Varna
New Member
Wow, that was some ride. I just pulled in after driving all the way back to NY from Indy in one shot. My eyes are on fire. If anything in this report seems a bit fuzzy, it's because I can hardly think right now.
It wasn't any mystery to people who know me what I was going to play - Gardevoir. It was just what specific techs I wanted to play that was giving me a headache. After hanging out most of thursday and talking to some cool people, I heard a pretty convincing argument for Mewtwo, which ended up winning me at least two games.
Friday started out pretty slow - it felt like we were waiting FOREVER just to get started with round 1, and then almost immediately had a lunch break. Ugh. When I got up that morning, I was awake - after waiting around for the rounds to start, I had almost fallen asleep again. :frown: Eventually things started rolling along, however, and I stopped noticing.
I'm playing in pod 2, affectionately referred to as "that white/yellow/green/something not blue pod".
Oh! I forgot to write down names. Sorry guys. =\
Round 1 - vs straight Machamp
Textbook game. I got a quick lock on him and it was over. Machamp can't really do anything to Gardevoir.
1-0
Round 2 - vs Palkia Lock
This game started pretty tough if I remember, but eventually I started locking him really bad and he just never recovered.
2-0
Round 3 - vs Luxchomp
I'm pretty positive I Mewtwo X + Azelf X'd him to death. I can't remember that well right now because of this stupid headache.
3-0
Round 4 vs Luxchomp (again)
Okay, this didn't go so hot. I started slower than I liked and he managed to get the lead on me. I ended up doing a judge+psylock combo to KO something while he has just Uxie + Chomp with egain + something else with no energy on the board. Off of those four (five with the draw) cards he pulls... two DCE, Uxie X, Chomp X, something else, which is enough to make sure I'm permanently out of the game.
3-1
Round 5 vs Jumpluff
Oh hey, the deck I was looking forward to playing against! This went exactly how I wanted it - I started an early lock on him and he only ever saw a single Jumpluff the entire game.
4-1
Round 6 vs Donphan
This could have went badly for me, but after a somewhat iffy start I managed to corner him into just a Donphan with belt and 60 HP remaining; an assortment of things on my end ready to take the KO next turn. He draws... plays Cynthias, draws 8 cards, and gets absolutely no basics or means to fetch them. Wow. Sorry dude.
5-1
Round 7 vs LuxChomp w/Dialga
This was my most amazing game of the day. I started out with a four prize lead on him, while he had next to nothing in play - and then all hell broke lose. In my infinite wisdom, I decided not to free retreat to my spiritomb while I had Gardy X out - this lead to a crippling double power spray combo on Telepass and Let Loose that allowed him to keep his first Cyrus fruits of the game. One thing led to another, he took various KOs on benched things while turning my damage, and finally got a nasty double-heads Remove Lost on one of my attackers. All this combined swung the game completely around for him and he takes the win. If you're reading this - don't doubt your skill! You're an excellent player and it was great meeting you (and talking to you throughout the weekend!).
5-2
So I end Friday at 5-2 and I'm pretty confident that I can win out (even though my sense of irony tells me I'll lose both matches the following morning). I get some food with my crew, attempt to get to sleep at a reasonable time, and finally end up in bed at about 4 in the morning. Woo!
Next day starts reasonably better than the first. I actually eat a little for breakfast, get to the tournament on time, and we don't start TOO much later than intended.
Round 8 vs Kingdra?
I honestly don't know what else was in this deck other than Kingdra Prime. He started out with a T1 Kingdra Prime + energy, and I responded with a T2 psychic lock + belt. He goes... and jokingly asks if he can do 130 damage with his attack. :tongue: He had NO BASICS and NO SUPPORTERS. Talk about horrendous luck.
6-2
Round 9 vs Jumpluff/Shaymin/Cherrim (SV)
Alright, I admit it - I was completely and utterly baffled at how this deck could possibly be 6-2. Shaymin? Cherrim? LEVEL MAX? WHAT? Ahem. Anyways, the game was going swiftly in my favor as should be the case with the matchup, but he managed to eventually hit heads on level max for a shaymin X, giving him excessive amounts of HP on his many hoppips/skiplooms to stall me until he could draw into a pluff. Eventually, he got one or two pluffs out, but it was too late to stop me from taking the win.
7-2
Well, sweet! With 7-2 I know I'm in cut, and go to ask my friends about their last rounds. Two do horrible, and the other whiffs with a 6-3 record on resistance (all three of his first opponents dropped with a bad record). He finished 93rd? in the first pod, I believe.
So, after a quick break to get some food, I'm back for top cut, and at this point am determined to sweep. Can't have a bad attitude going into something as big as this.
Top 128 vs Austin Baggs w/ LuxChomp
Game 1 - He rolls me. I get next to nothing set up and he kills what I do, so I end up scooping to have more time for the other two games.
Game 2 - This goes slightly better, and eventually I get a belted Mewtwo X out on the board. Strangely, he makes no move to get out shuppet/misdreavus or a similar counter... at which point I start suspecting he has none. After playing it out and apparently hoping I'd bench more pokemon for him to snipe for prizes, he ERL's his own Uxie to death for lulz, and we head to Game 3.
Game 3 - After how the last game went and his expression, I'm positive he doesn't have a counter. Therefore, I went straight for Mewtwo X. After I got it out and just started killing everything with psyburn/giga burn hits, it was all over.
Afterwords, I asked him if he had a counter just to make sure - turns out he took it out to make space for the ERL. :frown: Well, when you take the risk, thems the breaks. Better luck next tournament!
Top 64 vs Kyle S. (Pooka) w/ DialgaChomp
Two regionals winners in a row? I must have some crazy luck.
Game 1 - He flips over dialga iirc, and I cry a bit on the inside. In my opinion, DialgaChomp is Gardevoir's worst matchup (Gengar honestly isn't that bad - at least you can KO those spiritombs!). Regardless, I start out with some weak psylock damage and eventually just start aggro Gallade. It doesn't get me far enough and I scoop after he kills it.
Game 2 - Early psychic lock with some well placed disruption and never look back. He fights a little, but I pull out the win.
Game 3 - Wow, this game. I get a quick two prize lead with a belted Gardy X, but I have to overextend a bit too much and am unable to bench a second ralts to start charging up. At this point, I know time is close to being called, and I am also aware that if he has just a few more turns he could probably pull something together to finally KO my Gardy to tie up prizes, at which point the game is in his favor. Only one thing to do!
...
...
...
Keep playing at a brisk pace. Stalling disgusts me, and if I was going to win that way, the win wouldn't mean anything to me. So, we keep playing, time is called, he KOs my Gardy X with a 20 damage psy restore to the bottom. At this point, I only have a 3 psy'd Giratina to attack with (lawl) and he promotes a dialga to tank it. I draw. I know he has the materials in hand to poketurn, energy + level up Garchomp to snipe something for the game. The only thing I can possibly do is play my remaining Judge and hope he doesn't draw anything. So that's exactly what I do. He takes his turn, benchs two more pokemon, plays an egain or something, and cosmics his last two cards to the bottom. Draws 6... Cyrus. Good game dude!
Well, the dream is dead, but I'm not sure I feel too badly about it. Both Pooka and the judge sitting in on our game complimented me for not stalling that match out for the win, and I really appreciated that. I wish him luck in the rest of top cut, and go off to find some food!
The rest of the weekend was all downhill. I played in the Professor Cup with Octillery/Golduck PT, and did terrible with my flips (2 heads out of 5? Whiffing for no energy in a 11 card deck? why me). Hung out at the hotel room and watched To Catch a Predator while making dumb jokes a bunch.
Props
- Gardevoir SW, for being unbelievably broken. Rest in peace.
- Top cutting my first Nats ever, and T64 at that!
- Finishing at 43rd overall.
- Friend driving up to see us at the hotel
- Meeting a few new cool people, and having some intense games.
- All of my opponents for being awesome, even if most of you were enduring "draw pass" turns
- MotL and Aziz, you know why!
Slops
- Being blind and unable to recognize a lot of people I would have loved to meet
- Being shy and unable to speak to a lot of those I did recognize
- Losing to my worst matchup, how I would have loved to overcome it for the final time
- Too much stuff, too little money
- long, long drives.
See you next year!sychic:
It wasn't any mystery to people who know me what I was going to play - Gardevoir. It was just what specific techs I wanted to play that was giving me a headache. After hanging out most of thursday and talking to some cool people, I heard a pretty convincing argument for Mewtwo, which ended up winning me at least two games.
Friday started out pretty slow - it felt like we were waiting FOREVER just to get started with round 1, and then almost immediately had a lunch break. Ugh. When I got up that morning, I was awake - after waiting around for the rounds to start, I had almost fallen asleep again. :frown: Eventually things started rolling along, however, and I stopped noticing.
I'm playing in pod 2, affectionately referred to as "that white/yellow/green/something not blue pod".
Oh! I forgot to write down names. Sorry guys. =\
Round 1 - vs straight Machamp
Textbook game. I got a quick lock on him and it was over. Machamp can't really do anything to Gardevoir.
1-0
Round 2 - vs Palkia Lock
This game started pretty tough if I remember, but eventually I started locking him really bad and he just never recovered.
2-0
Round 3 - vs Luxchomp
I'm pretty positive I Mewtwo X + Azelf X'd him to death. I can't remember that well right now because of this stupid headache.
3-0
Round 4 vs Luxchomp (again)
Okay, this didn't go so hot. I started slower than I liked and he managed to get the lead on me. I ended up doing a judge+psylock combo to KO something while he has just Uxie + Chomp with egain + something else with no energy on the board. Off of those four (five with the draw) cards he pulls... two DCE, Uxie X, Chomp X, something else, which is enough to make sure I'm permanently out of the game.
3-1
Round 5 vs Jumpluff
Oh hey, the deck I was looking forward to playing against! This went exactly how I wanted it - I started an early lock on him and he only ever saw a single Jumpluff the entire game.
4-1
Round 6 vs Donphan
This could have went badly for me, but after a somewhat iffy start I managed to corner him into just a Donphan with belt and 60 HP remaining; an assortment of things on my end ready to take the KO next turn. He draws... plays Cynthias, draws 8 cards, and gets absolutely no basics or means to fetch them. Wow. Sorry dude.
5-1
Round 7 vs LuxChomp w/Dialga
This was my most amazing game of the day. I started out with a four prize lead on him, while he had next to nothing in play - and then all hell broke lose. In my infinite wisdom, I decided not to free retreat to my spiritomb while I had Gardy X out - this lead to a crippling double power spray combo on Telepass and Let Loose that allowed him to keep his first Cyrus fruits of the game. One thing led to another, he took various KOs on benched things while turning my damage, and finally got a nasty double-heads Remove Lost on one of my attackers. All this combined swung the game completely around for him and he takes the win. If you're reading this - don't doubt your skill! You're an excellent player and it was great meeting you (and talking to you throughout the weekend!).
5-2
So I end Friday at 5-2 and I'm pretty confident that I can win out (even though my sense of irony tells me I'll lose both matches the following morning). I get some food with my crew, attempt to get to sleep at a reasonable time, and finally end up in bed at about 4 in the morning. Woo!
Next day starts reasonably better than the first. I actually eat a little for breakfast, get to the tournament on time, and we don't start TOO much later than intended.
Round 8 vs Kingdra?
I honestly don't know what else was in this deck other than Kingdra Prime. He started out with a T1 Kingdra Prime + energy, and I responded with a T2 psychic lock + belt. He goes... and jokingly asks if he can do 130 damage with his attack. :tongue: He had NO BASICS and NO SUPPORTERS. Talk about horrendous luck.
6-2
Round 9 vs Jumpluff/Shaymin/Cherrim (SV)
Alright, I admit it - I was completely and utterly baffled at how this deck could possibly be 6-2. Shaymin? Cherrim? LEVEL MAX? WHAT? Ahem. Anyways, the game was going swiftly in my favor as should be the case with the matchup, but he managed to eventually hit heads on level max for a shaymin X, giving him excessive amounts of HP on his many hoppips/skiplooms to stall me until he could draw into a pluff. Eventually, he got one or two pluffs out, but it was too late to stop me from taking the win.
7-2
Well, sweet! With 7-2 I know I'm in cut, and go to ask my friends about their last rounds. Two do horrible, and the other whiffs with a 6-3 record on resistance (all three of his first opponents dropped with a bad record). He finished 93rd? in the first pod, I believe.
So, after a quick break to get some food, I'm back for top cut, and at this point am determined to sweep. Can't have a bad attitude going into something as big as this.
Top 128 vs Austin Baggs w/ LuxChomp
Game 1 - He rolls me. I get next to nothing set up and he kills what I do, so I end up scooping to have more time for the other two games.
Game 2 - This goes slightly better, and eventually I get a belted Mewtwo X out on the board. Strangely, he makes no move to get out shuppet/misdreavus or a similar counter... at which point I start suspecting he has none. After playing it out and apparently hoping I'd bench more pokemon for him to snipe for prizes, he ERL's his own Uxie to death for lulz, and we head to Game 3.
Game 3 - After how the last game went and his expression, I'm positive he doesn't have a counter. Therefore, I went straight for Mewtwo X. After I got it out and just started killing everything with psyburn/giga burn hits, it was all over.
Afterwords, I asked him if he had a counter just to make sure - turns out he took it out to make space for the ERL. :frown: Well, when you take the risk, thems the breaks. Better luck next tournament!
Top 64 vs Kyle S. (Pooka) w/ DialgaChomp
Two regionals winners in a row? I must have some crazy luck.
Game 1 - He flips over dialga iirc, and I cry a bit on the inside. In my opinion, DialgaChomp is Gardevoir's worst matchup (Gengar honestly isn't that bad - at least you can KO those spiritombs!). Regardless, I start out with some weak psylock damage and eventually just start aggro Gallade. It doesn't get me far enough and I scoop after he kills it.
Game 2 - Early psychic lock with some well placed disruption and never look back. He fights a little, but I pull out the win.
Game 3 - Wow, this game. I get a quick two prize lead with a belted Gardy X, but I have to overextend a bit too much and am unable to bench a second ralts to start charging up. At this point, I know time is close to being called, and I am also aware that if he has just a few more turns he could probably pull something together to finally KO my Gardy to tie up prizes, at which point the game is in his favor. Only one thing to do!
...
...
...
Keep playing at a brisk pace. Stalling disgusts me, and if I was going to win that way, the win wouldn't mean anything to me. So, we keep playing, time is called, he KOs my Gardy X with a 20 damage psy restore to the bottom. At this point, I only have a 3 psy'd Giratina to attack with (lawl) and he promotes a dialga to tank it. I draw. I know he has the materials in hand to poketurn, energy + level up Garchomp to snipe something for the game. The only thing I can possibly do is play my remaining Judge and hope he doesn't draw anything. So that's exactly what I do. He takes his turn, benchs two more pokemon, plays an egain or something, and cosmics his last two cards to the bottom. Draws 6... Cyrus. Good game dude!
Well, the dream is dead, but I'm not sure I feel too badly about it. Both Pooka and the judge sitting in on our game complimented me for not stalling that match out for the win, and I really appreciated that. I wish him luck in the rest of top cut, and go off to find some food!
The rest of the weekend was all downhill. I played in the Professor Cup with Octillery/Golduck PT, and did terrible with my flips (2 heads out of 5? Whiffing for no energy in a 11 card deck? why me). Hung out at the hotel room and watched To Catch a Predator while making dumb jokes a bunch.
Props
- Gardevoir SW, for being unbelievably broken. Rest in peace.
- Top cutting my first Nats ever, and T64 at that!
- Finishing at 43rd overall.
- Friend driving up to see us at the hotel
- Meeting a few new cool people, and having some intense games.
- All of my opponents for being awesome, even if most of you were enduring "draw pass" turns
- MotL and Aziz, you know why!
Slops
- Being blind and unable to recognize a lot of people I would have loved to meet
- Being shy and unable to speak to a lot of those I did recognize
- Losing to my worst matchup, how I would have loved to overcome it for the final time
- Too much stuff, too little money
- long, long drives.
See you next year!
sychic: