Professor Elm
Active Member
Pre-Nats
Well I was supposed to go to Nationals with one of my friends, but he backed out about a week or so before nats and I thought I wasn't gonna be able to go. After begging my mom for the funds to fly there for my bday gift she decides to give in, very reluctantly might I add. I told my mom that I might have a chance to win a trip to Hawaii and she laughed and said I didn't really stand a chance since the last two battle roads I couldn't even win. Haha. She actually really didn't want me to go, but now she's pretty happy she let me.
Wednesday:
So Wednesday wasn't very eventful. I felt really sick the entire plane ride from San Antonio to Indy. I had a delay in Chicago which sucked, but finally I got into Indy around 5 or 6ish. I head over to the Westin since the Texas group I was staying with hadn't driven in yet. I meet up with Steven, Miranda, Jose, and Maria and then we head over to the Marriott to do some playtesting. I just started testing my Kingdra deck and looked for people playing Luxchomp cause that was my most concerning matchup. I went 3-1 against luxchomp only losing to a donk, but I wasn't really sure if those people knew how to play it very well. Anyway, after a few hours of playtesting and Steak N Shake, Christine finally arrives to the hotel to pick me up. We go up to one of the volunteers' rooms and help Tori learn how to play Jumpluff. Finally, at about 1ish or 2 we head out to our AWESOME SUPER NICE HOTEL. The Econolodge. If you couldn't catch my sarcasm, it was a really crappy hotel in all aspects. But I wasn't gonna complain cause I was just happy to be at Nationals! Thank God Andy was my room mate cause he saved me prolly a lot of boredom in that hotel room lol.
Thursday
So we all wake up and Andy and Brandon decide to go to the mall without me and make me go to breakfast with Charlotte while they have fun at the mall. Whatever. After breakfast I go into one of the other rooms and I test with all the North Texas players there and they all gave really positive feedback on my Kingdra deck saying how cool and consistent it was. I tested it against Luxape, Machamp, Jumpluff, and Luxchomp. I lost once to Luxchomp though but sweeped the rest. Anyway, they bring back White Castle to the hotel room (which we don't have in TX) and we pig out. I think they are over rated but whatever. Anyway, finally about a little after 4 we head over to the convention center where we all pre register and I meet up with Steven and Andy and Robby and a few other TX players and we chill and playtest for a while. We basically just chill there all night and I get some Steaknshake again I think and then me, andy, and tori walk around the convention center and just chill and talk for a really long time. Finally, we take the vans back to the hotel and get a little bit of sleep, not much though.
Friday
Ok, so the big day is here. We get up around 730ish I think and head out to the convention center. I'm dead tired and didn't eat breakfast. Well anyway, we turn in our decklists and I chat with some cool people around me and then head over to talk to all the people there. Finally, pairings go up and I'm in the Yellow Flight.
Round 1 vs. Chris Bianchi w/ LuxPluff
So anyway, I don't really remember any of my games very well due to sleep deprivation. But anyway, I think he got an early pluff and I got some Kingdras up and KO'd his Pluff while abusing my Warp Points and stuff. I dropped the Dusknoir early and put back his claydol over the luxray since he only had one out. Eventually he started dead drawing cause he couldn't get the Claydol and he tried to stall with Luxray Lv. X and Poketurns, but my Warps and Kingdra swarm ended up finishing it off.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Machamp
Well he goes second and gets the T1 Machamp and donks a basic. But, I have a pretty good hand and setup a T2 Kingdra and warp it up. He has nothing on his bench so I just hit it for 80. He draws and doesn't have another basic so I win it.
2-0
Round 3 vs. Redshark Creator w/ TTar/Prime
So anyway, I seriously get one of the worst hands of all time. I get an early Roseanne's and grab the Uxie and Setup for 4. I draw like 2 BTS a Palmers and something else. Anwyay I draw pass for like 5 turns sacrificing an Uxie, Horsea, and Baltoy. I finally topdeck a communication or something and get out a Dol to start my setup. Of course at this point he already has 2 Ttars out. Luckily he had a Sableye with a Belt on the bench and I simply start to setup a bunch of Kingdras and start taking prizes on the Sableye and the TTars and actually start to take the lead in the prize count. A nicely timed Dusknoir basically sealed the deal for me and he couldn't overcome my swarm of spray splashes which ended up taking my last prize on the Tomb.
3-0
Round 4 vs. Frank Diaz (I think) w/ Gengar/Queen or maybe it was Cursegar
So, this game wasn't very eventful, I get an early Judge on him I think which ends up crippling his setup. I end up getting out my swarm of Kingdras with Dusknoir and pick off his Gastlys and Haunters and Tombs and stuff. He just couldn't pull anything and I win this game.
4-0
Round 5 vs. Shuppet
SO, I start with lone Phanpy and he gets Crobat G, Shuppet and Belt and I get donked. FUN!
4-1
Round 6 vs. Sablelock
SO, he goes first with a Sableye start to my lone Horsea, drops Uxie for 2 or 3 and gets the Special dark. I got donked again, so I must really suck at this game lol.
4-2
Round 7 vs. Gyarados
So, basically he starts with Suicune but gets out a T1 Sableye and I get a pretty good setup with a T1 or T2 Kingdra. I basically Judge him right after he impersonated for a Collector and cripple his setup and kill the Sableye. From there I just steamroll through all his basics and the 1 Gyarados he manages to setup.
5-2
END OF DAY 1
So day 1 was fairly successful, my only 2 losses were to donks which kinda made me mad, but whatever. I was surprised I hadn't donked anybody all day either lol. Everybody I played always opened up with 2 basics. We end up eating at the food court I think and head home really late after doing I dont even know what. Once again, sleep deprivation lol.
Saturday
So, we are almost late to the tournament lol, but we get there and get in our seats for the rounds.
Round 8 vs. Gigas
This guy was really cool, forgot his name though. Basically I get a pretty good setup with early Dols and Kingdras. He gets a quick lock with Mesprit after I kill a basic and gets the Gigas out and ends up healing and hitting me with Gigas. He eventually KOs my Kingdra but I have the Phanpy on bench and get out Donphan with Belt with the help of my Claydols and basically steamroll through his basics once the belted Gigas died.
6-2
SO, I was kinda sure I would make the top cut cause quite a few of my opponents had pretty good records, but I didn't wanna get too confident.
Round 9 vs. Colin w/ TTar/Queen
Well, I start with Uxie, 2 BTS, Belt, a couple energy, and a palmers. I belt the Uxie going second cause I was afraid I would get donked. Well he has a fairly slow setup but still has supporters and stuff to get stuff out. I draw pass for 2 turns and drop a Horsea on bench, having complete crap in my hand. Anyway, he gets the TTar and Power Claws the Horsea and then I TOPDECK!!! . . . a BTS. So I lose cause of no supporters, dol, baltoy, or really anything lol. He's a cool guy though.
6-3
SO, I start to get a little nervous cause I wasn't 100% sure I had made the cut since there were a lot of 6-3s. Well, I finally go and check the standings a little late and find out that I'm like seed 58 or so, so I made it! I was kind of excited and went to go eat with Andy and Steven at the food court. After deck checks and lunch we head back to start our top cut matches.
Top 128 vs. Gengar/Chomp C
Game 1
SO, I basically get a really fast swarm going and am very conservative with my Uxie drops because I know that they are really easy prizes for this deck. He has a slow setup and my Judge hurt him. I get a bunch of quick KOs but he makes a comeback by sniping and shadow rooming a bunch of stuff since literally EVERYTHING in my deck has powers lol. I get around 1 fainting spell and get down to 1 prize. I can draw my last prize with Kingdra but I would be forced to take the Fainting Spell flip. But, I had to do it cause I had no outs left. Anyway, he flips heads on Fainting Spell so we go to sudden death.
SUDDEN DEATH
Well, he goes first I think and then I end up getting the T1 Kingdra with belt on his Crobat G so I win.
1-0
Game 2
SO, I get a bunch of early prizes and the game is very close the entire way through but he simply has the upper hand with his Gengars and killing off all my Claydols. I keep playing it out and get down to 1 prize but I simply couldn't pull it off so he wins it.
1-1
Game 3
Well, I basically start off hard and fast, overextending REALLY bad so I could get the T1 Kingdra cause I was whiffing like crazy and I knew time was coming up and I needed to get the early prize lead. He has a really bad opening hand but takes a prize with chomp or something like that. I get my 2nd prize then he goes but can't get anything. Time is called on my turn and I have taken 2 prizes to his 1. So I win on time. I hate winning like that, but it's Nats so I gotta take this wins.
2-1
Top 64 vs. Jumpluff/AMU
Game 1
I whiff on EVERYTHING and he has amazing luck. The game is actually close even though Kingdra does really good against Pluff BUT I simply couldn't get the Kingdras out. Finally I started drawing what I needed and steamrolled his Pluffs which he always would set back up lol. But I was finally able to kill the belted Pluff with Dragon Pump koing the active and benched giving me 3 prizes.
1-0
Game 2
Once again, similar to game 1. He takes a 3 prize lead until I finally get out a Kingdra. I finally get something going and get the Dusknoir out and simply run through him. He still puts up a good fight and gets down to 1 prize but the Kingdra swarm combined with Noir basically crippled him and allowed me to make a great comeback and draw all 6 of my prizes.
2-0
Top 32 vs. Adam w/ AMUplox
SO, I was really upset I had to play Adam in top 32 cause he's a fellow texan and a good friend. AND, I knew I relied on powers A LOT and would need a lot of luck to win this.
Game 1
Well, I basically get 1 turn of powers before he binds and Ploxes me. I conserve my supporters and am able to get a quick Kingdra and a Donphan setup. I finally get past the lock and KO a Gardy. He is forced to send up Gallade to OHKO a Kingdra I think and from there I used my powers to get setup. I eventually kill the Gallade and because he can't get another Gardy setup and I'm drawing like crazy setting up a huge swarm, I win.
1-0
Game 2
Similar to game 1 except a little better. I just start drawing like crazy from my 1 turn of powers and just get everything setup fast and KO his quick Gardy. A nicely timed Dusknoir shuffles his Ralts with energy back into the deck so he couldn't get the Psy Lock going again. With that and Judge I was able to steamroll through his other basics.
2-0
Good games Adam and sorry I had to knock u out of the cut man.
Wow, so I was finally doing good at a big tournament this year after bombing my states and regionals due to really poor deck choices and really poor luck. SO, I was really excited.
That night was slightly eventful and me and Andy decide to go chill in JT's room and then Tori's room while the rest of our group was being nerds playing in the mutant draft, lol jk. I was getting super tired and just wanted to leave but we didn't have much of a choice but to wait for our group to finish up at the mutant draft which kinda sucked. Finally at like 2ish we head out. At a stop light we get rear ended by a drunk driver and I just fell asleep through the whole thing while they worked with the cops. The driver of the other car got arrested for a DUI, but I was asleep the whole time and didn't really care that much. It sucks though that it happened cause we didn't get back to the hotel till like 3ish or 330 I think. I pass out for like 4 hours or so and wake up.
Sunday
I felt like complete crap in the morning cause of my lack of sleep, and on top of that my stomach was killing me. We get to the convention center and I am almost dead sitting there at my seat with Andy. Finally they call the top 16 over and I drag myself over to my match. If you saw me you would know how bad I was feeling. Plus I was kinda nervous which didn't help my stomach problems at all.
BUT, I knew I just had to suck it up and play through it anyway.
Top 16 vs. Luxchomp w/ Honchkrow G
This guy was pretty cool. He was like on Team Rocket or something consisting of players from the Oklahoma and Louisiana area. Anyway, we shuffle and start the game.
Game 1
So, basically this game goes pretty bad for me in the beginning. I am able to setup like 2 Claydols fast BUT he started with Krow and got lots of Sprays into his hand which slowed me down a lot. He took like the first 2-3 prizes before I could do much and ended up sniping 2 of my Horseas on top of it. I made a misplay by not realizing that 2 of my Horseas AND MY Palmers were prized. SOOOOO, bottom line was that there was no way I could get a Kingdra out. So, I did the only thing I could do. GO aggro Donphan. I get the Belted Donphan and with the help of Warp Points and Dusknoir I was able to control his setup. A nicely timed judge screwed him over pretty bad and I was starting to take control of the game again. Finally he got another Chomp out, BUT he had wasted all his resources already. He got down to 1 prize with his chomp but he had a Zong G on his bench with like 60 on it. I warped him and he sent up a bat or something and I brought up a horsea. A couple cosmics and I got the Belt and Candy to get out my LA Kingdra, belted it and Hydro Shotted the Zong and Bat getting my last 2 prizes. Wow, can't believe I pulled that off.
1-0
Game 2
SO, I think I opened lone horsea or something to his Krow. I go first, and he donks me
1-1
Game 3
Well this is the second donk of the tournament for me. He starts with Bat or Chomp I think and I start with Horsea. He just passes and I setup for the candy, Kingdra, and belt for game. Sucks man, sorry. Good games though.
2-1
Wow, I was starting to feel just slightly better and was getting kind of excited knowing I was one match away from Hawaii, but I had to keep my cool cause I was also 1 loss away from no Hawaii.
Anyway, I tell all my friends and they are all cheering me on as I am the only TX player left in the cut.
SO, they call the top 8 up and I go play!
Top 8 vs. Garchomp (SV)
So, before the match started some people were telling me I was playing Chomp, which I had never tested against in my life. I was somewhat concerned, and didn't really know how to beat it. But, there wasn't anything I could do, I just decided to go into it with the best attitude.
Game 1
So, I get a killer start with multiple Claydols out on my first turn and an early Kingdra. I took the first 3 prize lead and started stacking energy on a benched Kingdra. He started to take a couple prizes with Chomp but I had a great lead and I got the Dusknoir out which crippled him pretty bad. I ended up finishing the game by abusing my 4th warp point. He had checked my discard a turn before and counted 3 Warps in there and didn't think I had a 4th one. BUT, I had such a huge prize lead with Dusknoir that even if I didn't have the Warp he wouldn't have been able to take on my Kingdra swarm.
1-0
Game 2
Well, I go first and just draw pass or something. He just plays a supporter and drops Uxie and attaches to Gible. I go, get out a Claydol giving up my Uxie drop for it with Communication, and play Judge cause he had like 6 or 7 cards in hand. The judge basically crippled him and I was able to setup a quick Kingdra. Finally I got out the swarm while he couldn't topdeck to save his life. SO, I take a huge early lead and he can't keep up. Good Games man.
2-0
So, I tell all my friends I won and they are all psyched. I am super excited and start texting all my friends and everything that I'm going to Hawaii. Me, Andy, Steven, and his family head over to the food court. I couldn't really eat cause I was still not feeling that great and just wanted to sleep. We head back to the convention center and there I meet my opponent, Erik Nance. He was a really cool and friendly guy, so I was happy I wasn't playing against a jerk or anything. And at this point, I was just happy that I got my trip!
Top 4 vs. Erik Nance w/ Luxchomp
Game 1
So, basically this was a close game. We both have decent hands and get setup pretty well. His early sprays slowed me down a lot though. Finally I start to get my setup going though and a few Kingdras out. I decide to go aggro Donphan on him since he keeps on bringing up Luxrays. A nicely timed Dusknoir also really helped to slow his recovery down. He was conservative with his Turns though, so I was cautious the whole game. BUT, 2 nicely timed Judges basically clenched the game for me as I was able to draw my last prize with Kingdra and Warp Points and stuff.
1-0
Game 2
So, this game was similar to the first one except I had a much slower start and gave up 2 prizes early game. He started with the double spray and collector in hand, so I was kinda screwed from the beginning. Finally I start to get setup and take prizes. I get down to 1 prize to his 2 prizes, BUT he had the Luxray X in hand to level up his active Luxray and drag up my belted Kingdra with damage on it to draw his last 2 prizes. Close game though.
1-1
Game 3
So, he takes a bathroom break and we get a 3 minute extension. We both knew time was gonna be called soon though. We setup and I go second. I whiff on the turn 1 Kingdra and have a slow time setting up. He gets the frist 2 prizes again but I finally start taking prizes with Donphan. He ends up getting down to 2 prizes, BUT I had judged him and I knew that it had crippled his hand cause he didn't play down a supporter. Time was called on my turn or something but we still had the 3 minute extension so we kept on playing. I knew I could prolly pull off the win cause all he had was a Chomp on the bench with 80 on it and no energy. And he had an active Uxie X with an energy and no supporters in hand I dont think. And he had some random Bats and uxies. Well, time was called on my turn after the extension and I wasnt gonna be able to draw 2 prizes in 1 turn. I could only draw 1. So I lost on time. It would have prolly been a great game to finish though. Good games Erik. U did good and congrats on 2nd, ur a very cool guy.
1-2
SO, I end up getting 4th. Definitely, a very successful tournament!
After the tournament, I just chill and chat with friends and me and Andy head over to the Westin pool with the Sweets and then we go eat dinner at Champps with them. It was all pretty fun but I was COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED by the end of it all. I get some great sleep that night and now I'm back in good ole San Antonio, Texas.
NOW ON TO THE LIST!
So, I really don't care who knows my list cause it's not that special. It's good and consistent, and I love it but almost nobody is gonna be able play it since Worlds is in Hawaii this year. So I'll post it.
Pokemon (22)
4 Kingdra (3 prime/1 LA)
2 Seadra (LA)
4 Horsea (LA)
1 Donphan (prime)
1 Phanpy (SW)
1 Dusknoir (DP)
1 Duskull (SH2)
3 Claydol (GE)
3 Baltoy (GE)
2 Uxie (LA)
Trainers (31)
4 Roseanne's
4 Bebe's
2 Judge
1 Palmer's
4 BTS
4 Rare Candy
4 Communication
4 Warp Point
3 Expert Belt
1 Luxury Ball
Energy (7)
2 Multi
4 Water
1 Fighting
SO, there y'all have it! Sorry if the report is kind of sloppy. I was really tired when I started writing it and I don't remember a lot of details. Lemme know if I met u and what your name is too. Cause I met a lot of people.
Props
Getting 4th at Nats
Going to Hawaii
Kingdra for being such a beast card
Dusknoir screwing over peoples setups
Andy for being a great friend and saving me from boredom on this trip
Paul and Adam for being the other 2 Texas players to make top 32
All my opponents for being pretty cool and not being jerks
Everybody who I met at the event
Birch for sending me Christine's number so I had a place to stay
Christine and the rest of the group for driving me and everybody else around and everything
The whole nationals experience basically!
Slops
Econolodge
Getting sick
Sleep deprivation
Double Sprays in opening hands
OH, and Gino, if you're reading this, you still have my headphones haha. SO, just lemme know when u could get em back to me please. Also, I prolly left out A LOT. So just hit me up if you want me to add something to the report.
Well I was supposed to go to Nationals with one of my friends, but he backed out about a week or so before nats and I thought I wasn't gonna be able to go. After begging my mom for the funds to fly there for my bday gift she decides to give in, very reluctantly might I add. I told my mom that I might have a chance to win a trip to Hawaii and she laughed and said I didn't really stand a chance since the last two battle roads I couldn't even win. Haha. She actually really didn't want me to go, but now she's pretty happy she let me.
Wednesday:
So Wednesday wasn't very eventful. I felt really sick the entire plane ride from San Antonio to Indy. I had a delay in Chicago which sucked, but finally I got into Indy around 5 or 6ish. I head over to the Westin since the Texas group I was staying with hadn't driven in yet. I meet up with Steven, Miranda, Jose, and Maria and then we head over to the Marriott to do some playtesting. I just started testing my Kingdra deck and looked for people playing Luxchomp cause that was my most concerning matchup. I went 3-1 against luxchomp only losing to a donk, but I wasn't really sure if those people knew how to play it very well. Anyway, after a few hours of playtesting and Steak N Shake, Christine finally arrives to the hotel to pick me up. We go up to one of the volunteers' rooms and help Tori learn how to play Jumpluff. Finally, at about 1ish or 2 we head out to our AWESOME SUPER NICE HOTEL. The Econolodge. If you couldn't catch my sarcasm, it was a really crappy hotel in all aspects. But I wasn't gonna complain cause I was just happy to be at Nationals! Thank God Andy was my room mate cause he saved me prolly a lot of boredom in that hotel room lol.
Thursday
So we all wake up and Andy and Brandon decide to go to the mall without me and make me go to breakfast with Charlotte while they have fun at the mall. Whatever. After breakfast I go into one of the other rooms and I test with all the North Texas players there and they all gave really positive feedback on my Kingdra deck saying how cool and consistent it was. I tested it against Luxape, Machamp, Jumpluff, and Luxchomp. I lost once to Luxchomp though but sweeped the rest. Anyway, they bring back White Castle to the hotel room (which we don't have in TX) and we pig out. I think they are over rated but whatever. Anyway, finally about a little after 4 we head over to the convention center where we all pre register and I meet up with Steven and Andy and Robby and a few other TX players and we chill and playtest for a while. We basically just chill there all night and I get some Steaknshake again I think and then me, andy, and tori walk around the convention center and just chill and talk for a really long time. Finally, we take the vans back to the hotel and get a little bit of sleep, not much though.
Friday
Ok, so the big day is here. We get up around 730ish I think and head out to the convention center. I'm dead tired and didn't eat breakfast. Well anyway, we turn in our decklists and I chat with some cool people around me and then head over to talk to all the people there. Finally, pairings go up and I'm in the Yellow Flight.
Round 1 vs. Chris Bianchi w/ LuxPluff
So anyway, I don't really remember any of my games very well due to sleep deprivation. But anyway, I think he got an early pluff and I got some Kingdras up and KO'd his Pluff while abusing my Warp Points and stuff. I dropped the Dusknoir early and put back his claydol over the luxray since he only had one out. Eventually he started dead drawing cause he couldn't get the Claydol and he tried to stall with Luxray Lv. X and Poketurns, but my Warps and Kingdra swarm ended up finishing it off.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Machamp
Well he goes second and gets the T1 Machamp and donks a basic. But, I have a pretty good hand and setup a T2 Kingdra and warp it up. He has nothing on his bench so I just hit it for 80. He draws and doesn't have another basic so I win it.
2-0
Round 3 vs. Redshark Creator w/ TTar/Prime
So anyway, I seriously get one of the worst hands of all time. I get an early Roseanne's and grab the Uxie and Setup for 4. I draw like 2 BTS a Palmers and something else. Anwyay I draw pass for like 5 turns sacrificing an Uxie, Horsea, and Baltoy. I finally topdeck a communication or something and get out a Dol to start my setup. Of course at this point he already has 2 Ttars out. Luckily he had a Sableye with a Belt on the bench and I simply start to setup a bunch of Kingdras and start taking prizes on the Sableye and the TTars and actually start to take the lead in the prize count. A nicely timed Dusknoir basically sealed the deal for me and he couldn't overcome my swarm of spray splashes which ended up taking my last prize on the Tomb.
3-0
Round 4 vs. Frank Diaz (I think) w/ Gengar/Queen or maybe it was Cursegar
So, this game wasn't very eventful, I get an early Judge on him I think which ends up crippling his setup. I end up getting out my swarm of Kingdras with Dusknoir and pick off his Gastlys and Haunters and Tombs and stuff. He just couldn't pull anything and I win this game.
4-0
Round 5 vs. Shuppet
SO, I start with lone Phanpy and he gets Crobat G, Shuppet and Belt and I get donked. FUN!
4-1
Round 6 vs. Sablelock
SO, he goes first with a Sableye start to my lone Horsea, drops Uxie for 2 or 3 and gets the Special dark. I got donked again, so I must really suck at this game lol.
4-2
Round 7 vs. Gyarados
So, basically he starts with Suicune but gets out a T1 Sableye and I get a pretty good setup with a T1 or T2 Kingdra. I basically Judge him right after he impersonated for a Collector and cripple his setup and kill the Sableye. From there I just steamroll through all his basics and the 1 Gyarados he manages to setup.
5-2
END OF DAY 1
So day 1 was fairly successful, my only 2 losses were to donks which kinda made me mad, but whatever. I was surprised I hadn't donked anybody all day either lol. Everybody I played always opened up with 2 basics. We end up eating at the food court I think and head home really late after doing I dont even know what. Once again, sleep deprivation lol.
Saturday
So, we are almost late to the tournament lol, but we get there and get in our seats for the rounds.
Round 8 vs. Gigas
This guy was really cool, forgot his name though. Basically I get a pretty good setup with early Dols and Kingdras. He gets a quick lock with Mesprit after I kill a basic and gets the Gigas out and ends up healing and hitting me with Gigas. He eventually KOs my Kingdra but I have the Phanpy on bench and get out Donphan with Belt with the help of my Claydols and basically steamroll through his basics once the belted Gigas died.
6-2
SO, I was kinda sure I would make the top cut cause quite a few of my opponents had pretty good records, but I didn't wanna get too confident.
Round 9 vs. Colin w/ TTar/Queen
Well, I start with Uxie, 2 BTS, Belt, a couple energy, and a palmers. I belt the Uxie going second cause I was afraid I would get donked. Well he has a fairly slow setup but still has supporters and stuff to get stuff out. I draw pass for 2 turns and drop a Horsea on bench, having complete crap in my hand. Anyway, he gets the TTar and Power Claws the Horsea and then I TOPDECK!!! . . . a BTS. So I lose cause of no supporters, dol, baltoy, or really anything lol. He's a cool guy though.
6-3
SO, I start to get a little nervous cause I wasn't 100% sure I had made the cut since there were a lot of 6-3s. Well, I finally go and check the standings a little late and find out that I'm like seed 58 or so, so I made it! I was kind of excited and went to go eat with Andy and Steven at the food court. After deck checks and lunch we head back to start our top cut matches.
Top 128 vs. Gengar/Chomp C
Game 1
SO, I basically get a really fast swarm going and am very conservative with my Uxie drops because I know that they are really easy prizes for this deck. He has a slow setup and my Judge hurt him. I get a bunch of quick KOs but he makes a comeback by sniping and shadow rooming a bunch of stuff since literally EVERYTHING in my deck has powers lol. I get around 1 fainting spell and get down to 1 prize. I can draw my last prize with Kingdra but I would be forced to take the Fainting Spell flip. But, I had to do it cause I had no outs left. Anyway, he flips heads on Fainting Spell so we go to sudden death.
SUDDEN DEATH
Well, he goes first I think and then I end up getting the T1 Kingdra with belt on his Crobat G so I win.
1-0
Game 2
SO, I get a bunch of early prizes and the game is very close the entire way through but he simply has the upper hand with his Gengars and killing off all my Claydols. I keep playing it out and get down to 1 prize but I simply couldn't pull it off so he wins it.
1-1
Game 3
Well, I basically start off hard and fast, overextending REALLY bad so I could get the T1 Kingdra cause I was whiffing like crazy and I knew time was coming up and I needed to get the early prize lead. He has a really bad opening hand but takes a prize with chomp or something like that. I get my 2nd prize then he goes but can't get anything. Time is called on my turn and I have taken 2 prizes to his 1. So I win on time. I hate winning like that, but it's Nats so I gotta take this wins.
2-1
Top 64 vs. Jumpluff/AMU
Game 1
I whiff on EVERYTHING and he has amazing luck. The game is actually close even though Kingdra does really good against Pluff BUT I simply couldn't get the Kingdras out. Finally I started drawing what I needed and steamrolled his Pluffs which he always would set back up lol. But I was finally able to kill the belted Pluff with Dragon Pump koing the active and benched giving me 3 prizes.
1-0
Game 2
Once again, similar to game 1. He takes a 3 prize lead until I finally get out a Kingdra. I finally get something going and get the Dusknoir out and simply run through him. He still puts up a good fight and gets down to 1 prize but the Kingdra swarm combined with Noir basically crippled him and allowed me to make a great comeback and draw all 6 of my prizes.
2-0
Top 32 vs. Adam w/ AMUplox
SO, I was really upset I had to play Adam in top 32 cause he's a fellow texan and a good friend. AND, I knew I relied on powers A LOT and would need a lot of luck to win this.
Game 1
Well, I basically get 1 turn of powers before he binds and Ploxes me. I conserve my supporters and am able to get a quick Kingdra and a Donphan setup. I finally get past the lock and KO a Gardy. He is forced to send up Gallade to OHKO a Kingdra I think and from there I used my powers to get setup. I eventually kill the Gallade and because he can't get another Gardy setup and I'm drawing like crazy setting up a huge swarm, I win.
1-0
Game 2
Similar to game 1 except a little better. I just start drawing like crazy from my 1 turn of powers and just get everything setup fast and KO his quick Gardy. A nicely timed Dusknoir shuffles his Ralts with energy back into the deck so he couldn't get the Psy Lock going again. With that and Judge I was able to steamroll through his other basics.
2-0
Good games Adam and sorry I had to knock u out of the cut man.
Wow, so I was finally doing good at a big tournament this year after bombing my states and regionals due to really poor deck choices and really poor luck. SO, I was really excited.
That night was slightly eventful and me and Andy decide to go chill in JT's room and then Tori's room while the rest of our group was being nerds playing in the mutant draft, lol jk. I was getting super tired and just wanted to leave but we didn't have much of a choice but to wait for our group to finish up at the mutant draft which kinda sucked. Finally at like 2ish we head out. At a stop light we get rear ended by a drunk driver and I just fell asleep through the whole thing while they worked with the cops. The driver of the other car got arrested for a DUI, but I was asleep the whole time and didn't really care that much. It sucks though that it happened cause we didn't get back to the hotel till like 3ish or 330 I think. I pass out for like 4 hours or so and wake up.
Sunday
I felt like complete crap in the morning cause of my lack of sleep, and on top of that my stomach was killing me. We get to the convention center and I am almost dead sitting there at my seat with Andy. Finally they call the top 16 over and I drag myself over to my match. If you saw me you would know how bad I was feeling. Plus I was kinda nervous which didn't help my stomach problems at all.
BUT, I knew I just had to suck it up and play through it anyway.
Top 16 vs. Luxchomp w/ Honchkrow G
This guy was pretty cool. He was like on Team Rocket or something consisting of players from the Oklahoma and Louisiana area. Anyway, we shuffle and start the game.
Game 1
So, basically this game goes pretty bad for me in the beginning. I am able to setup like 2 Claydols fast BUT he started with Krow and got lots of Sprays into his hand which slowed me down a lot. He took like the first 2-3 prizes before I could do much and ended up sniping 2 of my Horseas on top of it. I made a misplay by not realizing that 2 of my Horseas AND MY Palmers were prized. SOOOOO, bottom line was that there was no way I could get a Kingdra out. So, I did the only thing I could do. GO aggro Donphan. I get the Belted Donphan and with the help of Warp Points and Dusknoir I was able to control his setup. A nicely timed judge screwed him over pretty bad and I was starting to take control of the game again. Finally he got another Chomp out, BUT he had wasted all his resources already. He got down to 1 prize with his chomp but he had a Zong G on his bench with like 60 on it. I warped him and he sent up a bat or something and I brought up a horsea. A couple cosmics and I got the Belt and Candy to get out my LA Kingdra, belted it and Hydro Shotted the Zong and Bat getting my last 2 prizes. Wow, can't believe I pulled that off.
1-0
Game 2
SO, I think I opened lone horsea or something to his Krow. I go first, and he donks me
1-1
Game 3
Well this is the second donk of the tournament for me. He starts with Bat or Chomp I think and I start with Horsea. He just passes and I setup for the candy, Kingdra, and belt for game. Sucks man, sorry. Good games though.
2-1
Wow, I was starting to feel just slightly better and was getting kind of excited knowing I was one match away from Hawaii, but I had to keep my cool cause I was also 1 loss away from no Hawaii.
Anyway, I tell all my friends and they are all cheering me on as I am the only TX player left in the cut.
SO, they call the top 8 up and I go play!
Top 8 vs. Garchomp (SV)
So, before the match started some people were telling me I was playing Chomp, which I had never tested against in my life. I was somewhat concerned, and didn't really know how to beat it. But, there wasn't anything I could do, I just decided to go into it with the best attitude.
Game 1
So, I get a killer start with multiple Claydols out on my first turn and an early Kingdra. I took the first 3 prize lead and started stacking energy on a benched Kingdra. He started to take a couple prizes with Chomp but I had a great lead and I got the Dusknoir out which crippled him pretty bad. I ended up finishing the game by abusing my 4th warp point. He had checked my discard a turn before and counted 3 Warps in there and didn't think I had a 4th one. BUT, I had such a huge prize lead with Dusknoir that even if I didn't have the Warp he wouldn't have been able to take on my Kingdra swarm.
1-0
Game 2
Well, I go first and just draw pass or something. He just plays a supporter and drops Uxie and attaches to Gible. I go, get out a Claydol giving up my Uxie drop for it with Communication, and play Judge cause he had like 6 or 7 cards in hand. The judge basically crippled him and I was able to setup a quick Kingdra. Finally I got out the swarm while he couldn't topdeck to save his life. SO, I take a huge early lead and he can't keep up. Good Games man.
2-0
So, I tell all my friends I won and they are all psyched. I am super excited and start texting all my friends and everything that I'm going to Hawaii. Me, Andy, Steven, and his family head over to the food court. I couldn't really eat cause I was still not feeling that great and just wanted to sleep. We head back to the convention center and there I meet my opponent, Erik Nance. He was a really cool and friendly guy, so I was happy I wasn't playing against a jerk or anything. And at this point, I was just happy that I got my trip!
Top 4 vs. Erik Nance w/ Luxchomp
Game 1
So, basically this was a close game. We both have decent hands and get setup pretty well. His early sprays slowed me down a lot though. Finally I start to get my setup going though and a few Kingdras out. I decide to go aggro Donphan on him since he keeps on bringing up Luxrays. A nicely timed Dusknoir also really helped to slow his recovery down. He was conservative with his Turns though, so I was cautious the whole game. BUT, 2 nicely timed Judges basically clenched the game for me as I was able to draw my last prize with Kingdra and Warp Points and stuff.
1-0
Game 2
So, this game was similar to the first one except I had a much slower start and gave up 2 prizes early game. He started with the double spray and collector in hand, so I was kinda screwed from the beginning. Finally I start to get setup and take prizes. I get down to 1 prize to his 2 prizes, BUT he had the Luxray X in hand to level up his active Luxray and drag up my belted Kingdra with damage on it to draw his last 2 prizes. Close game though.
1-1
Game 3
So, he takes a bathroom break and we get a 3 minute extension. We both knew time was gonna be called soon though. We setup and I go second. I whiff on the turn 1 Kingdra and have a slow time setting up. He gets the frist 2 prizes again but I finally start taking prizes with Donphan. He ends up getting down to 2 prizes, BUT I had judged him and I knew that it had crippled his hand cause he didn't play down a supporter. Time was called on my turn or something but we still had the 3 minute extension so we kept on playing. I knew I could prolly pull off the win cause all he had was a Chomp on the bench with 80 on it and no energy. And he had an active Uxie X with an energy and no supporters in hand I dont think. And he had some random Bats and uxies. Well, time was called on my turn after the extension and I wasnt gonna be able to draw 2 prizes in 1 turn. I could only draw 1. So I lost on time. It would have prolly been a great game to finish though. Good games Erik. U did good and congrats on 2nd, ur a very cool guy.
1-2
SO, I end up getting 4th. Definitely, a very successful tournament!
After the tournament, I just chill and chat with friends and me and Andy head over to the Westin pool with the Sweets and then we go eat dinner at Champps with them. It was all pretty fun but I was COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED by the end of it all. I get some great sleep that night and now I'm back in good ole San Antonio, Texas.
NOW ON TO THE LIST!
So, I really don't care who knows my list cause it's not that special. It's good and consistent, and I love it but almost nobody is gonna be able play it since Worlds is in Hawaii this year. So I'll post it.
Pokemon (22)
4 Kingdra (3 prime/1 LA)
2 Seadra (LA)
4 Horsea (LA)
1 Donphan (prime)
1 Phanpy (SW)
1 Dusknoir (DP)
1 Duskull (SH2)
3 Claydol (GE)
3 Baltoy (GE)
2 Uxie (LA)
Trainers (31)
4 Roseanne's
4 Bebe's
2 Judge
1 Palmer's
4 BTS
4 Rare Candy
4 Communication
4 Warp Point
3 Expert Belt
1 Luxury Ball
Energy (7)
2 Multi
4 Water
1 Fighting
SO, there y'all have it! Sorry if the report is kind of sloppy. I was really tired when I started writing it and I don't remember a lot of details. Lemme know if I met u and what your name is too. Cause I met a lot of people.
Props
Getting 4th at Nats
Going to Hawaii
Kingdra for being such a beast card
Dusknoir screwing over peoples setups
Andy for being a great friend and saving me from boredom on this trip
Paul and Adam for being the other 2 Texas players to make top 32
All my opponents for being pretty cool and not being jerks
Everybody who I met at the event
Birch for sending me Christine's number so I had a place to stay
Christine and the rest of the group for driving me and everybody else around and everything
The whole nationals experience basically!
Slops
Econolodge
Getting sick
Sleep deprivation
Double Sprays in opening hands
OH, and Gino, if you're reading this, you still have my headphones haha. SO, just lemme know when u could get em back to me please. Also, I prolly left out A LOT. So just hit me up if you want me to add something to the report.
