1st Place Southeast Asia Regional Championship Report and Decklist

BulbapediaHi everyone, Kennard here from Singapore. Today I’ll be sharing with you my 1st place Southeast Asia Regional Championship report. The two-day event took place on December 1st and 2nd at the Singapore Pasir Ris Elias Community Center.

Let’s begin our story 1 week before the event. I was planning to play Ho-Oh EX or RayEels, but after doing some research and I saw this “Quad Sigilyph” idea in a forum.

At the time I was thinking what the heck are you going to do with just 4 Sigilyph in your deck?

But then I thought about it some more and realized this was a very good idea because most people at the time were running Pokémon-EX in their decks like Darkrai EX, Mewtwo EX, Landorus-EX, Keldeo-EX, etc.

There was almost no reason not play Pokémon-EX because they are very strong and powerful cards. A lot people were saying if your Pokémon-EX can’t attack the Sigilyph just Catcher their other Pokémon on the Bench, but with only 4 Sigilyph in the deck their Pokémon-EX become almost useless.

pokemon-paradijs.comI knew this would be a very defensive deck slowly attacking with Sigilyph. I started thinking about all the matchups that I might run into, like non-Pokémon-EX and how to overcome them.

The person on the forum ran Mewtwo EX in his list which was very good choice because if your opponent uses a non-Pokémon-EX like Keldeo BCR 47 or Zekrom BLW to attack your Sigilyph you can counter back with Mewtwo EX.

The other problem was that I might face Garbodor DRX which can stop Sigilyph’s Ability. In this matchup you need to be offensive using Catcher and Mewtwo EX or Sigilyph to attack Garbodor, but it’s still not a good matchup.

Speaking of matchups, this deck will auto-loss to things like Empoleon and Garchomp which focus more on the non-Pokémon-EX. On the other hand, if the deck focuses more on Pokémon-EX then I have a high chance to win, and some of time even auto-win against the likes of Darkrai EX/Hammers, Darkrai EX/Mewtwo EX, etc.

Now, let’s start my Regional report.

Round 1 vs. Lawrence from Malaysia with White Tea

pokemon-paradijs.comIn this first game of the event, the good news was that he only teched two non-Pokémon-EX in his deck. During the game he dropped down a Bouffalant DRX, but I wasn’t that worried about it. He slowly charged it up with Energy and I just kept attacking with my Sigilyph.

After a few hits by my Sigilyph the Bouffalant was KO’d and he never benched down any other non-Pokémon-EX, so I had the game in hand. At the end I found out his Terrakion NVI was Prized.

1-0

Round 2 vs. ??? with Darkrai EX/Hydreigon

For this matchup I knew he could only attack with Hydreigon and Sableye, which makes Blend Energy very important. I used Hammers to remove the Blend Energy from his Pokémon and he used Sableye to Junk Hunt and try to set up.

I kept KOing his Sableye that had one Energy attached with Sigilyph and a PlusPower – this is the reason I play 4 PlusPower in the deck.

When he found out there 3 Blend Energy in the discard pile, he knew he couldn’t attack anymore and scooped the game. The last Blend Energy was in his Prizes.

2-0

Round 3 vs. ??? with Darkrai EX/Hydreigon

My planning was to use the same trick as before, using Hammers to remove Energy. But this time I started with Mewtwo EX.

I attached a DCE to my Mewtwo and X Balled. He only had one Deino in play. T2 I attached my 2nd DCE to Mewtwo EX because I thought he would never run Mewtwo EX in his deck, so I just kept Catchering his Deinos and Sableyes and X Balled all the way.

3-0

Round 4 vs. Clifton Goh from Singapore with White Tea

This round I faced one the most recognized guys in Singapore. Later I would face him again in the top cut.

This match was a one-sided game because I had a bad hand – 3 Psychic, 1 DCE, 2 Level Balls, and 1 Mewtwo EX to start with. After Clifton KO’d my Mewtwo EX and one Sigilyph with Terrakion I scooped because there was no way I could come back.

3-1

Round 5 vs. Joshua Teo from Singapore with Klinklang

pokemon-paradijs.comJoshua is one of my friends and I knew this was a very bad matchup for me because he played Terrakion NVI, Rayquaza DRX, and other non-Pokémon-EX, and so this game was pretty much an auto-loss.

He set up his Klinklang around T3 and fully charged a Rayquaza which started KOing everything and that was the game.

3-2

Round 6 vs. Elias (Roarkiller) from Singapore with Darkrai EX/Mewtwo EX

After losing 2 games in a row, that meant I couldn’t lose in either of my next two games, otherwise I’d miss top cut for sure.

Elias is very well known as a Professor and a Gym Leader in Singapore, but it was too bad for him this game because my Sigilyph easily ran over his Sableye and he had no others attackers in response to my Sigilyph.

You can read Roarkiller’s report here.

4-2

Round 7 vs. Anselm Sim from Singapore with White Tea

His deck was almost same as Clifton’s, using a lot of healing cards to keep Pokémon in play and hard to KO. He focused on Terrakion and Bouffalant, but I had the Hammer I needed and Catchered up his Terrakion to attack it.

From here he started healing his Terrakion and attached Eviolite to it. At that time he had a Terrakion and a Bouffalant both with Eviolite, which was really giving me a very hard time. Luckily I drew the Tool Scrapper I needed to take away the Eviolite.

Coming toward the end he was running out of healing cards and was decking out soon because he kept playing draw Supporters to get the cards he needed to catch up with me.

At the end he scooped and we found in his Prizes there was a lot good stuff like Gold Potion which he really needed.

5-2

My placing was 11th, so I made the top 16 cut.

Top 16 vs. Yee Wei from Malaysia with Darkrai EX/Keldeo-EX/Hammertime

This match is almost an auto-win for me because he only can attack with Sableye. The first thing that came into my mind was that Sableye needed 9 turns to KO a Sigilyph and all I needed to do is retreat and send out another Sigilyph.

Game 1

pokemon-paradijs.comI started with Sigilyph and attached an Energy, waiting for him to miss some Hammers. After playing a few Hammers, he used Sableye to Junk Hunt and take 2 of them back, so I played down an N and made him shuffle his Hammers back into his deck, hoping he’d not draw them next turn.

He actually did draw the Hammers again, but missed the coin flips. At this time I had one Sigilyph with a P Energy. I attached a DCE, played down a PlusPower, and went for the KO on Sableye.

From here on out I just waited for the right time to attack and play N. The next Sableye went down when he missed the Hammer again. I think after the 2nd Sableye was KO’d, he scooped to save time for Game 2.

1-0

Game 2

This game was almost the same as Game 1. I stuck to my plan but the only difference was he took 2 Prizes before I took any Prize cards because I started with Mewtwo EX.

2-0

Top 8 vs. Christian Paul from Philippines with White Tea

Game 1 & 2

I think my opponent was surprised by the quad Sigilyph. He looked like he was not very sure how to counter or respond to it, and he made some small misplays during that time. I had both games in hand and moved on to the top 4.

2-0

Top 4 vs. Jit Min from Singapore with White Tea

Jit Min is one of my friends and he is a very skillful player, which most Singapore players know. He is one of the guys that does very well every season and last season he finally got his invite to Worlds. These games we played were very relaxed and fun.

Game 1

The only attacker he played down in this game was a Bouffalant, so there is nothing much to say about this game. Sorry Jit Min.

1-0

Game 2

pokemon-paradijs.comThis time he played down a Terrakion which made a big difference. We kept attaching Energy to our Pokémon and I tried to use Hammers to remove the Energy from Terrakion but I missed.

I then Catchered and attacked his Terrakion make it softer and easy to KO later, but he kept using Potion and SSU to heal. Very soon, I ran out of Catcher.

After all that healing, he sent out his full HP Terrakion with 3 Energy and there was nothing I could respond to it with. Two of my Sigilyph were Prized and so I scooped the game.

1-1

Game 3

I can’t remember that much from Game 3. I know I got good Hammer flips and removed 2 Energy cards at one time then started to Catcher and Tool Scrapper away the Eviolite from Terrakion and attack it.

I’m not very sure what he missed at that time – either a Potion or Switch – but I can’t recall. The last thing that I can remember is that he had around 50 damage on his active Terrakion with 2 Energy.

I had a small hand, but was able to drop down a Mewtwo EX, attach DCE, retreat my Sigilyph, and X Ball KO the Terrakion. He scooped the game because I think he didn’t run Super Rod in his deck and Bouffalant was not strong enough to 1HKO my Sigilyph and Mewtwo EX.

2-1

Finals vs. Clifton Goh from Singapore with White Tea

Clifton is also my friend and our Gym Leader. Without him giving me tips and I don’t think I could have made it this far. He is a very strong, smart, skillful, and hard working player – that’s why he has been so successful in this game.

He also got his invite to Worlds last season and he made it to top 16 along with Xavier Chua.

Game 1

pokemon-paradijs.comGame 1 was a fast game he opened a Terrakion and slowly attach Energy with me doing the same thing to my Sigilyph. This time I couldn’t draw into my Hammers, and when I did, I missed a few. He just ran through all my Sigilyph and I scooped the game.

0-1

Game 2

I can’t remember much about this game. The only thing that I do recall is he got a Terrakion with 3 Energy and I think I had 2 or 3 Sigilpyh that could attack – one with Eviolite – and the Terrakion can’t 1HKO all my Sigilyph. So he scooped.

1-1

Game 3

Once again I am sorry I can’t recall that much. I know near the end of the game he had a Terrakion with 3 Energy and I had 2 Sigilyph, one active with 3 Energy. I Catchered up his Terrakion and attacked, leaving it with 60 HP left.

After that he Catcher my Sigilyph with no Energy and then played N, drawing 5 cards because he KO one of my Sigilyph in the early on, while I drew in 6 cards. At this moment I guess he was hoping to get a Potion or SSU to prevent his Terrakion getting KO’d, but unluckily for him he never drew into it and he scooped.

pokemon-paradijs.comAt the end I showed him even he got the Potion he needed, could I can play down Skyarrow Bridge, Mewtwo EX, and Computer Search for DCE then retreat and X Ball for the KO.

If he ran Gold Potion or Max Potion and he drew either of them, that would have made a big difference.

2-1

In this event I fought 6 White Tea, 4 Darkrai EX variants, 1 Klinklang, and luckily never faced any Empoleon or Garchomp.

You can see how skillful all players were from the top cut match recaps. Even they had a bad matchup versus my deck, they still overcame the odds and put up a good fight. If you are talking about playing skill, I’m not even close to them. This is how I feel about it.

The Decklist

I want to share my decklist because I think the saying is true that the same tricks can’t be shown twice and the deck will probably not be this successful again.

Pokémon – 6 4 Sigilyph DRX 2 Mewtwo-EX NXD

Trainers – 42 4 Professor Juniper 4 N 4 Cheren 2 Skyla   4 Pokémon Catcher 4 PlusPower 4 Crushing Hammer 3 Enhanced Hammer 3 Level Ball 2 Eviolite 2 Super Rod 2 Tool Scrapper 1 Ultra Ball 1 Computer Search   2 Skyarrow Bridge

Energy – 12 8 P 4 Double Colorless

Notes

• Try not to add other Pokémon into the deck because they could be Catcher-KO’d.
• Mewtwo EX could be run in one or two copies – this is up to you.
• I prefer Cheren over Bianca because think in this deck you don’t want to waste your resources like Catcher and PlusPower just to draw more cards.

Conclusion

I hope you all enjoyed my 1st place report. After a 4 to 5 month break from the game, this was the best comeback I could have ever dreamed of. It was actually my first time top cutting and winning an event.

I guess I’m just lucky because there were so many good players and all my friends playtested very hard.

I learned a lot of things like the importance of playing the right cards and deck in an event. And to end my report and I want to thank Clifton, Jit Min, Joshua, Xavier, Jackson, and all the rest. I wish you all the best.