Hi to all! I'm just returned from the nats.
As you can see in WHAT/WHO WIN NATS is hasn't been a great tournament for all of us. Our team (Safarà), in which Gatsu, my brother, Ale, and me are the best players, does a perfect Swiss with 5/9 in top8 in the 15+ and 2/2 in top4 in 11-14.
But after that....total disaster.
10-
1° Giona D.C. - SMP
2° boh
3° boh
4° boh
11-14
1° M. Bianchi - Flariados
2° Alberto C. (my brother) - LBS
3° Phoenix - Machamp
4° boh - Eeveevolution
15+
1° Simone S. - LBS
2° Gatsu - LBS (?!)
3° Matteo M. - T2Yama
4° Andrea B. - Eeveevolution (?!)
In the 11-14, after the incredible elimination of Little Donphan (prof donphan's son), 0-2 at the 2nd round, and Vieri Dalla Chiesa, my brother was the leader of the category.
He was only scared of Machamp, but in quarters and semifinals he win over 2 Machamps and have the final against a Flariados.
I don't know what's happened after that....last year my brother arrived 2nd losing with a n00b cheater who went in America and dropped at the 2nd swiss round saying that the American professor were cheating to let he lose....a n00b. For that, my brother wanted to take a revenge and the victory, after Martina and Vieri were out, was quite simple.
Unfortunately, this Flariados in some ways beat 2-0 his LBS, teched against it (2 island cave, 3 switch) and my brother arrived 2nd in the category, with no trip and no possibility to go in Anaheim.
The destiny is destiny...and as we were organized together to bring the maximum number of player in America...the disaster comes in the 15+ too.
The Swiss round were perfect....i was playing a JynxFett version VERY VERY GOOD with LunaSol, Girafarig and 4 cursed stone considering my metagame full of decks with a lot of pidgeot and poke-power.
I started very well, and i met in the first round Spyrevenge, the 3rd person who has the high ranking with me and Gatsu to win. He was using a rogue ninetails ex/wobba. but my jynx were too for him and i win. 1-0
I went against a Dustox Ex-Weezing, but i was too expert and i understand all he wanted to do, so i take the control of the play and i win with some difficulties. 2-0
I find then a LBS, the Simone S. one....i was liek 20-7 against LBS, including the 2-0 against Sami....so i was sure for the victory. I started with Solrock prized but i build something interesting. At the end we were 5-5 but he won with a Steelix with 130 and a Blastoise with 120. Lucky game for him, i could have won. 2-1
The 4rd round was with Cicch, a member of my team with Jumpluff/Birds...and so again Solrock prized! But no problem this time...i build my team (Jynx, Wobba, Roselia) and he does an important mistake, so i could Pure Power his 2 birds and then win easily. 3-1
5th round against a Polistall...i usually eat Polistall! I have a quite good start and i played only Jynx pure powering all i find, including a Politoed Ex. He tried to do something, and finally he build a new Politoed Ex but i was too setted. He ko in some ways my Jynx, but roselia with 2 flick poison ko it. 4-1
6th round against a Hariyama....i didn't know anything about the match-up but during the match i find out that working with Wobba and Jynx (not necessarily need to have them evolved) with special condition (1 island cave in his deck) and weakness was the right thing to do. I did that, building a 5 energized wobba that was reversaled and OHKO, but with the other 2 i did some damage and i ATM when seeing he has a bad bench. At the end, an evolved Jynx with DRE destroys all my opponent was playing. The time was called at 5-5, but the next turn i won easily. hard match-up but good victory. 5-1
At this point i was in heaven.....my bad match-ups (flariados and metanite) were out and i had to fight against auto-win...while my brother was in semifinals. But then the worst thing happened....Gatsu was 4-2 (he lost 2 matches) and he was 7° while i was 2°. So, quarter for us.
This thing hurt me a lot...both us wanted to go to LA together in some ways, and we were able to pay the trip if necessary....but with this situation, it was impossible to have invites for both us. So, we had to play.
He was using BLSami with 1-2 cards teched against JynxFett (or LunaRock? boh) and was as nervous as me.
When the game started, it seems that both us want the opponent to win.
I was the first to make big mistakes and he said "we are here to play well, not to do mistakes" and let me correct them. But the situation was too nervous for me. My brother suffering in semifinals and me against Gatsu, in a strange atmosphera (children came in to ask for cards to us while playing, Gatsu call the judge to get rid of them) and a lot of confusion, in the place and in my mind. Maybe after 8 hours of hard match-up (with these decks you have to use your mind also with the easy match-up, and this is stressful) i was too stressed.
At the end i don't know well if i did too mistakes and then lose or if Gatsu has a LBS list who was able to beat me with no too problems...but i concede the match when he was 5-0.
The second one was better....i started to pure power but the time goes, and Gatsu doesn't want to stall but simply to think on the moves (that was difficult). I had the game but he played Giant Stump to heal his 2 exs quite died. He did something other moves to prevent the ko, and at the end i think he didn't play 100% because he wanted to finish the match in time. But the time wasn't enough for me, so i wasn't able to win before the time was called.
So, out in top8. I'm very happy for the player that is in me, who played very well and did a great tournament, choosing a deck that nobody would have expected and which at the end did well, but i'm not very happy for the person that is in me, nervous, stressed and with no ability to control the difficult situation against one of the person that i wanted to bring with me.
But destiny is destiny. Last year Gatsu and my brother were both 2nd.
This year, my brother was very excited before the final. I don't know, but he was 100% ok. He wanted to win to take revenge of the last year 2nd place. the opponent was a great player, but nto at our level of experience.
But i said before how went....i was really excited for him, and maybe the fact that he would have won was so sure that i was not angry fot the loss. But after some minutes a started to thinking bad. I don't know how and why but my brother lose the final, under the eyes of the judge Prof donphan, very sorry.
This had not to happen....a 2nd place after a year of victories and after having meeting many people all over europe to meet at worlds....
But as i said before, destiny is destiny.
Gatsu was stressed, very stressed during the final against Simone, a mirror match with LBS.
I was very sure Gatsu would have won.
The opponent was playing an old version of LBS, maybe the one who came out when the delta species were released.
The match starts with a Steelix prized for Gatsu (i think) and in the middle there was a key fact: Gatsu didn't draw a prize many turns before and he took a caution and his opponent drew 2 cards: one was the rare candy he need to start to Rain Dance.
Gatsu was very teched against LBS, and i don't really know how he lose.
But there was no story....he lose 2 times, doing mistakes and RainDancing with no Blastoise......so no america for him.
I don't know how to take this experience....no one from Safarà at Worlds after 1 year of DOMINATION. And for the first time i understood that being the best player isn't enough to win. You have to be the best person. And i want to become a better person for the next year.
(Report with details coming soon)
