Let’s skip the small talk and jump right in, shall we?!
Oh yeah, I'm playing Cursegar.
Round 1 (Blaze-Chomp)
He goes first and starts with Garchomp C so he’s obviously playing SP, which is my strongest match-up, and I have a Spiritomb start with a Call Energy and Claydol in hand. I recall exactly every move but basically the game went a little something like this. I hold him up with Spiritomb until I get set-up with Gengar, Nidoqueen and a Bench Shielded Claydol then he pulls out a random Blaziken FB and Luring Flames my Claydol a couple of times and got burned but with Nidoqueen I healed the damage before his next turn, not to mention I had a Switches on stand-by every time. Anyway, after several Expert Belted Shadow Skips and the occasional Level-Down, I handily won that game.
(1-0)
Round 2 (Fly-Phan)
He goes first with a Phanpy start and a Trapinch on the bench to my Spiritomb start and Gastly on the bench. He passes immediately. I attach to Gastly and then Looker’s his hand. He has the Donphan Prime in hand but no energy and no way to look for one for the T2 so I shuffle my hand back in cause it was slightly crappier than his, find Baltoy and another Spiritomb, play both and Darkness Grace for Claydol. On his turn, he top-decks the energy and KO’s Spiritomb. For the next 3 turns I had to sacrifice my 3 remaining Spiritomb just to stabilize my set-up. Now the prize count is 6-2 on turn 5 and I have some serious coming back to do. Long story short, I bring it down to 1-1 and he Extreme Attacks my Gengar Lv. X for game.
(1-1)
Round 3 (Fly-Champ)
I honestly don’t remember much about this game but what really tipped the game in my favor was an early Trapinch KO and a successful Fainting Spell and learning from my last game against Flygon Lv. X, I didn’t level-up Gengar until the turn I needed it so I wouldn’t lose 2 easy prizes
(2-1)
Round 4 (Dialga Tank)
Again Spiritomb pretty much stops SP in their tracks so I was able to get set-up handily. Later in the game, he finally KO’s Spiritomb and thus the trainer lock is broken. I took this opportunity to Bench Shield my Claydol since there’s a Garchomp C on the field and then immediately put another Spiritomb on the bench. His hand is huge due to the lock and the 3 Cyrus’ he’s used already so I Looker’s his hand back in, Expert Belt the Gengar, Shadow Skip KO and bring up Spiritomb again to continue the lock. One thing, I noticed is that he didn’t run Power Spray, so on the turns that Spiritomb wasn’t active, I could use powers with no problem. Anyway, the game-clincher here was the way I spread damage via Shadow Skip and Curse and then Compound Pain scored multiple KO’s for game.
(3-1)
Round 5 (Lux-Chomp)
Pretty much the thing happened as in the last round expect he actually ran Power Spray but I used powers behind a Spiritomb anyway. The only way he was able to break the lock was with Luxray to KO Claydol but at that point I was already well set up. Again, the spread is what helped win this one.
(4-1)
Round 6 (Dusknoir-Bronzong )
My friend played him in a previous match so I already knew what to expect. It takes him a while to get going due to my Spiritomb start, all the while the said Spiritomb get me set up pretty quickly. Since he has the whole Damage Even thing going on, I’ve got Unown G on stand-by for Gengar SF and Claydol of course. The toughest thing about this match-up was managing the damage spread on both sides. Were it not for Nidoqueen, I would have lost 10 turns ago. I remember I made one misplay and that was putting out 4 benched Pokémon knowing full well that he plays the Dark Palm. He DP’s my Claydol but I was already set up so no big deal. It was a slow-paced strategic game with all the spreading and healing going on on both sides but thanks to my early start I was able to maintain the lead the whole way.
(5-1)
Round 7 (Beedrill)
Again I get Spiritomb start and I don’t remember his start but it wasn’t anything great. Even with Spiritomb it takes me a while to set-up but it’s even worse for him because his keeps growing which tells me that Spiritomb is doing its job. He finally gets a couple Beedrills in play after I took a couple prizes and thus the lock is broken. Despite my lead, the problem I ran into against the deck is that he could OHKO my side via Expert Belt and PlusPower but I could not retaliate as strong as he could. That said, I had to force it down to 1-1 and make him KO my Gengar SF and hopefully take into Sudden Death. I flip tails. He wins.
(5-2)
The Swiss Rounds are over, the standings go up, I get 6th and we’re off to TOP 16!!!
Top 16 (Dusknoir-Gengar)
Game 1 and 2 went exactly as they did in Round 5 expect I didn’t 4 Benched, so yeah. GGs though, no lie
(6-2)
Top 8 (Lux-Chomp)
My T8 opponent was none other than the high-ranked Jeremy Jallen, so beating him would greatly increase my rating, making this the hardest match of the entire day.
Game 1 – The Spiritomb start does its job and I get a couple of early prizes and he can’t recover. He scoops
Game 2 – This was a longer well-thought out game so I don’t remember much at all. The only thing I can tell you is that I drew dead at crucial parts of the game. We went prize for prize but I lost steam sooner than he did. I scoop to save time.
Game 3 – I opt to go first since I have a Spiritomb start, Call Energy, Roseanne’s and Bebe's in hand. When I go in For Call I realize that both my Claydol were prized and at that point I had already conceded but this was Game 3 so I had no choice but to keep going. We went back and forth with strategic moves and what not but my ability to spread and lock trainers is what kept me just one step ahead. Scoring 2 double KO’s via Shadow Skip, Curse and Compound Pain kept me in the lead but he was never too far behind. I finally find a Claydol so things went a little bit smoother after that. Toward the end of the game the prize count is 2-2 and all I needed to do is Level Down his 80 damage Luxray Lv. X for the KO and something else for the game but I can’t find a Spiritomb so he Power Sprays it every time. Long story short, I finally find one, hide behind it, Level Down for the KO for 1 prize and Expert Belt Shadow Skip for the other. Exceptional games Jeremy!!
(7-2)
Top 4 (Jumpluff)
Game 1 and 2 – Jumpluff is a heavy hitter but has low HP and when she Expert Belted them, it only made my job easier. She ran Shaymin Lv. X for the +40 HP boost but I Leveled it down every turn she got it out. This was not an easy match-up so had to play carefully and calculate the damage correctly by managing my bench so I don’t walk into a dangerous misplays. The game-changer here was managing the damage on Claydol, Sunflora and Azelf and then Compound Paining for multiple KO’s. Awesome games against a great deck!!!
(8-2)
Finals (Gyarados)
My final opponent was my traveling buddy, Jose Holguin. This meant that no matter who won, New Mexico is going to take Arizona! We had playtested the night before, so I felt pretty confident about this match-up. But he made it all the way to the finals so I couldn’t let my guard down for an instant. On to the match.
Game 1 – Sableye vs. Spiritomb, Crobat drop, Special Dark and Overconfident for the donk. I had some other stuff but I was moving in slow motion compared to him. I scooped. Next game please.
Game 2 – Spiritomb held him down while I get set up. He ran Regice so I always had 2 Spiritombs on the field. Thanks to my early set up, I took and kept the lead in prizes. I won this game due to a misplay my opponent made. When he KO’ed my last Spiritomb, he used 2 Pokémon Rescues to get back Magikarp and Gyarados and then tried to evolve it on the field. The only problem with that is that I played a Moonlight Stadium in the previous turn so that wasn’t going to work since his Broken Time-Space was no longer in play. So now that there’s a Magikarp on his bench and I only have one prize left, his only way out is to find another Broken Time-Space. After drawing 10 cards with Uxie, Claydol and Felicity’s Drawing, he doesn’t find out one and I Shadow Room it for game.
Game 3 – This game pretty much went like Game 2, except he doesn’t fight back as much. He was only able to set up one Gyarados the whole game. I noticed how bad he was struggling to draw anything so to ensure that he doesn’t Super Scoop Up his only Gyarados, I opted sacrifice a Spiritomb after I used an Expert Belted Shadow Skip. He tries to Regi Move it but of course I have 2 Spiritomb in play. So he KO’s Spiritomb and then I revenge KO the Gyarados. After that it all went downhill from there. With Regice in play, I put another Spiritomb out there to replace the one that KO’ed previously to keep up the lock. I KO some martyrs for my last remaining and win! Awesome games Jose! I’m honored I was able to play you in the Finals!
(9-2)
By now it’s about 12:30 in the morning but I was still pumped about the thing. After three 2nd place finishes at States, I was hungry for this title, so this definitely suppressed my appetite. After we get our trophies, we head back for the hotel while talking about our matches on the way back. I had left my phone at the hotel this morning, so I couldn’t update anybody all day. It’s already late so I’ll keep make calls to everybody in the morning.
Props
- New Mexico making Top 2
- Playing Jose in the finals
- Winning my first 1st place State title
- Gaining hella points!
- Tying Michal in Trophy count
- Lenny’s for making some of the best fries I’ve ever had
- Misty pointing out some hot chick had a wedgie at Subway (Personally, I thought she made it work lol)
- Patricia for doing what she does. AWESOME TOURNAMENT!! Redemption from last year XD
Slops
- Leaving my phone at the hotel
- Leaving my cash at the hotel
- Having locals use profanity while we were having the finals match (rest assured, we took care of that real quick)
- Long drive
My name is Joshua Henry and next up, Regionals!
Thanks for reading ^-^
Oh yeah, I'm playing Cursegar.
Round 1 (Blaze-Chomp)
He goes first and starts with Garchomp C so he’s obviously playing SP, which is my strongest match-up, and I have a Spiritomb start with a Call Energy and Claydol in hand. I recall exactly every move but basically the game went a little something like this. I hold him up with Spiritomb until I get set-up with Gengar, Nidoqueen and a Bench Shielded Claydol then he pulls out a random Blaziken FB and Luring Flames my Claydol a couple of times and got burned but with Nidoqueen I healed the damage before his next turn, not to mention I had a Switches on stand-by every time. Anyway, after several Expert Belted Shadow Skips and the occasional Level-Down, I handily won that game.
(1-0)
Round 2 (Fly-Phan)
He goes first with a Phanpy start and a Trapinch on the bench to my Spiritomb start and Gastly on the bench. He passes immediately. I attach to Gastly and then Looker’s his hand. He has the Donphan Prime in hand but no energy and no way to look for one for the T2 so I shuffle my hand back in cause it was slightly crappier than his, find Baltoy and another Spiritomb, play both and Darkness Grace for Claydol. On his turn, he top-decks the energy and KO’s Spiritomb. For the next 3 turns I had to sacrifice my 3 remaining Spiritomb just to stabilize my set-up. Now the prize count is 6-2 on turn 5 and I have some serious coming back to do. Long story short, I bring it down to 1-1 and he Extreme Attacks my Gengar Lv. X for game.
(1-1)
Round 3 (Fly-Champ)
I honestly don’t remember much about this game but what really tipped the game in my favor was an early Trapinch KO and a successful Fainting Spell and learning from my last game against Flygon Lv. X, I didn’t level-up Gengar until the turn I needed it so I wouldn’t lose 2 easy prizes
(2-1)
Round 4 (Dialga Tank)
Again Spiritomb pretty much stops SP in their tracks so I was able to get set-up handily. Later in the game, he finally KO’s Spiritomb and thus the trainer lock is broken. I took this opportunity to Bench Shield my Claydol since there’s a Garchomp C on the field and then immediately put another Spiritomb on the bench. His hand is huge due to the lock and the 3 Cyrus’ he’s used already so I Looker’s his hand back in, Expert Belt the Gengar, Shadow Skip KO and bring up Spiritomb again to continue the lock. One thing, I noticed is that he didn’t run Power Spray, so on the turns that Spiritomb wasn’t active, I could use powers with no problem. Anyway, the game-clincher here was the way I spread damage via Shadow Skip and Curse and then Compound Pain scored multiple KO’s for game.
(3-1)
Round 5 (Lux-Chomp)
Pretty much the thing happened as in the last round expect he actually ran Power Spray but I used powers behind a Spiritomb anyway. The only way he was able to break the lock was with Luxray to KO Claydol but at that point I was already well set up. Again, the spread is what helped win this one.
(4-1)
Round 6 (Dusknoir-Bronzong )
My friend played him in a previous match so I already knew what to expect. It takes him a while to get going due to my Spiritomb start, all the while the said Spiritomb get me set up pretty quickly. Since he has the whole Damage Even thing going on, I’ve got Unown G on stand-by for Gengar SF and Claydol of course. The toughest thing about this match-up was managing the damage spread on both sides. Were it not for Nidoqueen, I would have lost 10 turns ago. I remember I made one misplay and that was putting out 4 benched Pokémon knowing full well that he plays the Dark Palm. He DP’s my Claydol but I was already set up so no big deal. It was a slow-paced strategic game with all the spreading and healing going on on both sides but thanks to my early start I was able to maintain the lead the whole way.
(5-1)
Round 7 (Beedrill)
Again I get Spiritomb start and I don’t remember his start but it wasn’t anything great. Even with Spiritomb it takes me a while to set-up but it’s even worse for him because his keeps growing which tells me that Spiritomb is doing its job. He finally gets a couple Beedrills in play after I took a couple prizes and thus the lock is broken. Despite my lead, the problem I ran into against the deck is that he could OHKO my side via Expert Belt and PlusPower but I could not retaliate as strong as he could. That said, I had to force it down to 1-1 and make him KO my Gengar SF and hopefully take into Sudden Death. I flip tails. He wins.
(5-2)
The Swiss Rounds are over, the standings go up, I get 6th and we’re off to TOP 16!!!
Top 16 (Dusknoir-Gengar)
Game 1 and 2 went exactly as they did in Round 5 expect I didn’t 4 Benched, so yeah. GGs though, no lie
(6-2)
Top 8 (Lux-Chomp)
My T8 opponent was none other than the high-ranked Jeremy Jallen, so beating him would greatly increase my rating, making this the hardest match of the entire day.
Game 1 – The Spiritomb start does its job and I get a couple of early prizes and he can’t recover. He scoops
Game 2 – This was a longer well-thought out game so I don’t remember much at all. The only thing I can tell you is that I drew dead at crucial parts of the game. We went prize for prize but I lost steam sooner than he did. I scoop to save time.
Game 3 – I opt to go first since I have a Spiritomb start, Call Energy, Roseanne’s and Bebe's in hand. When I go in For Call I realize that both my Claydol were prized and at that point I had already conceded but this was Game 3 so I had no choice but to keep going. We went back and forth with strategic moves and what not but my ability to spread and lock trainers is what kept me just one step ahead. Scoring 2 double KO’s via Shadow Skip, Curse and Compound Pain kept me in the lead but he was never too far behind. I finally find a Claydol so things went a little bit smoother after that. Toward the end of the game the prize count is 2-2 and all I needed to do is Level Down his 80 damage Luxray Lv. X for the KO and something else for the game but I can’t find a Spiritomb so he Power Sprays it every time. Long story short, I finally find one, hide behind it, Level Down for the KO for 1 prize and Expert Belt Shadow Skip for the other. Exceptional games Jeremy!!
(7-2)
Top 4 (Jumpluff)
Game 1 and 2 – Jumpluff is a heavy hitter but has low HP and when she Expert Belted them, it only made my job easier. She ran Shaymin Lv. X for the +40 HP boost but I Leveled it down every turn she got it out. This was not an easy match-up so had to play carefully and calculate the damage correctly by managing my bench so I don’t walk into a dangerous misplays. The game-changer here was managing the damage on Claydol, Sunflora and Azelf and then Compound Paining for multiple KO’s. Awesome games against a great deck!!!
(8-2)
Finals (Gyarados)
My final opponent was my traveling buddy, Jose Holguin. This meant that no matter who won, New Mexico is going to take Arizona! We had playtested the night before, so I felt pretty confident about this match-up. But he made it all the way to the finals so I couldn’t let my guard down for an instant. On to the match.
Game 1 – Sableye vs. Spiritomb, Crobat drop, Special Dark and Overconfident for the donk. I had some other stuff but I was moving in slow motion compared to him. I scooped. Next game please.
Game 2 – Spiritomb held him down while I get set up. He ran Regice so I always had 2 Spiritombs on the field. Thanks to my early set up, I took and kept the lead in prizes. I won this game due to a misplay my opponent made. When he KO’ed my last Spiritomb, he used 2 Pokémon Rescues to get back Magikarp and Gyarados and then tried to evolve it on the field. The only problem with that is that I played a Moonlight Stadium in the previous turn so that wasn’t going to work since his Broken Time-Space was no longer in play. So now that there’s a Magikarp on his bench and I only have one prize left, his only way out is to find another Broken Time-Space. After drawing 10 cards with Uxie, Claydol and Felicity’s Drawing, he doesn’t find out one and I Shadow Room it for game.
Game 3 – This game pretty much went like Game 2, except he doesn’t fight back as much. He was only able to set up one Gyarados the whole game. I noticed how bad he was struggling to draw anything so to ensure that he doesn’t Super Scoop Up his only Gyarados, I opted sacrifice a Spiritomb after I used an Expert Belted Shadow Skip. He tries to Regi Move it but of course I have 2 Spiritomb in play. So he KO’s Spiritomb and then I revenge KO the Gyarados. After that it all went downhill from there. With Regice in play, I put another Spiritomb out there to replace the one that KO’ed previously to keep up the lock. I KO some martyrs for my last remaining and win! Awesome games Jose! I’m honored I was able to play you in the Finals!
(9-2)
By now it’s about 12:30 in the morning but I was still pumped about the thing. After three 2nd place finishes at States, I was hungry for this title, so this definitely suppressed my appetite. After we get our trophies, we head back for the hotel while talking about our matches on the way back. I had left my phone at the hotel this morning, so I couldn’t update anybody all day. It’s already late so I’ll keep make calls to everybody in the morning.
Props
- New Mexico making Top 2
- Playing Jose in the finals
- Winning my first 1st place State title
- Gaining hella points!
- Tying Michal in Trophy count
- Lenny’s for making some of the best fries I’ve ever had
- Misty pointing out some hot chick had a wedgie at Subway (Personally, I thought she made it work lol)
- Patricia for doing what she does. AWESOME TOURNAMENT!! Redemption from last year XD
Slops
- Leaving my phone at the hotel
- Leaving my cash at the hotel
- Having locals use profanity while we were having the finals match (rest assured, we took care of that real quick)
- Long drive
My name is Joshua Henry and next up, Regionals!
Thanks for reading ^-^
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