Box of Fail
New Member
Hi all, this happens to be my first post on the Gym.
I'm Kevin Chao of Seniors, and I ran the wonderful PUMA (kAMUkazie) list posted as a featured article a couple months ago, with a few modifications.
So, I'm running a deck of basics, AMU with only a 1-1 Palkia as far as techs go. And I'm not running a single Unown G. So what's big in Seniors?
Hmm... well, we've got Flygon (70-30 loss), [Mother] Gengar (75-25 loss), and Machamp (85-15 loss). We've also got a lot of SP, which I fare well against. So how'd I do?
Round 1: VS Gallade/ Raichu spread.
This matchup is quite good for me. I T3 Supreme Blast, but I T1 Azelf MT's Downer Material. He's not running 1-1 Dialga or anything. It's a long match 'cuz Energy Pickup flips tails quite a bit, but I win 6-0.
1-0
Round 2: VS LuxApe/ Inferay.
Another good matchup. I get Azelf out early again. He takes 2 early prizes. I get Mesprit up very late, but then I sweep except for Luxray killing Uxie LV.X. I have a Switch and Premier Ball in hand though, and an Uxie on the bench, so no big deal. I get Uxie back up and play Switch to kill Luxray. I win 3-0.
2-0
Round 3: VS Flygon, and then another match against Gallade spread.
This really sucked. Yes, both matches were for the same point. First I play against Flygon, which is built to destroy AMU. But I T2 the 3 pixies, and T4 Palkia. I drag out each Trapinch (that's right, I Psychic Bind, and he can't Cosmic, so he doesn't get a Candy) and kill them one by one. I'm like 4 prizes ahead. Half time has been called about 5 minutes ago. Then the judge walks by. Guess what?! My opponent had the wrong table! So they switch. I don’t get a free win or prize penalty, but at least they ruled that if time is called and y opponent hasn’t won, I win by default.
So anyway, he starts with Gyarados G. I start with crap: Uxie, 3 or so Psychic Energy, Switch, a single Poké Drawer, and some other worthless card for starts. I top-deck Mesprit LA and Bind him. I play one Drawer and actually top-deck Roseanne’s. He ends up taking 4 prize cards with Gyarados while I struggle for life. Now, I could’ve just stalled till time was called, but I got set up very late and obliterated him. So I won 2-0.
3-0
Round 4: VS Gengar
My worst nightmare. He gets SO close to donking me. He’s got the Crobat, Candy, Gengar, you name it. Except, he overlooks the energy. I live by a hair. I get set up fast, but a heads on Fainting Spell kills me. I recover with Premier Ball, only to die again. I lose 0-1.
3-1
Round 5: VS Machamp
Ouch. I’m pretty much ready to lose when I see the Machop. I basically get the pixies and Palkia up, and Restructure his Machamp. But he gets 2 more up. I stall by Restructuring out Claydol and using Lock Up. I trade 1 for 2 by Restructuring out Machamp, killing it, and letting the next one kill Mesprit. I send up a benched Mesprit, Premier Ball the LV.X, and Supreme Blast. Somewhere in between my first Machamp kill and my third, he had used Night Maintenance, so he has another Machamp up by this time. He levels up and kills Mesprit with Strong-Willed. Because I’ve killed a Machop and Uxie, I have one prize remaining. My bench was full, so I couldn’t bench a Mesprit the previous turn. I simply send up Azelf LV.X and Deep Balance a benched Baltoy, which he overlooked. I win 2-0, which amazes even me, as I’m not running any Unown G, and all the Pokémon in my deck are basics or LV.X’s of them.
4-1
Round 6: VS Flygon
My opponent is a fellow New Englander (by the way, New England dominated this year, go Aylam!), and I’m pretty confident I can take his Flygon on. So we both get set up fast, and during the game, we both make stupid misplays. His was not retreating a Blissey using my Moonlight Stadium (he had Weavile SW in play). Mine was even stupider. I had his only Flygon and my Mesprit LV.X (all set up for Supreme Blast) active with Palkia. Then, because I had the2 Mesprit side-by-side, I look at the MT one underneath the LV.X and glance at Teleportation Burst. I stupidly blurt out Teleportation Burst without thinking, and of course he won’t let me take it back. I end up winning anyway, 2-0.
5-1
Round 7: VS Gengar
I really don’t remember this match. Your standard Genericgar gets a great start and destroys me 0-6.
5-2
Round 8 (Final Swiss Round): VS Gengar
Funny, isn’t it? Another Gengar. Luckily, all 3 Gengar I play end up making Top 64, so that greatly boosts my resistance. So anyway, this match goes out for a little while, but then I die. Again, pretty foggy. I lost 0-5, I think.
5-3
So now that I’m 5-3, I’m itching to see if I made Top 64. Guess what? I did! I came in 57th though, and I battled 8th (not 7th, weird, huh?). Very tough game. It’s best of 3, 45 minutes, but our first round really took about 40 minutes, as we didn’t finish setting up our second game.
Top 64: VS LuxApe/ Inferay
I get an okay start, but I’m able to guess literally 90% of the moves she makes, which helps a lot. The big problem is her Dialga G start. She goes second, and attaches Energy Gain and a basic metal, which tricks me into thinking she’s running straight Dialga or Dialga/ Palkia. Deafen irritates me to my limit, and plus she gets out the LV.X next turn, which cancels out Downer Material. So I get out Palkia LV.X, but due to Deafen, it takes 3 turns. After she retreats Dialga, I drag Dialga out with Restructure and kill it with Supreme Blast. By now she has a charged Luxray on her bench, but Downer Material bumps the cost up another energy. She uses Gleam Eyes to hit Uxie LV.X. The game goes on and at one point, she was ahead of me with 1 prize left to 4, and half time had been called a while ago. I went on a killing spree and tied it up, but I ran out of energy, with no energy on any of my Pokémon, 1 left in my hand, no pickups, and no cards left in my deck. So I desperately retreat (for free using Upper Material) and use Psychic Restore with Uxie LV.X just to stay alive. I arrange it so that Uxie LA is on top. That was a misplay, and I realized I could win. Luckily she drew nothing. I was now told she did have the energy needed to win, and didn't play it for some reason. Next turn I used Uxie’s Set Up for the last 2 cards in my deck. I Restructure for an Uxie with 30 damage on it due to Luxray GL LV.X’s attack, and she chooses Palkia. I play Switch and Psychic Restore for 40 damage and the win. She gets upset, and we were running out of time, so I didn’t have time to sixpile, which sucked. I got a horrendous start, but then time was called. I was in. And I won 1-0.
6-3
The next day, I get up early to eat breakfast, and get going for top 32. It was best of 3, one hour, single elimination.
Top 32: VS GeChamp
Aaaarrgggh! Worst matchup I could hope for. He pretty much nearly T1s a Machamp 2 games in a row, plus I get awful starts. I scoop first round, and Psychic Restore suicide second game once I know I’ve lost. I lose 0-2.
So, I finished 25th. But I had a blast, so I’d have been fine not making top cut anyway. Everyone thought, and still does, that I’m a lunatic for nut running Unown G. You can say I might’ve won if I ran G. That is certainly possible, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be running it in PUMA anytime soon.
Props:
Great for a first Nationals
Everyone thought I was crazy
Huge turnout, biggest Pokemon TCG event in history
Beating 2 Flygon & a Machamp with AMU minus G's
Coming 1 prize away from beating Gengar
Winning top 64 round by Psychic Restoring
Aylam won
Nathaniel, Noah, Daniel made top 4
Aaron made top 16
Thomas, Collin, Henry, Duncan, and I made top 32
Playing a dead deck and not sucking
Meeting lots of cool people: Chairman Kaga, Secretsof2113, as well as an awesome kid from Texas named Max who made top 16 Juniors.
Trading for Leafeon LV.X
New England kicked arse
I ate Arby's
My Gengar opponents flipped tails on fainting spell 2/3 of the time
Slops:
Gengar way overplayed
Died in top 32
Having to play 2 games in R3
Thomas lost in top 32 after perfect record in Swiss, same with Aaron in top 16
Thomas acted very weird on Sunday
Jon Bristow got DQ'd
I lost a whole lot of 8-mans
The modified side event on Sunday sucked because nobody showed to their matches
No masters from New England made top 8
Steve was thew only judge I knew, and he judged Juniors
Only top 4 got mentioned on go-pokemon.com, my name wasn't up there
St. Louis was burning
Expensive food
Vending machine ate my money
Had to leave on Sunday
Ordered the wrong flavor of bubble tea
I played 3 Gengars in Swiss and lost to them all
Singing in Japanese in front of Noah and pals
I suck at bluffing out Gengar's Poltergeist
2 Gengars at the end of Swiss, when I was 5-1
Made stupid misplays
I'm Kevin Chao of Seniors, and I ran the wonderful PUMA (kAMUkazie) list posted as a featured article a couple months ago, with a few modifications.
So, I'm running a deck of basics, AMU with only a 1-1 Palkia as far as techs go. And I'm not running a single Unown G. So what's big in Seniors?
Hmm... well, we've got Flygon (70-30 loss), [Mother] Gengar (75-25 loss), and Machamp (85-15 loss). We've also got a lot of SP, which I fare well against. So how'd I do?
Round 1: VS Gallade/ Raichu spread.
This matchup is quite good for me. I T3 Supreme Blast, but I T1 Azelf MT's Downer Material. He's not running 1-1 Dialga or anything. It's a long match 'cuz Energy Pickup flips tails quite a bit, but I win 6-0.
1-0
Round 2: VS LuxApe/ Inferay.
Another good matchup. I get Azelf out early again. He takes 2 early prizes. I get Mesprit up very late, but then I sweep except for Luxray killing Uxie LV.X. I have a Switch and Premier Ball in hand though, and an Uxie on the bench, so no big deal. I get Uxie back up and play Switch to kill Luxray. I win 3-0.
2-0
Round 3: VS Flygon, and then another match against Gallade spread.
This really sucked. Yes, both matches were for the same point. First I play against Flygon, which is built to destroy AMU. But I T2 the 3 pixies, and T4 Palkia. I drag out each Trapinch (that's right, I Psychic Bind, and he can't Cosmic, so he doesn't get a Candy) and kill them one by one. I'm like 4 prizes ahead. Half time has been called about 5 minutes ago. Then the judge walks by. Guess what?! My opponent had the wrong table! So they switch. I don’t get a free win or prize penalty, but at least they ruled that if time is called and y opponent hasn’t won, I win by default.
So anyway, he starts with Gyarados G. I start with crap: Uxie, 3 or so Psychic Energy, Switch, a single Poké Drawer, and some other worthless card for starts. I top-deck Mesprit LA and Bind him. I play one Drawer and actually top-deck Roseanne’s. He ends up taking 4 prize cards with Gyarados while I struggle for life. Now, I could’ve just stalled till time was called, but I got set up very late and obliterated him. So I won 2-0.
3-0
Round 4: VS Gengar
My worst nightmare. He gets SO close to donking me. He’s got the Crobat, Candy, Gengar, you name it. Except, he overlooks the energy. I live by a hair. I get set up fast, but a heads on Fainting Spell kills me. I recover with Premier Ball, only to die again. I lose 0-1.
3-1
Round 5: VS Machamp
Ouch. I’m pretty much ready to lose when I see the Machop. I basically get the pixies and Palkia up, and Restructure his Machamp. But he gets 2 more up. I stall by Restructuring out Claydol and using Lock Up. I trade 1 for 2 by Restructuring out Machamp, killing it, and letting the next one kill Mesprit. I send up a benched Mesprit, Premier Ball the LV.X, and Supreme Blast. Somewhere in between my first Machamp kill and my third, he had used Night Maintenance, so he has another Machamp up by this time. He levels up and kills Mesprit with Strong-Willed. Because I’ve killed a Machop and Uxie, I have one prize remaining. My bench was full, so I couldn’t bench a Mesprit the previous turn. I simply send up Azelf LV.X and Deep Balance a benched Baltoy, which he overlooked. I win 2-0, which amazes even me, as I’m not running any Unown G, and all the Pokémon in my deck are basics or LV.X’s of them.
4-1
Round 6: VS Flygon
My opponent is a fellow New Englander (by the way, New England dominated this year, go Aylam!), and I’m pretty confident I can take his Flygon on. So we both get set up fast, and during the game, we both make stupid misplays. His was not retreating a Blissey using my Moonlight Stadium (he had Weavile SW in play). Mine was even stupider. I had his only Flygon and my Mesprit LV.X (all set up for Supreme Blast) active with Palkia. Then, because I had the2 Mesprit side-by-side, I look at the MT one underneath the LV.X and glance at Teleportation Burst. I stupidly blurt out Teleportation Burst without thinking, and of course he won’t let me take it back. I end up winning anyway, 2-0.
5-1
Round 7: VS Gengar
I really don’t remember this match. Your standard Genericgar gets a great start and destroys me 0-6.
5-2
Round 8 (Final Swiss Round): VS Gengar
Funny, isn’t it? Another Gengar. Luckily, all 3 Gengar I play end up making Top 64, so that greatly boosts my resistance. So anyway, this match goes out for a little while, but then I die. Again, pretty foggy. I lost 0-5, I think.
5-3
So now that I’m 5-3, I’m itching to see if I made Top 64. Guess what? I did! I came in 57th though, and I battled 8th (not 7th, weird, huh?). Very tough game. It’s best of 3, 45 minutes, but our first round really took about 40 minutes, as we didn’t finish setting up our second game.
Top 64: VS LuxApe/ Inferay
I get an okay start, but I’m able to guess literally 90% of the moves she makes, which helps a lot. The big problem is her Dialga G start. She goes second, and attaches Energy Gain and a basic metal, which tricks me into thinking she’s running straight Dialga or Dialga/ Palkia. Deafen irritates me to my limit, and plus she gets out the LV.X next turn, which cancels out Downer Material. So I get out Palkia LV.X, but due to Deafen, it takes 3 turns. After she retreats Dialga, I drag Dialga out with Restructure and kill it with Supreme Blast. By now she has a charged Luxray on her bench, but Downer Material bumps the cost up another energy. She uses Gleam Eyes to hit Uxie LV.X. The game goes on and at one point, she was ahead of me with 1 prize left to 4, and half time had been called a while ago. I went on a killing spree and tied it up, but I ran out of energy, with no energy on any of my Pokémon, 1 left in my hand, no pickups, and no cards left in my deck. So I desperately retreat (for free using Upper Material) and use Psychic Restore with Uxie LV.X just to stay alive. I arrange it so that Uxie LA is on top. That was a misplay, and I realized I could win. Luckily she drew nothing. I was now told she did have the energy needed to win, and didn't play it for some reason. Next turn I used Uxie’s Set Up for the last 2 cards in my deck. I Restructure for an Uxie with 30 damage on it due to Luxray GL LV.X’s attack, and she chooses Palkia. I play Switch and Psychic Restore for 40 damage and the win. She gets upset, and we were running out of time, so I didn’t have time to sixpile, which sucked. I got a horrendous start, but then time was called. I was in. And I won 1-0.
6-3
The next day, I get up early to eat breakfast, and get going for top 32. It was best of 3, one hour, single elimination.
Top 32: VS GeChamp
Aaaarrgggh! Worst matchup I could hope for. He pretty much nearly T1s a Machamp 2 games in a row, plus I get awful starts. I scoop first round, and Psychic Restore suicide second game once I know I’ve lost. I lose 0-2.
So, I finished 25th. But I had a blast, so I’d have been fine not making top cut anyway. Everyone thought, and still does, that I’m a lunatic for nut running Unown G. You can say I might’ve won if I ran G. That is certainly possible, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be running it in PUMA anytime soon.
Props:
Great for a first Nationals
Everyone thought I was crazy
Huge turnout, biggest Pokemon TCG event in history
Beating 2 Flygon & a Machamp with AMU minus G's
Coming 1 prize away from beating Gengar
Winning top 64 round by Psychic Restoring
Aylam won
Nathaniel, Noah, Daniel made top 4
Aaron made top 16
Thomas, Collin, Henry, Duncan, and I made top 32
Playing a dead deck and not sucking
Meeting lots of cool people: Chairman Kaga, Secretsof2113, as well as an awesome kid from Texas named Max who made top 16 Juniors.
Trading for Leafeon LV.X
New England kicked arse
I ate Arby's
My Gengar opponents flipped tails on fainting spell 2/3 of the time
Slops:
Gengar way overplayed
Died in top 32
Having to play 2 games in R3
Thomas lost in top 32 after perfect record in Swiss, same with Aaron in top 16
Thomas acted very weird on Sunday
Jon Bristow got DQ'd
I lost a whole lot of 8-mans
The modified side event on Sunday sucked because nobody showed to their matches
No masters from New England made top 8
Steve was thew only judge I knew, and he judged Juniors
Only top 4 got mentioned on go-pokemon.com, my name wasn't up there
St. Louis was burning
Expensive food
Vending machine ate my money
Had to leave on Sunday
Ordered the wrong flavor of bubble tea
I played 3 Gengars in Swiss and lost to them all
Singing in Japanese in front of Noah and pals
I suck at bluffing out Gengar's Poltergeist
2 Gengars at the end of Swiss, when I was 5-1
Made stupid misplays
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