Pooka
Master Trainer
With another week comes another CC. To get ready for this, Matt (Rulemaster), Abe (CMT), Chris (chriscobi634), and I got together and tested a little bit. After a few hours of Pokemon, poker, and a little SSBM, we decided to call it a night. Still, I wasn't sure what to play.
When we arrived, there were only like 10 other people. Obviously this was going to be a very small tournament. After a couple minutes, I just decided to go with the deck I played around with the most the day before - MetaDrag.
Round 1 - Rayquaza ex/d/Magcargo/Tyranitar d/Manectric ex
This was one of the local guys. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I didn't really expect a whole lot. While he started with a Rayquaza ex (DX), I started with a Holon's Castform, Dratini, and a Researcher, but no Mentor. When he saw me opening with the Castform, he laughed... then I laughed as I got setup and he didn't. Basically he struggled to get anything going, and I eventually got out 2 Dragonite, 3 Metagross (2 DS/1 DX), and a Lugia ex to OHKO any ex he brought up. This was over pretty quickly.
1-0
Round 2 - Eeveelutions/Magcargo (Dwight H.)
Again, he was a local player from the area. He started with a quick Flareon ex via the Energy Evolution Eevee, but I was setting up with Castform. When he used Flame Screen, I responded with Latios ex d and used Ice Barrier. Since all he could get out was Eeveelutions (all ex, too), he couldn't really touch me. After a while, he brought up Espeon ex to Snap Tail my bench, but I responded with a OHKO from Metagross d. Then, he brought Umbreon ex up to Black Cry the Metagross, but I had enough Energy to OHKO that, too. All he could do was stall with Mewtwo d for a turn, but then it was over.
2-0
Round 3 - Flariados (Rulemaster)
Well, Matt and I were testing this a little the night before, and it seemed pretty close. While he gets a pretty slow start, mine was fairly solid. I get setup quickly and overpower his semi-weak setup. In the end, his Vaporeon ex makes it close, but I hit a Mentor off my 4 cards, so I grab Latios ex d + Holon's Castform, then Delta Charge to Latios, Castform on it, retreat to it, and Super Connectivity to get the third Energy and win it.
3-0
Round 4 - Delta (CHARIZARDMASTERTRAINER)
*Flashback to New Berlin, WI CC*
I start with a Holon's Magnemite, and Abe T2s my Magnemite with a Raichu/DRE. Bad beat!
Now on to this game. Yet again, I had a stellar start against Abe; I started with a lone Lugia ex. Against Delta, that's pretty much handing the game over if you don't get setup fast enough. To make matters worse, I couldn't find a Mentor or anything. By the time I started Delta Drawing, it was too late. My hand was pretty weak, and he rushed my Castform with an Exeggutor, so I couldn't setup. Surprisingly I stay in the game, and it's really close. It comes down to whether he has a DRE to Split Bomb my Metagross/Dragonite that both had 70 damage on them (he only had one prize left). Much to my dismay, he has the DRE + Cursed Stone to seal it.
GG, Abe.
3-1
So, the top cut looks like this...
1) Abe (Delta)
2) Kyle (MetaDrag)
3) ??? (Salamence ex/things)
4) ??? (Arcanine ex/Arbok d/Houndoom)
Top 4 - Salamence ex/Milotic d/Mew*/Mew ex/Eeveelutions
Game One: Here we go; another local player. I wasn't really expecting too much of a game. Once again, I start out with Castform, and my opponent finds it funny. While my start is decent, his is incredible; T1 he Rare Candies into Salamence ex and Wally's into Milotic d - WHAT? Still, after I setup via Castform, my deck's consistency and sheer power just take over. After he gets those evolutions out, he has a tiny hand, and I make sure I never put Supporters into my hand for him to use Sharing with. This game drags on for a very, very long time. He takes extremely long turns and still makes silly mistakes. At the end of the game, I have a full setup, plus a Lugia ex on the bench with Lightning/Castform attached, and I only have one prize left to his three. Still, he insists on playing it out... and taking long turns... After I finally get to go again, I just KO him with the Lugia and win it.
Game Two: I'm hoping this game goes quickly, because I'm extremely bored and tired after that one. What do you know; my wish came true! He starts off pretty slowly, and I start off well. I KO a Feebas or two, then Salamence ex comes up, which immediately gets OHKOd by Lugia ex. After that, he just scoops.
Finals - Delta (CMT)
Obviously Delta is a close matchup with my deck. However, I thought my list was pretty well-equipped for the task. This should be fun!
Game One: For a championship game, this was pretty anti-climatic. Both of our starts were absolutely atrocious. While I started with a Dratini, he started with Holon's Magnemite. Usually a Dratini isn't bad, but I had NO Supporters at all. For three turns I used Thunder Wave on his Magnemite, and he had Mentored to get a few basics. I had Rare Candy/Dragonite in hand, but I feared that KOing the Magnemite + Tails on Agility could lose me the game (he played Shard). So, I just played it safe and waited instead of taking the prize on Magnemite. Since his only Energy in play was on his benched Raichu (a Castform), he could only KO me with a Briney/Switch + Energy. Thankfully I drew a Beldum, RC to Metagross, got a Castform off the Delta Control, and started to setup. Then, he came up with his Raichu and KOd me with Metallic Thunder. In an effort to buy time, I decided to use Twister with Dragonair, hoping to nail the Castform and set him back. In addition, this allowed for Metagross to only have to discard two Energy to KO Raichu (due to the Metal). However, the plan worked out better than I had anticipated - I nailed both Heads!
This opened up the game for me. He was forced to play a Castform and Delta Draw in order to setup, which gave me time to completely setup and get a bunch of Energy in play. If you don't know, if both sides completely setup, MetaDrag should win most of the time - and that's what happened. I took the initiative, and then I was always one prize ahead. In the end, Lugia ex snagged the last prize for me.
Game Two: Yet again, Abe had a slow start. However, this time mine was pretty decent. Just like the last game, I just overpowered him and took control. Time was called before we could finish, but I was in firm control of the game. Good games, Abe!
So, I win my second CC of the year. After Abe and Chris got done with a few trades, we headed back home. Next week: Racine!
When we arrived, there were only like 10 other people. Obviously this was going to be a very small tournament. After a couple minutes, I just decided to go with the deck I played around with the most the day before - MetaDrag.
Round 1 - Rayquaza ex/d/Magcargo/Tyranitar d/Manectric ex
This was one of the local guys. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I didn't really expect a whole lot. While he started with a Rayquaza ex (DX), I started with a Holon's Castform, Dratini, and a Researcher, but no Mentor. When he saw me opening with the Castform, he laughed... then I laughed as I got setup and he didn't. Basically he struggled to get anything going, and I eventually got out 2 Dragonite, 3 Metagross (2 DS/1 DX), and a Lugia ex to OHKO any ex he brought up. This was over pretty quickly.
1-0
Round 2 - Eeveelutions/Magcargo (Dwight H.)
Again, he was a local player from the area. He started with a quick Flareon ex via the Energy Evolution Eevee, but I was setting up with Castform. When he used Flame Screen, I responded with Latios ex d and used Ice Barrier. Since all he could get out was Eeveelutions (all ex, too), he couldn't really touch me. After a while, he brought up Espeon ex to Snap Tail my bench, but I responded with a OHKO from Metagross d. Then, he brought Umbreon ex up to Black Cry the Metagross, but I had enough Energy to OHKO that, too. All he could do was stall with Mewtwo d for a turn, but then it was over.
2-0
Round 3 - Flariados (Rulemaster)
Well, Matt and I were testing this a little the night before, and it seemed pretty close. While he gets a pretty slow start, mine was fairly solid. I get setup quickly and overpower his semi-weak setup. In the end, his Vaporeon ex makes it close, but I hit a Mentor off my 4 cards, so I grab Latios ex d + Holon's Castform, then Delta Charge to Latios, Castform on it, retreat to it, and Super Connectivity to get the third Energy and win it.
3-0
Round 4 - Delta (CHARIZARDMASTERTRAINER)
*Flashback to New Berlin, WI CC*
I start with a Holon's Magnemite, and Abe T2s my Magnemite with a Raichu/DRE. Bad beat!
Now on to this game. Yet again, I had a stellar start against Abe; I started with a lone Lugia ex. Against Delta, that's pretty much handing the game over if you don't get setup fast enough. To make matters worse, I couldn't find a Mentor or anything. By the time I started Delta Drawing, it was too late. My hand was pretty weak, and he rushed my Castform with an Exeggutor, so I couldn't setup. Surprisingly I stay in the game, and it's really close. It comes down to whether he has a DRE to Split Bomb my Metagross/Dragonite that both had 70 damage on them (he only had one prize left). Much to my dismay, he has the DRE + Cursed Stone to seal it.
GG, Abe.3-1
So, the top cut looks like this...
1) Abe (Delta)
2) Kyle (MetaDrag)
3) ??? (Salamence ex/things)
4) ??? (Arcanine ex/Arbok d/Houndoom)
Top 4 - Salamence ex/Milotic d/Mew*/Mew ex/Eeveelutions
Game One: Here we go; another local player. I wasn't really expecting too much of a game. Once again, I start out with Castform, and my opponent finds it funny. While my start is decent, his is incredible; T1 he Rare Candies into Salamence ex and Wally's into Milotic d - WHAT? Still, after I setup via Castform, my deck's consistency and sheer power just take over. After he gets those evolutions out, he has a tiny hand, and I make sure I never put Supporters into my hand for him to use Sharing with. This game drags on for a very, very long time. He takes extremely long turns and still makes silly mistakes. At the end of the game, I have a full setup, plus a Lugia ex on the bench with Lightning/Castform attached, and I only have one prize left to his three. Still, he insists on playing it out... and taking long turns... After I finally get to go again, I just KO him with the Lugia and win it.
Game Two: I'm hoping this game goes quickly, because I'm extremely bored and tired after that one. What do you know; my wish came true! He starts off pretty slowly, and I start off well. I KO a Feebas or two, then Salamence ex comes up, which immediately gets OHKOd by Lugia ex. After that, he just scoops.
Finals - Delta (CMT)
Obviously Delta is a close matchup with my deck. However, I thought my list was pretty well-equipped for the task. This should be fun!
Game One: For a championship game, this was pretty anti-climatic. Both of our starts were absolutely atrocious. While I started with a Dratini, he started with Holon's Magnemite. Usually a Dratini isn't bad, but I had NO Supporters at all. For three turns I used Thunder Wave on his Magnemite, and he had Mentored to get a few basics. I had Rare Candy/Dragonite in hand, but I feared that KOing the Magnemite + Tails on Agility could lose me the game (he played Shard). So, I just played it safe and waited instead of taking the prize on Magnemite. Since his only Energy in play was on his benched Raichu (a Castform), he could only KO me with a Briney/Switch + Energy. Thankfully I drew a Beldum, RC to Metagross, got a Castform off the Delta Control, and started to setup. Then, he came up with his Raichu and KOd me with Metallic Thunder. In an effort to buy time, I decided to use Twister with Dragonair, hoping to nail the Castform and set him back. In addition, this allowed for Metagross to only have to discard two Energy to KO Raichu (due to the Metal). However, the plan worked out better than I had anticipated - I nailed both Heads!
This opened up the game for me. He was forced to play a Castform and Delta Draw in order to setup, which gave me time to completely setup and get a bunch of Energy in play. If you don't know, if both sides completely setup, MetaDrag should win most of the time - and that's what happened. I took the initiative, and then I was always one prize ahead. In the end, Lugia ex snagged the last prize for me.
Game Two: Yet again, Abe had a slow start. However, this time mine was pretty decent. Just like the last game, I just overpowered him and took control. Time was called before we could finish, but I was in firm control of the game. Good games, Abe!
So, I win my second CC of the year. After Abe and Chris got done with a few trades, we headed back home. Next week: Racine!
