Skull Bash
New Member
About 3 weeks ago my friend Adrian hit me up reminiscing about the game of pokemon. We literally hadn't played in an event in over 2 years and had not been keeping up with it at all. College/Me living away from home just completely took over my life and I really had no time for pokemon and analyzing the metagame. Anyway, Adrian hit me up one day and just suggested we go to a tournament. I agreed it was time to make a comeback since we never really won anything and just wanted to go to some tournaments again and have some fun.
Still even if we wanted to play again I would have to acquire some of the cards and have at least some basis of knowledge of the metagame. Basically I looked over pokegym for a little while for a couple weeks and came up with a decklist which Gino(The Nats champ from a couple years ago) looked over and gave me a couple pointers on.
We then went to the tourney in RI in a few weeks for the first tourney in a long time. I decided to play Plox simply because I think it's the only deck that I could complete in time and I knew it fairly well. When Adrian and I arrived after a 2 hour ride from CT, I still had plenty of cards to get for my deck. Luckily I borrowed a good amount of cards from people before the tourney started(Some of which I still have...if I borrowed cards from you please let me know because I don't know everybody since I wasn't the one who went to all of you asking for cards). Finally I filled out my decklist and got to the first round.
Round 1 vs Stephen J. w/ Shuppet
I shouldn't have won this game. He starts out with an Unknown G and has a horrible start. I also have a pretty abysmal start and I start with Ralts and have Kirlia, Psychic, Double colorless, and some other useless stuff in my hand. I end up sniping the shuppet he promotes on the bench with Kirlia as he gets an energy drought and can't really get anything going. Sorry man.
1-0
Round 2 vs Frank J w/ Butterfree
I start out with a Spiritomb and he starts out with Caterpie. He ends up getting a T1 Butterfree, yet has an energy drought for a few turns which I was very fortunate for. I got about a T3 Gardevoir and by this time he was attacking also. I start to get concerned as I'm doing about 30 a turn from Gardevoir because of his cherrim and also his Butterfree healing off the damage it dealt. He had an expert belt on it also. Eventually I'm able to get a Gallade up though and take out both the butterfree's he gets out and he couldn't get much going after that.
2-0
Round 3 vs Alex F w/Luxchomp
Alex is a well established player in the New England area and I knew it was going to be hard fought if I was going to beat him. He started out with Lucario and I started out with Spiritomb. I had a few turns of just draw/passing and hand was basically abysmal. After a while I was able to promote a Gardevoir but he just Bright Looked it out and killed it each time. He also had a pretty crucial looker's when he shuffled my Machamp tech back in the deck. He won this one handily.
2-1
Round 4 vs Michelle Rock w/Kingdra
Michelle began with a Horsea and I began with a Spiritomb. Once again my hand was fairly bad and it took me several turns to set up. Towards the beginning I had a TGW in my hand, but I didn't play it the first turn because I knew she had a bad hand as well. Eventually I used it though and she won it while I had virtually nothing on the field. I used a second one and won it which essentially gave me the match. From there I got a Gardevoir out Psychic locking on her Kingdra's that had expert belt on and already took a couple prizes. Soon after that I got a Gallade out to knock out both of her Kingdra's and I could tell 2 of her Kingdra's were prized which was rough for her. Great game Michelle.
3-1
I find out I'm in top cut at 3rd..but I end up getting a game loss in T4 because my decklist didn't match my deck(I decided last minute to take a warp point out and for some reason forgot to put Gallade in the decklist among other things), so in top cut I had to play without Gallade and with a game loss and somehow try to pull out a win..
Top 4 vs Hanaan w/Gengar AR
Coming into this game I already thought my chances were kind of bleak. I had to overcome a bad matchup without my big KO'er and already down a game. I opened with my tech machop and it all went down from there. Each time I was able to get a Gardy out he just bright looked it...good job getting to T2 man.
3-2
Props:
Adrian and Gino for both placing in top 8 with me
Alex F for winning again
A well run tourney
Good Chinese food afterwards
Getting 3rd in a tourney after not playing in 2 years
Slops:
Game Loss for my mistake(even though I don't think it would have mattered)
Michael not coming
Not getting anything good in my packs
Hopefully I'll see many of you again at Regs.
Still even if we wanted to play again I would have to acquire some of the cards and have at least some basis of knowledge of the metagame. Basically I looked over pokegym for a little while for a couple weeks and came up with a decklist which Gino(The Nats champ from a couple years ago) looked over and gave me a couple pointers on.
We then went to the tourney in RI in a few weeks for the first tourney in a long time. I decided to play Plox simply because I think it's the only deck that I could complete in time and I knew it fairly well. When Adrian and I arrived after a 2 hour ride from CT, I still had plenty of cards to get for my deck. Luckily I borrowed a good amount of cards from people before the tourney started(Some of which I still have...if I borrowed cards from you please let me know because I don't know everybody since I wasn't the one who went to all of you asking for cards). Finally I filled out my decklist and got to the first round.
Round 1 vs Stephen J. w/ Shuppet
I shouldn't have won this game. He starts out with an Unknown G and has a horrible start. I also have a pretty abysmal start and I start with Ralts and have Kirlia, Psychic, Double colorless, and some other useless stuff in my hand. I end up sniping the shuppet he promotes on the bench with Kirlia as he gets an energy drought and can't really get anything going. Sorry man.
1-0
Round 2 vs Frank J w/ Butterfree
I start out with a Spiritomb and he starts out with Caterpie. He ends up getting a T1 Butterfree, yet has an energy drought for a few turns which I was very fortunate for. I got about a T3 Gardevoir and by this time he was attacking also. I start to get concerned as I'm doing about 30 a turn from Gardevoir because of his cherrim and also his Butterfree healing off the damage it dealt. He had an expert belt on it also. Eventually I'm able to get a Gallade up though and take out both the butterfree's he gets out and he couldn't get much going after that.
2-0
Round 3 vs Alex F w/Luxchomp
Alex is a well established player in the New England area and I knew it was going to be hard fought if I was going to beat him. He started out with Lucario and I started out with Spiritomb. I had a few turns of just draw/passing and hand was basically abysmal. After a while I was able to promote a Gardevoir but he just Bright Looked it out and killed it each time. He also had a pretty crucial looker's when he shuffled my Machamp tech back in the deck. He won this one handily.
2-1
Round 4 vs Michelle Rock w/Kingdra
Michelle began with a Horsea and I began with a Spiritomb. Once again my hand was fairly bad and it took me several turns to set up. Towards the beginning I had a TGW in my hand, but I didn't play it the first turn because I knew she had a bad hand as well. Eventually I used it though and she won it while I had virtually nothing on the field. I used a second one and won it which essentially gave me the match. From there I got a Gardevoir out Psychic locking on her Kingdra's that had expert belt on and already took a couple prizes. Soon after that I got a Gallade out to knock out both of her Kingdra's and I could tell 2 of her Kingdra's were prized which was rough for her. Great game Michelle.
3-1
I find out I'm in top cut at 3rd..but I end up getting a game loss in T4 because my decklist didn't match my deck(I decided last minute to take a warp point out and for some reason forgot to put Gallade in the decklist among other things), so in top cut I had to play without Gallade and with a game loss and somehow try to pull out a win..
Top 4 vs Hanaan w/Gengar AR
Coming into this game I already thought my chances were kind of bleak. I had to overcome a bad matchup without my big KO'er and already down a game. I opened with my tech machop and it all went down from there. Each time I was able to get a Gardy out he just bright looked it...good job getting to T2 man.
3-2
Props:
Adrian and Gino for both placing in top 8 with me
Alex F for winning again
A well run tourney
Good Chinese food afterwards
Getting 3rd in a tourney after not playing in 2 years
Slops:
Game Loss for my mistake(even though I don't think it would have mattered)
Michael not coming
Not getting anything good in my packs
Hopefully I'll see many of you again at Regs.
