I wasn't really sure if I would be going to States at all. The week leading up to it was rather hectic, and I didn't even have a solid deck idea until three days prior. If I were going to go, I had planned on taking Monarchy, until my friend and roommate got a hold of a Regirock LA. Whe planned to trade it, but as I had most all the pieces to build Magnezone, I went that route instead.
Saturday came early at 5, and I woke up with butterflies. After drinking a cup of instant coffee, I grabbed my lucky Pikachu shirt and headed out the door. We arrived almost an hour before registration started, and spent most of that time looking for the remaining few cards for our decks. I came up lucky for my friend by finding her a Toxicroak G promo, the one card she needed for completion, but we were having no luck finding a second Regirock or Warp Energies. I managed to borrow some Judges from friends, and we did find the Warps, but Regirock was being a true legendary and nearly impossible to find or trade for until our friend Corey pulled some amazing trading out of his hat. Total props for helping me out like that. With my deck complete, I registered, got it checked, and mingled until my first round started.
Round 1: Jarron D. with Gigas.
He wins the flip, but has to mulligan, giving me a rare candy. Round starts, and he flips up a lone Mesprit to my Spiritomb and Sandshrew. I Collector for Uxie, Magnemite, and Azelf, Darkness Gracing to Sandslash and getting myself ready to go. His first prize is my own Spiritomb going down to grab a Magnezone Prime. After that, it's four solid KOs- Mesprit, Uxie, and 2 Crobat G. he drops Regiice, Gigas, and Mesprit to Powerlock me, but realistically, it's too late by then. He manages to get Gigas Lv. X, but he sacs an Uxie to power up and I take prize five as he Dgar Offs my Sandslash. I have no way to move it, so I let it sit while I Belt up a Magnezone Prime and attach my Rescue to get him ready to go. He Blasters my Sandslash and I send up Magnezone, doing 170 for the win.
1-0
I'm fired up at this point, because I just won my first ranked Pokemon match against Gigas. My friends congratulated me (some of them seemed a little surprised, but they're forgiven), and then it was time for round 2.
Round 2: Trevor W. with Luxchomp.
Props to Trevor for an awesome game and a great lesson in Pokemon. Luxchomp was my most feared matchup, mostly because i had no experience against the deck. Trevor won the flip, and I had a bad start, but he was slow off the line as well. The first six turns were me trying to set up while he Chattered away at my Spiritomb, Once Spiritomb was finally KO'ed (his first prize), I returned with a Belted Magnezone for an easy 70 points. We traded prizes here and there, but his best play was Crobat G to my Regirock with five energy, followed by a Dragon Rush. I managed to pull up my other Regi, and we managed to hit three prizes a piece when time was called.
Now, time was called as I was just beginning my turn, so I basically had a free turn to play around with. I made a rookie mistake of not attaching any energy to my Belted Magnezone Prime (I had Super Connectivity Magnezone on the Bench and a Lightning in the discard), and instead just passed the turn. He Bright Looked my Azelf into the active and passed. My second turn came around, and I found the warp energy I needed to get Azelf out of the active spot, but my earlier mistake had left me with no way to take the one prize i needed to win. He Dragon Rushed Azelf on my bench for game.
1-1
I learned a lot this game, about myself as a player, the Luxchomp matchup, and the game state itself. Unfortunately, my coffee and doughnut are wearing off, and I'm happy that it's time for...
Lunch: Good food is too far away to walk with my friend's injured knee, so we stick around the convention center, paying too much money for okay fries and chuckling about how there's hardly anyone at a national dance competition that's going on in one of the top floor rooms. I'm also reviewing my first two matches (still riding high on my Gigas win) and getting ready for the next few rounds, I might actually top cut if I play smart for the rest of the day.
Round 3: Chris B. with Mewtwo
A fun round. Chris was a relatively new player, like myself, so he wasn't really up on all the cards in my deck, just as I wasn't too familiar with Mewtwo or Mewtwo Lv. X. He flipped a Mewtwo for his opening turn after winning the toss. My hand was: Broken Time-Space, Azelf, Spiritomb, Fighting Energy, Lightning Energy, Pokemon Collector, Luxury Ball. I proceed to take the following turn:
Flip Spiritomb, draw Rare Candy, Collector for Magnemite, Uxie, and Sandshrew, bench Magnemite and Sandshrew, Azelf Sandslash out of my prizes, play BTS, evolve Sandslash, attach the Fighting to Spiritomb, Dig Down for nothing and shuffle, Uxie for four (Magnezone Prime, Pokemon Communication, Fighting Energy, Magnemite), retreat 'Tomb for Azelf, Rare Candy into Magnezone Prime, Regicycle the Fighting Energy and Pokemon Communication from my hand, play the second Magnemite, and Magnetic Draw for five, managing to evolve the second Magnemite into a Magneton in the process.
I won easily after a near perfect start, but to be fair, Chris wasn't entirely familiar with my deck, so I took time explaining my turns to him. He never really set up, but I could see the thought process behind his deck, and I liked it.
2-1
The idea of Mulligan Mewtwo seems interesting, enough that I kinda want to build one of my own. I can only guess that was the idea behind Chris' deck, since I didn't get to see much of it.
Round 4: Kurtis O. with Scizor/Tyranitaur/Umbreon
A wacky deck, but I see what he was trying to do- cover the bases. T-Tar tanks out while Scizor covers Special Energy and Umbreon covers Powers and bodies. Umbreon had my number from the get-go, and I wasn't able to mount an efficient defense in time.
2-2
Umbreon is a killer in the format. As much as I love Eevee and all the evolutions, Umbreon is beginning to be a thorn in my side.
Round 5: Hiroshi N with Dusknoir Lv. X
Ouch. he starts with Spiritomb and Duskull to my lone 'Tomb, and I'm going first. No Collector for two turns, at which time he's set up Dusknoir and started the Shadow Command. I manage to get going and KO his 'Tomb, but he sets up a SECOND Dusknoir and evolves the first one to Lv. X. I manage to take it out, but then the Stadium effect hits and he runs circles around me for the rest of a very short game. If I weren't already playing Magnezone, I'd play this instead.
Props to Hiroshi. He didn't appear to speak much English, but he was calm and polite throughout the game, shook my hand afterwards, and was a really good sport. I enjoyed this game, and I hope to see him at more events in the future.
2-3
Round 6: Robert W. with Tangrowth/Yanmega
Robert was playing a deck that I thought about building myself, before Magnezone stole my heart and locked it in his cold, metal body. His main attacker was Yanmega SV, which has an attack, Wind Return, for Double Colorless that states "you may return all Grass Energy attached to Yanmega to your hand. If you do, this attack does 20 damage times the number of Energy returned this way." and a Poke-Power, Speed Boost, that lets you grab a Grass Energy from your Discard pile if Yanmega is your Active. I love this Yanmega, more than Prime (which he ran one of that I saw), simply because he hits for so much more. he teched in Tangrowth with Leaf Guard and Shaymin Ground Lv. X, something I never thought of doing. The game was close due to Yanmega's brutal attack and free retreat cost, and this game also came down to time. I learned from my last experience, and when he brought in Yanmega Prime to try and finish me off, I had the final Lightning energy I needed to hit him for 190 with my belted Magnezone.
3-3
Round 7: Colton F. with Donphan/Kingdra
Colton and Kurtis were on the same team, since they were wearing the same style of shirt with nicknames and other Pokemon-related graphics. This game, i didn't set up in time to deal with Donphan, and with double Kingdra Prime plugging away at my bench, I couldn't do much, and I quietly let my last match go.
3-4
So, my first ranked event wasn't too bad. I went 3-4 with a barely-tested deck and less than three months play experience. I had a great time and saw places to improve both my deck and my playing. Here's the list I ran with:
4 Spiritomb AR
2 Regirock LA
1 Uxie LA
1 Azelf LA
1 Sandshrew SV
1 Sandslash SV
4 Magnemite SF-66
3 Magneton SF-42
3 Magnezone Prime
1 Magnezone SF-6
1 Luxury Ball
2 Rare Candy
2 junk Arm
2 Pokemon Communication
2 Expert Belt
1 Professor Oak's New Theory
2 Bebe's Search
3 Engineer's Adjustments
3 Pokemon Collector
3 Judge
1 Broken Time-Space
2 Sunyshore City Gym
7 Fighting Energy
4 Electric Energy
2 Rescue Energy
2 Warp Energy
I ran into a couple of issues with the deck, at least my build of it. One was energy problems. The reason I didn't run as much as recommended was a personal choice, and one that was a bit of a mistake. I found myself running out of energy too soon, or needing just one more to win and not getting there. That issue is on the way to being addressed.
The second was Sandslash. Now, from secondhand reports from friends and a couple of overheard conversations, I understand that I might have made a revolutionary new breakthrough in the deck. I'll say this: if you can fit him in, Sandslash SV is great. Dig Down lets you look at the top 5 cards of your deck (Take THAT, Chatot G, Slowking, and all you other deck-fixers!), choose as many Fighting Energy as you like (usually enough to keep Regi Cycle moving) into your hand after showing them to your opponent, then put the rest back on top and shuffle. It does wonders to keep the engine going. Unfortunately, he ended up sitting on the bench most of the time, taking up space and not doing anything. I've since replaced him with Dodrio UD to lessen the Retreat cost of the deck (mostly because I'm still looking for an Unown Q).
All in all, I loke the deck a lot. It requires a certain amount of thought and skill to play, and I'm not ashamed of my standings at day's end. I took 77th overall, and I'm looking forward to maybe doing better at Regionals with a newer, beefier version of Magnezone.
Props:
-Corey, for hooking me up at the last second with my final Regirock
-Trevor W., for chatting with me about Magnezone and what to do post-rotation
-Shane's Big League, for being a great vendor and a great league spot
-PokeMATHter, for running another awesome league and for helping put together a great event
-Sandslash, for keeping me alive during Gigas and Luxchomp
Slops:
-Energy problems
-No nearby food places/convention center prices
-Misplay that probably kept me from top cut.
-Umbreon
-Sandslash, for being a benchwarmer
Saturday came early at 5, and I woke up with butterflies. After drinking a cup of instant coffee, I grabbed my lucky Pikachu shirt and headed out the door. We arrived almost an hour before registration started, and spent most of that time looking for the remaining few cards for our decks. I came up lucky for my friend by finding her a Toxicroak G promo, the one card she needed for completion, but we were having no luck finding a second Regirock or Warp Energies. I managed to borrow some Judges from friends, and we did find the Warps, but Regirock was being a true legendary and nearly impossible to find or trade for until our friend Corey pulled some amazing trading out of his hat. Total props for helping me out like that. With my deck complete, I registered, got it checked, and mingled until my first round started.
Round 1: Jarron D. with Gigas.
He wins the flip, but has to mulligan, giving me a rare candy. Round starts, and he flips up a lone Mesprit to my Spiritomb and Sandshrew. I Collector for Uxie, Magnemite, and Azelf, Darkness Gracing to Sandslash and getting myself ready to go. His first prize is my own Spiritomb going down to grab a Magnezone Prime. After that, it's four solid KOs- Mesprit, Uxie, and 2 Crobat G. he drops Regiice, Gigas, and Mesprit to Powerlock me, but realistically, it's too late by then. He manages to get Gigas Lv. X, but he sacs an Uxie to power up and I take prize five as he Dgar Offs my Sandslash. I have no way to move it, so I let it sit while I Belt up a Magnezone Prime and attach my Rescue to get him ready to go. He Blasters my Sandslash and I send up Magnezone, doing 170 for the win.
1-0
I'm fired up at this point, because I just won my first ranked Pokemon match against Gigas. My friends congratulated me (some of them seemed a little surprised, but they're forgiven), and then it was time for round 2.
Round 2: Trevor W. with Luxchomp.
Props to Trevor for an awesome game and a great lesson in Pokemon. Luxchomp was my most feared matchup, mostly because i had no experience against the deck. Trevor won the flip, and I had a bad start, but he was slow off the line as well. The first six turns were me trying to set up while he Chattered away at my Spiritomb, Once Spiritomb was finally KO'ed (his first prize), I returned with a Belted Magnezone for an easy 70 points. We traded prizes here and there, but his best play was Crobat G to my Regirock with five energy, followed by a Dragon Rush. I managed to pull up my other Regi, and we managed to hit three prizes a piece when time was called.
Now, time was called as I was just beginning my turn, so I basically had a free turn to play around with. I made a rookie mistake of not attaching any energy to my Belted Magnezone Prime (I had Super Connectivity Magnezone on the Bench and a Lightning in the discard), and instead just passed the turn. He Bright Looked my Azelf into the active and passed. My second turn came around, and I found the warp energy I needed to get Azelf out of the active spot, but my earlier mistake had left me with no way to take the one prize i needed to win. He Dragon Rushed Azelf on my bench for game.
1-1
I learned a lot this game, about myself as a player, the Luxchomp matchup, and the game state itself. Unfortunately, my coffee and doughnut are wearing off, and I'm happy that it's time for...
Lunch: Good food is too far away to walk with my friend's injured knee, so we stick around the convention center, paying too much money for okay fries and chuckling about how there's hardly anyone at a national dance competition that's going on in one of the top floor rooms. I'm also reviewing my first two matches (still riding high on my Gigas win) and getting ready for the next few rounds, I might actually top cut if I play smart for the rest of the day.
Round 3: Chris B. with Mewtwo
A fun round. Chris was a relatively new player, like myself, so he wasn't really up on all the cards in my deck, just as I wasn't too familiar with Mewtwo or Mewtwo Lv. X. He flipped a Mewtwo for his opening turn after winning the toss. My hand was: Broken Time-Space, Azelf, Spiritomb, Fighting Energy, Lightning Energy, Pokemon Collector, Luxury Ball. I proceed to take the following turn:
Flip Spiritomb, draw Rare Candy, Collector for Magnemite, Uxie, and Sandshrew, bench Magnemite and Sandshrew, Azelf Sandslash out of my prizes, play BTS, evolve Sandslash, attach the Fighting to Spiritomb, Dig Down for nothing and shuffle, Uxie for four (Magnezone Prime, Pokemon Communication, Fighting Energy, Magnemite), retreat 'Tomb for Azelf, Rare Candy into Magnezone Prime, Regicycle the Fighting Energy and Pokemon Communication from my hand, play the second Magnemite, and Magnetic Draw for five, managing to evolve the second Magnemite into a Magneton in the process.
I won easily after a near perfect start, but to be fair, Chris wasn't entirely familiar with my deck, so I took time explaining my turns to him. He never really set up, but I could see the thought process behind his deck, and I liked it.
2-1
The idea of Mulligan Mewtwo seems interesting, enough that I kinda want to build one of my own. I can only guess that was the idea behind Chris' deck, since I didn't get to see much of it.
Round 4: Kurtis O. with Scizor/Tyranitaur/Umbreon
A wacky deck, but I see what he was trying to do- cover the bases. T-Tar tanks out while Scizor covers Special Energy and Umbreon covers Powers and bodies. Umbreon had my number from the get-go, and I wasn't able to mount an efficient defense in time.
2-2
Umbreon is a killer in the format. As much as I love Eevee and all the evolutions, Umbreon is beginning to be a thorn in my side.
Round 5: Hiroshi N with Dusknoir Lv. X
Ouch. he starts with Spiritomb and Duskull to my lone 'Tomb, and I'm going first. No Collector for two turns, at which time he's set up Dusknoir and started the Shadow Command. I manage to get going and KO his 'Tomb, but he sets up a SECOND Dusknoir and evolves the first one to Lv. X. I manage to take it out, but then the Stadium effect hits and he runs circles around me for the rest of a very short game. If I weren't already playing Magnezone, I'd play this instead.
Props to Hiroshi. He didn't appear to speak much English, but he was calm and polite throughout the game, shook my hand afterwards, and was a really good sport. I enjoyed this game, and I hope to see him at more events in the future.
2-3
Round 6: Robert W. with Tangrowth/Yanmega
Robert was playing a deck that I thought about building myself, before Magnezone stole my heart and locked it in his cold, metal body. His main attacker was Yanmega SV, which has an attack, Wind Return, for Double Colorless that states "you may return all Grass Energy attached to Yanmega to your hand. If you do, this attack does 20 damage times the number of Energy returned this way." and a Poke-Power, Speed Boost, that lets you grab a Grass Energy from your Discard pile if Yanmega is your Active. I love this Yanmega, more than Prime (which he ran one of that I saw), simply because he hits for so much more. he teched in Tangrowth with Leaf Guard and Shaymin Ground Lv. X, something I never thought of doing. The game was close due to Yanmega's brutal attack and free retreat cost, and this game also came down to time. I learned from my last experience, and when he brought in Yanmega Prime to try and finish me off, I had the final Lightning energy I needed to hit him for 190 with my belted Magnezone.
3-3
Round 7: Colton F. with Donphan/Kingdra
Colton and Kurtis were on the same team, since they were wearing the same style of shirt with nicknames and other Pokemon-related graphics. This game, i didn't set up in time to deal with Donphan, and with double Kingdra Prime plugging away at my bench, I couldn't do much, and I quietly let my last match go.
3-4
So, my first ranked event wasn't too bad. I went 3-4 with a barely-tested deck and less than three months play experience. I had a great time and saw places to improve both my deck and my playing. Here's the list I ran with:
4 Spiritomb AR
2 Regirock LA
1 Uxie LA
1 Azelf LA
1 Sandshrew SV
1 Sandslash SV
4 Magnemite SF-66
3 Magneton SF-42
3 Magnezone Prime
1 Magnezone SF-6
1 Luxury Ball
2 Rare Candy
2 junk Arm
2 Pokemon Communication
2 Expert Belt
1 Professor Oak's New Theory
2 Bebe's Search
3 Engineer's Adjustments
3 Pokemon Collector
3 Judge
1 Broken Time-Space
2 Sunyshore City Gym
7 Fighting Energy
4 Electric Energy
2 Rescue Energy
2 Warp Energy
I ran into a couple of issues with the deck, at least my build of it. One was energy problems. The reason I didn't run as much as recommended was a personal choice, and one that was a bit of a mistake. I found myself running out of energy too soon, or needing just one more to win and not getting there. That issue is on the way to being addressed.
The second was Sandslash. Now, from secondhand reports from friends and a couple of overheard conversations, I understand that I might have made a revolutionary new breakthrough in the deck. I'll say this: if you can fit him in, Sandslash SV is great. Dig Down lets you look at the top 5 cards of your deck (Take THAT, Chatot G, Slowking, and all you other deck-fixers!), choose as many Fighting Energy as you like (usually enough to keep Regi Cycle moving) into your hand after showing them to your opponent, then put the rest back on top and shuffle. It does wonders to keep the engine going. Unfortunately, he ended up sitting on the bench most of the time, taking up space and not doing anything. I've since replaced him with Dodrio UD to lessen the Retreat cost of the deck (mostly because I'm still looking for an Unown Q).
All in all, I loke the deck a lot. It requires a certain amount of thought and skill to play, and I'm not ashamed of my standings at day's end. I took 77th overall, and I'm looking forward to maybe doing better at Regionals with a newer, beefier version of Magnezone.
Props:
-Corey, for hooking me up at the last second with my final Regirock
-Trevor W., for chatting with me about Magnezone and what to do post-rotation
-Shane's Big League, for being a great vendor and a great league spot
-PokeMATHter, for running another awesome league and for helping put together a great event
-Sandslash, for keeping me alive during Gigas and Luxchomp
Slops:
-Energy problems
-No nearby food places/convention center prices
-Misplay that probably kept me from top cut.
-Umbreon
-Sandslash, for being a benchwarmer
