Update on the Dutch rankings, there are 10 Masters who have invites, or have a chance at rating invites,
Arco, Martin, Kevin, Lia, Maurice, Matijs, Marcel, Anna, and Erik, and the 4th place Nats player who I don't know.
Out of the above, I think everyone except for Erik and the mystery 4th place player is going or planning on going. Can't remember us ever having more than 3 Masters playing at Worlds, so that's really good =D
Oh, Matijs, if you really are going, you need to convince Erik to go as well if he keeps the ranking invite
First off, I don't expect to get the rating invite anyway, there are still European Nats to be played right (I have no clue really)? I don't think 35th place is good enough with all people dropping to preserve their rankings etc.
Beside that, I think I'd only go if I like win DMF Lyon next week and don't expect my chances to qualify for the Dutch Magic Nationals to be high. Else I just don't have the bucks to go out and fly to Orlando for a tournament which I expect to have a negative EV (of course, a huge +EV for positive experience and vibes, but not for prices). Of course, winning DMF Lyon (or ending up 2nd place would be good enough either with the added spectral tiger loot) is not quite impossible, but still a long shot with probably 200+ competitors. So we'll just see
Small recap of my somewhat disappointing Nats experience (I played a GG/Noir list based on speed, with no real starters but Call Energy as semi-starter in order to have a good chance on Psychic Locking or Cutting t2 onward):
First round I play a Sceptile/Torterra deck which got a good setup while I had quite a bit of lag. That made the game too close for comfort but in the end I win after time is called and I Bring Down one of his pokes getting one prize ahead of him - but I think I would've won anyway as he had no way to 1hko my Dusknoir backup.
Second round I played against Marcel who had a nice new deck (up to him or Kevin to post or not, I guess), I couldn't really get it going quick enough and quickly observed that their deck was probably focussed on beating GG.
R3 I play against a Flygon deck that couldn't get more into play than a Vibrava. I build up Gallade and win.
R4 I play the mirror match both in decks and last names
Much to my disgust, when I look thru my deck, I notice that all three of my gardevoirs are prized. Beside that, my hand wasn't giving me many Celio's so I had to rely on Claydol to get Gallade going. Luckily, he misplays by going for Gallade himself to knockout my whatever what was lying in front instead of Psylocking me out of the game, to which I could respond with Gallade, draw 6 cards with Claydol and finding the DRE ftw. The game ended not much later.
R5 I play against a Blissey/Darkrai deck which doesn't get a speedy setup and I do get some setup, and then I just win, as it's obv a good matchup for me.
R6 I play another mirror, this time I do get to keep Gardies in my deck, my setup outspeeds his (we both have no 'starters'in hand but my topdecked Call Energy has way more value than his topdecked pachirisu) and allows me to win with reasonable ease.
So, 5-1 after swiss, only losing to a bad matchup played by three people total, winning one game with a bit of luck after getting rather unlucky and the other 4 by having a good deck and playing well (or my opponents punting games). So I get to face in top 16.....
Kevin, with the same deck as Marcel -______________________________________-
*Sigh* Kevin always seems to have the deck that beats the best deck in the format, and always gets paired against me in the first round of the top cut, with me playing the deemed best deck in the format. Two years ago it was Lunatone/Solrock vs LBS, now his new deck vs my GG. So yeah, TOM really needs to stop doing this.
Anyways, game 1 is interesting because I could've gone for a quick Gallade which I figured could get him in a lot of trouble. I decided to bring on gardevoir however, because I could telepass his celio, get Claydol, then drawing lots of cards trying to find either Rare candy, Celio or Kirlia which allowed to have Gallade a turn later but still quick enough. Sadly, despite the good odds (about 80/20, as I calculated it later), I receive the finger from my deck and because I stumble and can't deal enough damage with Psychic Lock, he's able to take control of the game.
Game 2 I get another of my quick starts and because the circumstances were far less optimal than game 1 for Gardy, I just went for Gallade beatdown which brought him the expected trouble. I gather 4 prizes before he's able to stabilize, until the board develops into a stalemate. I was ahead 2 prizes to his three and because he wasn't able to 1hko my benched gardy (which would be Xed when brought active), Gardy X active would mean game. However, I have an active Claydol with 7 dmg counters, so I couldn't just retreat and bring down. Also, I had no more basic energies left except attached to gardy and he has a crystal beach which I couldn't remove. So, had this come up game 1, I would've won, but sadly, I was on the wrong end of this stalemate and we kind of Draw-goed untol time was called and he won.
In hindsight, I probably punted the first game by not going for Gallade immediately, but I both wasn't sure how much trouble it would get him too and I couldn't resist the odds of getting a Gallade out with both Claydol and Gardevoir in play (with Gallade I would've just had a Baltoy and thus a need to draw into a backup draw plan in case he would've been able to deal with gallade). So, yeah, despite the bad matchup, I still had a fighting chance both games but sadly lost on odds turning against me and a stalemate which favoured me in the game but not in the match. It was quite disappointing ending up losing in top 16 (especially with Anna besides me who played an opponent in top 16 who still needed to learn some basic rules...those kind of things are frustrating when you yourself get to play Kev with a bad matchup
)...but yeah, that's Pokemon.
Grats to Arco, kinda ridic to win Nats two times in a row. Major props to that, now win Worlds some time, will you?
Also grats to the rest of top 4 (and Lia, be honest, your deck wasn't quite just Empoleon
), and good luck for the Dutchies that do go to Worlds. I'll probably be hoping to take the DUtch Magic Nats by storm or just chilling out at Lowlands
