Jordog18’s Midwest Regionals Report

Hey Pokémon players!!!!!!! Hope everyone had fun at Regionals last weekend!!!!!! My name is Jordan VanHeesch and I am from Rockford, Illinois. I am a frequent visitor of this awesome website, and I just thought that I would post an article. I usually am a judge at tournaments, but since I judged both the Wisconsin and Illinois State Championships, I thought that I would take a stab at playing at the Midwest Regionals, in Wisconsin Dells, which would be my first tournament this season, since playing at Nationals last year in St. Louis.

Anyway, I could not wait to get to the Dells for the tournament. I had my mind set on playing one of two decks: Gyarados or LuxChomp. But after persuasion from my good Wisconsin buddy Derrick Krenke, and some serious playtesting with another buddy of mine, Christian Cobian, I decided to go out of my way and play Jumpluff.

Derrick proposed a decklist for me to try, but I decided to make changes based on my playing style. Finally, Saturday morning arrives, and I show up to play!!!! I’m just so giddy to finally be playing in a tournament……. :)

So, here is the decklist I decided upon……..

Round 1: Unknown from Minnesota w/ CurseGar

I start out really fast, pulling a turn one Jumpluff and Knocking Out his active Gastly. He promotes Spiritomb, and grabs a Claydol out of his deck. He draws dead and just was not able to set up as I drew 4 Prizes really quickly, and after a tails on a “Fainting Spell,” he decided to scoop…….. :(

Record: 1/0

Round 2: Jozell Friend from Illinois w/ Straight Gengar

He starts with a lone Baltoy, and I start with an active Crobat G, with a benched Hoppip. He draws and passes. I proceed to use a Roseanne’s and grab an Uxie and Baltoy from my deck. I use Uxie to draw 4 cards, and get a Claydol and Jumpluff from the draw. So, seeing I had a Skiploom prized, I use Azelf to get it out of my prizes, play Broken Time Space, then evolve and pull up the Jumpluff on my bench to donk Jozell……I feel bad to do it to a good friend, but donks are a part of the game unfortunately……..

Record: 2/0

Round 3: Abe Morales from Wisconsin w/ Gengar/Mesprit

This match turns out to be one of my favorites! Abe is another good friend of mine that is one of the most amazing people that I have ever met. Anyway, he starts out with a horrible hand, with an active Crobat G, and a benched Unown G. I start once again with a turn 1 Jumpluff, but could not draw an energy for 4 turns, due to Abe’s Mesprit locks…. XD. He finally is able to build up two Gengars, and he starts killing off my benched Claydols, as well as hitting his “Fainting Spells.”

The game finally comes down to 1 Prize each, and has to come down to a Gengar flip…….it’s tails!!!! I show a heavy sigh of relief, and we both congratulate each other on a well played match!!!! We would eventually meet again in Top 16. Time for lunch break!!!! :D

Record: 3/0

Round 4: Jon Nichols from Minnesota w/ LuxChomp (with Blaziken FB tech)

We both get really fast starts, each taking a prize within the 2nd turn of the game. It could have been a match, but Jon had a dead hand during the middle of the game. He could not draw an energy to power his Blaziken FB to Knock Out my Jumpluff, so he had to retreat for Chatot and he passed. I then proceeded to play Warp Point, and leveled up my Luxray GL to pull up his benched Blaziken FB and Knock it Out.

I just rolled through the rest of the match, taking him down 5 to 1 in prizes, so he scooped. He is a very talented player, and it felt pretty good to beat him, but he had a lot of bad luck in the match…….so I felt bad as well, but that’s the game. Now I’m excited, because one more win secured me a place in Top 16!!!!!!

Record: 4/0

Round 5: Emmanuel Divens from Minnesota w/ Gengar/Garchomp C

Emmanuel, who ends up undefeated in swiss (7/0), is one of the top players in the region, so I am a little nervous……but it was another good match! We both started very slowly, but he pulled the first big play, Knocking Out my Claydol with Garchomp. I stall for a few turns, and Emma Knocks Out another Claydol on my bench, to take a 4-2 Prize lead. But I get 2 good Uxie draws, and build up another Jumpluff to Knock Out his active Garchomp, bringing the game to 3-2 in his favor.

After the game becomes tied at 2 Prizes each, he Knocks Out my active Jumpluff with another Garchomp to take it to 2-1. Here is when it gets interesting. I Warp Point, and level up my Luxray GL to pull up his benched Claydol, then I built up my last Jumpluff with an attached Expert Belt and brought it active. I could have used “Leaf Guard” to hit the Claydol for 70 damage, so he cannot retreat, in hopes of being able to drop a Crobat G next turn in order to be able to take 2 Prizes next turn and win the game.

But since my hand had 8 cards in it, I did not want to risk the play, so I took the aggressive strategy and Knocked Out his Claydol with “Mass Attack.” But unfortunately, he promotes a Gengar, uses Azelf to get his prized Crobat G, and dropped it to put my benched Uxie at 10 damage, then Knocked it Out with “Shadow Room” for the game……..darn……..but it was a great game, and we both shook hands and congratulated each other on an intense match!

Record: 4/1

Round 6: Mike Lesky from Wisconsin w/ DialgaChomp

Once again, my opponent and I get fast starts, each taking 3 Prizes in the first 15 minutes. But the game stalls, with neither of us drawing anything useful, and we both kept using Chatot draws for the next few turns. But, Mike eventually gets the ball rolling, and takes another prize with a Dialga G LV .X that has 2 special metal energies on it. Next turn, I finally get a Jumpluff in play, and use Regice’s Pokémon Power, “Regi Move,” to switch out his active Dialga G and tie the game.

As I kept utilizing Regice and leveling up my Luxray GL to switch out his powered Dialga, we take turns Knocking Out each other’s Pokémon, to bring the game to 1-1. Here is where I blunder. I try to use “Regi Move” for the game, but, forgetting he had 3 SP’s in play, he uses a Power Spray. Next, my hand is so big, I accidentally pass up the Warp Point in my hand, and Poké Turn my benched Luxray GL LV.X into it.

Now, after it is too late, I play my Warp Point, then I realize that I had just screwed myself because I had already attached an energy to my active Jumpluff, so I could not retreat to send up my Jumpluff to win the game…..so I had to scoop. It was terrible……I felt so sick…….but I shook it off.

Record: 4/2

Final Round-Round 7: Nicholas Miller from Illinois w/ Kingdra

He starts out with a lone Baltoy, and I start with an active Crobat G, with a Luxray GL on the bench. He goes first, so he draws, attaches a water to Baltoy, and uses “Psychic Balance.” You know where this is going, unfortunately, right??? So, I draw an Uxie, play a Roseanne’s to get a Hoppip and a grass energy from my deck. I play the Hoppip, and attach the energy to it, then I drop Uxie to draw 4 cards.

I get a Jumpluff from the Uxie draw, so I used a Rare Candy in my hand to evolve the Hoppip, then I send up the Jumpluff and donk again……..Seriously, I have never donked anyone until Regionals, and I did it TWICE!!!!!!! I felt bad for Chris, and I HATE donking, but once again, donks are a part of the game………

Final Record: 5/2

I end up as the 9th seed, and the top 5/2 in the tournament.

Round of 16: Abe Morales from Wisconsin w/ Gengar/Mesprit

Game 1: We both start out slowly, but we both managed to take 2 Prizes each. But finally, I started to break open the game by Knocking Out his Gengar and dodging the “Fainting Spell.” After drawing dead on two Claydol draws, Abe scoops the 1st game.

1/0

Game 2: I am fortunate enough to pull a turn 2 Jumpluff, and take two quick prizes. After bad draws, and a critical energy misplay, Abe finally forfeits the match. I hate to see him lose, because he has been dealing with cancer, and I know how terrific of an individual he is!!!! After the match, Abe pulls a guilt trick on me to make me feel bad……he is such a nut!!!!! :)

2/0, Advance to Top 8

Round of 8: Kyle Sucevich (POOKA!!!!!!) from Wisconsin w/ DialgaChomp

Game 1: I start with a Crobat G, and have a benched Hoppip, while he starts with a lone Garchomp C. I go first, so I draw and pass. He uses a Pokémon Collector to get a Dialga G, Crobat G, and a Baltoy. He attaches a metal energy and an Energy Gain to his Dialga G, then uses a Poké Turn on his active Garchomp C to send up his Dialga G, then pulls the turn 1 “Deafen” on me.

By the time I could play trainers, he already had a fully pumped Dialga G LV.X with 3 special metal energies on it, as well as 2 fully powered Garchomps on his bench. Since I could not draw anything, I had to scoop Game 1.

0/1

Game 2: My hand was terrible. I started with a Crobat G active, and a benched Luxray GL, while he started with a lone Ambipom G. He went first, drew, and passed. I used a Roseanne’s to grab a Baltoy and Uxie from my deck. I lay down the Baltoy, and drop Uxie to draw 3 cards. None of these cards helped me, and I never recovered as he sniped my benched Claydol with Garchomp C LV.X to seal my fate. I scooped the game, and the match.

0/2

I end up finishing in 7th place, not bad for a judge playing in his first tournament of the season!!!! Pooka went on to win……..what a surprise…….lol!!!! I don’t feel bad losing to him, considering that, in my opinion, Pooka is the best player in the world right now. He is a class act that will be a great asset to the game for many years to come.

Everyone came up to me and gave me props for a tremendous day of competition. I felt like I could have done better, but in reality, I had a blast!!!!!! Afterward, me, Derrick, and the rest of our travel group went back to our hotel and discussed the day’s events, until we all fell asleep around 3 AM!!!!! Yes, it was a long day!!!!!!! Thank you for taking the time to read my article, and I hope to post more in the near future!!!!!!!

-Jordog18