I decided to play Lucario Donk because I feel relatively comfortable with it, compared to other considered decks. In the report below, instead of "established" I would normally say "set up", but "set up" now has a different meaning because of Uxie's Power. By "established" I refer to Lucario active with a DCE, and enough Pokemon in the Lost Zone via Palkia G.X's Lost Cyclone, so that Lucario's Dimension Sphere can now OHKO anything in sight.
Round 1 vs. Steven w/Machamp?
I don't know if he was playing a Machamp deck, or if Machamp was just a tech. He started with Crobat G active and Machop benched; I started with an Unown R. Fortunately he had to go first, and couldn't get another Pokemon on the bench. So, on my first turn, I activated the Uxie draw machine. At one point I would have to discard 2 DCE via a Junk Arm to keep the draw machine going. That put me in a "donk or lose" situation, since there are so few energy in my deck, but I felt I had to go for it while the opportunity was there, so I tossed the 2 DCE. The draw machine did its job and I was able to get Lucario established on the first turn. Seeker, Dimension Sphere, Game.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Tom w/Donphan
I started with Riolu, he started with Spiritomb. Spiritomb opposite will often mean an autoloss for me due to the trainer lock, but he had a very slow start. I used Light Punch for three rounds, and then evolved to Lucario and attached a DCE to knockout Spiritomb. At this point he had two Donphan ready to go, each with 1 energy. He brought one up and did Earthquake for 60. Lucario was still alive, and I could now play trainers, so I turned on the Uxie draw machine, and it did its job. Before my turn ended, Lucario was established. Seeker, Dimension Sphere, Game.
2-0
Round 3 vs. Alex w/LostGar
Very strange start; we each had a lone Uxie, and I had to go first. Fortunately I had a DCE in hand, so I could attach it and Psychic Restore for 40. He attached a Rescue Energy to his Uxie, and played a Bebe's to get Ghastly. I thought he would retreat Uxie and then Pitch Dark with Ghastly, which would trainer lock me for at least the next 3 turns. But instead he played BTS, evolved Ghastly to Haunter, and had his Uxie do Psychic Restore for 40. (Since I only had the lone Uxie in play, I suppose he saw the possibility of winning the game on the second turn, if I couldn't get another Pokemon in play.) But I could now play trainers, and I turned on the draw machine. To my pleasant surprise, I quickly drew Seeker, which meant that I didn't even need to get Lucario established. Seeker, Psychic Restore, Game.
3-0
Round 4 vs. Arthur w/'Chomp
He goes first. I turn on the draw machine, and everything was going smoothly until I tried to level up the Palkia G with Level Max. Three times I flipped tails; each time I then continued plowing through my deck looking for the next Level Max or Junk Arm. I drew a PGX, and while it was in my hand I made a fatal mistake. [I should ALWAYS, ALWAYS, when searching my deck for the first time, check to see if both PGX are in the deck. But sometimes I get lazy or forget to check.] I tried Level Max for the 4th time, and this time I got the critical heads. :biggrin: But searching my deck for the second PGX, it was not there, it was prized.
Since Level Max only works with a Lv.X in the deck, I now had to Junk Arm for my only Pokemon Communication to send my hand's PGX back into the deck. The next Level Max failed, then I drew the PGX again. Once more I played Junk Arm for Pokemon Communication to send the PGX back into my deck. But by now I had played all my Level Max and Junk Arm. There was no way to get Lucario established, and the opponent was easily able to win. I lost due to my misplay.
3-1
Round 5 vs. Carmenlita w/Kingdra
I had to go first with a lone Riolu, and did Light Punch for 10. She got Kingdra in play on he first turn, but fortunately she had no energy or I would have been donked. I turned on the draw machine, but it did not run smoothly; after Level Max failed twice I was unable to recover and could not get Lucario established. Down in flames.
3-2
Round 6 vs. Garrett w/'Chomp
I had to go first, and he was able to fill up his bench, so this was not going to be a quick game. On my 2nd turn, I activated the Uxie draw machine and it ran smoothly; I was able to get Lucario established with 4 of my Pokemon in the Lost Zone, knocking out his active. He leveled up Luxray, did Bright Look to bring up my PGX, and knocked it out. Later in the game, I had benched another Palkia G. He used Ambipom G to Tail Code, and move my DCE from active Lucario to the benched Palkia. Fortunately, my Super Scoop Up worked on Palkia G and I was able to put the energy back on Lucario to continue the OHKO attack. I won 6 prizes to his 3.
4-2
Round 7 vs. Matthew w/'Chomp
I started with Riolu active, and had to go first. I saw he had Ambipom G on his bench, and I had a DCE in hand, but I mistakenly didn't attach it to Riolu. So he was able to knock out Riolu on his first turn. But on my next turn I was able to use the Uxie draw engine to get Lucario established. Near the end of the game we each had 2 prizes left. My active Lucario had 4 damage; on my bench was an undamaged Lucario and an Unown R. I used SSU, flipped heads, and picked up my active Lucario, returning it to the bench, then did Dimension Sphere to knock out his active. Just one prize to go. But he did Bright Look on my Unown R. I played Junk Arm to get a SSU, but it failed. There was no way for me to remove the Unown R from the active position, and I had to end my turn without attacking. :frown: The next turn, I decked out. (I obviously should have used the earlier SSU on the Unown R instead of the damaged Lucario. At the time I was worried that he might have a Seeker and would knock out the damaged Lucario after playing Seeker, which is why I put Unown R on the bench and left it there. But if I had given it more thought, I would have realized that SP decks almost never play Seeker, because they have Poke Turn. If Unown R was not on the bench, I assume I would have won, because both Lucario were powered up and could OHKO anything he had.)
4-3
So I ended the day 4-3, which was a little disappointing, particularly after a 3-0 start. I felt that two of the lost games (Rounds 4 and 7) would probably have been won if I had not misplayed them. Round 5 was a solid loss, but it might have been a different story if one of the Level Max flips had been heads. But I shouldn't complain about bad luck there, because I had some good luck in other games. Anyway, the deck has proven itself worthy, even with my mistakes. A better player could do much better. When I got Lucario established, it was able to OHKO anything an opponent had active. I was certainly lucky that I only faced one Spiritomb start, and that I was able to knock it out despite the trainer lock. I was also lucky that I didn't have to deal with VileGar, Lost World, or with a deck playing Scizor. And I did OK, considering the number of games where I had the disadvantage of going first.
Round 1 vs. Steven w/Machamp?
I don't know if he was playing a Machamp deck, or if Machamp was just a tech. He started with Crobat G active and Machop benched; I started with an Unown R. Fortunately he had to go first, and couldn't get another Pokemon on the bench. So, on my first turn, I activated the Uxie draw machine. At one point I would have to discard 2 DCE via a Junk Arm to keep the draw machine going. That put me in a "donk or lose" situation, since there are so few energy in my deck, but I felt I had to go for it while the opportunity was there, so I tossed the 2 DCE. The draw machine did its job and I was able to get Lucario established on the first turn. Seeker, Dimension Sphere, Game.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Tom w/Donphan
I started with Riolu, he started with Spiritomb. Spiritomb opposite will often mean an autoloss for me due to the trainer lock, but he had a very slow start. I used Light Punch for three rounds, and then evolved to Lucario and attached a DCE to knockout Spiritomb. At this point he had two Donphan ready to go, each with 1 energy. He brought one up and did Earthquake for 60. Lucario was still alive, and I could now play trainers, so I turned on the Uxie draw machine, and it did its job. Before my turn ended, Lucario was established. Seeker, Dimension Sphere, Game.
2-0
Round 3 vs. Alex w/LostGar
Very strange start; we each had a lone Uxie, and I had to go first. Fortunately I had a DCE in hand, so I could attach it and Psychic Restore for 40. He attached a Rescue Energy to his Uxie, and played a Bebe's to get Ghastly. I thought he would retreat Uxie and then Pitch Dark with Ghastly, which would trainer lock me for at least the next 3 turns. But instead he played BTS, evolved Ghastly to Haunter, and had his Uxie do Psychic Restore for 40. (Since I only had the lone Uxie in play, I suppose he saw the possibility of winning the game on the second turn, if I couldn't get another Pokemon in play.) But I could now play trainers, and I turned on the draw machine. To my pleasant surprise, I quickly drew Seeker, which meant that I didn't even need to get Lucario established. Seeker, Psychic Restore, Game.
3-0
Round 4 vs. Arthur w/'Chomp
He goes first. I turn on the draw machine, and everything was going smoothly until I tried to level up the Palkia G with Level Max. Three times I flipped tails; each time I then continued plowing through my deck looking for the next Level Max or Junk Arm. I drew a PGX, and while it was in my hand I made a fatal mistake. [I should ALWAYS, ALWAYS, when searching my deck for the first time, check to see if both PGX are in the deck. But sometimes I get lazy or forget to check.] I tried Level Max for the 4th time, and this time I got the critical heads. :biggrin: But searching my deck for the second PGX, it was not there, it was prized.
Since Level Max only works with a Lv.X in the deck, I now had to Junk Arm for my only Pokemon Communication to send my hand's PGX back into the deck. The next Level Max failed, then I drew the PGX again. Once more I played Junk Arm for Pokemon Communication to send the PGX back into my deck. But by now I had played all my Level Max and Junk Arm. There was no way to get Lucario established, and the opponent was easily able to win. I lost due to my misplay.3-1
Round 5 vs. Carmenlita w/Kingdra
I had to go first with a lone Riolu, and did Light Punch for 10. She got Kingdra in play on he first turn, but fortunately she had no energy or I would have been donked. I turned on the draw machine, but it did not run smoothly; after Level Max failed twice I was unable to recover and could not get Lucario established. Down in flames.
3-2
Round 6 vs. Garrett w/'Chomp
I had to go first, and he was able to fill up his bench, so this was not going to be a quick game. On my 2nd turn, I activated the Uxie draw machine and it ran smoothly; I was able to get Lucario established with 4 of my Pokemon in the Lost Zone, knocking out his active. He leveled up Luxray, did Bright Look to bring up my PGX, and knocked it out. Later in the game, I had benched another Palkia G. He used Ambipom G to Tail Code, and move my DCE from active Lucario to the benched Palkia. Fortunately, my Super Scoop Up worked on Palkia G and I was able to put the energy back on Lucario to continue the OHKO attack. I won 6 prizes to his 3.
4-2
Round 7 vs. Matthew w/'Chomp
I started with Riolu active, and had to go first. I saw he had Ambipom G on his bench, and I had a DCE in hand, but I mistakenly didn't attach it to Riolu. So he was able to knock out Riolu on his first turn. But on my next turn I was able to use the Uxie draw engine to get Lucario established. Near the end of the game we each had 2 prizes left. My active Lucario had 4 damage; on my bench was an undamaged Lucario and an Unown R. I used SSU, flipped heads, and picked up my active Lucario, returning it to the bench, then did Dimension Sphere to knock out his active. Just one prize to go. But he did Bright Look on my Unown R. I played Junk Arm to get a SSU, but it failed. There was no way for me to remove the Unown R from the active position, and I had to end my turn without attacking. :frown: The next turn, I decked out. (I obviously should have used the earlier SSU on the Unown R instead of the damaged Lucario. At the time I was worried that he might have a Seeker and would knock out the damaged Lucario after playing Seeker, which is why I put Unown R on the bench and left it there. But if I had given it more thought, I would have realized that SP decks almost never play Seeker, because they have Poke Turn. If Unown R was not on the bench, I assume I would have won, because both Lucario were powered up and could OHKO anything he had.)
4-3
So I ended the day 4-3, which was a little disappointing, particularly after a 3-0 start. I felt that two of the lost games (Rounds 4 and 7) would probably have been won if I had not misplayed them. Round 5 was a solid loss, but it might have been a different story if one of the Level Max flips had been heads. But I shouldn't complain about bad luck there, because I had some good luck in other games. Anyway, the deck has proven itself worthy, even with my mistakes. A better player could do much better. When I got Lucario established, it was able to OHKO anything an opponent had active. I was certainly lucky that I only faced one Spiritomb start, and that I was able to knock it out despite the trainer lock. I was also lucky that I didn't have to deal with VileGar, Lost World, or with a deck playing Scizor. And I did OK, considering the number of games where I had the disadvantage of going first.
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