pokebeach.comHi everyone! I hope each of you had a great City Championship season. My son, Nicholas, and I didn’t get to play in as many tournaments as we wanted to, but it was still fun to get to a few. I ended up getting to play my all-time favorite Magnezone deck 2 1/2 times.
The 1st 1/2 time I used it was when we were visiting family in Mississippi for Thanksgiving, and we realized there was a tournament close by. My deck went like 5-0 during Swiss, but I had to drop in order to get back to spend time with family (which is why we drove 18 hours from Pennsylvania in the first place). The tournament organizers were AWESOME and even waited a few minutes for us to get there since we got lost.
The next tournament was in York, PA, which is detailed in this report. The last time I played the deck was in Lancaster, PA, but I didn’t do nearly as well. So, without further delay, here is my York, PA, 2nd place tournament report.
York, PA City Championship
| Pokémon – 23
4 Magnemite SF #67 |
Trainers – 22
3 Bebe’s Search |
Energy – 15
6 L |
Please see my Magnezone article for a more in-depth look at the deck build.
The tournament itself is in a small comic book store, and you often have to sign up in advance to reserve a spot. The tournament had 5 rounds with a top 4 cut.
Round 1: Crobat Prime
He opens with a decent start while I open with 2 Spiritomb and a Magnemite. He is able to set up a Crobat, but Crobat’s x2 Lightning weakness was just too much, especially when I brought up Magnezone Prime with an Expert Belt. I only had to put 1 energy in the Lost Zone to KO Crobat. We end up going to time, but I had a good lead in prizes.
1-0
Round 2: LuxChomp
pokebeach.comYummy…I love Luxchomp! He has an okay start to my Spiritomb start, and I quickly start setting up my Search Magnezone. He is able to KO my Spiritomb, but I was able to get some other Magnezone set up.
We trade prizes and go to time, but, once again, my early Trainer lock gives me enough time to set up and KO any LV.X with Magnezone Prime’s “Lost Burn” attack and an Expert Belt for 120 or dropping a Crobat and using Prime. And using Judge at key times keeps me in control.
2-0
Round 3: LuxChomp
Oooohhh boy…another Luxchomp snack! I am probably the only sicko that actually likes to play against the mighty LuxChomp. I once again get an early Spiritomb lock, and he only is able to get a Garchomp active and a benched Luxray, I think.
I get set up in a few turns, and he draws junk. I realize that I have a chance to win the game early, so I retreat the Spiritomb and bring up my Switch Magnezone with a Belt, play down a Seeker to leave him with just his Garchomp active, and use Gyro Ball for the KO.
3-0
Round 4: Brad with Vilegar
Brad is playing straight Gengar SF with Vileplume, and we both get off to decent starts, I think. However, I remember that we played a combined 5-6 Seekers, but he nails all of his “Fainting Spells”, which really hurts my ability to reset. So, I lose this one pretty badly, but the good part is we would meet again in the top cut and he used up all of his “Fainting Spell” luck (as you will see).
3-1
Round 5: Gengar/Mewtwo
We both get off to decent starts, and we trade a lot of prizes. I believe that Blissey’s “Nurse Call” was really key in this game, keeping his Gengar away from taking out my Poké-Power’d Magnezone in 2 hits. We go down to time, and he whiffs on a key “Fainting Spell” that would have put him in control.
4-1
Top 4: Brad with Vilegar
Game 1
pokemon-paradijs.comWe both get off to good starts, and this game takes a really long time. I strategically use Blissey’s “Nurse Call” to shed Trainers and Supporters and to heal Pokémon hit by “Shadow Room”. I could tell he was getting really frustrated, realizing that there were no ways to easily KO my Pokémon.
In addition, I could use Seekers to scoop up a benched Pokémon before getting Knocked Out by Shadow Room. He also misses on ALL of his “Fainting Spell” flips in this game (which would also continue into the next game – 5 or 6 total).
Game 2
We both once again get off to decent starts, and he takes an early prize lead. I believe it is down to his having only 4 Prizes remaining to my having 5 left when time is called. We play out the final turns, but he is unable to take any more prizes. Now, here is where things get interesting and weird. I thought the rule in sudden death in Game 2 was that you lost Game 2 if your opponent had more prizes than you after time and the 3 turns.
However, the judge and my opponent thought that the rule was that you had to win at least ½ the Prize cards in order to win the game. The game was going to be over after I finished my final turn, but I thought I needed to try and take a prize to tie up the game. I KO his Gengar, and he quickly flips a coin – TAILS!!! I thought I was so stupid and should have just passed to win.
I’m still honestly trying to figure out what happened. I checked out the tournament rules, and I’m pretty sure my understanding was correct since the tournament was on December 12th, and the rules changed before that. Oh, well, either way, it was still a fun match, and watching my opponent flip about 5-6 tails on “Fainting Spell” was quite entertaining for everyone watching (except for Brad – sorry).
Finals: Jeremy with SP Variant
Game 1
I am not exactly sure how to describe his deck other than SP Variant. He played with Garchomp C, Rosarade GL, Chatot G, and some other SP cards (I think Staraptor FB as well). Really different, but it had obviously done well for him. I go second and take a chance playing Judge to try and disrupt him, but I’m the one who gets burned instead. He is able to take me out in 5 minutes or less.
Game 2
I get off to a better start, but I just can’t seem to keep up with his deck or figure it out. We trade prizes throughout the game, but I just can’t seem to take a commanding lead. I also make some misplays that don’t help. Toward the end of the game, he sees an opportunity to lock down my hand with Chatot G and Cyrus’s Initiative to keep me from resetting. Oh, well, I’m tired and ready to go home anyway.
Props:
Getting to rep Magnezone!
Blissey PL
McDonalds 1/4 mile up the road
Tail flips for “Fainting Spell”
Slops:
Weird situation with tournament rules confusion
Not figuring out the SP variant deck
P.S. I’d love to hear some feedback on the Gengar T4 match and if it was judged correctly.
I’m also a magnezone player, and i was wondering why you decided not to play rare candy in your build and max on the BTS. I’m currently playing 3 BTS 3 Candy, and it seems to work well.
I would think because he is using 4 tombs in setting up. He can use Darkness grace to level up his Magnezone’s and having the trainers here wouldn’t help too much.
You are exactly right. I find that the 4-4-4 Magnezone line with Spiritomb and Call Energy is really, really consistent. It’s definitely a trade-off though. I won’t get as fast of a start, but I can get a Spiritomb in play almost every game by turn 2 which helps slow down the overall game play enough for me to set up my Magnezones.
The old rule was that you’d have to take half of your prizes in order for a game to be considered “complete” after time was called. The new rules changed that to just having to be ahead on prizes when time (+3) was called. This is why a lot of players have been in an uproar since that means a player can lose by 6 prizes in the first game and still win the match by taking only two prizes (one and then time is called and the sudden death prize). So, yeah, sounds like your TO was wrong in this case, but that actually worked in your favor as if he had taken the next prize before you did the game would have gone into sudden death which possibly could have favored him… or not, it sounds like both of you were playing setup decks.
Thanks for the clarification. I think it was a mess up as well.
I think that’s right. Of course, there are pros and cons on both sides of the issue–true, game 2 can be decided by far fewer prizes the new way, but in the old way, there was a perverse incentive for the winning player to stall so that game 2 wouldn’t count. Not sure which way is better, but it’s certainly important for us all to be consistent.
Great article, your list seems really solid. It would seem like Unown Q would be a good addition as it would allow you to get Spiritomb/Smeargle out of the active slot for free.
Actually, I get a sort-of free retreat by attaching an electric or metal energy to spiritomb/smeargle, discarding the energy, and then reattaching the energy with “Super Connectivity”
I”’m still honestly trying to figure out what happened. I checked out the tournament rules, and I’m pretty sure my understanding was correct since the tournament was on December 12th, and the rules changed before that. Oh, well, either way, it was still a fun match, and watching my opponent flip about 5-6 tails on “Fainting Spell” was quite entertaining for everyone watching (except for Brad – sorry).”
Heyyy. I’m Brad. haha
Yep! I went 0-6 on fainting spells in our top cut games!
Also, round 4 of swiss was such a slow/crazy game. Those Blisseys/Seekers were unstoppable.
I really enjoyed your deck though!
I still wonder about the prize ruling they called. I thought it went by whoever was in the prize lead regardless of the number taken but oh well, I got my four packs, so I was happy. think they just wanted to get the tournament over with. lol
Hey Brad! Yeah, I’m pretty sure you were right. It’s a good lesson though that I am going to challenge the judges more if I feel like they aren’t correct. But, to give them the benefit of the doubt, the rules were changing a lot at that point, and it was hard to know what the most current games rules were regarding best-of-three.
You going to any pre-releases? I haven’t made up my mind yet. There don’t seem to be any good cards yet besides lost world, and I don’t have enough Gengar Primes/Mews to make a deck and don’t want to spend $100+ to make one!
Hope to see you soon- we will definitely be at States and Regionals.
Even though CoL is absolutely terrible, my girlfriend and I are still going to the one on Sunday in New Holland. I really don’t think it’s worth the $25 at all, but it will be fun.
Hopefully enough people turn out for it. We want Mr. Mime/Mime Jr./Lost Remover/Lost World
I think that’s about it. Lol
wow, 2nd place…