OneHitKO.com Challenge: Tourney #1 Report
by Ed ~ December 18th, 2011.It’s the moment, I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for. The OneHitKO.com deck has finally made it’s public debut. This Sunday, we had a tourney at Outpost 2000 and Beyond. Masters had 5 rounds of Swiss, and here’s the story of how Eelektrik and Riachu got along.
Before the tourney got going, I needed to take care of 1 major issue. I still needed 4 Pokeball. I was able to get the donation I needed, so it was all systems go.
Round 1: vs Paige with Reshiram/Vulpix
I think I only ever saw Reshiram and Vulpix in this match, as she never got a supporter. She started out by burning my Pikachu with Vulpix’s Singe attack, which was annoying. Once I got Raichu, evolving healed the burn, and I started rolling. Unfortunately for her, I was able to easily KO Vulpix and she brought up a 2-energy Reshiram. I had to attack it, but I knew she’d get the return KO. I popped the Rocky Helmet down and attacked for 120. This meant that she could retreat and lose all her energy, pass (and then I would probably just KO Reshiram), or attack (which would KO her Reshiram). During this turn, I think she Communicationed for another Reshiram (just to keep herself in the game). She attacked giving us both a KO and promoting her Reshiram. I brought up Pikachu, and did a Tail Slap for 10 (even though I had Raichu in my hand). This meant that she couldn’t easily return KO with Outrage, and I could do 120 next turn. That’s what happened leaving her with a lone fire Victini, and I started the day…
1-0
Round 2: vs. Andrew R. with EelZone
Andrew is a good player, and I saw him beating Michael in the game next to me in round 1. I felt like my only chance to win was if he started with a single Pokemon, and I was somehow able to donk on turn 2. That didn’t happen, but I did get to take 2 prizes before he took his 6th.
1-1
Round 3: vs. Sam with Emboar Magnezone
This was an odd match in which Sam seemed to not be able to get what he needed. His only saving grace was that Cleffa slept through my turn for the first half of the game. Without any Catcher in my deck, I was unable to do anything about this. He finally rolled a heads to allow me the KO and promptly played Twins afterward. I was expecting that, but I wasn’t expecting him to be unable to do much afterward. The game ended up going to time+3, and I had the last (#3) turn to pull the prizes back equal. Unfortunately, he made the proper play and retreated his damaged Reshiram bringing up a fresh one that I couldn’t KO in one turn. If I would have had a Catcher or if he would have had less tail flips, I think this one was winnable.
1-2
Round 4: vs Bob with Chandlure? Did I mention that I think I went second in every game? Well, this was one I really needed to go first in. After a mulligan, I started with a lone Tynamo. Bob started with an active Druddigion. He attached a DCE and ended up passing. I played a Dual Ball, but got double tails. No problem, though, because I had Junk Arm and Juniper in hand. Junk Arm got me the Dual Ball for another double tails. Juniper got me another Dual Ball and a Pokeball. The 3rd dual ball yielded the third double tails, and the Pokeball hit my 7th tail of the turn. I passed, and Druddigion donked Tynamo.
We played again for fun, and in that game, I mulliganed like 5 times (not a joke). I then proceeded to set up, Copycat for 10, and then win by running him out of Pokemon. So, I felt like I had my second winnable loss of the day.
1-3
Round 5: vs Greg with Scoliopede
After I mulliganed 3 times, if I recall correctly, he started with Venipede and poisoned me. I got rolling quickly and was able to KO his fully powered Scoliopede. After that, he drew no energy, but kept benching basics while I set up 3 Eels and multiple Raichu. I was able to one-shot everything (except for 1 turn when he Catchered up an Eel causing me to miss a turn of attacking). He finally ran out of Pokemon to go along with his energy drought.
2-3
So there it is. I went 2-3 even though I think I went 2nd every game and mulliganed 5+ times on the day (IIRC). The whole experience brought some important points to light. The deck has some major deficiencies, but overall I was pleased with how well it worked under the constrained card pool. I will discuss these issues and some very simple ways the deck could be greatly improved in the following article maybe tomorrow.
My daughter, Ava, ended up getting the same number of wins that I did. Due to a low Juniors turnout, however, her 2 wins, combined with only 1 loss in the final round, gave her 10 packs for second place. She opened only 2 of those so far and pulled a secret rare Meowth in the second. Here are the pictures from the day.