Hi everyone,
I'm Stéphane Ivanoff and this is my report on how I won the Prague Cup.
The deck I played was ZPST. Along with other French players, we worked for about a month to find the best possible list. We figured there would probably be a lot of ZPST, Reshiphlosion and Gothitelle. We could tech against Gothitelle, but nothing seemed really great and, if we took too much space to tech against Gothitelle, we would improve our match-up against it, but we would be worse off in the mirror match or against Reshiphlosion. So we decided to focus on speed and consistency. As I faced much more ZPST and Reshiphlosion than Gothitelle this week-end, I feel it was a good choice.
Here is the list :
4 Zekrom
2 Pachirisu
2 Shaymin
4 Tornadus
2 Pokémon Collector
4 Professor Juniper
3 Prof Oak's New Theory
3 Cheren
2 Pokégear 3.0
4 Dual Ball
4 Pokémon Catcher
3 PlusPower
2 Switch
1 Energy switch
2 Energy search
4 Junk Arm
10 Lightning
4 DCE
Energy switch can help for the surprise effect, and allows for more energy movements which are the key to this deck. It also helps for a possible T1 Hurricane (Tornadus + DCE + Pachirisu + Energy switch).
Energy search may seem surprising but it is very useful : the deck needs 16 energies to have a good chance to start attacking turn 1 or 2, but it doesn't need all these energies in the long run. So Energy search gives you the same probabilities for the beginning of the game, but thins out the deck a little for the rest of the game. Plus it can be reused with Junk Arm.
Round 1 : Cédric Gouin (FR) (ZPST)
Cédric is a friend of mine and he is playing the same decklist with only a one-card difference, so we're not happy to be playing each other this early in the tournament. I don't really remember how this game happened (all the ZPST mirrors merged together in my head) but he won the prize exchange.
(0-1)
Round 2 : Vanessa Golli (FR) (ZPST)
Another French player, again playing ZPST...
However she is not playing the same list. Again, I don't remember exactly how it went, but I took an early lead and rolled with it.
(1-1)
Round 3 : Marcin Kurek (PL) (ZPST)
Another mirror match, but at least not with someone I know, this time.
He started with Shaymin while I had Zekrom. I Catchered a Tornadus and took the first prize I think, and he never could catch up. I think he had a Pachirisu and his second Shaymin prized.
(2-1)
Round 4 : Petr Janous (CZ) (Mewlock)
He starts Mew to my Tornadus and See Off for a Jumpluff the first turn. Early in the game, he plays Judge, on which I don't draw anything good, but him neither. So during 4 turns, he 2HKOs 2 of my Tornadus with Leaf Guard -> Mass Attack, until I topdeck a PONT. I Catcher the Gloom on his bench, play PONT, and then get a DCE, which allows me to Hurricane it. Then he makes a mistake when he tries to Mass Attack with a Mew which only has a Psychic Energy on it. Then I focus on his Mews and he only gets Vileplume out when I have one prize left, which is too late.
(3-1)
Round 5 : Finn Looft (DE) (PrimeTime + Bouffalant)
I start with Zekrom and I have a great hand, something like Dual Ball, two energies, Juniper... but he goes first and plays Judge on turn 1. Then, when I take a prize with Zekrom, he plays Twins and searches out Bouffalant and DCE. I can never really come back and he wins.
(3-2)
Round 6 : Samuel Zettinig (AU) (Beartic/Vileplume/Reuniclus)
I get one or two prizes, then he gets out the lock and manages his damage counters. He takes a prize with a Zekrom Outrage on which I can take a revenge KO but in the end I can never take the last prize.
(3-3)
Round 7 : Michaela Hirzberger (AU) (Reshiphlosion)
I get a great start and take my first prize on the first turn. Then, even though I don't draw a Pokémon Catcher, she is slow to set up and I take prizes on her Reshirams with Bolt Strike + Pluspower. When I finally draw my first Catcher, I have a 4 prize lead. However, I have no supporter in my hand. This would not be a problem, but now she has 2 Typhlosions up, and for several turns I still don't draw any supporters. So she takes prizes and while I have only one left to take, I am always one card short. At one point, I Catcher up a Typhlosion and do a 130 damage Bolt Strike on it but she finds the Switch. Finally, when she only has one prize left, I topdeck a Pokégear, on which I find a PONT, and I am able to Hurricane her active Reshiram which has 50 damage on it for the KO. A close game!
(4-3)
Round 8 : I don't remember his name (CZ I think) (Reshiphlosion)
I'm not sure how this game went. I think it went the classic way : I took out his Cyndaquils before they evolved and he never totally recovered.
(5-3)
So I was at 5-3 but I didn't think my resistance was good enough. Turns out it was, and I was 28th, in the top cut.
So on Sunday I'm ready for the finals !
Top 32 : Daniel Middleton (GB) (Reshiphlosion)
I don't get an significant lead in game 1, and he wins it (I think at one point I also needed a Shaymin but flipped 4 tails on two Dual Balls, but that happens). Game 2, he mulligans three times then opens with a lone Vulpix. I have 10 cards in my hand and an active Tornadus, so I just have to play a Collector to donk him.
He starts game 3 but, during my first turn, time is called. I'm surprised because I thought we had an hour to play but actually it was only 45 minutes. This helped me, as I took a prize on his Cyndaquil on the second turn after time, and he couldn't get the revenge KO.
Top 16 : Karl Peters (DE) (ZPST)
He played ZPST with Cleffa and Magby which of course were easy prizes. That's where I felt reassured in that choosing consistency over techs was the right choice. I was faster than him and in the end that's how I won the two games. (Sorry, once again I don't remember all the ZPST mirror matches)
Top 8 : Joshua Galys (DE) (Gothitelle)
I sat down at the table fully expecting to lose. Game 1 went the classic way : I got one or two prizes, then he used Twins, got Gothitelle and Reuniclus up and, while I tried to put enough damage on his side of the field, he had Max Potion and Seeker to heal up and in the end he had 5 psychic energies on his Gothitelle. I scooped when that happened (he had one prize left).
Game 2 started the same way but he seemed less confident. He had to sacrifice some Pokémon with Damage Swap to give me prizes and use Twins, but this was not enough. It turned out his Reshiram and Max Potion were his last two prizes so in the end, there still was 20 damage on his Gothitelle. I played the third energy on my last Zekrom and Bolt Striked for the last prize.
Then time was called so the third game was going to be sudden death. I opened with Zekrom but did not have a great start, while he actually got Gothitelle out on turn 2. So I could only Outrage. Next turn, he got out a Cleffa and retreated his Gothitelle to Eeeeeeek, but flipped heads. I only had to attach an energy and use Bolt Strike (but I had a Catcher even if he had flipped tails).
Top 4 : Cédric Gouin (FR) (ZPST)
So we meet again. (He was my round 1 opponent)
ZPST mirror match, I already said it, I don't remember everything. :/
I won the first game and had a 2 prize lead in the second one when time was called.
Top 2 : Finn Looft (PrimeTime + Bouffalant)
And the final is against someone else I've already faced in rounds. It was filmed so the video may be out soon.
I knew he was playing Bouffalant, so I was careful not to use Bolt Strike too much. I had to at one point because I felt that getting prizes on his Magnemites was more important, but for the rest I used Tornadus or, at one point, a 3-Pluspower-boosted Outrage. In the end, I had discarded a lot of Pokémon, so I attached an energy to Pachirisu while I took my 5th prize. He knew I would attach another one and Catcher up his Cleffa the next turn so he Judged, but I drew an energy and a Junk Arm and I was able to take my last prize.
He started game 2 with a lone Yanma, drew and passed. But my hand was as terrible as his, so I attached an energy to Zekrom and passed too. Then he topdecked Cleffa, and I topdecked Juniper, but I had to discard my two Pachirisu, which is always bad news. So I figured I would rely heavily on Tornadus to avoid losing too much energy. But as soon as I put a DCE, he played a Lost Remover. How many anti-ZPST techs does this guy have ?! And then he Junk Armed for it when I tried to play another one. I took a prize on a Cleffa and then I Bolt Striked a Yanmega which was a mistake as he got out Bouffalant and revenge KO'd me. Then I put a Shaymin in the active position to stall and then he started Linear Attacking around it. We were tied in prizes (4 left for each) but he had a lot of energy on the field and I had 3 DCE in the Lost Zone, so I scooped.
Time was called at the beginning of round 3. I took one prize on his active Cleffa at time+2, and he had to return the KO the next turn. He got out two Magnezone, one Pachirisu with an energy on it, and Catchered my benched Pachirisu (with one energy) to take a prize. So I promoted Zekrom, played a third energy on it and the Pluspower I drew, then I played PONT. The first card I drew was a Junk Arm, with which I could reuse Pluspower and Bolt Strike his Magnezone for 140 damage.
So I won the Prague Cup, which I never expected to happen! French players also won in Senior and Junior divisions so we were euphoric.
It's unfortunate that time for top cut matches was reduced to 45 minutes and I understand those who feel that they were harmed by them. I hope this will be fixed next year because it's fantastic to have such a big European tournament, especially in such a great location, and I had a great time this week-end, so I hope to come back next year! =)
Thank you for reading, and I hope you liked my report! (it's the first time I write one in English.)
I'm Stéphane Ivanoff and this is my report on how I won the Prague Cup.
The deck I played was ZPST. Along with other French players, we worked for about a month to find the best possible list. We figured there would probably be a lot of ZPST, Reshiphlosion and Gothitelle. We could tech against Gothitelle, but nothing seemed really great and, if we took too much space to tech against Gothitelle, we would improve our match-up against it, but we would be worse off in the mirror match or against Reshiphlosion. So we decided to focus on speed and consistency. As I faced much more ZPST and Reshiphlosion than Gothitelle this week-end, I feel it was a good choice.
Here is the list :
4 Zekrom
2 Pachirisu
2 Shaymin
4 Tornadus
2 Pokémon Collector
4 Professor Juniper
3 Prof Oak's New Theory
3 Cheren
2 Pokégear 3.0
4 Dual Ball
4 Pokémon Catcher
3 PlusPower
2 Switch
1 Energy switch
2 Energy search
4 Junk Arm
10 Lightning
4 DCE
Energy switch can help for the surprise effect, and allows for more energy movements which are the key to this deck. It also helps for a possible T1 Hurricane (Tornadus + DCE + Pachirisu + Energy switch).
Energy search may seem surprising but it is very useful : the deck needs 16 energies to have a good chance to start attacking turn 1 or 2, but it doesn't need all these energies in the long run. So Energy search gives you the same probabilities for the beginning of the game, but thins out the deck a little for the rest of the game. Plus it can be reused with Junk Arm.
Round 1 : Cédric Gouin (FR) (ZPST)
Cédric is a friend of mine and he is playing the same decklist with only a one-card difference, so we're not happy to be playing each other this early in the tournament. I don't really remember how this game happened (all the ZPST mirrors merged together in my head) but he won the prize exchange.
(0-1)
Round 2 : Vanessa Golli (FR) (ZPST)
Another French player, again playing ZPST...
However she is not playing the same list. Again, I don't remember exactly how it went, but I took an early lead and rolled with it.
(1-1)
Round 3 : Marcin Kurek (PL) (ZPST)
Another mirror match, but at least not with someone I know, this time.
He started with Shaymin while I had Zekrom. I Catchered a Tornadus and took the first prize I think, and he never could catch up. I think he had a Pachirisu and his second Shaymin prized.
(2-1)
Round 4 : Petr Janous (CZ) (Mewlock)
He starts Mew to my Tornadus and See Off for a Jumpluff the first turn. Early in the game, he plays Judge, on which I don't draw anything good, but him neither. So during 4 turns, he 2HKOs 2 of my Tornadus with Leaf Guard -> Mass Attack, until I topdeck a PONT. I Catcher the Gloom on his bench, play PONT, and then get a DCE, which allows me to Hurricane it. Then he makes a mistake when he tries to Mass Attack with a Mew which only has a Psychic Energy on it. Then I focus on his Mews and he only gets Vileplume out when I have one prize left, which is too late.
(3-1)
Round 5 : Finn Looft (DE) (PrimeTime + Bouffalant)
I start with Zekrom and I have a great hand, something like Dual Ball, two energies, Juniper... but he goes first and plays Judge on turn 1. Then, when I take a prize with Zekrom, he plays Twins and searches out Bouffalant and DCE. I can never really come back and he wins.
(3-2)
Round 6 : Samuel Zettinig (AU) (Beartic/Vileplume/Reuniclus)
I get one or two prizes, then he gets out the lock and manages his damage counters. He takes a prize with a Zekrom Outrage on which I can take a revenge KO but in the end I can never take the last prize.
(3-3)
Round 7 : Michaela Hirzberger (AU) (Reshiphlosion)
I get a great start and take my first prize on the first turn. Then, even though I don't draw a Pokémon Catcher, she is slow to set up and I take prizes on her Reshirams with Bolt Strike + Pluspower. When I finally draw my first Catcher, I have a 4 prize lead. However, I have no supporter in my hand. This would not be a problem, but now she has 2 Typhlosions up, and for several turns I still don't draw any supporters. So she takes prizes and while I have only one left to take, I am always one card short. At one point, I Catcher up a Typhlosion and do a 130 damage Bolt Strike on it but she finds the Switch. Finally, when she only has one prize left, I topdeck a Pokégear, on which I find a PONT, and I am able to Hurricane her active Reshiram which has 50 damage on it for the KO. A close game!
(4-3)
Round 8 : I don't remember his name (CZ I think) (Reshiphlosion)
I'm not sure how this game went. I think it went the classic way : I took out his Cyndaquils before they evolved and he never totally recovered.
(5-3)
So I was at 5-3 but I didn't think my resistance was good enough. Turns out it was, and I was 28th, in the top cut.
So on Sunday I'm ready for the finals !
Top 32 : Daniel Middleton (GB) (Reshiphlosion)
I don't get an significant lead in game 1, and he wins it (I think at one point I also needed a Shaymin but flipped 4 tails on two Dual Balls, but that happens). Game 2, he mulligans three times then opens with a lone Vulpix. I have 10 cards in my hand and an active Tornadus, so I just have to play a Collector to donk him.
He starts game 3 but, during my first turn, time is called. I'm surprised because I thought we had an hour to play but actually it was only 45 minutes. This helped me, as I took a prize on his Cyndaquil on the second turn after time, and he couldn't get the revenge KO.
Top 16 : Karl Peters (DE) (ZPST)
He played ZPST with Cleffa and Magby which of course were easy prizes. That's where I felt reassured in that choosing consistency over techs was the right choice. I was faster than him and in the end that's how I won the two games. (Sorry, once again I don't remember all the ZPST mirror matches)
Top 8 : Joshua Galys (DE) (Gothitelle)
I sat down at the table fully expecting to lose. Game 1 went the classic way : I got one or two prizes, then he used Twins, got Gothitelle and Reuniclus up and, while I tried to put enough damage on his side of the field, he had Max Potion and Seeker to heal up and in the end he had 5 psychic energies on his Gothitelle. I scooped when that happened (he had one prize left).
Game 2 started the same way but he seemed less confident. He had to sacrifice some Pokémon with Damage Swap to give me prizes and use Twins, but this was not enough. It turned out his Reshiram and Max Potion were his last two prizes so in the end, there still was 20 damage on his Gothitelle. I played the third energy on my last Zekrom and Bolt Striked for the last prize.
Then time was called so the third game was going to be sudden death. I opened with Zekrom but did not have a great start, while he actually got Gothitelle out on turn 2. So I could only Outrage. Next turn, he got out a Cleffa and retreated his Gothitelle to Eeeeeeek, but flipped heads. I only had to attach an energy and use Bolt Strike (but I had a Catcher even if he had flipped tails).
Top 4 : Cédric Gouin (FR) (ZPST)
So we meet again. (He was my round 1 opponent)
ZPST mirror match, I already said it, I don't remember everything. :/
I won the first game and had a 2 prize lead in the second one when time was called.
Top 2 : Finn Looft (PrimeTime + Bouffalant)
And the final is against someone else I've already faced in rounds. It was filmed so the video may be out soon.
I knew he was playing Bouffalant, so I was careful not to use Bolt Strike too much. I had to at one point because I felt that getting prizes on his Magnemites was more important, but for the rest I used Tornadus or, at one point, a 3-Pluspower-boosted Outrage. In the end, I had discarded a lot of Pokémon, so I attached an energy to Pachirisu while I took my 5th prize. He knew I would attach another one and Catcher up his Cleffa the next turn so he Judged, but I drew an energy and a Junk Arm and I was able to take my last prize.
He started game 2 with a lone Yanma, drew and passed. But my hand was as terrible as his, so I attached an energy to Zekrom and passed too. Then he topdecked Cleffa, and I topdecked Juniper, but I had to discard my two Pachirisu, which is always bad news. So I figured I would rely heavily on Tornadus to avoid losing too much energy. But as soon as I put a DCE, he played a Lost Remover. How many anti-ZPST techs does this guy have ?! And then he Junk Armed for it when I tried to play another one. I took a prize on a Cleffa and then I Bolt Striked a Yanmega which was a mistake as he got out Bouffalant and revenge KO'd me. Then I put a Shaymin in the active position to stall and then he started Linear Attacking around it. We were tied in prizes (4 left for each) but he had a lot of energy on the field and I had 3 DCE in the Lost Zone, so I scooped.
Time was called at the beginning of round 3. I took one prize on his active Cleffa at time+2, and he had to return the KO the next turn. He got out two Magnezone, one Pachirisu with an energy on it, and Catchered my benched Pachirisu (with one energy) to take a prize. So I promoted Zekrom, played a third energy on it and the Pluspower I drew, then I played PONT. The first card I drew was a Junk Arm, with which I could reuse Pluspower and Bolt Strike his Magnezone for 140 damage.
So I won the Prague Cup, which I never expected to happen! French players also won in Senior and Junior divisions so we were euphoric.
It's unfortunate that time for top cut matches was reduced to 45 minutes and I understand those who feel that they were harmed by them. I hope this will be fixed next year because it's fantastic to have such a big European tournament, especially in such a great location, and I had a great time this week-end, so I hope to come back next year! =)
Thank you for reading, and I hope you liked my report! (it's the first time I write one in English.)
