Seniors UK Cities Report with Hydreigon/Darkrai + Prisms

BulbapediaFirst of all before we enter the latter part of this article containing decklists and tournament reports I want to talk a little about myself. I’m Matthew King or thematteo0 from 6P. I am 14 years old and as such I am quite new to the competitive tournament scene.

I live in the United Kingdom and have been interested in Pokémon TCG for a while now, and started collecting the cards when the Black & White came out. At that point I was more interested in collecting and the online game, however with the BLW-onwards rotation and the start of a new season I decided that I should start attending tournaments.

The first tournament I attended was a Battle Roads in the town of Horsham, where in three rounds I went 3-0, beating one Speed Darkrai and two Hydreigon/Darkrai EX decks in order to win the tournament, including a notable win in the third round versus an unbeaten Senior in the whole season so far, who had at that point won 2 Battle Roads in a row without losing a game.

Being in the United Kingdom there are not a lot of tournaments that I have been able to attend, so at the moment I have been to a total of 1 Battle Roads, 1 Regionals, and 2 Cities, all located in the South of the UK quite near to where I live. Today I’ll be discussing the first ever Cities that I attended, which was Margate Cities.

Margate Cities

pokemon-paradijs.comI decided that I was not to switch to a Blastoise/Keldeo variation, which appeared to be the deck that had the most wins in the Senior Division at the time, but instead to remain with the deck I had completed the most testing with: Hydreigon/Darkrai.

The list I went with was similar to the list that I used in both the Battle Road and Regional that I had attended so far.

This variation of the deck however was a little different than the previous variations that I had run as it was now more focused on the Prisms and the use of tech attackers such as Terrakion NVI and Keldeo-EX to help move bad matchups into this deck’s favor.

At the time I had not been able to get ahold of the 4th Prism and the Terrakion NVI I wanted for the tournament, so I decided to enter with this list:

Pokémon – 16 3 Deino DRX 93 1 Zweilous DRX 96 3 Hydreigon DRX 97 3 Darkrai-EX DEX 3 Sableye DEX 1 Keldeo-EX 1 Mewtwo-EX NXD 1 Sigilyph DRX

Trainers – 32 4 Professor Juniper 4 N 3 Skyla 1 Random Receiver   3 Dark Patch 3 Max Potion 3 Pokémon Catcher 3 Rare Candies 3 Ultra Ball 2 Giant Cape 1 Level Ball 1 Super Rod 1 Computer Search

Energy – 12 9 D – Basic 3 Prism

Round 1 vs. “sibon” with Landorus-EX/Mewtwo EX/Terrakion NVI/Bouffalant DRX

Game 1

Two tournaments in a row I have faced sibon in the first round, last time in Regionals and now in Cities, and I wanted revenge from last time as it was 1-1 in games and we were in the 3rd match, sudden death.

I was one turn from winning, but he drew a draw Supporter to get the Level Ball, to get the Roserade DRX, to search his deck for the Switch he needed to win.

The bad news for me is that he’s now switched decks to what is my deck’s worst matchup. Both of us have decent starts and I am able to set up a decent board in the first few turns while sibon sets up Landorus-EX and Terrakion NVIs.

I attempt to stall for time to get the Energies I need to start attacking and in order to do this I use Pokémon Catcher to bring up the second Terrakion with no Energies on it into the Active Spot. A couple of crucial Pokémon Catchers and Switches from sibon however allow him to Knock Out two Darkrai EX and at that point in the match I realise the it was all but over for me.

I was able to set up another attacker, but in the end sibon used another of his Pokémon Catchers to take out the final knockout for the win.

0-1

Game 2

Sibon starts with Landorus-EX and puts pressure on me from the first turn, but I still manage to set up a decent board of attackers and evolutions, while sibon is stuck with almost nothing of use in his hand.

Sibon gets out a Tropical Beach and proceeds to draw, but still gets almost nothing of use, while I, despite a brilliant board, am missing an all important 3rd Energy attachment in order to start attacking and am forced to pass another couple of turns and use the Tropical Beach too.

When I am at last able to set up an attacker, sibon is able to get out some other attackers onto his bench including Bouffalant DRX and Terrakion NVI with a couple of Ultra Balls. In a similar manner to the first match he is able to take out a couple of knockouts with Terrakion NVI which gives him a substantial lead when time is called.

I am able to get the knockout on the Terrakion NVI, leaving him a lone Bouffalant DRX on the board with no Energies onto it, but as time was called 5 turns ago and the game was now over for me, and sibon was able to take the win.

0-2, 0-1

Round 2 vs. ??? with Darkrai EX/Mewtwo EX/Sigilyph DRX/Bouffalant DRX

Game 1

pokemon-paradijs.comHe attempts to wall my EX attackers with his Sigilyph DRX, and is able to do so for a number of turns until I am able to set up an effective board of Hydreigon, Darkrai, and attackers.

I am able at last to set up a Sigilyph DRX of my own however, and am able to retreat into it and knockout my opponent’s Sigilyph by hitting for 160 damage.

He is able to get a couple of attacks off with his two Bouffalant taking a couple of knockouts, however I am able to get a couple of crucial Max Potions on my Pokémon.

Although he had started to set up a bench of Mewtwo EX and Darkrai EX, it was too little too late in the game for him, and I was able to sweep with my own Mewtwo EX for the win, Knocking Out a Mewtwo EX and another Pokémon he had benched with a couple of Pokémon Catchers for the win.

1-0

Game 2

This game was quite similar to the first one, except I set up even faster this game, setting up a turn two Hydreigon and attackers. He’s able to get out a couple of his attackers and start attacking, taking a couple of knockouts on my Pokémon, but in the end due to a crucial Max Potion I was able to heal up and take the last knockout needed to win this match.

A hard fought win, but one that I needed in order to give me a chance of finishing in the top 4 and getting some points, after that loss in the first round.

2-0, 1-1

Round 3 vs. ??? with Golurk DRX/Mewtwo EX/Techs

Game 1

pokemon-paradijs.comIt was clear that the opponent was quite new to the game, and was running a deck that had a number of decent cards, but wasn’t as organised as a competitive deck. It turns out that this person had managed to receive his one win versus an opponent who turned up with a deck full of lots of older set cards which had to be replaced on short notice.

I started off with a decent bench, but then disastrous turns were to follow where I was forced to draw and Confuse Ray for about 8 turns, until I drew a Supporter. I was able to Catcher stall my opponent, by not letting him attack with his Mewtwo EX which he was loading Energies onto.

In the end I did draw a Supporter, and from then on, I steamrolled the game, Knocking Out two Mewtwo EX with my own Sigilyph and my own Mewtwo EX, then finishing the game with a couple of Night Spears.

1-0

Game 2

In contradiction to the first game I was able to get a faster set up than before, and once again I steamrolled with my own Darkrai EX and Mewtwo EX on his own Mewtwo EX and Golurks as well as a couple of other attackers, and this game was without a doubt mine. This was not the most exciting of games as I was quite dominant so there is not much more to discuss here.

2-0, 2-1

Conclusion

Overall my first ever Cities ended up becoming somewhat of a success, although I was disappointed there were no more rounds, as I felt that I could have made it to 3rd place, but I was quite pleased to settle with 4th place and receive a nice bonus of 30 Championship Points and 4 free booster packs.

I didn’t feel too disappointed about my loss because he ended up winning the whole tournament, and it was a terrible matchup for me, so there was little more I could have done.

London Cities

pokemon-paradijs.comI decided to edit the list that I used last time, to make the Terrakion NVI matchup a little better, although there was still not a huge amount that I could do. I decided that adding 2 Blends in order to enable me to be able to attack with Hydreigon was going to be crucial in the Terrakion NVI matchup because it would enable me a 1HKO on Terrakion NVI.

I also was able to obtain a Terrakion NVI in trades as well as a 4th Prism from the previous Cities, so I was able to add them into the deck, allowing me to hopefully swing mirror Darkrai EX matches in my favor in this tournament.

The list I ended up opting with looks quite obscure, but it seemed to be successful in testing for me so here it is:

Pokémon – 16 3 Deino DRX 93 3 Hydreigon DRX 97 3 Darkrai-EX DEX 3 Sableye DEX 1 Keldeo-EX 1 Mewtwo-EX NXD 1 Sigilyph DRX 1 Terrakion NVI

Trainers – 32 4 Professor Juniper 4 N 3 Skyla 1 Random Receiver   3 Dark Patch 3 Max Potion 3 Pokémon Catcher 3 Rare Candies 3 Ultra Ball 2 Giant Cape 1 Level Ball 1 Super Rod 1 Computer Search

Energy – 12 6 D – Basic 4 Prism 2 Blend GRPD

Round 1 vs. “pokemonguy” with Darkrai EX/Hydreigon

cardshark.comThis was the first mirror match I had encountered in Cities so far, and I knew that as I was running Terrakion NVI I would have the advantage though, so I was quite confident of a good game for me.

We both had quite poor starts and we were both unable to set up a Hydreigon for a number of turns, however I had a much better board than him with Sableye in the Active Spot, and Darkrai EX and Deino on the bench.

I drew into a Supporter at last after about 4 turns of dead-drawing and was soon able to get the ball rolling. I Knocked Out a Deino I believe with my own Darkrai EX, and was soon able to set up a Terrakion NVI, just as my opponent had started to set up his board completely.

I took a couple of knockouts with a Terrakion NVI, and the game was almost over for him at that point even though he managed to get out his Shaymin EX and started setting it up, but by that point in the game it was too late and I took the final knockout for the win.

It was a shame to get paired up against my friend from league in the first round, but I took the win and moved onto round two.

1-0

Round 2 vs. “Charles” with Blastoise/Keldeo-EX

Charles is the number one ranked Senior in the United Kingdom and has, after getting his 30 Championship Points from this tournament, now qualified for the World Championships in Canada.

As such I knew this would be a hard match for me, and although I fought hard it turns out that I had two Hydreigon unavailable to me, so by the time I was able to set one up it was too late and Charles ended up steamrolling me with his Keldeo and Mewtwo EXs. There was not too much more to discuss here, as it was a horrible game for me.

1-1

Round 3 vs. ??? with Garbodor/Landorus-EX/Terrakion-EX/Mewtwo EX

pokemon-paradijs.comI had seen him earlier in the tournament running this deck and I knew what to expect, this is one of my deck’s worst, if not worst matchup of all. The good news for me was that he wasn’t running Terrakion NVI and was instead opting for Terrakion-EX, but I knew it would still be a nightmare of a matchup for me.

I was able to start first for the only time in both of the Cities events that I attended I believe in this game, and I was also blessed with an immense first hand, and was able to set up a turn two Hydreigon and soon start attacking.

I took a quick lead in this game, using Keldeo-EX and two Prisms to 1HKO the Landorus-EX he had started with, and then Sigilyph to 2HKO a Mewtwo EX. At this point I thought I had the game, however the match was about to take a massive turn for the worst when he was able to set up both a Garbodor and a Terrakion-EX as well.

He managed to 1HKO a benched Darkrai EX with Pokémon Catcher and then proceeded to knockout a Keldeo-EX with all the Energies on it due to the ability lock from Garbodor. At this point the game was even, and because of a crucial Gold Potion from the opponent it looked like all was other.

I was however able to Pokémon Catcher his Garbodor twice leaving it in the Active Spot stranded with no Energies and 90 damage on it from an earlier attack from Keldeo-EX.

My opponent was struggling to find his 3rd Switch and was forced to pass for a number of turns until at last I was able to manually set up a Mewtwo EX, retreat into it, and knockout the Garbodor. My opponent was still able to get some attacks off with Terrakion-EX. But in the end I was able to stop him from taking knockouts and won the game.

2-1

Round 4 vs. ??? with Darkrai EX/Mewtwo EX/Bouffalant DRX/Hammers

pokemon-paradijs.comWe are into the final round, and I knew that if I wanted a chance at getting into the top cut, I needed to win this game. I was matched up versus the one 3-0 in the tournament, who had received a large amount of luck from previous matches achieving two donks in two of his games, one of which was with a Mewtwo EX + DCE + 2 PlusPowers on either the first or second turn I believe.

I knew this was going to be a tough match, in particular when I saw he was running Crushing and Enhanced Hammers in his deck, making my Special Energies almost useless. We were both able to set up quite well and we were trading blows with each others attackers.

I was able to get a couple of important Max Potions off, but he was also able to get heads on all three Super Scoop Ups he used in that game, making it quite even. In the end due to a couple of dead-draws from me, and choosing the wrong Pokémon to Max Potion at one point, I ended up losing what was a fun, but excruciatingly long game.

2-2

Conclusion

Due to an opponent’s opponent’s resistance I was able to beat pokemonguy and finish in 4th place again. And another 4th place makes two in a row, providing me with another 30 Championship Points and 4 free packs.

These two Cities have been a great learning experience for me, as I’m still quite new to the game. They’ve been a great place to meet people and get good trades, and also a great place for competition and learning how to improve.

As I continue on throughout the season and hope to push on and keep improving my game until it’s reached its full potential I will look back on these Cities and see how important these two tournaments were for me.

This will I imagine be one of the last times I use my Darkrai/Hydreigon deck, a deck that I have grown to love over the past months, and one that has served me a decent amount of success, however I still feel that Darkrai/Hydreigon and in particular the Prism variation are really underrated at the moment and will continue to be in the next sets, so when looking for a strong versatile deck I would recommend nothing other than Darkrai/Hydreigon.

Thanks a lot for reading this article, and I wish you all success in the future.