Nekizalb
New Member
Hello everyone,
I’m sorry this is a little late. My family drove from our home in southern Louisiana to Nationals instead of flying. We made a straight shot for Indianapolis, but decided to make a vacation out of the trip on the way home. So, I was stuck in places like Mammoth Cave in Kentucky with no computer access.
Going into Nationals, I had decided to play Palkia Lock with Garchomp. I was pretty sure that Jumpluff, the deck I had been using for a while, would not win Nats. I had been using Sablelock for Battle Roads, but I didn’t feel confident that it could win. Palkia Lock, however, could consistently beat LuxChomp (Downer Material+Power Lock is very devastating, and Garchomp can snipe for good prizes), the Jumpluff matchup was pretty much an autowin, and it could win against Cursegar (although that matchup was a little tricky.)
Thursday night, I played my Palkia Lock against other people, telling them it was a fun deck- I was trying to keep my Palkia deck “rogue”. I beat a DialgaChomp (poor guy had a horrible hand), then a LuxChomp, and then I won 2 mirror matches. Then I met up with my friend Brandon J. (rikku11), and he totally trashed me with his AMU Plox deck. Knowing that I might probably see a couple Plox decks in Seniors, I was suddenly hesitant.
Then, I met up with Matt L., a 2008 Regional Champion, a multiple Worlds competitor, and overall a really great player. He had put together a Donphan/Manectric/Entei&Raikou LEGEND deck that he felt confident would win. My Palkia Lock beat his Donphan deck, but he had a really good starting hand that would have given him a huge lead if I hadn’t Psychic Binded first turn.
I took his deck and ran through some matchups. Jumpluff and LuxChomp were favorable- they probably wouldn’t be expecting a Thunder Fall for 3 or 4 prizes at some point in the game. Cursegar was pretty much an autowin- Donphan smashes through Spritombs and if I Thunder Fall twice all their main attackers instantly die. And Plox was also favorable- it doesn’t require much drawpower to get a Donphan out. I loved the deck.
However, I also know that it isn’t a good idea to switch decks very close to a big tournament. I’ve seen what happens- at LA States, there was a girl who made the long drive from Texas only to play a deck her brother had made the morning of the tournament. She did poorly. But, I had tested Donphan variants, and I believed I had the skill to play Matt’s deck.
So, at 10:30 on Thursday night, I made the executive decision to switch decks.
Day 1
There were (I believe) 297 Seniors, so we get nine rounds with a top 64. All right!
At the player’s meeting, I get to say hello to some friends I haven’t seen in a while. It was nice. Anyone who also played me got a free card (well, slip of paper on top of a common in an illegal sleeve) that said “Aaron H(rest of my real last name here), Louisiana” as the title. There was a picture of my avatar (I love Photoshop), and then the text: “You have just battled Aaron H(rest of my real last name here) of Louisiana, also known as Nekizalb on Pokegym.net. 2nd Place LA States, MS State Champion, 2nd Place Atlanta Regionals”.
In addition, I got my hair sprayed black, then got a yellow design put on it. I was trying to look like Garchomp, but the yellow design looked more like the arrow on that guy’s head from the Airbender movie. I got about five “nice Garchomp hair” comments and about nine thousand “are you the Airbender?” comments.
Round 1 vs. ___ (Bye)
I won MS States, so I get a free bye. Check out my States report if you’re interested in how I won it. 1-0
Round 2 vs. ___ (Bye)
I also got 2nd Place at Atlanta Regionals, so I get another bye. I also wrote a Regionals report with more details on how I lost the finals. 2-0
Round 3 vs. Joshua S., Palkia Lock
Wow. I drive all the way here just to face one of my best friends in a suddenly unfavorable matchup (Palkia mirror would have been 50-50). He still thinks I’m playing Palkia Lock as well, so I have the element of surprise as I flip over Phanpy. He starts with Palkia G. He’s first, and just draws, Psychic Binds, attaches, and passes. I get the T1 Donphan but can’t do much more because of Psychic Bind, so I just pass. On his turn, he drops Giratina to Let Loose. I don’t get much out of it, but Joshua got two Mesprits, a Promocroak, and I think a Poketurn. So while I’m Earthquaking and trying to set up, Joshua is using topdecked Poketurns to try to move around his Pokemon to prevent me from getting prizes. However, I have time to draw into two more Fighting Energy, so Heavy Impact from a Belted Donphan will take down any Pokemon in his deck, except for Palkia G Lv. X (which he doesn’t have at the moment).
Eventually, he topdecks an Uxie, and uses Set Up for six. Now he really starts to get set up, dropping multiple energies on Palkia G. I take my third prize, and then my Belted Donphan gets Hydro Shotted by Palkia G Lv. X. Ouch. I don’t remember what happened in what order over the next few turns, but I no we traded prizes. Donphan’s Water Weakness begins to show here, as I can’t do as much damage as he is doing. Manectric does help me, though, as I can Power Wave an active Palkia G Lv. X for a 2HKO.
At one point, I KO Palkia G Lv. X, and let out a small sigh of relief- he’s already used all of his recovery methods, so I know he doesn’t have a way to Hydro Shot my Donphan next turn. He drops a 2nd Palkia G Lv. X from his hand. WHAT?! My Donphan gets Hydro Shotted.
Now, It’s 1-1 prizes, and he can win next turn if I don’t KO something. I have an active Donphan with 1 Fighting Energy and an Expert Belt, and a Benched Donphan on the bench with no energy. I have no other benched Pokemon. If I play my Warp Point, he will push up a Crobat G that I can’t KO with either Donphan. However, I will win this game, because I hold a full set of Entei&Raikou LEGEND, Lucian’s Assignment, and a Lightning Energy in addition to the Warp Point. I triumphantly lay it all down (and laugh at his surprised face at the same time) and Thunder Fall hits his Azelf for the game. 3-0
Taco Bell Beefy 5-Layer Burritos were $1.79 in the mall instead of the $0.89 I usually get them for- darn.
Round 4 vs. Geoff S., Gyarados
At 4-2 going into Round 7 of Worlds 2009, he beat me to keep me out of top cut. I really wanted revenge. My opening hand has Phanpy, Energy, BTS, Communication, and a Pokemon. He goes first with a lone Luxray GL, and I donk him. Sorry. 4-0
He had 2 Magikarps prized and a fairly bad opening hand, so he said that the game would have been hard for him. I disagree- Gyarados is probably my hardest matchup. However, he was glad to lose to “someone at least halfway decent”. Overall, he was an excellent sport about being donked. There are very few players in the game who exhibit good sportsmanship at a level that Geoff does.
On a side note, I would not have won this game with my Palkia deck either.
Round 5 vs. Tristan W., LuxChomp with a tech Donphan
We played a practice game at another time, and I got the details of our games mixed up. Sorry!
I get a Donphan out T2 and start Earthquaking for some damage. He pulls the Crobat G poison trick on me by Poisoning my Donphan with Crobat G, retreating to a Garchomp C, doing 60 to my Donphan, and watching my Donphan die of poison. However, he has a fairly bad hand after I Judged him at one point. I start to take a lead, and he can’t keep up. His Donphan buys him a couple of turns. After I KO that Donphan, I see an opening for Entei&Raikou LEGEND, so I drop it down, then attack with Donphan. He can’t get rid of the Entei&Raikou LEGEND, so it takes a few prizes or wins me the game. Otherwise, I won the tournament game with Donphan’s Heavy Impact and our practice game with Entei&Raikou LEGEND. 5-0
Round 6 vs. Jason A., LuxChomp
He goes first, and hits my active Electrike for 30 with a T1 Claw Swipe from a DCE’d Garchomp C. I don’t have a BTS, so all I can do is bench a Phanpy and pass. He Levels Up, KOs the Electrike through 2 Flash Bites, and then Dragon Rushes the Phanpy I put up. I send up Baltoy, evolve it, bench another Phanpy, and play Warp Point. I also topdecked a BTS, so I drop that into play as well. I go to use Cosmic Power, and he Sprays it. So, I drop a Judge. My four cards are: Fighting Energy, Fighting Energy, Expert Belt, Uxie. I attach an Energy to Phanpy, put the Expert Belt on it, and Set Up for six.
He doesn’t have the Spray, so I figure that I’m going to draw into a Donphan and start hammering away at his setup. The first card is a Pokemon Communication. Yes! Then: Night Maintenance, Energy, Communication, Roseanne’s, and…Communication. Wow. I show him the three Communications, sigh, and pass. He Dragon Rushes the Belted Phanpy.
By this point, I’m down 6-2 in terms of prizes left. I actually get set up pretty well due to his lack of Sprays and my three Communications. He Dragon Rushes my Manectric, and I Earthquake to put 10 on two of my Uxies. He benches a Luxray GL, and even though he isn’t drawing much, I know he’ll get the Luxray GL Lv. X to KO an Uxie before I manage to take all six of my prizes, so I bench Entei&Raikou LEGEND.
It comes up and uses Thunder Fall to KO 5 Pokemon of his and my 2 Uxies and Claydol, for a total of eight Pokemon destroyed in all. He wins with me having one prize card left. Now that’s how you go out in style! 5-1
Round 7 vs. Chance N., Blaziken/Luxray/Garchomp
I get a quick Donphan out and start Earthquaking away. After a bad hand, he starts to get set up. I drop a Judge, and he is really slowed down. However, Luring Flame brought up Claydols of mine, and I can only fit in so many Warp Points. So, one of my Claydols ends up dying, and the other was responsible for filling my discard pile with an excessive amount of Energy. In addition, with a Claydol active, it couldn’t use Cosmic Power. Chance was kind enough to point that out to me before I stuck the cards under so I wouldn’t get a penalty.
However, Luring Flame can only get Chance so far, so he actually has to attack to do damage. Jet Shoot from a Blaziken FB Lv. X sets itself up for a Donphan return KO (Belted Earthquake=60+20+40=120, KO), Donphan OHKOs Garchomp C Lv. X through a Belted Heavy Impact, and it’s pretty obvious how much Luxray can stand up to Donphan. When it all comes down to it, he just didn’t have enough attack power to take down the Donphans. While he constantly dodged around through Poketurns, in the end he just didn’t manage to take down the Donphans before the Donphans took down all of his Pokemon. 6-1
So, it’s the end of Day 1 and I’m 4th in the standings. The deck is working great! I also returned my hair to its normal color, and donned my trademark Raiders hat.
Day 2
Before Round 8, I met The_Lurb in real life. I also met Javier S., and later we talked about how good In-N-Out Burger was. I miss that restaurant. I gave them both Nekizalb cards because I knew I would have extras at the end of the tournament. I may as well give them out rather than carry extras!
Round 8 vs. Jeremy P., GeChamp
I would not have won this game if I was playing Palkia. I’m really glad I switched decks.
Even so, it is incredibly difficult to play around Fainting Spell. Looking over my Battle Roads Autumn and City Championships reports, it should become pretty obvious that I absolutely hate Fainting Spell.
I get a rather faster start than him. I miss two Super Scoop Up flips at the start of the game, so I don’t get Manectric in play until turn three. By then, I’ve already used Earthquake twice, so both my Claydols become Shadow Room bait.
Power Wave helped me in this game, allowing me to spread damage to Claydol and Gengar and knock them out at the same time, so even after a Fainting Spell heads I’m still up. I can’t use Entei&Raikou LEGEND because Machamp will say hello…
Speaking of Machamp, Donphan dealt with Machamp nicely over the course of this game. It was incredibly hard for Machamp and even Gengar to take down a single Donphan. Thus, Donphan was able to score multiple KOs and I think one even took down a Gengar and survived Fainting Spell.
Late game, it becomes really, really, close, but my bad luck with SSUs turns to good luck in the end, as I am able to pick up a Manectric with 80 damage on it and keep my field to just two Donphans. I have a Belted Donphan with three Energy, a Benched Donphan with no Energy, and he has an active Gengar. He has two prizes left, I’ve got one. I drop the Electrike down and play a Warp Point for the game. 7-1
Round 9 vs. Michael B., Plox
I wouldn’t have won this one with Palkia, either.
Michael and I have been friends ever since our Gardevoir/Gallade/Weavile mirror match at Nats of last year, which I won. Ever since he learned I switched from Palkia to this he has been hoping that he won’t have to play me, but fortunately since we’re both 7-1 we’re both in top cut.
He gets a Spiritomb start, which slows me down a lot, but I manage to get a Donphan up to KO that Spiritomb. He sends up Kirlia, and does a lot of stuff (Cosmic Power, Set Up, etc.) but whiffs on the Bebe’s, Pokemon Communication, or Luxury Ball to get a Gardevoir or Gallade. So, he just does a Belted 30 with Kirlia’s attack and switches to Spiritomb. I KO the Spiritomb.
He decides to grab Gardevoir and starts to Psychic Lock. Manectric spreads some damage, and he hits it for 80. I get heads on SSU and continue to attack with Donphan. I get Judged at some point and I get left with a garbage hand. My Donphan is about to take down Gardevoir, but there’s another one waiting. In addition, my Manectric won’t be able to stand up to the following Gardevoir. My hand consists of Night Maintenance, Lightning Energy, and Judge. I realize what I have to do to stay in the game, even if I might regret it in the future.
I play the Judge against a Gardevoir deck.
Of course, I get Judged a couple of times over the course of the game, but I’m not really hurt by it. The four cards I got from that Judge allowed me to get a Donphan up the following turn. I’m able to take out the 2nd Gardevoir. He sends up Gallade and hits me for some damage. It’s 1-2 Prizes now in my favor.
I have the third Energy for Heavy Impact for 110, so I just need a Warp Point now to win. If I don’t get it, then he will Psychic Cut for the game. I drop as much stuff in my hand as I can and Set Up for 6. I whiff. So, I drop an Entei&Raikou LEGEND, then use Communication to help me set up a Claydol line. I Cosmic Power for 6, and the first card is the Warp Point I need for game. Great game! 8-1
However, Michael did make a misplay- after I KO’d the 2nd Gardevoir, he sent up Gallade, but also benched another Gardevoir instead of playing Dusknoir even though I only had three benched Pokemon. I wouldn’t have been able to KO that 120 HP Dusknoir.
I’m one of the few 8-1s, and I have great resistance, so I end up in the 3rd seed. Spencer B., the undefeated player, is the first seed, and Brandon J. just edged me out for the 2nd seed spot. Jason A. is the fourth seed.
So, being the 3rd seed, I play the 62nd seed, Ben M.
Top 64 vs. Ben M., Sablelock
Game 1
He goes first with a lone Garchomp C, benches something, and passes. On my turn, I play BTS, Communications, and other cards to get a Belted Donphan up. I then drop an Uxie and draw into a Judge. Seeing how I’ve got a decent setup, I decide to drop the Judge this early in the game. I don’t get much out of it, but it turns out that Ben got a Chatot G, a Promocroak, and the other two cards were very bad. After I Earthquake the Garchomp C for a KO, the game is pretty much in my favor. I am constantly Earthquaking for 80 while he is just surviving on topdecks and sending up small Basics to stall for time. He used Chatot G to put a half of Entei&Raikou LEGEND on top of my deck, so I can’t suddenly surprise him.
Eventually, I get the third Fighting Energy and start Heavy Impacting for OHKOs. By the time he gets up a Garchomp C Lv. X, I have Manectric, Claydol, and another Donphan waiting in play. So, he just Dragon Rushes Manectric and Donphan KOs Garchomp C Lv. X for the game. 1-0
Game 2
He starts with Sableye, I start with Phanpy. I run the SW Phanpy, which has 60 HP instead of the 70 that the HGSS one has. He attaches a Special Darkness Energy to Sableye, but doesn’t have the Crobat G. He drops Azelf and uses Time Walk. There are no Crobat Gs in the prizes. He drops Giratina and uses Let Loose. He still doesn’t get the Crobat G, so he Impersonates a Cyrus’s Initiative. He flips one heads, and gets to take a card out of my hand of: Uxie, Pokemon Communication, Bebe’s Search, and Fighting Energy. He sighs, robs me of my Uxie, and it’s my turn.
I draw a half of Entei&Raikou LEGEND and Communication that in for Uxie. I attach the Fighting Energy to Phanpy and Set Up for six. I draw the BTS and get the Donphan out. I start taking prizes.
By the time he gets an attacker out, I have a Bench Shielded Manectric on my bench, and he is looking at doing 60 damage at a time to my active Belted, 3-Energy Donphan. Meanwhile, I am taking a prize every turn due to Heavy Impact. He just can’t do enough damage to KO me and I win this one six prizes to zero. 2-0, 9-1
I’ve heard many stories about players making consistent decks and then losing just because they got bad hands. It finally happened to me. I get a really, really consistent deck and I lose because I just got bad hands.
Top 32 vs. George W. (Gwlieksmudkipz), LuxChomp
Game 1
My opening hand: Phanpy, Phanpy, Donphan, Multi Energy, Manectric, Manectric, Night Maintenance. While I topdeck horribly (into my 2nd Night Maintenance and more Fighting Energy) it doesn’t take his Crobat G long to take down my first Donphan. I try to Set Up, he Sprays it, and I’m left with 2 Manectrics and 2 Night Maintenances. I scoop. 0-1
Game 2
My opening hand: Electrike, Manectric, Lightning Energy, Expert Belt, NIGHT MAINTENANCE, Donphan, Entei&Raikou LEGEND bottom. It’s so bad I decide to go first. Draw (BTS), attach, pass. He attaches to Garchomp C and passes. I draw NIGHT MAINTENANCE (ARGH!!!!!) and Power Wave. He Levels Up, attaches DCE, Flash Bite, Poketurn, Flash Bite, Judge, and gets the last Poketurn for game. 0-2, 9-2
Yup, my Nats just ended because my super-consistent deck gave me two trash hands in a row. Looking at my swiss rounds and my top 64 match, I know I did not lose because my deck was bad. Looking at my States and Regionals trophies, I know that I did not lose because I am a bad player. It’s just so sad for such a good player to come this far only to lose because of absolutely horrible topdecks.
I meet more people in real life, like JPN Gallade and Box of Fail. I also play in some side events, and here’s how they went:
8-Man Tournament #1, with my Nats deck:
Top 8 vs. Cursegar: I run through a bunch of Spiritombs and Thunder Fall twice to destroy all of his Pokemon.
Top 4 vs. Gyarados: I donk a lone Chansey with a Belted Donphan.
Top 2 vs. Abomosnow/Ampharos/Nidoqueen: he can OHKO me with a Belted Abomosnow, and Abomosnow prevents me from Thunder Falling to KO Claydol. A stupid deck is an unfavorable matchup for me.
8-Man Tournament #2, with Arceus:
Top 8 vs. LuxChomp: After a Ripple Swell, I Sky Spear five times in a row to take out multiple Garchomps. I retaliate a Luxray KO with Fighting Arceus’ Ground Break for my sixth prize.
Top 4 vs. LuxChomp: pretty much the same as Top 8. I Sky Speared four times, and use a Belted Omniscient Mind Bend for a surprise KO on Garchomp C Lv. X (the Colorless Arceus used the Psychic Arceus’ attack.)
Top 2 vs. Steelix: He need 5 Energy and an Expert Belt to OHKO one of my Arceus. Fire Arceus needs only two Energy, and runs through a lot of Steelixs.
I finally get the opportunity to use my Palkia Lock in the modified tournament.
Modified Tournament Side Event
Round 1 vs. Jumpluff
This player exhibited extremely poor sportsmanship. He would not shake my hand after the game, and after losing the second round, he yelled “shut up” at the top of his lungs in the face of his opponent. But basically I Psychic Binded for four turns straight and he got nothing out. 1-0
Round 2 vs. Michael Z., Mother Gengar
I Psychic Bind for two turns in a row, then see he isn’t getting much, so I grab two Sprays and hold them in my hand. He gets two Uxies and uses Set Up for five. I Spray. Set Up for six. Spray. He only gets one Gengar, which Uxie Lv. X KOs (he gets heads on Fainting Spell), and Palkia runs through a lot of basics. 2-0
Round 3 vs. (I forgot the name, sorry), Gyarados
I get a faster start and Ambipom, Toxicroak, and Garchomp work together to take down Gyaradoses. At some points, he can’t get the Gyarados out to continue KOs and I manage to take a lead. Eventually, he gets a Gyarados out, Poketurns and SSUs his bench to where it only has a Belted Uxie and Regice, and Tail Revenges, hoping I don’t have the Poketurn to Flash Bite and Dragon Rush a Benched Pokemon for game. However, I do. 3-0
Round 4 vs. Edmund K. (goldedda), HoPe
We both get bad starts. He starts Tail Coding Energy that I’m attaching to Palkia to my benched Mesprit. With my bad start, I never get up Palkia G Lv. X with enough energy to take out his Mewtwo before it levels up. Once he gets the Mewtwo up, I pretty much scoop because I took out my Mismagius line for extra consistency cards. Oh well. 3-1
I get 5th.
One night, I also played in a draft tournament with Brent and others. It was really fun. We did it in his hotel, and it went a lot smoother because we didn’t have to wait around to get the rounds organized.
Pokegym members I met in real life again or for the first time:
Box of Fail
JPN Gallade
The_Lurb
Goldedda
Gallade
Amt
Chetabear
JOSH SIM
Rikku11
David’s Confused Pokedad
Food9279
spazcrackers
Nugget
V1c10u5
Gwlieksmudkipz
If you were one of my opponents, or I met you in real life and happen to have a Pokegym account, please let me know so I can add you to that list.
Pokegym members that I would have liked to meet, but never got the chance:
Lucario123- Sorry you couldn’t make it down here. Hopefully we’ll meet in the future.
Elekid_957- It would be nice to meet the bringer of HoPe to the game.
Prodigal_fanboy- If you talk in real life like you post here on the ‘Gym, I think it would have been fun to talk to you in real life.
Props
Top 32 with a slightly rogue deck
Matt L for his list and cards
John for his cards
Meeting friends in real life
Cool hair
Slops
Losing due to horrible hands
“Are you the airbender?”
In the days after Nationals, my parents did not help me improve my mood. My mom is taking planes around the country to see friends, so I won’t be able to go to Worlds even though I have the invite.
We went to the Kentucky Derby Museum, which is probably one of the most boring things on the planet, took an 8-mile canoe ride without water that I nearly died of, toured a bunch of boring, freezing caves that are not friendly to someone who’s six-foot-one, and I had to listen to my siblings fight all the time.
In addition, I got stuck in Macy’s for two hours while my mom shopped. Once we were out, she promptly went to Dillard’s for another couple of hours. I’m sure there are a couple Pokegym members who can sympathize with me, right?
I’m sorry this is a little late. My family drove from our home in southern Louisiana to Nationals instead of flying. We made a straight shot for Indianapolis, but decided to make a vacation out of the trip on the way home. So, I was stuck in places like Mammoth Cave in Kentucky with no computer access.
Going into Nationals, I had decided to play Palkia Lock with Garchomp. I was pretty sure that Jumpluff, the deck I had been using for a while, would not win Nats. I had been using Sablelock for Battle Roads, but I didn’t feel confident that it could win. Palkia Lock, however, could consistently beat LuxChomp (Downer Material+Power Lock is very devastating, and Garchomp can snipe for good prizes), the Jumpluff matchup was pretty much an autowin, and it could win against Cursegar (although that matchup was a little tricky.)
Thursday night, I played my Palkia Lock against other people, telling them it was a fun deck- I was trying to keep my Palkia deck “rogue”. I beat a DialgaChomp (poor guy had a horrible hand), then a LuxChomp, and then I won 2 mirror matches. Then I met up with my friend Brandon J. (rikku11), and he totally trashed me with his AMU Plox deck. Knowing that I might probably see a couple Plox decks in Seniors, I was suddenly hesitant.
Then, I met up with Matt L., a 2008 Regional Champion, a multiple Worlds competitor, and overall a really great player. He had put together a Donphan/Manectric/Entei&Raikou LEGEND deck that he felt confident would win. My Palkia Lock beat his Donphan deck, but he had a really good starting hand that would have given him a huge lead if I hadn’t Psychic Binded first turn.
I took his deck and ran through some matchups. Jumpluff and LuxChomp were favorable- they probably wouldn’t be expecting a Thunder Fall for 3 or 4 prizes at some point in the game. Cursegar was pretty much an autowin- Donphan smashes through Spritombs and if I Thunder Fall twice all their main attackers instantly die. And Plox was also favorable- it doesn’t require much drawpower to get a Donphan out. I loved the deck.
However, I also know that it isn’t a good idea to switch decks very close to a big tournament. I’ve seen what happens- at LA States, there was a girl who made the long drive from Texas only to play a deck her brother had made the morning of the tournament. She did poorly. But, I had tested Donphan variants, and I believed I had the skill to play Matt’s deck.
So, at 10:30 on Thursday night, I made the executive decision to switch decks.
Day 1
There were (I believe) 297 Seniors, so we get nine rounds with a top 64. All right!
At the player’s meeting, I get to say hello to some friends I haven’t seen in a while. It was nice. Anyone who also played me got a free card (well, slip of paper on top of a common in an illegal sleeve) that said “Aaron H(rest of my real last name here), Louisiana” as the title. There was a picture of my avatar (I love Photoshop), and then the text: “You have just battled Aaron H(rest of my real last name here) of Louisiana, also known as Nekizalb on Pokegym.net. 2nd Place LA States, MS State Champion, 2nd Place Atlanta Regionals”.
In addition, I got my hair sprayed black, then got a yellow design put on it. I was trying to look like Garchomp, but the yellow design looked more like the arrow on that guy’s head from the Airbender movie. I got about five “nice Garchomp hair” comments and about nine thousand “are you the Airbender?” comments.
Round 1 vs. ___ (Bye)
I won MS States, so I get a free bye. Check out my States report if you’re interested in how I won it. 1-0
Round 2 vs. ___ (Bye)
I also got 2nd Place at Atlanta Regionals, so I get another bye. I also wrote a Regionals report with more details on how I lost the finals. 2-0
Round 3 vs. Joshua S., Palkia Lock
Wow. I drive all the way here just to face one of my best friends in a suddenly unfavorable matchup (Palkia mirror would have been 50-50). He still thinks I’m playing Palkia Lock as well, so I have the element of surprise as I flip over Phanpy. He starts with Palkia G. He’s first, and just draws, Psychic Binds, attaches, and passes. I get the T1 Donphan but can’t do much more because of Psychic Bind, so I just pass. On his turn, he drops Giratina to Let Loose. I don’t get much out of it, but Joshua got two Mesprits, a Promocroak, and I think a Poketurn. So while I’m Earthquaking and trying to set up, Joshua is using topdecked Poketurns to try to move around his Pokemon to prevent me from getting prizes. However, I have time to draw into two more Fighting Energy, so Heavy Impact from a Belted Donphan will take down any Pokemon in his deck, except for Palkia G Lv. X (which he doesn’t have at the moment).
Eventually, he topdecks an Uxie, and uses Set Up for six. Now he really starts to get set up, dropping multiple energies on Palkia G. I take my third prize, and then my Belted Donphan gets Hydro Shotted by Palkia G Lv. X. Ouch. I don’t remember what happened in what order over the next few turns, but I no we traded prizes. Donphan’s Water Weakness begins to show here, as I can’t do as much damage as he is doing. Manectric does help me, though, as I can Power Wave an active Palkia G Lv. X for a 2HKO.
At one point, I KO Palkia G Lv. X, and let out a small sigh of relief- he’s already used all of his recovery methods, so I know he doesn’t have a way to Hydro Shot my Donphan next turn. He drops a 2nd Palkia G Lv. X from his hand. WHAT?! My Donphan gets Hydro Shotted.
Now, It’s 1-1 prizes, and he can win next turn if I don’t KO something. I have an active Donphan with 1 Fighting Energy and an Expert Belt, and a Benched Donphan on the bench with no energy. I have no other benched Pokemon. If I play my Warp Point, he will push up a Crobat G that I can’t KO with either Donphan. However, I will win this game, because I hold a full set of Entei&Raikou LEGEND, Lucian’s Assignment, and a Lightning Energy in addition to the Warp Point. I triumphantly lay it all down (and laugh at his surprised face at the same time) and Thunder Fall hits his Azelf for the game. 3-0
Taco Bell Beefy 5-Layer Burritos were $1.79 in the mall instead of the $0.89 I usually get them for- darn.
Round 4 vs. Geoff S., Gyarados
At 4-2 going into Round 7 of Worlds 2009, he beat me to keep me out of top cut. I really wanted revenge. My opening hand has Phanpy, Energy, BTS, Communication, and a Pokemon. He goes first with a lone Luxray GL, and I donk him. Sorry. 4-0
He had 2 Magikarps prized and a fairly bad opening hand, so he said that the game would have been hard for him. I disagree- Gyarados is probably my hardest matchup. However, he was glad to lose to “someone at least halfway decent”. Overall, he was an excellent sport about being donked. There are very few players in the game who exhibit good sportsmanship at a level that Geoff does.
On a side note, I would not have won this game with my Palkia deck either.
Round 5 vs. Tristan W., LuxChomp with a tech Donphan
We played a practice game at another time, and I got the details of our games mixed up. Sorry!
I get a Donphan out T2 and start Earthquaking for some damage. He pulls the Crobat G poison trick on me by Poisoning my Donphan with Crobat G, retreating to a Garchomp C, doing 60 to my Donphan, and watching my Donphan die of poison. However, he has a fairly bad hand after I Judged him at one point. I start to take a lead, and he can’t keep up. His Donphan buys him a couple of turns. After I KO that Donphan, I see an opening for Entei&Raikou LEGEND, so I drop it down, then attack with Donphan. He can’t get rid of the Entei&Raikou LEGEND, so it takes a few prizes or wins me the game. Otherwise, I won the tournament game with Donphan’s Heavy Impact and our practice game with Entei&Raikou LEGEND. 5-0
Round 6 vs. Jason A., LuxChomp
He goes first, and hits my active Electrike for 30 with a T1 Claw Swipe from a DCE’d Garchomp C. I don’t have a BTS, so all I can do is bench a Phanpy and pass. He Levels Up, KOs the Electrike through 2 Flash Bites, and then Dragon Rushes the Phanpy I put up. I send up Baltoy, evolve it, bench another Phanpy, and play Warp Point. I also topdecked a BTS, so I drop that into play as well. I go to use Cosmic Power, and he Sprays it. So, I drop a Judge. My four cards are: Fighting Energy, Fighting Energy, Expert Belt, Uxie. I attach an Energy to Phanpy, put the Expert Belt on it, and Set Up for six.
He doesn’t have the Spray, so I figure that I’m going to draw into a Donphan and start hammering away at his setup. The first card is a Pokemon Communication. Yes! Then: Night Maintenance, Energy, Communication, Roseanne’s, and…Communication. Wow. I show him the three Communications, sigh, and pass. He Dragon Rushes the Belted Phanpy.
By this point, I’m down 6-2 in terms of prizes left. I actually get set up pretty well due to his lack of Sprays and my three Communications. He Dragon Rushes my Manectric, and I Earthquake to put 10 on two of my Uxies. He benches a Luxray GL, and even though he isn’t drawing much, I know he’ll get the Luxray GL Lv. X to KO an Uxie before I manage to take all six of my prizes, so I bench Entei&Raikou LEGEND.
It comes up and uses Thunder Fall to KO 5 Pokemon of his and my 2 Uxies and Claydol, for a total of eight Pokemon destroyed in all. He wins with me having one prize card left. Now that’s how you go out in style! 5-1
Round 7 vs. Chance N., Blaziken/Luxray/Garchomp
I get a quick Donphan out and start Earthquaking away. After a bad hand, he starts to get set up. I drop a Judge, and he is really slowed down. However, Luring Flame brought up Claydols of mine, and I can only fit in so many Warp Points. So, one of my Claydols ends up dying, and the other was responsible for filling my discard pile with an excessive amount of Energy. In addition, with a Claydol active, it couldn’t use Cosmic Power. Chance was kind enough to point that out to me before I stuck the cards under so I wouldn’t get a penalty.
However, Luring Flame can only get Chance so far, so he actually has to attack to do damage. Jet Shoot from a Blaziken FB Lv. X sets itself up for a Donphan return KO (Belted Earthquake=60+20+40=120, KO), Donphan OHKOs Garchomp C Lv. X through a Belted Heavy Impact, and it’s pretty obvious how much Luxray can stand up to Donphan. When it all comes down to it, he just didn’t have enough attack power to take down the Donphans. While he constantly dodged around through Poketurns, in the end he just didn’t manage to take down the Donphans before the Donphans took down all of his Pokemon. 6-1
So, it’s the end of Day 1 and I’m 4th in the standings. The deck is working great! I also returned my hair to its normal color, and donned my trademark Raiders hat.
Day 2
Before Round 8, I met The_Lurb in real life. I also met Javier S., and later we talked about how good In-N-Out Burger was. I miss that restaurant. I gave them both Nekizalb cards because I knew I would have extras at the end of the tournament. I may as well give them out rather than carry extras!
Round 8 vs. Jeremy P., GeChamp
I would not have won this game if I was playing Palkia. I’m really glad I switched decks.
Even so, it is incredibly difficult to play around Fainting Spell. Looking over my Battle Roads Autumn and City Championships reports, it should become pretty obvious that I absolutely hate Fainting Spell.
I get a rather faster start than him. I miss two Super Scoop Up flips at the start of the game, so I don’t get Manectric in play until turn three. By then, I’ve already used Earthquake twice, so both my Claydols become Shadow Room bait.
Power Wave helped me in this game, allowing me to spread damage to Claydol and Gengar and knock them out at the same time, so even after a Fainting Spell heads I’m still up. I can’t use Entei&Raikou LEGEND because Machamp will say hello…
Speaking of Machamp, Donphan dealt with Machamp nicely over the course of this game. It was incredibly hard for Machamp and even Gengar to take down a single Donphan. Thus, Donphan was able to score multiple KOs and I think one even took down a Gengar and survived Fainting Spell.
Late game, it becomes really, really, close, but my bad luck with SSUs turns to good luck in the end, as I am able to pick up a Manectric with 80 damage on it and keep my field to just two Donphans. I have a Belted Donphan with three Energy, a Benched Donphan with no Energy, and he has an active Gengar. He has two prizes left, I’ve got one. I drop the Electrike down and play a Warp Point for the game. 7-1
Round 9 vs. Michael B., Plox
I wouldn’t have won this one with Palkia, either.
Michael and I have been friends ever since our Gardevoir/Gallade/Weavile mirror match at Nats of last year, which I won. Ever since he learned I switched from Palkia to this he has been hoping that he won’t have to play me, but fortunately since we’re both 7-1 we’re both in top cut.
He gets a Spiritomb start, which slows me down a lot, but I manage to get a Donphan up to KO that Spiritomb. He sends up Kirlia, and does a lot of stuff (Cosmic Power, Set Up, etc.) but whiffs on the Bebe’s, Pokemon Communication, or Luxury Ball to get a Gardevoir or Gallade. So, he just does a Belted 30 with Kirlia’s attack and switches to Spiritomb. I KO the Spiritomb.
He decides to grab Gardevoir and starts to Psychic Lock. Manectric spreads some damage, and he hits it for 80. I get heads on SSU and continue to attack with Donphan. I get Judged at some point and I get left with a garbage hand. My Donphan is about to take down Gardevoir, but there’s another one waiting. In addition, my Manectric won’t be able to stand up to the following Gardevoir. My hand consists of Night Maintenance, Lightning Energy, and Judge. I realize what I have to do to stay in the game, even if I might regret it in the future.
I play the Judge against a Gardevoir deck.
Of course, I get Judged a couple of times over the course of the game, but I’m not really hurt by it. The four cards I got from that Judge allowed me to get a Donphan up the following turn. I’m able to take out the 2nd Gardevoir. He sends up Gallade and hits me for some damage. It’s 1-2 Prizes now in my favor.
I have the third Energy for Heavy Impact for 110, so I just need a Warp Point now to win. If I don’t get it, then he will Psychic Cut for the game. I drop as much stuff in my hand as I can and Set Up for 6. I whiff. So, I drop an Entei&Raikou LEGEND, then use Communication to help me set up a Claydol line. I Cosmic Power for 6, and the first card is the Warp Point I need for game. Great game! 8-1
However, Michael did make a misplay- after I KO’d the 2nd Gardevoir, he sent up Gallade, but also benched another Gardevoir instead of playing Dusknoir even though I only had three benched Pokemon. I wouldn’t have been able to KO that 120 HP Dusknoir.
I’m one of the few 8-1s, and I have great resistance, so I end up in the 3rd seed. Spencer B., the undefeated player, is the first seed, and Brandon J. just edged me out for the 2nd seed spot. Jason A. is the fourth seed.
So, being the 3rd seed, I play the 62nd seed, Ben M.
Top 64 vs. Ben M., Sablelock
Game 1
He goes first with a lone Garchomp C, benches something, and passes. On my turn, I play BTS, Communications, and other cards to get a Belted Donphan up. I then drop an Uxie and draw into a Judge. Seeing how I’ve got a decent setup, I decide to drop the Judge this early in the game. I don’t get much out of it, but it turns out that Ben got a Chatot G, a Promocroak, and the other two cards were very bad. After I Earthquake the Garchomp C for a KO, the game is pretty much in my favor. I am constantly Earthquaking for 80 while he is just surviving on topdecks and sending up small Basics to stall for time. He used Chatot G to put a half of Entei&Raikou LEGEND on top of my deck, so I can’t suddenly surprise him.
Eventually, I get the third Fighting Energy and start Heavy Impacting for OHKOs. By the time he gets up a Garchomp C Lv. X, I have Manectric, Claydol, and another Donphan waiting in play. So, he just Dragon Rushes Manectric and Donphan KOs Garchomp C Lv. X for the game. 1-0
Game 2
He starts with Sableye, I start with Phanpy. I run the SW Phanpy, which has 60 HP instead of the 70 that the HGSS one has. He attaches a Special Darkness Energy to Sableye, but doesn’t have the Crobat G. He drops Azelf and uses Time Walk. There are no Crobat Gs in the prizes. He drops Giratina and uses Let Loose. He still doesn’t get the Crobat G, so he Impersonates a Cyrus’s Initiative. He flips one heads, and gets to take a card out of my hand of: Uxie, Pokemon Communication, Bebe’s Search, and Fighting Energy. He sighs, robs me of my Uxie, and it’s my turn.
I draw a half of Entei&Raikou LEGEND and Communication that in for Uxie. I attach the Fighting Energy to Phanpy and Set Up for six. I draw the BTS and get the Donphan out. I start taking prizes.
By the time he gets an attacker out, I have a Bench Shielded Manectric on my bench, and he is looking at doing 60 damage at a time to my active Belted, 3-Energy Donphan. Meanwhile, I am taking a prize every turn due to Heavy Impact. He just can’t do enough damage to KO me and I win this one six prizes to zero. 2-0, 9-1
I’ve heard many stories about players making consistent decks and then losing just because they got bad hands. It finally happened to me. I get a really, really consistent deck and I lose because I just got bad hands.
Top 32 vs. George W. (Gwlieksmudkipz), LuxChomp
Game 1
My opening hand: Phanpy, Phanpy, Donphan, Multi Energy, Manectric, Manectric, Night Maintenance. While I topdeck horribly (into my 2nd Night Maintenance and more Fighting Energy) it doesn’t take his Crobat G long to take down my first Donphan. I try to Set Up, he Sprays it, and I’m left with 2 Manectrics and 2 Night Maintenances. I scoop. 0-1
Game 2
My opening hand: Electrike, Manectric, Lightning Energy, Expert Belt, NIGHT MAINTENANCE, Donphan, Entei&Raikou LEGEND bottom. It’s so bad I decide to go first. Draw (BTS), attach, pass. He attaches to Garchomp C and passes. I draw NIGHT MAINTENANCE (ARGH!!!!!) and Power Wave. He Levels Up, attaches DCE, Flash Bite, Poketurn, Flash Bite, Judge, and gets the last Poketurn for game. 0-2, 9-2
Yup, my Nats just ended because my super-consistent deck gave me two trash hands in a row. Looking at my swiss rounds and my top 64 match, I know I did not lose because my deck was bad. Looking at my States and Regionals trophies, I know that I did not lose because I am a bad player. It’s just so sad for such a good player to come this far only to lose because of absolutely horrible topdecks.
I meet more people in real life, like JPN Gallade and Box of Fail. I also play in some side events, and here’s how they went:
8-Man Tournament #1, with my Nats deck:
Top 8 vs. Cursegar: I run through a bunch of Spiritombs and Thunder Fall twice to destroy all of his Pokemon.
Top 4 vs. Gyarados: I donk a lone Chansey with a Belted Donphan.
Top 2 vs. Abomosnow/Ampharos/Nidoqueen: he can OHKO me with a Belted Abomosnow, and Abomosnow prevents me from Thunder Falling to KO Claydol. A stupid deck is an unfavorable matchup for me.
8-Man Tournament #2, with Arceus:
Top 8 vs. LuxChomp: After a Ripple Swell, I Sky Spear five times in a row to take out multiple Garchomps. I retaliate a Luxray KO with Fighting Arceus’ Ground Break for my sixth prize.
Top 4 vs. LuxChomp: pretty much the same as Top 8. I Sky Speared four times, and use a Belted Omniscient Mind Bend for a surprise KO on Garchomp C Lv. X (the Colorless Arceus used the Psychic Arceus’ attack.)
Top 2 vs. Steelix: He need 5 Energy and an Expert Belt to OHKO one of my Arceus. Fire Arceus needs only two Energy, and runs through a lot of Steelixs.
I finally get the opportunity to use my Palkia Lock in the modified tournament.
Modified Tournament Side Event
Round 1 vs. Jumpluff
This player exhibited extremely poor sportsmanship. He would not shake my hand after the game, and after losing the second round, he yelled “shut up” at the top of his lungs in the face of his opponent. But basically I Psychic Binded for four turns straight and he got nothing out. 1-0
Round 2 vs. Michael Z., Mother Gengar
I Psychic Bind for two turns in a row, then see he isn’t getting much, so I grab two Sprays and hold them in my hand. He gets two Uxies and uses Set Up for five. I Spray. Set Up for six. Spray. He only gets one Gengar, which Uxie Lv. X KOs (he gets heads on Fainting Spell), and Palkia runs through a lot of basics. 2-0
Round 3 vs. (I forgot the name, sorry), Gyarados
I get a faster start and Ambipom, Toxicroak, and Garchomp work together to take down Gyaradoses. At some points, he can’t get the Gyarados out to continue KOs and I manage to take a lead. Eventually, he gets a Gyarados out, Poketurns and SSUs his bench to where it only has a Belted Uxie and Regice, and Tail Revenges, hoping I don’t have the Poketurn to Flash Bite and Dragon Rush a Benched Pokemon for game. However, I do. 3-0
Round 4 vs. Edmund K. (goldedda), HoPe
We both get bad starts. He starts Tail Coding Energy that I’m attaching to Palkia to my benched Mesprit. With my bad start, I never get up Palkia G Lv. X with enough energy to take out his Mewtwo before it levels up. Once he gets the Mewtwo up, I pretty much scoop because I took out my Mismagius line for extra consistency cards. Oh well. 3-1
I get 5th.
One night, I also played in a draft tournament with Brent and others. It was really fun. We did it in his hotel, and it went a lot smoother because we didn’t have to wait around to get the rounds organized.
Pokegym members I met in real life again or for the first time:
Box of Fail
JPN Gallade
The_Lurb
Goldedda
Gallade
Amt
Chetabear
JOSH SIM
Rikku11
David’s Confused Pokedad
Food9279
spazcrackers
Nugget
V1c10u5
Gwlieksmudkipz
If you were one of my opponents, or I met you in real life and happen to have a Pokegym account, please let me know so I can add you to that list.
Pokegym members that I would have liked to meet, but never got the chance:
Lucario123- Sorry you couldn’t make it down here. Hopefully we’ll meet in the future.
Elekid_957- It would be nice to meet the bringer of HoPe to the game.
Prodigal_fanboy- If you talk in real life like you post here on the ‘Gym, I think it would have been fun to talk to you in real life.
Props
Top 32 with a slightly rogue deck
Matt L for his list and cards
John for his cards
Meeting friends in real life
Cool hair
Slops
Losing due to horrible hands
“Are you the airbender?”
In the days after Nationals, my parents did not help me improve my mood. My mom is taking planes around the country to see friends, so I won’t be able to go to Worlds even though I have the invite.
We went to the Kentucky Derby Museum, which is probably one of the most boring things on the planet, took an 8-mile canoe ride without water that I nearly died of, toured a bunch of boring, freezing caves that are not friendly to someone who’s six-foot-one, and I had to listen to my siblings fight all the time.
In addition, I got stuck in Macy’s for two hours while my mom shopped. Once we were out, she promptly went to Dillard’s for another couple of hours. I’m sure there are a couple Pokegym members who can sympathize with me, right?
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