Alternate Title: What Will Probably Be TFO's Only Good Report for the 2012-2013 Season
So after about 2 years of absence I decided to get back into the TCG scene. Why? Because my self-esteem was getting too high in college so I needed it beaten back down. My first tournament back with RayEels didn't go so well...2-4. So that proved to me that I really should NOT run meta. Bad things happen when I do.
So afterward I bought a 3-1-3 Dusknoir line to make a deck from. Why? Because Dusknoir is probably one of the most underrated cards of Boundaries Crossed, aside from Black Kyurem EX. After seeing an article on http://google.com/ about a Landorus/Kyurem/Dusknoir deck, I knew I really wanted to run it (It's called "The Dark Hand of Fate", if you want to read it yourself. A very good deck, if somewhat unorthodox). But, since there is no way I could get any Landorus (there's maybe 10 total in the area I play in), and Groudon EX was the only plausible alternative (hah), I was running out of options. But after talking to Shannon (I believe her name on the forums right now is Shaymin or Skymin? I really can't remember xD) who thought that Regigigas and Dusknoir would be a good combo...I thought to myself, "What colorless pokemon do I have access to that have good damage output and are very good for early game?" The answer, of course, was Tornadus and Bouffalant. So I made a White Tea list, but instead of Mewtwo EX and Sigilyph, I put in Dusknoir and Kyurem instead and water energy. I wasn't sure if the deck was going to work, but I knew I'd have fun either way.
So I got my list tweaked last night with my friend and headed up to Monument this morning. Got my deck list filled out, and as I was filling it out I saw about 5 or more people asking around for Sigilyph. Given that the night before I had considered forgoing Kyurem completely for Mewtwo EX and Psychic energies, I was silently thankful that I had stuck with Kyurem. Glaciate absolutely murders a Quad Sigi deck. I turned in my list and tried some solitaire playtesting...a couple Duskull starts. Not looking good at all for me. Pairings were called soon after and we finally began. It was going to be 6 rounds, Top 8 cut.
Round 1 - Eric King with Klinklang/Keldeo/Darkrai/Landorus/BKEX
So I was a little bit confused when I saw he started with Klink and Darkrai. Then when I remembered Klinklang was making a huge comeback, I started to get worried. I knew he was a good player so this was going to be a huge test for my deck.
I actually don't remember much about the match after that, except that he never got Klinklang out and I didn't get any energy for 3 turns. I charged up a Bouffalant and got a Dusknoir out, and proceeded to sweep from there after he took a few prizes.
1/0
Round 2 - Jacob ? with FluffyChomp
So we both get pretty bad starts, with him setting up first. Again, don't remember much except getting a Kyurem up with 3 energy and an eviolite and Glaciating. He Dragonblades for 140, forgetting I have an Eviolite on it. It survives with 10 HP so I spread all the damage from Garchomp and other things to get 2 kills on the bench and procede to Outrage for the one-hit kill. After that I have enough momentum to win.
Sadly he was the only one of my opponents that did not make it to top cut.
2/0
Round 3 - ? with Darkrai/Landorus/Mewtwo
Not going to lie, this was a close game. I don't really have much to say here except it came down to the last turn. I had a Bouffalant with 2 water energy and an eviolite active and he had several EX's with 60 damage and eviolites, including an active Darkrai. I top deck a Juniper, draw into an energy, a scrapper, and a catcher. Gold breaker for the last 2 prizes. If I hadn't gotten that Juniper I'd have lost the next turn.
3/0
Had lunch after this, and went to Taco Bell to try their new Loaded Grillers thingymabobers. They're not that great, save your money.
Round 4 - Michael King with Klinklang
So this is the younger brother of my round 1 opponent...so you can imagine this went about as well as Round 1. I got a very good start, kept killing his Klinks when they hit the field, and brought up a Bouffalant and proceeded to sweep. The only damage he got on the field was 110 damage on Dusknoir from 2 Xballs and a Retalliate (not powered up), but I kept using my switches to put it back on the bench. He didn't take a single prize.
4/0
So at this point I figured I had a very, very good chance of getting in the finals.
Round 5 - Derek Miller with Darkrai/Hydreigon and techs
Other than an energy drought later on in the game, this went very, very well. I killed all 3 of his Deino when they hit the field, and he had no Super Rod. Without a Hydreigon, the deck fell apart...although his 2 random Enhanced Hammers kept me on my toes though. I won when he decided to send out Shaymin for a revenge kill. Bring up a fully powered Tornadus EX, move 10 damage from his Darkrai to it, and Power Blast for the last 2 prizes.
Derek actually turned out to be a wild card later on thanks to my friend trying to be nice, but we'll get to that later.
5/0
Round 6 - Kevin Abernathy with Pangaea (Landorus/Tornadus/Sigilyph/Mewtwo)
You have one of those players that you just can't beat? Kevin is mine. I have only beaten him in one tournament before...it was a Platinum Prerelease. So needless to say, I was concerned...or I would have been if there was more on the line.
Basically the game was constantly in his favor until most of his energy hit the field. I had 4 prizes to his 2. I N'd him two turns in a row and he was whiffing the last energy he needed to win. I Power Blasted his active Tornadus, with a Benched Lando with 30 HP left in it. I get Dusknoir set up next turn, move 30 damage from his active to the Lando and Power Blast for the win.
6/0
So this was the first tournament I actually went undefeated in Swiss rounds! Needless to say everybody was shocked and were actually rooting for me to do well.
But it wasn't meant to last, sadly. My friend who helped me with the deck beat my 5th round opponent in the 6th round really easily...but since my 5th round opponent had a chance for top cut if he had won, my friend gave him the win on the slip. So he got into the 6th seed and bumped a couple players down, so instead of facing another Pangaea deck (which I proved I could beat), I'd face the only other real rogue that was a threat.
So I went up against someone that had a rogue deck that completely countered my own deck. Energy discarding and Dusknoir denial are the two major weaknesses in the deck, but I can usually pull through one or the other. But having both in the same deck? Nope, not winning.
Plus there was Game 2 when I accidentally played Skyla after I played an N...don't judge me, I'm getting used to having to discard Supporters right away now. Because I started searching my deck I got a Prize Penalty, not that it mattered. But next turn when I started my turn I showed the judge overseeing the match the Skyla and asked, "Can I play this now?", much to the chagrin of both him and my opponent. Later they said I should just play Magnezone, upon which I said, "Yeah, then I'll play 3 supporters in one turn." So I had my fun despite a terrible situation.
So I went 6-0 in swiss and probably finished somewhere between 5th and 8th place. Oh well, no packs for me.
Props:
--Making a rogue deck that works
--That deck actually working despite myself and my friends thinking it wouldn't even get off the ground
--Going undefeated in swiss
--Finding a really good tech for White Tea that makes it last to late game
Slops:
--My friend being nice and giving a guy a win he didn't really deserve, thus screwing both me and the 3rd seed player over from possibly getting Top 4.
Overall this is a very, very fun rogue that I would recommend to well...most anyone haha. Its major weaknesses are Hammertime and Garbodor...in fact, don't even bother teching against them. It's just an autoloss and you really shouldn't bother.
So after about 2 years of absence I decided to get back into the TCG scene. Why? Because my self-esteem was getting too high in college so I needed it beaten back down. My first tournament back with RayEels didn't go so well...2-4. So that proved to me that I really should NOT run meta. Bad things happen when I do.
So afterward I bought a 3-1-3 Dusknoir line to make a deck from. Why? Because Dusknoir is probably one of the most underrated cards of Boundaries Crossed, aside from Black Kyurem EX. After seeing an article on http://google.com/ about a Landorus/Kyurem/Dusknoir deck, I knew I really wanted to run it (It's called "The Dark Hand of Fate", if you want to read it yourself. A very good deck, if somewhat unorthodox). But, since there is no way I could get any Landorus (there's maybe 10 total in the area I play in), and Groudon EX was the only plausible alternative (hah), I was running out of options. But after talking to Shannon (I believe her name on the forums right now is Shaymin or Skymin? I really can't remember xD) who thought that Regigigas and Dusknoir would be a good combo...I thought to myself, "What colorless pokemon do I have access to that have good damage output and are very good for early game?" The answer, of course, was Tornadus and Bouffalant. So I made a White Tea list, but instead of Mewtwo EX and Sigilyph, I put in Dusknoir and Kyurem instead and water energy. I wasn't sure if the deck was going to work, but I knew I'd have fun either way.
So I got my list tweaked last night with my friend and headed up to Monument this morning. Got my deck list filled out, and as I was filling it out I saw about 5 or more people asking around for Sigilyph. Given that the night before I had considered forgoing Kyurem completely for Mewtwo EX and Psychic energies, I was silently thankful that I had stuck with Kyurem. Glaciate absolutely murders a Quad Sigi deck. I turned in my list and tried some solitaire playtesting...a couple Duskull starts. Not looking good at all for me. Pairings were called soon after and we finally began. It was going to be 6 rounds, Top 8 cut.
Round 1 - Eric King with Klinklang/Keldeo/Darkrai/Landorus/BKEX
So I was a little bit confused when I saw he started with Klink and Darkrai. Then when I remembered Klinklang was making a huge comeback, I started to get worried. I knew he was a good player so this was going to be a huge test for my deck.
I actually don't remember much about the match after that, except that he never got Klinklang out and I didn't get any energy for 3 turns. I charged up a Bouffalant and got a Dusknoir out, and proceeded to sweep from there after he took a few prizes.
1/0
Round 2 - Jacob ? with FluffyChomp
So we both get pretty bad starts, with him setting up first. Again, don't remember much except getting a Kyurem up with 3 energy and an eviolite and Glaciating. He Dragonblades for 140, forgetting I have an Eviolite on it. It survives with 10 HP so I spread all the damage from Garchomp and other things to get 2 kills on the bench and procede to Outrage for the one-hit kill. After that I have enough momentum to win.
Sadly he was the only one of my opponents that did not make it to top cut.
2/0
Round 3 - ? with Darkrai/Landorus/Mewtwo
Not going to lie, this was a close game. I don't really have much to say here except it came down to the last turn. I had a Bouffalant with 2 water energy and an eviolite active and he had several EX's with 60 damage and eviolites, including an active Darkrai. I top deck a Juniper, draw into an energy, a scrapper, and a catcher. Gold breaker for the last 2 prizes. If I hadn't gotten that Juniper I'd have lost the next turn.
3/0
Had lunch after this, and went to Taco Bell to try their new Loaded Grillers thingymabobers. They're not that great, save your money.
Round 4 - Michael King with Klinklang
So this is the younger brother of my round 1 opponent...so you can imagine this went about as well as Round 1. I got a very good start, kept killing his Klinks when they hit the field, and brought up a Bouffalant and proceeded to sweep. The only damage he got on the field was 110 damage on Dusknoir from 2 Xballs and a Retalliate (not powered up), but I kept using my switches to put it back on the bench. He didn't take a single prize.
4/0
So at this point I figured I had a very, very good chance of getting in the finals.
Round 5 - Derek Miller with Darkrai/Hydreigon and techs
Other than an energy drought later on in the game, this went very, very well. I killed all 3 of his Deino when they hit the field, and he had no Super Rod. Without a Hydreigon, the deck fell apart...although his 2 random Enhanced Hammers kept me on my toes though. I won when he decided to send out Shaymin for a revenge kill. Bring up a fully powered Tornadus EX, move 10 damage from his Darkrai to it, and Power Blast for the last 2 prizes.
Derek actually turned out to be a wild card later on thanks to my friend trying to be nice, but we'll get to that later.
5/0
Round 6 - Kevin Abernathy with Pangaea (Landorus/Tornadus/Sigilyph/Mewtwo)
You have one of those players that you just can't beat? Kevin is mine. I have only beaten him in one tournament before...it was a Platinum Prerelease. So needless to say, I was concerned...or I would have been if there was more on the line.
Basically the game was constantly in his favor until most of his energy hit the field. I had 4 prizes to his 2. I N'd him two turns in a row and he was whiffing the last energy he needed to win. I Power Blasted his active Tornadus, with a Benched Lando with 30 HP left in it. I get Dusknoir set up next turn, move 30 damage from his active to the Lando and Power Blast for the win.
6/0
So this was the first tournament I actually went undefeated in Swiss rounds! Needless to say everybody was shocked and were actually rooting for me to do well.
But it wasn't meant to last, sadly. My friend who helped me with the deck beat my 5th round opponent in the 6th round really easily...but since my 5th round opponent had a chance for top cut if he had won, my friend gave him the win on the slip. So he got into the 6th seed and bumped a couple players down, so instead of facing another Pangaea deck (which I proved I could beat), I'd face the only other real rogue that was a threat.
So I went up against someone that had a rogue deck that completely countered my own deck. Energy discarding and Dusknoir denial are the two major weaknesses in the deck, but I can usually pull through one or the other. But having both in the same deck? Nope, not winning.
Plus there was Game 2 when I accidentally played Skyla after I played an N...don't judge me, I'm getting used to having to discard Supporters right away now. Because I started searching my deck I got a Prize Penalty, not that it mattered. But next turn when I started my turn I showed the judge overseeing the match the Skyla and asked, "Can I play this now?", much to the chagrin of both him and my opponent. Later they said I should just play Magnezone, upon which I said, "Yeah, then I'll play 3 supporters in one turn." So I had my fun despite a terrible situation.
So I went 6-0 in swiss and probably finished somewhere between 5th and 8th place. Oh well, no packs for me.
Props:
--Making a rogue deck that works
--That deck actually working despite myself and my friends thinking it wouldn't even get off the ground
--Going undefeated in swiss
--Finding a really good tech for White Tea that makes it last to late game
Slops:
--My friend being nice and giving a guy a win he didn't really deserve, thus screwing both me and the 3rd seed player over from possibly getting Top 4.
Overall this is a very, very fun rogue that I would recommend to well...most anyone haha. Its major weaknesses are Hammertime and Garbodor...in fact, don't even bother teching against them. It's just an autoloss and you really shouldn't bother.