A Tale of 3 Cities + What’s the Play for Regionals?

pokemon.theirstar.comHello, 6p! Man, it’s been a while since I’ve written an article. Hopefully both my writing and playing skills have gotten much, much better since the last time I wrote for you guys and gals.

So, Cities have ended, and we now have 2 weeks to cram in as much testing as possible for Regionals. In this article, I’ll:

• Give you my triple Cities report, each one ending with what I did wrong and what I should’ve done
  
• Analyze Cities results from all 3 age divisions
• Put what I think are the best plays for Regionals in Juniors, Seniors, and Masters

So, without further ado, here are the Cities reports!

Temecula, CA 12/1/12

I was quite excited for Temecula Cities. Good friends of mine, including Joe L. and Blair C., were showing up for this event, and I knew that I was going to have a good time. My deck of choice for this event was Darkrai EX/Hydreigon. Here’s the list I used:

Pokémon – 13 3 Deino DRX 93 1 Zweilous DRX 96 3 Hydreigon DRX 97 2 Darkrai-EX DEX 2 Sableye DEX 1 Shaymin EX 1 Mewtwo-EX NXD

Trainers – 37 4 N 3 Professor Juniper 3 Bianca 2 Skyla 2 Random Receiver   3 Pokémon Catcher 3 Max Potion 3 Ultra Ball 3 Rare Candy 2 Dark Patch 2 Level Ball 2 Eviolite 1 Switch 1 Tool Scrapper 1 Super Rod 1 Crushing Hammer 1 Enhanced Hammer

Energy – 10 6 D – Basic 3 Blend GRPD 1 Double Colorless

A somewhat unorthodox list, yes, but I enjoyed the deck. The night before the event, I added the DCE to try and nab donks with Mewtwo. I played a couple games with it, and it worked out well for me, so I kept the addition.

On the car ride to the event, I debated putting in a 3rd Darkrai and a 3rd Dark Patch. I decided against it, as I wouldn’t have been able to test with it. Looking back, I really wish I made the change anyway, but oh well. On to the event.

Round 1 vs. Blair C. (Shibumi) w/ Hammertime

pokemon-paradijs.comBefore the event, I joked around with him and his dad saying “Watch this, Round 1, we’re going to get paired against each other.”

Why does the world hate me so?

Anyway, we shuffled our decks and set up. I soon find out that 2 D Energy, 1 Blend, and a Dark Patch are all Prized. Oh goody.

I get a subpar set up, not getting the Hydreigon out too soon, but Blair blasts off, denying me of Energy with Hammers, hitting hard with Darkrai, and since I only ran 2 Dark Patch at the time, I was screwed. The game came to a quick end.

0-1

Round 2 vs. Branson w/ Mewtwo EX/Golurk

For the first 4 or 5 turns, all I have is an active Shaymin EX with a Darkness attached to it. What a great setup, huh? But as soon as I topdecked an N, I blasted off, getting Sableyes, Darkrais, and Hydreigons out momentarily.

He’s been saving up for a major X Ball attack with Mewtwo, but I’m able to 2-shot the fully loaded Pokémon with Darkrai, and it all goes downhill for him from there.

1-1

Round 3 vs. James L. w/ Empoleon/Accelgor

pokemon.comBy now it’s around 3:00, and I hadn’t had any food since I woke up at around 7 or 8:00, so I’m jittery the entire game, and make a ton of misplays because of it. Why do so many people have to vote for no Lunch Break? :/

Things go downhill for me very quickly, but I suck it up and make a comeback.

I’m finally in a winnable position (him: 1 Prize, me: 2 Prizes), and I make the worst misplay of all. All I needed was a D Energy to attack, but instead of laying down N, I drop Professor Juniper, decking myself.

1-2

Round 4 vs. ??? w/ Darkrai EX/Shaymin EX/Hydreigon

The Hydreigon mirror. Let’s do this thing.

He doesn’t seem to know how to play the mirror match, but once I Catcher-killed his Hydreigon, he caught on how to play the match. I get out a second Hydreigon, though, and I Catcher-kill all his Deinos and Zweilouses with Darkrai, preventing his setup. The game soon goes to me.

2-2

So I finish at 7th place out of 11 people. Not exactly the best score, eh? Here are the mistakes I made in both preparation and performance in the tournament.

What I Did Wrong

pokemon.theirstar.comFirst off, I was stubborn, and didn’t listen to the advice I got from better players. I stuck with my 2 Dark Patch, I still only had 2 Darkrais (even though I had 3 available), and I didn’t add the 4th Catcher I had available.

Stubbornness is one of my main weaknesses, and I really need to get over that. Until I learn to listen to better players then me, I’ll never get any better at this game.

Note: Later in this article, I finally get over that, and, therefore, perform much better.

I also didn’t eat enough food before the event. In Round 3, my mind was mainly thinking about food, and I made major misplays. I have a piece of advice for you guys:

When packing up for your event, pack some snacks!

Grab a granola bar, or some pretzels, or whatever. You need your mind to be clear to perform well, and it’s kind of hard to do that when your stomach is grumbling the entire time. Now, keep in mind, this is coming from a 13-almost-14-year-old growing boy, so it may not be the same for all ages. :P

What I Should’ve Done

First up, I should’ve used a list more like this:

Pokémon – 14 2 Deino DRX 93 1 Deino NVI 1 Zweilous DRX 96 3 Hydreigon DRX 97 3 Darkrai-EX DEX 2 Sableye DEX 1 Shaymin EX 1 Mewtwo-EX NXD

Trainers – 34 4 N 3 Professor Juniper 3 Skyla 2 Bianca 2 Random Receiver   4 Dark Patch 4 Pokémon Catcher 3 Max Potion 3 Ultra Ball 3 Rare Candy 2 Eviolite 1 Tool Scrapper/Super Rod

Energy – 12 8 D – Basic 3 Blend GRPD 1 Double Colorless

This list still has a way to go (at the time, I didn’t have any ACE SPECs), but it’s definitely an improvement over my actual list for the event.

I should’ve also packed some snacks/bought something between rounds from the next-door Jack-In-The-Box, so I wasn’t starving the entire time.

Montclair, CA 12/28/12

romeert.deviantart.comFor this event, I decided to go rogue. I played against darkwings‘ Durant NVI/Terrakion NVI list, and it was surprisingly pretty good. He “evolved” the deck a bit, adding Shaymin EX and Prism Energy, and nabbed a 2nd place spot at a Cities in Indiana, only losing to KPiplup‘s Keldeo-EX/Blastoise build.

The deck intrigued me, and so I built my own version of it. I played numerous games against my brother, as well as a couple friends of mine online, and while it failed hard against Keldeo/Blastoise, it certainly was extremely fun to play. The list I used was as follows:

Pokémon – 9 4 Durant NVI 2 Emolga DRX 1 Terrakion NVI 1 Shaymin EX 1 Sableye DEX

Trainers – 43 4 Professor Juniper 3 N 2 Skyla 1 Bianca 1 Hugh 2 Random Receiver   4 Switch 3 Pokémon Catcher 3 Level Ball 3 Revive 3 Rescue Scarf 3 Energy Retrieval 2 Crushing Hammer 2 Enhanced Hammer 2 Ultra Ball 1 Tool Scrapper 1 Computer Search   2 Battle City 1 Skyarrow Bridge

Energy – 8 4 Prism 3 M – Basic 1 F

Yeah, it’s kind of all over the place. Surprisingly, the deck functions the way it’s supposed to, but, as you’ll soon see, other decks function much better…

Round 1 vs. Jonny T. w/ Zekrom/Eelektrik/techs

I blast off with a T2 3-card Devour, and though my 4th Durant is Prized, I’m able to start milling his deck away quickly. He stalls me for a turn with Stunfisk NVI’s “Trickle” attack, but Hammers get rid of his Energy.

He then brings up Zekrom-EX and KOs a Durant with Glinting Claw, but I’m able to Revive the Durant back, and Retaliate-KO the Zekrom.

It all goes downhill for him from there, with me winning off of decking him.

1-0

Round 2 vs. Bodhi T. w/ Darkrai EX/Terrakion/Landorus-EX/Hammers

pokemon-paradijs.comI hate playing against friends. Hate, hate, hate it. Anyway, we both get crazy good starts. In the Darkrai matchup, Durant/Terrakion’s goal is to go aggro-Terrakion, with Shaymin EX as a back-up. I make a major fail T1, though, and use Emolga’s Call for Family to nab 2 Durant. -_-

I’m able to recover from it, though, and I soon Land Crush away a Darkrai. He KOs the Terra with Landorus-EX’s “Land’s Judgement” attack, and I respond with Emolga stalling. I Revive the Terrakion, attach a Fighting to it, and pass.

Bodhi attaches an Eviolite to his benched Darkrai, and Catcher-kills a Durant. I Hammer off 2 F Energy from Landy, attach a Metal to Terrakion, and Retaliate for 30. He attaches an Energy to Darkrai and passes.

On my turn, all I need is a Prism Energy, and I can Skyla for Catcher, and pretty much win the game. I have 2 Prism left in the deck, one in the discard pile, and 1 Prized. My topdeck: Switch. -_- So all I’m able to do is Retaliate for 30 on his Landy again.

Thankfully, he doesn’t look in much of a position to attack, as all he has on the field is a Darkrai EX with a single Energy on it, a Sableye with an Energy, and a Landorus-EX with a D Energy. I cross my fingers that he doesn’t pull of some wicked move, and then he does this:

“I Retreat Landorus, bring up Darkrai, double Energy Switch the the Energies over to Darkrai, Night Spear, game.”

O_O

1-1

pokemon.theirstar.comSo, somebody told me that Lunch Break was after Round 2, so Bodhi, Jonny (Bodhi’s brother), my friend James, and I all walk over to Burger King for some lunch. Halfway through my burger, Theo (coolestman22) texts me saying “The judge is looking for you.”

So, of course, I freak out and run over there. I soon find out that Bodhi and I never reported who won! I get that all sorted out, and I run back over to Burger King, when I get another text from Theo:

“Round 3 is starting, you vs me”

Apparently, Lunch Break wasn’t until after Round 3. We all flip out, quickly pack our things, and run over to the venue, still eating our lunches. *sigh*

Round 3 vs. Theo S. (coolestman22) w/ Darkrai EX/Hydreigon

Yet again, I’m paired up against a friend. waaaaaah. :/

Anyway, Theo gets a great start, and I get a not-so-great start. Both Shaymin EX and Sableye are Prized, so I’m left with 4 Durant, 2 Emolga, and the all-important Terrakion.

I have to start off milling, and he knows that I don’t want to be doing that. He takes advantage of this, and only sets up 1 Hydreigon, 1 Sableye, and 1 Darkrai EX. He’s able to continually heal the Darkrai, and though I am able to KO it later in the game, it was too late. He KOs my Terrakion with Hydreigon’s Dragonblast, sets up another Darkrai, and soon wins.

1-2

Round 4 vs. Ricardo A. w/ Empoleon/Mewtwo/Roserade

This was an interesting deck. He runs 4 DCE and a high count of W Energy.

I immediately start off milling his deck, thinking that he’ll be helping me along the way with Diving Draw.

And of course he goes aggro-Mewtwo.

Terrakion is often used to kill the dangerous Mewtwo EX. But, if the Mewtwo EX gains enough Energy to 1HKO Terrakion with an X Ball, it’s often hard to recover from that. He is able to 1HKO the Terrakion, but I’m able to Revive it back and charge it up again.

I eventually get rid of both the Mewtwos he has on the field, as well as all 4 DCE, and I think I have the game in the bag via milling. But he, of course, Super Rods an Empoleon and 2 Waters back into the deck, and that immediately puts me in a bad position.

So now, instead of me having 6 cards in my deck to 5 cards in his, he now has 8 cards to my 6. I try to recover, but I can’t.

1-3

So, what was the point of me writing a report of failure, you ask? Here’s why:

What I Did Wrong

pokemon.comWell, it’s kind of obvious that I made a bad decision in deck choice. Just because a deck is fun and beats the absolute crap out of Eels decks, doesn’t mean that it has a place in the metagame.

With the exception of my slip-up in Round 2, I feel that I played the deck to the best of my ability, and if the best is 1-3, it’s probably not something worth using again.

What I Should’ve Done

I should’ve used Darkrai/Hydreigon, Darkrai/Mewtwo, Darkrai/Terrakion, or Hammertime, all of which I have the cards to build. I probably would’ve done much better at this event, and I might’ve even made Top 4 that way.

This failure is a prime example as to why metagame decks are metagame: they’re good.

Norwalk, 1/5/13

For this event, I took the advice I gave to myself after Montclair, and used Darkrai/Landorus/Terrakion, with Bodhi’s list in mind. I built what I thought would be a good build, but it definitely needed a few tweaks.

pokemon.theirstar.comNow, remember in the Temecula Cities report, where I said that I finally got over my stubbornness? Well, that happened the Thursday before the event. My good friend Hale Obernolte, the owner of 374 Championship Points, saw that I was bummed about only having 12 CP, and so he told me how he ever got to be such a good player.

He credits a lot to his friend Adam (no, not Adam Capriola ;)), who helped and “coached” him throughout his early years in the game, eventually leading to Hale’s first big success: making it through the LCQ in Worlds 2009.

Hale offered me the same help that Adam gave him: looking over decklists, sharing techs, playing testing games, etc. I agreed; I was tired of failing, and in order to do well at this game, you need to take advice from better players give you. I got over my stubbornness, and let him look over my list. His help gave me game-winning changes to my deck.

The list I used for the event was:

Pokémon – 10 3 Darkrai-EX DEX 2 Landorus-EX 2 Terrakion NVI 2 Sableye DEX 1 Landorus NVI

Trainers – 37 4 Professor Juniper 4 N 2 Skyla 1 Bianca 2 Random Receiver   4 Pokémon Catcher 4 Dark Patch 4 Crushing Hammer 3 Ultra Ball 3 Energy Switch 2 Eviolite 1 Enhanced Hammer 1 PlusPower 1 Tool Scrapper 1 Computer Search

Energy – 13 7 D – Basic 6 F

My original list was quite sloppy, as it included things like Heavy Ball, a 2-2 Hammer split, no Tool Scrapper, and a Switch. Two examples of game-winning changes made are: adding a 4th Catcher; and adding the PlusPower.

Speaking about the PlusPower, I should probably explain the two strangest cards in this list:

PlusPower

pokemon-paradijs.comPlusPower is like an extra Tool Scrapper, plus more (pun intended). It can negate a Darkrai’s Eviolite when using Terrakion, but it can also take away the need to discard F Energy with Land’s Judgement.

Landorus NVI

I used Little Landy as my “Dark Patch” for F Energy. The night before the event, I was flip-flopping between this card and Energy Retrieval, but I stuck with this card because of the added plus of Gaia Hammer. But, to be honest, the one time I used this card, it lost me the game. :/

Anyway, on to the report:

Round 1 vs. Angel M. w/ Darkrai EX/Musharna/Stuff

This was Angel’s first tournament, so I told him how my first tournament experience was: no matter how I did, I had a blast, and was soon hooked on the game.

Anyway, he opens Munna BCR to my Sableye-Darkrai start. He goes first, benches a Darkrai, attaches a D Energy to it, and then flips for Long Distance Hypnosis:

Tails.

trollandtoad.comSo his Active falls asleep, and it is now my turn. I draw, and immediately use my Crushing Hammer to discard the Energy on his Darkrai. I attach a Dark to Sableye, and Junk Hunt back the Hammer. He goes, attaches another Energy to Darkrai, and uses Long Distance Hypnosis again:

Tails.

So currently, he’s 0/2 for Long Distance Hypnosis flips. He then passes. I discard his Darkrai’s Energy via Crushing Hammer, attach an Energy to Darkrai, and Junk Hunt the Hammer again.

So after a rather uneventful first few turns, the game finally picks up the pace. He draws, benches Munna BLW, attaches to Darkrai, and passes. I draw, Ultra Ball for Landy, attach to Darkrai (who has two Energies on it now), and Juniper away a D Energy.

This nets me a Dark Patch and a Catcher, so I immediately Catcher his Darkrai, Dark Patch an Energy onto my own Darkrai, and I Night Spear it.

Things go downhill for him from there, and although he’s able to stall me at one point via Musharna BLW’s Hypnosis attack (since I don’t run Switch or Keldeo-EX), and soon KOs a Sableye with Mewtwo, I’m able to pull out ahead and take all 6 Prize cards.

1-0

Round 2 vs. Patrick M. w/ Landorus-EX/Mewtwo EX/Bouffalant

OK, well I kinda freak out here as Patrick is one of the best SoCal players (in the Seniors division, that is), but I calm myself down and just treat him like any normal opponent: don’t underestimate him, but don’t over-think things.

Actually, I was kinda glad that I finally got to play vs. him; at my first tournament ever (2010 States), my friend had just gotten through telling me how “this kid named Patrick is the highest rated player in California, he’s so good!”, when we found out that he (Patrick) was my Round 1 opponent. :P Time for a rematch! :D

After getting a 5 minute time extension for Patrick to resleeve his deck (one of the sleeves tore apart during shuffling, and he didn’t have any extras), we finally got ready. We both start Landy, but, since I went first, I got the first Hammerhead. He goes, does some stuff, and then Hammerheads me.

And that’s where my insane luck began.

I flip heads on Crushing Hammer to discard his F Energy. That means I was 1/1 heads on Crushing Hammer flips.

By the end of the game, I had flipped 8/8 heads on Crushing Hammers.

No, I wasn’t cheating (I wasn’t even using my dice, they were Patrick’s), and even when Patrick asked me to re-flip one with a different die, I still got heads. The luck was just in my favor that game. But the luck doesn’t end there.

At the end of the game, he N’s me to 1. All I need is a Catcher to KO his benched and damaged Landorus-EX, but 3-of my Catcher are in the discard. In my head, I basically just accept the loss (my deck still had a good 15-20 cards in it), but, again, luck was on my side, as I topdecked my 4th and final Catcher for the win. Whoa.

2-0

So already I’m doing better than my previous events! But I remembered that the last time I started off 2-0 (it was at States 2012), I went on to lose my next three matches. :/

Either way, I go into my next round, not knowing what to expect.

Round 3 vs. Kyle L. w/ Landorus-EX/Mewtwo EX/Bouffalant DRX/Terrakion NVI

pokemon-paradijs.comWell, at least it’s a matchup that I (now) know how to play. But, again, I don’t underestimate my opponent, as he just won the last Cities I attended (Montclair) with the same deck.

This game ended up be a very close game. Kyle and I trade Prizes almost perfectly: I kill his Landy with mine, he KOs my Darkrai with another Landy, my Terrakion 2HKOs his Moo2, his Bouffalant 2HKOs my Darkrai, etc., etc.

On the final turns of the game, he has 1 Prize card left to my 2. He N’s. All Kyle’s able to do is Hammerhead with his damaged Landorus. My Active is also a Landorus-EX, but this one has a D Energy, a Fighting, and 120 damage on it. Four of my six F Energies are in the discard pile, with the fifth being attached to my Active.

This means that there is only one F Energy left in my deck; and that was my topdeck.

3-0

Holy crap, I’m actually 3-0!!! I can’t even remember the last time I did this well! I mean, yeah, I’ve won three straight games in a row before, but never at the beginning of the tournament; only when I start off 1-3, and then go up against Sableye/Eelektrik, Rayboar, and then Garbodor. Never when I’m actually against good players. o.O

Anyway, we walk over to McDonald’s for lunch to have some actual food in us (if McDonald’s can be called that -_-), and then run back over to the venue to give my brother his lunch. By now, the Swiss rounds of Juniors are over, and he’s extremely bummed that his Tynamo was donked by a Landorus in Round 3.

But thankfully, my dad’s able to cheer him up by going and buying a giant Plants vs. Zombies mask he found on Craigslist. I’m happy, he’s happy, and we’re all good for the 4th round.

Round 4 vs. Blair C. (Shibumi) w/ Keldeo-EX/Mewtwo EX/Blastoise

pokemon-paradijs.comWell, there are three 3-0’s, and I’m the pair-down. I thought I was lucky, until I saw that I was up against a friend! See, if I win this round, Blair won’t make top cut. If I lose this round, then I’d have to win the next one for even a chance of top cut! What a dilemma.

Anyway, I’m a Dark Patch away from a T1 Night Spear donk on his lone Squirtle.

What a whiff. :/

Well, once I get over that road bump, we end up playing a fairly evenly-matched game. I attack mainly with Darkrai and Terrakion, and that serves me well. So well, in fact, it brings me all the way down to 2 Prize cards left.

Unfortunately, my late game N luck transfered to my opponent, as he topdecked his 4th and final Catcher to KO my Landorus with his Keldeo-EX.

3-1

Round 5 vs. Alexander D. w/ Landorus-EX/Mewtwo EX/Bouffalant DRX/Terrakion

Man, this deck was popular that day! Well, let’s not underestimate it, as the winner of this match makes top cut.

In all honesty, I should not have won this game. The game was pretty much his, but he missed something crucial. Read on to find out.

My Hammer luck fails me, so he’s actually able to set up. We soon start the Prize race. It’s fairly even, as we’re both left with 2 Prize cards at the end of the game. His misplay: he thought I had three.

So he leaves his Landorus with 90 damage on it in the Active Spot, despite having a Switch in hand. I’m then able to take my final 2 Prize cards with a Night Spear.

4-1

Top 4 vs. Kyle L. (Round 3) w/ Landorus-EX/Mewtwo EX/Bouffalant DRX/Terrakion NVI

I expected to be quite nervous, but, in all honesty, I was calm the entire time. Maybe it was because I already knew what he was playing. Or maybe because he was a friend. I dunno, I’m just glad I wasn’t shaking the entire time.

Game 1

Game 1 went very much like Round 3. I was conservative with my Darkrai, and hit hard with Terrakion and Landorus. Worked well.

1-0

Game 2

I open lone Sableye, and he pseudo-donks me with 2 Hammerheads and a PlusPower Turn 2 (Supporter drought).

1-1

Game 3

I was surprised that I was still calm! We made a joke about my “lucky mulligan” (in both the games I beat him, mulliganned; in the one game I lost, I didn’t), but we soon turned serious. This game looked a lot like Round 3 and the first top cut game in the beginning, but he pulled ahead with a lucky Catcher topdeck.

My insane luck with Crushing Hammers earlier today started to wear off, and he was hitting hard. At one point, I benched my Landorus NVI because I was about to Juniper. The next turn, he Hammerhead-sniped the Little Landy. That eventually brought me to my demise.

I was able to stall and hit hard with my Terrakion, while protecting my bench. Three of his Catchers have already been used, and he has only 1 Prize card left. I just cross my fingers that the 4th is his final Prize. I was about to 2-shot my opponent’s Landy with Land Crush, and I hoped to stall his win by N’ing him to 1.

His topdeck: Catcher.

That final Catcher was able to Catcher-kill my Little Landy, and so the match went to Kyle. GG

1-2

So I finish the event with a final record of 4-2, and got 3rd place. Kyle proceeded to lose in the Finals to Javier, the undefeated player (only loss was in Top 4 vs. Patrick, but ended up beating him 2-1), but Kyle got insane pulls: 2 Landorus-EX (1 FA, 1 not), and Patrick, who got 4th place, pulled an FA Keldeo-EX.

The only things I got were a Flygon, a Town Map, and two White Kyurem in one pack (one RH, one normal). Meh. Oh well, at least I got 30 Points. :D

What I Did Wrong

pokemon-paradijs.comWell, first things first, I played Little Landy instead of Energy Retrieval. That ended up costing me the Top 4 match.

Secondly, I didn’t run Switch or Keldeo-EX. If I had ran one of those, Kyle wouldn’t have been able to stall me in Game 3. (He Catchered up my Energyless Darkrai when I was having an Energy drought.)

To be honest, I think that’s it. I mean, yeah, I made a couple misplays, but that sort of stuff happens to everyone. Obviously, I would’ve rather not misplayed, but oh well. I think I did pretty good that day.

What I Should’ve Done

I should’ve ran Energy Retrieval instead of Little Landy, and I should’ve used a Switch or a Keldeo.

Oh yeah, and I probably should’ve gotten more than 5 hours of sleep the previous night.

No matter how excited you get, or how much fun it sounds to stay up till midnight testing your brand new deck, you need to get some sleep.

A solid 6 or 7 hours sounds good for me, but not everyone’s the same. The younger the person is, the more sleep they’ll need, and vice versa. One of the Juniors division players that top cut was extremely tired in the Finals match, and I’m pretty sure he ended up losing because of it (not completely sure; I was focused on the game at hand).

So make sure you get some sleep the night before an event; you need to be awake to be focused. ;)

Alright, so now that my triple Cities report is finished, it’s time to analyze Cities results.

Juniors Cities Results

(Taken from 6p Results Thread.)

Deck	1st Place	2nd Place	3rd/4th Place	Total
RayEels	3	0	1	4
Landorus-EX/Mewtwo EX	2	0	0	2
Aspertia/Eels	2	0	0	2
Blastoise/Keldeo-EX	1	1	1	3
Empoleon/Terrakion	1	0	0	1
Zekrom/Eelektrik/Techs	0	1	2	3
Quad Sigilyph	0	1	0	1
Landorus-EX/Terrakion-EX	0	1	0	1

pokemon-paradijs.comSo, yeah, unfortunately, not a lot of results were collected. However, based off of what results we do have, and what my younger brother has seen when he’s been able to participate, is that Eelektrik is huge. And that makes sense.

It’s a cheap deck that moms/dads/older brothers can afford, it’s simple to use, and it’s easy to incorporate that “awesome Legendary Pokémon I pulled in a booster pack!” Needless to say, it’s a favorite for the Juniors division player.

What’s the Play for Regionals? – Juniors Division

Do you have a Junior that really wants to do well this upcoming Regionals (or Cities, for those of you in Europe)? Then you should build Terrazeels!

Even though this is an Eelektrik deck, and therefore is a meta deck, it’s also the perfect meta counter. The deck runs Terrakion NVI to take down all those Lightning Pokémon running around, but also has its own Lightning types to KO Tornadus EX, which is a real threat to Terrakion.

Here’s a sample list:

Pokémon – 14 4 Tynamo NVI 38 4 Eelektrik NVI 2 Terrakion NVI 2 Mewtwo-EX NXD 1 Zekrom BLW 1 Emolga DRX

Trainers – 33 4 N 4 Professor Juniper 2 Skyla 2 Bianca/Cheren 2 Random Receiver   4 Pokémon Catcher 4 Switch 3 Ultra Ball 3 Level Ball 2 PlusPower 2 Energy Search 1 Super Rod

Energy – 13 6 L 4 F 3 Double Colorless

Possible Techs

• Bouffalant DRX
• Max Potion
• Energy Switch
• More Zekrom BLW

I really think that a Terrakion/Eelektrik variant such as this one can do quite well at Winter Regionals. Now, I know that you may not be able to get a hold of all these cards for your child/sibling (especially the Catchers and Mewtwos), but, again, this is just a sample list.

My brother has had success with Eelektrik variants such as this one since Battle Roads (such as 1st place BR, 3rd place BR. 4th place Cities), and hopefully you guys can succeed as well. :)

Seniors Cities Results

(Taken from 6p Results Thread.)

Deck	1st Place	2nd Place	3rd/4th Place	Total
Blastoise/Keldeo	12	6	7	25
Landorus/Mewtwo	5	1	2	8
Darkrai/Hydreigon	6	6	21	31
Darkrai/Mewtwo	3	1	4	8
Garbodor	2	3	4	9
Darkrai/Landorus	2	3	2	7
Tornadus/Landorus	2	1	3	6
Aspertia/Eels	2	0	1	3
Quad Sigilyph	1	2	4	7
RayEels	1	3	3	7
WhiteGuys.dec	1	1	4	6
Mewtwo/Eelektrik	1	2	0	3
Ho-Oh EX	1	2	0	3
Darkrai/Shaymin	1	1	0	2
Fluffychomp	1	1	0	2
Darkrai/Terrakion/Grass	1	0	1	2
Landorus/Sigilyph	1	0	0	1
Grass/Hydreigon	1	0	0	1
Hammertime	0	4	0	4
Klinklang	0	1	0	1
Mewtwo/Terrakion	0	1	0	1
Durant/Terrakion	0	1	0	1
Darkrai/Sableye/No Hammers	0	0	1	1
Empoleon/Dusknoir	0	0	1	1
Mewtwo/Gardevoir	0	0	1	1

kinneas64.deviantart.com

Well, Hydropony seems to be the BDIF with the most wins, but, according to T4’s, Darkrai/Hydreigon takes the top spot. Landorus/Mewtwo is also one of the top dogs for Seniors, with the second most wins. (I can also tell you, from personal experience, that it is huge in SoCal).

I’m actually quite surprised that we’ve only recorded 2 Darkrai/Landorus wins, and even more flabbergasted that people have reported 0 Hammertime wins! :O

Then there’s a ton of random wins/T4’s that are common with Seniors (we’re random :/), so it’s kind of hard to predict what you’ll run into at Regionals.

All I can guarantee is that you’ll see Darkreigon, Hydropony, and Landorus/Mewtwo. You may not play versus all of them, but they will definitely be in attendance.

So… what will defeat all of those decks? Well, gee, it’s kind of hard to create a counter to all of them.

Well, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!

What’s the Play for Regionals? – Seniors Division

Hydropony seems to be the top play, here. It’s quite popular in the Midwest and the East Coast, and can definitely surprise those on the West. I’m afraid I don’t know much about the European meta, though.

Anyway, here’s a sample list:

Pokémon – 13 4 Squirtle BCR 1 Wartortle BCR 3 Blastoise BCR 3 Keldeo-EX 2 Mewtwo-EX NXD

Trainers – 32 4 N 4 Professor Juniper 3 Skyla 2 Bianca/Cheren 2 Random Receiver   4 Pokémon Catcher 4 Rare Candy 3 Energy Retrieval 3 Ultra Ball 1 Computer Search   2 Tropical Beach

Energy – 15 13 W 2 Double Colorless

Possible Techs

• Munna BCR
• Gold Potion
• Super Scoop Up
• Revive/Super Rod

Now, keep in mind, this isn’t a fully tested list, and could probably use a few tweaks, but like I said earlier, it’s just a sample. There’s also some expensive cards in this deck that your competitive Senior may not have, such as the Tropical Beach, or the full 3 Keldeo-EX.

For all you trolls out there, Munna BCR is a fun card to toy around with. You can use its Long Distance Hypnosis to try and make your opponent fall Asleep, and if you flip tails, you can simply Rush In and attack like you normally would.

You can see from the Cities results listed above that this deck has had a tremendous amount of success, so who knows, maybe you can succeed with it at Regionals as well! :)

Masters Cities Results

(Taken from PokéGym Results Thread.)

Deck	1st Place	2nd Place	3rd/4th Place	Total
Blastoise/Keldeo	22	23	45	90
Landorus/Mewtwo	19	19	25	63
Darkrai/Hydreigon	11	12	36	59
Ho-Oh	10	10	16	36
Darkrai/Landorus	10	6	8	24
RayEels	9	5	18	32
Mewtwo/Eelektrik	8	10	15	31
Hammertime	7	3	11	21
Darkrai/Mewtwo	2	6	10	18
Klinklang	2	2	8	12
Mewtwo/Terrakion	2	0	1	3
Empoleon/Dusknoir/Landorus	2	0	1	3

I only put those who have gotten 2 or more wins; there are too many more single wins/only T4’s to list all.

Alright, so it’s pretty obvious that Hydropony is the BDIF in Masters, with 90 total T4’s, 22 of them being wins. Landorus/Mewtwo is close behind, though, with 19 wins, and a total of 63 T4’s.

The third biggest deck seems to be Darkrai/Hydreigon. Though many have dismissed it as being weaker than other Darkrai variants, it has the highest recorded win total of all Darkrai decks. Huh. Go figure.

Anyway, if you’re in the Masters division (which the majority of you probably are), you’ll definitely want to watch out for those three decks, but don’t forget about the others farther behind.

Regionals is going to be huge, and definitely expect to see some of the lesser decks as well, such as Ho-Oh, Darkrai/Landorus, and Rayeels.

But, like I said up in the Seniors section, you can’t build a counter to everything. You can only build a deck that you trust yourself with and is prepared for the meta that day.

What’s the Play for Regionals? – Masters Division

For Masters, I’d say a good deck is Darkrai/Hydreigon. Why? Well, because of techs, of course!

With Keldeo/Blastoise running so rampantly, a Grass-heavy Hydreigon build might be the way to go. It has the speed of a Darkrai deck, the tanking ability of Hydreigon, and the come-back-from-behind Shaymin EX.

Here’s a sample list:

Pokémon – 14 2 Deino DRX 93 1 Deino NVI 1 Zweilous DRX 96 3 Hydreigon DRX 97 2 Darkrai-EX DEX 2 Shaymin EX 2 Sableye DEX 1 Keldeo-EX

Trainers – 35 4 N 4 Professor Juniper 3 Skyla 2 Bianca/Cheren 1 Random Receiver   4 Pokémon Catcher 4 Dark Patch 3 Rare Candy 3 Ultra Ball 3 Max Potion 2 Level Ball 1 Super Rod 1 Computer Search

Energy – 11 7 D – Basic 4 Blend GRPD

Possible Techs

• Mewtwo EX
• Sigilyph DRX
• 2nd Keldeo-EX
• Virizion EPO/NVI
• Gold Potion

Again, this could probably use a few tweaks, but it’s just an idea. I think that a Shaymin-heavy Hydreigon build could possibly do quite well at Regionals.

You lure the Keldeo player into KOing an EX, and then drop the Shaymin(s) and wreak havoc with Revenge Blast. If they KO a Shaymin, then you have a backup to attack for even more damage with.

The epicness of a double Shaymin attack. XD

Conclusion

pokemon.theirstar.comWell, after 5500+ words of (probably) useless material, I guess I should stop. Even if my decklists are worth squat, hopefully you guys can get a good guess of what the meta will look like for Regs/European Cities. :)

I’ll be at the SoCal Regionals in Long Beach, so if you see me there, say hi! I’d definitely like to meet any and all fellow 6p members, so don’t be shy. :)

If anyone wants to test, just hit me up on the forums (for those of you who don’t know, I’m PokémonPlayer101). I unfortunately don’t have the cards to play on PTCGO, so, unless you use PlayTCG, I’ll unfortunately have to decline.

Good luck at Regionals, everyone! :)

-Dane