ugly psyducky
<a href="http://pokegym.net/forums/showpost.php?p=
This would be the fourth Cities attended by myself and my eldest Son. I've played Speed Donphan in the first Cities and Switched to ZPST for the second two. My son in Senior's had put together a Lanturn deck to run at all of these Cities and after a very rocky 0-5 start with it (because of forgetting Switches), had finished T4 and fifth with it. He wanted my ZPST as he was tired of getting rolled by Durant, so we switched for the final tournament. So I was running Lanturn / Eelektrik / Stunfisk. I removed 1 Plus Power for a Lost Remover for the Durant match-up (probably a good move...)
Round 1: David John - ZPST
David was my round 1 opponent in the first Cities I played in and I managed to lose with Speed Donphan versus Magnezone/Eelektrik, so I'm not feeling like my luck has changed greatly. Clear from his openning that he's playing ZPST and given that I've warmed up against this deck, I feel pretty comfortable that this game should go my way. I can't draw into energy for the first two turns (despite there being 14 such cards in my deck) and he quickly snipes both my Cleffa and zero retreat Tynamo, which puts me in a deep hole. I do manage to get my Eel set up T2 and power up my tech'd Zekrom to pull back even. Eventually I draw into Fliptini with Stunfisk on my bench with 1 energy. I get the three Energy's on Stunfisk, drop Victini and Catcher up his fully powered Zekrom with three energies on it (all of his energy in play with his bench full and Two Seekers played). I have Plus Power in my hand, but Sage's fails to get me a critical Junk arm, so I need to rely on hitting Paralysis (it's 75% chance). Of course double tails. He knocks out my first Stunfisk with Zekrom leaving him with two prize cards to my four. I'm forced to knock it out with Ram from Chinchou while setting up my second Stunfisk, but he quickly set's up his last Zekrom with a Pachi drop and a sucessful Super Scoop on Shaymin. He Bolt Strikes the Chincho leaving me with no choice but to find out how to kill the Zekrom (again the only thing with energy in the field). With only the opportunity to get two energies on Stunfisk, it's going to require me to hit two heads. My hand is Fisk, Junk Arm, Collector, L. Energy and Juniper. So I drop the Fisk, attach the energy to it and Dynamotor. I'm left with a dilema, there's 15 cards in my deck with 2 Junk Arms and 1 Switch in it. My active doesn't have the energy to retreat, so I need to be able to play switch to have a chance. I can discard the Collector and the Juniper and get the switch, but that leaves me at the Mercy of the Top Deck to see what I can get to recover. So I choose to Juniper with the Collector and Junk Arm, and whiff on the Switch / Junk Arm, so I loose. For fun (or to punish myself further) I flip the two dice to see what would have happened, two heads of course. (0-1)
Round 2: Jeff B. - Durant
Jeff's been playing Durant throughout the entire Cities circuit he's been bringing his son around to, so I pretty much no what to expect. Given the trouble this deck has had against Durant and the fact Quinn and I had worked out the ideal anti-Durant strategy, I settle in for what I know isn't going to be the most exciting match. Pretty much the strategy revolves around showing Zekrom as an early threat, getting the opponent to bench a Coballion and then Catchering it up and making it unable to retreat by Lost Removing any Special Energy added to it. Even more key is to just keep even in prize cards so that the Durant player can never play Twins until both Zekroms are set-up starving the Durant player for both Revives and Energy.
He benches a Coballion as soon as I put Zekrom in play and I proceed to wait until he has two Special Enegies on it before I unleash my first Lost Remover with two Junk arms in hand. We play about 25 minutes without either of us taking a prize card, primarily because I can't get an Eel set up and hence set up for a certain prize every turn. Eventually the turn he puts the third basic energy on Coballion (with Evolite) I take it down with a Bolt Strike with two Plus powers. Time is called one turn later and I still have a third of my deck left. I take one more prize before the +3 turn. (1-1)
Round 3: Marcel L. -TyRam
Marcel has been the player whose had my number over the past 3 years. He's a PokeDad like me, but of course his son is the 2010 World's Champ, so he's always a challenge. The last time I actually beat him in a match was in a 2007 Battle Roads and I think I've lost to him at least six or seven times since then. This time however the match is clearly in my favour. I'm not sure whether he knew ahead of time exactly how devastating Lanturn is against TyRam, but after T1, I took down a Pokemon every turn with Underwater Dive + Powerful Spark. (2-1)
Round 4: Slav
Third round in a row versus a PokeDad like myself. He starts Coballion, I use same strategy as R2, but have a much quicker set-up. As a result at T5/T6, I have a fully powered Zekrom and two Lanturns, so I move to start taking prizes. He makes the mistake of Catchering a 1 retreating Pokemon rather than my Eel (I had a DCE in hand just in case, but it was my last one). Eventually he does Catcher and Eel and play N when I have 1 card in hand, but I draw into a Junk arm and a turn later I have enough cards in hand to get my Switch for the final KO (which I get on the +3 turn).
After the Swiss rounds are over, I understand that there are 4 3-1's along with 1 4-0, so one person isn't making T4. And well when the standings go up I'm 5th. Kent goes on to win the first ever Acton Cities. Congrats to all...
Round 1: David John - ZPST
David was my round 1 opponent in the first Cities I played in and I managed to lose with Speed Donphan versus Magnezone/Eelektrik, so I'm not feeling like my luck has changed greatly. Clear from his openning that he's playing ZPST and given that I've warmed up against this deck, I feel pretty comfortable that this game should go my way. I can't draw into energy for the first two turns (despite there being 14 such cards in my deck) and he quickly snipes both my Cleffa and zero retreat Tynamo, which puts me in a deep hole. I do manage to get my Eel set up T2 and power up my tech'd Zekrom to pull back even. Eventually I draw into Fliptini with Stunfisk on my bench with 1 energy. I get the three Energy's on Stunfisk, drop Victini and Catcher up his fully powered Zekrom with three energies on it (all of his energy in play with his bench full and Two Seekers played). I have Plus Power in my hand, but Sage's fails to get me a critical Junk arm, so I need to rely on hitting Paralysis (it's 75% chance). Of course double tails. He knocks out my first Stunfisk with Zekrom leaving him with two prize cards to my four. I'm forced to knock it out with Ram from Chinchou while setting up my second Stunfisk, but he quickly set's up his last Zekrom with a Pachi drop and a sucessful Super Scoop on Shaymin. He Bolt Strikes the Chincho leaving me with no choice but to find out how to kill the Zekrom (again the only thing with energy in the field). With only the opportunity to get two energies on Stunfisk, it's going to require me to hit two heads. My hand is Fisk, Junk Arm, Collector, L. Energy and Juniper. So I drop the Fisk, attach the energy to it and Dynamotor. I'm left with a dilema, there's 15 cards in my deck with 2 Junk Arms and 1 Switch in it. My active doesn't have the energy to retreat, so I need to be able to play switch to have a chance. I can discard the Collector and the Juniper and get the switch, but that leaves me at the Mercy of the Top Deck to see what I can get to recover. So I choose to Juniper with the Collector and Junk Arm, and whiff on the Switch / Junk Arm, so I loose. For fun (or to punish myself further) I flip the two dice to see what would have happened, two heads of course. (0-1)
Round 2: Jeff B. - Durant
Jeff's been playing Durant throughout the entire Cities circuit he's been bringing his son around to, so I pretty much no what to expect. Given the trouble this deck has had against Durant and the fact Quinn and I had worked out the ideal anti-Durant strategy, I settle in for what I know isn't going to be the most exciting match. Pretty much the strategy revolves around showing Zekrom as an early threat, getting the opponent to bench a Coballion and then Catchering it up and making it unable to retreat by Lost Removing any Special Energy added to it. Even more key is to just keep even in prize cards so that the Durant player can never play Twins until both Zekroms are set-up starving the Durant player for both Revives and Energy.
He benches a Coballion as soon as I put Zekrom in play and I proceed to wait until he has two Special Enegies on it before I unleash my first Lost Remover with two Junk arms in hand. We play about 25 minutes without either of us taking a prize card, primarily because I can't get an Eel set up and hence set up for a certain prize every turn. Eventually the turn he puts the third basic energy on Coballion (with Evolite) I take it down with a Bolt Strike with two Plus powers. Time is called one turn later and I still have a third of my deck left. I take one more prize before the +3 turn. (1-1)
Round 3: Marcel L. -TyRam
Marcel has been the player whose had my number over the past 3 years. He's a PokeDad like me, but of course his son is the 2010 World's Champ, so he's always a challenge. The last time I actually beat him in a match was in a 2007 Battle Roads and I think I've lost to him at least six or seven times since then. This time however the match is clearly in my favour. I'm not sure whether he knew ahead of time exactly how devastating Lanturn is against TyRam, but after T1, I took down a Pokemon every turn with Underwater Dive + Powerful Spark. (2-1)
Round 4: Slav
Third round in a row versus a PokeDad like myself. He starts Coballion, I use same strategy as R2, but have a much quicker set-up. As a result at T5/T6, I have a fully powered Zekrom and two Lanturns, so I move to start taking prizes. He makes the mistake of Catchering a 1 retreating Pokemon rather than my Eel (I had a DCE in hand just in case, but it was my last one). Eventually he does Catcher and Eel and play N when I have 1 card in hand, but I draw into a Junk arm and a turn later I have enough cards in hand to get my Switch for the final KO (which I get on the +3 turn).
After the Swiss rounds are over, I understand that there are 4 3-1's along with 1 4-0, so one person isn't making T4. And well when the standings go up I'm 5th. Kent goes on to win the first ever Acton Cities. Congrats to all...