Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Vaporeon's State Championship Report 5-3 Record

vaporeon

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I'll start this off by saying it was really cold that morning. it rained the day before and tried to rain the day of the tournament. Did not get much sleep but the sleep I did get was enough. We showed up and waited for the staff to let people in so we could fill out our deck list, get trades and a few games in.

I wanted to play with Articuno EX, Zapdos EX and Moltres EX so I did. Did not want to play games before the first round because I did not want to reveal my deck but most of the people there who knew me knew I was playing some weird. Pairings go up and the tournament starts.

Round 1 VS Starter Deck

Not much to say here. I could have easily smashed her deck but I choose not to as to not ruin her experience with the game. I kept the game going for about 30 minutes and tried to make it as fun for her as I could. I did win the match though. People watching said I got lucky with the pair up but I figured I was going to win the first round anyway so their point was moot.

1-0

Round 2 VS Darkrai/Terrakion

My start was not very good but my opponent did not get a very good start ether but I know any Darkrai list can just explode out of no where. My main focus was to just get my Klinks in play. I did not get a Klinklang out till about turn 5 or 6 but once I did, I started putting pressure on with Zapdos EX and Articuno EX. I did not get much of anything the whole game. I was trying to get one of his Darkrai stuck in the active spot with Articuno to finish off with Zapdos EX or Lugia EX but every time I put damage down, he would just Max Potion it away. The game was hard for sure. I did get a KO with Zapdos EX which put me in the lead but he would catcher kill my Darkrai on the bench with Terrakion. He took 4 Prizes this way. Let me also add my opponent flipped like a CHAMP on Hypnotoxic Laser.:mad::nonono:

I still had 2 Max Potions in my deck but could not draw them or any Skyla's as well. I had a Zapdos on my bench with 60 damage on it and really wanted to get rid of it but I was drawing bad. My opponent top decks a Skyla and plays it down. I assume he going to grab a catcher so I just advance my Zapdos EX to the active spot expecting him to target it down but he was looking at my Klinklang the whole time. I should not have done that because I would have won that game if he made that choice. Oh well I guess. That was a bad move on my part. I wont ever do that again.

After that game, I realized I needed a forth Max Potion and needed to add some Eviolite. I go down to 1-1 from a game I could have possibly won.

1-1

Round 3 VS Ninetales/Amoonguss

I look at my starting hand and have a Cobalion EX in my hand. I say great, I have to start with a card that is a 1 or tech. I did have the metal energy and klink in hand. I also had a supporter so it was not all bad. I lose the coin flip again for I'm not 0-3 on coin flips. My opponents flips over a Vulpix, does stuff, plays a laser, flips heads on sleep and attaches a fire. He ends his turn with. Not sure why he did not do the Singe attack. I flip heads and wake up for sleep. I play my Pokemon Communication to get a Articuno EX because I figured Klinklang would not help much. I attack a Prism Energy to Cuno and play a N. I get another Klink and play it down. Colress Machine for a Plasma and attach it to Articuno so I can start attacking with her the next turn. I figured I could get something going. I pass my turn.

His turn, he evolves Vulpix into Ninetales and drags up my Cobalion EX. I get a little on edge because I did not want to give up 2 prizes on turn 2 but what can you do. He plays a Foongus and plays a Hypnotoxic Laser. He flips tails on sleep which helps a lot. He attacks my active for 140 with Weakness. 50+20x2=140. I draw for my turn and get Moltres EX. I play her down and catcher out the Foongus. I Max Potion the Cobalion to make it harder for him to KO. He'll need to use a lot of resources to take him down. I play a Prism on it and play Juniper. This is one of the few times I use Juniper in this tournament.

I draw really well off it. I rare Candy into Klanklang and drop Drakrai EX. Do a retreat and energy tree move and get Moltres EX into the active spot. I hit his Foongus for 60 for the KO. His turn comes around and he has nothing. You could see the look of frustration on his face. He just passes his turn. I start my turn, move my energy around and retreat to get Darkrai EX into the active spot. He was not sure how Gear Shift work and called a Judge over. The first Judge say I could not move Prism because it was not a 'metal' energy. I told him he was incorrect, as well as some other players at the table and he talked to the Head Judge about it and came back and said I could do it. I knew I could do it but I wanted my opponent to know it works that way so I let him ask all the questions he waited about it. Its better to have a clear conscience about it. After all is cleared up, I Night Speared for the win.

2-1

Round 4 VS Blastoise/Keldeo

It was not round for so I figured out from here on out, I would be playing meta decks. My opponent gets a really good start but mine was not that bad ether. I go first for once. I do my thing, attach a energy and end my turn with a attachment and 2 klinks. I choose not to play a Supporter because I had the rare candy and Klingklang. My opponent does her stand start as well trying to get her setup going as well. We start attack each other. She explodes with a huge Keldeo doing 190 damage and scored 2 KO's at 4 Prizes. The only reason I survived this was because I had out a Plasmaklang and Cobalion EX in the active spot. The Keldeo EX had 100 or so damage on it so after that KO, I took all of her energy of the board. I stopped playing any other Pokemon and just kept Cobalion out to take the rest of my prize cards.

I take another KO on a Keldeo EX from damage my Darkrai EX placed on the board before going down. She then tells me she cant take down Cobalion EX with Black Kyurem EX because of Plasmaklang. She then plays down a Moltres. She has a Squirtle in the active spot she advanced from my last KO. She plays a Prism and Deluge 3 Energy to it. I though I was going to lose but she could not move that Squirtle and ended her turn.

I could not let that Moltres sit there because it could take down my Cobalion. I play Skyla for a Catcher, play down a Keldeo and Rush In and Gear Shift Energy to it and take the KO on the bird. Her turn comes around and I'm worry about the BK EX. She just looks at me and concedes because she did not have anymore resources.

I just signed in relief because that was a long and hard game. I had to pull out everything I had to take the win and was my first game against a Blastoise/Keldeo deck in a tournament. My huge worry was the Black Kyurem EX from Plasma Storm. She said it was prized though which did help a lot. This was a hard match up for sure. I take the win and go into the next round.

3-1

Round 5 VS Blastoise/Keldeo

ANOTHER KELDEO DECK!!!. I kind of expected this but decided to tackle this match up from the information I learned in the last game and that's to place the 30 damage on the Keldeos and that's what I did. Zapdos did put in a lot of work this game. Doing 120 damage to a keldeo with 60 on it is HUGE. Articuno was a hard play because of Rush In but I always kept them in hand if I needed them or the opportunity presented itself to get something stuck for Zapdos.

I think the thing that help me out was his only Lightning Energy was Prized. I did not know this till the game was over though. I keep track of ALL of the cards in his discard pile like a Owl tracking its pray. Later on in the game, I noticed he had 12 Water energy in his discard pile. He also had a bad Juniper on his first turn where he discarded 2 Energy Retrieval. He had 3 in his discard Pile. I figured he would have at least 1 energy left and 1 more Energy Retrieval so he would have a total of at least 3 to work with So I felt safe from any Black Ballista and it turns out later I was correct in assuming that.

My opponent then concedes the game because he has nothing else he can do. His deck is low and he had a very low hand. He also played or discarded all of his important cards with Professor Juniper. Another well earned win I'll say.

4-1

Round 6 VS Black Ballista (Blastoise/Keldeo)

My Opponent goes first and does her thing. I go and do my thing. She gets a turn 2 Blastoise and dumps all her energy on a Black Kyurem and Black Ballista to KO's my active EX. She does that for the next two turns and the game ends on turn 4. Not fun at all.

4-2

Round 7 VS Big Basics

After by last loss, I was a little irritated because of how dumb the game was. I tried to not let that loss ruin this game though. I win the coin flip. I flip over a klink and a Keldeo I believe. He has a Tornadus EX Active. I draw a Cobalion EX and play it down because I figured I wont have to worry about much. Then I remembered my friend saying that Righteous Edge will hurt the deck big time, and it did. I discarded his DCE with Righteous Edge, setting him back. All he did was attack basic Energy to avoid the attack, slowing him down. Lasers did play a role in the game but not much. My opponent did take a prize cards but I did not lose much. He did have a lot of EX Pokemon in play so I needed to get out my Plasma Klinklang to keep the Gear Shift one safe and it work.

I played the whole game with Zapdos EX and Articuno EX. I play Skyla for a Catcher to KO the Tornadus EX with Zapdos. I was able to KO it due to damage placed with Articuno's Blizzard. It also remove his Energy from play. He was stuck playing one energy per turn and this was when I knew I would win. I had my ideal setup. He just advanced another Pokemon to the active spot. He drew a card, did not do much and end his turn. I Skyla for Dowsing Machine, play it and get back Catcher so I can drag up his Landorus. I retreated the Zapdos for Articuno and Gear Shifted 3 Energy to it for Blizzard. It already had 120 damage on it due to a Blizzard early on in the game. I go down to 2 Prizes and my opponent at 3.

He brings up his Mewtwo ant attaches a DCE to it and X-Balls Articuno. I draw, move my energy around and Max Potion and move 3 Energy back to Articuno. I attach a Plasma Energy to it to Frost Prison to keep the Mewtwo stuck. He could not retreat it and ended his turn. I move my energy around and end up with Zapdos EX in the active spot, attached a Plasma Energy and PowerVolt for the KO, taking my last 2 Prizes.

After a long drawn out game, I take the win. My opponent says if he had one card, he would have won on his turn. I don't see how because he had 3 prize cards left and no energy. I had no Pokemon in play in his KO range for his type of deck. Ether way it was a good game.

5-2

Round 8 VS Darkrai/Laser

I figured if I won this game, I would make the top cut for sure. I was fairly confident that I would win the game. I had a good vibe all day so I felt nothing could stop me. We sit down and setup. I get no supporters. The start of a bad game. I get a bunch of Pokemon and items. MY opponent is just downing me with Dark Clawed Darkrais and laser. He gets everything he needs and I'm left of the back burner trying to draw out of it. I don't and I lose very quickly.

I just hate losing like that but that seems to always happen to me in the final rounds of swiss. Oh well. I feel I would have went 7-1 that day with my only real loss being to that Blastoise/Keldeo deck.

5-3


Summery​


It was a good run for a deck I have no testing with, using Pokemon I like so every win I got felt like a huge victory. Its funny because people were asking me how in the world I got a 5-3 record with my deck. I just told them that I don't suck at the game and have confidence in what I make to do well.

After playing all of these games, I realized I needed Eviolite in my deck and a forth Max Potion. Lugia EX did not see any play so I figured I could just remove it from the deck and add in those cards. There are a few others I may take out as well but the Lugia was one for sure.

I can say I'm proud of how my deck performed that day. It did what I was hoping for it to do. The Lugia was a little hard to play do it was a dead card most of the Tournament. I think I only played Professor Juniper twice that day I think so I want to do some testing with 4 Cheren and 1 or 2 Juniper.

One thing to note though is Hypnotoxic Laser. I really dislike that card. It turn a lot of really good games into bad ones and I'm not talking just about my games ether.

Props

The single Pokemon Catcher in my deck
The single Colress Machine in my deck
The Legendary Birds
Gear Shift
Max Potion
Truc for being Awesome
The nice location for the event
The Staff
The Vaporeon promo card

Slops

Hypnotoxic Laser
Not having the forth Max Potion
Giving my opponent round 2
Drawing bad round 8
Not getting to Judge VGC and getting the Staff Vaporeon card T_T Sad face...






Thanks for taking the time to read.
 
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You played that Ninetales/Amoonguss as well huh? Dunno if it was the same person running it, but that deck is pretty nasty if it can get set up lol...
 
You played that Ninetales/Amoonguss as well huh? Dunno if it was the same person running it, but that deck is pretty nasty if it can get set up lol...

Yeah it was. I though I would lose for sure because of how my start was. Him going first to my fire weak EX with special conditions was scary. I would have been down 2 prizes on my first turn. I'm just so glad I stabilized.
 
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