Our OP manager fixed, by kind permission from POP USA, so that out yearly mega X-mas tourney here in Oslo was a premier event. Way to go Eskil! In fact our first one this season I believe (our CCs doesn't start until January).
Date: 3rd of December 2006
Place: Outland store, Oslo, Norway
Attendance: 110 (or more)
Prologue (Skip this part if you're not a hardcore report reader)
Up until yesterday I hadn't played one single game of Pokémon TCG since I attended Worlds in Anaheim in August. Too much work on my hands, so I had to abandon my moderator obligaions both here on the Gym and at Pokemon.no, no store tournaments, no league, no nightly deck chats on AIM or MSN and alas no deck testing/deck making (usually a 24-hour-a-day hobby of mine).
But as our first big tournament this season approached I just couldn't stand it any longer and gave in to the pressure. So at 2 am the night before I made a new, never before tested deck for myself, and 2 hours before the tourney started I gave my daughter a new deck for her that she'd never played before either. Here's the story of how that went.
Today's deck of choice: Salamence ex/Altaria ex
I had asked one or two of my pokefriends about what decks were in circulation, and I got the impression RaichuEggs, MetaNite, Shiftry ex, BOOM, Flygon ex d and Saltaria were present in todays metagame. I had bought a few japanese packs and some english DF boosters. I was lucky to pull two Altaria exs and one Sally ex d amongst them. So I thought what the heck, let's try a new one, that might be fun! I seriously expected to get my butt handed to me on a plate for my lack of up-to-date playtesting, but since I am in this game for the fun of it I tuned my expectations real low and promised myself to not care too much about the results. (And as y'all know that is just a load of bs... hehe).
So here we go!!
1st game vs. ??
He plays a random deck with Gardevoir, Vilplume and maybe some grass stuff, I dunno. It took me three turns to win this game.
1-0
2nd game vs. ??
I don't get to see too much of this guys deck. He turn two knocks out some basic Pokemon of mine with a Boost Energy. I get my Castforms working, evolve and win the game quite easily. At this point at least I see my deck is consistant and that I get my troopers in action quite easily.
2-0
3rd game vs. Daniel
Daniel plays Banette/Houndoom (aka BOOM). He ascensions to safeguard Banette immediately. This of course forces me to think alternatively. I decide to sacrifice some stuff early and get my Salamence's evolved so that at least I can do 40 bench damage while he does 30 to me. The plan does not work at first as he keeps Cycloning and Warp Pointing me again and again. He takes the lead and have two prizes left. Finally I knock out everything of his except that freakin' Banette. This leaves me one prize ahead and he knows putting down a basic will mean victory for me, and pretty soon time is called. I didn't think I was gonna win this one since there was loads of distuption in it like ER2, Crystal Beach, Reversals etc., but my will to sacrifice basics, plus going for 40 bench damage all the way proved me right, this deck can handle itself.
3-0
4th game vs. Tommy
Just like Daniel, Tommy is amongst those guys from my local league who I know can pose a threat for everyone. Mr. T's gone Shiftry ex/Jolteon ex/Blastoise d today. We played a testmatch in a short break between round 2 and 3 I think and he won... So I know I have to get a good start. That I most certainly get and I am able to start 40 bench onslaught pretty fast. He lays down basics, but most of them has only got 40 HP, so they are Sally fodder. Nevertheless he puts up a tough fight and I see no need to not fear this deck should I meet it again. Shiftry is cool.
4-0
5th game vs. Kenneth
At this point we both know we are destined for Top 8, but we also know that we have points to collect if we have any plans of making it to Hawaii next year. I know RaichuEggs very well from lots of playtesting around the time of Worlds. And I know very well that I will have problems beating it. He will avoid 2-turn KO's on Raichu with Metal, he will throw a Zzzapp party on my expence, he will Curse Stone me etc etc.
That's exactly what's happening, plus in this game I totally lack the ability to adjust my gameplan according to the deck I am facing. I evolve Altarias that I never get to use (because of Cessation Crystal and Holon Legacy), and I place energy on a Sally ex d that I never attack with. In the end he wins when he knocks out two Altaria ex's in one turn.
4-1
6th game vs. ??
This was a kind of mirror match. He plays Sally ex w/o Altaria ex. He gets a great start and evolves stuff while I am kinda left in "sacrifice mode". But he makes a handful of wrong moves. He copycats me for very poor outcome and that leaves him energyless. And also he plays energy on Pokemon that cannot attack with that energy (like Holon's Volorb on a Ray ex d thinking it was lightning or Holon's Electrode or something). So meanwhile I have time to get my stuff together and start beatdown his bench. By the time his Sally ex d is ready to go it's a next turn OHKO for most of his Pokemon.
5-1
7th game vs. Benjamin
Another mirror-match, this time a "full-blooded" one. His deck is not as fast and consistant as mine and I outspeed him and secure a comfortably win.
6-1
8th game vs Kenneth
Well, it's no surprise I meet Kenneth again who is now undefeated. But this time I am ten times more prepared. I spent the breaks making some evilish plans on a better suited game strategy. This game is a whole different story. I get a better start and I make no mistakes. But still the game is tough, what saves me in the end is Sally ex d. I am able to go 40+40 for a few turns and that just did RaichuEggs in.
So, in other words, I am the WINNER!!!! And that's unbelieivably, really!!
7-1
Hawaii here I come!!!
Props:
- Eskil, making this a premier event
- Tobias, for running a great tournament in Eskils place.
- Outland, for serving free pizza and soda on the house
- Mathilde, my daughter, for landing a 3th place in Junior with a totally new deck
- All my pokefriends - it's good to be back!!!
- Saltaria, it's great we still can make decks that's cool to play. Way to go, PCL!!
Slops:
No slopping this time, ev'rything went by the book save for a few re-pairings.
That's all folks, see ya soon!!
Date: 3rd of December 2006
Place: Outland store, Oslo, Norway
Attendance: 110 (or more)
Prologue (Skip this part if you're not a hardcore report reader)
Up until yesterday I hadn't played one single game of Pokémon TCG since I attended Worlds in Anaheim in August. Too much work on my hands, so I had to abandon my moderator obligaions both here on the Gym and at Pokemon.no, no store tournaments, no league, no nightly deck chats on AIM or MSN and alas no deck testing/deck making (usually a 24-hour-a-day hobby of mine).
But as our first big tournament this season approached I just couldn't stand it any longer and gave in to the pressure. So at 2 am the night before I made a new, never before tested deck for myself, and 2 hours before the tourney started I gave my daughter a new deck for her that she'd never played before either. Here's the story of how that went.
Today's deck of choice: Salamence ex/Altaria ex
I had asked one or two of my pokefriends about what decks were in circulation, and I got the impression RaichuEggs, MetaNite, Shiftry ex, BOOM, Flygon ex d and Saltaria were present in todays metagame. I had bought a few japanese packs and some english DF boosters. I was lucky to pull two Altaria exs and one Sally ex d amongst them. So I thought what the heck, let's try a new one, that might be fun! I seriously expected to get my butt handed to me on a plate for my lack of up-to-date playtesting, but since I am in this game for the fun of it I tuned my expectations real low and promised myself to not care too much about the results. (And as y'all know that is just a load of bs... hehe).
So here we go!!
1st game vs. ??
He plays a random deck with Gardevoir, Vilplume and maybe some grass stuff, I dunno. It took me three turns to win this game.
1-0
2nd game vs. ??
I don't get to see too much of this guys deck. He turn two knocks out some basic Pokemon of mine with a Boost Energy. I get my Castforms working, evolve and win the game quite easily. At this point at least I see my deck is consistant and that I get my troopers in action quite easily.
2-0
3rd game vs. Daniel
Daniel plays Banette/Houndoom (aka BOOM). He ascensions to safeguard Banette immediately. This of course forces me to think alternatively. I decide to sacrifice some stuff early and get my Salamence's evolved so that at least I can do 40 bench damage while he does 30 to me. The plan does not work at first as he keeps Cycloning and Warp Pointing me again and again. He takes the lead and have two prizes left. Finally I knock out everything of his except that freakin' Banette. This leaves me one prize ahead and he knows putting down a basic will mean victory for me, and pretty soon time is called. I didn't think I was gonna win this one since there was loads of distuption in it like ER2, Crystal Beach, Reversals etc., but my will to sacrifice basics, plus going for 40 bench damage all the way proved me right, this deck can handle itself.
3-0
4th game vs. Tommy
Just like Daniel, Tommy is amongst those guys from my local league who I know can pose a threat for everyone. Mr. T's gone Shiftry ex/Jolteon ex/Blastoise d today. We played a testmatch in a short break between round 2 and 3 I think and he won... So I know I have to get a good start. That I most certainly get and I am able to start 40 bench onslaught pretty fast. He lays down basics, but most of them has only got 40 HP, so they are Sally fodder. Nevertheless he puts up a tough fight and I see no need to not fear this deck should I meet it again. Shiftry is cool.
4-0
5th game vs. Kenneth
At this point we both know we are destined for Top 8, but we also know that we have points to collect if we have any plans of making it to Hawaii next year. I know RaichuEggs very well from lots of playtesting around the time of Worlds. And I know very well that I will have problems beating it. He will avoid 2-turn KO's on Raichu with Metal, he will throw a Zzzapp party on my expence, he will Curse Stone me etc etc.
That's exactly what's happening, plus in this game I totally lack the ability to adjust my gameplan according to the deck I am facing. I evolve Altarias that I never get to use (because of Cessation Crystal and Holon Legacy), and I place energy on a Sally ex d that I never attack with. In the end he wins when he knocks out two Altaria ex's in one turn.
4-1
6th game vs. ??
This was a kind of mirror match. He plays Sally ex w/o Altaria ex. He gets a great start and evolves stuff while I am kinda left in "sacrifice mode". But he makes a handful of wrong moves. He copycats me for very poor outcome and that leaves him energyless. And also he plays energy on Pokemon that cannot attack with that energy (like Holon's Volorb on a Ray ex d thinking it was lightning or Holon's Electrode or something). So meanwhile I have time to get my stuff together and start beatdown his bench. By the time his Sally ex d is ready to go it's a next turn OHKO for most of his Pokemon.
5-1
7th game vs. Benjamin
Another mirror-match, this time a "full-blooded" one. His deck is not as fast and consistant as mine and I outspeed him and secure a comfortably win.
6-1
8th game vs Kenneth
Well, it's no surprise I meet Kenneth again who is now undefeated. But this time I am ten times more prepared. I spent the breaks making some evilish plans on a better suited game strategy. This game is a whole different story. I get a better start and I make no mistakes. But still the game is tough, what saves me in the end is Sally ex d. I am able to go 40+40 for a few turns and that just did RaichuEggs in.
So, in other words, I am the WINNER!!!! And that's unbelieivably, really!!
7-1
Hawaii here I come!!!
Props:
- Eskil, making this a premier event
- Tobias, for running a great tournament in Eskils place.
- Outland, for serving free pizza and soda on the house
- Mathilde, my daughter, for landing a 3th place in Junior with a totally new deck
- All my pokefriends - it's good to be back!!!
- Saltaria, it's great we still can make decks that's cool to play. Way to go, PCL!!
Slops:
No slopping this time, ev'rything went by the book save for a few re-pairings.
That's all folks, see ya soon!!
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