Ayyy this is where I'm gonna put all my 2016 season reports and stuff. I would have put one up earlier but I didn't go to any regionals so I didn't have a chance to.
TL;DR of my season thus far:
4 LCs at which I went 3-2, 3-2, 3-1-1, and 3-1-1. never made top 4.
4 or 5 cities. I went 4-2 at an Indiana cities with Night March, but did pretty awful at the rest of them due to poor deck choices/misplays. Which brings us to yesterday.
Pre-Game:
So the morning of Sunday, January 3rd, my buddy Enrique (you know, that guy that got 2nd at Nats with Wailord or something) picked me up at home, and we trekked down to Oshkosh. It was less than an hour away so that was pretty cool. We were going over deck choices. He was playing a rather interesting Seismitoad/Archie's Empoleon deck that he had seen Jeremiah Williams use with some success in the Chicago Marathon the week prior. I was going with Good Ol' Raichu/Bats/Milotic with some surprise techs - 1 Target Whistle and 1 Pokemon Catcher. Not trolling. It was a list my friend Caleb threw together as what he called a "yolo" deck (since he already has 300+ cp, he was just playing for fun lol) but he ended up getting 2nd seed and 8th seed in a 70+ person cities with it so I figured it couldn't be that bad.
Anyways we arrive on scene, 5 rounds of swiss with a top 8 cut, and the tournament goes underway not too long after that!
Round 1: vs ??? (Lucario/Bats)
I'm going 2nd which worries me since he might be able to keep my Bats from getting out of control by usin his own....bats....His start is actually very good. He gets 2 Lucario out almost instantly as well as a pair of Zubat. Unfortunately for him, he fizzles out after his fast start and wasn't able to draw a supporter. My field also exploded rather quickly - I had a Skyfield + 6 or 7 bench rather quickly, and was able to take OHKOs on his lucarios. He just wasn't able to get anything going after his initial Lucario.
1-0
Round 2: vs Greg S. (Yveltal/Seismitoad/Zoroark BREAK)
The deck was interesting. I dead drew, and my opponent laid down a Parallel City almost immediately, which I was unable to counter for a bit. He didn't necessarily "dead draw" but in the first 2 turns of the game, he was forced to burn through 3 Professor Sycamore, 3 VS Seeker, and 2 DCE. He jumped out to the early lead, but when I was finally able to counter the Parallel City and use Set Up for 5, my deck got rolling rather easily. We traded 1-prize attackers for a while, and he was able to Sky Return his Shaymins out of play so I didn't get any easy prizes. However, because his early game required him to burn so many resources, his deck kind of crumbled late-game. I KO'd his Zoroark with the 3rd DCE, and he wasn't able to draw into his last one. I circle Circuited a Seismitoad for 100, and KO'd it with 2 Crobats and a Golbat, then I KO'd his last Zoroark for my 6th prize to win the game.
2-0
Round 3: vs ??? (Machamp EX/Aromatisse/Ariados/Smeargle/Geomancy Xerneas)
This deck was also interesting. If he got set up, I can see how it would be problematic. He can Geomancy fairy into play, and then use Smeargles to switch them to Fightings via Battle Compressor. This allowed potentially for a turn 2 Machamp. Then, if he had enough Smeargle's he could switch the fightings back to Fairy, use Aromatisse to move them all around, heal the damage with AZ, and switch all the energy back. So it was a cool idea. However, he dead drew against me. My field exploded, and I turn 2 KO'd his Machamp EX to take all of his energy out of play, and after that he just had nothing to respond with. I just used Circle Circuit 4 more times for the game.
3-0
Round 4: vs Brandon Z. (Manectric/Bats/Miltank)
We ID'd to guarantee ourselves top cut, but we played the match out for fun. Manectric/Bats is normally a matchup I would like a lot, but Miltank made it a lot harder to beat. He had a cheap, 1 prize attacker that had the potential to OHKO anybody on my side of the field with bat damage or muscle band. My start was also pretty slow. He ended up winning our fun game by 1 Prize. He was a really cool guy too - he is a Marine stationed in Okanawa, Japan, on home from break. He gets to visit all the pokemon centers and stuff over there, and when he finishes his service in April, he plans on playing more regionals and stuff. This was his first tournament and he ended up placing Top 4 - not bad at all.
3-0-1
Round 5: vs Yoshi T. (Golurk/Eeveelutions/Entei)
We ID'd to extra guarantee top cut and get some rest before the finals. Yoshi finished 1 seed at 4-0-1, and I finish at 3-0-2. I walk 2 blocks down and back and get some fantastic Pizza before top. n_n
Top 8 Decks are
1. Golurk/Eevees/Entei (Yoshi)
2. Night March/Vespiqueen
3. Manectric/Bats/Miltank (Brandon)
4. Raichu/Bats/Milotic (me)
5. Raichu/Bats/Milotic
6. Night March/Bronzong
7. Yveltal/Zoroark/Gallade
8. Manectric/Bats/Miltank
Top 8: vs Ryan B. (Raichu/Bats/Milotic)
So Ryan B. is a really cool guy and a good player, so I was sad we had to play this early in top cut, but that's how it works out, I guess. It was almost a dead 60 card mirror match except that his list played 2 Pokemon Catcher, which ended up being fairly big in the series.
Game 1: I win the coin flip and opt to go first. The game is pretty much a dead even prize trade - he catchers a Shaymin for a KO, and I do the same thing right back. He Lysandre's a shaymin for KO and I do the same thing. The game came down to me missing a DCE for one turn, which allowed him to pull the prize trade into his favor and take game 1.
Game 2: I elect to go first again. I don't have the greatest start, but Ryan misses DCE for the first 3 or 4 turns of the game. I pull ahead in prizes, and he just scoops early to save time for game 3.
Game 3: Similar to the previous game, Ryan misses DCE early, which allows me to pull ahead. Time gets called in this game, which means the game comes down to a Prize count. I managed to KO 2 Shaymins in 2 turns which put me ahead 2-6, and he wasn't able to take 4 prizes to tie it up on his turn 3. It was a very exciting series, but I did feel bad for Ryan since he missed DCEs and that was probably the only difference in our games.
4-0-2
Top 4: vs Yoshi T. (Golurk/Eevees/Entei)
Game 1: Yoshi dead draws and scoops almost immediately. I think I took 1 prize and then he called it quits. He had like 3 VS Seeker and 3 DCE in his opening hand, it was gross.
Game 2: Yoshi dead draws again, but this time I do too. He starts Zorua which is something I hadn't seen before this moment. He puts Assault Vest on it, and due to my poor start, Circle Circuit only does 20 damage. Yoshi also plays Xerosic 2 turns in a row, which puts me down to just 2 DCE. After a few turns, I finally topdeck a Sycamore. I avoid trying to Catcher his Shaymin-EX on the bench, because I don't want to deal with a Zoroark @Assault Vest when I don't really have any bats in play to deal extra damage, so I just discard it and draw a fresh hand. I'm able to use Milotic to grab back a DCE, and fill my bench to KO the Zorua. (By doing like 60 whole damage <_<) He also topdecks a Sycamore, so he's able to draw a fresh hand, and Sky Return to prevent the Shaymin from being KO'd later in the game. He plays down Golett @Focus Sash, but I Lysandre it immediately, and KO it. Due to it not being a fighting-type until it evolves, I don't have to worry about the focus sash. He didn't have any other immediate threats, so I was able to get another prize with Raichu before he can finally power up an Entei via Blacksmith and take the KO. However by this point, my bench is so full and I finally got bats out, that I was able to OHKO it regardless of Flame Screen being used. Yoshi almost managed to pull it back late game by getting a quick Lysandre KO on a Shaymin, but I topdecked my last DCE, so I was able to AZ for extra bat damage and Circle Circuit for KO. The fact that he was so close after such a weak start is very impressive, though.
5-0-2
Finals: vs Caleb G (Night March/Vespiqueen)
In all honesty, even though Caleb is a fantastic player (top 16 in North America at the moment, I think??) I was happy I got to play him in finals. The last time I made finals of a tournament was at Cities last year in Stevens Point, and Caleb was my opponent in finals, and I lost to him. I was happy to have a chance at revenge.
Game 1: I opt to go first, and my field set up as quickly as possible. I knew I should avoid playing shaymins, but since he started Joltik, I was able to get a Sky Return KO fairly quickly. My field turn 1 had 2 Pikachu and 2 Zubat, so I was able to control damage the entire game. Caleb Battle Compressor'd 3 times on turn 1, but didn't seem able to draw into his Combee, so he conceded fairly early and opted to go first for game 2.
Game 2: Caleb Compressor'd 3 times turn 1 (again) but this time managed to draw into attackers much more easily. I whiffed DCE for the first 2 or 3 turns, but since game 1 played out so quickly, I played this one out for a bit just in case something miraculous happened. I Birch'd for 7 and drew 2 Raichu, 2 Crobat, a Golbat, a Skyfield, and a VS Seeker. Unfortunately, I wasn't really able to play any of those pokemon down. I conceded in a few more turns, but I wanted to see how things played out since I didn't have much experience against Night March @Vespiqueen.
Game 3: This game was intense. I went first and just like game 1, tried to get multiples of both Pikachu and Zubat in play. I took the first KO on his Vespiqueen, and later was able to Target Whistle/Lysandre a Shaymin EX for KO. Caleb was also able to Lysandre/KO one of my Shaymin. Eventually, becuase I hit 3 of my DCE so early in the game and no Feebas, I whiffed a DCE mid-game and had to pass with a Crobat active. I had placed 50 damage on his benched Bronzong via a Golbat and Crobat but that was all I could do. I hit a Milotic finally on the following turn finally, and was able to Circle Circuit KO, and I level Balled for a Feebas to get down to 2 Prizes. My plan for next turn was to double Golbat to KO his bronzong and then draw into my last DCE or my 2nd Milotic with Sycamore/Shaymin to get my last prize. Unfortunately, Caleb AZ'd the Bronzong. Then, he Super Rodded all 3 Shaymin-EX back into his deck so I was unable to Target Whistle any of them. I thought I had lost. I was about to just go for the DCE and play Hex Maniac to hope he couldn't draw into the DCE, but then I saw the play. I sycamore'd my useless hand away and draw 7. Off of the 7, I ultra Ball'd for a Golbat. I played Milotic and used the ability to get back Target Whistle, and I used Target Whistle on a Joltik. I played both Golbats to get the KO, used Shaymin-EX to draw the remainder of my deck, and attached a DCE to take my last prize for the win.
6-0-2
Finally. I've played the TCG for 9 years, since the older ex cards were legal, but I had never won a tournament until now. This might be slightly childish, but it honestly felt amazing to finally get that monkey off my back. I had several top 2, 4, and 8 finishes but I had finally actually won a tournament. I honestly couldn't stop smiling. Also, I'm finally on the CP Scoreboard for this year - 50/300. Maybe there's still hope for an invite to San Francisco. Only the rest of this season will tell.
Thanks for reading, I'll see you all next time! n_n
TL;DR of my season thus far:
4 LCs at which I went 3-2, 3-2, 3-1-1, and 3-1-1. never made top 4.
4 or 5 cities. I went 4-2 at an Indiana cities with Night March, but did pretty awful at the rest of them due to poor deck choices/misplays. Which brings us to yesterday.
City Championships - Oshkosh, WI
32 players = just enough for top 8 to all get CP, but 1 short of having 6 rounds. TrolololololPre-Game:
So the morning of Sunday, January 3rd, my buddy Enrique (you know, that guy that got 2nd at Nats with Wailord or something) picked me up at home, and we trekked down to Oshkosh. It was less than an hour away so that was pretty cool. We were going over deck choices. He was playing a rather interesting Seismitoad/Archie's Empoleon deck that he had seen Jeremiah Williams use with some success in the Chicago Marathon the week prior. I was going with Good Ol' Raichu/Bats/Milotic with some surprise techs - 1 Target Whistle and 1 Pokemon Catcher. Not trolling. It was a list my friend Caleb threw together as what he called a "yolo" deck (since he already has 300+ cp, he was just playing for fun lol) but he ended up getting 2nd seed and 8th seed in a 70+ person cities with it so I figured it couldn't be that bad.
Anyways we arrive on scene, 5 rounds of swiss with a top 8 cut, and the tournament goes underway not too long after that!
Round 1: vs ??? (Lucario/Bats)
I'm going 2nd which worries me since he might be able to keep my Bats from getting out of control by usin his own....bats....His start is actually very good. He gets 2 Lucario out almost instantly as well as a pair of Zubat. Unfortunately for him, he fizzles out after his fast start and wasn't able to draw a supporter. My field also exploded rather quickly - I had a Skyfield + 6 or 7 bench rather quickly, and was able to take OHKOs on his lucarios. He just wasn't able to get anything going after his initial Lucario.
1-0
Round 2: vs Greg S. (Yveltal/Seismitoad/Zoroark BREAK)
The deck was interesting. I dead drew, and my opponent laid down a Parallel City almost immediately, which I was unable to counter for a bit. He didn't necessarily "dead draw" but in the first 2 turns of the game, he was forced to burn through 3 Professor Sycamore, 3 VS Seeker, and 2 DCE. He jumped out to the early lead, but when I was finally able to counter the Parallel City and use Set Up for 5, my deck got rolling rather easily. We traded 1-prize attackers for a while, and he was able to Sky Return his Shaymins out of play so I didn't get any easy prizes. However, because his early game required him to burn so many resources, his deck kind of crumbled late-game. I KO'd his Zoroark with the 3rd DCE, and he wasn't able to draw into his last one. I circle Circuited a Seismitoad for 100, and KO'd it with 2 Crobats and a Golbat, then I KO'd his last Zoroark for my 6th prize to win the game.
2-0
Round 3: vs ??? (Machamp EX/Aromatisse/Ariados/Smeargle/Geomancy Xerneas)
This deck was also interesting. If he got set up, I can see how it would be problematic. He can Geomancy fairy into play, and then use Smeargles to switch them to Fightings via Battle Compressor. This allowed potentially for a turn 2 Machamp. Then, if he had enough Smeargle's he could switch the fightings back to Fairy, use Aromatisse to move them all around, heal the damage with AZ, and switch all the energy back. So it was a cool idea. However, he dead drew against me. My field exploded, and I turn 2 KO'd his Machamp EX to take all of his energy out of play, and after that he just had nothing to respond with. I just used Circle Circuit 4 more times for the game.
3-0
Round 4: vs Brandon Z. (Manectric/Bats/Miltank)
We ID'd to guarantee ourselves top cut, but we played the match out for fun. Manectric/Bats is normally a matchup I would like a lot, but Miltank made it a lot harder to beat. He had a cheap, 1 prize attacker that had the potential to OHKO anybody on my side of the field with bat damage or muscle band. My start was also pretty slow. He ended up winning our fun game by 1 Prize. He was a really cool guy too - he is a Marine stationed in Okanawa, Japan, on home from break. He gets to visit all the pokemon centers and stuff over there, and when he finishes his service in April, he plans on playing more regionals and stuff. This was his first tournament and he ended up placing Top 4 - not bad at all.
3-0-1
Round 5: vs Yoshi T. (Golurk/Eeveelutions/Entei)
We ID'd to extra guarantee top cut and get some rest before the finals. Yoshi finished 1 seed at 4-0-1, and I finish at 3-0-2. I walk 2 blocks down and back and get some fantastic Pizza before top. n_n
Top 8 Decks are
1. Golurk/Eevees/Entei (Yoshi)
2. Night March/Vespiqueen
3. Manectric/Bats/Miltank (Brandon)
4. Raichu/Bats/Milotic (me)
5. Raichu/Bats/Milotic
6. Night March/Bronzong
7. Yveltal/Zoroark/Gallade
8. Manectric/Bats/Miltank
Top 8: vs Ryan B. (Raichu/Bats/Milotic)
So Ryan B. is a really cool guy and a good player, so I was sad we had to play this early in top cut, but that's how it works out, I guess. It was almost a dead 60 card mirror match except that his list played 2 Pokemon Catcher, which ended up being fairly big in the series.
Game 1: I win the coin flip and opt to go first. The game is pretty much a dead even prize trade - he catchers a Shaymin for a KO, and I do the same thing right back. He Lysandre's a shaymin for KO and I do the same thing. The game came down to me missing a DCE for one turn, which allowed him to pull the prize trade into his favor and take game 1.
Game 2: I elect to go first again. I don't have the greatest start, but Ryan misses DCE for the first 3 or 4 turns of the game. I pull ahead in prizes, and he just scoops early to save time for game 3.
Game 3: Similar to the previous game, Ryan misses DCE early, which allows me to pull ahead. Time gets called in this game, which means the game comes down to a Prize count. I managed to KO 2 Shaymins in 2 turns which put me ahead 2-6, and he wasn't able to take 4 prizes to tie it up on his turn 3. It was a very exciting series, but I did feel bad for Ryan since he missed DCEs and that was probably the only difference in our games.
4-0-2
Top 4: vs Yoshi T. (Golurk/Eevees/Entei)
Game 1: Yoshi dead draws and scoops almost immediately. I think I took 1 prize and then he called it quits. He had like 3 VS Seeker and 3 DCE in his opening hand, it was gross.
Game 2: Yoshi dead draws again, but this time I do too. He starts Zorua which is something I hadn't seen before this moment. He puts Assault Vest on it, and due to my poor start, Circle Circuit only does 20 damage. Yoshi also plays Xerosic 2 turns in a row, which puts me down to just 2 DCE. After a few turns, I finally topdeck a Sycamore. I avoid trying to Catcher his Shaymin-EX on the bench, because I don't want to deal with a Zoroark @Assault Vest when I don't really have any bats in play to deal extra damage, so I just discard it and draw a fresh hand. I'm able to use Milotic to grab back a DCE, and fill my bench to KO the Zorua. (By doing like 60 whole damage <_<) He also topdecks a Sycamore, so he's able to draw a fresh hand, and Sky Return to prevent the Shaymin from being KO'd later in the game. He plays down Golett @Focus Sash, but I Lysandre it immediately, and KO it. Due to it not being a fighting-type until it evolves, I don't have to worry about the focus sash. He didn't have any other immediate threats, so I was able to get another prize with Raichu before he can finally power up an Entei via Blacksmith and take the KO. However by this point, my bench is so full and I finally got bats out, that I was able to OHKO it regardless of Flame Screen being used. Yoshi almost managed to pull it back late game by getting a quick Lysandre KO on a Shaymin, but I topdecked my last DCE, so I was able to AZ for extra bat damage and Circle Circuit for KO. The fact that he was so close after such a weak start is very impressive, though.
5-0-2
Finals: vs Caleb G (Night March/Vespiqueen)
In all honesty, even though Caleb is a fantastic player (top 16 in North America at the moment, I think??) I was happy I got to play him in finals. The last time I made finals of a tournament was at Cities last year in Stevens Point, and Caleb was my opponent in finals, and I lost to him. I was happy to have a chance at revenge.
Game 1: I opt to go first, and my field set up as quickly as possible. I knew I should avoid playing shaymins, but since he started Joltik, I was able to get a Sky Return KO fairly quickly. My field turn 1 had 2 Pikachu and 2 Zubat, so I was able to control damage the entire game. Caleb Battle Compressor'd 3 times on turn 1, but didn't seem able to draw into his Combee, so he conceded fairly early and opted to go first for game 2.
Game 2: Caleb Compressor'd 3 times turn 1 (again) but this time managed to draw into attackers much more easily. I whiffed DCE for the first 2 or 3 turns, but since game 1 played out so quickly, I played this one out for a bit just in case something miraculous happened. I Birch'd for 7 and drew 2 Raichu, 2 Crobat, a Golbat, a Skyfield, and a VS Seeker. Unfortunately, I wasn't really able to play any of those pokemon down. I conceded in a few more turns, but I wanted to see how things played out since I didn't have much experience against Night March @Vespiqueen.
Game 3: This game was intense. I went first and just like game 1, tried to get multiples of both Pikachu and Zubat in play. I took the first KO on his Vespiqueen, and later was able to Target Whistle/Lysandre a Shaymin EX for KO. Caleb was also able to Lysandre/KO one of my Shaymin. Eventually, becuase I hit 3 of my DCE so early in the game and no Feebas, I whiffed a DCE mid-game and had to pass with a Crobat active. I had placed 50 damage on his benched Bronzong via a Golbat and Crobat but that was all I could do. I hit a Milotic finally on the following turn finally, and was able to Circle Circuit KO, and I level Balled for a Feebas to get down to 2 Prizes. My plan for next turn was to double Golbat to KO his bronzong and then draw into my last DCE or my 2nd Milotic with Sycamore/Shaymin to get my last prize. Unfortunately, Caleb AZ'd the Bronzong. Then, he Super Rodded all 3 Shaymin-EX back into his deck so I was unable to Target Whistle any of them. I thought I had lost. I was about to just go for the DCE and play Hex Maniac to hope he couldn't draw into the DCE, but then I saw the play. I sycamore'd my useless hand away and draw 7. Off of the 7, I ultra Ball'd for a Golbat. I played Milotic and used the ability to get back Target Whistle, and I used Target Whistle on a Joltik. I played both Golbats to get the KO, used Shaymin-EX to draw the remainder of my deck, and attached a DCE to take my last prize for the win.
6-0-2
Finally. I've played the TCG for 9 years, since the older ex cards were legal, but I had never won a tournament until now. This might be slightly childish, but it honestly felt amazing to finally get that monkey off my back. I had several top 2, 4, and 8 finishes but I had finally actually won a tournament. I honestly couldn't stop smiling. Also, I'm finally on the CP Scoreboard for this year - 50/300. Maybe there's still hope for an invite to San Francisco. Only the rest of this season will tell.
Thanks for reading, I'll see you all next time! n_n
