After a rather disappointing Top 8 loss at Canadian Nationals, I wanted to do well at Worlds in my last year of Seniors. Ideally I'd come Top 4 and get a trip for my first year in Masters!
I tested nearly every day on PlayTCG with my awesome friends! At first I was confident I would play Trainer lock, but after a couple weeks of playing Trainer lock I eventually decided it wasn't consistent enough. I went back to the same Eel I had used for Nationals. I used 2 Tornadus EX and 2 Max Potion to help Darkrai and CMT matchups. I changed the list up quite a bit, switching from 1 Receiver to 4, cutting Supporters, adding Shaymin and a 4th Tynamo, cutting PlusPower, etc. Eventually, I ended up with this list:
Pokemon:
4 Tynamo
3 Eelektrik
2 Tornadus EX
2 Mewtwo EX
1 Raikou EX
1 Zekrom
1 Smeargle
1 Shaymin
15
Trainers:
3 Juniper
3 N
1 Oak's
4 Random Receiver
4 Junk Arm
3 Catcher
2 Level Ball
2 Dual Ball
2 Switch
2 Max Potion
2 Eviolite
2 Super Rod
1 Ultra Ball
2 Skyarrow
33
Energy:
4 Double Colorless
8 Lightning
12
The list was testing really well. Super Rod was very useful in recovering Eelektriks and Tynamos and Mewtwos, and playing 2 meant I would draw it much more often than if I only played 1. The only issue was the mirror match when they didn't use Tornadus EX. Eventually I saw that Larvitar actually KO's Tynamo for one Colorless Energy, and I added it in instead of the second Eviolite maybe a week and a half before Worlds.
Nothing very exciting happens before Worlds. Not many of my friends made it in through Grinder, only Liam, Josh, and Hayden IIRC. I don't make any changes to my list.
Saturday:
Fill out my decklist, etc. James, Joey, and I watch the opening ceremonies, and then I go sit down. I meet Jared, who's really nice. He's playing Accelgor. Anyways, eventually pairings go up!
Round 1: Joao M. w/ Darkrai/Terrakion/Mewtwo
I don't open great, but I manage to get out of it with the help of Smeargle I believe. Eventually, he starts dead drawing and I can just Power Blast everything he has until he runs out of Pokemon to sacrifice. Playing low Supporters helped here, because he whiffed all his SMeargles late game. GG!
1-0
Round 2: Hayden C. w/ Celebi/Mewtwo/Terrakion
Again, I don't think I get an ideal start, but I can work with it. Eventually I get an N to 3 stick after he's used almost all his Supporters. Unfortunately, the same N got me too, as I can't draw a Mewtwo to win the game for the rest of the game. I managed to win anyways after he played his hand down to 1, and I Catcher his Mewtwo without Energy on the Bench. He would need Switch, DCE, and PlusPower to win, but because he only has his one card and his topdeck, he would need a Supporter, which he doesn't have any more. So he hits Switch and DCE, hits my Tornadus for 160, and then I Volt Bolt his Mewtwo for the win. Turns out his next card would be PlusPower too lol. GG.
2-0
Round 3: Dean N. w/ Darkrai/Mewtwo
I get a great start! 3 Tynamos out T1, not too bad at all. Unfortunately, my hand doesn't help me out, and I can't get an Eel out until he KO's two Tynamos. Uh oh! The game becomes very close, where we both get lucky and unlucky breaks. I only play 1 DCE the whole game, which ends up killing me when I needed a DCE to KO his Mewtwo, but missed. And then the next card was DCE! He needed to hit a Junk Arm for a few turns to win the game immediately, but he whiffed too. He ends up just KO'ing my Mewtwo to win. Oh well, GG!
2-1
Round 4: Emily K. w/ Speed Darkrai
I get a pretty nice start, Tornadus/DCE/Skyarrow/2 Tynamos. Turns out, it would be the only time in the tournament I'd get that kind of start. Anyway, she never gets much together, and I get my full set up pretty quickly. GG.
3-1
Round 5: Brandon S. w/ Accelgor
This is a really weird game. He goes first and he just Call For Families for his second Oddish without playing a Supporter. I want to see if he has a Twins, so I just POrtrait. He has Juniper! I have to discard 3 Eels or something. :/ I hit a Super Rod though, so I get them all back. Anyway, I can only get 1 Spark Tynamo out for a long time, and I set up a KO's on Plume and Chandy. He had to discard 2 Accelgors though, and then his 3rd is Prized, lol. So he sets up NIght Spear and Cursed Drops KO's and such. At one point I Mountain Eater and discard a Sage. He takes a double KO the next turn on my lone Tynamo and Larvitar. I play with Tornadus/Mewtwo for a while, without any Tynamos. I KO his Darkrai, and eventually I manage to Volt Bolt his Plume. Next turn I Max Potion my TOrnadus which had 150 on it and he scoops. GG.
4-1
Round 6: Ty W. w/ Terrakion/Mewtwo
Whoo so I get paired down to the US National Champion. :/ I get a bad hand and go first, I get some Basics but whiff Energy. He whiffs Energy too, and then I topdeck a Lightning! I go Skyarrow, Lightning, Retreat to Smeargle, Portrait, and start to set up. I get Tornaduses up and after I KO both his Terrakions I Mewtwo war him, and I win the MEwtwo war. GG.
5-1
Round 7: Samu S. w/ Darkrai/Mewtwo
We both open poorly. He has Smeargle, but because I have no Supporters, he can't really do much. I eventually topdeck Juniper before he gets any Basics, but I whiff the DCE to win IIRC. I eventually stabilize and the game gets pretty close. I eventually win by X Balling his Darkrai twice after he's out of Mewtwo. GG.
6-1
So I make T16 at 5th seed. I'm playing against Miloslav P. with Speed Darkrai. We re-create my deck and test the matchup. Key card we forgot to put in was Lost Remover. T_T
T16: Miloslav P. w/ Speed Darkrai
Game 1: He gets a slow start, and I start with Larvitar. I Reckless Charge his Sableye to set it up for a Mewtwo KO. Unfortunately he Catchers my Tynamo and I whiff any way of Retreating it. He surprised me with a Lost Remover on my DCE too. Eventually he sets up and takes a lead. I try to come back from a 4 Prize deficit, but he wins with a Confuse Ray on my Larvitar.
Game 2: I honestly forget most of this game. I know I got a big X Ball to win the game though.
Game 3: He gets a bad start, and I get a nice one. I KO two Smeargles early and get a Power Blast in on Darkrai before he gets Night Spear going. Time's called. I misplay by forgetting to Dynamotor to Zekrom, but it's okay, I flip 1 heads on Dual Ball to get Shaymin. I Bench it, say Shaymin, move my Energy around, and announce Bolt Strike. My opponent tries to say I never said Celebration Wind, and because I announced Bolt Strike I have to use Outrage. Our Judge says he's been doing that all game, and he appeals to the HJ. He says that Night Cloak (Dakrai's Ability) is the same as Celebration Wind, So he rules in my favour.
He scoops because he can't take 2 Prizes in one turn. GGs!
7-1
T8: Koichi N. w/ Celebi/Mewtwo/Terrakion
Game 1: He gets T1 Retaliate + Catcher on my Tynamo. He gets up 2-5 in Prizes, and I N him. Unfortunately, I hit my last Juniper off the N, and I have no way of discarding it. So he can Portrait it and win.
Game 2: I get a really nice set up and just switch between Tornadus, Power Blast/Blow Throughing my way through the game.
Game 3: This game was really cool. I open Mewtwo, he opens Mewtwo. He gets out another Mewtwo and Smeargle. DCE 80. I get some stuff, and X Ball 160. He Switches and KO's. I Spark his Benched Mewtwo for KO, and at the same time set up his Active for an easy KO with my Mewtwo. If he wants to Mewtwo war now, I'll have an advantage! So he goes SSU, heads, but whiffs another Switch to get Retaliate on my Eel. I manage to stabilize and he doesn't draw into much. I get down to 1 Prize left, and then he plays 2 SSU and picks up his Smeargles, leaving him with a lone Tornadus EX. Both my Zekrom and Raikou EX are in the discard. I Juniper, I have outs to get them back. Hit Super Rord, Dual Ball, and Energy for game. Super Rod Zekrom, Raikou, Larvitar back in (he only had 2 cards in deck), Dual Ball... 2 tails. Oooops. :/ Level Ball for Larvitar, Bench it, Power Blast. He draws, and Power Blasts. My turn, he has one card left in deck, I Mountain Eater to win the game!!! GGs Koichi!
Top 4: Colter D. w/ Speed Darkrai
Game 1: I get absolutely nothing, and lose after draw passing for a while.
Game 2: Much better for me, I get a great set up and swap between Tornadus + Max Potion. I evenutally take some Prizes with a big Mewtwo.
Game 3: He gets T1 Night Spear to my lone Raikou. I can't get out much, he KO's that Raikou T2. I have a good chance at getting a comeback win as long as I hit a Max Potion off my Juniper. I had about 13 cards left in my deck, Juniper, and whiff both my Max Potions. And then he topdecks Dark Patch and had Catcher in hand for game. GGs Colter.
So, I came Top 4. Still awesome! Got AMAZING prizes, etc. I really had an amazing time in Hawaii this year. Looking forward to next year in my city, Vancouver.
Props:
Bidier, Cor, Ricky, James, Julian, Kevin, Kabir, CJ, Amelia, Tyler, Kenny, Liam, Koichi, Colter, Ian, Sam, Hayden, Chase (nice job winning, congrats!), Joey, and all the other awesome people I forgot to mention!
Opponents
Staff
Top 4
Prizes
Parents
Condo
Gangnam Style
Worlds in Vancouver
New format looking good
Invite for my first year in Masters
Slops:
The year I get my trip... Worlds is in Vancouver.
I tested nearly every day on PlayTCG with my awesome friends! At first I was confident I would play Trainer lock, but after a couple weeks of playing Trainer lock I eventually decided it wasn't consistent enough. I went back to the same Eel I had used for Nationals. I used 2 Tornadus EX and 2 Max Potion to help Darkrai and CMT matchups. I changed the list up quite a bit, switching from 1 Receiver to 4, cutting Supporters, adding Shaymin and a 4th Tynamo, cutting PlusPower, etc. Eventually, I ended up with this list:
Pokemon:
4 Tynamo
3 Eelektrik
2 Tornadus EX
2 Mewtwo EX
1 Raikou EX
1 Zekrom
1 Smeargle
1 Shaymin
15
Trainers:
3 Juniper
3 N
1 Oak's
4 Random Receiver
4 Junk Arm
3 Catcher
2 Level Ball
2 Dual Ball
2 Switch
2 Max Potion
2 Eviolite
2 Super Rod
1 Ultra Ball
2 Skyarrow
33
Energy:
4 Double Colorless
8 Lightning
12
The list was testing really well. Super Rod was very useful in recovering Eelektriks and Tynamos and Mewtwos, and playing 2 meant I would draw it much more often than if I only played 1. The only issue was the mirror match when they didn't use Tornadus EX. Eventually I saw that Larvitar actually KO's Tynamo for one Colorless Energy, and I added it in instead of the second Eviolite maybe a week and a half before Worlds.
Nothing very exciting happens before Worlds. Not many of my friends made it in through Grinder, only Liam, Josh, and Hayden IIRC. I don't make any changes to my list.
Saturday:
Fill out my decklist, etc. James, Joey, and I watch the opening ceremonies, and then I go sit down. I meet Jared, who's really nice. He's playing Accelgor. Anyways, eventually pairings go up!
Round 1: Joao M. w/ Darkrai/Terrakion/Mewtwo
I don't open great, but I manage to get out of it with the help of Smeargle I believe. Eventually, he starts dead drawing and I can just Power Blast everything he has until he runs out of Pokemon to sacrifice. Playing low Supporters helped here, because he whiffed all his SMeargles late game. GG!
1-0
Round 2: Hayden C. w/ Celebi/Mewtwo/Terrakion
Again, I don't think I get an ideal start, but I can work with it. Eventually I get an N to 3 stick after he's used almost all his Supporters. Unfortunately, the same N got me too, as I can't draw a Mewtwo to win the game for the rest of the game. I managed to win anyways after he played his hand down to 1, and I Catcher his Mewtwo without Energy on the Bench. He would need Switch, DCE, and PlusPower to win, but because he only has his one card and his topdeck, he would need a Supporter, which he doesn't have any more. So he hits Switch and DCE, hits my Tornadus for 160, and then I Volt Bolt his Mewtwo for the win. Turns out his next card would be PlusPower too lol. GG.
2-0
Round 3: Dean N. w/ Darkrai/Mewtwo
I get a great start! 3 Tynamos out T1, not too bad at all. Unfortunately, my hand doesn't help me out, and I can't get an Eel out until he KO's two Tynamos. Uh oh! The game becomes very close, where we both get lucky and unlucky breaks. I only play 1 DCE the whole game, which ends up killing me when I needed a DCE to KO his Mewtwo, but missed. And then the next card was DCE! He needed to hit a Junk Arm for a few turns to win the game immediately, but he whiffed too. He ends up just KO'ing my Mewtwo to win. Oh well, GG!
2-1
Round 4: Emily K. w/ Speed Darkrai
I get a pretty nice start, Tornadus/DCE/Skyarrow/2 Tynamos. Turns out, it would be the only time in the tournament I'd get that kind of start. Anyway, she never gets much together, and I get my full set up pretty quickly. GG.
3-1
Round 5: Brandon S. w/ Accelgor
This is a really weird game. He goes first and he just Call For Families for his second Oddish without playing a Supporter. I want to see if he has a Twins, so I just POrtrait. He has Juniper! I have to discard 3 Eels or something. :/ I hit a Super Rod though, so I get them all back. Anyway, I can only get 1 Spark Tynamo out for a long time, and I set up a KO's on Plume and Chandy. He had to discard 2 Accelgors though, and then his 3rd is Prized, lol. So he sets up NIght Spear and Cursed Drops KO's and such. At one point I Mountain Eater and discard a Sage. He takes a double KO the next turn on my lone Tynamo and Larvitar. I play with Tornadus/Mewtwo for a while, without any Tynamos. I KO his Darkrai, and eventually I manage to Volt Bolt his Plume. Next turn I Max Potion my TOrnadus which had 150 on it and he scoops. GG.
4-1
Round 6: Ty W. w/ Terrakion/Mewtwo
Whoo so I get paired down to the US National Champion. :/ I get a bad hand and go first, I get some Basics but whiff Energy. He whiffs Energy too, and then I topdeck a Lightning! I go Skyarrow, Lightning, Retreat to Smeargle, Portrait, and start to set up. I get Tornaduses up and after I KO both his Terrakions I Mewtwo war him, and I win the MEwtwo war. GG.
5-1
Round 7: Samu S. w/ Darkrai/Mewtwo
We both open poorly. He has Smeargle, but because I have no Supporters, he can't really do much. I eventually topdeck Juniper before he gets any Basics, but I whiff the DCE to win IIRC. I eventually stabilize and the game gets pretty close. I eventually win by X Balling his Darkrai twice after he's out of Mewtwo. GG.
6-1
So I make T16 at 5th seed. I'm playing against Miloslav P. with Speed Darkrai. We re-create my deck and test the matchup. Key card we forgot to put in was Lost Remover. T_T
T16: Miloslav P. w/ Speed Darkrai
Game 1: He gets a slow start, and I start with Larvitar. I Reckless Charge his Sableye to set it up for a Mewtwo KO. Unfortunately he Catchers my Tynamo and I whiff any way of Retreating it. He surprised me with a Lost Remover on my DCE too. Eventually he sets up and takes a lead. I try to come back from a 4 Prize deficit, but he wins with a Confuse Ray on my Larvitar.
Game 2: I honestly forget most of this game. I know I got a big X Ball to win the game though.
Game 3: He gets a bad start, and I get a nice one. I KO two Smeargles early and get a Power Blast in on Darkrai before he gets Night Spear going. Time's called. I misplay by forgetting to Dynamotor to Zekrom, but it's okay, I flip 1 heads on Dual Ball to get Shaymin. I Bench it, say Shaymin, move my Energy around, and announce Bolt Strike. My opponent tries to say I never said Celebration Wind, and because I announced Bolt Strike I have to use Outrage. Our Judge says he's been doing that all game, and he appeals to the HJ. He says that Night Cloak (Dakrai's Ability) is the same as Celebration Wind, So he rules in my favour.
He scoops because he can't take 2 Prizes in one turn. GGs!7-1
T8: Koichi N. w/ Celebi/Mewtwo/Terrakion
Game 1: He gets T1 Retaliate + Catcher on my Tynamo. He gets up 2-5 in Prizes, and I N him. Unfortunately, I hit my last Juniper off the N, and I have no way of discarding it. So he can Portrait it and win.
Game 2: I get a really nice set up and just switch between Tornadus, Power Blast/Blow Throughing my way through the game.
Game 3: This game was really cool.
I open Mewtwo, he opens Mewtwo. He gets out another Mewtwo and Smeargle. DCE 80. I get some stuff, and X Ball 160. He Switches and KO's. I Spark his Benched Mewtwo for KO, and at the same time set up his Active for an easy KO with my Mewtwo. If he wants to Mewtwo war now, I'll have an advantage! So he goes SSU, heads, but whiffs another Switch to get Retaliate on my Eel. I manage to stabilize and he doesn't draw into much. I get down to 1 Prize left, and then he plays 2 SSU and picks up his Smeargles, leaving him with a lone Tornadus EX. Both my Zekrom and Raikou EX are in the discard. I Juniper, I have outs to get them back. Hit Super Rord, Dual Ball, and Energy for game. Super Rod Zekrom, Raikou, Larvitar back in (he only had 2 cards in deck), Dual Ball... 2 tails. Oooops. :/ Level Ball for Larvitar, Bench it, Power Blast. He draws, and Power Blasts. My turn, he has one card left in deck, I Mountain Eater to win the game!!! GGs Koichi!Top 4: Colter D. w/ Speed Darkrai
Game 1: I get absolutely nothing, and lose after draw passing for a while.
Game 2: Much better for me, I get a great set up and swap between Tornadus + Max Potion. I evenutally take some Prizes with a big Mewtwo.
Game 3: He gets T1 Night Spear to my lone Raikou. I can't get out much, he KO's that Raikou T2. I have a good chance at getting a comeback win as long as I hit a Max Potion off my Juniper. I had about 13 cards left in my deck, Juniper, and whiff both my Max Potions.
And then he topdecks Dark Patch and had Catcher in hand for game. GGs Colter.So, I came Top 4. Still awesome! Got AMAZING prizes, etc. I really had an amazing time in Hawaii this year. Looking forward to next year in my city, Vancouver.
Props:
Bidier, Cor, Ricky, James, Julian, Kevin, Kabir, CJ, Amelia, Tyler, Kenny, Liam, Koichi, Colter, Ian, Sam, Hayden, Chase (nice job winning, congrats!), Joey, and all the other awesome people I forgot to mention!
Opponents
Staff
Top 4
Prizes
Parents
Condo
Gangnam Style
Worlds in Vancouver
New format looking good
Invite for my first year in Masters
Slops:
The year I get my trip... Worlds is in Vancouver.
