The First League Appearance

I’m submitting an article about the SP deck I used and my experience during my first local league appearance in Jacksonville, FL. It was my first time participating at the league with my girlfriend and her deck and I’d like to share my experience with everybody.

Let’s get into the deck I used:

Pokémon: 25
2 Luxray GL RR
1 Luxray GL LV.X RR
2 Garchomp C SV
1 Garchomp C LV.X SV
2 Honchcrow G PL
2 Crobat G PL
2 Drifblim FB SV
2 Blaziken FB SV
1 Blaziken FB LV.X SV
2 Gallade 4 RR
1 Gallade 4 X RR
1 Drapion 4 RR
1 Pachirisu GE
1 Uxie LA
1 Unown G GE
1 Mesprit LA
1 Mewtwo from Pokémon Rumble
1 Mewtwo LV.X
Trainers: 23
2 Bench Shield AR
3 Expert Belt AR
1 Department Store Girl AR
4 Roseanne’s Research SW
2 Premier Ball SF
1 Luxury Ball SF
3 Cyrus’s Conspiracy PL
1 TGI Poké Turn PL
2 TGI SP Radar RR
2 TGI Power Spray PL
1 TGI Energy Gain PL
1 Moonlight Stadium GE
Energy: 12
4 L
3 P
1 R
3 SP Energy
1 Multi

Blaziken FB LV.X Supreme Victors SV 142 Pokemon CardThe first deck I came across was a Gengar/Tangrowth deck. It was my first time playing at the league so I didn’t know what I was in for. Luckily for me I started off with a good hand and dominated from the start.I put Honchcrow as my lead and put Blaziken and Gallade on my bench since I was going first. I attached an energy to Blaziken and then I used Honchcrow to set up with Honcho’s Command to pull out SP Radar and Energy Gain. The kid I was playing then set up with Gastly on the Bench and Tangela at the active. He attached an energy and evolved Haunter.

My next turn I attached Energy gain and a SP energy to Crow and Target Attacked the Haunter. The next turn he evolved Haunter. The Gengar he used was AR 17. He attached an energy and attacked with Tangela. My next couple of turns consisted of targeting Gengar and using 2 Crobats and a Poké Turn to Knock it Out, then Tangrowth X tried to wreck havoc on my bench, good thing I had Bench Shield on my Luxray. After Crow was Knocked Out I brought up Blaziken and leveled it up and used Jet Shoot with Expert Belt plus X2 weakness to kill off Tangrowth X. I was ahead in prizes and wiped out the rest of his deck with Luxray X w/ Expert Belt. I was surprised on how well my deck performed.

1-0

Luxray GL LV.X Rising Rivals RR 109 Pokemon CardThe next round I played against a recent newcomer to the TCG, but he had done extremely well with his Palkia G/Giratina deck. We played the first round which consisted of Honchcrow setting up and Luxray on stand by to target Palkia G as soon as he played it. Sure enough it came out and I used Luxray GL X to Knock it Out with ease. After that it was an easy ride to take the rest of my prizes. I was happy I didn’t get locked into having a short bench, but only had 2 or 3 Pokémon at anytime.

We decided to have a rematch and my first hand was horrible other than a Luxury Ball and a Premier Ball. So my lone Unown G sat out there against Palkia G. He went first then I used my two balls to bring out Mewtwo and Mewtwo X. I put Mewtwo on the bench and attached an energy. I ended my turn and then he killed off Unown. I brought up Mewtwo and leveled it up. From there I put an Expert Belt and another energy on it. I rode out the Mewtwo X stall since he didn’t have any evolved Pokémon so he used Giratina X to hit my bench but had little effect which led me to claim victory once again.

2-0

Gallade 4 LV.X Rising Rivals RR 106 Pokemon CardThe next match of the night put me against the most senior player there. Right from the start it was a long stall with Garchomp C against Shiny Bagon. I called his deck as a Salamence/Nidoqueen combo deck and was correct. Luckily his flips always landed on tails. But I couldn’t get anything started since each draw I had gave me another Pokémon. It wasn’t until the end, when using a combo of Gallade 4 X and Luxray GL X, did I have my first knock out of Salamence. After that Blade Storm had little effect thanks to Maternal Comfort from his Nidoqueen.

He only had 2 Prizes left to draw after he Knocked Out Gallade 4 X so I used Drifblim’s Poké Body Pump Up that allowed me to add 40 hp to the 80 hp. I attacked his bench with Shadow Ball to try to kill off the Nidoqueen, but it only did 40 damage plus a much needed 30 weakness. Drimblim got Knocked Out shortly after and Luxray GL X was my last hope. He brought up another Salamence and leveled it up, killing off my Luxy. My first loss, but an alright battle.

2-1

My final match I didn’t get to finish, but it was against my girlfriend who was using a Machamp/Flygon/Queen deck. She was undefeated at the league with this deck and I knew it was going to be rough for me and it was. LOL… but we were tied with 3 Prizes a piece when we had to count the rest of our cards in the deck. She beat me by 2 cards.

Sitting at 2-2, I need to add in a couple of more cards to help the flow of my deck. Still I’m quite satisfied with it and its a good start.

So here’s her deck:

Pokémon: 28
2 Unown G GE
1 Mr. Mime MT
3 Machop SF
2 Machoke DP
2 Mahamp SF
1 Machamp LV.X SF
3 Trapinch SW
1 Trapinch RR
2 Vibrava RR
2 Flygon RR
1 Flygon SW
1 Flygon LV.X RR
1 Chatot MD
2 Baltoy GE
1 Claydol GE
2 Nidoran RR
2 Nidoqueen RR
Trainers: 19
4 Bebe’s Search
3 Roseanne’s Research
1 Cynthia’s Feelings
3 Rare Candy
1 PlusPower
1 Luxury Ball
1 Premier Ball
2 Lucian’s Assignment
1 Night Maintenance
1 Palmer’s Contribution
1 Broken Time-Space
Energy: 13
4 Upper
4 P
5 F

Machamp Stormfront SF 20 Pokemon CardHer deck focused on getting a set up with Nidoqueen and Mr. Mime. The Mime would wall anything that didn’t have 3 energies or more, and Queen would nurse everyone back to health. The main work horse would be Machamp, with either Hurricane Punch which could do up to 0 to 120 depending on the four flips, and Take Out, which for 1 energy does 40 damage or Knocks Out any Basic Pokémon without Unown G. Machamp LV.X is just there to add more HP and extend the life of Machamp. Flygon X is just a LV.X killer in its own right, but now with Bench Shield from the new set it proves to be hard to aim at those other LV.X’s. Overall her deck is solid, but still needs to be fine tuned.

My deck had some consistency issues at some points, but at others it dominated. So I was really happy with my first league appearance.

I hope to hear some feed back for both of our decks so please let us know, thank you so much and two thumbs way up to 6 Prizes! Please spread the good word!

Reader Interactions

25 replies

  1. Renfield89

    Somewhat unrelated question:
    Are Pokemon “Rumble” cards tournament-legal? Anyone know?

  2. Renfield89

    Somewhat unrelated question:
    Are Pokemon “Rumble” cards tournament-legal? Anyone know?

  3. Adam Capriola

    Sounds like it was a successful first league appearance.

    I’m gonna say this again (and probably not for the last time)…play Call Energy!!

    Both of those decks should use 4 Call. I would also focus your SP deck more. You have too many different Pokemon and you need to play 4 Cyrus, 4 Poke Turn, 4 Energy Gain, 3 SP Radar, etc…

    Nice job tho! :)

  4. Zachary Slater

    Yup, totally agree with Adam.

    Every SP deck needs those essential cards to MAKE SURE it can be at it’s highest chance of consistency at all times.

    Next, if you can find the room, your Girlfriend should try fitting in x4 Poke Drawer + to speed up her deck. I don’t think a 2-0-2 Nidoqueen line can be fully utilized without a 1 Nidorina F at least. Especially not with 3 Rare Candy.

    Try and fit in the Call Energy to each deck as well, I would say 3 in yours and 4 in your girlfriends.
    Hope I helped a little :\

  5. Thank you so much everyone, I’m trying to get my deck ready for Cities this weekend down in Orlando and Clermont. It should be pretty interesting, but I’m missing some essential cards like 3 other Poke’ Turns and Call Energies… I tried to get an Azelf tonight also, but I ended up buying out Walmart for all the rest of Legends Awakened boosters, lol. And out of 14 packs I got a Mewtwo X and a couple Kingdra.

    Well I’ll try my best with my new Beedrill/Luxray deck, its an off shoot of the Raybees deck Stephen Sylvestro played at Worlds. I’m trying to tech Shaymin X with Thankfulness and maybe Ampharos LA to block Poke’ Bodies. The Flygon/Machamp my girl plays has been brutal this whole week. The win I got was when I KO’ed her only Pokemon.

    Anyways, I’m thankful for your inputs!

  6. Adam Capriola

    Sounds like it was a successful first league appearance.

    I’m gonna say this again (and probably not for the last time)…play Call Energy!!

    Both of those decks should use 4 Call. I would also focus your SP deck more. You have too many different Pokemon and you need to play 4 Cyrus, 4 Poke Turn, 4 Energy Gain, 3 SP Radar, etc…

    Nice job tho! :)

  7. Zachary Slater

    Yup, totally agree with Adam.

    Every SP deck needs those essential cards to MAKE SURE it can be at it’s highest chance of consistency at all times.

    Next, if you can find the room, your Girlfriend should try fitting in x4 Poke Drawer + to speed up her deck. I don’t think a 2-0-2 Nidoqueen line can be fully utilized without a 1 Nidorina F at least. Especially not with 3 Rare Candy.

    Try and fit in the Call Energy to each deck as well, I would say 3 in yours and 4 in your girlfriends.
    Hope I helped a little :

  8. Sheldon Frye

    Thank you so much everyone, I’m trying to get my deck ready for Cities this weekend down in Orlando and Clermont. It should be pretty interesting, but I’m missing some essential cards like 3 other Poke’ Turns and Call Energies… I tried to get an Azelf tonight also, but I ended up buying out Walmart for all the rest of Legends Awakened boosters, lol. And out of 14 packs I got a Mewtwo X and a couple Kingdra.

    Well I’ll try my best with my new Beedrill/Luxray deck, its an off shoot of the Raybees deck Stephen Sylvestro played at Worlds. I’m trying to tech Shaymin X with Thankfulness and maybe Ampharos LA to block Poke’ Bodies. The Flygon/Machamp my girl plays has been brutal this whole week. The win I got was when I KO’ed her only Pokemon.

    Anyways, I’m thankful for your inputs!

  9. jason beck

    hey fryeguy good job wherein clermont is the tourny i used to live there ?

  10. jason beck

    hey fryeguy good job wherein clermont is the tourny i used to live there ?

  11. Randy Branch

    Cut a Drifblim FB and Drapion 4. You want a basic darkness energy in there with 2 Honchkrow G. Also, Machamp Lv.X decreases Machamp’s HP, not increases and Ampharos LA (you mean PL) shuts off powers, which you don’t want in Beedrill for your Flutter Wings, Cosmic Power and Bright Look.

  12. Randy Branch

    Cut a Drifblim FB and Drapion 4. You want a basic darkness energy in there with 2 Honchkrow G. Also, Machamp Lv.X decreases Machamp’s HP, not increases and Ampharos LA (you mean PL) shuts off powers, which you don’t want in Beedrill for your Flutter Wings, Cosmic Power and Bright Look.

  13. Alright, I’m thinking of a better deck. Right now I’m in Orlando sitting at 0-2… Its been interesting so far. I’m running a Speedrill with Luxray GL. I’m hurting because of only one TGI Poke Turn… There’s top eight with 39 people in the masters. Hopefully after lunch I’ll do better. I’ll have a report up in a couple of days!

    Tomorrow I’ll be in Clermont and see how Shuppet/T-Tar does! Anyways I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

    Thank you WDIF. Andto puny its over on Goodhome Rd on westside.

  14. Sheldon Frye

    Alright, I’m thinking of a better deck. Right now I’m in Orlando sitting at 0-2… Its been interesting so far. I’m running a Speedrill with Luxray GL. I’m hurting because of only one TGI Poke Turn… There’s top eight with 39 people in the masters. Hopefully after lunch I’ll do better. I’ll have a report up in a couple of days!

    Tomorrow I’ll be in Clermont and see how Shuppet/T-Tar does! Anyways I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

    Thank you WDIF. Andto puny its over on Goodhome Rd on westside.

  15. Well this weekend I went 4-2 in Orlando, not bad at all, I almost made top 8 out of 57 but my end percentage wasn’t good enough. In Clermont I went 1-4 because I stalled with Mr. Mime and fell behind in prizes.

    My speedrill deck is coming together with Dialga G Lv X to take care of Poke Bodies. They’re the reason I failed at Clermont. But when Beedrill gets rolling its hard to take down. I’m going to a write up soon and my deck list!

  16. Sheldon Frye

    Well this weekend I went 4-2 in Orlando, not bad at all, I almost made top 8 out of 57 but my end percentage wasn’t good enough. In Clermont I went 1-4 because I stalled with Mr. Mime and fell behind in prizes.

    My speedrill deck is coming together with Dialga G Lv X to take care of Poke Bodies. They’re the reason I failed at Clermont. But when Beedrill gets rolling its hard to take down. I’m going to a write up soon and my deck list!

  17. Gregory Minklei

    I prefer Mewtwo MD

    Nice job for your first league.

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