I have been playing Pokémon TCG since 2007 and had fallen in love with the game from the very start. I am likely unheard of since I have never placed higher than 5th in my nationals (and that’s UK nationals. Yeah...) and, although considered a top tier senior in the UK, I am still not recognised by a large portion of the Pokémon community in England. One thing I do want noted is that I have never rated myself as a good player and Worlds hasn’t changed that, despite my arrogant exterior. I have also never topped worlds or even made it close in the five years in a row that I have participated. So, as far as I was concerned, this year I was going to continue my typical 2-5 streak that I have had every year. I was wrong. Here is the journey I went through to place 4th in the Pokémon TCG World Championships 2011.
My Mum and I arrived several days before the event and didn’t really have anything to do before the event and just lazed about in the hotel room waiting for my testing buddy, Karl Blake, to arrive and for people to begin turning up at the Hilton hotel. I spent a lot of time thinking about the decks, the format and, most importantly, the deck I would be using for the event. I was caught between stage 1s and Magnezone, Yanmega with Kingdra. I wasn’t comfortable with the damage output of stage 1s and especially not on how flip-reliant the deck is and MegaZone just didn’t feel right to me at all, it just seemed to lose to the Reshiram variants that I later learnt most people seemed to be playing. Despite this, being the stubborn person I am, I was determined not to run Reshiram but for no good reason other than hating the concept of the deck. When people started arriving at the Hilton, we moved from our hotel to it for convenience (and so there was little chance of anything going wrong, like when I forgot to write out my deck list last year and wrote it out during the opening ceremonies). The days before grinder were long and stressful as I desperately tried to find a deck or deck list that I was comfortable with and, with my mind set on stage 1s at this point, was testing matchups with multiple people who were playing downstairs in the lobby floor (most notably Karl Blake, my good friend Frederik Nielson and Carl Housten), all of which had a 50/50 win/loss with me at best, most of which were destroying me constantly, such as Carl. I tried everything to get stage 1s to work but it just never felt quite right, so I looked at Reshiram and Typhlosion but still felt it was too inconsistent and slow given the fast-paced nature of the format. One thing I did notice though was that, in my opinion, Ninetales wasn’t pulling its weight but at the time had never known the deck was running successfully without Ninetales. This changed when I saw Karl B get absolutely destroyed, and I mean DESTROYED, by a variant lacking the Ninetales but instead running Pokegear with the Sage’s Training and Professor Juniper and a Kingdra tech (no offense to Karl intended). I wasn’t too keen on the Kingdra but was interested with the rest of the list. One thing you have to remember is that in England we had a pre-rotation nationals and I was very unfamiliar with the format since little testing had been done prior to us leaving the UK and I’m not the sort of person to “netdeck” so any knowledge I had, I had gathered myself so our lists were very undeveloped. Anyway I remember talking to Karl about the deck but he claimed that his opponent got lucky and I agreed with him and dismissed the idea.
Karl and I had then been testing MegaZone w/ Kingdra extensively and, in truth, I was feeling quite confident with the list but things were being changed continually and we couldn’t quite get things running as smoothly as I would’ve liked. By about 10pm the night before grinder I had a break for a bit and spent about the next three hours talking to various Americans and catching up with friends from past Worlds and European events. The day of the grinder Karl and I agreed to watch the grinder decks like a hawk and see if we could gather any last-minute information for the next day. I had agreed to primarily watch Fredrik, Nicholas Fotheringham, Keeli Ayn and Adam Hawkin during their grinder’s journey. I couldn’t even find Keeli in round one where she got knocked out, but I did try! I was happy to hear that the other three got the majority byes that were being handed out though. Sadly none of them made it to day two with Adam and Fredrick being knocked out early and with Nick getting knocked out in the last round.
Also, bad luck to Christopher Fotheringham for being knocked out of the VGC in round two of grinders down to crazy hax.
So, after scouting grinders I had nothing that caught my eye apart from Yamato’s ZPS and Lanturn deck but figured there would be no time to build, perfect, test and learn how to play the deck properly. So I was back to square one, no idea what to play and time was really starting to run out. Still frantically trying to perfect any list, I got Karl to build Reshiram and Typhlosion which was testing well when I told him to play the version without Ninetales. I never really got any testing with the deck this whole day but watched how Karl was doing against other decks and, to my surprise; it just seemed to be amazing. Both Karl and I began warming up to the deck even though we both never originally rated it and we soon both thought it would be a good play for Worlds but I was still more confident with Magnezone. Just in case we both decided on it though we both frantically went around trying to buy and trade four more Typhlosions to get eight between us. The time was about 9pm and I was STILL undecided but was now on par with Reshiram and Typhlosion, and Megazone with Kingdra. Both were solid plays in my opinion but I kept putting off my decision since they both had equal selling points. By midnight Karl and I were still in the playing room and I was watching last year’s champion in masters consecutively beat person after person with his Reshiram and Typhlosion without the Ninetales and decided that I was much more comfortable with Reshiram, even though I didn’t think it was necessarily the best deck. I went over to Karl who was playing with David Cohen and watched them make weird, silly plays as time was beginning to take its toll on all of us. After a humourous discussion with David and his friends we decided it really was time for bed since we’d now only be getting about seven hours sleep and I informed Karl of my decision to play Reshiram and he told me he was going to try and counter the large amount of Reshiram and Typhlosion by playing a 4-4 Zoroark line in his stage 1s. I just nodded and, despite the fact that I thought it was crazy, I knew that I was too tired to argue and Karl was too tired to take any criticism. So, we went up to sleep...
Now here’s the bit that you actually wanted to see, the games (if you did read my report to the lead up to Worlds kudos to you, you deserve a massive medal).
We got up early and made it downstairs for the opening ceremony immediately, no breakfast, just Pokémon. We got our pairings and sat down for game 1.
Game 1 vs. Ben Moscow w/ Stage 1s
We go with the coin flip and I go second. Great. He flips up a Yanma, Collectors for basics (Phanpy, Zorua and another Yanma if I recall correctly), attaches a fighting to Phanpy and passes. I look at my hand and it’s definitely above average. I Collector for two Cyndaquils and a Reshiram to make my field two and three respectively with a Reshiram active, attach an energy to the active one, and pass. He evolves straight into Yanmega and Donphan, attaches a DCE to the Zorua (I think), Junipers to match hands and Sonic Booms for 70. I draw, Rare Candy straight into a Typhlosion, Juniper my hand after failing on Reversal, Junk Arming it, and failing it again. My new hand is pretty decent once again; I evolve into a Quilava but somehow whiff on a pluspower and an energy! I have to Afterburner my energy to my Reshiram and hit his Yanmega for an awkward 100. The next few turns are hazy; it goes along the lines of a prize exchange with me behind thanks to his Zoroarks. I lost remover a key DCE of his and force him to attack with his Donphan which I can luckily one shot with a Pluspower and a Junk Arm. We are still tying on prizes at two each. But this is where it gets awkward, during my turn he asked me how many cards I had in my hand, I said five, which was correct at the time, but my prize card brings me up to six. He promotes his Yanmega, Junipers and then plays down a Zorua and attaches a DCE to it then asks me for my hand size once again. I say six, and he claims that he thought I said five. A judge is called over and, after explaining the situation, we agree that I had answered correctly and the game continues. He must now retreat his Yanmega and promote his Donphan and Earthquake my Reshiram for another 60, leaving me at 120 damage. I draw, attach to my Reshiram and Afterburner to a benched one followed by Outrageing for the one shot on his second Donphan in a row. He considers his field and, knowing he cannot survive the next turn, scoops. I shake his hand as I had done at the beginning of the game and apologise for the awkward ruling.
1-0
Game 2 vs. Brian Hathaway w/ Mew/ Jumpluff (I assume)/ Vileplume/ Muk/ Crobat
The coin flip goes and I am second once again! He flips up a Yanma, Collectors for Mew, Oddish, searches his deck for a bit, and then chooses another Mew. He attaches a psychic to his Mew and lost zones a Muk. I Pokegear and get my much needed Collector. I look at my hand in disbelief; I could barely have even chosen a better hand! I use my collector for three Cyndaquil and bench all of them behind my Reshiram, knowing he cannot drag up anything I would consider scary next turn. I attach to my Reshiram, and pass. His hand must have been pretty bad because he only attaches to his benched Mew, PONTs (I believe) but appears to pull little out of it. He then drags up one of my Cyndaquils. My turn, I Rare Candy one Cyndaquil and evolve another into a Quilava. I attach an energy to my Cyndaquil, retreat it and then reattach it to my Reshiram, then Outrage for 30. His turn is still short as he basically evolves Yanma to Yanmega and then drags up my Typhlosion. I immediately evolve Quilava to a second Typhlosion, Afterburner and attach in order to retreat, Juniper my small hand and then draw into a Junk Arm and another Typhlosion. I play them down (using the Junk Arm to get me a Rare Candy) and then use my remaining Afterburners to be able to set me up to take a prize a turn. He benches a Jirachi but only gets one heads and without an energy in hand, is forced to use it next turn but, by then, I have set up another Quilava. He Jirachis me and I can just Rare Candy them back since he couldn’t get his Vileplume out. With my two prizes to his five, he scoops. I shake his hand as I always do, apologise for my crazy luck with three Typhlosions out by turn three, and wish him good luck in the rest of the tournament.
2-0
Game 3 vs. Marco Facchin w/ MegaZone w/ Kingdra
There really wasn’t much to say about this game apart from I went first (finally), I got an absolutely atrocious hand, he Judges me, I get an even worse hand, he gets two Rare Candys, a Magnezone and a Kingdra off of his, and gets out three stage twos by turn two with a fresh hand. He gets a prize every other turn while I just scramble to get something out. I scoop five prizes behind knowing he can get the six that turn. I wish him luck in the tournament and I don’t let him leave the table without shaking my hand.
2-1
Game 4 vs. Sam Hough w/ Megazone w/ Kingdra
We flip our coin and I go second again!!
He flips up an Absol and, really, I had to read it. He draws and passes. I’m a bit surprised to be honest that his hand is that dead. So it goes to my turn and I do all of the normal stuff; Collector, attach energy etc. He draws, attaches to a benched Magnemite, and passes. I Rare Candy, knockout his Absol and he promotes a Yanma. He draws a much needed Rare Candy and goes into Magnezone. I continue to take a prize every turn while he is still setting up but he does eventually start taking prizes, but it’s a bit too late by then. I Pluspower and Junk Arm in order to one shot his Magnezone and the prize count goes to one on my side and three on his. I use two Reversals this turn to drag up a basic on his bench for game. I shake his hand and laugh as he tells me his starting hand had three Magnezone and two Junk Arm in it. Good game and nice to meet you!
I have only had about two heads on my Reversals so far out of about eight!
3-1
Game 5 vs. Ravyn Pollock w/ Reshiphlosion w/ Ninetales and Samarott
Coin goes, I go second AGAIN!!! That’s four times out of five now...
He flips over a Vulpix and I flip over Cyndaquil. He can barely get anything set up for the first few turns so has to Cleffa for a couple of turns but I set up quite a bit faster. My list runs three Pokegear with four Sage’s Training and four Professor Juniper which he most probably doesn’t so I have the advantage for the first few turns. I take the first prize which he returns the following turn. Not much else happens for a couple of turns as we just exchange Reshirams but I am always one turn ahead. He does also communication this turn for a Samurott and mutters that the Oshawott is prized which I find odd, but the tech is understandable for mirror. I am ahead until I notice that I am out of Reshirams and one of my Revives is my last prize while the other is one of the last ten cards in my deck. So now, without draw power in hand, I am forced to attack with my two Typhlosions. I hit the Reshiram for 70 which is returned by a knockout thanks to Afterburner damage. So I am left with my last Typhlosion with one prize card each after I knock out his Reshiram with a second attack. He promotes Ninetales, benches Oshawott and attaches three energy to it thanks to his two Typhlosions. It’s my turn, I now have to make a knockout now or I’ll lose to the Samarott next turn. I draw, a Sage’s Training. I use it and take a pluspower and a Reversal. I use the Reversal. HEADS! I smash my hand on his benched Cleffa and he huffs and offers me the handshake. I explain to him that I had the Pluspower and he tells me that, without the energy in hand, he would have lost anyway because he couldn’t retreat his Ninetales without Afterburnering it and knocking himself out. Most epic game of the day by far. Nice to meet you, you played very well.
4-1
So now I’m feeling pretty good about myself, knowing that my good resistance should put me in top sixteen if I win one of my next two games. If not, I was hoping I would make top thirty-two with a win or maybe making it with a record of 4-3; which was my aim this year
Game 6 vs. Niko Kivimäki (sorry for any misspellings) w/ Stage 1s
I go first (for a change) and look at my hand. Sickening; two Junk arms, two Typhlosions, a Juniper, a Reversal and a fire energy with my active Reshiram. I can’t use my Reversal since he only has a Yanma so I am forced to Juniper and lose two Typhlosions which, when he looks through my old hand, made my opponent laugh. I still draw nothing and just continue to Juniper or Sage every turn but just can’t get things going as quickly as he can knock them out. I have five prizes to his two and just concede by Sageing my whole deck since I can’t knock enough out in time without any Typhlosion in play. We shake hands and he tells me that he wants me to win my last game so we can both make cut which I thought was really nice of him to say.
4-2
Now I’m really on edge, I have to win this next game to get cut. I’m not in the greatest mood now since I’m incredibly stressed and I haven’t eaten all day. Since my game finished so early, I have to pace around the floor for about fifteen minutes just waiting for the last round to put me out of my misery.
Game 7 vs. Thomas Arena w/ Reshiphlosion w/ Ninetales
We sit down at the table and make sure we are both aware that we are playing for a place in cut. We both cracked jokes to try and lighten the mood but, bottom line; this game was a big deal and we both needed maximum focus.
This game is a complete blank to me really. All I can remember is going second (again... that’s 5/2 now) and getting into a typical prize exchange just like in game 5, with me taking the first prize. Although unlike game 5, I had access to my Revives so I had access to six Reshirams this time. I have two prizes and he has three. But I have three Typhlosions to his two and have been able to set up a Reshiram over three turns without damaging it and, when he can’t get the Pluspower, he knows that I’m going to take prizes faster than him since he can’t even knockout my active Reshiram, so he scoops. He wishes me luck in top cut and I shake his hand. Niko also gives me a thumbs up from the other end of the table as I walk off which was nice of him. Great game and glad to have met you!
5-2
I try to look guilty as I walked with my round seven opponent out of the playing area but, as soon as he’d left my vision, I had a massive grin on my face and went around hugging anyone who I could find and who I actually knew. Apologies to Keeli, Fredrik and Karl especially.
I had nothing to do for the rest of the day so just talked to people and I was glad to hear that a lot of people were planning on watching my game on the next day. We got some dinner and I went to sleep at about 10pm because I was both tired and needed sleep for tomorrow. Sadly neither of our juniors made cut, only Fares and I made cut in seniors and only Sami made cut in masters. Standings came up and I placed 12th and I found out that I was playing against Niko, my round six opponent. I found it great that Karl and Chris were confident that I was going to win, unlike me, seeing that I lost to him in swiss and he was also the higher seed between the two of us.
The next morning I got up and went downstairs, avoiding breakfast once again. :/
We sat down at the table and got our decks out of the weird little plastic bags they had been put in by staff and began shuffling. I looked around at the crowd and it felt great to see so many friends supporting me throughout the match, minus a few who couldn’t be bothered to get up.
Top 16 vs. Niko Kivimäki w/ Stage 1s (again)
Game 1:
I go second (figures). He Dual Balls and gets double tails, Junk Arms it, and gets double tails again. So now he has to communication a Zoroark or something to get a Phanpy, attaches a fighting to it since it’s his only Pokémon besides his active Yanma, and passes. My opening hand is decent, not too good, not too bad, I Collector for triple Cyndaquil, attach to my active Reshiram, and pass. It goes to his turn and he evolves into Donphan and Yanmega and Junipers his whole hand and Sonic Booms me for 70. The rest of the game is hazy, all I can remember is a prize a turn on both sides with me in the lead but, after Lost Removering his DCE twice (thanks Ben), he is unable to make a knockout during a turn and scoops to game two knowing that I’ll take prizes faster.
Game 2:
He chooses first (obviously) and proceeds to Collector for one of each basic to add to his bench so that his field is now; two Yanma, one Zorua and one Phanpy. He attaches to Phanpy and passes. My hand is pretty bad this time and I struggle to get anything going. This game doesn’t last long since he gets two consecutive heads on Reversal over two turns to knockout two of my Cyndaquil which was definitely the correct play and, knowing from a previous search that one of my Cyndaquils was prized and that I’m now two prizes behind, I scoop.
Game 3:
My hand is looking decent this game because I can get a turn two Typhlosion with a fire in the discard after I Juniper. I Collector for triple Cyndaquil etc. I cannot really remember much about his turns this game because it was very standard to be honest but I know that I was ahead on prizes all game and he was also able to get most of what he needed bar a few flips on Reversals but without disruption he cannot keep up. Time is called on my turn (turn 0) and I put the prize count to two on my side while he still has three. He knocks out a Reshiram on my turn and I return one on his. I look at his field and notice that (thanks to Lost Remover) he cannot attack with a Zoroark this turn and has no other way of making a knockout this turn. I shake his hand multiple times before leaving the table and he wishes me luck and to go all of the way.
Top 8 vs. Brian Hathaway w/ Mew/ Jumpluff (I assume)/ Vileplume/ Muk/ Crobat (again)
Game 1:
We flip and I go second, typically (that’s 7/2 by the way). He begins by removing his Muk and seems to have quite a bad hand like in our first game. I set up two quick Typhlosions this game and he gets triple tails on his Jirachi flips which definitely was a game changer. I get out my third Typhlosion and have two Reshirams in play so he scoops, thanks to his slow setup by about turn five.
Game 2:
He goes first and looks at his hand and mutters “you’ve got this” with a bit of a smirk. He flips over an Oddish, tops a Mew and attaches a psychic to Oddish and, knowing I cannot attack on turn one, Rams my Reshiram for 10. My turn, I collector for Cyndaquil, Cyndaquil and... Damn. Two of my Cyndaquils are prized and I notice my opponent’s eyebrow rise when I search for another Reshiram so I think he’d gathered what went wrong. He tops a PONT like a god and as he shuffles his hand he explains to me that his hand was five psychic energies and a Communication. He pulls better off of the PONT and things start to go downhill. I do get two Typhlosions setup but can’t keep energy flowing in order to retreat and attack every turn so eventually a Typhlosion gets stuck active and he knocks it out with Muk’s second attack. I scoop a couple of turns after this since I now can’t make knockouts as fast as he can and go to game three.
Game 3:
This game completely escapes me. I don’t think it went on for long so I assume I just got setup too quickly. The only thing I can remember is that he started with a lone Jirachi and that my hand was pretty decent. Sorry. :/
I shake his hand and we’re now at the level of shaking the Judges hands as well which felt a bit weird. I apologise for my crazy luck once again and I begin to leave the playing area. This was my favourite moment of all of Worlds because as I walked out of the playing area, all of my friends and most of my past opponents were at the sidelines cheering for me during the game. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that I had a flight to worlds or a trophy or anything until one judge congratulated me and told me that I would be participating next year. XD
I look at the tournament table and notice that I would be playing Marco Facchin in top four.
Top 4 vs. Marco Facchin w/ MegaZone (again)
I go first off of the flip and this time, upon noticing that I haven’t won a single game going first or lost a single game going second, I just laugh and say “Damn!” Both my opponent and the judges give me a funny look and then one says “You’re going first!” I explain to him that going first must be a bad omen and he laughs and says “Ninety-nine percent of the people in this room would call you crazy right now” I just respond with a smirk, “Let’s see them call me crazy when I lose”. Just before we begin I look around the room to see all of my friends surrounding my game looking worried and it puts a smile on my face that I couldn’t shake for the whole game.
Game 1:
This game was just bad. I get a decent start, but he judges my good hand on turn two after he gets his Magnezone out and leaves my hand with garbage. I struggle to set up a second Typhlosion and he just sets up casually. He also makes an early knockout with a Yanmega on one of my Cyndaquils which disrupts me greatly. I do end up with a lead for a couple of turns though, but that is quickly ended when he Reversals out a Typhlosion and knocks it out, leaving me with little recourses and I can no longer fuel my attacks. Later on he Reversals up another Typhlosion and also knocks it out. He is on two prizes and I’m on three but without any Typhlosion in play, I scoop without any hope of making three knockouts now.
Game 2:
I look at my hand and it just screams fourth place. XD
I can get down three Cyndaquils but he knocks one out on turn two and another on turn three thanks to Reversal heads. I evolve my other Cyndaquil with Rare Candy and take two awkward prizes in the next two turns with Reshiram. A couple of turns later, he uses another Reversal, tails, another, heads. I smile as he brings up my only Typhlosion and, after watching him fiddle about with energies that he would remove with his Magnezone, I give him the handshake; and I see the Italians throw up their flag from the spectator area. We pack up, shake the judges’ hands and I shake his hand about six times and tell him to “win for me” before letting him leave the table. We walk off and I’m confident that my grin was twice as big as his despite my loss. XD
Someone asked me if I was disappointed that I lost the game as I walked out of the playing area, I just responded with “Are you crazy?! You think I’m disappointed?! I’m fourth place!”
Special Thanks:
My Mum- for being a boss and making this holiday possible
My Nan- for giving me the money to make this holiday possible
Karl Blake (above most)- testing, decks, being a laugh and a good friend
Guys who supported me there- Chris Fotheringham, Keeli & Max, Evelyn, my Mum, Olaf, Emanuel, Karl, Frederik, the Majakas and various other people who took the time to watch
Other guys supporting me- Steve (also thanks for being the only guy to ask about me on the forums XD), HaPe and family, Mees, Ian and Emma (thanks for cards as well Ian and Emma! Wouldn’t have been able to play this otherwise)
The Fotheringhams- for all contributing to Pokémon in one way or another (and Chris again for the company and the confidence boost)
Ian, Nigel and other judges- for doing what you guys do best
Carl Housten- for destroying me enough with Reshiphlosion to make me play it
All UK participators- we’ll get it one day guys
Ben Stewart-Armstead- the lost remover
All of my opponents- for being good sports!
Pokémon inc., organised play, staff, players and Pokémums- For creating and sustaining this brilliant game. You guys are why I play :’)
Non-Pokémon related shout outs- Jonathan, Mayhew, Ayden, Malachy, Noah, Nathan, Tom, Wilkie, Matt, Ryan, Jessica and Ben
Props:
Pokémon
4th place: prizes, trophy, flight and bragging rights
America, American people and food
okeball:
Slops:
Nothing for me so just other people not winning Grinder and Worlds
My Mum and I arrived several days before the event and didn’t really have anything to do before the event and just lazed about in the hotel room waiting for my testing buddy, Karl Blake, to arrive and for people to begin turning up at the Hilton hotel. I spent a lot of time thinking about the decks, the format and, most importantly, the deck I would be using for the event. I was caught between stage 1s and Magnezone, Yanmega with Kingdra. I wasn’t comfortable with the damage output of stage 1s and especially not on how flip-reliant the deck is and MegaZone just didn’t feel right to me at all, it just seemed to lose to the Reshiram variants that I later learnt most people seemed to be playing. Despite this, being the stubborn person I am, I was determined not to run Reshiram but for no good reason other than hating the concept of the deck. When people started arriving at the Hilton, we moved from our hotel to it for convenience (and so there was little chance of anything going wrong, like when I forgot to write out my deck list last year and wrote it out during the opening ceremonies). The days before grinder were long and stressful as I desperately tried to find a deck or deck list that I was comfortable with and, with my mind set on stage 1s at this point, was testing matchups with multiple people who were playing downstairs in the lobby floor (most notably Karl Blake, my good friend Frederik Nielson and Carl Housten), all of which had a 50/50 win/loss with me at best, most of which were destroying me constantly, such as Carl. I tried everything to get stage 1s to work but it just never felt quite right, so I looked at Reshiram and Typhlosion but still felt it was too inconsistent and slow given the fast-paced nature of the format. One thing I did notice though was that, in my opinion, Ninetales wasn’t pulling its weight but at the time had never known the deck was running successfully without Ninetales. This changed when I saw Karl B get absolutely destroyed, and I mean DESTROYED, by a variant lacking the Ninetales but instead running Pokegear with the Sage’s Training and Professor Juniper and a Kingdra tech (no offense to Karl intended). I wasn’t too keen on the Kingdra but was interested with the rest of the list. One thing you have to remember is that in England we had a pre-rotation nationals and I was very unfamiliar with the format since little testing had been done prior to us leaving the UK and I’m not the sort of person to “netdeck” so any knowledge I had, I had gathered myself so our lists were very undeveloped. Anyway I remember talking to Karl about the deck but he claimed that his opponent got lucky and I agreed with him and dismissed the idea.
Karl and I had then been testing MegaZone w/ Kingdra extensively and, in truth, I was feeling quite confident with the list but things were being changed continually and we couldn’t quite get things running as smoothly as I would’ve liked. By about 10pm the night before grinder I had a break for a bit and spent about the next three hours talking to various Americans and catching up with friends from past Worlds and European events. The day of the grinder Karl and I agreed to watch the grinder decks like a hawk and see if we could gather any last-minute information for the next day. I had agreed to primarily watch Fredrik, Nicholas Fotheringham, Keeli Ayn and Adam Hawkin during their grinder’s journey. I couldn’t even find Keeli in round one where she got knocked out, but I did try! I was happy to hear that the other three got the majority byes that were being handed out though. Sadly none of them made it to day two with Adam and Fredrick being knocked out early and with Nick getting knocked out in the last round.
Also, bad luck to Christopher Fotheringham for being knocked out of the VGC in round two of grinders down to crazy hax.
So, after scouting grinders I had nothing that caught my eye apart from Yamato’s ZPS and Lanturn deck but figured there would be no time to build, perfect, test and learn how to play the deck properly. So I was back to square one, no idea what to play and time was really starting to run out. Still frantically trying to perfect any list, I got Karl to build Reshiram and Typhlosion which was testing well when I told him to play the version without Ninetales. I never really got any testing with the deck this whole day but watched how Karl was doing against other decks and, to my surprise; it just seemed to be amazing. Both Karl and I began warming up to the deck even though we both never originally rated it and we soon both thought it would be a good play for Worlds but I was still more confident with Magnezone. Just in case we both decided on it though we both frantically went around trying to buy and trade four more Typhlosions to get eight between us. The time was about 9pm and I was STILL undecided but was now on par with Reshiram and Typhlosion, and Megazone with Kingdra. Both were solid plays in my opinion but I kept putting off my decision since they both had equal selling points. By midnight Karl and I were still in the playing room and I was watching last year’s champion in masters consecutively beat person after person with his Reshiram and Typhlosion without the Ninetales and decided that I was much more comfortable with Reshiram, even though I didn’t think it was necessarily the best deck. I went over to Karl who was playing with David Cohen and watched them make weird, silly plays as time was beginning to take its toll on all of us. After a humourous discussion with David and his friends we decided it really was time for bed since we’d now only be getting about seven hours sleep and I informed Karl of my decision to play Reshiram and he told me he was going to try and counter the large amount of Reshiram and Typhlosion by playing a 4-4 Zoroark line in his stage 1s. I just nodded and, despite the fact that I thought it was crazy, I knew that I was too tired to argue and Karl was too tired to take any criticism. So, we went up to sleep...
Now here’s the bit that you actually wanted to see, the games (if you did read my report to the lead up to Worlds kudos to you, you deserve a massive medal
).We got up early and made it downstairs for the opening ceremony immediately, no breakfast, just Pokémon. We got our pairings and sat down for game 1.
Game 1 vs. Ben Moscow w/ Stage 1s
We go with the coin flip and I go second. Great. He flips up a Yanma, Collectors for basics (Phanpy, Zorua and another Yanma if I recall correctly), attaches a fighting to Phanpy and passes. I look at my hand and it’s definitely above average. I Collector for two Cyndaquils and a Reshiram to make my field two and three respectively with a Reshiram active, attach an energy to the active one, and pass. He evolves straight into Yanmega and Donphan, attaches a DCE to the Zorua (I think), Junipers to match hands and Sonic Booms for 70. I draw, Rare Candy straight into a Typhlosion, Juniper my hand after failing on Reversal, Junk Arming it, and failing it again. My new hand is pretty decent once again; I evolve into a Quilava but somehow whiff on a pluspower and an energy! I have to Afterburner my energy to my Reshiram and hit his Yanmega for an awkward 100. The next few turns are hazy; it goes along the lines of a prize exchange with me behind thanks to his Zoroarks. I lost remover a key DCE of his and force him to attack with his Donphan which I can luckily one shot with a Pluspower and a Junk Arm. We are still tying on prizes at two each. But this is where it gets awkward, during my turn he asked me how many cards I had in my hand, I said five, which was correct at the time, but my prize card brings me up to six. He promotes his Yanmega, Junipers and then plays down a Zorua and attaches a DCE to it then asks me for my hand size once again. I say six, and he claims that he thought I said five. A judge is called over and, after explaining the situation, we agree that I had answered correctly and the game continues. He must now retreat his Yanmega and promote his Donphan and Earthquake my Reshiram for another 60, leaving me at 120 damage. I draw, attach to my Reshiram and Afterburner to a benched one followed by Outrageing for the one shot on his second Donphan in a row. He considers his field and, knowing he cannot survive the next turn, scoops. I shake his hand as I had done at the beginning of the game and apologise for the awkward ruling.
1-0
Game 2 vs. Brian Hathaway w/ Mew/ Jumpluff (I assume)/ Vileplume/ Muk/ Crobat
The coin flip goes and I am second once again! He flips up a Yanma, Collectors for Mew, Oddish, searches his deck for a bit, and then chooses another Mew. He attaches a psychic to his Mew and lost zones a Muk. I Pokegear and get my much needed Collector. I look at my hand in disbelief; I could barely have even chosen a better hand! I use my collector for three Cyndaquil and bench all of them behind my Reshiram, knowing he cannot drag up anything I would consider scary next turn. I attach to my Reshiram, and pass. His hand must have been pretty bad because he only attaches to his benched Mew, PONTs (I believe) but appears to pull little out of it. He then drags up one of my Cyndaquils. My turn, I Rare Candy one Cyndaquil and evolve another into a Quilava. I attach an energy to my Cyndaquil, retreat it and then reattach it to my Reshiram, then Outrage for 30. His turn is still short as he basically evolves Yanma to Yanmega and then drags up my Typhlosion. I immediately evolve Quilava to a second Typhlosion, Afterburner and attach in order to retreat, Juniper my small hand and then draw into a Junk Arm and another Typhlosion. I play them down (using the Junk Arm to get me a Rare Candy) and then use my remaining Afterburners to be able to set me up to take a prize a turn. He benches a Jirachi but only gets one heads and without an energy in hand, is forced to use it next turn but, by then, I have set up another Quilava. He Jirachis me and I can just Rare Candy them back since he couldn’t get his Vileplume out. With my two prizes to his five, he scoops. I shake his hand as I always do, apologise for my crazy luck with three Typhlosions out by turn three, and wish him good luck in the rest of the tournament.
2-0
Game 3 vs. Marco Facchin w/ MegaZone w/ Kingdra
There really wasn’t much to say about this game apart from I went first (finally), I got an absolutely atrocious hand, he Judges me, I get an even worse hand, he gets two Rare Candys, a Magnezone and a Kingdra off of his, and gets out three stage twos by turn two with a fresh hand. He gets a prize every other turn while I just scramble to get something out. I scoop five prizes behind knowing he can get the six that turn. I wish him luck in the tournament and I don’t let him leave the table without shaking my hand.
2-1
Game 4 vs. Sam Hough w/ Megazone w/ Kingdra
We flip our coin and I go second again!!
He flips up an Absol and, really, I had to read it. He draws and passes. I’m a bit surprised to be honest that his hand is that dead. So it goes to my turn and I do all of the normal stuff; Collector, attach energy etc. He draws, attaches to a benched Magnemite, and passes. I Rare Candy, knockout his Absol and he promotes a Yanma. He draws a much needed Rare Candy and goes into Magnezone. I continue to take a prize every turn while he is still setting up but he does eventually start taking prizes, but it’s a bit too late by then. I Pluspower and Junk Arm in order to one shot his Magnezone and the prize count goes to one on my side and three on his. I use two Reversals this turn to drag up a basic on his bench for game. I shake his hand and laugh as he tells me his starting hand had three Magnezone and two Junk Arm in it. Good game and nice to meet you!
I have only had about two heads on my Reversals so far out of about eight!
3-1
Game 5 vs. Ravyn Pollock w/ Reshiphlosion w/ Ninetales and Samarott
Coin goes, I go second AGAIN!!! That’s four times out of five now...
He flips over a Vulpix and I flip over Cyndaquil. He can barely get anything set up for the first few turns so has to Cleffa for a couple of turns but I set up quite a bit faster. My list runs three Pokegear with four Sage’s Training and four Professor Juniper which he most probably doesn’t so I have the advantage for the first few turns. I take the first prize which he returns the following turn. Not much else happens for a couple of turns as we just exchange Reshirams but I am always one turn ahead. He does also communication this turn for a Samurott and mutters that the Oshawott is prized which I find odd, but the tech is understandable for mirror. I am ahead until I notice that I am out of Reshirams and one of my Revives is my last prize while the other is one of the last ten cards in my deck. So now, without draw power in hand, I am forced to attack with my two Typhlosions. I hit the Reshiram for 70 which is returned by a knockout thanks to Afterburner damage. So I am left with my last Typhlosion with one prize card each after I knock out his Reshiram with a second attack. He promotes Ninetales, benches Oshawott and attaches three energy to it thanks to his two Typhlosions. It’s my turn, I now have to make a knockout now or I’ll lose to the Samarott next turn. I draw, a Sage’s Training. I use it and take a pluspower and a Reversal. I use the Reversal. HEADS! I smash my hand on his benched Cleffa and he huffs and offers me the handshake. I explain to him that I had the Pluspower and he tells me that, without the energy in hand, he would have lost anyway because he couldn’t retreat his Ninetales without Afterburnering it and knocking himself out. Most epic game of the day by far. Nice to meet you, you played very well.
4-1
So now I’m feeling pretty good about myself, knowing that my good resistance should put me in top sixteen if I win one of my next two games. If not, I was hoping I would make top thirty-two with a win or maybe making it with a record of 4-3; which was my aim this year
Game 6 vs. Niko Kivimäki (sorry for any misspellings) w/ Stage 1s
I go first (for a change) and look at my hand. Sickening; two Junk arms, two Typhlosions, a Juniper, a Reversal and a fire energy with my active Reshiram. I can’t use my Reversal since he only has a Yanma so I am forced to Juniper and lose two Typhlosions which, when he looks through my old hand, made my opponent laugh. I still draw nothing and just continue to Juniper or Sage every turn but just can’t get things going as quickly as he can knock them out. I have five prizes to his two and just concede by Sageing my whole deck since I can’t knock enough out in time without any Typhlosion in play. We shake hands and he tells me that he wants me to win my last game so we can both make cut which I thought was really nice of him to say.
4-2
Now I’m really on edge, I have to win this next game to get cut. I’m not in the greatest mood now since I’m incredibly stressed and I haven’t eaten all day. Since my game finished so early, I have to pace around the floor for about fifteen minutes just waiting for the last round to put me out of my misery.
Game 7 vs. Thomas Arena w/ Reshiphlosion w/ Ninetales
We sit down at the table and make sure we are both aware that we are playing for a place in cut. We both cracked jokes to try and lighten the mood but, bottom line; this game was a big deal and we both needed maximum focus.
This game is a complete blank to me really. All I can remember is going second (again... that’s 5/2 now) and getting into a typical prize exchange just like in game 5, with me taking the first prize. Although unlike game 5, I had access to my Revives so I had access to six Reshirams this time. I have two prizes and he has three. But I have three Typhlosions to his two and have been able to set up a Reshiram over three turns without damaging it and, when he can’t get the Pluspower, he knows that I’m going to take prizes faster than him since he can’t even knockout my active Reshiram, so he scoops. He wishes me luck in top cut and I shake his hand. Niko also gives me a thumbs up from the other end of the table as I walk off which was nice of him. Great game and glad to have met you!
5-2
I try to look guilty as I walked with my round seven opponent out of the playing area but, as soon as he’d left my vision, I had a massive grin on my face and went around hugging anyone who I could find and who I actually knew. Apologies to Keeli, Fredrik and Karl especially.
I had nothing to do for the rest of the day so just talked to people and I was glad to hear that a lot of people were planning on watching my game on the next day. We got some dinner and I went to sleep at about 10pm because I was both tired and needed sleep for tomorrow. Sadly neither of our juniors made cut, only Fares and I made cut in seniors and only Sami made cut in masters. Standings came up and I placed 12th and I found out that I was playing against Niko, my round six opponent. I found it great that Karl and Chris were confident that I was going to win, unlike me, seeing that I lost to him in swiss and he was also the higher seed between the two of us.
The next morning I got up and went downstairs, avoiding breakfast once again. :/
We sat down at the table and got our decks out of the weird little plastic bags they had been put in by staff and began shuffling. I looked around at the crowd and it felt great to see so many friends supporting me throughout the match, minus a few who couldn’t be bothered to get up.
Top 16 vs. Niko Kivimäki w/ Stage 1s (again)
Game 1:
I go second (figures). He Dual Balls and gets double tails, Junk Arms it, and gets double tails again. So now he has to communication a Zoroark or something to get a Phanpy, attaches a fighting to it since it’s his only Pokémon besides his active Yanma, and passes. My opening hand is decent, not too good, not too bad, I Collector for triple Cyndaquil, attach to my active Reshiram, and pass. It goes to his turn and he evolves into Donphan and Yanmega and Junipers his whole hand and Sonic Booms me for 70. The rest of the game is hazy, all I can remember is a prize a turn on both sides with me in the lead but, after Lost Removering his DCE twice (thanks Ben
), he is unable to make a knockout during a turn and scoops to game two knowing that I’ll take prizes faster.Game 2:
He chooses first (obviously) and proceeds to Collector for one of each basic to add to his bench so that his field is now; two Yanma, one Zorua and one Phanpy. He attaches to Phanpy and passes. My hand is pretty bad this time and I struggle to get anything going. This game doesn’t last long since he gets two consecutive heads on Reversal over two turns to knockout two of my Cyndaquil which was definitely the correct play and, knowing from a previous search that one of my Cyndaquils was prized and that I’m now two prizes behind, I scoop.
Game 3:
My hand is looking decent this game because I can get a turn two Typhlosion with a fire in the discard after I Juniper. I Collector for triple Cyndaquil etc. I cannot really remember much about his turns this game because it was very standard to be honest but I know that I was ahead on prizes all game and he was also able to get most of what he needed bar a few flips on Reversals but without disruption he cannot keep up. Time is called on my turn (turn 0) and I put the prize count to two on my side while he still has three. He knocks out a Reshiram on my turn and I return one on his. I look at his field and notice that (thanks to Lost Remover) he cannot attack with a Zoroark this turn and has no other way of making a knockout this turn. I shake his hand multiple times before leaving the table and he wishes me luck and to go all of the way.
Top 8 vs. Brian Hathaway w/ Mew/ Jumpluff (I assume)/ Vileplume/ Muk/ Crobat (again)
Game 1:
We flip and I go second, typically (that’s 7/2 by the way). He begins by removing his Muk and seems to have quite a bad hand like in our first game. I set up two quick Typhlosions this game and he gets triple tails on his Jirachi flips which definitely was a game changer. I get out my third Typhlosion and have two Reshirams in play so he scoops, thanks to his slow setup by about turn five.
Game 2:
He goes first and looks at his hand and mutters “you’ve got this” with a bit of a smirk. He flips over an Oddish, tops a Mew and attaches a psychic to Oddish and, knowing I cannot attack on turn one, Rams my Reshiram for 10. My turn, I collector for Cyndaquil, Cyndaquil and... Damn. Two of my Cyndaquils are prized and I notice my opponent’s eyebrow rise when I search for another Reshiram so I think he’d gathered what went wrong. He tops a PONT like a god and as he shuffles his hand he explains to me that his hand was five psychic energies and a Communication. He pulls better off of the PONT and things start to go downhill. I do get two Typhlosions setup but can’t keep energy flowing in order to retreat and attack every turn so eventually a Typhlosion gets stuck active and he knocks it out with Muk’s second attack. I scoop a couple of turns after this since I now can’t make knockouts as fast as he can and go to game three.
Game 3:
This game completely escapes me. I don’t think it went on for long so I assume I just got setup too quickly. The only thing I can remember is that he started with a lone Jirachi and that my hand was pretty decent. Sorry. :/
I shake his hand and we’re now at the level of shaking the Judges hands as well which felt a bit weird. I apologise for my crazy luck once again and I begin to leave the playing area. This was my favourite moment of all of Worlds because as I walked out of the playing area, all of my friends and most of my past opponents were at the sidelines cheering for me during the game. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that I had a flight to worlds or a trophy or anything until one judge congratulated me and told me that I would be participating next year. XD
I look at the tournament table and notice that I would be playing Marco Facchin in top four.
Top 4 vs. Marco Facchin w/ MegaZone (again)
I go first off of the flip and this time, upon noticing that I haven’t won a single game going first or lost a single game going second, I just laugh and say “Damn!” Both my opponent and the judges give me a funny look and then one says “You’re going first!” I explain to him that going first must be a bad omen and he laughs and says “Ninety-nine percent of the people in this room would call you crazy right now” I just respond with a smirk, “Let’s see them call me crazy when I lose”. Just before we begin I look around the room to see all of my friends surrounding my game looking worried and it puts a smile on my face that I couldn’t shake for the whole game.
Game 1:
This game was just bad. I get a decent start, but he judges my good hand on turn two after he gets his Magnezone out and leaves my hand with garbage. I struggle to set up a second Typhlosion and he just sets up casually. He also makes an early knockout with a Yanmega on one of my Cyndaquils which disrupts me greatly. I do end up with a lead for a couple of turns though, but that is quickly ended when he Reversals out a Typhlosion and knocks it out, leaving me with little recourses and I can no longer fuel my attacks. Later on he Reversals up another Typhlosion and also knocks it out. He is on two prizes and I’m on three but without any Typhlosion in play, I scoop without any hope of making three knockouts now.
Game 2:
I look at my hand and it just screams fourth place. XD
I can get down three Cyndaquils but he knocks one out on turn two and another on turn three thanks to Reversal heads. I evolve my other Cyndaquil with Rare Candy and take two awkward prizes in the next two turns with Reshiram. A couple of turns later, he uses another Reversal, tails, another, heads. I smile as he brings up my only Typhlosion and, after watching him fiddle about with energies that he would remove with his Magnezone, I give him the handshake; and I see the Italians throw up their flag from the spectator area. We pack up, shake the judges’ hands and I shake his hand about six times and tell him to “win for me” before letting him leave the table. We walk off and I’m confident that my grin was twice as big as his despite my loss. XD
Someone asked me if I was disappointed that I lost the game as I walked out of the playing area, I just responded with “Are you crazy?! You think I’m disappointed?! I’m fourth place!”
Special Thanks:
My Mum- for being a boss and making this holiday possible
My Nan- for giving me the money to make this holiday possible
Karl Blake (above most)- testing, decks, being a laugh and a good friend
Guys who supported me there- Chris Fotheringham, Keeli & Max, Evelyn, my Mum, Olaf, Emanuel, Karl, Frederik, the Majakas and various other people who took the time to watch
Other guys supporting me- Steve (also thanks for being the only guy to ask about me on the forums XD), HaPe and family, Mees, Ian and Emma (thanks for cards as well Ian and Emma! Wouldn’t have been able to play this otherwise
)The Fotheringhams- for all contributing to Pokémon in one way or another (and Chris again for the company and the confidence boost
)Ian, Nigel and other judges- for doing what you guys do best
Carl Housten- for destroying me enough with Reshiphlosion to make me play it
All UK participators- we’ll get it one day guys
Ben Stewart-Armstead- the lost remover
All of my opponents- for being good sports!
Pokémon inc., organised play, staff, players and Pokémums- For creating and sustaining this brilliant game. You guys are why I play :’)
Non-Pokémon related shout outs- Jonathan, Mayhew, Ayden, Malachy, Noah, Nathan, Tom, Wilkie, Matt, Ryan, Jessica and Ben
Props:
Pokémon
4th place: prizes, trophy, flight and bragging rights
America, American people and food
okeball:Slops:
Nothing for me so just other people not winning Grinder and Worlds