KazamBolt
Active Member
Long story short, I lost round 1 to Lilligant (stupid confusion tails...), then won 8 straight games (5 were in swiss including 1 donk, 1 T2 "donk", 1 bad game for the opponent and 2 fairly good-good games), and lost my last two in the Top 2 to Donphan and Dragons.
34 Masters, 6 Rounds, Top 4 Cut. Here we go.
Oh, and I'm playing Tornadus/Zekrom/Pachirisu/Shaymin. I list Tornadus first because it is actually a better attacker than Zekrom, keeping you precious energy in play while still doing a solid 80 damage. I rarely actually used Zekrom in games and found that Tornadus was an overall better Pokemon. Zekrom was for just dropping heavy damage late in the game or covering weakness.
Round 1 v. Yanmega/Lilligant
This deck was actually quite ingenious. The main focus was to set up a Vileplume and Sunflora, then attack with a swarm of Lilligant and Yanmega. I was locked out of doing much once he got set up and he basically went to town on my Pokemon.
I got a great start, achieving a T1 Hurricane on his active Petlil. He Collectored for a couple Sunkern and an Oddish, and had an active Yanma and benched Petlil. I knew that Lilligant would cause me some problems, and stupidly Catchered up the Petlil instead of the Oddish for my knockout. Because of my limited testing with TZPS, I didn't know how badly the deck was hurt by trainer lock. I took a 6-3 lead before he could actually get any knockouts, but at that point, I was in trouble. I couldn't OHKO Lilligant with Tornadus because it had 90 HP and I couldn't play PlusPower. 75% of the time, I couldn't attack anyways because of either Paralysis or Confusion, and had to resort to retreating (and wasting valuable energy) or attempting to attack through Confusion. In the end, I had a Confusion flip to win the game with a Bolt Strike on his Lilligant but missed it and ended up losing the game.
0-1
Round 2 v. Brandon R. (Reshiphlosion)
Brandon had won a Battle Road one week earlier with the same exact list so I wasn't expecting a cakewalk. However, because I was already 0-1, I knew that my only chance at making Top Cut was to win out so I had to just fight through the unwanted pairing.
Unfortunately for Brandon, he had a terrible start. He saw 2 supporters all game (Collector for 3 Cyndaquil and Sage's) and I ran through everything with Hurricane and a Bolt Strike+PlusPower to take out Reshiram.
1-1
Round 3 v. Tracy K. (Reshiphlosion)
This round, I'm playing Tracy who won the day before with at least a similar deck. However, her start was a hand including a Cyndaquil, 3 Typhlosion and some other useless trainers. I just missed the Turn 1 donk but had a Collector for Shaymin on my 2nd turn to get the win.
2-1
Round 4 v. Joel H. (Stage 1)
Joel is a familiar face and a friend, and I was glad to see him doing well today. However, in this sort of a tournament, it isn't very good to be playing a friend because I knew that 1 loss meant game over. Unfortunately for Joel, I had the Turn 1 Hurricane all ready for his lone Zorua and I went first.
3-1
Round 5 v. Sean F. (Mew/Lucario)
Sean was another friend, but he was 2-2. I knew that I would most likely be able to win this game because Mew is just too fragile to deal with a consistent 80 damage from Tornadus, but I knew that Sean didn't have a chance at Top Cut with a 2-2 record anyways so I didn't feel as bad. I took some quick prizes on Mew and Relicanth, and even his Vileplume was unable to slow me down too much. I couldn't OHKO his Lucario because I couldn't play a PlusPower and I knew that Zekrom would just get easily KOed so I just slugged a consistent 80 damage instead. I eventually outlasted his 70 damage capped Lucario swarm to win.
4-1
Round 6 v. Mark M. (Stage 1)
I knew here that I had to win or go home, and I was so close to Top Cut. He started with only 1 Pokemon and I had the choice of either starting with Zekrom or Tornadus, with a DCE, Pluspower, and other trainers in hand. I decided to start with Tornadus because I would only need to draw into a Lightning Energy, Pachirisu, and Shaymin to get rolling that way instead of needing 2 Energy (which can make a big difference with the deck, Shaymin and Pachirisu are easily searched with Dual Ball, Lightning is not). However, my opponent started Cleffa which meant that Zekrom start would have meant the win on turn 1 for me >.> Anyways, I had a slow setup, but eventually got attacking. I took cheap prizes with Catcher on any basic I could so that I only had to take about 3 "real" prizes on Yanmegas and Donphans. In the end, the prize count was close, but I was in control for pretty much the whole game and took a cheap prize for the last knockout.
5-1
Even with the downpair, and the 0-1 start, I was the 2nd seed, with all 5-1s making Top Cut.
Top 4 v. Tim L. (Reshiphlosion)
I wasn't completely thrilled with my results against Reshiphlosion during testing. I had a few good games, and found the matchup to be fairly even if they weren't playing Ninetales or if I could take it out.
Game 1:
I went first and got a good set up, I think I got a Turn 1 KO. Either way, I outsped him, and eventually, through the use of Catcher for cheap prizes and to KO his Typhlosions, outslugged him.
W
Game 2:
Same as Game 1, but he ran out of Reshiram (he plays no Revive) and he only played a 3-2-3 line of Typhlosion. I Junipered into a Catcher for the last prize of the game on his Benched Tyrogue.
6-1
Top 2 v. Bohdan P. (Donphan and Dragons)
Game 1:
I went first but didn't have a great start. However, I was able to get a good stream of Tornadus up to counter his Donphans. I really didn't have many resources but he only had 3 energy all game and none of them were DCE. He scooped after I took 4 prizes.
W
Game 2:
He went first and all I had were 2 Zekroms, a Lightning, Junk Arm, Shaymin, and other useless trainers. I topdecked a DCE at just the right time to hit him with an Outrage for the KO and got a Dual Ball of the prize. Unfortunately, I got double tails and was unable to get my Cleffa to set up. I scooped.
L
Game 3:
I went first but missed the donk by 1 card >.> Basically, his Zekroms hit my Tornadus for Weakness and his Donphans did the same to my Zekroms. It came down to the wire but he ended up having the stronger late game. I lost by a prize because I couldn't take one on turn 2. Good games!
L
6-2
It was Bohdan's first win and he deserved it after getting 2 3rds this year. I was content with the 2nd Place finish, Victory Cup, and Championship Point. I'm stoked for Regionals!
Wins:
4 Games v. Reshiphlosion
2 Game v. Stage 1 Variant
1 Game v. Mew/Lucario
1 Game v. Donphan and Dragons
Losses:
1 Game v. Lilligant
2 Games v. Donphan Dragons
34 Masters, 6 Rounds, Top 4 Cut. Here we go.
Oh, and I'm playing Tornadus/Zekrom/Pachirisu/Shaymin. I list Tornadus first because it is actually a better attacker than Zekrom, keeping you precious energy in play while still doing a solid 80 damage. I rarely actually used Zekrom in games and found that Tornadus was an overall better Pokemon. Zekrom was for just dropping heavy damage late in the game or covering weakness.
Round 1 v. Yanmega/Lilligant
This deck was actually quite ingenious. The main focus was to set up a Vileplume and Sunflora, then attack with a swarm of Lilligant and Yanmega. I was locked out of doing much once he got set up and he basically went to town on my Pokemon.
I got a great start, achieving a T1 Hurricane on his active Petlil. He Collectored for a couple Sunkern and an Oddish, and had an active Yanma and benched Petlil. I knew that Lilligant would cause me some problems, and stupidly Catchered up the Petlil instead of the Oddish for my knockout. Because of my limited testing with TZPS, I didn't know how badly the deck was hurt by trainer lock. I took a 6-3 lead before he could actually get any knockouts, but at that point, I was in trouble. I couldn't OHKO Lilligant with Tornadus because it had 90 HP and I couldn't play PlusPower. 75% of the time, I couldn't attack anyways because of either Paralysis or Confusion, and had to resort to retreating (and wasting valuable energy) or attempting to attack through Confusion. In the end, I had a Confusion flip to win the game with a Bolt Strike on his Lilligant but missed it and ended up losing the game.
0-1
Round 2 v. Brandon R. (Reshiphlosion)
Brandon had won a Battle Road one week earlier with the same exact list so I wasn't expecting a cakewalk. However, because I was already 0-1, I knew that my only chance at making Top Cut was to win out so I had to just fight through the unwanted pairing.
Unfortunately for Brandon, he had a terrible start. He saw 2 supporters all game (Collector for 3 Cyndaquil and Sage's) and I ran through everything with Hurricane and a Bolt Strike+PlusPower to take out Reshiram.
1-1
Round 3 v. Tracy K. (Reshiphlosion)
This round, I'm playing Tracy who won the day before with at least a similar deck. However, her start was a hand including a Cyndaquil, 3 Typhlosion and some other useless trainers. I just missed the Turn 1 donk but had a Collector for Shaymin on my 2nd turn to get the win.
2-1
Round 4 v. Joel H. (Stage 1)
Joel is a familiar face and a friend, and I was glad to see him doing well today. However, in this sort of a tournament, it isn't very good to be playing a friend because I knew that 1 loss meant game over. Unfortunately for Joel, I had the Turn 1 Hurricane all ready for his lone Zorua and I went first.
3-1
Round 5 v. Sean F. (Mew/Lucario)
Sean was another friend, but he was 2-2. I knew that I would most likely be able to win this game because Mew is just too fragile to deal with a consistent 80 damage from Tornadus, but I knew that Sean didn't have a chance at Top Cut with a 2-2 record anyways so I didn't feel as bad. I took some quick prizes on Mew and Relicanth, and even his Vileplume was unable to slow me down too much. I couldn't OHKO his Lucario because I couldn't play a PlusPower and I knew that Zekrom would just get easily KOed so I just slugged a consistent 80 damage instead. I eventually outlasted his 70 damage capped Lucario swarm to win.
4-1
Round 6 v. Mark M. (Stage 1)
I knew here that I had to win or go home, and I was so close to Top Cut. He started with only 1 Pokemon and I had the choice of either starting with Zekrom or Tornadus, with a DCE, Pluspower, and other trainers in hand. I decided to start with Tornadus because I would only need to draw into a Lightning Energy, Pachirisu, and Shaymin to get rolling that way instead of needing 2 Energy (which can make a big difference with the deck, Shaymin and Pachirisu are easily searched with Dual Ball, Lightning is not). However, my opponent started Cleffa which meant that Zekrom start would have meant the win on turn 1 for me >.> Anyways, I had a slow setup, but eventually got attacking. I took cheap prizes with Catcher on any basic I could so that I only had to take about 3 "real" prizes on Yanmegas and Donphans. In the end, the prize count was close, but I was in control for pretty much the whole game and took a cheap prize for the last knockout.
5-1
Even with the downpair, and the 0-1 start, I was the 2nd seed, with all 5-1s making Top Cut.
Top 4 v. Tim L. (Reshiphlosion)
I wasn't completely thrilled with my results against Reshiphlosion during testing. I had a few good games, and found the matchup to be fairly even if they weren't playing Ninetales or if I could take it out.
Game 1:
I went first and got a good set up, I think I got a Turn 1 KO. Either way, I outsped him, and eventually, through the use of Catcher for cheap prizes and to KO his Typhlosions, outslugged him.
W
Game 2:
Same as Game 1, but he ran out of Reshiram (he plays no Revive) and he only played a 3-2-3 line of Typhlosion. I Junipered into a Catcher for the last prize of the game on his Benched Tyrogue.
6-1
Top 2 v. Bohdan P. (Donphan and Dragons)
Game 1:
I went first but didn't have a great start. However, I was able to get a good stream of Tornadus up to counter his Donphans. I really didn't have many resources but he only had 3 energy all game and none of them were DCE. He scooped after I took 4 prizes.
W
Game 2:
He went first and all I had were 2 Zekroms, a Lightning, Junk Arm, Shaymin, and other useless trainers. I topdecked a DCE at just the right time to hit him with an Outrage for the KO and got a Dual Ball of the prize. Unfortunately, I got double tails and was unable to get my Cleffa to set up. I scooped.
L
Game 3:
I went first but missed the donk by 1 card >.> Basically, his Zekroms hit my Tornadus for Weakness and his Donphans did the same to my Zekroms. It came down to the wire but he ended up having the stronger late game. I lost by a prize because I couldn't take one on turn 2. Good games!
L
6-2
It was Bohdan's first win and he deserved it after getting 2 3rds this year. I was content with the 2nd Place finish, Victory Cup, and Championship Point. I'm stoked for Regionals!
Wins:
4 Games v. Reshiphlosion
2 Game v. Stage 1 Variant
1 Game v. Mew/Lucario
1 Game v. Donphan and Dragons
Losses:
1 Game v. Lilligant
2 Games v. Donphan Dragons
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