City Championships

A Tale of Two Cities (winning LuxChomp Report)

Andy Wieman December 9, 2010 3 Comments

It was the best of times! and then the next day it was the best of times again. Ugh, what a start. Sorry about that

Ed asked me to write a tournament report about my weekend at the Source and Dreamers. I usually tweet updates as the tournaments go on (www.twitter.com/wiem0014) so those notes helped a lot in writing this report. Sorry if I don’t remember names or all of the details.

The previous weekend Emmanuel, Lukas, Nick and I traveled to Madison and LaCrosse for the first weekend of Cities. I performed extremely sub-par that weekend, mostly due to bad luck, but also due to a costly misplay on Saturday. I ended up 2-3 Saturday (after starting 0-3) with Luxchomp This was the deck I was most comfortable with, winning States with it last year, and testing it heavily for Regionals and Nats. It was the right deck in a field of Gyarados, but I started against two Machamp decks and couldn’t recover. I finished 3-2 on Sunday while playing a Machamp deck focused on the Prime more than most. Jay Hornung (from IA) ended up winning both days with Luxchomp and going 13-1 on the weekend.

The week in between, I was able to test a bit with Ed and Abdi and had basically decided that Luxchomp would be my deck. Machamp couldn’t beat Gyarados, and I was very confident in my basic Luxchomp list. I had a few spots to tweak depending on what I though the metagame would look like, so Friday night I spoke with Mike Lesky and we determined that teching for Gyarados and the mirror would be the correct play. This turned out to be very good advice.

Saturday – Source, St. Paul, MN – 25 Masters 5 Rounds Top 4

I always like playing at the Source because Radu is banned from there (haha) which makes the field a bit easier. However, that Saturday at the Source was terrible due to some bad planning on the store’s part. They crammed almost 50 players into a space fit for 30, while allowing weekly miniature players free use of many other tables. I showed up list in hand, and visited with the South Dakota boys that traveled in. I saw a lot of Gyarados and not much Machamp and was very happy with my list.

Round 1) Rahim w/Dialgachomp
I know that Rahim has played this deck before. I saw him play it during Battle Roads and doing fairly well. He is a bit rushed, still filling out his decklist as the round is about to start. We set up, and I “win” the die roll. I start Garchomp with a Call Energy in hand. I top a Luxray, bench it and then Call for two more Garchomps. He starts relatively poorly but sacrifices a lot of resources to get a turn two Deafen. He starts to build up a Dialga but doesn’t realize that Luxray is resistant to Metal which allows me to 2-Hit KO the Dialga. This leaves him with not much on his field but an Ambipom and a Garchomp which I quickly snipe. I end up taking 6 prizes fairly quickly.
1-0

Round 2) One of the Yule’s w/Magnezone/Vileplume
Once again I “win” the die roll and have a great setup, except for the fact that I open with Dragonite and he opens with Spiritomb. I attach and pass. He basically does nothing but drop an Elektrike and use Darkness Grace to get a Magnemite. He missed his first two energy drops with killed his setup, as well as prizing Magnezone X. I use these turns to get plenty of energy on the field and end up having one turn of trainers, after manually retreating Dragonite, and KO his Tomb. He goes the agro Manetric route and uses the second attack to get some energy on a Magnezone. At this point he has a Plume setup, so I have to expend a lot of energy to KO the Manetric, then the Plume. Then I 2-Hit his Magnezone and it feels pretty secure up 4-2. However, on his last turn he drops ERL, but would end up killing two of his own as well, and scoops.
2-0

Round 3) Abdi w/Gyarados
I know that Abdi plays Blissey, so I will have to pick up cheap prizes and OHKO his Gyarados’s to win. He starts off with Sableye and Collectors for two Karps and a Regice. I don’t have much to do although I do have a Cyrus, and I end up calling for two more SP. This allows me to Spray his turn 2 and 3 Regimove, and then Looker’s his hand away with his three Karps. I then snipe his Chancey, bait an Expert Belt to kill a Garchomp, and OHKO the Belted Gyarados for my 5^th and 6^th Prize.
3-0

Round 4) Danyelle Simon w/Gyarados
Danyelle is playing my Gyarados deck, so I feel like I have an advantage knowing every card in her deck. The truth is though, it didn’t matter. I spray some early stuff, including Uxie two turns in a row, and she never even gets a Gyarados setup before I bench her.
4-0

Round 5) Michael Slutsky w/Gyarados/Donphan
His use of Donphan tilts this matchup a bit, but he does sacrifice consistency which shows here. We both start awful, but I rip a Cyrus to get started and setup way faster than he does. He prized Azelf and Regice (although I had Sprays aplenty), and he cannot discard any Karps. At one point he Tail Revenges’ me for zero. I make a terrible play and Looker’s away his terrible hand to get rid of his 3 Karp. He draws a great hand and goes off, but he is too far behind at this point to catch up.
5-0

I’m feeling pretty good going into top cut, until I get hit with two pieces of bad news. First, I find out we are playing best of one in the top cut, which I think is absolutely and completely wrong. Secondly, I find out I am playing against Machamp while the two Gyarados Decks slug it out.

Top 4) Emmanuel Divens w/Machamp
Once again, we both draw awful, but I am able to Call for two SP which allows me to Spray an early Uxie. He ends up getting a SF Machamp setup quickly, which I am able to OHKO with Uxie Lvl X and Lucario. He sets up another and KO’s my Uxie. I proceed to 2-hit KO that Machamp with Garchomp and Luxray. At this point he runs out of steam a bit before setting up a Machamp Prime. I am able to knock that Machamp out without it taking a prize and coast from there.
6-0

The other game is done by this time and I find out that I am playing another playtesting partner for the second round in a row.

Top 2) Ed w/Gyarados
In this game I follow the same formula for Gyarados that I have found to be effective. I spray a few early Regimove’s, which slows him down because he cannot play Junk Arm. I begin sniping around his Sableye. I find out later that he does not have energy to retreat Sableye, which I finally knock out for my fourth prize. At this point I use Luxray X to KO the Sableye, which baits the Belt on the Gyarados, which allows me to take the last two prizes with a Trash Bolt.
7-0

So I end up winning my second CC (first was in Chicago last year) and go undefeated in the process. I was overall very happy with my deck choice and knew that I would play the same deck the next day, since I expected a lot of SP. I wake up in the morning and pick Michael up for the ride to Dreamers. On the way I find out Radu will be playing Vilegar w/Mewtwo. I debate teching further for that matchup, but decide to just change one trainer to a supporter to allow setup under lock a bit easier. e

Sunday – Dreamer’s, St. Louis Park – 26 Players 5 Rounds Top 4

I walk in and socialize a bit, but for the most part I was just anxious to get started.

Round 1) Aubrey w/Kingdra
This is obviously a good matchup for me due to weakness, but it gets better when she mulligans twice, and starts with a lone Horsea. She “wins” the die roll, attaches, Smokescreen’s and it’s my turn. I start Luxray with Garchomp on the bench. I Flashbite the Horsea, Poketurn the Luxray, lay it back down (to get rid of Smokescreen) attach a DCE and bite for the donk.
1-0

Round 2) Abdi w/Gyarados
I am expecting Abdi to badly want revenge for my beating him the day before. He misplays turn one by using Time Walk to free a pokemon, but putting back a Sableye which stunts his setup. He also cannot find a BTS, and I pick up two easy prizes Bright Looking two Karps and Biting them for the KO. I then let through a few Regimoves which warp my Luxrays to the bench, and I am able to easily OHKO his Gyarados’s for the victory.
2-0

Round 3) Alex Hauser w/Mewperior
I know that I have almost no way to win this game if it goes longer than a turn or two. He “wins” the die roll and puts a Ryperior X in the Lost Zone with no other Pokemon. I start Smeargle, Portrait his hand and see a Collector. This allows me to grab Uxie, Crobat and Unown Q. I then Cyrus for an energy and Poketurn, Flash Bite his Mew twice, retreat Smeargle and KO the Mew with Uxie.
3-0

Two Donks in one day and I am feeling pretty good about my chances with plenty of SP at the top tables. I am heavily teched for the mirror and want nothing but SP for the rest of the day please.

Round 4) Mike Lesky w/Luxchomp
Right idea, wrong player. Mike has a lot of mirror experience, and I know this should be tough. I spray an Azelf turn two, then I rip a Cyrus, and end up Cyrus’ing four times before he does once. Midgame, I have won the Garchomp/Dragonite war and have four energy on the field, while he has one. He put up a good fight, but is too far behind to recover.
4-0

Round 5) Emmanuel Divens w/Machamp
Emmanuel must be feeling great with nothing but SP at the top tables. I also know that he tweaked his deck for the SP matchup, playing 3-1 Take Out/Prime split. Turn one I drop a Pokemon and Call for two more SP to allow a Power Spray. He ends up Portraiting twice, Setup once, and gets two Machamp in play turn one. Needless to say he runs through me.
4-1

I am feeling pretty darn good about my tiebreakers, but my worry is the Machamp and possibly Mewtwo in the Top Cut. Luckily, Radu ends up missing, taking 5^th with Vilegar. This means Emmanuel vs. Michael, and Me vs. Mike Lesky. I also find out that we are playing best of one again in Top Cut (total BS IMO).

Top 4) Mike Lesky w/Luxchomp
This is a very close game all the way through. The following exchange takes place early on in the game:

Mike: Snipe KO Andy’s Garchomp (0-1)
Andy: Return KO with Dragonite (1-1)
Mike: Return KO with Dragonite (1-2)
Andy: Return KO with Garchomp (2-2)
Mike: KO Crobat with Luxray (2-3)
Andy: Return KO With Promocroak (3-3)
Mike: Return KO with Uxie X (3-4)
Andy: Return KO with Uxie X (4-4)

I am then able to keep my Uxie on the field long enough to find an Aarons, bring my Dragonite and Garchomps back and find the last two prizes. Great Games Mike.
5-1

Top 2) Emmanuel Divens w/Machamp
Emmanuel opens horrible again w/Lucario and goes second. He proclaims that he needs to draw a basic or he loses. He rips a Machop, but uses it to Communicate for a Uxie. I spray the Uxie. He Seekers, and uses Uxie again. I can’t stop this one and he draws a bunch. I can tell from his expression that he drew horrible. The game goes very poorly for him, with me killing three Machops over the course of the game. I end up taking four prizes, then killing my first Machamp, before sniping for the last prize and the Medal.
6-1

So, I end up going back to back, and end up 13-1 on the weekend. I know that I only beat Emmanuel both days due to sub par draws on his part, but I still feel pretty good about my weekend. I comment to a friend that “When the deck that I am most comfortable playing also happens to be the BDIF, it might allow good results.” Next weekend will bring another tourney, and I will most likely show up with another version of the same deck, due to not having testing time for my Vilegar deck. See you guys there.

Props
Ed: For prompting me to write the LONG report
Abdi: For testing the week prior
Mike: Having a late night idea bouncing partner is VERY helpful
Radu: For being banned form the Source
All RH Decks: For being amazing
Emmanuel: For Drawing poorly when it counted

Slops
Emmanuel: For playing Machamp both days
Best-of-One Top Cuts: Despite the fact that this worked out well for me, I am totally against it and voiced my opinion to our PTO. As far as I know, we are the only state to do this.
LONG Tourney Reports: For being too long

City Championships

Second Best or First Loser? Gyarados vs. Luxray

Ed December 7, 2010 24 Comments

This past Saturday (12-04-10), I went up to The Source to play in their city championships. 25 masters showed up, giving us 5 rounds of Swiss with a cut to top 4. I brought Gyarados with me, but I left my sick daughter, Ava, at home. Hopefully she can join me this weekend.

Round 1) Justin K. with Lefeon/Flareon/Arceus
I don’t know why, but I’ve played Justin in just about every tourney we’ve both participated in. Heck, I even got matched against him at regionals. Well, at least he’s used to playing against me. He started with a fire Arceus on his bench. I think I Regimoved it active, and he ended up belting it. I used the 2X water weakness to my advantage and went up 2-0 in prizes. After that, he couldn’t recover.
1-0

Round 2) Emmanuel D. with Machamp SF/Prime and Kingdra Prime
I’ve played against this deck before. You might think it’s heavily weighted in my favor, but it’s not that bad for him. What is bad is prizing like all his primes and 2 Bebe’s. I am pretty sure he used Seeker to use Azelf’s Time Walk 3 times. In theory, he should be able to set up Machamp Prime and Kingdra Prime to get OHKOs on Gyarados (which is impressive, because Gyarados is resistant). In practice, it didn’t work out for him. He was on the ropes the entire game. I think this was his only loss in Swiss.
2-0
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City Championships

My Battle report for Cities in MN on 01/10/10

Omar January 11, 2010 3 Comments

So, i decided to play Palkia lock instead of lady gaga because i havent played gaga enough to know what to do in a lot of situations, so i went with a pretty basic lock that consists of Palkia g, luxray g, and then as counters i had promocroak g for luxray g and ambipom for garchomp c. here is how it went.

Round 1 vs Mamoswine G Empoleon G….

This was a joke. i won in i think like 4 turns, and his first 4 turns consisted of energy drops and his only basics were the ones listed above. idk if he know what was goin on or if he was just playing because it was free, but whatever, point being it was over 4 turns, and thats all there is to it. 1-0

Round 2 vs Beedrill

So, i play my buddy alex round 2. Everytime i play against him, it seems like he is using beedrill, and i am using a plox type deck. Turns out that was the same thing for today. He starts a baltoy, attaches a grass energy, and ends his turn. i figured id he gets powers with beedrill im screwed, so i drop mesprits turn 1, 3, 5, and 7. 2 4 6 were covered by sprays. He did however get 1 uxie off due to a heads on a SSU. He ends up setting up 3 beedrill even tho he was completely locked, with the active one expert belt heavy. I knocked that out with a little help from crobat, he was locked so he couldnt flutter, i killed claydols and power sprayed uxie. sorry dood. 2-0

round 3 vs Kingdra

This game i started terrible, getting a lone unown g and a azelf in hand start, with no supporters in hand and 5 of 6 pokemon that were critical to me prized, being palkia g x, luxray g, bronzong, mesprit, lucario. my frist draw was cyrus. YES. i then azelf and see i have everything i need prized, grab a luxray for weakness, attack my gain and energy, and i missed out on a first turn mesprit. My opponent then end up drawing in total 14 cards with uxie and SSU heads, and got baltoy, horseas and seadras, bts, and energy, but wasnt able to get kingdra or claydol. He then does 60 damage to my active g for ko, and my next turn, i start the lock. I sp radar for luxray, roseannes for mesprit and palkia, and then ko after ko, grabbing lucario as my first prize for weakness, and then smashing his water dudes left and right. No lookin back from there. 3-0

round 4 vs garchomp c blaziken g luxray g

Saori was playing this one, and he plays very similar to abdi, he enjoys playing but since he is new to the tournament scene, this being his 2nd tourney, he is afraid of play mistakes and like all noobies, intimidated against high end players(i have way to big an ego). anyways, i start the game with a lone unown g and supporters and energies in my hand, but no other basics, and he starts luxray active blaziken benched. i go first, and top deck call (Woohoo) and get 2 basics, putting me out of donking range. The funny thing is last time i played him, it was the exact same start, literally, and i top decked call. so he then attaches an energy, a gain, and bites me. My turn consists of roseannes, placing an energy and a gain on palkia, then dropping mesprit, then uxie, and then azelf MT so his attacks cost 1 more, and then end. he plays the same, energy drop on blaziken, bite for Ko. My turn i put luxray active, Lv. X him, bring up his fire pokemon, turn my luxray, attach my energy to palkia, x my palkia, and start the lock with my mesprit and uxie in hand again, then ko his dudes left and right after that. He didnt get a supporter but aarons all game. 4-0

Round 5 vs radu.

Same deck as above with different techs. I misplayed huge in the beginning of this game. I could have set it up to a point where i would have KO’ed hus luxray turn 2 after he Ko’ed my palkia, but when i used my azelf to time walk, i accidentally put the card i needed(sp radar) as a prize, which makes it impossible to get to my toxicroak G. My hand was roseannes heavy, with no cyrus. So i prized the card that could have got me a little ahead, but after that i was always behind, and he was 2-3 turns ahead for the rest of the game, winning 4-0 on prize count (idk how i got 2 prizes) 4-1

So its cut to top 4 leaving these standings.

1. Radu 2 Me 3. Thomas 4 Soari

So 2 of the people i played are in tops, and the other one is running kindra, let alone everytime i play him i get donked.

top 4 cut vs. Thomas

I was expecting to get donked again since i always seem to. We both start crobat G. He goes first. He passes. On my turn, i drop luxray, put a water energy on him, then energy gain, poketurn my crobat, drop it and put 1 on his, drop mesprit, then azelf MT, and then uxie for like 5 or 6, and couldnt get the second turn for win, so i do 60 with bite and he has 10 hp left. His turn, he drops horsea and an energy on him, and cant do anything else due to mesprit. My turn. i top deck cyrus, get a turn, look thru the deck, and both my electric energies got prized, grab a water, and then grab another cyrus. I turn the crobat, knock his out, take a prize, and there was my electric energy. I attach it to luxray and trash bolt my water energy to finish him off. 5-1

Top 2 vs radu.

this game was intense. I top decked everything i would need to stay in the game all game. if i needed to get a supporter because i didnt have any, i would. If i needed more cards, i would top deck an uxie. it was redic. I played him Ko for Ko this game. Every time he would Ko my palkia, i would return fire with toxicroak. Everytime he snime someone with garchomp, i came back with ambipom. unfortunately, he drew blood first, and after 40 min, the count was 2-1. He outplayed me a little in some places, but i could take the loss in that game. It was a fun and exciting game to play, and i end the day in 2nd with 10 packs woohoo. :)

City Championships Tourney Report

Team Omar Makes T4 In CA

Omar December 21, 2009 No Comments

My cities was INSANE out here. So many good players, including one of my losses came from a guy in the top 10 in worlds atm. I was running GG. Out here, everyone techs against Dialga. Everyone. Not one person likes it. haha. But there is what happened roughly.

Round 1: GG vs. Lady Gaga (luxray G & Garchomp G) with infernape 4 and blaziken FB

I locked up his ability to heal and his ability to bring up anyone he wanted active starting turn 2 and never looked back. He also didnt pull a supporter untill turn 4, and he didnt ever pull cyrus. Pretty much locked him up hard and then 1 hit KO his luxray with my gallade. He couldnt recover. GG :)
1-0

Round 2: GG vs. Salamance

I was really surprised at the amount of salamance decks out here. There are some pretty sick strategies with this deck. First, they run Kingdra, discard energies and do 60 and 20 to a bench. Then, they use delcatty and salamance AR to play multiple energies a turn, and the point is to injur someone on the bench to a point of being 20 hp away(usually claydol) and then they Lv. X their Salamance, and use shoot through, doing 50 up-front, most likely knocking him out, and then knocking out the benched guy. This gives them 4 prizes. Unfortunately for him, i had him in a lock starting turn 3 for the whole game, so no delcatty, no salamance AR energy acceleration, and no double fall(multiple prizes). He couldnt keep up, and lost.
2-0
Round 3: GG vs. Gengar, Nidoqueen, Blaziken FB????

Im not ever supposed to win this matchup. Period. I have too many pokepower people in my deck that are active at one point, and not enough unownG To cover everything up, making my only shot to get around Gengar is to use Gardevoir X and bring down, but unfortunately unownG their gengars, making that impossible to get around, and so they usually win the prize race and KO my dudes with fainting spell. And thats exactly what happened. i lost. I guess the blaziken is for Dialga, which is a good tech, i just never thought people would try it.
2-1

Round 4: GG vs. Blaziken FB, Blaziken PL?, and Gliscor(the one used in lock decks)

This was the slowest player ever. I guess the point they used was to burn me either with Blaziken PL? and gliscor, and then use the FB lvl X to do 40 more damage, whether it was blaziken using jet shoot, or gliscor using pester. Either way, they couldnt burn me, because i unownG my active gardevoir, and lock powers, so no way to burn. He also struggled getting cards since he got locked starting turn 2. unfortunately, i couldnt get KO’s because he would just use the gliscor’s attack and go back in his hand over and over, but after a while, since there was no BTS it caught up to him, and after time was called, i was winning 3-4 prize count. I swear i only attacked like 4 times, thats how long it took.
3-1

Round 5: GG vs. flygon nidoqueen dusknoir blazken FB gengar

IDK HOW HE DOES IT, but i guess he won cities last week with this redic amount of cards in his deck. He said he likes the variety and all the outs he has, but starting my second turn, he was power locked for the rest of the game. 3 turns later, he scooped, and i laughed thinking there is no way he won with that redic amount of cards in one deck. How he was 3-1 at this point was confusing.
4-1

So after this, turns out the top 8 are filled with some rediculously stacked decks not for my favor. turns out the guys i beat round 1 and 2 were also in the top.

1. Garchomp Dialga
2. Gengar
3. Flygon Varient
4. GG <– Me
5. Gengar
6. Lady gaga with infernape 4 and blaziken FB
7. Salamance
8. Garchomp Dialga

So i play 5th seed. Gengar. not to mention, this is a normal tourney where it is best 2 out of 3.

So, i get to play another Gengar deck, not the same one i played before, but one that ran Manectric, making it pretty much impossible for me to win, because of his spread ability, 30 dmg to anyone that has a pokepower for 1 energy, and then after two turns of that, he can compound pain for like 4 knock outs. So i sit down expecting to just lose. My lock saves me tho. He wasnt able to get enough energies, and missed many different drops, and because i started my lock turn 1 instead of 2, he wasnt ever able to unown G anything, making gengars killable without any fainting spell flips. So he scoops when he sees there is no way, and i am ecstatic. woohoo. i win round 1.

Now, the rounds are 45 min, to play best 2 out of 3. But, for game 2 to count, 4 prizes need to be taken. There was less then 20 min left after game 1. This game he was setting up at the normal pace, and i knew there was no way for me to win this game. He takes his 3rd prize when time is called. HAHAHAH yay!!!!.

So, as the top 4 are called, i laugh. The people i beat round 1 and 2 are playing each other, and then there was stefan Tobaco or sumthing like that. Hasnt lost yet today. ranked 11 in world before the tourney. Sweet jesus. He was playing Gachomp Dialga, So with the special metals, and resistence, i would usully do 20 and no pokepowers, so yeah i ended up losing this one. Couldnt get around 80 damage a turn when i can only do 20, and then he couldnt snipe claydols. Ish. So i end there, and salamance lost next to me. Since i beat salamance, i get 3rd, take 5 packs instead of 4, idk why, get a shiny omynite for my close to fully hollow water deck, and go 5-2, hopefully getting a positive rating on the day.

That was my day. lasted from 11-7:30. Sweet jesus.

City Championships

A Tale of Two Cities (winning LuxChomp Report)

Second Best or First Loser? Gyarados vs. Luxray

My Battle report for Cities in MN on 01/10/10

Team Omar Makes T4 In CA

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