P
PokeTom
Hello everyone and thanks for taking the time to read this tournament report (If you make it to the end xD). You will have to forgive my vagueness as I am writing this the day after the tournament and I had not taken notes on the matches so I am doing most of this from memory.
My day started at 5:30 am to take my train from the North of Wales to Manchester. Being only my 3rd competitive tournament this season I wasn't trying for championship points as my rating is pretty poor and there is no way I could make any kind of major tournament so just went down for some fun and to play some pokemon.
The deck I decided to play was ZekEels as it is the deck I was most comfortable with playing as all the decks I have played before operated in a similar way (Reshiphlosion and EelZone), that and the fact I did not have the resources to build CMT. Unfortunately my testing was limited and I was nervous about my match-ups as the card pool between my friends is very limited and we are not able to really build meta decks. So with only having tested against CaKE and 6 corners I was nervous as to how my list would perform.
After seeing the realtive success of Mono Terrakion I was very sceptical on how my deck would perform against it and I think I over predicted the deck's popularity in my meta game which in turn led to wasted slots in my list due to a teched in Shaymin EX. So without furter ado here is my deck list for the tournament and the report itself.
Pokemon - 14
2 Zekrom BLW
4 Tynamo NVI 39
3 Eelektrik NVI
1 Thundurus EPO
2 Mewtwo EX
1 Shaymin EX
1 Tyrogue CL
Trainers/Supporters - 31
4 Dual Ball
4 Junk Arm
2 Level Ball
4 Pokemon Catcher
2 Switch
2 PlusPower
1 Pokegear 3.0
1 Super Rod
1 Eviolite
4 PONT
4 Juniper
2 N
Energy - 15
9 Lightning
4 DCE
2 Grass
With my list set I filled out my deck list and got deck checked, shuffled up and waited for pairings to go up. There was 45 in masters which dictated 6 rounds of swiss with a top 8 cut. There were many great players from the UK here so it was going to be a very tough tournament with the names of Tommy Roberts, Tom Hall, google Gilbert, Daniel Middleton, George Boon and the Sekkoum brothers all making appearances.
Pairings went up and I was very excited for round 1.
Round 1 - Daniel Middleton (ZekEels)
I have been a fan of Dan's videos for a long time so it was great to finally get to sit down and play a game with him. The start of the round is called and I go first. I start Thundurus attach an energy and misplay by ending my turn without charging. My memory of the game is pretty hazy after this but I do remember hitting 4/4 tails on dual ball and not being able to set anything up and by around turn 4/5 I have a dead hand and nothing in the form of attackers. He only needs to hit 1 energy for the win I ask if he has the energy in hand and he does so that was game. He revealed his top card and it was an energy as well.
We play a friendly game after because it was so short and I had a great time talking to him and discussing our choices for the decks.
Round loss 0-1
Round 2 - google Gilbert (Mewtwo/Regigigas/Jirachi)
Not much to say here, I start lone Tynamo, he goes first, starts Mewtwo DCE. So that's 2 very quick losses and I quickly lost hope of making top cut. However I did keep a bit of hope that I might make it but I knew inside with 2 losses I wouldn't make it unless I got very lucky on resistance. We play another fun game and I start better and we have a good laugh playing and talking and had a fun friendly game.
Round Loss 0-2
So with pretty much no hope of making top cut I just wanted to perform better than I had been and rack up some wins.
Round 3 - ? (Reshiboar)
Not a great deal to say here, I start Mewtwo DCE Eviolite and start steam rolling, taking out a Tepig with catcher and from then on he can never get set up, not getting Emboar out and is stuck manually attaching energy for the game, I sweep taking 6 fairly quick and easy prizes.
round Win 1-2
We take a fairly short break for lunch here. I buy a Reshiram EX tin and a booster and pull nothing, same as usual.
Pairings for round 4 go up and it's time to play again
Round 4 - Paul Binks (Durant w/ Shiftry)
He starts lone Seadot to my Zekrom and Tynamo. I go first and I have no idea what deck this could be so I dual ball and get a single Tynamo. attach energy to Zekrom and pass. He then collectors for his Durant and I am suddenly relieved that I didn't take anything with a retreat cost off the dual ball. He starts devouring and I start manually attaching energy until I can bolt strike. From here on nothing goes his way. He hits tails on all his crushing hammers, junk arms a couple of times for crushing hammer and still hits tails and then hits tails on Shiftry's ability. In total I believe he flipped 9 tails in a row which is practically unheard of. He cant come back and I steam roll with zekrom.
Round Win 2-2
Round 5 - Ryan Middleton (Messie Mew)
I have to admit I love the idea of Messie Mew, but I think this stems from my love for mew as a pokemon. I win the flip and start Mewtwo and tynamo to his 2 Yanma. I attach DCE and PP for KO, he can't do much, gets out a mew attaches energy and see's off a Jumpluff. I attach a lightning and just steamroll through his setup and he is unable to get a Yanmega out, I take 6 prizes to his 0 fairly quickly.
Round Win 3-2
By this point my confidence had been raised a lot and I saw a glimmer of hope of getting to top cut on resistance as long as I could win my next match.
Round 6 - George (Durant)
This guy had travelled from Germany with a friend and before being paired against him I talked with him outside the shop laughing about how he was going down to the pub after the tournament to get very drunk for not making top cut.
This game goes very similar to my previous Durant matchup with me getting Zekrom out and starting manually attaching energy to bolt strike his Durants. He gets a couple of heads on crushing hammer but I have the energy in hand to replace it and he cannot stall me before I take 6 prizes.
Round Win 4-2
And the results...
After that game I am hoping with everything that I could make my first ever top cut we wait for about 10/15 minutes after the round is over and.... I miss top cut. Even though I was hoping to get into top cut on resistance I wasn't expecting to.
Overall I finish 11th from 45 masters, earning myself 4 kicker points. I had a great day playing. I stuck around for a bit to watch the top 8 and top 4 games.
One game was highly amusing with Jonny Hall who was playing CMT going against a VVV deck. Jonny proceeded to take 4/5 prizes with Shaymin UL as most of his hand was dead after a t2 plume and he couldn't draw anything helpful. He even took down a fresh Vanilluxe with the Shaymin which was hilarious.
Overall it was a great day and I had a lot of fun and met a lot of great people in the Pokemon community. After seeing pretty much no Terrakion there I was annoyed with myself that I had wasted 3 slots for a tech that I never got to use but hey, lesson learned and I have changed my deck taking out the silly tech.
I would like to thank the TO for organising things so well and I hope to see everyone again if I can afford to make Nationals.
My day started at 5:30 am to take my train from the North of Wales to Manchester. Being only my 3rd competitive tournament this season I wasn't trying for championship points as my rating is pretty poor and there is no way I could make any kind of major tournament so just went down for some fun and to play some pokemon.
The deck I decided to play was ZekEels as it is the deck I was most comfortable with playing as all the decks I have played before operated in a similar way (Reshiphlosion and EelZone), that and the fact I did not have the resources to build CMT. Unfortunately my testing was limited and I was nervous about my match-ups as the card pool between my friends is very limited and we are not able to really build meta decks. So with only having tested against CaKE and 6 corners I was nervous as to how my list would perform.
After seeing the realtive success of Mono Terrakion I was very sceptical on how my deck would perform against it and I think I over predicted the deck's popularity in my meta game which in turn led to wasted slots in my list due to a teched in Shaymin EX. So without furter ado here is my deck list for the tournament and the report itself.
Pokemon - 14
2 Zekrom BLW
4 Tynamo NVI 39
3 Eelektrik NVI
1 Thundurus EPO
2 Mewtwo EX
1 Shaymin EX
1 Tyrogue CL
Trainers/Supporters - 31
4 Dual Ball
4 Junk Arm
2 Level Ball
4 Pokemon Catcher
2 Switch
2 PlusPower
1 Pokegear 3.0
1 Super Rod
1 Eviolite
4 PONT
4 Juniper
2 N
Energy - 15
9 Lightning
4 DCE
2 Grass
With my list set I filled out my deck list and got deck checked, shuffled up and waited for pairings to go up. There was 45 in masters which dictated 6 rounds of swiss with a top 8 cut. There were many great players from the UK here so it was going to be a very tough tournament with the names of Tommy Roberts, Tom Hall, google Gilbert, Daniel Middleton, George Boon and the Sekkoum brothers all making appearances.
Pairings went up and I was very excited for round 1.
Round 1 - Daniel Middleton (ZekEels)
I have been a fan of Dan's videos for a long time so it was great to finally get to sit down and play a game with him. The start of the round is called and I go first. I start Thundurus attach an energy and misplay by ending my turn without charging. My memory of the game is pretty hazy after this but I do remember hitting 4/4 tails on dual ball and not being able to set anything up and by around turn 4/5 I have a dead hand and nothing in the form of attackers. He only needs to hit 1 energy for the win I ask if he has the energy in hand and he does so that was game. He revealed his top card and it was an energy as well.
We play a friendly game after because it was so short and I had a great time talking to him and discussing our choices for the decks.
Round loss 0-1
Round 2 - google Gilbert (Mewtwo/Regigigas/Jirachi)
Not much to say here, I start lone Tynamo, he goes first, starts Mewtwo DCE. So that's 2 very quick losses and I quickly lost hope of making top cut. However I did keep a bit of hope that I might make it but I knew inside with 2 losses I wouldn't make it unless I got very lucky on resistance. We play another fun game and I start better and we have a good laugh playing and talking and had a fun friendly game.
Round Loss 0-2
So with pretty much no hope of making top cut I just wanted to perform better than I had been and rack up some wins.
Round 3 - ? (Reshiboar)
Not a great deal to say here, I start Mewtwo DCE Eviolite and start steam rolling, taking out a Tepig with catcher and from then on he can never get set up, not getting Emboar out and is stuck manually attaching energy for the game, I sweep taking 6 fairly quick and easy prizes.
round Win 1-2
We take a fairly short break for lunch here. I buy a Reshiram EX tin and a booster and pull nothing, same as usual.
Pairings for round 4 go up and it's time to play again
Round 4 - Paul Binks (Durant w/ Shiftry)
He starts lone Seadot to my Zekrom and Tynamo. I go first and I have no idea what deck this could be so I dual ball and get a single Tynamo. attach energy to Zekrom and pass. He then collectors for his Durant and I am suddenly relieved that I didn't take anything with a retreat cost off the dual ball. He starts devouring and I start manually attaching energy until I can bolt strike. From here on nothing goes his way. He hits tails on all his crushing hammers, junk arms a couple of times for crushing hammer and still hits tails and then hits tails on Shiftry's ability. In total I believe he flipped 9 tails in a row which is practically unheard of. He cant come back and I steam roll with zekrom.
Round Win 2-2
Round 5 - Ryan Middleton (Messie Mew)
I have to admit I love the idea of Messie Mew, but I think this stems from my love for mew as a pokemon. I win the flip and start Mewtwo and tynamo to his 2 Yanma. I attach DCE and PP for KO, he can't do much, gets out a mew attaches energy and see's off a Jumpluff. I attach a lightning and just steamroll through his setup and he is unable to get a Yanmega out, I take 6 prizes to his 0 fairly quickly.
Round Win 3-2
By this point my confidence had been raised a lot and I saw a glimmer of hope of getting to top cut on resistance as long as I could win my next match.
Round 6 - George (Durant)
This guy had travelled from Germany with a friend and before being paired against him I talked with him outside the shop laughing about how he was going down to the pub after the tournament to get very drunk for not making top cut.
This game goes very similar to my previous Durant matchup with me getting Zekrom out and starting manually attaching energy to bolt strike his Durants. He gets a couple of heads on crushing hammer but I have the energy in hand to replace it and he cannot stall me before I take 6 prizes.
Round Win 4-2
And the results...
After that game I am hoping with everything that I could make my first ever top cut we wait for about 10/15 minutes after the round is over and.... I miss top cut. Even though I was hoping to get into top cut on resistance I wasn't expecting to.
Overall I finish 11th from 45 masters, earning myself 4 kicker points. I had a great day playing. I stuck around for a bit to watch the top 8 and top 4 games.
One game was highly amusing with Jonny Hall who was playing CMT going against a VVV deck. Jonny proceeded to take 4/5 prizes with Shaymin UL as most of his hand was dead after a t2 plume and he couldn't draw anything helpful. He even took down a fresh Vanilluxe with the Shaymin which was hilarious.
Overall it was a great day and I had a lot of fun and met a lot of great people in the Pokemon community. After seeing pretty much no Terrakion there I was annoyed with myself that I had wasted 3 slots for a tech that I never got to use but hey, lesson learned and I have changed my deck taking out the silly tech.
I would like to thank the TO for organising things so well and I hope to see everyone again if I can afford to make Nationals.