PMJ
Silhouette Gloom of the Sundown Lands
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In this thread, I will be sharing my tournament stories with you. Previous entries will be spoilered for your convenience.
1. League Challenge - Mundelein, IL (Aug 14 2016)
2. League Challenge - Streamwood, IL (Aug 27 2016)
3. Regional Championship - Madison, WI (June 3 2017)
So much for attending tournaments regularly. I guess life doesn't want me to play this game competitively because I keep getting shit on by something that eats up all my money.
Anyway the only reason I was even able to go to this tournament was because a super buddy paid my way so shout outs to them.
For this tournament I decided to play Umbreon. This was mainly because it was the only deck I actually had the cards for, but also because I'd had some success with it on PTCGO. I almost didn't go because for one, I don't have two Leles irl, and two, I was afraid that the cards I needed for the deck (Drampa/one Lele/Bands) wouldn't arrive in time. They did, however, and I sleeved together the deck. I originally ran four Float Stones but I ended up taking two out for a Multi Switch and a second Psychic Energy. Overall it was a cool decision. Friday night I sleeved the deck and Saturday morning I drove out to the event.
I hadn't really thought about what this deck's matchups are. I know it has a good Garbodor matchup because Drampa can't OHKO Umbreon and Trashalanche isn't much of that. On top of that, I can kill two Garbodor in two turns with back-to-back Shadow Bullets with a Lysandre play, keeping the prize trade even. Aside from Passimian (which I saw a guy sleeving up before the tourney started), I didn't know what this deck struggled against. I hadn't tested it against anything aside from whatever randoms used on PTCGO, but I'd won a lot with it and so that was the play for me.
I checked in and got a neat little swag bag. It had a bunch of advertisements for the vendors, a deck box, a playmat, a Regionals-stamped Hala, and a pen. I was glad to get this bag cause I didn't have anything to carry my deck box around in other than my hands. It's a little too small to hold a mat tube, but it's not the end of the world.
I have no friends with me or at this event so I'm basically on my own the entire day. I sit down and start talking to the homies on Discord, wasting some time. Some kid is next to me cracking a booster box of GUR (apparently it's GUR and PTCGO is wrong, as usual). He asks me to watch his stuff and I'm like yeah sure kid. He comes back with a Double Crisis blister and I'm like gross. Some other dude comes over and basically says as much but the kid's like "I really need Magma Base" and sure enough he gets one out of the first pack. His rares in both packs was Kyogre-EX so guess that's cool. He asked me if I play online and gave me the code card when I said I did. Neat. Thanks, kid.
Pairings finally go up and I'm stoked to get started. It's been a long time since I've been to a tournament and I'm looking to win (or at least walk out with packs). Time to go to work.
R1 vs Paul R (Primarina-GX/Lapras-GX/Regice)
This guy looked like a straight up nerd. He looked really nervous and just gave off this nerd vibe like he could probably have a heated debate with you about which waifu is the best. I shook his hand to start the match and his hands were cold and clammy and I nearly flinched because I didn't know they let dead guys compete.
Game 1: Spoiler for later - Umbreon's weakness is healing. I think that if this guy built his deck better, he would have given me a lot harder time. Team Flare Grunt put in work here, keeping Bubble Beat damage low and preventing him from powering up multiple attackers at once. Multi Switch was clutch, allowing me to shift a DCE to a Lele to swing for big damage. The most annoying part was playing around Grand Echo GX but he opted for Ice Beam GX instead. Overall this game wasn't too hard and I swept him pretty easily.
Game 2: I prized two Umbreon and got worried because he hit a T2 Primarina, and Umbreon 3HKOs it under the best of circumstances. Still managed to clutch it out. The most annoying part was the paralysis from Ice Beam GX; I didn't run Olympia so I had to suck it up and just die. 1-0
R2 vs Joel M (Drampa-GX/Garbodor/Sudowoodo)
We recognized each other before the tournament started, which is kinda surprising considering I hadn't seen him since the last tournament I played (he was the TO for the LC in Streamwood I went to way back in August). But on the other hand, it's kinda not, since I am very, very recognizable. Those of you who were at Madison may have seen me (really tall, chunky dark-skinned fella) and not even known it was me.
Game 1: I prized two Eevee and that's even worse than prizing two Umbreon. Fortunately his draws were awful and I dominated him pretty easily despite getting Ability locked. Play of the game: allowing him to Set Up while I had Wobbuffet active, oops. I let it slide because I realized it like a turn later and figured if he did it again I'd say something. Still won though.
Game 2: First mulligan of the day as well as the first Shaymin start. I was Ability locked from T2 onward, but that didn't mean much because my deck is anti-Garbodor and I was still able to set up by using only two Ultra Balls (one for Eevee, one for Umbreon). After that, getting my hand refreshed by N was enough to let me set up without expending much items. He also drew kinda poorly and after I gusted out his Drampa to take my third and fourth prizes, he scooped. 2-0
R3 vs Danny A (Zoroark BREAK/Drampa-GX/Tapu Koko)
I am feeling pretty good at this point since I'm undefeated so far, but I know not to get cocky. I sit down at my table and start setting up. A judge comes over to me and says "Are you Matt?" And I'm like uhhh yeah what's up. At first I thought I had been chosen to be on stream but the judge was like "We moved you to a different table, your opponent is in a wheelchair" and I'm like okay sure. So he directs me to my opponent and I sit down and start setting up. The round gets started right as I sit down so my opponent is flipping out that we're not gonna finish in time.
Game 1: Things go decent for me. I'm not benching much so Zoroark doesn't eat me alive but I had Wobbuffet stranded up front. While I draw passed for four turns thanks to no supporters, Tapu Koko tore my field up, and then once I finally got him out of there and attacking with Umbreon, he retreated in to Zoroark BREAK and copied Shadow Bullet to KO both Umbreon and Shaymin to win the game. Turns out I am my own worst enemy. :[
Game 2: I went first and got the T2 Shadow Bullet off. He got absolutely nothing and scooped on his second turn.
Game 3: This game was better than our first game, but I don't remember all the details because it went by so quickly. I do remember that it was an actual game and not completely one-sided like our first two games were. He got me in the end though. After the battle we chatted about my deck and my choice to run Psychic Energy allowing Wobbuffet to attack and making Tapu Cure GX usable at all. I may have lost, but he had to work for it and that's all I can ask for. Our games went by so quickly that we finished long before time was called. 2-1
After this we were on lunch. The line for the lunch thing was long as hell so I decided to leave and get my own food. Getting there took forever, waiting in line took forever, getting back took forever. I have never slammed food so fast in my life. Fortunately my parking spot wasn't taken otherwise I might not have made it back for my next match.
R4 vs Rith K (Gyarados)
Game 1: He played multiple Shaymin which is exactly what I want to see. Unfortunately thanks to whiffing either Lysandre, VS Seeker, or DCE, I was only able to do this feat once. After I took three Prizes I got annihilated. Play of the game: Discarding his Float Stone off his Gyarados allowing him to attach a second Choice Band. RIP
Game 2: Almost had him this game but I still lost. His draws were poor and Drampa was able to toss out some of his DCEs, forcing him to dig like a madman to get them back. Towards the end I had a cool play that I could have done: Super Rod to put Drampa back into my deck, Ultra Ball it back out, drop it, retreat Umbreon for free using Altar of the Moone, then Multi Switching one to Drampa to force him to dig for his last DCE. I didn't do it because I figured if he hit it I was dead anyway so there was no point in doing so. So instead of doing that I did something else and he managed to get his last prizes. After the battle he agreed that it was a dope play and I hate myself for not doing it. He complimented me on my deck choice though. 2-2
R5 vs King T (Umbreon-GX/Drampa-GX/AOR Eeveelutions/Raticate BREAK)
My round 5 weirdo wasn't a weirdo! He was pretty chill which was a very refreshing change. He was like "I thought I was the only Umbreon player" and I was like "yeah me too". My deck was far more disruptive than his, though. Team Flare Grunt put in a lot of work combined with Righteous Edge.
Game 1: I don't remember what happened. All I remember was that he managed to steal the game with a four-prize turn. Damn you, Shaymin, and your 110 HP. He played Winona early on to search out the 1-1-1 Raticate BREAK and I guess it makes sense since he ran Enhanced Hammer and Drampa. Super Fang also allows for cute Lysandre plays to possibly get multiple Prizes in one turn.
Game 2: This game came down to the wire. I ended up Flare Grunting his last basic Energy away, preventing him from attacking; he had the means to get the DCE and seal up the game with Shadow Bullet. He would have won on time but he decided to give me the win, allowing for a tie, since he was going to drop. 2-2-1
R6 vs Michael S (Mega Rayquaza)
Turns out my round 5 weirdo didn't show up until round 6. Before I sat down he asked "odds or evens" and I was like uhhhhhhh odds. Whatever. MVP of his deck was Mallow; that card is amazing in decks that use it.
Game 1: This was my worst start of the day. Mulliganed three times, started with Shaymin, and got no Energy for three turns. Eventually I was able to mount something resembling a comeback with Team Flare Grunt and Righteous Edge, but a late-game VS for Mallow sealed it up by getting him the cards he needed to KO me.
Game 2: This one went better. Any Energy he tried attaching went right to the discard pile, and only once did he have enough Benched to OHKO Umbreon. At one point I slammed his Hoopa for 120 and he must have dug through 20 cards looking for his Float Stone, ending up benching all four of his Shaymin in an attempt to find it. Eventually he got it and I was forced to replace his Sky Field so I could retreat. He didn't discard his Hoopa and two boosted Shadow Bullets later I took four Prizes and won the game right as time was called. 2-2-2
R7 vs JD M (Drampa-GX/Garbodor)
Game 1: He kept attaching to his Active and that meant Team Flare Grunt ate him for breakfast.
Game 2: Started with Lele this game and he started with Trubbish. He evolved into BKP Garbodor and threw a Band on him. He started powering up two Drampas on his Bench, expecting me to kill him so I he could bring out Drampa, drop a Rainbow, and start going to town, but I swang on him for 60 and just passed until I was able to Lysandre Drampa and swing into it. After that it basically went downhill for him and I don't know if he took more than two prizes off me. 3-2-2
R8 vs Rob R (Drampa-GX/Garbodor/Tauros-GX)
Game 1: I won the flip and opened Eevee but had no darks in hand. He whiffed the DCE to donk and I drew into an Energy to evolve next turn. Don't remember much else other than that, but I was able to 2HKO his Tauros with Umbreon and come back to win.
Game 2: He started with Drampa and managed to put two basic Energy on him to avoid Righteous Edge. But thanks to Multi Switch and Altar of the Moone I was able to retreat into Umbreon, switch the Energy up and Dark Call him back to nothing. He basically couldn't come back after that because every time he attached an Energy I just removed it and Trashalanche did basically nothing the entire time. 4-2-2
R9 vs Alex B (Alolan Ninetales-GX/Tapu Koko)
I was kinda hoping this dude would just scoop it up but considering he stayed in this long it wasn't gonna happen. I had been seeing Ninetales all day long and it wasn't until he flipped over Vulpix that I realized I had avoided it all day. It was a good thing I did too because oh my god this deck is Umbreon's worst nightmare. The threat of Ice Path GX means I basically need to only use Choice Banded Shadow Bullets to 2HKO.
Game 1: Rough Seas undid most of my Shadow Bullet damage (at least I was not so dumb as to throw the 30 onto a Vulpix) and that Ice Blade damage added up real quick. A Kukui-boosted Banded Blizzard Edge OHKOs Umbreon and that's bad news. Aqua Patch would get back any energy I removed... it wasn't even a close battle. Every time I would N him to low he had an Ultra Ball into Shaymin or Lele -> Sycamore and... ugh. It was awful. It's as close to an auto-loss without factoring in Weakness as you can get.
Game 2: Basically a repeat of the last game, I didn't even take a single prize. He either ran super hot or his deck is just consistent as hell, he got every card exactly when he needed it.
Final standings: 4-3-2, 162nd place out of 533? Masters
Props
+ Most of my opponents complimented my deck, even the ones whose asses I kicked
+ Destroyed every Garbodor deck I came across, the way God intended
+ Avoided the horror of Ninetales until the very last round
+ Multi Switch was a cool addition, being able to swap around DCEs means things like fully powering up and attacking with Drampa immediately after bringing it into play are possible
+ Had fun, didn't have to travel far
+ Metagross made it to the finals after being hailed as a scrub deck
+ Got to see Veronica Taylor and Eric Stuart but didn't feel like paying cash money to meet them. I swear Veronica Taylor must be like four foot ten because I was still way taller than her even though she was in like six-inch heels.
Slops
- Many games where I needed one card to win and I whiffed it. I definitely could have cut with a slightly more consistent build.
- That's basically it, this event was cool and run super smooth
- No packs, not anywhere near top 64
- No CP (not that it would have mattered)
This will likely be my last tournament for this season, as I can't afford to go to nats and don't qualify for Worlds. I'll see if my money situation is better towards the end of this season. Maybe I'll get a real season in someday...
CP gained this tournament: 0
Total CP this season: 15
1. League Challenge - Mundelein, IL (Aug 14 2016)
My quest to win Worlds started today. Gotta get those CP. I had no idea what League Challenges were or what they entailed; all I knew was that they were worth CP if you did well or something? I dunno. The format was XY-FAC, so no STS fun times. Most of my IRL collection is lacking, so I decided to go with my old standby, Night March. It was either that or VV, and I decided that even though this tournament was small fries, I wanna win, so I stuck with Night March since I'm more familiar with it (but not by much, I rarely play the deck anymore).
Thanks to construction and hitting just about every red light and losing 10 minutes to taking a dump, we just barely make registration. I have never chicken scratched a deck list so fast in my life.
Pairings go up and I sit down at the table. Then pairings go up and I remember that the first list is just the roster, not pairings. Whoops. Been a while.
Since Ranger isn't tournament legal yet, I've got the ol' double whammy Enhanced + Xerosic to deal with Giratina, should he rear his ugly head. Let's do it.
R1 vs Greninja BREAK
I win the flip (!!!!) and choose to go first. I go first because while I'd like the chance to draw first blood, this is best of one and there's no way I'm gonna let a possible Trevenant set up because if he does, it's over. We flip our basics and I see a Froakie. I'm in trouble. I draw -
"you forgot your prizes"
I look and well, what do you know, I sure did. I told my opponent that I'm used to my prizes being laid out for me and he laughed. My opponent was generally super chill so props to him. We called the TO over anyway to make sure we did things on the up and up. She had me reveal the card I drew, put out that card plus the five would-be prizes, then the TO shuffled them and one Caution later we were on our way. Later on I tried drawing six off an N to 5. He caught me and I was like man, I swear I know how to play this game. Just need to shake the rust off. Regrettably, his hand is complete garbage and he can't seem to draw into anything useful outside his two Jirachi to Stardust stall. Eventually his board just fizzled into nothing thanks to disastrously bad draws. 1-0
R2 vs Darkrai-EX and presumably also Giratina
He started with 2 Darkrai-EX and got literally nothing else. He chained Hex twice in a row but I didn't need Shaymin when I had the Sycamore each turn. I whiffed the Megaphone to kill his belted Darkrai so I had no choice but to swing for 180. He was able to KO me and I didn't have the replacement DCE to kill him, but I did have the Xerosic in hand to knock him out like that. 2-0
R3 vs Raichu Bats
I spot Crobat when he's shuffling, and when he opens with Zubat and Pikachu I know I'm in trouble. I remember the last time I fought against Raichu Bats and how I was annihilated without even attacking once and I'm like well here comes the loss. Except it didn't happen because he drew dead the whole time. No Supporters at all. I killed his Zubat, he revenge kills my Joltik, and the Teammates in hand seals up the game with a DCE search. I honestly felt bad after this one because he knew he should have won that match and I wasn't about to disagree with him. It would have been different if there had been some clutch plays or it wasn't a complete blowout on his side, but that didn't happen. Yay best of one. :/ 3-0
R4 vs Water Box
I told my opponent straight up that all three of my opponents have had awful luck against me. I just wanted a good battle at that point, win or lose. knew he was using Water Box since I watched him play his last matchup, also against Water Box. I figure if I can explode before I get Quaking Punch locked, I might have a chance at winning. Thankfully, this match was actually good! It was the fight I'd been looking for all day. He spent most of his time with Aegislash-EX up front trying to stall so I had to find ways to get around it while I hunted for the Hex. I ran two (thanks, Nick Robinson!) so it was no big deal, but I couldn't find it. There were a couple cool plays. I used Escape Rope to force him to choose between promoting Shaymin or his clean Seismitoad, not knowing that I had the Lysandre in hand. I promoted Mew, retreated back into Night March Man, and claimed my two free prizes. During the very late game I was also able to stall by Target Whistling his Shaymin back from the dead and using Lysandre to lock it up front. During one turn I tried using Catcher to get around Aegislash and take out his Seismitoad but I hit tails. I didn't end up hitting the Hex Maniac until I had about two cards left in my deck and I was finally able to take him out for my last prize. Play of the game: healing Joltik with Rough Seas because Slash Blast only does 20 damage to him, LOL. It actually was clutch because it forced him to use Seismitoad-EX to kill me, allowing me two more prizes. 4-0
So I technically went undefeated. For "winning," I got 15 CP. Whee.
Props
+ R4 match was awesome, opponent was a Pokedad but he was not garbage at the game, was super chill, cool plays, just overall a good way to end the day
+ All three previous opponents were super graceful about their Z-tier hands costing them the game, salt was kept to a minimum
+ No Giratina anywhere
+ No Trevenant anywhere
+ Only 1 Vileplume (my friend) and we didn't fight each other
Slops
- r1
- r2
- r3
I understand that bad hands are part of the game and it's unfortunate when it happens. It just stings a little more since it happened three best-of-one games in a row and against two decks I honestly should have had to work a lot harder for the win. Kinda takes the wind out of my sails, you know?
CP gained this tournament: 15
Total CP this season: 15
Thanks to construction and hitting just about every red light and losing 10 minutes to taking a dump, we just barely make registration. I have never chicken scratched a deck list so fast in my life.
Pairings go up and I sit down at the table. Then pairings go up and I remember that the first list is just the roster, not pairings. Whoops. Been a while.
Since Ranger isn't tournament legal yet, I've got the ol' double whammy Enhanced + Xerosic to deal with Giratina, should he rear his ugly head. Let's do it.
R1 vs Greninja BREAK
I win the flip (!!!!) and choose to go first. I go first because while I'd like the chance to draw first blood, this is best of one and there's no way I'm gonna let a possible Trevenant set up because if he does, it's over. We flip our basics and I see a Froakie. I'm in trouble. I draw -
"you forgot your prizes"
I look and well, what do you know, I sure did. I told my opponent that I'm used to my prizes being laid out for me and he laughed. My opponent was generally super chill so props to him. We called the TO over anyway to make sure we did things on the up and up. She had me reveal the card I drew, put out that card plus the five would-be prizes, then the TO shuffled them and one Caution later we were on our way. Later on I tried drawing six off an N to 5. He caught me and I was like man, I swear I know how to play this game. Just need to shake the rust off. Regrettably, his hand is complete garbage and he can't seem to draw into anything useful outside his two Jirachi to Stardust stall. Eventually his board just fizzled into nothing thanks to disastrously bad draws. 1-0
R2 vs Darkrai-EX and presumably also Giratina
He started with 2 Darkrai-EX and got literally nothing else. He chained Hex twice in a row but I didn't need Shaymin when I had the Sycamore each turn. I whiffed the Megaphone to kill his belted Darkrai so I had no choice but to swing for 180. He was able to KO me and I didn't have the replacement DCE to kill him, but I did have the Xerosic in hand to knock him out like that. 2-0
R3 vs Raichu Bats
I spot Crobat when he's shuffling, and when he opens with Zubat and Pikachu I know I'm in trouble. I remember the last time I fought against Raichu Bats and how I was annihilated without even attacking once and I'm like well here comes the loss. Except it didn't happen because he drew dead the whole time. No Supporters at all. I killed his Zubat, he revenge kills my Joltik, and the Teammates in hand seals up the game with a DCE search. I honestly felt bad after this one because he knew he should have won that match and I wasn't about to disagree with him. It would have been different if there had been some clutch plays or it wasn't a complete blowout on his side, but that didn't happen. Yay best of one. :/ 3-0
R4 vs Water Box
I told my opponent straight up that all three of my opponents have had awful luck against me. I just wanted a good battle at that point, win or lose. knew he was using Water Box since I watched him play his last matchup, also against Water Box. I figure if I can explode before I get Quaking Punch locked, I might have a chance at winning. Thankfully, this match was actually good! It was the fight I'd been looking for all day. He spent most of his time with Aegislash-EX up front trying to stall so I had to find ways to get around it while I hunted for the Hex. I ran two (thanks, Nick Robinson!) so it was no big deal, but I couldn't find it. There were a couple cool plays. I used Escape Rope to force him to choose between promoting Shaymin or his clean Seismitoad, not knowing that I had the Lysandre in hand. I promoted Mew, retreated back into Night March Man, and claimed my two free prizes. During the very late game I was also able to stall by Target Whistling his Shaymin back from the dead and using Lysandre to lock it up front. During one turn I tried using Catcher to get around Aegislash and take out his Seismitoad but I hit tails. I didn't end up hitting the Hex Maniac until I had about two cards left in my deck and I was finally able to take him out for my last prize. Play of the game: healing Joltik with Rough Seas because Slash Blast only does 20 damage to him, LOL. It actually was clutch because it forced him to use Seismitoad-EX to kill me, allowing me two more prizes. 4-0
So I technically went undefeated. For "winning," I got 15 CP. Whee.
Props
+ R4 match was awesome, opponent was a Pokedad but he was not garbage at the game, was super chill, cool plays, just overall a good way to end the day
+ All three previous opponents were super graceful about their Z-tier hands costing them the game, salt was kept to a minimum
+ No Giratina anywhere
+ No Trevenant anywhere
+ Only 1 Vileplume (my friend) and we didn't fight each other
Slops
- r1
- r2
- r3
I understand that bad hands are part of the game and it's unfortunate when it happens. It just stings a little more since it happened three best-of-one games in a row and against two decks I honestly should have had to work a lot harder for the win. Kinda takes the wind out of my sails, you know?
CP gained this tournament: 15
Total CP this season: 15
2. League Challenge - Streamwood, IL (Aug 27 2016)
Today's report is brought to you by speeding. Speeding: When 70 MPH is Way Too Slow.
Today was my second tournament of this season and the rotation hasn't even happened yet, so I'm feeling pretty good about getting a head start on some points. This tournament was in the XY-STS format so I had one last chance to either take Night March or take something that beat it. With Worlds just at our backs, I was expecting some Audino, and that made me give Night March just a little bit of pause. I picked up a couple singles over the weekend so I also could have taken Water Box or Trevenant. Camoclone suggested I avoid Trevenant due to its poor showing at Worlds, which is understandable. Still, since Trevenant is about to rotate and it's best of one I almost considered it. A Trevenant going first could end up wrecking even its worst matchups.
In the end, I chose to use Night March due to my familiarity with the deck. Water Box was a close second, but I didn't like that I only had one Manaphy, and I was ultra scared of Vespiquen who basically turns it into an auto win. Now that Steam Siege is legal I've added a Special Charge and a Pokemon Ranger over Target Whistle and Xerosic.
I gotta say, the playing field was nothing at all like I was expecting. There were 21 masters in total so we had five rounds. I didn't get a chance to spy on everyone's deck but here is a fairly comprehensive list of all the decks that were used:
Dark Box (Darkrai-EX, Malamar-EX, Umbreon-EX, possibly more)
Darkrai / Garbodor
Genesect-EX / Bronzong BREAK
Greninja BREAK ft. Talonflame
Lockbox (Jolteon-EX / Glaceon-EX / Vileplume)
M Audino-EX (Metal version)
M Gardevoir-EX (PRC, shut up Frosstoise) / Sylveon-EX
M Latios-EX (!!!!)
Night March x2 (including me)
Night March / Vespiquen
Volcanion / Pyroar BREAK
Volcanion-EX / Entei
Yanmega BREAK / Vespiquen
Yveltal BREAK / Crobat (two)
Zyleplume
Zyleplume / Carbink BREAK
Look at that diversity. Damn that's cool. If this showing is indicative of the new format then this season is gonna be super fun. I especially like the idea behind Yveltal BREAK and Crobat. That's some good synergy and this indeed was the last chance to use a cool idea like that, so props to the couple of guys who used it. You can also see that there aren't very many overly poor Night March matchups, but there are a few sketchy ones. Did I avoid them? Did I get four free wins again? Read on and find out.
R1 vs Darkrai / Garbodor
He opens with a Trubbish to my Joltik with Pumpkaboo benched. He's going first so I get to draw first blood, which is nice. I end up taking a Lysandre KO on his baby Yveltal because I only get 3 pokes in the discard from a poopy first turn. It takes him a few turns to get going, too, but he made a great play by promoting a Trubbish, attaching Float Stone, retreating into Shaymin, hitting me with an N to 4 and Sky Returning into Fright Night Yveltal to secure the KO on Joltik. I was floored. I've never had that done to me before and I was mildly impressed. Unfortunately I got nothing off the N except a Trainer's Mail, which I whiffed. All I had in play was an active Pumpkaboo and a Shaymin with 60 on it so that was game over. My opponent said he was glad that it wasn't a total blowout and I'm like buddy you have no idea how much I agree with you. 0-1
R2 vs Time
I got a bye so I sat and talked to my homies in the Skype chat for 30 minutes. 1-1
R3 vs Yveltal Break / Crobat
I spot Zubat when he's shuffling and I can already tell how this is gonna end. Little did I know the massacre I was in for. I wish I could say that this was a good game, or even a decent game, but I drew dead the whole time and prized a Shaymin so I was in trouble from really early on. He evolved into Yveltal BREAK and took 2 Prizes off of my active and a benched Mew. I couldn't revenge KO and the second he dropped a Crobat, I scooped. 1-2
R4 vs Zyleplume
He goes first and whiffs the T1 Vileplume which gives me a shot at winning. Eventually he gets the Vileplume out and I'm stuck with a hand full of poop cards. My only chance at winning is to use Teammates for two Battle Compressors. Then, on the following turn, play the Hex in hand and start doing something. Well, I did that, but the turn after I used Teammates he N'd them back into my deck. The hand I got out of it was completely worthless and any damage I would have done with Night March was just gonna get healed off with Cell Storm. RIP. 1-3
R5 vs Lockbox (Jolteon-EX / Glaceon-EX / Vileplume)
Yes, folks, that's right, I literally fought all Night March's worst matchups that day. He opens with a Jolteon and I'm like, okay this is what I have Ranger for. He plays down Forest and I'm like are you freakin' kidding me right now. Fortunately he also whiffs the T1 Vileplume. First thing I do is use Battle Compressor and I notice that my Ranger is prized. Great. Just great. He also played Regirock AOR (not the AT one) and promoted it after his turn so I knock it out. He retaliates with a KO on my Joltik with Flash Ray, and next turn I get a belted Pumpkaboo and enough to Lysandre a Shaymin for the KO. The next turn he swings for 70 again and the next turn I VS -> Lysandre his other Shaymin to put me at 1 prize left. By this point I had drawn into my Town Map so I was able to take the Ranger. He kills my Pumpkaboo with Flash Ray, but I topdeck the DCE with the Ranger and Valley in hand to seal the game up. He didn't get Vileplume into play until the very end and it was too late at that point anyway. 2-3
I didn't come anywhere near the top 4, so no CP for me this time, just karma.
Props
+ deck diversity
+ farewell, Night March, you had a good run
+ goodbye Item lock, see you in Expanded
+ some guy used Mega Latios and actually won a couple of his matches
+ Yveltal BREAK / Crobat
+++ I'M DOING TOURNAMENTS, GUYS, FINALLY
+ Going 85 in a 60 and passed what was probably a cop and didn't get pulled over
Slops
- the absolute worst matchups ever, including against Yveltal BREAK / Crobat which is the stuff of Night March's nightmares
Won't be any more LCs for me until around the end of September, I think, so that'll give me plenty of time to work on my decks for next season. I'm a little sad that I didn't get any CP but I can't help but laugh at how this report and my first report are polar opposites. Now that I've paid for my free LC win by getting absolutely demolished in this one, I hope my karma has balanced out for the next one. It's a new format, so I'm definitely excited to see what cool decks people will come up with!
CP gained this tournament: lol
Total CP this season: 15
Today was my second tournament of this season and the rotation hasn't even happened yet, so I'm feeling pretty good about getting a head start on some points. This tournament was in the XY-STS format so I had one last chance to either take Night March or take something that beat it. With Worlds just at our backs, I was expecting some Audino, and that made me give Night March just a little bit of pause. I picked up a couple singles over the weekend so I also could have taken Water Box or Trevenant. Camoclone suggested I avoid Trevenant due to its poor showing at Worlds, which is understandable. Still, since Trevenant is about to rotate and it's best of one I almost considered it. A Trevenant going first could end up wrecking even its worst matchups.
In the end, I chose to use Night March due to my familiarity with the deck. Water Box was a close second, but I didn't like that I only had one Manaphy, and I was ultra scared of Vespiquen who basically turns it into an auto win. Now that Steam Siege is legal I've added a Special Charge and a Pokemon Ranger over Target Whistle and Xerosic.
I gotta say, the playing field was nothing at all like I was expecting. There were 21 masters in total so we had five rounds. I didn't get a chance to spy on everyone's deck but here is a fairly comprehensive list of all the decks that were used:
Dark Box (Darkrai-EX, Malamar-EX, Umbreon-EX, possibly more)
Darkrai / Garbodor
Genesect-EX / Bronzong BREAK
Greninja BREAK ft. Talonflame
Lockbox (Jolteon-EX / Glaceon-EX / Vileplume)
M Audino-EX (Metal version)
M Gardevoir-EX (PRC, shut up Frosstoise) / Sylveon-EX
M Latios-EX (!!!!)
Night March x2 (including me)
Night March / Vespiquen
Volcanion / Pyroar BREAK
Volcanion-EX / Entei
Yanmega BREAK / Vespiquen
Yveltal BREAK / Crobat (two)
Zyleplume
Zyleplume / Carbink BREAK
Look at that diversity. Damn that's cool. If this showing is indicative of the new format then this season is gonna be super fun. I especially like the idea behind Yveltal BREAK and Crobat. That's some good synergy and this indeed was the last chance to use a cool idea like that, so props to the couple of guys who used it. You can also see that there aren't very many overly poor Night March matchups, but there are a few sketchy ones. Did I avoid them? Did I get four free wins again? Read on and find out.
R1 vs Darkrai / Garbodor
He opens with a Trubbish to my Joltik with Pumpkaboo benched. He's going first so I get to draw first blood, which is nice. I end up taking a Lysandre KO on his baby Yveltal because I only get 3 pokes in the discard from a poopy first turn. It takes him a few turns to get going, too, but he made a great play by promoting a Trubbish, attaching Float Stone, retreating into Shaymin, hitting me with an N to 4 and Sky Returning into Fright Night Yveltal to secure the KO on Joltik. I was floored. I've never had that done to me before and I was mildly impressed. Unfortunately I got nothing off the N except a Trainer's Mail, which I whiffed. All I had in play was an active Pumpkaboo and a Shaymin with 60 on it so that was game over. My opponent said he was glad that it wasn't a total blowout and I'm like buddy you have no idea how much I agree with you. 0-1
R2 vs Time
I got a bye so I sat and talked to my homies in the Skype chat for 30 minutes. 1-1
R3 vs Yveltal Break / Crobat
I spot Zubat when he's shuffling and I can already tell how this is gonna end. Little did I know the massacre I was in for. I wish I could say that this was a good game, or even a decent game, but I drew dead the whole time and prized a Shaymin so I was in trouble from really early on. He evolved into Yveltal BREAK and took 2 Prizes off of my active and a benched Mew. I couldn't revenge KO and the second he dropped a Crobat, I scooped. 1-2
R4 vs Zyleplume
He goes first and whiffs the T1 Vileplume which gives me a shot at winning. Eventually he gets the Vileplume out and I'm stuck with a hand full of poop cards. My only chance at winning is to use Teammates for two Battle Compressors. Then, on the following turn, play the Hex in hand and start doing something. Well, I did that, but the turn after I used Teammates he N'd them back into my deck. The hand I got out of it was completely worthless and any damage I would have done with Night March was just gonna get healed off with Cell Storm. RIP. 1-3
R5 vs Lockbox (Jolteon-EX / Glaceon-EX / Vileplume)
Yes, folks, that's right, I literally fought all Night March's worst matchups that day. He opens with a Jolteon and I'm like, okay this is what I have Ranger for. He plays down Forest and I'm like are you freakin' kidding me right now. Fortunately he also whiffs the T1 Vileplume. First thing I do is use Battle Compressor and I notice that my Ranger is prized. Great. Just great. He also played Regirock AOR (not the AT one) and promoted it after his turn so I knock it out. He retaliates with a KO on my Joltik with Flash Ray, and next turn I get a belted Pumpkaboo and enough to Lysandre a Shaymin for the KO. The next turn he swings for 70 again and the next turn I VS -> Lysandre his other Shaymin to put me at 1 prize left. By this point I had drawn into my Town Map so I was able to take the Ranger. He kills my Pumpkaboo with Flash Ray, but I topdeck the DCE with the Ranger and Valley in hand to seal the game up. He didn't get Vileplume into play until the very end and it was too late at that point anyway. 2-3
I didn't come anywhere near the top 4, so no CP for me this time, just karma.
Props
+ deck diversity
+ farewell, Night March, you had a good run
+ goodbye Item lock, see you in Expanded
+ some guy used Mega Latios and actually won a couple of his matches
+ Yveltal BREAK / Crobat
+++ I'M DOING TOURNAMENTS, GUYS, FINALLY
+ Going 85 in a 60 and passed what was probably a cop and didn't get pulled over
Slops
- the absolute worst matchups ever, including against Yveltal BREAK / Crobat which is the stuff of Night March's nightmares
Won't be any more LCs for me until around the end of September, I think, so that'll give me plenty of time to work on my decks for next season. I'm a little sad that I didn't get any CP but I can't help but laugh at how this report and my first report are polar opposites. Now that I've paid for my free LC win by getting absolutely demolished in this one, I hope my karma has balanced out for the next one. It's a new format, so I'm definitely excited to see what cool decks people will come up with!
CP gained this tournament: lol
Total CP this season: 15
3. Regional Championship - Madison, WI (June 3 2017)
So much for attending tournaments regularly. I guess life doesn't want me to play this game competitively because I keep getting shit on by something that eats up all my money.
Anyway the only reason I was even able to go to this tournament was because a super buddy paid my way so shout outs to them.
For this tournament I decided to play Umbreon. This was mainly because it was the only deck I actually had the cards for, but also because I'd had some success with it on PTCGO. I almost didn't go because for one, I don't have two Leles irl, and two, I was afraid that the cards I needed for the deck (Drampa/one Lele/Bands) wouldn't arrive in time. They did, however, and I sleeved together the deck. I originally ran four Float Stones but I ended up taking two out for a Multi Switch and a second Psychic Energy. Overall it was a cool decision. Friday night I sleeved the deck and Saturday morning I drove out to the event.
I hadn't really thought about what this deck's matchups are. I know it has a good Garbodor matchup because Drampa can't OHKO Umbreon and Trashalanche isn't much of that. On top of that, I can kill two Garbodor in two turns with back-to-back Shadow Bullets with a Lysandre play, keeping the prize trade even. Aside from Passimian (which I saw a guy sleeving up before the tourney started), I didn't know what this deck struggled against. I hadn't tested it against anything aside from whatever randoms used on PTCGO, but I'd won a lot with it and so that was the play for me.
I checked in and got a neat little swag bag. It had a bunch of advertisements for the vendors, a deck box, a playmat, a Regionals-stamped Hala, and a pen. I was glad to get this bag cause I didn't have anything to carry my deck box around in other than my hands. It's a little too small to hold a mat tube, but it's not the end of the world.
I have no friends with me or at this event so I'm basically on my own the entire day. I sit down and start talking to the homies on Discord, wasting some time. Some kid is next to me cracking a booster box of GUR (apparently it's GUR and PTCGO is wrong, as usual). He asks me to watch his stuff and I'm like yeah sure kid. He comes back with a Double Crisis blister and I'm like gross. Some other dude comes over and basically says as much but the kid's like "I really need Magma Base" and sure enough he gets one out of the first pack. His rares in both packs was Kyogre-EX so guess that's cool. He asked me if I play online and gave me the code card when I said I did. Neat. Thanks, kid.
Pairings finally go up and I'm stoked to get started. It's been a long time since I've been to a tournament and I'm looking to win (or at least walk out with packs). Time to go to work.
R1 vs Paul R (Primarina-GX/Lapras-GX/Regice)
This guy looked like a straight up nerd. He looked really nervous and just gave off this nerd vibe like he could probably have a heated debate with you about which waifu is the best. I shook his hand to start the match and his hands were cold and clammy and I nearly flinched because I didn't know they let dead guys compete.
Game 1: Spoiler for later - Umbreon's weakness is healing. I think that if this guy built his deck better, he would have given me a lot harder time. Team Flare Grunt put in work here, keeping Bubble Beat damage low and preventing him from powering up multiple attackers at once. Multi Switch was clutch, allowing me to shift a DCE to a Lele to swing for big damage. The most annoying part was playing around Grand Echo GX but he opted for Ice Beam GX instead. Overall this game wasn't too hard and I swept him pretty easily.
Game 2: I prized two Umbreon and got worried because he hit a T2 Primarina, and Umbreon 3HKOs it under the best of circumstances. Still managed to clutch it out. The most annoying part was the paralysis from Ice Beam GX; I didn't run Olympia so I had to suck it up and just die. 1-0
R2 vs Joel M (Drampa-GX/Garbodor/Sudowoodo)
We recognized each other before the tournament started, which is kinda surprising considering I hadn't seen him since the last tournament I played (he was the TO for the LC in Streamwood I went to way back in August). But on the other hand, it's kinda not, since I am very, very recognizable. Those of you who were at Madison may have seen me (really tall, chunky dark-skinned fella) and not even known it was me.
Game 1: I prized two Eevee and that's even worse than prizing two Umbreon. Fortunately his draws were awful and I dominated him pretty easily despite getting Ability locked. Play of the game: allowing him to Set Up while I had Wobbuffet active, oops. I let it slide because I realized it like a turn later and figured if he did it again I'd say something. Still won though.
Game 2: First mulligan of the day as well as the first Shaymin start. I was Ability locked from T2 onward, but that didn't mean much because my deck is anti-Garbodor and I was still able to set up by using only two Ultra Balls (one for Eevee, one for Umbreon). After that, getting my hand refreshed by N was enough to let me set up without expending much items. He also drew kinda poorly and after I gusted out his Drampa to take my third and fourth prizes, he scooped. 2-0
R3 vs Danny A (Zoroark BREAK/Drampa-GX/Tapu Koko)
I am feeling pretty good at this point since I'm undefeated so far, but I know not to get cocky. I sit down at my table and start setting up. A judge comes over to me and says "Are you Matt?" And I'm like uhhh yeah what's up. At first I thought I had been chosen to be on stream but the judge was like "We moved you to a different table, your opponent is in a wheelchair" and I'm like okay sure. So he directs me to my opponent and I sit down and start setting up. The round gets started right as I sit down so my opponent is flipping out that we're not gonna finish in time.
Game 1: Things go decent for me. I'm not benching much so Zoroark doesn't eat me alive but I had Wobbuffet stranded up front. While I draw passed for four turns thanks to no supporters, Tapu Koko tore my field up, and then once I finally got him out of there and attacking with Umbreon, he retreated in to Zoroark BREAK and copied Shadow Bullet to KO both Umbreon and Shaymin to win the game. Turns out I am my own worst enemy. :[
Game 2: I went first and got the T2 Shadow Bullet off. He got absolutely nothing and scooped on his second turn.
Game 3: This game was better than our first game, but I don't remember all the details because it went by so quickly. I do remember that it was an actual game and not completely one-sided like our first two games were. He got me in the end though. After the battle we chatted about my deck and my choice to run Psychic Energy allowing Wobbuffet to attack and making Tapu Cure GX usable at all. I may have lost, but he had to work for it and that's all I can ask for. Our games went by so quickly that we finished long before time was called. 2-1
After this we were on lunch. The line for the lunch thing was long as hell so I decided to leave and get my own food. Getting there took forever, waiting in line took forever, getting back took forever. I have never slammed food so fast in my life. Fortunately my parking spot wasn't taken otherwise I might not have made it back for my next match.
R4 vs Rith K (Gyarados)
Game 1: He played multiple Shaymin which is exactly what I want to see. Unfortunately thanks to whiffing either Lysandre, VS Seeker, or DCE, I was only able to do this feat once. After I took three Prizes I got annihilated. Play of the game: Discarding his Float Stone off his Gyarados allowing him to attach a second Choice Band. RIP
Game 2: Almost had him this game but I still lost. His draws were poor and Drampa was able to toss out some of his DCEs, forcing him to dig like a madman to get them back. Towards the end I had a cool play that I could have done: Super Rod to put Drampa back into my deck, Ultra Ball it back out, drop it, retreat Umbreon for free using Altar of the Moone, then Multi Switching one to Drampa to force him to dig for his last DCE. I didn't do it because I figured if he hit it I was dead anyway so there was no point in doing so. So instead of doing that I did something else and he managed to get his last prizes. After the battle he agreed that it was a dope play and I hate myself for not doing it. He complimented me on my deck choice though. 2-2
R5 vs King T (Umbreon-GX/Drampa-GX/AOR Eeveelutions/Raticate BREAK)
My round 5 weirdo wasn't a weirdo! He was pretty chill which was a very refreshing change. He was like "I thought I was the only Umbreon player" and I was like "yeah me too". My deck was far more disruptive than his, though. Team Flare Grunt put in a lot of work combined with Righteous Edge.
Game 1: I don't remember what happened. All I remember was that he managed to steal the game with a four-prize turn. Damn you, Shaymin, and your 110 HP. He played Winona early on to search out the 1-1-1 Raticate BREAK and I guess it makes sense since he ran Enhanced Hammer and Drampa. Super Fang also allows for cute Lysandre plays to possibly get multiple Prizes in one turn.
Game 2: This game came down to the wire. I ended up Flare Grunting his last basic Energy away, preventing him from attacking; he had the means to get the DCE and seal up the game with Shadow Bullet. He would have won on time but he decided to give me the win, allowing for a tie, since he was going to drop. 2-2-1
R6 vs Michael S (Mega Rayquaza)
Turns out my round 5 weirdo didn't show up until round 6. Before I sat down he asked "odds or evens" and I was like uhhhhhhh odds. Whatever. MVP of his deck was Mallow; that card is amazing in decks that use it.
Game 1: This was my worst start of the day. Mulliganed three times, started with Shaymin, and got no Energy for three turns. Eventually I was able to mount something resembling a comeback with Team Flare Grunt and Righteous Edge, but a late-game VS for Mallow sealed it up by getting him the cards he needed to KO me.
Game 2: This one went better. Any Energy he tried attaching went right to the discard pile, and only once did he have enough Benched to OHKO Umbreon. At one point I slammed his Hoopa for 120 and he must have dug through 20 cards looking for his Float Stone, ending up benching all four of his Shaymin in an attempt to find it. Eventually he got it and I was forced to replace his Sky Field so I could retreat. He didn't discard his Hoopa and two boosted Shadow Bullets later I took four Prizes and won the game right as time was called. 2-2-2
R7 vs JD M (Drampa-GX/Garbodor)
Game 1: He kept attaching to his Active and that meant Team Flare Grunt ate him for breakfast.
Game 2: Started with Lele this game and he started with Trubbish. He evolved into BKP Garbodor and threw a Band on him. He started powering up two Drampas on his Bench, expecting me to kill him so I he could bring out Drampa, drop a Rainbow, and start going to town, but I swang on him for 60 and just passed until I was able to Lysandre Drampa and swing into it. After that it basically went downhill for him and I don't know if he took more than two prizes off me. 3-2-2
R8 vs Rob R (Drampa-GX/Garbodor/Tauros-GX)
Game 1: I won the flip and opened Eevee but had no darks in hand. He whiffed the DCE to donk and I drew into an Energy to evolve next turn. Don't remember much else other than that, but I was able to 2HKO his Tauros with Umbreon and come back to win.
Game 2: He started with Drampa and managed to put two basic Energy on him to avoid Righteous Edge. But thanks to Multi Switch and Altar of the Moone I was able to retreat into Umbreon, switch the Energy up and Dark Call him back to nothing. He basically couldn't come back after that because every time he attached an Energy I just removed it and Trashalanche did basically nothing the entire time. 4-2-2
R9 vs Alex B (Alolan Ninetales-GX/Tapu Koko)
I was kinda hoping this dude would just scoop it up but considering he stayed in this long it wasn't gonna happen. I had been seeing Ninetales all day long and it wasn't until he flipped over Vulpix that I realized I had avoided it all day. It was a good thing I did too because oh my god this deck is Umbreon's worst nightmare. The threat of Ice Path GX means I basically need to only use Choice Banded Shadow Bullets to 2HKO.
Game 1: Rough Seas undid most of my Shadow Bullet damage (at least I was not so dumb as to throw the 30 onto a Vulpix) and that Ice Blade damage added up real quick. A Kukui-boosted Banded Blizzard Edge OHKOs Umbreon and that's bad news. Aqua Patch would get back any energy I removed... it wasn't even a close battle. Every time I would N him to low he had an Ultra Ball into Shaymin or Lele -> Sycamore and... ugh. It was awful. It's as close to an auto-loss without factoring in Weakness as you can get.
Game 2: Basically a repeat of the last game, I didn't even take a single prize. He either ran super hot or his deck is just consistent as hell, he got every card exactly when he needed it.
Final standings: 4-3-2, 162nd place out of 533? Masters
Props
+ Most of my opponents complimented my deck, even the ones whose asses I kicked
+ Destroyed every Garbodor deck I came across, the way God intended
+ Avoided the horror of Ninetales until the very last round
+ Multi Switch was a cool addition, being able to swap around DCEs means things like fully powering up and attacking with Drampa immediately after bringing it into play are possible
+ Had fun, didn't have to travel far
+ Metagross made it to the finals after being hailed as a scrub deck
+ Got to see Veronica Taylor and Eric Stuart but didn't feel like paying cash money to meet them. I swear Veronica Taylor must be like four foot ten because I was still way taller than her even though she was in like six-inch heels.
Slops
- Many games where I needed one card to win and I whiffed it. I definitely could have cut with a slightly more consistent build.
- That's basically it, this event was cool and run super smooth
- No packs, not anywhere near top 64
- No CP (not that it would have mattered)
This will likely be my last tournament for this season, as I can't afford to go to nats and don't qualify for Worlds. I'll see if my money situation is better towards the end of this season. Maybe I'll get a real season in someday...
CP gained this tournament: 0
Total CP this season: 15
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