Top 16 Masters at Georgia Regionals w/ CMT

Hello everyone! This is my first ever report and also my first ever Regionals. I’d like to start with an intro about me and what led up to my report.

Introduction

My name is Scott DeGraw and I currently go to college at the University of South Alabama and study Geology. I’ve been playing the TCG for about 4 years now, but didn’t start to become real competitive until last year. It’s been a rough year for me. I lost my grandfather over the summer and this past September my girlfriend of 3 years broke up with me. This combined with stress of school sent me into a deep depression.

Because of all this I’m real behind in Championship Points because I didn’t go to any BRs or Fall Regionals. Luckily I’m much better now and in good spirits about everything.

My first tournament this year was the Memphis City Championship (I went to high school north of Memphis) in which I played my favorite deck, Durant. I tested a couple months before and went 6-0 in Swiss. I ended up winning in top 8 and losing in top 4 to get third. It was also my first ever top cut, so I was very excited just to make top 8. I then took Durant to 2 more Cities and did not do so well.

Then States came and I didn’t have any Mewtwo EX yet, so I took Durant to TN. I finished 5-2 and 24th place. I still liked Durant, but felt its time to shine was over. The next State I went to was Arkansas. I decided to try out Zekeels since I got 2 Mewtwo in the mail and went 4-3 and 32nd place. So I still got CPs, but I hate that deck.

It just wasn’t my kinda deck after playing, so I decided to try the other BDIF, CMT. I took it to Mississippi and finished 5-2, making it to top 16, but losing to mirror. My deck just crapped out both games and I couldn’t get anything going.

After a great finish with CMT at States, I knew that’s what I’d be playing for Regionals. I tweaked my list by adding more Supporters and making a more consistent Pokémon line with 3 Mewtwo and 3 Tornadus. I didn’t really test much because I had some tests in Stratigraphy and Stats that week, but I did come to the conclusion, with the little testing I did, that I needed a 3rd Tornadus EPO (it helped sooooo much).

Regionals Report

Friday: I left around 6:30 PM and tackled the 7 hour drive from Mobile, Alabama to Athens, GA. I met up at the Hotel at 1 AM, because of time zone change, with my friends from Murfreesboro, TN. Randall and Frankie were testing a few games while Leslie was passed out.

After they played a game, I tried my deck against Randall’s Zekeel. He couldn’t really get set up in the games we played and I was feeling pretty confident about my Zekeel match up.

Saturday: We got up and drove over to the event. I turned my decklist in and waited for the rounds. I saw some of my friends and met Curran Hill. Now the report. 8 rounds and 180+ players:

Round 1: Zack with Vanilluxe NVI/Vileplume UD

I’m at table 5 and it feels great to start at the top tables, even though it doesn’t mean much. I get set up and greet my opponent. I look at my hand and I have to start with Mewtwo EX… great. We flip and he has lone Articuno NXD. At this point I have no idea what he’s playing, but the only thing I can do is use PlusPower, drop a Double Colorless, and Juniper. X Ball for 50.

He draws, attaches, and passes. I draw, drop a G Energy, and X Ball for game. After that we play a fun game and chat. I find out he’s a newer player and talk to him about trying out the Mew Prime version over what he was running.

1-0

Round 2: Phillip Matthews with Zekeel

pokemon-paradijs.comWell, I call heads, and I’m going second. He flips a lone Tynamo and at that point I knew I lost because my only chance of winning was a donk. Beside the Double Colorless, I had Mewtwo, Mewtwo, Junk Arm, G Energy, and PlusPower.

Anyway, he proceeds to get like 4 Dual Ball flips and usher all his Tynamo into play. From there it just ends badly with me having 4 Prizes left and him having 2. He Catchers up my Mewtwo without Energy and gets 5 on his Mewtwo for the game.

1-1

Well that sucked, but it can’t get any worse, right?

Round 3: Randall with Zekeel

Wrong. I hate facing friends early. Anyway, I lose the coin flip and start with Mewtwo for the 3rd time. He starts a lone Tynamo and doesn’t do much else, but gets some other Basics in play. I draw, attach Double Colorless, and X Ball KO. He draw passes for the next couple turns and I end up benching him on like turn 5.

2-1

Luckily we’re still friends after that, but I still feel bad about it. After that we went to lunch and found Al’s Italian Beef. It was awesome!!! Got a custom burger with 2 1/3 lb patties, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, mayo, ketchup, and PRO!volone cheese. Freaking Legen….. DARY! We get back just in time for pairings.

Round 4: Lee with Zekeel

We get talking and he is a Pokédad with his son in Seniors I believe. It was a very friendly game. I win the coin flip and believe I start Mewtwo again. I don’t remember much, but it ended up very close. I had 1 Prize left and the only thing I could knock on his field was an Eelektrik with 40 HP remaining.

I look through my discard and find that I have 3 Junk Arm and 3 Catcher in there. I proceed to PONT, but didn’t get either. At this point I have a very low deck size. I use Dual Ball and get double heads. I look through my deck and grab the last 2 Basics. To my horror, I have only 8 cards left in deck after getting the Basics out, and my last prize is the Junk Arm.

pokemon-paradijs.comLee just used a Juniper last turn, so I Portrait in hopes of hitting a Juniper as well. He had it and I use it. I draw my cards one at a time and on the fourth card I get the Catcher!!! GG.

3-1

Wow, that was some pretty epic luck. I wish him the best and I’m kind of freaking out at this point. I’m 3-1 at my first ever Regionals in the 4 years I’ve been playing. Wow. Just. Wow.

Round 5: Jose from Florida with super crazy Volcarona NVI Rogue

At this point I’m wondering if I’ll ever run into anything besides Zekeel. I start pile shuffling my deck and my opponent shows up. I find out he’s from Florida and that instantly tells me this is going to be an even tougher match than initially thought. I start with Celebi Prime and he mulligans. I draw my mulligan card and it’s a Smeargle UD, so I place it on the bench.

In his hand were about 4 R Energy, so instantly I think he’s playing TyRam. We flip and I go first. He starts lone Terrakion NVI. My first thought was “that’s an unusual tech.” He then draws and Dual Balls for 2 Larvesta?!?!? Say what? I have no idea what Volcarona does, but think it has an Ability about Burn or something, so I’m not too scared use Forest Breath and leave Celebi active.

His turn he evolves and I realize I confused the Volcarona in format with the other one coming in our next set. He then attaches Rocky Helmet, switches out Terrakion, Fiery Dances for the knockout, and attaches a F Energy from the discard to Terrakion. That fueled me into catch up mode from then on and pretty much I had admitted defeat. It came down to where I had 4 Prizes and he had 2 when I used Hurricane for 80 on Mewtwo.

He then drops another Mewtwo, attaches a Double Colorless to the bench one, and X Balls to bring him to 1 Prize. I draw and realize it. I’ve had an N these past 3 turns!!! I quickly use it. Draw my 4 and I nearly made the misplay of the century. “Hurricaaaaaaa…. wait….” I then dropped a PlusPower. Hurricane for KO.

He sends up Volcarona, draws, and attacks for 30. I retreat, drop Double Colorless on Mewtwo that got the energy from Hurricane last turn, and Junk Arm for Catcher to bring up the benched Mewtwo for the game.

4-1

Wow. that was a crazy deck!!! I thought I’d seen everything and never thought Volcarona would be good in any deck let allow be 3-1 before our match. Again I’m freaking out. 4-1! This is unbelievable.

Round 6: Matt with CMT

pokemon-paradijs.comFinally a mirror match. Not much to say about this match. We both whiffed on energy every once in a while, but I end up getting 6 Prizes first using only Tornadus and we never started any Mewtwo war.

5-1

Round 7: James McKellar with CMT

At this point I’m taking it one win at a time. I don’t think my resistance is going to be any good, so I need this win. James was a really friendly guy. He very talkative, which I enjoy. Games are never fun when both players are almost entirely silent.

I believe I went first this game. Yet again. another mirror, and I don’t remember much. At some point we entered a Mewtwo war. I used a PONT and drew in the Mewtwo I needed to continue the war and also a Shaymin UL to move energy.

However, I opt to use the Dual Ball I drew into as well. I flip one head and retrieve a Mewtwo and attach a Double Colorless for the revenge. I knew full well I’d have the win next game if he stepped into my Mewtwo trap since I had the next Mewtwo and Shaymin in hand.

He, however, sends up Smeargle and sees, in his words, my “cute” hand. He then uses my PONT. By his reaction, I knew he didn’t get the N he was looking for. Instead, he drops a Regigigas-EX with Eviolite. After that he Junipers and Catchers up a Celebi and Knocks it Out.

My board had an active Mewtwo with 2 energy and a benched Tornadus with 3 energy. All I needed was a way to get 2 more energy on the board to win the game. I draw… and it’s a Double Colorless. I attach, drop Shaymin, and X Ball for the game.

6-1

I felt pretty good to have an epic finish like that. At this point, I know I’m in cut, so from here it’s just a fun game next round.

Round 8: Curran Hill with CMT

Awesome! I’m at table 4 against mister mono-Terrakion state winner himself. This game was great!!! Not really… like a minute before we started he asked if I would mind if he scooped so he could nap. I was fine with that if he chose to, but also wanted to have a good game against him too.

He decides to play, but he got what he wished for. I start Celebi Prime active and Tornadus on the bench to his lone Smeargle. I Forest Breath to Tornadus and attach Double Colorless and drop Skyarrow Bridge for the game. My first donk of the day, but I actually wanted a decent game with him. Maybe at Nats we’ll get a rematch

7-1

Standings go up and I’m 5th seed! Some of my friends also make top cut and I pray we don’t have to face each other. The way the organizers were doing the tournament was to finish top 32 and then do the rest the next day.

Top 32: Stephen Clark with Durant

This is where I learned how much I hate playing against my favorite deck.

Game 1: I donk his lone Durant with Tornadus.

Game 2: After winning Game 1 so quickly, I felt more relaxed about Game 2. Not much to say though. I started Mewtwo and he got 3 Durant out and Devoured me to 10 cards before I even got a prize. I scooped.

Game 3: I try going for the donk, but can’t draw into a Tornadus. He attaches to his active, PONTs, and Devours for 1. My turn I get double tails on Dual Ball. I then Switch to Smeargle, and see he has Pokémon Collector in hand. I then use it to get Tornadus. This game I prized 2-of my Tornadus, so glad I made the changes I did after States.

Then, I use N to get the Collector out of his hand and pass. He must have not drawn much from his new 6 and Devours for 1 again. I draw, attach Double Colorless to Tornadus, retreat, and Hurricane for game.

8-1

With day 1 done, I’m Pokémon’d out. The gang and I decide to get dinner and end up getting Olive Garden. We then head to the hotel. I surfed the web and played some League of Legends, and finally get a full night of sleep for the first time in a couple of days.

Day 2

I’m pretty pumped and ready to go. I pack all the stuff in the car and head over to the event bright and early. I think I’m the first one there for the TCG and ask Nashville PTO Rick where to go. He just told me to hang out, so I did. Then I’m embarrassed by being called out over the mic to go to the back of the room so we can start top cut.

Top 16: Ashon Haswell with Zekeels (Smeargle version)

Game 1: Really slow start for both of us. I go second with Mewtwo and just X Ball his active Smeargle. He didn’t use a Supporter on his turn, and every time he used Portrait, I never had a Supporter. This continues for a few turns until I draw the first Supporter.

Then it gets really fast paced with him using about 2-3 Supporters a turn on average. Even though I had a lead, I can’t get my last 2 Prizes cause he gets a crucial heads on Super Scoop Up to get his active Zekrom-EX (with 80 damage) off the board.

Game 2: This is similar to game one, except without the slow starts. It ends up where the only thing he can do is start a Mewtwo when he has 3 Prizes left and I have 2. He KOs my active Mewtwo EX by getting 3 energy on his. I bring up my benched Mewtwo with 1 G Energy on it. I draw and no energy. Then I PONT in hopes of drawing it. He cuts the top 3 off my deck and I draw my 6. No energy.

At this point I have 7 cards in my deck. I Switch to Smeargle in hopes of getting a Juniper. No Supporter in his hand, and I’m forced to just pass. He drops energy and PlusPower for the game.

8-2

pokemon-paradijs.comAfter that, I look at my bottom 3 and sure enough Double Colorless. Also one of my last 2 Prizes was a Grass. Lame. Still though, I had a lot of fun and end up 9th bringing my Championship Points to 15. Yay!

Props

• Doing so well at my first Regionals
• Randall for letting me borrow the 3rd Mewtwo for the deck
• Having a 3rd Tornadus
• Al’s Italian Beef
• Shopping around Athens afterward
• Ben and Jerry’s
• Tennessee having such a good showing in Georgia w/ 7(i think) in the top 32

Slops

• Having to face Randall
• Being broke after this past weekend
• Energy whiffs

Overall had a great time and if I do well at Nationals I might make another report. I hope you enjoyed reading my report as much I did writing it. Peace.