1st Round against Adam Capriola (plaidlesspez) / Nidoqueen/Milotic/Pidgeot
He starts, has a Pidgey, benches a Nidoran(f), attaches Energy to it and says "Go". I don´t know at all what he is playing at this moment, perhaps Monarchy...^^ However, I´ve got a Sparce and start as usual by fetching Slugma, Chinchou and Lotad. He lays down a Pidgeotto, Celio´s for Nidorina, Retreat, NRG and Fast Evolution for Queen and Pidgeot. I attach Water to Lotad, play Cargo (perhaps with the aid of Celio), Smooth for Lanturn (Warp Point +DRE in my hand, waiting to kill the Pidgeot^^), Sudden. He plays Queen and Pidgeot, Quick Searches for something and P.Lariat. I keep the energy in play through NRG Grounding, Warp Point for Knocking Out the Pidgeot. Before that, I Smooth + TV for Lombre, I think. He Power Lariats again, lays some to the Bench. I bring Lombre in as the active. After some time, I´m in the game (1 or 2 Ludi), he´s got out something like Queen, Pidgeot, Feebas, Nidorina. It´s hard for me to draw any prizes because he uses Milotics Power and a Briney and I don´t have any possibility to OHKO the Queen. It´s not that easy for him, too, to draw some prizes, because he´s doing several times 60-80, and I can get that damage off by using Briney´s or sometimes even Healing Steps with a big discard. How the match went on excactly, I can´t really remember, but at the timeout he´up in prizes. He´d have won anyways, because I had only Cargos and one Lotad at the Timeout and one Ludi was prized, so I could neither get a Ludi nor a Lanturn setup (everything else discarded I think, just like the Retriever), he still had 1 or even 2 Queens.
0-1
2nd Round against Yuichiro Kataoka / Dark Steelix/Milotic
He starts with Onix, attaches Metal, ends his turn. I´ve got a Dunsparce-start again, fetch again Slugma, Lotad and Chinchou. He attaches another Metal, lays another Onix, Paralyzing-Attack for 20 and Tails. I play TV, Lombre, Cargo, NRG to Lombre, Sudden:Tails. He plays a Feebas, again 20 with Tails. I play Ludi (searched for it with the Smooth last turn), search for Lanturn, attach the 2nd Water to Ludi, go for Sudden with Tails again. He KOs the Sparce, I use Energy Grounding, get Ludi active and Healing Steps for 60 due to Weakness. He still got nothing, sacrifes the other Onix and the Feebas and mainwhile lays down another Onix and attaches some NRGs to it. After I got my 3rd prize he finally got to evolve that one to D.Steelix and Energy Links. I go for 40 (2 Metal) with Circular Steps, he for 60 with Heavy Impact, I retreat for Lanturn + Strength Charm for the Game. He was really, really unlucky with his setup, I think he didn´t get to play a single supporter oO
1-1
3rd Round against Jacob Christiansen / Speedrill
He starts with Weedle + Pidgey, goes for two more Weedles. I´m lucky enough to get the 3rd Dunsparce-Start in a row oO I go for the usual and Celio for Cargo before. As he knows what I´m playing, he says he knows an easy way to win this matchup. But after I get out Lanturn, it seems as if he didn´t know that variant, he says he´s used more to Magneton(DR) in Ludicargo. However, he has a setup as good as mine is, getting a 2nd Turn Pidgeot, but I can soon get some Battle Frontier out. He tries to keep the Circular Steps-Damage by only having 3 Pkmn out (2x Beedrill and the Pidgeot) constantly at 80, but I´ve got the Strength Charm and Lanturn with Lightnings against this strategy. Somehow, I manage to win this match, he later lets me know, two of his Candy were prized -.-
A nice thing about him was giving me (like all of his opponents) a self-printed card with a picture of him and a fitting text^^ Inventive^^
2-1
4th Round against Shota Arai / Rock Lock
He starts with a Sparce and a benched Mareep and SARs for Jirachi(HL), Larvitar + Pidgey, switches to Jirachi. I´ve got a so-so start. I have a nice Lotad, Candy Colo, but the rest is crap, only Energies, Crystal Shard and a Cargo, no Drawing. So, I go for Healing Steps, 30. He attaches NRG to Jirachi, lays D.Pupitar + Pidgeotto, MaW for Pidgeot. I topdeck Battle Frontier by using Swing Dance and Healing Steps to KO the Jirachi. I get a Celio off my prizes, so, I would´ve had a chance again, perhaps.... However, he goes for Sparce, Copycat for 7. Shows me: Rare Candy, D.Amphy, Scramble, GG.
2-2
Now I had to win at least the next 3, better every 4, but my goal at Worlds was to get a positive record and, most of all, to have fun, tha´t´s what I wanted at this point, too....
Of my German (or Swiss^^) mates, Daniel Cohen (after starting 0-2), Franziska and, I think, Andreas were at 2-2, too. Elsina was iirc even 3-1.
5th Round against Steven Palumbo / NinetalesEX with the T2-Engine
I start with Lotad, he with a Jirachi. I use Surprise. He said he wouldn´t have a chance in this matchup without having extra-ordinary luck, attaches R to Jirachi, uses Wishing Star and says "Go". I Celio for Sparce, Retreat and SAR for Lotad, Slugma (perhaps the wrong decision, but I didn´t know what he was playing at that point, don´t know how I would have played it else), Chinchou. He Intense Glares some time. I got luck with Burn and once with Confusion, too, but I draw rather bad. At some time, I manage to KO a NinetalesEX with Ludi, but the next one is ready to kill Ludi with a Boost. He´s playing rather slow the whole game, so I get nervous as time is ticking down, because I still only drew the 2 prizes for the Tales and he meanwhile drew 3 through Burn and another Boost. But both of his Ninetales have 10 damage and I´ve got a benched Lanturn, Dunsparce with Energy active. At 0:03, he KOs my Sparce with a Boost, so he gets his 4th prize. I use Energy Grounding, DRE for the KO, we´re even on prizes now. He gets TalesEX without NRG active, attaches and uses Intense Glare. I Warp Point, Jirachi without NRG becomes active, at my side Sparce (I don´t have the 2nd DRE for the win, but Sparce has NRG, if it should be neccessary to retreat it). He´s got a rather big hand. I´m afraid of Boost. Play an Admin (I´ve got no other drawing to get the DRE anyways, just a Stevie which I couldn´t play and which would have gotten me only 2 cards, too). I got the Boost letting me win in my two cards. After the match, he reveals me a Boost in his two -.-
3-2
6th Round against Spencer Barth / Rock Lock
Both with a Dunsparce-Start (my 4th today oO). He got a 3rd-Turn-SD-Ttar, ATM(There´s nothing candied out yet, but Dark Amphy has already hit the field). I only evolve Cargo back at first, Smooth for BF, some Drawing, then Lanturn+Ludi+Lombre. Then I retreat my still-active Sparce from the beginning and do Circular Steps. He attaches an Energy to a benched Larvitar, plays a Countergym and ends his turn. I search for a new BF (Pidgeot is out), attach to Lombre, Circular Steps for the 1st prize. Larvitar becomes active, he candies to the Spinning Tail-Ttar, attaches Scramble and Spinning Tails. I go for another Circular Steps (ATMRock would´ve been better, because the Scramble would´ve been discarded and the Pigeot on the bench was candied, too, but it was prized). He uses another Spinning Tail and gets to draw 4 Prizes. Lanturn is my new active, after having used Energy Grounding, I get prepared for a new Ludi and KO. Later on, he manages to KO the Lanturn. 1 prize left, I´ve got an active Ludi without damage, 3 prizes left, there´s enough time left. I´ve got a benched Lotad with 10 damage + NRG. Tricky Gym is out. He´s got as active a SD-Ttar(candied) with Darkness and Amphy w/o energy + the candied Pidgeot on the bench, everything has no damage. Would I "just" say "go" or use Circular Steps, Lotad would get 10 more damage and he woul kill with the combination of Faint Attack and Sand Damage. So, I play a Warp Point. Amphy is his new active, Lotad mine, I retreat, lay down some basics and Circular Steps for 80. I´ve got the ATM meanwhile and plan to play it. He attaches DRE to Amphy, retreats it for Ttar and Faints the Lotad, pushing it to 40 (with Sand Damage). I play BF, hoping he´d only play 2 Tricky Gym (1 already discarded and I also saw Desert, so 2-2 wasn´t that unprobable and it was that way as he told me later on) or hasn´t got a 3rd one in his hand. So, I ATM for my 4th Prize (Amphy KO). He´s only got Larvitar with Darkness and Pidgey at that Point and some hope, being away at some time in this game came back.... But however he soon ended any of it with a nice action (most probably already planned on with Quick Search): Swoop, Candy for Amphy, Darkness, Ram for the last prize. I would have given everything for an Admin in my last turn ;-)
3-3
7th Round against Frankie Durso / probably Zapturndos (because he played that at Nationals according to Pokegym, could also have been ZRE)
I´ve only seen a Voltorb. I start. Another 1st-Turn Ludi (I had pretty much luck with my starting hand most if not all of the time^^). With DRE. But no other Drawing again. 20 for Voltorb, however. He PORs, does not get any further basics and the Recharge Voltorb has only got 40 HP....
4-3
8th Round against Glen Priest / MedichamEX (@Toni and all other Fans of the Illuminati: at Table 23, I finally reached it, another of my goals I archieved ;-) )
He still had hope for making TOP32, but as he had like me a Tie which was about 50%, I think, this hope was not at all valid, I started with Lotad, him with Meditite. I used Surprise. He layed down Jirachi, Punch. I play a Celio for Lombre (Ludi in hand). Ambush, Heads. Luck for me is everywhere^^. He uses Wishing Star, attaches to Jirachi, says "Go". I play Ludi, draw some cards (Swing Dance + some kind of Drawing, perhaps TV or Copycat), lay a Chinchou with Energy on the bench and use Healing Steps. He goes for another Wishing Star, then a Swoop, Cham EX. He didn´t have luck with ER2´s he played around this turns. Then, he benched another Meditite and used Pure Power at Ludi. I retreated it, play Lanturn + DRE --> KO, the Meditie didn´t last long after that, too...
5-3
Off the German-Speaking, Daniel was only 4-4, Max 5-3, but didn´s have any chance at TOPs because he started with 0-2, so his tie was, like mine, too low. Elsina on the opposite was also 5-3 and had a pretty decent tie. So I was more at the 11-14 Standings than at the 15+ ones^^ But they were announced earlier anyway. However, she only got 40th...:-(
Props:
-to all the Worlds Champions
-to the group around Jeremy, Pablo and Adam who kinda broke the format
-to all of my opponents, be it at Worlds itself, in side-events or in friendly matches, all of them were very nice, even those I had much luck against
-to everyone from Germany and Switzerland - we´ve reached nothing but I think everyone of you agrees on us having a very nice time at Worlds^^
-to Brent Siebenkittel - some nice ideas to improve my Ludicargo
-to me, for archieving my goal of getting a positive record
-to my deck because it got my really sweet starting hand about all the time... I think I´ve chosen the right one, too, but I´d perhaps change some cards....
-to the meals, because they were good
Slops:
-to the guys selling the bathing trunks (hope I found the right word at LEO^^) - they were much too expensive
-to me for forgetting my own bathing trunks
-to me for making some minor mistakes
-to the beginning beacuse it was delayed
-to the Grinder because I think the number of people going in was announced too late and the number of rounds was too low....
-to the meals, because they were expensive
If anyone´s interested, here´s my deck:
3 Lotad ("Surprise")
2 Lombre ("Ambush")
3 Ludicolo ("Circular Steps")
2 Chinchou ("Pound" glaub ich)
2 Lanturn HL
2 Slugma ("Collect")
2 Magcargo ("Smooth")
4 Dunsparce
--
20
8 Wasser
3 Elektro
4 DRE
1 Scramble
--
16
4 Celio
3 Reporter
2 Advice
2 Copycat
2 Admin
3 Battle Frontier
2 Rare Candy
1 Compaission
1 Warp Point
1 ATM
1 Retriever
1 Crystal Shard
1 Strength Charm
--
24
He starts, has a Pidgey, benches a Nidoran(f), attaches Energy to it and says "Go". I don´t know at all what he is playing at this moment, perhaps Monarchy...^^ However, I´ve got a Sparce and start as usual by fetching Slugma, Chinchou and Lotad. He lays down a Pidgeotto, Celio´s for Nidorina, Retreat, NRG and Fast Evolution for Queen and Pidgeot. I attach Water to Lotad, play Cargo (perhaps with the aid of Celio), Smooth for Lanturn (Warp Point +DRE in my hand, waiting to kill the Pidgeot^^), Sudden. He plays Queen and Pidgeot, Quick Searches for something and P.Lariat. I keep the energy in play through NRG Grounding, Warp Point for Knocking Out the Pidgeot. Before that, I Smooth + TV for Lombre, I think. He Power Lariats again, lays some to the Bench. I bring Lombre in as the active. After some time, I´m in the game (1 or 2 Ludi), he´s got out something like Queen, Pidgeot, Feebas, Nidorina. It´s hard for me to draw any prizes because he uses Milotics Power and a Briney and I don´t have any possibility to OHKO the Queen. It´s not that easy for him, too, to draw some prizes, because he´s doing several times 60-80, and I can get that damage off by using Briney´s or sometimes even Healing Steps with a big discard. How the match went on excactly, I can´t really remember, but at the timeout he´up in prizes. He´d have won anyways, because I had only Cargos and one Lotad at the Timeout and one Ludi was prized, so I could neither get a Ludi nor a Lanturn setup (everything else discarded I think, just like the Retriever), he still had 1 or even 2 Queens.
0-1
2nd Round against Yuichiro Kataoka / Dark Steelix/Milotic
He starts with Onix, attaches Metal, ends his turn. I´ve got a Dunsparce-start again, fetch again Slugma, Lotad and Chinchou. He attaches another Metal, lays another Onix, Paralyzing-Attack for 20 and Tails. I play TV, Lombre, Cargo, NRG to Lombre, Sudden:Tails. He plays a Feebas, again 20 with Tails. I play Ludi (searched for it with the Smooth last turn), search for Lanturn, attach the 2nd Water to Ludi, go for Sudden with Tails again. He KOs the Sparce, I use Energy Grounding, get Ludi active and Healing Steps for 60 due to Weakness. He still got nothing, sacrifes the other Onix and the Feebas and mainwhile lays down another Onix and attaches some NRGs to it. After I got my 3rd prize he finally got to evolve that one to D.Steelix and Energy Links. I go for 40 (2 Metal) with Circular Steps, he for 60 with Heavy Impact, I retreat for Lanturn + Strength Charm for the Game. He was really, really unlucky with his setup, I think he didn´t get to play a single supporter oO
1-1
3rd Round against Jacob Christiansen / Speedrill
He starts with Weedle + Pidgey, goes for two more Weedles. I´m lucky enough to get the 3rd Dunsparce-Start in a row oO I go for the usual and Celio for Cargo before. As he knows what I´m playing, he says he knows an easy way to win this matchup. But after I get out Lanturn, it seems as if he didn´t know that variant, he says he´s used more to Magneton(DR) in Ludicargo. However, he has a setup as good as mine is, getting a 2nd Turn Pidgeot, but I can soon get some Battle Frontier out. He tries to keep the Circular Steps-Damage by only having 3 Pkmn out (2x Beedrill and the Pidgeot) constantly at 80, but I´ve got the Strength Charm and Lanturn with Lightnings against this strategy. Somehow, I manage to win this match, he later lets me know, two of his Candy were prized -.-
A nice thing about him was giving me (like all of his opponents) a self-printed card with a picture of him and a fitting text^^ Inventive^^
2-1
4th Round against Shota Arai / Rock Lock
He starts with a Sparce and a benched Mareep and SARs for Jirachi(HL), Larvitar + Pidgey, switches to Jirachi. I´ve got a so-so start. I have a nice Lotad, Candy Colo, but the rest is crap, only Energies, Crystal Shard and a Cargo, no Drawing. So, I go for Healing Steps, 30. He attaches NRG to Jirachi, lays D.Pupitar + Pidgeotto, MaW for Pidgeot. I topdeck Battle Frontier by using Swing Dance and Healing Steps to KO the Jirachi. I get a Celio off my prizes, so, I would´ve had a chance again, perhaps.... However, he goes for Sparce, Copycat for 7. Shows me: Rare Candy, D.Amphy, Scramble, GG.
2-2
Now I had to win at least the next 3, better every 4, but my goal at Worlds was to get a positive record and, most of all, to have fun, tha´t´s what I wanted at this point, too....
Of my German (or Swiss^^) mates, Daniel Cohen (after starting 0-2), Franziska and, I think, Andreas were at 2-2, too. Elsina was iirc even 3-1.
5th Round against Steven Palumbo / NinetalesEX with the T2-Engine
I start with Lotad, he with a Jirachi. I use Surprise. He said he wouldn´t have a chance in this matchup without having extra-ordinary luck, attaches R to Jirachi, uses Wishing Star and says "Go". I Celio for Sparce, Retreat and SAR for Lotad, Slugma (perhaps the wrong decision, but I didn´t know what he was playing at that point, don´t know how I would have played it else), Chinchou. He Intense Glares some time. I got luck with Burn and once with Confusion, too, but I draw rather bad. At some time, I manage to KO a NinetalesEX with Ludi, but the next one is ready to kill Ludi with a Boost. He´s playing rather slow the whole game, so I get nervous as time is ticking down, because I still only drew the 2 prizes for the Tales and he meanwhile drew 3 through Burn and another Boost. But both of his Ninetales have 10 damage and I´ve got a benched Lanturn, Dunsparce with Energy active. At 0:03, he KOs my Sparce with a Boost, so he gets his 4th prize. I use Energy Grounding, DRE for the KO, we´re even on prizes now. He gets TalesEX without NRG active, attaches and uses Intense Glare. I Warp Point, Jirachi without NRG becomes active, at my side Sparce (I don´t have the 2nd DRE for the win, but Sparce has NRG, if it should be neccessary to retreat it). He´s got a rather big hand. I´m afraid of Boost. Play an Admin (I´ve got no other drawing to get the DRE anyways, just a Stevie which I couldn´t play and which would have gotten me only 2 cards, too). I got the Boost letting me win in my two cards. After the match, he reveals me a Boost in his two -.-
3-2
6th Round against Spencer Barth / Rock Lock
Both with a Dunsparce-Start (my 4th today oO). He got a 3rd-Turn-SD-Ttar, ATM(There´s nothing candied out yet, but Dark Amphy has already hit the field). I only evolve Cargo back at first, Smooth for BF, some Drawing, then Lanturn+Ludi+Lombre. Then I retreat my still-active Sparce from the beginning and do Circular Steps. He attaches an Energy to a benched Larvitar, plays a Countergym and ends his turn. I search for a new BF (Pidgeot is out), attach to Lombre, Circular Steps for the 1st prize. Larvitar becomes active, he candies to the Spinning Tail-Ttar, attaches Scramble and Spinning Tails. I go for another Circular Steps (ATMRock would´ve been better, because the Scramble would´ve been discarded and the Pigeot on the bench was candied, too, but it was prized). He uses another Spinning Tail and gets to draw 4 Prizes. Lanturn is my new active, after having used Energy Grounding, I get prepared for a new Ludi and KO. Later on, he manages to KO the Lanturn. 1 prize left, I´ve got an active Ludi without damage, 3 prizes left, there´s enough time left. I´ve got a benched Lotad with 10 damage + NRG. Tricky Gym is out. He´s got as active a SD-Ttar(candied) with Darkness and Amphy w/o energy + the candied Pidgeot on the bench, everything has no damage. Would I "just" say "go" or use Circular Steps, Lotad would get 10 more damage and he woul kill with the combination of Faint Attack and Sand Damage. So, I play a Warp Point. Amphy is his new active, Lotad mine, I retreat, lay down some basics and Circular Steps for 80. I´ve got the ATM meanwhile and plan to play it. He attaches DRE to Amphy, retreats it for Ttar and Faints the Lotad, pushing it to 40 (with Sand Damage). I play BF, hoping he´d only play 2 Tricky Gym (1 already discarded and I also saw Desert, so 2-2 wasn´t that unprobable and it was that way as he told me later on) or hasn´t got a 3rd one in his hand. So, I ATM for my 4th Prize (Amphy KO). He´s only got Larvitar with Darkness and Pidgey at that Point and some hope, being away at some time in this game came back.... But however he soon ended any of it with a nice action (most probably already planned on with Quick Search): Swoop, Candy for Amphy, Darkness, Ram for the last prize. I would have given everything for an Admin in my last turn ;-)
3-3
7th Round against Frankie Durso / probably Zapturndos (because he played that at Nationals according to Pokegym, could also have been ZRE)
I´ve only seen a Voltorb. I start. Another 1st-Turn Ludi (I had pretty much luck with my starting hand most if not all of the time^^). With DRE. But no other Drawing again. 20 for Voltorb, however. He PORs, does not get any further basics and the Recharge Voltorb has only got 40 HP....
4-3
8th Round against Glen Priest / MedichamEX (@Toni and all other Fans of the Illuminati: at Table 23, I finally reached it, another of my goals I archieved ;-) )
He still had hope for making TOP32, but as he had like me a Tie which was about 50%, I think, this hope was not at all valid, I started with Lotad, him with Meditite. I used Surprise. He layed down Jirachi, Punch. I play a Celio for Lombre (Ludi in hand). Ambush, Heads. Luck for me is everywhere^^. He uses Wishing Star, attaches to Jirachi, says "Go". I play Ludi, draw some cards (Swing Dance + some kind of Drawing, perhaps TV or Copycat), lay a Chinchou with Energy on the bench and use Healing Steps. He goes for another Wishing Star, then a Swoop, Cham EX. He didn´t have luck with ER2´s he played around this turns. Then, he benched another Meditite and used Pure Power at Ludi. I retreated it, play Lanturn + DRE --> KO, the Meditie didn´t last long after that, too...
5-3
Off the German-Speaking, Daniel was only 4-4, Max 5-3, but didn´s have any chance at TOPs because he started with 0-2, so his tie was, like mine, too low. Elsina on the opposite was also 5-3 and had a pretty decent tie. So I was more at the 11-14 Standings than at the 15+ ones^^ But they were announced earlier anyway. However, she only got 40th...:-(
Props:
-to all the Worlds Champions
-to the group around Jeremy, Pablo and Adam who kinda broke the format
-to all of my opponents, be it at Worlds itself, in side-events or in friendly matches, all of them were very nice, even those I had much luck against
-to everyone from Germany and Switzerland - we´ve reached nothing but I think everyone of you agrees on us having a very nice time at Worlds^^
-to Brent Siebenkittel - some nice ideas to improve my Ludicargo
-to me, for archieving my goal of getting a positive record
-to my deck because it got my really sweet starting hand about all the time... I think I´ve chosen the right one, too, but I´d perhaps change some cards....
-to the meals, because they were good
Slops:
-to the guys selling the bathing trunks (hope I found the right word at LEO^^) - they were much too expensive
-to me for forgetting my own bathing trunks
-to me for making some minor mistakes
-to the beginning beacuse it was delayed
-to the Grinder because I think the number of people going in was announced too late and the number of rounds was too low....
-to the meals, because they were expensive
If anyone´s interested, here´s my deck:
3 Lotad ("Surprise")
2 Lombre ("Ambush")
3 Ludicolo ("Circular Steps")
2 Chinchou ("Pound" glaub ich)
2 Lanturn HL
2 Slugma ("Collect")
2 Magcargo ("Smooth")
4 Dunsparce
--
20
8 Wasser
3 Elektro
4 DRE
1 Scramble
--
16
4 Celio
3 Reporter
2 Advice
2 Copycat
2 Admin
3 Battle Frontier
2 Rare Candy
1 Compaission
1 Warp Point
1 ATM
1 Retriever
1 Crystal Shard
1 Strength Charm
--
24
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Keep it up, you're a great player and I know you can do well next year. :thumb: