Yeah, so as I think most of you can guess, I didn't make the top cut, which is the reason I am posting this report before the top cut has even finished. I'm typing this up from the hotel internet room, which is so overpriced (20 cents a minute =[).
Going in the event, I was choosing between GG.Plox and Leafeon/Magmortar. After a lot of testing I was still extremely unsure as to what I was wanting to play. One of the main things I was considering was although GG.Plox was with no doubt extremely consistent (more so than leafeon/magmortar as I'm sure most top players will agree with), I assumed correctly that a lot of players in my age group (seniors), would be playing the same deck. Now, even IF I had a better list AND even IF I played better then my opponents, I simply did not like the fact that a LOT of the game would simply come down to luck.
Leafeon/magmortar I really liked, but I found that it wasn't very easy to make a recover with at times, although it generally had very good matchups.
In the open gaming area I ran into Austin Reed, and played a few games against his banbliss deck which he was grinding in with (some know this as sausage). Afterwards basically we talked a bit, and I ended up getting his list after he missed the grinders. I ultimately decided on playing this deck for worlds at around 3.30 am the morning of worlds..
I felt this was the strongest choice for the event, as I expected (again, correctly) that GG.Plox would be by far the most popular deck for my age group. If I had been playing in masters I would not of chosen the same deck choice because I was quite confident the deck would not be as popular. This choice was also in particular good for swiss (making the cut, rather than winning the whole event).
Here is my list, which I changed a little bit from Austins. (-1 jirachi ex, - 1 psychic energy, +1 warp point, +1 strength charm).
4/4 banette (cg, sw)
2/2 blissey (mt, mt)
1 chatot
15 psychic energy
3 tv reporter
4 castaway
1 strength charm
4 cessation crystal
3 crystal beach
1 scott
1 felicitys drawing
1 roseannes
3 great ball
3 masterball
3 warp point
3 celios network
1 night maintenance
1 tg wager
The deck performs well against most major decks, empoleon, gg.plox, leaf/mag.
The deck, to my surprise originally does not rely on donking people =P.
It was a relatively difficult deck to play, IMO and since it was my first time I'm sure I must of misplayed at least some. I guess it's true that most decks in this format are quite hard to play anyway.
I also talked at like 2 am to a Japanese player who missed the grinders 6-2. He said the Japanese were 'overwhelmed' by this banette/blissey deck which they never knew about until grinders.
Here are the rounds.
1 - USA player with GG.PLOX
I don't remember many names of players, but I know this guy had grinded in with the same deck the day before.
This game basically consisted of me swarming banettes and always having one in discard pile, after I ghost headed my first banette to ko one of his pokemon - chatot or ralts. He a few KOs with a gallade, which he was forced to power up with basic energies after I assume he ran out of windstorms to counter my beachs. I won this game about 6/3 prizes.
1-0
2 - Argetina player with GG.PLOX
This game was a lot harder for me to play. A similar game to the first however, he seemed to play more windstoms. I made a difficult decision which was to bench a chatot when he had 3 prizes left, in order for him to bring this down rather than my banette benched.
In the end I had a banette active which was confused. The banette had no energy. I had a banette benched with one energy and i had not attached yet. This meant i could not retreat and attach to ko. He had everything 80 hp or lower so I could knock out with Banette (one in discard). Except Jirachi ex. For last prize, I warp pointed, and warp pointed again (he DID send out the jirachi ex as it could take a hit like I mentioned)
2-0
3 - Norway player with MIRROR =[
This game was quite interesting, but as Austin said to me afterwards this deck was not prepared for the mirror.
In the end his draws with Minun SW (when I didn't have a cessation active) and his 3/3 blissey and 2 night maintenance as opposed to my 2/2 blissey and 1 NM won him the game, as blissey tank is important in the mirror IMO). I took 5 prizes, he took 6.
I led early in prizes. One play that helped a lot was he had minun active, shuppet benched with energy. I warp pointed to ko the shuppet for 40. However he had roseanne etc, to come back. He made one misplay however. He lost 5 prizes to 6, when he took his fifth prize he took an energy rather than the warp point which would of given him game (both flipped due to gallade).
2-1
4 - Japanese player with GG.Plox
This game was very interesting for me. I was quite scared for this match up, and early game I took the lead. He eventually recovered fast to take the lead, and wisely, he swarmed gallades. I managed to make a comeback, to steal back the lead again and won this 4 prizes to 6. This was mostly because one of his windstorms was prized, as I saw from his gallade flipping them over.
More importantly, he ran 4 call energy, 4 dre, 3 scramble, 2 cyclone, and therefore nearly no basic energy so the crystal beach owned him. He roseanne and couldnt get energy, and used his night maintenance on three pokemon. He basically could not attack in the end. He sent out duskull to do 20 (and 10 to my benched chatot). As it had 20 dmg on it already I just retreated to ko with banette. I think I had one in discard anyway.
3-1
5 - Canadian player with GG.Plox
This game I definitely should of won. For several turns we were both energyless. But this game basically came down to him taking 6prizes, me taking 5. I had a cessation and beach in play. He had 1 card in his hand. Draw, bench pokemon, pass. Draw, pass. Then draw windstorm mass powers GG for me. I was completely destroying him with my locks and swarms and he agreed he got extremely lucky and he should not of won this game. If i didn't flip THREE tails for sleep, drew an energy (or draw card for energy i.e. reporter) once in three turns including 2 prizes OR even just he didnt top deck a windstorm, I would of won like I should.
3-2
6 - Canadian player with garchomp.darkrai.
This game was so stupid and this is the only game I lost which I was really ****** off about.
I took 5 prizes, he took 6. I played the game right swarming my 2 blisseys, and using night maintenance to get them back after. As Garchomp has weakness to colorless. Eventually I lost when he sent out his darkrai level x to do the stupid sleep attack. I stayed asleep, missed a warp point which was prized (5 cards left, I drew 4, then I realized the last one was prized... drew 4 with felicity). So he took one prize when i flipped tails twice when I ended, then took his last after he Warp pointed. Such a stupid game which I should not of lost. I was just ****** off losing to this deck. I mean round 5, I lost when I should not of but it was a reasonable deck.. and not one that relies on sleep flips.
7 - Argetina player with GG.Plox
I completely donk this player. He starts, passes with his jirachi ex and something benched.
I assension castaway for psychic energy, strength charm and tv reporter.
He draws attaches to bench, uses some supporter
I masterball and tv reporter to discard banette, koing the jirachi ex with my str charm.
I take 6 prizes easy although he did take one or two with a gallade he managed to get out after attaching 2 scrambles and 1 psychic to (haha beach FTW).
4-3
So in the end I was 44th in a top 32 cut. I was very happy with my deck choice. I expected many GGs, I played 5 out of 7, and I won 4 of those. (I should of won the 5th as I already said. The only game I really was happy accepting the loss with was the mirror. As I stated above i'm sure you can agree the other two losses were quite... stupid.
Thanks Austin for the list.
Props to all my opponents, and all the players and staff at this years Pokemon world championships 2008.
Props to all the Japanese players I talked to, like last year they were so awesome to meet and talk to.
Going in the event, I was choosing between GG.Plox and Leafeon/Magmortar. After a lot of testing I was still extremely unsure as to what I was wanting to play. One of the main things I was considering was although GG.Plox was with no doubt extremely consistent (more so than leafeon/magmortar as I'm sure most top players will agree with), I assumed correctly that a lot of players in my age group (seniors), would be playing the same deck. Now, even IF I had a better list AND even IF I played better then my opponents, I simply did not like the fact that a LOT of the game would simply come down to luck.
Leafeon/magmortar I really liked, but I found that it wasn't very easy to make a recover with at times, although it generally had very good matchups.
In the open gaming area I ran into Austin Reed, and played a few games against his banbliss deck which he was grinding in with (some know this as sausage). Afterwards basically we talked a bit, and I ended up getting his list after he missed the grinders. I ultimately decided on playing this deck for worlds at around 3.30 am the morning of worlds..
I felt this was the strongest choice for the event, as I expected (again, correctly) that GG.Plox would be by far the most popular deck for my age group. If I had been playing in masters I would not of chosen the same deck choice because I was quite confident the deck would not be as popular. This choice was also in particular good for swiss (making the cut, rather than winning the whole event).
Here is my list, which I changed a little bit from Austins. (-1 jirachi ex, - 1 psychic energy, +1 warp point, +1 strength charm).
4/4 banette (cg, sw)
2/2 blissey (mt, mt)
1 chatot
15 psychic energy
3 tv reporter
4 castaway
1 strength charm
4 cessation crystal
3 crystal beach
1 scott
1 felicitys drawing
1 roseannes
3 great ball
3 masterball
3 warp point
3 celios network
1 night maintenance
1 tg wager
The deck performs well against most major decks, empoleon, gg.plox, leaf/mag.
The deck, to my surprise originally does not rely on donking people =P.
It was a relatively difficult deck to play, IMO and since it was my first time I'm sure I must of misplayed at least some. I guess it's true that most decks in this format are quite hard to play anyway.
I also talked at like 2 am to a Japanese player who missed the grinders 6-2. He said the Japanese were 'overwhelmed' by this banette/blissey deck which they never knew about until grinders.
Here are the rounds.
1 - USA player with GG.PLOX
I don't remember many names of players, but I know this guy had grinded in with the same deck the day before.
This game basically consisted of me swarming banettes and always having one in discard pile, after I ghost headed my first banette to ko one of his pokemon - chatot or ralts. He a few KOs with a gallade, which he was forced to power up with basic energies after I assume he ran out of windstorms to counter my beachs. I won this game about 6/3 prizes.
1-0
2 - Argetina player with GG.PLOX
This game was a lot harder for me to play. A similar game to the first however, he seemed to play more windstoms. I made a difficult decision which was to bench a chatot when he had 3 prizes left, in order for him to bring this down rather than my banette benched.
In the end I had a banette active which was confused. The banette had no energy. I had a banette benched with one energy and i had not attached yet. This meant i could not retreat and attach to ko. He had everything 80 hp or lower so I could knock out with Banette (one in discard). Except Jirachi ex. For last prize, I warp pointed, and warp pointed again (he DID send out the jirachi ex as it could take a hit like I mentioned)
2-0
3 - Norway player with MIRROR =[
This game was quite interesting, but as Austin said to me afterwards this deck was not prepared for the mirror.
In the end his draws with Minun SW (when I didn't have a cessation active) and his 3/3 blissey and 2 night maintenance as opposed to my 2/2 blissey and 1 NM won him the game, as blissey tank is important in the mirror IMO). I took 5 prizes, he took 6.
I led early in prizes. One play that helped a lot was he had minun active, shuppet benched with energy. I warp pointed to ko the shuppet for 40. However he had roseanne etc, to come back. He made one misplay however. He lost 5 prizes to 6, when he took his fifth prize he took an energy rather than the warp point which would of given him game (both flipped due to gallade).
2-1
4 - Japanese player with GG.Plox
This game was very interesting for me. I was quite scared for this match up, and early game I took the lead. He eventually recovered fast to take the lead, and wisely, he swarmed gallades. I managed to make a comeback, to steal back the lead again and won this 4 prizes to 6. This was mostly because one of his windstorms was prized, as I saw from his gallade flipping them over.
More importantly, he ran 4 call energy, 4 dre, 3 scramble, 2 cyclone, and therefore nearly no basic energy so the crystal beach owned him. He roseanne and couldnt get energy, and used his night maintenance on three pokemon. He basically could not attack in the end. He sent out duskull to do 20 (and 10 to my benched chatot). As it had 20 dmg on it already I just retreated to ko with banette. I think I had one in discard anyway.
3-1
5 - Canadian player with GG.Plox
This game I definitely should of won. For several turns we were both energyless. But this game basically came down to him taking 6prizes, me taking 5. I had a cessation and beach in play. He had 1 card in his hand. Draw, bench pokemon, pass. Draw, pass. Then draw windstorm mass powers GG for me. I was completely destroying him with my locks and swarms and he agreed he got extremely lucky and he should not of won this game. If i didn't flip THREE tails for sleep, drew an energy (or draw card for energy i.e. reporter) once in three turns including 2 prizes OR even just he didnt top deck a windstorm, I would of won like I should.
3-2
6 - Canadian player with garchomp.darkrai.
This game was so stupid and this is the only game I lost which I was really ****** off about.
I took 5 prizes, he took 6. I played the game right swarming my 2 blisseys, and using night maintenance to get them back after. As Garchomp has weakness to colorless. Eventually I lost when he sent out his darkrai level x to do the stupid sleep attack. I stayed asleep, missed a warp point which was prized (5 cards left, I drew 4, then I realized the last one was prized... drew 4 with felicity). So he took one prize when i flipped tails twice when I ended, then took his last after he Warp pointed. Such a stupid game which I should not of lost. I was just ****** off losing to this deck. I mean round 5, I lost when I should not of but it was a reasonable deck.. and not one that relies on sleep flips.
7 - Argetina player with GG.Plox
I completely donk this player. He starts, passes with his jirachi ex and something benched.
I assension castaway for psychic energy, strength charm and tv reporter.
He draws attaches to bench, uses some supporter
I masterball and tv reporter to discard banette, koing the jirachi ex with my str charm.
I take 6 prizes easy although he did take one or two with a gallade he managed to get out after attaching 2 scrambles and 1 psychic to (haha beach FTW).
4-3
So in the end I was 44th in a top 32 cut. I was very happy with my deck choice. I expected many GGs, I played 5 out of 7, and I won 4 of those. (I should of won the 5th as I already said. The only game I really was happy accepting the loss with was the mirror. As I stated above i'm sure you can agree the other two losses were quite... stupid.
Thanks Austin for the list.
Props to all my opponents, and all the players and staff at this years Pokemon world championships 2008.
Props to all the Japanese players I talked to, like last year they were so awesome to meet and talk to.
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