One Hit KO

Here’s my quick tourney report from Outpost 2000 yesterday. Ava had a birthday party to attend at a waterpark sort of place, so she didn’t join us. I got Petra to play, though. Apart from that, the big news was that another fellow joined us. Some of you may remember the days when this site was named www.TeamOmar.com. Well, the team’s namesake, Omar, graced us with his presence. I handed him my Quad Terrakion deck (for which he had to scrounge 4 Terrakion).

Petra ran Ava’s Donphan deck. It’s a pretty simplified deck, and I simplified it even further for Petra. Essentially, it runs 4 Virizion as a starter. On turn 1, you attach an energy there and Double Draw. On turn 2, you bring up Donphan and start attacking. Yeah, there’s more to do that that, but not a whole lot more.

I ran the “Budget Zoroark” deck. The list I ran can be found in the Cheapest Pokemon Deck article.

Round 1: Guy From Saint Cloud with Tornadus EX, Regigigas EX, and Beartic (Petra Vs. Paul)
I usually do a good job of writing down the opponent’s name or getting a picture of the matchups. This time, I forgot the camera, and I was busy helping Petra get set up, so I hurried to the table and rushed getting set up and all. I know he told me his name, but I promptly forgot it. We did talk about him coming down from St. Cloud, though. He started with Tornadus EX up front and dropped Regigigas EX on the bench. I Ascended to Zoroark on my first turn, and then he did Blow Through for 30. After that, I think I got to 100 damage on turn 2 and a KO shortly after. I don’t exactly recall how it all went down, but I think he retreated and I Catchered for a 2prize KO. Then, I think I 2-shot Regi and got other cheap KOs on Cubchoo. My KOs kept him pretty low on energy the whole game. One thing that went very well for him was that he was able to Lost Remover my Rescue energy whenever I dropped those. Dark Patch kept me ahead on energy, and I maintained a full bench the whole game.

About half way through the game, Alex, the judge, came over and said Petra was having a real tough time. I think she was feeling very intimidated, self conscious, and unsure of herself. She just stopped playing, and ended up coming over to sit with me during my match. She said she didn’t want to play anymore, and the whole thing was pretty sad. After winning my match, we went to have a talk.

Ed: 1-0, Petra 0-1

We hung out and talked about it for a while. After much pleading and a bit of bribing, she agreed to play another match if I stood or sat with her and helped her shuffle and stuff like that. That meant that I dropped in Masters so I could hang out with her. I told you I was undefeated for real this time!

Round 2: Petra Vs. Nathan with Round attacks
Nathan actually had a pretty tough time setting his stuff up. His main attacker was Seismitoad, but he had a bunch of fighting weak Jigglypuff around. Petra’s not quite to the point of knowing which strategic KOs to go for. She just wants to play her cards and then attack which is all good at this point in her progression. Nathan is a great kid, and he took it all in stride. Once he set up, he was able to easily OneHitKO her water weak Donphans. I think it actually went down to time, but Nathan was ahead and Petra had run out of Donphan.
Petra 0-2, Ed: 1-0

The best part of this match versus Nathan was that Petra settled down and decided to give it another go.

Round 3: Petra Vs. Caleb with Eelektrik/Zekrom
In this matchup, I think the Donphan is heavily favored. Petra started feeling more comfortable playing cards, and she was generally playing most of her stuff (whereas before she would just decide not to play some stuff). The result was great for her confidence, but it was mixed for her attacks. Her desire to play cards would sometimes mean that she’d play a Catcher when it was better to just attack the damaged active Zekrom EX. :) The important thing was that she was playing and making choices (as opposed to being timid and wanting to quit/leave). She did end up winning this game, because it was very hard for Caleb to keep up with her X2 damage. Caleb was extremely gracious, and I was very pleased by how good of a sport he was.
Petra 1-2, Ed: 1-0

Round 4: Petra Vs. BYE (aka Petra Vs. Christian)
Petra was just hitting her stride and wanted to continue, and she got dealt a BYE. On paper, that put her at 2-2 for the day, which is awesome for her first tourney at 5 years old. I did feel like I helped her quite a bit, but I’m just so happy that she finished it out. During her BYE, a kid named Christian agreed to play a fun game with Petra. Since it was for fun, I coached Petra quite a bit, and against Christian’s all Lightning deck, Petra easily prevailed.

Petra came away with a desire to play more. I was very proud that she came back this strong after wanting to quit the whole tourney. It turned out to be a great day even though I only got to play 1 match.

I want to thank Paul, Nathan, Caleb, and Christian for being great for Petra to play against. You guys helped make Petra want to return for the Fall Battle Roads. Zoroark went undefeated, and Petra wants to keep playing. Perfect!

Petra 2-2, Ed: 1-0

Category: OneHitKO.com Budget Challenge | Tags: Donphan, Zoroark