honchvire
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I had a post ready to go but then I accidentally closed the window. Whoops!
I've been playing a variety of decks this season, trying out all sorts of things like NinetailsAmoongus, AccelegorDarkrai, MewStrika, RayQuads(Qunits?) but I never really found anything that I could fall in love with. About a week AFTER Battle Roads ended I had a stroke of inspiration. Why not pair the OHKO potential of RayquazaEX with the locking and board control abilities of Zebstrika? With Regionals coming up quickly, I got to work on the deck. Well, I worked on the deck at work. Thats where I write a lot of my decklists. Taco Bell.
Moving on: It wasn't so bad using an undertested deck. I've got quite a bit of experience with Zebstrika, having written a fairly in depth article on it for the States format. I also took the Zebra to all three States last year.
Will, Anthony, Copper and I left St Louis on Friday to head to Indiana. Will kept making us stop so he could pee. When we got to Indianapolis I was sad to learn that I had to drive another hour and a half to Fort Wayne. Whoops! I need to practice my geography. We get to our hotel and I test play a few hands while trying to decide on the last few cards in the deck. I kept flip flopping on my Bianca, Cheren, Juniper counts and wasn't sure if Rescue Scarf wouldn't have been better as other cards. Had a little discussion about why I was playing Zebstrika when it only does 40 damage.
"Don't worry, hes got 90HP too, so I'll be good."
On to the tournament! Thanks to The Top Cut for posting pairings to help jog my memory. Sorry if I forget anything significant, I didn't take notes so feel free to correct me.
R1 vs Accelegor Gothitelle Darkrai
I go first with RayEX to her lone Darkrai. At this point I'm not sure what she is playing, so I play a little conservatively and don't even bother dropping the Blitzle. Whoops. I probably could have pulled off the fabled Turn 2 Disconnect("It wins games!") had I dropped the Blitzle but hindsight is always 20/20. She gets an early Goth, but is unable to keep the stream of paralyze going so I'm able to KO her Goth and reestablish board control. She can't get another Goth up, so I get to do my thing and hide behind Zebstrika while building a big Ray. Time is called, but I'm able to take my last prizes in the +3.
1-0
R2 vs Darkrai Terrakion
TABLE 1 FEATURE MATCH! You can watch a video of this game here. A couple of quick notes. My opponent's first turn N gave me a couple Lightning energy, an Eel and a Zebstrika, but no way to put energy in the discard for a T2Disconnect or any supporters. My thought process was to sit on my Eel and Zebstrika to save resources and flip for agility(since Darkrai or Terrakion would KO the Zebra anyway). Luckily his N-hand wasn't much better and I was able to top deck a Juniper and lock in the Disconnect. Rescue Scarf pulled its weight, allowing for a steady stream of Zebras and I was able to trade 3 Zebras for 6 Prizes. Its really nice when your opponent can't mess with your set-up very easily. Anyway, several Disconnects, Lightning Crashes, and Dragon Bursts later and I win.
2-0
R3 vs Darkrai Hydreigon
I had the pleasure of playing Matt when he still had Deinos in his deck. I don't quite remember how this game opened, but I'm pretty sure I got the Disconnect off pretty early cause he was unable to get a Hydreigon online. I do remember that I 2 hit his Sableye leaving him with a fully powered Darkrai and no other pokemon on his field. He didn't draw another pokemon and I had 2 Eels, a RayEX with a fire and lightning attached, a rescue scarf on my active, and a blitzle waiting to evolve on the bench. He was forced to pass and not KO my Zebstrika because I would've benched him with RayEX. I play some things, unable to get 2 more energy on my RayEX and just Disconnect. He top decks a Mewtwo and attaches and KOs Zebstrika. I do my thing and respond KO his Darkrai for 2 prizes,dropping the lock for a turn. Mewtwo comes up and he gets a Deino in play, but hes only able to hit RayEX for 60. I retreat and lock in a Zebstrika again. He has the option to KO Zebstrika, but I would be able to KO his Mewtwo and put myself at 1 prize left, with no energy on his field. Instead he attaches to Deino and hits me for 80. I hit his mewtwo for another 40, he retreats his Mewtwo and KOs me with Deino. I just keep disconnecting and wait for an opening to KO mewtwo. I get my opening and take my last prizes with a Dragon Burst.
3-0
R4 vs RayEel
Finally something that isn't Darkrai. He gets a pretty good start and sets up 2 Eels and 2 RayEXs. I get an early Disconnect and lock an Eel active. I catcher his other Eel and disconnect both of them to 80. In retrospect, I probably would've been fine KOing them with Disconnect, but the silly double-KO Tynamo Spark was calling my name. I wipe his field of Eels and he snags some prizes off my Ray EX. With no Eels in play his attacks quickly fizzle and I'm able to KO some things. On his last turn, he tries to stall with Paralyze, but I have the Juniper to empty my deck, snagging my last Switch, Fire, and Catcher for Baby-Ray to Shred his RayEX for the win.
4-0
R5 vs Ho-Oh
Ho-Oh? More like Uh-Oh. I don't get a very good start and he pulls really far ahead. It gets to the point where Disconnect wasn't buying me enough time to build Rays and his Prize lead is far to big for me to beat.
4-1
R6 vs RayEel
I get the Turn 2 Disconnect while KOing one of her Tynamos so I'm feeling pretty good. However, I don't have a supporter and she does get a successful Paralyze off with Raikou. No supporter, no switch, so she gets an Item Turn and goes off setting up Eels and Baby Rays. I draw dead, and she gets energy on both of her Baby Rays leaving me ready to be OHKOd for the rest of the game. No salvation ever comes.
4-2
Ugh. The dream is dying...
R7 vs RayEel
Normally, I hate opening with Sweet Baby Ray. I don't like his 3 retreat, as it usually keeps me from getting that early Disconnect. For some reason, my opponent started Tynamo with a benched Raikou. I went first and started KOing Tynamos. I kept him out of eels for most of the game and built my side of the field up. Without Eels, he is forced to manually power up each of his attackers and my field presence is to strong for him to come back.
5-2
R8 vs Empoleon Terrakion
Oh hey Jimmy. Remember when you thought my name was Jason? I open Pretzel and have lightning energy and supporters which lead me to believe that the promised land of T2 Disconnect is in the cards for me. However, my opponent goes first Ns me into a HORRENDUS hand with FIRE ENERGY, no supporters and a bunch of Pokemon. I play down what I can and attach fire to Blitzle. He does some things, but can't seem to find an Empoleon. I stall with a Catcher, play down a Zebstrika and have to pass, as I still don't have a lightning energy. He still can't find an Empoleon, and he decides to N me, since all I would need would be a Lightning energy to ruin his day. That N puts me back in the game and we trade prizes for a bit while I get set-up. The Lightning weakness and Item lock eventually overpowers his attackers and I pull off the win!
6-2
Hooray! At X-2 I should have a pretty good shot of making cut. Oh wait, there is 9 rounds?
R9 vs Ho-Oh
Uh-Oh, Ho-Oh again. I think I've decided that Ho-Oh is a pretty tough match for me. Whereas I can slow, stop or stall other forms of energy acceleration like Eels or Dark Patch, Ho-Oh can rebirth out of nowhere and start KOing me with minimal setup. Perhaps with more practice I could have a gameplan but for now I don't see me beating many Ho-Ohs with the current build. Also, I need to apologize to my opponent this game for being a little rude when you asked what Agility does. My bad dude, I was just grumpy from the long day and by how much you were kicking my butt. This game was a blowout, I don't think I ever really mounted an offensive. Rebirths kept a steady stream of attackers and my Zebras just decided to sit this one out.
6-3
So the dream is dead, or so I thought. While waiting for the round to end, a friend of mine was trying to convince me that a few X-3s would make top 32. A glimmer of hope! They eventually post standings and I crowd over to see where I ended up. Sure enough, a few X-3s DID make cut. Hooray! I placed.... 34th.
So I'm out, but I had a pretty good run. I think my deck performed well and I'm glad I kept Rescue Scarf in. Only thing I would change would be to add a few more Supporters or something to hopefully stop those awful dead hand games.
Thanks for reading. Good night.
Oh, you're still here? I guess you want a list or something?
4-3 Zebra
4-3 Eel
2 RayEX
1 Sweet Baby Ray
4 N
3 Cheren
3 Juniper
2 Bianca
4 Catcher
3 Level Ball
3 Ultra Ball
2 Skyarrow Bridge
3 Switch
1 Super Rod
3 Rescue Scarf
8 Lightning
4 Fire
Now go home and build your own.
Zebstrika 2012!
I've been playing a variety of decks this season, trying out all sorts of things like NinetailsAmoongus, AccelegorDarkrai, MewStrika, RayQuads(Qunits?) but I never really found anything that I could fall in love with. About a week AFTER Battle Roads ended I had a stroke of inspiration. Why not pair the OHKO potential of RayquazaEX with the locking and board control abilities of Zebstrika? With Regionals coming up quickly, I got to work on the deck. Well, I worked on the deck at work. Thats where I write a lot of my decklists. Taco Bell.
Moving on: It wasn't so bad using an undertested deck. I've got quite a bit of experience with Zebstrika, having written a fairly in depth article on it for the States format. I also took the Zebra to all three States last year.
Will, Anthony, Copper and I left St Louis on Friday to head to Indiana. Will kept making us stop so he could pee. When we got to Indianapolis I was sad to learn that I had to drive another hour and a half to Fort Wayne. Whoops! I need to practice my geography. We get to our hotel and I test play a few hands while trying to decide on the last few cards in the deck. I kept flip flopping on my Bianca, Cheren, Juniper counts and wasn't sure if Rescue Scarf wouldn't have been better as other cards. Had a little discussion about why I was playing Zebstrika when it only does 40 damage.
"Don't worry, hes got 90HP too, so I'll be good."
On to the tournament! Thanks to The Top Cut for posting pairings to help jog my memory. Sorry if I forget anything significant, I didn't take notes so feel free to correct me.
R1 vs Accelegor Gothitelle Darkrai
I go first with RayEX to her lone Darkrai. At this point I'm not sure what she is playing, so I play a little conservatively and don't even bother dropping the Blitzle. Whoops. I probably could have pulled off the fabled Turn 2 Disconnect("It wins games!") had I dropped the Blitzle but hindsight is always 20/20. She gets an early Goth, but is unable to keep the stream of paralyze going so I'm able to KO her Goth and reestablish board control. She can't get another Goth up, so I get to do my thing and hide behind Zebstrika while building a big Ray. Time is called, but I'm able to take my last prizes in the +3.
1-0
R2 vs Darkrai Terrakion
TABLE 1 FEATURE MATCH! You can watch a video of this game here. A couple of quick notes. My opponent's first turn N gave me a couple Lightning energy, an Eel and a Zebstrika, but no way to put energy in the discard for a T2Disconnect or any supporters. My thought process was to sit on my Eel and Zebstrika to save resources and flip for agility(since Darkrai or Terrakion would KO the Zebra anyway). Luckily his N-hand wasn't much better and I was able to top deck a Juniper and lock in the Disconnect. Rescue Scarf pulled its weight, allowing for a steady stream of Zebras and I was able to trade 3 Zebras for 6 Prizes. Its really nice when your opponent can't mess with your set-up very easily. Anyway, several Disconnects, Lightning Crashes, and Dragon Bursts later and I win.
2-0
R3 vs Darkrai Hydreigon
I had the pleasure of playing Matt when he still had Deinos in his deck. I don't quite remember how this game opened, but I'm pretty sure I got the Disconnect off pretty early cause he was unable to get a Hydreigon online. I do remember that I 2 hit his Sableye leaving him with a fully powered Darkrai and no other pokemon on his field. He didn't draw another pokemon and I had 2 Eels, a RayEX with a fire and lightning attached, a rescue scarf on my active, and a blitzle waiting to evolve on the bench. He was forced to pass and not KO my Zebstrika because I would've benched him with RayEX. I play some things, unable to get 2 more energy on my RayEX and just Disconnect. He top decks a Mewtwo and attaches and KOs Zebstrika. I do my thing and respond KO his Darkrai for 2 prizes,dropping the lock for a turn. Mewtwo comes up and he gets a Deino in play, but hes only able to hit RayEX for 60. I retreat and lock in a Zebstrika again. He has the option to KO Zebstrika, but I would be able to KO his Mewtwo and put myself at 1 prize left, with no energy on his field. Instead he attaches to Deino and hits me for 80. I hit his mewtwo for another 40, he retreats his Mewtwo and KOs me with Deino. I just keep disconnecting and wait for an opening to KO mewtwo. I get my opening and take my last prizes with a Dragon Burst.
3-0
R4 vs RayEel
Finally something that isn't Darkrai. He gets a pretty good start and sets up 2 Eels and 2 RayEXs. I get an early Disconnect and lock an Eel active. I catcher his other Eel and disconnect both of them to 80. In retrospect, I probably would've been fine KOing them with Disconnect, but the silly double-KO Tynamo Spark was calling my name. I wipe his field of Eels and he snags some prizes off my Ray EX. With no Eels in play his attacks quickly fizzle and I'm able to KO some things. On his last turn, he tries to stall with Paralyze, but I have the Juniper to empty my deck, snagging my last Switch, Fire, and Catcher for Baby-Ray to Shred his RayEX for the win.
4-0
R5 vs Ho-Oh
Ho-Oh? More like Uh-Oh. I don't get a very good start and he pulls really far ahead. It gets to the point where Disconnect wasn't buying me enough time to build Rays and his Prize lead is far to big for me to beat.
4-1
R6 vs RayEel
I get the Turn 2 Disconnect while KOing one of her Tynamos so I'm feeling pretty good. However, I don't have a supporter and she does get a successful Paralyze off with Raikou. No supporter, no switch, so she gets an Item Turn and goes off setting up Eels and Baby Rays. I draw dead, and she gets energy on both of her Baby Rays leaving me ready to be OHKOd for the rest of the game. No salvation ever comes.
4-2
Ugh. The dream is dying...
R7 vs RayEel
Normally, I hate opening with Sweet Baby Ray. I don't like his 3 retreat, as it usually keeps me from getting that early Disconnect. For some reason, my opponent started Tynamo with a benched Raikou. I went first and started KOing Tynamos. I kept him out of eels for most of the game and built my side of the field up. Without Eels, he is forced to manually power up each of his attackers and my field presence is to strong for him to come back.
5-2
R8 vs Empoleon Terrakion
Oh hey Jimmy. Remember when you thought my name was Jason? I open Pretzel and have lightning energy and supporters which lead me to believe that the promised land of T2 Disconnect is in the cards for me. However, my opponent goes first Ns me into a HORRENDUS hand with FIRE ENERGY, no supporters and a bunch of Pokemon. I play down what I can and attach fire to Blitzle. He does some things, but can't seem to find an Empoleon. I stall with a Catcher, play down a Zebstrika and have to pass, as I still don't have a lightning energy. He still can't find an Empoleon, and he decides to N me, since all I would need would be a Lightning energy to ruin his day. That N puts me back in the game and we trade prizes for a bit while I get set-up. The Lightning weakness and Item lock eventually overpowers his attackers and I pull off the win!
6-2
Hooray! At X-2 I should have a pretty good shot of making cut. Oh wait, there is 9 rounds?
R9 vs Ho-Oh
Uh-Oh, Ho-Oh again. I think I've decided that Ho-Oh is a pretty tough match for me. Whereas I can slow, stop or stall other forms of energy acceleration like Eels or Dark Patch, Ho-Oh can rebirth out of nowhere and start KOing me with minimal setup. Perhaps with more practice I could have a gameplan but for now I don't see me beating many Ho-Ohs with the current build. Also, I need to apologize to my opponent this game for being a little rude when you asked what Agility does. My bad dude, I was just grumpy from the long day and by how much you were kicking my butt. This game was a blowout, I don't think I ever really mounted an offensive. Rebirths kept a steady stream of attackers and my Zebras just decided to sit this one out.
6-3
So the dream is dead, or so I thought. While waiting for the round to end, a friend of mine was trying to convince me that a few X-3s would make top 32. A glimmer of hope! They eventually post standings and I crowd over to see where I ended up. Sure enough, a few X-3s DID make cut. Hooray! I placed.... 34th.
So I'm out, but I had a pretty good run. I think my deck performed well and I'm glad I kept Rescue Scarf in. Only thing I would change would be to add a few more Supporters or something to hopefully stop those awful dead hand games.
Thanks for reading. Good night.
Oh, you're still here? I guess you want a list or something?
4-3 Zebra
4-3 Eel
2 RayEX
1 Sweet Baby Ray
4 N
3 Cheren
3 Juniper
2 Bianca
4 Catcher
3 Level Ball
3 Ultra Ball
2 Skyarrow Bridge
3 Switch
1 Super Rod
3 Rescue Scarf
8 Lightning
4 Fire
Now go home and build your own.
Zebstrika 2012!
