All right, so leading up to the tournament I really have no idea what to play. I have too many options. Night before I manage to narrow it down to either Eel/Basics or ReshiPhlosion. Eventually I decide to use Eels because I'm far more comfortable with it.
So I get to the tournament with Kabir, who's playing Celebi/Tornadus/Mewtwo. I was going to get sleeves from Amelia for $10, but it turned out she didn't have any. =( So I had to buy Rayquaza ones from the store for $30! Oh well, they were really nice.
Soo anyways, there are 108 Seniors or something! Wow, that's more than Regionals if I remember correctly. I start to lose confidence in my deck choice, which is purely made to be consistent rather than techy. I play no one-ofs in my Pokemon line, 3 Thundurus, etc. Well, I've already registereed now, so I might as well go for it!
Round 1 vs. Liam W. w/ Durant
THIS was the defining moment of my years spent playing this game. THIS is why I continue to play this game. This game was so intense, you could feel the tension crackling between the two players, long time rivals in this game of Pokemon. On the right, Jack, with Eelectrik/Thundurus/Zekrom/Mewtwo. On the left, Liam, with Durant. It was destined to me an epic match, where the superior player had to win. We both mulligan a few times, I mulligan twice while he mulligans 3 times before opening with a single Pokemon. My opening hand was not very good for this matchup, for I opened with Mewtwo, the worst possible Pokemon to open with. However, it was workable, for I also opened with 2 Double Colorless ENergy, a Lightning, and a Collector. I ask "Heads or tails?" To which he replies with "Tails." Naturally, right before the tournament, I was near a family who rolled the Oregon die that I was using, and it came up as tails far more often than heads. So I myself tried rolling this die, and it did indeed seem that it came up as tails more than heads. Strange. Regardless, I rolled the die, and of course, it shows up as a five. We will see Liam make the first move in this insane game that was sure to follow. After the prizes are given out - both Liam and I extremely nervous, wondering what the other's starter was, wondering how good the other's hand is, wondering, ultimately, whether they could possibly win this game. Finally, the announcer says: "ARE YOU READY PLAYERS?!?!" To which a large majority of the players in the room responded with "YEAH!!!" And then... the words I was waiting for... "YOU MAY BEGIN." I flip over my Mewtwo and tell Liam he should "try donking that," for he was boasting before the match he was going to donk me with Vice Grip on a 30 HP Tynamo. He flips over his Durant. He draws a card. My heart is beating in my chest, like a drum. He attaches a Special Metal and... Devours for one card. He doesn't Bench anything. He doesn't play a Supporter. He just... passes. Wow. I may have a chance at winning this thing quickly. I attach a Double Colorless Energy to my Mewtwo, and play my Pokemon Collector, taking 2 Tynamos and a regular Zekrom from ND. I only Bench the Tynamos, for if he has a Catcher that could easily mean he could stall with my Zekrom Active. I then X Ball his Durant for 30 damage. His turn, he draws his card. Thinks for a second. This is it. He NEEDS a Supporter this turn, right now, or he has a very high chance of losing. He plays a Battle City. Flips HEADS. Draws his card... plays a POKEGEAR. Uh-oh. He looks at the top 7 cards in his deck, looks back at the field, looks at his cards... and says "Take nothing." Whoo! We did it! He missed his Supporter! As he shuffles his hand back into his deck, he asks me "Do you have the Energy?" I say "I dunno, maybe." He tells me he'll scoop if I do have the Energy, so I show him the second Double Colorless Energy and the Lightning ENergy. He concedes! I have emerged victorious in this intense match up at Table 1, and I am the one who is now 1-0. Good game, Liam. Perhaps next time, you will be more fortunate.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Nicholas R. w/ Slowpoke/Solosis/Gengar
This game was over quickly, I opened with Mewtwo and just swept his field with X Ball. GG.
2-0
Round 3 vs. Alex B. w/ Ross/EXs
This time, I opened Zekrom. I basically just never let him set up Vileplume at all, and ended it with Mewtwo EX killing his Gigas EX. GG.
3-0
Round 4 vs. ???? w/ ReshiBoar
He never sets up an Emboar all game. =/ I started Thundurus and went first and killed all his Tepigs. GG.
4-0
Round 5 vs. ???? w/ Celebi/Terrakion/Shaymin EX
I open Thundurus again, yay. I go, Charge, he does his thing, I 80 his TErrakion, he 60s, I KO. He return kills me, I Mewtwo him, he Shaymins me for 90, I Retreat, PP Bolt Strike to get down to 2 Prizes because he Eviolited. He doesn't really have any options left after that. =/ GG.
5-0
Round 6 vs. Simon w/ MagneBoar
I open Mewtwo, PP, DCE, Junk Arm, Juniper. Go first. He opens Magnemite. =/
6-0
Round 7 vs. Koichi N. w/ ZPST
This game was also pretty good. We both have pretty bad starts, two of my Tynamos are Prized and I lack an Energy while he lacks a Supporter. Evenutally I take the first Prize with Outrage on Turn 3 or 4, he responds with Zekrom. I can't get a Zekrom immediately so I Catcher kill Shaymin with Thundurus, he killed another Tynamo. Evenutally I kill his Zekrom putting me at 3 Prizes, he Mewtwos me putting him at 2. Rather than respond with my Mewtwo, I Catcher kill Pachi with Thundurus, figuring it would be easier for him to get Mewtwo, DCE, PP than CAtcher, DCE, PP because he's already used lots of Catchers and Junk Arms. Fortunately he only get the Catcher and he kills my Tynamo, and I kill him with Mewtwo. GG.
7-0
So I made Top Cut at 7-0. Nice. Let's go for a repeat of Regionals? I am playing against Mirror in Top 16, except he plays no Mewtwo.
Anyways, Kabir and I leave the place (Kabir went 5-2 and bubbled, missed by 3% and ended up 19th =/). I eat leftover pizza, go on Skype and talk to Cor and Ricky who inform me of what happened in other States, then I go back to the tournament. I'm really tired at this point and don't really want to play but whatever.
Top 16 vs. Micha w/ ZPST/Eel
Game 1: I open Mewtwo, he has no counter. Pretty much just swept with Mewtwo. GG.
1-0
Game 2: Same as Game 1 lol, just swept with MEwtwo. Mewtwo vs. no Mewtwo wins every time IMO. GG.
2-0
8-0
Top 8 vs. Simon w/ MagneBoar
Game 1: Unfortunately went exactly like our Swiss game: I start Mewtwo, DCE, PP, Junk Arm, go first to his lone Magnemite...
1-0
Game 2: Much better game. By T2 he had his full set up: Emboar, Zone, Magneton, Blue Flare with another Tepig on my Thundurus. I thought I had a pretty good chance unless he hit the Emboar because I had Catcher but nope. he killed my Thundurus. I promote my lone Tynamo and think "...Now what?" Well, he overpowers my deck easily at this point. He can constantly OHKO my guys. My ONLY chance is to stall his Emboar Active and kill it, hope he doesn't get the second, kill the Tynamo, and then hope he doesn't have enough Energy to finish the game. So I start, Catcher Emboar, Collector for Zekrom, Evo, Dynamotor, attach, PP, Outrage. Next turn I Bolt Strike him for KO. Of course he get Candy Emboar here, and Blue Flares me. I somehow manage to respond and drag up his Emboar again, I believe by topdecking Junk Arm (I DID have lots of outs, but I HAD to topdeck that turn or I would have lost). He has the Switch this time, but next turn THANKFULLY I topdecked a PONT to grab another Catcher to kill his Emboar with Zekrom. Now he has no Emboars in play adn 3 Tepigs are gone (he had to discard one earlier with Junk Arm I think). He has 3 Prizes left, 2 ENrgy in play. He kills my Zekrom with Zone, keeping one Energy in play. Now I know that I don't want to Mewtwo yet, I want to give up one more Prize. I forget exactly what happened but I do know it ended with me sweeping his Energyless board with Mewtwo and barely winning by one Prize. Very close, GG.
2-0
9-0
Top 4 vs. Bodhi w/ Zekrom/Eelectrik
Game 1: I don't get my ideal start but still take some quick Prizes. I get up 2-5 and ahven't actually used many resources, but he Ns me to 2. I draw Collector, Pokemon. Topdeck Level Ball. I thin my deck and pass, after that I just draw pass while he catches up and wins the game without me being able to do anything. =/ I did misplay early on, I had a mental lapse and forgot to check what was Prized... of course Tynamo is, after I had Evo'd 2 and he killed the third. This made it so I didn't have a Free Retreater, which would have won me the game. Also didn't help that the Tynamo was my last two Prizes. Oh well, I was pretty mad at myself after this game. GG.
0-1
Game 2: Should have lost this one too. I had a 2-1 Eel line Prized (checked this time!), and 1-1 Eel were my last two Prizes. I missed Energy Turn 1 to Charge so he had a superior set up, more Eels, and I was in a bad spot. I managed to kill Eel with Thundurus after he killed mine, and he 80s my Thundurus. Now. I realize I can't win without engaging him in a Mewtwo war. I have MEwtwo and DCE in my hand. It's my out to win this game, I play 3 and he plays 1. So I Mewtwo, DCE, PONT, Get Catcher, kill a Tynamo. He FAILS to respond, but he BEnches Mewtwo and attaches Lightning. Whoo. I Catcher the Mewtwo, DCE, KO. He can respond this time with Revive + kill, but I Juniper into the Mewtwo + DCE I needed to win. I acould have also just drawn a Lightning rather than DCE but yeah. GG.
1-1
Game 3: Not a great finish, I can't really get anything going and he sweeps with Mewtwo, and despite my build being MADE to Mewtwo war I couldn't respond to his Mewtwo at all... oh well. GG.
1-2
9-1
So I got third, played Pack Wars after with Amelia and Kabir, etc. Great day overall, obvoiusly wish I could have won but I'm fine with 3rd, I misplayed Game 1 and that's that.
Props:
Kabir
Amelia
Ian
Simon
Jacob
Kenny
Robert
Chris
Koichi
Jackson
Opponents
Round 1
Some close games
Mewtwo
Other friends etc. I may have forgotten
Slops:
Mewtwo
N
Not checking Prizes
Cor, Ricky, and Kevin for not being there
Lots of donks
So I get to the tournament with Kabir, who's playing Celebi/Tornadus/Mewtwo. I was going to get sleeves from Amelia for $10, but it turned out she didn't have any. =( So I had to buy Rayquaza ones from the store for $30! Oh well, they were really nice.
Soo anyways, there are 108 Seniors or something! Wow, that's more than Regionals if I remember correctly. I start to lose confidence in my deck choice, which is purely made to be consistent rather than techy. I play no one-ofs in my Pokemon line, 3 Thundurus, etc. Well, I've already registereed now, so I might as well go for it!
Round 1 vs. Liam W. w/ Durant
THIS was the defining moment of my years spent playing this game. THIS is why I continue to play this game. This game was so intense, you could feel the tension crackling between the two players, long time rivals in this game of Pokemon. On the right, Jack, with Eelectrik/Thundurus/Zekrom/Mewtwo. On the left, Liam, with Durant. It was destined to me an epic match, where the superior player had to win. We both mulligan a few times, I mulligan twice while he mulligans 3 times before opening with a single Pokemon. My opening hand was not very good for this matchup, for I opened with Mewtwo, the worst possible Pokemon to open with. However, it was workable, for I also opened with 2 Double Colorless ENergy, a Lightning, and a Collector. I ask "Heads or tails?" To which he replies with "Tails." Naturally, right before the tournament, I was near a family who rolled the Oregon die that I was using, and it came up as tails far more often than heads. So I myself tried rolling this die, and it did indeed seem that it came up as tails more than heads. Strange. Regardless, I rolled the die, and of course, it shows up as a five. We will see Liam make the first move in this insane game that was sure to follow. After the prizes are given out - both Liam and I extremely nervous, wondering what the other's starter was, wondering how good the other's hand is, wondering, ultimately, whether they could possibly win this game. Finally, the announcer says: "ARE YOU READY PLAYERS?!?!" To which a large majority of the players in the room responded with "YEAH!!!" And then... the words I was waiting for... "YOU MAY BEGIN." I flip over my Mewtwo and tell Liam he should "try donking that," for he was boasting before the match he was going to donk me with Vice Grip on a 30 HP Tynamo. He flips over his Durant. He draws a card. My heart is beating in my chest, like a drum. He attaches a Special Metal and... Devours for one card. He doesn't Bench anything. He doesn't play a Supporter. He just... passes. Wow. I may have a chance at winning this thing quickly. I attach a Double Colorless Energy to my Mewtwo, and play my Pokemon Collector, taking 2 Tynamos and a regular Zekrom from ND. I only Bench the Tynamos, for if he has a Catcher that could easily mean he could stall with my Zekrom Active. I then X Ball his Durant for 30 damage. His turn, he draws his card. Thinks for a second. This is it. He NEEDS a Supporter this turn, right now, or he has a very high chance of losing. He plays a Battle City. Flips HEADS. Draws his card... plays a POKEGEAR. Uh-oh. He looks at the top 7 cards in his deck, looks back at the field, looks at his cards... and says "Take nothing." Whoo! We did it! He missed his Supporter! As he shuffles his hand back into his deck, he asks me "Do you have the Energy?" I say "I dunno, maybe." He tells me he'll scoop if I do have the Energy, so I show him the second Double Colorless Energy and the Lightning ENergy. He concedes! I have emerged victorious in this intense match up at Table 1, and I am the one who is now 1-0. Good game, Liam. Perhaps next time, you will be more fortunate.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Nicholas R. w/ Slowpoke/Solosis/Gengar
This game was over quickly, I opened with Mewtwo and just swept his field with X Ball. GG.
2-0
Round 3 vs. Alex B. w/ Ross/EXs
This time, I opened Zekrom. I basically just never let him set up Vileplume at all, and ended it with Mewtwo EX killing his Gigas EX. GG.
3-0
Round 4 vs. ???? w/ ReshiBoar
He never sets up an Emboar all game. =/ I started Thundurus and went first and killed all his Tepigs. GG.
4-0
Round 5 vs. ???? w/ Celebi/Terrakion/Shaymin EX
I open Thundurus again, yay. I go, Charge, he does his thing, I 80 his TErrakion, he 60s, I KO. He return kills me, I Mewtwo him, he Shaymins me for 90, I Retreat, PP Bolt Strike to get down to 2 Prizes because he Eviolited. He doesn't really have any options left after that. =/ GG.
5-0
Round 6 vs. Simon w/ MagneBoar
I open Mewtwo, PP, DCE, Junk Arm, Juniper. Go first. He opens Magnemite. =/
6-0
Round 7 vs. Koichi N. w/ ZPST
This game was also pretty good. We both have pretty bad starts, two of my Tynamos are Prized and I lack an Energy while he lacks a Supporter. Evenutally I take the first Prize with Outrage on Turn 3 or 4, he responds with Zekrom. I can't get a Zekrom immediately so I Catcher kill Shaymin with Thundurus, he killed another Tynamo. Evenutally I kill his Zekrom putting me at 3 Prizes, he Mewtwos me putting him at 2. Rather than respond with my Mewtwo, I Catcher kill Pachi with Thundurus, figuring it would be easier for him to get Mewtwo, DCE, PP than CAtcher, DCE, PP because he's already used lots of Catchers and Junk Arms. Fortunately he only get the Catcher and he kills my Tynamo, and I kill him with Mewtwo. GG.
7-0
So I made Top Cut at 7-0. Nice. Let's go for a repeat of Regionals? I am playing against Mirror in Top 16, except he plays no Mewtwo.
Anyways, Kabir and I leave the place (Kabir went 5-2 and bubbled, missed by 3% and ended up 19th =/). I eat leftover pizza, go on Skype and talk to Cor and Ricky who inform me of what happened in other States, then I go back to the tournament. I'm really tired at this point and don't really want to play but whatever.
Top 16 vs. Micha w/ ZPST/Eel
Game 1: I open Mewtwo, he has no counter. Pretty much just swept with Mewtwo. GG.
1-0
Game 2: Same as Game 1 lol, just swept with MEwtwo. Mewtwo vs. no Mewtwo wins every time IMO. GG.
2-0
8-0
Top 8 vs. Simon w/ MagneBoar
Game 1: Unfortunately went exactly like our Swiss game: I start Mewtwo, DCE, PP, Junk Arm, go first to his lone Magnemite...
1-0
Game 2: Much better game. By T2 he had his full set up: Emboar, Zone, Magneton, Blue Flare with another Tepig on my Thundurus. I thought I had a pretty good chance unless he hit the Emboar because I had Catcher but nope. he killed my Thundurus. I promote my lone Tynamo and think "...Now what?" Well, he overpowers my deck easily at this point. He can constantly OHKO my guys. My ONLY chance is to stall his Emboar Active and kill it, hope he doesn't get the second, kill the Tynamo, and then hope he doesn't have enough Energy to finish the game. So I start, Catcher Emboar, Collector for Zekrom, Evo, Dynamotor, attach, PP, Outrage. Next turn I Bolt Strike him for KO. Of course he get Candy Emboar here, and Blue Flares me. I somehow manage to respond and drag up his Emboar again, I believe by topdecking Junk Arm (I DID have lots of outs, but I HAD to topdeck that turn or I would have lost). He has the Switch this time, but next turn THANKFULLY I topdecked a PONT to grab another Catcher to kill his Emboar with Zekrom. Now he has no Emboars in play adn 3 Tepigs are gone (he had to discard one earlier with Junk Arm I think). He has 3 Prizes left, 2 ENrgy in play. He kills my Zekrom with Zone, keeping one Energy in play. Now I know that I don't want to Mewtwo yet, I want to give up one more Prize. I forget exactly what happened but I do know it ended with me sweeping his Energyless board with Mewtwo and barely winning by one Prize. Very close, GG.
2-0
9-0
Top 4 vs. Bodhi w/ Zekrom/Eelectrik
Game 1: I don't get my ideal start but still take some quick Prizes. I get up 2-5 and ahven't actually used many resources, but he Ns me to 2. I draw Collector, Pokemon. Topdeck Level Ball. I thin my deck and pass, after that I just draw pass while he catches up and wins the game without me being able to do anything. =/ I did misplay early on, I had a mental lapse and forgot to check what was Prized... of course Tynamo is, after I had Evo'd 2 and he killed the third. This made it so I didn't have a Free Retreater, which would have won me the game. Also didn't help that the Tynamo was my last two Prizes. Oh well, I was pretty mad at myself after this game. GG.
0-1
Game 2: Should have lost this one too. I had a 2-1 Eel line Prized (checked this time!), and 1-1 Eel were my last two Prizes. I missed Energy Turn 1 to Charge so he had a superior set up, more Eels, and I was in a bad spot. I managed to kill Eel with Thundurus after he killed mine, and he 80s my Thundurus. Now. I realize I can't win without engaging him in a Mewtwo war. I have MEwtwo and DCE in my hand. It's my out to win this game, I play 3 and he plays 1. So I Mewtwo, DCE, PONT, Get Catcher, kill a Tynamo. He FAILS to respond, but he BEnches Mewtwo and attaches Lightning. Whoo. I Catcher the Mewtwo, DCE, KO. He can respond this time with Revive + kill, but I Juniper into the Mewtwo + DCE I needed to win. I acould have also just drawn a Lightning rather than DCE but yeah. GG.
1-1
Game 3: Not a great finish, I can't really get anything going and he sweeps with Mewtwo, and despite my build being MADE to Mewtwo war I couldn't respond to his Mewtwo at all... oh well. GG.
1-2
9-1
So I got third, played Pack Wars after with Amelia and Kabir, etc. Great day overall, obvoiusly wish I could have won but I'm fine with 3rd, I misplayed Game 1 and that's that.
Props:
Kabir
Amelia
Ian
Simon
Jacob
Kenny
Robert
Chris
Koichi
Jackson
Opponents
Round 1
Some close games
Mewtwo
Other friends etc. I may have forgotten
Slops:
Mewtwo
N
Not checking Prizes
Cor, Ricky, and Kevin for not being there
Lots of donks
.