Long fudging week. Mon/Tues was spent filling out apps, then following up on them, but with no luck. Wed/Thurs and Fri morning were all spent preparing for my 3-day trip to Phx. We arrive in Phx in the evening, then play Melee with the Phx crew until 10, since the host has to re-take his SATs. We drive to the ride's relatives house, which is about an hour's drive away from the venues. I hop on HT and finalize my Donphan list. I take out registark because I didn't think I owned any. Turns out I did, but I didn't know until after I had turned in my list the following morning and gotten deck checked rofl.
Saturday.dek:
4-4 Donphan Prime
3 Uxie
2 Crobat G
2 Unown R
1 Azelf
1 Unown Q
1 Relicanth
4 Bebe's
3 Collector
2 Judge
1 Cynthia's Feelings
1 Palmer's
4 Poke Turn
4 SSU
4 Pokedex
2 Warp Point
1 Luxury Ball
3 BTS
10 Fighting
R1 vs Luxchomp: Kinda bleh game on both players parts. He makes a plethora of mistakes, I make a single mistake that ends up setting me back several turns, effectively ending the game for me. Spend the next few turns trying to draw into a SSU before time is called, but it doesn't happen and I lose in time. Sorry if I don't remember most of this match. It was kinda long.
R2 vs Crobat/Kingdra Prime: I open double unown R and go first. He opens a lone Zubat. I end. He sets up a Kingdra Prime, and a Crobat Prime in the same turn. I get my shit worked. Yay for auto-losses.
R3 vs Idk. He opens a lone Oddish to my Phanphy. My hand is garbage, no supporters/draw/etc, but it does have a BTS and a Fighting Energy. He goes first, and tried to stun spore. I rip a donphan, and spend the next hour and a half trading.'
R4 vs Dialgachomp: This happens to be my ride up to Phx, Shiv in the first place lol. He's unable to get set-up quickly enough whilst Donphan steamrolls through his Pokemon. He eventually gets a DGX out which takes out a belted Donphan, before getting revenged by a benched Donphan. He's unable to recover.
R5 vs Tyranitar/Spiritomb/Vileplume: I notice that I'm paired up against an X-1 and opt to give him the win. I've been in that situation before where if you lose, you don't top, but if you win, you do, and lost. I did, however, decide to play it out. We both have relatively quick starts, but Donphan hard-counters Tyranitar. I'm able to power through his spiritombs/uxies/etc and ohko powered up tyranitars, only losing a belted Donphan throughout the match.
Whist waiting for Shiv to finish his match, I get some trading in before leaving. I acquire throughout the day:
1 Crobat G RH
1 Bronzong G RH
1 Chatot G RH
1 Roserade GL RH
2 Smeargle UD
1 Smeargle UD RH
3 Phanphy RH
1 Vileplume
1 Jumpluff
1 Plus Power RH
1 Cynthia's Feeling's Foil
1 VS Seeker RH
Shiv and I leave for a friends house to play more Melee. We arrive there around 5 PM, and leave at 12:30 AM. We arrive at our hosts house around 1:30 AM, where Shiv and I spend until about 3:00 AM constructing our Sunday decks.
Sunday.dek:
2-2 Garchomp C
2-1 Blaziken FB
2 Crobat G
1 Dragonite FB
1 Chatot G
1 Bronzong G
3 Smeargle
2 Uxie
1 Azelf
1 Unown Q
1 Unown (Dark)
1 Sableye
4 Conspiracy
3 Collector
2 Bebe's
2 Judge
2 Initiative
2 Aaron's
4 Poke Turn
3 Energy gain
3 Power Spray
2 SP Radar
1 VS Seeker
4 DCE
3 Warp Energy
2 Fire Energy
1 Dark
1 SP Dark
We wake up around 9, eat breakfast, and leave. We get lost because we're retards and didn't actually check where the venue was located before leaving. We over-shoot the venue by a few streets, but make it back in-time with 40 minutes to spare. I borrow a Blaziken FB from a friend, and do some trades before round begins.
R1 vs SP Toolbox: I shut him down early with Judge whilst I'm able to set up, however I'm unable to take a prize for about 20 minutes whilst he slowly recovers. Late-game my bench is filled with pixies, smeargle, and sableye and I'm unable to get an attacking SP pokemon out, AND retreat my active pokemon so I lose in time.
R2 vs Machamp: I'm able to set-up, and lock his draws with Chatot, whilst I slowly pick off powered up Machokes. A Cyrus is prized, and I whiff on a Poketurn to guarantee myself a win for three turns, so he's able to eventually get machamp rolling. A late-game Judge stops his fun whilst I finally pick off his Machamp, but he's unable to set another up due to late-game disruption. I make a critical error near the late-game, getting greedy on Uxie draws instead of setting up power spray plays, but it didn't end up mattering any in the end.
R3 vs Giggles: Both players have good set-ups and we spend the game exchanging prizes, whilst I force him to sacrifice pokemon, and waste ssu/warp points on heavy-retreat pokemon I luring flamed up. I eventually lost the prize exchanges because the deck didn't run Toxicroak, which would have been able to easily take the game.
R4 vs Obama/Bronzdong/Ampharos: Both decks set-up relatively quickly, however I have the benefit of running 2-1 Blaziken. The Level X never came into play, but Vapor Kick alone took 4 Prizes. Interesting thing to note: Neither player used DCE offensively. I only used one to retreat a Garchomp, and he only used his to retreat heavy-retreat pokemon I'd luring flame up.
R5 vs Luxchomp: If anyone got the short-end of the stick this weekend, it was this kid. Bronzong G start to my Sableye start. I draw into a Garchomp, lay it down, attach a DCE, then set-up for 4, and Impersonate for Initiative, hitting double heads. I send away his Poke Turn and Cyrus's Conspiracy. He draws into a Garchomp, and ends. Disrupting spy his draw, then snipe his Garchomp with my own, but forget he has a means of shuffling his deck (Premier Ball) in-hand, but it doesn't matter since I already know his draw can't do anything for him. I Poke Turn Chatot G and he scoops.
Whilst I wait for Shiv to finish his last match, I take the opportunity to get in as many trades as I can before heading back to Tucson. I acquire:
1 Unown (dark) RH
1 Smeargle RH
1 Pokedex RH
1 Drifblim FB RH
1 Phanphy RH
1 Regice
1 Combee SF
Afterthoughts:
I have lost every first round of every tournament I've entered since 2008, including tournaments that I've won.
3-2 both days disappoints me since at least one loss for each day (R1 Day 1, R1 Day 2) could have been prevented if I didn't let something like a fudging azelf or smeargle get locked into the active slot. Nobody knows whether or not I could have turned the 3-2 records into a 4-1 record if I had won those R1 matches, but it's the principal of making mistakes the bugs me.
I am not including Promocroak in an SP list again.
Saturday.dek:
4-4 Donphan Prime
3 Uxie
2 Crobat G
2 Unown R
1 Azelf
1 Unown Q
1 Relicanth
4 Bebe's
3 Collector
2 Judge
1 Cynthia's Feelings
1 Palmer's
4 Poke Turn
4 SSU
4 Pokedex
2 Warp Point
1 Luxury Ball
3 BTS
10 Fighting
R1 vs Luxchomp: Kinda bleh game on both players parts. He makes a plethora of mistakes, I make a single mistake that ends up setting me back several turns, effectively ending the game for me. Spend the next few turns trying to draw into a SSU before time is called, but it doesn't happen and I lose in time. Sorry if I don't remember most of this match. It was kinda long.
R2 vs Crobat/Kingdra Prime: I open double unown R and go first. He opens a lone Zubat. I end. He sets up a Kingdra Prime, and a Crobat Prime in the same turn. I get my shit worked. Yay for auto-losses.
R3 vs Idk. He opens a lone Oddish to my Phanphy. My hand is garbage, no supporters/draw/etc, but it does have a BTS and a Fighting Energy. He goes first, and tried to stun spore. I rip a donphan, and spend the next hour and a half trading.'
R4 vs Dialgachomp: This happens to be my ride up to Phx, Shiv in the first place lol. He's unable to get set-up quickly enough whilst Donphan steamrolls through his Pokemon. He eventually gets a DGX out which takes out a belted Donphan, before getting revenged by a benched Donphan. He's unable to recover.
R5 vs Tyranitar/Spiritomb/Vileplume: I notice that I'm paired up against an X-1 and opt to give him the win. I've been in that situation before where if you lose, you don't top, but if you win, you do, and lost. I did, however, decide to play it out. We both have relatively quick starts, but Donphan hard-counters Tyranitar. I'm able to power through his spiritombs/uxies/etc and ohko powered up tyranitars, only losing a belted Donphan throughout the match.
Whist waiting for Shiv to finish his match, I get some trading in before leaving. I acquire throughout the day:
1 Crobat G RH
1 Bronzong G RH
1 Chatot G RH
1 Roserade GL RH
2 Smeargle UD
1 Smeargle UD RH
3 Phanphy RH
1 Vileplume
1 Jumpluff
1 Plus Power RH
1 Cynthia's Feeling's Foil
1 VS Seeker RH
Shiv and I leave for a friends house to play more Melee. We arrive there around 5 PM, and leave at 12:30 AM. We arrive at our hosts house around 1:30 AM, where Shiv and I spend until about 3:00 AM constructing our Sunday decks.
Sunday.dek:
2-2 Garchomp C
2-1 Blaziken FB
2 Crobat G
1 Dragonite FB
1 Chatot G
1 Bronzong G
3 Smeargle
2 Uxie
1 Azelf
1 Unown Q
1 Unown (Dark)
1 Sableye
4 Conspiracy
3 Collector
2 Bebe's
2 Judge
2 Initiative
2 Aaron's
4 Poke Turn
3 Energy gain
3 Power Spray
2 SP Radar
1 VS Seeker
4 DCE
3 Warp Energy
2 Fire Energy
1 Dark
1 SP Dark
We wake up around 9, eat breakfast, and leave. We get lost because we're retards and didn't actually check where the venue was located before leaving. We over-shoot the venue by a few streets, but make it back in-time with 40 minutes to spare. I borrow a Blaziken FB from a friend, and do some trades before round begins.
R1 vs SP Toolbox: I shut him down early with Judge whilst I'm able to set up, however I'm unable to take a prize for about 20 minutes whilst he slowly recovers. Late-game my bench is filled with pixies, smeargle, and sableye and I'm unable to get an attacking SP pokemon out, AND retreat my active pokemon so I lose in time.
R2 vs Machamp: I'm able to set-up, and lock his draws with Chatot, whilst I slowly pick off powered up Machokes. A Cyrus is prized, and I whiff on a Poketurn to guarantee myself a win for three turns, so he's able to eventually get machamp rolling. A late-game Judge stops his fun whilst I finally pick off his Machamp, but he's unable to set another up due to late-game disruption. I make a critical error near the late-game, getting greedy on Uxie draws instead of setting up power spray plays, but it didn't end up mattering any in the end.
R3 vs Giggles: Both players have good set-ups and we spend the game exchanging prizes, whilst I force him to sacrifice pokemon, and waste ssu/warp points on heavy-retreat pokemon I luring flamed up. I eventually lost the prize exchanges because the deck didn't run Toxicroak, which would have been able to easily take the game.
R4 vs Obama/Bronzdong/Ampharos: Both decks set-up relatively quickly, however I have the benefit of running 2-1 Blaziken. The Level X never came into play, but Vapor Kick alone took 4 Prizes. Interesting thing to note: Neither player used DCE offensively. I only used one to retreat a Garchomp, and he only used his to retreat heavy-retreat pokemon I'd luring flame up.
R5 vs Luxchomp: If anyone got the short-end of the stick this weekend, it was this kid. Bronzong G start to my Sableye start. I draw into a Garchomp, lay it down, attach a DCE, then set-up for 4, and Impersonate for Initiative, hitting double heads. I send away his Poke Turn and Cyrus's Conspiracy. He draws into a Garchomp, and ends. Disrupting spy his draw, then snipe his Garchomp with my own, but forget he has a means of shuffling his deck (Premier Ball) in-hand, but it doesn't matter since I already know his draw can't do anything for him. I Poke Turn Chatot G and he scoops.
Whilst I wait for Shiv to finish his last match, I take the opportunity to get in as many trades as I can before heading back to Tucson. I acquire:
1 Unown (dark) RH
1 Smeargle RH
1 Pokedex RH
1 Drifblim FB RH
1 Phanphy RH
1 Regice
1 Combee SF
Afterthoughts:
I have lost every first round of every tournament I've entered since 2008, including tournaments that I've won.
3-2 both days disappoints me since at least one loss for each day (R1 Day 1, R1 Day 2) could have been prevented if I didn't let something like a fudging azelf or smeargle get locked into the active slot. Nobody knows whether or not I could have turned the 3-2 records into a 4-1 record if I had won those R1 matches, but it's the principal of making mistakes the bugs me.
I am not including Promocroak in an SP list again.
