Kenny’s Wisdom: OR and WA SPT Reports + Yet Another LuxChomp Decklist

So I figured I should get around to writing a States report. I’ll spare you too many details as I didn’t do too well nor were too many of my games all that interesting. I’m actually quite disappointed in my States performance, but I’m working on fixing my errors for Regionals. I’ll write a little bit more about that later.

So for those of you expecting a long, intricate report, I’m sorry to disappoint, as this is all I’ve got…

OREGON:

50states.comOregon States was Week 1, and Me, Ashley, Gage, Alex, and Isaiah all drove down the night before. We got to the hotel in the early afternoon, and after unpacking and getting some food and drink we decided we’d test a couple games with everyone.

I went down to the lobby and played a handful of games with Trevor, Foley, and some random Oregon people before deciding that my LuxChomp list w/ Weavile that I posted in my last article was the play. I tried to go to bed as early as possible, as registration time was at something like 8:30 AM. =\

I get up, get showered, rock my Justin Bieber shirt (swag swag don’t hate), and am off to the tournament site.

I started off the day by losing to a Magnezone/Regirock deck in a fairly close game. After losing all I could think about was how Isaiah had mentioned that “one of us probably should’ve built that Magnezone/Regirock thing to test against” in the car, and I had just laughed it off, thinking that that wasn’t even a real deck what are you talking about, silly Isaiah.

The deck is definitely interesting and in my mind was one of the break out hits of States. I’m sure not completely sure how I feel about it, and it’s definitely not my playstyle, but it’s without a doubt going into my Regionals gauntlet.

I won my next round, and then lost the worst game of my life, after having 1 Prize left to my opponent’s 6, and not being able to draw an energy for 6 turns. There were 2 DCE and 3 Call Energy left in my deck, and I’m not very good at math, but I’m pretty certain that I should’ve hit one of them.

It was a fun game and all, but I have to admit I was pretty upset after losing what I thought was a wrap. I also knew that at this point I wasn’t going to make the top cut even if I did win out from here, as my resistance was pretty bad.

After walking around a bit and drinking some water I got back on the horse and decided to make the best of what I could.

As an aside, this is also the round where my incredible friend Amelia gifted me a World’s competitors bag (with a playmat, t-shirt, DS case, Staff card, binder, luggage tags, post cards, etc.) that she won through a raffle, because she is amazing like that.

After this huge act of generosity I couldn’t really stay too upset about my life, y’know? I have the best friends ever, bar none. Swag.

I won my next 4 games fairly comfortably, at least, I can’t remember anything incredibly interesting, so I assume that they’re not really anything you would want to hear about. I apologize for not taking detailed notes, as after going 1-2 and figuring that I couldn’t make top cut, my focus wasn’t on making a report.

I was kind of proud of myself for winning the last 4 games and at least bringing my record up to something respectable, but I was also disappointed that I didn’t get to play any super relevant decks (once I figured that I couldn’t make the cut, I shifted views and decided to treat the tournament like one huge testing session).

pokebeach.comMy last round was against the 2010 NW Regional Champion, Jason. I had played him a few years back at my first States, where he was playing AMU and I was playing some terrible pile, I’m sure. We sit down, introduce ourselves, and get the game started.

We both have really terrible starts, as I don’t see a supporter or any energy for the first few turns and he’s forced to Darkness Grace into various Pokés for the majority of the first half of the game. I finally get a lucky topdeck (all praise David Cohen) and am able to get my Weavile G up and running, taking prizes.

He shifts to a LostGar strategy and starts Lost Zoning Pokémon with the help of Spooky Whirpool. Weavile consistently 1HKOs his Gengars and he’s forced to sac prizes while he sets up, which leads me to believe I’ve got the game in the bag.

Unfortunately when I have 1 Prize left I have 4 Pokémon in the Lost Zone, and he’s able to Seeker + Hurl for 2 and drop the stadium for the win. Pretty solid game that I can’t be ashamed of losing, I just wish we would’ve both had better starts.

I look at the top 16, and it’s something like this (I apologize if I got some of the decks wrong)…

1. Jaron Deacon w/ Regigigigigigigias
2. Gage Rose w/ Tyranitar/Vileplume/Ampharos (B-Side what)
3. Dejohne Umtuch w/ ???
4. Eleki R. w/ KGL
5. James Fontes w/ ???
6. Jerin Head / Scizor Prime
7. Tyler Ninomura w/ VileLostGar (B-Side what)
8. Isaiah Monroe w/ DialgaChomp
9. Chris Brown w/ LuxChomp
10. Andrew J. w/ ???
11. Alex Ball w/ LuxChomp
12. Colin Stromberg w/ Machamp
13. Ben Lucas w/ ???
14. Jeff Anderson w/ Dusknoir/Dialga
15. Amelia B. w/ LuxChomp (B-Side what)
16. Joseph L. w/ ???

Nope, our meta isn’t random at all!

Again, I apologize if I got any of the decks wrong, I’m working purely off of memory here.

Amelia has to play Gage, and if she wins she has to play Tyler, which kind of sucks as it’s all of our friends eliminating all of our friends. I don’t remember exactly how this all went down, but I know the top 4 was…

VileLostGar vs. Scizor
LuxChomp vs. Machamp

Which turned into…

Scizor vs. Machamp

Which turned into…

2010 Oregon State champion: Jerin Head w/ Scizor.

Yes, all of you can now talk about how terrible all Oregon players are and how a Scizor would never win in your esteemed meta and how all the lists here are horrible and how everyone who lost to the Scizor deck might as well just commit suicide for being such a terrible person and player.

 

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Regardless, a deck that we had worked on (although, Jerin’s list was completely different than ours and quite unique), and a deck that was different and was a smart metagame call won the tournament. Even I can be happy about that.

 

I’d also like to point out that Ian Whiton, aka the best Junior player in the world, won this tournament 11-0 with DialgaChomp. Swag swag swag swag.

After the tournament we all go out for some celebratory Denny’s, and then back to the hotel to drown our sorrows in alcohol and sleep. We wake up in the morning just early enough to get packed up and go play some LASER TAG.

Props:

Team Bieber Side
The TOs, Judges, etc.
Amelia <3
Scizor
Justin Bieber
The Whiton’s
Chad, Mary, Sorina, Isaiah, Ashley, and Chard for rooming and after-partying.

Slops:

Random meta
Daylight savings

WASHINGTON:

My states adventure begins on Friday, as I stay with Amelia to test all night. I’m decided on LuxChomp and after a few test games decide that I’ll keep my list exactly the same as it was (a huge mistake). Amelia’s night goes something like this…

*Shuffles Gengar*
*Draws 7*
‘THIS DECK IS SO BAD OMG.’
*Shuffles Gengar*
*Draws 7*
‘THIS DECK IS SO AMAZING OMG.’

Rinse and repeat until 2:00 AM when we call it quits.

I get up, take a shower and am unable to eat breakfast as Amelia takes over 9,000 hours hogging the shower. Andrew meets us and we head to Tacoma super early, as Ashley has to judge. We get to the venue and realize that the parking machine is broken soo…FREE PARKING FOR THE WIN.

I fill out my decklist, chat with people and wait for the rounds to begin. Again, I didn’t do too hot at this event either, so I’ll spare you the details and just type up the more interesting bits…

I play my good friend Chad Bosquez in round 2. He’s playing Magnezone/Regirock and I get a god awful start so I’m pretty certain I’m going to get owned. Fortunately it turns out to be a pretty fantastic game that goes down to 2-2 Prizes at time.

I manage to win by ripping an Aaron’s and Dragon Rushing his Relicanth SV for the win. If things had gone a little differently and/or if time hadn’t been called, I surely would’ve lost. Chad is a great friend and has improved as a player a lot this year, getting 2nd at a Cities with his rogue Jumpluff, and ending this event at X-2, missing the cut only because of my terrible performance. Big ups buddy!

Unfortunately I have to play my teammate and sexiest man in Pokémon, Ryan Merryfield in round 3. Ryan is head and shoulders above me so I’m pretty sure I’m going to lose, until my opening hand is Bronzong, Crobat, DCE, DCE, DCE, Twins, Poké Turn.

pokebeach.comHe gets an early lead, but as soon as I crack the Twins I start coming back, purely due to luck. I’m able to win when he has 1 or 2 Prizes left. I’m glad to have won the game, but it sucks that it has everything to do with luck.

I then drop a really close game to Matt Chin’s Gyarados, lose to an Abomasnow, a Sableye, and a Donphan go to 3-4, my first negative tournament record in forever.

I decide not to get too upset about it, since I can pinpoint exactly why I didn’t do well, and what I needed to improve upon. Plus, the topdeck God David Cohen went 4-3, so I can’t complain too much.

I don’t remember as much of the top 16, but I think it broke down like this…

1. Ross Cawthon w/ LuxChomp
2. Andrew Lowe w/ Donphan
3. Cor V. w/ ???
4. Sebastian Crema w/ DialgaChomp
5. Joseph Lowe w/ ???
6. Kevin Gomez w/ LuxChomp
7. Nicole Ingles w/ Sableye
8. Dylan Schmidt w/ Sableye
9. Jerin Head w/ Scizor
10. Gage Rose w/ Tyranitar/Vileplume/Ampharos (B-Siiiide)
11. Tyler Ninomura w/ VileLostGar (B-Siiiide)
12. Jacob Van Wagner w/ LuxChomp
13. Julian Wong w/ ???
14. Seth Kueper w/ LuxChomp (he made a decklist error and was forced to play without Luxray =[)
15. Trevor Whiton w/ LuxChomp (B-Siiiide)
16. Isaiah Monroe w/ DialgaChomp

 

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I don’t remember the breakdown, but Dylan wins the event with Sableye, Kevin Gomez gets second, and Gage gets either 3rd or 4th, can’t quite remember.

 

I also met a lot of fans of my articles at this event. I didn’t actually think that too many people read these and/or really cared about it, but I had a good amount of people come up to me and thank me for my writing and such.

It was a really good feeling, thanks to everyone who came up to me, and if you like my stuff but have never spoken to me, please feel free! I love hearing from readers.

I should also point out that Ian Whiton won this event undefeated AGAIN, at 9-0, putting himself at 20-0 for States, earning himself $600 in traveler’s checks, and putting his rating at 2000.XX. He is the swaggest kid I’ve ever met, and I have no doubt that he’ll perform better than he ever has in his last year as a Junior.

After the event we go out for pizza and reflect on how bad almost all of us (save Ian and Amelia) did at the event. Oh well, there’s always Regionals!

Props:

Team Bieber Side
The TO, Judges, staff, etc.
The Whiton’s
Wendy for letting me stay, Debbie for offering me a place to stay
Chad for getting me breakfast
Wendy and Melanie for getting me a strawberries and cream <3.
All the readers that came up to me. :)
BDS for being such a great opponent.
Dan Brandt, met him for the first time at the event, cool guy.

Slops:

The location

AFTERMATH:

I think these were my two main problems going into States…

– I decided to tech for Gengar and Scizor instead of going for consistency, even after there was little Gengar week one.

I convinced myself that both decks would be everywhere and I would have a leg up going into the matches, when in reality they were almost completely irrelevant. Needless to say, I’m definitely going to value consistency over anything else (not saying I won’t play any techs) come Regionals.

– Not preparing for a random meta. I should’ve tested more against Donphan, Magnezone/Regirock, and things like that, rather than focusing on testing against decks that I could already beat. I don’t have a whole lot of time to test, and I should’ve used it much more wisely, and turned off my tier one blinders a little bit.

Here’s the list that I’ve formulated. I’m not sure if this is going to be my Regional list as there’s still a boatload of testing to do, but this is the baseline list I’m working with…

Pokémon – 20  2 Luxray GL RR 1 Luxray GL LV.X RR 3 Garchomp C SV 1 Garchomp C LV.X SV 2 Uxie LA 1 Uxie LV.X LA 1 Dialga G PL 1 Dialga G LV.X PL 1 Azelf LA 1 Unown Q MD 1 Chatot MD 1 Dragonite FB SV 1 Ambipom G RR 1 Lucario GL RR 1 Bronzong G PL 1 Crobat G PL

Trainers – 29  4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy 3 Pokémon Collector 2 Bebe’s Search 1 Twins 1 Aaron’s Collection 4 Poké Turn 4 Energy Gain 3 Power Spray 2 SP Radar 1 Junk Arm 1 VS Seeker 1 Pokémon Communication 2 Premier Ball

Energy – 11  4 Double Colorless 3 Call 3 L 1 M

A few words…

– I’m expecting a bit of Gyarados, and if that turns out to be true I’ll probably switch to 3-1 Luxray and an Expert Belt, but for now I think 2-1 is the play.

pokebeach.com– Dialga is just too good not to play, at least in my meta. It helps tons against Mewtwo and Vilegar, and can also provide some help against Abomasnow and Scizor (although I don’t think it helps THAT much in Scizor, it can be okay).

– Chatot may end up becoming a Promocroak (and something else would be a P, not sure what yet) depending on consistency issues.

– I’d like to fit in a fourth Collector, but I’m not sure if that’s possible.

– The Twins slot is our “tech supporter” slot, which is comprised of either Twins, Looker’s, Judge, Cynthia’s, Copycat, or PONT. All are fine choices, and I haven’t completely decided which I’m going to use yet.

If I was going to drop Twins I’d probably try to be a more aggressive build and go with Looker’s. Other than that I think Copycat is a pretty sick choice that a lot of my teammates use.

– I’d like to fit in a 4th Call, but again, I’m not sure where the room is going to come from.

I’ll be sure to update you all on how the list transforms over the next few weeks, ultimately culminating with my final Regionals list and a breakdown of the Regionals metagame. Thanks for reading, and as always, if you have any questions or thoughts, leave ’em in the comments or e-mail me at kenny@sixprizes.com.