JC_Denton46
New Member
So I've only been playing for about a month or so now, my first two BR's where my first tournaments and big learning experiences for me, greatly changing my deck(s)
Maybe it's a new player complex that'll I'll eventually drop from doing, but I'm set on playing rogue and refuse to "netdeck" or play top tier, so I'm already making difficult on myself on top of being a new player
The first tournament I tried playing a Feraligatr with Beartic thing, and that didn't quite work except against Reshiplosion sometimes and Goth
So after a complete dismantling of my deck I went with straight up Tornadus and Weavile, only special energy so Tornadus would never have to move energy away with Hurricane
I played Yugioh when I was a kid for the first 4 series, so I have a speed and beatdown complex from that I think lol
This deck did ok against almost everything because I stop a lot of decks from setting up, but at my 2nd tournament there where two problems that where almost impossible to overcome, and they where big: Reshiram and Zekrom
So after losing to the dragons almost exclusively, I cut the Weavile line down a bit, and added a 2-2 Zoroark line to deal with the dragons
I did a ton of testing online before the last BR of the season, and Zoroark was awesome for me
The only question I had for my deck list before the tournament was either having 4 Junk Arm and PlusPower, or cut them to 3 each and have 2 Seeker for Weavile and maybe free up for an instant win if they only have one bench Pokemon
Decided on the Seeker after all for more options but a bit less consistency, rare for me but I went with it
My deck is basically all special energy so Tornadus can attack and keep taking out basics with a bunch of Catchers and Junk Arms
Weavile is for stopping them from setting up, mostly for Twins (The free retreat is nice as well)
Then Zoroark is mostly for the big dragon decks that are running wild everywhere, and occasionally works nice against Magnezone, Yanmega, and Cinccino
Finally, on to the report:
There was 27 or so Masters, 5 swiss rounds with Top 4 cut
Round 1: (0-0) vs. ReshiPlosion (0-0)
Well, big test already. The dragons have been my nightmare recently, and I feel like I haven't had enough practice online, so I was pretty nervous of starting 0-1 right off the bat. We start, and he has two Reshiram's out already, an energy on one, 2 Quils and a Cleffa, but didn't eeeek, which showed me he has some quite useful things in hand. Early on I Juniper a lot of useful things after much thinking too which my opponent was even like, "Wow, are you sure?" Which I was, because I learned my lesson that I MUST kill the Quils as quick as I can. I got a pretty quick Tornadus with a DCE and Rescue to catcher a Quil for a knock out, and had a Zoroark on the field already. After this he had two Phlosions, which I was able to PlusPower kill one with Zoroark. At the end we both had 1-1 prizes, and on my last turn he had a one Phlosion on the bench with 2 energy, and a Reshiram active with 2 energy, and my Zoroark only has 50 HP left. I only played one PlusPower and one Junk Arm all game, so I felt I had a good chance at finding one. I Juniper my huge hand, and get a Junk Arm and 2 PlusPower, so overkill for the game. The early Juniper turned out to be worth it.
1-0
Round 2
1-0) vs. Yanmega, Maganezone, Kingdra (1-0)
I don't enjoy the match up at all as Zoroark isn't used TOO much, and Yanmega can just trade hits with me or snipe and then kill me when I go active with Tornadus. And once Magnezone comes out, I'm pretty much done for. This guy beat me last tournament, and won two BR's already so this would be a huge relief to win. This game, even though he went first and set up plenty of basics and Eeek'd, he just didn't have the right things in hand. This one was very easy for me because of his hand and draw. I Weaviled a Copycat away and a late Yanmega that really ruined things for him. Something that really cost him was his Yanmega couldn't attack my Tornadus for a knock out because he had 6 cards to my 5 and wasn't able to play anymore down. After taking out his Yanmega, all he has left was a Kingdra as his only Pokemon which traded hits to take my Tornadus out, but one on my bench was ready to knock him out and end the game early.
2-0
Round 32-0) vs. TZPS (2-0)
Yikes, even though I have Zoroark now he'll fall if there are multiple Zekrom's, and the Tornadus has a lightning weakness. This is a tough match for my deck, but if I play smart I can tip-tow my way around this match. He has a Zekrom active at the beginning, dual balls with 2 heads for Pachi and Shaymin. I'm worried for my active Tornadus, but he only have a DCE in his hand for energy, so they didn't come down yet and he just attached the DCE to outrage. Sorry I can't remember much what happened after this, but I eventually killed 3 of his Zekrom: Zoroark for 2, and a Tyrogue hit + Tornadus on one. Time was called, so I catchered up and killed his Pachi to go up by 2 prizes to make it out of his reach on prize count in time. Another scary deck to beat.
3-0 (First time ever actually)
Round 43-0) vs. Cinccino, Vileplume, Dodrio (2-1)
Down paired against a deck I have no practice against at all, so if I lose here I could end my top cut goal once again. Well, my deck pretty much did what it was designed too. I kept Catchering and taking out basics before they could do anything, actually going for the Minccino's so he wouldn't really have an attacker. A turning point was when he Judged and I got a Juniper off of it. He just had a bunch of basics, and no energy after I Weaviled his DCE. He got a twins eventually, but it was a little too late I think. He had a Zekrom active to scare me and eventually a DCE, but I got a Zoroark out and attached a Special Dark Energy to do the +10 for the kill and the last prize.
4-0
Round 5: (4-0) vs. Cinccino, Yanmega, Kingdra (4-0)
I finally made my first Top cut for sure, awesome. Still wanted to win though so I get top seed and a Victory Cup guaranteed .I found out he won State's in Texas last year which seems pretty big. I knew this was gonna rough, a bad match up for my deck. One Kingdra out + Do the Wave = Death for all my Tornadus, while I need a PlusPower to take out there Cinccino, and Kingdra will take two hits. He actually went first, but I was able to set up two Tornadus and get an ok amount of Catcher to take out his Horsee and Minccino. In the end I had ONE prize left to his 3, but just needed my last DCE in the deck to attach and attack his Kingdra with damage on it, or he can attack next turn and take out my last source of attacking. I Juniper my 8 card deck, and draw the DCE to attach and end the game with a win. Luckily it wasn't the very last card in my deck.
5-0
Only undefeated, 1st seed
My first top cut ever
At this point a lot of people really are rooting for me and glad to see a Rogue do so well, and saying things like they want to write my tournament report or they want to pilot my deck, so that felt really good. Usually I just get ignored for going a paltry 3-2, and my deck goes unnoticed to most
Anyways, starting top cut I sadly have to rematch the guy I just beat
Not happy about this, as his deck out of the top cut is easily the hardest match up for me
Top 4: (5-0) vs. CYK (4-1)
Sadly, there isn't much too say at all on our 2 out 3. The first match I actually go first, but just cannot draw a third energy to save my life. I have 2 on my Tornadus, 2 Catcher in hand, while he just has a bunch of basics just begging to be KO'd. I try a Sage, no energy. I pass and he is able to get a Cinccino out to attack for 80. I play a Juniper reluctantly, and draw zero energy once again. It's part of the game, I can't complain. Two turns go and he has 2 Kingdra out now and 2 Cinccino, so I scoop after literally drawing 2 energy out of the 20+ I draw all game. 2nd game, I have all the energy and catcher I need, and he just can't set up in time with his evolutions thanks to Weavile slaw snagging them away. He scoops quickly, so now we're tied up. The 3rd game was perhaps the worst for me. I only had 1 Tornadus and a Sneasle for the longest time, rolling 4 tails playing 2 Dual Balls at the same time. Again, I can't complain since I put the card in my deck and understand it's possible to whiff with it. After turn 4 he has a Cleffa, two Cinccino with DCE, and THREE Kingdra out. I try my hardest just playing it out since we have plenty of time to kill, but he simply can kill everyone I send up before I can power them up.
Final record: 6-1, 3rd Place
Most would be disappointed, but I was very very glad simply to get a Victory Cup after just my 3rd tournament ever, and especially when playing Rogue. I didn't stay for finals, so sorry I don't know exactly who won. The other two decks where a Mew/Plume and a rogue kinda similar to mine actually (He ran Tornadus and Zoroark, but with Umpreon and Espeon)
The guy piloting the Mew/Plume I know won Regionals last year, so good chance it was him vs. the guy I lost to in the top 4
Anyways, really glad with my performance, and really really hoping I can make my way to St. Louis Regionals in a few weeks
If anyone really cares to see my deck list I'll post it
Thanks for reading!
Maybe it's a new player complex that'll I'll eventually drop from doing, but I'm set on playing rogue and refuse to "netdeck" or play top tier, so I'm already making difficult on myself on top of being a new player
The first tournament I tried playing a Feraligatr with Beartic thing, and that didn't quite work except against Reshiplosion sometimes and Goth
So after a complete dismantling of my deck I went with straight up Tornadus and Weavile, only special energy so Tornadus would never have to move energy away with Hurricane
I played Yugioh when I was a kid for the first 4 series, so I have a speed and beatdown complex from that I think lol
This deck did ok against almost everything because I stop a lot of decks from setting up, but at my 2nd tournament there where two problems that where almost impossible to overcome, and they where big: Reshiram and Zekrom
So after losing to the dragons almost exclusively, I cut the Weavile line down a bit, and added a 2-2 Zoroark line to deal with the dragons
I did a ton of testing online before the last BR of the season, and Zoroark was awesome for me
The only question I had for my deck list before the tournament was either having 4 Junk Arm and PlusPower, or cut them to 3 each and have 2 Seeker for Weavile and maybe free up for an instant win if they only have one bench Pokemon
Decided on the Seeker after all for more options but a bit less consistency, rare for me but I went with it
My deck is basically all special energy so Tornadus can attack and keep taking out basics with a bunch of Catchers and Junk Arms
Weavile is for stopping them from setting up, mostly for Twins (The free retreat is nice as well)
Then Zoroark is mostly for the big dragon decks that are running wild everywhere, and occasionally works nice against Magnezone, Yanmega, and Cinccino
Finally, on to the report:
There was 27 or so Masters, 5 swiss rounds with Top 4 cut
Round 1: (0-0) vs. ReshiPlosion (0-0)
Well, big test already. The dragons have been my nightmare recently, and I feel like I haven't had enough practice online, so I was pretty nervous of starting 0-1 right off the bat. We start, and he has two Reshiram's out already, an energy on one, 2 Quils and a Cleffa, but didn't eeeek, which showed me he has some quite useful things in hand. Early on I Juniper a lot of useful things after much thinking too which my opponent was even like, "Wow, are you sure?" Which I was, because I learned my lesson that I MUST kill the Quils as quick as I can. I got a pretty quick Tornadus with a DCE and Rescue to catcher a Quil for a knock out, and had a Zoroark on the field already. After this he had two Phlosions, which I was able to PlusPower kill one with Zoroark. At the end we both had 1-1 prizes, and on my last turn he had a one Phlosion on the bench with 2 energy, and a Reshiram active with 2 energy, and my Zoroark only has 50 HP left. I only played one PlusPower and one Junk Arm all game, so I felt I had a good chance at finding one. I Juniper my huge hand, and get a Junk Arm and 2 PlusPower, so overkill for the game. The early Juniper turned out to be worth it.
1-0
Round 2
1-0) vs. Yanmega, Maganezone, Kingdra (1-0)I don't enjoy the match up at all as Zoroark isn't used TOO much, and Yanmega can just trade hits with me or snipe and then kill me when I go active with Tornadus. And once Magnezone comes out, I'm pretty much done for. This guy beat me last tournament, and won two BR's already so this would be a huge relief to win. This game, even though he went first and set up plenty of basics and Eeek'd, he just didn't have the right things in hand. This one was very easy for me because of his hand and draw. I Weaviled a Copycat away and a late Yanmega that really ruined things for him. Something that really cost him was his Yanmega couldn't attack my Tornadus for a knock out because he had 6 cards to my 5 and wasn't able to play anymore down. After taking out his Yanmega, all he has left was a Kingdra as his only Pokemon which traded hits to take my Tornadus out, but one on my bench was ready to knock him out and end the game early.
2-0
Round 3
2-0) vs. TZPS (2-0)Yikes, even though I have Zoroark now he'll fall if there are multiple Zekrom's, and the Tornadus has a lightning weakness. This is a tough match for my deck, but if I play smart I can tip-tow my way around this match. He has a Zekrom active at the beginning, dual balls with 2 heads for Pachi and Shaymin. I'm worried for my active Tornadus, but he only have a DCE in his hand for energy, so they didn't come down yet and he just attached the DCE to outrage. Sorry I can't remember much what happened after this, but I eventually killed 3 of his Zekrom: Zoroark for 2, and a Tyrogue hit + Tornadus on one. Time was called, so I catchered up and killed his Pachi to go up by 2 prizes to make it out of his reach on prize count in time. Another scary deck to beat.
3-0 (First time ever actually)
Round 4
3-0) vs. Cinccino, Vileplume, Dodrio (2-1)Down paired against a deck I have no practice against at all, so if I lose here I could end my top cut goal once again. Well, my deck pretty much did what it was designed too. I kept Catchering and taking out basics before they could do anything, actually going for the Minccino's so he wouldn't really have an attacker. A turning point was when he Judged and I got a Juniper off of it. He just had a bunch of basics, and no energy after I Weaviled his DCE. He got a twins eventually, but it was a little too late I think. He had a Zekrom active to scare me and eventually a DCE, but I got a Zoroark out and attached a Special Dark Energy to do the +10 for the kill and the last prize.
4-0
Round 5: (4-0) vs. Cinccino, Yanmega, Kingdra (4-0)
I finally made my first Top cut for sure, awesome. Still wanted to win though so I get top seed and a Victory Cup guaranteed .I found out he won State's in Texas last year which seems pretty big. I knew this was gonna rough, a bad match up for my deck. One Kingdra out + Do the Wave = Death for all my Tornadus, while I need a PlusPower to take out there Cinccino, and Kingdra will take two hits. He actually went first, but I was able to set up two Tornadus and get an ok amount of Catcher to take out his Horsee and Minccino. In the end I had ONE prize left to his 3, but just needed my last DCE in the deck to attach and attack his Kingdra with damage on it, or he can attack next turn and take out my last source of attacking. I Juniper my 8 card deck, and draw the DCE to attach and end the game with a win. Luckily it wasn't the very last card in my deck.
5-0
Only undefeated, 1st seed
My first top cut ever
At this point a lot of people really are rooting for me and glad to see a Rogue do so well, and saying things like they want to write my tournament report or they want to pilot my deck, so that felt really good. Usually I just get ignored for going a paltry 3-2, and my deck goes unnoticed to most
Anyways, starting top cut I sadly have to rematch the guy I just beat
Not happy about this, as his deck out of the top cut is easily the hardest match up for me
Top 4: (5-0) vs. CYK (4-1)
Sadly, there isn't much too say at all on our 2 out 3. The first match I actually go first, but just cannot draw a third energy to save my life. I have 2 on my Tornadus, 2 Catcher in hand, while he just has a bunch of basics just begging to be KO'd. I try a Sage, no energy. I pass and he is able to get a Cinccino out to attack for 80. I play a Juniper reluctantly, and draw zero energy once again. It's part of the game, I can't complain. Two turns go and he has 2 Kingdra out now and 2 Cinccino, so I scoop after literally drawing 2 energy out of the 20+ I draw all game. 2nd game, I have all the energy and catcher I need, and he just can't set up in time with his evolutions thanks to Weavile slaw snagging them away. He scoops quickly, so now we're tied up. The 3rd game was perhaps the worst for me. I only had 1 Tornadus and a Sneasle for the longest time, rolling 4 tails playing 2 Dual Balls at the same time. Again, I can't complain since I put the card in my deck and understand it's possible to whiff with it. After turn 4 he has a Cleffa, two Cinccino with DCE, and THREE Kingdra out. I try my hardest just playing it out since we have plenty of time to kill, but he simply can kill everyone I send up before I can power them up.
Final record: 6-1, 3rd Place
Most would be disappointed, but I was very very glad simply to get a Victory Cup after just my 3rd tournament ever, and especially when playing Rogue. I didn't stay for finals, so sorry I don't know exactly who won. The other two decks where a Mew/Plume and a rogue kinda similar to mine actually (He ran Tornadus and Zoroark, but with Umpreon and Espeon)
The guy piloting the Mew/Plume I know won Regionals last year, so good chance it was him vs. the guy I lost to in the top 4
Anyways, really glad with my performance, and really really hoping I can make my way to St. Louis Regionals in a few weeks
If anyone really cares to see my deck list I'll post it
Thanks for reading!
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