Hey everybody! I debated for a long time about writing a nationals report, but I’ve decided to write a report with a twist. I’ll quickly recap how nationals went for me, then I’ll discuss the things I learned from nationals, and finally I’ll give a list of all the decks I’ve played in the last 1.5 years before the format was rotated to HGSS – on. 
This was my first nationals, and my first full year of play (last year I missed spring BRs and Nats because I was out of the country). After testing Donphan/Samurott for about 1,000,000 games (well…about 175) I was feeling SUPER confident in it. . . then Canadian Nationals happened. Yanmega absolutely wrecks this deck. So after much debate, playtesting, and consultation with team Missing No. I decided...or was convinced…that Yanmega Donphan was the play.
I went 5-4 with Yanmega/Donphan beating Scizor/Steelix, Zekrom, Yanmega/Magnezone, Typhlosion/Reshiram, and Feraligatr/Samurott, while losing to Emboar/Reshiram, Yanmega/Magnezone, MewGar, and MagneBoar. I played against some really good players and ran into a weird string of events early tournament that put me a 1-3 after 4 rounds…which was a strange feeling to say the least.
The after tournament was really fun. I played the same Yanmega/Donphan deck and went 5-1 finishing 18th place, with my only loss coming to Austin Baggs, who evened up our head to head record from the GA marathon! I’m just glad we got to play…it’s always a lot of fun to play against Austin.
The best part of the weekend was hanging out with Erik, Paige, Kevin, Ryan, Zach, Candace, and Jonathan. Go team Missing No.! Kevin ended up getting top 64, Erik went 6-3 and missed cut on resistance, and Ryan went 6-3 with Reshiram/Typhlosion and missed b/c of resistance, I think Zach and Candace were 5-4 and Jonathan got top 128.
I actually learned quite a lot at nationals, and something that I had lost along the way clicked again after going 1-3 to start the tournament. While 1-3, I called home just to vent a bout “that string of weird events” which I felt heavily impacted my start. This might sound weird, but while talking to my mom she suggested (in a round about way) that I focus my game play solely on interacting with my opponent’s side of the field, rather than playing against my opponent. This advice might sound strange, but it makes TOTAL sense. Sometimes in pokemon (or any game) it can be easy to get caught up in KOing your opponent’s main attacker and turning the game into a prize race, rather than figuring out what you need to do in order to WIN the game. I’ll explain what I mean with an example:
Let’s say I’m playing against reshiram/typhlosion. My opponent has a Reshiram active with 1 energy and 3 damage counters, and benched Ninetails, Typhlosion, Reshiram, Quilava, and Cleffa. We each have 5 prizes left and it’s my turn. I have a Yanmega active with a Yanma, Phanpy, and Donphan with 2 Energy on the bench. I have 1 energy, 1 reversal, 3 other cards, and 1 junk arm in hand. I COULD attack Reshiram and try to get a 2 hit KO on the Reshiram (which would be a total misplay made out of fear about my opponent’s ability to attack…) OR I could attempt to reversal up quilava (or ninetails depending on the situation) and KO it with Donphan’s heavy impact. Obviously this would be the correct play if one was attempting to win the game based on the opponent’s side of the field. Your opponent can’t attack with Typhlosion anymore because it can’t be powered up in 1 turn since Quilava was KO’d, Reshiram would take 10 more damage from afterburner next turn (putting it up to 4 damage counters), hit Donphan for 100 , then Donphan would get the KO with Heavy Impact causing a huge swing in the game momentum.
Now, that was a rough example which didn’t account for PlusPower’s and more reversal flips, etc., but the point is, you have to look past the turn you're on and figure out the best way to approach your opponent’s deck as a whole. It is a wise decision to take about 10-15 seconds during your first or second turn to map out a plan of interaction with your opponent’s deck, based on what he or she is playing, and make your moves based on that strategy. This allows you to have a plan to take 6 prizes, rather than just trading prizes and hoping to get lucky. This seems like common sense, but I can not tell you how many times I have playtested a matchup where my opponent’s are either using Yanmega or I am using Yanmega, there’s a baby on the field, and they either KO it or assume I will KO it. Normally (and there are some exceptions) that play makes no sense, and stems from an inability to see the future of the game. Babies are a guaranteed prize, so try to place damage counters on critical pokemon…don’t take a prize just because it’s there, especially when the prize will be there later in the game. It’s all about putting yourself in the best position to win the game. Ya’ feel me?? This is something I used to do, but for some reason just lost it in the past few tournaments. After that advice, and counting the after tournament, I was 9-2 with the deck because I could SEE the end of the game around turn 2. Nothing like a mom who doesn’t play pokemon to remind you of the core principle of game play, haha.
Another thing I learned was my style of deck play. I like decks that have options and do cool things (like Salamence Lv. X with Delcatty and Salamence AR). Donphan Yanmega was an awesome deck, and will continue to be so (and I’ll keep playing it!) but I think it’s a little bit too straightforward for my own personal taste.
I learned 2 things about deck building while at this tournament. 1. When building a deck, don’t impulse build. Think about each card you put in a deck, and slow down the deck building process. 2. General tech rules: Counter your worst matchup and win the mirror match. It’s not wise to try and counter every single deck in the format. I call that “SP syndrome.” Here’s an example…I was using a Bouffalant tech in my Yanmega Donphan to counter RDL (which I only saw once all tourney and lost anyway after he reversaled up my Bouffalant). Now, my deck is fast and already counters Magnezone…so I really shouldn’t have worried about Bouffalant toooo much (I know opinions will be split on that one). However, Kingdra Prime gives me quite a bit of trouble, and it's one of the most popular techs in the format. In retrospect I should have played 1 reshiram instead of the 1 bouffalant to neutralize Kingdra. I did this in the after tourney and it won me a game.
Finally, here’s a list of all the decks I’ve played since Fall Battle Roads 2009 in chronological order!!
Gengar SF
Salamence/Kingdra
Salamence/Delcatty
Machamp
Dark Flygon
LuxChomp w/Blaze
Kingdra/Machamp
Aggro Typhlosion
Steelix
VileGar
LuxChomp w/Dialga
Kyogre-Groudon Legend
Samurott/Donphan
Yanmega/Donphan.
Well there ya go! I would love to see all the decks you guys have played the past few seasons too!
Props:
Team Missing No. - I had a great time with you guys, and I'm looking forward to next season!
Dominion
Adventure Time
Ryan T.
David G for sending cards
Mom - for great advice
Slops:
Crowded rooms
Underperforming
This was my first nationals, and my first full year of play (last year I missed spring BRs and Nats because I was out of the country). After testing Donphan/Samurott for about 1,000,000 games (well…about 175) I was feeling SUPER confident in it. . . then Canadian Nationals happened. Yanmega absolutely wrecks this deck. So after much debate, playtesting, and consultation with team Missing No. I decided...or was convinced…that Yanmega Donphan was the play.
I went 5-4 with Yanmega/Donphan beating Scizor/Steelix, Zekrom, Yanmega/Magnezone, Typhlosion/Reshiram, and Feraligatr/Samurott, while losing to Emboar/Reshiram, Yanmega/Magnezone, MewGar, and MagneBoar. I played against some really good players and ran into a weird string of events early tournament that put me a 1-3 after 4 rounds…which was a strange feeling to say the least.
The after tournament was really fun. I played the same Yanmega/Donphan deck and went 5-1 finishing 18th place, with my only loss coming to Austin Baggs, who evened up our head to head record from the GA marathon! I’m just glad we got to play…it’s always a lot of fun to play against Austin.
The best part of the weekend was hanging out with Erik, Paige, Kevin, Ryan, Zach, Candace, and Jonathan. Go team Missing No.! Kevin ended up getting top 64, Erik went 6-3 and missed cut on resistance, and Ryan went 6-3 with Reshiram/Typhlosion and missed b/c of resistance, I think Zach and Candace were 5-4 and Jonathan got top 128.
I actually learned quite a lot at nationals, and something that I had lost along the way clicked again after going 1-3 to start the tournament. While 1-3, I called home just to vent a bout “that string of weird events” which I felt heavily impacted my start. This might sound weird, but while talking to my mom she suggested (in a round about way) that I focus my game play solely on interacting with my opponent’s side of the field, rather than playing against my opponent. This advice might sound strange, but it makes TOTAL sense. Sometimes in pokemon (or any game) it can be easy to get caught up in KOing your opponent’s main attacker and turning the game into a prize race, rather than figuring out what you need to do in order to WIN the game. I’ll explain what I mean with an example:
Let’s say I’m playing against reshiram/typhlosion. My opponent has a Reshiram active with 1 energy and 3 damage counters, and benched Ninetails, Typhlosion, Reshiram, Quilava, and Cleffa. We each have 5 prizes left and it’s my turn. I have a Yanmega active with a Yanma, Phanpy, and Donphan with 2 Energy on the bench. I have 1 energy, 1 reversal, 3 other cards, and 1 junk arm in hand. I COULD attack Reshiram and try to get a 2 hit KO on the Reshiram (which would be a total misplay made out of fear about my opponent’s ability to attack…) OR I could attempt to reversal up quilava (or ninetails depending on the situation) and KO it with Donphan’s heavy impact. Obviously this would be the correct play if one was attempting to win the game based on the opponent’s side of the field. Your opponent can’t attack with Typhlosion anymore because it can’t be powered up in 1 turn since Quilava was KO’d, Reshiram would take 10 more damage from afterburner next turn (putting it up to 4 damage counters), hit Donphan for 100 , then Donphan would get the KO with Heavy Impact causing a huge swing in the game momentum.
Now, that was a rough example which didn’t account for PlusPower’s and more reversal flips, etc., but the point is, you have to look past the turn you're on and figure out the best way to approach your opponent’s deck as a whole. It is a wise decision to take about 10-15 seconds during your first or second turn to map out a plan of interaction with your opponent’s deck, based on what he or she is playing, and make your moves based on that strategy. This allows you to have a plan to take 6 prizes, rather than just trading prizes and hoping to get lucky. This seems like common sense, but I can not tell you how many times I have playtested a matchup where my opponent’s are either using Yanmega or I am using Yanmega, there’s a baby on the field, and they either KO it or assume I will KO it. Normally (and there are some exceptions) that play makes no sense, and stems from an inability to see the future of the game. Babies are a guaranteed prize, so try to place damage counters on critical pokemon…don’t take a prize just because it’s there, especially when the prize will be there later in the game. It’s all about putting yourself in the best position to win the game. Ya’ feel me?? This is something I used to do, but for some reason just lost it in the past few tournaments. After that advice, and counting the after tournament, I was 9-2 with the deck because I could SEE the end of the game around turn 2. Nothing like a mom who doesn’t play pokemon to remind you of the core principle of game play, haha.
Another thing I learned was my style of deck play. I like decks that have options and do cool things (like Salamence Lv. X with Delcatty and Salamence AR). Donphan Yanmega was an awesome deck, and will continue to be so (and I’ll keep playing it!) but I think it’s a little bit too straightforward for my own personal taste.
I learned 2 things about deck building while at this tournament. 1. When building a deck, don’t impulse build. Think about each card you put in a deck, and slow down the deck building process. 2. General tech rules: Counter your worst matchup and win the mirror match. It’s not wise to try and counter every single deck in the format. I call that “SP syndrome.” Here’s an example…I was using a Bouffalant tech in my Yanmega Donphan to counter RDL (which I only saw once all tourney and lost anyway after he reversaled up my Bouffalant). Now, my deck is fast and already counters Magnezone…so I really shouldn’t have worried about Bouffalant toooo much (I know opinions will be split on that one). However, Kingdra Prime gives me quite a bit of trouble, and it's one of the most popular techs in the format. In retrospect I should have played 1 reshiram instead of the 1 bouffalant to neutralize Kingdra. I did this in the after tourney and it won me a game.
Finally, here’s a list of all the decks I’ve played since Fall Battle Roads 2009 in chronological order!!
Gengar SF
Salamence/Kingdra
Salamence/Delcatty
Machamp
Dark Flygon
LuxChomp w/Blaze
Kingdra/Machamp
Aggro Typhlosion
Steelix
VileGar
LuxChomp w/Dialga
Kyogre-Groudon Legend
Samurott/Donphan
Yanmega/Donphan.
Well there ya go! I would love to see all the decks you guys have played the past few seasons too!
Props:
Team Missing No. - I had a great time with you guys, and I'm looking forward to next season!
Dominion
Adventure Time
Ryan T.
David G for sending cards
Mom - for great advice
Slops:
Crowded rooms
Underperforming
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