Thevilegarkid’s Autumn Battle Roads Recap + Philly Regionals Report

Hey SixPrizes! Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while, I’ve been kind of busy. Anyway, I was lucky enough to attend 7 Battle Roads and a Regionals. Since the Battle Roads were so many and my results were all over the place, I didn’t want to fully report on them (and it’d be really late to now), but I will recap them somewhat quickly, explain my deck choice for Regionals, some key points I learned from BRs, and of course share my Regionals report.

Battle Roads Recap

BR 1: Mocksville, NC

Deck Choice: Darkrai EX/Hydreigon DRX 97

I was playing Darkrai/Hydreigon mainly for the reasons most other people were. New format, great in testing, and theoretically could do everything. Not to mention all the hype over its success in Japan.

Round 1 vs. Random pile of cards: Win

Round 2 vs. Zeels: Win

Round 3 vs. Ho-Oh: Loss (donked)

Round 4 vs. Garbodor/Registeel/EXs: Loss

I knew I was going to try something else after that finish, but I knew the deck was still good. I was going to play it later in the BR season but didn’t get around to it. I don’t really know why, I just like playing other decks more.

BR 2: High Point, NC

Deck Choice: Darkrai EX/Terrakion NVI/Sableye DEX (no Hammers)

I had just built this the day before but I liked all the options it had and I felt would be good against the meta.

Round 1 vs. Mixed Zeels: Win

Round 2 vs. TerraZeels/Turbo Mewtwo: Win

Round 3 vs. Zeels: Loss

Round 4 vs. Zeels: Win

I did bubble at 5th but still liked the deck. I knew exactly what I needed to change with it and loved all it was capable of.

BR 3: Cary, NC

Deck Choice: Darkrai EX/Terrakion NVI/Sableye DEX (still no Hammers)

pokemon-paradijs.comI had neglected to include Mewtwos in my deck the previous Battle Road because my friend was borrowing them, and that ultimately resulted in my one loss. I felt kind of mean taking them back when he needed them, but I knew that this deck also needed them. So, I was pretty confident going into this BR. Luckily, my friend got the Mewtwos.

Round 1 vs. Fire ‘N Stuff: Win

Round 2 vs. Zeels w/ Empoleon and 1 Kyogre tech: Win

Round 3 vs. Zeels: Win

Round 4 vs. Garbodor/Registeel/EXs: Loss

I was a little dissapointed with the fourth place there, but I liked the deck. However, even though I was comfortable with this list, and it was pretty good, I decided to build a new deck for the next day’s BR… because I’m adventurous? (Or coughcough stupid)

BR 4: Morrisville, NC

Deck Choice: ThunderBulls

Alright, so I built this deck with tremendous early-game pressure in mind. I ran 4 Thundurus EPO and 4 Pokémon Catcher. I got some laughs about running “Quad-Thundurus,” but the deck itself preformed pretty well in testing.

Round 1 vs. Darkrai/Hydreigon: Loss

Round 2 vs. Theme Deck: Win

Round 3 vs. Garbodor/Terrakion/Mewtwo: Win

Round 4 vs. Garchomp/Aerodactyl/EXs: Win

Round 5 vs. TerraZeels/Turbo Mewtwo: win

I placed 4th and pulled a Shiny Rayquaza! Overall, the deck I played was really just fun, and had too many problems that were noticeable in the tournament. I got lucky to escape with points on this one.

BR 5: Hillsborough, NC

Deck Choice: Registeel-EX/Serperior BLW 6

pokemon-paradijs.comOn the drive there, I was flipping out. I had no clue what to play, and the only deck I had built was Darkrai/Terrakion. While I should’ve played Darkrai/Terrakion because it really is pretty good and I was comfortable with it, I just didn’t want to at the time.

So, my friend jokingly offered me to borrow his Registeel/Serperior deck that he had played before but not yet taken apart. I actually took him up on that, never having played it before, and definitely not anticipated the number of Garbodor that would show up.

I changed a few cards and huzzah! Even after all this, the deck supposedly “had no room” for Catchers or Tool Scrappers. Little did I know that I was doomed.

Round 1 vs. Registeel/Garbodor/EXs: Loss

Round 2 vs. Zeels: Win

Round 3 vs. TerraZeels/Turbo Mewtwo: Loss

Round 4 vs. Fluffychomp: Win

Okay, okay; I’ll be honest, the Fluffychomp was no good. He played 1 draw Supporter and complained about bad draws! Anyway, I did not play this deck again. Bruce was going on a rampage with Garbodor/EXs (ended BRs with 79 CP) and Registeel/Serperior had really all-over-the-place matchups.

BR 6: Burlington, NC

Deck Choice: Big Basics (Bouffalant DRX/Mewtwo EX/Terrakion NVI/Tornadus EX)

pokemon-paradijs.comI did built this the night before and did no testing, but immediately loved it. I wished I had played it in the previous BR because it probably would’ve dominated that meta. Interestingly enough, this deck had no Exp. Share or Energy accelertion, so it was pretty strategic.

Round 1 vs. TerraZeels/Turbo Mewtwo: Win

Round 2 vs. Fluffychomp (a good player this time): Win (donked)

Round 3 vs. Giratina EX/Leavanny NVI: Win

Round 4 vs. Garbodor/Registeel/EXs: Win

Woo! Finally won a Battle Road! I really liked how this deck worked (obviously); it seemed a legit metagame counter and was strangely consistent. I ran many Items as 4-ofs and that worked great. The deck also has a lot of space. So, I tucked this away as a prime choice for Regionals; I knew I was going to try something else for the next Battle Road, but wasn’t sure what just yet.

BR 7: Kinston, NC

Deck Choice: Mewtwo/Eelektrik

My Pokémon line was literally: 4 Mewtwo, 4-4 Eels, and 1 Zekrom BLW (to beat Sigilyph DRX). This deck was really fun as well as efficent. It just plowed through everything with Mewtwo and easily revenged any other Mewtwo immediately. Once it got ahead by 2 Prizes, it would nearly always win.

And, it was incredibly fast. Against any deck that needed evolutions, you could get a few prizes super easily. It also wasn’t too weak to Eel denial. you would just have to change the plan a little with strategic use of certain Items and DCE.

Round 1 vs. Mewtwo/Zoroark BW/Cobalion NVI: Win

Round 2 vs. Terrakion/Mewtwo: Win

Round 3 vs. Terrakion/Mewtwo: Win

I thought it was a but funny that I had to face two Terrakion/Mewtwos as they were virtually non-existent in the BRs before… maybe it was my previous win that influenced both of those fresh-from-Juniors players? Anyway, I was very ecstatic about about my two wins to end BRs, especially because the only time I had ever won two BRs in a row (or even won at all) was in the Sabledonk format!

Key Points From That Format

So here I’m going to breifly go over what I thought were the most important aspects of that format and how that affected my deck options. Then, finally conclude with my deck choice and go on to the report!

1. Attacking turn 1 is incredibly good.

pokemon-paradijs.comMewtwo, Stunfisk DRX, Rayquaza DRX and the like were all very strong cards. Being able to snag an easy prize in a somewhat slow format that required most decks to set up with evolutions was incredibly important.

The two decks that I won with in BRs had a pretty heavy focus on a Turn 1 Mewtwo and I nearly always (maybe even every game) got a Turn 1 X Ball (or Blow Through when playing Tornadus EX).

2. Mewtwo is still a ridiculously strong card.

Now, I did give him a shout out in the previous paragraph in that he is important in the early game, but still can be super important in other aspects in the game. Since its power can reach insane levels, every single deck needed a way to beat it.

In the previous format, that way was always Mewtwo itself, and that was still prominent, as I went through a great many Mewtwo wars in Battle Roads, but there were now other means to beat it.

Some Hydreigon lists were running Sigilyph DRX, and even Shaymin EX to some extent, to counter Mewtwo-and did it well too. Other Hydreigon lists just ran Mewtwo themselves because it synergized well with the deck, although a bit risky sometimes.

Hammer/Darkrai decks also could beat Mewtwo because you slow down the Energy streaming onto Mewtwo while easily absorbing attacks with Darkrais. Rayquaza/Eels could just discard the Energy to make Mewtwo’s X Ball less effective while maintaining the ability to 1-shot it with Dragon Burst.

3. Accelgor (or any auto-Paralysis) can be extremely good.

This was discussed a lot on various websites before Regionals, and also was the reason people started playing Fliptini in Eels. Against Darkrai, or just decks without Switch in general, auto-Paralysis is very strong and can easily win you games.

While Darkrai was basically an auto-win for Paralysis decks, decks with Switch were very tough to beat. This put Accelgor in an awkward situation. While Darkrai was extremely popular, decks like Garbodor, Fighting variants, and Eels were also very popular, and the last three usually ran many Switch.

However, you could pair Accelgor with Gothitelle EPO 47 to lock people out of Switch, but that makes for a very complex, slow, and, to some extent, clunky deck. So, Accelgor had to rely on luck for the matchups, and that’s why not very many people played it.

4. Every deck has weaknesses.

This is what really annoyed me when picking a deck for Regionals. I’m going to recap the major decks’ bad points real quick and then segue into my Regionals deck choice.

• RayEels – Very vulnerable to Eel denial, and bad against Garbodor and Garchomp/Terrakion.
• Mewtwo/Raikou/Max Potion/Eel – Very bad against Fighting variants, especially those with Mewtwo and/or Garbodor.
• Darkrai/Hydreigon – Pretty bad against a decent amount of decks (RayEels, Terrakion/Garchomp, Garbodor to name a few), despite having a good core strategy.
• Hammertime and Ho-Oh – Too much reliance on flips, and can be pretty easily outplayed.
• Darkrai/Terrakion – Has low power against things that it can’t hit for Weakness, and relies too much on having certain Items in-hand at certain times.
• Garbodor – Can be pretty inconsistent and doesn’t have much power against things it can’t hit for weakness.
• Fluffychomp – Has to stream Stage 2s as well as keep Stage 1s up and really hard to maintain in general. Also extremely donkable.

I had played most of these decks a decent amount, but I eventually picked RayEels. I liked it a lot and had only picked it up a week and half or so before the event, but it tested really well and was consistent. It slaughtered nearly every meta deck, but I did have to accept its weaknesses that I stated earlier.

I noticed it was also pretty bad against Registeel (with or without Garbodor). So, I teched in a Victini NVI 15. The inclusion of Victini is actually the only thing I changed from the original list for the tournament, so without anymore of a wait… MY Decklist!

My Regionals Deck

Pokémon – 15 4 Tynamo DEX 45 4 Eelektrik NVI 2 Rayquaza EX 2 Rayquaza DRX 2 Raikou-EX 1 Victini NVI 15

Trainers – 32 4 N 4 Professor Juniper 2 Bianca 3 Random Receiver   3 Pokémon Catcher 3 Switch 3 Max Potion 3 Level Ball 3 Ultra Ball 2 Super Rod   2 Skyarrow Bridge

Energy – 13 8 Lighting 5 R

pokemon-paradijs.comI’m not really sure what the “typical” RayEels looks like, but I know this is a bit… different. I did get some skeptical comments on Max Potion. I cannot stress this enough, and this still applies to the current Boundaries Crossed format (to a lesser extent), but Max Potion is/was incredibly good in this deck. I never could have enough of them in some of my games, and was incredible in testing.

This is part of the reason Garchomp/Terrakion is so good against this deck. It hits the big attackers for Weakness and can 1HKO everything else, not allowing use for Max Potion. It is such a generally useful card in nearly every matchup, and I could just not imagine myself playing RayEels without it.

Unfortunately, I did have to cut some luxury (or necessary, based on opinion) cards such as the 4th Catcher, 4th Switch, more Supporters and such for the Max Potions. Also, some people would disagree with having the Spark Tynamo over the Thunder Wave Tynamo.

I never even used Tynamo’s attack at all during testing, but it seemed like the Spark Tynamo would be good to swing the Terrakion matchup. This is so I could just get two-Energy Dragon Bursts to KO them instead of having an uphill battle.

Oh yes, almost forgot one teensy little detail. No Tool Scrapper. What am I out of my mind? Well, yeah. I didn’t think I would really encounter any Garbodor, especially at the winning tables (oops cockiness), and I was banking on speed and Victini against any Garbodors I did play. Well, you’ll see how that turned out.

Also, looking back, I realize that Stunfisk DRX was a serious threat, but I wasn’t concerned because I knew no one in Seniors would play it. Everything else in the list seems kind of obvious but if you are confused about something I would be happy to explain. Here we go Philadelphia!

Pre-Tourney

pokemon-paradijs.comWell, I was really lucky to get to go. I live in North Carolina, and I’d never been this far away for a Pokémon tournament other that Nationals. My friend Hunter offered to take me, but they were flying, lived like an hour or so away, and were getting up extremely early. So, my mom denied me that.

Then, two weeks before Regionals, my friend Daniel, who just moved up from Juniors, said that he could take me (I may have mentioned it the week before a little bit). They were driving, leaving on Friday, and lived about half as far away as Hunter. WOO–HOO.

So, since I had been screwing around with Vanilluxe/Victini thinking I wasn’t going, I had to start testing. Then, at around 11:00 AM on Friday, the day before the event (I’m home-schooled, flexible schedule ftw!), I left for the school that Daniel was getting picked up early at, and we began the eight hour car trip.

It was admittedly a lot less boring because we had just got Black 2 and White 2 (he got Black, I got White) as early birthday presents, which he played literally the whole time. I still had to do some schoolwork though.

The next day, we got complementary breakfast at the hotel, and who else could we have met there? Well, Hunter, Jake, and Vinny! This was especially funny because they had just been discussing how there would be no Raleigh players there!

Alright, this is getting a bit long-winded, so I’ll try to wrap this up somewhat quickly. Anyway, after about 15 minutes of aimlessly walking in the cold morning air, we finally found the entrance to the convention center, only to discover that we had taken the long way around!

Upon, registration, other than the Jolteon Promo, we got this cool dragon-themed coin with “100” on one side and “50” on the other. Well, I would just be 1HKOing everything with massive Dragon Bursts so I wouldn’t need that. :P

I looked around at the vendors, lost to Daniel’s Garchomp/Terrakion, and before I knew it I was sitting down for Round 1. Seniors are having a 6 rounds of Swiss with Top 16, and over 80 players.

Round 1 vs. Garbodor/EXs

pokemon-paradijs.comAnyway, among these “EXs” there were Terrakion, Registeel, and Mewtwo that I knew of. I win the flip with what I believe is double or lone Tynamo, staring down a Registeel and Trubbish. I am definitely not happy about having to face one of my least favorite matchups in the first round, but am pleased with my opening had with an opportunity for early pressure.

I promptly Level Ball for Victini, immediately glad that I included it, attached Fire, played an SAB, and waited to see what he would do. I don’t remember him able to do much, and not able to get another Trubbish out. This presents me with a difficult choice, however.

I am able to get V-create fueled with an Energy and a full bench, and also have a Catcher. I opt to go for the Trubbish since he only has one in play, and I think it will be better in the long run to take out that instead of immediately taking those tempting 2 Prizes.

I don’t remember if he sends up something to absorb a V-Create and waits a turn for time or gets the Mewtwo + DCE immediately and revenge KOs my Victini. I know that he does get the Mewtwo + DCE, but not sure if he waits a turn or gets it right away.

When he does that, I have a few Eels out and he still doesn’t have a Trubbish. I promote Rayquaza EX and Dragon Burst for 120, ready to absorb a weak X Ball. Then, I just attach to Rayquaza EX and Dragon Burst for 60 and KO. This is where I start to lose my memory of this game a little.

I know that he gets a Garbodor out eventually, and I think I Catcher-KO a Trubbish for my fourth prize at some point. Then, late in the game, he mans up and starts attacking with Registeel. After the first Triple Laser, I Super Rod and Level Ball the Victini, attach a Fire, and pass.

He could retreat with all three Energy thanks to SAB, but that would not be too great for him so he just risks another Triple Laser. I have the Energy and V-create for my last 2 Prizes with a 1HKO on Registeel thanks to Weakness.

1-0

Round 2 vs. Garbodor/Terrakion NVI/Mewtwo

pokemon-paradijs.comAnd I thought I’d gotten my Garbodor for the day out of the way… So, I had seen this guy at a couple Battle Roads, and he had just moved up from Juniors, so I wasn’t really that concerned. But, when he flipped Trubbish and Terrakion NVI, I about passed out. I open lone Victini going first. I got a few Pokémon on my bench and attached a Fire.

He just used Cheren, attached to Trubbish, Exp. Share’d the Terrakion, and Garbage Collected the Cheren back. I once again got V-Create powered on T2, and wanted to KO the Trubbish, but knew that the Terrakion would be too much of an immediate threat. So, I just Catchered and whacked the Terrakion for 100.

Once again, I don’t remember if he has to wait a turn for the Mewtwo + DCE and I KO the Terrakion, or if he just uses Switch + Mewtwo + DCE. I am nearly sure that he does not have the dreaded three card combo this turn, so I get to KO the Terrakion with another V-create. He gets the Mewtwo + DCE this turn and drops a Registeel-EX, knowing that it is strong against Eels and that he’s going to KO Victini. After the X Ball, I Dragon Burst for 120.

This is where it starts to turn into a reminiscence of my last game. He gets a Garbodor out at last, and launches a weak X Ball with no better option. I then manually attach and Dragon Burst for KO. I thought I had the game in my pocket for a while, and still had two Catchers left.

We play for a little while with nothing spectacular happening, but then, everything goes sour. While his deck seems inconsistent, I cannot hit either Super Rod (for Victini) in my rapidly thinning deck with topdecks or draw Supporters, and I whiff any Energy on four consecutive Celestial Roars, when any Energy would win me the game. On top of this, he decides to play shenanigans with Ns, and I somehow lose this game.

1-1

Round 3 vs. Garbodor/Terrakion NVI/Mewtwo

pokemon-paradijs.comOH FANTASTIC! Just what I need to play against after a fresh loss to the same deck. After I see the Fighting Energy and Rescue Scarf in his deck, I just lose all self-confidence. This game is a one-sided slaughter. I don’t think I make any misplays, but his deck goes off like a rocket. This is the one time I wish I played Tool Scrapper, though it probably still wouldn’t have made too much difference.

1-2

So here, I know I need to win out to even have a chance at Top 16. And, as all of my opponents have been playing Garbodor, I don’t expect my resistance to be too good.

Round 4 vs. RayEels

I go first, with a lone Tynamo staring down a Rayquaza DRX. I would like to say this game was one-sided, but it really wasn’t. He never really had a board and I got set up normally, but he did get a few prizes of Catcher + Dragon Pulses.

About 5 minutes in, he had to go to the bathroom, so if the game went to time I got auto-win. I was tempted to play a little slower, though I’m not proud to admit it, but the game never went to time.

I was beating around the bush a little by trying to KO all his Tynamos while the Rayquaza was wreaking havoc, which wasn’t very smart, but the Rayquaza eventually went down to a combined effort of Victini and my own Rayquaza. Then, he had nothing so I won easily.

2-2

At this point, I am dissapointed and surprised that I have not played a single Darkrai/Hydreigon, even though I have seen many mirrors of that matchup at other tables. At the top tables, it seems like all kinds of Darkrai variants are doing the best, and one Garbodor (I haven’t played that one). My resistance is okay. I believe my Round 1 opponent was 3-1 or 2-2, Round 2 opponent is 3-1, Round 3 opponent is 3-1, and Round 4 opponent is obviously 1-3.

Round 5 vs. Fluffychomp

pokemon-paradijs.comOnce again, the opening situation is just the same. I’m going first with a lone Tynamo staring down a Rayquaza DRX. I think I’m playing against RayEels at first, but when I realize I’m playing against Fluffychomp, I am happy because this is a really good matchup.

While some may disagree with that, here was my logic: Raikou’s MVP, snipe Gabites as soon as possible and set a SAB/Raikou/Max Potion chain to KO all Altarias. Then, use Rayquaza DRX to take the remaining few prizes against Garchomps, and possibly Rayquaza EX as a finisher if need be. However, that is not how this game went. I think just explaining this game from his side would be better here though…

Turn 1, attach Blend to Rayquaza, get a few Basics, Catcher-KO Tynamo. Turn 2, get some Stage 1s up, Catcher-KO Tynamo. Turn 3, hit a Switch to Garchomp, misplay and Catcher Eel that can only be hit for 80. Turn 4, watch opponent whiff Switch and KO Eel. Turn 5, Catcher-KO Eel. Yeah…

2-3

Round 6 vs. Darkrai/Terrakion/Sableye/Hammers/Roserade

I am paired up to a 3-2 (never want to say that again), and decide to troll him by knocking him out of cut. Not that he has guarantee top cut if he wins, and 3-3s have a chance at packs at least.

I don’t remember who goes first, but he dead-draws, hits two tails on Crushing Hammer in the early game, and I just steamroll him.

3-3

Conclusion

pokemon-paradijs.comWell, of course I whiff packs, because I’m me, but the entire experience was very fun. I met a lot of PokéBeachers as well as Adam Capriola. He was 4-0 when I saw him, but I never found out how he ended up…

[Editor’s note: I went 6-3 and finished 36th place!]

Also, I was very surprised at a certain rogue deck that made top 4 in Seniors, which was Roserade DRX 15/Eels/Mewtwo/Emolga DRX/Pokémon Center. I found it odd that I never played against a Darkrai/Hydreigon, especially because there were so many there.

As for how everyone did: Vinny, Jake, Hunter, and Daniel all went 3-3, and Bruce (the one who played Garbodor at most Battle Roads) went on to top 8 with Darkrai / Terrakion / Sableye / Hammers. I’m positive that four of my opponents went 3-3, and I think all of them did, but I’m not sure about two.

Thanks for reading this guys! I know it is pretty late, but seeing as there have been no Cities yet I think I did okay. Speaking of Cities, RayEels is still going to be a pretty good contender. Landorus-EX does wreck it, but cards like Ditto BNX and maybe even some Water types can be incorporated into RayEels to help against Landorus.

I think that Skyla and obviously Computer Search have a place in the deck, and I’m going to keep on trying Max Potion! I may or may not have a deck analysis on some rogue before or during Cities. Any comments/constructive criticism are welcome, and I’d love to hear thoughts about RayEels with Boundaries Crossed in our midst!