Prof. Amphy’s Battle Roads Report!!

Hi SixPrizes!! Well, as I promised in my Gothitelle front page article, I said I’d bring you back a good Battle Roads report, so here it is. I would have had one for last month, but certain things came up where I wasn’t able to go. I know that there haven’t been many Battle Roads reports on here and can’t figure out why. Maybe some people don’t want to put up their reports, because they didn’t top. I don’t know, but I do know that this one is worth reading, whether or not I top. Without further ado, let’s move forward toward the report.

The History of GRD

Before I get to the report, I think it’s important that you, the readers know about what I played at the event, how I worked on the deck and how I came to my final build. This lets you really get insight on what I’m playing and helps you understand my matches better when I get to that part. I’ve been a fan of Gothitelle even before the set came out and was intrigued to figure out how to make it work as a deck and strategy.

The set finally came out and I was disappointed that I didn’t pull a single one out of my packs at the Prerelease. I quickly traded all of my good cards (Tornadus, Cheren, Beartic etc…) and anything they wanted for Gothitelle. I was banking everything on it being a good play for the upcoming Battle Roads and I was determined to make it work.

After that, I started to do research on how to play it, what partners would be good with it and trying my own combinations. With all of my research and playtesting, I decided to write an article about my deck to hear from the masses of people on here, to hear what they think about what I’m testing and the deck as a whole.

I got some mixed results, which resulted in me changing my deck for the better, which I thank you for. In order to get a better understanding of my deck, I started a strategy thread to get a broad idea from many players on how to play with it, different techs, to discuss the deck as a whole, and to help others with the deck as well.

With a lot of testing, researching and discussing things on the strategy thread, I came up with my final build, which I will show to you now.

GRD Decklist

Pokémon – 19

3 Gothita EP 43

2 Gothorita EP 46

3 Gothitelle EP 47

4 Solosis BLW

2 Duosion BLW

2 Reuniclus BLW

2 Reshiram BLW

1 Zekrom BLW

Trainers – 29

4 Pokémon Collector
4 Professor Oak’s New Theory
3 Twins
2 Copycat
1 Fisherman
1 Seeker
4 Pokémon Communication
3 Max Potion
3 Rare Candy
2 Pokémon Catcher
2 Junk Arm

Energy – 12

10 P
1 Double Colorless
1 Rescue

I don’t mind sharing this list because the next set Noble Victories is coming out soon, and this deck will go through some changes, due to how I did at Battle Roads and adding some new cards from the set. Now that you know what I’m working with, let’s get to the report.

The Tournament

So me and my friend Ryan, who gave me a ride finally get to the store around 10:45 – just enough time to register before the cut off at 11:00. During this time I also help some of my other friends by giving them energies, a full set of 60 sleeves and cards that they needed for their decks. They did contact me the night before and told me to bring the stuff, so that was helpful.

So I finally finish my decklist sheet and get in line. Right when I finished getting my deck checked, I notice that the person in front of me had some bad sleeves, and the judge told him to either change the sleeves, or not play with any altogether. I just happened to have an extra set of sleeves, so I just gave them to him. It feels good to help players in need and I’m glad to help them. A little time passes after that, then the rounds start.

Round 1 vs MegaJudge

pokebeach.comSo we flip over our Pokémon and soon as I see a Yanma and Magnimite, I instantly think of the games I playtested against this deck. He sets up Yamega Prime and Magnezone Prime by turn two, before I’m able to get up anything. I knew the game was over for me as soon as that happened, but I played it out a little bit to see if I could get anything going.

I never got up a Gothitelle, or Reuniclus throughout the whole game, which is terrible for me. I knew it would be like this if they set up before me.

0-1

Round 2 vs Emboar

This guy had a straight Emboar deck with both Emboars and he played Magby TM to stall with it’s burning attack. So he starts out by burning my Gothita with Magby. I quickly set up with a Pokémon Collector, grabbing another Gothita, and 2 Solosis. I almost get Knocked Out by burn until I evolved into Gothorita which saves me. He only has a Pignite with a couple of Energies on the bench. This made it easy for me to set up Gothitelle and Reuniclus perfectly.

He was still burning me, even though I was moving the damage around with Damage Swap. I finally get enough energies to Knock Out his Magby. Then I Knocked Out a couple more Pokémon before he sends out his Emboar that he’s been powering up on the bench since the beginning of the game. He Knocks Out my active Gothitelle, which forces me to promote the one on the bench. From there, I steamrolled him for the win.

1-1

Round 3 vs ZPSTT

pokebeach.comSoon as we flip over our Pokémon, I was relived when I saw what he was playing with, because I had barely lost to this matchup before. He gets a Zekrom, Tornadus, and Bellsprout TM on the bench while I have a Reshiram up. I take the advantage and Play Pokémon Catcher to bring up his Bellsprout, attached a Double Colorless Energy to Reshiram and Knocked Out Bellsprout.

Turns later, he uses Black Belt to Knock Out my active Gothitelle. By this time I was in a good position to do anything I wanted. I brought up another one, evolved Duosion into Reuniclus and started moving counters around. There was nothing he could do to stop the lock, so he scoops.

2-1

Round 4 vs Tyram

This was another matchup I was confident in winning as soon as we flipped over our Pokémon. He scares me in the beginning because he starts Knocking Out Pokémon with only one Pokémon on his bench. Of course, that sets off my Twins, so I’m able to get the cards I need to set up perfectly. Once I got up the lock, there was nothing he could do to Knock Out my Pokémon. I came back and took prize after prize, until the end.

3-1

Round 5 vs Reshiboar w/ Samurott Tech

This was the weirdest, longest, and toughest game I had all day. We flip over the cards and I instantly think he’s playing straight Reshiboar, until I see an Oshawatt. I was completely confused as to what his strategy was. He sets up 2 Ninetales HS on the bench and starts drawing cards like crazy.

Then he gets the cards to Knock Out my Pokémon one by one. He uses Pokémon Catcher and Junk Arm for two-three turns Knocking Out my Gothitas, preventing me from getting up a Gothitelle. I battled through it and finally got one up with Reuniclus on the bench. By this time he has 1 Prize left, but he can’t do enough damage to Knock Out my active Gothitelle.

So I start Knocking Out his Pokémon one by one until I make the one mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life. I played Pokémon Catcher and brought up his Ninetales and Knocked it Out instead of his Tepig. That Tepig would go on to become an Emboar to Knock Out my active Gothitelle, giving him the win.

3-2

There were too many 4-1’s so I knew from that point that my run was over. I had lots of fun though and my deck did really well, despite me not killing the Tepig. It was definitely the right play for the event. It just needed a little tweaking and it would have been perfect.

Props

To the PTO for hosting, meeting and having fun with my friends from around NC/SC, the owners of Above Board Games (you guys are great and I love coming to all of your events), and my opponents which were all great people and showed good sportsmanship.

Slops

Not killing the Tepig!! :frown:

Amphy out!! :smile:

Reader Interactions

48 replies

  1. Anonymous

    Nice report and good work with the deck.

    I want to get people’s opinions on the future of this deck and Noble Victors. It would seem to be that NV is going to put this deck down for the count. With Rocky Helmet getting put onto things, Goth will take 20 damage at the end of the Goth’s turn. Then you only need to hit for 110 to secure the OHKO. Does anyone else see this as a huge problem for Goth?

    • Aron Figaro  → Anonymous

      I see it as a potential problem, but since Goth stops you from playing Rocky Helmet, it’s only going to work if you hit it before they lock you. I can’t say I feel this deck is quite so dead yet.

      • Anonymous  → Aron

        Good point. I guess I just still do not see this deck as being Tier 1 right now. Also, if it does become Tier 1, Emboar, RDL, Blastoise, and Magnezone will just rise up and keep it in check. Add that to the idea that Reshiram and Zekrom get a great counter in Rocky Helmet and will not be auto losses anymore…

        • samuel roach  → Anonymous

          I don’t think goth will have to worry too much. Those decks will have to set up before Goth gets out and helmet is a trainer. Just my opinion.

      • Anonymous  → Aron

        Good point. I guess I just still do not see this deck as being Tier 1 right now. Also, if it does become Tier 1, Emboar, RDL, Blastoise, and Magnezone will just rise up and keep it in check. Add that to the idea that Reshiram and Zekrom get a great counter in Rocky Helmet and will not be auto losses anymore…

      • Ross Gilbert  → Aron

        Do we have a definite ruling on this? With trainers now split into trainer-items and trainer-tools

        • Martin Garcia  → Ross

          Well, in the past format vileplume locked both trainers and tools, now that they are renamed, i dont see a reason for a change in this ruling, but guess we will have to wait and see.

    • Jacob Willinger  → Anonymous

      Yeah, I think you’re right, but  I also think that Reshi and Zekrom will probably be running Eviolite before they run Rocky Helmet?

    • Jacob Willinger  → Anonymous

      Yeah, I think you’re right, but  I also think that Reshi and Zekrom will probably be running Eviolite before they run Rocky Helmet?

      • Perry Going  → Jacob

        rocky helmet is a nice tech because it adds that extra damage to the goth so on your turn you can ohko it

        • Saturn  → Perry

          Goth players have to pay close attention to damage counters…don’t you think they would pay attention to tools also? Do you even know how goth K.O dragons in the first place? (Outrage…)

          Who says Goth won’t use the helmet also…>_>

          (I think Eviolite and rocky helmet  will make hell for all the other decks not using trainer lock)

        • samuel roach  → Saturn

          With a slow deck like this one, we have to watch everything real closely. How do people think we navigate around Tyram’s damage?, or Zekrom’s. They must think we don’t have a brain or something.

  2. Jak Stewart-Armstead

    How did the Attack Cat let ‘without further adieu’ slip through the net?

    Or has this become some stupid interwebs meme now?

    Either way . . . BAD KITTY!

    • Lynx Meche  → Jak

      I can’t correct it if they publish it when I’m in class =| I’m not the only editor. (Also don’t blame me for any less-than-quality articles at all; Adam has final say on everything so we’ll call it his fault =3 I can correct the “adieu” thing from here if it’s a problem enough, though.)

  3. David Griggs

    I don’t understand a BR report on a 3-2… Especially on a deck touted as “potential tier 1.”

    • mike newman  → David

      David, I’m in criminology class right now. I’d much rather read a 3-2 BR report, or even a 0-4 BR report than pay attention. BR reports tend to fall into the “somewhat useless but usually enjoyable to read and might have a few decent nuggets of information” category whether they’re 0-X or X-0. Where’s your report?

    • Adam Capriola  → David

      Records are irrelevant IMO when it comes to tournament reports. I’ve read plenty of X-0 tournament reports that were boring and uninformative. If anyone takes the initiative to write at least a semi-detailed report and share some insight – no matter their record – I’m happy to let them post it here.

    • Anonymous  → David

      Not to beat a dead fish with a stick, but those guys are right. The repetitive, “I donked, I played catcher, I drew 6 prizes, he had a dead draw for 5 turns, etc, etc” gets old. 

      It’s nice to read something from an underdogs perspective. Puts you in check and you actually can glean more information from their mistakes than from someone else’s triumph. 

    • Dan W  → David

       People shouldn’t be decided whether they can write a report or not based on their skill or record…

      • Anonymous  → Dan

        Exactly; I have never Top Cut at a tournament in my life, yet I still post tournament reports on here whenever I can.

        • samuel roach  → Anonymous

          Well, I’ve made top 4 BR’s with Honchkrow and I’ve won a local tournament with Reshiboar. Just to let people know that I have what it takes to do it.

          I guess some people want top reports, because they want to consider playing that deck. If they hear that the deck went 3-2, they’ll just pass it off as bad and won’t even give it the time of day. I think that seeing reports like this one is important. Especially if the player made a mistake and it had nothing to do with the cards, or strategy of the deck. If another player takes the same list and tops with it without any mistakes, that means that the guy that didn’t top was doing something right when he made the list. Example: A guy took my Amphytric list from PokeGym and made top 4 in states with it that year. (I actually saw him top with it) Does it mean that I’m a bad player? No. It just means that someone actually agrees with what you’re doing and how you’re doing it that they get inspired and play it themselves. My list wasn’t a top list and it wasn’t even finished at the time (I was still working on it). Someone somewhere might see this and they might play it at a tourney and top. Who knows.

  4. Patrick

    I ran similar build for a BR last week and I went 4-1 into the top cut. Sadly I too lost to Megazone, but it was my first time making top cut and ended up at 3rd place. if you want to see my list I used and the battles it’s right here http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?t=154845

      • Patrick  → beyblade1410

        thanks. I’m trying right now to find a way to get more energy on Gothitelle right now, but other than electrode I’m at loss. Any thoughts PokemonJon or Amphy?

        • beyblade1410  → Patrick

          Maybe jirachi and shaymin for excelleration. I think you should find.what works for you. Sorry the.spellings bad im on my phone.

        • Patrick  → beyblade1410

          It’s not a problem PokemonJon. I’m excited about Gardevoir myself Amphy. I tried a 1-1 of shaymin and jirachi, but it wasn’t working all that well sadly.

        • Patrick  → beyblade1410

          what if it’s not energy acceleration it needs right now? I did some research on Ross’ deck to see how it worked and maybe what this deck is missing is actually a quick attacker. Ross had Donphan Prime. Is it possible to find something like that for this deck? I thought granbull because it’s attack let’s you switch, put damage on it to swap around with reuniclus to boost zekrom’s outrage, and only costs a dce, though if that worked people would’ve probably used it by now.

        • samuel roach  → Patrick

          Ross’s deck is different because it’s trainer lock guy is on the bench. It can have other attackers do damage, while the lock is on the bench being protected. Gothitelle is the attacker and the lock. You just can’t quickly let loose the lock to attack, unless you know that your opponent discarded all of his good trainers, or can’t get to them. That’s too big of a risk to take.

          Come on man, I can’t believe you made this mistake.

        • samuel roach  → Patrick

          Well, I see where they could help me get KO’s, but they would have to be used after I get up the lock and 3 energies on a active Goth. Which by that time I could just take my time and move counters around. I just rather focus on setting up with Twins. After I get up the lock, You don’t deed to get a quick prize. Slow and steady always wins the race. :)

        • Patrick  → samuel

          I also see that you ran a fisherman. How often did that help in the matches? I’m sorry if I’m asking too many questions.

        • samuel roach  → Patrick

          I’m glad you asked it bro. :) Fisherman was great. Especially when I played Rescue Energy on a Goth. I would just get those energies back and then attach them to another Goth. Sometimes I would start with a dragon and attach 2 energies to it either to attack with Outrage, or retreat into a Goth, Because I could usually stall with the dragon until then. It would fuel the grave for Fisherman later on. I know it saved me in a couple of games, because I didn’t have a way to draw to get energies from my deck, so I would just get them from my grave. I could go on to power up my active Goth and keep adding damage for key KO’s. I also had enough energies to power up  one on the bench. I like it. :)

        • samuel roach  → Patrick

          As far as energy goes, there really isn’t any good acceleration right now. I’m gonna wait until Gardevoir comes out in a later set. It’s ability doubles the amount of psychic energy on a Pokemon. Gothitelle is still good right now even without that. When that hits though, they better watch out. :)

  5. Aaron J. Walker

    Nice article! But after attending 3 BRs, I have yet to face a single Gothitelle deck.

    I hear they are being played but I have yet to face one :(

    • samuel roach  → Aaron

      Well, that just means that most people in your area choose speed and power over lock. It is a slow deck and it takes time away from both players. The other decks are just easier to play and use.

      You shouldn’t have to wait long though. There might be some at your regionals in November.

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