Naki Feralkin
New Member
So I'm awake now and really bored before my Miami Dolphins may or may not upset the Minnesota Vikings. I'm betting on the latter, but go Phins anyways!
So yesterday being the first tournament I've participated in since Nationals, since I'm too cheap to get to go to Worlds liek.. Ever, I figured why not go in with a bang. After all, these new Victoly Medals are hot. Literally, its Typhlosion. Come on. Fire type? Oh never mind, you don't get it! x.x
Well, I've been playing around with a ton of decks since Nationals ended. I wanted to dismantle Sablelock because I felt everyone and their mother would be playing it in Ohio and I just didn't want to deal with Mirror. I had a Palkia Lock list made, a Dialgachomp list made, I toyed with Gliscor/Spiritomb, and I had Healix and LeafeonRade made.
Looking at all of these possible options, I knew full well that any list I made has to deal with Vilegar. Whether I thought it was a viable deck or not, the threat exists and it needed to be taken into account. So, playing with the options above, I crossed out any issues. Palkia Lock works but Luxchomp still exists. Dialgachomp definitely works, and I toyed with the idea of running it, and threw it out because compared to my final choice, it takes way too much work to get around fainting spells. Gliscor/Spiritomb was not consistant at all, Healix was fantastically consistent, but with the threat of Fainting Spell on the rise, and even people teching Blaziken lately, theres just no way in heck I'm gonna get one shot by that, and LeafeonRade was just plain bad.
So, back to square one. Sablelock. My number one deck from last season has made its way into my primary deck slot once again with a few changes. Ambipom is out with Dragonite in. Really awesome choice too, and I cut two other cards I was toying with (Unown Q, Drifblim FB) and slapped in a 1-1 Blaziken FB Line. ALSO a great move.
The tournament was held at my league store in Massillon, shout outs to Mike, the owner for letting us run League and BR's here!
So I had crappy butt McDonalds in my stomach and ready to rock. Lets go! Oh wait. 1st round bye first. WTH? Also, 4 rounds with T4 cut. PTO had a choir concert so we needed to bail fast.
Round 1 Vs. Invisible Man (Bye)
Hot, love this round. I turn on my DS and play Golden Sun and walk to my first round win. SO BORING. I hate winning games like this.
(1-0)
Round 2 Vs. Anthony Anatra (Magnezone)
Anthony is one of my league kids and I think his potential for OP is foreseen. Maybe not immediately as I walked on him this game. His deck is a bit compromised as it isn't the Magnezone list I would run, but I told him I would definitely assist him this week in making it better. He really surprised me when he showed me his list initially as with a few fixes, it could be REALLY solid. Magnezone is one list I'm kind of looking at at this moment, so getting a feel for how it runs will help.
Unfortunately for him, I have a quick Honchkrow G out sniping off his slowly evolving field before he can set anything up. My first turn consisted of attempting to wipe out his lone Magnemite with two failed Uxie draws and an active Sableye. I got the basic dark, but couldn't get a Crobat G or a Special Dark to end it. I do get an E-gain and a Honchkrow which literally walks on his field.
(2-0)
Round 3 Vs. Ian Rettger (Healix feat. Umbreon tech)
This was a paired down game in which I was aware of his nasty Umbreon tech (He was playing next to me, couldn't help but watch) that was stopping an SP deck from hurting him. I knew full well if it hit the field that I needed a way around it, and my trusty dirty bird partner would be that solution.
So knowing the Steelix matchup quite well, as I ran it myself, I knew full well my early game was going to consist of trying to get my fire chicken and my dirty bird out. Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult, but I couldn't donk an onix with Sableye (Even WITH the Sp. Dark in hand.. xD) so I initiative'd and took away some critical cards. As the game dragged on, I managed to get a Blaziken out and wiped out one of his Steelix's before it become big and bad. I was also capable of burning the Umbreon in place with a Luring Flame, and got a Garchomp up to heal and get a free kill off an unevolved. After that time, it was Honchkrow wiping the rest out with Target Attack.
(3-0)
Round 4 Vs. Matt Nawal (Kingdra)
Sableye Vs. Horsea. You do the math.
(4-0)
So I cut into top 4 with my beloved Sableye. I separate my deck and go and grab McDonalds.. AGAIN. I hate my own city. McDonalds is the only restaurant within walking distance that is quick. BW-3 is down the road also, but I aint gonna mess my hands up before a top cut match.. xD
Top cut is as follows:
1st: Andrew Mishik - Luxchomp feat. Dialga tech
2nd: Me - Sablelock
3rd: Matt Nawal - Kingdra
4th: Alan Ezzedine - Typhlosion feat. Ursaring.
So I get Matt, again. I don't really like the matchup as Kingdra kills like everything I have and I doubt I can get lucky twice. The matchups prove full well I can't get lucky twice, so lets do this.
Top 4 Vs. Matt Nawal (Kingdra)
Round 1:
I get Sableye start to his Crobat G. What good is this gonna do me? I Initiative and drop a Toxicroak G to prevent him from donking me. I know full well Blaziken is going to help me win this matchup, especially if he has bad luck on SSU's. I know he plays a Regice in his list and that was going to be my road to victory, especially since Matt doesn't run a lot of energies in the list, not to mention Blaziken will also double as a Dragon Steam damage damper.
As we finally get set up, each, he has a Kingdra LA with an energy and a Belt on him, and a Kingdra Prime with the same setup. Not too fond of this, but he used a lot of SSU's and the like to get to one, and I had what I wanted, Blaziken FB, a fire energy, and a Champions room in hand. I luring flame his Regice and watch as it slowly dies. At this time he's also relying on top deck, which is never good in Pokemon. In the meantime, I get a Honchkrow ready to go and have it begin working on his Kingdra LA. His Regice dies on my turn and I'm able to finish off the Kingdra LA and take 3 prizes in a matter of one turn. After this point, I know he's scrambling for a second, as he has two Kingdra Prime's in play working on my pokemon. Annoying as it is, he gets rid of an Azelf with Spray Splash constantly hitting it before I finally get rid of his Kingdra Prime with belt, then Garchomp C LX the final prize. Victoly!
Round 2:
Not much different though I made a boo-boo in Initative'ing first without even thinking to Judge. My hand was BAD on opening, so I make the wrong move and Initiative with my Sableye and don't Judge. I fix that problem the following turn because my hand was just bad. He gets somewhat set up, but can't find candy's or BTS's or anything, which shocks me.
While my Judge hand was good, the hand he showed me at the end of the game just made me gag. Two Kingdra's and two BTS's and terrible top decks. I wiped 1 Seadra, 3 Horsea, and two Uxie's to sweep him. He never set up.
(5-0)
And so I finally get to meet another one of my pupil's in battle. My Top 2 match is against Andrew Mishik, who came in 2nd place at last years Professor Cup, and a player who I've watched develop a lot of player skill in the last couple of years. I'm afraid of what this will bring, but our games are always explosive, especially last years when he was playing a lot of Gyarados.
Top 2 Vs. Andrew Mishik (Luxchomp feat. Dialga G)
Let it be known that Dialga never hit the field. He knew it would do diddly to me so he didn't even bother wasting his time. He knew full well how to play against Sablelock as he played against me a ton last season, and he'd already beaten one earlier. However, he was gonna run into an issue he hadn't seen before. Dragonite FB.
Game 1:
I start with Sableye. Again. And he gets a Luxray GL. Of course I can't donk that. How lame. Initiative. I get rid of a couple crucial cards and move on. I then begin working on my anti-SP tech, Dragonite which I know was making him nervous. In this game I managed to shut him down early, Dragonite taking 3 kills off of him before he finally decided to scoop to save time. I had a dirty bird and a Garchomp ready to go in the trenches too in case he tried to set other things up.
Game 2:
Oh wow, I just get wrecked in this game. I attempt to get anything set up and it just doesn't happen. I take like 2 prizes in this game and he meets the threshold I was attempting to prevent. No go. I drag the game out as long as I can (not via stalling, just trying to stay alive and playing.) so Game 3 goes to SD, which I know is in my favor.
Game 3:
Time is called in set up, so we get the +3 turns after we begin, which was anti-climactic as neither of us take a prize in those 3 turns. I have a frog starter and I set up a Garchomp C. We both botch Frog flips and I finally manage to drop champions room, a psychic and wipe out his chatot ftw. Good games!
TYPHLOSION MEDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL. I'm happy and can sit on this if I really want to cause it was my goal for this battle road period. :3
Props:
- Mishik for doing an awesome job.
- Sablelock for continuing to own. To heck with Vileplume.
- My league store; Wings, Wheels, and Waves, for giving us their full support in Pokemon and holding this BR!
- Everyone who came out to help our numbers.
- My girlfriend for continuing her awesome support to the game as our HJ. While she couldn't judge my games, she did a great job elsewhere throughout the day.
- Ian for giving me the idea for maybe getting Umbreon in my Sablelock.
Slops:
- McDonalds. Just stop existing, okay?
- My alma mater got pasted in Football yesterday. x.x
- And not much else..! XD
Maybe you'll see more of me this season. Till next time, Dirty Bird OWN.
So yesterday being the first tournament I've participated in since Nationals, since I'm too cheap to get to go to Worlds liek.. Ever, I figured why not go in with a bang. After all, these new Victoly Medals are hot. Literally, its Typhlosion. Come on. Fire type? Oh never mind, you don't get it! x.x
Well, I've been playing around with a ton of decks since Nationals ended. I wanted to dismantle Sablelock because I felt everyone and their mother would be playing it in Ohio and I just didn't want to deal with Mirror. I had a Palkia Lock list made, a Dialgachomp list made, I toyed with Gliscor/Spiritomb, and I had Healix and LeafeonRade made.
Looking at all of these possible options, I knew full well that any list I made has to deal with Vilegar. Whether I thought it was a viable deck or not, the threat exists and it needed to be taken into account. So, playing with the options above, I crossed out any issues. Palkia Lock works but Luxchomp still exists. Dialgachomp definitely works, and I toyed with the idea of running it, and threw it out because compared to my final choice, it takes way too much work to get around fainting spells. Gliscor/Spiritomb was not consistant at all, Healix was fantastically consistent, but with the threat of Fainting Spell on the rise, and even people teching Blaziken lately, theres just no way in heck I'm gonna get one shot by that, and LeafeonRade was just plain bad.
So, back to square one. Sablelock. My number one deck from last season has made its way into my primary deck slot once again with a few changes. Ambipom is out with Dragonite in. Really awesome choice too, and I cut two other cards I was toying with (Unown Q, Drifblim FB) and slapped in a 1-1 Blaziken FB Line. ALSO a great move.
The tournament was held at my league store in Massillon, shout outs to Mike, the owner for letting us run League and BR's here!
So I had crappy butt McDonalds in my stomach and ready to rock. Lets go! Oh wait. 1st round bye first. WTH? Also, 4 rounds with T4 cut. PTO had a choir concert so we needed to bail fast.
Round 1 Vs. Invisible Man (Bye)
Hot, love this round. I turn on my DS and play Golden Sun and walk to my first round win. SO BORING. I hate winning games like this.
(1-0)
Round 2 Vs. Anthony Anatra (Magnezone)
Anthony is one of my league kids and I think his potential for OP is foreseen. Maybe not immediately as I walked on him this game. His deck is a bit compromised as it isn't the Magnezone list I would run, but I told him I would definitely assist him this week in making it better. He really surprised me when he showed me his list initially as with a few fixes, it could be REALLY solid. Magnezone is one list I'm kind of looking at at this moment, so getting a feel for how it runs will help.
Unfortunately for him, I have a quick Honchkrow G out sniping off his slowly evolving field before he can set anything up. My first turn consisted of attempting to wipe out his lone Magnemite with two failed Uxie draws and an active Sableye. I got the basic dark, but couldn't get a Crobat G or a Special Dark to end it. I do get an E-gain and a Honchkrow which literally walks on his field.
(2-0)
Round 3 Vs. Ian Rettger (Healix feat. Umbreon tech)
This was a paired down game in which I was aware of his nasty Umbreon tech (He was playing next to me, couldn't help but watch) that was stopping an SP deck from hurting him. I knew full well if it hit the field that I needed a way around it, and my trusty dirty bird partner would be that solution.
So knowing the Steelix matchup quite well, as I ran it myself, I knew full well my early game was going to consist of trying to get my fire chicken and my dirty bird out. Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult, but I couldn't donk an onix with Sableye (Even WITH the Sp. Dark in hand.. xD) so I initiative'd and took away some critical cards. As the game dragged on, I managed to get a Blaziken out and wiped out one of his Steelix's before it become big and bad. I was also capable of burning the Umbreon in place with a Luring Flame, and got a Garchomp up to heal and get a free kill off an unevolved. After that time, it was Honchkrow wiping the rest out with Target Attack.
(3-0)
Round 4 Vs. Matt Nawal (Kingdra)
Sableye Vs. Horsea. You do the math.
(4-0)
So I cut into top 4 with my beloved Sableye. I separate my deck and go and grab McDonalds.. AGAIN. I hate my own city. McDonalds is the only restaurant within walking distance that is quick. BW-3 is down the road also, but I aint gonna mess my hands up before a top cut match.. xD
Top cut is as follows:
1st: Andrew Mishik - Luxchomp feat. Dialga tech
2nd: Me - Sablelock
3rd: Matt Nawal - Kingdra
4th: Alan Ezzedine - Typhlosion feat. Ursaring.
So I get Matt, again. I don't really like the matchup as Kingdra kills like everything I have and I doubt I can get lucky twice. The matchups prove full well I can't get lucky twice, so lets do this.
Top 4 Vs. Matt Nawal (Kingdra)
Round 1:
I get Sableye start to his Crobat G. What good is this gonna do me? I Initiative and drop a Toxicroak G to prevent him from donking me. I know full well Blaziken is going to help me win this matchup, especially if he has bad luck on SSU's. I know he plays a Regice in his list and that was going to be my road to victory, especially since Matt doesn't run a lot of energies in the list, not to mention Blaziken will also double as a Dragon Steam damage damper.
As we finally get set up, each, he has a Kingdra LA with an energy and a Belt on him, and a Kingdra Prime with the same setup. Not too fond of this, but he used a lot of SSU's and the like to get to one, and I had what I wanted, Blaziken FB, a fire energy, and a Champions room in hand. I luring flame his Regice and watch as it slowly dies. At this time he's also relying on top deck, which is never good in Pokemon. In the meantime, I get a Honchkrow ready to go and have it begin working on his Kingdra LA. His Regice dies on my turn and I'm able to finish off the Kingdra LA and take 3 prizes in a matter of one turn. After this point, I know he's scrambling for a second, as he has two Kingdra Prime's in play working on my pokemon. Annoying as it is, he gets rid of an Azelf with Spray Splash constantly hitting it before I finally get rid of his Kingdra Prime with belt, then Garchomp C LX the final prize. Victoly!
Round 2:
Not much different though I made a boo-boo in Initative'ing first without even thinking to Judge. My hand was BAD on opening, so I make the wrong move and Initiative with my Sableye and don't Judge. I fix that problem the following turn because my hand was just bad. He gets somewhat set up, but can't find candy's or BTS's or anything, which shocks me.
While my Judge hand was good, the hand he showed me at the end of the game just made me gag. Two Kingdra's and two BTS's and terrible top decks. I wiped 1 Seadra, 3 Horsea, and two Uxie's to sweep him. He never set up.
(5-0)
And so I finally get to meet another one of my pupil's in battle. My Top 2 match is against Andrew Mishik, who came in 2nd place at last years Professor Cup, and a player who I've watched develop a lot of player skill in the last couple of years. I'm afraid of what this will bring, but our games are always explosive, especially last years when he was playing a lot of Gyarados.
Top 2 Vs. Andrew Mishik (Luxchomp feat. Dialga G)
Let it be known that Dialga never hit the field. He knew it would do diddly to me so he didn't even bother wasting his time. He knew full well how to play against Sablelock as he played against me a ton last season, and he'd already beaten one earlier. However, he was gonna run into an issue he hadn't seen before. Dragonite FB.
Game 1:
I start with Sableye. Again. And he gets a Luxray GL. Of course I can't donk that. How lame. Initiative. I get rid of a couple crucial cards and move on. I then begin working on my anti-SP tech, Dragonite which I know was making him nervous. In this game I managed to shut him down early, Dragonite taking 3 kills off of him before he finally decided to scoop to save time. I had a dirty bird and a Garchomp ready to go in the trenches too in case he tried to set other things up.
Game 2:
Oh wow, I just get wrecked in this game. I attempt to get anything set up and it just doesn't happen. I take like 2 prizes in this game and he meets the threshold I was attempting to prevent. No go. I drag the game out as long as I can (not via stalling, just trying to stay alive and playing.) so Game 3 goes to SD, which I know is in my favor.
Game 3:
Time is called in set up, so we get the +3 turns after we begin, which was anti-climactic as neither of us take a prize in those 3 turns. I have a frog starter and I set up a Garchomp C. We both botch Frog flips and I finally manage to drop champions room, a psychic and wipe out his chatot ftw. Good games!
TYPHLOSION MEDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL. I'm happy and can sit on this if I really want to cause it was my goal for this battle road period. :3
Props:
- Mishik for doing an awesome job.
- Sablelock for continuing to own. To heck with Vileplume.
- My league store; Wings, Wheels, and Waves, for giving us their full support in Pokemon and holding this BR!
- Everyone who came out to help our numbers.
- My girlfriend for continuing her awesome support to the game as our HJ. While she couldn't judge my games, she did a great job elsewhere throughout the day.
- Ian for giving me the idea for maybe getting Umbreon in my Sablelock.
Slops:
- McDonalds. Just stop existing, okay?
- My alma mater got pasted in Football yesterday. x.x
- And not much else..! XD
Maybe you'll see more of me this season. Till next time, Dirty Bird OWN.
