Mystery Thing
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So once I hear that Nationals is two days before my birthday, I decide to ask my parents if they would send me out there to play as a birthday present. And they were kind enough to oblige ^_^
What made this tourney different from all the ones I attended in St. Albert as a player was that this time, I did not have any expectation that I would do well. Prior to this weekend, I had not played in a Constructed Pokémon tournament of any size since Origins 2005, and had played only two games where my opponent was actually at the table with me (ie, not over the internet) in any format in the last 15 months. I can honestly say that my goal going into Nationals was to have an enjoyable weekend. If I had fun, even if I went 0-x in the process, it was worth it.
The fun started when I got lost between the subway station and the hotel. ~_~ I managed to walk West from the subway station instead of East, and it took me 10-15 mins to figure out that something was wrong, since I hadn't been in downtown Toronto in like 10 years, and never at night. So that added an extra half hour plus to my travel time. I eventually found the hotel at around 11:30 (I was crashing with Gordon and his dad - thanks once again to them for letting me do so), give them the cards they were borrowing from me, and we hit the sack around 12:20am.
Morning of I write my decklist up, register, and then do your general hang out in the room talking to people I previously only knew of over the internet and took a few pictures until the tournament started. I was playing Flygon with Eeveelutions. Since I hadn't played for so long, I was rather limited in my card selection. I happened to have a Flygon d and 2 Flygon ex d, so it was either that or Raieggs. Needless to say, I went with the Flygons. Bolt and MK (Shadowtogetic) were kind enough to largely help me with the parts beyond that - part of not playing for so long is that you lose pretty much all your deckbuilding skills. The mail cooperated and the last card I needed for the deck arrived on Wednesday, so I was good to go.
I don't remember a bunch of the names, so I won't list them where I don't remember, and I'm not up on the deck names, so I'll just list what was the main bits of them instead.
Round 1 - Dustox ex / Banette (CG, Safeguard)
He may have had Banette ex as well; he never played one so I just don't know. I manage to get a Flygon ex and a Flygon set up, but not before he gets two Dustox ex and a Banette going. Since my entire deck is exes, the only things I have that can do damage are Vibrava and Flygon d. Vibrava took a swing at a Dustox ex #1 for the 60 + confuse, but got whooped when he retreats it for Dustox ex #2. Thanks to a Castaway I know that he has a Crystal Shard in his hand, which will take care of Flygon d. He never got to use it though, and I think the score ended 6-1.
Loss, 0-1.
Round 2 - sdrawkcab, (Infernape)
Nothing much to see, he plays Infernape like anybody would (stupid DREs). It's 5-5 as time is winding down, and I would be lying to say I wasn't dragging my heels. (Although to be fair, as Alberta's Head Judge, I do know stalling when I see it, and I can honestly say I wasn't out and out stalling.) Time is called on my turn while he has a 60/100 Infernape up. I retreat whatever it was that I had up (Vibrava maybe?), push Jolteon ex, and Second Bite for 80 for the 6-5 win. I think this was the only time I had Jolteon ex attack all tournament.
Win, 1-1
Round 3 - Weavile/Shiftry DP/Shiftry ex CG
Has the potential to be a fairly quick game for him, since his entire deck is resistant to Flygon ex d, except that he could not draw an Energy to save his life - he got 5, 6 at the most, all game. He takes the first prize on T2, and by my T4 I have Rayquaza ex d up with 2 Holon Castform attached (this being the first and only time I have ever had more than 2 Energy on Rayquaza ex d). Eventually he has a Sneasel up with no Energy, and one of each Shiftry back. This is where his Energy drought begins. With no way to retreat Sneasel and no way to attack me, Rayquaza just sits up front and picks off whatever he has on his Bench, with the rare Active shot. 6-1 win. And speaking of his Energy drought, 3 of his last 5 prizes were Darkness Energy. @_@
Win, 2-1
Round 4 - Nu Gundam (Metagross DX/Meganium d/Steelix ex)
The closest match of the day for me. He uses Latias Star to spell doom for both a Flygon ex d and Rayquaza ex d over the course of this match. After the first one I did take it out, but he Farmered it and it later showed it's face again. Towards the end I'm able to take down his Steelix ex which had Mudslided (Mudslode?) Jolteon ex into oblivion. After a late game Scientist, he has 1 card in his deck, I have 3, and we both have hands of NINETEEN cards. I think we both knew that a Farmer was inevitable on both of our next turns. Anyways, at this point it is 5-5. He has a 20/100 Metagross up and a 10/80 Metang back, along with other assorted Benched. I have a 70/110 Flygon d up, along with four benched, one of which is an Eevee. This is where I make my misplay - I drop a Trapinch to fill my bench. I clue in right away that I just made a snafoo, and ask if I can take it back. He does allow me to, bless his heart. I know that I have an Eevee either in my 3 card deck or as my last prize. I Mentor, and luckily for me, it was in my deck. So I drop the Eevee, evolve the first Eevee into Jolteon ex (Metagross is now 30/100, but more importantly, Metang is now 20/80). I then Candy the new Eevee into Umbreon ex, pull up the Metang, and Swift it for the 6-5 win. Time was called less than a minute later. Looking back now, I owe him even more than I did before, as this is the game that ultimately was the make or break for the top 16.
Win, 3-1
Round 5 - Geneses (Awesome Sauce)
Systematic annihilation part 1. Golem makes me sad. He won 6-2, but it was a lot closer than that - post Nats he admitted that I did have him really nervous this match. I don't think I ever had a loaded Flygon ex d in this one, not that it would have helped me all that much if I did (and I might have) - Enraged Linear Attack just tore through my bench, and I couldn't find my Giant Stump, so it royally sucked to be my Eeveelutions.
Loss, 3-2
Round 6 - ???
I totally don't remember. ._. But I won.
Win, 4-2
Round 7 - brendan2236 (Flygon ex / Gardevoir ex)
I know him from judging him at a few tournies in St. Albert. Prior to the match, I see him asking somebody else what deck I'm using, which makes me fairly POed. Even though I know that this is rather commonplace. (And I totally did it too going into the Top 16. :biggrin
Fortunately for me, the guy he asked apparently had no idea what I was playing. Which will matter soon.
On my first turn (he went first), I have a chance for the T1KO for the win. I'll need to get a few cards for it to happen, and I do manage to get them all except for Jolteon ex. Oh well. I misplay during this sequence and Scientist when I should have Adventurered. (To add some humor to it, he makes the exact same misplay later on.) Anyways, I wind up evolving my starting Eevee to Umbreon ex and start to Black Cry. He Warp Points up a fresh Mew ex (Versatile) and I have to put up Chimecho, which is the only Benched I had. He starts to Black Cry it, which puts me in some hurt. This is where his pre-match misinformation hurts him. He had been told that I was only playing Eeveelutions, and not the Flygon. So he decides to drop a couple of Trapinches and something else (the point is, not Ralts) on his bench. I play Giant Stump on like T3, so he has no way to get any Gardevoir ex d out. I'm able to, between Candy and going through Vibrava, get a Flygon d and a Flygon ex d out at the same time, get Flygon ex d loaded, and get it up and start swinging away. He's not able to get out any Flygons or Gardevoirs (well, he may have had 1 Flygon d at one point, I don't remember, but he never even got a Ralts to the Bench), so Psychic Pulse just tears though him.
Win, 5-2
We cut to T16, and all 6-1s and 5-2s make it (4 and 12). Opp Win % puts me at 15th.
Round 8 - Top 16; 2 vs 15 - Greg (Jirachi DX/Magcargo/Swampert ex)
Game 1
From what I'm told, he won the Eastern Canada Regionals. But congrats dude, you win the award for sorest loser of the people I played all day :nonono:
Game 1 - He only ever gets one Mudkip down, and as soon as he evos it to Marshtomp I Darker Ring it out and Pulse it. He scoops soon after.
Game Win, 1-0
Game 2
He starts with Mudkip, but it's Flygoned in short order. He is able to get a Swampert ex on his bench via Candy, and uses it to load up Lugia ex, with which he lays the smackdown on . I then Devo Flash it back to Mudkip, and use a combination of Vibrava and Flygon d to take it out. He later gets another one out and does it again, but I Pulse it out. I'll eventually win on prizes.
Game Win, 2-0; Win, 6-2
He then gets all huffy about how it's just a bad matchup for him and my deck is the only one that has a chance against him and if he had such and such a card he would have pulverized me (I think that's even the word he used) in game 2 and it's just that he misplayed blah blah blah. Look dude, I know that I haven't played in a tourney for a long time, but I do know how to play still. I wouldn't be as:nonono: over this if you would have been willing to give me even a SHARD of credit. You can't lose 2-0 in a T16 and have it have had NOTHING to do with your opponent playing well when neither game was decided in the first 10+ turns.
Round 9 - Top 8; 2 (5th?) vs 7 (15th) - Geneses (Awe- aw crap.)
Game 1, aka systematic annihilation part 2
Stantler will haunt my nightmares. I do misplay early, not Windstorming his Cess Crystal, but ultimately, it didn't make a difference. I never do get a draw card, and any Trainer I do get is dispatched of in short order by Stantler. I never even got to attack him, and I scoop early so we can get a start on Game 2.
Game Loss, 0-1
Game 2, aka systematic annihilation part 3
More Stantler. ;_; I send up randomness until I eventually am able to Candy a benched Trapinch into a loaded Flygon ex d, alebit a damaged one. I use it to take out Stantler, leaving him with only a Whismur. He then topdecks either a Candy or an Exploud ex, and after tossing down a Cursed Stone for good measure, Derails off Flygon ex's Holon Castform, leaving it at 100/150 with only a single Psychic Energy. My hand is down to a Jolteon ex and a Vibrava, and I only have Chimecho benched. It's given that Flygon ex will bite the big one on his next turn, so I conclude (rather obviously) that there's no way I'm coming back, and since neither of us had had dinner, I scoop rather than prolonging the inevitable a few more turns so that we can go fill our bellies.
Game Loss, 0-2; Loss, 6-3
So I finish in the always fun four way tie for 5th. The difference between me and the other three that got the loss in the T8 is that I was simply ecstatic over it. I mean, don't get me wrong, you always want to win. But considering that if I had fun at the tourney it would be a success, and that I was hoping I would maybe break 0.500 in the Swiss, to get into the Top 8 was simply awesome. I lost four games all day, three of which were to the eventual champion. Needless to say, I was pretty dang happy with how I did.
Short little list of Props:
Kevin for allowing me to unbench Trapinch - I will owe you for a long, long time dude.
Gordon and his dad for letting me share (read: invade) their hotel room.
Bolt and MK for helping me with my deck
Kent and his dad, they know why
P_A and co. for a well run tournament
I can only think of one so-called "slops," and if you were reading along, you can figure out who or what it is. :/
Good luck at Worlds those that are going. But do try to have a deck set to go earlier, ok Geneses? :thumb::lol:
What made this tourney different from all the ones I attended in St. Albert as a player was that this time, I did not have any expectation that I would do well. Prior to this weekend, I had not played in a Constructed Pokémon tournament of any size since Origins 2005, and had played only two games where my opponent was actually at the table with me (ie, not over the internet) in any format in the last 15 months. I can honestly say that my goal going into Nationals was to have an enjoyable weekend. If I had fun, even if I went 0-x in the process, it was worth it.
The fun started when I got lost between the subway station and the hotel. ~_~ I managed to walk West from the subway station instead of East, and it took me 10-15 mins to figure out that something was wrong, since I hadn't been in downtown Toronto in like 10 years, and never at night. So that added an extra half hour plus to my travel time. I eventually found the hotel at around 11:30 (I was crashing with Gordon and his dad - thanks once again to them for letting me do so), give them the cards they were borrowing from me, and we hit the sack around 12:20am.
Morning of I write my decklist up, register, and then do your general hang out in the room talking to people I previously only knew of over the internet and took a few pictures until the tournament started. I was playing Flygon with Eeveelutions. Since I hadn't played for so long, I was rather limited in my card selection. I happened to have a Flygon d and 2 Flygon ex d, so it was either that or Raieggs. Needless to say, I went with the Flygons. Bolt and MK (Shadowtogetic) were kind enough to largely help me with the parts beyond that - part of not playing for so long is that you lose pretty much all your deckbuilding skills. The mail cooperated and the last card I needed for the deck arrived on Wednesday, so I was good to go.
I don't remember a bunch of the names, so I won't list them where I don't remember, and I'm not up on the deck names, so I'll just list what was the main bits of them instead.
Round 1 - Dustox ex / Banette (CG, Safeguard)
He may have had Banette ex as well; he never played one so I just don't know. I manage to get a Flygon ex and a Flygon set up, but not before he gets two Dustox ex and a Banette going. Since my entire deck is exes, the only things I have that can do damage are Vibrava and Flygon d. Vibrava took a swing at a Dustox ex #1 for the 60 + confuse, but got whooped when he retreats it for Dustox ex #2. Thanks to a Castaway I know that he has a Crystal Shard in his hand, which will take care of Flygon d. He never got to use it though, and I think the score ended 6-1.
Loss, 0-1.
Round 2 - sdrawkcab, (Infernape)
Nothing much to see, he plays Infernape like anybody would (stupid DREs). It's 5-5 as time is winding down, and I would be lying to say I wasn't dragging my heels. (Although to be fair, as Alberta's Head Judge, I do know stalling when I see it, and I can honestly say I wasn't out and out stalling.) Time is called on my turn while he has a 60/100 Infernape up. I retreat whatever it was that I had up (Vibrava maybe?), push Jolteon ex, and Second Bite for 80 for the 6-5 win. I think this was the only time I had Jolteon ex attack all tournament.
Win, 1-1
Round 3 - Weavile/Shiftry DP/Shiftry ex CG
Has the potential to be a fairly quick game for him, since his entire deck is resistant to Flygon ex d, except that he could not draw an Energy to save his life - he got 5, 6 at the most, all game. He takes the first prize on T2, and by my T4 I have Rayquaza ex d up with 2 Holon Castform attached (this being the first and only time I have ever had more than 2 Energy on Rayquaza ex d). Eventually he has a Sneasel up with no Energy, and one of each Shiftry back. This is where his Energy drought begins. With no way to retreat Sneasel and no way to attack me, Rayquaza just sits up front and picks off whatever he has on his Bench, with the rare Active shot. 6-1 win. And speaking of his Energy drought, 3 of his last 5 prizes were Darkness Energy. @_@
Win, 2-1
Round 4 - Nu Gundam (Metagross DX/Meganium d/Steelix ex)
The closest match of the day for me. He uses Latias Star to spell doom for both a Flygon ex d and Rayquaza ex d over the course of this match. After the first one I did take it out, but he Farmered it and it later showed it's face again. Towards the end I'm able to take down his Steelix ex which had Mudslided (Mudslode?) Jolteon ex into oblivion. After a late game Scientist, he has 1 card in his deck, I have 3, and we both have hands of NINETEEN cards. I think we both knew that a Farmer was inevitable on both of our next turns. Anyways, at this point it is 5-5. He has a 20/100 Metagross up and a 10/80 Metang back, along with other assorted Benched. I have a 70/110 Flygon d up, along with four benched, one of which is an Eevee. This is where I make my misplay - I drop a Trapinch to fill my bench. I clue in right away that I just made a snafoo, and ask if I can take it back. He does allow me to, bless his heart. I know that I have an Eevee either in my 3 card deck or as my last prize. I Mentor, and luckily for me, it was in my deck. So I drop the Eevee, evolve the first Eevee into Jolteon ex (Metagross is now 30/100, but more importantly, Metang is now 20/80). I then Candy the new Eevee into Umbreon ex, pull up the Metang, and Swift it for the 6-5 win. Time was called less than a minute later. Looking back now, I owe him even more than I did before, as this is the game that ultimately was the make or break for the top 16.
Win, 3-1
Round 5 - Geneses (Awesome Sauce)
Systematic annihilation part 1. Golem makes me sad. He won 6-2, but it was a lot closer than that - post Nats he admitted that I did have him really nervous this match. I don't think I ever had a loaded Flygon ex d in this one, not that it would have helped me all that much if I did (and I might have) - Enraged Linear Attack just tore through my bench, and I couldn't find my Giant Stump, so it royally sucked to be my Eeveelutions.
Loss, 3-2
Round 6 - ???
I totally don't remember. ._. But I won.
Win, 4-2
Round 7 - brendan2236 (Flygon ex / Gardevoir ex)
I know him from judging him at a few tournies in St. Albert. Prior to the match, I see him asking somebody else what deck I'm using, which makes me fairly POed. Even though I know that this is rather commonplace. (And I totally did it too going into the Top 16. :biggrin
Fortunately for me, the guy he asked apparently had no idea what I was playing. Which will matter soon.On my first turn (he went first), I have a chance for the T1KO for the win. I'll need to get a few cards for it to happen, and I do manage to get them all except for Jolteon ex. Oh well. I misplay during this sequence and Scientist when I should have Adventurered. (To add some humor to it, he makes the exact same misplay later on.) Anyways, I wind up evolving my starting Eevee to Umbreon ex and start to Black Cry. He Warp Points up a fresh Mew ex (Versatile) and I have to put up Chimecho, which is the only Benched I had. He starts to Black Cry it, which puts me in some hurt. This is where his pre-match misinformation hurts him. He had been told that I was only playing Eeveelutions, and not the Flygon. So he decides to drop a couple of Trapinches and something else (the point is, not Ralts) on his bench. I play Giant Stump on like T3, so he has no way to get any Gardevoir ex d out. I'm able to, between Candy and going through Vibrava, get a Flygon d and a Flygon ex d out at the same time, get Flygon ex d loaded, and get it up and start swinging away. He's not able to get out any Flygons or Gardevoirs (well, he may have had 1 Flygon d at one point, I don't remember, but he never even got a Ralts to the Bench), so Psychic Pulse just tears though him.
Win, 5-2
We cut to T16, and all 6-1s and 5-2s make it (4 and 12). Opp Win % puts me at 15th.
Round 8 - Top 16; 2 vs 15 - Greg (Jirachi DX/Magcargo/Swampert ex)
Game 1
From what I'm told, he won the Eastern Canada Regionals. But congrats dude, you win the award for sorest loser of the people I played all day :nonono:
Game 1 - He only ever gets one Mudkip down, and as soon as he evos it to Marshtomp I Darker Ring it out and Pulse it. He scoops soon after.
Game Win, 1-0
Game 2
He starts with Mudkip, but it's Flygoned in short order. He is able to get a Swampert ex on his bench via Candy, and uses it to load up Lugia ex, with which he lays the smackdown on . I then Devo Flash it back to Mudkip, and use a combination of Vibrava and Flygon d to take it out. He later gets another one out and does it again, but I Pulse it out. I'll eventually win on prizes.
Game Win, 2-0; Win, 6-2
He then gets all huffy about how it's just a bad matchup for him and my deck is the only one that has a chance against him and if he had such and such a card he would have pulverized me (I think that's even the word he used) in game 2 and it's just that he misplayed blah blah blah. Look dude, I know that I haven't played in a tourney for a long time, but I do know how to play still. I wouldn't be as
:nonono: over this if you would have been willing to give me even a SHARD of credit. You can't lose 2-0 in a T16 and have it have had NOTHING to do with your opponent playing well when neither game was decided in the first 10+ turns.Round 9 - Top 8; 2 (5th?) vs 7 (15th) - Geneses (Awe- aw crap.)
Game 1, aka systematic annihilation part 2
Stantler will haunt my nightmares. I do misplay early, not Windstorming his Cess Crystal, but ultimately, it didn't make a difference. I never do get a draw card, and any Trainer I do get is dispatched of in short order by Stantler. I never even got to attack him, and I scoop early so we can get a start on Game 2.
Game Loss, 0-1
Game 2, aka systematic annihilation part 3
More Stantler. ;_; I send up randomness until I eventually am able to Candy a benched Trapinch into a loaded Flygon ex d, alebit a damaged one. I use it to take out Stantler, leaving him with only a Whismur. He then topdecks either a Candy or an Exploud ex, and after tossing down a Cursed Stone for good measure, Derails off Flygon ex's Holon Castform, leaving it at 100/150 with only a single Psychic Energy. My hand is down to a Jolteon ex and a Vibrava, and I only have Chimecho benched. It's given that Flygon ex will bite the big one on his next turn, so I conclude (rather obviously) that there's no way I'm coming back, and since neither of us had had dinner, I scoop rather than prolonging the inevitable a few more turns so that we can go fill our bellies.
Game Loss, 0-2; Loss, 6-3
So I finish in the always fun four way tie for 5th. The difference between me and the other three that got the loss in the T8 is that I was simply ecstatic over it. I mean, don't get me wrong, you always want to win. But considering that if I had fun at the tourney it would be a success, and that I was hoping I would maybe break 0.500 in the Swiss, to get into the Top 8 was simply awesome. I lost four games all day, three of which were to the eventual champion. Needless to say, I was pretty dang happy with how I did.
Short little list of Props:
Kevin for allowing me to unbench Trapinch - I will owe you for a long, long time dude.
Gordon and his dad for letting me share (read: invade) their hotel room.
Bolt and MK for helping me with my deck
Kent and his dad, they know why
P_A and co. for a well run tournament
I can only think of one so-called "slops," and if you were reading along, you can figure out who or what it is. :/
Good luck at Worlds those that are going. But do try to have a deck set to go earlier, ok Geneses? :thumb::lol:
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