JPN-Gallade’s 1st Place Shorewood, IL, Spring Battle Roads 2010 Report

Hey everyone! It’s me, JPN-Gallade, or Karol Nowak, my real name. I have not written an article here on 6 Prizes for quite a while, so now I think it is time to write one. This time, the article will be about a Battle Road I recently went attended and won, and as you probably guessed, I’m happy to share about my experience.

So, right after Regionals, I began to prepare for Battle Roads. In fact, I couldn’t wait for Spring Battle Roads to start because Battle Roads is actually the time I do really well in. Well, you see, during Autumn Battle Roads 2009, I came second in one Battle Road and third in another. In both Battle Roads, I played Luxape. My successes in top cut in these Battle Roads really did show that I can be a really good player during that time, so you have no idea how excited I was for Battle Roads to come in May.

pokemon-paradijs.comWhile preparing for Battle Roads, my deck options were Luxchomp, Gyarados, or Luxpluff. I thought about Gyarados at first, but then once I began testing Luxpluff (Jumpluff/Luxray GL), I thought Luxpluff would be my deck since this deck was very easy to use.

Eventually, however, I started looking upon Luxchomp. Luxchomp was one of my main deck choices for States and Regionals, but now I thought, “It’s time!” I played Luxchomp a few times at Jimmy Ballard’s league in Chicago on the Sunday before the first weekend of Battle Roads (Yeah, I actually go to Jimmy’s League frequently, so this may be quite a surprise to many, and believe me, a lot of players there are extremely good. I even play in the Rockford League that is also owned by Jimmy, so you can see that I do quite have a competitive background), and it won me all the matches I played on that day using it. From that point, I knew that Luxchomp would be my deck for the upcoming Spring Battle Roads.

As for the Luxchomp, I really don’t want to post the list, so I’ll just mention its strategy. Basically, it was your average Luxchomp using the usual strategy, where Luxray GL LV.X and Garchomp C LV.X are the main attackers. It ran Uxie and Azelf for support, as well as the usual the usual SP support like Crobats for additional damage, Bronzong to move energy around, and Lucario to make weakness on all Pokémon times two. There was also an Ambipom G and a Toxicroak G for the mirror, and a Mismagius SF in case of Mewtwo. The trainer line and the energy line were also the usual for an average Luxchomp deck.

Eventually, May 22 would come. That day would be the first of the Illinois Battle Roads in Shorewood. When Dad and I arrive at the library where the tournament took place, we both turned in our decklists and get signed up for the tourney. Then, I go around and watch what the others are playing and wait for the tournament to start.

Eventually, the pairings would go up, and it would be time to go to our tables for our matches. In the tournament, the juniors have 4 rounds and a top 2 cut. Meanwhile, the seniors have to be combined with the masters because there were only 5 seniors in the tournament (including myself). The seniors had 4 rounds and no top cut, and the masters also had 4 rounds, but they got a top 2 cut. Now, I will talk about my matches.

Round 1: Jessica J. (Tyranitar Prime/Absol G)

I start with Luxray GL, and she starts with an Absol G with a Larvitar and another Absol G on her bench. I started the game and managed to do 30 to her Absol G and pass. She then goes and did her moves and passed. Originally, I didn’t exactly have the best hand, but that would soon change. After she went, I draw the one card I needed, Cyrus’s Conspiracy. I instantly use the Cyrus to grab what I need, and from this point, I get a really good set up. In fact, I manage to get to Luxray GL LV.X and KO her active Absol G. She then pulls out her other Absol G, levels up to Absol G LV.X, and uses “Darkness Send” to put the top 3 cards of my deck to the Lost Zone.

This wasn’t much of an obstacle because a Mismagius, Misdreavus, and a Power Spray go to the Lost Zone, and I didn’t really need them for this matchup. Eventually, I take down her Absol G and take yet another prize. Now from this point onward, she really can’t do much, so I pull off more knock outs and win the game. Good game Jessica!

1/0

Round 2: Stephen M. (Mirror Match: Luxchomp)

He starts with a Mr. Mime, and I apparently forgot what I opened with. The Mr. Mime really surprised me because I have never seen a Luxchomp run a Mr. Mime, and as it turns out, he uses that card for Gyarados, Jumpluff, the Mirror, and against other low energy attackers. Though he had the Mr. Mime out, he didn’t have the best start because for pretty much most of the match, he doesn’t draw a Cyrus. I, once again, get quite a good start. I use my Cyrus’s Conspiracies to grab all of the cards I need, and I eventually manage to Knock Out the Mr. Mime by doing 60 to it with Luxray GL LV.X with 3 energies on it and then using “Flash Bite” from my Crobat G to Knock it Out.

In fact, this method is actually what made the most knock outs this match. Basically, I would do damage to a Pokémon, and it would often end up having 10 HP away from a Knock Out. Then, I use Crobat’s “Flash Bite” to Knock Out the Pokémon and take a prize.

Eventually, I have a huge lead. I have only 1 Prize card left, and he has about 5-6 Prizes left. I have a huge advantage still at this point, but then he uses Uxie’s “Set Up” to draw some cards, and then he ends up drawing a Cyrus. He then manages to get all of the stuff he needs, and then things take an epic turn. He uses his Ambipom G to move L Energies from my Luxray to my Azelf, preventing me from using “Galactic Switch” to move these energies. He also pulls off some more knock outs at the same time. Toward the end, the game gets extremely tense.

After some fierce action, time is eventually called, and I end up winning the game by time. Well, on his next turn, he couldn’t catch up with me sadly. Regardless, it was definitely one of the tensest matches I have ever played in all of my four years playing this card game. Very good game Stephen!

2/0

Round 3: Jeremy S. (Random Deck)

pokemon-paradijs.comHe starts with a Ho-oh from Secret Wonders with a Magmar on the bench, and I open with Luxray GL. Both us manage to set up. As with the previous matches, I have a better start compared to him. I set up my bench and manage to bring out Luxray GL LV.X and “Bright Look” his benched Magmar, and then I Knock it Out. Next, he only has his Ho-oh out, and he doesn’t draw much. Most of the time throughout most of his turns, the only thing he can pretty much do is attach energies to his Ho-oh so that he can get the Ho-oh ready to attack.

I do manage to KO it, but then he gets lucky by getting heads from “Phoenix Turn,” allowing his Ho-oh to somewhat live. Then, he begins to attack with Ho-oh, so things get tough. Eventually, however, I pull off yet another KO, and then this time, he gets tails from “Phoenix Turn,” and I win the match. Good game Jeremy!

3/0

After the match, I soon learn that what I could’ve done to the Ho-oh was that I should’ve used Crobat G’s “Toxic Fang” so that Ho-oh could get Poisoned, and then it could take 2 damage counters between each turn. This would also deactivate the Poké-power from Ho-oh. You see, the knock outs I made on the Ho-oh were mostly from my Garchomps and Luxrays, so you can obviously tell that Crobat should’ve come into attacking use here. Oh well, at least I learned something. Now it is time for the final round.

Round 4: James B. (Gyarados)

Unlike the other matches, I have a terrible start. He has a much better start compared to me. The only thing I really did in this match is grab a Garchomp C and a Bronzong G. From this point on, bad draw really curses me. To make matters worse, he uses a Warp Point to switch around my Pokémon and then pulls off some knock outs afterward. Because of my terrible start, he eventually wins the match. Oh well, good game James!

3/1

Looks all of the rounds are over for seniors. James, Stephen, and I are all 3-1, so we aren’t sure who will take 1st place. Then, James and I decide to have a match for fun to make up what happened in round 4. This time I win the fun match, and that’s pretty much when the final standings go up. When I looked at the results, I was shocked. I came in 1st place in seniors! This is the first time I ever won a premier event! I was really happy about this, and I even got my first Victory Medal card. Since there were only 5 seniors and no top cut for the seniors, I will put the results up for the seniors division on that day.

1st place: Karol N. (me) with Luxchomp
2nd place: Stephen M. with Luxchomp
3rd place: James B. with Gyarados
4th place: Jeremy S. with a Random Deck
5th place: Jessica J. with Tyranitar Prime/Absol G

After seeing the results, I decide to watch the finals for masters and juniors, and man, they were awesome to watch! Eventually, the finals are finished, and I help out to clean up the room now that the tournament has ended.

Props:
Winning my first every Premier Event tournament
Jimmy Ballard for organizing the tournament
Josh W. (JWittz) for winning masters, and Carlos P. for coming second in masters
Xander P. for winning juniors, and Jeremiah W. for coming second place in juniors
Great matches
Good friends came

Slops:
None

Man, this was an awesome day. Indeed, lots of good matches, good friends came, a well organized tournament, and winning seniors was really what made this Battle Roads great all right.

Well, that was just one of the Battle Roads in Illinois. If I manage to do yet another good job in another Battle Road tournament, I will likely be writing another Battle Road report about it so stay tuned!