May 5th, one of the biggest drinking holidays in the US right behind March 17th. I chose not to partake in alcohol and went to attend more serious business: play in a children's card game tournament.
And to prove I meant business, I brought along my Dededoll that I'd acquired that Thursday. (Yes, the same Dededoll you can buy from Brawl in the Family. I love the thing to pieces.)
So yeah, this marks the first prerelease I've actually played in since HGSS1. I had a reason for doing so - my pulls last week were relatively subpar, and outside of some good trainers and a few holo rares I didn't get much. And to top it off, I got ZERO Random Receiver, the card I wanted the most of all...well, besides Shiny Catcher, which I should have gotten.
I shell out $25 to Chrisbo himself and I'm given a seat. Later on I'm moved to a different seat before they start opening packs, and that ended up working in my favor.
I start opening packs and expect to be disappointed; true enough, the first rare was Scrafty - I pulled 0 Scraggy. (A similar thing later on happened where I pulled 2 Umbreon w/Confuse Ray, and 1 each of all the other Eeveelutions save Jolteon...but only 1 Eevee. Ah, yes, and 2 Bisharp with 0 Pawniard.) I open my second pack, and lo and behold the mighty Groudon EX. I wanted the Shiny Catcher, but I'll gladly take Groudon EX. It's not full-art either, so that means I pulled the card with the best art in the set. BOOYAH.
Out of the rest of the packs the only other things I get which are impressive are 1-1 Zoroark, an Ultra Ball, 1 Random Receiver, and 3 Cheren (1 RH). I end up running a deck with 20 Energy (7 {F} 7 {D} 6 {G}), 5 Trainers (the ones I just mentioned), and 15 Pokemon: 1-1 Ivysaur, 1-1 Crustle, 1-1 Zoroark, 2 Sandile, 1-1 Umbreon, 1 of each Chansey, 2 Plusle, and the mighty Groudon EX. Before the day starts I play a few fun matches, one against Vast in which he slaughtered me with a random late game Empoleon, and one against some other guy in which I get a Groudon start and go to town.
There's 20 Masters and 5 rounds for the day, a little less than I was expecting but I didn't mind. I head to my table and get to work.
Round 1 vs Peter A
I remember Peter A from Majestic Dawn Prerelease - against him then, I made a misplay (involving Espeon's Poke-Body, which I overlooked) and ended up losing the game because of it, due to being short of a KO. This time, I hope to redeem myself.
I get out Dededoll and place him on my lap - as I did every round, as he was the one playing the games for me. I look at my opening hand and it's got Groudon EX plus some other fun goodies. Joy. I start with it and begin to Tromp away.
At T1 in the game, Peter Ultra Balls for a Carnivine, and that's where I get a bit worried because I put a 2 RC (Bulbasaur) on my Bench. Fortunately for me, he never pulled a single Grass Energy, which allowed me to slaughter his entire deck with Groudon. At one point, Giant Claw did 240 to a Chansey.
1-0
Next round? That was fast.
Round 2 vs Derek M
Derek's another good friend of mine so I'm looking forward to a fun match. I start the game with a few things, including a Plusle. I don't like my starting hand very much, but it's got Ultra Ball, so I use it - and find out that both my Zorua and my Groudon are prized. That's a pity because my start is very subpar and I need to try for something else. I end up setting up an Ivysaur against his Umbreon which had been swinging away like crazy, and I set up Sleep Powder. He never wakes up. From then on out, I remember him getting very unlucky with flips (like getting double tails on Fury Attack and such) and I being very lucky. He manages to make a comeback with another Umbreon's Confuse Ray against my Zoroark (which I had managed to set up by then). I had to rely on him to last the whole game because Groudon EX was my last prize. Eventually he gets to the point where Dark Rush would finish him. I reveal the {D} in my hand and say gg.
2-0
A bit of a nerve-wracking match there. I will say that the main reason I won was luck; he had a good start to my bad one, but from there he didn't do so well.
Round 3 vs Jayson T
We're at top-table, so I'm feeling optimistic about things. I get a really annoying start so I try to work with what I've got. We start the match, he goes up, and BOOM - he flips over FA Groudon EX as his starting basic. NOT GOOD. I try to put him to sleep and stuff and hamper him with things like Ivysaur, but he kept waking up. Eventually I get my own Groudon out, but I fall short of the KO on his. He basically just goes to town, at one point Giant Clawing my own Chansey for 240.
Now I know how Peter feels.
2-1
After that I play a fun match to see if I can get a better start this time. Nope, pretty much the same thing - he even started with his Groudon again. After that, I find out that Kristy B, who also pulled Groudon and is running a deck of random garbage (like myself), is going 0-3. She is either very unlucky or I'm very lucky today. I bet it was both.
Round 4 goes up and Kristy gets the bye. Apparently that was the only win she got that day. Poor Kristy.
Round 4 vs Kevin A
I ran into this guy before the tournament started and, although I've never met him before, he's a really nice guy. He knows I'm running Groudon and that we're both running random garbage decks that have somehow gone 2-1. Throughout the course of the match we exchange friendly banter; before our game started, he commented that Dededoll has an amazing pokerface - which is true.
Our starts are pretty much the same - we both have Plusle and we're Tag Drawing repeatedly for 5 turns in a row...each. On my first Tag I am fortunate enough to hit the Groudon, so I slowly but surely set it up.
I'm not sure whether to deploy it now or later, since he had both an Excadrill and an Umbreon on his bench. I had to treat it like a waiting game and see who would retreat his Plusle first. He did - and sent up Excadrill - so I respond with Groudon and start stepping on things. After Excadrill used its Excavation Attack twice, Groudon's left with 80 HP left, but Excadrill is down. He sends up Umbreon, and instead of going for Confuse Ray tries to use Shadow Shutdown. Much to our surprise, he hits BOTH heads and leaves Groudon up there with only 20 HP. I get a bit flustered but am also highly impressed, so I start powering up my Chanseys. After Groudon's gone, I Continuous Tumble his Umbreon for 60; he responds with a Shadow Shutdown, but whiffs. I play it safe and retreat to my other Chansey who uses Double-Edge, and from there he cannot get set up because his Energies are basically gone - he's got 3 Energy on his Tynamo w/20 HP left, hoping to draw into Rare Candy Eelektross. I retreat my other Chansey (since Double-Edge would kill itself, and he only had 1 prize left to my 2) in favor of Crustle, and hope that his Sableye doesn't confuse me. It doesn't, and the game is mine.
3-1
Round 4 was definitely my favorite match of the day; it practically went to time and my opponent was a really good sport. That left only round 5...
Round 5 vs Oscar N
I'd seen Oscar a few times and we have a bit of a talk before the game starts. We find out that our only losses were both to Jayson T (who Groudon'd the heck out of us both) - who is STILL at top table, having gone 4-0. Oscar told me he managed to go 3-1 without any EXs at all, which was quite impressive, and I commended him.
The round starts and I'm forced to begin with Plusle active and Bulbasaur benched. I attach a Grass to Bulbasaur and pass. He does something I don't remember. I then attach to Plusle, evolve Bulbasaur, and Tag Draw for 4. I draw into 3 Fighting Energy and my Groudon - a GODSEND. I start to power up Groudon as I retreat Plusle for Ivysaur and start using Sleep Powder. He uses Hooligans on my 2-card hand...and whiffs, and from then on out, my Ivysaur began to wreak havoc. In the end he's got his 2nd Larvesta out and I retreat Ivysaur for Groudon to seal the win.
4-1
Before our own match is over, Jayson announces his win for that match (he Groudon'd that guy too), having gone 5-0, undefeated in prerelease. I hope to place high on resistance.
Later I found out that Oscar's key cards were Blaziken and Volcarona, and he drew into neither when fighting me. OUCH. I'm glad that I won, yeah, but I also didn't get to see the key part of his deck.
Standings go up and I got 3rd. I was expecting 2nd but I'll take it. I get my 2 extra packs and I pull garbage, save for 1 more Random Receiver. I jokingly ask Chrisbo afterward that, since I placed 3rd, that I might have a Bronze Victory Cup. He said "no, you may not".
I manage to trade for a few cards, exchanging an Enhanced Hammer for a Crushing Hammer, and my Groudon EX for Terrakion FA, both of which I needed for my deck. Now all I really need now is 1 more Receiver and 2 Catchers (maybe 3), and I'll be good to go for Battle Roads.
And that was my day.
And to prove I meant business, I brought along my Dededoll that I'd acquired that Thursday. (Yes, the same Dededoll you can buy from Brawl in the Family. I love the thing to pieces.)
So yeah, this marks the first prerelease I've actually played in since HGSS1. I had a reason for doing so - my pulls last week were relatively subpar, and outside of some good trainers and a few holo rares I didn't get much. And to top it off, I got ZERO Random Receiver, the card I wanted the most of all...well, besides Shiny Catcher, which I should have gotten.
I shell out $25 to Chrisbo himself and I'm given a seat. Later on I'm moved to a different seat before they start opening packs, and that ended up working in my favor.
I start opening packs and expect to be disappointed; true enough, the first rare was Scrafty - I pulled 0 Scraggy. (A similar thing later on happened where I pulled 2 Umbreon w/Confuse Ray, and 1 each of all the other Eeveelutions save Jolteon...but only 1 Eevee. Ah, yes, and 2 Bisharp with 0 Pawniard.) I open my second pack, and lo and behold the mighty Groudon EX. I wanted the Shiny Catcher, but I'll gladly take Groudon EX. It's not full-art either, so that means I pulled the card with the best art in the set. BOOYAH.
Out of the rest of the packs the only other things I get which are impressive are 1-1 Zoroark, an Ultra Ball, 1 Random Receiver, and 3 Cheren (1 RH). I end up running a deck with 20 Energy (7 {F} 7 {D} 6 {G}), 5 Trainers (the ones I just mentioned), and 15 Pokemon: 1-1 Ivysaur, 1-1 Crustle, 1-1 Zoroark, 2 Sandile, 1-1 Umbreon, 1 of each Chansey, 2 Plusle, and the mighty Groudon EX. Before the day starts I play a few fun matches, one against Vast in which he slaughtered me with a random late game Empoleon, and one against some other guy in which I get a Groudon start and go to town.
There's 20 Masters and 5 rounds for the day, a little less than I was expecting but I didn't mind. I head to my table and get to work.
Round 1 vs Peter A
I remember Peter A from Majestic Dawn Prerelease - against him then, I made a misplay (involving Espeon's Poke-Body, which I overlooked) and ended up losing the game because of it, due to being short of a KO. This time, I hope to redeem myself.
I get out Dededoll and place him on my lap - as I did every round, as he was the one playing the games for me. I look at my opening hand and it's got Groudon EX plus some other fun goodies. Joy. I start with it and begin to Tromp away.
At T1 in the game, Peter Ultra Balls for a Carnivine, and that's where I get a bit worried because I put a 2 RC (Bulbasaur) on my Bench. Fortunately for me, he never pulled a single Grass Energy, which allowed me to slaughter his entire deck with Groudon. At one point, Giant Claw did 240 to a Chansey.
1-0
Next round? That was fast.
Round 2 vs Derek M
Derek's another good friend of mine so I'm looking forward to a fun match. I start the game with a few things, including a Plusle. I don't like my starting hand very much, but it's got Ultra Ball, so I use it - and find out that both my Zorua and my Groudon are prized. That's a pity because my start is very subpar and I need to try for something else. I end up setting up an Ivysaur against his Umbreon which had been swinging away like crazy, and I set up Sleep Powder. He never wakes up. From then on out, I remember him getting very unlucky with flips (like getting double tails on Fury Attack and such) and I being very lucky. He manages to make a comeback with another Umbreon's Confuse Ray against my Zoroark (which I had managed to set up by then). I had to rely on him to last the whole game because Groudon EX was my last prize. Eventually he gets to the point where Dark Rush would finish him. I reveal the {D} in my hand and say gg.
2-0
A bit of a nerve-wracking match there. I will say that the main reason I won was luck; he had a good start to my bad one, but from there he didn't do so well.
Round 3 vs Jayson T
We're at top-table, so I'm feeling optimistic about things. I get a really annoying start so I try to work with what I've got. We start the match, he goes up, and BOOM - he flips over FA Groudon EX as his starting basic. NOT GOOD. I try to put him to sleep and stuff and hamper him with things like Ivysaur, but he kept waking up. Eventually I get my own Groudon out, but I fall short of the KO on his. He basically just goes to town, at one point Giant Clawing my own Chansey for 240.
Now I know how Peter feels.
2-1
After that I play a fun match to see if I can get a better start this time. Nope, pretty much the same thing - he even started with his Groudon again. After that, I find out that Kristy B, who also pulled Groudon and is running a deck of random garbage (like myself), is going 0-3. She is either very unlucky or I'm very lucky today. I bet it was both.
Round 4 goes up and Kristy gets the bye. Apparently that was the only win she got that day. Poor Kristy.
Round 4 vs Kevin A
I ran into this guy before the tournament started and, although I've never met him before, he's a really nice guy. He knows I'm running Groudon and that we're both running random garbage decks that have somehow gone 2-1. Throughout the course of the match we exchange friendly banter; before our game started, he commented that Dededoll has an amazing pokerface - which is true.
Our starts are pretty much the same - we both have Plusle and we're Tag Drawing repeatedly for 5 turns in a row...each. On my first Tag I am fortunate enough to hit the Groudon, so I slowly but surely set it up.
I'm not sure whether to deploy it now or later, since he had both an Excadrill and an Umbreon on his bench. I had to treat it like a waiting game and see who would retreat his Plusle first. He did - and sent up Excadrill - so I respond with Groudon and start stepping on things. After Excadrill used its Excavation Attack twice, Groudon's left with 80 HP left, but Excadrill is down. He sends up Umbreon, and instead of going for Confuse Ray tries to use Shadow Shutdown. Much to our surprise, he hits BOTH heads and leaves Groudon up there with only 20 HP. I get a bit flustered but am also highly impressed, so I start powering up my Chanseys. After Groudon's gone, I Continuous Tumble his Umbreon for 60; he responds with a Shadow Shutdown, but whiffs. I play it safe and retreat to my other Chansey who uses Double-Edge, and from there he cannot get set up because his Energies are basically gone - he's got 3 Energy on his Tynamo w/20 HP left, hoping to draw into Rare Candy Eelektross. I retreat my other Chansey (since Double-Edge would kill itself, and he only had 1 prize left to my 2) in favor of Crustle, and hope that his Sableye doesn't confuse me. It doesn't, and the game is mine.
3-1
Round 4 was definitely my favorite match of the day; it practically went to time and my opponent was a really good sport. That left only round 5...
Round 5 vs Oscar N
I'd seen Oscar a few times and we have a bit of a talk before the game starts. We find out that our only losses were both to Jayson T (who Groudon'd the heck out of us both) - who is STILL at top table, having gone 4-0. Oscar told me he managed to go 3-1 without any EXs at all, which was quite impressive, and I commended him.
The round starts and I'm forced to begin with Plusle active and Bulbasaur benched. I attach a Grass to Bulbasaur and pass. He does something I don't remember. I then attach to Plusle, evolve Bulbasaur, and Tag Draw for 4. I draw into 3 Fighting Energy and my Groudon - a GODSEND. I start to power up Groudon as I retreat Plusle for Ivysaur and start using Sleep Powder. He uses Hooligans on my 2-card hand...and whiffs, and from then on out, my Ivysaur began to wreak havoc. In the end he's got his 2nd Larvesta out and I retreat Ivysaur for Groudon to seal the win.
4-1
Before our own match is over, Jayson announces his win for that match (he Groudon'd that guy too), having gone 5-0, undefeated in prerelease. I hope to place high on resistance.
Later I found out that Oscar's key cards were Blaziken and Volcarona, and he drew into neither when fighting me. OUCH. I'm glad that I won, yeah, but I also didn't get to see the key part of his deck.
Standings go up and I got 3rd. I was expecting 2nd but I'll take it. I get my 2 extra packs and I pull garbage, save for 1 more Random Receiver. I jokingly ask Chrisbo afterward that, since I placed 3rd, that I might have a Bronze Victory Cup. He said "no, you may not".
I manage to trade for a few cards, exchanging an Enhanced Hammer for a Crushing Hammer, and my Groudon EX for Terrakion FA, both of which I needed for my deck. Now all I really need now is 1 more Receiver and 2 Catchers (maybe 3), and I'll be good to go for Battle Roads.
And that was my day.
