Dark Explorers Prerelease Report
My first prerelease ever, and it was on my birthday too! Well, I'm not very good at introductions, so I'll just jump right in.
I get there early and wait around for about an hour. I meet some people, chill with some friends that came with me, and attempt to play a match against someone but they started the tournament right after we started playing. Oh well.
We each receive our 6 packs, all wrapped up in a nice bundle. I open my first one....junk. Second one I got a Chansey and an Eevee, which was nice. I then proceeded to pull Plusle and Minun in the next two packs, along with two more Chansey and a Blissey, which was awesome for the actual playing. My fifth pack was decent, I got some nice water types which I ended up using in my deck for the Prerelease. By this point I'm pretty bummed out because I haven't gotten anything even somewhat good for actual tournaments. I open my next pack, and go through each card one by one. However, the kid next to me leans over and says "Hey that card near the end looks like an EX!" I stop going through one by one and whip out the card he was talking about. Groudon EX! Although being one of the lesser EX cards, I'm planning on building a Terrakion/Groudon EX deck, so it was nice to get one of the Groudons I needed. I has also heard it was amazing for prerelease tournaments, which turned out to be true. Meanwhile, I go over to check what cards my friends got. One of them pulled an FA Entei EX and the other, who happens to be MeadowBubble on the forums, got FA Raikou EX. I congragulated them and went back to where i was seated to build my deck.
I sorted my cards by type and decided what types I wanted in my deck. Although I pulled no other good fighting types, I decided to base it around Groudon EX anyway. I then used water as a second type, in which I had some decent cards such as Prinplup and Vanillish. I include all three Chanseys I pulled and the Blissey, along with the few trainers I got, which included two Ultra Ball and two Hooligans Jim and Cas. I, along with my two friends, raced over to Dunkin Donuts to grap a quick bite to eat and then raced back with just a minute to spare before pairings went up.
Game 1 vs. ???
I start Continuous Tumble Chansey. I don't remember what he started, something with low HP though. He goes first, attaches, and passes. I do the same. I don't remember everything that happened after this, although I do remember me flipping tails on the first flip of Continuous Tumble and then him getiing a Gurdurr set up. He starts owning my field with it, but I manage to get a Blissey to KO him. He then gets a Stoutland set up and begins destroying me AGAIN. He also Hooligans away the rest of my hand, so I don't have a lot to work with. I manage to Tag Draw some cards in, but now he's only down to one prize. I manage to sleep his Stoutland with Chansey to attempt to stall him to either get Groudon or make him deck out, since he had very few cards left in his deck. I somehow stall him for several turns and then FINALLY draw into the Groudon...only to hear the judge call time. It was close, but I simply didn't set up fast enough.
0-1
Game 2 vs. Matthew R
This time I was against one of my friends, and I knew that he had Entei EX so I made sure to watch out for it. However, he starts Dwebble and Zorua and can't get an attacker going. I sleep his Dwebble with Chansey for several turns and then proceed to own him with Double-Edge. He sends up Zorua and attempts to stall with Paralyzing Gaze, but he eventually flips tails and I donk him with Chansey for the win.
1-1
Game 3 vs. ???
I start Chansey and put Groudon on the bench. I stall for a while, and then he takes out Chansey with one turn of Continuous Tumble. However, I get Groudon up and he doesn't really have a chance. He scoops after I take two prizes with it.
2-1
Overall place: 2nd
I get my last two packs and don't get anything good. Ah well, I guess I should be happy with my one EX and a second place finish. Out of everyone, not a single person got a Golden Catcher, and only one person got a Darkrai EX.
Pros:
Groudon EX
2nd Place
Got to go to my first prerelease
Making "Having a chance with Chansey" jokes during first match
Cons:
Only one good card
Not a SINGLE person having the Terrakion I wanted to trade for
