Our Spring Regional Tournament was being held in Athens, Georgia and growing up as a Gator fan it was tough duty getting excited about going to Bulldog Country. However, the chase for points made it a must trip. I am currently sitting at 36 points and ranked around 60th place so trying to get to 45 points which is where I think the cutoff will be around. Friday after Grafton got out of school we loaded up with Harrison L., Jose M. and the Lopez twins and set off for Georgia. Frank Plesko and his group had several rooms and we decided to join them so that we could spread out some. Graf and I usually like to travel alone but with gas prices the way they are we decided to fill up the van and save some money. Eight hours later and a couple dozen “camp fire stories” through the back roads of Georgia to scare the daylights out of Harrison and we were finally there. Fun ride!!
Since we got in so late there was not much testing time so I decided to go with the deck that I had used for weeks two and three of States. I got the original list from Zach Bivens after watching him beat Grafton twice with it at week one in NC. It was basically Thundurus/Terrakion/Mewtwo/Eels. After a few weeks of trading out cards and adjusting the lines around I have come to call it EelTrash after I heard Frank refer to it as that and it kind of stuck. It has a good match with CMT, Eel based decks and anything that sets slow but has bad match with Durant and Trainer Lock. I tried to make those better but finally gave up and just went for it.
We got up the next morning and headed over to the Classic Center which was a new venue right in the heart of downtown Athens. I have to give huge PROPS to Tymon for picking this site. There were more food options just a couple of blocks away then anyone could imagine and the facility itself was about the best I have been to in 8 years of playing. Turned in my deck list and played a few games with Harrison to get warmed up.
I did not plan on writing a report so did not keep track of all my opponents so feel free to add them later for me if you can.
R1- Against CMT
Get off to a good start and feel good about the game. Get down to 1 prize with him needing 3 and I have everything I need in my hand. He only has one energy in play and I have two fighters loaded up on the bench. He hits two heads on Dual Ball. Catchers up my Mewtwo on the bench. Gears for his only N in the deck. Sends energy to his Shaymin EX. I get two bad cards…with the next being a Gear…and he takes three prizes over the next two turns. I am pretty devasated. 0-1
R2- Against CMT
For the life of me I cannot remember his name but he a good player that I have met at GA Marathon a couple of times and I knew it would be a tough game but I like the match up. We both get bad starts but he gets out a Mewtwo and rolls me over. 0-2
Lunch- So Grafton and I are both 0-2 and I do not know if that has ever been the case. We head out into Athens and end up at The Grill which is a local college hangout and I have never in my life been around so much red and black. We get burgers and Graf tries to pump me up some to make a run. I know at this point that I will have to go 6-0 to make cuts and get any points. Right….
R3- ROSS.dec
I go second and he gets T2 Villeplume with a Donphan and Kyurem EX on bench. I was able to bring up the Solosis on T1 and kill it to slow the set up some but I thought I was toast at this point. For some reason he sat back for a very long time and let me load up a Mewtwo. At one point he moved up the Kyurem and attached the DCE which gave me just the energy I needed to kill it. After the game I found out he did not play Mewtwo. I think I 6-0 him somehow. Table 86 I think…LOL 1-2 It is a start.
R4- Chandy/Villeplume
I sit down and have no opponent. After round starts he shows up and cannot find his deck. Finally it is found and they give us an extension. Again I go second and he gets up. For the life of me I cannot find a Catcher while a Gloom is sitting back on the bench. Of course, the turn I get it he evolves to Plume and it is game on. This game ended up being fairly tight but I was able to pull it out. 2-2 Still alive.
R5- Durant
Great…I go 0-2 to the deck I want to play and now I have to play my bad match ups 3 in a row. I get a Tyrogue and Zekrom to start and basically run him over. Funny part was that I took two prizes with my buddy Tyrogue and my one Plus Power while powering up Zek. It was not even close. 3-2 Go figure.
R6- MessieMew version with influence on Fire Chandy
So, now I get paired up with a league friend (Branden Jackson) who beat the you know what out of me at league a couple nights before when I was testing a fire deck. I was not looking forward to this one and always hate playing friends. Plus he was part of the hotel group!! I got a good start and ran him over. He got nothing and hated for it to go that way but needed the win. 4-2 Starting to get interesting.
R7- Durant
Can’t believe it…where are all the ZekEels?? Almost same as R5 though. I started with Thundurus and charged for a few turns and then sent them over to Zek with Shaymin. His hand went dead and it was not close. I had everything when I needed it and made for an easy game. 5-2 Just one more win!!
R8- ZekEels
So, before the round I am talking around to all of my friends and everyone I talk to is 5-2 as well so my guess is that I will have to play someone that I know. Sure enough I look at pairings at it is Roberto Arenas…..a very skilled player and one of the nicest people I know in this game. His family is very competitive and I knew this one would be tough. His son was playing over in the Senior Top Cuts so he was a little distracted. He goes first and gets going pretty quick. I cannot remember the details but know he got out in front on the prize trade. He killed one Terrakion with a plus power and I revived it for Retaliate. He killed it again but this time he dropped a Zekrom Ex on the field which lit up in my eyes. I searched for my second Terrakion and Catchered up the Zek Ex for two prizes and the lead. I was able to hold on for the win in a tough match but the deck did what it was supposed to do. 6-2 Top Cuts!
I could not believe that I made that comeback…what a drain it was to get there but it really felt good.
Top 32 pairings are posted and I get Frank Plesko. Are you kidding me?? I had played Frank at league the Saturday before and he liked my deck so he made a copy of it with a couple of changes and made it to cuts. Could not believe that we had to play each other.
Game 1- Having a hard time remembering details of this game. Seems like he went first and Charged and I went aggressive Tyrogue to take out his Tynamos. I got the jump on him in the prize exchange and he had to drop Mewtwo at one point to make a comeback. Things got close at end but I pulled it out finally. 7-2
Game 2- This time he went aggressive Tyrogue and my hand was dead from the beginning. I had to drop Mewtwo and Frank returned the favor from game 1. 7-3
Game 3- I knew time was getting close to being called so I shuffled quick as I had to go first. We get set up and I declare first. I open up and I have the perfect set and Charge. On Frank’s turn time is called and he comes up and hits my Thundurus with Tyrogue and tries to go asleep but hits heads. I kill the Tryogue and he is unable to return kill. He gears and gets 5 Supporters and a Gear which did not help either. 8-3 Good games Frank. I think you are close to breaking through.
So, now we end for the day and will resume the T16 matches in the morning. I finally hear that I am playing Zachary Krekkler and CMT. We head out for dinner and get some sleep…well try to get some sleep as all I can do is think of the match up and what to do. And all you can really do is CHARGE anyway.
Game 1- We set up and he flips and wins. He gets the Turn 1 80 with Tornadus and I think the Catcher and I am in big trouble. I start making a comeback but at the end I need an N and I do not have it. I was able to Shaymin over energy to a Zekrom to kill the Shaymin EX but his hand was too big and he took the last prize. My Mewtwo was prized as well. 8-4
Game 2- I go first and start with Tynamo and Terrakion I think. He Catchers up the Terrakion. I top deck a Thundurus and then Pont. Tell him to cut me into a switch and after seeing four energy it is my 6th card. I Charge that turn and end up beating him 6-0. 9-4
Game 3- He goes first and hits my Zekrom for 40 with Mewtwo. I Catcher up his Tornadus and Outrage it for a prize. My set up is looking pretty bad though and he keeps adding energy to his Mewtwo to take prizes. When he gets to three prizes I drop Mewtwo and kill his active to even the prizes at 3. He has another one on the back with one grass on it and I assume he has what he needs since I could not N him. He plays PONT and I get a little interested however he drops the two grass energy down and takes the revenge kill for two prizes. My hand was not goo. I had a Junk Arm but had not played the Revive yet and had no way to get the Mewtwo back on the field. Tried to go asleep with Tryogue which would not have mattered as he had the Catcher anyway and got heads….game over. 9-5
So, when it was finally done I think I netted 2 points to put me at 38 which keeps me in the hunt but it is going to take some big luck at Battle Roads where we usually get 40+ Masters with only T4 and a good showing at Nats which is always tough.
I played a few games with Santiago AKA Twitchy and watched the final top matches go on behind me. Top 8 ended up being four match ups of ZekEels against CMT!!!! With ZekEels winning them all. When finals started I got to watch my “adopted PokeSon” Ryan S. win in 3 great games. Ryan and his brother Kyle basically taught me how to play when they lived here in Florida and we used to chaperone them to the big tournaments when they were younger. It was so good to see Ryan win and I called it the week before when I said Ryan would be the one to beat up there.
As I said before, the Classic Center was fantastic and I hope to return to Athens which is something I never thought I would say. Also, the event was one of the smoothest events I have ever been to. Tymon and his staff did not miss a beat and I only heard good things the whole weekend.
Great times!!
Since we got in so late there was not much testing time so I decided to go with the deck that I had used for weeks two and three of States. I got the original list from Zach Bivens after watching him beat Grafton twice with it at week one in NC. It was basically Thundurus/Terrakion/Mewtwo/Eels. After a few weeks of trading out cards and adjusting the lines around I have come to call it EelTrash after I heard Frank refer to it as that and it kind of stuck. It has a good match with CMT, Eel based decks and anything that sets slow but has bad match with Durant and Trainer Lock. I tried to make those better but finally gave up and just went for it.
We got up the next morning and headed over to the Classic Center which was a new venue right in the heart of downtown Athens. I have to give huge PROPS to Tymon for picking this site. There were more food options just a couple of blocks away then anyone could imagine and the facility itself was about the best I have been to in 8 years of playing. Turned in my deck list and played a few games with Harrison to get warmed up.
I did not plan on writing a report so did not keep track of all my opponents so feel free to add them later for me if you can.
R1- Against CMT
Get off to a good start and feel good about the game. Get down to 1 prize with him needing 3 and I have everything I need in my hand. He only has one energy in play and I have two fighters loaded up on the bench. He hits two heads on Dual Ball. Catchers up my Mewtwo on the bench. Gears for his only N in the deck. Sends energy to his Shaymin EX. I get two bad cards…with the next being a Gear…and he takes three prizes over the next two turns. I am pretty devasated. 0-1
R2- Against CMT
For the life of me I cannot remember his name but he a good player that I have met at GA Marathon a couple of times and I knew it would be a tough game but I like the match up. We both get bad starts but he gets out a Mewtwo and rolls me over. 0-2
Lunch- So Grafton and I are both 0-2 and I do not know if that has ever been the case. We head out into Athens and end up at The Grill which is a local college hangout and I have never in my life been around so much red and black. We get burgers and Graf tries to pump me up some to make a run. I know at this point that I will have to go 6-0 to make cuts and get any points. Right….
R3- ROSS.dec
I go second and he gets T2 Villeplume with a Donphan and Kyurem EX on bench. I was able to bring up the Solosis on T1 and kill it to slow the set up some but I thought I was toast at this point. For some reason he sat back for a very long time and let me load up a Mewtwo. At one point he moved up the Kyurem and attached the DCE which gave me just the energy I needed to kill it. After the game I found out he did not play Mewtwo. I think I 6-0 him somehow. Table 86 I think…LOL 1-2 It is a start.
R4- Chandy/Villeplume
I sit down and have no opponent. After round starts he shows up and cannot find his deck. Finally it is found and they give us an extension. Again I go second and he gets up. For the life of me I cannot find a Catcher while a Gloom is sitting back on the bench. Of course, the turn I get it he evolves to Plume and it is game on. This game ended up being fairly tight but I was able to pull it out. 2-2 Still alive.
R5- Durant
Great…I go 0-2 to the deck I want to play and now I have to play my bad match ups 3 in a row. I get a Tyrogue and Zekrom to start and basically run him over. Funny part was that I took two prizes with my buddy Tyrogue and my one Plus Power while powering up Zek. It was not even close. 3-2 Go figure.
R6- MessieMew version with influence on Fire Chandy
So, now I get paired up with a league friend (Branden Jackson) who beat the you know what out of me at league a couple nights before when I was testing a fire deck. I was not looking forward to this one and always hate playing friends. Plus he was part of the hotel group!! I got a good start and ran him over. He got nothing and hated for it to go that way but needed the win. 4-2 Starting to get interesting.
R7- Durant
Can’t believe it…where are all the ZekEels?? Almost same as R5 though. I started with Thundurus and charged for a few turns and then sent them over to Zek with Shaymin. His hand went dead and it was not close. I had everything when I needed it and made for an easy game. 5-2 Just one more win!!
R8- ZekEels
So, before the round I am talking around to all of my friends and everyone I talk to is 5-2 as well so my guess is that I will have to play someone that I know. Sure enough I look at pairings at it is Roberto Arenas…..a very skilled player and one of the nicest people I know in this game. His family is very competitive and I knew this one would be tough. His son was playing over in the Senior Top Cuts so he was a little distracted. He goes first and gets going pretty quick. I cannot remember the details but know he got out in front on the prize trade. He killed one Terrakion with a plus power and I revived it for Retaliate. He killed it again but this time he dropped a Zekrom Ex on the field which lit up in my eyes. I searched for my second Terrakion and Catchered up the Zek Ex for two prizes and the lead. I was able to hold on for the win in a tough match but the deck did what it was supposed to do. 6-2 Top Cuts!
I could not believe that I made that comeback…what a drain it was to get there but it really felt good.
Top 32 pairings are posted and I get Frank Plesko. Are you kidding me?? I had played Frank at league the Saturday before and he liked my deck so he made a copy of it with a couple of changes and made it to cuts. Could not believe that we had to play each other.
Game 1- Having a hard time remembering details of this game. Seems like he went first and Charged and I went aggressive Tyrogue to take out his Tynamos. I got the jump on him in the prize exchange and he had to drop Mewtwo at one point to make a comeback. Things got close at end but I pulled it out finally. 7-2
Game 2- This time he went aggressive Tyrogue and my hand was dead from the beginning. I had to drop Mewtwo and Frank returned the favor from game 1. 7-3
Game 3- I knew time was getting close to being called so I shuffled quick as I had to go first. We get set up and I declare first. I open up and I have the perfect set and Charge. On Frank’s turn time is called and he comes up and hits my Thundurus with Tyrogue and tries to go asleep but hits heads. I kill the Tryogue and he is unable to return kill. He gears and gets 5 Supporters and a Gear which did not help either. 8-3 Good games Frank. I think you are close to breaking through.
So, now we end for the day and will resume the T16 matches in the morning. I finally hear that I am playing Zachary Krekkler and CMT. We head out for dinner and get some sleep…well try to get some sleep as all I can do is think of the match up and what to do. And all you can really do is CHARGE anyway.
Game 1- We set up and he flips and wins. He gets the Turn 1 80 with Tornadus and I think the Catcher and I am in big trouble. I start making a comeback but at the end I need an N and I do not have it. I was able to Shaymin over energy to a Zekrom to kill the Shaymin EX but his hand was too big and he took the last prize. My Mewtwo was prized as well. 8-4
Game 2- I go first and start with Tynamo and Terrakion I think. He Catchers up the Terrakion. I top deck a Thundurus and then Pont. Tell him to cut me into a switch and after seeing four energy it is my 6th card. I Charge that turn and end up beating him 6-0. 9-4
Game 3- He goes first and hits my Zekrom for 40 with Mewtwo. I Catcher up his Tornadus and Outrage it for a prize. My set up is looking pretty bad though and he keeps adding energy to his Mewtwo to take prizes. When he gets to three prizes I drop Mewtwo and kill his active to even the prizes at 3. He has another one on the back with one grass on it and I assume he has what he needs since I could not N him. He plays PONT and I get a little interested however he drops the two grass energy down and takes the revenge kill for two prizes. My hand was not goo. I had a Junk Arm but had not played the Revive yet and had no way to get the Mewtwo back on the field. Tried to go asleep with Tryogue which would not have mattered as he had the Catcher anyway and got heads….game over. 9-5
So, when it was finally done I think I netted 2 points to put me at 38 which keeps me in the hunt but it is going to take some big luck at Battle Roads where we usually get 40+ Masters with only T4 and a good showing at Nats which is always tough.
I played a few games with Santiago AKA Twitchy and watched the final top matches go on behind me. Top 8 ended up being four match ups of ZekEels against CMT!!!! With ZekEels winning them all. When finals started I got to watch my “adopted PokeSon” Ryan S. win in 3 great games. Ryan and his brother Kyle basically taught me how to play when they lived here in Florida and we used to chaperone them to the big tournaments when they were younger. It was so good to see Ryan win and I called it the week before when I said Ryan would be the one to beat up there.
As I said before, the Classic Center was fantastic and I hope to return to Athens which is something I never thought I would say. Also, the event was one of the smoothest events I have ever been to. Tymon and his staff did not miss a beat and I only heard good things the whole weekend.
Great times!!
