DragonairMaster8
Active Member
Monday through Wednesday:
Welllllll I had been in Kansas City the week before for a competition my brother had and had been testing Kingdra throughout the week. I figured it was the most consistant choice, and while it had trouble with nidoqueen, as long as you got t1 Kingdra you were set VS almost anything. However, on Wednesday my kingdra list started giving me TERRIBLE hands so i gave up on that and just figured i'd play what I played at Br's, DPL (Dialga/Palkia/Luxray).
Thursday:
I resleeve my DPL, play some practice games on apprentice, and then head out hearing the terrible news that Micheal Jackson had passed away
. This is disheartening but me and my mom truck on to STL so that I'm there for the professor cup in time.
Friday:
Go to the convention center early with Bernie so that we can play professor cup. I talk with him for a little while about decks and stuff, and as we are walking through the registration line, we see two people playing on the floor. One has gechamp, and the other has this luxray with toxitank that is just tearing apart the gechamp deck. I point out to Bernie that I really like the luxray deck and i file it in the back of my mind,
I play a few rounds of Professor Cup and then at Lunch meet up with Steven. We play a few games of his luxape VS my DPL and i get crushed. So at this point I had gieven up all hope of playing well in nationals and say screw it, i'll throw something together tonight. I play through teh professor Cup and meet some really cool nice people like Chrisbo. I finish the professor cup and make 9th with a t8 cut in my pod. Fed up with the fact that I whiffed the professor Cup and didn't have a deck for nationals, I go back to my hotel, grab the suitcase with everything pokemon related i own in it, head back to the convention center and call up steven. We meet in an unused corner of the hall and i throw ALL my cards on the table. I tell him i'm building straight luxray with techs because i never liked infernape with luxray because I found it to be slow and clunky. I throw together a list off the top of my head and we play 4 games vs his luxape. I 4-0 him. We fix 3 cards in the list, he copies it, and we go play games vs anyone we could find. I meet this really nice guy who plays his kingdra and his gardevoir/gallade Vs me, and I 2-0 him. I get back to the hotel after an adventure with steven and resleeve, and go to bed.
Saturday:
I meet NidoPrince in the morning, who sat across from me during the decklist pickup. We chatted and he was a really cool guy playing a deck that I loved. I get scared though as I notice the two people next to me are using mewtwo ex in their decks, and I can't touch that with anything in my deck. I figure it's whatever though, and if it's meant to be then I will topcut. So we wait for awhile, and then pairings go up.
I'm bad with names.
Round 1 VS Palkia/Luxray/Fairies (Anthony E.)
I open with a semi good hand, only to find that my Luxray Level X is prized. I think I get to azelf for it, but i never really get a steady draw engine going. And I have trouble dealing with his Downer Material Azelf. I get to 2 Prizes before he takes his last 1.
0-1
Round 2 VS Beedrill
I get T2 lux X to snipe his baltoy. He draw passes and I kill his weedle. He shows me an unplayable hand of trainers/energies. Sorry Man!
1-1
Round 3 VS Palkia/Fairies
I meet this really cool dude from Oregon who is playing Palkialock again. We chat and he's really nice. I find out later he played like 4 of his rounds against Kentucky people I know haha. I just go off this game and get ahead. I misplay midgame though and he's able to kill 2 of my luxrays in one turn. I bring it back though and take my last prize as tiem is being called. Great Game!
2-1
Round 4 VS Tyranitar/Jirachi/Weavile
I start with Toxicroak, Psy energy, skuntank, stadium, and energy gain, pryaing to god that i go second and that he's not playing anything SP related. He flips over Jirachi and im liek WOOOOOOO. I go off and roseanne for baltoy/lux with bebe in hand. I just go off and start luxraying things, he send up Tyranitar and grinds for the knockout, but i respond with crobat, lake boundary, toxicroak G promo for 140 and that pretty much clears him out.
3-1
Round 5 VS Gengar/Nidoqueen
I get t2 luxray ex and just start gusting his stuff. He never gets setup and I kill both Baltoys conescutively, and power spray his uxies. He brings up nidoqueen and start mega punching, but I have Sunyshor to clear resist and do 70 for the win.
4-1
Round 6 VS Machamp/Rampardos (Jackie W.)
I start with an ehhhhh hand and am so afraid she will t1 my luxray, even though i had skuntank benched. WE go back and forth and there's this epic turn in which im able to ko her claydol and rampardos with nothing but flash bites. It continues to go back and forth but once i setup toxitank theres not much she can do against my power sprays, GG Jackie
5-1
Round 7 VS Gardy/Gallade/Weavile/Nidoqueen (Ryan V.)
It was cool playing this game because I hadn't seen or heard from Ryan in forever. I go off and take 2 prizes quick, thinking that if he is unable to shadow charge with weavile, he will be unable to get enough energy. WRONG. He uppers back into the game very quickly and once he sets up queen I have nothing to do but sit there as he slowly ploxes me and psychic locks me to my minimal damage between switching/healing. Great Game.
5-2
Round 8 VS Palkia/Fairies
WOOOO I like this matchup alot of the time haha. I power spray his uxies and he never really gets setup until this epic turn where I forgot to play a 3rd SP pokemon so i couldnt spray his topdecked uxie. It isn't enough though and I finish on top.
6-2
I MADE A TOPCUT!
Top 128 VS Luxape (Chris C.)
I've seen and traded with him before on here so I knew he was a great player and as it turns out a really cool and nice guy too.
Game 1: He never gets setup and I just wreck his field. He scoops about 15 minutes in and flips over ape ex and luxray ex in his prizes.
Game 2: I never get setup and he just wrecks my field haha. I scoop about 15 minutes in.
Game 3: WE go back and forth the first few turns, as he is split bombing to put pressure on me. I Trash Bolt his active ape and power spray his uxie the following turn. I draw and cosmic power, finding crobat and poketurn. I crobat/turn his active ape and then trash bolt something to go up 3-5 in prizes. I'm tryign to play fast because I hate it when games go to time, but on his next turn, they call time and he can only take 1 prizes with his infernape, going 4-3 and I get the lame time win. Great games Chris.
7-2
Top 64 VS DPL (Matt A.)
Well I knew he was a great player because I've alway seen him ranked high and I know he hangs out with Jason and Chuck. Turns out he's a nice guy too.
Game 1: He start Palkia, I start Luxray. I just get setup while he struggles against my power sprays and when I take my 4th Ptize he scoops.
Game 2: I get setup again and take quick prizes, but theres this epic turn when i misplay extremely. He had downer material Azelf in play, but I sent up my Uie to psychic restore. He points to Azelf and I facepalm. Next turn he's able to play enoug hcards so that time expires and then he goes up in prizes using his own uxie. DANGIT sudden death.
Game 3: He start palkia, I start Luxray with crobat/poketurn/energy/energy gain but nothing else. I figure he has a godstart just because thats my luck. He attaches to palkia and calls for bronzong g/luxray.I go, say "heart of the cards" and fist pump in delight as I topdeck cyrus. I atatch call, play cyrus for lightning, cyrus, power spray, and call for 2 more luxray. He goes, luxury balls for luxray, benches it, mesprits, i spray, galactic switches, poketurns palkia, attaches to luxray, premier balls for luxray ex, and does bite. I hate my life. I draw, Cyrus for SP Radar, energy, and bebe, shuffle bebe back with sp radar to get luxray ex, bright look, he sprays, and then I finish it. Crobat active, poketurn, crobat active, Attach energy and 60 to ko his luxray for the win. GREAT Game Matt.
I go to bed and figure everythign will be fine for tomorrow.
Top 32 VS Breton B. Palkia/Fairies
Game 1: I draw 2 nigth maintenance 2 stadiums and nothing. He gets T1 fairylock and t2 palkia lv x. I scoop 7 minutes in.
Game 2: I get setup, and crush him getting 4 prizes in about 30 minutes. he scoops.
Game 3: We both go back and forth, but it's 3-3 and i know time is getting close. His active palkia is poisoned and has 70 on it, and he has a full bench of fairies/crobats without energy. He's able to burn enough time to hydro shoot my claydol for the knockout and time win. If I get one more turn, i get to roseanne for luxray, galactic switch to it, poketurn croak, send up ray, attach energy gain sunnyshore knockout to tie it up 2-2 and he'd have no attackers on the board, and id be able to get out luxray ex next turn for the win. Oh well, that's pokemon for ya.
I had a blast at nats, and did the best I ever have. Congrats to all the winners.
Props:
Everyone I know that helped me. You know who you are
Kentucky People - We had like 5 in top 32? That's awesome!
Luxray - New favorite Pokemon
Getting to see old friends that I hadn't talked to in forever! Keep in touch, i'll try as well!
The dude sitting on the floor using luxray/toxitank/sunnyshore - you were my inspiration haha
Staff - Wonderful as always
PUI - Top 128 was a GREAT decision. Hope to see this same system implemented in the future.
Slops:
Time. Could we not have had 75 minutes once we get to top 32? That'd solve so many problems.
Thanks for reading.
-Wames
Welllllll I had been in Kansas City the week before for a competition my brother had and had been testing Kingdra throughout the week. I figured it was the most consistant choice, and while it had trouble with nidoqueen, as long as you got t1 Kingdra you were set VS almost anything. However, on Wednesday my kingdra list started giving me TERRIBLE hands so i gave up on that and just figured i'd play what I played at Br's, DPL (Dialga/Palkia/Luxray).
Thursday:
I resleeve my DPL, play some practice games on apprentice, and then head out hearing the terrible news that Micheal Jackson had passed away
. This is disheartening but me and my mom truck on to STL so that I'm there for the professor cup in time.Friday:
Go to the convention center early with Bernie so that we can play professor cup. I talk with him for a little while about decks and stuff, and as we are walking through the registration line, we see two people playing on the floor. One has gechamp, and the other has this luxray with toxitank that is just tearing apart the gechamp deck. I point out to Bernie that I really like the luxray deck and i file it in the back of my mind,
I play a few rounds of Professor Cup and then at Lunch meet up with Steven. We play a few games of his luxape VS my DPL and i get crushed. So at this point I had gieven up all hope of playing well in nationals and say screw it, i'll throw something together tonight. I play through teh professor Cup and meet some really cool nice people like Chrisbo. I finish the professor cup and make 9th with a t8 cut in my pod
. Fed up with the fact that I whiffed the professor Cup and didn't have a deck for nationals, I go back to my hotel, grab the suitcase with everything pokemon related i own in it, head back to the convention center and call up steven. We meet in an unused corner of the hall and i throw ALL my cards on the table. I tell him i'm building straight luxray with techs because i never liked infernape with luxray because I found it to be slow and clunky. I throw together a list off the top of my head and we play 4 games vs his luxape. I 4-0 him. We fix 3 cards in the list, he copies it, and we go play games vs anyone we could find. I meet this really nice guy who plays his kingdra and his gardevoir/gallade Vs me, and I 2-0 him. I get back to the hotel after an adventure with steven and resleeve, and go to bed.Saturday:
I meet NidoPrince in the morning, who sat across from me during the decklist pickup. We chatted and he was a really cool guy playing a deck that I loved. I get scared though as I notice the two people next to me are using mewtwo ex in their decks, and I can't touch that with anything in my deck. I figure it's whatever though, and if it's meant to be then I will topcut. So we wait for awhile, and then pairings go up.
I'm bad with names.
Round 1 VS Palkia/Luxray/Fairies (Anthony E.)
I open with a semi good hand, only to find that my Luxray Level X is prized. I think I get to azelf for it, but i never really get a steady draw engine going. And I have trouble dealing with his Downer Material Azelf. I get to 2 Prizes before he takes his last 1.
0-1
Round 2 VS Beedrill
I get T2 lux X to snipe his baltoy. He draw passes and I kill his weedle. He shows me an unplayable hand of trainers/energies. Sorry Man!
1-1
Round 3 VS Palkia/Fairies
I meet this really cool dude from Oregon who is playing Palkialock again. We chat and he's really nice. I find out later he played like 4 of his rounds against Kentucky people I know haha. I just go off this game and get ahead. I misplay midgame though and he's able to kill 2 of my luxrays in one turn. I bring it back though and take my last prize as tiem is being called. Great Game!
2-1
Round 4 VS Tyranitar/Jirachi/Weavile
I start with Toxicroak, Psy energy, skuntank, stadium, and energy gain, pryaing to god that i go second and that he's not playing anything SP related. He flips over Jirachi and im liek WOOOOOOO. I go off and roseanne for baltoy/lux with bebe in hand. I just go off and start luxraying things, he send up Tyranitar and grinds for the knockout, but i respond with crobat, lake boundary, toxicroak G promo for 140 and that pretty much clears him out.
3-1
Round 5 VS Gengar/Nidoqueen
I get t2 luxray ex and just start gusting his stuff. He never gets setup and I kill both Baltoys conescutively, and power spray his uxies. He brings up nidoqueen and start mega punching, but I have Sunyshor to clear resist and do 70 for the win.
4-1
Round 6 VS Machamp/Rampardos (Jackie W.)
I start with an ehhhhh hand and am so afraid she will t1 my luxray, even though i had skuntank benched. WE go back and forth and there's this epic turn in which im able to ko her claydol and rampardos with nothing but flash bites. It continues to go back and forth but once i setup toxitank theres not much she can do against my power sprays, GG Jackie
5-1
Round 7 VS Gardy/Gallade/Weavile/Nidoqueen (Ryan V.)
It was cool playing this game because I hadn't seen or heard from Ryan in forever. I go off and take 2 prizes quick, thinking that if he is unable to shadow charge with weavile, he will be unable to get enough energy. WRONG. He uppers back into the game very quickly and once he sets up queen I have nothing to do but sit there as he slowly ploxes me and psychic locks me to my minimal damage between switching/healing. Great Game.
5-2
Round 8 VS Palkia/Fairies
WOOOO I like this matchup alot of the time haha. I power spray his uxies and he never really gets setup until this epic turn where I forgot to play a 3rd SP pokemon so i couldnt spray his topdecked uxie. It isn't enough though and I finish on top.
6-2
I MADE A TOPCUT!
Top 128 VS Luxape (Chris C.)
I've seen and traded with him before on here so I knew he was a great player and as it turns out a really cool and nice guy too.
Game 1: He never gets setup and I just wreck his field. He scoops about 15 minutes in and flips over ape ex and luxray ex in his prizes.
Game 2: I never get setup and he just wrecks my field haha. I scoop about 15 minutes in.
Game 3: WE go back and forth the first few turns, as he is split bombing to put pressure on me. I Trash Bolt his active ape and power spray his uxie the following turn. I draw and cosmic power, finding crobat and poketurn. I crobat/turn his active ape and then trash bolt something to go up 3-5 in prizes. I'm tryign to play fast because I hate it when games go to time, but on his next turn, they call time and he can only take 1 prizes with his infernape, going 4-3 and I get the lame time win. Great games Chris.
7-2
Top 64 VS DPL (Matt A.)
Well I knew he was a great player because I've alway seen him ranked high and I know he hangs out with Jason and Chuck. Turns out he's a nice guy too.
Game 1: He start Palkia, I start Luxray. I just get setup while he struggles against my power sprays and when I take my 4th Ptize he scoops.
Game 2: I get setup again and take quick prizes, but theres this epic turn when i misplay extremely. He had downer material Azelf in play, but I sent up my Uie to psychic restore. He points to Azelf and I facepalm. Next turn he's able to play enoug hcards so that time expires and then he goes up in prizes using his own uxie. DANGIT sudden death.
Game 3: He start palkia, I start Luxray with crobat/poketurn/energy/energy gain but nothing else. I figure he has a godstart just because thats my luck. He attaches to palkia and calls for bronzong g/luxray.I go, say "heart of the cards" and fist pump in delight as I topdeck cyrus. I atatch call, play cyrus for lightning, cyrus, power spray, and call for 2 more luxray. He goes, luxury balls for luxray, benches it, mesprits, i spray, galactic switches, poketurns palkia, attaches to luxray, premier balls for luxray ex, and does bite. I hate my life. I draw, Cyrus for SP Radar, energy, and bebe, shuffle bebe back with sp radar to get luxray ex, bright look, he sprays, and then I finish it. Crobat active, poketurn, crobat active, Attach energy and 60 to ko his luxray for the win. GREAT Game Matt.
I go to bed and figure everythign will be fine for tomorrow.
Top 32 VS Breton B. Palkia/Fairies
Game 1: I draw 2 nigth maintenance 2 stadiums and nothing. He gets T1 fairylock and t2 palkia lv x. I scoop 7 minutes in.
Game 2: I get setup, and crush him getting 4 prizes in about 30 minutes. he scoops.
Game 3: We both go back and forth, but it's 3-3 and i know time is getting close. His active palkia is poisoned and has 70 on it, and he has a full bench of fairies/crobats without energy. He's able to burn enough time to hydro shoot my claydol for the knockout and time win. If I get one more turn, i get to roseanne for luxray, galactic switch to it, poketurn croak, send up ray, attach energy gain sunnyshore knockout to tie it up 2-2 and he'd have no attackers on the board, and id be able to get out luxray ex next turn for the win. Oh well, that's pokemon for ya.
I had a blast at nats, and did the best I ever have. Congrats to all the winners.
Props:
Everyone I know that helped me. You know who you are
Kentucky People - We had like 5 in top 32? That's awesome!
Luxray - New favorite Pokemon
Getting to see old friends that I hadn't talked to in forever! Keep in touch, i'll try as well!
The dude sitting on the floor using luxray/toxitank/sunnyshore - you were my inspiration haha
Staff - Wonderful as always
PUI - Top 128 was a GREAT decision. Hope to see this same system implemented in the future.
Slops:
Time. Could we not have had 75 minutes once we get to top 32? That'd solve so many problems.
Thanks for reading.
-Wames
