Some of our newest subscribers might not know, but just as Fulop aims to be number 1 in the USA, I have been considered in the past Mexico’s number 1 player. Unfortunately school and other activities have led me to not be as up to date as I’d like to with the game and testing, but this season I wanted to make up for that and regain my title.
Before the tournaments I started testing Lost World a LOT. I made a big investment on the overhyped Gengar Primes and I knew full well I wanted to make the best out of them. I tested the deck so much in all its variations, but none of them convinced me.
VileLostGar just felt, as Fulop described it, two subpar strategies colliding in the same deck, and it just felt you were trying to accomplish so much at the same time. Turbo LostGar just dies to a Spiritomb start pretty much, and it just completely runs out of steam after a few turns against any non Spiritomb deck.
I at least knew if I could beat out LuxChomp I would be more confident in it, but all my testing only showed me the obvious, which I was trying to ignore. LuxChomp is the undisputed BDIF (best deck in the format) right now and I’d be better off knowing mirror matches inside and out and relying on my skill, than trying to figure out a deck to beat it.
With this I switched my focus to LuxChomp and after much deliberating and discussion, ended up with this:
|
Pokémon – 20 3 Garchomp C |
Trainers – 28 4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy |
Energy – 12 4 Double Colorless |
D.F. States Report
pokegym.netI waaaaay overestimated Mexico’s metagame, having been out of it for quite some time, and I expected a lot of hyped up LostGar variants and lots of mirror. Of course as you will see in the first States report, this was NOT the case at all, which prompted me to make a few changes for the next couple of tournaments.
Anyway that was my list, and I was ready to make a comeback into the tournament scene after such a long time.
Round 1 vs Franciso A. (DialgaChomp)
We both start out strong, but fortunately for me he runs (I think) neither Ambipom G nor Dragonite FB, which IMO are essential SP techs. We exchange 1HKOs via Garchomp C’s and Garchomp C LV.X Dragon Rushing, but he decides not to have Dialga G really become a factor.
This made it essentially a LuxChomp vs Chomp matchup, and my Uxie LV.X managed to get me a crucial 1HKO on a Toxicroak G which had an Expert Belt attached (he ran 3) which turned the game hugely in my favor.
1-0
Round 2 vs ??? (Eeveelutions)
My starting hand was the following: Luxray GL, Lightning, TGI Energy Gain, TGI Poké Turn x3, Luxray GL LV.X. I was hoping between my first turn draw and the first prize I would draw I could get something, anything out to give me a fighting chance.
He starts out with an active Eevee. I topdeck Luxray GL and bench it, attach energy and pass. He draws, doesn’t draw a Supporter, attaches energy and Calls for Family and benches more Eevee’s. On my turn I draw a Garchomp C and proceed to draw my first prize by KOing the active Eevee with Luxray GL LV.X.
This went on for the next 4 turns as I had 3 TGI Poké Turn while I topdecked useless cards like Lucario and Aaron’s, but I was way ahead when he finally managed to bring Umbreon into play. I wasn’t able to attack it but I easily 1HKO’d via Crobat G and my last Poké Turn and Luxray GL to seal the game.
2-0
Round 3 vs Adriana C. (DialgaChomp)
A very friendly and nice PokéMom whom I had only seen, but never met. She was very talkative and kept saying how cool it was to play against me since she had heard about me but never met me. I got a pretty sub-par starting hand but she made a weird decision by not opting to KO my active Garchomp C and instead used Deafen with Dialga G.
This allowed me to level up and KO the Dialga, and I then just got way ahead and through prizes and a nice Uxie was able to fully set up and just dominate as she also didn’t run Dragonite nor Ambipom as far as I know. These 2 cards are crucial for any SP matchup.
3-0
Round 4 vs Abraham C. (UxieDONK)
pokemon-paradijs.comI was clueless what he was running, but after he flipped over Unown R I knew right away. Thankfully I went 2nd this time around and had a Collector in hand, thus allowing me to bench 3 more Pokémon and draw stuff with Uxie, which meant he had a very hard time doing anything really.
He got a few quick kills, but he had a Sableye with an Expert Belt benched which was Garchomp bait, and I was just able to easily overpower him with my high HP Pokémon.
I like UxieDONK but it’s so sad to see it struggle so much after the 2nd turn of the game has gone by which makes it very unreliable. It was surprising to me though that he was 3-0 so far as the tournament was filled with DialgaChomp.
4-0
Round 5 vs Miguel Angel L. (SableLock)
Ever since day 1, Miguel and I have had a healthy rivalry and have both considered the best Mexican players at some point, so it really was no surprise to see us both undefeated so far. This was the last round before the Top 8 cut so we were both pretty relaxed and we both made 2 very crucial mistakes, but it’s better now than during Top Cut right?
The match was actually pretty close since he did run Ambipom AND he started with it. Ambipom’s first attack is incredibly annoying and powerful IMO, and he disrupted my energy placements with it by stacking energy on an Uxie.
We traded prizes between ‘Chomps and Dragonite + Ambipom, but once you cycle out of that, we are left with a 3 energy requirement Honchkrow against a 1 energy requirement Luxray GL, so I won the trade off as he was out of Power Sprays to prevent Bright Looks, and managed to seal the game.
5-0
So pretty nice undefeated run, after being out of the tournament scene for quite a while due to my obligations. Luckily for me all the testing at my place payed off and I was now sitting as 1st seed of the tournament, having gained a ton of points and with my confidence at an all time high. The top cut was announced and it contained the following decks:
2 SableLock
2 UxieDONK
1 Machamp/ERL
1 DialgaChomp
1 VileGar
1 LuxChomp
Pretty weird, I know, specially 2 SableLocks and Uxie DONKs. The pairings go up and I’m playing against one of the UxieDONK’s.
Top 8 vs ??? (UxieDONK)
pokemon-paradijs.comI knew what I was playing against from scouting. My game plan against this deck is to always survive the first 2 turns, if you do that, you’re good to go for the rest of the game as it becomes downhill from there.
Game 1 plays out just like that as I draw a Call and Luxray GL in my starting hand, get 2 more Basics, and he only manages to KO my active Luxray. I stabilize after that with continuous Cyrus’s after a Collector and it just becomes a bloodbath of low HP Pokémon against my Pokémon SP.
1-0
Game 2 he chooses to go second and my hand isn’t that hot this time, with only a Garchomp C and Unown Q to show for it. If I get another turn and am able to Cyrus for a Collector and an SP Radar I should be good for the rest of the game, but I never do get that turn as he manages to Flash Bite Unown Q and then do just enough to KO Garchomp, tieing the match at 1-1.
I hate losing this way but at least I know Game 3 I get to go second so with any normal or average hand I should be good.
1-1
Game 3 I get to go second after his draw pass with a Crobat G, and just Collector knowing it’s my game to lose from here on out. He struggles early to get anything going as I Power Spray his first Uxie, and he concedes a few turns after that knowing he didn’t stand a chance.
2-1
6-0 (7-1)
Top 4 vs Abraham M. (DialgaChomp)
I feel pretty confident in the matchup as I’ve mentioned before, and Game 1 played out pretty normally.
There were no real highlights during this game, we both exchanged Garchomp C’s but my Dragonite FB at the end turned out victorious, giving me the prize advantage in the end, and after that it was just a matter of time before I picked off Crobat G and Uxie to win the game.
1-0
Game 2 was pretty short as Game 1 lasted a lot quite a while since he never scooped even though he was behind all game. Once again I pressed my advantage with Luxray GL LV.X while he struggled to find a response, and right after the Garchomp war began, time ran out on his turn with us being 4-5 in prizes with me being ahead. The next 3 turns left the counter 3-4 in my favor which gave me the match.
2-0
7-0 (9-1)
Top 2 vs Miguel Angel L. (SableLock)
pokemon-paradijs.comA repeat of Round 5, and against a deck I know I have an inherent advantage against, just like with DialgaChomp and UxieDONK. The key to the match is to survive the early game, and Chatot becomes huge to accomplish this.
Game 1 started out pretty evenly after he failed to lock me. I was pretty confident and got a nice lead of 2 Prizes. Unfortunately for me, I had 2 Cyrus’s Conspiracy prized and so my Cyrus chain didn’t last very long. I kept ahead all game until the very end, as I started to run out of resources and never had an opening to set up Uxie LV.X to keep the flow of cards incoming.
Miguel tied the score at 2-2 Prizes, after he won out the Garchomp war by using Aaron’s to bring back Ambipom G. this turned the tide as my hand had useless cards, my Luxray GL got Sprayed and I never drew into more than 1 DCE all game.
This turn was clutch as I pulled off a KO but my field had no energy whatsoever besides the Psychic on my about to be KO’d Toxicroak G, and he had a benched Honchkrow just waiting to wreck my field. Luckily for me my prize was Aaron’s Collection, so with that and the Premier Ball I had in hand to fetch Uxie LV.X, all I needed was to get 1-of my 2 TGI Energy Gains left in my 10 card deck and Aaron’s for Luxray GL LV.X and a Lightning to seal the game.
What does he do though? Plays his second Cyrus Initiative on the clutch turn, and flips Heads twice to get rid of my Aaron’s and Premier Ball. KOs my active Toxicroak G and it goes to me. I topdeck a Call and have no outs to win or KO anything so I just pass and he KOs my active Uxie for the game.
Game 1 lasted 37 or so minutes of the 40 we get for top cut (ridiculous I know), so I just shuffle and even though we set up, my hand is garbage, his is good and he manages to draw 1 Prize when time runs out, so I lose Game 2 and the match.
7-1 (9-3)
2nd place is not bad at all, and considering I only lost the final against the highest rated player in Mexico, I knew I won a ton of points. I started out at 1610 this tournament, and after it was uploaded I was at 1711 and #5 in Mexico, not bad I’d say. I had a lot of things on mind, especially how my read on the metagame was so far off when I used to always be spot on.
Next weekend meant 2 tournaments back to back, so I figured most people wouldn’t change their deck for Sunday, but Saturday could mean a completely different metagame, specially considering the top cut having 4 SP decks and 2 UxieDONK’s.
Based on this, I assumed many people would try running more counters to SP decks, especially Machamp based and the popularity of VileGar should increase. I also had to take in mind Saturday’s State Championship was in a State 3 hours away from Mexico City, and with a known very scarce player base. This meant I would be playing against a lot of the stronger Mexico City players much sooner than last time around.
With all things considered, I ended up with a very similar list to last time around, except with a few minor tweaks based on my metagame predictions and the broken-ness that is Ambipom G in SP vs SP games. This was it:
|
Pokémon – 19 3 Garchomp C |
Trainers – 29 4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy |
Energy – 12 4 Double Colorless |
The cards changed were the following:
-1 Weavile G: As I said, I overestimated Mexico’s metagame, and LostGar was nowhere to be seen, and with SableLock placing twice in the Top 8, I figured no one would play it once again.
-1 Chatot: Another card I never used last time around, and I figured I didn’t need since my list seemed superior and more consistent to anything I went up against, and even when I had unplayable hands, they were never accompanied with a Chatot to help me save myself.
-1 Copycat: Rarely found the time to use it, there always a lot of better and more reliable supporters to use in place of it.
-1 Twins: Given the decks aggressive nature, it is rare to find yourself behind in games, and since I expected very few or none mirrors, I figured I could get away with not using it either.
-1 D Energy (Basic): Obvious change due to the lack of Weavile G.
+1 P Energy: In place of the Darkness, I didn’t want to go under 12 Energy total.
+1 Seeker: My pseudo Mewtwo counter and overall useful card. I was sure I would find more situations to use Seeker than Twins or Copycat effectively, and with the SP success and the small attendance expected, I figured I could possibly use this to try and fight it off by sniping the bench until Mewtwo +1 Pokémon are left and then Bright Looking + Seeker to remove the threat.
+1 Ambipom G: This guy caused me a lot of issues when playing against it in the final, and I always knew Ambipom + Dragonite are better than just Dragonite, so it was an obvious inclusion to make the SP matchups easier by having more Colorless revenge Pokémon.
+1 TGI Energy Gain: Just to increase overall consistency for mirror matches. This is a card that you can never have enough of, and 3 is ‘just enough’ but 4 is much, much safer.
+1 Junk Arm: another utility card like Seeker, it can act as an extra TGI card of any sort, and help you to even reuse VS Seeker and get a 6th Cyrus going.
So that’s it, I was ready to keep my World Championship charge for the next weekend. We get to the place and as predicted, the Mexico City travellers make up for more than half the tournament, and we’re not even enough Masters for a Top 8, so I knew I’d be in for some tough rounds since the beginning.
Queretaro States Report
Round 1 vs ??? (Blaziken/Typhlosion)
All I saw were Torchics and Cyndaquil’s, 2-of each, as he never got anything going. I believe he was a new player so he had very Supporters and I Sprayed his Uxie which sealed the game.
1-0
Round 2 vs Roberto S. (LuxChomp)
As predicted, already a tough match against a good opponent. We both start out normally, but I managed to set up Uxie LV.X freely which helps me get a little bit ahead by having that extra draw. Even though I only see 1 DCE, my field is more stable than his, and this is were running both Dragonite AND Ambipom paid off.
We both exchanged Garchomp KOs and Dragonite KO’,s but since I took the initiative, he had the last Garchomp C LV.X standing, but I responded with Ambipom G and this meant he was pretty much out of resources, and I pulled off a narrow win 0-2 in prizes.
2-0
Round 3 vs Miguel Angel L. (SableLock)
pokemon-paradijs.comA repeat of the final, except this time there was no such luck as in, he locked me since turn 1 and I was never able to set up or do anything. Chatot G kept me from drawing anything useful, and he quickly ran over my few Basic Pokémon.
2-1
Round 4 vs Adriana C. (DialgaChomp)
A repeat of last week’s game as well, except she started off pretty poorly against my amazing start. My first Garchomp C LV.X just sniped every energy she got on the field trying to get something up, and it was a pretty fast 0-6 blowout match.
3-1
Round 5 vs ??? (TurboDonphan)
This game was pretty weird, in the sense that we set up, flipped over my Lxuray + Garchomp to his lone Uxie. I started, attached Call Energy and searched for 2 more Garchomp’s. I figured if I wanted a shot at winning this, I needed to cycle Garchomp¡s + Toxic with Crobat G.
I then pass on the turn; he draws his card, makes an ugly face after looking at his hand, and decides to scoop… Pretty weird, but I guess he didn’t have anything and didn’t want to waste time? Oh well no biggie.
4-1
So I make Top 4 and am guaranteed another medal which is pretty nice, but I’m in it to win it all. The Top 4 matches look like this:
LuxChomp (Me) vs VileLostGar (Abraham C.)
Gyarados (Franciso A.) vs LuxChomp (Roberto S.)
VileGar was actually the last deck I wanted to face, given how I dropped Weavile G from the list but oh well, nothing I could do about it.
Top 4 vs Abraham C. (VileLostGar)
Game 1 starts out normally, he starts off with Spiritomb and I start with a decent hand to allow me to Bright Look on Turn 2 something benched in order to remove the Trainer Lock for a bit and get ahead.
Unfortunately for me, he plays Judge on the second turn, and removes my options. The Judge hurts us both but he is able to set up both VilePlume and Gengar with it. It takes a while for him to get a P Energy to attack with Gengar, while I snipe around some benched Pokémon trying to get a Bright Look + Uxie LV.X snipe on Vileplume but I was never able to, and despite being up 3 Prizes to his one, I was never going to be able to win on time so I scooped to save time for Game 2 and hopefully 3.
0-1
Many people around us found this weird, but given the current game state and my hand, I was going to run out of resources and didn’t have enough to draw 3 more prizes under a Trainer Lock, while he would get 1 Prize every turn from now on since my hand was filled with Trainers.
Game 2 went completely the other way around, and I got way ahead quite quickly, with a turn 2 Bright Look to KO an Oddish, and free me from Trainer Lock, followed by a KO on Spiritomb (which he started with AGAIN) and it went downhill from there on for him. He scooped when I was ahead 1-6 in prizes.
1-1
Game 3 was looking like a repeat of Game 2 except he was able to turn it around by topdecking a clutch Twins. The game was tied at 4-4, when time and +3 turns ran out, so I set up my field to snipe on the next turn and win. EXCEPT the judge present did not know the proper rules, and he forced us to restart for a sudden death Game 4, since there was no clear winner of Game 3.
Pretty stupid I know, and I tried to appeal the decision, but the head judge also said the same thing so we had to restart…
1-1-1
Game 4 (lol what a joke) I figured no biggie right? If there is anything my deck excels at is taking quick prizes. Well that’s too bad because of course I started with Dragonite as my lone basic Pokémon with a 3 Retreat Cost. He starts out with Spiritomb for the 4th time in a row now, and beings to slowly set up while I struggle to find energy to retreat.
Thankfully he also was pretty slow, and I finally managed to KO the active Spiritomb to win the game. At one point I thought he had me and was going to be pretty mad at losing on the judges not knowing the rules…
2-1-1
5-1 (6-2)
Top 2 vs Roberto S. (LuxChomp)
pokemon-paradijs.comIn Game 1 we both have decent starts. We both grab early Dragonite’s and Garchomp’s preparing for the imminent colorless war… Except I started out with Lucario GL and he decided to KO it with a fully powered Dragonite.
Myself and the crowd were pretty surprised by this, and I found it a little fishy, but I have enough Garchomp C responses to the next few 1HKOs and Ambipom G that I figured I’d be OK. I responded with my own Dragonite. He responded with a Garchomp.
I responded with my own Garchomp. He sent out his last Garchomp on the field and leveled it up. I responded with my own Garchomp C LV.X and Flash Bite for the 1HKO, knowing he would probably have no response since his hand was thin and he had no energy on the field, having already used 2 DCE’s.
I was right, and had a fully powered Garchomp ready to snipe anything that got an energy attached to it, as well as a slew of Poké Turns and 1 DCE in hand. He quickly realized he was going to lose and thus scooped.
1-0
Game 2 started out pretty even as well, except I only 1 Cyrus and needed to Collector to set up my field. I did so and Collectored for 2 Uxie in order to set up. He Sprayed the first and allowed the second one, which I believe is a decent play given how bench space is so crucial in these matchups.
Unfortunately I didn’t draw anything useful from Uxie’s set up. By useful I mean to allow me to continue to set up and get resources, because I did draw enough stuff to keep up the colorless Pokémon war, but I was not abel to topdeck anything useful beyond that, while he kept using Cyrus’s and Collectors.
After a while I was able to draw into an Uxie LV.X which of course got Sprayed and then sniped, and finally I topdecked a Collector for my last Uxie which also got Sprayed, ultimately ending in my demise as I ran out resources and lost Game 2 by a small margin despite having only played 3 Supporters all game.
1-1
Time ran out as we were shuffling so we only set up for sudden death. We flipped and he went first. I opened with the following hand:
Ambipom G, Garchomp C, Garchomp C LV.X, Cyrus’s Conspiracy, TGI Energy Gain, Unown Q, L Energy.
My plan was the following. Start out with Ambipom G in case of donk possibility on my turn, but if not, simply power up Garchomp C for a Turn 2 snipe and win.
He opened Smeargle, drew his card and Portraited my Cyrus, looking for a Collector, a Lightning and a TGI Energy Gain. Attached the Lightning energy to Smeargle to prevent a KO from Smeargle and passed.
I drew a Luxray GL. I thought about it and decided on doing the following:
pokemon-paradijs.comI attached the Lightning to Garchomp C, the TGI Gain as well, benched Luxray GL and used ‘Quick’ on Ambipom G and played the Cyrus. I decided not to choose a Supporter to not allow him to Portrait and get more outs to KO me on his next turn, so I only chose a TGI Power Spray and a L Energy.
I passed, knowing I had the win next turn with Garchomp C if I managed to survive. Turns out I of course wouldn’t be able to, since he did the following:
Crobat G ‘Flash Bite’ (I Power Spray), x2 TGI Poké Turn, Collector for Dragonite FB, Energy Gain, DCE and KO…
5-2 (7-4)
And thus got another 2nd place. Disappointing I must say, as a normal Game 2 would’ve surely given me a win as I was almost always ahead but this is Pokémon and there is luck involved, nothing you can do about it.
We then all went back to Mexico City, got to my house pretty late at around 11, and was tired, so I just went straight to bed to be ready for Sunday’s tournament.
I woke up on time and decided to make one last change to my previous list:
-1 Psychic +1 Call Energy: I realized every game I set up, I win, every game I have a rocky start I struggle to win so more Call Energy meant more consistency.
Edo. De Mexico States Report
Round 1 vs ??? (Scizor/Magnezone/Steelix)
I was pretty worried when I saw a field of Onix, 2× Scyther and a Magnemite. I figured if this game went on for a long time, I would struggle to win this out. Luckily his hand had a lot of Basic Pokémon and he went first and attached an energy card, so he had 3 cards left in his hand.
With this in mind, I set up my turn to make sure I had a TGI Power Spray in my hand, to make sure he had no outs to drawing anything useful, and I figured I could deal with 1 Scizor Prime early if it was the only thing he managed. I passed the turn on to him and he evolved Magnemite and simply passed.
I took this opportunity to Bright Look the Magneton and KO the benched Scyther with energy, giving me more breathing room. He topdecked a Bebe, search for Uxie but I of course used Power Spray, and he continued to draw into nothing useful so I just wiped out his field.
1-0
Round 2 vs ??? (DialgaChomp)
Another SP mirror, and he started out pretty badly to my good start. I set up Dragonite FB to start KOing his field of Crobat G, Bronzong G and Dialga G. I got the first KO and he had nothing, so he promoted Bronzong and had Dialga on the bench. This was the only time ever Seeker was used, as I simply played it and dropped Crobat G to KO Bronzong G and win.
2-0
Round 3 vs Ulises S. (Machamp/ERL)
pokemon-paradijs.comThis guy and I have Pokémon history. He always always always runs good against me, every flip goes his way, both mine and his, and he always always gets incredible hands and set ups. This game of course was no different.
He started out with a Turn 2 Machamp, to my prized Uxie LV.X and Azelf, and the one turn that looked like I had a chance, he flipped heads on BOTH SSU’s on a Mesprit and Uxie, which meant my lone Power Spray was useless since both of them helped him out and well, I was pretty tilted at the whole situation I just scooped not wanting to keep on playing.
2-1
Round 4 vs ??? (DialgaChomp)
I go first with a DCE and Luxray GL as my Active against his lone Unown Q, oh well.
3-1
Round 5 vs ??? (Eeveelutions)
This is the same guy as the first States I went to, and the game went pretty much the same except I had a decent hand now, and so Umbreon was never a problem and none of the other Eeveelutions hit the field in time. Easy win here, standard Bright Looking and Dragon Rushing anything threatening and Power Spraying any Uxie’s.
4-1
So I make top cut for the 3rd time in a row, pretty nice run if you ask me. The top cut had the following decks:
1 Gyarados
1 SableLock
1 LuxChomp
1 Gengar/Machamp
1 Machamp/Flygon
1 VileLostGar
2 DialgaChomp
I don’t know how they were paired up, but I was facing the Gyarados.
Top 8 vs ??? (Gyarados)
I was a little bit worried about this match, as I know people like to tech Twins AND Expert Belt just for this match, and I had neither, and a thin 2-1 Luxray GL line. I knew I would have to stretch my resources pretty thinly in a close match.
Game 1 started out normally, with me Spraying Regice to prevent discarding of Magikarps and getting a little bit ahead. I set up my field to make sure Garchomp and Uxie were doing the attacking before Gyarados came up, and making sure I had 2 Luxray’s ready with energy in hand to make sure I 1HKO even an Expert Belted Gyarados.
Fortunately for me he never drew into a BTS, which meant I just had free rein on his low HP support Pokémon, and once he managed to set up a Gyarados, Iw as way too ahead and he decided to scoop to save time.
1-0
Game 2 his start was slow because he risked trying to score an early KO on my Uxie with Sableye since he ran Darks, but he didn’t pull it off, thus I got ahead and by the time we were 3-6 in prizes he scooped. No big plays here, just normal KOing.
2-0
5-1 (6-1)
Top 4 vs Miguel Angel L. (SableLock)
Once again we face off, and Game 1 he manages to lock me pretty badly. We are not even 5 turns into the game when I decided to scoop as things were looking hopeless.
1-0
Game 2 I decided to go second and he had a lone Chatot G opening. He passed and I had the Collector + Energy Gain + Unown Q to retreat my Uxie and donk with Ambipom G, tieing up the match to 1-1.
1-1
Game 3 starts off like Game 1. I had to use Call Energy for an Uxie since my only out was a Seeker in my hand, but of course he used Cyrus Initiative to remove it and thus shattering my hopes of ever winning the match. This is the only reason why I’m putting Chatot MD back into the deck, that card alone would’ve made my time so much easier this game.
He used the first Chatot G and made me topdeck an Energy Gain and a Poké Turn. I had lost all hope by this time, and as I was considering just scooping, I drew my card and it was a Pokémon Collector. Apparently he miscalculated and forgot what I had up top, and thus I used it to fetch 2 Uxie’s and Dragonite FB.
I attached TGI Energy Gain and was able to set up freely, drawing a DCE and 1HKOing his active Garchomp C LV.X. He had no response but he wasted a lot of resources to ensure the lock, and thus it went downhill for him from there on and he scooped.
2-1
6-1 (8-2)
pokemon-paradijs.comThe other semifinal match was Gengar/Machamp against VileLostGar, and I think I’d rather battle it out against Gengar/Machamp as the Trainer lock is a lot more hindering than Machamp is, as I actually have solid responses for Machamp. Luckily Gengar/Machamp won out in the end, and I was ready for one heck of a ride or a historical 2nd place run.
Top 2 vs Hanzell C. (Gengar/Machamp)
Game 1 started out pretty evenly, and he played a full 3-1 Uxie line as well. So my first Power Spray was no use as he dropped 2 to his bench which I didn’t predict or else I could’ve stopped it. His energy line up was pretty weird, and he wasted all his resources into setting up Machamp.
This allowed me to ensure I had an Uxie LV.X response, and after I 1HKO’d the first Machamp, I sniped a Machoke on the bench with Dragon Rush, and he quickly realized he was out of options and conceded Game 1.
1-0
Game 2 started out the same, early Machamp, followed by an Uxie response, followed by another Machamp, and finally a Premier Ball’ed Uxie LV.X which sealed the game as he was left with a zero card hand and a bunch of useless Uxie’s. He played it out until I drew my last prize but I finally won.
2-0
7-1 (10-2)
Pretty sick run but hey, third time’s the charm right? I finally secured a first place medal, earned a ton of points over these 3 tournaments and won a bunch of booster packs that I really enjoyed opening up.
I predicted I would be sitting at 1810+ after this run, and as of writing this I am now at 1811 exactly. The last tournament is do or die for me, as I can’t attend Nationals and probably can’t make it to any Regionals, so here we go for my last attempt at a Worlds invite this year.
I decided to only make one last change to my deck, allowing me to call my list ‘perfect’ up to this point, and the most comfortable I’ll ever be with it and a 60 card limit. I subbed Chatot MD back in for the 4th TGI Poké Turn, as I want to make sure I have the best odds against a bad start and 4 Collector, 4 Call, Chatot and 4 Cyrus should help me with that.
Morelos State Report
Round 1 vs Luis P. (Jumpluff/Infernape 4)
I call him the dream killer. My start was average, compared to his amazing one where he played 2 Uxie’s, Mesprit, Azelf and 2 Jumpluff’s on his first turn to 1HKO my active Luxray GL. I was able to stabilize a bit by leveling up and leaving my bench a bit empty, but a miscalculation made me leave only 2 Pokémon SP in play, which meant he was able to use an Uxie’s ‘Set up’ and got enough resources to keep the Jumpluff onslaught and thus beat me 1-0 in prizes.
0-1
Given he is an out of state person, and a pretty unknown player, I know at best his rating stands at 1650ish. This means the loss drops me more than 22 points, bringing me back down to 1790ish and forcing me to win the tournament or that’s that. Even winning all next 4 swiss rounds was no guarantee though, as we were 31 masters I think, and so we only got a Top 4 cut.
Round 2 vs ??? (Steelix/Scizor/Blissey)
He flipped over an Onix, Scyther and Chansey and I knew I was in for a tough ride. Thankfully I started with an Uxie, a Premier Ball and a DCE in hand going first, so I was able to 1HKO his active Scyther with Zen Blade and already had Uxie LV.X out to help me continue to gather resources to KO the big Pokémon I had to face.
I was able to Power Spray his 2 initial Uxie’s, but what I had not considered was he would go ahead and flip heads on 2 consecutive Moo Moo Milk’s AND on all 4-of his Super Scoop Ups… This happened throughout the course of the game, after I had managed to KO the initial Scyther, a Steelix Prime, a Scizor Prime, and a Crobat G.
He had now gathered enough resources to power up one last Scizor but it had 4 energies attached and he had a lot of discarded energies and a small hand, so I Bright Look’d an Uxie up and used Flash Impact for 60. He had no way to retreat it, so next turn I played down Crobat G and used Garchomp C LV.X to snipe the other benched Uxie to get my last 2 Prizes and win.
1-1
Round 3 vs ??? (Kingdra/Machamp)
Once again I go first and just watch helplessly as he uses several Uxie’s to set up both a Machamp AND a Kingdra LA on turn 1. I have to give up 3 Prizes before I am able to Zen Blade Machamp to oblivion and give me a fighting chance.
He used up a lot of resources in the first few turns, so he was only drawing his card for the turn and then attacking, and thus this allowed me to set up 2 Luxray’s to make sure I had 1HKOs on his Expert Belted Kingdra’s. Once I KO’d those, the prize count was 1-2 in my favor and I had an unstoppable snipe with Dragon Rush on any of his pixies for the game so he scooped then.
2-1
Round 4 vs ??? (Vilegar)
pokegym.netThis game was pretty intense. The guy started off with Spiritomb + a few basics and he started to set up but he had not laid down an Oddish yet. I got a turn 2 Luxray GL to 1HKO his benched Haunter with a Flash Bite along with letting me play down some trainers before he promoted Spiritomb once again, but he had a Rescue Energy on it so he didn’t really lose much there.
Next turn though was really surprising, as he chose a Gastly as his active Pokémon to replace the Haunter rather than Spiritomb, and then he confidently topdecked an Oddish and layed it down, and then used RARE CANDY into Vileplume. My face at that time must have been priceless. He probably runs a single Rare Candy, and he of course had it, and why not run Rare Candy in a Trainer lock deck right?
It’s times like these when I realize how weak Mexico’s metagame really is and how incredibly unlucky I am sometimes to actually struggle with my average starts against these horrid decks that run flawlessly against me.
Anyway after this surprising move, my heart sank as even though I was ahead and had a few resources to make sure I stayed ahead, I didn’t think I’d be able to draw all 6 Prizes before my hand got clumped with Trainers and he could just 1HKO anything I had.
The key turn came when I had 3 Trainers in hand, one of which was a Cyrus’s Conspiracy. He had used Poltergeist last turn so he knew what I had. I topdecked a TGI Energy Gain and played the Cyrus, and figured I’d just go for an energy card to prevent another KO as he would only deal 90 once again, but then my plan changed.
I had enough energy on the field and Bronzong G to attack with a new Luxray next turn, so I purposely went for an energy and an Aaron’s Collection, to allow me to replace the active Luxray GL LV.X when it got KO’ed next turn and this would let me Bright Look Vileplume next turn and 2HKO it.
This is exactly what happened and seeing how he ran Rare Candy I figured he wouldn’t have Warp Energy as his hand was 3 cards and I would bet my life he doesn’t even run it. He had already played 2 Unown Q’s so I knew he wouldn’t lay down a third, and I even considered he could possibly run DCE and use that to retreat, but it was highly unlikely.
I 2HKO’d the Vileplume, was free to use Trainers on my next turn, and thus I demolished all his benched Pokémon and only risking Fainting Spell once, eventually giving me the game.
3-1
Round 5 vs ??? (SableLock)
Things were looking up, and I knew what this next guy was playing and felt confident, specially with my re-inclusion of Chatot MD to the list, all I needed was to play him and I’d be good to go. Of course destiny had other plans though.
My starting hand was the following: Garchomp C, Bebe’s Search, Aaron’s Collection, VS Seeker, Junk Arm, Premier Ball, TGI Energy Gain.
My heart sank when I saw this but it was not all lost if he didn’t start with Sableye and I went 2nd (yeah right never going to happen to me). He mulligans once and I draw a Collector off of it. Great right? WRONG, he doesn’t run Chatot G so he can’t mess with my topdecks, and of course he started with Sableye, went first AND flipped both heads for Cyrus Initiative…
How unlucky is it that a mulligan from your opponent actually hurts you, because otherwise I would’ve topdecked the Collector, fetched Unown Q, Chatot and Luxray and just worked my way to a standard win, but of course not, that’s not how lady luck likes to dance with me.
pokemon-paradijs.comHe of course chooses both my useful Supporters, he continues to remove cards from my hand, and I even managed to topdeck a Bebe’s, get Chatot and Mimic for 8, which didn’t fetch anything useful for a long game scenario of course, and I even brought the game down to a 1-1 tie in prizes up until my last turn, where my Seeker is prized and thus I cannot Flash Bite 3 times and then Zen Blade with Uxie LV.X for 60 on Honchkrow for the game.
3-2
Pretty ridiculous way to finish a game and my run. I don’t think I was having good luck before, and none of my losses I would attribute to my opponent’s outplaying me in any sort of way. My own misplays in some games and my incredibly bad luck (seriously, how many times does a mulligan actually help the played who mulliganed?).
Now you might wonder why all hope is lost for me? Well school doesn’t let really let me fly out to Regionals, I really had to stretch things out to attend all 4 States and now I’m having to make up for lost time.
I am doing my social service programme in the summer, from May 25th until July 15th, and Mexico Nationals is in-between those dates almost 100% certain which means I cannot go, so all that I have left is the grinder unless something strange happens that lets me go to Regionals.
Thank you for reading my report and hope you enjoyed it!
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