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The Long Awaiting Nats Report - Jason's 5th place. Im going to WORLDS. yesssss...

Jason

Active Member
Jason Windham's 2008 Australian National Championships Report.



My main aim for the Nationals is to secure an invitation for the World Championships, which I am definately going again this year. Not to forget that I have a title to defend.

To start off with the report - I have alot of deck options to use - that I have done heaps of playtesting at the local library with friends (Alan, Sam, Jared, and Shaun) while facing other decks that is common in the metagame - Empoleon, Magmortar, Gallade, Blissey, Togekiss, Banette, and Feraligatr variants.

With days pass, I have my mind set on PLOX with Swampert tech.

On Friday, I went out to the airport, saw my dad as he get back from Mackay on business trip, then fly out to Melbourne.

Took a taxi to Card Heaven in time for FNG. Went 0-3 with a deck I built so I randomly chose a Magmortar variant. Went 0-3 with TYPHLOSION. Whoa - lots of bad draw and the deck DIED on the day...Ahahahahahahahaha!!!! After the day ends, went out to Sean's place with Sam, Jared and Sean to do alot of fun there such as doing some Mirror playtesting, yes - we ALL play PLOX.

Saturday comes, and its the BIG day.

Round 1 vs. Rob B. with Honchkrow/Darkrai/Cacturne.
Last time I had a game with Rob was at the 2007 Melbourne City Championships, which I won using Raieggs against a Salamence-EX DX deck.
Game 1: I took the strong lead and won it with thanks to the whole deck :p
Game 2: Got a GOD start but with these evil Darkrais, it messed up my perfect god start and got struck with an Energy drought
Game 3: Same as before but worse... UGH. UGH. UGH. Gotta win the next four to get my ranking boosted.
0-1

Round 2 vs. Sean B. with Tyranitar ex d
Sean got problems with me in the past so, its best to keep the game really clean. He is using Rob S.'s Tyranitar ex d deck.
Game 1: He got a T-tar ex d out first and got Psycho cutted and I took the whole game, without him taking a single prize. He founds out that the remaing 2 Tyranitar ex d was prized.
Game 2: Same as before, but I took the win and I believe he took 1 prize. However I still won the game with careful timings of Gallades and Gardevoirs. Good game Sean.
1-1

Lunchtime, went off to KFC with Alan J. and Sean B. Mmm, fried Blaziken, mmm....

Round 3 vs. James C. with Honchkrow/Darkrai/Weavile
James got downpaired... so yeah, last time I faced him at Sydney Cities earlier this year which I lost on time with my Gardelade deck against his Hurricane deck. I also faced him at last year Nationals with Flygon mirrors, which I won over his not so good draws. I was looking forward for a rematch with him, so yeah.
Game 1: I forgot but I somehow won.
Game 2: I forgot but I somehow won. GG James..
2-1

Round 4 vs. Stephen P. with Empoleon/Salemence ex DF
Knowing Pezza, he always plaing fun decks with lots of weird combinations. This was my first time facing Pezza at a Premier tournament - so...yeah.
Game 1: Messed up my starts but managed to pull a win after a number of knockout between prizes until I announced Bring Down from Gardevoir X to taget one of his two 40hp Bagons. I wanted to target the Bagon with THREE water Energies, as the other one have none. Got like 3 judges over to confirm Pezza's confusion over Bring Down, so yeah - it went into my favour.
Game 2: I started with, um, well, yeah, a Pachirisu (the one that do big damage to these with tools. I did 60 to discard an Amulet on a Lapras T2. I did a number of things, and tried to get back into the game and after a number of Gallade and Swampert beatdown, I managed to win the game. (Might have some bit of memory blank in this) Still GG, Pezza.
3-1

Round 5 vs. Joey F. with Banette/Golduck/Claydol/techs
First time with Joey...and here come with the game.
Game 1: Guess what I started? HOLON CASTFORM. UGH. UGH. UGH. But luckily, I topdecked a key card - i think a Pachirisu to get back into the game and managed to took control of the game with me taking 6 prizes to his 1.
Game 2: Banette sweep, things aint looking good for me and got locked out before I able to get Swampert GE beatdown (as I have water and scramble in play) cause of Cessation Crystal AND Crystal Beach.
Game 3: That game was total epic. I start first with Ralts while he have Shuppet. Attach a basic energy. Secondly, Joey attach and accesions to Banette. My turn comes, looking at my hand and saw a Double rainbow Energy and a Celio's Network - I really need a Rare Candy to get back into the game and secure a win. I draw the next card, and guess what? AN ALL SHINY BLING-BLING RARE CANDY!!!! Woot, I showed him the three cards (DRE, RC and Celio) while searching for Gallade, caused the game to be over fast with a Psychic Cut, with 2 prizes flipped. Good game Joey.

Feeling amazed at this epic game with Joey, in my opinion - that was the BEST game and the MOST challenging game out of all for Day 1. Now I found out that I got into the Top cut as the 4th seed, wanting to face the 5th seed in Top 8 cut,

Top 8 vs. Que Son - Mirror.
I have been facing Que Son three times this year (Melb Cities Swiss & Top Cut and Victorian States). He is a really cool guy and he had been using Gardelade all year. This deck was not exactly like Plox, since he only ran 1 wager, compared to my 3.
Game 1: I should have won this game, if wasnt for the bad draws and energy drought at times. It was so hard but I managed to use JIRACHI ex for once to lock in to get me going, BUT - the bloody energy drought got me screwed over. After got myself down to 2 prizes left to his 1, he used Dusknoir and smashed in a Cyclone energy to bring out my healthy Gardevoir to any of my Pokemon benched - none of them have more than 90hp. He got me thus won the game.
Game 2: I got of a great start, and got myself down to 3-3 prizes left between us, and time got called. Good game, Que Son - you have ended the 2007 National Champion's chances of defending the title.

With myself got eliminated in T8, I finished 5th.

Overall, it was a great tournament and now, I'm head off to do MD stuff. Number of hours passes - MD set list obtained, and was sent it to WPM from my laptop, not knowing it was the file was my speculation list, as both files was similar named.

For the evening, Sean, Sam, Jared, Aaron, Peter, Steven, Marcus, Pezza and Massimo went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant, for Sean's sweet sixteenth birthday dinner.

Just before I went home - I saw Andrew and made a joke with the glass window between us (I was in the restaurant while Andrew is outside). All of us was laughing like crazy. While walking out of the restaurant, (I forgot who) shoved me quite hard into a pole for many more laugh - yes, I laughed so hard at the person who did it.

Went home with Peter, do some stuff before all of the people crashed for the night. While Jared was asleep, Sam, Sean and I was online until 1am, talking over stuff. Knowing it was like 4 hours before I due to leave the train station for the Airport - I was thinking of a number of stuff and the list goes on.

When 5.30am comes, on a cold Monday morning - I head out to the airport on a train towards to Flinder st, a changeover to Southern Cross and took a bus to the Airport. I arrived at the airport and got myself checked in, with exactly 15 minutes left before I was supposed to be at my gate. PHEW.

Some 2 hours plane ride, I'm back in Brisbane. Home sweet home.

Now, its time for Props and Slops.
-Sean T.: For winning Nationals, being a cool pal and also letting me use his place for the weekend.
-Team R: For inventing the awesome deck. I also used their creation, R-gon last year, and I wonder what I will run next year - Major props to them as they always create awesome decks.
-Chad H.: For helping me out with the decklist, as well as being the major one to prevent the illegal topcuts.
-Andrew M.: No wonder, but he is awesome for inventing the awesome Swampert Tech.
-QC N.: Many thanks to her, over various stuff - mainly being the one to win the battle against the illegal top cuts.
-Alan J.: For being the one to playtest against all week up to Nationals at the local library.
-Sam H.: Too many things to list. But still, major props to him.
-Jared I.: For finishing 2nd as well as many other things. Major props to him as well.
-Marcus R.: See above, as well as playing my favourite deck of all time - Empoleon/Palkia.
-Adam F.: For inventing and playtesting Empoleon/Palkia deck. That deck was AWESOME. You deserve props from me, mate :)
-Aaron C.: For winning Nationals, after being almost undefeated all year (except for Malaysian Cities, and the donk against Shaun).
-Shaun M.: For being the only Australian to defeat Aaron. Way to go, bud. Also congrats on 4th and pulled a Leafeon Lv. X.
-Cameron R.: For being such an awesome judge all year.
-Steffanie S.: For being such a great trader and helped me to complete some of my sets, with many of them are close to completion. Will post a new wants list up soon. Major props to you!
-Sean B.: For making T16. using Rob's Tyranitar ex d deck.
-Steven M.: For alot of awesome stuff, and being such a great pal. Sorry about all of these bad luck with Gardelade during the game.
-Ashley K.: For being awesome and being the first ever Tasman to make Top cut at Nationals. Sorry about getting a game loss for forgetting prizes... you better wear a wristplay next time, mate. Cya in Brisbane Ash.
-Alan G.: Awesome man, Seaking FTW.
-Sam W.: Another great Tasman gets props.
-Que Son N.: Being such an awesome opponent all year, hope to have another game with you mate :)
-Joey F.: No offense to you dude, but our match was the best out of all Nats this year. Many thanks for such an awesome game.
-James C.: Going to worlds to represent as an Australian judge - Way to go, James! Cya at Worlds.
-Jayson C.: 4-peating Nationals, what an amazing feast. Props to you and hope I'll see you at Worlds.
-Frank B.: For organising the event.
-Malaysian players: They are all awesome.
-Holon's Castform: For not losing a game for me.
-Mudkip: Cauz I herd I liek Mudkipz.
-My opponents: Thanks for many awesome games at 7 tournaments all year. I'll still owe many of you another rematch one day ;)
-Masako T.: For organising an awesome dinner as well as letting me stay. Many thanks.
-Pizza: Cause it's great food to eat. Mmmmm...
-George: An awesome newcomer, will never forget ya mate :)
-Matt H.: Cause he's a great guy from my hometown.
-RANKING INVITATION to WORLDS.
-There are more but I might have forgotten some.


Slops:
-Liam C.: No offense to you, dude but you are such a huge cheat - For making a strict judge believed that Jared never you shows the prizes caused him a game loss that he did not deserve.
-Andrew C.: From 3rd in the world to 3rd at a NATIONALS with 9 players divison. oh the irony.
-Three missing cards.... A TSD, a Rev foil Call Energy and a Prerelease stamped Mothim...all went missing. :(

That is all, thus ends my season in Australia for the year with a rating of: 22-7.

I'll be at Worlds, so cya in Orlando. :)


~Jason.
5th place 2008 Australian National Championships.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
yeah, soz i couldnt remember what exactly it was, i thought it was minako or whatever it was, my bad >_>

there i fixed
 
good job, i'll be at worlds for sure, just a matter of who's paying for it :D guess i'll see you there :)
 
GJ Jason, however I wish I could get a ranking invite with a rating just barely above 1700.

Drew

/comfort. We'll see you at worlds anyway :p You're there every year, hail or shine. lucky! Most of us are too poor to afford a trip to worlds, so we HAVE to win trips/invites.
 
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