One Hit KO

Fall Battle Roads at Outpost 2000 and Beyond

You mean you didn’t totally scrub out, misplay for a game loss, try to blame it on the judge, and barely make 50/50 on the day?

What the? Who let Pedro in here?

Okay, just calm down. Deep breaths. If I don’t believe in him, he doesn’t exist. Exhale. Okay, I’m good. Where was I?

Right, Battle Roads, Coon Rapids, MN. There wasn’t as many people at this one. That meant that there were only 5 rounds and no kickers. Ava and I arrived a tiny bit later than we should have, but it didn’t really matter. Things probably got underway about 1PM.

Round 1: Vs the other Ed with ZPSTT
I think Ed started with an active Thundurus. I thought he was probably playing the same thing he did the previous week, so I opted to start Pachirisu active and put Shaymin on the bench to prevent the Donk. I had Seeker in hand, so I could still use the power if I needed to. The game went very poorly for me from there on out. If I recall correctly, he went first and used Charge to get a second energy on Thundurus. On my turn, I made a slight misplay. I Catchered something off of his bench (to stall him on the retreat cost), and I should have also played the Seeker. That would have put his 2 energies in his hand making it so he probably couldn’t attack on his next turn. As it turns out, this was just a minor issue in the scheme of things. My only real chance to get out of my mess was Dual Ball, and I hit 4 tails in a row on that. I finally did get going a little after Pokegearing for Juniper and dumping my two Seekers into the discard. When I actually got to search my deck, I found that my other Pachirisu was prized. I think I did take a prize or two, but Ed was already rolling by then.
0-1

Round 2: Vs Jill with Reshiram
I didn’t get to see much of Jill’s deck. I think she got out 2 Reshiram and 1 Magmar. I was able to set up quickly and get easy KO’s and finally cleared her field.

From what I gathered, her only other previous tourney experience may have been just prereleases. She mostly plays at Outpost 2000’s league. She was pleasant to play against, but I didn’t chat with her too much.
1-1

Round 3: Vs TAndrewT with Tyranitar
This was a bit of a slowish game, but it was in my favor from the start. Essentially, I was able to get good key KO’s. For Andy to get a KO on me, he usually had to bring up Zororark, and then I was able to return KO it each time. He did finally get a Tyranitar set up, but it was too late. At that point, I could either 2-shot the TTar or just Catcher around it.
2-1

Round 4: Vs Ariel L. with Beartic/Reuniclus/Vileplume
This game was pretty much won or lost on turn 1. After my previous horrible luck with Dual Ball, it completely redeemed itself here. I started with Zekrom active with 3 Lightning energy and 1 Catcher in hand. I hit double heads on the Dual Ball, got Pachi and Shay, Catchered up Oddish, and Bolt Struck for the KO. From what I understand, he prized his other Oddish, and that left me to KO his stuff from there on out. I think my first prize was Pokegear, and that helped me refill my hand. I had no real issues from that point forward.
3-1

Round 5: Vs Austin with Vileplume/Reunniclus/Zekrom
I’m not sure if Austin ran Beartic or what his main attacker was meant to be. I’m pretty sure this was Austin’s first tourney as a master, and he seemed pretty nervous. It is a pretty good feat to get to 3-1 on your first attempt. At worst, he’d end up 3-2, so he should be proud of getting that far. I think I went first, and I ended up pulling off the first turn Zekrom. I know that I KO’d an oddish at some point. Maybe it was then. I think he put up a Zekrom to wall, and I Plus Powered for the KO there. He had Twins’d for Pichu, and, with my bench full, he put another Oddish on his. I went for some card drawing and was able to KO that Oddish. He played Flower Shop Lady, put the 2 Oddish back into his deck, and used Pichu to pull one back to his bench. At this point, Austin made a huge mistake when shuffling his deck. He accidentally shuffled his hand into his deck. His father, who was judging, was nearby, so we mentioned it to him.

I’m pretty sure this is a game loss offense, because the game state is broken beyond repair. He was hearbroken, but, to be honest, his mistake didn’t matter. I only had 2 prizes left, and had 2 Catcher and a Junk Arm in hand. I showed him, and said that unless he had Judge, he couldn’t have won, anyway. He conceded that he had no Judge in his deck, so that was that. Austin, I know it’s heartbreaking to lose on a misplay like that. I did it last week. Don’t let it get to you. I know it’s hard to learn confidence, but I think that if you weren’t so nervous, you wouldn’t have made that move. Don’t let the outside stuff get to you, and you will be better able to focus on the stuff that matters.
4-1

While we wait to hear about how things settle out in the top tables of Masters, let’s check in on Ava.

Ava won her first game, but then she got matched up against Aiden (who won the previous week). She lost that game putting her at 1-1. She won her final game of Swiss, but I had explained to her that the two 2-0 players would probably be the ones to make the top cut. Juniors had 8 players, so they had 3 rounds of Swiss followed by a top 2 match for first and second. It turned out that Aiden won the game, meaning that his opponent, Nathan, and Ava had both lost to Aiden. The tiebreaker then turned out in Ava’s favor, so she made the top cut.

From what I understand, she won game 1 by clearing Aiden’s field. Game two seemed long and drawn out, with Aiden winning. Aiden finally pulled off his second BR win in 2 weekends and took him another 1st place Victory Cup. After the match, it was pointed out to Ava that she could actually have won had she Catchered up one of Aiden’s Pokemon at the right time. Oh well. She had fun. I don’t recall seeing any notable Pokemon in her 4 packs, but she did take home another Victory Cup. WooHoo!

Aiden’s dad was taking some notes about the match. If you’re reading this and have some specifics to share, I’d love to include them. Just leave a comment!

So, that’s MN Battle Roads #2. I was pretty sure that I had no chance to make top cut. Losing the first round put me up against the other losers. No, I am not making a judgement on their life or place in society. I’m saying that when you start 0-1, you get matched up against other 0-1 players. This meant that my tiebreakers were going to be lower than the guys that had gone 4-0 and then lost their final match or 3-0, had a loss, and won their final match. I also learned that my 4th round opponent was 1-2 when I played him, so I had been paired down. I didn’t play any of the other 4-1 or 5-0 players, so I really had no chance to sneak in on tiebreakers.

Ava and I took her Victory Cup and started driving. If, by some fluke, I had snuck in, I would have turned around, but that wasn’t going to happen.

From what I heard, Lukas, Michael, Nick, and Andy W. made top cut.

From what I heard, Lukas can’t count!

Dude, are you still in here, Pedro? I’m going to have to look into what an exorcism might do for me. Yeah, Lukas, of One Hit KO contest fame, seems to think 61 is better than 60. I’m a big advocate of the 6-pile shuffle, and this is one reason why.

Yeah, if you can’t count past 60, maybe a simpleton like you could at least count to 6 ten times.

You know that thing that Homer does with Bart’s neck? I really wish I could do that to you, Pedro. So, quick before Pedro can say anymore, Michael beat Andy W. in the finals.

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Nice photog