Last weekend I went to Exeter and it went ok, but once again I missed out on points by the narrowest of margins. It was frustrating to narrowly avoid top 8 and the 5 points that guaranteed by one opponent’s win, especially after being paired-down last round, but I couldn’t really be too upset as 3-2 is hardly a fantastic result. Some people did get the points with 3-2, but that was just luck on their part really.
The worst thing was that Exeter was supposed to be where I could go and get some points more easily. It’s far south and miles away from both London and the Midlands, where the majority of UK players congregate. I thought that might drive attendance down a little and raise my chances of getting points. Turns out the opposite was true. A decent turnout and a LOT of good players ruined that plan!
So it was off to London. I wasn’t feeling so great about my chances there, but then I turned up and saw some of the people who’d made the trip: Sammi Sekkoum (possibly the best player in the world) and his brother Farres, Nicholas Fotheringham (former Worlds player), the Armstead brothers (both of whom have competed at Worlds on more than one occasion), Karl Blake (who’s no stranger to Worlds), Charles Barton (multiple Cities and Battle Road winner), Michael Cornwall (who won the very first HS-NXD tournament in Sheffield the week before the ECC) and so on. Still, I’d had a pleasant train journey down and I always enjoy playing so bring it on!
I decided to take my Regigigas-EX/Mewtwo EX deck again because it had seen some rather nice results and, although they were not being replicated on a weekly basis (last week was not amazing) it was a hell of a lot of fun to play. I made some significant changes like adding a second Skyarrow Bridge and a Super Rod, as well as more consistency cards, while cutting some of the lesser-used cards like Lost Remover and Super Scoop Up.
Round 1: James (Zekeels)
James is a guy I’d never met before, but he was a very nice man with whom I had a very friendly and enjoyable game. A nice way to start a tournament. He was playing Zekeels which is a matchup that can go either way, so I knew I just had to pay attention and hope my start was ok.
I win the flip and start a Mewtwo to his lone Zekrom-EX. I’m left with nothing to do but attach a DCE and hit him for 40. On his turn he manages to get an Eviolited Mewtwo with a DCE, meaning he needs only a PlusPower to end the game there and there, as I had been unable to get any more basics. Luckily he whiffs and hits me for 160.
I then needed only one more energy to get the KO myself so I attach a DCE (no Psychic energy for me) and take a 2 Prize lead. This does leave my Mewtwo still on only 10 HP and he is able to get the KO on his turn using Tynamo!
I got the revenge KO on his Tynamo with my second Mewtwo and, unable to return the KO, he Catchers my benched Regigigas. On my turn I use a combination of Jirachi UL and Shaymin UL to power up my Gigas and hit his Zekrom for 60. He then Catchers and hits my Mewtwo for 80 with Outrage before I attach a Psychic to Mewtwo and retreat with Skyarrow Bridge, drop a PlusPower, and use Regigigas to KO his Zekrom.
This left me with only 2 Prizes to grab and he used his Eels to power up his Zekrom-EX and hit my Gigas for 150. This allowed to me just attach one more energy and hit him my Raging Hammer for 200 and my last 2 Prizes.
(1-0)
This was a good start, but I knew there were a lot of good players and 4-2 would not guarantee me top cut. I started thinking of resistance and boldly predicted I would finish 4-2 and whiff cut. See, I’m nothing if not optimistic.
Round 2: Charles Barton (CMT) (Finished: 5-1, Top 8)
pokemon-paradijs.comCharles is a very friendly guy who I’ve played far too many times in the past. I say far too many not because I don’t enjoy playing him, but rather because I never win. Ever. His tournament record against me is 6-0 or something similarly ridiculous. He turned out to be playing Celebi Prime/Mewtwo EX, which is a deck I rather fancy myself against with my deck. Then again, I’ve never beaten him yet…
I again win the flip and go first, hitting his Celebi with my Mewtwo for 40. I had one PlusPower, but without a second or a Junk Arm I couldn’t get the T1 KO.
On T2 I kill this Celebi and he then returns the KO with an Eviolited Mewtwo with 3 energy. At this point I had a Smeargle UD active with a Skyarrow for free retreat, a DCE in hand, and a Dual Ball. One heads and I can grab the Mewtwo to put me ahead again in circumstances where he may have struggled to get the return the KO.
Not only did I hit double tails on the Dual Ball, but I then used Portrait and hit nothing. From here he was able to sweep with Mewtwo as I have no answer and no draw Supporters. Crucially he was able to set up a second Mewtwo on the bench, guaranteeing that I would not be able to use Mewtwo without losing the game.
I did manage to whip my Raging Hammer out for 150 damage, but it was too little too late. Sometimes I really hate Dual Ball.
(1-1)
Well, if nothing else, playing Charles usually helps my resistance. It sucked to lose a match which I am usually comfortable with, and largely because I hit double tails. Still, that’s the risk of flippy cards and Charles did play a very good game.
Round 3: David (6 Corners)
pokemon-paradijs.comAfter my game with Charles it happened that one of my sleeves was broken and though I usually carry a lot of spares, I had come out with nothing but my deck, dice, and mat and so had none. I bought some new sleeves and then proceeded to remind myself of how annoying new sleeves are as I went to shuffle and promptly dropped my entire deck on the floor. In multiple directions. Several lovely souls helped me grab them and it established a really lovely atmosphere around the tables.
I knew David was playing 6 Corners as he’d played and beaten Michael Cornwall round 1. Michael told me he knew how to play 6C well and didn’t miss an energy drop all game. Brilliant.
I went second in this game seeing him start Terrakion NVI, play Collector, and pass after attaching an energy. I started Tornadus EPO, which was very good and by turn 3 I was able to 2HKO his Terrakion without taking too much damage in the mean time.
I then used Tornadus to 2HKO a Cobalion NVI before I realised that Mewtwo’s Psydrive might be useful here and dropped a PlusPower to 1HKO a Terrakion. The whole game I was making sure to attack the energy, knowing that 6 Corners is very beatable if they can’t get too many energy out. It did make me lament taking Lost Remover out of my list when I saw the huge amount of Special Energy being played though.
I then used Mewtwo and X Ball to get the 2HKO on his second Cobalion while limiting him to less than impressive Energy Press damage. As time was running down he benched a Mewtwo and I was able to use Catcher and Shaymin to set up a Psydrive for the KO and the win.
(2-1)
I was back on course now but I knew that I needed to win out to guarantee cut and that would be difficult with the field as it was. Come on resistance!
Round 4: Michael Cornwall (Yanmega Prime, Terrakion, Zoroark BLW) (Finished 4-2)
pokemon-paradijs.comMichael is a friendly bloke I didn’t know until Sheffield Cities, which he won, taking the first tournament with Next Destinies using Zekrom with Mewtwo and Gigas EX. Yep, very similar to the deck I was running today!
He started Tornadus and I won the flip, able to get 3 energy onto Mewtwo T1 to hit him for 60 after using a Juniper and then using Portrait to grab a Copycat. Not a bad turn 1 if you ask me.
On his first turn he put some Basics down, but was unable to get any energy. On my second turn I was able to finish off his Tornadus while all he could do was hit my Jirachi for 30 with his Tyrogue HS. He managed to get a Zoroark evolved, but without a DCE he had to attach a single energy. This allowed me the following turn to Catcher said Zoroark and use Psydrive to 1HKO through resistance. X Ball might be pretty bad against Zoroark, but Psydrive most certainly isn’t!
From here I just used Catcher and took easy prizes from unevolved Basics until Michael scooped with me needing 1 Prize to win.
(3-1)
It wasn’t the most satisfying win ever as he clearly had drawn badly all game, but I had to take the win because I wanted to make cut. At one point Michael used Juniper and 5-of his 7 cards drawn were draw cards. Sorry dude. He remained unbeaten for his last 2 games and finished 4-2, unfortunately missing cut on resistance.
Round 5: Ben (Terrakion/Donphan Prime) (Finished: 4-2, Top 8)
pokemon-paradijs.comBen is a guy I’d not met before, but he was a really friendly, lovely guy. He told me he’d been playing for over 10 years, but had always played rogue. And he was playing Donphan! This was my kinda guy!
I lose the flip and for the second game in a row I start lone Jirachi. Luckily he can’t donk me so he just attaches an energy and passes. On my turn I bench a Tornadus and attach an energy.
On his second turn he gets a second energy on his Terrakion, but is unable to evolve his benched Phanpy HS, so he just hits my Jirachi for 30. On my turn I drop a Skyarrow Bridge to retreat Jirachi for my recently benched Mewtwo, attach a P Energy and use Energy Switch to get the second energy onto him from Tornadus. I then Catcher his Phanpy and hit it for 40 with X Ball.
On his turn he is still unable to evolve his Phanpy and so he attaches an Eviolite to Terrakion and passes, giving me an easy kill on his still active Phanpy the following turn. This allows his to then hit my Mewtwo for 90 with Retaliate.
I then started my turn facing an active Terrakion with an Eviolite and a benched Phanpy. This allowed me attach a DCE to Mewtwo, catch the benched Phanpy and play a Seeker to get rid of Terrakion and win the game.
(4-1)
Not the noblest win ever, but it needed to be done. I was beginning to think that I’d yet to win a game today with Seeker. That card is brutal! Ben clearly had difficulty setting up, but as he’d go on to win his last round, finish 4-2, and make top 8, so I didn’t feel too bad!
Round 6: Andy (Durant) (Finished 6-0, 1st)
pokemon-paradijs.comAndy is another guy I didn’t know who I gather, though I could be wrong, used to play and be good but hadn’t played for about 10 years. More importantly, he was currently 5-0. This meant I was paired up and even a loss would likely see me make top 8 due to resistance. Score.
I go second in this game, starting Tornadus, which I am not a fan of due to the fact that he moves energy off of him, when what you really want is to stack basic energy and attack every turns, keeping fingers crossed for not too many Crushing Hammer heads. If Tornadus moves too much energy around you can be stuck in an annoying position of having plenty of energy on the field and not being able to attack.
It seems like Andy has a terrible start, seeing THREE Durants prized. It wasn’t too bad though. He started Rotom, hit an Alph Lithograph by turn 3 and hit 3/3 on his early game Crushing Hammers. I was also unable to pull a Skyarrow Bridge early game. Although he started poorly, everything else went his way and he had 4 Durants out before I was able to get an attack off.
I did eventually get a Skyarrow out, but it was too late. I was forced to bench a Mewtwo AND Juniper to try and get rolling but I whiffed the energy, allowing him to drag up Mewtwo and stall for a turn. I fought back valiantly and still came to within a turn of winning (which I reckon was rather impressive, given the circumstances) but it was all irrelevant as I saw the last card hit the discard pile.
(4-2)
I’m not going to lie, I hate losing to Durant. I actually made some changes to my list for this tournament, adding a second Skyarrow and a Super Rod, specifically for the Durant matchup. Not only that, but prior to this game I had yet to lose to Durant with this deck.
I had gone 3-0 in tournaments against it, beaten a Cities winning list 2-0 and won 2 games online (though as always, I can’t be too sure of the quality of those), so I thought my matchup was good without the new additions. Still, I was sure I’d beat it next time…
Top 8: Ollie (Durant)
Game 1
pokemon-paradijs.comI lost the flip in this game and had to go second, which can be crucial against Durant. The other disappointment here was starting with Tornadus. The big problem with Tornadus is that, unless you have something else benched, you’re moving energy around. Against Durant the best tactic is just to pile energy onto one attacker and sweep. Moving energy around ruins this. Of course you can just not bench another Pokémon, but Rotom says hello!
This game was both incredibly frustrating and rather uneventful. Knowing that DCE would be Lost Removed very quickly I stuck to basic Psychic (unless dropping a DCE to get a KO that turn). In this game both of my Skyarrow Bridge got discarded very quickly so no free retreating. I missed several energy drops and he hit roughly 70% on Crushing Hammer (as well as having a Lost Remover every time I dropped a DCE), so I was left without enough energy to consistently KO.
As the game wore on I attempted to use Jirachi to get Tornadus rocking the KOs, but a treble tails put paid to that plan. In the end I could not keep enough energy on the field and finished the game with only 4 Prizes.
Game 2
This game was, like the first, rather depressing and rather uneventful. I started Tornadus (again), I was unable to get a Skyarrow (again), and he hit well on Crushing Hammers (again). This game did have the added bonus of both my Jirachi AND Shaymin being prized though and with no energy acceleration and his energy removal I was fighting an uphill battle the whole game.
I should have known the game would go sour when he mulliganed four times and I STILL was unable to start with a basic energy!
(4-3, 7th)
pokemon-paradijs.comSo, that was that. Incredibly frustrating as firstly I thought my Durant matchup was pretty good, and secondly because the changes made to my deck (second Skyarrow, adding Super Rod) should really have tilted the matchup more in my favor, but this is what happens.
Durant is one of those decks that can beat ANYTHING when it works. Clearly I played two good Durant players who knew exactly what they were doing and, on this occasion, my deck couldn’t keep up. Still, there’s always next time.
I did however manage to nab 5 points for my efforts, leaving me on 18. Not quite enough, but if I can hit 28 by the end of States then I can realistically end with around 35 which at least gives me a small chance of sneaking into Worlds. Wish me luck!
As for the tournament itself, here’s how it worked out:
Ross Gilbert (Regigigas / Mewtwo) vs. Ollie (Durant)
Sammi Sekkoum (Durant) vs. Farres Sekkoum (Donphan / Yanmega)
Nathan McLewee (Zekeels) vs. Charles Barton (CMT)
Andy Stone (Durant) vs. Ben (Terrakion / Donphan)
Ollie (Durant) vs. Sammi (Durant)
Andy (Durant) vs. Nathan (Zekeels)
Sammi (Durant) vs. Andy (Durant)
So there we have it, clearly it was Durant’s day. Dead? Not a chance! Also, it would have meant that my top 4 AND top 2 would both have been against Durant so maybe I had a lucky escape. Props to Andy Stone for remaining undefeated for the whole tourney and a well-deserved win!
Maybe Heatmor will kill Durant for when the next set comes out?
P.S. He won’t.
P.P.S Follow me on Twitter! @thewossy
People are playing durant well they still can
Darkri EX not heatmor Darkri EX
time to stock up on the lost removers and giant hammers (if they come out next set). still, I WILL FIND A WAY TO KEEP DURANT ALIVE!!!!!
Maybe, it depends on what decks become popular
Why do you and Balasar have the exact same picture, but yours is purple?
Why? Durant will devour your soul.
i thought you said you wouldn’t be on here much after the 6c EX article.
great article, ross. i really like your writing.
Thank you sir :)
you’re welcome
exactly. and I think that somehow durant will get around heatmor so… I’m not entirely sold on it.
No, I don’t think there’s a way around Durants dropping starting T1, unless you play Mime Jr.
durant already is set up to loose one durant per turn starting t1. heatmor and the new decks won’t really affect durants that much. all the new decks rely on draw power, therefore, tend to run multiple junipers, N, pont, etc. this tends to take cards out of the deck. the only change in the durant decklist should be more or no N (that depends on whether the player wants deckout or disruption). DURANT WILL LIVE!!! MAKE NO DOUBTS!!!!!
I completely agree.
No, Durant is not set to lose a Durant every turn. About half the deck is dedicated to deny your opponent the ability to attack through Catcher, Crushing Hammer, Lost Remover, etc. There is a huge difference between something like Zekrom BLW, which KOs Durant for 3 Energy while also putting itself in range for Plasma Arrow, and Heatomr, which KOs Durant for 1 Energy while only being KO’d by a highly powered Mewtwo or Cobalion.
Also, since Durant generally starts alone, its chances of losing turn 1 skyrocket.
Durant doesn’t set up to lose them starting T1. Durant expects to lose them starting about T3-T4, if I lost an ant per turn starting T1 I’d lose with 17 cards in the opponent’s deck without Supporters or Super Rod consideration. How much support will it take to find a basic pokemon and basic energy?
Interesting report.
Some typos/errors:
Round 6, second paragraph:
“when what you really want is to stack basic energy and attack every turns” (last word).
Top 8, Game 1, first paragraph:
“The big problem with Tornadus is that, unless you have something else benched, you’re moving energy around.” (It would be “nothing else benched”).
Haha, as Adam said, maybe I should be an editor :P.
Oh, and Heatmor won’t kill Durant specifically, although it will give a fighting chance for those decks that struggle with it.
Here is what will kill Durant:
Zekeels already has an easy matchup if they know how to play it right.
CMT gets Tornadus EX, which is a good option (there is also the option of teching a Heatmor of course).
Dark.dec has a very easy matchup. Free retreat on everything, 120+ damage a turn…
Dark decks run on special energy, sadly. Lost remover is so broken with the new set. Also, Zekeels does not have that easy a matchup as most people believe.
I’m not sold on heatmor either, but I can’t think of an easy way to counter it either. Best I can think of is catcher/seeker/spooky whirlpool to send heatmor back into the deck (2 seeker + spiritomb = 3-card tech), where you are forced to expend resources to get it back out, or defender to force a 2HKO if you don’t have catcher at hand (2-3 defender).
Dark decks don’t really run on special energy… especially because Dark Patch only works with basic energy.
I agree that Durant can defeat Zeels. However, Zekrom + Eviolite is very hard to face. Just look at the States results.
Zekeels’ Durant matchup is pretty good as long as you don’t start the EX. If you do start the EX, it kinda sucks for you though.
zeels will have an easier matchup with raikou no? catcher a no energy durant up snipe the eviolited sp metal energied durant..
3,000 words, 2 mistakes. I think that’re pretty good going!
So, 2 words out of 3000 were wrong (turns should be turn and nothing should be something) gives me an error every 1,500 words or 0.07% of the article. I think that’s pretty good going!
Good points made about Durant though :)
Come on people, let Durant die in peace when DEX is released.
It’s had a good run for an uncommon and it’s not like anyone has had to spend any money on it.
except the ones who ran Mewtwo EX in their lists ;)
why does everyone think durant will die? it won’t. if anything, it will go on a short haitus and will come back stronger than ever.
Durant will die. See reasons below from baby_mario and I.
I love Durant. I placed 4th and 3rd at Virginia and Maryland States respectively with Durant. I only have one Mewtwo EX, and I have no cash for Dark Explorers, be it a box from the set or even a prerelease. But just because you, Roarkiller, coolestman22, lucarioadventure1, I, and etc. etc. etc. want it to live on does not mean it can.
It will go on a hiatus waiting for people to take their HEATMOR OUT OF THEIR DECKS. (Sorry, caps on and too lazy to delete and rewrite)
Great article, hilarious title, +1 from me. :)
wow. suprised no one went striaght terrakion and swept
Heatmor will not be the death of Durant. Everyone will play it for the first bit of BR’s and Durant will start to die off. Then, People will stop putting the Heatmor in their decks. Then, Durant is playable again. Repeat cycle.
Dark.dec will kill off Durant.
Heatmor isn’t needed.
dark.dec is pure theory, and theory can only go so far. besides, read my comment below about why durant won’t die.
Sure it’s theory. Just like Durant being able to deal with it is theory.
Dark.dec does just about everything that Durant decks will hate . . .
Durant is in decline even now. It dominated the London UK Cities but that success wasn’t even replicated elsewhere in the UK, despite the deck getting a good deal of play (and being used by good players).
After Regionals, it will be time to let go.
dark.dec?
whats with all these tourney reports without lists, makes for a much harder to follow report.
Put the lists in!
It’s practically impossible to make sense of Ross’s deck even when you have the list, so that wouldn’t help much.
One of the reasons i love it so much. If only days like Aldershot didn’t happen :p
I dunno, I thought Aldershot was a pretty good day ;)
I played 13 supporters (as per your suggestion!)
Game 1: No supporter til T3 – Lone Jirachi start
Game 2: No supporter til T3 – Lone Jirachi start
Game 3: No supporter til T2 – Lone Smeargle start (thank christ for Smeargle!)
I think 3-2 was amazing given that!!
P.s. Congrats for winning ;)
I get your comment. Unfortunately, i DID post a list for this deck on dotdeck.co.uk and on a different website it got totally trashed.
Despite going 6-2 (33rd!!) at ECC, sweeping a Cities and top-cutting a States, apparently the deck is rubbish. As soon as people stop being so negative towards decks they have played neither with, not against, i will start posting lists.
It’s not worth the hassell. If you want i can PM ya the list i used :)
Well, if there’s anyone who knows about lists being trashed, its me. I get that all the time when I write articles, so I feel for ya there. All I know is what I learned, and I can say that the best articles do have lists, and if you think they are complicated just explain it, and say “although it looks bad, you need to try it for yourself.” People will still bash you, but its not about that, its about writing a cool article.
So props on the good report and the willingness to share the decklist, don’t let the haters get to ya.
I agree that there are dark days ahead for Durant (get it? DARK? Hehehe…) but I believe it will still see some play. I’m wondering if Durant will find some sort of tech to kill Heatmor, since it will be pretty much always run as a 1-of tech (or 2 at the most). Hmmm…
Also, if anyone is really in love with Durant, then just wait until the Dragon Blade/Blast cards are released. Aggron will be Durant’s new parter in crime… But I’m getting ahead of the game, since that probably won’t even be until next format! Just saying, though, that Durant might get some redemption in the future.
You deserve a Like for that terrible joke.
Nice article as always Ross … still love that deck man.. i was too late for a full tournament when i was going to play it here in the US one week but i didnt do very well my last week with EXTC and i came so close to top cut my first week with zeels lol
Well congrats on the top cut :D
It can be difficult to play! I lent it to my girlfriend yesterday for a local tournament and she won, but she didn’t find it as easy as she may have. I don’t really understand the deck myself yet. When i do, i’m winning Nats :D
good luck im not making it to nats this year myself but this is my first year in tournament play so i didnt do so well in the begining till i found six prizes … before that i was running a zekrom ex verizion EPO deck lol i thought i was the best player in the world lol 1 prof oak …anyway good luck tho
I personally think that Durant can survive. sure Heatmor will wound Durant, but using n , catcher, crushing hammer and possibly a tech, Durant could survive.
The best part about Heatmor is that Crushing Hammer doesn’t do anything to it. It costs a single colorless. Not even a fire. ANY energy works. Crushing Hammer/Lost Remover away as much as you’d like, the only thing that would survive is a Rotom, but then constantly attacking with Rotom obviously ruins the idea of milling.
Correct. But if you catcher then play crushing hammer you could buy yourself a turn.
You’d need to buy 3 turns, which you can not afford. (pun intended)
Yes. however you can lock them out of energys late game
A really good read, ever since your ECC report I’ve found your deck to be very interesting. I can’t quite say how it compares to MTC since I don’t know your full build, but being able to Psydrive-KO opposing Mewtwos with no energy is a huge advantage. It’s been so rare to hear anyone using Jirachi these days too.
Cheers buddy.
I love the deck but it can be annoying :p In Aldershot on Sunday i didn’t have a supporter to start with… three games in a row! I was running 13! Work out the chances of THAT happening!
Jirachi is awesome but nothing sucks like a treble tails. And i’ve seen that a lot. It happened in half my swiss games at the ECC. Still, when it works… :D
Guess the flips just don’t fall for ya sometimes lol. Ever tried multiple Jirachi & Shaymin perhaps? I’m so tempted to test this deck out. Psydrive-ing Mewtwos FTW. :D
Expecting Heatmor to kill Durant isn’t something I’d put money on. So many decks(or maybe it’s just me) have trouble fitting in extra cards for techs, especially for specific counters. I doubt Heatmor would see too big play in decks, and I’m sure Durant can thrive otherwise.
As for the comments on how Dark decks will kill Durant, I don’t see the argument. Anyone care to debrief me on that idea?
Zorua has ascension, allowing a T1 evolution. Throw in darkness claw dark and you only need 3 more on the bench to OHKO all durants. Darkrai EX locks out catcher, while Dark Patch locks out removals.
Or just go with Darkrai EX alone, it’s enough to sweep AND snipe at the same time.
As I told my friends, Heatmor won’t be the death of durant; Darkrai EX will. As much as I hate to admit it, the infestation will come to an end come DEX.
It’s cool to hear that someone is actually using Psydrive effectively, not to mention Jirachi. Love the rogue deck and your articles are always awesome. :D
Thank you very much :D
Psydrive is very overlooked as an attack. It gets easy Kos ok Kyurem, Reshiram, Zekrom, Terrakion, Landorus etc etc etc as well as OHKOing a Durant with special metal AND Eviolite. Not to mention always OHKOing an opposing Moo2.
With games as quick as they are nowadays it can be hard to get the requisite energy but if you can abuse Jirachi or time a Shaymin just right it can be LETHAL :D
durant will comeback when mew ex comes out
It was good meeting you at London – we need to perform better against Durant next time, so we don’t provoke all this theorymon about it!
Great article, see you at Nationals :).