Ok, this will be long but I just wanna write all this stuff down while I still remember it.
Actually I didnt even plan to prepare alot for our nationals. The metagame is just too random, decks are getting more&more extreme, its hard to prepare for everything etc. Then one night I was just randomly sitting at my computer, trying to find a way to stop myself from learning and going through the UL scans. I thought about how Torterra could actually be a pretty nice heal/tank thing next format. "But its so clunky, it fails to locks etc, it needs a partner..."
I should mention I used flygon all year (so underrated) so when I thought about it the idea just came to mind. "Mhm... well I guess you could use Torterra LvWAIT WHAT?!" Its unbelievable how broken Terra Lv.X actually is. Suddenly I was completly awake again, shuffling through piles of cards, throughts running wild. I spend half of the night building this and was kinda satisfied when I went to bed, I didnt expect it to be that great but it looked fun, I just have this habid of overhyping complicated decks just cause theyre complicated so I was trying very hard not to get to exited. Then the next day tobias (Shadowguard) asked me if I wanted to test abit but I just didnt know what to use, so I just randomly took my new creation. His first reaction was somewhere inbetween laughing, telling my I'm crazy and thinking I'd be making fun of him. Then I beat his Luxchomp rather easily... I wasnt sure what to make out of it, I sent Tobias my list and we discussed it a bit. He made some changes, some I liked, some I didnt, looking back all of them were perfect
Time passed, I didnt have much time to test and I still wasnt to sold on the deck, just cause I was afraid of making a fool out of myself. I was also pretty confident in beating anything with flyphan anyway. We tested it some more and slowly the deck got better and better, still I was building other stuff all of the time, just to prevent myself from falling into the petdeck trap once more. Then wednesday before our nats we met for our final testing session, and since nothing else was working we just decided to stick with torterra, probably making ourselfes look like fools. Then we decided on the techs (some pretty tough decisions) and just stuck to it. Thursday/Friday I was studying all of the time and helping out the kids from my league with their decks and so I just didnt have time to worry about the deck even more, who knows what wouldve happened xD.
The day of nats we arrived at the location and I met tobias who wanted to last minute change something, which was golden in the end. Then we just hung around, I met some people I rarely see and just tried to think of something else.
Pairings went up and... oh great >.>
Runde 1: (Tobias J / LuxChomp) :
Playing a friend right at the beginning, awesome My opening hand was beast, except for the lone azelf, juck >.>" I just tried to get my setup, he didnt notice how much his dialga lv.x crippled me, I and once I was rolling I just toasted him. Got my last price from Spinning a Belted Claydol against his Luxray Lv.x ;D Cosmic Kick!!!
Just then mark passed by my table, he just stared at my field, shook his head and walk away.
I got up, and then I noticed it. I used a copy of tobias decklist and he was using a different grotle... DAMNED... I run through the hall, randomly talking to kinds if they had a grotle from md, and luckily one kid had one. I gave him a candy and tried to calm myself again.
Tobias got donked which sucked...
Runde 2: (???/FlyChamp):
Pretty bad matchup, eww Fortunatly he had no idea what to do, I had to wait 5 rounds till he finally killed my spiritomb, I'm dusknoirnoid, turned out I was for a reason. Anyway he just randomly filled his bench all the time, so that My Queen could KO all of his Champs pretty easily, finished him with Vibrava.
Runde 3: (Basti/LuxLegend):
His opening was kinda odd, he got a fast luxray but othing else, nearly donked him. He still got his setup at some point but it was too late and I just rolled him.
Runde 4Marcel?/Sp Toolbox):
My opening was something like Nidoran F, DCE, Rosi, Judge, Candy, Psychic, I go first and he has Honchkrow. I DCE and get Bebe, he does some stuff, and its my turn. I decided to just forget the baltoys, he would kill them anyway, and go Aggro Nidoqueen. Stil my setup is shaky, he snipes me all the time and I dont get anywhere, fortunatly he forgets to atach his energy at some point which helps me. In the End Nidoqueen just trashed through him.
More hanging around, stea finding some food, supporting my local kinds etc etc.
Runde 5: (Udo? / Gengar/Machamp):
I start tomb and im much faster but I have to wait forever for him to actually kill my tomb ... :/ At some point his Claydol is gone, he has Champ with 2 nrg and 60 damage, I do 60, he drops dce and champ x? damned... I revengekill, he gets champ and hits 4 hits for the ko on my fresh gon. CRAP... He also got one head on the one FS I had to trigger. In the end he tried to kill me with rage once more but only had one fighting, I was expecting him to use HP which could kill my queen for the win with 3 heads... He uses Strong willed I warp and Vibrava him for 9000 damage.
Dont even know how I won this but I should be in tops, nice
Runde 6: (Denny / Luxray):
I get a crap opening, his is strong, he roserades me all the time (signature move), he draws too many prices but still I get back, still he only has one price left. He frosglass GLs my Claydol and I flip tails for the loss >.<
Runde 7: (Fabian / Luxray):
Roserade again But this time I can survive through the lock and flip the game with a sudden terra x/warp combo.
Tobias is out :/ I check my bracket and notice I'll probably only get good matchups which is nice, still it makes me even more nervous.
We part ways and head home (sleepover at my place cause its the nearest, 8 people?) , get some pizza, watch soccer and do random stuff, and even make it to bed in time. Until then I was pretty calm but then I spend half of the night worrying about tomorrow and getting nervous. In the end I just get 5 hours of sleep but still felt ok the next morning, better then expected. The next morning stzarts with a shock, or train is canceled... We tell the other guys who came by car to stop them from starting the tournament but it turned out we had plenty of time anyway. Like I wasnt nervous enough anyway lol.
Then we were sitting around while deckchecks were done etc, I started to feel even worse and got really nervous, I couldnt stop thinking about possible matchups >.<
Then it finally began:
Tobias J (Luxchomp):
I begin, only have trapinch ... :/ And no Call... I draw, Baltoy, wew, he does some stuff, I draw and explode in his face, at the end of the turn I have 2 Dols Queen and Flygon up and just roll him.
Game 2:
He donks me...
Game 3:
I got a good start and win pretty comfortable, through he let me takeback one misplay where I misplaced an energy cause he was offering me his deck and i got distracted.
T8 !!! Yasmin is in as well, Karl is gone?
Robin Gimbel(Luxchomp):
I kill his setup and roll him, then he gets claydol up :/ So he has all of his resourced available now and the game comes down to a blowout, I still win cause he just doesnt have enough firepower.
Round 2 starts pretty good but I cant draw Candys to save my life...He kills of all of my trapinch and night is priced... Im still convinced he played 2 nrgs one turn (not on purpose), and i have my back against the wall.. Til SF Terra comes to safe the day. Afterwards I quickly get my Flygons up and roll him, still he has an advantage and it gets close, and loosing now would probably mean timeout or something similar :/ But at some point he just runs out of stuff thanks to Judge and I somehow make it.
Semifinals!!!
Rudolf (Cursegar):
This should be so easy but my deck decides to poop into my face I start with Azelf and Tomb, he runs Dusknoir, I have one slot left to fight... He plays it smart and Shadow Rooms my Bench into oblivion, I have to grace tomb to death and fil my bench just so I can even do that, I eat Darkpalm on a 4 energy Torterra and I'm lft with Azelf Flygon (damaged) and Claydol... His advantage is so big, even his DUSKNOIR is prepared to attack and he has drawn 3 prices. Then I drop Queen, stall a bit with azelf and he finally kills it. I drop Torterra and his damage output is reduced to nothing, then I kill his Gengar X with 2 Forest Murmors (luckily getting Terra X back after Level Down), then I kill a belted Uxie and he cant do anything to fight back.
I can hardly believe I still came back from that lol... I draw my next hand and... Azelf & Tomb, SERIOUSLY?!?!?! >.< The whole thing starts again, fortunatly he starts with Duskull which I can kill with Terra X at some point after he finally drew a price... He starts to Compound Pain around on my bench which is drowning in counters, then I get queen up and he cant draw the night to get his duskull back cause I killed his Dol. Then he kills some stuff of my bench and when I know I'm out of Dusknoirs range I just lay back, still it stays close cause hes pounding my bench and with curses its still annoying. But in the end Terra is just to big for him, and he just scoops his cards in total silence... Very awkward moment when I realised what I just did... I shook his hand but I know hes probably pretty devastated so I pulled myself together and stay quiet till I could leave the room. At this point I'm trembling, I have no Idea how I won there 2 games...
I leave the room and shake peoples hand, still I dont even realize what I just did lol... I see Yasmin at the other end of the room, shes grinning at me, well play finals, ... unbelievable... I nearly choke her while hugging her, then I went and searched for Tobias to thank him for all of his advice and his support, can hardly express how thankful I am. I didnt even care about the finals anymore lol... Yasmin feels the same so we just take it easy
Finals: Yasmin(Garados):
We joke around and do stuff while setting up, not even caring at all since well go to hawai together. Still I feel like I need to win or she'll have bragging rights on me forever, becoming the national champion in her first masters year, after I told her she shouldnt expect to do to good this year cause going up a division is tough.
We begin, my setup is kinda slow and she just trashed through me after a few rounds of setup, then Torterra is up and she just crumbles, unable to even scratch him. Still she hits 3/3 SSU so its pretty close cause she has a big lead, but after I Judge her she has nothing left.
Game 2 the Sableye Queen srikes again
Game 3 she nearly donked me again it pretty much goes like game one, still at some point shes 10 damage short of killing terra cause I whiffed on an Energy for my Flygon so Terra could recover himself on the bench while Flygon couldve gotten rid of her fish. But after she whiffs she has nothing left, I get rid of her Luxrays and she cant do anything anymore.
We get up and still joke around, I still can hardly believe it. I leave the playing room, run around, shake hands, hug people, thank tobias again etc etc. Then I and Yasmin did the interviews, I nearly chewed the guys ears off, then more handshaking, signing stuff, taking calls etc etc etc. Crazy... Then the ceremony starts, I watch the juniors barely able to walk with the glass cups and bags, then chear for gabor who made 2nd in seniors, then cheer for rudolf and mark who came in 3/4th, then yasmin gets her prices and I congratulate her again and then its my turn, I just cant stop grinning and shaking my head, still not realizing what just happened. We take fotos and stuff, more handshakes, more signing, I finally get some food and then we slowly prepare to leave. I give away some boosters, open some(mutant legends, 2 ho-oh heads, 2 lugia buttons), sell some cards to be able to afford some food (im such a great national champion, having to sell cards to kids to get some food ), shake more hands, wave goodbye to people and then, as the last few remaining people, we head to mc donalds to chill some more and cool down, I still grin like an idiot all the time. We just have fun and joke around, make plans etc etc and then finally say goodbye. I head to the station with marc and chriso who will stay at my place for the night, we play prerelease where I own bigtime with noctuh (eat your heart out claydol ;D) and stay awake all night, throwing cards at each other, gamblings arceus on game results, stealing each others cards etc etc. The next morning I walk them to the station and then my nationals ae finally over, but what a blast it was.
Probs:
- Torterra
- Flygon
- Professor Elm
- Claydol Energy Drinks
- Tobias (Shadowguard) for just being the best friend, teammate and support, never wouldve been able to do this on my own without you messing up my decklist and forcing me to run some cards I refused to use otherwise You better win VGC, dont wanna go to Hawaii on my own
- Yasmin, never wouldve expected this to happen, that we would play finals one day xD Props for being so incredibly good during your first year in masters, HAWAI!!!
- Mark for being a good friend, a incredible good player, also in his first year of masters.
- All the other people who were so kind to me during this weekend, my friends and teammates and just the entire community I borrowed cards worth a few 100$ to people I hardly see and still I was never afraid anything wouldnt come back to me, thats the spirit
Flops:
- My room looks like a trashdump now
- The trophy looks like an oversized salad bowl
TL;DR:
Thanks to anyone who was there and everyone who supports this community, I never regretted quitting YGO for the "tiny" pokemon game See you in Hawai or next year =)
And just one final word that I just wanted to post seperatly:
Thanks to Tobias J. for being an incredible fair player in T16, not making a scene when an Energy slipped from my hand onto the wrong pokemon and just being a fair player all season. Also T16 during your first year in masters is awesome, keep it up
Yoshi / David
PS: This took me 2 hours only to translate, didnt checkread, mispells are intentional
Actually I didnt even plan to prepare alot for our nationals. The metagame is just too random, decks are getting more&more extreme, its hard to prepare for everything etc. Then one night I was just randomly sitting at my computer, trying to find a way to stop myself from learning and going through the UL scans. I thought about how Torterra could actually be a pretty nice heal/tank thing next format. "But its so clunky, it fails to locks etc, it needs a partner..."
I should mention I used flygon all year (so underrated) so when I thought about it the idea just came to mind. "Mhm... well I guess you could use Torterra LvWAIT WHAT?!" Its unbelievable how broken Terra Lv.X actually is. Suddenly I was completly awake again, shuffling through piles of cards, throughts running wild. I spend half of the night building this and was kinda satisfied when I went to bed, I didnt expect it to be that great but it looked fun, I just have this habid of overhyping complicated decks just cause theyre complicated so I was trying very hard not to get to exited. Then the next day tobias (Shadowguard) asked me if I wanted to test abit but I just didnt know what to use, so I just randomly took my new creation. His first reaction was somewhere inbetween laughing, telling my I'm crazy and thinking I'd be making fun of him. Then I beat his Luxchomp rather easily... I wasnt sure what to make out of it, I sent Tobias my list and we discussed it a bit. He made some changes, some I liked, some I didnt, looking back all of them were perfect
Time passed, I didnt have much time to test and I still wasnt to sold on the deck, just cause I was afraid of making a fool out of myself. I was also pretty confident in beating anything with flyphan anyway. We tested it some more and slowly the deck got better and better, still I was building other stuff all of the time, just to prevent myself from falling into the petdeck trap once more. Then wednesday before our nats we met for our final testing session, and since nothing else was working we just decided to stick with torterra, probably making ourselfes look like fools. Then we decided on the techs (some pretty tough decisions) and just stuck to it. Thursday/Friday I was studying all of the time and helping out the kids from my league with their decks and so I just didnt have time to worry about the deck even more, who knows what wouldve happened xD.The day of nats we arrived at the location and I met tobias who wanted to last minute change something, which was golden in the end. Then we just hung around, I met some people I rarely see and just tried to think of something else.
Pairings went up and... oh great >.>
Runde 1: (Tobias J / LuxChomp) :
Playing a friend right at the beginning, awesome
My opening hand was beast, except for the lone azelf, juck >.>" I just tried to get my setup, he didnt notice how much his dialga lv.x crippled me, I and once I was rolling I just toasted him. Got my last price from Spinning a Belted Claydol against his Luxray Lv.x ;D Cosmic Kick!!! Just then mark passed by my table, he just stared at my field, shook his head and walk away.
I got up, and then I noticed it. I used a copy of tobias decklist and he was using a different grotle... DAMNED... I run through the hall, randomly talking to kinds if they had a grotle from md, and luckily one kid had one. I gave him a candy and tried to calm myself again.
Tobias got donked which sucked...
Runde 2: (???/FlyChamp):
Pretty bad matchup, eww
Fortunatly he had no idea what to do, I had to wait 5 rounds till he finally killed my spiritomb, I'm dusknoirnoid, turned out I was for a reason. Anyway he just randomly filled his bench all the time, so that My Queen could KO all of his Champs pretty easily, finished him with Vibrava. Runde 3: (Basti/LuxLegend):
His opening was kinda odd, he got a fast luxray but othing else, nearly donked him. He still got his setup at some point but it was too late and I just rolled him.
Runde 4
Marcel?/Sp Toolbox): My opening was something like Nidoran F, DCE, Rosi, Judge, Candy, Psychic, I go first and he has Honchkrow. I DCE and get Bebe, he does some stuff, and its my turn. I decided to just forget the baltoys, he would kill them anyway, and go Aggro Nidoqueen. Stil my setup is shaky, he snipes me all the time and I dont get anywhere, fortunatly he forgets to atach his energy at some point which helps me. In the End Nidoqueen just trashed through him.
More hanging around, stea finding some food, supporting my local kinds etc etc.
Runde 5: (Udo? / Gengar/Machamp):
I start tomb and im much faster but I have to wait forever for him to actually kill my tomb ... :/ At some point his Claydol is gone, he has Champ with 2 nrg and 60 damage, I do 60, he drops dce and champ x? damned... I revengekill, he gets champ and hits 4 hits for the ko on my fresh gon. CRAP... He also got one head on the one FS I had to trigger. In the end he tried to kill me with rage once more but only had one fighting, I was expecting him to use HP which could kill my queen for the win with 3 heads... He uses Strong willed
I warp and Vibrava him for 9000 damage. Dont even know how I won this but I should be in tops, nice
Runde 6: (Denny / Luxray):
I get a crap opening, his is strong, he roserades me all the time (signature move), he draws too many prices but still I get back, still he only has one price left. He frosglass GLs my Claydol and I flip tails for the loss >.<
Runde 7: (Fabian / Luxray):
Roserade again
But this time I can survive through the lock and flip the game with a sudden terra x/warp combo. Tobias is out :/ I check my bracket and notice I'll probably only get good matchups which is nice, still it makes me even more nervous.
We part ways and head home (sleepover at my place cause its the nearest, 8 people?) , get some pizza, watch soccer and do random stuff, and even make it to bed in time. Until then I was pretty calm but then I spend half of the night worrying about tomorrow and getting nervous. In the end I just get 5 hours of sleep but still felt ok the next morning, better then expected. The next morning stzarts with a shock, or train is canceled... We tell the other guys who came by car to stop them from starting the tournament but it turned out we had plenty of time anyway. Like I wasnt nervous enough anyway lol.
Then we were sitting around while deckchecks were done etc, I started to feel even worse and got really nervous, I couldnt stop thinking about possible matchups >.<
Then it finally began:
Tobias J (Luxchomp):
I begin, only have trapinch ... :/ And no Call... I draw, Baltoy, wew, he does some stuff, I draw and explode in his face, at the end of the turn I have 2 Dols Queen and Flygon up and just roll him.
Game 2:
He donks me...
Game 3:
I got a good start and win pretty comfortable, through he let me takeback one misplay where I misplaced an energy cause he was offering me his deck and i got distracted.
T8 !!! Yasmin is in as well, Karl is gone?
Robin Gimbel(Luxchomp):
I kill his setup and roll him, then he gets claydol up :/ So he has all of his resourced available now and the game comes down to a blowout, I still win cause he just doesnt have enough firepower.
Round 2 starts pretty good but I cant draw Candys to save my life...He kills of all of my trapinch and night is priced... Im still convinced he played 2 nrgs one turn (not on purpose), and i have my back against the wall.. Til SF Terra comes to safe the day. Afterwards I quickly get my Flygons up and roll him, still he has an advantage and it gets close, and loosing now would probably mean timeout or something similar :/ But at some point he just runs out of stuff thanks to Judge and I somehow make it.
Semifinals!!!
Rudolf (Cursegar):
This should be so easy but my deck decides to poop into my face
I start with Azelf and Tomb, he runs Dusknoir, I have one slot left to fight... He plays it smart and Shadow Rooms my Bench into oblivion, I have to grace tomb to death and fil my bench just so I can even do that, I eat Darkpalm on a 4 energy Torterra and I'm lft with Azelf Flygon (damaged) and Claydol... His advantage is so big, even his DUSKNOIR is prepared to attack and he has drawn 3 prices. Then I drop Queen, stall a bit with azelf and he finally kills it. I drop Torterra and his damage output is reduced to nothing, then I kill his Gengar X with 2 Forest Murmors (luckily getting Terra X back after Level Down), then I kill a belted Uxie and he cant do anything to fight back. I can hardly believe I still came back from that lol... I draw my next hand and... Azelf & Tomb, SERIOUSLY?!?!?! >.< The whole thing starts again, fortunatly he starts with Duskull which I can kill with Terra X at some point after he finally drew a price... He starts to Compound Pain around on my bench which is drowning in counters, then I get queen up and he cant draw the night to get his duskull back cause I killed his Dol. Then he kills some stuff of my bench and when I know I'm out of Dusknoirs range I just lay back, still it stays close cause hes pounding my bench and with curses its still annoying. But in the end Terra is just to big for him, and he just scoops his cards in total silence... Very awkward moment when I realised what I just did... I shook his hand but I know hes probably pretty devastated so I pulled myself together and stay quiet till I could leave the room. At this point I'm trembling, I have no Idea how I won there 2 games...
I leave the room and shake peoples hand, still I dont even realize what I just did lol... I see Yasmin at the other end of the room, shes grinning at me, well play finals, ... unbelievable... I nearly choke her while hugging her, then I went and searched for Tobias to thank him for all of his advice and his support, can hardly express how thankful I am. I didnt even care about the finals anymore lol... Yasmin feels the same so we just take it easy
Finals: Yasmin(Garados):
We joke around and do stuff while setting up, not even caring at all since well go to hawai together. Still I feel like I need to win or she'll have bragging rights on me forever, becoming the national champion in her first masters year, after I told her she shouldnt expect to do to good this year cause going up a division is tough.
We begin, my setup is kinda slow and she just trashed through me after a few rounds of setup, then Torterra is up and she just crumbles, unable to even scratch him. Still she hits 3/3 SSU so its pretty close cause she has a big lead, but after I Judge her she has nothing left.
Game 2 the Sableye Queen srikes again
Game 3 she nearly donked me again it pretty much goes like game one, still at some point shes 10 damage short of killing terra cause I whiffed on an Energy for my Flygon so Terra could recover himself on the bench while Flygon couldve gotten rid of her fish. But after she whiffs she has nothing left, I get rid of her Luxrays and she cant do anything anymore.
We get up and still joke around, I still can hardly believe it. I leave the playing room, run around, shake hands, hug people, thank tobias again etc etc. Then I and Yasmin did the interviews, I nearly chewed the guys ears off, then more handshaking, signing stuff, taking calls etc etc etc. Crazy... Then the ceremony starts, I watch the juniors barely able to walk with the glass cups and bags, then chear for gabor who made 2nd in seniors, then cheer for rudolf and mark who came in 3/4th, then yasmin gets her prices and I congratulate her again and then its my turn, I just cant stop grinning and shaking my head, still not realizing what just happened. We take fotos and stuff, more handshakes, more signing, I finally get some food and then we slowly prepare to leave. I give away some boosters, open some(mutant legends, 2 ho-oh heads, 2 lugia buttons), sell some cards to be able to afford some food (im such a great national champion, having to sell cards to kids to get some food
), shake more hands, wave goodbye to people and then, as the last few remaining people, we head to mc donalds to chill some more and cool down, I still grin like an idiot all the time. We just have fun and joke around, make plans etc etc and then finally say goodbye. I head to the station with marc and chriso who will stay at my place for the night, we play prerelease where I own bigtime with noctuh (eat your heart out claydol ;D) and stay awake all night, throwing cards at each other, gamblings arceus on game results, stealing each others cards etc etc. The next morning I walk them to the station and then my nationals ae finally over, but what a blast it was.Probs:
- Torterra
- Flygon
- Professor Elm
- Claydol Energy Drinks
- Tobias (Shadowguard) for just being the best friend, teammate and support, never wouldve been able to do this on my own without you messing up my decklist and forcing me to run some cards I refused to use otherwise
You better win VGC, dont wanna go to Hawaii on my own - Yasmin, never wouldve expected this to happen, that we would play finals one day xD Props for being so incredibly good during your first year in masters, HAWAI!!!
- Mark for being a good friend, a incredible good player, also in his first year of masters.
- All the other people who were so kind to me during this weekend, my friends and teammates and just the entire community
I borrowed cards worth a few 100$ to people I hardly see and still I was never afraid anything wouldnt come back to me, thats the spirit Flops:
- My room looks like a trashdump now
- The trophy looks like an oversized salad bowl
TL;DR:
Thanks to anyone who was there and everyone who supports this community, I never regretted quitting YGO for the "tiny" pokemon game
See you in Hawai or next year =) And just one final word that I just wanted to post seperatly:
Thanks to Tobias J. for being an incredible fair player in T16, not making a scene when an Energy slipped from my hand onto the wrong pokemon and just being a fair player all season. Also T16 during your first year in masters is awesome, keep it up
Yoshi / David
PS: This took me 2 hours only to translate, didnt checkread, mispells are intentional
