Hey guys. With nothing better to do, I've decided to post a tournament report for the BR today at Fairfax... so here it is:
I got to bed really yesterday, and this morning I was still pretty sick (lots of congestion, I just felt sort of blah in general). The BR started pretty late though, so I was able to get a good 9 hours of sleep. I take some pills for congestion, so between those, being sick, and Pokemon, I get really tired by the end of the day. So I'm using that to justify not being able to remember stuff in this report...
I get to HobbyWorks at about 10:15. I borrowed a lot of cards from thefleeee, and a Floatzel from glaceon this morning (thank you both); as well as a Rare Candy from someone I know from league to complete my decklist:
Pokemon (22):
3-3-3 Magnezone Prime TM
3-3 Floatzel UL
2-1-2 Vileplume UD
2x Cleffa HS
T/S/S (19):
3x Rare Candy
4x Professor Elm's Training Method
3x Pokemon Collector
3x Judge
2x Professor Oak's New Theory
2x Twins
2x Interviewer's Questions
Energy (19):
10x Water Energy
6x Lightning Energy
3x Rescue Energy
I haven't tested this deck much at all. In fact, I had only played 3 or so games before today. I made up the list basically off the top of my head and didn't bother to change it at all, so I wasn't expecting much. Especially since this was my first tournament as a Master.
I test 2 games against a weird Klinklang/Reshiram/Zekrom deck (not a fantastic deck, but alright against mine. He kept throwing 130 HP things at me and I can't KO them easily, so I run out of a lot of my energy. Especially when Klinklang gets 2 special Metal energies on it, and takes 4 LZ'd energy to KO). Before I know it, the pairings for the first round are up (this is when I learn that there are 50 Masters at this event) and...
Round 1 - Klinklang/Reshiram/Zekrom
That's right. R1 I play the one deck I played before the tournament. This is a really interesting game - I get a pretty good setup and have the Vileplume and Zone up pretty soon. However, my opponent keeps sending up Reshiram and Zekrom and I run out of a lot of my energy quickly. I'm down to 3 prizes when I search my deck and learn that my last 3 prize cards are 3 water energy. He has a Reshiram active against my Magnezone with an energy on it and 4 more in my deck, none of them Water (I want to attack with Floatzel to get enough damage to KO two of his Pokemon). When the PDL hits the field, it's over- he can force me to LZ 2 energy to KO it after Time Control. I end up with just 1 energy in play or my deck at the end. Had one of those energy in my prizes been not there, I would have won. But I guess that's the way it goes.
0-1
Round 2 - Sawk/Ursaring (?)/Tangrowth
This isn't a tough game. I go 6-0 on prizes and win. The guy playing this was probably just a Poke-dad, there for his son. Just an easy match in general. I never actually saw an Ursaring on the board, but he had Teddiursa, so I assume an Ursaring was in there somewhere.
1-1
Round 3 - ZPST
I'm playing a really nice guy this game. We chit-chat a bit before the game starts, turns out he has a son in Juniors. He's 1-1 as well, so I don't really know how good his deck is. I start with a lone Oddish, and he starts Zekrom. ZPST is hurt by Trainer-lock, so I assume this won't be too tough of a matchup. He ends up getting 2 energy on his Zekrom for 20 on the Oddish (he has a PlusPower in-hand as well, but no way to reach 40). I Collector, but discover that my second Oddish is prized, so I grab the Magnemite, Cleffa, and Buizel. I retreat to Cleffa and Eeeeeek, and get a decent hand. I stay asleep, but he Catchers my Oddish and KOs it. I get out a Magnezone with Rare Candy the next turn, though, so I get a Vileplume and some Floatzel set up as well. He's not really able to keep up with my OHKOs, so I end up just clawing my way through his Zekrom and Thundurus (thank goodness for Weakness). It ends up with him at 3 prizes left, I believe.
2-1
Round 4 - MegaZone
This is a really scary deck to face. The Yanmega can be heck for my basics, Floatzel, and Vileplume. Not to mention the one I'm playing runs Kingdra, so it hurts to leave Magnemite benched. We start and I mulligan a couple of times, but finally get a Magnemite-Oddish start. I don't get out a whole lot to start out. He gets out a Yanmega pretty quickly as well as a Magnezone and Kingdra by T4 or so. I get out Vileplume by T3, and a Magnezone probably the next turn. I manage to KO his Yanmega and Twins for a Buizel and a Lightning Energy (I was really low on this at the start...). I get out a Floatzel the next turn and chop through his Yanmega and the one Magnezone he gets out (the Trainer-lock really hurts the Rare Candy use). I don't manage to get out a backup Magnezone until the game's almost over anyways since he keeps sniping my Magnemite. He never quite KOs any of my Floatzel/Vileplume, which helped a lot. This was a close game, but it went in my favor after I got set up.
3-1
Round 5 - Gothitelle
I'm downpaired to a 2-2 player for this matchup, so this is when I know I'm not making cut. I start lone Magnemite, and as we flip, I see Gothita and Solosis, and I know I can win. I lock both players' Trainers, so Gothitelle's Ability really doesn't matter. And since I hold off on attacking until I can OHKO, Reuniclus is just wasted. I get out a Magnezone T2 or 3, and a Vileplume soon after. I really can't KO anything because I haven't gotten a Lightning energy yet (and I probably wouldn't anyways, seeing as I don't want to set up Twins). I keep attaching Water energy to my Magnezone until I eventually get the Lightning energy and KO my opponent's active Gothitelle with 2 energy on it. My opponent has one Basic on his bench now. He Playgrounds for 4 Pokemon, which probably helps me more than anything. I get out my 2 other Magnezone soon after as well as 2 Floatzel, and he never gets out another Gothitelle or Reuniclus. At one point, I have Lightning and Rescue energy on all my Magnezone, as well as 2 Water on each of my Floatzel. It was the best possible bench my deck could ever have, which was actually surprising for me to achieve. I go 6-0 on prizes.
4-1
Round 6 - Lanturn/Electrode Prime
I'm playing against the lone 5-0 deck at this point. I playtested a game against him earlier in the day, but stopped because pairings were up. That game really could have gone either way. Luckily for me, in this game, I go first and he has an awful hand. I'm able to get Vileplume T3, but can't draw into Magnezone. I eventually get it T5 or so, when he's still getting set up. He's KOd his own Electrode and one of my Pokemon with Lanturn. I get the Magnezone with 2 cards in my hand and everything else follows. The Trainer-lock hurts his deck a lot, and I'm able to keep up the OHKOs for the duration of the game - I get lucky on him not pulling Energy with Energymite, which helps. I win, but it was a close game.
5-1
Since I lost Round 1 and there are 4 Top Cut spots for 50 people, I miss Top Cut on resistance. I end up placing 6th, which is fantastic considering my lac of preparation and the fact that I was playing rogue in my first Masters tournament ever...
Props-
-Going 5-1
-Playing rogue
-McDonalds for lunch... yuss
-Playing against Gothitelle
-glaceon and thefleeee for loaning me cards
Slops-
-Missing Top Cut on resistance
-Losing against Klinklang
All in all, it was a great tournament and I had a really fun time. Thanks for reading this all the way through without skipping through the enthralling recounts of the games as I'm sure you did.
I got to bed really yesterday, and this morning I was still pretty sick (lots of congestion, I just felt sort of blah in general). The BR started pretty late though, so I was able to get a good 9 hours of sleep. I take some pills for congestion, so between those, being sick, and Pokemon, I get really tired by the end of the day. So I'm using that to justify not being able to remember stuff in this report...
I get to HobbyWorks at about 10:15. I borrowed a lot of cards from thefleeee, and a Floatzel from glaceon this morning (thank you both); as well as a Rare Candy from someone I know from league to complete my decklist:
Pokemon (22):
3-3-3 Magnezone Prime TM
3-3 Floatzel UL
2-1-2 Vileplume UD
2x Cleffa HS
T/S/S (19):
3x Rare Candy
4x Professor Elm's Training Method
3x Pokemon Collector
3x Judge
2x Professor Oak's New Theory
2x Twins
2x Interviewer's Questions
Energy (19):
10x Water Energy
6x Lightning Energy
3x Rescue Energy
I haven't tested this deck much at all. In fact, I had only played 3 or so games before today. I made up the list basically off the top of my head and didn't bother to change it at all, so I wasn't expecting much. Especially since this was my first tournament as a Master.
I test 2 games against a weird Klinklang/Reshiram/Zekrom deck (not a fantastic deck, but alright against mine. He kept throwing 130 HP things at me and I can't KO them easily, so I run out of a lot of my energy. Especially when Klinklang gets 2 special Metal energies on it, and takes 4 LZ'd energy to KO). Before I know it, the pairings for the first round are up (this is when I learn that there are 50 Masters at this event) and...
Round 1 - Klinklang/Reshiram/Zekrom
That's right. R1 I play the one deck I played before the tournament. This is a really interesting game - I get a pretty good setup and have the Vileplume and Zone up pretty soon. However, my opponent keeps sending up Reshiram and Zekrom and I run out of a lot of my energy quickly. I'm down to 3 prizes when I search my deck and learn that my last 3 prize cards are 3 water energy. He has a Reshiram active against my Magnezone with an energy on it and 4 more in my deck, none of them Water (I want to attack with Floatzel to get enough damage to KO two of his Pokemon). When the PDL hits the field, it's over- he can force me to LZ 2 energy to KO it after Time Control. I end up with just 1 energy in play or my deck at the end. Had one of those energy in my prizes been not there, I would have won. But I guess that's the way it goes.
0-1
Round 2 - Sawk/Ursaring (?)/Tangrowth
This isn't a tough game. I go 6-0 on prizes and win. The guy playing this was probably just a Poke-dad, there for his son. Just an easy match in general. I never actually saw an Ursaring on the board, but he had Teddiursa, so I assume an Ursaring was in there somewhere.
1-1
Round 3 - ZPST
I'm playing a really nice guy this game. We chit-chat a bit before the game starts, turns out he has a son in Juniors. He's 1-1 as well, so I don't really know how good his deck is. I start with a lone Oddish, and he starts Zekrom. ZPST is hurt by Trainer-lock, so I assume this won't be too tough of a matchup. He ends up getting 2 energy on his Zekrom for 20 on the Oddish (he has a PlusPower in-hand as well, but no way to reach 40). I Collector, but discover that my second Oddish is prized, so I grab the Magnemite, Cleffa, and Buizel. I retreat to Cleffa and Eeeeeek, and get a decent hand. I stay asleep, but he Catchers my Oddish and KOs it. I get out a Magnezone with Rare Candy the next turn, though, so I get a Vileplume and some Floatzel set up as well. He's not really able to keep up with my OHKOs, so I end up just clawing my way through his Zekrom and Thundurus (thank goodness for Weakness). It ends up with him at 3 prizes left, I believe.
2-1
Round 4 - MegaZone
This is a really scary deck to face. The Yanmega can be heck for my basics, Floatzel, and Vileplume. Not to mention the one I'm playing runs Kingdra, so it hurts to leave Magnemite benched. We start and I mulligan a couple of times, but finally get a Magnemite-Oddish start. I don't get out a whole lot to start out. He gets out a Yanmega pretty quickly as well as a Magnezone and Kingdra by T4 or so. I get out Vileplume by T3, and a Magnezone probably the next turn. I manage to KO his Yanmega and Twins for a Buizel and a Lightning Energy (I was really low on this at the start...). I get out a Floatzel the next turn and chop through his Yanmega and the one Magnezone he gets out (the Trainer-lock really hurts the Rare Candy use). I don't manage to get out a backup Magnezone until the game's almost over anyways since he keeps sniping my Magnemite. He never quite KOs any of my Floatzel/Vileplume, which helped a lot. This was a close game, but it went in my favor after I got set up.
3-1
Round 5 - Gothitelle
I'm downpaired to a 2-2 player for this matchup, so this is when I know I'm not making cut. I start lone Magnemite, and as we flip, I see Gothita and Solosis, and I know I can win. I lock both players' Trainers, so Gothitelle's Ability really doesn't matter. And since I hold off on attacking until I can OHKO, Reuniclus is just wasted. I get out a Magnezone T2 or 3, and a Vileplume soon after. I really can't KO anything because I haven't gotten a Lightning energy yet (and I probably wouldn't anyways, seeing as I don't want to set up Twins). I keep attaching Water energy to my Magnezone until I eventually get the Lightning energy and KO my opponent's active Gothitelle with 2 energy on it. My opponent has one Basic on his bench now. He Playgrounds for 4 Pokemon, which probably helps me more than anything. I get out my 2 other Magnezone soon after as well as 2 Floatzel, and he never gets out another Gothitelle or Reuniclus. At one point, I have Lightning and Rescue energy on all my Magnezone, as well as 2 Water on each of my Floatzel. It was the best possible bench my deck could ever have, which was actually surprising for me to achieve. I go 6-0 on prizes.
4-1
Round 6 - Lanturn/Electrode Prime
I'm playing against the lone 5-0 deck at this point. I playtested a game against him earlier in the day, but stopped because pairings were up. That game really could have gone either way. Luckily for me, in this game, I go first and he has an awful hand. I'm able to get Vileplume T3, but can't draw into Magnezone. I eventually get it T5 or so, when he's still getting set up. He's KOd his own Electrode and one of my Pokemon with Lanturn. I get the Magnezone with 2 cards in my hand and everything else follows. The Trainer-lock hurts his deck a lot, and I'm able to keep up the OHKOs for the duration of the game - I get lucky on him not pulling Energy with Energymite, which helps. I win, but it was a close game.
5-1
Since I lost Round 1 and there are 4 Top Cut spots for 50 people, I miss Top Cut on resistance. I end up placing 6th, which is fantastic considering my lac of preparation and the fact that I was playing rogue in my first Masters tournament ever...
Props-
-Going 5-1
-Playing rogue
-McDonalds for lunch... yuss
-Playing against Gothitelle
-glaceon and thefleeee for loaning me cards
Slops-
-Missing Top Cut on resistance
-Losing against Klinklang
All in all, it was a great tournament and I had a really fun time. Thanks for reading this all the way through without skipping through the enthralling recounts of the games as I'm sure you did.
