ChicoBlanco
New Member
not that many of you will want to read this, cuz it's only 6th lol... but who cares I'm writing it anyway.
PS: I know it's really late for a nats report, but Bret (my little bro) wanted to use this deck at worlds, so I had to save the report for later.
& plus I'm a bum.
so here's the deck:
(pokemon: 18)
4 Gligar (UF)
4 Machop (DP)
3 Machoke (DP)
4 Machamp (DP)
1 Nidoran (DF)
1 Nidoqueen (DF)
1 *Absol ex (PK)
(trainers: 27)
4 Castaway
4 Celio's Network
3 Steven's Advice
2 Copycat
2 Holon Transceiver
2 Holon Mentor
1 Holon Scientist
4 Rare Candy
2 Crystal Shard
2 Strength Charm
1 Pluspower
(energy: 15)
11 Fighting
4 Double Rainbow
before we start, I know some of you will laugh at the list, and say the following.
1. Why not just use Mario?
2. This would lose to Flygon ex 'd'! -Big Chuck
3. Why the 1-0-1 nidoqueen?
4. This deck would lose to Banette ex! -Big Chuck
1.
More consistent, and generally had better matchups then Mario did, against the current archetypes.
2.
No it doesn't lose to Flygon ex 'd'....
Gligar & Machop both KO Castform, messing up their setup, Delta Supply Flygons can get Crystal Sharded, and when they get a Flygon EX 'd' out, it doesn't OHKO Machamp... and you usually just win the Prize game.
3.
The 1-0-1 Nidoqueen gave the edge against certain setup decks, (Infernape for one)
& against decks that used Cessation/Cursed stone,
just don't drop the Queen.
4.
No it doesn't lose to banette... just kidding.. yes Chuck, it's an autoloss to banette lol..
(and I was hoping so bad not to play you in Top 32..)
the deck's basically just really consistent and energy efficient.
4-3-4 Machamp, 4 Candy, and 4 Celio make it easy to get Machamps out.
Gligar KO's Castforms and other random basics for 1 Energy,
Machamp uses Revenge for 1 energy after Gligar dies, and after that, you can attach DRE and start pounding with Dynamic Punch.
*the Absol ex is a situational Triple-Pluspower, and he also gets the unsuspecting last 2 prizes against that EX on the opponent's bench with 20 hp left.
k, now that that's out of the way, here's the report.
(sry, I don't remember the names of most of the people I played)
so I enter the huge 400+ people line for signing up for the tournament.
I randomly meet an old Worlds friend Alex Wooten(Hot Carl) and he mentions that he's running Ambush...
lol.. I had no idea what Ambush was, but I heard other people talking about it as well.
hmm... well eventually I'd find out..
Round 1 vs Carolina dude with MetaNite:
This guy was from either South or North Carolina if I remember right...
we make jokes and talk a bunch before the match. he tells me that his state has the best 10-under players in the US.
sweet.
so we start, he gets a mulligan, I see a Dragonair.
gulp. Metanite.
Despite MetaNite being a pretty good matchup, Agility flips can always decide the game.
he draws, gets a basic.
he starts with Holon's Castform, I start with Machop.
he seems really annoyed that I have a Machop.
He goes first, draws for his turn. passes.
I draw, Drop a Castaway.
he slams his hand on the table and scoops.
trying to be a good sport, I say, "wait, don't forfeit yet, Strength Charm might be prized"
I look thru.
it's not prized.
I drop the Strength Charm.
GG.
sry man... hopefully no hard feelings.
1-0
Round 2 vs guy with RaiEggs/Licky 'd'.
this dude was cool, and had a good teched out RaiEggs.
we draw our hands. and start. I look at mine. ALL 4 Gligars in my opening hand with no Draw/Search cards. uh oh.
I'm a bit more relived when he flips over 2 Pikachus. but still.. I was pretty freaked out.
if it weren't for his slowish setup, and lack of Scrambles till mid-game.. I prolly woulda lost, but because of his lack of scrambles, I eventually got a good Steven's Advice, and got setup and won.
GG dude.
2-0
Round 3 vs Kevin (Mathorn1) with T-tar EX(UF)/Swampert EX/Budew
This match was soo close.
Kevin's deck was awesome.
if it wern't for weakness, I would've been Pwned so bad.
He goes 1st, starts with Budew.
I was like, sweet he's running Infernape.
then he drops 2 Larvitars. hmm... T-Tar ex maybe?
he attaches a Darkness to Larvitar, searches for a switch with Budew.
I low kick his Budew.
He attaches another Darkness to Larvitar, Candies to T-Tar EX, plays switch and KO's my Machop for 60.
Woah.
send up Machop number 2. no Machamp :/
Low kick 40.
He rampages thru my basics, and then I get a Champ. and KO his T-Tar ex.
he starts Roselia flick poisening a ton, in very smart, cruicial ways.
I attach DRE to Champ, and try to KO roselia on a Dynamic Punch flip, but fail so he retreats it.
thats when he starts fighting with his Swampert ex beasts.
and this is also where it gets unfomfortably close.
it gets down to 1 prize to 1 prize... and it totally looks like he has the game with the Swampert ex out, and I have no Machamps left.
but I see on his bench, the Roselia with 50 damage on it.
I mentor, play the absol, and move damage from the Swampert ex to Roselia For the last prize.
Great game dude. it was awesome meeting you, and hopefully I'll see you again at a future event.
3-0
Round 4 vs friendly dude with Empoleon/eeveelutions spread
this guy was a really friendly dude, and a friend of the Nance bro's.
All I remember is that I get a really good set up this time, including a turn 2 Machoke with DRE, turn 3 Machamp, and a turn 4 Queen. I ko his Prinplup with Machamp.
he pulls a ton of eevee tricks on me with Super Scoop up, including Devolving my Queen, but I had another Candy to evolve it again.
then he plays a Battle Fronteir. ouch.
it would've been really close early game, except his hand size was way too small and he didn't have enough energy. So in the meantime, I'm grabbing prizes.
then Finally, he pulls a copycat, gets a big hand, rare candy Empoleon Scramble, and Starts KO'ing stuff.
so I eventually win... and despite his bad setup, he got down to 2 prizes.
GG man..
so I apologize for the donkage... and he says "nah man... don't discredit yourself for a win. a win's a win.
cool guy...
then he asked if I played any Stadiums or Windstorms. I say no. he's like "ah man.. that's Balls-y"
lol sorta..
cool meeting ya man..
4-0
Round 5 vs Serious guy with RaiEggs.
so he's 4-0 and I'm wondering what he's running.
we start shuffling. I start joking around to try and lighten up the mood before the match, but he seemed to think I was an idiot, and didn't say stuff back.
we start, and he flips over Holon's Magnemite.
I go first with Machop and low kick his Magnemite for 20.
He mentors for 2 Pikachus and an Egg. he attaches to Egg and passes, probably thinkin I'm gonna KO his Magnemite with my Machop. but I don't.
I know RaiEgg's.... he'd just scramble a Raichu and win.
so I pass.
he seemed pretty annoyed.
I take this time to set up some Machamps, and we both get set up.
that's when I KO Magnemite.
He sends up Exeggcutor and luckily Delta Circles instead of Split Bombs thinking it's the better move, but in testing against this deck, Split Bombing is much more crucial, because I can't respond with a Revenge/Strength Charm KO and otherwise I have to rely on flips.
the game goes on, he ko's a champ, I ko an eggs.
he sends up another eggs, and Split Bombs Machamp and Gligar this time. Uh oh. That could potentially give him an easy 2 prizes.
I flip for Dynamic Punch. luckily it's a heads and I knock him out.
a little after that he scoops.
he walks over to his friend after the game and is kinda mad that I got lucky with the Dynamic Punch flip.. which is true.
but RaiEggs is a already a really good matchup, and judging by the way the game was going, I think I might have had the game.
but who knows..
GG man
5-0
Round 6 vs Brian Jessing (Papi/Manny) with Gligar/Lucario/Mew ex/Roselia tech deck
(aka Gino's deck)
this guy was really easy going and had a good sense of humor.
I start with 2 Machops.
he starts with... Gligar.
woah.. this could be bad.
I look at my hand again and see a Rare Candy/Machamp/DRE...
this could be good.
I go first and low kick him for 20.
he attaches to his Gligar.
then he drops Crystal Beach.
Ouch.
he eventually takes out my Machop with Multiple Gligar action, and I bring up Machamp, but I can't DRE cuz of the Beach, so he ends up owning the Champ with a Mew ex. I send up Gligar and have a Rare Candy/Celio/Mentor in my hand. sweet. now I can poisen him with Gligar, mentor for Machop, and then next turn Rare Candy-Machamp to Revenge his Mew for the KO. I mentor for some Machops. woah. the last 2 are prized.
I knew I couldn't win from there, and I eventually just end up having fun and dropping down 4 gligars, and he's like "woah that's quite a swarm you got there" and then he eventually pwns me, 6 prizes to none lol..
GG man...
5-1
Round 7 vs Paul Johnston with Ambush
This dudes a good player.
I knew I had recognized him from somewhere, and I realized it was at Worlds 2006, when he whooped me in a free play game with his DragTrode.
lol.. anyway..
We start.
I flip over Gligar.
he flips over Prinplup.
hmm...
so I'm playing against the secret Empoleon/Marrowak deck that I heard people talking about. My friend Adrian (PokeMontoya) who lost to the deck twice in swiss, said the deck only played Scramble, and no DRE...
So... in that case, If I don't take early prizes, I could be ok.
But then my other friend Jerry(who ended up making Top 32) beat 2 Ambush decks in swiss, and said that he KO'd the Piplups early.
great.... so which way do I go?
with the 50/50 input, I decided I'll have to try to get early KO's, since that's how my deck fuctions anyway, and if they Out-Energy me with Scramble, I can still revenge for 1 energy.
I end up going first with Gligar, I Toxic Grip Piplup for 10 poisen.
he does 10 to Gligar, then I Pluspower Toxic Grip for the KO on Piplup.
he doesn't have much.
Gligar gets another KO against a Cubone if I remember right.
he eventually gets a Prinlup and starts spreading damage.
I get a Machamp with 3 Fighting Energy and Dynamic Punch for 60 damage, Flip for the KO... tails.
He breaths a sigh of relief and evolves into empoleon. does 70.
I Castaway for a Strength Charm to KO his Empoleon without flipping.
He doesn't seem to pull much after I KO'd that Empoleon.
The game goes on and He pulls a Copycat, Scramble Empoleon, and gets some KO's, but I'm just too ahead on prizes, and I win because of his slow setup.
GG
6-1
Adrian informs me that I'm playing MadHatter next round.
hmm... this won't be easy.
I've seen some of MadHatter's decks on the Gym, and he's a skilled guy.
the decks that I've seen of his are really consistantly built, and he knows what he's doing..
so I walk over to the table, getting ready to face my opponent..
Round 8 vs MadHatter with LucarioLutions
I get a T2 Machamp with DRE, and get some KO's.
He doesen't have much..
I evolve a bench machop to a machoke and attach DRE.
He evolves to Espeon ex, devolves benched Machoke, Discards my DRE. Ouch.
then he Vappy ex's away my hand. Ouch.
and evolves to Lucario.. but only has the one energy.
he Feints.
I try to Confuse the Lucario, fail.
he does another 30 before I KO it.. and he didn't pull much energy after that.
ugh...
GG
sry about the donk man... :/ wish you had gotten a bigger hand.
7-1
Round 9 vs Jimmy Ballard with Ambush
I look at the pairings.
crud.
I'm playing Jimmy.
I walk over to the table and say word.
Jimmy's a cool guy, and he's making jokes and just having a good time.
We start.
I start with a... lone Nidoran. uh oh.
He starts with a Cubone.
Shoot... Jimmy's playing the secret deck.
wait a sec, so this rogue Empoleon/Marrowak deck that's been goin around must be called 'Ambush'.
much better. now I can sleep at night lol.
except for the fact that I still don't know how to properly play against "Ambush", since Paul Johnston's loss was because of a slower setup.
so I go first. I draw a Machop and drop it on the bench.
then I attach to Nidoran, and after thinking for a second whether to use Tail Whip or Scratch on his Cubone, I use Scratch for 10, cuz now Marrowak is in KO'ing range of Revenge lol..
he attaches to Cubone and does 10.
I play a supporter, attach to my Machop and do 10 with Nidoran.
Then he plays some Piplups, attaches a Holon's Trode to Cubone and uses Rage on my Nidoran for the KO.
ok, Nidoqueen's gone, which I can live with, but I am far more relieved now that he can't Scramble me with a fast Empoleon, cuz he's ahead on prizes.
So I get a Machoke, KO his Cubone, and he gets a Prinplup and Aqua Showers.
I evolve to Machamp, Flip heads on Dynamic Punch for the KO, and start KO'ing stuff with Machamp.
He doesen't get too hot of a setup after that, a lot of Cursed Stones and Cessations which didn't do anything against me.
He finally gets a Rare Candy Empoleon Scramble, and KO's a Champ.
I end up KO'ing the Empoleon with another Machamp.
then he sends up another Empoleon, and we start KO'ing each other's Empoleons/Machamps and trading prizes.
he eventually brings up the last Empoleon, and does damage to Machamp. I Dynamic Punch for some damage, and then he plays a well timed Briney's to prevent me from getting my last prize.
at this point, I'm down to 1 prize. he's down to 2.
He Candy's the Empoleon, Scrambles, retreats and brings it back up again for the KO on my Champ.
awesome move dude..
I bring up another Machamp with a Fighting on it, attach Strength Charm to Burn my hand and play Steven's, then use Revenge for 70.
After he draws his card, I realize it would've been revenge for 80.
but I don't say anything and discard Strength Charm, cuz it's a turn too late. Crud... I could've attached DRE next turn and won without a flip.
but he retreats anyway, sends up Roselia, and Flick Poisens out my benched Machamp with 1 energy on it.
I attach Double Rainbow to the active poisened Machamp, Mentor for Absol ex, move 3 Damage from the Empoleon to the Roselia, and Dynamic Punch for the win without the flip.
GG.
Jimmy shakes my hand.
despite his bad draws, he was joking around and laughing throughout the game, which I respected a lot, since thats definately unusual when it comes to competitive play.
8-1
So I am in the Top Cut, and after hearing that a ton of 7-2's didn't make it, I'm pretty glad that I'm 8-1..
I walk over to my friend Jayson, and find out he also made top cut, being a 7-2 with good resistance. way to go Jayson.
Then I go over to my friend Jerry (who's also from Colorado), and he of course made it, being undefeated until the 7th round. thats some killer resistance right there.
So I look at the placings. I'm 5th, and judging by the placings, I predict that I'm playing against Paul Johnston tommorow.
that makes me nervous.. since I still haven't faught against an Ambush that got properly set up.
So I wake up the next day, and take the long walk thru the hotel to the convention center.
The judge escorts me to my seat.
and I'm across from a dude who's defenatly not Paul Johnston.
I ask the Judge if the dude who's not Paul Johnston is my opponent, and the judge seems to ignores me and says "sit down." well...nice meeting you too.
I look over and notice that Jayson is next to me, and I'm like "hey wassup dude"
I also notice that Alex Brossau is in Top 32, and my little brother said earlier that he is playing a Speed Banette.
....woah. hope I never come across him.
The judge walks over to me and says "you can optionally take a free prize vs your opponent, because we have to give him a penalty."
the judge walks away.. and I jokingly say to Jayson, "I'm playing vs Ambush, of course I'm not gonna take a free Prize, then they'll just Rare Candy/Scramble first turn." lol (still thinking my opponent was gonna be Paul Johnston, and that the guy sitting across from me wasn't my opponent, but that this was just our temporary seating)
The judges say, "you may set up!"
I say "wait so I am I playing against you?"
the guy who's most defenatly not Paul Johnston says "yea"...
hmm...so now I know, the deck I'm facing most likely isn't Ambush, so I know strategically, it'll be better to take the free prize.
I ask him why they gave him a penalty,
he says "because the judges said one of my card sleeves was marked"
I say "heck man, I know how the judges are about that.
I'm not taking any prize. this is gonna be a fair game."
he nodds and seems to respect that.
so the round starts.
Top 32 vs Chris S(ToysRUsKid) with Infernape
we shuffle, and set up, shake hands, and I wish him good luck.
Game 1:
I flip over a Gligar and a Machop.
He flips over a Budew.
cool. an Infernape.
he goes first and drops a Chimchar, then uses Budew to grab Transceiver.
I attach to Gligar, Castaway for Strength Charm/Celio, attach Strength Charm to Gligar, and use Toxic Grip for 20 and poisen.
He's kind of annoyed, because now he's gonna have to waste an energy retreating Budew, or else poisen KO's it, and I get a free attack next turn. (plus Absol can move the 3 damage away to a future Ape, to OHKO the Ape with Revenge)
He attaches, Transceivers for Mentor, retreats the Budew for a Chimchar, evolves the Chimchar to Monferno, and hits for 30.
I attach to Machop, Celio for Machamp, I find out my Nidoqueen is prized. Ouch. so play Rare Candy and attach to the Machamp.
I drop another Gligar and a Machop, then use Toxic Grip for 10 Poisen.
He evolves to Ape, gets a Energy Draw Catty goin, and Blasts the Gligar for 90.
I mentor for 2 Machops and a Gligar because my Queen is prized.
I send up Machamp, PlusPower and Revenge for 80 for the KO.
eventually I pull Queen out of the Prizes.
so we both get set up quite well, and he's sending up Apes and doing 80 with Double Rainbows, but I don't let him get Gligar KO's and just go aggresive with my Machamps, so it's a 2 hit KO both ways.
then he gets out his LV X, OHKO's Machamp,
I have no energies in play.
I send up another Machamp and revenge for 70.
He discards a ton with TV reporter/Double Energy Draw/and uses Constrain to get another 8 energy in the discard pile.
Wow. that's unusual.
He OHKO's my Machamp.
I send up another Machamp with no energy on it, attach and revenge for the KO.
over time, the Machamps overwhelm the Apes.. and I win game 1.
(I later found out that Farmer was in his prizes, so that limited his Ape swarming)
GG
1-0
by now, I knew Chris definitely wasn't an average joe Infernape player.
Infernape was normally a good matchup for me, but his version was so consistant, and had so many fire energy, he'd always be OHKO'ing with Ape LV X,
so I knew I'd be really tough next game..
as I was thinking this thru, the judge(who was friendly & cool, don't get me wrong) watching our game seemed to like my deck, and he made a remark on how I survived with so little NRG in play, and he's like "wow.. this makes me want to try building a Machamp deck"
I felt bad for opponent Chris, because he was definitely a great player, and all his energies had Professor Stamps on them,
and I probably looked like a noob with a Gligar Machamp deck... so I'm sure it didn't help that the judge made that comment but oh well..
so we start game 2.
Game 2:
I start with Machop.. and get a really scary hand this time.
some energy, a few tools, absol ex, and No Draw/Search.
He goes first, and attacks with Chimchar. I pull a mentor for my turn, play Mentor, check if the Queen's prized.. it's not.
so I grab Gligar, Machop and Nidoran.
I low kick.
then he gets 2 Energy Draw Cattys on the 2nd turn.
he gets an uber huge hand and a crazy setup, vs my tiny hand and my random Gligars and such. then I pull.... Transceiver.
I Transceiver for Scientist, burn my hand down, and play Scientist for 15 cards. whoo hoo.
I pull Rare Candy Queen, and start building up a setup.
I revenge an Ape for 70.
He uses Ape Lv X to OHKO.
I send up another Machamp and hit him for Revenge.
After some crazy energy drawing/tv reportering/and constraining with a massive hand, he OHKO's me again. (dang, his version of Ape is insane)
I send up Gligar for free retreat.
I notice the Ape on the bench with 70 on it, and the Ape LV X active with 70 on it.
I use Nidoqueen to grab Absol ex, slide off 3 Damage from Ape LV X to the benched Ape for the KO. now the Ape LV X only has 40 damage on it.
I Castaway for Strength Charm, retreat the Gligar for Machamp, Charm the Machamp, and use Revenge for 80 to KO active Ape LV X.
wow. two Infernape KO's in 1 turn.
now all he had left is another Ape and some Cattys.
at one point in the game, he used Celebi to get back Infernape LV X
and tried to use Energy Draw to get the 8th energy in there, but had no cards left in his deck. the judge says "you can't energy draw if you have nothing to draw"
so he had to play Farmer to stop himself from decking.
so eventually it got down to his 2 Prizes left to my 1.
at this point, I'm freaking out, cuz he has a Catty EX on the bench,
and my last Machop is the last prize card.
so if he sends the Catty up and OHKO's my active Champ, I'd have no way to power up Queen fast enough to get my last prize... and he could easily win the 3rd game on time, cuz Ape is fast like that.
So I used Nidoqueen to search for a Machamp from my deck, acting like I had the Candy/Machop in my hand to KO his Catty.
I attack his ape for Dynamic Punch and fail.
ouch. 50.
He thinks for awhile, and finally says, "I guess it'll come down to a flip"
he hits me for 90 with ape.
I attach a fighting to Queen, and flip for Dynamic Punch... heads.
I grab my last prize.
GG.
2-0
He seemed a bit disappointed at the flip, but I could've just attached a DRE to Queen next turn for the win anyway.
just as long as he didn't send up that Catty EX a turn earlier, I was okay.
Cool. I make it into the Top 16 cut.
sweet. looks like the playtesting me and my little bro did with this deck finally paid off some.
so I find out Jerry's bad news. he lost 2-0 in the Top 32 vs King Gengar's Mario. ah man.. oh well.
and I find out some more bad news. I'm playing against my friend Jayson.
wow.. that's lame.
we're the only two Hot Tie Members left in Top 16, and one of us was gonna lose either way....
Top 16 vs Jayson Harry with R-Gon.
We both shuffle, and I shake Jayson's hand and wish him good luck.
The match begins.
I start with Gligar. he starts with Trapinch.
Gligar KO's a Trapinch and a Castform.
Then he starts swarming me with Delta Supply Flygons and an Exeggcutor,
I Revenge/Pluspower the Egg.
He Swifts me for 60 with Flygon.
I can't seem to pull Castaways for Crystal Shard, so I have to just use Dynamic Punch against his Flygons with resistance.
Well, I flip heads on the first, he retreats for number 2, charms it and KO's my Machamp. I bring up Machamp number 2, and flip heads on Dynamic Punch again.
the multiple heads on confusion were too much, so we eventually started game 2.
GG
1-0
Game 2:
he goes first against my Gligar, attaches to his active Trapinch.
I drop Machop and I assume that he has a turn-2 Delta Supply Flygon in his hand, since he went first and all.
I look at my hand. Rare Candy, Castaway.
Perfect. So if he does have the T2 Flygon, I can Castaway for Celio/Shard
and get a Rare Candy Revenge with Crystal Shard for 140.
I Castaway... both shards are prized.
great lol..
I grab a Charm, and Poisen him with Gligar.
He Candies to Flygon 'd', attaches Castform, Delta Supplies, and KO's the Gligar with Swift.
I send up Machamp and use Revenge for 40.
He Swifts. I Revenge for nothing. He Swifts.
I end up getting a Rare Candy/Celio and grab Nidoqueen and start powering that up. he KO's Machamp. 4 Pokemon in the discard.
I mentor to put a 5th pokemon in there, attach DRE to Queen, and KO his Flygon 'd' with Vengeance.
then we both start getting set up and pulling prizes, I pull a Crystal Shard out of the prizes.
He fights with Flygon 'd' and I Shard it.
tons of Flygons are dead, tons of Machamps are dead, and it gets down to 1 prize to 1 prize.
I have a full health Machamp active, 2 Gligars on bench vs his Exeggcutor active, a Latios ex on the bench with 90 damage on it, and some Delta Basics.
He attaches Charm and hits me for 70.
next turn, he'll win with Delta Circle, unless I get a heads with Dynamic Punch.
I look through my hand and see the mentor.
I play mentor, grab Absol ex (the only basic in my deck)
Jayson reaches out to shake my hand, since I can just Drop the Absol, move 3 Damage from Latios to Egg, and then get my last prize without the flip.
GG
2-0
I shake hands, and tell him that he played phenominally, & that it was lame that we had had to play each other.
Jayson's a fantasic player, and I hope to see him own our mountain west regionals again sometime.
Cat and her mom greet me, and ask if I'm in the Top 8, and I'm like, 'yeah it was really close.'
They wish me luck in Top 8.
thanks guys.
so I'm actually in the top 8. dang.
and I also find out Alex Brossau is in the Top 8.
(QUIT FOLLOWING ME DANG IT! lol.. you're gonna beat me)
luckily I find out I'm not playing against Alex Brossau's Banette.
so.. I sit down and meet my next opponent.
Jay Hornung.
This guy was really cool... chill and not all uptight like most people would be in the Top 8, and just an overall friendly dude.
Top 8 vs Jay Hornung(Jaeger) with Scizor/Gross/Queen
We start our match. I see Bret my little brother trying to watch the game, since this match decides who goes to Worlds, and who dosen't.
I see a Scyther on his board. oh.. man. I'm in for a hard match.
I get a great hand which includes Machop/Candy/Mahamp/Double Rainbow.
wow.
so I end up getting out t2 Champ, and like, a turn 4 Queen, and his setup's not all that hot.
so he ends up getting out a Scizor, and through Dynamic Punching and Reveging, I KO one Scizor, then he gets some Prizes with the second Scizor...
and with some tedious work of Revenging/Gligar Poisening/Scizor retreating and powering up with Super Connectivity, I bring Scizor number 2 down to 20 HP.
He retreats the Scizor, starts swarming with Metagross.
I damage the Metagross with Champ. He hits Champ for like 100 with Metagross.
next turn use Absol ex to slide off damage from the Metagross to the Scizor FTW.
1-0
Game 2:
he starts with Scyther, me with Machop.
He goes first.
he realizes he forgot to set his prizes, and calls a judge.
luckily, the judge is cool and doesn't make a big deal out of it, but gives him like a caution or sumthin.
so Jay attaches, and does twin play.
I attach to Machop and Low Kick 20.
He gets turn 2 Scizor evolves to Nidorina and and Steal Wings the Machop.
I end up getting some stuff with steven's, and then I Low Kick for squat.
he evolves to t3 Queen, and starts getting set up.
Then he pwns the poor Machop.
I play mentor and discard Crystal Shard, totally not knowing that he ran Latios 'star' in the deck.
a few turns later I end up pulling some Champs, and I play Scientist.... hmm...the only card I can "afford" to discard in my hand is the 2nd Crystal Shard.
A couple turns later he drops Latios 'star' and OHKO's Champ.
I was like "CRA******! LATIOS? WHY DID I DISCARD THE SHARDS?!" lol..
so I send up Machamp to Revenge for 40 instead of 140.
eventually it came close in prizes, but not close as far as game play, cuz with Latios 'star' taking out half my Machamps and the other half getting killed by Scizor, Metagross, and Nidoqueen Swarming, he clearly had the game.
GG dude
1-1
hmm... maybe if I had kept the Shards lol..
oh well, now I know what to do for game 3.
Game 3:
we shuffle and setup.
I get 3 Mulligans. crud, I know that if we both get set up perfectly, he'll most likely win.
(Dang you 3 Mulligans lol..)
I pull a basic on the 4th shuffle. it's a Machop, not a Gligar. darn.
I look at my hand.
I figure he's defenatly not gonna start with Castform if he can help it,
plus I don't have a Castaway/Charm/Pluspower in my hand,
so even if I have a tiny chance of a donk, it'll have to wait a turn.
I'll have to go first.
He flips over Castform. (hmm...ok... so he did start with the castform)
I go first. I draw.....Pluspower. (CR**** WHY DIDN'T I GO 2ND?! I WOULDA WON 1ST TURN!?!) lol..
so I low kick Jays Castform for 40.
He seems to be really nervous, which surprised me with the big hand that he had.
he draws for his turn, breaths a sigh of relief, and plays transceiver...(I'm guessing he might've drawn it for his turn?)
He Transceivers for Mentor and gets a T1 Queen. Ouch.
from then on I was certain it was his game.
surprisingly though, I got a decent setup after that with Multiple Steven's Advicing/Celio's, and I got a turn 4 Queen, so I held on.
eventually we both got set up, but Jay was in huge favor with the Prizes,
and I knew time on the clock was low anyway. lol...
so Jay KO's my last Machamp with a clean Metagross... and then they call time on my turn.
Jay had 1 prize left.
I had 4.
wow. lol..
so I send up Gligar, power up my Nidoqueen with a 3rd fighting energy, retreat the Gligar for free. The judge freaks me out by saying "how do you retreat for free?" and I'm like, "free flight... sir!". he picks up the card and reads it.
(geez you're a judge you should know this.. jk jk) and then he's like "ok."
then I use Queen to get Absol ex, dropped the Absol to KO a Scizor on the bench with barely any HP,
then I play pluspower on Queen, and OHKO'd his Metagross for 100 with Vengeance.
1 prize to 1 prize.
YES. next turn, I could attach another strength charm and get another OHKO with my Queen for the win.
well, except of course, for the fact that he had another Metagross and a Metang after that.
So my only hope to win is that Metagross was his last prize, AND he didn't run Farmer. lol... (quite a lot to hope for)
So he sends up Metagross, Invitations for another Metagross (darn) evolves Metang. attaches for his turn, uses 2 Super Connectivities, plays Holon Farmer(jk lol), and OHKO's my Queen with Metagross.
Awesome Games Jay.
1-2
eliminated.
I shake hands with Jay and wish him good luck in the semi-finals.
then I proceed to exit the Top Cut, and a judge shakes my hand and gives me the scholarship package.
I go over to my younger bro Bret... and he was kinda disappointed cuz I was one game away from getting the trip to worlds.
but then I explained to him that Jay's one of those easy going, good sported dudes that you don't mind getting pwned to.
and... besides, who was I to complain?
at least I didn't play Chuck,
right?
-Ian b
PROPS:
1. the nats tournament in general.
2. meeting Kevin (mathorn1) & fighting his rad deck. great meeting ya bro.
3. the cool dude who was friends with the nance bro's, for showing good sportsmanship.
4. Brian Jessing's awesome deck/jokes/good sportsmanship. AND how he Pwned me like none other, 6 prizes to Zip. (not even Chuck would've beaten me six prizes to none. lol... ok if he started with Jolteon 'star' that is)
5. Jimmy for being an awesome sport even though my deck was a noobish Gligar Machamp deck lol
6. Finding out playtesting the night before nats, that my deck needed Scientist instead of Adventurer. boy am I glad I found that out..
7. Absol ex
8. Mike Perucca for being the only person to beat Chris Fulop throughout all of swiss.
9. Losing to Infernape the first 5 games playtesting against it, and then finding out how to beat it, and it later becoming one of the best matchups.
10. Not playing Chuck in Top 32, Top 16, or Top 8.
11. Jayson Harry. great player and an awesome guy.
12. Jay Hornung for being a really cool dude to get pwned against. let me say, I'm glad I lost to him in top 8 instead of Chuck's Banette, cuz that's not even fair, or Steve's Flariados... cuz then I prolly woulda tried to blame it on flips lol
13. Jay for making a great deck choice that no one else would have the bravery to do... and pwning with it. way to go man....!
14. All the cool Utah people..
15. Colorado and Hot Tie doing pretty good at nats. Jerry Top Cut, Jayson Top Cut, me Top Cut, and Tristan winning Nats in 10-under.
16. My & Brets Rogue for actually paying off and showing some success after all those tedious games of playtesting.
17. Going with Mike Perucca and Disney to see Transformers after the tournament was over.
18. White Castle for their 10 tiny microwaved burgers in a white paper bag. (trust me, that place will turn anyone into Harold and Kumar)
19: Going to Hawaii anyway, as 'Bret's Guardian')
20. Meeting Jay again on the Plane to Hawaii, & meeting Gino.. and chilling with them throughout Worlds.
21: Bret deciding to run the deck at worlds, and getting Top 16....only to lose on time by 2 Seconds against an R-Gon :/ so I guess this is kind of a Slop. a PropSlop. Prslop. there we go. a new word. Prslop.
SLOPS:
1. 7-2's (and IMO, even 6-3's) not making it in..
2. how none of my friends thought the deck was any good when I tried to convince them to use it with me. aw well... that woulda been cool tho
3. Adrian using his awesome Swampert ex/Scizor ex deck, but then facing 2 Ambush decks within the first 3 Matches of the Tournament.
4. PsychoDad's Seaking not making it in, because of a donk against Infernape.
5. losing to Jay in Top 8 instead of losing to him in Top 4. jk...jk
6. Gligar for being rotated. I'm gonna miss that little flying... scorpion... rock... bug... thing...
thats all...
thnks for reading fellow PokeMan players.
PS: I know it's really late for a nats report, but Bret (my little bro) wanted to use this deck at worlds, so I had to save the report for later.
& plus I'm a bum.
so here's the deck:
(pokemon: 18)
4 Gligar (UF)
4 Machop (DP)
3 Machoke (DP)
4 Machamp (DP)
1 Nidoran (DF)
1 Nidoqueen (DF)
1 *Absol ex (PK)
(trainers: 27)
4 Castaway
4 Celio's Network
3 Steven's Advice
2 Copycat
2 Holon Transceiver
2 Holon Mentor
1 Holon Scientist
4 Rare Candy
2 Crystal Shard
2 Strength Charm
1 Pluspower
(energy: 15)
11 Fighting
4 Double Rainbow
before we start, I know some of you will laugh at the list, and say the following.
1. Why not just use Mario?
2. This would lose to Flygon ex 'd'! -Big Chuck
3. Why the 1-0-1 nidoqueen?
4. This deck would lose to Banette ex! -Big Chuck
1.
More consistent, and generally had better matchups then Mario did, against the current archetypes.
2.
No it doesn't lose to Flygon ex 'd'....
Gligar & Machop both KO Castform, messing up their setup, Delta Supply Flygons can get Crystal Sharded, and when they get a Flygon EX 'd' out, it doesn't OHKO Machamp... and you usually just win the Prize game.
3.
The 1-0-1 Nidoqueen gave the edge against certain setup decks, (Infernape for one)
& against decks that used Cessation/Cursed stone,
just don't drop the Queen.
4.
No it doesn't lose to banette... just kidding.. yes Chuck, it's an autoloss to banette lol..
(and I was hoping so bad not to play you in Top 32..)
the deck's basically just really consistent and energy efficient.
4-3-4 Machamp, 4 Candy, and 4 Celio make it easy to get Machamps out.
Gligar KO's Castforms and other random basics for 1 Energy,
Machamp uses Revenge for 1 energy after Gligar dies, and after that, you can attach DRE and start pounding with Dynamic Punch.
*the Absol ex is a situational Triple-Pluspower, and he also gets the unsuspecting last 2 prizes against that EX on the opponent's bench with 20 hp left.
k, now that that's out of the way, here's the report.
(sry, I don't remember the names of most of the people I played)
so I enter the huge 400+ people line for signing up for the tournament.
I randomly meet an old Worlds friend Alex Wooten(Hot Carl) and he mentions that he's running Ambush...
lol.. I had no idea what Ambush was, but I heard other people talking about it as well.
hmm... well eventually I'd find out..
Round 1 vs Carolina dude with MetaNite:
This guy was from either South or North Carolina if I remember right...
we make jokes and talk a bunch before the match. he tells me that his state has the best 10-under players in the US.
sweet.
so we start, he gets a mulligan, I see a Dragonair.
gulp. Metanite.
Despite MetaNite being a pretty good matchup, Agility flips can always decide the game.
he draws, gets a basic.
he starts with Holon's Castform, I start with Machop.
he seems really annoyed that I have a Machop.
He goes first, draws for his turn. passes.
I draw, Drop a Castaway.
he slams his hand on the table and scoops.
trying to be a good sport, I say, "wait, don't forfeit yet, Strength Charm might be prized"
I look thru.
it's not prized.
I drop the Strength Charm.
GG.
sry man... hopefully no hard feelings.
1-0
Round 2 vs guy with RaiEggs/Licky 'd'.
this dude was cool, and had a good teched out RaiEggs.
we draw our hands. and start. I look at mine. ALL 4 Gligars in my opening hand with no Draw/Search cards. uh oh.
I'm a bit more relived when he flips over 2 Pikachus. but still.. I was pretty freaked out.
if it weren't for his slowish setup, and lack of Scrambles till mid-game.. I prolly woulda lost, but because of his lack of scrambles, I eventually got a good Steven's Advice, and got setup and won.
GG dude.
2-0
Round 3 vs Kevin (Mathorn1) with T-tar EX(UF)/Swampert EX/Budew
This match was soo close.
Kevin's deck was awesome.
if it wern't for weakness, I would've been Pwned so bad.
He goes 1st, starts with Budew.
I was like, sweet he's running Infernape.
then he drops 2 Larvitars. hmm... T-Tar ex maybe?
he attaches a Darkness to Larvitar, searches for a switch with Budew.
I low kick his Budew.
He attaches another Darkness to Larvitar, Candies to T-Tar EX, plays switch and KO's my Machop for 60.
Woah.
send up Machop number 2. no Machamp :/
Low kick 40.
He rampages thru my basics, and then I get a Champ. and KO his T-Tar ex.
he starts Roselia flick poisening a ton, in very smart, cruicial ways.
I attach DRE to Champ, and try to KO roselia on a Dynamic Punch flip, but fail so he retreats it.
thats when he starts fighting with his Swampert ex beasts.
and this is also where it gets unfomfortably close.
it gets down to 1 prize to 1 prize... and it totally looks like he has the game with the Swampert ex out, and I have no Machamps left.
but I see on his bench, the Roselia with 50 damage on it.
I mentor, play the absol, and move damage from the Swampert ex to Roselia For the last prize.
Great game dude. it was awesome meeting you, and hopefully I'll see you again at a future event.
3-0
Round 4 vs friendly dude with Empoleon/eeveelutions spread
this guy was a really friendly dude, and a friend of the Nance bro's.
All I remember is that I get a really good set up this time, including a turn 2 Machoke with DRE, turn 3 Machamp, and a turn 4 Queen. I ko his Prinplup with Machamp.
he pulls a ton of eevee tricks on me with Super Scoop up, including Devolving my Queen, but I had another Candy to evolve it again.
then he plays a Battle Fronteir. ouch.
it would've been really close early game, except his hand size was way too small and he didn't have enough energy. So in the meantime, I'm grabbing prizes.
then Finally, he pulls a copycat, gets a big hand, rare candy Empoleon Scramble, and Starts KO'ing stuff.
so I eventually win... and despite his bad setup, he got down to 2 prizes.
GG man..
so I apologize for the donkage... and he says "nah man... don't discredit yourself for a win. a win's a win.
cool guy...
then he asked if I played any Stadiums or Windstorms. I say no. he's like "ah man.. that's Balls-y"
lol sorta..
cool meeting ya man..
4-0
Round 5 vs Serious guy with RaiEggs.
so he's 4-0 and I'm wondering what he's running.
we start shuffling. I start joking around to try and lighten up the mood before the match, but he seemed to think I was an idiot, and didn't say stuff back.
we start, and he flips over Holon's Magnemite.
I go first with Machop and low kick his Magnemite for 20.
He mentors for 2 Pikachus and an Egg. he attaches to Egg and passes, probably thinkin I'm gonna KO his Magnemite with my Machop. but I don't.
I know RaiEgg's.... he'd just scramble a Raichu and win.
so I pass.
he seemed pretty annoyed.
I take this time to set up some Machamps, and we both get set up.
that's when I KO Magnemite.
He sends up Exeggcutor and luckily Delta Circles instead of Split Bombs thinking it's the better move, but in testing against this deck, Split Bombing is much more crucial, because I can't respond with a Revenge/Strength Charm KO and otherwise I have to rely on flips.
the game goes on, he ko's a champ, I ko an eggs.
he sends up another eggs, and Split Bombs Machamp and Gligar this time. Uh oh. That could potentially give him an easy 2 prizes.
I flip for Dynamic Punch. luckily it's a heads and I knock him out.
a little after that he scoops.
he walks over to his friend after the game and is kinda mad that I got lucky with the Dynamic Punch flip.. which is true.
but RaiEggs is a already a really good matchup, and judging by the way the game was going, I think I might have had the game.
but who knows..
GG man
5-0
Round 6 vs Brian Jessing (Papi/Manny) with Gligar/Lucario/Mew ex/Roselia tech deck
(aka Gino's deck)
this guy was really easy going and had a good sense of humor.
I start with 2 Machops.
he starts with... Gligar.
woah.. this could be bad.
I look at my hand again and see a Rare Candy/Machamp/DRE...
this could be good.
I go first and low kick him for 20.
he attaches to his Gligar.
then he drops Crystal Beach.
Ouch.
he eventually takes out my Machop with Multiple Gligar action, and I bring up Machamp, but I can't DRE cuz of the Beach, so he ends up owning the Champ with a Mew ex. I send up Gligar and have a Rare Candy/Celio/Mentor in my hand. sweet. now I can poisen him with Gligar, mentor for Machop, and then next turn Rare Candy-Machamp to Revenge his Mew for the KO. I mentor for some Machops. woah. the last 2 are prized.
I knew I couldn't win from there, and I eventually just end up having fun and dropping down 4 gligars, and he's like "woah that's quite a swarm you got there" and then he eventually pwns me, 6 prizes to none lol..
GG man...
5-1
Round 7 vs Paul Johnston with Ambush
This dudes a good player.
I knew I had recognized him from somewhere, and I realized it was at Worlds 2006, when he whooped me in a free play game with his DragTrode.
lol.. anyway..
We start.
I flip over Gligar.
he flips over Prinplup.
hmm...
so I'm playing against the secret Empoleon/Marrowak deck that I heard people talking about. My friend Adrian (PokeMontoya) who lost to the deck twice in swiss, said the deck only played Scramble, and no DRE...
So... in that case, If I don't take early prizes, I could be ok.
But then my other friend Jerry(who ended up making Top 32) beat 2 Ambush decks in swiss, and said that he KO'd the Piplups early.
great.... so which way do I go?
with the 50/50 input, I decided I'll have to try to get early KO's, since that's how my deck fuctions anyway, and if they Out-Energy me with Scramble, I can still revenge for 1 energy.
I end up going first with Gligar, I Toxic Grip Piplup for 10 poisen.
he does 10 to Gligar, then I Pluspower Toxic Grip for the KO on Piplup.
he doesn't have much.
Gligar gets another KO against a Cubone if I remember right.
he eventually gets a Prinlup and starts spreading damage.
I get a Machamp with 3 Fighting Energy and Dynamic Punch for 60 damage, Flip for the KO... tails.
He breaths a sigh of relief and evolves into empoleon. does 70.
I Castaway for a Strength Charm to KO his Empoleon without flipping.
He doesn't seem to pull much after I KO'd that Empoleon.
The game goes on and He pulls a Copycat, Scramble Empoleon, and gets some KO's, but I'm just too ahead on prizes, and I win because of his slow setup.
GG
6-1
Adrian informs me that I'm playing MadHatter next round.
hmm... this won't be easy.
I've seen some of MadHatter's decks on the Gym, and he's a skilled guy.
the decks that I've seen of his are really consistantly built, and he knows what he's doing..
so I walk over to the table, getting ready to face my opponent..
Round 8 vs MadHatter with LucarioLutions
I get a T2 Machamp with DRE, and get some KO's.
He doesen't have much..
I evolve a bench machop to a machoke and attach DRE.
He evolves to Espeon ex, devolves benched Machoke, Discards my DRE. Ouch.
then he Vappy ex's away my hand. Ouch.
and evolves to Lucario.. but only has the one energy.
he Feints.
I try to Confuse the Lucario, fail.
he does another 30 before I KO it.. and he didn't pull much energy after that.
ugh...
GG
sry about the donk man... :/ wish you had gotten a bigger hand.
7-1
Round 9 vs Jimmy Ballard with Ambush
I look at the pairings.
crud.
I'm playing Jimmy.
I walk over to the table and say word.
Jimmy's a cool guy, and he's making jokes and just having a good time.
We start.
I start with a... lone Nidoran. uh oh.
He starts with a Cubone.
Shoot... Jimmy's playing the secret deck.
wait a sec, so this rogue Empoleon/Marrowak deck that's been goin around must be called 'Ambush'.
much better. now I can sleep at night lol.
except for the fact that I still don't know how to properly play against "Ambush", since Paul Johnston's loss was because of a slower setup.
so I go first. I draw a Machop and drop it on the bench.
then I attach to Nidoran, and after thinking for a second whether to use Tail Whip or Scratch on his Cubone, I use Scratch for 10, cuz now Marrowak is in KO'ing range of Revenge lol..
he attaches to Cubone and does 10.
I play a supporter, attach to my Machop and do 10 with Nidoran.
Then he plays some Piplups, attaches a Holon's Trode to Cubone and uses Rage on my Nidoran for the KO.
ok, Nidoqueen's gone, which I can live with, but I am far more relieved now that he can't Scramble me with a fast Empoleon, cuz he's ahead on prizes.
So I get a Machoke, KO his Cubone, and he gets a Prinplup and Aqua Showers.
I evolve to Machamp, Flip heads on Dynamic Punch for the KO, and start KO'ing stuff with Machamp.
He doesen't get too hot of a setup after that, a lot of Cursed Stones and Cessations which didn't do anything against me.
He finally gets a Rare Candy Empoleon Scramble, and KO's a Champ.
I end up KO'ing the Empoleon with another Machamp.
then he sends up another Empoleon, and we start KO'ing each other's Empoleons/Machamps and trading prizes.
he eventually brings up the last Empoleon, and does damage to Machamp. I Dynamic Punch for some damage, and then he plays a well timed Briney's to prevent me from getting my last prize.
at this point, I'm down to 1 prize. he's down to 2.
He Candy's the Empoleon, Scrambles, retreats and brings it back up again for the KO on my Champ.
awesome move dude..
I bring up another Machamp with a Fighting on it, attach Strength Charm to Burn my hand and play Steven's, then use Revenge for 70.
After he draws his card, I realize it would've been revenge for 80.
but I don't say anything and discard Strength Charm, cuz it's a turn too late. Crud... I could've attached DRE next turn and won without a flip.
but he retreats anyway, sends up Roselia, and Flick Poisens out my benched Machamp with 1 energy on it.
I attach Double Rainbow to the active poisened Machamp, Mentor for Absol ex, move 3 Damage from the Empoleon to the Roselia, and Dynamic Punch for the win without the flip.
GG.
Jimmy shakes my hand.
despite his bad draws, he was joking around and laughing throughout the game, which I respected a lot, since thats definately unusual when it comes to competitive play.
8-1
So I am in the Top Cut, and after hearing that a ton of 7-2's didn't make it, I'm pretty glad that I'm 8-1..
I walk over to my friend Jayson, and find out he also made top cut, being a 7-2 with good resistance. way to go Jayson.
Then I go over to my friend Jerry (who's also from Colorado), and he of course made it, being undefeated until the 7th round. thats some killer resistance right there.
So I look at the placings. I'm 5th, and judging by the placings, I predict that I'm playing against Paul Johnston tommorow.
that makes me nervous.. since I still haven't faught against an Ambush that got properly set up.
So I wake up the next day, and take the long walk thru the hotel to the convention center.
The judge escorts me to my seat.
and I'm across from a dude who's defenatly not Paul Johnston.
I ask the Judge if the dude who's not Paul Johnston is my opponent, and the judge seems to ignores me and says "sit down." well...nice meeting you too.
I look over and notice that Jayson is next to me, and I'm like "hey wassup dude"
I also notice that Alex Brossau is in Top 32, and my little brother said earlier that he is playing a Speed Banette.
....woah. hope I never come across him.
The judge walks over to me and says "you can optionally take a free prize vs your opponent, because we have to give him a penalty."
the judge walks away.. and I jokingly say to Jayson, "I'm playing vs Ambush, of course I'm not gonna take a free Prize, then they'll just Rare Candy/Scramble first turn." lol (still thinking my opponent was gonna be Paul Johnston, and that the guy sitting across from me wasn't my opponent, but that this was just our temporary seating)
The judges say, "you may set up!"
I say "wait so I am I playing against you?"
the guy who's most defenatly not Paul Johnston says "yea"...
hmm...so now I know, the deck I'm facing most likely isn't Ambush, so I know strategically, it'll be better to take the free prize.
I ask him why they gave him a penalty,
he says "because the judges said one of my card sleeves was marked"
I say "heck man, I know how the judges are about that.
I'm not taking any prize. this is gonna be a fair game."
he nodds and seems to respect that.
so the round starts.
Top 32 vs Chris S(ToysRUsKid) with Infernape
we shuffle, and set up, shake hands, and I wish him good luck.
Game 1:
I flip over a Gligar and a Machop.
He flips over a Budew.
cool. an Infernape.
he goes first and drops a Chimchar, then uses Budew to grab Transceiver.
I attach to Gligar, Castaway for Strength Charm/Celio, attach Strength Charm to Gligar, and use Toxic Grip for 20 and poisen.
He's kind of annoyed, because now he's gonna have to waste an energy retreating Budew, or else poisen KO's it, and I get a free attack next turn. (plus Absol can move the 3 damage away to a future Ape, to OHKO the Ape with Revenge)
He attaches, Transceivers for Mentor, retreats the Budew for a Chimchar, evolves the Chimchar to Monferno, and hits for 30.
I attach to Machop, Celio for Machamp, I find out my Nidoqueen is prized. Ouch. so play Rare Candy and attach to the Machamp.
I drop another Gligar and a Machop, then use Toxic Grip for 10 Poisen.
He evolves to Ape, gets a Energy Draw Catty goin, and Blasts the Gligar for 90.
I mentor for 2 Machops and a Gligar because my Queen is prized.
I send up Machamp, PlusPower and Revenge for 80 for the KO.
eventually I pull Queen out of the Prizes.
so we both get set up quite well, and he's sending up Apes and doing 80 with Double Rainbows, but I don't let him get Gligar KO's and just go aggresive with my Machamps, so it's a 2 hit KO both ways.
then he gets out his LV X, OHKO's Machamp,
I have no energies in play.
I send up another Machamp and revenge for 70.
He discards a ton with TV reporter/Double Energy Draw/and uses Constrain to get another 8 energy in the discard pile.
Wow. that's unusual.
He OHKO's my Machamp.
I send up another Machamp with no energy on it, attach and revenge for the KO.
over time, the Machamps overwhelm the Apes.. and I win game 1.
(I later found out that Farmer was in his prizes, so that limited his Ape swarming)
GG
1-0
by now, I knew Chris definitely wasn't an average joe Infernape player.
Infernape was normally a good matchup for me, but his version was so consistant, and had so many fire energy, he'd always be OHKO'ing with Ape LV X,
so I knew I'd be really tough next game..
as I was thinking this thru, the judge(who was friendly & cool, don't get me wrong) watching our game seemed to like my deck, and he made a remark on how I survived with so little NRG in play, and he's like "wow.. this makes me want to try building a Machamp deck"
I felt bad for opponent Chris, because he was definitely a great player, and all his energies had Professor Stamps on them,
and I probably looked like a noob with a Gligar Machamp deck... so I'm sure it didn't help that the judge made that comment but oh well..
so we start game 2.
Game 2:
I start with Machop.. and get a really scary hand this time.
some energy, a few tools, absol ex, and No Draw/Search.
He goes first, and attacks with Chimchar. I pull a mentor for my turn, play Mentor, check if the Queen's prized.. it's not.
so I grab Gligar, Machop and Nidoran.
I low kick.
then he gets 2 Energy Draw Cattys on the 2nd turn.
he gets an uber huge hand and a crazy setup, vs my tiny hand and my random Gligars and such. then I pull.... Transceiver.
I Transceiver for Scientist, burn my hand down, and play Scientist for 15 cards. whoo hoo.
I pull Rare Candy Queen, and start building up a setup.
I revenge an Ape for 70.
He uses Ape Lv X to OHKO.
I send up another Machamp and hit him for Revenge.
After some crazy energy drawing/tv reportering/and constraining with a massive hand, he OHKO's me again. (dang, his version of Ape is insane)
I send up Gligar for free retreat.
I notice the Ape on the bench with 70 on it, and the Ape LV X active with 70 on it.
I use Nidoqueen to grab Absol ex, slide off 3 Damage from Ape LV X to the benched Ape for the KO. now the Ape LV X only has 40 damage on it.
I Castaway for Strength Charm, retreat the Gligar for Machamp, Charm the Machamp, and use Revenge for 80 to KO active Ape LV X.
wow. two Infernape KO's in 1 turn.
now all he had left is another Ape and some Cattys.
at one point in the game, he used Celebi to get back Infernape LV X
and tried to use Energy Draw to get the 8th energy in there, but had no cards left in his deck. the judge says "you can't energy draw if you have nothing to draw"
so he had to play Farmer to stop himself from decking.
so eventually it got down to his 2 Prizes left to my 1.
at this point, I'm freaking out, cuz he has a Catty EX on the bench,
and my last Machop is the last prize card.
so if he sends the Catty up and OHKO's my active Champ, I'd have no way to power up Queen fast enough to get my last prize... and he could easily win the 3rd game on time, cuz Ape is fast like that.
So I used Nidoqueen to search for a Machamp from my deck, acting like I had the Candy/Machop in my hand to KO his Catty.
I attack his ape for Dynamic Punch and fail.
ouch. 50.
He thinks for awhile, and finally says, "I guess it'll come down to a flip"
he hits me for 90 with ape.
I attach a fighting to Queen, and flip for Dynamic Punch... heads.
I grab my last prize.
GG.
2-0
He seemed a bit disappointed at the flip, but I could've just attached a DRE to Queen next turn for the win anyway.
just as long as he didn't send up that Catty EX a turn earlier, I was okay.
Cool. I make it into the Top 16 cut.
sweet. looks like the playtesting me and my little bro did with this deck finally paid off some.
so I find out Jerry's bad news. he lost 2-0 in the Top 32 vs King Gengar's Mario. ah man.. oh well.
and I find out some more bad news. I'm playing against my friend Jayson.
wow.. that's lame.
we're the only two Hot Tie Members left in Top 16, and one of us was gonna lose either way....
Top 16 vs Jayson Harry with R-Gon.
We both shuffle, and I shake Jayson's hand and wish him good luck.
The match begins.
I start with Gligar. he starts with Trapinch.
Gligar KO's a Trapinch and a Castform.
Then he starts swarming me with Delta Supply Flygons and an Exeggcutor,
I Revenge/Pluspower the Egg.
He Swifts me for 60 with Flygon.
I can't seem to pull Castaways for Crystal Shard, so I have to just use Dynamic Punch against his Flygons with resistance.
Well, I flip heads on the first, he retreats for number 2, charms it and KO's my Machamp. I bring up Machamp number 2, and flip heads on Dynamic Punch again.
the multiple heads on confusion were too much, so we eventually started game 2.
GG
1-0
Game 2:
he goes first against my Gligar, attaches to his active Trapinch.
I drop Machop and I assume that he has a turn-2 Delta Supply Flygon in his hand, since he went first and all.
I look at my hand. Rare Candy, Castaway.
Perfect. So if he does have the T2 Flygon, I can Castaway for Celio/Shard
and get a Rare Candy Revenge with Crystal Shard for 140.
I Castaway... both shards are prized.
great lol..
I grab a Charm, and Poisen him with Gligar.
He Candies to Flygon 'd', attaches Castform, Delta Supplies, and KO's the Gligar with Swift.
I send up Machamp and use Revenge for 40.
He Swifts. I Revenge for nothing. He Swifts.
I end up getting a Rare Candy/Celio and grab Nidoqueen and start powering that up. he KO's Machamp. 4 Pokemon in the discard.
I mentor to put a 5th pokemon in there, attach DRE to Queen, and KO his Flygon 'd' with Vengeance.
then we both start getting set up and pulling prizes, I pull a Crystal Shard out of the prizes.
He fights with Flygon 'd' and I Shard it.
tons of Flygons are dead, tons of Machamps are dead, and it gets down to 1 prize to 1 prize.
I have a full health Machamp active, 2 Gligars on bench vs his Exeggcutor active, a Latios ex on the bench with 90 damage on it, and some Delta Basics.
He attaches Charm and hits me for 70.
next turn, he'll win with Delta Circle, unless I get a heads with Dynamic Punch.
I look through my hand and see the mentor.
I play mentor, grab Absol ex (the only basic in my deck)
Jayson reaches out to shake my hand, since I can just Drop the Absol, move 3 Damage from Latios to Egg, and then get my last prize without the flip.
GG
2-0
I shake hands, and tell him that he played phenominally, & that it was lame that we had had to play each other.
Jayson's a fantasic player, and I hope to see him own our mountain west regionals again sometime.
Cat and her mom greet me, and ask if I'm in the Top 8, and I'm like, 'yeah it was really close.'
They wish me luck in Top 8.
thanks guys.
so I'm actually in the top 8. dang.
and I also find out Alex Brossau is in the Top 8.
(QUIT FOLLOWING ME DANG IT! lol.. you're gonna beat me)
luckily I find out I'm not playing against Alex Brossau's Banette.
so.. I sit down and meet my next opponent.
Jay Hornung.
This guy was really cool... chill and not all uptight like most people would be in the Top 8, and just an overall friendly dude.
Top 8 vs Jay Hornung(Jaeger) with Scizor/Gross/Queen
We start our match. I see Bret my little brother trying to watch the game, since this match decides who goes to Worlds, and who dosen't.
I see a Scyther on his board. oh.. man. I'm in for a hard match.
I get a great hand which includes Machop/Candy/Mahamp/Double Rainbow.
wow.
so I end up getting out t2 Champ, and like, a turn 4 Queen, and his setup's not all that hot.
so he ends up getting out a Scizor, and through Dynamic Punching and Reveging, I KO one Scizor, then he gets some Prizes with the second Scizor...
and with some tedious work of Revenging/Gligar Poisening/Scizor retreating and powering up with Super Connectivity, I bring Scizor number 2 down to 20 HP.
He retreats the Scizor, starts swarming with Metagross.
I damage the Metagross with Champ. He hits Champ for like 100 with Metagross.
next turn use Absol ex to slide off damage from the Metagross to the Scizor FTW.
1-0
Game 2:
he starts with Scyther, me with Machop.
He goes first.
he realizes he forgot to set his prizes, and calls a judge.
luckily, the judge is cool and doesn't make a big deal out of it, but gives him like a caution or sumthin.
so Jay attaches, and does twin play.
I attach to Machop and Low Kick 20.
He gets turn 2 Scizor evolves to Nidorina and and Steal Wings the Machop.
I end up getting some stuff with steven's, and then I Low Kick for squat.
he evolves to t3 Queen, and starts getting set up.
Then he pwns the poor Machop.
I play mentor and discard Crystal Shard, totally not knowing that he ran Latios 'star' in the deck.
a few turns later I end up pulling some Champs, and I play Scientist.... hmm...the only card I can "afford" to discard in my hand is the 2nd Crystal Shard.
A couple turns later he drops Latios 'star' and OHKO's Champ.
I was like "CRA******! LATIOS? WHY DID I DISCARD THE SHARDS?!" lol..
so I send up Machamp to Revenge for 40 instead of 140.
eventually it came close in prizes, but not close as far as game play, cuz with Latios 'star' taking out half my Machamps and the other half getting killed by Scizor, Metagross, and Nidoqueen Swarming, he clearly had the game.
GG dude
1-1
hmm... maybe if I had kept the Shards lol..
oh well, now I know what to do for game 3.
Game 3:
we shuffle and setup.
I get 3 Mulligans. crud, I know that if we both get set up perfectly, he'll most likely win.
(Dang you 3 Mulligans lol..)
I pull a basic on the 4th shuffle. it's a Machop, not a Gligar. darn.
I look at my hand.
I figure he's defenatly not gonna start with Castform if he can help it,
plus I don't have a Castaway/Charm/Pluspower in my hand,
so even if I have a tiny chance of a donk, it'll have to wait a turn.
I'll have to go first.
He flips over Castform. (hmm...ok... so he did start with the castform)
I go first. I draw.....Pluspower. (CR**** WHY DIDN'T I GO 2ND?! I WOULDA WON 1ST TURN!?!) lol..
so I low kick Jays Castform for 40.
He seems to be really nervous, which surprised me with the big hand that he had.
he draws for his turn, breaths a sigh of relief, and plays transceiver...(I'm guessing he might've drawn it for his turn?)
He Transceivers for Mentor and gets a T1 Queen. Ouch.
from then on I was certain it was his game.
surprisingly though, I got a decent setup after that with Multiple Steven's Advicing/Celio's, and I got a turn 4 Queen, so I held on.
eventually we both got set up, but Jay was in huge favor with the Prizes,
and I knew time on the clock was low anyway. lol...
so Jay KO's my last Machamp with a clean Metagross... and then they call time on my turn.
Jay had 1 prize left.
I had 4.
wow. lol..
so I send up Gligar, power up my Nidoqueen with a 3rd fighting energy, retreat the Gligar for free. The judge freaks me out by saying "how do you retreat for free?" and I'm like, "free flight... sir!". he picks up the card and reads it.
(geez you're a judge you should know this.. jk jk) and then he's like "ok."
then I use Queen to get Absol ex, dropped the Absol to KO a Scizor on the bench with barely any HP,
then I play pluspower on Queen, and OHKO'd his Metagross for 100 with Vengeance.
1 prize to 1 prize.
YES. next turn, I could attach another strength charm and get another OHKO with my Queen for the win.
well, except of course, for the fact that he had another Metagross and a Metang after that.
So my only hope to win is that Metagross was his last prize, AND he didn't run Farmer. lol... (quite a lot to hope for)
So he sends up Metagross, Invitations for another Metagross (darn) evolves Metang. attaches for his turn, uses 2 Super Connectivities, plays Holon Farmer(jk lol), and OHKO's my Queen with Metagross.
Awesome Games Jay.
1-2
eliminated.
I shake hands with Jay and wish him good luck in the semi-finals.
then I proceed to exit the Top Cut, and a judge shakes my hand and gives me the scholarship package.
I go over to my younger bro Bret... and he was kinda disappointed cuz I was one game away from getting the trip to worlds.
but then I explained to him that Jay's one of those easy going, good sported dudes that you don't mind getting pwned to.
and... besides, who was I to complain?
at least I didn't play Chuck,
right?
-Ian b
PROPS:
1. the nats tournament in general.
2. meeting Kevin (mathorn1) & fighting his rad deck. great meeting ya bro.
3. the cool dude who was friends with the nance bro's, for showing good sportsmanship.
4. Brian Jessing's awesome deck/jokes/good sportsmanship. AND how he Pwned me like none other, 6 prizes to Zip. (not even Chuck would've beaten me six prizes to none. lol... ok if he started with Jolteon 'star' that is)
5. Jimmy for being an awesome sport even though my deck was a noobish Gligar Machamp deck lol
6. Finding out playtesting the night before nats, that my deck needed Scientist instead of Adventurer. boy am I glad I found that out..
7. Absol ex
8. Mike Perucca for being the only person to beat Chris Fulop throughout all of swiss.
9. Losing to Infernape the first 5 games playtesting against it, and then finding out how to beat it, and it later becoming one of the best matchups.
10. Not playing Chuck in Top 32, Top 16, or Top 8.
11. Jayson Harry. great player and an awesome guy.
12. Jay Hornung for being a really cool dude to get pwned against. let me say, I'm glad I lost to him in top 8 instead of Chuck's Banette, cuz that's not even fair, or Steve's Flariados... cuz then I prolly woulda tried to blame it on flips lol
13. Jay for making a great deck choice that no one else would have the bravery to do... and pwning with it. way to go man....!
14. All the cool Utah people..
15. Colorado and Hot Tie doing pretty good at nats. Jerry Top Cut, Jayson Top Cut, me Top Cut, and Tristan winning Nats in 10-under.
16. My & Brets Rogue for actually paying off and showing some success after all those tedious games of playtesting.
17. Going with Mike Perucca and Disney to see Transformers after the tournament was over.
18. White Castle for their 10 tiny microwaved burgers in a white paper bag. (trust me, that place will turn anyone into Harold and Kumar)
19: Going to Hawaii anyway, as 'Bret's Guardian')
20. Meeting Jay again on the Plane to Hawaii, & meeting Gino.. and chilling with them throughout Worlds.
21: Bret deciding to run the deck at worlds, and getting Top 16....only to lose on time by 2 Seconds against an R-Gon :/ so I guess this is kind of a Slop. a PropSlop. Prslop. there we go. a new word. Prslop.
SLOPS:
1. 7-2's (and IMO, even 6-3's) not making it in..
2. how none of my friends thought the deck was any good when I tried to convince them to use it with me. aw well... that woulda been cool tho
3. Adrian using his awesome Swampert ex/Scizor ex deck, but then facing 2 Ambush decks within the first 3 Matches of the Tournament.
4. PsychoDad's Seaking not making it in, because of a donk against Infernape.
5. losing to Jay in Top 8 instead of losing to him in Top 4. jk...jk
6. Gligar for being rotated. I'm gonna miss that little flying... scorpion... rock... bug... thing...
thats all...
thnks for reading fellow PokeMan players.
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You're a wicked cool guy and I hope you have alot of luck this season. Gligar ftw!!!!!!!!!!!!!
