vanderbilt_grad
New Member
I spend much of the week testing two lists that I’m thinking about, a Froslass and a Blissey list. I give up on Blissey mid week and just concentrate on Lass. I settle on my final list Friday night. I type up decklists for the whole family before going to bed.
I sleep terribly. I wake up at 4:30, 5, & 5:45 AM each time from a dream where I’m playing Torterra. Once I finally get up for good I figure that my subconscious is trying to tell me something so before breakfast I start building and sleeving a Torterra deck. I don’t follow any of my existing Redshark lists very carefully. I’m thinking about what I did and didn’t use when I tested Torterra against my other two lists. I’m also inspired by Hatter’s post here on the gym.
Unfortunately the boys are both not feeling well this AM and neither is my wife. All three beg off as I’m cooking pancakes, though the youngest wants to go really badly but knows that he isn’t well enough. I’m feeling really tired myself but I’m hoping it was the bad sleep and not me coming down with whatever crud they have. I drink a Monster and eat a second helping of pancakes for luck.
So I drive solo to Fort Mill SC packing both the Torterra and Froslass deck. I’m feeling more and more comfortable with the idea of Torterra as I near my destination, even though I’m still tweaking the list even in the parking lot. I write it up and register.
Anyway on to the event. Masters are 4 rounds with a top 2 cut. Not nearly as big as I had thought it might be.
Round 1
I’m playing Lisa, the wife half of the store’s ownership. My wife and I are on really good terms with the two of them and we laugh about getting paired together in R1. I mulligan once and then start with Baltoy (2 grass, SSU, Poke Ball, both Dawns in hand, yuck) to her two grass Eggs and a Treecko. I roll my eyes & she goes first, attaching a grass to the lead eggs and attacking. Thank goodness she rolls tails and does no damage. I topdeck a something else useless attach a grass, flip tails on the Poke-Ball, and pass. She attaches a second energy to eggs but seems to have a bad hand too. She flips TWO tails for eggs attack on my Baltoy. On my turn I topdeck my tech Uxie, bench him, use his power to grab cards, and just set up in a big way after that. I bench her after just a few turns. I’m feeling good about the Uxie right then.
1-0
Round 2
This time I’m paired with Trey, a very competitive Poke-Dad, that I know just a bit from league. I know in advance that he’s playing Froslass/Bronzong and I mulligan once to show him Sceptile and Torterra lv. X. He goes first starting with Spiritomb (boo) to my Treecko. He has the T2 Lass with Moonlight out to retreat his Spiritomb while I have to stall just a bit but starting around T4 I get Torterra MD with Sceptile on the bench and start OHKOing stuff as fast as he can get it up. I abuse Switch + Chatot twice and level up so I can Frenzy Plant multiple times in a row. He gets 3 SSU heads on his Spiritombs, keeping more damage in play than I would like, but he just can’t keep the attackers flowing.
2-0
Round 3
I sit down at table 1 across from David, a young man who frequently judges at our events. He’s very good when he plays though, and today he is running AMU. I mulligan twice and start Baltoy to his Uxie LA (active) and Mesprite MT (benched). He goes first and lays Azelf LA and I know the game’s probably over there. It takes me forever to recover from the Baltoy start. I take two prizes, but he’s in control the whole way. I don’t see his tech this game but since he plays multi energy I know that something else is in there.
2-1
Round 4
I’m up against the day’s youngest master, Zach. Zach is playing an Empoleon and Garchomp deck. I finally get a Turtwig start (with no mulligans!) to his Lapras active and Gibble benched. I have nothing going on early and have to T3 Chatot Mimic for 13 cards to get into the game and start mowing after that. His restore Chomp gets some stuff back into play to keep him in the game, and he get’s a snipe of my Sceptile at one point, but it’s not enough. I just keep taking prizes nearly as fast as he can get stuff out. Afterwards Zach very nice and wishes me luck.
3-1
I make top cut, just barely on Opponent’s Win Percentage (we have two 3-1 players) and am Facing David from round 3 who was undefeated. At this point I’m running on pure sugar, having not eaten lunch due to pancake fullness earlier. I drink some nasty sugary soda and eat part of a snickers bar.
Game 1
My start is a bit slow (Treecko) & I have two Turtwigs and a Claydol prized. We take 25 minutes or so to play it out but he gets the with after I run out of Torterras mid game due to the Turwig & NM drought. Still it was tight enough early that he almost conceded.
0-1
Game 2
I get a T2 doink of his deck’s tech. I had an amazing opening hand to his bad start.
1-1
Game 3
This was an amazing game. I start with Chatot active a Treecko benched with Call & 2 Poke-Balls in hand to his Azelf. He gets the early prize lead, but that just lets me use Torterra to drag up his stuff. I score two KOs that he didn’t expect that way before he Supreme Blasts that one to nothing. Things get really tight with a gamestate that was him with 3 prize to my 4 & me with Torterra DP active with Sceptile (90 damage) on the bench, snowpoint temple in play ... and I misplay the next few turns. I attack with Vigorous Dash when I probably could have gotten the KO with Leaf Storm and healed my Sceptile some too ... but I’m thinking ahead at this point to being able to KO the benched threats he has with Snowpoint. He promotes a basic Mespirte with TS2 attached and KOs my Sceptile with Devolution. I level up, play Treecko, RC to the Sceptile he just put back in my hand, and then mess up by attaching energy to the wrong Pokemon. I was thinking that he could possibly counter KO my Sceptile again with Azelf or something ... but in retrospect I don’t think that I had enough energy in play for him to do that in 1 attack. I should have attached to my benched Grotle. So he Supreme Blasts my Torterra. I promote Grotle and attach ... I have Bebe’s and Cynthia’s in hand and Claydol on the bench. I haven’t seen either of my Dawns this game and don’t have much left in my deck. If I can get Dawns I can Earthquake for the KO. I debate playing Cynthia vs Bebe’s and I decide to do the latter, for the sure Torterra, and try to Cosmic Power for the Stadium. I don’t get it and am short 10 damage for the KO. He wins the next turn with Energy Switch, Supreme blast.
1-2 … second place.
I really felt my unfamiliarity with the deck that last game. I just hadn’t played it enough in enough situations to have a gut feel for which attacks to use when. I should note that I’ve never actually sleeved a Torterra deck before. Being tired didn’t help either. Still I think that Tortera was the correct play for me today. Had I played my Froslass deck I’m not sure that some of these games would have gone so smoothly especially in the top cut games.
Overall it was a good fun day! Subconscious dreams for the almost win! Props for lots of great opponents & our fantastic staff as well!
I sleep terribly. I wake up at 4:30, 5, & 5:45 AM each time from a dream where I’m playing Torterra. Once I finally get up for good I figure that my subconscious is trying to tell me something so before breakfast I start building and sleeving a Torterra deck. I don’t follow any of my existing Redshark lists very carefully. I’m thinking about what I did and didn’t use when I tested Torterra against my other two lists. I’m also inspired by Hatter’s post here on the gym.
Unfortunately the boys are both not feeling well this AM and neither is my wife. All three beg off as I’m cooking pancakes, though the youngest wants to go really badly but knows that he isn’t well enough. I’m feeling really tired myself but I’m hoping it was the bad sleep and not me coming down with whatever crud they have. I drink a Monster and eat a second helping of pancakes for luck.
So I drive solo to Fort Mill SC packing both the Torterra and Froslass deck. I’m feeling more and more comfortable with the idea of Torterra as I near my destination, even though I’m still tweaking the list even in the parking lot. I write it up and register.
Anyway on to the event. Masters are 4 rounds with a top 2 cut. Not nearly as big as I had thought it might be.
Round 1
I’m playing Lisa, the wife half of the store’s ownership. My wife and I are on really good terms with the two of them and we laugh about getting paired together in R1. I mulligan once and then start with Baltoy (2 grass, SSU, Poke Ball, both Dawns in hand, yuck) to her two grass Eggs and a Treecko. I roll my eyes & she goes first, attaching a grass to the lead eggs and attacking. Thank goodness she rolls tails and does no damage. I topdeck a something else useless attach a grass, flip tails on the Poke-Ball, and pass. She attaches a second energy to eggs but seems to have a bad hand too. She flips TWO tails for eggs attack on my Baltoy. On my turn I topdeck my tech Uxie, bench him, use his power to grab cards, and just set up in a big way after that. I bench her after just a few turns. I’m feeling good about the Uxie right then.
1-0
Round 2
This time I’m paired with Trey, a very competitive Poke-Dad, that I know just a bit from league. I know in advance that he’s playing Froslass/Bronzong and I mulligan once to show him Sceptile and Torterra lv. X. He goes first starting with Spiritomb (boo) to my Treecko. He has the T2 Lass with Moonlight out to retreat his Spiritomb while I have to stall just a bit but starting around T4 I get Torterra MD with Sceptile on the bench and start OHKOing stuff as fast as he can get it up. I abuse Switch + Chatot twice and level up so I can Frenzy Plant multiple times in a row. He gets 3 SSU heads on his Spiritombs, keeping more damage in play than I would like, but he just can’t keep the attackers flowing.
2-0
Round 3
I sit down at table 1 across from David, a young man who frequently judges at our events. He’s very good when he plays though, and today he is running AMU. I mulligan twice and start Baltoy to his Uxie LA (active) and Mesprite MT (benched). He goes first and lays Azelf LA and I know the game’s probably over there. It takes me forever to recover from the Baltoy start. I take two prizes, but he’s in control the whole way. I don’t see his tech this game but since he plays multi energy I know that something else is in there.
2-1
Round 4
I’m up against the day’s youngest master, Zach. Zach is playing an Empoleon and Garchomp deck. I finally get a Turtwig start (with no mulligans!) to his Lapras active and Gibble benched. I have nothing going on early and have to T3 Chatot Mimic for 13 cards to get into the game and start mowing after that. His restore Chomp gets some stuff back into play to keep him in the game, and he get’s a snipe of my Sceptile at one point, but it’s not enough. I just keep taking prizes nearly as fast as he can get stuff out. Afterwards Zach very nice and wishes me luck.
3-1
I make top cut, just barely on Opponent’s Win Percentage (we have two 3-1 players) and am Facing David from round 3 who was undefeated. At this point I’m running on pure sugar, having not eaten lunch due to pancake fullness earlier. I drink some nasty sugary soda and eat part of a snickers bar.
Game 1
My start is a bit slow (Treecko) & I have two Turtwigs and a Claydol prized. We take 25 minutes or so to play it out but he gets the with after I run out of Torterras mid game due to the Turwig & NM drought. Still it was tight enough early that he almost conceded.
0-1
Game 2
I get a T2 doink of his deck’s tech. I had an amazing opening hand to his bad start.
1-1
Game 3
This was an amazing game. I start with Chatot active a Treecko benched with Call & 2 Poke-Balls in hand to his Azelf. He gets the early prize lead, but that just lets me use Torterra to drag up his stuff. I score two KOs that he didn’t expect that way before he Supreme Blasts that one to nothing. Things get really tight with a gamestate that was him with 3 prize to my 4 & me with Torterra DP active with Sceptile (90 damage) on the bench, snowpoint temple in play ... and I misplay the next few turns. I attack with Vigorous Dash when I probably could have gotten the KO with Leaf Storm and healed my Sceptile some too ... but I’m thinking ahead at this point to being able to KO the benched threats he has with Snowpoint. He promotes a basic Mespirte with TS2 attached and KOs my Sceptile with Devolution. I level up, play Treecko, RC to the Sceptile he just put back in my hand, and then mess up by attaching energy to the wrong Pokemon. I was thinking that he could possibly counter KO my Sceptile again with Azelf or something ... but in retrospect I don’t think that I had enough energy in play for him to do that in 1 attack. I should have attached to my benched Grotle. So he Supreme Blasts my Torterra. I promote Grotle and attach ... I have Bebe’s and Cynthia’s in hand and Claydol on the bench. I haven’t seen either of my Dawns this game and don’t have much left in my deck. If I can get Dawns I can Earthquake for the KO. I debate playing Cynthia vs Bebe’s and I decide to do the latter, for the sure Torterra, and try to Cosmic Power for the Stadium. I don’t get it and am short 10 damage for the KO. He wins the next turn with Energy Switch, Supreme blast.
1-2 … second place.
I really felt my unfamiliarity with the deck that last game. I just hadn’t played it enough in enough situations to have a gut feel for which attacks to use when. I should note that I’ve never actually sleeved a Torterra deck before. Being tired didn’t help either. Still I think that Tortera was the correct play for me today. Had I played my Froslass deck I’m not sure that some of these games would have gone so smoothly especially in the top cut games.
Overall it was a good fun day! Subconscious dreams for the almost win! Props for lots of great opponents & our fantastic staff as well!
