Didn't know what to call it.
So oh about 3 weeks ago my mom and I were talking and to make a long story short she said I could go to Hawaii if I found a room to stay in. That was easy =D
So Thursday morning I board my plane from NY to Phoenix. Upon arriving in Phoenix I meet up with who I am staying with, the Silvestros and Gino. We talk for a bit and we then see Seena who is on our plane! Ugh so scary!
So we're on our way to Hawaii and we get there Thursday afternoon. After checking in and everything we go down to the free play area and I spend most of the night there and getting food at the plaza. Meet up with X-Files and talk about Grinder decks.
At this point, I was split between Lucario/Eeveelutions and Flygon ex LM/Nidoqueen. Both were great decks, but I decided on Lucario because it was much more consistent and it seemed to counter the format pretty well.
Notice how both of those decks are Pooka decks ;x ily kyle
So, my Grinder list:
4 Riolu
3 Lucario
4 Eevee CFF
2 Vaporeon ex
2 Umbreon ex
2 Jolteon ex
1 Espeon ex
1 Flareon ex
1 Absol ex
1 Holon's Magneton
8 Fighting Energy
4 Multi Energy
1 Lightning Energy
1 Water Energy
4 Prof. Elm's Training Method
4 Castaway
2 Mary's Request
2 Copycat
1 Steven's Advice
2 Giant Stump
2 Warp Point
2 Strength Charm
1 Crystal Shard
1 Cessation Crystal
3 Great Ball
1 Holon Mentor
After testing a lot with Gordon and other X-Files members, as well as others, this is what we came up with. Great Ball > Dual Ball for consistency and that surefire basic. Warp Point and Stump because they are amazingly good cards. Flareon ex was a last minute addition that won me 2 games in the Grinder, so I was very happy with that choice. I know 8 Eeveelutions seems like a lot but it was definitley the play in here.
So, my matches:
Round 1 vs Cool guy from Colorado w/ BandoomSableye
He was a really cool guy, but 2 Umbreons just wrecked his whole set up. I killed Shuppets before he could get set up and the one Banette he got out was 2HKOed easily.
Round 2 vs Dark Weedle w/ Speed Spread
I saw him shuffling and saw Spread cards, so I was confident going into this matchup. Early in the game he laid down a Jolteon ex without announcing the power, and kept going in his turn. When he noted that I didn't take damage, at first I was an not a very nice person about it and said that since you didn't announce that I shouldn't take damage. However, my senses came back to me and I let it go and took the damage. IIRC, he missed a pretty crucial SSU flip and I won the game from there on out.
Round 3 vs Lia (Rainbowgym) w/ Metanite
I was scared of a Sceptile tech as soon as I was going into this match. However, she didn't Mentor for Treecko and I later found out that she prized her Sceptile. =D However, I open with Absol and my prizes included 2 Lucario and my Crystal Shard. She also went like 0/6 flips which was very lame, even though I held the Warp Pts in my hand all game. It was close regardless, but I pulled it out.
Round 4 vs Japan dude w/ Typhlosion/Weezing
We both get horribad starts and struggle to do anything. He eventually gets a Typhlosion out doing some damage and just runs though all my basics. I flip over my prizes at the end: Lucario Mary Mary Copycat Copycat Steve -____-
Round 5 vs JohnnyBlaze w/ Torterra/Roselia
Ugh have to play a fellow NYer. Lameee. I saw Turtwig and was like "Eff this isn't good" I honestly thought I played this game the best I did all day, perfectly timing attacking with Flareon and using Warp Point/Absol/etc. It was still a cloe game, but after the first Torterra went down, there was nothing he could really do and he couldn't draw another one.
Round 6 vs Paul Johnston (HoennAsh) w/ Ambush
Nooooooooooo a fellow XF member. We both get decent sets I think and I try to rush him quick. I don't remember much but at the end he has a Roselia up with a Prinplup benched, and I Flareon/Lucario and he flips tails for the KO and my Jolteon takes the last prize. Flareon Heads would have most likely won him the game as my 2nd Stragh Charm was my 2nd to last prize.
Round 7 vs Caleb w/ Infernape
Another NYer! Ugh but finally another autowin matchup. I got a really good set to his soso one. This was the only game I hit Wild Kick and he evolved his Budew to Roselia the next turn =/ He prized 2 Apes though so I really had nothing to worry about, I took this quite easily.
Round 8 vs Danny (Chill NZ Guy) w/ LucarioEevee!
Ugh mirror, though I thought it was Spread going in. I mulligan three(!) times and then start with Absol ughhh. I try to do the best I can to pull it out, but an extra 2 prizes in the mirror is too hard to beat. I usually win mirror too because I run 2 Umbreon and thats sooo huge.
Ugh so the dream was dead. I had 1 chance to make it in, but it was taken by Yoneda, who deserved it as well. I played him Sunday night though and 2-0ed him. =p 8th place though. Where's my trip?!
So, Gordon went 1-2 drop with the same list I played, Paul went 5-3 with Ambush, Tyler went 6-2 with Rambolt1000, Tyler's dad went 6-2 with Ape (!), and Henry went undefeated in 10- with our same list. Not too shabby even if we had only 1 of us make it through.
So Friday night ended up with me in Kant's room helping Kant, Jer, and Kettler figure out what to play. I convinced Kant to run Lucario, but he ran the INFERIOR list (nub) and Jeremy was undecided when I went to bed, and Ketts was pretty set on FlyCatty.
I wake up early to go down and help everyone out and stuff and get ready for side events! I made some changes to the list that night since Kant needed my Giant Stumps and just changes I liked:
-Giant Stump
-Cessation Crystal
-Crystal Shard
+Stragh Charm
+Mary's Request
+Windstorm
3rd Charm was so useful in a lot of games.
The DS Lite Modified tourney went like this:
Round 1 vs Scott Faust w/ Bandoom
Win
Round 2 vs Richard Forrest w/ Metanite
He prizes both of his Sceptile rofl Win
Round 3 vs ????
No idea, Win
Round 4 vs Gordon Coates! w/ LucarioEevee
Same list as me. I prize my Mentor. He wins. Lose
Round 5 vs Dude w/ Electanite
Win
Came in 4th (better than 2nd and 3rd--WHO wants Pokemon Trozei?!) and Gordon wins the DS. ;x
So the day goes on and we see Ross, Jeremy, and Henry all T16 from XF and the hope for a sweep is still alive ;x We all go out and eat again at the plaza down the road and it actually takes us like 3 hours. Gordon and I were complaining for 3 hours and it was an adventure going and back forth because Jeremy's and Gordon's keys weren't working etc etc.
So after lots of playing and talking I head to bed around 1 I think.
Next day was basically 100% watching games as much as I could. I could see many games pretty well up until T4 where it was kinda lame. However, T2 gave us the screen ;D Watching Jeremy's games on the screen was so intense (like Holon's Voltorb) and when he won it was so amazing.
Closing ceremonies, etc and we all went out to eat again at the plaza. We came back and a lot of people started pouring into the free play area where we spent the rest of the night playing games, hanging out, and having a good time. My record that night with Lucario was like amazing:
3-0 Speed Empoleon (2nd place in 11-14 and other good Japanese guy)
2-0 Scizor (2nd place in 10-)
2-0 Japanese Lucariolutions (Yoneda)
1-0 Spread (Sami)
0-1 Magnezone/Delcatty =( (PCL girl)
And with a few more wins in there, but those were the most significant to me.
So we stayed up all night hanging around, even after everyone left. It was me, Gordon, Jeremy, Paul, Kant, Chung, Go (yes, Miyamato), and 2 PCL girls. We were up till 6:30 with Chung trying to CONVINCE us to go swimming since like 5 am. Eventually Go is like "okay okay let's go" so we go to the pool around 7 am and find out it's closed. So we go to the nearby lagoon and swim there. It was very refreshing and made me less tired. During this time we also made the "good" list.
Next we split up for awhile and I went up to my room with Steve and Gino. Later on I went swimming with the Hills and Bobby for awhile. That afternoon, I met up with XF again and we went out to eat yet again. On our return to the hotel, we headed down to the free play area and played some more games and had fun before I left.
My flight back home was pretty flawless, but the jet lag the next day was insane.
So, overall, Worlds was great this year. I had a lot of fun hanging out and seeing everyone again. I didn't mention a lot of people in here, so don't feel hurt if I left you out. ;x
Props to all the guys I was chillen with all weekend. Wish I coulda played soccer more. ;p
Major props to: Jeremy (yes!), Ross, Gordon, Paul, Tyler, and Henry. Good fun hanging out with the team again, Nats and Worlds will be a blast next year.
Many thanks to Silvestros and Gino for letting me stay with them and helping me get to and from the airport. Very much appreciated and it was a nice time. =)
Watch out Northeast/New England area, me and Bolt are taking no prisoners this year
Remember..
The Truth Is Out There
and
You Play To Win The Game
~Mikey
So oh about 3 weeks ago my mom and I were talking and to make a long story short she said I could go to Hawaii if I found a room to stay in. That was easy =D
So Thursday morning I board my plane from NY to Phoenix. Upon arriving in Phoenix I meet up with who I am staying with, the Silvestros and Gino. We talk for a bit and we then see Seena who is on our plane! Ugh so scary!
So we're on our way to Hawaii and we get there Thursday afternoon. After checking in and everything we go down to the free play area and I spend most of the night there and getting food at the plaza. Meet up with X-Files and talk about Grinder decks.
At this point, I was split between Lucario/Eeveelutions and Flygon ex LM/Nidoqueen. Both were great decks, but I decided on Lucario because it was much more consistent and it seemed to counter the format pretty well.
Notice how both of those decks are Pooka decks ;x ily kyle
So, my Grinder list:
4 Riolu
3 Lucario
4 Eevee CFF
2 Vaporeon ex
2 Umbreon ex
2 Jolteon ex
1 Espeon ex
1 Flareon ex
1 Absol ex
1 Holon's Magneton
8 Fighting Energy
4 Multi Energy
1 Lightning Energy
1 Water Energy
4 Prof. Elm's Training Method
4 Castaway
2 Mary's Request
2 Copycat
1 Steven's Advice
2 Giant Stump
2 Warp Point
2 Strength Charm
1 Crystal Shard
1 Cessation Crystal
3 Great Ball
1 Holon Mentor
After testing a lot with Gordon and other X-Files members, as well as others, this is what we came up with. Great Ball > Dual Ball for consistency and that surefire basic. Warp Point and Stump because they are amazingly good cards. Flareon ex was a last minute addition that won me 2 games in the Grinder, so I was very happy with that choice. I know 8 Eeveelutions seems like a lot but it was definitley the play in here.
So, my matches:
Round 1 vs Cool guy from Colorado w/ BandoomSableye
He was a really cool guy, but 2 Umbreons just wrecked his whole set up. I killed Shuppets before he could get set up and the one Banette he got out was 2HKOed easily.
Round 2 vs Dark Weedle w/ Speed Spread
I saw him shuffling and saw Spread cards, so I was confident going into this matchup. Early in the game he laid down a Jolteon ex without announcing the power, and kept going in his turn. When he noted that I didn't take damage, at first I was an not a very nice person about it and said that since you didn't announce that I shouldn't take damage. However, my senses came back to me and I let it go and took the damage. IIRC, he missed a pretty crucial SSU flip and I won the game from there on out.
Round 3 vs Lia (Rainbowgym) w/ Metanite
I was scared of a Sceptile tech as soon as I was going into this match. However, she didn't Mentor for Treecko and I later found out that she prized her Sceptile. =D However, I open with Absol and my prizes included 2 Lucario and my Crystal Shard. She also went like 0/6 flips which was very lame, even though I held the Warp Pts in my hand all game. It was close regardless, but I pulled it out.
Round 4 vs Japan dude w/ Typhlosion/Weezing
We both get horribad starts and struggle to do anything. He eventually gets a Typhlosion out doing some damage and just runs though all my basics. I flip over my prizes at the end: Lucario Mary Mary Copycat Copycat Steve -____-
Round 5 vs JohnnyBlaze w/ Torterra/Roselia
Ugh have to play a fellow NYer. Lameee. I saw Turtwig and was like "Eff this isn't good" I honestly thought I played this game the best I did all day, perfectly timing attacking with Flareon and using Warp Point/Absol/etc. It was still a cloe game, but after the first Torterra went down, there was nothing he could really do and he couldn't draw another one.
Round 6 vs Paul Johnston (HoennAsh) w/ Ambush
Nooooooooooo a fellow XF member. We both get decent sets I think and I try to rush him quick. I don't remember much but at the end he has a Roselia up with a Prinplup benched, and I Flareon/Lucario and he flips tails for the KO and my Jolteon takes the last prize. Flareon Heads would have most likely won him the game as my 2nd Stragh Charm was my 2nd to last prize.
Round 7 vs Caleb w/ Infernape
Another NYer! Ugh but finally another autowin matchup. I got a really good set to his soso one. This was the only game I hit Wild Kick and he evolved his Budew to Roselia the next turn =/ He prized 2 Apes though so I really had nothing to worry about, I took this quite easily.
Round 8 vs Danny (Chill NZ Guy) w/ LucarioEevee!
Ugh mirror, though I thought it was Spread going in. I mulligan three(!) times and then start with Absol ughhh. I try to do the best I can to pull it out, but an extra 2 prizes in the mirror is too hard to beat. I usually win mirror too because I run 2 Umbreon and thats sooo huge.
Ugh so the dream was dead. I had 1 chance to make it in, but it was taken by Yoneda, who deserved it as well. I played him Sunday night though and 2-0ed him. =p 8th place though. Where's my trip?!
So, Gordon went 1-2 drop with the same list I played, Paul went 5-3 with Ambush, Tyler went 6-2 with Rambolt1000, Tyler's dad went 6-2 with Ape (!), and Henry went undefeated in 10- with our same list. Not too shabby even if we had only 1 of us make it through.
So Friday night ended up with me in Kant's room helping Kant, Jer, and Kettler figure out what to play. I convinced Kant to run Lucario, but he ran the INFERIOR list (nub) and Jeremy was undecided when I went to bed, and Ketts was pretty set on FlyCatty.
I wake up early to go down and help everyone out and stuff and get ready for side events! I made some changes to the list that night since Kant needed my Giant Stumps and just changes I liked:
-Giant Stump
-Cessation Crystal
-Crystal Shard
+Stragh Charm
+Mary's Request
+Windstorm
3rd Charm was so useful in a lot of games.
The DS Lite Modified tourney went like this:
Round 1 vs Scott Faust w/ Bandoom
Win
Round 2 vs Richard Forrest w/ Metanite
He prizes both of his Sceptile rofl Win
Round 3 vs ????
No idea, Win
Round 4 vs Gordon Coates! w/ LucarioEevee
Same list as me. I prize my Mentor. He wins. Lose
Round 5 vs Dude w/ Electanite
Win
Came in 4th (better than 2nd and 3rd--WHO wants Pokemon Trozei?!) and Gordon wins the DS. ;x
So the day goes on and we see Ross, Jeremy, and Henry all T16 from XF and the hope for a sweep is still alive ;x We all go out and eat again at the plaza down the road and it actually takes us like 3 hours. Gordon and I were complaining for 3 hours and it was an adventure going and back forth because Jeremy's and Gordon's keys weren't working etc etc.
So after lots of playing and talking I head to bed around 1 I think.
Next day was basically 100% watching games as much as I could. I could see many games pretty well up until T4 where it was kinda lame. However, T2 gave us the screen ;D Watching Jeremy's games on the screen was so intense (like Holon's Voltorb) and when he won it was so amazing.
Closing ceremonies, etc and we all went out to eat again at the plaza. We came back and a lot of people started pouring into the free play area where we spent the rest of the night playing games, hanging out, and having a good time. My record that night with Lucario was like amazing:
3-0 Speed Empoleon (2nd place in 11-14 and other good Japanese guy)
2-0 Scizor (2nd place in 10-)
2-0 Japanese Lucariolutions (Yoneda)
1-0 Spread (Sami)
0-1 Magnezone/Delcatty =( (PCL girl)
And with a few more wins in there, but those were the most significant to me.
So we stayed up all night hanging around, even after everyone left. It was me, Gordon, Jeremy, Paul, Kant, Chung, Go (yes, Miyamato), and 2 PCL girls. We were up till 6:30 with Chung trying to CONVINCE us to go swimming since like 5 am. Eventually Go is like "okay okay let's go" so we go to the pool around 7 am and find out it's closed. So we go to the nearby lagoon and swim there. It was very refreshing and made me less tired. During this time we also made the "good" list.
Next we split up for awhile and I went up to my room with Steve and Gino. Later on I went swimming with the Hills and Bobby for awhile. That afternoon, I met up with XF again and we went out to eat yet again. On our return to the hotel, we headed down to the free play area and played some more games and had fun before I left.
My flight back home was pretty flawless, but the jet lag the next day was insane.
So, overall, Worlds was great this year. I had a lot of fun hanging out and seeing everyone again. I didn't mention a lot of people in here, so don't feel hurt if I left you out. ;x
Props to all the guys I was chillen with all weekend. Wish I coulda played soccer more. ;p
Major props to: Jeremy (yes!), Ross, Gordon, Paul, Tyler, and Henry. Good fun hanging out with the team again, Nats and Worlds will be a blast next year.
Many thanks to Silvestros and Gino for letting me stay with them and helping me get to and from the airport. Very much appreciated and it was a nice time. =)
Watch out Northeast/New England area, me and Bolt are taking no prisoners this year
Remember..
The Truth Is Out There
and
You Play To Win The Game
~Mikey
