Eels and Dragons and Penguins, Oh My! Spring Battle Carnival 2012 Nagoya Japan Tournament Report

Interest in the Japanese meta and tournament structure has been building, especially now that the 2012 Pokémon World Championships is fast approaching. There have been a few articles here and there, but real hands-on information about Japan has been scarce. As someone who has lived in Japan for over 3 years now, I hope to finally bridge the information gap and give you direct reports from Japan.

Who am I? I’m some guy who lives in Japan and plays Pokémon among other card games. Unfortunately, my tournament experience with Pokémon has been limited various to local league tournaments. Until now, I never attended big tournaments either here or in the US. I played a little over two years ago in Japan, but after the multiple rotations and rule changes I quit playing completely to focus on other games.

When the Pokémon-EX were first announced I started getting hype for Pokémon again and after a bit of coaxing from friends I decided to get back into the game last month. I have always kept myself up to date with what’s going on in the US meta using sites like this one and great video series by a couple members of the community, but BW-on is completely different from the DP-Legends format I used to play in.

Trying to adapt to this new BW-on format has been an incredible challenge. With only approximately 5 sets to work with I wasn’t sure where to begin. Where are Pokémon Collector, Roseanne’s Research, Cosmic Power Claydol GE, and Set Up Uxie LA? The consistency cards I had become so accustomed to were all but gone and replaced with only a handful of Stadiums, Trainers, and Supporters, less than half of which are playable in the majority of decks.

However, the release of Dragon Blade and Dragon Blast in March gave a lot more to work with than I expected. The overall lack of support currently has been swapped by many different and amazing Pokémon cards to base decks around. I spent all my free time this past month researching the Japanese meta and learning every card in the format. As I attempted to build decks I expected to see in preparation for this event one thing became abundantly clear…

anongallery.org

Many of you have probably now seen various posts and articles detailing the results from “Japanese Nationals,” however these are not technically Japan’s Nationals. They are a series of separate events run in conjunction with the Pokémon Centers (they did a lot of cross-promoting and a Pokémon Center mini-store was present there). The cities where each Spring Battle Carnival is held are also specifically cities that have their own Pokémon Centers.

These tournaments should not be confused with the “Garchomp and Hydreigon Cup” tournaments which seem to have had qualifiers at specific Gym Challenges all over the country. I unfortunately am not 100% clear on the details for those events; however one difference regarding the Spring Battle Carnivals is that they open to the public. If you just bought a starter deck for the first time that day and decide to enter with it you can.

Winners of the tournament receive free expense-paid round trips to the 2012 Pokémon World Championships in Hawaii and therefore the tournament is obviously the focus of the event. However, they also have multiple side events going on to generate interest and educate people about Pokémon. They have people cosplay as some of the BW gym leaders where you can challenge them and get prizes if you win, staff walkthroughs on basic play and deck building, a store with exclusive merchandise, etc.

Tournament Structure

But you’re not reading this article for any of that. You want to know about the main tournament. The level of play is anywhere from zero to world champion (of which there were a few former champs present). There is an A league and a B league which is separated by age. Generally speaking, A League includes children up through the 6th grade and B League includes anyone after 6th grade.

Each league is conducted with the same rules and the same format much like Juniors or Masters are in the US. Players compete in various “stages” that include the Challenge Stage, Premier Stage, and the Climax Stage (top cut). You start off by waiting in a line until you are randomly selected an opponent in the Challenge Stage area. If you win you continue playing against random opponents from the line and if you lose you must line up from the start again.

Because players in B League range from 6th graders to grandfathers there is some strategy in lining up to ensure you don’t wind up playing against a serious player right away. Winning 3 times in a row allows you to move onto the Premier Stage to play against others who also have won 3 matches in a row. There is no limit to the amount of victories in a row you can get there. The Climax Stage is seeded based on players’ performances in the Premier stage.

sbnation.com
It’s like in NBA Jam where you need to make 3 baskets in a row to catch on fire. But then you need to make 4 more baskets in a row.

The Climax Stage or top 16 is best of 1 match, single elimination. Top 16 is determined by how many wins in a row in the Premier Stage a player has before time is called. The time limit at each tournament thus far has been around 4 hours (9 AM until 1 PM). In order to top cut, people I talked to were guessing that you needed at least 3 wins in the Challenge Stage and 4 wins at the Premier Stage to break into top 16 (mind you, all of these must be consecutive).

The only issue is if you lose in the Premier Stage, you must go all the way back to the beginning, and that means fighting your way back through the line and winning 3 in a row at the Challenge Stage again in order to reenter the Premier Stage. This means a single loss can end your chances of top cutting because it’s possible that there just isn’t time to line up again, play 7 matches and hope to top cut.

Players with the same amount of consecutive wins will play mass Rock-Paper-Scissors to see who makes top cut. Getting good at RPS is extremely crucial in Pokémon now due to the fact that going first has such a huge advantage in the game itself. Your RPS skills can sometimes be the single difference between you top cutting and going home empty-handed.

Needless to say, if you want that free trip to Hawaii, you’ll basically have to win out. I’m sure this finally explains how many Japanese pro players have gone to Worlds and won the entire tournament without recording a single loss. Their system (at the Spring Battle Carnivals, I’m unsure how it runs at the Dragon Cups) is set up in such a way that any loss to any single player at these tournaments can mean you don’t make it to Worlds that year.

A Long Wait

Actual line. Not really.

I felt the biggest problem at the tournament in Nagoya was its organization. Close to 1,000 people lined up to battle, but there were only around 100 set ups in the Challenge Stage area to accommodate everyone. Because each winner stays on until they are promoted to the Premier Stage and each match can be anywhere from 30 seconds (donk) to 30 minutes or more, this means that the line took absolutely forever to go through.

I was waiting from around 8:30 AM in a line before I even got inside the building at around 9 AM. After going through a very thorough security check point I looked around a bit, not realizing how long it would actually take to get a match. I lined up for the B League at 9:15~9:20 and it was just after 10:30 by the time I could even get into my first match.

The deck I used ran Empoleon DEX, Terrakion NVI, and Mew EX (BW5) along with various other consistency techs like Emolga (BW5). I changed my mind at least 100 times in the month leading up to the tournament and decided at the last minute to play this deck because I was winning most of my matchups my testing the night before. I feel this deck not only has a ton of built-in consistency but also has serious counters to all threats in the meta.

The key piece this deck really needed was given to it in BW5 in the form of Mex EX. Mew-EX’s ability “Almighty” (or “Versatile” as it has been translated) allows him to “use the attacks of all Pokémon in play as its own,” with the only restriction being he must have attached the energy required to use that move. With only 120 HP for 2 Prizes and a psychic weakness this Pokémon seems difficult to use however, in this deck he’s your instant Mewtwo EX counter.

In one turn you can place a Mew-EX down on the bench, retreat your active for Mew-EX, attach a W Energy and use a benched Empoleon’s Attack Command for the 1HKO on Mewtwo EX (assuming there are enough Pokémon in play to do base 90 damage). When played properly, this card is crucial in certain matchups. I think it turns a bad match up into an incredibly favorable one against ZekEels. Terrakion NVI and Mew-EX together perfectly counter the deck.

My Matches

Bulbapedia
Ability: You must wear a Grateful Dead t-shirt in order to play this card.

In my first Challenge Stage match I played a girl running Kyogre EX/Beartic/Starmie/???. To be honest I don’t even remember which version of each Pokémon she ran. Needless to say I had never seen this stuff in play before and things were getting kind of scary in the beginning after Kyogre EX was constantly sniping my benched basics for 50 damage with Dual Splash. However, after I was fully set up there was nothing she could do.

1-0

My next match was against a 6th grader who just happened to have an early birthday so he was forced into B League. He was very nervous and couldn’t really speak the entire time. He never made eye contact, never said a word and was just constantly shaking. I felt really bad for the kid. He ran a bunch of random basic Pokémon and couldn’t really get anything going. I took 6 extremely fast prizes.

2-0

My third and last match of the day was a total heart-breaker against Darkrai EX/Shaymin EX. This deck is extremely popular and has endless customization options. It’s popularly referred to as Darkrai EX “Good Stuff.” That “good stuff” can be other EXs who help him out, Sableye DEX and/or Dark Tools along with your standard Trainers skeleton. Darkrai EX + Shaymin EX, Darkrai EX + Mewtwo EX, Darkrai EX + Tornadus EX, Darkrai EX + Mewtwo EX + Tornadus EX… you get the idea.

Darkrai EX is a monster and his only real counter is Terrakion NVI, and I simply could not set one up fast enough. I fell victim to multiple Dark Claw Night Spears and was behind in prizes early. I was able to make a few moves and eventually take out 2-of his Darkrai EXs, but that’s exactly what he wanted because it freed up his side of the field limiting Attack Command’s power, and taking 4 Prizes from the Darkrai EXs meant his Shaymin EXs could sweep my board for his last few prizes.

2-1

After waiting in line for over an hour and playing 3 matches the time was already at approximately 11:40 AM. I realized then that by the time I waited in line again I would have enough time to realistically play only one more match before time was called. My first World’s qualifier had opened and closed in just over an hour of total playtime.

A Challenger Appears

knowyourmeme.comI was about to pack up and call it a day when a famous Tokyo player just lost in the Premier Stage after winning 2 in a row there and realized that his fate was also sealed. We both happened to exit the battle area at the same time and kind of just struck up a conversation. “Hey! What’s up! I saw you in the line earlier!” he called to me, “Wanna play some casuals?”

From him I learned a great deal about the metagame, what cards were good and why and I also got a great confidence booster when I beat his ZekEels tournament deck. Having a Terrakion NVI out meant he couldn’t risk putting out Raikou or any other Fighting weak Pokémon-EX. I got early KOs by Catchering up his Eels, but the real key to victory as I hinted at earlier was a crucial Mew-EX play.

I KO’d a Mewtwo EX with Terrakion after he KO’d an Empoleon, and he returned with another Mewtwo EX to KO my Terrakion leaving prizes at 2-1 in his favor. I quickly searched out my Mew-EX, attached an energy and put down a Basic to my bench to do exactly 90 HP base damage with Attack Command to 1HKO Mewtwo. That win made my loss to Darkrai EX “good stuff” hurt a lot less.

Palace Format

From then on he “took me under his wing” by introducing me to players in my local area, gave me a bunch of free cards and taught me all about the second tournament of the day which is a DP-On format with very specific restrictions that I did not even know was scheduled. Here is the translated the banned/restricted card list for the event (thanks to community member RestlessBob for the translation):

1 Point

pokemon-paradijs.com
Miss me?

Unown R LA
Crobat G PL
Cyrus’s Conspiracy
Poké Drawer +
Seeker
Pokémon Collector

2 Points

Claydol GE
Azelf LA
Machamp SF
Luxury Ball
Broken Time-Space
Junk Arm

3 Points

Uxie LA
Sableye SF
Luxray G LV.X

Banned Cards

Mewtwo LV.X
Miracle Diamond
Mysterious Pearl

pokemon-card.comAny deck using cards from DP-on is legal as long as you keep your deck’s “points” to 4 points or lower. That means you can have 1 Uxie LA and 1 Pokémon Collector in your deck and that would be it. You couldn’t have any more of the restricted cards because that would total more than 4 points. Any other cards are completely legal with no restrictions.

I saw a lot of really vicious decks. Garchomp (BW5) + Broken Time-Space is just plain silly. Durant NVI with access to Azelf LA and Snowpoint Temple (Snowpoint Temple + Special M Energy + Eviolite = one tough ant). Various speed donk decks based around Celebi Prime and Tornadus EX were there as well as absolute lock: Vileplume UD, Dusknoir DP, Gardevoir SW, Spiritomb AR, Garbodor BW5, etc. Really fun and creative stuff.

This tournament has no age restrictions and is mostly for fun. I say “mostly” because there is actually something really worthwhile on the line, the Palace Belt. As of right now the Spring Battle Carnivals are the only way of getting your hands on one and there’s no word on whether or not the card will be reprinted for us in BW6 or any other set yet. The Palace Belt reads, “If the Pokémon this card is attached to is your Active Pokémon, you draw 2 cards at the beginning of your turn instead of 1.”

BulbapediaThe pro from Tokyo told me about a couple decks that are starting to take advantage of this card, mostly Mew-EX lock. Mew-EX lock runs Mew-EX (BW5), Accelgor DEX, Darkrai EX, and Gothitelle EPO 47, plus various consistency cards like Musharna DEX or Venusaur DEX.

The idea is to have Mew-EX use Accelgor’s Deck and Cover, promote Gothitelle to Item lock with the Palace Belt attached so you can draw 2 cards at the start of your next turn. In order to more consistently keep the lock going you run Darkrai EX for free retreat and the consistency cards to keep Mew-EXs in play with Double Colorless Energy. With Item lock you also won’t have to worry about Tool Scrapper (BW5) to remove the Palace Belt or being able to switch out of the lock. Nasty stuff.

I decided to enter with my BW-on deck for fun and nearly beat a deck which was around 50% energy, Mew Prime + Rhyperior LV.X + Azelf MT/Uxie MT/Mesprit MT, but alas, before he decked himself out he got a Palmer’s Contribution to return 5 energy back and won.

In Conclusion…

After that I was exhausted. No more lines for me. I decided I’d attempt to make a Garchomp + Broken Time-Space deck or Super Durant or something in order to better compete next time for a Palace Belt when I go to the next Spring Battle Carnival in Osaka. Until then, here is a list of the top 5 decks in the format according to the various people I spoke to:

  1. Hydreigon (BW5) + Darkrai EX (This deck is widely accepted as BDIF; I’m personally not convinced.)
  2. ZekEels (Tied for most overused deck.)
  3. Garchomp (BW5) + Altaria (BW5) (Tied for most overused deck.)
  4. Empoleon DEX + Techs
  5. Darkrai EX + “Good Stuff”

All I can say is, you guys have a lot to look forward to. BW5 is an excellent set and I can’t wait for you guys to get into the BW-on format and get some dragon Pokémon in your hands. That and take my advice, get Darkrai EX now and get a set of 3 or 4. I guarantee you he’ll be a force in the meta for quite a while.

I wanted to finally note that everyone at the tournament was extremely friendly and awesome. I was kind of nervous about what kind of reaction people would have to a random white guy showing up to their World qualifier, but everyone was super excited to have me around and introduced me to person after person, each of them asking if I would please visit their local tournaments.

They even told me that Japanese people have qualified in the US for Worlds (usually from their parents’ work sending them overseas) and it would be awesome if I ended up as a representative of Japan and that I should try hard to qualify in Osaka. I’ve never had quite as warm of a welcome in any card game I’ve played in Japan. I really can’t wait to embrace the Japanese Pokémon community and give it much more of a serious shot this time.

What was really outstanding was the sheer amount of entire families entering these tournaments together. One of the many people I met there was a father in a family of four. He told me that at a previous Battle Carnival his son, daughter (both A League), and even his wife all made it to the Premier Stage while he did not. He was happy to let me know that this time he was able to “regain his honor” and finally make it into the Premier Stage.

I don’t know how common this is in the US or otherwise, but seeing parent and child talk Pokémon strategy with each other was just simply amazing. I will never forget this experience and am eagerly awaiting my second shot in Osaka in two weeks.

I know this was a long read, but I would like to thank you all for your tips and advice along the way and for somehow getting through this mammoth tournament report all the way to the end. Stay tuned for deck analysis, card analysis and more tournament report articles coming soon!

Reader Interactions

28 replies

  1. Mark Hanson

    Major props and huge thanks for the article! I’d heard about the Japanese tournament system, but getting an in-depth first hand look was awesome! Please please PLEASE continue writing! This is exactly what we North Americans want. It’s a shame I can’t read Japanese well enough to follow their forums :P

    Also, isn’t Mewtwo EX a 4 point card in Palace Rules?

  2. Jordan Saba

    Excellent read. I’ve seen parents play with their children at prereleases but nothing like how you described. I really think we should adopt something like the Palace Format here since it sounds like it could make for a nice break from the usual Modified Format.

    I’m very excited for our next set and what a (hopefully) BW-on rotation brings. I wish you luck at the Osaka Battle Carnival.

  3. Lee

    Great article. The modified tournament structure sounds intense! If Pokemon adopted the Palace Format at leagues here in North America I think it could only be for the better, with specifics on what sets to run specifically based on what a local league wants to run. I know scores of people here who would be interested in playing casual games of older sets in a structured environment.

  4. Willy Doehring

    Awesome article! I love hearing about the decks that are doing good in Japan, it seems like there is always some really cool decks being played. Speaking of which, Hydregion BW5/Darkrai EX will be an awesome deck (dang Darkrai, why are you so expensive) and I really want to play the deck. Garchomp/Altaria sounds awesome too, I’ve been wanting to play the deck since BW5 was released in Japan! Can’t wait until the Dragon set hits North America…

    Also, Mew EX in Empoleon!!! As a fellow Empoleon player I thought that Mew looked to have great potential in the deck. Cool to see that it’s working out for you!

    As a last question, is Rayquaza EX seeing much play in Japan? Just wondering because it seems like it’s going to be broken over here. :)

    Great article, and I really hope you keep writing!

    • Rogan  → Willy

      Rayquaza EX is definitely seeing some play. I personally don’t want to play it simply because of how popular Garchomp bulds are and how easy Ray EX is OHKO’ed for 2 prizes by him.

      • Willy Doehring  → Alex

        Cool, thanks. I’m hoping to a play Rayquaza/Thudurus/Eel deck, as well as Empoleon with Mew and Garchomp/Altaria. Thanks agains and hope to see more of your articles in the future!!!

        • Rogan  → Willy

          You can check out this build from the Nagoya A League who just won with the deck!

          A-league Nagoya

          Pokemon 15
          2x Rayquaza EX
          2x Rayquaza
          2x Zekrom
          2x Raikou EX
          4x Tynamo
          3x Eelektrik

          Support 11
          4x N
          4x Professor Juniper
          3x Bianca

          Item 20
          4x Ultra Ball
          2x Level Ball
          3x Random Receiver
          4x Pokemon Catcher
          4x Switch
          2x Energy Switch
          1x Max Potion

          Stadium 2
          2x Sky Arrow Bridge

          Energy 12
          5x Fire Energy
          7x Lightning Energy

          I think the key is really using Raikou to take out the Altarias as fast as possible and normal Rayquaza to knock out Garchomps if placed in the mirror. The deck really does look fun!

          (deck list courtesy of Restlessbob)

        • Willy Doehring  → Alex

          Nice! Thanks for the list, it makes mr very excited to build the deck. And now that Rayquaza (along with Mewtwo and Darkrai) are all going to be tin promos come September I’ll be able to easily make the deck!

          Thanks again!

  5. Frankie Durso

    This was a great article! I have always admired the Japanese culture.

  6. Eric Smith

    Not gonna lie, I’ve enjoyed this more than some of the 6PU articles. Very nice stuff man, I hope you continue to keep us up to date with the japanese metagame in the future too : )

  7. Dave Enzo

    Great article ..it sounds like a pokemon players dream over there lol i want to visit a pokemon center lol..

  8. Rogan

    Expect another article after the Osaka tournament and then after I gain some more experience expect some deck analysis articles. Writing these take much longer than I originally expected so hopefully I can crack one out every couple weeks or so. Stay tuned!!

    For anyone curious about the Palace Format here’s the rules home page. It’s in Japanese but the point system is all displayed with pictures of the restricted cards so you can clearly see what is how many points and/or banned:

    http://www.pokemon-card.com/howto/dendo/

    ANYTHING that is from BW-on has zero restrictions. That means Mewtwo EX can be run 4 per deck if you really wanted to.

  9. bowser

    Wow, pretty fascinating. Into the future is over my head right now, but it’s good to see Empoleon is holding on since we like the little waddler.

  10. pkmn master

    ouch >.< I just traded my only darkrai EX….. time to get some more! lol (I'm actually thinking of going garchomp/altaria)

    anyways, thanks for the article! definitely a +1 I always like reading what goes on in Japan, since we will probably mirror it to some extent… also do you know if mewtwo EX is still super popular over there? Do you think we should sell off our extra copies now? or is the evil kitty not done in Japan yet? Thanks in advance if you answer my question :)

    again great article! thanks for writing!

    • Rogan  → pkmn

      Mewtwo EX and Darkrai EX are easily the two most used cards and the two most expensive cards in Japan right now. Garchomp doesn’t use them but almost every other deck does.

  11. Ed Mandy

    Great article, Rogan. It sounds like a pretty amazing experience with more to come.

  12. Steve

    Great article! Definitely a +1. Thanks for talking about the different stages in a Japanese tournament. It’s easy to see why competitive decks in Japan are so different compared to the States; because you can’t afford to lose! Here in America, you can have one bad game and still make Top Cut. There you would have to play so carefully to avoid losing.

    Just for fun, have you tried playing a western build of a deck (like CMT or Zekeels) to see how it would fare against a more controlling Japanese deck? I’d really be interested in knowing how that turned out. Good luck in future competitions

    • Rogan  → Steve

      I haven’t actually. As the main format is BW-on here those wouldn’t work exactly the same. ZekEels is still popular and I do have it I just didn’t run it last time.

      • Edmund Nelson  → Alex

        But how does Zekeels do against Hydregion? What can Zekrom/electrik do against the wall of healing? Thundurus aggression + some way to get OHKOS?

        • Rogan  → Edmund

          Pokemon lines in ZekEels decks vary so very much. Let’s look at the most recent winning Eels decks:

          (B League 1st in Nagoya)
          Pokemon 15
          3x Mewtwo EX
          2x Zekrom
          1x Zekrom EX
          1x Raikou EX
          4x Tynamo (2x Thunder Wave/2x 10 to bench)
          4x Eelektrik

          Support 12
          4x N
          4x Professor Juniper
          4x Bianca

          Item 20
          4x Ultra Ball
          2x Level Ball
          2x Random Receiver
          4x Pokemon Catcher
          4x Switch
          2x Max Potion
          2x Eviolite

          Stadium 1
          1x Sky Arrow Bridge

          Energy
          4x Double Colorless Energy
          8x Lightning Energy

          (A League 1st in Yokohama)
          Pokemon 15
          3x Mewtwo EX
          1x Raikou EX
          1x Terrakion
          1x Zekrom
          1x Tornadus
          4x Tynamo
          4x Eelektrik

          Support 12
          4x Professor Juniper
          4x N
          4x Bianca

          Item 19
          4x Ultra Ball
          4x Pokemon Catcher
          1x Level Ball
          2x Tool Scrapper
          2x PlusPower
          2x Max Potion
          2x Random Receiver
          2x Switch

          Energy 14
          4x Double Colorless Energy
          7x Lightning Energy
          3x Fighting Energy

          I’ve seen lists vary even further from that. I haven’t really seen Thundurus in a long time where as he’s a STAPLE in US decks. I also seem to notice 4-4 Eels is the standard and more and more decks are running 3 Mewtwo EXes in their decks. Sometimes you will have Terrakions teched in for the mirror or Darkrai EX but I haven’t tested that build to see if it is any good. It appears rather inconsistent but if it won a tournament with these rules it must be consistent enough, that’s for sure.

          Also notice Max Potions. Max Potions have been run in nearly every deck that has won in Japan (except for the one Garchomp build, which could easily add it in and, IMO, needs to add it in). I think it’s a really underused card in the US right now but that might just be the difference in the format. I’m not sure. The card is really too good to not run (if you can) 2 of in any deck except for maybe Darkrai EX/Terrakion lists without a way of transferring energy.

        • Grant Manley  → Alex

          Those are SOOOOOOO way different that my BW-on Zekeels lol.
          4 Zekrom BW
          3 Thundurus
          3 Moo2
          4-4 Eel-18
          4 Tool Scrapper
          4 Ultra Ball
          4 Receiver
          4 Switch
          4 Eviolite
          4 Juniper
          4 Cheren
          2 Catcher
          10 Lightning
          2 DCE
          I agree it looks so bad on paper but is actually good and holds its own against many top (like BR winning) HS-on decks. It is consistent so I see it being very good in BW-on. Hydrei/’Rai is just a better version of Klinkorners. :P

  13. Dave Kuipers

    Great read Rogan, thanks! Hope to read more about your tournaments and the Japanese meta in general in the future. Keep it coming!

  14. Ty Sylicus

    Excellent! It’s nice to ”meet” you, Rogan, and I think it’s FANTASTIC that you’re a White guy in Japan! haha. Everything I’ve read about the Japanese tournament system is just crayz, and is probably why I haven’t seen many Japanese players at worlds, or the same champions returning year after year (correct me if I’m wrong).

    Unlike the Pokemon Mecca that is Nippon, I live in the remote state of Alaska. Here there is NO established meta or tournament structure. I’ve been fighting to change this but lack of any serious players has impeded any real progress. cry cry My only really experience with the meta in through the internet.

    Anywho- I’ve build and tested many meta decks just for fun. Sadly, most are far too powerful to play with in my area. The first deck I build after opening my DEX box was Empoleon! I traded away for the quad and added Terrakion right away to cover weakness. I tossed in Mewtwo and my deck was then unbeatable. Sadly, no one will battle it anymore.

    Thanks for the great read. I hope you write more! Best of lucky winning that belt!

  15. トムリン

    Great article! I live in Nagoya Japan.
    Natulally I took part in Spring Battle Carnival 2012 Nagoya.

    Tournament (plan) that we can get the Palce Belt may be open in summer.

  16. Franklin

    I just want to say that I’m an old-school Magic: the Gathering player, and I picked up some Pokemon decks in order to bond with my Japanese step-son. We’re upstairs on the floor of his bedroom every night talking shop about which card is the best, and how can he beat his friend’s deck – now that I read your article, I might be inspired to check out the Osaka tournament with him! We live on Shikoku, so it’s not too far a drive for us. He’s been bandying about a Rayquaza EX deck, and his deckbuilding is frankly atrocious – but he ALWAYS beats me. I don’t know if I suck that bad or if he is secretly some kind of Pokemon genius. Then again, my Garchomp/Harxorus all-Dragons all the time deck isn’t half bad :-D

    Thanks for the article! It was great reading, and maybe I’ll see you there!

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