Empoleon's always been one of my favorite pokemon, ever since he was my starter in Diamond I've grown to love him. so naturally when i saw the new Empoleon I was pretty excited, and decided to take him with me to Battle Roads.
R1 vs. Lourence (Donphan/Terrakion/Groudon EX)
Lourence started the game by talking about how he built his deck to counter the 2 anticipated top decks Zekeel and Darkrai. he knew i played Zekeels in Regionals and assumed that's what I brought to BR as well. unfortunately for him i mulliganed and showed a water energy to kill his dreams. he tryed to aggro donphan but that was met by empoleons. he later abandons his donpahns and decide to attack in with terrakions but i take care of them with my own terrakions and a swarm of empoleons. Late game he ran out of attacks and was forced to bench Groundon EX, whom was met with catcher and attack commands for the game.
1-0
R2 vs Ricky (klingklang)
you might think klingklang is a joke but it isnt. its very powerful at what it can do. i get off to good start and take 6-2 prize lead. he Ns me and i'm in topdeck mode. Diving draw doesnt do much for me, and he wipes my field clean of Terrakion with well timed Night Spears. unable to retaliate and left with only empoleons I catcher kyurem and try to take last 2 prizes that way, but he continues to max potion and shift gear to deny prizes. eventually i get overpowerd. thinking back I probably should've approached this matchup differently, but hindsight's 20/20 i guess.
1-1
R3 vs Durant
sorry bud but i forgot your name. Anyway I didnt expect to face Durant and I immediately wish i had teched Heatmor. He goes first and gets turn 1 devour for 3. I get empoleon up with full bench by turn 4 and start taking prizes. he attempts to catcher and late game N but I fill my bench with everything with one retreat and had energy in order to retreat everytime. he misses a few crushing hammer heads and I manage to grab six prizes before he eats through my deck. (Can't say the same about the Lakers though)
2-1
R4 vs Cobalion/Vileplume
Sorry forgot your name too. He goes and gets T1 playground which allowed to to get basics. I cheren on my turn and hit 2 rare candys and no Empoleon. he cant get Candy + Vileplume so i survive. next turn i Cheren again and misses empoleon again. I sweat another turn as he plays sages and miss vilplume. my T3 I play my third Cheren and somehow completely whiff Empoleon for another turn. I only played one prinplup so if he gets Vileplume i'm dead. he plays sages while i sweat bullets. i'm relieved as he only plays a Gloom. T4 i top deck Empoleon and never look back. i get 3 empoleons by the end of the game and prevent him from getting out vileplume at all. taking cheap catcher prizes on oddishs, pichus, etc..
3-1
R5 Vs Julia: Zekeels
we both get off to a slow starts, but i get going with empoleons and terrakions w/ EXP share. I manage to get rid of all her tynamos and eels before they can do too much damage. unfortuantly she started with a mewtwo EX that really hurt her later on. we traded blows and I matched her ko for ko. time is called and I get T0. I catcher mewtwo and trap it active and do 100 with attack command. she plays Random Receiver and reveal the rest of her deck consisting of no supports and no junk arm/catcher. she plays DCE from her hand and dynamoter onto thundurus, retreats mewtwo and ko my empoleon to bring prizes to 3-1 in her favour. I bring up my terrakion with 2 energy , catcher mewtwo, and retaliate for 2 prizes. during that turn i make the dumbest misplay ever, I should've attachd to my active terrakion to prepare for catcher KO in sudden death for the win, but for some strange reason i attach to benched smeargle. knowing she was completely out of resources made me rest easier, but it was still a unnesscary mistake that could've costed me the game. in sudden death she brings out tornadus EX and do 100 to terrakion. I catcher eel and could only retaliate for 60. unable to retreat, she concedes. Great game.
4-1
R6 vs. Kevin: CMT
Before the match we both knew that whoever won would probably cut. and I knew he's a great player so i was preparing for doom. he gets a quick KO on piplup with leaf wallop and double PP, only to be met with my catcher retaliate on Regigigas EX. i set up my empoleons and decide to go after the 2 mewtwos on his bench. I kill one to bring my prizes to 2 while he Ns me. I put damage onto the other mewtwo and bring it within KO range. however my hand was full of junk. he does the smart thing and junk arms away his supporters to prevent me from Portraiting his hand. however as he takes his 2nd to last prize and it was juniper. I portrait that and juniper and i get everything i need to catcher ko his 2nd mewtwo for the game. Had he not get that juniper off his prizes i would've lost 100%.
I sneak into cup in 4th place.
Top 4 vs. Trevore: Zekeels
Game 1:
Nothing much happened game 1, he dead drew all game and i beat him in about 5 turns with 2 terrakions.
1-0
Game 2:
he gets off to a great start game 2 and gets double eels t2. i get a good start as well and manage to keep up with his KOs. my memories a little blurry but i remember he gets a few double tails on dual ball and couldn't return on of my KOs. eventually I run him out of attackers and leave his field with 3 eels and a smeargle. he scooped soon after that. gg
2-0
Top 2: vs Shimpei Yokoyama: Darkrai
Shimpei moved here from Japan and he's an excellent player. played against him a few times during league and he pretty much destroyed me everytime. his deck focuses on getting extremely fast Darkrais and just overpowers you.
Game 1:
I get a turn 2 empoleon and a good start, planning to revenge his darkrais, but he saw through my plan and picked off all my terrakions. I never got off a retaliate as he timed his KOs to make sure i couldn't do so. i draw bad and cant get another empoleon beyond my first one. eventually i get overpowered.
0-1
Game 2:
once again i get a T2 empoleon. he goes after my terrakions again and which shielded my pengiuns from damage. I get T3 double empoleon and get a third one soon after. I put damage on his field all around and starts getting prizes late game. it goes to time, i get T3 and i'm down 3-2, but i manage to junk arm for catcher his damage drakrai for 2 prizes and the win
1-1
Game 3:
the game goes into sudden death one prize. we joke about who's man enough to drop the N. i get to go first and get T2 Empoleon and T3 Double Empoleon AGAIN. by his T3 he drops the N to drop us to one card. he drops crap but my diving draws gives me a PONT and i take off. he tries to retreat to buy time but I repeated hit his darkrai while charging up terrakions. he dead draws for 3 turns that let me fully charge terrakion, i get switch and land crush for the game.
2-1
Props:
Ricky's decklist. again
hanging out with friends
Empoleon
Cor for the Terrakion and Murray for the Empoleon
Bidier's trolling
Jasmine for judging and giving me nightmares
Sandy for being PTO!
Beating Exs with non-EXs
being able to play Rare Candy again
Taylor Swift
Slops:
misplays
Bidier's trolling
pulled nothing in packs
R1 vs. Lourence (Donphan/Terrakion/Groudon EX)
Lourence started the game by talking about how he built his deck to counter the 2 anticipated top decks Zekeel and Darkrai. he knew i played Zekeels in Regionals and assumed that's what I brought to BR as well. unfortunately for him i mulliganed and showed a water energy to kill his dreams. he tryed to aggro donphan but that was met by empoleons. he later abandons his donpahns and decide to attack in with terrakions but i take care of them with my own terrakions and a swarm of empoleons. Late game he ran out of attacks and was forced to bench Groundon EX, whom was met with catcher and attack commands for the game.
1-0
R2 vs Ricky (klingklang)
you might think klingklang is a joke but it isnt. its very powerful at what it can do. i get off to good start and take 6-2 prize lead. he Ns me and i'm in topdeck mode. Diving draw doesnt do much for me, and he wipes my field clean of Terrakion with well timed Night Spears. unable to retaliate and left with only empoleons I catcher kyurem and try to take last 2 prizes that way, but he continues to max potion and shift gear to deny prizes. eventually i get overpowerd. thinking back I probably should've approached this matchup differently, but hindsight's 20/20 i guess.
1-1
R3 vs Durant
sorry bud but i forgot your name. Anyway I didnt expect to face Durant and I immediately wish i had teched Heatmor. He goes first and gets turn 1 devour for 3. I get empoleon up with full bench by turn 4 and start taking prizes. he attempts to catcher and late game N but I fill my bench with everything with one retreat and had energy in order to retreat everytime. he misses a few crushing hammer heads and I manage to grab six prizes before he eats through my deck. (Can't say the same about the Lakers though)
2-1
R4 vs Cobalion/Vileplume
Sorry forgot your name too. He goes and gets T1 playground which allowed to to get basics. I cheren on my turn and hit 2 rare candys and no Empoleon. he cant get Candy + Vileplume so i survive. next turn i Cheren again and misses empoleon again. I sweat another turn as he plays sages and miss vilplume. my T3 I play my third Cheren and somehow completely whiff Empoleon for another turn. I only played one prinplup so if he gets Vileplume i'm dead. he plays sages while i sweat bullets. i'm relieved as he only plays a Gloom. T4 i top deck Empoleon and never look back. i get 3 empoleons by the end of the game and prevent him from getting out vileplume at all. taking cheap catcher prizes on oddishs, pichus, etc..
3-1
R5 Vs Julia: Zekeels
we both get off to a slow starts, but i get going with empoleons and terrakions w/ EXP share. I manage to get rid of all her tynamos and eels before they can do too much damage. unfortuantly she started with a mewtwo EX that really hurt her later on. we traded blows and I matched her ko for ko. time is called and I get T0. I catcher mewtwo and trap it active and do 100 with attack command. she plays Random Receiver and reveal the rest of her deck consisting of no supports and no junk arm/catcher. she plays DCE from her hand and dynamoter onto thundurus, retreats mewtwo and ko my empoleon to bring prizes to 3-1 in her favour. I bring up my terrakion with 2 energy , catcher mewtwo, and retaliate for 2 prizes. during that turn i make the dumbest misplay ever, I should've attachd to my active terrakion to prepare for catcher KO in sudden death for the win, but for some strange reason i attach to benched smeargle. knowing she was completely out of resources made me rest easier, but it was still a unnesscary mistake that could've costed me the game. in sudden death she brings out tornadus EX and do 100 to terrakion. I catcher eel and could only retaliate for 60. unable to retreat, she concedes. Great game.
4-1
R6 vs. Kevin: CMT
Before the match we both knew that whoever won would probably cut. and I knew he's a great player so i was preparing for doom. he gets a quick KO on piplup with leaf wallop and double PP, only to be met with my catcher retaliate on Regigigas EX. i set up my empoleons and decide to go after the 2 mewtwos on his bench. I kill one to bring my prizes to 2 while he Ns me. I put damage onto the other mewtwo and bring it within KO range. however my hand was full of junk. he does the smart thing and junk arms away his supporters to prevent me from Portraiting his hand. however as he takes his 2nd to last prize and it was juniper. I portrait that and juniper and i get everything i need to catcher ko his 2nd mewtwo for the game. Had he not get that juniper off his prizes i would've lost 100%.
I sneak into cup in 4th place.
Top 4 vs. Trevore: Zekeels
Game 1:
Nothing much happened game 1, he dead drew all game and i beat him in about 5 turns with 2 terrakions.
1-0
Game 2:
he gets off to a great start game 2 and gets double eels t2. i get a good start as well and manage to keep up with his KOs. my memories a little blurry but i remember he gets a few double tails on dual ball and couldn't return on of my KOs. eventually I run him out of attackers and leave his field with 3 eels and a smeargle. he scooped soon after that. gg
2-0
Top 2: vs Shimpei Yokoyama: Darkrai
Shimpei moved here from Japan and he's an excellent player. played against him a few times during league and he pretty much destroyed me everytime. his deck focuses on getting extremely fast Darkrais and just overpowers you.
Game 1:
I get a turn 2 empoleon and a good start, planning to revenge his darkrais, but he saw through my plan and picked off all my terrakions. I never got off a retaliate as he timed his KOs to make sure i couldn't do so. i draw bad and cant get another empoleon beyond my first one. eventually i get overpowered.
0-1
Game 2:
once again i get a T2 empoleon. he goes after my terrakions again and which shielded my pengiuns from damage. I get T3 double empoleon and get a third one soon after. I put damage on his field all around and starts getting prizes late game. it goes to time, i get T3 and i'm down 3-2, but i manage to junk arm for catcher his damage drakrai for 2 prizes and the win
1-1
Game 3:
the game goes into sudden death one prize. we joke about who's man enough to drop the N. i get to go first and get T2 Empoleon and T3 Double Empoleon AGAIN. by his T3 he drops the N to drop us to one card. he drops crap but my diving draws gives me a PONT and i take off. he tries to retreat to buy time but I repeated hit his darkrai while charging up terrakions. he dead draws for 3 turns that let me fully charge terrakion, i get switch and land crush for the game.
2-1
Props:
Ricky's decklist. again
hanging out with friends
Empoleon
Cor for the Terrakion and Murray for the Empoleon
Bidier's trolling
Jasmine for judging and giving me nightmares
Sandy for being PTO!
Beating Exs with non-EXs
being able to play Rare Candy again
Taylor Swift
Slops:
misplays
Bidier's trolling
pulled nothing in packs
