baby mario
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baby mario wins UK Nats!
I’m in Seniors btw.
I wasn’t at all sure what deck I would play for Nats. I thought about using my Luxchomp because I had won two States with it and felt very comfortable with how it plays. However I suspected I might see Donphan techs and was worried about the near-autoloss. I considered playing Donphan for about two seconds. I build Plox and got some great testing results (but only if I had a Spiritomb start). In desperation I even made a weird Blaziken/Donphan anti-meta deck, which was just crazy. In the end, I decided to play Jumpluff. I really thought it was the BDIF but was concerned about the deck’s obvious weaknesses and knew it needed testing and tweaking.
Got to the hotel on Friday evening and did a whole load of playtesting with Fares and a few other people. I eventually went to bed around midnight while Sami ran up and down the hotel trying to get the cards to build 27 Jumpluff decks for various people.
Saturday was the day of the tournament. We arrived at Wicksteed Park, registered and got our free t-shirts. I made two last-minute changes to my list. Unfortunately the start of the tournament was delayed because over a third of people couldn’t manage to enter their POP ID properly on the registration sheet which if you ask me is pretty dumb of them. Ian Fotheringham was TO and Head Judge and he announced that Seniors would be six rounds with a top 8 cut. This meant that I would have to go 5-1 to be sure of cutting, which was harsh!
Ok, on to the rounds. Sorry if I can’t remember your name. If you read this and you played me, then let me know and I will add you to the report.
Round 1 vs Callum (Salamence)
Callum got a T2 Salamence out, but really it needs too much Energy to attack in this format. I got set up quickly with Claydol, Pluff and Luxray and proceeded to hit the Salamence for 90 damage. He couldn’t return with a KO and his deck just stalled out. He did manage to take a couple of Prizes, but Pluff’s speed was just too much.
1-0
Round 2 vs ? (Luxchomp?)
He opens with Crobat G, attaches and ends. I have the god hand: BTS, Collector, Skiploom, Claydol, Comm, Turn, Energy – the result was a donk win.
2-0
Round 3 vs Ross (Luxchomp)
To give you some idea of how bad my hand and draw was, I didn’t get a Pluff until about T9. His hand wasn’t great either but two early Sprays really hurt me and he took the win.
2-1 (now I have to go undefeated to make cut)
Before this round started, we all got given an RR pack on our tables. Only 2 people in the entire tourney pulled a Luxray X and one of them was my brother Ben in Masters. He was so excited that he forgot to put out his Prizes for the match and got a game loss. He still top cut though, so that was alright.
Round 4 vs ? (Flychamp)
I have another horrible hand and he gets a T2 Flygon and traps a Baltoy. I eventually start getting Pluffs set up, and once I start Bright Looking up benched Flygons he has no way of returning my KOs, so I win.
3-1
Round 5 vs ? (Torterra/Sceptile)
Torterras aren’t easy to kill with Pluffs, but benched Sceptiles and Turtwigs definitely are. A few Bright Looks won me this game.
4-1
Round 6 vs Michael (Kingdra/Machamp)
This is poor as Michael is my friend and fellow member of Team Aldershot (not a real team). What is worse, only one of us can top cut. I got a T1 Pluff plus Judge and took an early Prize lead. Then Michael set up properly and came right back into the match. I got a Belted Kingdra to 10 HP short of the KO but Michael only needed to hit one of 4 SSU flips to save it and probably win the game. Unfortunately for him, he missed them all. I felt a bit bad about it but putting out a friend in such a lucky way made me more determined to go on and win the whole thing.
5-1
So, I top cut in 6th place.
Top 8 vs Richard L (Luxchomp)
The only other time I played Richard was in Nats top cut two years ago. I think I must be his unlucky player. I got a really fast set up while he got a very bad starting hand. I was taking a Prize a turn and he just couldn’t keep up. Second game, Richard had a better start, but I was still able to take KOs on Chomps while he couldn’t return KOs every turn. That’s what makes Pluff so good. Well played Richard. You are a very good player and I enjoy our games.
Top 4 vs Fares S (Jumpluff)
I wasn’t looking forward to this because a) Fares is really good friend and a great player, and b) Pluff mirror is a bit of a lottery. Game 1, Fares set up way faster than I did, took a 3 Prize lead, and I scooped as I knew I couldn’t keep recovering Pluffs. Game 2, I set up a lot better and was able to consistently put out Pluffs. This was the one match where Ditto came in handy (I really teched it for Gengar!), giving me an extra Pluff when needed. Game 3 was very even and we exchanged KOs. I got some lucky Uxie draws and was able to keep up the Jumpluff swarm. Eventually it got down to 2-1 in Prizes. Fares sent out a belted Pluff, and played Judge to get rid of the Luxray X in my hand which I needed to win. He then KO’d my active Pluff. I promoted Luxray, attached, and Cosmic Powered into the LV X for game. I needed a lot of luck to win this one.
Final vs Adam H (Luxchomp w/ Entei/Raikou Legend)
Before the final, I rested my head on the table during deck checks. People kept asking me if I was alright, but what I was doing was taking a break and getting into the right frame of mind for the match.
Game 1 and went second and set up really quickly. I restricted my bench to only one Pokémon with a Power (Claydol) because I know that ERL wrecks Pluff if it gets a chance. I took a quick Prize lead, and when he did get the ERL out I was able to return the KO on it with a Pluff. Game 2 I had a terrible hand and just didn’t set up. Adam got himself into a position where he could snipe with Chomp for the win so to save enough time for game 3, I scooped. Game 3 my start was just about decent. Adam’s deck has this trick of Bright Looking Claydols and trapping with Roserade and I didn’t want that to happen so I spent the game Bright Looking his Luxray drops. The real turning point was when I dropped Judge to stop him getting the ERL pieces. He couldn’t recover from that and I picked up the win. Good games Adam.
So, I get to be National Champ in my last year of Seniors!
Here is the list I promised
4-2-4 Pluff
3-3 Claydol
2 Crobat G
1 Chatot
1-1 Luxray
1 Regice
1 Ditto
1 Azelf
2 Uxie
3 Bebe
3 Roseanne
2 Collector
1 Judge
4 BTS
4 Communication
3 Candy
4 Poke Turn
1 NM
1 Warp Point
1 Expert Belt
1 Lux Ball
4 Grass
2 Multi
Props
Ian for running a great tournament
Jumpluff
Judge - this card wins bad match ups
Ben making top 16
Sami for all his help
Fares for playtesting
Michael & Nathaniel (Team Aldershot – it isn’t a real team)
Slops
Samuel and Alex missing out on top cut
Playing Fares before the final
That’s it. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in Hawaii!
Jak
