Blowing Through the Competition: 2nd Place Green Bay Cities Report

pokemon.comHey! It’s been a while. I hope you enjoy this tournament report!

I actually went to the entire Chicago Marathon before going to this tournament. I played Ho-Oh for the first five tournaments and Keldeo/Blastoise for the last three.

Big props to Jessica, Ross, Wes, Carlos, Nestly, Derrick, Nick, and Andy for letting the team and I borrow cards over the weekend! Also big props to Jimmy and Camille for hosting the tournament and the staff for judging and running the tournament!

I went top 16 the first day, top 4 the next, bad for the next five days, and then top 16 again in Rockford (couldn’t have done it without some really cool people helping!).

My mom and dad decided on midnight the day of the tournament to go to Green Bay for the Cities. Luckily, registration started a bit later so I could sleep in a bit.

I decide to run Landorus-EX/Tornadus EX/Mewtwo/Bouffalant. I was talking to Justin Young yesterday about it and it seemed pretty solid to me. It had great early game and tanking ability and could deal with EXs really good. I started to build my deck for half an hour until I decided to sleep.

On the morning of the tournament, I call up Derrick to see if I could borrow cards from him. He said that I could and he decided not to come. I make some last minute adjustments to tech against Sigilyph since he told me that it was running rampant in Fond du Lac the day before.

We leave the house a bit late so if we arrive in Green Bay we would have five minutes to register. I tell Derrick that I can’t pick up the cards since I thought that he was out of the way.

Apparently we do pass by where he lives and we need to gas up. So I call him to let him know that we were in fact going to his place to pick up the cards and he decided to come along as well since we had an extra Rayquaza for him to use. So, we pick him up, gas up, and roll out. We make it to registration with 10 minutes to spare so props to my dad for driving like a boss!

My dad decides to play when we get there so we get a deck built for him and Ross lets us borrow two Catcher for my dad’s deck. The pairings go up several minutes later and we start.

Round 1 vs. Chuck Lambert with RayEels

I start with Landorus-EX and go first. He starts Tynamo and I drop the F Energy for the donk.

1-0

Round 2 vs. Abe Morales with Hammertime

I lead off with Landorus-EX early on and Hammerhead away while he tries to get rid of my Energy. I don’t really care about the Hammers because Landorus only needs one Energy to attack and I also have Energy Retrieval so I won’t be running out of Energy soon.

Once he runs out of Hammers, I go aggressive with an Eviolited Tornadus EX with Aspertia City Gym out. It comes down to Sudden Death after turn three of extra time and I have the game-winning Catcher in hand. He plays Skyla for N and attacks. I play down Catcher to KO one of his benched Sableye.

2-0

Round 3 vs. Derrick Krenke with RayEels

I go first with Landorus NVI against a lone Tynamo. I drop Landorus-EX, play Switch, and N. I whiff the F Energy for the donk and it becomes a game. I take out a few Tynamo early on and take the lead.

However, once I play an N to get more Energy, I hit an Energy drought. I can’t get any Catcher to stall since he has a way to get Switch in hand and he has two Eelektrik out. Eventually, it gets to a point where he can respond to anything I throw at him and I scoop so we can both eat lunch.

2-1

Round 4 vs. Jonah Thor with Empoleon DEX/Dusknoir BCR/Mewtwo EX

BulbapediaThis isn’t a good matchup for me at all so I am a bit nervous going into this round. He made top two yesterday at Fond du Lac with Quad Sigilyph. This game came down to me taking cheap Prizes off of his pre-evolutions with Tornadus EX and KOing a Mewtwo and an Empoleon. I keep my Bench small and attach Eviolite to severely limit his damage output.

In the end, he can’t get his own Mewtwo to Catcher KO mine for his last 2 Prizes. I then Catcher up a Duskull and KO it with X Ball for the game.

3-1

Round 5 vs. Galen Wadzinski with Keldeo-EX/Blastoise BCR

He starts with a Squirtle and goes first. He drops a Keldeo-EX, attaches to it, and uses Rush In. He Level Balls for another Squirtle and passes. I try to set up a Tornadus EX with Eviolite, Double Colorless, and Aspertia City but I only have a Fighting. I attach to Tornadus EX and pass.

He Junipers and discards a Rare Candy and a lot of Energy/Energy Retrieval. He sets down a third Squirtle, benches Mewtwo, and passes. I soften up his EXs with Tornadus EX’s Blow Through and Power Blast and sweep up the rest of his field with Bouffalant DRX late game after he is depleted of Energy from the early Junipers.

4-1

Top 8 vs. Ross Cawthon with Empoleon DEX/Accelgor DEX/Techs

Game One

pokemon-paradijs.comI start with Tornadus EX and eventually get two out with Eviolite on both and Aspertia City Gym in play. I hit Switches like there is no tomorrow and take all six of my Prizes off of Accelgor and pre-evolutions. He manages to whiff on getting an Accelgor out on a crucial turn which just gave me a free Prize.

Game Two

This game goes to time and he has a better board position than me. I have to Juniper away two Switch in order to stay in the game so that hurt me a lot. He eventually gets a Mewtwo EX and Mew-EX with two Empoleon and two cards left in his deck.

There is no way for me to get rid of the Paralysis lock and he KOs two more EXs in Sudden Death after the +3 turns.

Game Three – 1 Prize Sudden Death

He goes first and starts out with a Landorus-EX vs. my Tornadus EX. He Computer Searches for an N and N’s me to one. This was the longest Sudden Death ever. Derrick went to Goodwill and back and we were still in our Sudden Death.

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I was in topdeck mode. He needs one Energy to KO my Tornadus EX with Land’s Judgment next turn, I topdeck Gold Potion. Next turn, I topdeck Double Colorless and hit the Landorus for 30.

The turn after that, I get a Cheren and hit a Fighting. I Power Blast the Landorus for 100 and get tails so I have to discard the Fighting. He Switches into Empoleon and passes.

I topdeck Catcher and hit his Piplup for 30. He Rare Candies his Piplup into Empoleon and passes. I topdeck an Energy and hit the Empoleon for 100 and discard the Fighting. He switches into Mewtwo and hits my Tornadus EX.

He hasn’t hit another Energy after four Diving Draws and two Junipers in the past few turns. I topdeck the Catcher to win the game.

After that game, Derrick gives me the title of Franco “Topdeck” Llamas. It was a great game and while it got intense at some points, it was pretty laid back – especially in Sudden Death.

Top 4 vs. Kris Genthe with RayEels

Game One

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I start out Mewtwo EX and he starts with Rayquaza EX. I X Ball. He benches several Tynamo and passes. I then take 2 Prizes off of Tynamos with X Ball until we realize that he didn’t put his Prizes out. He gets a Prize penalty and I take it. I use my third Catcher to KO a third Tynamo putting me at 2 Prizes.

My last Catcher is in my Prizes so I have to go aggressive with regular Landorus and I saturate his field with so much damage that anything on my board can KO anything on his board. I end up KOing a Rayquaza EX for the game.

Game Two

He gets three Tynamo out first turn with a Rayquaza on the bench. I start with Landorus-EX, bench Tornadus EX, and Hammerhead and put 30 on a Tynamo. He gets three Eelektrik out, Skyarrow Bridge, and gets the Switch, Fire, and Rayquaza EX to KO my Landorus-EX this turn and another EX on his next turn.

I try to get another Basic out but he wins by benching me.

Game Three

I go first with Landorus-EX vs. a lone Tynamo. I drop the Fighting and donk him.

Top 2 Match vs. Jonah Thor with Empoleon DEX/Dusknoir BCR/Mewtwo EX

Game One

en.wikipedia.orgI turn the game into a Mewtwo war by KOing his Benched Mewtwo EX with a Double Colorless on it. I was in the lead for most of the game. I stupidly drop Landorus-EX and it cost me the game when he KOs it for his last 2 Prizes.

I had the win in hand next turn. I was tired and I sort of wanted the game to end.

Game Two

I try to start the Mewtwo War and take cheap Prizes. I get two KOs off on Mewtwos and a cheap Prize. Gold Potion was important here, but I ran out of Switch in the end and he N’s me to one. He Catchers out my Mewtwo and I need the fourth Catcher and an Energy to win the game.

I draw Catcher off of N and topdeck Aspertia. Darn. I stupidly Catcher up Duskull because I thought I lost the game but I had one more turn to survive. He KOs my Mewtwo after retreating and I topdeck the Fighting. Thanks deck.

I lose the turn afterward since he can KO Tornadus EX.

Conclusion

BulbapediaI am pretty satisfied with this as I get +40 Points from the trip to put me at just above 100 Points. My brother also got +40 Points putting him at 184 Points. Derrick got +20 Points from the trip putting him at 91 Points. I got Celebi-EX from my 10 packs. We grab some Taco Bell and drive 3 hours to get home.

I won’t be putting a list up since I might be running this for Regionals. I need to test it some more and work out a few kinks in it.

Thanks to my parents for letting us go, driving us all the way there, and waiting for us! Also thanks to Pat, his wife, and the staff for running a good tournament!

Until next time, thanks for reading!