Hello there people of pokegym! this is my first tournament report so i hope you will enjoy it!
Lets get started!
Okay, so yesterday we had our first regionals here in Denmark, it was hold in Lumby's football club, which also is the place where the Lumby pokemon league is. we were a total of 32 masters, which is actually quiet good in our little country. we only just had enough to play top 8 after swiss, and this made me really happy that i before the tournament said that i would never ever get in the top cut if it only was top 4, and that i saw myself barely going through the swiss if we had top 8. But I ended up surprising myself which you well read about later on.
so my deck of choice, is actually a funny story, i had decided play pure darkrai hammer time, 3 weeks before the tournament, but the day before the tournament (friday) i got stressed out because, what if people played terrakion, then i would get stomped on. so i changed my deck of choice to a Tornadus/terrakion/garbador deck, BUT i just coudn't borrow any of the cards that i needed for that deck from anybody. so in the end, i decided to play dakrai/terrakion, a deck that i had never played before and i didn't have the chance to playtest so i did all the theory that was possible for me to do, i learned the diffrent amount of cards quickly, i went through all the decks i could face and how i would go about them, i felt prepared but then again not since i haven't had a chance to playtest it.
my deck list:
9 POKEMONS:
3 darkrai EX
3 sableyes
2 terrakions (realiate)
1 ho-oh ex
39 TRAINERS:
4 juniper
4 N
2 bianca
3 catcher
4 crushing hammer
2 enhanced hammer
4 dark patch
3 eviolite
1 dark claw
2 switch
2 ultra ball
3 energy switch
3 potion
2 tool scrapper
12 ENERGIES:
4:fighting:
8:dark:
strategy: use darkrai as primary attacker. terrakion for counter kills with retaliate, and then ho-oh as a surprising factor, and for terrakions and shaymins.
the tournament it self:
first round:
me vs. lone eriksen
darkrai/terrakion vs. terrakion/mewtwo
i knew that this was a bad match up for me, but mid-game i realized that i teched a ho-oh in the deck! so i played a ultra ball and discarded my ho-oh, then i used rebirth, i got heads, placed another energy under it and wrecked the terrakions with ho-oh when mewtwos then came in i retreated for darkrai and cleaned up.
1-0
second round:
me vs jesper madsen
darkrai/terrakion vs. garbador/mewtwo
not much to say here, he had a cheren and that was his only supporter for 10 turns, then i won. he tried to save himself with super scoop ups, but it only extended the waiting time for my victory.
2-0
third round:
me vs. simon eriksen (the nr.1 in the danish rankings)
darkrai/terrakion vs. darkrai/terrakion/roserade
so a mirror match. i started so bad, i got nothing for maybe 6 turns, but to my luck, simon didn't get the energies he needed which gave me enough time to top deck a juniper when i had 0 cards in hand, then my comeback started, i got everything from that juniper, i had a darkrai with an eviolite set up the turn after and i headed on 2 crushing hammers which set simon a few turns back, then he started drawing unlucky and i ended up winning.
3-0
1 more victory and i was secured a place in the top 8! i coudn't believe it, but I then saw who i could face, either a hydregion deck, a darkrai/mewtwo or a gardevoir/gothitelle which i wanted the least because he have been setting up so good in every match, and if he had it all set up against me, i would get stomped on because of the trainer lock.
fourth round:
me vs. anders hansen
darkrai/terrakion vs. gardevoir/gothitelle
how unlucky can you be you must be thinking now, right? well i am about to change your mind, with the best move ever!
so i started with a terrakion, and i knew i were going into a trainer lock, since i had nothing in my hand, but atleast i went first, i top deck a juniper and thought that maybe i could get something from that, i ended up getting everything! before i played the juniper i placed a darkness energy under my terrakion, then the move began. juniper, discarded my hand and i drew the following: 1 switch 2 dark patch, 2 darkness energy 1 ultra ball and 1 energy switch. i played the ultra ball discarded the 2 darkness energies, found myself a darkrai, played the 2 dark patches and got the 2 darkness energies under my darkrai, then i retreated and played my energy switch to move my darkness from my terrakion to my darkrai and BAM! turn 1 night spear, my opponent then just gave up.
4-0! YES! I secured myself in the top 8!
fifth round:
me vs. stephan nørregård
darkrai/terrakion vs. darkrai mewtwo
we were both secured in the top 8, and the first thing going through my mind was that i would draw the game out and wait for the gardevoir/gothitelle player, who was sitting next to me, were done so that i could win or lose depending on what he did, so that i would not face him in the top 8 matches, but then I remembered that simon also had a chance to go through if i won against stephan so i played to my best!
this was a real nailbitter we hitted each others darkrais with night spear after each other. after each of his KO's i used terrakion's retaliate to level the match again, we ended up having 1 card left in our decks but i had everything i needed in my hand, i played a potion to save my darkrai with 90 hp left from a catcher night spear KO and gave him the move, he drew a card and were now down to that 1 card in his deck, he played a random reciever and saw that his last card were and energy, he then told me that if he had drawn that card he would have had the victory because he would have attached it to a sableye and then catchered my terrakion, and confused it with confuse ray, i told him that it would not have mattered, i had a fighting energy in my hand, 1 on my terrakion, a switch, a catcher and an energy switch so that i could have attached the fighting energy to my terrakion, played a switch, retreated back for terrakion, then played my energy switch and move a darkness up to my terrakion, then catchered his darkrai and land crushed it for my last 2 prices.
i went 5-0 in the swiss! yeah!
top 8 match:
me vs. simon eriksen
darkrai/terrakion vs. darkrai/terrakion/roserade
first match:
i got nothing and simon just took the easy win there. this was a really bad thing for me since the losser choices who should start so even if i won the second game, he would have the upper hand in the third.
second match:
it was a good game untill simon made a energy mistake and gave up after that, since it would have costed him the game when i had the turn.
third game:
tied 1-1 simon starts.
this was like the game in swiss rounds. i started bad, then all of a sudden i get a supporter and started my comeback and won the game.
top 4 match:
me vs. jacob andersen
darkrai/terrakion vs. klingklang/terrakion/kyurem/kyogre
first match:
this was an easy 1 eventho the game took alot of time, he needed his prism and blend energies for his deck to work and i just played my enhanced hammers and and junk hunted after them again, making sure that he would never set up. i won the first match.
second match:
again, hammers ruin his deck and i rolled him over with darkrai,
the final:
me vs. stephan nørregård
darkrai/terrakion vs. darkrai/mewtwo
funny how we played in the final swiss round and the again in the finals, but i my luck had ran up at this point.
first match: Basically i draw nothing and he won.
second game: same as the first, eventho i get 150 on a darkrai with a dark claw so that he can't save it with eviolite, he played a max potion, and removed it all.. i lost a few turns after.
So i ended up as nr.2, i can deal with that since my first goal were to get in the top 8 because of my tiebreak. But I ended going 5-0 and going into the finals.
PROS/CONS
PROS:
Going flawless through the swiss!
Going into the finals with a deck that i hadn't playtested at all.
Ho-oh is a beast, eventho they see that you discard it with an ultra ball early game, then you just suddently, flip a coin and get a rainbow bird on the bench, dealing with your opponents terrakions and Shaymins. Also it can KO a Darkrai with an Evilote which have been hitted by 2 night spears. This surprisisng factor is such a big deal in a game.
Getting a turn 1 Night spear! OMG I still can't believe that I did that!
CONS:
Not believing in myself from the start.
Lets get started!
Okay, so yesterday we had our first regionals here in Denmark, it was hold in Lumby's football club, which also is the place where the Lumby pokemon league is. we were a total of 32 masters, which is actually quiet good in our little country. we only just had enough to play top 8 after swiss, and this made me really happy that i before the tournament said that i would never ever get in the top cut if it only was top 4, and that i saw myself barely going through the swiss if we had top 8. But I ended up surprising myself which you well read about later on.
so my deck of choice, is actually a funny story, i had decided play pure darkrai hammer time, 3 weeks before the tournament, but the day before the tournament (friday) i got stressed out because, what if people played terrakion, then i would get stomped on. so i changed my deck of choice to a Tornadus/terrakion/garbador deck, BUT i just coudn't borrow any of the cards that i needed for that deck from anybody. so in the end, i decided to play dakrai/terrakion, a deck that i had never played before and i didn't have the chance to playtest so i did all the theory that was possible for me to do, i learned the diffrent amount of cards quickly, i went through all the decks i could face and how i would go about them, i felt prepared but then again not since i haven't had a chance to playtest it.
my deck list:
9 POKEMONS:
3 darkrai EX
3 sableyes
2 terrakions (realiate)
1 ho-oh ex
39 TRAINERS:
4 juniper
4 N
2 bianca
3 catcher
4 crushing hammer
2 enhanced hammer
4 dark patch
3 eviolite
1 dark claw
2 switch
2 ultra ball
3 energy switch
3 potion
2 tool scrapper
12 ENERGIES:
4:fighting:
8:dark:
strategy: use darkrai as primary attacker. terrakion for counter kills with retaliate, and then ho-oh as a surprising factor, and for terrakions and shaymins.
the tournament it self:
first round:
me vs. lone eriksen
darkrai/terrakion vs. terrakion/mewtwo
i knew that this was a bad match up for me, but mid-game i realized that i teched a ho-oh in the deck! so i played a ultra ball and discarded my ho-oh, then i used rebirth, i got heads, placed another energy under it and wrecked the terrakions with ho-oh when mewtwos then came in i retreated for darkrai and cleaned up.
1-0
second round:
me vs jesper madsen
darkrai/terrakion vs. garbador/mewtwo
not much to say here, he had a cheren and that was his only supporter for 10 turns, then i won. he tried to save himself with super scoop ups, but it only extended the waiting time for my victory.
2-0
third round:
me vs. simon eriksen (the nr.1 in the danish rankings)
darkrai/terrakion vs. darkrai/terrakion/roserade
so a mirror match. i started so bad, i got nothing for maybe 6 turns, but to my luck, simon didn't get the energies he needed which gave me enough time to top deck a juniper when i had 0 cards in hand, then my comeback started, i got everything from that juniper, i had a darkrai with an eviolite set up the turn after and i headed on 2 crushing hammers which set simon a few turns back, then he started drawing unlucky and i ended up winning.
3-0
1 more victory and i was secured a place in the top 8! i coudn't believe it, but I then saw who i could face, either a hydregion deck, a darkrai/mewtwo or a gardevoir/gothitelle which i wanted the least because he have been setting up so good in every match, and if he had it all set up against me, i would get stomped on because of the trainer lock.
fourth round:
me vs. anders hansen
darkrai/terrakion vs. gardevoir/gothitelle
how unlucky can you be you must be thinking now, right? well i am about to change your mind, with the best move ever!
so i started with a terrakion, and i knew i were going into a trainer lock, since i had nothing in my hand, but atleast i went first, i top deck a juniper and thought that maybe i could get something from that, i ended up getting everything! before i played the juniper i placed a darkness energy under my terrakion, then the move began. juniper, discarded my hand and i drew the following: 1 switch 2 dark patch, 2 darkness energy 1 ultra ball and 1 energy switch. i played the ultra ball discarded the 2 darkness energies, found myself a darkrai, played the 2 dark patches and got the 2 darkness energies under my darkrai, then i retreated and played my energy switch to move my darkness from my terrakion to my darkrai and BAM! turn 1 night spear, my opponent then just gave up.
4-0! YES! I secured myself in the top 8!
fifth round:
me vs. stephan nørregård
darkrai/terrakion vs. darkrai mewtwo
we were both secured in the top 8, and the first thing going through my mind was that i would draw the game out and wait for the gardevoir/gothitelle player, who was sitting next to me, were done so that i could win or lose depending on what he did, so that i would not face him in the top 8 matches, but then I remembered that simon also had a chance to go through if i won against stephan so i played to my best!
this was a real nailbitter we hitted each others darkrais with night spear after each other. after each of his KO's i used terrakion's retaliate to level the match again, we ended up having 1 card left in our decks but i had everything i needed in my hand, i played a potion to save my darkrai with 90 hp left from a catcher night spear KO and gave him the move, he drew a card and were now down to that 1 card in his deck, he played a random reciever and saw that his last card were and energy, he then told me that if he had drawn that card he would have had the victory because he would have attached it to a sableye and then catchered my terrakion, and confused it with confuse ray, i told him that it would not have mattered, i had a fighting energy in my hand, 1 on my terrakion, a switch, a catcher and an energy switch so that i could have attached the fighting energy to my terrakion, played a switch, retreated back for terrakion, then played my energy switch and move a darkness up to my terrakion, then catchered his darkrai and land crushed it for my last 2 prices.
i went 5-0 in the swiss! yeah!
top 8 match:
me vs. simon eriksen
darkrai/terrakion vs. darkrai/terrakion/roserade
first match:
i got nothing and simon just took the easy win there. this was a really bad thing for me since the losser choices who should start so even if i won the second game, he would have the upper hand in the third.
second match:
it was a good game untill simon made a energy mistake and gave up after that, since it would have costed him the game when i had the turn.
third game:
tied 1-1 simon starts.
this was like the game in swiss rounds. i started bad, then all of a sudden i get a supporter and started my comeback and won the game.
top 4 match:
me vs. jacob andersen
darkrai/terrakion vs. klingklang/terrakion/kyurem/kyogre
first match:
this was an easy 1 eventho the game took alot of time, he needed his prism and blend energies for his deck to work and i just played my enhanced hammers and and junk hunted after them again, making sure that he would never set up. i won the first match.
second match:
again, hammers ruin his deck and i rolled him over with darkrai,
the final:
me vs. stephan nørregård
darkrai/terrakion vs. darkrai/mewtwo
funny how we played in the final swiss round and the again in the finals, but i my luck had ran up at this point.
first match: Basically i draw nothing and he won.
second game: same as the first, eventho i get 150 on a darkrai with a dark claw so that he can't save it with eviolite, he played a max potion, and removed it all.. i lost a few turns after.
So i ended up as nr.2, i can deal with that since my first goal were to get in the top 8 because of my tiebreak. But I ended going 5-0 and going into the finals.
PROS/CONS
PROS:
Going flawless through the swiss!
Going into the finals with a deck that i hadn't playtested at all.
Ho-oh is a beast, eventho they see that you discard it with an ultra ball early game, then you just suddently, flip a coin and get a rainbow bird on the bench, dealing with your opponents terrakions and Shaymins. Also it can KO a Darkrai with an Evilote which have been hitted by 2 night spears. This surprisisng factor is such a big deal in a game.
Getting a turn 1 Night spear! OMG I still can't believe that I did that!
CONS:
Not believing in myself from the start.