Bolt
New Member
After a couple solid months of playtesting, I was torn between this disruptive Kingdra list I had been working on and the Dialga G deck Ryan Vergel had told me about and helped me learn inside and out. I decided Dialga was probably the better play overall and spend about $50 on cards for it...borrow a few more cards and barely get a trip organized out to Pennsylvania States (along with Kaylin R). I LOVE staying with Shaw and I'm glad I was able to again.
Shaw doesn't have any recent cards except for a couple he traded for recently, so I put together an ehh Regigigas for him. Kaylin runs Kingdra, I run Dialga.
NOTE: I'm writing this DAYS after the event and I KNOW that I have the matches out of order, so forgive me!
Round 1 - vs Dragon.dec
He opens with Bagon, and I eventually see a Gible and a Gyarados MT. All three are reliant on bodies that I shut off, but my start is quick and relentless, and I go through his Pokemon.
1-0
Round 2 - vs Ian R w/ Palkia/Dialga
This was the one matchup that worried me, and that I should have tested more. I knew what to do, but unfortunately so did he. I had a chance to win the game on time by dropping a stadium but I didn't notice it in my hand. Foolish move, and I paid for it.
1-1
Round 3 - vs ??? w/ Regigigas
Testing had shown that with any sort of decent a mid-game hand, this matchup is one sided. He misplays at one point when he believes that I've dropped four power sprays. I had actually used three - the fourth was the dagger.
2-1
Round 4 - vs ??? w/ Machamp/Himonchan
I was confident in the Machamp matchup, but even moreso when he opened Hitmonchan and had to draw/pass after the first energy drop. We talked after the game and it turns out he hadn't played for several years and was looking to get back into the game.
3-1
Round 5 - vs Nick C w/ Dusknoir/Gyardos
His deck was interesting. Use Galactic's HQ to damage yourself while setting up to deal more damage. Unfortunately, Dialga makes Gyarados useless in a DRE/Scramble-less format. I assured myself the win by throwing four special metal and an Unown G on my active Dialga G Lv X.
4-1
Round 6 - vs Evan B w/ Rampardos
A tough game against a good opponent. My win was greatly helped by my Snowpoint Temple sticking throughout the whole game as his last counter gym was prized.
5-1
Round 7 - vs Luke D w/ Machamp
Luke's been on a roll this season with Machamp, with multiple X-1 swiss finishes at events. We've had a couple duels at cities and this one was no different. The end of the game came down to him misplaying by discarding 2 Machop for Regi-Cycle. Afterward, he showed me that he had all the cards needed to pull out a win if he was able to get a Machop in play. Good game.
6-1
I made top cut at 4th seed.
Top 16 - vs Kim A w/ Regigigas
She came from Ohio in order to help spread out the Ohio players. Game 1 gave her a subpar start that I took advantage of. I don't think she ran Claydol, which couldn't have helped.
Game 2 was over in two turns as I had an amazing start vs her lone Uxie.
7-1
Top 8 - vs ??? w/ Rampardos
This Rampardos match proved to be more annoying for me than the last in that this guy ran four PokeHealer+ in his deck (and dropped double on me twice in game 1...along with another annoying tech). In that first game, I had a relatively slow start, but managed to bait him into getting KOs with Ramp's first attack, helping me come back. He managed to get all four Ramps in play, hitting my semi-tanked Dialgas. Once I initiated my deck's patented strategy, I was able to set up all four of them for easy KOs. I won the game with 10 minutes left (neither of us conceded because it probably looked like it could've gone either way) and he wasn't able to do much in the remaining time in game 2.
8-1
Top 4 - vs Ian R w/ Palkia/Dialga
The two games were similar. My starts weren't that great (game 2 much worse than game 1 for me) and he played the matchup perfectly.
I had a better record at this point than the other top 4 player, Nick C, so I ended up third.
Props to my friends, everyone I tested with
Slops to Maiman
Hopefully I'll make it up to Massachusetts this weekend.
Shaw doesn't have any recent cards except for a couple he traded for recently, so I put together an ehh Regigigas for him. Kaylin runs Kingdra, I run Dialga.
NOTE: I'm writing this DAYS after the event and I KNOW that I have the matches out of order, so forgive me!
Round 1 - vs Dragon.dec
He opens with Bagon, and I eventually see a Gible and a Gyarados MT. All three are reliant on bodies that I shut off, but my start is quick and relentless, and I go through his Pokemon.
1-0
Round 2 - vs Ian R w/ Palkia/Dialga
This was the one matchup that worried me, and that I should have tested more. I knew what to do, but unfortunately so did he. I had a chance to win the game on time by dropping a stadium but I didn't notice it in my hand. Foolish move, and I paid for it.
1-1
Round 3 - vs ??? w/ Regigigas
Testing had shown that with any sort of decent a mid-game hand, this matchup is one sided. He misplays at one point when he believes that I've dropped four power sprays. I had actually used three - the fourth was the dagger.
2-1
Round 4 - vs ??? w/ Machamp/Himonchan
I was confident in the Machamp matchup, but even moreso when he opened Hitmonchan and had to draw/pass after the first energy drop. We talked after the game and it turns out he hadn't played for several years and was looking to get back into the game.
3-1
Round 5 - vs Nick C w/ Dusknoir/Gyardos
His deck was interesting. Use Galactic's HQ to damage yourself while setting up to deal more damage. Unfortunately, Dialga makes Gyarados useless in a DRE/Scramble-less format. I assured myself the win by throwing four special metal and an Unown G on my active Dialga G Lv X.
4-1
Round 6 - vs Evan B w/ Rampardos
A tough game against a good opponent. My win was greatly helped by my Snowpoint Temple sticking throughout the whole game as his last counter gym was prized.
5-1
Round 7 - vs Luke D w/ Machamp
Luke's been on a roll this season with Machamp, with multiple X-1 swiss finishes at events. We've had a couple duels at cities and this one was no different. The end of the game came down to him misplaying by discarding 2 Machop for Regi-Cycle. Afterward, he showed me that he had all the cards needed to pull out a win if he was able to get a Machop in play. Good game.
6-1
I made top cut at 4th seed.
Top 16 - vs Kim A w/ Regigigas
She came from Ohio in order to help spread out the Ohio players. Game 1 gave her a subpar start that I took advantage of. I don't think she ran Claydol, which couldn't have helped.
Game 2 was over in two turns as I had an amazing start vs her lone Uxie.
7-1
Top 8 - vs ??? w/ Rampardos
This Rampardos match proved to be more annoying for me than the last in that this guy ran four PokeHealer+ in his deck (and dropped double on me twice in game 1...along with another annoying tech). In that first game, I had a relatively slow start, but managed to bait him into getting KOs with Ramp's first attack, helping me come back. He managed to get all four Ramps in play, hitting my semi-tanked Dialgas. Once I initiated my deck's patented strategy, I was able to set up all four of them for easy KOs. I won the game with 10 minutes left (neither of us conceded because it probably looked like it could've gone either way) and he wasn't able to do much in the remaining time in game 2.
8-1
Top 4 - vs Ian R w/ Palkia/Dialga
The two games were similar. My starts weren't that great (game 2 much worse than game 1 for me) and he played the matchup perfectly.
I had a better record at this point than the other top 4 player, Nick C, so I ended up third.
Props to my friends, everyone I tested with
Slops to Maiman
Hopefully I'll make it up to Massachusetts this weekend.
