Prologue Well it was the day after Thanksgiving, and I was sitting in my living room, eating delicious turkey soup and watching a marathon of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. I was talking with a couple of friends on Facebook and just enjoying the fact that football season had ended for me. I then hear a click of a camera, but not in real life, it was coming from my computer. I know that sound all too well. It was the sound of my league leader sending me a message, something which had not happened in months. He asked if my brother and I were going to go to Cities tomorrow, and I considered it, and eventually agreed, although neither of us had played in over nine months. My brother was going to borrow my league leaders DialgaChomp, and I was going to throw together a deck that I was eying since the Japanese Release of Triumphant, Gyarados. I told him that I would need some Junk Arm, a couple of Rescue Energy, Seeker, and maybe a Twins or two. He agreed and I proxied the needed cards and started to test my newly founded Gyarados deck.
At first I was trying to just toss a couple of Junk Arm and Seeker into one of my old Gyarados builds, but I found that the deck was far too clustered, and that I would have to make a choice between a Seeker/VS Seeker/Junk Arm core or a Cyrus/Poketurn/SP Radar core. I chose the obvious Seeker core, and tossed SP, only to find through testing that my decklist was lacking both basics and any strategy past smacking them with Gyarados. So I put SP in, took SP out, put SP in again, and eventually agreed with myself to take SP out and find a better solution. Then I remembered Pokedrawer, a card that I rarely use outside of fun Blitzkrieg decks, and thought of how destructive it could be with Junk Arm. The search power that was presented was something that I could not give up. I continued testing only to find that with Junk Arm I would have to run fewer of certain cards then I though was possible. Pokemon Rescue dropped from four to three, and eventually to two. VS Seeker dropped from four to three, but I still felt skeptical of that amount. Eventually I whittled the deck down to a solid list of 56 and then four cards of wiggle room. I tossed in four Pokemon Reversal to fill the void, and allow some dragging from my deck, since I had forsaken Luxray Lv.X some time ago. I was still unsure, I hadn't played in almost a year, and although I had heard what the format was like (LuxChomp, Gyarados, DialgaChomp, and some Vilegar) I was still unsure. In the end I decided to bring a handful of trainer and Pokemon cards, so that I could change the deck up once I got there.
I woke up the next morning, showered, and then got ready. It crossed my mind to grab the necessary stuff for LuxChomp, but in the end I decided to stay faithful to my previous decision. After an hour of testing my deck even further. we piled in the car and went to the tournament...
Once We Were There Once we were there we got acquainted with some old friends, and after watching a battle, my friend and I decided to work on my build a little. He was surprised with my list, especially with the Pokedrawer, which he deemed useless. I assured him that they were helpful, and he continued to critique the deck. He made note of my lack of Ditto, my lack of Mesprit, my lack of Uxie Lv.X, and of course the lack of SP. He handed over all of the trainers that I needed from the new set, and I decided to take his advice and make some changes. I was considering Mesprit since the beginning, so I added that without much fear. I did not bring a Ditto, so I did not add one in, but either way I was not very afraid of Gyarados, as I thought that it would not be as popular as DialgaChomp in my area. Uxie X was another instant addition to the deck, but I still felt that it would barely be helpful. I also decided to add a second Rescue Energy, as well as a 1-1 line of Luxray Lv.X. I dropped the four Reversal and the one extra VS Seeker that I was still unsure about. All of these changes were last second, and I had to write up my decklist and register without playtesting. I noticed that an acquaintance that was sitting two seats down from me had decided to scrap his Machamp decklist for a LuxChomp build at the last second. It was gutsy, but the new Machamp Prime only weakened the decks SP Matchup, while slightly helping all of the other matchups, so I called it the right choice. The time had come to start the tournament and I was as ready as a returning player could be. Pairings were posted and I was going to face the guy who had just built his LuxChomp. Not the best way to start the day for Gyarados, but I was still ready to go...
Round One Vs. Mike B. (LuxChomp)
We both get decent starts, him with a Luxray, a Garchomp, and a Smeargle. I had a Chansey start (a recurring theme of the day) but I had a Collector and a Warp Energy, which would make my time a little easier. He went first, got to use my Collector and grabbed a Luxray, an Unown Q, and Uxie. My turn came and I grabbed a Sableye and two Karps with my collector. I warped the Chansey and brought up Sableye. I went on to Impersonate another collector, and I grabbed Regice and two more Karps. His turn and he kept building up his Luxray. He got to use my Bebe with Portrait, and he grabbed a Lucario Gl. I was slightly afraid, but I knew that I could just drag and KO that Lucario if it ever even surfaced. His bench had become full. He passed again, a bit of a slow start for him, I even ventured to guess that he was running into some difficulties with his deck, either prizes or the build of the deck itself. It was my turn and I topdeck a Twins. I evolve to Gyarados, toss my extra Karps away with a Regimove and a Junk Arm, Bebe for an Unown Q. Q the Sableye, retreat and grab a KO on the Uxie that he had advanced with Regimove. He then sent out his Luxray, whiffed on the energy for the Trash Bolt, and decided to grab a free prize by dragging my Sableye. (I later found out that he had a Luxray X, Garchomp X, and Azelf prized making his attempt to take a prize more sensible.) So he KO'd Sableye, and did not drop Lucario, not wanting to leave it open. I drop my Twins, grab a Blissey Prime and Expert Belt, and KO the Luxray with my magic 110. From there he sends out the Smeargle, misses anything with Portrait, searches out his Garchomp C Lv.X, and passes. I decide to Regimove again, since I had no Supporter, making Smeargle useless to him, and I KO his second Luxray on the bench, since he was preserving the Garchomp that he was charging. His turn and he Portraits for nothing, but topdecked a Uxie. He gets a fresh hand, drops a Crobat, and advanced Garchomp, levels up, and Snipes my Regice for the KO. He takes another prize, but gets nothing of importance. I sent up my Gyarados, and took out his Garchomp. After that the battle devolved into Gyarados KOing whatever it wanted. The game felt closer than it was, but when he showed me his remaining four prizes three of which were mentioned above, I knew that the game could have been much more difficult.
1-0
Round 2 VS Dylan L (Gyarados)
I wouldn't call it bad blood or anything, but my battles with him seem to be a little uncomfortable. He and I have very different playstyles (He is a lot more conserved and very high strung, I am a lot more carefree and quick to play.) He starts with Smeargle (Boy do I wish I had one of those) and I started with a Uxie and a Mesprit. I decided to lead with Uxie, so I could attempt to Power-Lock him, for at least a turn. I start and Topdeck a Collector, I was slightly annoyed that he would get to Portrait that, but I played on. I wait a turn on the Psychic Bind, since I doubted that he had anything up his sleeve that turn. I was right and he grabbed a Uxie, a Karp, and Regice with the collector. He Regimoved away a Karp but did not Uxie since his hand was a little too big and he felt fairly safe. I go, Collectors a Regice and two Karps, Regimove the two Karps away, and then drop the Mesprit. His turn and he just sits back and does nothing. My turn and I draw a Seeker, which I use to pull back Mesprit and keep the lock going. He pulls Regice back. Over the next ten turns (Yes TEN TURNS) I had him under Power-Lock. Either through Junk Arm into a SSU or VS Seeker or just a plain old Seeker, I had him locked. We both built up a single Gyarados, I had three Karps in the discard (I found one with Azelfs Time Walk) and he had two Karps discarded. I ended up taking a quick lead of two prizes by the time I ran out of Power Lock. When I did he had a hand of about fifteen cards. He Azelfed his final Karp out of the prizes, and proceeded to hit my Gyarados. I swung back, and then he KO'd. I recovered and hit him for the KO, and so on and so forth. By the end I had one prize left and he had two. He Luxrayed my Uxie and grabbed a KO. Poketurning the Luxray. I hit his Gyarados, but I knew that he had me beat. He Luxrayed my Azelf and took his final prize one turn before I could grab mine.
1-1
In between rounds we had a lunch break and I had a practice match against Con L. He was scoping out my Gyarados since he thought that we were going to have a match next round (us having the same records) and I just felt like having a battle. He was joking with Mike B about how he had lost to a Gyarados with LuxChomp and Mike decided to watch our match just hoping that Con would lose. The first round Con had a Supporter drought and eventually lost. The second round he had a better start but we had to call it quits since the next round had started. He was confident that he was going to win, but I felt pretty confident in my setup too. I was hoping that we were going to battle in the next round but alas I was downpaired with...
Round 3 VS Patty L. (Nidoqueen/Spiritomb)
My starting hand was literally Gdos,Gdos,Luxray,UxieX,VsSeeker,WarpEnergy,Chansey.
I was upset but she had a bad start as well. She eventually got setup, but luckily on my third turn (after two turns of dead draw) I hit a Collector. I grabbed my Sableye and started to set up. She swung hard with a couple of Nidoqueen, but she had to Seeker to stay alive, and unluckily for her, I had gotten my Blissey out during that game. So it took a good twenty minutes, but by the end of the match I had won heavily.
2-1
Round 4 VS Tiffany (Porygon Z)
This was the worst misplay that I have ever made during a tournament. I start with a lone Karp and she has a Smeargle. I draw two cards with Karps first attack and pass. She portraits a Bebe and grabs a Porygon, and then uses her own collector to grab another Porygon, a Uxie, and a Dialga G. She draws a couple of cards off the Uxie and passes. Off of the two cards that I got with my Karp, I hit the second Pokedrawer that I needed. I grabed two Karps and left without any further consideration. I had a BTS, and a Gdos in my hand as well as an Ebelt. I drop a Karp, SSU it, Junk Arm the SSU droping the two Karps, and attach the Expert Belt, knocking out the Smeargle. She then uses Twins, grabs a Candy and a Porygon Z and evolves her active Porygon. She attaches a DCE and a couple of TMTS-1 and swings for 60. I go, draw nothing, and hit for 80. Her turn, she drops another Uxie and gets a Devoluter which she uses for the sole KO. Now I regret being greedy and going for the KO instead of just getting a Uxie from those double drawers. While Theorymoning later, I surmised that she would have won anyways with Devoluter, since she would have the 2HKO with pretty much any of her Pokemon.
2-2
Round 5 VS Brenden C (Gengar/Spiritomb)
This is a classic case of somebody who is using a deck that won some tournament just because they had the cards and wanted to play with a winning deck. I started Sableye, set up a Gyarados, tossed on an Expert Belt, and proceeded to take 6 prizes, as he missed his single Fainting Spell flip.
Conclusion
So 3-2. 13th Place on a terrible misplay. I could have probably won my second round if I played a Ditto, but eh not half bad for a nine month hiatus. I went on to play a handful of fun matches afterwards with my brother, my league leader, and various other people who stuck around. I went 5-0 against my brother and league leader who were using the same DialgaChomp. I beat a Gengar Dusknoir, and then subsequently lost to a different Gengar Dusknoir Vileplume, simply because I forgot the Combee. I brought down a pair of LuxChomps, and that was about it. I did some trading and got a Garchomp C Lv.X, a pair of Kingdra Prime, and a Magnezone prime without much problem. I've decided to stick with Gyarados for the rest of the season, despite the fact that people are going to start teching against it at the end of this weekend. I've heard chatter that Mew Prime is going to be big with Gyarados, so I may try that, but in the end I am still skeptical.
The Breakdown
30 Masters:
~10 Gyarados
~5 LuxChomp
~2 Vilegar
~2 Gengar Variants
~1 Nidoqueen
~1 Abomasnow
~1 Regigigas
~1 Sablelock
~2 Machamp
~7 Unknown
Masters Top 4:
1st Gyarados
2nd LuxChomp
3rd Machamp
4th LuxChomp?
Seniors Top 2:
1st Gengar
2nd Gyarados
Decklist
3 Gyarados
4 Magikarp
4 Sableye
1 Regice
1 Mesprit
1 Luxray Lv.X
1 Luxray
1 Blissey
1 Chansey
1 Uxie Lv.X
2 Uxie
1 Azelf
1 Unown Q
2 Rescue Energy
4 Warp Energy
1 Luxury Ball
2 Pokemon Collector
2 Expert Belt
2 Twins
2 VS Seeker
2 Pokemon Rescue
3 Broken Time Space
3 Seeker
3 Bebe's Search
4 SSU
4 Pokedrawer
4 Junk Arm
Props N' Slops
Props:
-Gyarados
-Back to Pokemon
-Junk Arm
-Everybody
Slops:
-Round 4
-Lack of Ditto
-Ridiculous amount of Gyarados
At first I was trying to just toss a couple of Junk Arm and Seeker into one of my old Gyarados builds, but I found that the deck was far too clustered, and that I would have to make a choice between a Seeker/VS Seeker/Junk Arm core or a Cyrus/Poketurn/SP Radar core. I chose the obvious Seeker core, and tossed SP, only to find through testing that my decklist was lacking both basics and any strategy past smacking them with Gyarados. So I put SP in, took SP out, put SP in again, and eventually agreed with myself to take SP out and find a better solution. Then I remembered Pokedrawer, a card that I rarely use outside of fun Blitzkrieg decks, and thought of how destructive it could be with Junk Arm. The search power that was presented was something that I could not give up. I continued testing only to find that with Junk Arm I would have to run fewer of certain cards then I though was possible. Pokemon Rescue dropped from four to three, and eventually to two. VS Seeker dropped from four to three, but I still felt skeptical of that amount. Eventually I whittled the deck down to a solid list of 56 and then four cards of wiggle room. I tossed in four Pokemon Reversal to fill the void, and allow some dragging from my deck, since I had forsaken Luxray Lv.X some time ago. I was still unsure, I hadn't played in almost a year, and although I had heard what the format was like (LuxChomp, Gyarados, DialgaChomp, and some Vilegar) I was still unsure. In the end I decided to bring a handful of trainer and Pokemon cards, so that I could change the deck up once I got there.
I woke up the next morning, showered, and then got ready. It crossed my mind to grab the necessary stuff for LuxChomp, but in the end I decided to stay faithful to my previous decision. After an hour of testing my deck even further. we piled in the car and went to the tournament...
Once We Were There Once we were there we got acquainted with some old friends, and after watching a battle, my friend and I decided to work on my build a little. He was surprised with my list, especially with the Pokedrawer, which he deemed useless. I assured him that they were helpful, and he continued to critique the deck. He made note of my lack of Ditto, my lack of Mesprit, my lack of Uxie Lv.X, and of course the lack of SP. He handed over all of the trainers that I needed from the new set, and I decided to take his advice and make some changes. I was considering Mesprit since the beginning, so I added that without much fear. I did not bring a Ditto, so I did not add one in, but either way I was not very afraid of Gyarados, as I thought that it would not be as popular as DialgaChomp in my area. Uxie X was another instant addition to the deck, but I still felt that it would barely be helpful. I also decided to add a second Rescue Energy, as well as a 1-1 line of Luxray Lv.X. I dropped the four Reversal and the one extra VS Seeker that I was still unsure about. All of these changes were last second, and I had to write up my decklist and register without playtesting. I noticed that an acquaintance that was sitting two seats down from me had decided to scrap his Machamp decklist for a LuxChomp build at the last second. It was gutsy, but the new Machamp Prime only weakened the decks SP Matchup, while slightly helping all of the other matchups, so I called it the right choice. The time had come to start the tournament and I was as ready as a returning player could be. Pairings were posted and I was going to face the guy who had just built his LuxChomp. Not the best way to start the day for Gyarados, but I was still ready to go...
Round One Vs. Mike B. (LuxChomp)
We both get decent starts, him with a Luxray, a Garchomp, and a Smeargle. I had a Chansey start (a recurring theme of the day) but I had a Collector and a Warp Energy, which would make my time a little easier. He went first, got to use my Collector and grabbed a Luxray, an Unown Q, and Uxie. My turn came and I grabbed a Sableye and two Karps with my collector. I warped the Chansey and brought up Sableye. I went on to Impersonate another collector, and I grabbed Regice and two more Karps. His turn and he kept building up his Luxray. He got to use my Bebe with Portrait, and he grabbed a Lucario Gl. I was slightly afraid, but I knew that I could just drag and KO that Lucario if it ever even surfaced. His bench had become full. He passed again, a bit of a slow start for him, I even ventured to guess that he was running into some difficulties with his deck, either prizes or the build of the deck itself. It was my turn and I topdeck a Twins. I evolve to Gyarados, toss my extra Karps away with a Regimove and a Junk Arm, Bebe for an Unown Q. Q the Sableye, retreat and grab a KO on the Uxie that he had advanced with Regimove. He then sent out his Luxray, whiffed on the energy for the Trash Bolt, and decided to grab a free prize by dragging my Sableye. (I later found out that he had a Luxray X, Garchomp X, and Azelf prized making his attempt to take a prize more sensible.) So he KO'd Sableye, and did not drop Lucario, not wanting to leave it open. I drop my Twins, grab a Blissey Prime and Expert Belt, and KO the Luxray with my magic 110. From there he sends out the Smeargle, misses anything with Portrait, searches out his Garchomp C Lv.X, and passes. I decide to Regimove again, since I had no Supporter, making Smeargle useless to him, and I KO his second Luxray on the bench, since he was preserving the Garchomp that he was charging. His turn and he Portraits for nothing, but topdecked a Uxie. He gets a fresh hand, drops a Crobat, and advanced Garchomp, levels up, and Snipes my Regice for the KO. He takes another prize, but gets nothing of importance. I sent up my Gyarados, and took out his Garchomp. After that the battle devolved into Gyarados KOing whatever it wanted. The game felt closer than it was, but when he showed me his remaining four prizes three of which were mentioned above, I knew that the game could have been much more difficult.
1-0
Round 2 VS Dylan L (Gyarados)
I wouldn't call it bad blood or anything, but my battles with him seem to be a little uncomfortable. He and I have very different playstyles (He is a lot more conserved and very high strung, I am a lot more carefree and quick to play.) He starts with Smeargle (Boy do I wish I had one of those) and I started with a Uxie and a Mesprit. I decided to lead with Uxie, so I could attempt to Power-Lock him, for at least a turn. I start and Topdeck a Collector, I was slightly annoyed that he would get to Portrait that, but I played on. I wait a turn on the Psychic Bind, since I doubted that he had anything up his sleeve that turn. I was right and he grabbed a Uxie, a Karp, and Regice with the collector. He Regimoved away a Karp but did not Uxie since his hand was a little too big and he felt fairly safe. I go, Collectors a Regice and two Karps, Regimove the two Karps away, and then drop the Mesprit. His turn and he just sits back and does nothing. My turn and I draw a Seeker, which I use to pull back Mesprit and keep the lock going. He pulls Regice back. Over the next ten turns (Yes TEN TURNS) I had him under Power-Lock. Either through Junk Arm into a SSU or VS Seeker or just a plain old Seeker, I had him locked. We both built up a single Gyarados, I had three Karps in the discard (I found one with Azelfs Time Walk) and he had two Karps discarded. I ended up taking a quick lead of two prizes by the time I ran out of Power Lock. When I did he had a hand of about fifteen cards. He Azelfed his final Karp out of the prizes, and proceeded to hit my Gyarados. I swung back, and then he KO'd. I recovered and hit him for the KO, and so on and so forth. By the end I had one prize left and he had two. He Luxrayed my Uxie and grabbed a KO. Poketurning the Luxray. I hit his Gyarados, but I knew that he had me beat. He Luxrayed my Azelf and took his final prize one turn before I could grab mine.
1-1
In between rounds we had a lunch break and I had a practice match against Con L. He was scoping out my Gyarados since he thought that we were going to have a match next round (us having the same records) and I just felt like having a battle. He was joking with Mike B about how he had lost to a Gyarados with LuxChomp and Mike decided to watch our match just hoping that Con would lose. The first round Con had a Supporter drought and eventually lost. The second round he had a better start but we had to call it quits since the next round had started. He was confident that he was going to win, but I felt pretty confident in my setup too. I was hoping that we were going to battle in the next round but alas I was downpaired with...
Round 3 VS Patty L. (Nidoqueen/Spiritomb)
My starting hand was literally Gdos,Gdos,Luxray,UxieX,VsSeeker,WarpEnergy,Chansey.
I was upset but she had a bad start as well. She eventually got setup, but luckily on my third turn (after two turns of dead draw) I hit a Collector. I grabbed my Sableye and started to set up. She swung hard with a couple of Nidoqueen, but she had to Seeker to stay alive, and unluckily for her, I had gotten my Blissey out during that game. So it took a good twenty minutes, but by the end of the match I had won heavily.
2-1
Round 4 VS Tiffany (Porygon Z)
This was the worst misplay that I have ever made during a tournament. I start with a lone Karp and she has a Smeargle. I draw two cards with Karps first attack and pass. She portraits a Bebe and grabs a Porygon, and then uses her own collector to grab another Porygon, a Uxie, and a Dialga G. She draws a couple of cards off the Uxie and passes. Off of the two cards that I got with my Karp, I hit the second Pokedrawer that I needed. I grabed two Karps and left without any further consideration. I had a BTS, and a Gdos in my hand as well as an Ebelt. I drop a Karp, SSU it, Junk Arm the SSU droping the two Karps, and attach the Expert Belt, knocking out the Smeargle. She then uses Twins, grabs a Candy and a Porygon Z and evolves her active Porygon. She attaches a DCE and a couple of TMTS-1 and swings for 60. I go, draw nothing, and hit for 80. Her turn, she drops another Uxie and gets a Devoluter which she uses for the sole KO. Now I regret being greedy and going for the KO instead of just getting a Uxie from those double drawers. While Theorymoning later, I surmised that she would have won anyways with Devoluter, since she would have the 2HKO with pretty much any of her Pokemon.
2-2
Round 5 VS Brenden C (Gengar/Spiritomb)
This is a classic case of somebody who is using a deck that won some tournament just because they had the cards and wanted to play with a winning deck. I started Sableye, set up a Gyarados, tossed on an Expert Belt, and proceeded to take 6 prizes, as he missed his single Fainting Spell flip.
Conclusion
So 3-2. 13th Place on a terrible misplay. I could have probably won my second round if I played a Ditto, but eh not half bad for a nine month hiatus. I went on to play a handful of fun matches afterwards with my brother, my league leader, and various other people who stuck around. I went 5-0 against my brother and league leader who were using the same DialgaChomp. I beat a Gengar Dusknoir, and then subsequently lost to a different Gengar Dusknoir Vileplume, simply because I forgot the Combee. I brought down a pair of LuxChomps, and that was about it. I did some trading and got a Garchomp C Lv.X, a pair of Kingdra Prime, and a Magnezone prime without much problem. I've decided to stick with Gyarados for the rest of the season, despite the fact that people are going to start teching against it at the end of this weekend. I've heard chatter that Mew Prime is going to be big with Gyarados, so I may try that, but in the end I am still skeptical.
The Breakdown
30 Masters:
~10 Gyarados
~5 LuxChomp
~2 Vilegar
~2 Gengar Variants
~1 Nidoqueen
~1 Abomasnow
~1 Regigigas
~1 Sablelock
~2 Machamp
~7 Unknown
Masters Top 4:
1st Gyarados
2nd LuxChomp
3rd Machamp
4th LuxChomp?
Seniors Top 2:
1st Gengar
2nd Gyarados
Decklist
3 Gyarados
4 Magikarp
4 Sableye
1 Regice
1 Mesprit
1 Luxray Lv.X
1 Luxray
1 Blissey
1 Chansey
1 Uxie Lv.X
2 Uxie
1 Azelf
1 Unown Q
2 Rescue Energy
4 Warp Energy
1 Luxury Ball
2 Pokemon Collector
2 Expert Belt
2 Twins
2 VS Seeker
2 Pokemon Rescue
3 Broken Time Space
3 Seeker
3 Bebe's Search
4 SSU
4 Pokedrawer
4 Junk Arm
Props N' Slops
Props:
-Gyarados
-Back to Pokemon
-Junk Arm
-Everybody
Slops:
-Round 4
-Lack of Ditto
-Ridiculous amount of Gyarados
