Pokégym Report - EU Professor Cup 2016
The event was held the day after the OP EU conference, in the Rosa Grand Hotel near the Duomo in Milan. There were 52 Professors playing. Below is my brief take on a good day - many thanks are due to Thorsten, Becca and Marcello for organising and running the tournament, which was Bo3, 40 mins, with a Top 8 cut.
R1 - vs Marco Capolli from Italy (Tentacool/RoboSub)
First match in a really strange format - I managed to win the first game by knocking out all of his RoboSubs, and then taking the actual prizes. He won the second game when I ran out of bench, but there was only a couple of minutes left, so we played out to a tie.
R2 - vs ??? from Italy (Rhyhorn/Makuhita)
I won the first game quite quickly, and in the second game I made a mistake - he had a fully powered Rhyhorn active, with Fighting Belt attached with 50HP left. On the bench he had a Makuhita with 80HP and no energy. I had a Quagsire out with 60 damage, which was my only Pokémon, and two energy attached. I needed two prizes to win. Stupidly, I attached a Dark energy instead of a fighting, which he took advantage of by switching his Pokémon, which resulted in him winning the game. The third game went very quickly, with him winning due to the only Wooper getting knocked out.
R3 - vs Elsa Wagner-van-Zijp from Netherlands (Litleo)
This game was fairly easy - though with her Blacksmith/Fiery Torch combos she managed to frighten me a couple of times. Pokémon Center Lady to the rescue! I won 2-0.
R4 - vs Ian Fotheringham from the league that I run in the UK (Malamar)
This was the matchup I had been dreading, we had tested at league beforehand and he thrashed me. We had made several changes to our decks since that day, so I thought that I was in for a lesson in Pokémon. But in the first game, after a couple of Max Elixir/Energy Switch he was on the back foot and scooped after a couple of prizes had gone my way. The second game went even better, I had a Wooper set up with two energy, and a Tierno in hand, he did not have any draw in his hand at all, so he scooped. The Tierno would have drawn two energies and a Quagsire.
R5 - vs Jorge Puyol from Spain (Skarmory/RoboSub)
One of the most one-sided matchups you're likely to see. First game he went first, got a RoboSub active with a Skarmory on the bench fully powered with Max Elixirs. I had a Wooper, which despite Repeat Balls in my deck and drawing three through Tierno, I could not add to. Second game, after I had 5 mulligans we did a Judge Ball, which resulted in him starting, and doing exactly the same thing again. My 1 Wooper could not stand against the mighty Skarmory.
R6 - vs Kelly Newsum from the UK (Night March)
The first game, she won quite easily. Second game, I won after knocking out two Pumpkaboo. Third game went to the wire, with her having two Pumpkaboo, the active one with two energy, the second with none. I had just a Quagsire active, with two energy, and needed two prizes. I had to attach an energy, but could not get the fighting energy which would have been enough. So I attached a dark, she was sensible and switched her Pokémon and won the game next turn, thanks to the Dimension Valley she had in play.
So, I finished 2-3-1 on 7 points. Changes I'd make to the list would be to put a couple of Stadiums in there to counter the opponent, maybe 2 Professors Letters so that I could get the energy that I needed, and either another Repeat Ball or a Level Ball to get the Woopers. And play competitively more often
Decklist:
3 Wooper AOR
3 Quagsire AOR
2 Tierno
1 Giovanni's Scheme
1 Pokémon Center Lady
2 Korrina
1 Shauna
3 VS Seeker
3 Max Elixir
2 Energy Switch
2 Red Card
2 Repeat Ball
2 Super Rod
3 Trainers Mail
1 Startling Megaphone
1 Battle Compressor
5 Dark Energy
3 Fighting Energy
