Joel

Stupid Deck Idea inspired by PTCGO!

Hello OHKOers, Joel here with a stupid deck article.

But Joel, aren’t all of your decks stupid? 

What the…… Who let Pedro in here? Anyway, I would like to discuss a deck that I have been playing on the Pokemon Trading Card Game Online program. The deck revolves around Accelgor and Cinccino, and has a very fast setup. Now before I share the list, I would like to remind you that I’m not Pooka, therefore I don’t have all the good cards at my disposal like he does.

And that also makes you less interesting as well. 

Wow, I really need to talk to Pikkdogs about this, anyway, here is my deck.
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Michigan Double Header Battle Road Reports.

Happy Monday to all you OneHitKO readers, Joel here with a report and a half from this weekend’s battle road events. I say report and a half for because I only took notes on half my matches from Saturday, mainly because I did so bad and I was getting so frustrated I just stopped taking notes. I did a lot better on Sunday, but nowhere near cut but at least it was a major improvement from Saturday. It was also a horrible weekend for sports as well. The Detroit Lions undefeated streak came to an end, the Detroit Tigers got eliminated, and Michigan lost to Michigan State. The Red Wings won their game however, so it wasn’t too bad. I will start the article with Saturday’s Battle Road, which took place in Ann Arbor, MI. I was happy to see an event in Ann Arbor, only because I live 15 minutes outside of A-squared and it is arguably the greatest city in Michigan. The event was held at my favorite store down there, Get Your Game On. The only downside was the venue was very small, so small it was cramped and people actually got turned away because we went to capacity. The Ann Arbor event was also one of my worst performances to date, which is why this report will be short and not so sweet. I ran my Stage 1 Rush deck that I ran in Hartland, with a few minor modifications for both battle roads.

Round 1 vs Diane S.-ZPST

Last time I played against Diane, she beat me in the finals of a Spring Battle Road, so I know she’s a good player. We both get a slow setup and the game ends up being a prize battle throughout most of the match. We got down to 1 prize each and I used catcher to bring up a Zekrom, and Zoroark won with the help of a pluspower.
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Round 2 vs Mike M.- Yanmega/Magnezone

Not gonna lie, I was a little intimidated this round. Mike had a great rookie year last year, and continues to be an amazing player. He is also best friends with the Richard family, who happens to be on a hot streak right now. I managed to get an early prize lead, however he came back with his amazing draws, my poor draws and whiffing on both of my Pokegears. He manages to KO the rest of my pokemon and take his prizes. He was also nice enough to let me bum a cigarette post match too, because it was one of those games where you needed one after (by the way, don’t smoke. It’s one of those things both Mike and I wish we never started, and quitting is easier said than done.).
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Scooping to Levester

I stopped taking notes after Round 3, but my third round loss was to Jack I. running Mew/Yanmega/Cinccino. I lost that due to a wrong guess in whether he needed to increase or decrease hand size. My round 4 loss was to my good friend Levester W. running Gothitelle/Reuniclus. I misplayed horribly. My round 5 win was to my other good friend Alan T, running Pidgeot/Yanmega. And my round 6 loss was to Matt K. running Yanmega/Magnezone. I couldn’t draw anything and scooped. I ended up going 2-4 that day. My younger brother Hunter took 2nd again in seniors and got another championship point too.

Sunday’s tournament took place in Okemos, MI. This was my better performance. I still didn’t do as good as I hoped, but this was a major improvement. In all honesty, I was more excited about going to Chipotle after the tournament than the whole tournament itself.

Round 1 vs Tracy K.- Reshiphlosion

Tracy is quite possibly the best player in Michigan, and a really good friend of mine. This was one of the best matches I played all day too. I managed to get an early prize lead, and late game ended up being a prize battle. Bouffalant helped me out a lot with revenge KO’s. My downfall was benching a Cleffa, which she would catcher up and KO for game. I was tilted throughout most of the game, afterward she gave me advice. She told me to just take a deep breath and not be so stressed. It helped me later on in the tournament.
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Round 2 vs Chris D.-Reshiphlosion

I did in this game what I should have done last round, which was take out the Cyndaquils early. Taking Typhlosion out of the mix helps greatly. I also took out his Dewott so his Samurott tech wouldn’t see the light of day too. He had a slow setup but managed to make this game a prize battle as well. Taking out the Cyndaquils helped me win though, as I was 4 prizes ahead by the time he had somewhat of a setup.
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Round 3 vs Ryan D.-Crobat/Weavile

As long as I’ve known Ryan, he’s always had a knack for rogue decks or decks that you would usually not see, and he does well with them too. I knew he was running Crobat so I had to keep control early on in the game. Donphan helped KO Sneasels and Weaviles. He only managed to get prizes from my Donphan using Earthquake.
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Round 4 vs Alex H.-ZPST

Donked. That’s all I can say to that.
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Round 5 vs Nick K.-Ross.dec

I thought I was going to lose this one for sure. Nick is another one of Michigan’s best players. I managed to get an early prize lead, which helped me out in the end. He finally gets Vileplume and Reuniclus set up late game and slows me down. We play down to the wire, as we both have 1 prize card left. His mistake was my gain. He could have won the game by damage swapping damage counters from his Zekrom to Vileplume, but he didn’t do that. I added a 4th energy to Donphan, retreated, promoted Yanmega, used copycat and sniped out his Zekrom for game.
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Round 6 vs Robert H.-Lilligant/Vileplume/Yanmega

I managed to keep control early game, I took out Oddishes with Yanmega so Vileplume couldn’t see play. He did manage to status lock me a few times but luckily Switch helped me out. He scooped a few turns into the game after I had an early prize lead.
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I took 8th overall in that tournament, but the highlight of my day was going to Chipotle. After a horrible sports weekend, and utter disappointment in Pokemon, Chipotle is the perfect medicine and the key to happiness. Thanks everyone for reading , and as always-Go Lions, Go Wings and GO BLUE!

Hartland, MI Battle Road report.

Hi everyone in the OneHitKO universe, Joel here with a battle road report. Yesterday, I attended the Battle Road in Hartland, MI. I had the option of going with fellow OneHitKO writers Mark and Pikkdogs to Toledo, but I opted for Hartland mainly because it was 20 minutes away from my house. There were 26 masters, 5 rounds with a top 4 cut. I decided to run Donphan/Yanmega/Zoroark/Tornadus for this tournament.

Round 1 vs Jeff M. with Volbeat/Illumise.

I was happy to know I was playing against Jeff the first round, because he is both a good player and fun to talk to. I go first and start with a lone Tornadus. I collector for 2 Yanma and a Phanpy, then attach a DCE to Tornadus and pass. He goes, and plays a lost remover, slowing me down, then proceeds to attach a grass to his Illumise, collectors for 3 Volbeat and attacks. Luckily he gets only 1 heads. I use a switch to get Tornadus out of active and promote Phanpy. I then evolve to Donphan, attach a fighting and use a pluspower and earthquake for the first prize. He promotes another Illumise, flips a heads on a Crushing Hammer, and then gets 4 heads on Vulcan Beat. Luckily Exoskeleton saves me, however I cannot manage to draw an energy, therefore I use PONT, and still don’t get an energy. I reluctantly pass. He goes and manages to KO my Donphan, which is great for me because I have Copycat and I can use Yanmega. Over the next few turns, I luck out by getting a catcher and some form of hand refresh in my hand, which helps Yanmega pick off Volbeats for prizes. I manage to win the game with Zoroark copying Volbeat’s firefly light, burning and confusing a Volbeat to win the game.
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Round 2 vs Sean F. with ReshiBoar

Everyone has that one game that is so horrible that they don’t want to talk about it. This is that game. All I can say is that all my Phanpy were prized, I couldn’t draw into any hand refresh and he just had fun picking off my basics. As you can tell by my lack of enthusiasm about this game, you know the result.
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Round 3 vs Chris D. with Reshiphlosion w/Samurott tech

This game made up for the blunder that was Round 2. I start with Tornadus and I go first. I attach a DCE to Tornadus, and use a collector for 1 Phanpy and 2 Yanma. I pass. He attaches 1 fire to his Reshiram, and Collectors for a Vulpix and 2 Cyndaquil and passes. I attach a fighting to Tornadus and evolve Phanpy to Donphan and a Yanma to a Yanmega. I catcher up a Cyndaquil, and Hurricane for a KO. He promotes Reshiram back up, attaches, and evolves to Quilava. He then only outrages for 20. I go, and draw another fighting, attach to Tornadus and use a Junk Arm for a Catcher, then I catch up his Quilava and Hurricane for a KO. He goes, and collectors for 2 more Cyndaquil and an Oshawott and benches them. He then attaches to Reshiram and Blue Flares my Tornadus for a KO. I promote Donphan and catcher up the Oshawott and Earthquake for a KO. He was unable to catch up because I managed to have a Catcher in my hand every turn.
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Round 4 vs AJ D. with Reshiphlosion

This is another one of those games where I have terrible draws, and AJ gets set up fast. I didn’t take many notes on this game, except for mid game where I managed to catch up a little bit, but I only managed to get 3 prizes out of it. His setup was just way too fast for me to win. I apologize for not taking notes and going into more detail, but like the 2nd round, it’s one of those games you just don’t want to talk about.
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Round 5 vs Catherine T. with Serperior/Reuniclus

This game was entirely in my favor. I had the advantage of going first, on top of starting with a Tornadus, Phanpy, Yanma, on top of having a Collector, DCE, Catcher and Communication in my hand as well. I attach DCE to Tornadus, Collect for Yanma, Tornadus and Zorua and pass. She collects for 2 Solosis and a Snivy, and Eeeeeks into a new hand. I topdeck a PONT, and communicate for Donphan. I then catch up Solosis, and use PONT. I get a fighting energy in my hand, attach to Tornadus and Hurricane for KO. The game basically consisted of me steamrolling with Tornadus and Donphan, on top of me managing to have  a Pokemon Catcher in my hand at all times.
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All in all, it was a good day. I took 8th overall, and left on a winning record. I didn’t make top cut or get any championship points but I did have a good time. My little brother took 2nd in seniors, and got a 2nd place Victory Cup and a Championship Point. He was running Reshiphlosion. There was a lot of diversity at this tournament, however the winning decks were either ZPS or Reshiphlosion. I will be attending both Ann Arbor and Okemos Battle Roads next week so I will have reports for those as well. That’s all I have for today, so as WWE superstar Zack Ryder always says, “take care, spike your hair. Woo Woo Woo, you know it!”.

Battle Road Report, Rambles, Rants and Raves!

Hello everyone in the world of OneHitKO, Joel here with another article (and might as well give Pikkdogs a bit of a break). First off I would like to apologize for not writing in a really long time, but when you work 2 jobs it gets hard to find time. With getting my first day off in a good 3 weeks, I attended the battle road in Hartland, Michigan. The tournament was held in a nice library in the middle of the small town. There were roughly 30 masters, 5 rounds with a top cut of 4. I went to this tournament with no intention on winning, so I played ReshiBoar, and the whole deck was HGSS-on. I will share my list at the end of the article. On with the tournament report! (I would like to apologize in advance for not going into full detail on all of my matches as I just wrote down the names of my opponents, their deck and my win-loss record).

Round 1 vs Andres T. with Donphan/Flygon/Nidoqueen
I met Andres a few times before but have never played against him. We both came with the intention on just having a good time and he built the deck the night before. Game starts and I go first. I start with a Cleffa active and a Reshiram, Tepig and Vulpix on my bench. I attach rescue energy to Reshiram, and use Eeeeek to refresh my hand. He goes, drops BTS, drops Phanpy then Donphan attaches to Donphan and passes. I don’t remember much except for getting my Lanturn out, changing him to a water type and KO-ing Donphan. He also had Flygon and Nidoqueen in his hand but couldn’t draw the basics needed. I end up winning with Reshiram.
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Round 2 vs Clair D. with Kingdra/Garchomp C

This was a close match. She manages to KO 2 Reshiram with Kingdra (not the prime) and snipes a Tepig with Garchomp C. I KO Garchomp C with Reshiram and fry the rest of her Kingdras and Uxies with Lanturn. (I apologize once again for not going into more detail, I should probably write more of what happened during my matches next time). Lanturn won the game for me
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Round 3 vs Diane S with Gengar/Garchomp C

Diane is not only a PokeMom, but also a great player. I start with a Reshiram, Tepig and Vulpix and she starts with 3 Gastlys. I go first, attach Rescue to Reshiram and pass. She goes, and the most she can do is trainer lock me with Gastly. I attach fire to Reshiram, evolve to Ninetales, roast reveal to draw into a Pignite and Emboar, evolve to Pignite and outrage. She goes, attaches to Gastly, evolves to Haunter and poisons Reshiram. My third turn I manage to get Emboar set up and 2 Reshiram with 3 energy. I pick off all her pokemon for the game, but this won’t be the last time I see her.
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Round 4 vs Matt V with Kingdra

Matt is a good friend of mine, and a good player.  I start with Cleffa and Reshiram to his 3 Horseas. I go first and immediately collector for a Tepig, Vulpix and Chinchou. I bench all 3, and use Eeeeek to refresh into an amazing hand. He goes, drops Uxie, attaches to a benched Horsea and passes. My refreshed hand consisted of a Lanturn, Ninetales, Rare Candy and a few energy. I evolve to Lanturn and Ninetales, Roast reveal and draw into 2 energy and an Emboar. Candy to Emboar, retreat Cleffa and charge up my Lanturn attack. He couldn’t do much since Lanturn basically fried his Kingdras.
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Round 5 vs John H. with Sabledonk

John is one of the nicest players I met and he told me he was playing Sabledonk just to ensure rotation. Not much I can say except you really can’t win against that deck with a lone Cleffa.
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At this point, I’m 4th seed going into top cut and I’m playing John again. I’m not looking forward to this.
Top Cut Game 1 vs John
I start with 2 Reshiram, a Tepig and a Cleffa against his Sableye. He doesn’t manage to donk me, and scoops after a couple turns to save time.
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Game 2
Lone Vulpix, ’nuff said.
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Game 3
I start with 2 Reshirams, and a Tepig. Opening hand consists of a Collector, Candy and Emboar. I get fully set up by my 2nd turn and steamroll his belted Sableyes with Reshiram.
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Top Cut Round 2 vs Diane with Gengar/Garchomp C
I’m going to summarize both games, Donked. I start with bad hands, and she starts with Sableye both games. I have lone pokemon in both games and the PokeMom gets a Victory Medal. Still, coming in 2nd place is pretty cool seeing I have only made top cut 4 times in my career and this is the first time I have ever made it past the first round of top cut.

Now that the report is out of the way, here is the list I ran.

Pokemon
3 Reshiram
2 Tepig (promo BW07)
1 Pignite
2 Emboar
2 Vulpix
2 Ninetales
2 Chinchou
2 Lanturn (prime)
3 Cleffa
Trainers
2 Junk Arm
4 Energy Retrieval
2 Professor Oak’s New Theory
4 Pokemon Collector
3 Rare Candy
3 Interviewer’s Questions
2 Fisherman
4 Pokemon Communication
Energy
2 Rescue
2 Lightning
13 Fire

I like ReshiBoar because not only is it fun, but it’s also consistant and hits hard. Reshiram is such a good card too, it has 2 good attacks, and Emboar helps you constantly deal damage. I got the idea for the Lanturn from my friend Tyler, it works good in mirror matches with his Poke-Power Underwater Dive, which changes Lanturn from an electric to water type, that way I can take out not only fire types, but the water type decks made to counter Reshiram. I know my trainer and energy counts could use more work, but as I said I had no intention on doing good today.

I’d also like to take the time to rant about Sableye. I hope the mid-season rotation comes because as John told me after we were playing, you don’t need to be skilled and win if you are running Sableye. As my final round in Swiss and top cut showed, I probably would have won if it wasn’t for Sableye. On the bright side, if Sableye doesn’t donk, it will have a hard time winning (especially against tanks like Reshiram and Zekrom).

That’s all I have for now, hopefully I can get another article for you guys soon. I was going to write one a couple weeks ago but everything I could possibly talk about has been already covered. Also if you aren’t already, follow me on twitter @TheJoelHowe.

Thanks again everybody!

A new take on Gyarados

Hey everyone enjoying TeamOmar.com, Joel here with a new take on a popular favorite: Gyarados. With the new Black & White rules coming into effect, there has been lots of discussion on how the game will change. In my opinion, fast decks will be faster, slow decks will still be slow, and Sableye is going to see a lot of play. I figured with the new rules, I would go back to testing an old classic: Gyarados. Gyarados has proved to be a strong deck that can hold it’s own against SP’s, and has seen a lot of play over the past year, top cutting at many Battle Roads, Cities, Regionals, Nationals and Worlds. With the new first turn trainer rule, Gyarados can be a force to be reckoned with. I put together a Gyarados list and tested the deck under Black and White rules and the deck has brought me good results. I’ll share my list and discuss how I play it.

Pokemon:
4 Magikarp (SF)
3 Gyarados (SF)
4 Sableye (SF)
1 Ditto (LA)
1 Crobat G (PT)
2 Uxie (LA)
2 Mesprit (LA)
1 Azelf (LA)
1 Combee (SF)
2 Regice (LA)
Trainer/Supporter/Stadiums
3 Broken Time Space
2 Pokemon Communication
3 Expert Belt
4 Super Scoop Up
4 Pokemon Collector
2 VS Seeker
2 Energy Exchanger
4 PokeTurn
3 Seeker
3 Junk Arm
Energy
3 Rescue Energy
3 Dark (special)
3 Warp Energy
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Fun Deck Idea: Dusknoir

Hello everyone in Omar-Nation, this is Joel here with a fun deck idea to try out. I was originally going to write an article on Charizard, but with my new hectic work schedule, and a crazy idea on a Dusknoir deck, I decided to write about Dusknoir instead. I also would have had this article up sooner but as I said, my work schedule is hectic, and I don’t have as much free time as I used to have, now on with the deck!

I have always liked Dusknoir LV.X, and the Dusknoir from Stormfront. Dusknoir can allow you to draw 2 cards, and put 2 damage counters on it, however you have 7 or more cards in your hand; you have to discard cards until you have 6. Putting damage counters and discarding cards may seem like a pretty bad drawback, but Damage Even makes up for it. For a Psychic and a Colorless, you count the number of Damage counters on Dusknoir, and put that many damage counters on any one of your opponent’s Pokémon. And did I mention Dusknoir LV.X? With poke-power Ectoplasm, the level X card becomes a stadium that puts one damage counter on all of your opponent’s Pokémon between turns! Pretty sweet, isn’t it?

I got the idea to make a Dusknoir deck after seeing my friend Matt from Florida run one in a battle road. I also needed a fun deck to take to league since not everyone there can hold their own against Luxchomp. So I threw together a list with some interesting techs, took my deck to league and did pretty well with it. I tested the deck against my league’s more competitive players. I had a good matchup against my friend Austin with his Machamp/Mightyena build, and my friend Will had a hard time against the deck, and he was running Gyarados. I’ll share my list below and give you an idea on how I play it.
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Leagues, and how they provide to the Pokémon Community

Hello everyone out there in Omar Nation, this is Joel here with another article. This time I want to talk about leagues, and how they are an important part of the Pokémon Trading Card Game community. As a league leader myself, I cannot stress how important leagues are, and how much fun participating in one can be. I have been running my league for the past 3 years now and it is one of the busiest leagues in the Metro Detroit area. But enough about my league, lets go on to discuss what a league is, how it is ran, what makes it different from a tournament, and how it’s important to the Pokémon TCG community.                         

What is a Pokémon League?

A Pokémon league is an official Play! Pokémon event that is usually run once a week. Leagues provide players with a casual playing and trading environment for players of all ages. Most leagues are free to enter, however some charge a small fee (usually under $5), the fee is usually to help cover the cost of renting the facility, or to help cover other costs such as additional prizes and snacks. All leagues are operated in a public location, such as a hobby shop, game store, toy store, malls, libraries, schools, churches, and coffee shops.

What makes Pokémon League different from tournaments?

The main difference between Pokémon League and tournaments is that league provides a more casual play environment rather than competitive. Unlike tournaments, league rewards players whether they win or lose. League also offers the opportunity to practice new deck strategies and test your game, most people get their tournament practice done at league. League also best for newer players who are just being introduced to organized play as they don’t have to feel pressured to win, nor feel discouraged when they lose. League is also the only place where you can get important staple cards such as Uxie or Azelf for free, as Play! Pokémon provides these cards to league leaders at no cost.

How a league is ran.     

One or two people usually run the league. These people are called League Leaders, and they’re there to assign POP ID numbers, scorecards, points and promo cards. The most important part is they are there to help new players and provide accurate rulings. When a player goes to league for the first time, they’re assigned a POP ID number, if they already have a POP ID, they give that number to the league leader. Most players obtain their POP ID number by attending a league. After a POP ID number is assigned, the player then receives a scorecard. Scorecards keep track of your points that you receive from playing games. Playing a game at league will get you a point on your scorecard, some leagues will give the winner of that game an additional point (NOTE: Not all leagues do this, it depends on the league leader running the event.). The scorecard has four rows of check boxes which are your points. At the end of each row there is a Poké Ball. Once that Poké Ball is checked, the player will receive a promo card. These promo cards are mainly reprints from other sets with a special holographic foil and the Play! Pokémon logo stamped on the card. These promos are exclusive to league and can only be obtained at leagues. Most of these promo cards are also hard to get staple cards as well, which is good for the players since it puts these hard to obtain cards in players hands. Past promos have included cards such as Claydol, Uxie, Azelf, Expert Belt, Dialga G, Bebe’s Search, and Special Metal Energy just to name a few. Another cool prize that is given to players is a heat seal patch that is obtained once all the check marks are filled on the scorecard.

Why are leagues important to the Pokémon TCG Community?

For many players, Pokémon League is the first step to organized play. While most league attendees are younger children, plenty of players in the senior and masters division use it as a chance to get plenty of play testing in. The Masters Division players also become great role models to the younger players and often help them become better players. League players tend to branch out into the tournament scene as well, as league players learn about tournaments from league leaders and other players with prior experience. The most important thing I would like to point out is that many friends can be made through league. I have made a lot of friends by attending leagues, and leagues just provide an overall fun time for everybody.

I hope this article provided you with the information you needed about leagues, and if you know some younger players or people who are getting into the game, have them read this article and hopefully you all attend a league and become an important part of the Pokémon Community!

Now for something totally unrelated: You can follow me on Twitter.

www.twitter.com/TheJoelHowe

Another Michigan State Championships Report!

Hello everyone in Omar Nation! This is Joel here with a report on the Michigan State Championships that took place over the weekend in Lansing, Michigan.

Before I go on any further with my report, I’d like to thank Pikkdogs and the rest of the Team Omar staff for inviting me to write for you guys. Here is a little bit about myself, I have been playing since the Base Set, took a hiatus when the first e-reader set came out, then got back into the game around Diamond and Pearl. But enough about me, let’s go on with the article!

I decided to run Luxchomp for this event because that was the deck I felt most comfortable with. Luxchomp has an excellent track record and hasn’t really disappointed me. I’ll post my deck list at the end of the article. For this event, there were 76 Masters, with 7 rounds and a top 16 cut.

Round 1 vs Marvin P with Luxchomp

My first round match was a mirror. I have never met Marvin before but our pre-game talks give off the impression that he is a really nice guy. The game starts and I go first. I start with an Ambipom G and a Bronzong G on my bench, with a Double Colorless Energy, Energy Gain, and Cyrus in my hand. He has a Garchomp C active, Luxray GL and Dialga G on his bench. I go first and get a quick knockout first turn with Ambipom’s “Snap Attack”. He goes, benches a Crobat G, and uses Flash Bite to drop a damage counter on my Bronzong G, then passes. I draw, and get a Pokemon Collector. I get Uxie, Luxray GL and Crobat G. I drop Crobat, Flash bite his Crobat, attach a lightning energy to Luxray, then Snap Attack his active Luxray for 60. He goes, draws, and attaches to his active Luxray and passes. It seems he didn’t have anything playable in his hand, which is odd because there is usually something playable. I Poke-turn my Ambipom and Crobat, I flash bite his Bronzong, and promote Luxray to Bright Look his Crobat. I bite to get a 2 prize lead. It was after this turn that the game started to go downhill for me. He finally draws a Cyrus which allows him to catch up. I made my terrible misplay here as I played Professor Oak’s New Theory over Cyrus, and end up getting a terrible hand followed by terrible draws. He finally catches up and gets a prize lead over me. As soon as he gets his prize lead, time is called. After realizing that there isn’t much I can do in the next 3 turns, I scoop and get a terrible case of the first round jitters. It was a good game though.
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