Masters UK Nats 2009 Top 8 Report – Tom Hall

[ape101]

UK Nats 2009 Top 8 Report – Tom Hall
So I decided to post a report on Nats this year, even though i didn’t do as well as the previous year. However the overall experience leading up to and after nationals was in itself report-worthy.

“Prologue”
Sami kindly invited me to stay at his house for the week leading up to Nationals, which was very kind. He’s a stand-up guy as well as his two brothers Yacine and Fares. Those guys as well as Sami’s girlfriend Scarlett made my stay in London a very enjoyable one.

We test a few of the meta decks as well as a few off –the-wall ideas, which turn out to be a major flop (Garchomp). Fares and Yacine’s decks are decided upon early on in the week, while myself and Sami make a last minute decision on the day of the tournament.
The night before Nats, we decided to go up to a Travelodge close to where the tournament was held so that we wouldn’t have to rush in the morning to get there. Sami told me on the way we would meet his friend Clive, AKA. Avmozz at the hotel, as he lived nearby.


Upon arrival at the hotel we met the metagame of the UK in the foyer ready to welcome “Team Sami”: Kylie, Luke and Karl were all there to compliment us on how we’d beat them the following day.
After a Heroes’ welcome and unpacking a little, I went to meet Clive with Yacine and Sami. He’s a real chill guy and it was a pleasure to meet him. I also met up with Rick Cherry and some generous guys from Wales, all good people.

So I go up to the room to test with Yacine, Fares and Scarlett, while Sami tries his luck at Yu-gi-oh with Rick. Fares plays his Tyranitar extremely well, crushing both Machamp and my Dialga. I then test my AMU with Yacine’s Kingdra with mixed results. Clive leaves around 12 and says that he’ll give us a lift to the tournament tomorrow, which was cool. I test with Scarlett and she beats me twice with her Machamp against my Tyranitar. At this point I’m very unsure of what to play, and stay up until around 3am talking to Sami about what to play.

The day of the tournament and I narrow it down to 3 options of what to play in the tournament, Dialga G Tank, Tyranitar or Kingdra. Sami and I both decide that there will be a lot of hate for Dialga G, considering it dominated States in the UK this year, but I keep it as an option still.
I go down to the lobby to get a drink and see a senior player from my League, Alex Northey and wish him best of luck having helped him with his deck and confident he will do well.

Clive picks us up at around 8.30 and we head to the tourney. We go inside and I meet up with Alex Lobb, a Junior player from Exeter and get him psyched ready to play hopeful that he will go far in his first Nationals after playtesting with him a bit and tweaking his deck over the course of the season. I then see Matt and Sophie, who play at Exeter a bit and lend out some cards. I proceed to tell Sophie she cannot talk to me during the tournament due to the fact she is annoying.

Finally, with 30 minutes before registration closes I try to make a decision between Dialga, T-Tar or Kingdra, and due to some wise words of wisdom from Clive “Play what you know”, I dismiss T-tar and finally come to the conclusion that Kingdra will be the best deck to play on the day. I hand in my list and wait for what seemed (and was) ages for round 1.

The Tournament:
Round 1: Alex Gill with Lucario Machamp
This guy had sick skills with a Rubik cube, solving it in around 38 seconds. Unreal. Anyway he gets an unlucky start and doesn’t get a Machamp out until about turn 6. I get a T2 Kingdra and he can’t make a comeback. GG Alex. 1-0

Round 2: Pokeparent with Palkia/Dialga (sorry, can’t remember your name)
He was a really nice guy, who was only playing because his son in seniors was. I get an average setup and try to spread about with Kingdra a fair bit. The pokehealers he used were annoying to play around, but I managed to win in the end. 2-0

Round 3: Stef AKA Manicgiraffe with Kingdra
I get a TERRIBLE start having to rare candy a Baltoy into a Claydol just to survive turn 1. I gradually manage to turn around the prize deficit and end up dragon pumping her Claydol on the bench to KO and give her no very limited draw. After that I won by 2 prizes. Great game Stef. 3-0

Round 4: Nigel Edney with Palkia, G-techs
I get a turn 2 Kingdra and target his Palkia Gs as they are the main threat to Kingdra’s Claydol draw engine. He has 2 Honchkrow G prized which would have helped him snipe out my bench for some prizes. I get 2 Claydol out to help combat his power spray and KO his Palkia Gs for the win. GG 4-0

Round 5: Freddy K with Weavile GG
Luckily I had playtested this matchup with Sami a bit while I was staying with him and I knew I could win, despite the less than favourable matchup. Psychic locking Kingdra is harsh considering on how you need to use Claydol nearly every turn.
We sit down and I tell Freddy how I’d been waiting for this moment all my life – and how he would be absolutely destroyed - just a bit of “friendly” banter. Anyway, I whiff on my turn 2 kingdra, which would have almost got me the game there and then, but I had a semi- decent start. He gets a fully loaded Gardevoir up by turn 3, shutting my powers off completely for about 4-5 turns. It was a fairly even game up until the psychic lock was broken and I could use my powers again, however, after i got rid of all his Gardys he proceeded to charge up a Mewtwo on the bench. UGH. It was at this point he Ko’d my last Kingdra with an Uxie and i need to find the one Night maintenance in my deck to get back the line. The prize count was his 2 to my 1. I then realised that I had to use the “Sekkoum secret tech” after seeing he had a bench of Mewtwo, Claydol, Claydol, Weavile and a Chatot active. I put down my 1-0-1 Dusknoir DP and dark Palmed his Mewtwo into the deck. At this point I had a Crobat G active while charging up a Skuntank G on the bench in order to attack if whiffed on my NM. I whiffed for 2 turns as he brought up a Mewtwo each turn and used energy absorption. I had to warp point, Dark palm and wait for the NM while hitting his active Chatot with Skuntank G using poison and a pluspower for 40, so I had a guaranteed Kingdra dragon pump kill when I hit the NM. After a few turns of warp point, Dark palm, I hit my NM, but don’t get the line after a Claydol. Time is called and I win on the prize count, but I had the KO next turn anyway. Excellent game Freddy, I really enjoyed our match. Better luck next year eh? 5-0

Round 6: Sami Sekkoum with Kingdra (Pretty much mirror)
Our lists were nearly identical apart from the fact that he didn’t run his own super secret tech. Anyway I forget to put my prizes out and get an immediate prize loss. Result. I try to make up the deficit but can’t hit my SSU heads. Sami wins by two prizes. What a lucksack n00b. 6-1

Round 7: Kylie Chua with AMU
I’d tested this matchup a fair bit and knew that Kingdra had an edge due to Skuntank G, poison and Broken-Time-Space. I get a turn 2 on her Mespirit and sweep the game as she doesn’t draw a prize. She tries to build up her fairies by using Palkia Lv X’s power to bring up my Claydol, but I warp point out of it.
GG Kylie, very unlucky. 6-1
So I make the cut along with Yacine, Nitish and Sami, coming in at 6th seed. I’m set to play Andy Stone in top 8.

Top 8: Andy Stone with Gengar, Cresselia LV X tech.
I thought this game was about 50-50, however, my Unown G was “prized” both games! What are the odds? It was a close first game, coming down to 1 prize each, but he nailed a fainting spell flip to solidify his win. The same thing happened pretty much in game 2, with him nailing a crucial fainting spell once again. It did come semi-close when I hit the Dusknoir DP tech and sent his Cress X back to the deck and KO-ing the active Gengar. However he cycled through his deck to get out another one the following turn. Great guy though, no hard feelings. Good job Andy!
In the end I Top 8, get a box a of Platinum, and almost certainly get my invite to Worlds via rankings. All in all, a good day.

Props:
Sami winning again – this guy is truly one of the best players around. The best representative for the UK Worlds has ever had.
The Sekkoums - for their hospitality
Clive – one chill dude.
Both my reps from Exeter getting into top cut in both Juniors and Seniors - Alex N for Top 8 and Alex L for getting 3rd in Juniors!
Andy Stone – Some A-Grade banter against Jovan and a true gent in Top 8. "It's Pokemon Official"
Yacine – The Jason Mraz dance.
Ryan Tur - Thanks for the trades man
The Welsh guys.
Ben W - for remembering my coat. Cheers man.

Slops:
Hitting 3/15 SSU heads during the entire day.
Freddy- for not playing hard enough in our game.
Losing Top 8
Some inconsistent judging in other players’ games.
Myself – pacing around too much between games.

That’s just about it, a great week, cheers guys. Tom H out. Peace.

[amphyrules]

this guys my boi, walahi

[Jason]

Good job Tom, hope to see you at Worlds this year :)

[Chazman]

'Gratz!
You played really well, I saw your match against Freddy, since I was getting annihilated by Sami right next to you.

[nnaann]

Congrats - No Unown G avaliable is harsh. Good luck at Worlds.

[Edderz]

Well done for getting as far as you did - as for Rd 4 it would have been closer had my 'crows not been prized. That was terrible bad luck on the Unown G's in both games for T8. Good to finally play you.

[Avmozz]

Tom!

It's simple......your prized G's was simple revenge for beating poor little Alex - I know for a fact that you would have won the whole thing if you wasn't so evil^^

J/k - Good job on the day

P.S. Dont be giving it all that about Sophie, everyone knows that you 'like' each other!

[Fireborn]

Congrats Tom! I think we played at Worlds last year (round 2 or something?). I hope you can make it to San Diego this year as well :)

[TheLegendKiller]

Well done, Macaulay Culkin........

[amphyrules]

ahahahahhaha @ Nitish/Clive

[sophalis]

'like' huh.

you annoyed yourself by pacing, i had nothing to do with it, seriously

[afirule]

tom, great top8 game and so glad youve already got everything sorted for worlds following my lucksacking!!! Would have felt horrible if i made u miss worlds! Anyway- great job and youve come on so much since first time we've met. Fly the South West flag with pride, man!

p.s. (and in relation to the Culkin banter above....) I'm pleased you get to go to worlds with the Sekkoums. It would have been horrible to have been left Home Alone.

[amphyrules]

Originally Posted by afirule

tom, great top8 game and so glad youve already got everything sorted for worlds following my lucksacking!!! Would have felt horrible if i made u miss worlds! Anyway- great job and youve come on so much since first time we've met. Fly the South West flag with pride, man!

p.s. (and in relation to the Culkin banter above....) I'm pleased you get to go to worlds with the Sekkoums. It would have been horrible to have been left Home Alone.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

[ape101]

Originally Posted by afirule

tom, great top8 game and so glad youve already got everything sorted for worlds following my lucksacking!!! Would have felt horrible if i made u miss worlds! Anyway- great job and youve come on so much since first time we've met. Fly the South West flag with pride, man!

p.s. (and in relation to the Culkin banter above....) I'm pleased you get to go to worlds with the Sekkoums. It would have been horrible to have been left Home Alone.

Somebody please give it to him.

[The Machampion]

Lol guys great use of Qoutes, that fiver filled my 18 food less hours right up.

Well done Tom for the TOP 8, you have been a major help with me this season, hope to see you at worlds.

Luke

[Jaedon]

Hey Tom... shame you had to draw Sami, but it was going to happen.
Freddy must have been having a bad day... my 10 year old son beat him too

All the best

Jaedon

[piñata]

Good Job Tom, Hope i can go to US nats so i can see you and if not i will be at worlds.