Jordan VanHeesch’s US Nationals Report

Hey everyone! Hope you had fun at Nationals last weekend! I arrived in Indianapolis on Wednesday with no idea of what to play. I knew I was not going to play SP because I assumed it would be played a lot, and I did not want to play mirror matches all weekend…so I thought about Jumpluff. But I played it at Regionals, and I knew that SP had somewhat of an upper-hand against it.

pokemon-paradijs.comExpecting a LOT of Garchomp C, I decided to play a deck with the Manectric from Platinum. As most of you probably well know, Manectric prevents bench damage. Also, its “Power Wave” attack lets you do 30 damage to each Pokémon with a Poké-Power. Since mostly all decks utilize Poké-Powers, this is a great thing!

Also, I utilized Entei/Raikou Legend, which hits all Pokémon with Poké-Powers for 80 damage, but since Manectric prevents all bench damage to your Pokémon, SO YOU DON’T GET HIT! Manectric is not strong enough on its own, so my problem was what to play it with.

I thought of Flygon and Luxray GL, but my good friend James Flint, as well as another good friend Derrick Krenke, thought about the stage 2 Garchomp from Supreme Victors. For 3 C energy, it does “Speed Impact” for 120 damage minus 20 damage for each energy attached to the defending Pokémon.

Also, it has a body called “Dragon Intimidation”, in which you select an energy card attached to the defending Pokémon and return it to their hand after they damage Garchomp. Since mostly all decks utilize Pokémon which require few or no energy to attack, we felt like this would be an excellent choice for the deck. After a little testing, I had decided on running the following list:

Pokémon (25) 4× Gible (MT) 2× Gabite (SV) 3× Garchomp (SV) 1× Garchomp LV.X (MD) 3× Electrike (PL) 3× Manectric (PL) 2× Baltoy (GE) 2× Claydol (GE) 1× Uxie (LA) 1× Chatot (MD) 1× Unown G (GE) 1× Entei/Raikou Legend (UL-TOP HALF) 1× Entei/Raikou Legend (UL-BOTTOM HALF)

Trainers/Supporters (23) 4× Bebe’s Search 3× Pokémon Communication 3× Roseanne’s Research 4× Rare Candy 3× Broken Time-Space 2× Expert Belt 1× Luxury Ball 1× Palmer’s Contribution 2× Energy Switch

Energy (12) 4× Call 4× Double Colorless 3× L 1× R

So I arrive and sit down for the player meeting, listen to their comments, then headed off to chat with friends until the pairings went up. Here we go…

Round 1 vs. Ricky Lindsay III with Mother Gengar

pokemon-paradijs.comWe both open strong, taking 2 Prizes each. He built up a 3rd Gengar, and used “Poltergeist” twice on me, but I was smart and held only one trainer in my hand for both turns. He now has 2 Claydols, an Uxie, and a damaged Gengar in play. I search for the top half of Entei/Raikou, play it, attach to it, and use an Energy Switch, moving the electric attached to my Manectric to the Legend. I “Thunder Fall”, taking 4 Prizes and winning the game…he was speechless.

1/0

Round 2 vs. Kevin Catapang with Garchomp SV/Donphan Prime

This isn’t much of a match. By turn 4 or 5, my opponent has 2 fully powered Garchomps in play, and I cant draw into another one. Already being down 3 Prizes, I scoop…GG

1/1

Round 3 vs. Tatiana Miller with Blastoise/Feraligatr Prime/Kingdra Prime

Tatiana is a very nice person, and it was fun to play her! This is also not much of a match either unfortunately…I had an excellent start, pulling off Garchomp turn one and taking 2 quick prizes. When she got a Kingdra in play, I was able to one shot it with my Expert Belted Garchomp.

When she was finally able to Knock Out the Garchomp, I had only 2 Prizes left, and since she had a Claydol and Uxie in play, I just used Entei/Raikou for the last 2 Prizes. I really felt bad that she couldn’t set up, but it happens.

2/1

Round 4 vs. Bob Messick with Machamp/Donphan Prime/Tangrowth

Bob is a great Poké-dad in my region, so I know him very well! Unfortunately, I am not able to draw into any Supporter or Claydol for several turns, allowing him to get 3 quick prizes on me…ugh…but I finally rip into Claydol, and start setting up. I finally get out a Garchomp and took my first prize. He luckily got all tails with Machamp’s “Hurricane Punch”, so I Knocked Out the Machamp the following turn with my Uxie.

Next turn, he sends up a damaged Machamp on my bench, forgetting about my Unown G attached to it, so “Take Out” did nothing. Then I knocked the Machamp out to even the game. A few seconds later, time was called. Next turn, he would be able to Knock Out my benched Manectric with 20 damage left on it with his benched Tangrowth.

I have to get Garchomp LV.X out of my deck and get 2 heads with its Poké-Power, “Dragon Pulse”, to put his benched Uxie at 40 damage, then I could “Power Wave” to Knock Out the Uxie and win. But of course, I flip 3 tails, so I scoop…but Bob gives me the win, because he knows that I am a good player and I should have won that game, plus he said that he would probably not do well anyway.

I was very grateful for the win. Bob is a great person and I am indebted to him. Thanks Bob! :)

3/1

Round 5 vs. ??? with Gengar/Blaziken FB

pokemon-paradijs.comI don’t remember her name, but she was from Missouri, and she was very nice too! I don’t start out very well, and I have to use Chatot 2 turns in a row…by the time I get Claydol out, she uses 2 Crobat G’s and uses “Shadow Room” on my Claydol to KO it, making the prize count 5-3. I get Manectric out, and start spreading damage on her bench for 2 turns.

She finally Knocks Out this Manectric, but I am able to get another one out and “Power Wave” to Knock Out 4-of her Pokémon, including a Gengar. She gets heads on her “Fainting Spell”, taking the game to 1-1 in prizes. I pull up Garchomp, and she pulls up Blaziken FB LV.X with 2 energy on it. She proceeds to “Luring Flame” my benched Claydol.

I am smart and have a Call Energy already attached, so I attach another energy to it, retreat for my Garchomp, and “Speed Impact” for 60. By this time, she has no draw power, so she unfortunately is forced to once again “Luring Flame” my Claydol. But, I have the Double Colorless Energy in hand, so I retreat my active and kill her with my Garchomp for game…phew…what a match!

4/1

Round 6 vs. Franco Puertas with LuxChomp

This match was pretty short. He pulls of 3 consecutive Power Sprays on my Cosmic Powers, then he gets out his Luxray GL LV.X and uses “Bright Look” on my Claydol, lays down a Crobat G, then KOs my Claydol with “Trash Bolt”. I finally get 2 Garchomps in play, but he 1HKOs both of them with 2 consecutive Garchomp C LV.X’s thanks to Lucario GL. I scooped…GG…darn I hate SP so much…lol.

4/2

Round 7 vs. ??? with Gyarados

All I remember is that he was from Missouri. Not much really happens here. I get out a turn 2 Garchomp and KO his active Sableye. He gets out 2 Gyarados and I KO both, taking the Game 4-3 in my favor. By this time, he has an Uxie and 2 Crobat G’s benched. I just get out Entei/Raikou and draw into my Energy Switch for the last 3 Prizes.

5/2

This concluded Day 1, and I was glad it was over! I know now I need to win out, since my resistance was kind of bad. Goodnight!

As I walked into the hall for the last 2 rounds, my only thought was to win out and make top cut, so here we go…

Round 8 vs. ??? with Gengar/Garchomp C

This kid was from Minnesota, but surprisingly I had never met him before. Anyway, I unfortunately don’t remember a whole lot about this match, but after being down 2 Prizes the whole game, I was finally able to bring the game down to 1-1 in prizes.

He then took his turn and attached to his fresh Gengar and used “Poltergeist”, but was only able to do 60 damage to my active Garchomp. I know I need to rip into my Energy Switch for my Entei/Raikou. So, I set down Entei/Raikou, then I use Uxie to draw 4 cards, then I finally rip the card with my Claydol. Phew, another close match…GG! At this point, I’m actually pretty excited!

6/2

Round 9 vs. ??? with Gengar/Garchomp C

pokemon-paradijs.comDarn, I did not want to play against the same deck again. Anyway, we both get set up pretty fast, each taking a prize on each other. He then gets another KO on me, bringing the game in his favor to 5-3. At this point, he has 2 Crobat G’s, a damaged Gengar, a Claydol, and an Uxie in play, so next turn I am confident I could get out my Entei/Raikou next turn and win.

But on his turn, he Poké Turned a Crobat G, and attacked with his Uxie and sent it to the bottom of his deck, thus promoting his Gengar…..d’oh! Next turn I am forced to Knock Out the Gengar with my Manectric, and sure enough, he gets heads, thus bringing the game to 4-2 in prizes in his favor.

Now, I am not able to win with Entei/Raikou, since he has only the Claydol and Crobat G in play now, along with a lone Garchomp C. So I am forced to KO the Crobat with my previously Expert Belted Garchomp to bring the game to 3-2 in his favor. But he miraculously rips a Double Colorless Energy and Energy Gain.

Then he brings the Garchomp C active, levels it up, then puts another Gengar in play. He attacks my active Garchomp with “Dragon Rush” for 110 damage due to weakness. Knowing he has a psychic energy in hand to “Shadow Room” my Garchomp next turn for the 2 Prize KO and the game, I just scoop. Terrible luck, but GG.

Final Record: 6/3

I wait around for the final standings, and sure enough, I got 80th, and missed cut. But on the bright side, this is my 1st winning record at Nats ever, so I didn’t feel too bad. The next day, I got top 16 in the Professor Cup, and got a sweet backpack! (BTW, I will submit this report ASAP!!)

Props:
Going 6/3 with a rogue deck!
My good Team Ohana teammates Derrick Krenke and Troy Lesky for making Top 128!
Kyle Sucevich (POOKA!!!) for making top 4!
Making Top 16 in the Professor Cup!

Slops:
Bad coin flips…
Not getting the chance to meet Adam Capriola!!!

I hope you enjoyed my report! Since I will not be attending Worlds due to Resident Advisor training at school, I wish everyone who IS going the best of luck!!! And once again, I will be submitting my Professor Cup report ASAP! Later all!

Jordan