vanderbilt_grad
New Member
Before Regionals this year I tested a lot of stuff. I had 14 decks built and sleeved between the kids and I not to mention all the random crud I tested solo on Redshark. About 2 weeks before the event my younger son decided that he wants to play Jumpluff. Since we only had one I went to eBay and snagged 3 for what I thought was a reasonable price. After about a week more of testing I had a really random idea for Jumpluff that I thought might work and went to eBay to see about getting a few more … but this time there weren’t ANY to be had. That should have been a ******* clue to me but I didn’t get the hint.
Anyway the deck I ended up running was Giratina + techs. My build wasn’t the best ever. In fact honestly, I kind of randomly threw it together while trying to build “good” ideas like pairing it with Luxray GL & other SP techs. Most of my “good” lists seemed to START at 80 cards though and so I ended up just testing what I had while trying to get those numbers trimmed. Funny thing though was that the Giratina I had seemed to do really well in testing. I ran 2 Mimes to make the Pluffs and Gyarados’ of the world work harder. I had Mismagius & some tools to counter Mewtwo. I had Mewtwo to counter SP. My list had everything but power lock, which I would have liked but never made room for.
So we get to the even and freaking Jumpluff was everywhere. It’s in all 3 age groups and being played by folks of all skill levels. So that’s where all the eBay cards went.
Anyway on to the interesting part. Event was 7 rounds with top 16.
Round 1 - Gengar SF
My opponent starts a Gastly and quickly benches a spiritomb and I’m thinking that I’ll face cursegar. But she goes for the SF Gar and then benches a Noctowl (promo one that let’s you look at your opponent’s hand). I like this build & wondered if anyone would use this combo. I felt that Gengar SF was a smart play for Reginals since so many folks were cutting to either 1 or even 0 Unown G. Unfortunately for her I still ran 2. Game wise I don’t remember my start, I did make a misplay not burning some trainers before she put her Tomb out but I was able to get Giratina lv.X going early and start spreading. It does take me a while to get Claydol going, but I guard him right away when I do ... and the early small hand keeps me safe from Poltergeist for the most part. I put her Claydol, a benched Gastly, and her active Gengar SF in the Lost Zone around T6 I think and she flips tails on Fainting Spells. The game is basically over at that point and I Lost Zone 3 more things over the next two turns. My opponent was a little flustered at getting such a one sided loss first game I think but she seemed a bit more cheerful later in the day when I saw her in passing. I’m not sure how she did but I didn’t notice her at either the top tables or the bottom ones.
1-0
Round 2 - Benjamin P. with Flygon / Doniphan / Machamp / Nidoqueen
Really? I don’t know how he managed to get all of that into one deck and manage to maintain even a shard of consistency. His deck did seem to run clunky, but he basically had EVERYTHING that gives Giratina problems in one deck and got enough of it going early enough that I didn’t really have a shot. I gambled and lost on T2. I had an active Giratina with a single psychic energy attached and a benched Claydol vs. his Phanpy. I haven’t played a supporter and I really am hoping for a DCE ... or better yet DCE + Expert Belt ... so I put the energy and something else on the bottom and Cosmic Power for 5. Nothing. I play some stuff and have to Bebe’s for Uxie and Set Up for 5. Nothing. No energy or anything else I can use. I have to pass and that play put any hope I had of staying in the game away. I do set up and take a prize or two I think but I’m never in it after that turn. Mr. Potts goes on to make top cut, though I do have the pleasure of seeing one of the other Giratina decks beat him. Revenge by proxy I guess & lol @ myself.
1-1
Round 3 - Girl with 2 swords playing Infenape (PL) / Nine tails / Rayquaza
I kid you not, if this deck flips enough heads it can beat anything IMHO. The young woman running it though didn’t do so well against me though. My start was a bit rocky this one while her’s was reasonable. She starts the Vulpix that lets you get energy from your deck and has Infernape, Ninetails, and that guy still active by T2. However my Reversals kept me in the game. I made her burn attachments retreating ... and she actually failed to do once, hoping to draw into a Warp Point I suspect. Eventually she benches the Ray, Speed Gains for 1, and sends up her Infernape to blast my Mime into oblivion. She discards 3 energy but flips 3 tails. With great trepidation I send up my Tina X, since a single spread attack will get rid of her Ninetails and start the damage on her Infernape. The thing is that she needs only 2 heads to KO my guy and after flipping 3 tails I figure that she’s due for some heads. However I draw into another Reversal and am able to pull her Ray active and get two turns of free spread before she finally gets the Warp Point (all tails on her Speed Gains). Somewhere in here though I fail to realize that my spread KOed a Chimchar and only when she puts two other things in the Lost Zone do I realize my mistake. I call over a judge and end up with a penalty. Still the game was nearly over at that point and two turns later I take my last prize. I see her later in the day at the lower tables so I suspect that her luck with the dice stayed with her. Still it was a lot of fun meeting her and playing.
2-1
Round 4 - Michael “Mental” R. with Jumpluff
I love playing Michael, but I didn’t want to play him this early. Michael is running a top notch build of Jumpluff with techs to hurt SP & other basic based decks ... like mine. I start Giratina to his Crobat, attach and pass, thinking that things might be OK. Then he drops a Baltoy, Luxray, and a Hoppit and goes to town on his turn. On my second turn I Roseanne’s for Uxie and realize how bad my prizes must be. My Uxie, Mismagius, and Giratina lv.X are all prized. I pretty much need all of them for this matchup and having those prizes really dims my hopes. I pull Azelf and get the X knowing that I have no hope at all without it but that benching the Azelf will hurt me later. Long story short Mr. Mental is in control all game long and I make a major late game misplay FTL. Still it was nice to sit across from him and he goes on to top cut with a 6-1 record. After this loss I tell myself that I have to win out and that even then I’ll probably be a bubble boy.
2-2
Round 5 - Jumpluff
My opponent was a nice Poke-dad that I remember seeing at last year’s VA Regionals. I really enjoyed talking with him through the game as he was so polite. I think that I started with Giratain and was able to Lost Zone something early. My memory of this game is a bit fuzzy. I do remember that I set up well but made several misplays. Nothing super major but I honestly felt after the game that the main reason that I won was because he had bad draw for about 2-3 turns. If I wanted to win out I needed to be on my game more. I was yawning like crazy and realized that some of my bad play had to be from being tired. It was time for me to go get the Monster energy drink that I had left in the car. So I hurry down there and realize that I had forgotten the keys. I run back, get them from my wife, and rush back to the car. I only got two big sips before pairings were up. With great sadness I leave the drink near the judge’s table and take my seat.
3-2
Round 6 - William with Blaze/Blaze
Another Poke-dad with a wife working as a runner. Nice! However our game wasn’t much to talk about. I start with a hand of Giratina, Psychic Energy, DCE, Premier Ball, Expert Belt, & some other stuff. All I’m really missing is a Roseanne’s or a second basic. He’s going to flip a real coin to see who goes first and I really want to go first so I can have the T2 full setup, so I call tails knowing that it’s slightly more likely with a real coin. Sure enough he flips tails. He has Torchic active and a Baltoy benched. I go first, attach the psychic, and pass. He attaches a fire to Torchic and attacks. T2 I go crazy with Broken Space blow for 70, sending his Torchic to the Lost Zone and forcing him to promote his Baltoy. His turn he benches a Heatran and attaches to that but is forced to pass. I eat the Baltoy T3 and he puts the Heatran active ... but finally draws into his Blaze FB. He eventually uses that to get my Claydol up and burned, but I have warp in hand and end the game 2 turns later. William looses his last game too, but tells me after the event that he had a really fun day.
After this round I go to retrieve my drink and find that the World Champ is standing in front of it. After a polite request on my part to get to it we talk for a little bit. Steve seemed like a really nice guy and I wish him much better luck in his next event.
4-2
Round 7 - Jim Roll w/ Jumpluff
Jim is a guy that I’ve “talked” with a bit via online posts, but never really met. I was both glad to meet him and at the same time dreading that I was paired up against him. I know that he’s a really strong player. Jim’s build was a bit different than most of the other Pluff’s I’ve seen, but I’m not really surprised by his choice of techs given what I know of him and his decks. I honestly think that the Monster saved me here, well that and some ridiculous flips.
I have another God start, Giratina, Gira lv.X, DCE, Psychic, Expert Belt, etc. The only thing that I really need is a Rose and I get that T1. We get going and start to mess up. I try to play 2 supporters and then T2 Jim makes a major misplay. His start is a bit slow and he can‘t get BTS. On his Bench he has a Hoppit with Expert Belt, a Claydol, and a Baltoy. Thinking about his own next turn he benches two more Hoppits, prepared to swarm on T3. He’s forgotten my attack. I attach the final energy to Tina X, do 50 to the active for the KO, and 30 to the bench for the KO on his two naked Hoppits. He gets the revenge KO, putting me in a tight spot but with those Hoppits in the Zone he’s in trouble. I send up Mime to buy time. Then I get heads on a Reversal to get his Claydol active & I’m forced to put Mewtwo active and pull energy from the discard. The following turn I’m finally able to put a second Tina on my bench. Eventually Jim gets to the point where he can drag up something of mine. His choices are Mewtwo lv.X (my only real energy in play), my Giratina, and my Claydol. He chooses Mewtwo which is relatively smart since I run Lucian’s and that energy can go anywhere, but given the way the game plays out I think that the Claydol or Tina would have hurt me more.
Late game prizes are around 3-2 in my favor. I have a full bench Claydol w/ Unown G, Giratina X w/ Expert Belt, Mime w/ Unown Q, Uxie w/ Unown G, and Mismagius. Jim just KOed something and my plan is to have Mismagius KO his active Jumpluff with Crash Chant discarding Jim’s Expert Belt, his Q, and one of my own tools, but before I attack I play Looker’s and see that he has Relicanth and a Multi in hand! If I just discard 1 of my own tools he would have gotten the revenge KO with his last Pluff and then possibly two prizes off my Giratain with his fish thanks to my active stadium! So I have him shuffle in and when I attack I discard EVERYTHING except my own expert belt. He gets the revenge KO, but then I send that Jumpluff to the Lost Zone and he’s left with few options. Thanks to 3 Claydols he does get my own Dol active and has his Relicanth back active with hopes of snipe but he whiffs on the multi, and I have DCE in hand to retreat the Dol on my turn and that’s pretty much the game.
Had Jim and I played in any of the earlier rounds I’m not so sure that the outcome would have been the same.
5-2
So I wait for final standings and see that I’m 18th in a top 16 event. 10 of 14 folks with 5-2 records made it in. It was kind of sad seen my name just below the cut, but to add insult to injury Eric Nance was 19th, and Brian Leary was 20th. NC took it hard with those standings.
Props
* Jeff and Toni Reynolds. You guys work so hard and put on such great events! Thank you.
* The rest of the staff including, among many others, my lovely wife. You guys were GREAT!
* Johnny for winning. Fantastic job man!
* Kevin for nearly winning it a second year in a row. Mad props!
* All of the really classy folks at the event.
Slops
* Jumpluff - IMHO it’s not fun when so many folks play 1 deck.
* TOM - my pairings could have been so much better.
* Me for sloppy play in so many of my games.
* 18th in top 16 with my only losses to other guys who made the cut. So close!
Anyway the deck I ended up running was Giratina + techs. My build wasn’t the best ever. In fact honestly, I kind of randomly threw it together while trying to build “good” ideas like pairing it with Luxray GL & other SP techs. Most of my “good” lists seemed to START at 80 cards though and so I ended up just testing what I had while trying to get those numbers trimmed. Funny thing though was that the Giratina I had seemed to do really well in testing. I ran 2 Mimes to make the Pluffs and Gyarados’ of the world work harder. I had Mismagius & some tools to counter Mewtwo. I had Mewtwo to counter SP. My list had everything but power lock, which I would have liked but never made room for.
So we get to the even and freaking Jumpluff was everywhere. It’s in all 3 age groups and being played by folks of all skill levels. So that’s where all the eBay cards went.
Anyway on to the interesting part. Event was 7 rounds with top 16.
Round 1 - Gengar SF
My opponent starts a Gastly and quickly benches a spiritomb and I’m thinking that I’ll face cursegar. But she goes for the SF Gar and then benches a Noctowl (promo one that let’s you look at your opponent’s hand). I like this build & wondered if anyone would use this combo. I felt that Gengar SF was a smart play for Reginals since so many folks were cutting to either 1 or even 0 Unown G. Unfortunately for her I still ran 2. Game wise I don’t remember my start, I did make a misplay not burning some trainers before she put her Tomb out but I was able to get Giratina lv.X going early and start spreading. It does take me a while to get Claydol going, but I guard him right away when I do ... and the early small hand keeps me safe from Poltergeist for the most part. I put her Claydol, a benched Gastly, and her active Gengar SF in the Lost Zone around T6 I think and she flips tails on Fainting Spells. The game is basically over at that point and I Lost Zone 3 more things over the next two turns. My opponent was a little flustered at getting such a one sided loss first game I think but she seemed a bit more cheerful later in the day when I saw her in passing. I’m not sure how she did but I didn’t notice her at either the top tables or the bottom ones.
1-0
Round 2 - Benjamin P. with Flygon / Doniphan / Machamp / Nidoqueen
Really? I don’t know how he managed to get all of that into one deck and manage to maintain even a shard of consistency. His deck did seem to run clunky, but he basically had EVERYTHING that gives Giratina problems in one deck and got enough of it going early enough that I didn’t really have a shot. I gambled and lost on T2. I had an active Giratina with a single psychic energy attached and a benched Claydol vs. his Phanpy. I haven’t played a supporter and I really am hoping for a DCE ... or better yet DCE + Expert Belt ... so I put the energy and something else on the bottom and Cosmic Power for 5. Nothing. I play some stuff and have to Bebe’s for Uxie and Set Up for 5. Nothing. No energy or anything else I can use. I have to pass and that play put any hope I had of staying in the game away. I do set up and take a prize or two I think but I’m never in it after that turn. Mr. Potts goes on to make top cut, though I do have the pleasure of seeing one of the other Giratina decks beat him. Revenge by proxy I guess & lol @ myself.
1-1
Round 3 - Girl with 2 swords playing Infenape (PL) / Nine tails / Rayquaza
I kid you not, if this deck flips enough heads it can beat anything IMHO. The young woman running it though didn’t do so well against me though. My start was a bit rocky this one while her’s was reasonable. She starts the Vulpix that lets you get energy from your deck and has Infernape, Ninetails, and that guy still active by T2. However my Reversals kept me in the game. I made her burn attachments retreating ... and she actually failed to do once, hoping to draw into a Warp Point I suspect. Eventually she benches the Ray, Speed Gains for 1, and sends up her Infernape to blast my Mime into oblivion. She discards 3 energy but flips 3 tails. With great trepidation I send up my Tina X, since a single spread attack will get rid of her Ninetails and start the damage on her Infernape. The thing is that she needs only 2 heads to KO my guy and after flipping 3 tails I figure that she’s due for some heads. However I draw into another Reversal and am able to pull her Ray active and get two turns of free spread before she finally gets the Warp Point (all tails on her Speed Gains). Somewhere in here though I fail to realize that my spread KOed a Chimchar and only when she puts two other things in the Lost Zone do I realize my mistake. I call over a judge and end up with a penalty. Still the game was nearly over at that point and two turns later I take my last prize. I see her later in the day at the lower tables so I suspect that her luck with the dice stayed with her. Still it was a lot of fun meeting her and playing.
2-1
Round 4 - Michael “Mental” R. with Jumpluff
I love playing Michael, but I didn’t want to play him this early. Michael is running a top notch build of Jumpluff with techs to hurt SP & other basic based decks ... like mine. I start Giratina to his Crobat, attach and pass, thinking that things might be OK. Then he drops a Baltoy, Luxray, and a Hoppit and goes to town on his turn. On my second turn I Roseanne’s for Uxie and realize how bad my prizes must be. My Uxie, Mismagius, and Giratina lv.X are all prized. I pretty much need all of them for this matchup and having those prizes really dims my hopes. I pull Azelf and get the X knowing that I have no hope at all without it but that benching the Azelf will hurt me later. Long story short Mr. Mental is in control all game long and I make a major late game misplay FTL. Still it was nice to sit across from him and he goes on to top cut with a 6-1 record. After this loss I tell myself that I have to win out and that even then I’ll probably be a bubble boy.
2-2
Round 5 - Jumpluff
My opponent was a nice Poke-dad that I remember seeing at last year’s VA Regionals. I really enjoyed talking with him through the game as he was so polite. I think that I started with Giratain and was able to Lost Zone something early. My memory of this game is a bit fuzzy. I do remember that I set up well but made several misplays. Nothing super major but I honestly felt after the game that the main reason that I won was because he had bad draw for about 2-3 turns. If I wanted to win out I needed to be on my game more. I was yawning like crazy and realized that some of my bad play had to be from being tired. It was time for me to go get the Monster energy drink that I had left in the car. So I hurry down there and realize that I had forgotten the keys. I run back, get them from my wife, and rush back to the car. I only got two big sips before pairings were up. With great sadness I leave the drink near the judge’s table and take my seat.
3-2
Round 6 - William with Blaze/Blaze
Another Poke-dad with a wife working as a runner. Nice! However our game wasn’t much to talk about. I start with a hand of Giratina, Psychic Energy, DCE, Premier Ball, Expert Belt, & some other stuff. All I’m really missing is a Roseanne’s or a second basic. He’s going to flip a real coin to see who goes first and I really want to go first so I can have the T2 full setup, so I call tails knowing that it’s slightly more likely with a real coin. Sure enough he flips tails. He has Torchic active and a Baltoy benched. I go first, attach the psychic, and pass. He attaches a fire to Torchic and attacks. T2 I go crazy with Broken Space blow for 70, sending his Torchic to the Lost Zone and forcing him to promote his Baltoy. His turn he benches a Heatran and attaches to that but is forced to pass. I eat the Baltoy T3 and he puts the Heatran active ... but finally draws into his Blaze FB. He eventually uses that to get my Claydol up and burned, but I have warp in hand and end the game 2 turns later. William looses his last game too, but tells me after the event that he had a really fun day.
After this round I go to retrieve my drink and find that the World Champ is standing in front of it. After a polite request on my part to get to it we talk for a little bit. Steve seemed like a really nice guy and I wish him much better luck in his next event.
4-2
Round 7 - Jim Roll w/ Jumpluff
Jim is a guy that I’ve “talked” with a bit via online posts, but never really met. I was both glad to meet him and at the same time dreading that I was paired up against him. I know that he’s a really strong player. Jim’s build was a bit different than most of the other Pluff’s I’ve seen, but I’m not really surprised by his choice of techs given what I know of him and his decks. I honestly think that the Monster saved me here, well that and some ridiculous flips.
I have another God start, Giratina, Gira lv.X, DCE, Psychic, Expert Belt, etc. The only thing that I really need is a Rose and I get that T1. We get going and start to mess up. I try to play 2 supporters and then T2 Jim makes a major misplay. His start is a bit slow and he can‘t get BTS. On his Bench he has a Hoppit with Expert Belt, a Claydol, and a Baltoy. Thinking about his own next turn he benches two more Hoppits, prepared to swarm on T3. He’s forgotten my attack. I attach the final energy to Tina X, do 50 to the active for the KO, and 30 to the bench for the KO on his two naked Hoppits. He gets the revenge KO, putting me in a tight spot but with those Hoppits in the Zone he’s in trouble. I send up Mime to buy time. Then I get heads on a Reversal to get his Claydol active & I’m forced to put Mewtwo active and pull energy from the discard. The following turn I’m finally able to put a second Tina on my bench. Eventually Jim gets to the point where he can drag up something of mine. His choices are Mewtwo lv.X (my only real energy in play), my Giratina, and my Claydol. He chooses Mewtwo which is relatively smart since I run Lucian’s and that energy can go anywhere, but given the way the game plays out I think that the Claydol or Tina would have hurt me more.
Late game prizes are around 3-2 in my favor. I have a full bench Claydol w/ Unown G, Giratina X w/ Expert Belt, Mime w/ Unown Q, Uxie w/ Unown G, and Mismagius. Jim just KOed something and my plan is to have Mismagius KO his active Jumpluff with Crash Chant discarding Jim’s Expert Belt, his Q, and one of my own tools, but before I attack I play Looker’s and see that he has Relicanth and a Multi in hand! If I just discard 1 of my own tools he would have gotten the revenge KO with his last Pluff and then possibly two prizes off my Giratain with his fish thanks to my active stadium! So I have him shuffle in and when I attack I discard EVERYTHING except my own expert belt. He gets the revenge KO, but then I send that Jumpluff to the Lost Zone and he’s left with few options. Thanks to 3 Claydols he does get my own Dol active and has his Relicanth back active with hopes of snipe but he whiffs on the multi, and I have DCE in hand to retreat the Dol on my turn and that’s pretty much the game.
Had Jim and I played in any of the earlier rounds I’m not so sure that the outcome would have been the same.
5-2
So I wait for final standings and see that I’m 18th in a top 16 event. 10 of 14 folks with 5-2 records made it in. It was kind of sad seen my name just below the cut, but to add insult to injury Eric Nance was 19th, and Brian Leary was 20th. NC took it hard with those standings.
Props
* Jeff and Toni Reynolds. You guys work so hard and put on such great events! Thank you.
* The rest of the staff including, among many others, my lovely wife. You guys were GREAT!
* Johnny for winning. Fantastic job man!
* Kevin for nearly winning it a second year in a row. Mad props!
* All of the really classy folks at the event.
Slops
* Jumpluff - IMHO it’s not fun when so many folks play 1 deck.
* TOM - my pairings could have been so much better.
* Me for sloppy play in so many of my games.
* 18th in top 16 with my only losses to other guys who made the cut. So close!
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