After going 4-3 and missing top cut at both States I went to, I was starting to lose a lot of faith in VileGar. It’s clunky, absolutely dies to a fast setup or anything that can 1HKO Spiritombs early, and I have some of the worst luck ever when it comes to flipping Fainting Spells. Or drawing into anything I need.
(No joke when I say that I’ve spent multiple turns floundering around because I had no way of searching out Pokémon, and then I Looker’s’d myself into a hand of three Pokémon Collector and drew nothing but Bebe’s and Collector the rest of the game.)
Regardless, after a “eureka” moment, I decided to stick with it. It’s really the only deck that I know how to use, after all.
I had an a capella concert that Friday night before the tournament, so I wasn’t able to go attend the pre-tournament festivities, but I got a ride down to St. Louis after the performance, got, like, no sleep, and woke up ready to do a mediocre job at this tournament, too.
Pokémon – 27
4 Gastly TM |
Trainers – 20
1 Pokémon Communication |
Energy – 13 |
pokebeach.comSo before I get started with the report, just give me a moment to explain some of the things I did.
Before I start with the most glaringly obvious addition to the standard VileGar list, I’ll tackle the other Pokémon. The 2-1-1 Vileplume doesn’t get out as quickly as a traditional 2-2-2, but it does get out fast enough, lets me cut room for other cards, and doesn’t clog up my hand nearly as much later.
By cutting down, I’m actually improving consistency a little bit, if that makes any sense at all. This is also a HUGE metagame decision — I expected (and saw) a lot of DialgaChomp and VileGar, neither of which really threaten Vileplume that much. If the meta were LuxChomp-heavy like everywhere else seems to be, I’d definitely go 2-2-2.
The extra Oddish is there for the consistency. If I can get Oddish out easily, I can just Grace my way up to the ‘Plume.
3 Spiritomb decreases the odds of me starting with it, but it also means less dead-draw. Instead, I put a Chatot in as a last-ditch consistency tech just in case my hand is just /that/ bad. I actually didn’t use it much, but then again, there were situations where I completely forgot I ran it, so I’m neutral on it. Cutting the Spiritomb didn’t hurt too much at all, but Chatot I’m not too sure about. I’ll probably drop it for a Copycat.
Pokémon Communication is there for the added consistency before I trainerlock, or against Dialga, which I expected a lot of. Luxury Ball can’t search out LV.X’s — specifically, Gengar LV.X. As for no Palmer’s Contribution, that’s a card I dropped a long time ago. I hate using it for my Supporter for the turn instead of a Twins or a Bebe’s or something that can help me get Pokémon back on the field. Between Rescue Energy and my thick line of Gengar, I don’t miss Palmer’s at all.
pokebeach.comNow for Blaziken. The week after States, I thought to myself, if I’m not running Palmer’s, Cyrus, or any other way of searching basic Energy, what’s stopping me from running Rainbow Energy to open up a whole new realm of teching my deck out? Immediately, the first thing I thought of were Steelix and DialgaChomp, two really iffy matchups for VileGar. What do both decks have in common?
On top of that, with cards like Bronzong G, Regice, and Regirock surging in popularity, Luring Flame can be used to mess with my opponent in a lot of different matchups. Plus, Jet Shoot does the magic 80 damage to 1HKO almost all SP basics you’ll see.
Then, I realized that the damage counter from Rainbow Energy also solves the problem with decks like Steelix or Magnezone running Skuntank to do that extra 11th damage counter on Gengar to bypass Fainting Spell and Rescue Energy. Essentially, I’m forcing the Fainting Spell flip and the Rescue Energy. Considering Skuntank gave me huge problems in States, that’s a definite plus.
Playtesting yielded positive results, so I stuck with it.
Anyway, the report!
Round 1: Richard V. with Magnezone/Regirock
Figures, of the 130 or so other people at the tournament, I got paired against one of my playtesting partners. Yay.
pokebeach.comSo I started Gastly to his Magnemite, sans Collector. But I Bebe’s’d for Uxies and decided to forgo the trainerlock and steal prizes after seeing his slow setup. Bad move. I had to 2-shot anything on his side of the board (can’t 1-shot anything except pixies with a Crobat drop), so he was able to get a Magnezone Prime out and started the Regi Cycle cycle with multiple fighting energies in the discard pile.
By that point, my bench was filled with useless things, so in one of my more brilliant maneuvers of the tournament, I wasted my attack Psychic Restoring an Uxie to the bottom to free up some bench space. Then, I Shadow Room the active Magnezone, and then he KOs my Gengar. Fainting Spell. Heads. On a Magnezone with 60 HP left. Go figure.
Then the real problems arise when he plays one of five Trainers in his deck by setting up and Expert Belting another Magnezone Prime. I’m not able to KO his Magnezone, and he’s able to KO multiple Gengars with Regirocks cycling back and forth, and while I’m able to KO a Regirock, I’m unable to flip any heads on Fainting Spells to KO that belted monstrosity, so I lose in short order.
Before you say anything, he had a Warp Energy in his hand the entire time. Looker’s’d him once, and then Poltergeisted later in the game — Blaziken would have only gotten itself killed. The joys of playing against a playtesting partner. =(
0-1
Round 2: Josh K. with MewDos
He started Mew with my Gastly, and I started freaking out. If it was MewPerior with a Mew start, I was done for. I could just kiss top cut goodbye. But he starts\ed by Lost Zoning a Gyarados, which means much better news for me.
pokebeach.comWith my Gastly Pitch Dark trainerlocking for me (Haha, can’t Regice around that one!), I was able to set up a Gengar fairly quickly on my bench. He got the first KO on my Spiritomb, so I played Twins to get Vileplume set up and started Poltergeisting Mews off the field.
He was able to keep a steady stream of Mew Primes, but he couldn’t 1HKO my Gengars, while my Gengars could 1HKO his Mews. Multiple Rescue Energy, a second Gengar, and a Fainting Spell heads pushed me ahead in the Prize trade, and he was eventually stuck with Regice active, which I Shadow Roomed to death. Good game!
1-1
Round 3: David C. with Regis
In one of the less fun games of the tournament, I started Gastly and Oddish to his Regigigas SF. Immediately, I thought Regigigas, but he benched a Registeel and a Regice shortly afterward. He left that Regigigas active and tried to build up other Regis on the bench, but I was able to use his stalling to my advantage and leisurely got Gengar and Vileplume set up.
For the rest of the game, I just Shadow Roomed the Regis he kept benching for some reason for a lot of cheap prizes.
Eventually, he caught on and stuck a DCE on the active ‘Gigas to hit me for 10. So I hit it back with Poltergeist for a 1HKO. Then he sent out that ‘Gigas LA he’d been charging the whole time, used Bebe’s for the LV.X, and then hit me with Giga Blaster. Ouch. So I just Luring Flamed his Regice active and continued sniping around it for the game.
2-1
Round 4: Andrew M. with Magnezone/Regirock
pokebeach.comWe both started slow that game — my Spiritomb to his Magnemite. My hand was dead, dead, dead. He got a Collector turn two or three. Fun.
Regardless, he had difficulty getting the other cards he needed, and I finally topdecked a Looker’s. Both of our hands looked painful, so I shuffled and drew into something decent. I started slowly getting Gengar/Vileplume set up while he struggled to get his Magnezone out.
Eventually, he dropped a Sunyshore City Gym and a Skuntank G to pester my Spiritomb, and I responded by Warping Spiritomb out of the active, leveling up my Uxie, and then retreating back to Spiritomb to Darkness Grace some more. The way the math worked out, that left Spiritomb at 10 HP, and if he Poison Structured for the KO, it’d be Knocked Out going into my turn. I had a Twins in hand, too.
So he called Poison Structure, I used Twins, and between Twins, the other Twins I grabbed from my prizes, and Uxie LV.X, I was able to get fully set up.
Thanks to Rainbow Energy’s single damage counter, he was unable to use Skuntank to bypass Fainting Spell and Rescue Energy, while I Shadow Roomed Skuntank and eventually his Magnezones to death while he struggled to get Energy in the discard pile for Regirock. Rescue Energy and Fainting Spell helped, too.
I don’t think I Poltergiested a single time that game, either. =P
3-1
Round 5: Matt B. with Speed Machamp
I started Spiritomb and Oddish to his Machop. Machop looked promising. Problem? Gloom was prized and I had the most craptastic start I could’ve asked for.
So after a bit of both of us draw/passing, I finally topdecked a Bebe’s, which I used to search out Uxie, and started finally getting myself set up. Off the Set Up, I hit a Pokémon Collector, so the next turn, I used that to get myself started. He got a Regice out shortly afterward, but by that time, I already had the Vileplume out.
Looker’s Investigation nabbed me an Energy and confirmed what I thought — speed Machamp. I Luring Flamed his Regice active and started sniping around it with Gengar, and he scooped.
4-1
Round 6: Mike G. with Magnezone/Machamp
pokebeach.comThis is where things get interesting. We both started Uxie, and he went first. He hit me with Psychic Restore, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep playing if I didn’t get another basic out. I Looker’s’d myself (I told him, “Looker’s Investigation. Me. I’d like to see what’s in your hand, though.”)
Luckily, I drew into a Spiritomb and an Uxie, so I played those down and Psychic Restored to the bottom.
After that, I started haphazardly getting myself set up with Bebe’s Search and Darkness Grace. I had the Oddish on the bench, Vileplume in hand, and a Gengar with a psychic energy on it when he KO’d my Spiritomb for his second prize. I had no way of getting another Spiritomb out, so I sent out Gengar to pull a Twins from my prizes.
He was able to use that trainerlock-free turn to get himself set up some more (most notably slapping both a Machamp and a Magnezone Prime onto the field with the help of Rare Candy). He couldn’t do too much, though, so he attached and passed. I attacked his benched Magnezone, but the next turn, he searched for a Ditto, put a Rainbow Energy on it, and Shadow Roomed my Gengar.
I can’t say I saw it coming, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected, either. I couldn’t attack with very much on my field right now, and leaving Gengar out would be a really stupid move. The only two other Pokémon I could attack with were Uxie LV.X (Psychic Restore for 20, then he Zen Blades me for 60 — not cool) and Azelf (Lock Up so he can’t retreat, while slowly killing his Ditto — very cool). So I did just that.
There was a couple turns of that, and when his Ditto hit 50 damage, he topdecked the Warp Energy to Warp it back to his bench and Take Out my Azelf with his Machamp. I responded by sending Gengar back out and Shadow Rooming his Ditto. Then, I Poltergeisted his Machamp for the KO.
Just in case he tried to pull something like that again, I slapped a Warp Energy on my benched Uxie LV.X so I could Zen Blade his Ditto later, especially as he’d KO’d my Azelf and I didn’t run recovery. Well, just as I thought, he used Palmer’s to return a Magnezone line and a Ditto to his deck, and subsequently got it back out. (He Collectored for it, and I Looker’s’d it away, but he drew it again — and another Rainbow Energy. Damn it.)
But this time, I was prepared. Just as planned, he Shadow Roomed my Gengar. I retreated, attached to Uxie, and Zen Bladed his Ditto.
If he retreated, Ditto would be KO’d. If he responded with his own Zen Blade, I’d just retreat to my benched Uxie and then Psychic Restore whatever he sent out after Ditto fell. So he attached a fighting to Machamp and Psychic Restored Ditto to the bottom. That left only a Machamp with a fighting and a Magnezone with nothing on his side of the field. He sent out Machamp, and I retreated to Gengar and Poltergeisted. With nothing else he could do, he scooped after a long and close battle. Well fought and good game!
5-1
N. with Scizor/Exeggutor
Round 7: Andrewpokebeach.comHe started Scyther and Exeggcute. My starting hand was Oddish, P Energy, Rainbow Energy, Rescue Energy, Bebe’s Search, Broken Time-Space, and Vileplume. I went first.
During his turn, he burned through his hand with tons of trainers, so I knew I had to get the trainerlock rolling ASAP. However, my topdecks were, in order, P Energy, Broken Time-Space, Blaziken FB, Rainbow Energy, and Chatot MD. I ended up using Bebe’s for the Spiritomb to trainerlock, and after he 1HKO’d that with Scizor, walling with Vileplume with a Rescue Energy on it.
By the time Chatot hit the field, it was already over. By the time I made a misplay of epic proportions and tried to Jet Shoot with my Blaziken that had a Rainbow attached to it, it was still already over. I don’t remember a single Gengar ever hitting the field that game.
5-2
Round 8: Luke S. with DialgaChomp
Another friend of mine, he ended up getting third or fourth at Illinois states with this same deck, losing only to Pooka. So I was in for a treat.
I started Oddish to his Unown Q and Bronzong G, which sounds amazing, but really isn’t, considering the only energy I had was Rescue and I had no Collector. So instead, I dropped my hand size the best I could and Set Up with the Uxie I Bebe’s’d for, and couldn’t hit any energy at all. So I had to burn my Rescue to get Oddish out of the active and sent out Gastly to Pitch Dark.
While I slowly and haphazardly built up my Vileplume and Gengar, he took a couple quick prizes with Dialga G LV.X. The only thing stopping him at this point was the fact that his hand wasn’t the greatest despite his DGX sitting on the field. That, and he flipped six tails in a row on Pokémon Contest Hall. (There, Luke, I put it in the report. Happy? =P)
I put a Blaziken on the bench and stuck a Rainbow on it, which made him much more wary of using Dialga. He retreated Dialga, sent out an Uxie (that had a Psychic on it), and started building up his benched Garchomp. I took the risk, stuck a Rescue Energy on my Blaziken, and Jet Shot his Uxie for a much-needed prize. He responded by Dragon Rushing my Blaziken. Big deal.
pokebeach.comMeanwhile, between Blaziken drama and him KOing a couple Gengars (and me Shadow Rooming as usual), I was drawing and using Trade Off and finally hit that Twins to get Gengar LV.X out. Luckily, he didn’t have a Power Spray in hand when I finally leveled down that Dialga and started Shadow Rooming for prizes.
By that point, he had 1 Prize and I had two, and I figured time was running out soon, so I sent out Uxie LV.X and Psychic Restored to the bottom. That left only a Gengar LV.X active and a Vileplume on the bench, both undamaged. No Dragon Rush for you!
He used Copycat to copy my gargantuan hand, and so I Looker’s’d that away. He responded by sending out Chatot and using Mimic to copy my hand again. Right about then, time was called, so I Looker’s’d that away, too, and KO’d Chatot with a lucky Poltergeist off his draws.
That left us both at 1 Prize, so he promoted Dialga. He leveled it up, burned through his hand, and Set Up for four. He Flash Bit, Poké Turned, Flash Bit, Galactic Switched an Energy from Garchomp to Dialga, Poké Turn, Galactic Switched another Energy from Garchomp to Dialga. Then he Second Striked my Gengar for 70, hoping to KO my Gengar and bring it to the Fainting Spell flip, which I’m notorious for failing all the time.
So I Leveled Down, and he Power Sprayed. Feeling confident, I dropped Crobat and used Flash Bite. He Power Sprayed that, too. So I used Seeker to pick up Crobat, and he picked up his damaged Bronzong, so I Flash Bit and Shadow Roomed his benched Uxie for the game. Good game!
6-2
—
That left me seeded as 18th (lowest seed among the 6-2’s — woot!). Five of my friends from the U of I area also made top cut (including Luke, whom I just beat), so we went to Denny’s for a celebratory dinner.
The next morning, after some misadventures trying to get there on time, we all made it to the store, ready to begin top cut. Well, I was. I can’t vouch for anyone else.
Top 32: Christopher B. with LuxChomp
Game 1:
This one was fairly uneventful. I started Gastly and Spiritomb to his Dialga, and while he got set up with Dialga G LV.X, he was stuck with it active and couldn’t do anything about it. That gave me ample time to get a Gengar set up, and when he finally Poké Turned it to send out a Luxray to KO my Spiritomb, I had the Vileplume set up, too.
And then I topdecked Looker’s to shuffle his Dialga away. After that, it was just me Shadow Rooming and Poltergeisting my way to victory, and he scooped.
Game 2:
I started Spiritomb and Unown Q. Can’t remember what he started, but it wasn’t phenomenal either. My first few turns consisted of me draw/passing while he struggled under trainerlock, and then I finally topdecked a Bebe’s.
I started building a Gengar with Spiritomb, and after I Looker’s’d my terrible hand away, I finally got started setting up. He KO’d two Spiritomb before I was able to play Twins to finish the Vileplume/Gengar setup.
By that point, I was down 3 Prizes, but with trainerlock blocking Poké Turns and some key Flash Bites with Crobat G, I was able to steal a lot of prizes. Unfortunately, he was also able to take some prizes on Gengars and some benched Pokémon, and the next few turns consisted of a slowed-down prize exchange.
Then, he dropped Bronzong G. Perfect opportunity! That’s when I surprised him with Blaziken and Luring Flamed the Bronzong. The next turn, I leveled it up and Warp Energied it to the bench. While Bronzong was stuck active, I Shadow Roomed an Uxie and a Garchomp C LV.X to death.
pokebeach.comHe spent three turns building enough Energy on that to retreat it (having to use his last Aaron’s to get that third Energy), and he sent out Dialga G, leveled it up, and Poké Turned the Bronzong so I couldn’t Luring Flame it anymore. He Poké Turned the Dialga and hit my active Gengar with Claw Swipe from a Garchomp C LV.X.
Time was called during that last turn, and I was down a prize — he had one left while I had two. I noticed, all he had on his bench were a Luxray GL LV.X and two Dialga G, none of which had any Energy. All of their basic forms I could KO with Blaziken. Even with the +40 damage, all he could do is hit my Blaziken with Luxray for 30+40 damage.
Even if he sent out Dialga and leveled it up, he’d need to have the Energy Gain, a lightning energy, and a way to get Dialga out of the active to KO my Blaziken. So I leveled up Gengar, leveled down his Garchomp, retreated to Blaziken, and Jet Shot it for the KO. That left us tied.
His turn, he sent out Luxray and Bit Blaziken for 70. Then, I Leveled Down and Jet Shot it for the game. Good game!
Finally, that silly Blaziken did some good work for me. No more “secret techs” that ended up backfiring horribly!
7-2
Top 16: Evan M. with Gyarados
Game 1:
Huzzah for uneventful Game Ones. He started lone Magikarp and Sea Sprayed for nothing. I started Uxie, Bebe’s’d for a Crobat G, and Flash Bit + Psychic Restored for the donk. Good thing, too, because the rest of my hand was pretty terrible.
Game 2:
This time, my start was excellent (and my second start the entire tournament where I got a Pokémon Collector within the first five turns!). I started two Gastly, an Oddish, and an Uxie to his Sableye. He Impersonated a Collector for the ‘Karp, ‘Karp, ‘Ice, and I used Pitch Dark to trainerlock him while I set up Vileplume and Gengar.
Pitch Dark kept the trainerlock up despite Regice, which crippled his setup so I was able to successfully set up a Gengar. Then, when he KO’d my Spiritomb, I used Twins to seal the deal with Vileplume.
Even after he tried to Judge me, I drew into a Bebe’s Search and Set Up to get my hand back. Two Gengars and Rescue Energy meant that I could cycle between the two, taking bench prizes with Shadow Room while he continuously activated Fainting Spell.
Eventually, it hit heads and his Gyarados was KO’d. That left me with a few precious turns to wreak havoc on his board while using Looker’s to keep him from his Combee. He got it eventually, though, and set up another Gyarados. The next turn, it KO’d my Gengar, and I hit heads on Fainting Spell for the last prize.
8-2
Top 8: Marcus E. with Steelix
Game 1:
He started lone Uxie versus my Oddish. Not a phenomenal start, but a start nonetheless. I searched out a Spiritomb and retreated Oddish to my bench to start getting set up. While I was Darkness Gracing my way to a Gengar/Vileplume, he started getting a Steelix set up with Special Metals.
Eventually, he brought out Regice and started dumping his trainer-heavy hand, so I sent out Gengar to Shadow Room it. He didn’t have Gaia Crush completely charged up by that point, so he just had to use Energy Stream for some damage.
Around then, I Leveled Up my Gengar to give it more HP and to prevent him from Knocking it Out with Poison Structure. He responded by Energy Streaming again to put Gengar at exactly 100 damage. I knew that if he used Energy Stream and Poison Structure, my Gengar was gone, no Fainting Spell, no Rescue Energy. So I dropped a Rainbow Energy on it to put it at 30 HP, hoping to force him to use Energy Stream.
pokebeach.comHowever, he dropped an Uxie, paid the full Retreat Cost to retreat, dropped an Energy on Uxie, and hit me with Psychic Restore and that final 14th damage counter with poison between turns. Well played.
I had another Gengar on the bench with just a Rescue on it, so I could send that out, drop a Rescue on it, and start sniping again, or I could play it risky and pull my favorite Blaziken trick. So I decided to do the latter.
That Skuntank sat active for a while because he kept flipping heads for burn, and he was unable to retreat, so I continued sniping his bench. Finally, it went down to burn and he sent out his powered-up Steelix to hit my Gengar.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have Blaziken powered up to return the favor (that, and he had three special metals on it — I’d need a Crobat drop and I didn’t have any bench space), so I responded with a Poltergeist. It didn’t KO the Steelix, so it hit Gengar again. Fainting Spell. Heads. He scooped.
Game 2:
This start was truly divine, and probably the second of two starts all tournament where I started with a Pokémon Collector in hand. He started Uxie again versus my Gastly, Spiritomb, and Oddish. I set up two Gengars and a Vileplume quickly while he drew dead for several turns. I started by Shadow Rooming some prizes, but finally, the opportunity arose where I could sweep his entire board with Blaziken without fear of a return KO. So I did just that, 1HKOing three Steelix in a row for the game.
9-2
Top 4: Taylor M. with Scizor/Magnezone
Game 1:
This is the same person who beat J-Wittz last round and I already had a pretty poor track record against Scizor. Oh, boy.
It was a mediocre start. Not quite sure what I started with — probably a Spiritomb. She started Scyther and was able to get a Scizor Prime out and swinging with two metals on it. However, I made the same misplay I made last time and tried to Poltergeist with a Gengar that had a Rescue Energy attached to it.
pokebeach.comFainting Spell flipped tails while I tried to shadow room her bench, and while a second Fainting Spell Knocked it Out, I only drew a single Psychic/Rainbow Energy all game (though I pulled a second one out with Twins). She had another Scizor on the bench with a couple metals on it, so I had to scoop. She had 1 Prize to my four or so.
Game 2:
This game, I started Spiritomb and Gastly to her Magnemite. I got a Gengar out and swinging early, and took a bunch of cheap prizes against her Magnezone SF and Uxies, and when she finally got a Scizor out and swinging, Fainting Spell hit its second and final heads for this match. She scooped.
Game 3:
And thus, Lady Luck decided to deny me my chance at the $1,000 scholarship. I started horribly. Not quite as horribly as against the other Scizor, but bad enough so I had to rely solely on Spiritomb to set up while she stole a lot of KOs against them.
I ended up having to Looker’s myself twice to finally get set up, and by that time, she had a Scizor Prime with a lightning and two special metals on it. Fainting Spell. Tails.
So I sent out a benched Gengar I was able to charge up and Poltergeisted for a meager 50 damage. She decided to go super-aggressive and attached a third Special Metal and used Super Connectivity to put another Metal on it. Fainting Spell. Tails.
I sent out a Gengar to Shadow Room it for the KO. She sent out Magnezone Prime and used Lost Burn for her last prize. Just for fits and giggles, I flipped for Fainting Spell. Tails.
9-3
In the end, I got my box of Firestarter Call of Legends, and a promise to have a medal mailed to me in the future. Not bad for my first Regionals!
Stuff I Learned:
pokebeach.comIf you’re a VileGar player, substituting some Psychics for Rainbows might not be a bad play. It greatly improves your matchup against Steelix, Magnezone, Dialga, and other decks that rely on manipulating damage output to KO your Gengars with poison or something similar. However, it worsens your already iffy matchup against Scizor Prime.
Shadow Room > Poltergeist. If your VileGar strategy revolves around Poltergeisting huge numbers of trainers in your opponent’s hand, you’re doing it wrong. Take a hint from LuxChomp and snipe things off the bench — only use Poltergeist if you know you can do as much damage as you want to or if you really want to see your opponent’s hand.
Scizor is surprisingly powerful, just because so many decks run special energies. Taylor’s Scizor/Magnezone deck was pretty pro — hit hard and fast with Scizor, and once those are gone, start using Super Connectivity and Lost Burn to hit hard late-game. I can’t imagine it having a stellar matchup against DialgaChomp or anything running Blaziken (and some actual fire energies), though.
Similarly, Magnezone/Regirock is a force to be reckoned with. It had a huge showing at Missouri.
So thanks a ton for reading through this monster of a report, and if you have any comments, please post them! =)
Props:
Vince for holding an awesome tournament
Blaziken FB for being surprisingly useful
My parents for driving me there
Ryan A. for giving me a ride back
Slops:
Epic fails against Scizor — don’t forget Red Armor!
Fainting Spell!!! *fistshake*
Pokémon Collector avoided me like the plague in almost every game. I run four of them.
Anonymous
Great job! I went 4-2 at my first Regionals, placing 12th. Unfortunately, that year I was in Juniors so it was Top 8, not Top 16. :(
Anonymous
Aww. )= I know how you feel — I’ve had my fair share of just missing top cuts this past season.
How’d you do this past weekend?
Anonymous
i played VileGar as well in Regionals. The only problem was I got out T16 because I faced a Scizor/Magnezone then. I ended up going 8-2 for the day. I run the 2-2-2 plume, mr. mime, and 4 tomb. I have a great set up 80% of the time ;/ i just wish i didnt have to play Scizor/Magnezone so early in top cut. I would have loved to play against more Luxchomp/Gyarados/Machamp/Steelix =p
Anonymous
Haha, I’d much rather play DialgaChomp than Scizor, especially with my deck the way it is right now. xD I built the deck to help counter SP, Magnezone/Regirock, and it just so happened to counter Steelix, too. Totally did not count on Scizor/Magnezone showing up.
How’s the Mr. Mime working for you? I ran it for a little bit and then decided I liked the 4 Looker’s better, but I’d always like another opinion on the matter. =)
Anonymous
After regionals, Mr. Mime has become more of a questionable card. He is great to have but sometimes its hard to find space for him. He does help out at times but I was thinking of maybe taking him out and trying a Smeargle in there for a better set up. That or Ditto is always a good tech. Who knows.
The thing that made my deck work better than it did at Cities was the decision of 4 Rescue. I used Palmers once in fifteen games at Regionals.
Oh yeah. A tip for VileGar. Don’t shuffle between games and never pile shuffle. Just do some basic shuffling and have your opponent cut or let them do a little shuffling. Having everything lumped together from a previous game makes the deck more consistant ;/
Anonymous
Or ends up in lots and lots of mulligans. Mid-late game, if I don’t have any other cards to use, I’ll Collector for all my basic Pokemon to increase my odds of drawing something I really like, so I’ll end up with a huge hand of almost entirely Pokemon. =P That, and I just don’t like the idea of doing that. It feels like I’m rigging the deck or something. And it still won’t help me draw into my Collectors anytime sooner. =P
Colin Peterik
Great job Dan! Those fainting spell flips at the end were ugly.
Anonymous
Thanks! ^.^
Yeah, they were, but when a good chunk of your game plan hinges around them, it’s going to happen eventually. I’m just happy I didn’t get what I got in Wisconsin — I flipped heads literally only once through the entire tournament. xD
Anonymous
I don’t know man, you had your own share of horrible flips in our games that rival even dan’s tails streak : P
Anonymous
Nice job and nice report.
I’m the Andy you played round four, Andy H actually. haha. no problem though.
Thanks for being such a classy opponent. I really appreciate it after a couple of my matches from last Saturday.
Anonymous
Haha, sorry, I tried to get the names right but it looks like I missed a couple. I’m not even sure if Marcus’ last name begins with an E, but it’s what Josh went with so I’ll trust his memory.
And thanks. =) Did you end up playing that Andrew N guy or something?
Anonymous
No problem on the name.
Yeah I played Andrew N. I was also frustrated with one other person.
I’m glad you did well. I also liked your use of the Rainbow Energy.
Anonymous
Yeah, if you know Emmanuel D. from the Wisconsin area, he destroyed me with Skuntank at Wisconsin States. I learned my lesson after that and came prepared. =P It’s a really good play, and if you can surprise a VileGar player with it, they’re dead meat, especially because so many VileGar players rely on Rescue Energy to keep that first Gengar up and running.
I really don’t like it when I face people like that, so I try to suck it up and be a good sport during play. You can always rage about stuff later. (And Josh can tell you, I was raging about those Fainting Spell flips that cost me $1000 for a little while. xD)
Adam Capriola
Great job on top 4 Dan, that’s awesome! And great report too. :x
Anonymous
Thanks! I went around the entire day with multiple sheets of paper for all my notes — otherwise, I wouldn’t remember a thing about any of those games. xD
Franco L III
Cool! Man, a lot of VileGar decks made top! I won my Reigonals when I wanted at least top 16 for da packs lol. I went 8-1 the whole day and beat the guy who beat me in swiss in the finals! REVENNNNNNNNNNNNGE!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! >:D
Anonymous
Such a wonderful feeling, isn’t it? =P
Franco L III
yep. lol. HE DESERVED IT TOO! HAHAHAHHAHAHA!!! >:D lol no not really. it was a good game in the finals.
Michael Gallaher
Excellent report, man. Just to keep my honor, he was about to poltergeist my Machamp sf for 170 and his last prize when i scooped. But, anyway, great job at making top four! Taylor is a really good player, she came to one battle roads last year in my home town and, i’m pretty sure, went undefeated. I finished off going 4-4
losing to Chris B. and a really intreasting MewPerior build. But i had lots of fun regardless. Congrats again.
Anonymous
I think you had four trainers/supporters in your hand and drew a fifth one for your turn or something like that. Regardless, it was a great game. One of the closest one I played all tournament — your Dittos had me scrambling to find answers. Lucky for me, one of my friends /loves/ doing stupid things like using Haunter’s Sleep Poison or Azelf to Lock Up for cheap prizes, so I had some ideas. =)
Yeah, Taylor’s a great player. Great person, too — I had fun chatting with her during the game. She ended up taking second, losing to a LuxChomp with a Honchkrow SV tech — going that far with a relatively unheard-of deck takes a lot of skill.
And thanks! ^.^
Pade
Ah, I was wondering who won overall. I was leaving just as you all sat down for top 4, had a 4 hour drive back to Kentucky :D
Congrats though and Nice report!
Anonymous
Haha, putting my 3 hour drive straight to Illinois to shame. =P
And thanks! ^.^
Michael Gallaher
I had to drive 8.
Anonymous
Jayson Harry’s Luxchomp beat Taylor’s Magnezone/Scizor
Poteet24
Gastly is listed from TM and not SF, I was like wait, what, no way.
Great job on top 4!
Adam Capriola
Good catch, I’ll fix that.
Red Ados
Haha Dan, didn’t realize this was by you until the 8th round XD. Great job, but YOU DONT RUN GASTLY TM. WHY DOES IT SAY YOU RUN GASTLY TM lol