malikhisyam
New Member
Worlds was fantastic for me. My results weren't fantastic, but the people made my second Worlds another awesome experience for me. So before Worlds, I qualified through Nationals with a deck I have been playing for ages (And by ages I mean it), GG/Plox. I came to Worlds planning to use it. By the way, I'm from Malaysia. =]
Oh, getting to Worlds wasn't easy. And by not easy, I mean the journey getting there. I had planned a good 4 free days to tour San Diego before Worlds but ended up with only two days. Why? We were stuck in Taipei, Taiwan for some 30 hours. In LA, we had more trouble with our flights and ended up paying 300 bucks to get a shuttle over to San Diego. As a result, we arrived in San Diego two days later than scheduled and ended up not doing much touring/shopping before Worlds but instead just stayed in the hotel to playtest.
Before Worlds, I met up with Sam, Lip Yee, Aaron, Andrew, Sean and some other Aussies to playtest. So yeah, moving on.
Day 1 : The Grinder
This was a pretty much laid-back day of casual Pokemon and meeting people. I was checking up on my friends Dominic and Andrew playing in the grinder so we were downstairs outside the ballroom half of the day. I also managed to meet up with Aziz, Alex and AMT. =]
Day 2 : The Main Event
I decided to run PLOX. A bunch of my other friends that playtested with me also decided to run PLOX so we called ourselves TEAM PLOX. It was pretty epic, how we stuck together and in the end ran the same deck with only minor differences in our lists.
Round 1 Vs Jak S. (Flygon) [UK]
He's Baby Mario on the gym. The opening ceremony took ages and the four of us were placed at the bottom tables. We were literally isolated from the other players. So while waiting, we just cracked some jokes and had a few laughs. On to the game, I had a turn three PLOX against his Flygon and grabbed four quick prizes. I made an error, not Guarding my Claydol and I had hesitated at one point of the game whether or not to level up my Gardevoir so I can get through Trapinch's/Azelf's locking(from retreating) ability. For some reason, I opted not to level up (Probably because I'm facing Flygon >_>). He took advantage of that at one point and pulled my Claydol active with Inviting Trap, breaking the lock as I couldn't get it out of the active position. When I got two energies attached to Claydol, he started Locking it with Azelf, enabling him to setup and surprise me with a Dusknoir which pretty much wrecked my huge advantage. He managed to knock out my other Gardevoir leaving me with nothing to fight back with, handing him the win by knocking out my Pokemon one by one. Those were fantastic plays, Jak and I admire how you took full advantage of my mistakes. LOSS
0-1
Round 2 Vs Mitchel S. (Gengar) [US]
I got a terrible start to his excellent one. Despite my terrible start and draws, this game was pretty relaxing with us joking around at some points when I didn't get the cards I needed. When I managed to bring out a Gardevoir, it was quite late to do slow plays and time was not on my side so I had to risk a Fainting Spell flip, which ended up tails. He sent out a Nidoqueen to KO my Gardy leaving me with nothing again. I did a few Uxies on the Nidoqueen to weaken it and then PLOX'd it for the KO. My second Gardy was an untouchable tank, with Unown G attached and with me emptying my hand of Trainers. I managed to take some prizes to catch up until at one point, he was on his last prize so he Shadow Roomed my Claydol. I needed to KO the Gengar or I lose the game, so I attached another Special Darkness on the Gardy and risked yet another Fainting Spell flip, which ended up being heads. Game. If he had not flip that heads I would've won as he had nothing else on his bench except for Claydol, and couldn't possibly setup more Gengars under Psychic Lock. LOSS
0-2
I wasn't really bummed about it yet. Actually I was more pumped to improve on my record and making it into the Top32. Sam was at 0-2 as well so we agreed on doing an '08 Malik Grinder (I went 0-2 in the Grinder last year and came back 6-2 to make it in the final spot). Called it THE TURNAROUND. =]
Round 3 Vs Aziz A. (Flygon) [US-LCQ]
Uhh, what are we doing at the bottom tables. Before playing we joked a bit on being at the 0-2 tables. A rematch of last year's Top16 game at the bottom tables. Lol.
The game started of well for me and I got a quick PLOX going with Aziz not being able to recover much. He tried to do a move but ended up messing up, completely wrecking his fighting chance. He scooped after I grabbed 2 or 3 quick prizes. WIN
Aziz dropped right after this round. Lol. It didn't matter to me as if I finish with a 4-3 record I'm not getting in anyways because I lost my first two games giving me horrible resistance.
1-2
Round 4 Vs Spencer B. (Beedrill) [US-LCQ]
This was the scariest game I had. I got a terrible start and he got 3 Beedrills out Turn2 without having a Claydol nor using an Uxie. He went 4 prizes ahead of me until the turning point of the game where I started Ploxing + Dark Palming him which totally ruined his advantage. I shuffled his attacking Beedrill on the bench and took out the active attacking Beedrill with two Psychic Locks. He had nothing to come back with, and whenever he managed to damage my Gardevoir enough in range of a KO from another Pokemon, I just used two Healers on it. WIN
2-2
It's the TURNAROUND. I'm totally coming back in this. =]
Round 5 Vs Jacob V. (Kingdra) [DK]
During this game, I get seated next to Michael B., a guy I played against last year. It was pretty cool meeting up with him again. =]
Awesome matchup. He didn't see a Kingdra until turn 3, and didn't manage to fight back against my turn 3 Psychic Lock. He had dead draws all game and didn't see another Kingdra. WIN
3-2
At this point I started to feel good, only two more wins and I'm in the Top32. =D
Round 6 Vs Yasmin K. (Rampardos) [DE]
I got a bad start, and she grabbed 5 prizes really quick. I don't remember much, but I do remember the most game breaking moment. I had an active fresh Gardevoir to her active damaged Rampardos, and she had 2 Uxies, 1 Azelf and 1 Cranidos on the bench. If I could pull off a Dusknoir and shuffle her Cranidos I would be able to come back and win as I also had Healers in my hand in case she uses Uxie to attack my Gardevoir. I had Luxury Ball, Roseanne's and a Rare Candy in my hand but when I searched for Duskull, it was prized. Oh and the reason why I didn't use Gallade in this matchup is because it was prized too. I realized that I have lost and just kept playing until she pulled of the winning move. LOSS
3-3
The dream is over. I'm definitely not making it into the Top32 again as I lost my first two rounds and my third opponent dropped right after our game. =(
Round 7 Vs Michael D. (Machamp) [CH-LCQ]
I'm sorry I really had no mood to play this game. I didn't throw it away though, I tried to keep myself thinking positive but I was pretty bummed by that loss. I lost 3 basics to Take Out and then PLOX'd to come right back and win the game. WIN
4-3
Oh well, I still finished with a positive result. I checked my final standing and I was 61st ;my terrible resistance probably brought me down to that placing. It was still pretty cool meeting up with all these people. We stayed pretty late watching Aaron's Top32 game against a Japanese kid. It was PLOX Vs Palkialock. It went pretty close, with Aaron losing to him 1-2.
Day 3 : The Top Cut
I just watched some games and played a few fun ones at league. I met up with Curran again this day and also finally met Alex. It was pretty cool. Ah, also, I won an Ultra Ball playmat and then met Jon and other Pokebeachers. =O
During the days after Worlds, I would always meet Aziz and his guys at the lobby. That happened on Sunday and again on Monday. Lol. Sunday evening, Sam, Dominic, Peter and I played soccer at the field in front of the hotel. It was pretty awesome. WHOOSHKA! =D
Props :
-Everyone and everything. =)
(Too much to elaborate)
Slops :
-BEING STUCK IN TAIWAN FOR 30 HOURS. D=
-BEING STUCK IN LA WITHOUT A HOTEL OR A FLIGHT TO SAN DIEGO.
Oh, getting to Worlds wasn't easy. And by not easy, I mean the journey getting there. I had planned a good 4 free days to tour San Diego before Worlds but ended up with only two days. Why? We were stuck in Taipei, Taiwan for some 30 hours. In LA, we had more trouble with our flights and ended up paying 300 bucks to get a shuttle over to San Diego. As a result, we arrived in San Diego two days later than scheduled and ended up not doing much touring/shopping before Worlds but instead just stayed in the hotel to playtest.
Before Worlds, I met up with Sam, Lip Yee, Aaron, Andrew, Sean and some other Aussies to playtest. So yeah, moving on.
Day 1 : The Grinder
This was a pretty much laid-back day of casual Pokemon and meeting people. I was checking up on my friends Dominic and Andrew playing in the grinder so we were downstairs outside the ballroom half of the day. I also managed to meet up with Aziz, Alex and AMT. =]
Day 2 : The Main Event
I decided to run PLOX. A bunch of my other friends that playtested with me also decided to run PLOX so we called ourselves TEAM PLOX. It was pretty epic, how we stuck together and in the end ran the same deck with only minor differences in our lists.
Round 1 Vs Jak S. (Flygon) [UK]
He's Baby Mario on the gym. The opening ceremony took ages and the four of us were placed at the bottom tables. We were literally isolated from the other players. So while waiting, we just cracked some jokes and had a few laughs. On to the game, I had a turn three PLOX against his Flygon and grabbed four quick prizes. I made an error, not Guarding my Claydol and I had hesitated at one point of the game whether or not to level up my Gardevoir so I can get through Trapinch's/Azelf's locking(from retreating) ability. For some reason, I opted not to level up (Probably because I'm facing Flygon >_>). He took advantage of that at one point and pulled my Claydol active with Inviting Trap, breaking the lock as I couldn't get it out of the active position. When I got two energies attached to Claydol, he started Locking it with Azelf, enabling him to setup and surprise me with a Dusknoir which pretty much wrecked my huge advantage. He managed to knock out my other Gardevoir leaving me with nothing to fight back with, handing him the win by knocking out my Pokemon one by one. Those were fantastic plays, Jak and I admire how you took full advantage of my mistakes. LOSS
0-1
Round 2 Vs Mitchel S. (Gengar) [US]
I got a terrible start to his excellent one. Despite my terrible start and draws, this game was pretty relaxing with us joking around at some points when I didn't get the cards I needed. When I managed to bring out a Gardevoir, it was quite late to do slow plays and time was not on my side so I had to risk a Fainting Spell flip, which ended up tails. He sent out a Nidoqueen to KO my Gardy leaving me with nothing again. I did a few Uxies on the Nidoqueen to weaken it and then PLOX'd it for the KO. My second Gardy was an untouchable tank, with Unown G attached and with me emptying my hand of Trainers. I managed to take some prizes to catch up until at one point, he was on his last prize so he Shadow Roomed my Claydol. I needed to KO the Gengar or I lose the game, so I attached another Special Darkness on the Gardy and risked yet another Fainting Spell flip, which ended up being heads. Game. If he had not flip that heads I would've won as he had nothing else on his bench except for Claydol, and couldn't possibly setup more Gengars under Psychic Lock. LOSS
0-2
I wasn't really bummed about it yet. Actually I was more pumped to improve on my record and making it into the Top32. Sam was at 0-2 as well so we agreed on doing an '08 Malik Grinder (I went 0-2 in the Grinder last year and came back 6-2 to make it in the final spot). Called it THE TURNAROUND. =]
Round 3 Vs Aziz A. (Flygon) [US-LCQ]
Uhh, what are we doing at the bottom tables. Before playing we joked a bit on being at the 0-2 tables. A rematch of last year's Top16 game at the bottom tables. Lol.
The game started of well for me and I got a quick PLOX going with Aziz not being able to recover much. He tried to do a move but ended up messing up, completely wrecking his fighting chance. He scooped after I grabbed 2 or 3 quick prizes. WIN
Aziz dropped right after this round. Lol. It didn't matter to me as if I finish with a 4-3 record I'm not getting in anyways because I lost my first two games giving me horrible resistance.
1-2
Round 4 Vs Spencer B. (Beedrill) [US-LCQ]
This was the scariest game I had. I got a terrible start and he got 3 Beedrills out Turn2 without having a Claydol nor using an Uxie. He went 4 prizes ahead of me until the turning point of the game where I started Ploxing + Dark Palming him which totally ruined his advantage. I shuffled his attacking Beedrill on the bench and took out the active attacking Beedrill with two Psychic Locks. He had nothing to come back with, and whenever he managed to damage my Gardevoir enough in range of a KO from another Pokemon, I just used two Healers on it. WIN
2-2
It's the TURNAROUND. I'm totally coming back in this. =]
Round 5 Vs Jacob V. (Kingdra) [DK]
During this game, I get seated next to Michael B., a guy I played against last year. It was pretty cool meeting up with him again. =]
Awesome matchup. He didn't see a Kingdra until turn 3, and didn't manage to fight back against my turn 3 Psychic Lock. He had dead draws all game and didn't see another Kingdra. WIN
3-2
At this point I started to feel good, only two more wins and I'm in the Top32. =D
Round 6 Vs Yasmin K. (Rampardos) [DE]
I got a bad start, and she grabbed 5 prizes really quick. I don't remember much, but I do remember the most game breaking moment. I had an active fresh Gardevoir to her active damaged Rampardos, and she had 2 Uxies, 1 Azelf and 1 Cranidos on the bench. If I could pull off a Dusknoir and shuffle her Cranidos I would be able to come back and win as I also had Healers in my hand in case she uses Uxie to attack my Gardevoir. I had Luxury Ball, Roseanne's and a Rare Candy in my hand but when I searched for Duskull, it was prized. Oh and the reason why I didn't use Gallade in this matchup is because it was prized too. I realized that I have lost and just kept playing until she pulled of the winning move. LOSS
3-3
The dream is over. I'm definitely not making it into the Top32 again as I lost my first two rounds and my third opponent dropped right after our game. =(
Round 7 Vs Michael D. (Machamp) [CH-LCQ]
I'm sorry I really had no mood to play this game. I didn't throw it away though, I tried to keep myself thinking positive but I was pretty bummed by that loss. I lost 3 basics to Take Out and then PLOX'd to come right back and win the game. WIN
4-3
Oh well, I still finished with a positive result. I checked my final standing and I was 61st ;my terrible resistance probably brought me down to that placing. It was still pretty cool meeting up with all these people. We stayed pretty late watching Aaron's Top32 game against a Japanese kid. It was PLOX Vs Palkialock. It went pretty close, with Aaron losing to him 1-2.
Day 3 : The Top Cut
I just watched some games and played a few fun ones at league. I met up with Curran again this day and also finally met Alex. It was pretty cool. Ah, also, I won an Ultra Ball playmat and then met Jon and other Pokebeachers. =O
During the days after Worlds, I would always meet Aziz and his guys at the lobby. That happened on Sunday and again on Monday. Lol. Sunday evening, Sam, Dominic, Peter and I played soccer at the field in front of the hotel. It was pretty awesome. WHOOSHKA! =D
Props :
-Everyone and everything. =)
(Too much to elaborate)
Slops :
-BEING STUCK IN TAIWAN FOR 30 HOURS. D=
-BEING STUCK IN LA WITHOUT A HOTEL OR A FLIGHT TO SAN DIEGO.
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