until 9 am the day of. Live and learn.
TOP 32
AJ (Terrakion + Landoros + Groudon + Mewtwo)
Game 1: Deck-List Loss
Game 2: I start Terrakion and I draw dead for 4 turns. I’m forced to attach a fighting and fire energy to my terrakion and start catchering heavy retreaters to buy time. I finally hit a ultra ball and get a smeargle. I switch into smeargle and I am finally able to use a supporter. I bench an entie and the next turn I retreat smeargle into entie and celebration wind terrakions energies on him. I finally get my lock on him where I can heal off any damage he does. He surprises me with a mewtwo + celebration wind(feels like everyone played this combination today ahah) I am able to close this game with mewtwo retaliation + catcher on his damaged groudon.
Game3: we have opposite luck in retrospect to our last game. I start entie to his landorous. He doesn’t appear to have a supporter for numerous turns. By the time he finally retreats into a smeargle I’ve set up two enties with enough healing cards to suffice for the rest of this game. I win 6-0.
Good Game A.J
8-1
TOP 16
Fangda(Electrode + terrakion + zekrom + other techs)
Game1: I get an entie set-up and set-up bench back-up attackers + techs. I start feeling the after effects of the lack-of junk arms. I cant heal damage like my original list was intended to do. Because I cant heal my entie he kills it via energymite and bolt strike. I’m very hesitant but I don’t have a choice but to attack with mewtwo even with no backup plan. I start sweeping with mewtwo and become comfortable to estimate he doesn’t play mewtwo. By the time he finally kills the mewtwo my entie + potions are all set-up.
Game2:For some reason this game I could not find heavy balls/ ultra balls/ basic Pokémon. I had 2 enties all game, and even after countless supporters I cant get a third basic going. He kills my entie and even after I use all healing cards possible on the second one I cant keep up. I have no other Pokémon to charge with grand flame. I loose game 2.
Game3:I have a Dream start and start steamrolling + healing by turn 3. he never mounts anything serious on offense. A 0 energymite seals the game for me.
9-1
Now onto my most intense match of the day. I get stuck paired up against Matthew Koo, someone I play test with and someone who I’ve known since the beginning when I first started this game. Anyone who has bothered to read my reports in the past know I give a lot of credit to my team for my success and it sucks having to play my friend for a worlds invite.
TOP 8
Matt K. (CMTT)
Game1:By turn 2 he starts attacking with tornadus ex against my eviolited entie. As he attacks my entie I kill his celebis and any other cheap stuff as much as possible. We trade shots with power blast + grand flame, he comes out on top and retreats his injured tornadus ex. He engages the mewtwo war finally and the prizes are 4-4. I have a plan to catcher his 150 damage tornadus ex and kill it with entie and for the final two prizes x-ball the mewtwo. I promote smeargle and portrait + use my own juniper. At this point our decks are very thin (<5 cards) so our smeargles become useless. Despite having drew 14 cards I cant find a catcher and obviously no junk arms. I cant even surprise attack with my x-ball this turn because crucial cards remained in what was left in my deck. I’m forced to grand flame the mewtwo for 90. he attaches a DCE to the mewtwo and he has enough energy on board to ohko a eviolited Entie…ouch. I top-deck mewtwo and I am finally able to retaliate his mewtwo. However he had enough cards in hand to drop a mewtwo to x-ball for his last two prizes.
Game2: It went exactly like game 1, very careful plays as I heal any damage caused by his t1 tornadus ex. This game was progressed exactly like game 1 except he noticed his shaymin was prized so he couldn’t pull a celebration wind into a massive x-ball. Because he cant pull this move off I deny every prize with max potions + potions. By the time he finally gets the shaymin I have enough counters to win the mewtwo war.
Time is called as we are shuffling and we go to sudden death.
Game 3: He opens celebi to my entie. He goes first and rolls double tails on dual ball. He random receivers for N and he cant play it knowing we would go to one card each. It would be far too dangerous to him and his celebi in sudden death. He drops terrakion and Forrest breath + attaches to it. On my turn I attach to entie and eviolite him then pass. He has 3 cards in hand at this point and he plays junk arm for the random receiver and he gets a juniper. He junipers and plays sky arrow, eviolite (on celebi), tornadus ex + dce and hit me for 40. I energy search for a fire energy and have a crucial catcher to play. I can either trap the terrakion up or I can risk the burn flip on celebi where he can retreat for free if he does miss the flip. I decide to play it safe and catcher his terrakion and 30+ burn him. I also N to put us both at 1 card, the card I drew was a catcher. He draw passes and gets hit with burn. I draw and don’t draw the energy I need for game. I hit him again for 30 and he gets hit with burn again. The terrakion has a total of 100 damage. He draws and is able to retreat the terrakion with 3 energies (sky arrow) and hits me again for 40 with tornadus ex. I draw and catcher his terrakion for game.
10-1
Very bittersweet moment for me, I said something and I accomplished it. Despite all the obstacles I overcame everything and earned my spot at worlds yet again. But I knew how disappointed Matt was.
TOP 4
Zach L – Darkrai Mewtwo
These games were recorded. I will provide the link when they become available to me.
just as filler here are quick summary of what happened.
Game1:he engaged the mewtwo war. I competed but ultimately couldn’t finish.
Game2: despite t2 spear I am able to heal off damage and start my assault. About half way through the game he realizes his darkrais do no damage to me so he switches into mewtwo. I x-ball for game.
Game 3: Time is called and I kill a smeargle via burn damage. On his turn1 he hits me with night spear. I max potion my entie on turn 2 and on his turn 3 there is no way he can ohko me.
11-1
Great game Zach, you’re a fantastic player and these were probably our best games yet.
TOP 2
Mike – Zekeels + mewtwo’s
Links + commentary:
game 1 part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mNjYt92WGw&feature=plcp
game1 part2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlYUFroT3uA&feature=plcp
game2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-dYVztDcJg&feature=plcp
[filler]
Game1: we both set-up. I preserve my entie via potions while grand flaming his eels. He begins the mewtwo war and I finish it.
Game2: he draws completely dead….so dead he’s forced to attack with smeargle. Yes, I repeat smeargle. I make sure I get rid of my supporters via ultra ball and proceed to win within 4 turns
12-1 =)
There you have it!...I acknowledge the fact that some people might not respect the value of what was achieved, but I owe this victory + deck choice to the endless hours of play testing, to the frustrating nights, to the arguing, to the training partners, to the sacrifices my friends made to come here, to my team. No matter how frustrating this year has been, I’ve come out on top. This victory is as much mine as it to the people who’ve helped me get here. Geneses P, Anthony S, Matt K, Bidier J and Juan L have helped me immensely over the years and I know even when I’ve moved on from Pokémon I can always count on these guys.
I want to thank the tournament organizer + judging staff. You guys did a fantastic job as usual and you guys don’t get enough credit for the perfect tournaments that are run.
Last time I was in Hawaii I was eliminated in top 8 at worlds 2010. I have unfinished business there and I need some redemption for 2011 worlds.
Thanks again to anyone who took time out of there day to read my report. I appreciate all the support after the tournament up until now. Considering how I was brought into this game I truly believe anyone can succeed, you just have to want it more than the guy staring across from you.
Thanks,
CL
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