Pre-Tournament:
Prior to the tournament my deck choices for Regionals were narrowed down to Tornadus/Landorus/Mewtwo/Boufallant and Blastoise/Keldeo. My third choice was Rayquaza/Eelektrik but I quickly scrapped that idea in fear of the Tynamo donk. I decided that Tornadus would also not fly because I hated the way Fighting mirrors played out as the damage cap is so low and usually ended being a toss-up IMO. During the last city championships at British Columbia Canada I was able to go 9-0 with Blastoise/Keldeo so after I made a few minor adjustments I decided to just play what I felt comfortable with and hope for the best.
I was able to remember most of my opponents names but if I have missed you please tell me which round you were and I'll change it right away!
Tournament Report:
Round 1 ??? Darkrai EX/Terrakion/Terrakion EX/Landorus EX/Mewtwo EX
My opponent round 1 was a judge from Washington and we had a nice chat before the round started. I remember us both getting slow starts but him being able to heal with Gold Potion early to kill any aggression I could put up. Unfortunately he only drew into 1 Dark Ratch all game and I was able to sweep with my giant Keldeo ex after knocking out his Mewtwo ex. 1-0
Round 2 Blastoise/Keldeo
In this round I got T2 Blastoise but was not able to draw any energy early on, relying on Tropical Beach to get energy into my hand. My opponent had an awkward hand with 2 Energy Retrievals so he began charging up his Blastoise. By this time I had all the cards in my hand needed to KO his Blastoise -1 Water energy, pretty much ending the game if I drew one for my turn or a supporter. I didn't so I opted to beach and pass. He ends ups Catchering up my Keldeo ex with 2 energy on it, manually retreats his Blastoise into Mewtwo, playing down 2 Energy Retrieval and Junipering. He gets enough Energy to one shot my Keldeo ex and I was in a terrible position. I end up beaching one more turn to get my own Mewtwo while he powers up a benched Keldeo ex. The rest of the match becomes a bit blurry but I believe late game he needed 1 Water energy to attach to his Keldeo/Mewtwo to win the game of a Bianca for 2-3 but whiffed so I pulled the game out. Very close game 2-0
Round 3 Jackson Knorr Tornadus/Mewtwo/Boufallant/Landorus
This match I got paired up with my friend from Oregon called Jackson. He goes first with Tornadus ex against my lone Squirtle and goes for the donk but misses. I recall he misses a few energy attachments at points in the game with me being to get Blastoise + Keldeo up turn 2 or 3. This combined with him prizing his second Mewtwo let me win
easily as I recall. 3-0
Round 4 ??? Darkrai/Hydreigon
I believe my opponent was able to get a t2 Hydreigon up but not being able to attack until t3-t4. He also had to discard Max Potions which is unfortunately. Strangely enough when we were still tied 6-6 in prizes he opted to bench down a Shaymin ex and Revenge Blast me for 60. It became free prizes for me and without Shaymin ex he had nothing to threaten my Keldeos with so I was able to sweep with giant Keldeos from there. This was right after the lunch break so my opponent + I may have been dazed leading to his misplay but oh well
. 4-0
Round 5 Sam Chen Blastoise/Keldeo
This round I get to play against Sam Chen who came all the way from New York to play in Oregon Regionals. I had just met him last night at the Shilo inn (hotel we were staying at) so we were already familiar with each other. At this point Sam was/is the #1 ranked ELO player globally/America and I was ranked #1 in Canada masters so I felt that this would be an awesome match. He then tells me he is riding a 16 or 17 game winning streak; which was quite a surprise as I was also riding a 14 game winning streak in the past two tournaments. Unfortunately this game went pretty bad for his side. I went first, got the first Blastoise, got the first giant Keldeo EX, pretty much everything you could ask for. Late game he Ns me down to 1 and X-balls with a 3 energy Mewtwo for a knockout. I drew an energy off the N to one so I decided to YOLO it and push up mewtwo in hopes of drawing an energy to win the game. I felt like in this situation had I not pushed up the mewtwo Sam could manually retreat his mewtwo and attack with keldeo leaving me unable to win the game in the long run. I drew a bianca for the turn and drew an energy to win the game. Hotter than the sun! 5-0.
Round 6 Seth Kruper Blastoise/Keldeo
Seth judged last years Oregon regionals but this year was able to play. I forget who went first but he made an awesome (you go second/you go first) card. In this match I recall he went for the 2 hit knock outs instead of the one shot that I usually go for in mirror. I was able to get a couple of one shots in with him being unable to respond so I was able to win this game. 6-0.
Round 7 Khen Luu Mewtwo/Bouffalant/Eels
Khen is also a player from BC and went on to get top 8 at this event! I think I start 2nd with him attaching to his Boufallant and passing. I had a pretty decent hand of Juniper + Max Potion after playing a few Ultra Balls to get a few Squirtle into play but opt to pass to make it look like my hand was bad. Khen considered his options with my two card hand and opted to Skyla for Computer search for DCE to Gold Breaker me for 120. I Max Potion and play down Juniper and get out a Blastoise and I believe a Keldeo. Khen did not have another draw supporter in hand so he was forced again to Skyla. I believe I was able to knockout a benched Mewtwo EX on his side and played him into an unwinnable position. 7-0
Round 8 Murat Gursoz Mewtwo/Bouffalant/Eels
This match was to decide the #1 seed in this tournament so we get started. Murat tells me he actually came all the way from California to play! This game we both got technically our “ideal starts” with me getting t2-t3 Blastoise and him getting 2 Eels into play t2-t3. Unfortunately neither of us had anything else. Eventually we both draw out of it with me being the earlier of the 2. Mid-late game he whiffed a crucial energy to knock out and Keldeo EX which you really can't afford to do so I end up winning and becoming the #1 seed at the event. 8-0
Standings go up and I'm excited to see a lot of Canadian players had made top 32. I believe Canadians took up 10 or so spots out of the top 32 which is amazing considering we only had maybe 20 at most masters at the event. Another fun fact was that last year Bidier, another BC player, was also the X-0 and #1 seed of the event. Joey was also the #1 seed in seniors with my friend Jack was also the #1 seed in seniors last year, winning Regionals undefeated! Funny coincidence eh?
I find out that I'm playing Brit Pybas who came all the way from Missouri to play. He also runs http://celadoncitygym.com/ with Colin Moll which is an awesome site providing deck advice, reports, and articles about interesting topics reated to the Pokemon world. I know that Brit is a strong player having made Worlds the last couple or so years so I was expecting a tough match. It didn't help that all my friends were telling about the curse of the first as last year Bidier lost in top 32. I felt kind of nervous about this fact hoping that history would not repeat itself but hey w/e happens, happens.
In the end it's just a game.
Top 32 Brit Pybas Blastoise/Keldeo
Game 1
I got to go first with him not having much. He had to discard 3 Rare Candies in this game off Juniper or Ultra Ball and with his last Rare Candy being prized, he opts to scoop after I KO his only Keldeo EX with energy on it.
Game 2
I completely forgot what happened this match except that Brit had to discard a few energy retrievals early and I was able to win in a really close game. It really sucked that we had to face in top 32 because I felt that me, Sam, and Brit had the best Blastoise decks in cut and 1 get instantly gets knocked out in cut. On the bright side though Brit is well on his way to a World's Invite so props to him on that! 9-0
Top 16 Recco Connor Tornadus/Landorus/Mewtwo/Sigilyph
Game 1
So this match I have to play against Recco aka the World's Clutchest Pokedad. When you first meet him you'd think he was ridiculously intimidating but after talking to him a couple times, I realized he was just an awesome guy! Thanks for letting my borrow your playmat in top 32 BTW. Anyways Game 1 was uneventful, he went first and donked my lone Squirtle to win the game without me drawing a card, shucks.
Game 2
I was able to go first and get set-up. He tried walling with his Sigilyphs but I was able to win this game after knocking them out with Blastoise.
Game 3
Recco goes first with Tornadus EX again with me starting Squirtle again. He goes for the donk but misses so I get to play a game! He was however able to knockout all of my Squirtles before I evolved them into Blastoise. I was also forced to discard 2 Pokemon Catchers which I needed to get past Sigilyph since I had no counter at this point. I tried desperately to dig my last squirtle out of the prizes but it was in the last 2 along with an N so I had no hopes at a comeback. I tried decking him out but he had the last Catcher in his deck to catcher a damaged EX on my bench for the win. 9-1
So that's it folks! Thanks for reading my report. It was quite lengthy I know but hopefully you enjoyed reading it. I finished 9th in a field or 230 I believe and am current 18-1 in tournament play in 2013 .
Props:
Bidier for giving me a ride down
All the staff and volunteers who made this event awesome!
BC players (too many to name)
Washington players (too many to name)
All my opponents for the matches
Sam Chen, and Brit Pybas for travelling down a long way to play
Everyone that top cut
Slops:
None
Prior to the tournament my deck choices for Regionals were narrowed down to Tornadus/Landorus/Mewtwo/Boufallant and Blastoise/Keldeo. My third choice was Rayquaza/Eelektrik but I quickly scrapped that idea in fear of the Tynamo donk. I decided that Tornadus would also not fly because I hated the way Fighting mirrors played out as the damage cap is so low and usually ended being a toss-up IMO. During the last city championships at British Columbia Canada I was able to go 9-0 with Blastoise/Keldeo so after I made a few minor adjustments I decided to just play what I felt comfortable with and hope for the best.
I was able to remember most of my opponents names but if I have missed you please tell me which round you were and I'll change it right away!
Tournament Report:
Round 1 ??? Darkrai EX/Terrakion/Terrakion EX/Landorus EX/Mewtwo EX
My opponent round 1 was a judge from Washington and we had a nice chat before the round started. I remember us both getting slow starts but him being able to heal with Gold Potion early to kill any aggression I could put up. Unfortunately he only drew into 1 Dark Ratch all game and I was able to sweep with my giant Keldeo ex after knocking out his Mewtwo ex. 1-0
Round 2 Blastoise/Keldeo
In this round I got T2 Blastoise but was not able to draw any energy early on, relying on Tropical Beach to get energy into my hand. My opponent had an awkward hand with 2 Energy Retrievals so he began charging up his Blastoise. By this time I had all the cards in my hand needed to KO his Blastoise -1 Water energy, pretty much ending the game if I drew one for my turn or a supporter. I didn't so I opted to beach and pass. He ends ups Catchering up my Keldeo ex with 2 energy on it, manually retreats his Blastoise into Mewtwo, playing down 2 Energy Retrieval and Junipering. He gets enough Energy to one shot my Keldeo ex and I was in a terrible position. I end up beaching one more turn to get my own Mewtwo while he powers up a benched Keldeo ex. The rest of the match becomes a bit blurry but I believe late game he needed 1 Water energy to attach to his Keldeo/Mewtwo to win the game of a Bianca for 2-3 but whiffed so I pulled the game out. Very close game 2-0
Round 3 Jackson Knorr Tornadus/Mewtwo/Boufallant/Landorus
This match I got paired up with my friend from Oregon called Jackson. He goes first with Tornadus ex against my lone Squirtle and goes for the donk but misses. I recall he misses a few energy attachments at points in the game with me being to get Blastoise + Keldeo up turn 2 or 3. This combined with him prizing his second Mewtwo let me win
easily as I recall. 3-0
Round 4 ??? Darkrai/Hydreigon
I believe my opponent was able to get a t2 Hydreigon up but not being able to attack until t3-t4. He also had to discard Max Potions which is unfortunately. Strangely enough when we were still tied 6-6 in prizes he opted to bench down a Shaymin ex and Revenge Blast me for 60. It became free prizes for me and without Shaymin ex he had nothing to threaten my Keldeos with so I was able to sweep with giant Keldeos from there. This was right after the lunch break so my opponent + I may have been dazed leading to his misplay but oh well
. 4-0Round 5 Sam Chen Blastoise/Keldeo
This round I get to play against Sam Chen who came all the way from New York to play in Oregon Regionals. I had just met him last night at the Shilo inn (hotel we were staying at) so we were already familiar with each other. At this point Sam was/is the #1 ranked ELO player globally/America and I was ranked #1 in Canada masters so I felt that this would be an awesome match. He then tells me he is riding a 16 or 17 game winning streak; which was quite a surprise as I was also riding a 14 game winning streak in the past two tournaments
. Unfortunately this game went pretty bad for his side. I went first, got the first Blastoise, got the first giant Keldeo EX, pretty much everything you could ask for. Late game he Ns me down to 1 and X-balls with a 3 energy Mewtwo for a knockout. I drew an energy off the N to one so I decided to YOLO it and push up mewtwo in hopes of drawing an energy to win the game. I felt like in this situation had I not pushed up the mewtwo Sam could manually retreat his mewtwo and attack with keldeo leaving me unable to win the game in the long run. I drew a bianca for the turn and drew an energy to win the game. Hotter than the sun! 5-0.Round 6 Seth Kruper Blastoise/Keldeo
Seth judged last years Oregon regionals but this year was able to play
. I forget who went first but he made an awesome (you go second/you go first) card. In this match I recall he went for the 2 hit knock outs instead of the one shot that I usually go for in mirror. I was able to get a couple of one shots in with him being unable to respond so I was able to win this game. 6-0.Round 7 Khen Luu Mewtwo/Bouffalant/Eels
Khen is also a player from BC and went on to get top 8 at this event! I think I start 2nd with him attaching to his Boufallant and passing. I had a pretty decent hand of Juniper + Max Potion after playing a few Ultra Balls to get a few Squirtle into play but opt to pass to make it look like my hand was bad. Khen considered his options with my two card hand and opted to Skyla for Computer search for DCE to Gold Breaker me for 120. I Max Potion and play down Juniper and get out a Blastoise and I believe a Keldeo. Khen did not have another draw supporter in hand so he was forced again to Skyla. I believe I was able to knockout a benched Mewtwo EX on his side and played him into an unwinnable position. 7-0
Round 8 Murat Gursoz Mewtwo/Bouffalant/Eels
This match was to decide the #1 seed in this tournament so we get started. Murat tells me he actually came all the way from California to play! This game we both got technically our “ideal starts” with me getting t2-t3 Blastoise and him getting 2 Eels into play t2-t3. Unfortunately neither of us had anything else. Eventually we both draw out of it with me being the earlier of the 2. Mid-late game he whiffed a crucial energy to knock out and Keldeo EX which you really can't afford to do so I end up winning and becoming the #1 seed at the event
. 8-0Standings go up and I'm excited to see a lot of Canadian players had made top 32. I believe Canadians took up 10 or so spots out of the top 32 which is amazing considering we only had maybe 20 at most masters at the event. Another fun fact was that last year Bidier, another BC player, was also the X-0 and #1 seed of the event. Joey was also the #1 seed in seniors with my friend Jack was also the #1 seed in seniors last year, winning Regionals undefeated! Funny coincidence eh?
I find out that I'm playing Brit Pybas who came all the way from Missouri to play. He also runs http://celadoncitygym.com/ with Colin Moll which is an awesome site providing deck advice, reports, and articles about interesting topics reated to the Pokemon world. I know that Brit is a strong player having made Worlds the last couple or so years so I was expecting a tough match. It didn't help that all my friends were telling about the curse of the first as last year Bidier lost in top 32. I felt kind of nervous about this fact hoping that history would not repeat itself but hey w/e happens, happens.
In the end it's just a game
.Top 32 Brit Pybas Blastoise/Keldeo
Game 1
I got to go first with him not having much. He had to discard 3 Rare Candies in this game off Juniper or Ultra Ball and with his last Rare Candy being prized, he opts to scoop after I KO his only Keldeo EX with energy on it.
Game 2
I completely forgot what happened this match except that Brit had to discard a few energy retrievals early and I was able to win in a really close game. It really sucked that we had to face in top 32 because I felt that me, Sam, and Brit had the best Blastoise decks in cut and 1 get instantly gets knocked out in cut
. On the bright side though Brit is well on his way to a World's Invite so props to him on that! 9-0Top 16 Recco Connor Tornadus/Landorus/Mewtwo/Sigilyph
Game 1
So this match I have to play against Recco aka the World's Clutchest Pokedad. When you first meet him you'd think he was ridiculously intimidating but after talking to him a couple times, I realized he was just an awesome guy! Thanks for letting my borrow your playmat in top 32 BTW
. Anyways Game 1 was uneventful, he went first and donked my lone Squirtle to win the game without me drawing a card, shucks. Game 2
I was able to go first and get set-up. He tried walling with his Sigilyphs but I was able to win this game after knocking them out with Blastoise.
Game 3
Recco goes first with Tornadus EX again with me starting Squirtle again. He goes for the donk but misses so I get to play a game
! He was however able to knockout all of my Squirtles before I evolved them into Blastoise. I was also forced to discard 2 Pokemon Catchers which I needed to get past Sigilyph since I had no counter at this point. I tried desperately to dig my last squirtle out of the prizes but it was in the last 2 along with an N so I had no hopes at a comeback. I tried decking him out but he had the last Catcher in his deck to catcher a damaged EX on my bench for the win. 9-1So that's it folks! Thanks for reading my report. It was quite lengthy I know but hopefully you enjoyed reading it
. I finished 9th in a field or 230 I believe and am current 18-1 in tournament play in 2013 . Props:
Bidier for giving me a ride down
All the staff and volunteers who made this event awesome!
BC players (too many to name)
Washington players (too many to name)
All my opponents for the matches
Sam Chen, and Brit Pybas for travelling down a long way to play
Everyone that top cut
Slops:
None
