Pidgeotto Trainer
New Member
So I couldn’t decide between Gyarados and Luxchomp. I had played Luxchomp a lot but didn’t really want to face mirrors all day although I did quite well in mirrors during cities. When I went to bed and woke up I thought I’d be running Gyarados, but in the hour before registration ended, I decided I just felt more confident with Luxchomp which I had used at cities and to win Iowa states the week before. (it was only 14 people so I didn’t really feel like writing a report for it. However, I did beat Jay H in a very close game.)
Round 1 girl playing her first game Kingdra/Gengar
She was given a Kingdra/Gengar deck by her boyfriend, but didn’t really know what any of the cards did. 1-0
Rd 2 Kenan Magmortar/Typhlosion/Ninetales
I get a very solid setup t2 sniping his Magmar and Spraying his Ninetales 4 turns in a row. 2-0
Rd 3 Zane Luxchomp
I had a very good record in mirror against Zane during cities but this one just did not start well for me. He goes first with Garchomp Call and t2 Luxury Balls for Claydol. I start with Baltoy and Cyrus and that’s it. I get going very slowly with his Garchomps taking control. I stay in this game by somehow drawing into 3 DCE very early but am in topdeck mode the whole game as I never have the tempo for Claydol and he eventually ko’s the Baltoy. I somehow get down to 2 prizes but it’s not enough. 2-1
Rd 4 Tyler Unown G
I have Ambipom DCE. In fact, I also have Call, Luxury ball and Cyrus.
I win the flip to go first and have to try to keep a straight face thru the 5 minutes of announcements. He flips over Unown G (which I had jokingly guessed was his amazing starter) and that was game. He said he had nothing anyways so that was likely a win either way with my great start. 3-1
I always beat Tyler at cities, states, nationals, worlds grinders, just not at Regionals (0-3)
Rd 5 Mike (I think) Gyarados
He gets an extremely good start vs me with t1 Sableye for Regice/Karp/Karp, t2 BTS Belt Gyarados. I start with Lucario and have 2 Roseanne. I smartly see that I likely need something to sac t2 seeing he will Regice me. I get Azelf for a Luxray instead of just getting a Luxray with the thought of sacing the Azelf. t2 he Regices me and I put up Azelf but then he plays Cyclone energy. I have to sac Lucario, Luxray, or Baltoy. I have to sac the Baltoy, I still have another Roseanne. I Roseanne for Uxie and a Lightning. I uxie for 6 needing an energy to Trash Bolt ko the Gyarados. Whiff. I get a pretty bad hand but I draw Chatot so I level up Luxray (but no Crobat to ko) and Mimic for 9 and get a bunch of stuff. He’s struggling somewhat as it becomes apparent he has a Magikarp and an Azelf prized. He ko’s Chatot. I ko Gyarados. He Rescues for and gets another Gyarados and Regices to ko something else. On this prize he would draw an Azelf but I had Sprays waiting and he couldn’t ever fight back with max 2 karp in the discard. 4-1
Rd 6 Sam Donphan/Luxray
Oh this was going to be interesting. I had been just testing this exact concept this week, finally dropping it early the day before when my 5-1 record vs Luxchomp became 6-5. Luxchomp can just kill draw and win cheaply, but if it doesn’t it’s a loss pretty much.
Anyways, he gets a t2 Donphan, but I spray an Uxie turns 2 and 3 and snipe his Baltoy. He gets stuck with about 1-2 card hands and a Donphan with just 1 Fighting. Donphan wins if it gets to the 3 energy +belt 110 range, but at only 60 it wasn’t much of a threat. It took me many turns to ko the 2 Donphans he got, doing 80 with Garchomps. But he never took a prize at that point while I either let him Garchomps to be healed or Toxicroak. 5-1
Rd 7 Kenny Luxchomp
Again I get the far inferior start in mirror. He goes first with Garchomp/Call and I have Bronzong, Cyrus and topdeck a Baltoy. He has an Uxie t2 and eventually gets Claydol. He level ups the Garchomp and retreats, not yet having the Gain to ko my Garchomp. Because my setup is so poor I feel my only chance is to ko his Claydol which I do. He ko’s my Garchomp. He ko’s another one later but I Aaron them both back. I keep holding a slim chance of coming back with those but in the end it’s not enough. I again somehow get down to 2 prizes but can’t overcome the initial deficit. The start matters so much in mirror. 5-2
I really wanted to win the last round to not potentially lose 3 times today, but I thought I was pretty sure in top 16 not losing til the last round. There’s a LOT of 5-2s though (turned out to be like 10th thru 32nd? or something like that). Names for top cutters get announced over the microphone…”And the last person in the top 16 is ….Ross”. 16th seed lol. Tyler gets 17th. =/
Top 16 vs Oregon player w/ Gyarados
Gm 1
I have an awesome start with Call and Cyrus and a Claydol in hand. He just has Crobat. He Felicities for 3 and passes. I t2 do 80 with Garchomp gain DCE for game.
Gm 2
This game was interesting. We both had pretty good starts. Things didn’t go well for me when I retreated Crobat for Azelf expecting a Regi Move since he just fetched it with Sableye. I wanted Crobat active, something not vital if he Belted for ko but also would allow me to go aggressive if he didn’t. Well he just Felicitied so I was stuck with Azelf active. With no speed on him, I Locked Up Sableye. He already has a Gyarados on the bench. He misses an SSU and then Sableye searched for Azelf. Since he didn’t go for more draw, I felt safe he wouldn’t have another SSU or Warp energy so I Lock up again. Next turn I would double Crobat and Luxray gust ko the Gyarados for good early lead. Instead he Lookers me. I have Claydol so it isn’t that bad but I don’t have the double Crobat setup. I elect to just Luxray ko his benched Gyarados and ko the Sableye later. I suppose I could’ve just Azelf ko’d and saved my Crobats but w/e. He ko’s me back and next turn I happen to Claydol into a couple Poketurns and pick up that extra ko and Garchomp snipe something. He double Crobats and ko’s Garchomp. I ko with Luxray. He can’t draw a Belt and I (knowingly) take a Spray off the prize. He Poketurns twice and I spray the 2nd one. He SSUs into tails and leaves my Luxray at 100. I grab another spray just in case and ko the Gyarados. He has to just ko with another Gyarados which I ko again and now he’s down far too much. 6-2
Top 8 Oregon player w/Blissey/Mewtwo
I knew he had just beaten a Luxchomp so I was expecting this to be difficult.
Gm 1
We both had pretty slow starts, but I draw into some stuff and cut his draw early and then snipe ko the Mewtwo. He eventually gets a Blissey going and takes a couple prizes. I had used up my Psychic on a Garchomp snipe early, knowing I had Aaron and NM in my deck to get it back later for Croak. I hit the Blissey for 60 with a Luxray while trying to find an Aaron/NM with Claydol for a couple turns. Whiff. He ko’s.Try again to get the Psychic…got Cyrus, Cyrus for Aaron. He Wagers. I win and draw back the Aaron. He takes his 2nd to last prize and then I Toxicroak ko him. I also could’ve ko’d him with Trash Bolt at that point. Now down 1-2 (his Blissey was Belted, it was 1-4 after I got the first 2 ko’s of the game) I set up a Luxray ko and then a Garchomp ko to finish things up before he can setup any other attackers.
Gm 2
On t1 or 2 he goes very aggressive and Felicities or Regices away some energy and retreats and Mewtwo Energy Absoprtions 2 to him. I have a Luxray active and Claydol t2. I even have 2 Poketurn in hand. I have a lot of outs to doing 90 that turn, basically anything that gets me a Crobat and one more energy to Trash Bolt. I got it and ko’d Mewtwo. I took another prize before his Blissey started charging. He ko’d my Garchomp that I sniped with and I hit him with Toxicroak for 100. He got tails on SSU, but I wasn’t too worried if he got it as he definitely wouldn’t return ko. He ko’s Croak and I ko the Belted Blissey to go up 2-4. He would need to build something else now but time is called though I likely had it in hand anyways. 7-2
Top 4 Oregon player w/ Luxray gl/Garchomp C/Gallade 4/Gengar SF
Gm 1
He starts with Gastly and Pitch Darks me for a couple turns. We trade ko’s back and forth. I think I had to use Chatot this game. I Toxicroak his Luxray that ko’s something. He gallade 4 ko’s it. I ko it with a Shuppet I had and Crobat/Turn. I was able to operate all game without worrying about spray since he had Gastly/Uxie/Uxie/Azelf on the field. He gets up 2-3 but I had more at the end and get up 1-2. He returns his Uxie leaving him with just a Gengar no energy and Bronzong on the field. With an energy he could ko Uxie or Azelf but then I could Unown G the other with the bench space. I Luxray up the Bronzong and he doesn’t have poketurn and its over.
Gm 2
This game goes pretty evenly as well. I’m up 3-4 when time is called. 8-2
Finals Andruw from WA Luxchomp
Gm 1
We start Chatot vs Chatot. I also bench a Shuppet and Mimic as I have nothing. On his turn he does a bunch and benches Luxray Crobat Gain and ko’s the Chatot. From that point on I have to use both Baltoy to Psychic Balance to setup. Oddly the 2nd Baltoy I sent up and then topdecked Luxury Ball. =/ With the fears of Spray and going to waste the energy anyways I decided to just Psychic Balance anyways and use the Lux Ball for something else. He goes up 6-3 with that ko but really leaves his field open for a comeback. A Garchomp non x on the bench with 2 energy and a Gain and he put his Luxray damage both times on Crobat. I’m able to double Crobat and Garchomp snipe the Garchomp and now it’s only 3-4. He still has more than me though, maybe he Ambipom’d me? At one point he Belts an Uxie x to ko my Toxicroak and if I could topdeck NM or Aaron to get the Psychic I could ko with Banette to get down to one prize. I don’t and he snipes for last ko.
Gm 2
I have Ambipom DCE and elect to go first. He starts Crobat, ugh. I have a good hand though with Call, Claydol and Cyrus so I just Call for Luxray, Baltoy. He draws and concedes cuz I guess he had no playable cards.
Gm 3
I start with a bunch of trainers and Shuppet. =/ I Hypnotic Gaze his Garchomp and he flips heads. He attaches DCE and Gain and now I’m only holding on thanks to resistance. He Roseannes or something for Crobat Uxie. Crobats. He Uxies for 6 or 7 needing a Poketurn to win. I’m fully expecting to lose at this point in this stupid fashion but he doesn’t draw the turn. He then mistakenly says the wrong attack only doing 10 damage to me instead of 30, putting 20 on Shuppet in all. I Sp radar for Garchomp and Communication for Uxie. My turn to Uxie for 6. (If he sprayed-I had something to search for Chatot with but I didn’t want to use it yet). I was hoping to draw into Gain/DCE and take control of the match in an instant but I don’t. His early Garchomp gives him some control giving him some early prizes. This game started with about 25 min to go. I don’t have Claydol so I’m going from card to card though I do have stuff. He Garchomp ko’s something and I Ambipom it. He hits Pom for 50 with Chomp. I’m building Claydol to get anything going to finish this out and don’t have a ko (and he hasn’t played x-he’ll heal) so I Tail Code the DCE to Azelf. He ko’s Ambipom. I Luxray ko a Crobat. (less than 10 min left-I gotta keep up). He Luxray gust ko’s something I think. It’s 2-4 him. I have to Azelf to get Toxicroak and then pick up Crobat as my next prize. 2-3. There’s about 2 min left. He puts up Uxie x and finally does 40. Time is called about 15 seconds into my turn. I get tails on Leap Away but Claydol has gotten me a lot of stuff now including 2 Turn. I turn the Toxicroak. Put up Luxray and Crobat his Uxie x to 20 (10 from Earthquake on the Ambipom). I then use the other turn to pick up Crobat and put down Garchomp and attach to it. I have energy Garchomp x and gain in hand. I trash bolt ko the Uxie x. 2-2. All he has is Luxrays and I have 2 Spray waiting. I have it won.
But wait. I started with Shuppet, played down Uxie early, had to get Claydol, had to get Azelf for Croak AND Crobat. Uh oh. 4 non SPs means I can’t spray. =/ This practically never happens. The shuppet would never be played down in this matchup unless I started with it. Tried to avoid the Azelf as well but 2 absolutely critical parts were in there. Ughhhhhh.
So he Luxray gusts up my Claydol and attaches to Luxray but can’t ko it yet. I need DCE to retreat or my 4th Turn+Bronzong to retreat. I can’t snipe as well this turn but if he really doesn’t have much as it seemed, he might just have to Luxray hit Luxray and then I could snipe after that. Soooo, I use Banette’s power to discard 5 cards from my hand (yeah, weird game!) and Claydol for 4-just keeping Bebe and Cyrus to keep open the Bronzong/turn option. I draw into a DCE which was the best case scenario. I retreat and Flash Impact. He draws DCE and brings up Garchomp, levels up and ko’s for game. I hear from someone later that he had no energy aside from the topdeck-needing to Wager into it otherwise. (fwiw any energy would work as I couldn’t Spray Bronzong either =/) 8-3
Oh so close. 16th seed almost goes all the way. I have the game flat out won if I can spray. That situation was so unlucky, absolutely needing to Azelf and starting with Shuppet. I was looking for a situation to get rid of Shuppet or uxie with its attack midgame but couldn’t with my scramble to tie it up most of the game. Could’ve not played Claydol but I remember having nothing when I decided to build it. Oh well.
I still haven’t won states or regionals in the Northwest and have:
3rd at Regs 06 losing Semis in Sudden Death. (favorable matchup in finals)
2nd at Regs 07 losing Finals in Sudden Death.
3rd at OR States 09 losing Semis in Sudden Death. (very favorable matchup in finals)
2nd at WA States 10 losing Finals in Sudden Death.
No joke. Anyways, 8-3 is not spectacular for ratings, but I did get 2nd out of 134. And now I have gotten 1st, 3rd, 1st, 2nd at the 4 states I’ve played in the last 2 years. That’s not bad. Hadn’t top cut a states in masters before that.
Also very importantly, I knocked out 3 Oregonians including the last one to protect Washington's trophy.
Thanks for reading.
Props
Judges
Team X-Files
Jay H (because he wanted them)
Round 1 girl playing her first game Kingdra/Gengar
She was given a Kingdra/Gengar deck by her boyfriend, but didn’t really know what any of the cards did. 1-0
Rd 2 Kenan Magmortar/Typhlosion/Ninetales
I get a very solid setup t2 sniping his Magmar and Spraying his Ninetales 4 turns in a row. 2-0
Rd 3 Zane Luxchomp
I had a very good record in mirror against Zane during cities but this one just did not start well for me. He goes first with Garchomp Call and t2 Luxury Balls for Claydol. I start with Baltoy and Cyrus and that’s it. I get going very slowly with his Garchomps taking control. I stay in this game by somehow drawing into 3 DCE very early but am in topdeck mode the whole game as I never have the tempo for Claydol and he eventually ko’s the Baltoy. I somehow get down to 2 prizes but it’s not enough. 2-1
Rd 4 Tyler Unown G
I have Ambipom DCE. In fact, I also have Call, Luxury ball and Cyrus.
I win the flip to go first and have to try to keep a straight face thru the 5 minutes of announcements. He flips over Unown G (which I had jokingly guessed was his amazing starter) and that was game. He said he had nothing anyways so that was likely a win either way with my great start. 3-1I always beat Tyler at cities, states, nationals, worlds grinders, just not at Regionals (0-3)
Rd 5 Mike (I think) Gyarados
He gets an extremely good start vs me with t1 Sableye for Regice/Karp/Karp, t2 BTS Belt Gyarados. I start with Lucario and have 2 Roseanne. I smartly see that I likely need something to sac t2 seeing he will Regice me. I get Azelf for a Luxray instead of just getting a Luxray with the thought of sacing the Azelf. t2 he Regices me and I put up Azelf but then he plays Cyclone energy. I have to sac Lucario, Luxray, or Baltoy. I have to sac the Baltoy, I still have another Roseanne. I Roseanne for Uxie and a Lightning. I uxie for 6 needing an energy to Trash Bolt ko the Gyarados. Whiff. I get a pretty bad hand but I draw Chatot so I level up Luxray (but no Crobat to ko) and Mimic for 9 and get a bunch of stuff. He’s struggling somewhat as it becomes apparent he has a Magikarp and an Azelf prized. He ko’s Chatot. I ko Gyarados. He Rescues for and gets another Gyarados and Regices to ko something else. On this prize he would draw an Azelf but I had Sprays waiting and he couldn’t ever fight back with max 2 karp in the discard. 4-1
Rd 6 Sam Donphan/Luxray
Oh this was going to be interesting. I had been just testing this exact concept this week, finally dropping it early the day before when my 5-1 record vs Luxchomp became 6-5. Luxchomp can just kill draw and win cheaply, but if it doesn’t it’s a loss pretty much.
Anyways, he gets a t2 Donphan, but I spray an Uxie turns 2 and 3 and snipe his Baltoy. He gets stuck with about 1-2 card hands and a Donphan with just 1 Fighting. Donphan wins if it gets to the 3 energy +belt 110 range, but at only 60 it wasn’t much of a threat. It took me many turns to ko the 2 Donphans he got, doing 80 with Garchomps. But he never took a prize at that point while I either let him Garchomps to be healed or Toxicroak. 5-1
Rd 7 Kenny Luxchomp
Again I get the far inferior start in mirror. He goes first with Garchomp/Call and I have Bronzong, Cyrus and topdeck a Baltoy. He has an Uxie t2 and eventually gets Claydol. He level ups the Garchomp and retreats, not yet having the Gain to ko my Garchomp. Because my setup is so poor I feel my only chance is to ko his Claydol which I do. He ko’s my Garchomp. He ko’s another one later but I Aaron them both back. I keep holding a slim chance of coming back with those but in the end it’s not enough. I again somehow get down to 2 prizes but can’t overcome the initial deficit. The start matters so much in mirror. 5-2
I really wanted to win the last round to not potentially lose 3 times today, but I thought I was pretty sure in top 16 not losing til the last round. There’s a LOT of 5-2s though (turned out to be like 10th thru 32nd? or something like that). Names for top cutters get announced over the microphone…”And the last person in the top 16 is ….Ross”. 16th seed lol. Tyler gets 17th. =/
Top 16 vs Oregon player w/ Gyarados
Gm 1
I have an awesome start with Call and Cyrus and a Claydol in hand. He just has Crobat. He Felicities for 3 and passes. I t2 do 80 with Garchomp gain DCE for game.
Gm 2
This game was interesting. We both had pretty good starts. Things didn’t go well for me when I retreated Crobat for Azelf expecting a Regi Move since he just fetched it with Sableye. I wanted Crobat active, something not vital if he Belted for ko but also would allow me to go aggressive if he didn’t. Well he just Felicitied so I was stuck with Azelf active. With no speed on him, I Locked Up Sableye. He already has a Gyarados on the bench. He misses an SSU and then Sableye searched for Azelf. Since he didn’t go for more draw, I felt safe he wouldn’t have another SSU or Warp energy so I Lock up again. Next turn I would double Crobat and Luxray gust ko the Gyarados for good early lead. Instead he Lookers me. I have Claydol so it isn’t that bad but I don’t have the double Crobat setup. I elect to just Luxray ko his benched Gyarados and ko the Sableye later. I suppose I could’ve just Azelf ko’d and saved my Crobats but w/e. He ko’s me back and next turn I happen to Claydol into a couple Poketurns and pick up that extra ko and Garchomp snipe something. He double Crobats and ko’s Garchomp. I ko with Luxray. He can’t draw a Belt and I (knowingly) take a Spray off the prize. He Poketurns twice and I spray the 2nd one. He SSUs into tails and leaves my Luxray at 100. I grab another spray just in case and ko the Gyarados. He has to just ko with another Gyarados which I ko again and now he’s down far too much. 6-2
Top 8 Oregon player w/Blissey/Mewtwo
I knew he had just beaten a Luxchomp so I was expecting this to be difficult.
Gm 1
We both had pretty slow starts, but I draw into some stuff and cut his draw early and then snipe ko the Mewtwo. He eventually gets a Blissey going and takes a couple prizes. I had used up my Psychic on a Garchomp snipe early, knowing I had Aaron and NM in my deck to get it back later for Croak. I hit the Blissey for 60 with a Luxray while trying to find an Aaron/NM with Claydol for a couple turns. Whiff. He ko’s.Try again to get the Psychic…got Cyrus, Cyrus for Aaron. He Wagers. I win and draw back the Aaron. He takes his 2nd to last prize and then I Toxicroak ko him. I also could’ve ko’d him with Trash Bolt at that point. Now down 1-2 (his Blissey was Belted, it was 1-4 after I got the first 2 ko’s of the game) I set up a Luxray ko and then a Garchomp ko to finish things up before he can setup any other attackers.
Gm 2
On t1 or 2 he goes very aggressive and Felicities or Regices away some energy and retreats and Mewtwo Energy Absoprtions 2 to him. I have a Luxray active and Claydol t2. I even have 2 Poketurn in hand. I have a lot of outs to doing 90 that turn, basically anything that gets me a Crobat and one more energy to Trash Bolt. I got it and ko’d Mewtwo. I took another prize before his Blissey started charging. He ko’d my Garchomp that I sniped with and I hit him with Toxicroak for 100. He got tails on SSU, but I wasn’t too worried if he got it as he definitely wouldn’t return ko. He ko’s Croak and I ko the Belted Blissey to go up 2-4. He would need to build something else now but time is called though I likely had it in hand anyways. 7-2
Top 4 Oregon player w/ Luxray gl/Garchomp C/Gallade 4/Gengar SF
Gm 1
He starts with Gastly and Pitch Darks me for a couple turns. We trade ko’s back and forth. I think I had to use Chatot this game. I Toxicroak his Luxray that ko’s something. He gallade 4 ko’s it. I ko it with a Shuppet I had and Crobat/Turn. I was able to operate all game without worrying about spray since he had Gastly/Uxie/Uxie/Azelf on the field. He gets up 2-3 but I had more at the end and get up 1-2. He returns his Uxie leaving him with just a Gengar no energy and Bronzong on the field. With an energy he could ko Uxie or Azelf but then I could Unown G the other with the bench space. I Luxray up the Bronzong and he doesn’t have poketurn and its over.
Gm 2
This game goes pretty evenly as well. I’m up 3-4 when time is called. 8-2
Finals Andruw from WA Luxchomp
Gm 1
We start Chatot vs Chatot. I also bench a Shuppet and Mimic as I have nothing. On his turn he does a bunch and benches Luxray Crobat Gain and ko’s the Chatot. From that point on I have to use both Baltoy to Psychic Balance to setup. Oddly the 2nd Baltoy I sent up and then topdecked Luxury Ball. =/ With the fears of Spray and going to waste the energy anyways I decided to just Psychic Balance anyways and use the Lux Ball for something else. He goes up 6-3 with that ko but really leaves his field open for a comeback. A Garchomp non x on the bench with 2 energy and a Gain and he put his Luxray damage both times on Crobat. I’m able to double Crobat and Garchomp snipe the Garchomp and now it’s only 3-4. He still has more than me though, maybe he Ambipom’d me? At one point he Belts an Uxie x to ko my Toxicroak and if I could topdeck NM or Aaron to get the Psychic I could ko with Banette to get down to one prize. I don’t and he snipes for last ko.
Gm 2
I have Ambipom DCE and elect to go first. He starts Crobat, ugh. I have a good hand though with Call, Claydol and Cyrus so I just Call for Luxray, Baltoy. He draws and concedes cuz I guess he had no playable cards.
Gm 3
I start with a bunch of trainers and Shuppet. =/ I Hypnotic Gaze his Garchomp and he flips heads. He attaches DCE and Gain and now I’m only holding on thanks to resistance. He Roseannes or something for Crobat Uxie. Crobats. He Uxies for 6 or 7 needing a Poketurn to win. I’m fully expecting to lose at this point in this stupid fashion but he doesn’t draw the turn. He then mistakenly says the wrong attack only doing 10 damage to me instead of 30, putting 20 on Shuppet in all. I Sp radar for Garchomp and Communication for Uxie. My turn to Uxie for 6. (If he sprayed-I had something to search for Chatot with but I didn’t want to use it yet). I was hoping to draw into Gain/DCE and take control of the match in an instant but I don’t. His early Garchomp gives him some control giving him some early prizes. This game started with about 25 min to go. I don’t have Claydol so I’m going from card to card though I do have stuff. He Garchomp ko’s something and I Ambipom it. He hits Pom for 50 with Chomp. I’m building Claydol to get anything going to finish this out and don’t have a ko (and he hasn’t played x-he’ll heal) so I Tail Code the DCE to Azelf. He ko’s Ambipom. I Luxray ko a Crobat. (less than 10 min left-I gotta keep up). He Luxray gust ko’s something I think. It’s 2-4 him. I have to Azelf to get Toxicroak and then pick up Crobat as my next prize. 2-3. There’s about 2 min left. He puts up Uxie x and finally does 40. Time is called about 15 seconds into my turn. I get tails on Leap Away but Claydol has gotten me a lot of stuff now including 2 Turn. I turn the Toxicroak. Put up Luxray and Crobat his Uxie x to 20 (10 from Earthquake on the Ambipom). I then use the other turn to pick up Crobat and put down Garchomp and attach to it. I have energy Garchomp x and gain in hand. I trash bolt ko the Uxie x. 2-2. All he has is Luxrays and I have 2 Spray waiting. I have it won.
But wait. I started with Shuppet, played down Uxie early, had to get Claydol, had to get Azelf for Croak AND Crobat. Uh oh. 4 non SPs means I can’t spray. =/ This practically never happens. The shuppet would never be played down in this matchup unless I started with it. Tried to avoid the Azelf as well but 2 absolutely critical parts were in there. Ughhhhhh.
So he Luxray gusts up my Claydol and attaches to Luxray but can’t ko it yet. I need DCE to retreat or my 4th Turn+Bronzong to retreat. I can’t snipe as well this turn but if he really doesn’t have much as it seemed, he might just have to Luxray hit Luxray and then I could snipe after that. Soooo, I use Banette’s power to discard 5 cards from my hand (yeah, weird game!) and Claydol for 4-just keeping Bebe and Cyrus to keep open the Bronzong/turn option. I draw into a DCE which was the best case scenario. I retreat and Flash Impact. He draws DCE and brings up Garchomp, levels up and ko’s for game. I hear from someone later that he had no energy aside from the topdeck-needing to Wager into it otherwise. (fwiw any energy would work as I couldn’t Spray Bronzong either =/) 8-3
Oh so close. 16th seed almost goes all the way. I have the game flat out won if I can spray. That situation was so unlucky, absolutely needing to Azelf and starting with Shuppet. I was looking for a situation to get rid of Shuppet or uxie with its attack midgame but couldn’t with my scramble to tie it up most of the game. Could’ve not played Claydol but I remember having nothing when I decided to build it. Oh well.
I still haven’t won states or regionals in the Northwest and have:
3rd at Regs 06 losing Semis in Sudden Death. (favorable matchup in finals)
2nd at Regs 07 losing Finals in Sudden Death.
3rd at OR States 09 losing Semis in Sudden Death. (very favorable matchup in finals)
2nd at WA States 10 losing Finals in Sudden Death.
No joke. Anyways, 8-3 is not spectacular for ratings, but I did get 2nd out of 134. And now I have gotten 1st, 3rd, 1st, 2nd at the 4 states I’ve played in the last 2 years. That’s not bad. Hadn’t top cut a states in masters before that.
Also very importantly, I knocked out 3 Oregonians including the last one to protect Washington's trophy.
Thanks for reading.
Props
Judges
Team X-Files
Jay H (because he wanted them)