For almost a month, I’ve been working on a Flareon deck. I chose it due to economics and the fact that I like decks that play fast and loose. I had it almost built in the Cofagrigous Six Feet Under configuration. It was something of a “Turbo Flareon” build if you will.
There was a tourney coming up, and I didn’t think that version gave me enough chance against all decks. I looked around and found Pooka’s decklist online, so I built that version. I kept playing solitaire and tweaking it, but I never felt comfortable with it. Basically, his build is a metagame counter, and I wasn’t very confident that the meta here would be anything like that of the real world.
The final straw was that, on Friday night, I played a game against my daughter, Ava, and she beat me. The tourney was Saturday, and I didn’t have another deck. I was REALLY kicking myself for not building the deck I had lots of experience with (Darkrai), due to not owning any Darkrai.
As it turned out, I did trade for a Darkrai EX the week before at league. On the downside, that same day, I traded away all my Dark Patch, because I knew I wasn’t playing Darkrai. On Friday night, I was really bugging Omar about this via text. Could I get away with just 2 or 3 many Darkrai? How many Dark Patch would I need, minimum? If I could trade/buy/borrow some Darkrai and Dark Patch, I might switch decks.
On Sat morning, I looked up a decklist for it, and the first one that popped up was Jason Klaczynski’s Worlds list. I printed it off, stopped at the cash machine on the way, and hit up Who’s Game House.
When I arrived, the Tournament Organizer had a box of commons and uncommons. I looked through it and came up with 2 Dark Patch and some other useful stuff. Then I started asking around for Darkrai EX. I thought maybe the only ones that existed in the town were in Brad’s deck. That was almost true. I was able to trade for one from Austin (the same guy that traded me one the previous week, actually). Zach, yet another player, offered to lend me his full-art copy for the day. The final piece fell into place when Ken offered up 2 Dark Patch and a couple Virbanks.
I had what I needed, and I had about 15 minutes to build the deck and write the decklist. It was VERY hectic, and Zach ended up writing my decklist as I tossed newly-sleeved cards at him. As the entry deadline was called, we realized I was 10 cards short, and I started tossing in Crushing Hammer, Energy Switch (LUCKILY), and something else. I made it. Read More
Greetings readers of OneHitKO, my name is Mike Lesky (or Choncey as some people may know me ). I am 21 years old and graduated from Culinary School last winter. I am also a veteran of the Pokemon TCG and have had quite a bit of success in the game since 2003. I have never written anything for a website before so this is a whole new experience for me, and I am very grateful that Ed is letting me do this. I have always wanted to be a role model for players of the Pokemon TCG ever since I started helping locals in my area build decks, understand strategy, and win tournaments. I am a very competitive player when it comes to this game so I tend to take it very seriously.
I have been following OneHitKO.com for quite a while now and have always kind of thought of it as a more casual Pokemon website because of the lack of “Big Names” writing for it. As everyone has probably noticed the best way to get traffic nowadays is to put some big flashy titles and names on things to spark interest and draw in new crowds. So some of you are probably wondering, who is this guy and how do we know that he knows what he is talking about?
I’m not some big name like 3 time world champion Jason Klaczynski or consistent nationals player and worlds qualifier Kyle “Pooka” Sucevich, but I do feel that I am a strong contender at any tournament I go to no matter who is there. Some of my top accomplishments are:
2x Minnesota State Champion
1x Iowa State Champion
3rd Place 2007 Midwest Regionals
2nd Place 2007 Mississippi Valley Regionals
9-10th Place x3 Midwest Regionals 2010 2011 2012
23rd Place World Championships 2012
2x Top 128 National Championships 2012 and 2013
11x Battle Road Champion
6x City Champion
So it isn’t the most impressive list of accomplishments, but I do like to think that I know what I’m doing.
So anyways, the whole point of why I am here is to bring the competitive scene back to OneHitKO. I feel that this is the best way to bring traffic back to the site. I think this is the best way to go if we want to ensure the future of this community. And to get it started, I want to go over my experience I had this past weekend (8/30/13) at the Klaczynski Open! Read More
Hey OneHitKO people, it’s getting to be time where you guys need to see another article, so I thought I may as well do a tournament report like Pikkdogs used to do (Except these will be somewhat successful reports) even though I usually don’t write reports (Although the purpose of the reports are more to show you more about playing the deck), and then so you have something interesting to read about I’ll do a deck analysis of the deck I believe is the BDIF of this format, Hydreigon/Darkrai. Anyway, I feel like getting this started, so here are the reports:
Saturday, November 17th: Cameron Park, CA
I wake up early, make my decklist, and wait for the people who I promised a ride to to show up. Once they both get here, we start the two hour drive to Cameron Park.
When we get there we are greeted by cabd from the SixPrizes forums, and I play some fun games with the people I came with. It turns out that 15 Seniors show up, 1 short of a Top 4. I wait a bit for pairings and I am already paired against someone I’d rather not play early.
Round 1 vs. Emily w/Blastoise
I start Sableye to her Kyurem and she goes first. I have a dead hand, and when she plays a Juniper my hopes sink, but then she plays her Tropical Beach and I’m happy. I play a few cards and Beach, drawing into a Supporter and a Dieno. The next turn I opt to Confuse Ray as I still don’t have Items that would be worth Junk Hunting for, and I get a heads. A Confusion Tails and a Candy to Hydreigon later I Night Spear to KO her Kyurem. I then proceed to take out her Blastoise, and although she manages to get a new one out I still steamroll.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Griffin w/Hydreigon
I start Ditto to his Dark Deino, and I see relief in his eyes when I Transform into a Sableye. I bench a couple Deino and a Darkrai and Junk Hunt for stuff that would net me a Hydreigon next turn. He Ns me, but I still manage to get the Candy-Hydreigon. When he manages to get his Hydreigon out I Dragonblast it. He makes a crucial misplay late game by Max Potioning his Darkrai before retreating, meaning that he no longer can KO my Hydreigon because he has a Darkrai stuck active, and I manage to win from there.
2-0
At this point everyone I had come with was 2-0, while five of the other good Seniors had taken a loss already (including Griffin and Emily). The only other 2-0 at this point is playing a Tornadus Donk deck and we all feel confident. We joke about how height is an advantage in Pokemon (The shortest of us is 5’10), and eat lunch. Lunch then proceeds to end and I get my Round 3 pairing.
Round 3 vs. Blake w/Hydreigon
Blake is the other guy I came with, and I’m 3-1 against him at Premier Events, so I know that at least I’m not facing a donk deck. However, I’m not confident here because I know that he’d been playing Hydreigon a lot longer than me, but I had also been playing it long enough that the Hydreigon mirror is usually determined by who set 2 Hydreigon up and who didn’t. Knowing that, I kind of felt afraid because I had been having some consistency issues recently, but I had cut my 1-0-1 Serperior tech recently as well, hoping that it would help.
However, I start Deino to his Sableye and he gets a T2 Night Spear to kill my only Dieno in play. I make a game out of it for a bit, but when time is called I have no way to take prizes without giving some up.
2-1.
At this point I know I need extremely good resistance to cut, but I feel like I should try to get points out of this at least.
Round 4 vs. Conner w/Mewtwo/Rayquaza/Eels
I start Sableye to his Rayquaza EX and he Celestial Roars, and I’m surprised when he flips over a Double Colorless Energy. I read the text on Celestial Roar and I laugh a bit when it says that you have to attach the energy, meaning the Rayquaza would have a useless energy attached until it was knocked out. He gets a couple Eels set up, but I Catcher-kill them and he has none left. He can’t power anything up, and I kill a Ray with Dragonblast and a Mewtwo with Cresselia for game.
3-1.
I think it’s the middle of that game when I hear chatter from the next game over about the Fliptini someone teched into their Hydreigon deck for Deino paralysis. Griffin says “Victini is strange. Like a three-legged donkey”. Honestly I don’t know what that has to do with the article, but I thought it was a funny thing for someone to say.
Blake lost against the other guy I came with, Paulo, but I find out that my tough games in the first two rounds paid off as both were 3-1. My tiebreakers consist of 3 3-1s and a 2-2, and Blake’s consist of a 4-0, 3-1, and 2 2-2s, meaning we’re both at 11-5, but because he doesn’t have the 4-0 in his Opponent’s Opponents I sneak into cut. This would have been so much simpler if another Senior had shown up.
Top 2 vs. Paulo w/Klinklang
Game One: We both start with dead hands, but my Sableye start plus Skyla topdeck nets me a Computer Search that I Junk Hunted for about 5 times to get a slow but certain setup. He is finally forced to Juniper 2 Rare Candy and 2 Klinklang away and he draws crap off of it. From there I put Eviolites on board and steamroll.
Game Two: He is unable to evolve his Klinks early game and I kill 3 in two turns. Afterwards I kill his EX’s with Night Spear, and when he Max Potions his active Darkrai when I have two prizes left I Catcher-Dragonblast the other for game.
So I end the day with a win, and while the only good thing I pull is a Ditto, I still get a cool-looking trophy and 50 points (or so I think). Turns out I made a mistake on my POP ID meaning that I don’t get the points from it. Oh well.
In the end, the results looked like this:
1st: Theo S w/Hydreigon
2nd: Paulo A w/Klinklang
3rd: Blake U w/Hydreigon
4th: Emily C w/Blastoise
Friday, November 23rd: Modesto, CA
After my win in Cameron Park I decide I like Hydreigon enough to play it again. I make no changes to my list except that I cut a Catcher for a Golden Catcher I had traded for at league two days before. I meet up with Benjamin, the Junior who I’m giving the ride to today, and we start the hour-and-a-half drive to Modesto.
I meet up with some of the guys from the Sacramento area including Griffin, Connor, and Zachary, and we see that once again only 15 Seniors had shown up. We complain about that until pairings are posted, and I’m paired against Griffin for the second Cities in a row.
Round 1 vs. Griffin w/Hydreigon
This game is fairly uneventful. I get a T2 Night Spear and his Deinos don’t survive very long. When he drops his Mewtwo I have Catcher-Cresselia for my final two prizes.
1-0.
Round 2 vs. Will w/Blastoise
This was one of the most nerve-wrecking games I’d ever played. I get a quick start but he manages to load up a Keldeo with enough energy to one-shot an Eviolited Darkrai. Thankfully I Juniper into the Blend I need to score a KO on the Keldeo as it had been hit with the 30 Night Spear damage, and after that I N him to one to lock his energy and Junk Hunt for the Catcher I need to win. He whiffs both the N and the Energies he needs and I Catcher out his Mewtwo and use Cresselia. It’s safe to say that if I don’t draw that Blend he takes the win.
2-0
Round 3 vs. I don’t remember w/Hydreigon
I get my second T2 Night Spear of the day and kill all his Deinos, and he scoops.
3-0
Round 4 vs. Zachary w/Darkrai/Landorus/Terrakion
I remember actually having an early lead (possibly thanks to another T2 Night Spear maybe), but when he uses Terrakion to take four prizes he’s down to one left to my three. However, I take a prize somewhere (I think on a Sableye), and then time is called. He attacks with Landorus during his turn, and his field consists of the following: A damaged Darkrai with two energy attached, a Keldeo with a Darkness, and an active Landorus with a Fighting. I N him to one and Junk Hunt for the Catcher he needs for the win, and he whiffs the Energy or Energy Switch.
I actually feel bad for him because he whiffs cut on resistance, but I guess it’s what you have to do to guarantee safety. Yay!
Top 2 vs. Will w/Blastoise
I’m surprised to see my Round 2 opponent, but I guess his deck worked against other decks. Anyway, we talk a bit, and then things start.
Game One: I get a quick Hydreigon and I start hitting Keldeos for 90 and 30, after hitting a clutch Tool Scrapper to get rid of both his Eviolites, and his early game pressure doesn’t work as well as 3 EX kills in four turns.
Game Two: This game goes pretty much the same as Game One except that I kill his Blastoise. Sorry man, but that’s the way things work out sometimes.
Hydreigon Deck Analysis
Remember in my Regionals article where I said I had tried and tried to get Hydreigon to work, but I never had? Well, I have. It’s won me two Cities so far, and it’s probably going to be my play for the next few.
4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Max Potion
3 Dark Patch
3 Rare Candy
2 Ultra Ball
2 Random Receiver
2 Eviolite
2 Tool Scrapper
1 Heavy Ball
1 Computer Search
-24
4 N
4 Professor Juniper
2 Skyla
1 Bianca
-11
7 Darkness Energy
3 Blend GRPD
-10
Some of the odd things about this list is the fourth Catcher, fourth Max Potion, and fourth Sableyeas well as the Heavy Ball instead of a third Ultra Ball and the second Tool Scrapper.
The four-of Catcher and Max Potion are mostly so that you have four to use over the course of the game. Getting the game-winning Catcher in a crucial spot where you’ve used 3 already is clutch, and Catchers are great against Eel decks and they are also necessary against Blastoise decks so that you can KO the damaged EX with Hydreigon. Catchers are also your most valuable tool in the mirror (I’ll explain below).
The fourth Sableye is there because Sableye is my ideal starter, and I want to increase the chance of that happening. With the fourth Sableye you have it in your opening hand 40% of the time and if you include mulligans you start Sableye a good amount (I’m bad at math, so I’m not even going to try). I like having it there because starting Sableye is the key to a quick Hydreigon and it also allows you to get back the clutch Catchers and Max Potions you discard with Ultra Ball and Juniper early game assuming you have extra space for Junk Hunting.
The Heavy Ball is so that I can pretty much Skyla for a Hydreigon as well as thinning my deck a bit. I’d prefer to do this without Ultra Ball as most of the time I don’t want to discard anything (I’ll get to this later in the article).
The second Tool Scrapper is there for the mirror. It forces your opponent to retreat their active Darkrai for a new one, and if you’re the player with Hydreigons remaining at the end of the game this can be really clutch. Even if you don’t, you’re a Catcher away from two prizes without having to Dragonblast, an action that can be risky in the mirror.
Matchups
The Mirror – 50/50
When I first started playing Hydreigon (Right after Regionals), I asked my friend who had been playing the deck for three months now “How do you play the mirror?”.
His response was simple: “You win the Hydreigon war”.
After that, I had to ask “What’s the Hydreigon war?”.
His response was “It’s like the Mewtwo war, but a lot more fun”.
Anyway, back to what makes sense: This matchup will come down to one of two things: Either who gets the first Night Spear or who gets the most Hydreigon out. If you can get an early Night Spear plus a clutch Catcher on the Deino or Zweilous your opponent is waiting to evolve, or if both players have Hydreigons out then it results in yes, a Hydreigon war (Which is, if you ask, more fun than a mindless Mewtwo war).
The Hydreigon war is, unlike the Mewtwo war, commonly won by the player who starts it. Why is this? Because the player who starts the Hydreigon war will have the first kill on a Hydreigon, and if both players get the same number of Hydreigon out either before or during the Hydreigon war the player who starts it will commonly win.
Another clutch factor during the Hydreigon war is energy. For each Hydreigon that goes down you lose 4 energy (with the exception of the first Hydreigon that dies, that one will commonly have none), so you need to have some extra energy on the field at your disposal or have enough Dark Patches to get another Dragonblast off next turn.
One thing I would advise during the Hydreigon war is taking a turn without using a Hydreigon to attack. While this can be a risky play, getting a Night Spear off while you get extra energy into play or Junk Hunting for two Dark Patches to get more energy in play (This will usually net you 1-2 energy unless you get N’d). Unless your opponent has a Catcher you will probably be able to buy a turn (Although it is important not to put ANY energy on your remaining Hydreigon, not necessarily just then but any time you aren’t attacking with it). Doing this buys you a turn to get extra energy on the field. Of course, if you have enough energy to Dragonblast already this is not necessary.
Another thing to note about the mirror is that it is about 70% luck. There is no skill involved in getting a T2 Night Spear and there is little in getting multiple Hydreigons out. The little skill in this matchup is probably the Night Spear damage, knowing whether to Max Potion Hydreigon or Darkrai (Almost always Hydreigon unless you have multiple out) and knowing when to Junk Hunt (Which is fine mid-game in my opinion).
I haven’t played a Hydreigon mirror in a while where both players had Hydreigons out at the end of the game, and I haven’t played in a Hydreigon mirror ever where a player won without Hydreigons (Not that it isn’t possible). The one thing I don’t like about Hydreigon is the luck-based and common mirrors.
Some cards you should include if Hydreigon is popular in your area are:
Zweilous DRX 95
I usually end with the weird techs, but I don’t feel like it today. Zweilous is good in the mirror because it can OHKO an opposing Hydreigon with its second attack for only three Energy and it’s also possible to discard important Blend Energies with a Crunch flip. While it isn’t the best tech, if Hydreigon is common in your area you might consider dropping the Draw In or NVI Zweilous for this.
A Fourth Dark Patch
Dark Patches are really good in the Hydreigon mirror because A: You’ll be discarding energy with Hydreigon’s attack that is incredibly important in the mirror, and because if you’re the player that loses your Hydreigons you still have a separate engine, although you’re still definitely not in a good position.
Blastoise – 75/25 in your favor (If no healing) or 50/50 (If healing)
Keldeo ain’t got nuthin on me.
Unlike the mirror, playing against Blastoise is more about leading Darkrai and finishing Hydreigon than leading Hydreigon and finishing Darkrai. Your best bet is to put Night Spear damage on Keldeos, Tool Scrap Eviolites, and knock out their Blastoise. I believe that in the report I discussed how early game pressure is no match for knockouts on EX’s.
If they manage to load up a Keldeo with enough energy to OHKO anything on your field, do two things: First, knock that Keldeo out as soon as possible, and N them to a low hand. Unless they hit a draw Supporter or a Cilan they will likely energy drought until they topdeck something useful. And since their energy acceleration is from hand and not from field or discard like Hydreigon or Eelektrik, they will likely not have enough energy to attack for the rest of the game, and you can continue to KO three EX’s to win the game.
If they play Super Scoop Up or Max Potions, things could get interesting, however. If they can heal the damage done by Night Spear to any of their Pokemon, you can no longer take three EX kills in four turns. However, most lists I’ve seen that use healing only play 3 Super Scoop Ups or 3 Max Potions, so your goal in the early game should be to do what you can to make them use up the healing. Your win will only be delayed a couple turns barring them hitting heads or Energy Retrievals a lot more frequently than you’d like. If they take a few early prizes, Ning them could be great.
Some players will try to go early game Kyurem against you. Have none of it, Dragonblast that Kyurem right away. If there’s an Eviolite attached, Tool Scrapper is your friend. Max Potion the Darkrais that got hit and then Junk Hunt the Max Potions back. While this does use up a turn and give up a prize, unless you somehow go down four prizes before you start your “3 EX kills in four turns” strategy you usually win from that alone.
Unlike some people, I see no need to tech for this matchup unless your area has a whole lot of it. Seeing as how in 10 matches I played against it 3 times (1 of which was the same player), and how I’ve won all four games I played against it, I see no need to tech a card that, in fun games with my friend, makes him instantly scoop when I start it (about 1 in 10 games, imagine starting Shaymin Round One), and it’s only really been the difference in the game (meaning he won because of it) a couple times. I see no need to tech for a matchup that is 60/40 in your favor at the worst.
I will admit Shaymin has other uses, but I really just don’t like it. If your area is 75% or more Blastoise (The only time I’d tech for it), I’d play Virizion EPO instead. It goes through Eviolite and doesn’t require the opponent to take prizes before you. This is just my opinion, I know some people love Shaymin, but I honestly don’t like it.
RayEels – 60/40 in your favor
RayEels is the BDIF from Cities results so far (although I still say Hydreigon is), so a decent matchup is in order. RayEels is usually based on whether you hit clutch Catchers and whether you set 2 Hydreigon up. Their strategy will to be to use the Shiny Ray to kill Hydreigons and go through Eviolite on Darkrai. Your best bet is to try to hit the Ray with Night Spear damage early game and Catcher-KO their Eels to prevent them from using Rayquaza EX to run through you.
If they drop a Ray EX, use Hydreigon to knock it out. Even if they do kill your Hydreigon, you will have taken two prizes to their one off of that, and you will be able to take more prizes with Darkrai in a turn or two. If you have enough of a prize lead from killing the Eels you should be able to win at the end if they drop a Ray. If you use 3+ Catcher killing Eels you should try to get a Junk Hunt off to get them back, as you will need a game winning Catcher in a lot of games with this deck.
If RayEels is popular enough in your area you could tech Giratina and Giant Cape (Although I wouldn’t recommend it). Giratina OHKOes any Dragon-weak Pokemon and the Giant Cape will prevent mini-Ray from OHKOing it right back.
I honestly don’t know much else about this matchup as RayEels isn’t too popular in my area. There are probably other articles that describe this matchup in more detail, so check those out if you have extra time.
Landorus Decks – 50/50
Dragon Deino is mainly there for the Landorus matchup. It could also be useful in combination with the three legged donkey (If you don’t get that go back and read the article), but I don’t think I would play that. Landorus applies a lot of early game pressure to you, although two Night Spears and a Dragonblast result in two Landorus kills for you if you manage to get a Hydreigon out. One thing to watch for is them using Land’s Judgement, but if you get enough energy in play this shouldn’t matter, and if they can for sure next turn you can always use Cresselia (Sure, you might lose a Darkrai, but you won’t lose the Energy).
If they use Garchomp as a secondary attacker, be sure not to keep Blends on your active as Mach Cut will be bad for you and your ability to Dragonblast.
There aren’t any techs against Landorus that I can think of, but playing more Dark Patch can certainly help because they will probably get a Land’s Judgement off on your Darkrai once or twice a game (Although if it’s twice you’re in trouble), and you need to keep your energy in play.
A Couple Tips and Tricks
A couple things I’ve found while playing Hydreigon are that if you start with Sableye and another Pokemon, it’s often best not to start that Pokemon on your bench. If you go second and your opponent has a Catcher, you will be less likely to have a T1 Junk Hunt, and it’s definitely better to T1 Junk Hunt for sure than a possibility that the Darkrai or Deino you’re holding will be your active Pokemon. Even if they do N, you will be likely to get a Deino playing 2 Ultra Ball, 1 Computer Search, 2 Skyla, 3 Deino, and 11 outs to Supporters that aren’t previously listed.
Another thing is that you don’t want to discard too much energy for Dark Patch early game. Remember that you only have 3 Dark Patch (if you go off of my list), and some of those you’ll want to use to recover from discarding energy because you used Dragonblast. You want to rely more on manual energy drops and less on Dark Patch with Hydreigon because Dark Patch isn’t all that critical to your strategy.
Sometimes leaving Energy on your active so that you can then Max Potion and discard the Darkness so that you can Dark Patch it back is good so that you can play a Dark Patch and make yourself less vulnerable to a late-game N or so that you can draw an extra card with Bianca. This is a pretty rare scenario, but it can be a good play at times. If you don’t have a Dark Patch, however, definitely don’t do that because it’s better to have the energy in play for sure.
One more thing I want to say is that a mid-game Junk Hunt is not always a bad thing. Of course if you need to kill something that turn it’s not the best play, but giving up a turn and a prize for two Trainers you need late game isn’t always the worst possible play. In the late game I oftenly find myself looking for that last Catcher to win the game, so I see no reason not to turn your 1-2 outs to a Catcher into 2-4. In the mirror this is a bit less viable because it gives your opponent another turn to look for the Max Potion, but if you time it right there won’t be damage for your opponent to remove.
What do you guys think about Hydreigon for Cities? I like it right now because it has access to Sableye and you have to OHKO to take prizes most of the time. I also like the favorable Blastoise matchup and favorable Eels matchup. If you guys have questions or comments, feel free to comment below, and I’ll try to get an article out about a deck I played against recently that I found to be fairly interesting. Thanks for reading, and I bid you farewell.
Hello everyone at OneHitKO! Today I’ve got a tournament report for you with none other than Ho-oh EX, which has been seeing some success at this season’s Battle Roads and is a very fun deck to play.
Anyways last season I had started out playing Reshiram/Typhlosion, a great beginner’s deck, and netted me my first top cut. From there, I proceeded to play strictly Tier 1 decks that I knew were doing well like ZPST, CMT, and a Darkrai/Terrakion variant through nationals, which gave me a 6-3 record at nationals (after going 6-1 and then having to face some brutal trainer lock decks).
However, since this would be my second season, I wanted to branch out a bit more and be more creative with deck choice. Of course that went right on the afterburner when I started testing Darkrai/Hydreigon at the rotation to BW-on, and instantly loved it. It’s what I would end playing for my first couple BR’s of season, having a 4-1 bubble at the first, and then 4-2 for a top 8 and championship points finish at the second. Even though I still loved the deck, but I was very curious to try Ho-oh EX after some friend’s success and losing to it in the last round of the previous BR’s. So I threw it together and tested it a bit with fellow OHKO writer Joel the week of, and had a blast playing it (I mean, how can’t you with a deck that has every single energy type)! Here’s the list I took to the tournament: Read More
Usually I’m pretty pleased with doing well at a tournament and leaving feeling proud even when I haven’t won anything. In the past, I’ve seen the good in times like when I got 17th at Regionals and was able to drive home at a reasonable hour instead of playing top-16. When I dropped my first States, I still felt good about my performance even though I could have played in the top-8 (though I look back on it and think I probably wouldn’t make the same choice if it happened again, but it’s not a regret). I’m not the type of guy that gets pissed when I lose, but I’m also not the type of guy that jumps up and down when I win. However, I don’t think I’ve ever felt like I’ve done so well in a tournament and then walked away feeling so empty handed as I did this past weekend at Battle Roads. We’ll get to that a bit later.
First, I’ll give you a bit of backstory. When BW-on was announced, I wasn’t sure what I would do. I am now building decks for 3 people from my collection, because my second daughter, Petra, has started playing. When I played in Nationals 2011, I used Emboar. I had played and liked it (kinda), so it was easy for me to build. I also had a Zoroark deck from last format, and it was something that could be easily rebuilt for BW-on. That was 2 decks, so I needed something for another junior. I decided to throw together an autopilot style all EX deck. The idea was to just set stuff up without having to evolve, keep damage off, and keep the opponent down (with energy removal thanks to Kyurem EX and hammers). Part of my choice here was that I didn’t care a ton about my BR results, so I refused to buy any Darkrai EX or Mewtwo EX knowing that they’d come out in tins soon. Read More
A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with a Spring Battle Roads wrap-up for you. Spring Battle Roads is kind of a weird time. People are not half as excited for Spring BRs as they are for the Fall BRs and the Cities, even though the structure of these tournaments are very similar. Maybe it’s the fact that people associate Pokemon more with the Fall, or that people have other things to do during the spring (graduation parties, cookouts, sexy parties). Whatever the reason, some people are not high on Spring Battle Roads. However, there are people who are. A lot of people think of this season as the warm-ups for Nationals and are very excited to find out what the format will be like. So not only were Victory Cups and Championships Points on the line, but advantages for Nationals were also up for grabs. So let’s see what we learned about the format for Nationals.
But, before we do that there is a certain extra-dimensional sidekick that we must say “hi” to. Hey Pedro!
Hey Pikkdogs, I would like to be nice today and wish you a happy summer.
That is quite nice of you.
Yeah, I thought I better try to brighten up your day after you finished yet another Pokemon season with a losing record.
Thanks for the thought.
Your welcome. As most of you know, it is now officially the start of summer. Do you plan to take a summer vacation Pikkdogs?
Not really. Once I get back from the Indy city for Nationals, I think I have to spend the rest of my summer trying to find any loose change under couch cushions, three nights in a hotel are very expensive.
True dat. No plans to go to the beach and play with the beach balls?
Play with balls, yes. Go to the beach!!!..ahh I might try to hit up Lake Superior but you know how cold the lake is.
How cold is it?
It’s so cold that even the Kardashians wouldn’t go into it even if there was a camera around.
Not bad.
Its so cold that if Kate Upton went into the water she would be, ahh who am I kidding she will always be hot.
True, can we get a picture of Kate Upton, sure, but later.
It’s so cold that even Michael Fasbender’s junk might shrink in it.
That’s pretty good. Please don’t show a picture of Fassbender’s penis.
No problem there. It’s so cold that swimmers have been known to drive to the beach in hummers just to accelerate Global Warming.
Now your jokes are getting a little weak, let’s just skip to the article before you start putting up pictures of Michael Fassbender.
Just one.
And one of Kate Upton, for males and anyone who can see really.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…… yeah she’s so hot she could melt any lake. At least Fasbender’s pic wasn’t a XXX picture of him. I can live with that, now get on to your article.
What Won
The first step in reviewing Battle Roads is to find out what won. Here are the numbers that are being circulated on www.pokegym.net. Of course they are never going to be 100% accurate, but this what they gathered for what decks won in Masters:
As you can see, Dark Decks have won about twice as often as almost all other decks. The most successful Dark Deck was Darkrai EX/Tornadus EX. It has proven to be a hard hitting and disruptive deck. What seems to have given Darkrai an advantage that people did not expect has been the combo of Crushing Hammer and Sableye. Even though Junk Arm does give you a trainer back in your hand, there now is just way too many trainers for Junk Arm to be sufficient. If you can find another way of replacing trainers, like with Sableye, you will be a lot better off. So, Sabelye came and gave a lot of disruption that people did not expect. Combine that with Tornadus EX and how good he is covering the weakness of Darkrai, and you get a real powerful, consistent, and disruptive deck that surprised a lot of people at Battle Roads this year. It should be a deck to watch out for going into Nationals.
Zekrom did not take as many wins as I thought it would. Although the deck got a ton of play, I guess it got left out in the mix of Terrakions and Dark Decks. It still is a really good deck, and it could be the most played deck at Nationals. Terrakion also fell short of winning a lot of games. I guess it was kind of shocked because of the energy removal of the Dark Deck and the resistance of Tornadus EX. I think that during the break before Nationals Terrakion players will retool their decks to include more energy, more cards to get energy back from the discard pile, and the Ruins of Alph needed to get their advantage back.
CMT and Troll continued to be two decks that are really good, but just can’t get over the hump. If you get a good player playing CMT or Troll, they have a really good chance at doing well at Nationals. But the number of these decks won’t be as great as the other three decks I already discussed. Just watch out for them, they are far from dead and could easily win U.S. Nats.
Klingklang came from absolutely nowhere to do well in Spring Battle Roads. It is a great rogue deck that uses Klingklang and a bunch of EXs to take advantage of different Abilities and weaknesses. It is a solid deck that is just a little bit slower than some of the other decks. During the pre-Nationals break, there just might be enough time for players to improve Klingklang enough that this deck becomes a contender for the crown. Players just have to worry about the lack of speed early game, and energy removal.
I did see some cool rogue and non tier 1/2 stuff at BRs. Make sure to watch out for those decks. Don’t sleep on decks like Quad Entei or Quad Kyurem EX, they can take some wins here and there against good decks. There will be a lot of diversity at Nats, these rogue decks probably won’t win because of the lack of numbers, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t lose to one of these guys.
Trends for Nats
From looking at how Spring Battle Roads went, here are some good things to keep in mind for Nationals.
Energy Removal
Watch out because they are coming to take your energies! With the success of the Darkrai EX/Tornadus EX/ Sabelye deck, we will see a lot of energy removal at Nationals. Make sure to throw in an extra energy or two in your deck. You might also want to think about adding a 2nd Super Rod or an Energy Retrieval. Also, try to run as little Special Energy as possible because they are much easier to remove than basic energies.
Look Out for Rogues
Just because Dark Decks, Fighting Decks, and CMT are going to be very popular doesn’t mean that those are going to be the only decks out there. U.S. Nationals is the biggest tournament of the year, and we know that the bigger a tournament is, the greater chance you have of playing weird decks. Especially because the Swiss rounds will be at least 9 rounds long, you will see a lot of things that aren’t tier 1. So just don’t prepare to counter 1 deck, make sure you play a deck that is a good sound deck that can do well against almost any deck you play against.
Choose Familiar Decks with Consistency
Piggybacking on the last point, Nationals is a very long tournament. At Battleroads you could get away with a risky deck that only sets up sometimes because you only needed it to work about 7 times. Now at Nats you are going to need your deck to work about 15 times to go really deep into top cut at Nationals. So don’t count on being lucky, count on being consistent. Also, make sure to play something you are comfortable with. If you choose a deck that your are familiar with, you could have a bad record at Nationals. Just stick with something you know and you should be okay.
Weaknesses are Going to be Big
A lot of the current decks right now have weakness to each other. The big weaknesses to exploit are electric, fighting, and psychic. If you can come up with a deck that can exploit those weaknesses you should have a good shot at doing well. Perhaps the troll deck could be a good choice for this tournament. It seems to be a very consistent deck that can exploit weaknesses. Just don’t expect to rely on weaknesses because you are going to have to have a deck that can win against almost any deck, but if you can exploit weaknesses you will be better off.
Watch your Opponent’s Energy
Energy Manipulation is very important in this format. Not only is removal important, but your opponent will be trying to use energy acceleration and recovery a lot. Celebi Prime will be loading up Mewtwo EX quickly, and Eelektrik will be keeping almost all of your opponent’s energy out of the discard pile back into play. You really must watch out for energies coming into play from no where. Perhaps energy removal cards could help you control your opponent’s energy.
Conclusion
Well, that is all I know about how Spring BRs went. Why don’t you end things with a news story Pedro.
Okay. Well apparently this is a very adult article today. In the start of this article we talked about Michael Fasbender and his famous full frontal nudity in a recent movie, now we have a news story about John Travolta. Travolta has been accused of sexual harassment by three different male masseuses. This kind of weird, it is very common to hear of hanky panky with a masseuse, but this time it is not the operation of an illegal movie for sex operation, but it is the customer who is going after the masseuse. Do you like the John Travolta Pikkdogs?
Of course. I kind of doubt that Travolta could do those things. The man played Vinny Barborino in Welcome Back Cotter. Barborino was the coolest kid around. He was cool enough to get a date with Rosalie “Hotsty” Totsy, and he was nice enough to be friends with Horshack.
That’s a ridiculous argument. Just because someone played a good character on tv does not make him a good person in real life. You are just as crazy as those Michael Jackson fans who stood with the Gloved One even when he was accused of touching kids inappropriately.
I guess, those wack jobs were just crazy. But, look at his wife, how can he be gay? Can we see a picture of his wife?
I guess you got a good point there. But, he still might be gay, can we see a picture of John Travolta’s album?
A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with a tournament report and a decklist for you.
If you read my last report you would have seen that I went to a BR a couple weeks ago with a Kyurem EX deck, and didn’t do very well. I thought the deck held its own, it just needed a little more pop. So, I thought I should change the deck up, and I decided that I should use the same basic concept but with Entei EX.
When I first did testing on this deck it was basically my other deck, but with fire energies and Entei EX. Than, I started to talk to Ed and we made some good changes to the list. After changing the list to make it more mainstream, I did some testing and came up with something that had some promise. I knew that I wouldn’t have a great shot to win, but hopefully this deck would play well and I could keep polishing it until Nationals.
Instead of my last deck which was entirley based on healing, I changed it so that the healing is still there but the deck is more versatile. I knew that I should have a decent match-up against most decks. I just need to make sure that I don’t get a bad start and that I keep up with my opponent.
The goal of this deck is simple. Get 3 energies on an Entei quickly, and then get another Entei on the bench. With the “Grand Flame” attack you can do 90 damage and attach a discarded fire energy to the bench. Then you use healing trainers to keep your guys alive while doing damage and getting other attackers going.
Here is the list that I ran:
Pokemon-4
Entei EX-4
Energy-13
Fire-13
Trainers-43
4-Potion
3-Moomoo Milk
4-Life Herb
2-Max Potion
4-Junk Arm
4-Pokemon Catcher
4-Eviolite
2-Random Receiver
4-PONT
4-Professor Juniper
2-N
1-Sage’s Training
2-Ultra Ball
1-Heavy Ball
2-Switch
So there is the list. No its not perfect, but its not quite Nationals, so I wasn’t too focused on actually winning this tourney. It is actually a pretty cool deck. I like the fact that it is kind of rogue, that is always cool. It never seems to completely fall apart, unless it gets a really bad start or finds a water deck. It also is fairly cheap, so if you want a decent nationals deck for a decent price, this could be a good deck for ya.
The Report
This tournament was i n Okemos, Mi, just outside of Lansing. This venue, or one just next door, has held Pokemon tourneys for as long as I have been in the game, so it felt good to be in a familiar place.
Registration started at 11:00 AM, and its a little more than an hour and a half drive for me. So I did get a decent sleep, but it could be better. I woke up and watched an episode of Dr. Who before hitting the road. The drive was not that bad even though there is road construction almost everywhere these days. I got to the venue just after 11, and found a bunch of ladies scrap-booking. While I am not against scrap-booking, I was kind of set on Pokemon. I had thought that I must have read the schedule wrong, but then a Pokemon friend walked in the door and said that the tourney got moved next door for some reason. So after finally finding the venue, I walked in and said hi to some friends and filled out a decklist. There were not a lot of players there, but we at least had enough for 5 rounds.
Rd 1 JW with Some kind of Eelish thing
I was not excited to see that I was playing JW in the first round. Even though JW is a newcomer to Pokemon, he has sure hit the ground running. He has Top Cut in all of his Spring Battle Roads so far, in fact he even ended up winning this tournament. I have never met JW before, at least not formally, but he seemed like a really nice guy, and I hope I found a new Poke-Buddy. He sure has the stuff to challenge for the #1 spot in Michigan next year. Anyway, enough of that stuff, let’s get down to the match.
The bad thing about this game is not only is JW a great player, he told me that he has had a lot of experience playing an Entei EX deck, so I knew that he would know how to beat me in an efficient way. But, this is not my first time to the Rodeo either; I still have a good shot at beating him.
I get a good start and hit all the energy drops I need to get Entei loaded up fast and to get a second Entei going. JW starts with an active Tynamo and a benched something, I can’t quite remember. At first I thought I needed to focus on getting rid of the Eelektriks, but then when JW grabs a couple Mewtwo EX and my priorities change. I know that if he gets a ton of energies on Mewtwo EX that it could ruin my day. I begin to Catcher up the Mewtwo and start pounding it. But, he is able to Eviolite both Mewtwo EXs and this makes my job tougher. As soon as I get a Mewtwo in to knockout range, he uses a Max Potion to get rid of the damage counters. This is a big turning point in the game. Meanwhile, on my side of the field I am using a lot of my healing trainers to keep damage off Enteis. There was a time when I forgot to use Moomoo Milk and that cost me 2 prizes, woops.
The game keeps on going for multiple turns until JW gets a ton of energy on both Mewtwo EXs and is able to OHKO Entei, at this point the game is over. When you have a million energies on Mewtwo EX, there is not really anything that I can do.
0 – 1 The game was very close until the end, and both I and JW thought that the momentum could swing the other way at anytime. Congrats to JW on a good and close game, he really is one heck of a player.
Round 2 Claire with Tyrantitar Prime/Darkrai EX/Dark Bisharp
It’s nice to play a girl this round, complimenting JW so much made me feel quiet strange, hopefully all the man-love is over. Claire is of course a long time Poke-Player, I have enjoyed chatting with Claire and her husband Ryan ever since I joined the game. Clair was sitting right next to me during the first round, so I knew that she was playing a rogue dark deck.
She started with 2 Pupitars and a Pawniard, and I started first and gave us an N. I thought that this may give Clair a big advantage since she had a lot of Pokemon in play and a brand new hand, but apparently she had some bad luck. While I began to hit every energy drop and setup two Enteis, she was missing Supporters and energies. She did end up getting 2 Tyranitars, but without the right energies she could only do 20 damage to me. I do a steady 90 damage to whatever she can put out there, and she has trouble getting energies at the right time. This ends up being a one-sided game and I end up sweeping this thing six prizes to zero.
1 – 1 I am very glad to get a win with this deck, but I do know that Claire would have put up a better fight if she would have had better luck.
Round 3 Preston with Durant
I haven’t met Preston before today, he must be a new guy. But I did kind of meet and trade with him before the pairings were posted and he seems like a good guy. When I first found out that he was playing Durant I was very scared. I knew that I haven’t really tested this match-up, and if he can pull out a bunch of Crushing Hammers he could easily win. The problem for Preston was that he revealed to me that he only plays 1 Crushing Hammer.
The bad match-up that I thought I had just turned into an Auto-Win. I start the game making all my energy drops and I took a prize on my 2nd turn. I went on to attach an energy each time he tried to remove it, and ended up taking 6 prizes in 7 turns. I actually finished the game with a deck that was bigger than the deck that I usually finish with.
2 – 1 Sorry Preston, you just ran into a bad match-up. I am going into round 4 thinking my deck is running very soundly and consistently.
Round 4 Darkrai EX/Tornadus EX
I apologize to my opponent for this round, I just can’t seem to remember your name. I usually take notes, but this game was so good that I forgot all about the notes. I was excited for this game because this is the deck that everyone says has gone to Tier 1, and is possibly the BDIF. I never played against this particular version so I was excited to see how it goes.
My opponent starts with Tornadus EX and attaches a DCE and hits me for 30. I get a good start and am able to use a Potion to get rid of that damage. In the next couple turns I am able to make all the energy drops I need to set-up. I start to target Tornadus EX because he can do the most damage to me, but I come up 10 damage away from getting the KO before my opponent brings Darkrai EX in and hides Tornadus on the bench. I get confused here because I don’t know if I should target the easy prize, or if I should target the thing that is trying to attack me. My job gets harder because is it at this point where he begins to use a million Crushing Hammers. I started off with one Entei with 3 energy and one with just 1. I ended his turn with 1 energy on each of them. I was able to recover (Thanks Ed for suggesting more energy) but losing energy did send me back a couple of turns. He started the game hitting a lot of those Crushing Hammer flips, but he ends up getting a lot of tails at the end of the game.
As I start getting energy back on to the field, my opponent is chopping away at my HP with Darkrai EX. I am able to get a lot of good flips with my healing cards and am able to keep a lot of the damage counters away from my field. There was one point deep into the game when the game was still up for grabs where I had a damaged Entei active and a fully powered up Entei on the bench. Even though I had no energy or supporter in my hand, I decided to retreat the active and use a Max Potion to clear damage counters from the field. My opponent could not Catcher up the Entei with one energy and decided to scoop because he ran out of resources and cards in his deck.
3 – 1 My first two wins were not that impressive, but this game seemed to be a legit win. It was a really close game that could have gone either way right down to the end. Good game man.
Round 5 Bohdan with Kyurems and Mewtwo EX
Who plays Kyurem? This game is very bad for me because he can hit me for weakness, and my healing trainers don’t do any good to a knocked out Pokemon. I knew that I had to be really lucky to win this game.
Bohdan starts with the normal Kyurem and passes. I again get a good set-up and start executing the crucial energy drops. Bohdan plays a Pokemon Collector and gets 2 Kyurem EX and another regular Kyurem. He seesm set-up, but he is missing some energy. But, after a couple turns Bohdan does find a lot of energy off of an N and is able to use Kyurem EX to hit me for 240 damage and the win.
3 – 2 I really was hoping to win this game and have a chance at getting Top Cut, but it wasn’t meant to be. I just ran into a bad match-up, and that is never a good thing. But, if I have to get slaughtered by someone, it isn’t a bad thing that it is to my favorite Ukrainian friend.
Overall I think my deck ran well. I seemed to set-up well each time and got a lot of consistency early game. I did have a couple of times when I wanted for supporters, but I’m sure that happens to everybody once in a while. All things considered I am happy with this deck. I do have to do a lot more polishing if I want to play it for Nationals, but I may be on my way. I may or may not play this deck in Indy, but at least I did learn more about the format and what it takes to win.
A big thanks to all my opponents, you were all great. Thanks also goes to the judges and Derek for being great. I also want to thank Ed for helping me get my deck on the right track. And also a thanks to Billie Piper, your hotness make David Tennants Dr. Who watchable.
A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with a tournament report. This past Saturday I was able to go to my first Battle Roads. This one was in Toledo, although it is not currently in Michigan, Toledo is actually the closest venue for me, so I had to be there to defend my turf. I wasn’t looking forward to this event because Toledo events are usually held in the smallest game room ever, so it gets really hot and really stinky in there. Although it is not a fun place to play in, I still had to come and defend my back yard.
I have been trying to find a deck in this format that I like for a long time. I don’t really like Zekrom, its just too robot like for me. I would like to play CMT, but I am very poor and can’t afford the deck right now. And I am not convinced about the other decks in the format, so I went with a rogue deck.
For about a month now I have been thinking about a tanking deck with either Groudon EX or Kyurem EX. Onehitko writer TAndrewT convinced me to actually make the deck when he wrote an article about two tanking decks featuring both Pokemon. I made the deck and was pleasantly surprised that it seemed to hold its own fairly well. It did not really have an autowin, but it didn’t really have an auto-loss either. It seemed to give me a situation that was winable almost every time, though the situation was also very losable, it just depended on who had the most luck.
This deck idea is very simple, get Kyurem EX out there and have him attack. When he gets damaged, use trainer cards to heal him. Cards like Potion, MooMoo Milk, and Life Herb have been known as crap cards in the past couple years, but they actually worked in my testing. I did try this deck with some of those trainers and then Blissy DX, but the deck was more consistent with a bunch of trainers.
Smeragle is also in this deck to speed things up. He is actually a vital card in this deck, and he makes this deck fast and consistent enough to work.
Kyurem is a very under appreciated card. He may not be the EX that hits the hardest, but he has a weakness that is very hard to exploit. Plus, he can do things like discard Special Energies while still attacking. The goal of this deck is not to discard energies, but if you can it is always a good thing. Kyurem can hit for 120 damage, the downside is that he is unable to use the same attack the next turn. But, this deck does run 4 Switches and Smeargles with Skyarrow Bridge, so doing 120 damage twice is not a huge problem.
Here is the list. It is not a perfect list, it of course can be imporved. But, I did play this deck to see if I like it enough to play it for Nationals, and if the deck could stand up to the format. If you guys have any ideas on improvements, just let me know in the comment section.
Pokemon-7
4-Kyurem EX
3-Smeargle
Trainers-42
3-Potion
4- MooMoo Milk
4-Life Herb
4-Junk Arm
4-Switch
3-Pokemon Catcher
1-Super Rod
2- Skyarrow Bridge
2-Dual Ball
3-Eviolite
4-Professor Oak’s New Theory
4-Professor Juniper
2-N
2-Sage’s Training
Energy-11
Double Colorless Energy-4
Water Energy-7
The Tournament
I wake up at about quarter to 9, which is very early for me, but still a decent night’s sleep. I make some oatmeal and sit down to watch a rerun of the Graham Norton show, man that gay Irish guy isn’t that bad in the funny department. After waking up for a while I pack my car up and make the 40 minute drive to Toledo.
I get to the tournament early because I had to re-sleeve my deck, so I did that and turned my list in. Then I noticed that I had somehow got some kind of dirt on the front side of my shorts, so I walk across the street to the Family Dollar and pick up a cheap pair of shorts. Then I drive over to Little Caesars to get some lunch, and then head back to the venue to wait for the start of the tourney.
Round 1 vs John and Dark Deck
My first game is against a guy from Michigan named John. I think I might have played him earlier in the year, but I don’t really know the guy too well. I started the game with Kyurem EX and I have all the energies needed to get Kyurem going. I think I might have the donk on the next turn because he started with a lone Zorua, but on his turn he plays a collector and does “Ascension.” Once John started going with his attackers, he did well. I flip 1/8 on my first flips with Moomoo Milk and Dual Ball, and lose a Kyurem because of the bad flipping. But, my luck would soon turn around. I get another Kyurem EX and start discarding his Special Energy and knocking out Zoroarks whenever I am allowed to use my big attack. John pulls out all the stops once he loses his 4th Zoroark, and starts to use Darkrai EX to attack. This time however, luck was with me. I start doing well on my flips with Moomoo Milk and Life Herb, and use Potion to fill in the gaps. He ends up doing a lot of damage with Darkrai, but I am able to wipe away the energy. The game ends one turn before I can take my last prize, when he decks out.
1-0 – The day starts off well. I didn’t think I could keep it going, but its always good to get a win right away.
Round 2 vs Mike with Zekrom (eels with Pachi/Shaymin)
Mike is a Pokedad from Cleveland who’s family I met during the Cities season. They seem like a real nice family, they are a credit to the Pokemon Community.
I start with a Smeargle to his Tynamo. I got first and bench another Smeargle, I then use two N’s in a row thanks to Portrait, but I still can’t get a Kyurem. On his next turn he uses collector to get 2 Tynamos and a Zekrom. He then passes, and I use another Supporter, but I still can’t find a Kyurem. I do attach a DCE to Smeargle and use his attack to knockout a Tynamo. But, on his next turn he gets 3 energies on Mewtwo EX, uses a Pokegear 3.0 to get a Seeker, and then uses it to get the Seeker win,.
1-1 Not mad here. I knew that my deck did not play a lot of Pokemon at the same time, so it was vulnerable to a Seeker win. It just sucks that I am play the only guy who still plays Seeker.
Round 3 vs Frank S. with Zekrom
Frank is a good buddy from Michigan, so it should be fun to play him.
I start double Smeargle, and he starts with a Tynamo. I use a Dual Ball, and two Switches to use 4 Supporters on the first turn, but am still on able to find a Kyurem again. But, I have the chance at the donk, so I attach a DCE to Smeargle and miss both flips on his attack. So Frank lives for another day. He gets a lot of Pokemon in play, but runs into an energy drought. I do end up getting the first knockout on a Tornadus after I finally find a Kyurem. I then get another KO on something, I don’t know what, but here is where I make my misplay. I see a Mewtwo EX on the bench with DCE, and instead of attacking it and getting rid of the DCE, I knock something else out. I do get a 3 prize lead, but Frank loads up Mewtwo EX and is able to OHKO everything I have. Misplays suck, I don’t know if that would really have made a difference, but it couldn’t have hurt. ]
1-2- Any hope of doing good is just about gone, but I thought I must solider on and keep on playing to see what I can learn about the deck and the format.
Round 4 vs Eric Richard with Zekrom/Terrakion
Another guy from Michigan, that’s three in a row. Of course Papa Richard is playing a Terrakion variant, I think he did in every tournament this season. This game goes weird, as our games normally do.
I start with Smeargle again, and he has a Terrakion. I do find a Kyurem on the first turn, but I cannot find an energy. I use a bunch of “Portraits”, but none of those help. The only things I seemed able to draw were healing trainers. Those helped delay the inevitable, but I need energy to attack. It took me several turns, but I was able to get some energies. The only thing was to keep Kyurem alive, I had to Junk Arm 2 Kyurems. I later learned that my Super Rod was prized, so I was kinda screwed.
I finally start attacking and I make Eric work with how many attacks he had to do just to get one knock out. I am able to heal off a lot of damage counters, but I eventually run out of healing trainers after using them as a crutch for the first 6-7 turns. Once he knocked out 2 Kyurems it was over because I had no Super Rod.
1-3– I wonder what would have happened if I didn’t hit an energy drought. Would have been a good match
Round 5 v.s. Lauren with Mew Lock (kind of)
Round 5 officially went in the books as a no show win for me since my opponent never showed up, but after I saw that my friend Lauren finished her game I asked her for a fun game.
I start with Smeargle and Kyurem and I get a good feel for the game going. I start setting the pace with some good supporters and some early knockouts on Mews. I take 4 prizes before she puts the lock on, but the lock eventually does come on. There was nothing I could do to stop the lock, I just had to wait for her to roll bad. She eventually knocks out a Kyurem with “Double Freeze” and decides to not use “Victory Star” to take the KO back. This allows me to get my last prize, and just as pairings are put up, she misses a “Fly” flip, and I end the game with a W.
2-3- Pretty easy match-up, I just gotta hope that eventually they roll bad, which they usually do. Thanks for the game Lauren, I really appreciate it. It made a deck report that would been horrible, to be just very bad.
Round 6 vs James H. with C.M.T. –T
This was a very pivotal game for my deck. If I win this game, I think this deck still has hope. If I lose, it is a crappy deck. And look who I am playing, my buddy and fellow OHKO writer James.
James and I play this game in a very laid back fashion since we all expected to do a little better. I again start with a Smeargle and Kyurem, and get a few Supporters the first couple turns to get going. I am able to get energies on Kyurem and am able to get a couple KOs on Mewtwos, but those things just kept on coming. I might have had a chance to win, but I was forced to burn some healing trainers on a Juniper early in the game, and then I didn’t have them when I needed them later. I should have been able to outlast the Mewtwos, but those healing trainers eluded me and James got the W.
2-4– The search for a Nationals deck continues as Kyurem EX kind of failed me this day. It is not a bad deck, I did do well in almost all of my games, but it just didn’t have that one or two cards that can put it over the top. I really need something to put a little kick in the deck. Maybe you guys have an idea, or maybe it is just a bad deck. I still need to look for a Nats deck, and that really sucks.
About the Deck
I did not do great with this deck, so it is no longer a front runner to be my nationals deck, but it is still a cool deck. It is also a deck that would be good for kids or people that are under a budget. This is a deck that you should be able to build for about 40 bucks, which is almost unheard of in this format. So I can recommend this to other players and hopefully they can do a better job with it then I did. I might try to run this deck with Groudon EX and see if that’s any better. Though, it is not a great deck, so don’t get the wrong idea about this deck. It won’t win Nationals, but its still pretty cool.
Well, that’s all I got. Thanks to the judges and T.O. in Ohio. And thanks to the Card Shop owner, I especially appreciated him when he took a big stick and hit the bar on the backdoor so we could open the door and get some air circulation in that sardine can. Thanks to all my opponents, you guys were all professionals. Have a good night, everybody.
I had thought about bringing the Groudon EX tank deck that I wrote up in my last OHKO article, but in testing, it always seemed as though QuadGroudon couldn’t keep up with opponents who played a lot of Tornadus or Mewtwo. Even though the deck was designed to heal away damage with cards like Potion and Moomoo Milk, the amount of damage that could be healed with those cards was just too low. Mewtwo piled on damage too fast, and Tornadus’ resistance to Fighting types was too just difficult to surmount. EX tanking, I thought, would work much better if multiple different EX’s could be used in the same deck to counteract resistance, could be switched at will, and could be healed more quickly and completely than I wrote about just two weeks ago.
1 Klinklang EPO. This deck has real trouble with energy denial. If the opponent plays a couple Lost Remover, well, it might survive that. But if the opponent plays Crushing Hammer as well, and sends some special energy cards to the discard, the deck gets into trouble fast. Klinklang EPO’s first attack, Charge Beam, does 30 damage and rescues an energy card–any energy card–from the discard pile onto Klinklang, back into play. But I only used this guy once in the tournament, and he could easily be replaced with a third Klinklang BLW.
10 Energy: 3 Prism, 4 Rainbow, 3 Special Metal. As I mentioned, Prism and Rainbow count as both Dark and Metal, but only Rainbow can be Shift Geared onto and off of Klinklang. Meanwhile, Special Metal is key to raising the HP of Klinklang above what your opponent can deliver. Zoroark DEX usually hits for 140-150 (with Dark Claw and Special Dark Energy attached), and ZekEels players can easily double-PlusPower a Zekrom’s Bolt Strike for 140. Parking 1-2 Special Metals on Klingklang can foil this strategy.
1 Juniper, 1 Twins. I don’t know. Other than Professor Oak’s New Theory and N, what other Supporters does this deck want to run? I included a copy of Twins because the deck is frequently behind in prizes, but Twins only nets you two cards, so I actually don’t even like it that much when I am behind. And there’s very little in this deck that I like to discard, but Juniper is powerful, so I included one.
My Battle Roads Report
As it turns out, there was some drama to the Dreamers tournament before it even started. On Sunday only, the MN Department of Transportation closed down Interstate 94–the major east-west freeway through the Twin Cities–but didn’t post a lot of information or detour signs about the closure. I-94 is one of very few access routes to St. Louis Park, mainly because of a chain of lakes to its east that cut off most surface streets. That meant that folks coming to the tournament from the east were dumped into downtown Minneapolis, with no labeled detour, along with thousands of other commuters in the same boat. Paul and I had left very early, and I knew how to detour the closure, so we made it to the tournament just at the end of registration. But ~10 others, including players driving from Wisconsin (such as NA top-50 players Mike Lesky and Andy Reynolds) were stuck longer, arrived to the tournament after the beginning of round 1, and received first-round losses. This meant that there were really only 21 Masters competing for top 4.
Round 1: Jason Crawford (Kyurem/Kyurem EX/Kyogre EX/Feraligatr Prime)
Vileplume prevents Klinklang EX from using Max Potion or Rare Candy, and I was pretty concerned about that. I became even more concerned when I did my first Heavy Ball search, and discovered that my single Stage 1 Klang was prized. Luckily, I managed to squeeze in a Rare Candy to Klinklang BLW before Mike established the lock. In testing, Klinklang EX had done terribly against status condition lock decks like Vileplume/Lilligant and Vileplume/Accelgor, because there was no way to retreat a damaged EX or heal it. I had considered including a Steelix line to deal with this (because Steelix Prime is immune to status conditions), but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to search for Steelix under lock, and Steelix falls pretty readily to Mewtwo, so I abandoned the idea. Fortunately, against Mike’s Donphan as the only threat, I simply cycled though active EX’s, retreating damaged ones to sit on the bench, while I KO’d his attackers. 3-0
Round 4: Ed Mandy (QuadTerrakion)
I had e-mailed Ed my list for advice a couple of days before the tournament, and I knew that Ed was running a very similar list to the one he had used at MN States, because he was once again borrowing many of the cards from me. So I think we both knew exactly how bad this match was going to go for me. Ed’s deck ran 3 copies of Lost Remover and 4 Junk Arm, meaning that he was going to be able to send 7 of my 10 special energy cards to the Lost Zone over the course of the game. My only chance was to start fast, getting energy on the board before he could remove it. But Ed was able to play a Lost Remover turn 1, and then Junk Arm for it multiple times over subsequent turns. By turn 6, I had just 2 energy cards on the board, and had managed to KO one Terrakion, while he had taken 2 prizes and was about to take a third. At that moment, Ed’s daughter Ava came over to say that she had finished in Juniors. Ed looked over at his other 5-year-old daughter Petra–who wasn’t playing, and had behaved so patiently throughout the tournament, but was clearly getting bored. Ed debated out loud, and then decided, that he would scoop and drop. Believe it or not, depending on whether Ed had any Junk Arms or Lost Removers prized, I still think I had a tiny shot at winning, but things were awfully grim for me. Ed’s drop gave me a win that the deck and I probably didn’t deserve. 4-0
This was a pretty quick loss for me, mainly because I didn’t pay attention to Zoroark DEX’s second attack, Dark Rush, that does 20 damage for each damage counter on Zoroark. That meant that Shift Gearing all of my board’s energy onto my only Klinklang, putting it active, and then Gear Grinding for 80, was probably not my smartest move. After Soari announced his 160-damage KO on Klinklang, I scooped. Soari set up great, so I’m not sure I could have won this one anyway, but my dramatic misplay really didn’t give me much of a chance. 4-1
Mike had clearly thought a lot about how to approach our Top 2 matchup, and had decided on early-game Catcher-KO’s with Tornadus EX, followed by a late game sweep with Mewtwo. In my pre-tourney testing, this was exactly the right strategy for CMT against Klinklang EX. But I had included Mewtwo in my deck to counter precisely this scenario, and after Mike’s deck setup stalled through an early energy drought, I figured I had a chance. My setup was also a bit slow, but soon enough we were both rolling, taking prizes, and waiting for the moment that Mike would load up and unleash Mewtwo. He took out my Darkrai, denying me free retreat because my other one was prized. And then he used Shaymin to Celebration Wind 7 energy to Mewtwo with 3 prizes to go, to KO an Eviolited Groudon with 3 energy attached. This put him in the lead 1-2. In my next turn, my best route to winning the game was to KO his active Mewtwo.
And I could have. I had Mewtwo in my hand. But I didn’t. If you watch the video, you’ll notice that I missed many energy drops throughout the game, mostly with energy in hand. I just wasn’t paying close enough attention, and misplayed repeatedly. And so, when Michael KO’d my Groudon, I calculated that I didn’t have enough energy on the board to both pay a retreat cost and attack with Mewtwo. But as judge Mark Janssen pointed out to me at the end of the match, I actually did have enough energy on the board; Kyurem’s retreat cost is normally 3, but I failed to calculate in the effect of Mike’s Skyarrow Bridge. That one extra energy, plus a Gear-able one on the bench, would have been enough to fuel Mewtwo’s X-Ball and win me the game. But I didn’t see it. And so Mike–definitely the more skilled player in this match–took a 40-minute Game 1.
At this point, I was hungry, and tired, and I think it was affecting my play. Even worse, I looked over at my son Paul, who hadn’t really eaten anything for many hours, and he looked practically comatose. Paul won (6-0) in Juniors, but that had finished hours before, and the excitement of being at Dreamers had worn off for him. Knowing that I wouldn’t have a great chance at winning a Sudden Death match even if I took Game 2, I decided to scoop. I think Mike would have won anyway. And I’m glad Paul and I were able to get some dinner and get home in time for bed.
Final Words
Alex Solomonson at Battle Roads. Not really related to the article, but fashionable nonetheless!
But just two weeks out, I heard that the Hilton hotel adjacent to the Madison Convention Center venue had dropped the price of rooms for the weekend to $55/night—and, well, I guess my resolve was weaker than I thought! My son Paul and I did some furious, last-minute Ebaying to pick up the Mewtwos we needed to make one Zek/Eels and one CMT deck. Paul picked CMT, which meant that I was playing Zek/Eels, having never played the deck before. My goal for the weekend, as a result, was just to not be humiliated too badly.
This list was just slightly modified from one that I had made and proxied for the deck some two months earlier, so my apologies if it looks behind the times.
The event venue was awesome—a giant room that could easily fit all 320 players that had shown up for the day, and lots of extra space for families and for relaxing between rounds. I said hi to all of the MN locals that I knew, but soon enough, pairings were posted and we were off!
I see Curtis almost every week at Source Comics’ league in Saint Paul, so it was too bad that I had to play him at Regionals. Curtis had finished third at MN States, so I knew I was in for a challenging game. We both set up fairly slowly, but once we both started hitting supporters, I misplayed by dropping a Mewtwo on the bench instead of Junipering it, and then watched as Curtis Catcher-KO’d it to go up 5-2. At that point, I had just one chance to win this game—N Curtis down to 2 cards, get a Junk Arm and an energy from my draw, revenge KO his Mewtwo and hope that he drew garbage over the next two turns. All of those things happened, and I managed to steal this game from Curtis on sheer luck. 2-0
Round 3: Colin Peterik (QuadBulls)
Colin is well known in the TCG community as a strong player, so I knew I was in trouble even before the match started. Colin mulliganed a couple of times, and I saw plenty of fighting energy in those mulliganed hands, and that worried me even more. So when Colin flipped over his active Terrakion, I could only guess he was playing QuadBulls, which wasn’t good for me. Colin won the coin flip, but his start was pretty weak, and after he N’d us first turn, he still had a weak hand. Unfortunately, I also got garbage off of the N, and was limited to just 2 Tynamos and a Tyrogue for the first couple of turns. I gamely tried to stall with the baby, and then with Tynamo’s Thunderwave, but I missed the flips.But I doubt it mattered anyway. Colin had all four Terrakions up by turn 4 or so, taking a prize or two every turn, and I was going to have a tough time against Terrakion hitting me for weakness. Colin went on to place 7th in the event, so I don’t feel too bad, but Colin had a weak start, and it was too bad that I couldn’t capitalize on it. 2-1
Round 4: Kevin Goveia (Durant)
There were actually a surprising number of Durants at the tournament, which was great for me—Zek/Eels has a strong Durant matchup. Even better, Kevin started with Rotom, and didn’t hit a Collector the entire game, which limited his Devour attacks to three cards or less while I KO’d one of his guys every turn. But Kevin was clearly having fun, even though it seemed like he’d rather be playing Magic; he had MTG names for everything in the game. (“And Revive lets me search my Graveyard for a Durant.” Search your what?) 3-1
Like my Round 4 opponent, Alejandro started Rotom, and had terrible luck getting things going. I actually won this game after just 3 KO’s by benching him, which is surprising given all the tools that Durant has for recovering KO’d Durants. Alejandro was a great-spirited opponent, and I hope I didn’t irritate him by spending most of our game trying to convince him to transfer from Northern Illinois U. to Univ. Illinois. (If you’re reading this Hondo, with a 4.0 GPA, you gotta do it.) 4-3
Round 8: Chad Spinks (Zek/Eels)
Chad and I were both super-relaxed for this match—we were exhausted, and we knew we had no real chance to top cut. This is the first game in which I played all four Junipers in my deck, which actually meant that when I played the last one for the last 7 cards in my deck, I knew exactly what I was about to draw. And that it was exactly what I needed to Catcher up the Mewtwo on his bench for my last two prizes. I talked Chad’s ear off this game, and at the end he actually thanked me for it—I guess his previous opponents had been really quiet. Not gonna get that from me! 5-3
So I finish 44th out of 201 Masters for the day. Way better than I expected! A few final observations:
All of my Zek/Eel opponents played Shaymin, which they used to help KO Mewtwos that I cavalierly placed on the bench. (“But he has no energy on him—he must be safe!”) Maybe I should have played Shaymin in my deck. Or just been more careful with Mewtwo.
In any case, it was great to see all of the MN area players in Wisconsin, and to meeting new friends from all over the Midwest. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at upcoming Pre-Releases and Battle Roads!
Our room in the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison, WI. Huge!
A couple of MN families–Marques in the front, Ehlerts behind them.
Paul T. talking with Calvin and his dad before the tournament.
Mark in his official judging gear (including lei, I don’t know what that was about).
Alex S., imprisoned at the vendors’ table for the day.
Swag.
Ariel and Nathan L. (who would finish 9th in Juniors, barely whiffing top cut).
Curtis and Aren got to play next to each other Round 1.
Calvin and Sudi squeeze in a practice game while Lukas and Aubre watch.
Derrick K. and a judge’s meeting–looks important!
Soooo many good caption ideas for this. Keilani L. on the right. Sorry that it’s blurry, but I just had to include it.
Weather in Madison was fantastic on Saturday–perfect for eating lunch at the foot of the State Capitol building.
Ryan, Teresa, Aidan and Jacob–a whole Pokefamily! (I finally get to count Teresa, now that she admitted liking Yuka Morii’s card artwork.)
The top cut area, cordoned off with trash bins. (But fine ones, I must say.)
Matias S. (right, a MN player when on vacation from school in FL) in top cut. Matias went on to win Seniors.
Connor M. (the middle one on the right) in Masters Top 32.
Aidan K. (back right), having won his first top cut match, playing in Top 4 against Sarah M. (in the Groudon hat). Aidan would go on to win this match, but lose in Top 2 to Joey R. (front left) in the final. Great job Aidan!
Ed 
Mike Lesky 
coolestman22 
Jared 
Pikkdogs 
TAndrewT 
