Howdy all! I’m Aron, and this, if you didn’t already know, is my first article. Well, let’s get on with it!
The day started off with Kevin knocking on the door as I was eating breakfast. While we waited for Marcus, we played Pokémon Stadium on the Nintendo 64 to put us in the right spirit.
At 8:30 AM we hopped in the car and drove off to the central station. Here we waited for our fourth and final companion, Henning. On his arrival, he was greeted by a ravaging young bloke with arms up in the air shouting his name. This caused his skin tone to become a much redder color. He stated he didn’t know me!
The three-hour-long train ride was sped up as we pulled out our Game Boys and DSs. Henning and I built a great maze in the underground of Sinnoh which Kevin destroyed via “Communication Error, please reset your game.”
After waltzing about in Gothenburg, we arrived at the damp place that was to be our hang-out for the next few hours. The tournament was delayed for about 90 minutes, but that just gave us time to get acquainted with the Norweigans locals.
Here is the deck I built and played with blood, sweat, and tears:
|
Pokémon – 12 4 Kyurem EX |
Trainers – 32 2 N 2 Twins 1 Seeker
4 Junk Arm 3 Switch 1 Eviolite 1 Victory Medal 1 Pokégear 3.0 |
Energy – 16 4 W 4 Rainbow 4 Prism |
pokegym.netI am pretty poor, which explains the lack of Mewtwo EX, but he would have been a nice addition. The idea behind the deck is pretty simple: Energymite as early as possible in order to use Twins to get set up and deal massive/consecutive damage. I understand that Hail Blizzard kind of defeats the purpose of consecutive damage, but the main reason behind Kyurem is his first attack.
Kyurem’s first attack, Frozen Wings, states that you discard a Special Energy attached to the defending Pokémon. This means good-bye to DCE, Prism, Rainbow, and the occasional Rescue Energy. Reshiram is there as a hard hitter. Obviously, since Zekrom can just discard any DCE attached to himself through his own attack, that matchup is the worst.
I built the deck solely in order to defeat Mewtwo, Durant, and 6C, and the deck does a good job at it, even if they seem like nightmare matchups. A Cobalion NVI would never get the right amount of energy on him before being Knocked Out, and Mewtwo’s friend Celebi Prime is in the 1HKO range of both Kyurem and Reshiram-EX’s first attacks.
I should probably had added a Terrakion NVI, but as I said before, I’m not the richest of people. Victory Medal is there because I, simply put, LOVE the card! I always get lucky when in tight situations… but then I ruin it by misplaying and grabbing the wrong card.
Anyway, this isn’t a deck analysis, so let’s get on with it!
We start the tournament and I am paired with Joel, a friendly bloke from the territory just north of ours.
Round 1 vs Joel – Leafeon UD/Houndoom Prime/Amoonguss NDE
I remember this deck being of topic when Undaunted was released – as just being a league deck – and I watched him play a friendly match just before we started, but other than that I had no preparation for the deck.
I start off with an active Kyurem EX and one on the bench. On my starting hand I was able to bench 2 Voltorbs and Juniper for Electrode.
He Collectors for two Eevee UD 48 and a Cleffa HS, which are immediately benched. Super Scoop Up fails on his active Foongus so he attaches a Grass Energy to it instead and trades in his Leafeon for a Houndour through Pokémon Communication. Retreats into Eeeeeeek and wakes up.
With my luck, I manage to Energymite for two DCE and three Prism energies! After a hasty N, I Catcher up his Foongus for my first Prize card.
Placing a Grass Energy on one of his Eevees, he grabs a Leafeon with Level Ball and “asks Professor Oak to tell us about his New Theory.” Lucky boy theorizes a hand with Houndoom and a new Foongus. Although Houndoom’s coin flip failed for him, Cleffa stays asleep after an Eeeeeeek.
I proceed setup and manage to get a Reshiram-EX out with DCE, but I have no way of getting past Sweet Sleeping Face as of the moment so I pass.
pokegym.netSSU fails yet again for Joel and his sleeping star-shaped Pokémon is stuck in the Active Spot. With two Leafeon benched with a Grass and a Rescue Energy respectively, he has no choice but to try to Burn me with Houndoom. This time the bony dog succeeds.
Burned, but unharmed, I still setup, using his Sleep condition to my advantage. I manage to set up a third Kyurem and pass. Upon Cleffa’s waking-up he is able to Knock Out my Kyurem with Amoonguss + Leafeon dealing 150 damage, Poison and Burn giving a total of 180.
I return the KO and draw my second prize and since Energymite gave him a prize, I am behind by one. He tries to swipe another 2 Prizes, but Kyurem #2 is left standing with 10 HP.
With Twins I am able to grab a Switch and Eviolite. By switching my critically damaged Kyurem, I am able to even up the prize-count by dealing the blow on his Espeon Prime (a smart Mewtwo counter).
He can’t do much and tries to stall with Cleffa, but it wakes up. I use Seeker to return the veteran Kyurem to my hand. Bye-bye 17 damage counters. As he has run out of Leafeons, he charges up a Shaymin EX. All I do is peek at my Reshiram and the 2 Prizes I have left.
He has 1 Prize-card left, which I am unaware of for a second. What I did was this: I used Collector to check how many Energies I had left in my deck. 4 out of the 10 cards left in my deck are multi-type Energies. Without thinking I declare an Energymite in belief of a guaranteed victory.
But, before I fulfill the effect, I see the 1 Prize card left. I ask him politely if I may change my mind and he is generous enough to let me. Props for being a cool guy and showing everyone spirit of the game.
I am forced to rely on luck as I declare Glinting Claw. Heads, I win; tails, he survives and Catchers my Electrode for the win. The result: heads.
Joel, you were fun to play against and gave me my money’s worth!
WIN 1-0
Round 2 vs Marcus R. – Raindance (Kyurem NVI/Suicune & Entei LEGEND with 2-1-1 Kingdra Prime + Feraligatr Prime Engine)
Up against this event’s rogue competitor, and my childhood friend for that matter. His deck is a fierce one, but for someone as prepared as I was for his tsunamis, it was slightly in my favor.
I start with a lone Voltorb and a hand clogged with Energies + PONT. PONT gets me an active Kyurem EX with a DCE, but that’s pretty much it. He starts off by collecting Manaphy UL, Totodile HS, and a Horsea UL and benches them together with a Kyurem.
By topdecking Electrode, I Energymite for ~4-5 energies and KO him. He passes, and I am able to sweep his low HP Pokémon for 4 turns before he gets a chance for setup.
The game finishes with me playing Shaymin in order to move my energies from my fully charged EXs on the bench to my active Kyurem, with a dozen energy attached just for laughs, and deal 240 damage to his SEL.
Sorry my friend…
WIN 2-0
Round 3 vs Fredrik – Zekrom-EX/Tornadus/Thundurus
Since this match was filmed, I decided not to take notes and therefore I won’t be writing about this game in detail as I want to be as accurate as I possibly can.
He played no Catcher and I misplayed a lot. I was ill-prepared for Zekrom-EX, but knew that it was my worst matchup. He was a friendly and very well-mannered opponent.
LOSS 2-1
Round 4 vs Gustav – Truth
I win.
I start (again) and have the perfect setup… with NO energy!
He Collectors for Pichu HS, also benching a Zekrom and a Chansey, and retreats his Phanpy with DCE to promote Pichu. I grab Shaymin and use Energymite twice in order to put myself behind in prizes, thus disabling any Twins he might have. From now on I will call this “Energymite Lock.”
I am fully setup on turn 2, but his Pichu is asleep so I pass. He passes after evolving into Duosion. By Catcher-KOing his Duosion, I maintain disruption.
After turns and turns of us just passing (and the occasional KO from me) because of his sleeping Pichu, he declares me as the winner, but insists we finish playing for the sake of the judge.
WIN 3-1
With a result of 3 wins and 1 loss, I finish third and punch Kevin for pulling his second Mewtwo EX from a pack! At 8 PM the four of us toss ourselves into the train with a smell of sour cheese doodles tingling the insides of our nostrils.
When you round it all up it was a pretty good day. The organiser/judge was friendly, even though he was slow and steady. Hasse-man.
4 rounds and no top cut? AT A REGIONALS?
Jeeze.
He might not have made top cut. just because there are no top cut listings in an article, doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a top cut.
in the video it says there was no top cut because there was only 11 in masters
This is Sweden. We have the least appealing organized play ever. In Stockholm, which is the capital of Sweden and therefore logically should be at least somewhat good OP-wise, we regularly have about 8 league attendants and our Regionals round count has never exceeded 3 (and what is this top cut you speak of). Trust me, it’s not fun. At all.
here here,
but i hear finland have an avarage of 3 masters at their nationals….
Does anyone other than your friend in your metagame use tier 1?
keep in mind that this is not the US or UK. this is sweden, and their meta might be different.
Yes, as you are saying, our metagame is quite different =)
We are somewhat of a hipster country ;D
Alot of the swedish players build their own decks based on their own ideas.
If you would like, I can write a proper deck analysis as a separate article
I don’t have a problem with you writing a deck analysis. in fact, i wouldn’t mind seeing just how these decks are. maybe i can win a br with one of them later in the year.
yes, i play tier 1 =P
Durant will destroy you cause you deck yourself out via energymite
Durant will destroy his deck, not him.
Actually, if you Energymite but still get a T2 Glinting Claw with Reshiram and nobody gets 2 Special Metals then you’re all good.
good luck keeping the special metals in play… frozen wings anybody?
don’t mean to be all unfriendly and what not about it but i have tested the deck alot.
actual tests > theory-mon
hope you don’t take anything personally, don’t mean it like that AT ALL =)
keep being coolest ;)
I know it seems like it would destroy me, but my deck is speedy. A turn 2 energymite isn’t allways necessarily the only way to get a dce and one of my 12 other energies (4 prism, 4 rainbow, 4 water) attached to a kyurem. add in the 4-8 crushing hammers (+ junk arms), and my lucky coin-flips/dice rolls vs. durants low energy count and he doesn’t stand much of a chance. =D