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State Championships Tourney Report

Zekrom/Eelektrik (ZekEels): Calvin’s MN State Championship 2012

Calvin 20 Comments
Trust me, the banana thing works.

Greetings OHKO!

I guess I’m going to start with a brief introduction. My name is Calvin Chang and I started playing Pokémon competitively halfway through the 2011-2012 season. I actually started playing Pokémon casually when I first investigated it for a high school composition class (yeah! long story). It was fun, the people were nice and I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Then I graduated from high school, moved onto the college campus at the University of Minnesota and took a hiatus from Pokémon since I had no car and no way to continue going to league. When January rolled around, some of the guys at Pokémon asked me if I wanted to compete at Midwest Regionals in the Dells. I figured it would be fun, grabbed a Magnerock deck from some friends and started playing competitively, all the way through Nationals. I wasn’t good but at least I went positive at all the events I played in and eventually finished 10th best player in Minnesota based off ELO points. Since then, I’ve been getting more and more into the competitive environment though still doing mediocre as always.

A week before Minnesota states, I went down to La Crosse with the other guys from league. I had no idea what I was going to play, as mid-terms just finished up and I didn’t have a chance to thoroughly test my options so Joey, Lukas, Michael, Curtis and I stayed up until about 1 in the morning so that I could figure out a deck to play. I didn’t. Read More

State Championships Tourney Report

Quad Terrakion Deck – MN State Championship 2012

Ed 17 Comments

I really thought that I wasn’t going to make it to States this year. Part of me thought that I should make a strong effort to defend my title, and part of me thought that the effort would be wasted if I couldn’t attend anyway. I had it in the back of my mind that I might make it to the tourney, so all along I had been putting together a CMT deck. I really actually wanted to play a straight Celebi/Mewtwo deck (without Tornadus or any techs), but I didn’t want to go out of my way to buy a bunch of Mewtwo if I might not even use them.

I did end up scraping together all the pieces for a CMT minus the 2 Mewtwo EX. When I decided to try opening the OneHitKO Store, I bought 3 boxes of Next Destinies. I figured that if I did end up able to attend MN States, then I could just borrow a couple Mewtwo from the store for the day. Well, that idea fell apart rather quickly when I opened 3 boxes and saw a total of ZERO Mewtwo EX.

The weekend before the tournament, my wife went to the hospital 3 times with pregnancy issues, and I thought that each time we might have an extended stay there while delivering our new child. Nothing came of that, and on the Monday before States, I ended up emailing TAndrewT and talking about all of this. I told him essentially the same thing I just told you, still unsure that the pregnancy would last through the following weekend of MN States. I also added that I had considered Durant and straight 4-Terrakion deck.

I didn’t know if I even cared to build a deck at this point. Pokemon wasn’t a pressing issue, and I had barely played since Cities. Andy replied with, “Well, if you need Terrakions I have plenty for you to borrow.” and I thought that this sounded like the only plan I was going to come up with on late notice.

I netdecked a list, and I threw together the deck proxying the Terrakion (I had all the rest except for 1 old style Revive in place of the new one). There’s a guy here at work that I’ve been playing against over lunch sometimes. He has a Zekrom/Eelektrik deck (which I figured would be popular), so I challenged him to a match. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the deck with him, so he played an old Emboar/Reshiram deck of mine. The first game went very quickly as I lost due to not getting more than 1 Terrakion out. I think the deck wasn’t very shuffled yet, and 2 Terrakion were prized. The next game was a real match, and I think I ultimately won when he decked out. This one game turned out to be my only real tourney prep, though. Other than that, I never played the deck until the day of the tourney. At the tourney, a junior (another co-worker’s kid) challenged me to a game, and I ran though his Pokemon very quickly. Going into the tournament, I had only played one real and it was against a non-metagame deck.
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State Championships Tourney Report

Balasar’s Indiana State’s Report and Durant Decklist

balasar 20 Comments
Hello, OneHitKO readers! As this is my first article ever, I feel that I need introduce myself and show a little bit of what I can do. You may have seen me on 6p and PokeGym as Darkwing34, in person as Scott Creech, or in comments as Balasar. I have been collecting the cards for seven years, and have been playing for four. I have never made it to top cut, but I’ve gotten close in the past two tournaments. One of those tournaments was the Muncie City Championship, and the other being the Indiana State Championship. In the Muncie Cities, I placed third out of eight, and at Indiana States I placed fourteenth out of fifty-three. Without further ado, let’s get to the article.
What I Ran
I decided to play Durant just because being a Senior puts a budget on you. This meant no Mewtwo EX for me. Here is my personal list. Please feel free to use it; just don’t take credit for it.
Pokemon: 5
  • 4x Durant
  • 1x Rotom
T/S/S: 44
  • 3x PONT
  • 4x Collector
  • 2x N
  • 2x Twins
  • 1x Black Belt
  • 1x FSL
  • 2x Prof. Juniper
  • 1x Skyarrow Bridge (SAB)
  • 1x Battle City
  • 1x Alph Lithograph (FOUR)
  • 3x Lost Remover
  • 4x Crushing Hammer
  • 3x Level Ball
  • 2x Pokemon Catcher
  • 4x Revive
  • 4x Junk Arm
  • 3x Pokegear 3.0
  • 3x Eviolite
Energy: 11
  • 1x Prism
  • 1x Rescue
  • 4x Special Metal
  • 5x Basic Metal
The basic strategy is the same as any Durant deck. I found Black Belt needed in this deck over other cards just in case I needed to attack with Rotom. The tournament was smaller than I expected. We only had forty-some Juniors, fifty-three Seniors, and about 160 Masters. The tournament in general certainly was a little odd as far as what I saw play.
Round 1: Tristian V. (Terrakion/Electrode Prime/ Zekrom/Kyurem/Kyurem Ex/ etc.)
This was against a major binder deck. After setting up, he won the coin flip and started out with a lone Terrakion. He wasn’t able to get energy on it until T4 or T6. I had three Durant up until T5.  On my first turn, I was able to Devour his 1-1 Electrode Prime line, which was his only form of energy acceleration. I was able to discard all of his Pokemon with the exception of his lone Terrakion starter. This was quite the easy game.
(1-0)
Round 2: Asher K. (Samurott-Ability/KGL/Feraligatr)
This certainly was a fun match since Asher is from my league (GO SUMMIT CITY ELITE FOUR TRAINING!). Asher has been constantly trying to get Kyogre & Groudon LEGEND to work in a deck for a while now. This just happened to be one of his attempts. I won the coin flip and opened with a lone Durant against his lone Oshawott. I played Collector to get two Durant and my Rotom because my fourth Durant was prized. I wasn’t able to get it out of my prizes until T7. That didn’t matter as much as it should have because he wasn’t able to get his Oshawott evolved at all until T8. I think he only drew two prizes. This was also a relatively easy game.
(2-0)
Round 3: Kaitlin Y. (CMT-actually stands for Celebi/Mewtwo EX/Terrakion)
For those of you who don’t know, Kaitlin is, as of 6:36 PM March 17th, ranked sixtieth in Championship Points for Seniors. I knew that this would have been an uphill battle from the start. I went first, and at the time when we started, I realized what she was playing. She opened with a lone Smeargle against my lone Durant. I was able to get two of my other Durants out, but wasn’t able to get the fourth until T7. Kaitlin wound up taking all of the six prizes with one of her Terrakion. This was probably the hardest of my battles today.
(2-1)
Round 4: Alexandra K. (Mirror)
Alexandra’s form of shuffling showed me that her deck contained a Junk Arm, Collector, and Lost Remover. I recognized that she was also playing Durant before we even got set up. After the flip, I was able to get two more Durant and my Rotom in addition to my starting Durant. She was able to get all of here Durants out T2. At first, I thought about scooping because I know that in mirror matches, whoever gets four Durants out first, wins. I’m really glad that I didn’t because of a few misplays that my opponent made. First of all, she played a Juniper when she was getting low on cards. Second, she decided to PONT when she had fewer than six cards in her hand. She also only played one Pokemon Reversal instead of Catcher. I don’t mean to insult her or anything; it was just obvious that she didn’t have much experience with it. After the match, I asked her how long she had been playing Durant, and she said that today was her first day using it. I wound up never getting the fourth Durant, but still won due to her misplays. She certainly wasn’t a bad player because I had only one card left in my deck when I won, so luck just may have been on my side.
(3-1)
Round 5: Alder P. (Zekrom/Zekrom EX/Eels)
I had no clue who I actually was playing until the end of the game. I was able to pull of the T1 Durant set up, but that didn’t help a lot. What actually saved me was Lost Removing his DCEs. I was able to deck him down to seven cards, when he pulled out a Juniper to pull out his last DCE, attached it to his Zekrom EX, and Strong Volt for his final prize. After the game, he mentioned that I almost beat the Senior that is placed tenth in the country for Championship Points. If that wasn’t a confidence booster, I don’t know what is.
(3-2)
Round 6: Nicholas S. (Zekrom EX/Zebstrika/Eels)
By now, the other two guys from my league had also gotten a record of 3-2. This proved our consistency as a league. I recognized my opponent from previous tournaments, so I knew a little bit about him. This allowed me to crack a few light-hearted jokes here-and-there, which lightened the mood a lot. Once again, I went first and started with some extra draw power due to some Mulligans that my opponent had. I was able to start with two Durants in play and a Collector in hand. I got even better luck, and my other two Durants were in my deck. I was able to get the Devour engine going from T1. My opponent wasn’t able to get much energy out on the active because Dynamotor can only attach to the bench. He got one Zebstika loaded up with energy, but wasn’t able to retreat or Switch his active Zekrom EX. Let’s just say that this was a relatively easy game.
(4-2)
Conclusion
As stated above, I placed fourteenth out of fifty-three. I missed the top cut by six places though. There was one mantra in particular that I found helpful with Durant. That was “Deck out or die”. This was said by one of my fellow leaguers (and Durant players), Josiah. What this means is that with Durant, you should never attack, only mill. This definitively helped in some of my matches. I just want to take some time  to thank James H., Josiah K., Jesse K., Rob, Michael W, and my sister (Stephanie C.) from my league for lending me about one-third of my deck.
Tourney Report

Pikkdogs Went to a Pre-Release

Pikkdogs 5 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a Pre-Release tournament report.  I usually wouldn’t write you a PR report, but it could provide a nice break for me while I write my next article, which may take a little while.  Why don’t we take this time to welcome my extra-dimensionary sidekick Pedro.  How was your weekend Pedro?

Pretty good, a nice sports weekend.  We had the Pro Bowl, the NHL All Star Game, the finals of the Australian Open, the Royal Rumble, and even some Free UFC on Fox. 

I watched that UFC on Saturday.  There is no doubt that it takes a man much tougher than me to step into the Octagon, but on Saturday it seemed like UFC is just an excuse for two dudes to cuddle in the corner of a cage.

Those are big men, I wouldn’t be calling them gay. 

I didn’t call them gay, I implied it.  Plus, they always wear those bright T-shirts, you can’t wear that many pastel colors without some questions.  Let’s get onto the article before I say more things that I will regret.

 

The Introduction

I did not plan on going to my Next Destinies Pre-Release on Sunday.  I wanted to, but I just didn’t have the money.    That all changed on Saturday.  I came back to my apartment after going out for lunch, and I found a strange package at my door.

Oh, somebody gave you their package?

Yes, I guess you could say that.

Was it a big package?  A long package?

No, it wasn’t that big.

Oh, so somebody gave you their small package.

Will you stop with the penis jokes, they aren’t working.  Anyway, the mailman left me a pack!. A box, the mailman left me a box.   In the box was a gift from my sister and her two kids.  They had given me a box of chocolates and 25 bucks.  I’m not sure why they did that; perhaps just to be nice, or a late Christimas present, or perhaps an early Valentine’s Day gift.  My first thought was, “sweet!. a Pre-Release, and chocolate.”

So I was able to head to the Pre-Release Sunday.  It was held at a venue about an hour away from me.  It was snowing a little bit on that day, so the roads weren’t that good, but I’m from the U.P. and a little snow  doesn’t scare a Yooper.  So, after a longer drive than usual, I made it to the venue.

I was expecting maybe about 40-50 people at the event, but we ended up having 80!  They even had to turn people away.  I never heard of anybody getting turned away from a PR before.  So things were cramped to say the least.  I did see a lot of cool people there.  Some of the members of Team Warp Point were there, like Frank S. and Bohdan.  I also saw some people from Lansing like my buddy Andrew, and some people from Ann Arbor’s Team Victini.  So, after saying hi to people and finally finding a chair, I saw down to open my packs.

Of course, like everybody else, I was here for a chance at a Mewtwo EX.  I was also looking for all the other EXs, and maybe cards like Musharna and Cilan.  And, of course I was looking for as many Growlithe cards as possible, the chick in the background of that card is pretty hot.

So, I got my 6 packs and I actually pulled fairly well.  In my second pack I pulled a Full Art Shaymin EX!  That was always good, and for the tournament I got a cool card in Zekrom.  I know that Reshiram and Zekrom are good cards, but when will it stop being fun for Nintendo to print those cards?Seriously there are more Reshiram and Zekrom cards than are legal to play!   I also got some pretty good PR cards, like Starmie, Hippowdon, Luxray, Simisage, Mienfoo, and Level Ball.  I didn’t  get Mewtwo EX or Musharna, but it’s not right to complain about a Full Art.

The tournament was only 3 rounds today, but I suppose that’s enough for it starting as late as it did.  I quickly made my deck with Shaymin, Zekrom, Mienfoo, Basculin, Simisage, and Hippowdon.  I didn’t get a lot of the consistency cards that are in the set, but I did get some decent cards that are quick, so I knew I had a little chance.

Round 1

This game was against Evan, a player from Lansing.  He didn’t get a good start, he had a lot of energies in his hand and not many Pokemon.  I started with an active Basculin, and I had a Hippowdon and a Level Ball in my hand.  I started attacking with Basculin, and started setting up the Hippowdon.  He started with Riolu and a bunch of Kricketots.  I ended up getting the knock with Basculin, and got 3 energies on Hippowdon.  He eventually did find a Zekrom, but that didn’t help him when I had Hippowdon running this hot.

1-0.  So an easy win because of the tank that is Hippowdon.

Round 2

I don’t know exactly who this guy is, but I think he might be a friend of a Warp Pointer.  He sat right next to me when we were making our decks.   I got a good start with a 2nd turn Mienfoo   But, he got about as good of a start as I did.  He did start with Basculin and had a Lapras on the bench.  He got the KO on my active, and then I returned it with Pansage. He then was able to return it with Lapras.  But, then I got a Hippotas going and returned his KO.  The prize I took that time was Hippowdon, and the game was over from there.  He could not match the tank that is Hippowdon.

2-0.  Chalk another one up for Hippowdon.  I know PRs don’t mean anything, but it would be nice to leave undefeated.

Round 3

This game was against a member of Team Victini, he is a really nice guy, so It was nice to play him.  It was too bad that he started terribly.  He had a Moltres active and a bunch of stage 1’s in his hand.  I started with the super bass, Basculin, and was able to take advantage of weakness.  My opponent had three turns to top deck a basic, but he never did.  So I was able to get the KO with Basculin and he had no basics to promote.

3-0.   I know it doesn’t matter, but whenever you leave undefeated it is not a bad  feeling.  We did not play enough rounds to crown a true winner, but sharing 1st place with around 4 other guys is still 1st place.  It doesn’t mean much, but it could give me a little momentum and confidence as we progress into States.  And if it is one thing that I need after my disastrous Cities season, it is confidence.

So, a big thanks goes out to the Judges and Derek, the TO.  You guys make all this possible.  Another thanks to everyone that attended, you guys made the day that much better.  It seemed kind of weird that I won all my games, but never really used my two best cards, Zekrom and Shaymin EX.  That just shows you how weird PR’s can be.  Sometimes they go by the book, and other times they are unpredictable. 

Conclusion.

So you are bragging about winning a PR? PR’s don’t mean anything.

                I didn’t brag, I just reported what happened.  Instead of picking on me, why don’t you wrap things up.

Alright, today. January 30th, is the anniversary of the first presidential assassination attempt.  Richard Lawrence, a house painter, fired two single shot revolvers at point blank rage at Andrew Jackson, and both guns misfired.  Jackson then proceded to beat Lawrence’s ass with his cane.  Jackson thought that Lawrence might have been hired by the Whig party to kill him, so that he would not be able to shut down the Bank of the United States.  Do you like the Andrew Jackson Pikkdogs?

I love the Andrew Jackson, probably my favorite president.  Shutting down the bank of the United States was probably one of the best things a president ever did.  You also gotta love the fact that he won the battle of New Orleans,  that he had a strict interpretation of the constitution, and he advocated for states rights. 

But, he helped slavery expand and forcefully relocated thousands of Native Americans away from their homes.

Ahhhhhhh, well………………… good night everybody. 

 

 

Deck Discussion Tourney Report

Pikkdogs Double Tournament Report and Six Corners Deck List!

Pikkdogs 4 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a tournament report that covers 2 City Championships.

This past Saturday I went down about 40 miles south of my apartment to Toledo, Oh for a City Championship.

I decided that I had enough of sucking with Donphan and Dragons, so I decided to go and suck with another deck.  On the Friday before the tournament I asked my Facebook friends what I should run, and the first suggestion was 6 Corners.  If you don’t know, 6 Corners is a hodgepodge deck of a bunch of Legendary Pokemon.  The goal of the deck is to run a lot of different Pokemon so that you always have weakness over your opponent.  It is a deck that is fairly fast and versatile enough to have a great chance against any deck in the format.  After throwing it together Friday night, I decided that this wouldn’t be the worst deck choice, so I decided to run it.

Here is a list that is similar to my deck, it is not the exact list that I ran that day, but it is close and reflects more closely what a good 6 corner deck would be.  I agree that it is not a great deck and that I have not had a lot of time to prefect it, but it does kind of work, so it is not a terrible list.

List

Pokemon-14

  • 2- Virizion- The starter of the deck and an okay attacker.
  • 2-Reshiram- mostly used for “Outrage”ing against Metal and Grass attackers.
  • 2-Kyurem- same as Reshiram, but against Fire Pokemon.
  • 1-Zekrom- used for “Outrage.”
  • 1-Absol-Prime-  Good for the Chandelure matchup
  • 1-Cobalion- Good for the Beartic, Kyurem, and Vanilluxe matchup
  • 1-Tornadus- Just an all around good attacker.
  • 1-Unown Cure
  • 2-Terrakion- one of the better attackers, needed for the Electric matchup.
  • 1- Landorus- helps you re-use energy, and helps in the Electric matchup.
  • 1-Bellsprout

Trainers-32

  • 4- Pokemon Collector
  • 4-Proffesor Juniper
  • 4-Professor Oak’s New Theory
  • 3- Sage’s Training
  • 1-Super Rod
  • 4-Junk Arm
  • 3- Pokemon Catcher
  • 2- Potion- Its’ actually a great card.
  • 2-Switch
  • 3- Eviolite
  • 2-Energy Exchanger- I’m considering using Lost Remover instead.

Energy-13

  • 4-Rainbow Energy
  • 4-Double Colorless Energy
  • 3-Fighting Energy
  • 1-Water Energy
  • 1-Darkness Energy

If you haven’t seen this deck in action, you probably think that the deck will not be very consistent.  I agree that it shouldn’t work, but it kind of does.  It kind of reminds me of Tim Tebow, he should suck at being a Quarterback, yet he is one of the best in the league (yes that’s right, one of the best).  Let’s see how the deck served me on this day.

Round 0- Play testing with my buddy Frank with Chandelure

I wanted to get at least 1 practice game in before the tournament started, so I asked my buddy Frank for a game.  He started with a Litwick and Oddish, and  I started with a Virizion.  He goes first and “Calls for Family” for a Doduo.  I used Pokemon Collector and got my Chandelure counter, Absol Prime, out.  I think I also put an energy on Tornadus.  I then used Pokemon Catcher to make Oddish active, and then passed.  On his turn he retreated Oddish and evolved into Dodrio and Lampet.  On my turn I used Tornadus and  a Pokemon Catcher to knock out Dodrio.  Frank then evolved in Chandelure and put damage counters on Absol, he also used Rare Candy to get a Vileplume out.  A couple of turns passed while we both used Tropical Beach a couple of times.  I then got Absol ready and knocked out Chandelure.  Frank was able to get another Chandelure, but he never got the energies out to attack.

So even though this game didn’t count, the win got me some nice momentum.  Frank didn’t do so well, but his success last weekend proved he had a decent Chandelure deck.  I hoped that I might be seeing more of this deck.

Round 1-Bohdan with Donphan and Dragons

This was quite the epic game between me and my buddy Bohdan.  Bohdan eneded up doing very well on the day, but I sure gave him a great game here.  He started with Reshiram and I started Virizion.  He started first and used “Outrage”, and then I used a Potion and used “Double Draw.”  Bohdan then tried to get a couple Donphans going, and used “Outrage” again, this time with about a million Plus Powers for the knock out.  I then promoted a Terrakion and used about 4 Potions to keep him active for a long time.  I was able to get a couple knock outs with Terrakion when Bohdan hit an energy drought.  I think I was up 2-3 prizes when Bohdan finally hit a supporter, and then started going again.  He was able to get a couple knock outs on my Terrakion and Landorus.  The game was just about tied when I ran out of cards to draw from my deck.

0-1  Great game with Bohdan.  I don’t like losing, but because it’s a friend I, don’t really care too much.  It was about this time when whoever was playing my buddy Evan B. made a misplay and started cussing Evan out.  Just because you make a misplay does not give you the right to yell at your opponent when he won’t let you take the move back.  Plus, it is never a good move to yell obscenities when children are around. I know I tend to write some naughty articles, but our website isn’t for kids, it is different when you swear in front of kids.  Does anyone else have a story like this?  If so please leave the story in the comment box.

Round 2- Mew, Vanilluxe, and Unfezant

This game was against a guy from Ohio whom I always seem to play against.  This time he has a Mew deck going, and starts with Relicanth.  I start with something, but I don’t know what, maybe Tornadus.  He gets a fairly good start with a couple Oddishes on the bench, and an Unfezant and a Vanilluxe in the Lost Zone by turn 3.  I get a fairly good start as well, getting knockouts on some of those Oddishes.  I did take about 4 prizes, but he eventually sets up.  He gets Vileplume going and paralyzes whatever defending Pokemon I have.  By the time they are ready for a knock out, he used “Fly” for the prize.  He was flipping really good in this game, and ended up only missing one flip on Fly.  I was able to take 1 more prize, but he flipped so well that I didn’t get another chance.  

0-2.  Another game that came down to just 1 prize.  I hadn’t yet put Unown in my deck, and this game showed that I need it.

Round 3- Zekrom

This game was against a really cool Pokemom from Cleveland.  After the game we ended up talking and had a nice chat.  I think I started with a Zekrom, and I Pokemon Collectored for 2 Terrakions and a Landorus.  She started with a Shaymin and had to pass a couple turns.  I was trying to get energies on Terrakion and Landorus, so I didn’t really attack much with Zekrom.  After several turns passing, I finally got the knockout on Shaymin.  She started using a lot of Tornadi because of all my fighting Pokemon, but she couldn’t really do much damage.  Landorus ended up doing a lot of damage, and was the MVP of the game as I got the first win.

1-2.  Finally a win.

Round 4- Magnezone/Zekrom/Eelektrik

This game was against a fellow Michigander.  He got a really good start with lots of Eelektriks and Magnezones.  He seemed to use a great supporter each turn, and draw exactly what he needed with “Magnetic Draw.”  I again used a Collector for a Landorus and 2 Terrakion, and tried to play a little defense.  I had  a Reshiram active and “Outraged” a couple of times on an Eelektrik.  I finally got a Terrakion going, and knocked out the other Eelektrik.  Though, he got a lead of a couple prizes by this time.  After he used Zekrom to knock out Terrakion, I was able to return the KO with a Landorus.  He still had about a one prize lead by this time, but he only had a couple card left in his deck.  So I just played some more Defense using Eviolite, and was able to keep the game going longer.

2-2.  Another win, this time I didn’t really out play him, he just kind of out played himself.  Kind of like what I did in round 1.  I think not using all your supporters is important in this format.  You gotta be vigilant, or you will deck yourself out fast.  Believe it or not, at this time I actually still had a chance at top cut.  I looked at the top table and saw both of the people I lost to playing there, so I knew my resistance was good.  I just had to do my part.

Round 5- Dave R. with Reshiphlosion

This game was against Dave R., the brother of my rival.  Lately, I seem to have an edge on his brother, yet Dave always blows right past me.  In this game, he was able to get whatever he wanted very early.  I made two big misplays in this game, I once Potioned myself out of an”Outrage” knockout, and another time I “Outraged” so he had 120 damaged on a Reshiram.  I tried to control the game with Eviolite and Kyurem, but he was able to use Kingdra to set himself up for “Blue Flare” knock outs.  He got a prize lead early and never really looked back.

2-3.  So my hope at Top Cut was over, but losing to a Nationals champ, even a Senior one, isn’t ever that bad.

Round 6- Mew, Vanilluxe, and Unfezant

I cringed when I found out that I had to again play a stupid Mew paralyze deck.  This opponent didn’t seem to be a very experienced player, he kept on spacing out and not paying attention.  He didn’t make great decisions, but without Unown Cure, I didn’t have a great shot at this deck.  I started with Reshiram, and didn’t get such a great start.  I was able to “Outrage” on a couple Oddishes a couple times, but I never got enough energy on a good Pokemon to really get a knock out.  He kept on retreating whatever I Catchered up for Relincanth.  Eventually he did get Vaniluxe and Unfezant in the Lost Zone.  He ended up flipping really well and kept the lock on the entire game.

2-4.  So a bad day, and a deck that could use some more polish.  I am having a really poor City’s season, but at least Cities is almost over and the next few sets will drastically change the format.

A big thanks to the judges in Toledo, and thanks to all my buddies who were there.

Day 2: Tecumseh, Mi

As you can tell from the above subtitle, my weekend did not come to an end on Saturday.  There was also a Cities on Sunday in Tecumseh.  At first I didn’t want to go to this one, but I awoke a little earlier on Sunday and decided that I might as well go.  Unfortunately, this late start did not leave me much time to get going.  I put the pedal to the metal and got to the tournament just as the roster was going up.  Rich and the great judges in Michigan let me sneak in just in time for the first round.  Again big thanks to Rich and the guys, you guys are the best judges in the world!

It was nice being back in Michigan for a tournament, Ohio tournaments are usually in very small card shops with nowhere to move.  Michigan tournaments are in spacious public spaces, so it was nice to be back in my home state.  The judges were much more organized and timely in Michigan, again the judges here are world class.  Every Ohio tournament I have been to, started at least 45 minutes late, and had massive delays.  There were no such delays on Sunday.

I ended up playing with the same list on Sunday that I did on Saturday.  I tried to make changes like an Unown Cure and a Lost Remover, but my late start did not allow me to make the changes.  So I knew that I wasn’t going to do well today, I just hoped to get a couple fun games in before I leave early to watch some football.  Since you already read a large tourney report, I will make these descriptions fairly short.

Round 1- Andrew with Vanilluxe.

I would have loved to have my Unown Cure in this game, but I would have to go without it.  I started with Cobalion, and he started with Vanillite.  I start to get Cobalion ready for a knock out on a Vanilluxe, and he gets going trying to setup Vileplumes and Vanilluxes.  Unlike yesterday’s games, I don’t have to worry about “Fly” in this matchup, so I know I can a knock out after every prize he takes.

Andrew ends up flipping very well, nowhere near a quadruple tails.  I am able to stall with the water resistance Virizion, and other Pokemon with Eviolite on them.  I could return a knockout with Cobalion, but my other Pokemon had a harder time returning KO’s.  I am able to take about 4 prizes and keep the game really close, but because he never misses a flip, he ends up winning.  Even though Andrew won the game, there is no doubt that the highlight of the game was me getting a knock out with Bellsprout.  He never saw it coming.

Round 2- Zekrom

This is the same nice lady from Cleveland that I played yesterday.  I beat her yesterday, but today she had better luck.  I was able to get 2 fighting Pokemon out early, but the other one and a Potion were prized.  She gets an early 1st turn “Bolt Strike” and takes an early lead.  I am able to knock out a couple Zekroms, but she holds the prize lead with a bunch of Eviolited Tornadi.  I end up putting pressure on her when I use “Glaciate” a couple times, taking a  bunch of prizes, but her Zekroms came back and took the last couple prizes.

0-2 .  I knew I was doing bad today, so the 0-2 start doesn’t surprise me.  After the game, I again am able to have a nice conversation with my opponent.  This time we talked about how I hate Anime, and how we both hate anime and comic inspired movies.  I’m still mad at Arnold Schwarzenegger for massacring Mr. Freeze, he might have destroyed California’s budget, but that’s nothing compared to what he did with Mr. Freeze.

Round 3-Zekrom

This game I got paired up against my last round opponent’s husband.  He was a nice guy who was playing the same basic deck that his wife played, maybe just a card or two different.  Just like the last game, my opponent does get a turn 1 “Bolt Strike” for a knock out on a fighting Pokemon.  But, I am able to recover and get a Landorus going fairly quickly.  I end up returning a couple knockouts and tying the prize race.  He responds by bringing more Eviolited Tornadi on the field, and this slows the game down.  I have a slight prize lead and use Landorus and Terrakion to slowly chip away at the Tornadi.  I can’t remember how this game ended, but I did win.

1-2.  So I end up being 2-1 against this Zekrom build this weekend.  It was a good build too, the lady top cutted in Orlando the last weekend, and the gentleman made top cut on Saturday.  So I was happy to have a winning record against a good Zekrom list.

Round 4- Zekrom

This game was against a friend who attends the University of Michigan, and is a skilled competitive ice skater.  He is a nice guy that I enjoy playing.  This is my 3rd straight Zekrom game, at least I don’t have to play those annoying Mew decks.

My opponent gets their 3 straight first turn “Bolt Strike” KO, and takes another early lead.  I again respond with a bunch of fighting Pokemon and return the favor a couple times.  They again slow the game down with Tornadus.  I’ll skip towards the end.  He has a prize lead and an active Tornadus, I promote an undamaged Zekrom with a DCE.  I have a misplay here where I should have attached a Rainbow to Zekrom and make it so I could 2HKO a Tornadus, but I instead attach the Rainbow elsewhere.  So instead of tying the game late, I lose it on time.

Round 5- Steelix Ross

I had seen this guy play my round 3 opponent during my last game, so I knew what I was up against.   I knew that he couldn’t really go up against my Reshirams, so I should have an easy win.  I have a good start with 2 Reshirams and a Cobalion, 2 Eviolite, a DCE, and a Professor Oaks.  Darn near a perfect start.  I am able to attach a Rainbow Energy to Reshiram, and use “Outrage” to knock out 2 Solosi.  I get another prize on a Cleffa, and then take another one with Cobalion once he promotes a Kyurem.  By the time he has a Steelix going he is down by 5 prizes, and I end up taking care of the Steelix for the win.

I end up dropping with the 2-3 record to go and watch some Football, what about that Lions comeback hey?  I had a really fun weekend and liked playing with this 6 Corner variant deck.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Tourney Report

Michigan Double Header Battle Road Reports.

Joel 4 Comments

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

Round 1 vs Diane S.-ZPST

Last time I played against Diane, she beat me in the finals of a Spring Battle Road, so I know she’s a good player. We both get a slow setup and the game ends up being a prize battle throughout most of the match. We got down to 1 prize each and I used catcher to bring up a Zekrom, and Zoroark won with the help of a pluspower.
1-0

Round 2 vs Mike M.- Yanmega/Magnezone

Not gonna lie, I was a little intimidated this round. Mike had a great rookie year last year, and continues to be an amazing player. He is also best friends with the Richard family, who happens to be on a hot streak right now. I managed to get an early prize lead, however he came back with his amazing draws, my poor draws and whiffing on both of my Pokegears. He manages to KO the rest of my pokemon and take his prizes. He was also nice enough to let me bum a cigarette post match too, because it was one of those games where you needed one after (by the way, don’t smoke. It’s one of those things both Mike and I wish we never started, and quitting is easier said than done.).
1-1

Scooping to Levester

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

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

Round 1 vs Tracy K.- Reshiphlosion

Tracy is quite possibly the best player in Michigan, and a really good friend of mine. This was one of the best matches I played all day too. I managed to get an early prize lead, and late game ended up being a prize battle. Bouffalant helped me out a lot with revenge KO’s. My downfall was benching a Cleffa, which she would catcher up and KO for game. I was tilted throughout most of the game, afterward she gave me advice. She told me to just take a deep breath and not be so stressed. It helped me later on in the tournament.
0-1

Round 2 vs Chris D.-Reshiphlosion

I did in this game what I should have done last round, which was take out the Cyndaquils early. Taking Typhlosion out of the mix helps greatly. I also took out his Dewott so his Samurott tech wouldn’t see the light of day too. He had a slow setup but managed to make this game a prize battle as well. Taking out the Cyndaquils helped me win though, as I was 4 prizes ahead by the time he had somewhat of a setup.
1-1

Round 3 vs Ryan D.-Crobat/Weavile

As long as I’ve known Ryan, he’s always had a knack for rogue decks or decks that you would usually not see, and he does well with them too. I knew he was running Crobat so I had to keep control early on in the game. Donphan helped KO Sneasels and Weaviles. He only managed to get prizes from my Donphan using Earthquake.
2-1

Round 4 vs Alex H.-ZPST

Donked. That’s all I can say to that.
2-2

Round 5 vs Nick K.-Ross.dec

I thought I was going to lose this one for sure. Nick is another one of Michigan’s best players. I managed to get an early prize lead, which helped me out in the end. He finally gets Vileplume and Reuniclus set up late game and slows me down. We play down to the wire, as we both have 1 prize card left. His mistake was my gain. He could have won the game by damage swapping damage counters from his Zekrom to Vileplume, but he didn’t do that. I added a 4th energy to Donphan, retreated, promoted Yanmega, used copycat and sniped out his Zekrom for game.
3-2

Round 6 vs Robert H.-Lilligant/Vileplume/Yanmega

I managed to keep control early game, I took out Oddishes with Yanmega so Vileplume couldn’t see play. He did manage to status lock me a few times but luckily Switch helped me out. He scooped a few turns into the game after I had an early prize lead.
4-2

I took 8th overall in that tournament, but the highlight of my day was going to Chipotle. After a horrible sports weekend, and utter disappointment in Pokemon, Chipotle is the perfect medicine and the key to happiness. Thanks everyone for reading , and as always-Go Lions, Go Wings and GO BLUE!

Tourney Report

Battle Roads Double Header Weekend in Minnesota

Ed 5 Comments

I forgot to bring my camera for both days this past weekend, so I don’t have my usual slew of unfocused pictures. Because of that, I thought that I wouldn’t write much, so I didn’t take any notes. This is all from (my poor) memory.

Here’s a micro report from The Source Comics and Games on Oct. 15th. I knew that there was another tourney the next day, so I thought that if Ava was done playing, I might drop. I didn’t want to drop if there was a chance I could still win, but in the back of my mind, I almost hoped I’d hit that 2 loss mark early. We had a party to attend as a family, so it would be good to get home a bit earlier.

Juniors had 8 players. Aiden wasn’t there with his Beartic deck which has beaten Ava’s Donphan deck in the 2 previous events. Unfortunately, Paul decided that Beartic was the clear best deck (as it had won the previous 2 events) and decided to play it. I think Ava lost to Paul and forgot about Exoskeleton to lose another one. In the end, she snuck in at 4th place and got her third top-4 in 3 events.
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Deck Discussion Opinion Tourney Report

TAndrewTesting: Pokémon TCG Online

TAndrewT 12 Comments

So I know you OHKO’ers are knee-deep in Battle Roads right now, battling against all sorts of decks—not just the Reshiram/Typhlosions, Yanmega/Magnezones and Stage 1’s you’ve become familiar with since Worlds, but brand new decks too, like Zekrom/Tornadus, toolboxy Mew decks, Yanmega/Cincinno/Weavile, Gothitelle, Beartic/Vileplume/whatever—all kinds of builds you hadn’t thought of, but yearn to try. But how can you? I mean, you can’t just call up the guys every other day, asking to get together to test out your crazy Wobbuffet-donk deck whenever you please, right? We all have lives—school and college just started up, we’re all working hard to make financial ends meet, and Dancing with the Stars has reclaimed our Monday and Tuesday nights. Personally, it took me like 2 whole weeks to set a series of forest fires in northern Minnesota with the goal of sending a blinding cloud of smoke at Pikkdogs’ Michigan apartment. Let’s face it—we don’t always have the time to playtest like we should.

The Pokémon Company International has just created a new platform—Pokémon TCG Online, or PTCGO—that could make it much easier for us players to build and test decks. It also promises to attract a whole new set of players to the game. But it has its glitches, and its drawbacks. Pikkdogs wrote a brief introduction to PTCGO’s initial release, back when it was just a single-player game with old cards and set decks. Now, in its open beta, PTCGO has many of the features Pokémon players would want: two-player online games, owning and trading of virtual cards, a fully functional deck-builder, and a multiplayer matchmaker. In this article, I hope to bring you up to speed on what has changed with the service since Pikk’s article, and to help you decide whether investing time and money into PTCGO is worth it for you. I’ll also tell you about my own effort to use PTCGO to get ready for my first tournament of the Battle Roads season: the October 9th BR in Coon Rapids, MN.
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Tourney Report

Using Insight, you can succeed.

Michael 11 Comments

Last weekend, I played Yanmega Magnezone with a Jirachi, but no Kingdra. It was a weird list. It worked, though it probably shouldn’t have. I didn’t test it much either. This time, I didn’t even touch the deck, and had it built for me. It was Yanmega Magnezone with Jirachi, but this time, I ran a 2-1-2 Kingdra line. Here’s the report. I remember some and some I don’t. It was a looooong day.

Round 1: VS Mike Juhl playing Whirlipede(I think that’s what it was)/Roserade

The deck was all about poisoning, but he just couldn’t get set up. Multiple Yanmegas allowed for a swarm he couldn’t seem to overcome, as I catchered his basics and one-shot them with Sonicboom. Relatively easy. GG man.

1-0
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