Freddy K.
New Member
Brief version - 5-2s made it in, but there were three others who were ahead of me b/c of resistance etc and I missed the cut. Congrats to Sami for winning with Luxchomp, maybe the only other Luxchomp in Top cut by the looks of it? Very few went with it and ran Machamp varients (those fools, Unown G is back in LC).
Two decks I helped won 2nd in Juniors (Daniel C, so close) and 3rd/4th in Seniors (Jono C aka Donezator, he walked into ERL in the mirror).
I played Luxchomp, really couldn't finalise the list until registration but I went with my gut instincts. No secret techs except Interviewer's Questions, played the one which was great to draw out DCEs mid-game. I maxed out on Sprays which was the play. Mismag Mewtwo Counter - didn't see one. Unown G - didn't really utilise it in my games, would have made the difference if I made cut I believe. At some point I can post the deck, just can't think cards right now. If you want any specific questions asked about the deck just post, I can then give details about the choices.
* Easter Egg - I ran a really slimmed down line of 2L 1P which ran fine, 1-1 Claydol too. Hardly used Trade Off, it's hard to activate without Unown Q in the deck although I did get it running in Round 6 vs Gardy/ERL. *
Sami won (and congrats to him), with a LuxChomp that played no Mewtwo counter. He also ran a Judge. there was nothing else different I believe.
Nicholas Fotheringham (Seniors trip winner Worlds 09, now in Masters) ran Donphan Machamp. I played him after the tournament as he didn't make cut, and rolled it over.
One of the most popular decks I saw was Kingdra Machamp, Jumpluff was being played too. Very, very few people ran LuxChomp. A few Gengar varients. Plus the odd deck including the Gardy/ERL deck that I lost to Round 6. More on that later. It appears that the UK metagame has changed, a significant number of YGO players are now migrating to Pokémon and are attracted by the whole T2 large damage minimal energy heavy draw type engines. Talking to Yacine Sekkoum many get advice from Sami, there was nothing significantly 'original' about any of the builds or ideas that I saw. One deck that did do well was a Shaymin Cherrim grass deck with Pluff I believe, people were finding it really difficult to take down. There was virtually no Fire deck played at all apart from ERL splashes.
Round 1 I play someone from my league in Leicester which was messed up. What was even more messed up was that he played the deck I played to win a States, that beat Luxchomp - Gyarados/Donphan. Even more messed up - I convinced him to run Gyarados in the hope that some extra water in the tourney could clear the way for LuxChomp (anti-Donphan). I didn't realise he'd TeCH for LuxChomp though in the same way that I did >_< I'm too influential in this game!!! Tough first few turns, he got 60 in the discard and attached Belt to KO my Ambi T1. I went behind two to three prizes after that, the game slowed down but I kept trapping his Regiice using Bright Look in the hope of a comeback and after the third attempt (Warp Points and Warp Energies got him out of Dodge straight away) it was working. Really struggled to get the energies out however, had an unusual Supporter drought as well so couldn't get Claydol up and running. After 40 mins I thought I had thrown it away but I'd have only levelled in prizes after the in-between turn phase with Toxic Fang poison. He also by the way flipped 5 tails on Reversals and SSUs in a row, which was amusing. 0-1
* Easter Egg - I ran 2 Crobat G and it was the play, Belt _could_ have made that final difference but there was no way of guaranteeing getting it at the right point - I'd rather have a free retreat starter. Chatot was cut from my list - could I have PsyLocked opponents for wins on time? Who knows. But I kept on cycling between all three as I decided on what to go with. Maybe I should have gone with the lil guy on reflection. *
So I go off and think wow this is going to be hard. 0-1 first round loss is something I've not had in a long time.
Round 2 - Beginner w/ ShuppetDonk from London - can't really say much about this guy, he looked terrified of playing me and I can't be hard on his play as he had educational special needs. It was over pretty quickly, I don't think he realised what the deck was about and kept attacking me with Loneliness on a Banette in a friendly game afterwards. He was probably wondering why on Earth that deck did any well whatsoever too. I had to tell him things like you can't have two Pokémon active. Brave lad. 1-1
Round 3 - Gengar guy from Cardiff. So Turn 3 he says Azelf and then follows through with Time Walk. He performs Time Walk and I call him on that as he didn't announce the power (as it stood I did have the Power Spray and also had 3 SP Pokémon out). He self-destructs and scoops the game after telling me I take things way too seriously, leaving a rather uncomfortable silence. NoPoke (HJ of the event) tells me not to say anything that doesn't help the resolution of the situation. He would have gotten a Prize Loss at most. 2-1
Round 4 - Jumpluff. Manchester Player I believe. A nice match, I really liked the player. He played AMU down pretty quickly and played no errors, however I've playtested this matchup about 40 times and know fully well it's not as even as it should be. Just attach the extra energy and carry on as normal with Garchomp C, Dragon Rush the Claydols and spray any Uxies. Maxed out Power Spray is KEY to this matchup and would have helped me if I'd cut as there were I think 2 Jumpluff in T16. I gave him some advice on his playstyle afterwards, which he appreciated. Nice, respectful guy. 3-1
Round 5 - Nitesh Doolub, a close friend of Sami who's played for years - playing Gengar/Machamp I believe. I donk his Unown Q with Roseanne, Energy Gain (hand), Psychic and Crobat (in deck) Turn 1 after going second. Wish it was more of a game. Nitesh and I I'd say are pretty much on the same playing level and he's played for years now. He'll be there in Hawaii, grinding in as he's bought his tickets and can afford it. 4-1
Round 6 - Gardy/ERL guy from Crawley. He's from the same area/league as the HJ. Tomb start, he starts doing the evolve thing but I get a quick prize, I think a Baltoy either by Bright Look or by Garchomp (unsure). From the off surprise surprise he wants me to play quick, Gardy struggles in 40 minute rounds. I'm drawing cards and as soon as I do he's accusing me of stalling constantly. I do believe he accused me of stalling on his turn not once but twice, he just keeps on building up the atmosphere on the game. He insults me by asking what a person of my age is doing playing this game *shrugs*. I call him on a sleeve, another judge asks him to resleeve that card which he does (it was split). We have a dispute that needs resolving and he draws an extra card in the middle of it with three judges watching. Now he can evolve to Gardy, Telepass (shuffling top card) or he could draw the card using Cosmic Power so he's at a distinct advantage. He gets a Warning for minor gameplay error - two years ago I did the same thing against Sami and I got a DOUBLE prize penalty - I point this out and Ian tells me it was because he wasn't HJing it. I get called something I really can't say on a public forum with kids reading, by the guy playing next to us (not my opponent), he just gets told to behave by Ian. Ian goes and our match is being watched over by two Judges but I get no cautions, just 'carry on' with his protestations. He's still behind with 4 minutes to go, a few more issues arise and he's now begging for time extensions and rushing me constantly when the judges are away. Time is called and his sleeves are again split, I say I don't mind however long it takes to resleeve and that time can be added on to the match as an extension - NoPoke (Ian) denies it and says carry on playing. He then joins us when time is called (another issue regarding sleeves) and says time extension - I say how long, he refuses to specify. Ok it must have been between 10 to 15 minutes that was added on no exaggeration, we are playing throughout with three Judges and HJ Ian watching. I get my one and only Warning of the tournament in that time for slow play in the middle of my actions after checking my discard pile twice, once after a Cyrus (for tools) and once again for Energy in the same search (I could have gotten the Aarons and needed to check the pile for Energy, it was a brief moment and I just slid the discard pile across with my little finger), I was saying what I was doing and why to justify my actions but it wasn't good enough. I rush to get an SP Radar as I could face a game loss easily, I could have gotten Poké Turn pulled up a Crobat and laid the Lucario in hand, retreated for Uxie LvX and pulled ahead by two prizes - but the warning put me off this choice and I knew instantly from the Freddy head spinning moment that the distraction and pressure forced the misplay, even if I needed to I couldn't Bronzong nor Flash Bite Crobat as I was under Psychic Lock but I had two DCE in hand anyway. Ian lets him play on and I go down a prize and then after the next turn I Ambipom the DCE, he reattaches DCE and after he Judges me Ian says time will end at the end of his turn, he overtakes me with a Gallade doing damage. So during the turn that he's about to go ahead by a prize Ian says that the game will end on his turn, I think we had about six full turns each and there's nothing I can do. Next turn I draw into a Roseanne, I may have been able to Poketurn and played Crobat down followed by a DCE on Uxie LvX to KO his active Gallade and level up at worse in the prize exchange. I can't say anything back at all about the whole thing, I'm just not allowed to. 40 minutes of this and then an extra what 15 minutes of undefined time is favorable for Gardy. My opponent had the advantage with a sudden death situation at least as Gallade can just get two prizes straight away. Psylock then wait for time, build Gallade and swing. A time extension that just happened to be defined by a time span that coincided with me losing not one but two straight prizes, going behind in the prize count and not having any chance to get back in the match again with Psychic Lock being broken. Enough said already. 4-2
Round 7 - I get paired up against someone else from my league, I built Tommy's deck for him. I feel sorry for him, as well as having playtested together for hours (being good friends we both face an uncertain situation and neither of us wanted to do this game, plus 5-2 may not have been enough) I would have felt sympathy for anyone playing me straight after Round 6. I draw all six prizes in quick succession against his Flygon Torterra. Save Power Sprays until crucial Forest Murmurs, cycle around the Healing Breaths and also promote Luxray to Bright Look and Trash Bolt easy benched prizes. 5-2
So we wait and I come in at 20th, we watch most of the T16 and T8 but it's then around 10pm so we head off. Tommy's mum lost to Sami T16 (should have gone 2nd in the second game, even Sami questioned it - she played Shuppet and could have donked his lone Garchomp with Dunsparce). We get the results in from Seniors before we head off. Last thing I remember was Sami arguing with Tom about the initial dice roll sliding across the table in T8. My Round 6 guy was knocked out by Tom's Kingdra Machamp in T16. Karl Blake KOed Yacine with Pluff in T16 or T8. I don't know at this moment who else went through and got the pass down trip.
Well good news is that I spend the extra week with my two girls again who'll be staying over for six weeks during the Summer vacation, instead of Hawaii. I'm happy about the deck choices made, maybe I procrastinated too much about the little techs. I still haven't had a chance to play Sami in two years of National play. The newer players coming through now I have to say have less respect than the players who've been on the circuit for years. Is it good for the game? *shrugs*
If I made cut things could have been so different, it's where I excell :biggrin:
* Easter Egg - maybe I should have kept the Lookers in. Sami played no Mewtwo counter but played a Judge which I found questionable when building my version. *
PROPS -
HeyTrainer and Pokegym for rulings, deck ideas and general sources of information
Wife and girls <3 <3
Premier Inn where we playtested and enjoyed hours of fun
The Leicester lot for upping their game
Liz Roberts for T16
Daniel for T2
Jono for T4
Sami for winning
Nitesh for taking the T2 loss so well
Irwin Malek for making the cut after playing just one game in a year the night before
All the US players who talk to me online and on FB - you know who you are - love you all <3
Everyone who supported me on FB
Great choice of venue, same again next year.
SLOPS -
Aydenn - should have done better this year, I get bragging rights now (he pushed me down into not making T8 cut last year as I got 9th)
Tommy for being worse than his mum and as bad as me for not making cut j/k
Daniel for not practicing enough - his last year in Juniors =(
Jono for overextending his powers on the bench even though he knew that his opponent played ERL
Gardy for doing badly for me last year and then beating me this year. DEAL WITH ROTATION PLOX >=)
Jirachi UL and Entei/Raikous for distracting me - I should have made bids on ebay for Kingdra Primes.
Bianchi and Ryan Vergel j/k <3
Things I want to slop but can't.
LMK if you wna be PROPed ^_^
- Fr3ddy K
Two decks I helped won 2nd in Juniors (Daniel C, so close) and 3rd/4th in Seniors (Jono C aka Donezator, he walked into ERL in the mirror).
I played Luxchomp, really couldn't finalise the list until registration but I went with my gut instincts. No secret techs except Interviewer's Questions, played the one which was great to draw out DCEs mid-game. I maxed out on Sprays which was the play. Mismag Mewtwo Counter - didn't see one. Unown G - didn't really utilise it in my games, would have made the difference if I made cut I believe. At some point I can post the deck, just can't think cards right now. If you want any specific questions asked about the deck just post, I can then give details about the choices.
* Easter Egg - I ran a really slimmed down line of 2L 1P which ran fine, 1-1 Claydol too. Hardly used Trade Off, it's hard to activate without Unown Q in the deck although I did get it running in Round 6 vs Gardy/ERL. *
Sami won (and congrats to him), with a LuxChomp that played no Mewtwo counter. He also ran a Judge. there was nothing else different I believe.
Nicholas Fotheringham (Seniors trip winner Worlds 09, now in Masters) ran Donphan Machamp. I played him after the tournament as he didn't make cut, and rolled it over.
One of the most popular decks I saw was Kingdra Machamp, Jumpluff was being played too. Very, very few people ran LuxChomp. A few Gengar varients. Plus the odd deck including the Gardy/ERL deck that I lost to Round 6. More on that later. It appears that the UK metagame has changed, a significant number of YGO players are now migrating to Pokémon and are attracted by the whole T2 large damage minimal energy heavy draw type engines. Talking to Yacine Sekkoum many get advice from Sami, there was nothing significantly 'original' about any of the builds or ideas that I saw. One deck that did do well was a Shaymin Cherrim grass deck with Pluff I believe, people were finding it really difficult to take down. There was virtually no Fire deck played at all apart from ERL splashes.
Round 1 I play someone from my league in Leicester which was messed up. What was even more messed up was that he played the deck I played to win a States, that beat Luxchomp - Gyarados/Donphan. Even more messed up - I convinced him to run Gyarados in the hope that some extra water in the tourney could clear the way for LuxChomp (anti-Donphan). I didn't realise he'd TeCH for LuxChomp though in the same way that I did >_< I'm too influential in this game!!! Tough first few turns, he got 60 in the discard and attached Belt to KO my Ambi T1. I went behind two to three prizes after that, the game slowed down but I kept trapping his Regiice using Bright Look in the hope of a comeback and after the third attempt (Warp Points and Warp Energies got him out of Dodge straight away) it was working. Really struggled to get the energies out however, had an unusual Supporter drought as well so couldn't get Claydol up and running. After 40 mins I thought I had thrown it away but I'd have only levelled in prizes after the in-between turn phase with Toxic Fang poison. He also by the way flipped 5 tails on Reversals and SSUs in a row, which was amusing. 0-1
* Easter Egg - I ran 2 Crobat G and it was the play, Belt _could_ have made that final difference but there was no way of guaranteeing getting it at the right point - I'd rather have a free retreat starter. Chatot was cut from my list - could I have PsyLocked opponents for wins on time? Who knows. But I kept on cycling between all three as I decided on what to go with. Maybe I should have gone with the lil guy on reflection. *
So I go off and think wow this is going to be hard. 0-1 first round loss is something I've not had in a long time.
Round 2 - Beginner w/ ShuppetDonk from London - can't really say much about this guy, he looked terrified of playing me and I can't be hard on his play as he had educational special needs. It was over pretty quickly, I don't think he realised what the deck was about and kept attacking me with Loneliness on a Banette in a friendly game afterwards. He was probably wondering why on Earth that deck did any well whatsoever too. I had to tell him things like you can't have two Pokémon active. Brave lad. 1-1
Round 3 - Gengar guy from Cardiff. So Turn 3 he says Azelf and then follows through with Time Walk. He performs Time Walk and I call him on that as he didn't announce the power (as it stood I did have the Power Spray and also had 3 SP Pokémon out). He self-destructs and scoops the game after telling me I take things way too seriously, leaving a rather uncomfortable silence. NoPoke (HJ of the event) tells me not to say anything that doesn't help the resolution of the situation. He would have gotten a Prize Loss at most. 2-1
Round 4 - Jumpluff. Manchester Player I believe. A nice match, I really liked the player. He played AMU down pretty quickly and played no errors, however I've playtested this matchup about 40 times and know fully well it's not as even as it should be. Just attach the extra energy and carry on as normal with Garchomp C, Dragon Rush the Claydols and spray any Uxies. Maxed out Power Spray is KEY to this matchup and would have helped me if I'd cut as there were I think 2 Jumpluff in T16. I gave him some advice on his playstyle afterwards, which he appreciated. Nice, respectful guy. 3-1
Round 5 - Nitesh Doolub, a close friend of Sami who's played for years - playing Gengar/Machamp I believe. I donk his Unown Q with Roseanne, Energy Gain (hand), Psychic and Crobat (in deck) Turn 1 after going second. Wish it was more of a game. Nitesh and I I'd say are pretty much on the same playing level and he's played for years now. He'll be there in Hawaii, grinding in as he's bought his tickets and can afford it. 4-1
Round 6 - Gardy/ERL guy from Crawley. He's from the same area/league as the HJ. Tomb start, he starts doing the evolve thing but I get a quick prize, I think a Baltoy either by Bright Look or by Garchomp (unsure). From the off surprise surprise he wants me to play quick, Gardy struggles in 40 minute rounds. I'm drawing cards and as soon as I do he's accusing me of stalling constantly. I do believe he accused me of stalling on his turn not once but twice, he just keeps on building up the atmosphere on the game. He insults me by asking what a person of my age is doing playing this game *shrugs*. I call him on a sleeve, another judge asks him to resleeve that card which he does (it was split). We have a dispute that needs resolving and he draws an extra card in the middle of it with three judges watching. Now he can evolve to Gardy, Telepass (shuffling top card) or he could draw the card using Cosmic Power so he's at a distinct advantage. He gets a Warning for minor gameplay error - two years ago I did the same thing against Sami and I got a DOUBLE prize penalty - I point this out and Ian tells me it was because he wasn't HJing it. I get called something I really can't say on a public forum with kids reading, by the guy playing next to us (not my opponent), he just gets told to behave by Ian. Ian goes and our match is being watched over by two Judges but I get no cautions, just 'carry on' with his protestations. He's still behind with 4 minutes to go, a few more issues arise and he's now begging for time extensions and rushing me constantly when the judges are away. Time is called and his sleeves are again split, I say I don't mind however long it takes to resleeve and that time can be added on to the match as an extension - NoPoke (Ian) denies it and says carry on playing. He then joins us when time is called (another issue regarding sleeves) and says time extension - I say how long, he refuses to specify. Ok it must have been between 10 to 15 minutes that was added on no exaggeration, we are playing throughout with three Judges and HJ Ian watching. I get my one and only Warning of the tournament in that time for slow play in the middle of my actions after checking my discard pile twice, once after a Cyrus (for tools) and once again for Energy in the same search (I could have gotten the Aarons and needed to check the pile for Energy, it was a brief moment and I just slid the discard pile across with my little finger), I was saying what I was doing and why to justify my actions but it wasn't good enough. I rush to get an SP Radar as I could face a game loss easily, I could have gotten Poké Turn pulled up a Crobat and laid the Lucario in hand, retreated for Uxie LvX and pulled ahead by two prizes - but the warning put me off this choice and I knew instantly from the Freddy head spinning moment that the distraction and pressure forced the misplay, even if I needed to I couldn't Bronzong nor Flash Bite Crobat as I was under Psychic Lock but I had two DCE in hand anyway. Ian lets him play on and I go down a prize and then after the next turn I Ambipom the DCE, he reattaches DCE and after he Judges me Ian says time will end at the end of his turn, he overtakes me with a Gallade doing damage. So during the turn that he's about to go ahead by a prize Ian says that the game will end on his turn, I think we had about six full turns each and there's nothing I can do. Next turn I draw into a Roseanne, I may have been able to Poketurn and played Crobat down followed by a DCE on Uxie LvX to KO his active Gallade and level up at worse in the prize exchange. I can't say anything back at all about the whole thing, I'm just not allowed to. 40 minutes of this and then an extra what 15 minutes of undefined time is favorable for Gardy. My opponent had the advantage with a sudden death situation at least as Gallade can just get two prizes straight away. Psylock then wait for time, build Gallade and swing. A time extension that just happened to be defined by a time span that coincided with me losing not one but two straight prizes, going behind in the prize count and not having any chance to get back in the match again with Psychic Lock being broken. Enough said already. 4-2
Round 7 - I get paired up against someone else from my league, I built Tommy's deck for him. I feel sorry for him, as well as having playtested together for hours (being good friends we both face an uncertain situation and neither of us wanted to do this game, plus 5-2 may not have been enough) I would have felt sympathy for anyone playing me straight after Round 6. I draw all six prizes in quick succession against his Flygon Torterra. Save Power Sprays until crucial Forest Murmurs, cycle around the Healing Breaths and also promote Luxray to Bright Look and Trash Bolt easy benched prizes. 5-2
So we wait and I come in at 20th, we watch most of the T16 and T8 but it's then around 10pm so we head off. Tommy's mum lost to Sami T16 (should have gone 2nd in the second game, even Sami questioned it - she played Shuppet and could have donked his lone Garchomp with Dunsparce). We get the results in from Seniors before we head off. Last thing I remember was Sami arguing with Tom about the initial dice roll sliding across the table in T8. My Round 6 guy was knocked out by Tom's Kingdra Machamp in T16. Karl Blake KOed Yacine with Pluff in T16 or T8. I don't know at this moment who else went through and got the pass down trip.
Well good news is that I spend the extra week with my two girls again who'll be staying over for six weeks during the Summer vacation, instead of Hawaii. I'm happy about the deck choices made, maybe I procrastinated too much about the little techs. I still haven't had a chance to play Sami in two years of National play. The newer players coming through now I have to say have less respect than the players who've been on the circuit for years. Is it good for the game? *shrugs*
If I made cut things could have been so different, it's where I excell :biggrin:
* Easter Egg - maybe I should have kept the Lookers in. Sami played no Mewtwo counter but played a Judge which I found questionable when building my version. *
PROPS -
HeyTrainer and Pokegym for rulings, deck ideas and general sources of information
Wife and girls <3 <3
Premier Inn where we playtested and enjoyed hours of fun
The Leicester lot for upping their game
Liz Roberts for T16
Daniel for T2
Jono for T4
Sami for winning
Nitesh for taking the T2 loss so well
Irwin Malek for making the cut after playing just one game in a year the night before
All the US players who talk to me online and on FB - you know who you are - love you all <3
Everyone who supported me on FB
Great choice of venue, same again next year.
SLOPS -
Aydenn - should have done better this year, I get bragging rights now (he pushed me down into not making T8 cut last year as I got 9th)
Tommy for being worse than his mum and as bad as me for not making cut j/k
Daniel for not practicing enough - his last year in Juniors =(
Jono for overextending his powers on the bench even though he knew that his opponent played ERL
Gardy for doing badly for me last year and then beating me this year. DEAL WITH ROTATION PLOX >=)
Jirachi UL and Entei/Raikous for distracting me - I should have made bids on ebay for Kingdra Primes.
Bianchi and Ryan Vergel j/k <3
Things I want to slop but can't.
LMK if you wna be PROPed ^_^
- Fr3ddy K
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