League Challenge Report

I learned a lot of things at winter regionals. The importance of sleep, the importance of snacks, the importance of maintaining good posture throughout 12 hours of pokemon cards...

But the most important lesson was the value of play testing. Really working out a deck list until it is as lean as possible. Due to this, on the drive back from St. Louis, I decided that before the next league meeting, I was going to select my deck for states.

XY had not officially released, but I had read the scans. There are quite a few fun cards, but none of the pokemon really inspired me along the lines to build a deck around them. A friend and I discussed a Malamar/red card hell deck for about an hour on the way back from regionals... But we both knew it would not be competitive.

I knew I wasn't going to lay down enough money for Yveltal EX singles, and it would take an absurd swing of luck pull three. The fairy decks I have seen seem to lack enough punch to win consistently, and I am not going to buy beaches, so pairing Ray/Boar with Delphox is moot.

So that left me looking at old ideas and trying to pick one that would remain competitive, or get a boost with a small splash of the new stuff.

Palkia with Trevenant was the first deck to consider, but three games against Darkrai/Garbodor at league told me that even if you can slow their setup, dark types just blow through Trevenant too easily.

Then a meta-hater Magnezone/Sigilyph/Deoxys/Genesect deck. This was a blast against anyone who benched more than one Lugia EX or Yveltal EX, but Gyroball isn't quite as disruptive as I had hoped. I still run this online a few times a week, but my current build just hasn't proved capable of setting up Magnezone by turn 2-4 consistently. Beach would really help it, but again... Not buying that. $200 for a pokemon card is asinine.

So I began reading into current archetypes, and found Colin Moll's Hydreigon list. I love the flexibility that Dark Trance provides, I love Safeguard, and Dragon Blast is powerful enough to take care of non-EX nuisance pokemon such as Snorlax PLS, Reshiram LTR, etc.

So I tinkered with it, playing in online and in league for the past month, and this is the list I settled on for the first XY League Challenge:

Pokemon - 16	Trainers -33	Energy - 11
4 - Deino PLF	3 - N	7 - Darkness
1 - Zweilous LTR	3 - Professor Juniper	4 - Blend GRPD
3 - Hydreigon LTR	2 - Shauna	-
2 - Sigilyph LTR	1 - Colress	-
2 - Sableye DXP	4 - Dark Patch	-
2 - Darkrai EX LTR	3 - Ultra Ball	-
1 - Yveltal XY	3 - Random Receiver	-
1 - Virizion EX PLB	3 - Max Potion	-
-	3 - Rare Candy	-
-	2 - Enhanced Hammer	-
-	2 - Tool Scrapper	-
-	1 - Super Rod	-
-	1 - Silver Bangle	-
-	1 - Silver Mirror	-
-	1 - Computer Search	-

I went into this knowing that 30 minutes best of one works against one of this decks strengths, but I wanted to get as much experience with this deck as I could, so YOLO I guess.

Round 1 - W vs Mewtwo EX/Mew EX/Chandelure EX/Gardevoir
Round 2 - L vs Lugia EX/Deoxys EX/Thundurus EX/Genesect EX/Snorlax PLS
Round 3 - W vs Yveltal EX/Darkrai EX/Sableye DXP/Bouffalant DEX
Round 4 - L vs Yveltal EX/Sableye DXP/Garbodor LTR/Bouffalant DEX
Round 5 - T vs Lugia EX/Deoxys EX/Thundurus EX/Genesect EX/Absol PLF/Heatran EX

My favorite thing about this style of Hydreigon build (ie walling with Sigilyph instead of using a handful of tech attackers) is how often it either mounts a huge comeback, or just backs an opponent into a corner within the first 3-5 turns.

The round 1 matchup was easily my worst start ever with any version of Hydreigon. A Juniper, three rare candies, a Sigilyph and two blends in my opening hand... but I was able to pull out of it and hit energy and dark patches down the line to end up blowing through my opponent with successive Dragon Blasts after feeding a few one prize attackers.

On the opposite end of this, the game I tied I pulled Sableye and both enhanced hammers in my opening hand, junk hunting to lock my opponent out of energy until I was ready to begin Dragon Blasting.

The losses were close, and the tie would have gone to me given 5 more minutes.

It has been very tempting to for me to add Raichu XY, or Chandelure EX, something that either has 1HKO punch without a tool attached, or can punch out high damage pokemon that end up on the bench. However, since space is so tight on the bench I often end up with this special tech either wasting away on my bench while blocking out a more crucial strategic piece or unavailable in the discard pile when I need it.

Anyway, I finished 6 of 15, won a booster pack... and despite spending the evening experimenting with Luxray/Ninetales builds online, I will probably be playing something very close to this at states.

Winter Regionals Report

I am a bit late in posting this, as we are nearly a month into X&Y, but I went to the St. Louis winter regional last month!

It was a lot of fun, a good experience etc. etc. etc.

This is going to be a huge post, so let's get down to business. Starting a with a deck list!

Pokemon - 16	Trainers -33	Energy - 11
3 - Palkia EX PLB	4 - Skyla	5 - Psychic
2 -Latias EX PLF	4 - N	2 - Fire
2 - Sigilyph LTR	3 -Professor Juniper	4 - Double Colorless
1 - Snorlax PLS	1 - Colress	-
3 - Swablu DRX	3 - Level Ball	-
3 - Altaria DRX	2 - Ultra Ball	-
1 - Mr. Mime PLF	2 - Hypnotoxic Laser	-
1 - Spiritomb LTR	2 - Tool Scrapper	-
-	2 - Switch	-
-	1 - Super Rod	-
-	1 - Max Potion	-
-	1 - Energy Search	-
-	2 - Float Stone	-
-	1 - Silver Mirror	-
-	3 - Skyarrow Bridge	-
-	1 - Dowsing Machine	-

I have to be physically restrained from playing a rogue. Whether it is at a league challenge, or a regional tournament... Something about playing a major archetype just makes me feel icky. The only one that even appealed to me much for this tournament was RayBoar, but I ain't bout dat spending $600 on three beaches life, so it was back to the rogue pool!

The concept of this deck is to attack with Palkia's Strafe, and switch into a pokemon that will not take damage from whatever your opponent has active. An unmodified strafe hits for a paltry 50 damage, so if we ever want to win a game on prizes, 2 Altaria is recommended. Altaria is quite fragile at 70HP, so we need Mr Mime too. Sigilyph and Latias EX both have a retreat cost of 1, allowing a free retreat with Skyarrow bridge in play. Retreat into Palkia, strafe for 90, promote Sigilyph/Latias EX, wash rinse repeat.

That is the meat of the deck. If you can strafe for 90 and promote a pokemon that is immune to whatever your opponent plans to attack with, your only opponent is time. I would be more than happy to talk about individual card choices in the comments.

So with that perfect strategy, how did I finish 122nd with a 4-4-1 record? Read on and see!

Note: These reports were written between 4 and 30 days after regionals, so level of detail may vary.


Round 1 vs Yeti

Pretty straight forward yeti matchup. My Altaria set up kind of slow, but I put a silver mirror on Sigilyph early and it somehow managed to stay on the entire game. I don't know if my opponent didn't play a scrapper, or just didn't care enough to mess with it since I wasn't doing very much damage. Long story short in this match, he drew plasma energy to Red Signal 2 Palkia and KO with Snorlax before I could get a second Altaria.

I was finally setup late in the game, and he had 4 plasma energy on the field. I had only taken a single prize, and my deck was thin, but I had Palkia powered up, 2 Altaria, Sigilyph and Skyarrow all in play. The lock was on!

He played Colress for 9, then did a bizarre combination of plays so that he could promote Genesect, and then discard plasma energy on the retreat. This led me to assume that a Shadow Triad was among the Colress spoils, and would be played to recover plasma energy, red signal, and end the game on his upcoming turn. Pass to me.

I N him to 1 out of Shadow triad fear, but in the process draw my deck down to 2 cards. I end up decking out, and he reveals his final Shadow Triad was actually prized. Well played sir!

First game took about 40 minutes. I got a decent setup in the second game, but he filled his bench and switched/retreated into fresh EX pokemon each turn after I attacked... which was the smart play, but frustrating, since the first game had been so close. This opponent made top 8 in the tournament. I don't know what the appropriate response is to that, but battling top notch competition is a big reason I came to regionals!

0-1-0

Round 2 vs Straight Darkrai

Leading into regionals, hammers were on my mind nearly as much as the tier one archetypes. Thankfully, my opponent only played 2 copies of enhanced hammer, and no copies of crushing hammer. That is not to say he shied away from flippy cards though, as he played (guessing based on what I saw played) 3-4 catcher and 3-4 laser.

Behind Snorlax and Garbodor, sleep on a laser was my biggest meta game fear. Thankfully, this opponent had one of the worst coin flipping games I have ever witnessed. Across our two games, he hit 2 catchers and one laser despite junk hunting for them back repeatedly. I was impressed by how well he maintained his composure in the face of such odds!

That said, the first game I got one powered Palkia, an Altaria, a Mr. Mime, and a Sigilyph on board by turn 3 and began one hitting Sableyes. He scooped a couple turns after I took down the final Sableye. I setup a little slower in the second game, but was able to hold him off by starting Snorlax. By the time I was ready to start attacking, he had a decent setup, but I had counters to everything he did. Max Potion to keep Sigilyph out of laserbank KO range, Super Rod + level ball to recover Mr Mime (KO'd off one of the 2 catchers he hit), and 2 Altaria on board most of the game to allow 1-2HKO for everything on his field. Once again, after I cleared out the Sableye he scooped. He went on to finish 6-3-0 and bubble, so I am guessing he got a new randomizer after our match.

1-1-0

Round 3 vs Bizarro Mirror

I did not test as much as I should have going into this tournament. The testing I did was against the heavy hitters, VirGen, Ray/Boar, Dark/Garb, etc. The last thing I expected, was to face someone who built the version of this deck I gave up on a few months ago. He basically had an identical deck, but with Donphan in place of Palkia.

I ultimately gave up on the Donphan Build, because I could not keep up a consistent stream of Donphan. 1 energy to attack is nice, but 40 damage without bangle just gives the opponent too much time, and the grass weakness is brutal in the current format.

Unfortunately, one matchup Donphan totally wrecks (lolz) is the bizarro mirror against Palkia.

I had a small window in the first game because my opponent got a slow start and I drew kind of hot, but it was quickly slammed shut once he was able to Wreck+bangle a couple of Palkia. Prize trade blues, yo.

It was kind of interesting though, as this opponent and I followed eachother through most of the tournament, rarely being separated by more than a few seats. All things considered, this matchup was a mirror, and both of our decks benefited and suffered from the same things. If you have a timely or reliable catcher mechanic, we usually lost. If not? Guaranteed victory via damage lock.

1-2-0

Round 4 vs Empoleon

I ran 2 Latias EX so I wouldn't run out of strafe partners vs Snorlax, and in the event of an annoying G Booster - scrapper - shadow triad - G Booster - scrapper - shadow triad - G Booster - Dowsing Machine - scrapper exchange. Looking back, I probably should have only played one.

I do not regret this though, because in this matchup Latias EX showed me something I was not expecting to see at this tournament. What is that you ask? The look on someone's face when you play a card they have never seen before!

This dude actually called a judge to ask for clarification on Latias ability when I informed him that none of his pokemon in play (Empoleon DXP, Drifblim PLB, Dusknoir BCR) could damage Latias EX with an attack.

He was one of the younger players I faced, so I had some sympathy, but he also had custom sleeves featuring a version of Skyla with basketball boobs... which was really weird.

He also proceeded to evolve each of his Piplup to Empoleon (as opposed to attacking with Prinplup + bangle or something) after talking to the judge, and blame his eventual round 1 loss on a misplay (attacking Latias once with Drifblim), instead of admitting that barring an awful setup on my side, he had an autoloss against me.

He was also really picky about where I put my dice to indicate damage.

Is it clear that I did not care for this kid? Or respect him as a player?

Good.

When piloted by a player like this, who cannot adjust on the fly, any deck I have a chance to lock turns into an easy matchup. I was very happy to draw hot in the second game and not have to see this kid anymore. Basketball boob Skyla, man! What is wrong with you!!!!

2-2-0

Round 5 vs Blastoise

This matchup was against a pokedad. I love pokedad's! It is so cool to me that a parent would invest enough time in something like the pokemon trading card game to like, discuss it with their kid. I mean, this pokedad was familiar with all of my cards and we had a nice chat about Stoutland BCR after the match!

That being said, he had the pokedad version of Blastoise. ie, the one made of water type EX pokemon the child is not using. So we had the outrage EX Kyurem, baby outrage Kyurem, and a few promo Keldeo. It is a testament to how strong Blastoise+Keldeo (no Black Kyurem, no Beach) is that he was 2-2-0 when we matched up.

I set up Altaria kind of slow in the first game, which made baby outrage Kyurem difficult to deal with. Things got a little tense late because he ran a lot of escape ropes, but I pulled out a long game one. I had one of my fastest setups of the tournament in the second game. Setup a third Altaria just for baby outrage Kyurem. I held onto a Skyla to grab a laser with just to ease baby Kyurems passing a little more.

3-2-0

Round 6 vs Big Basics + Victini EX

I had one of my slowest starts of the tournament in the first game. This deck does not handle Garbodor well to begin with (drops damage down to pitiful levels, removes all stalling and walling abilities), but when my opponent had it set up turn two and I could not get a scrapper or a skyla to save my life... barf. I should have scooped this game in the first 5 minutes instead of letting it play out as much as I did (~20 min... this deck rarely wins or loses fast, fyi).

Got a better start in the second game. My opponent was never able to get Garbodor together. Mr Mime was prized though, and that hurt a lot, as I was never able to get more than one Altaria up at a given time. Still, I was putting damage on the field, and things were going well. Then he hit a catcher, and KO'd Palkia with a huge Mewtwo. I answered by knocking out Mewtwo with Sigilyph on the next turn. He responded with another catcher on a Palkia to take his remaining prizes.

3-3-0

Round 7 vs Empoleon

For all intents and purposes, my round 6 loss eliminated me from top cut... But there was a still a chance. My opponent and I were both in situations where if we won out, we had a slim chance to top cut with 18 points. We agreed before the game that if the match hit the time limit, and one player was obviously in position to win, but wouldn't be able to hit it in time, the player on the short end would scoop. I am not a fan of scooping in situations like this, but this dude was chill and scooping is a topic for another post.

In the first game I had 2 Altaria, a powered Palkia, and a Latias all in play on the third turn. My opponent had the dreaded Exeggcute start and scooped after my first attack. Feeling good!

Not great though, because we still had 40 minutes left! Plenty of time for a second game.

In the second game we both regressed to the mean. He got setup and used escape ropes to maneuver around Latias and put damage on my field. Enter Dusknoir and Latias is knocked out!

Now it is time for my most memorable misplay of the day!

I have 2 Altaria, a powered Palkia in the active with 120 damage on it, and one on the bench with one psychic and 40 damage on it. I ultra ball for my second Latias and place it on my bench, leaving my hand with a Super Rod, a Dowsing Machine and a few other cards I did not make note of. My opponent had only taken 2 prizes, so a third Latias could be useful down the line. In the moment, I was only thinking about max potion though. I knew it was in my deck (checked for it on the ultra ball), but I didn't have a skyla in the discard to dowsing for... So I play Dowsing for a Juniper. Then play the Juniper, trashing the super rod. I meant to rod the just knocked out Latias back in! This meant that if I didn't hit Max Potion in my top 7 cards the game was over.

I realized this right after I took my 7 cards. Didn't ask for a re-do because that is tacky... and because I hit Max Potion. Also hit float stone and a DCE, so +1 YOLO I guess?

Retreated Palkia with float stone, used Max Potion on the one with 120 damage, played a DCE on the active, strafe for 90, promote Latias, and the lock is alive!

My opponent counted the escape ropes in his discard, noted his dowsing machine was also there... we played a few more turns before he scooped.

4-3-0

Game 8 vs Gothitelle/Accelgor

This was definitely my least expected matchup. I figured the popularity of Virizion EX would exterminate this deck from competitive play... Well I was wrong, and I was tired. Was approaching delirium at this point.

I had a slow start in game 1, but was really just exhausted almost past the point of even being interested in the game seeing as I was up against a strong player who was using a deck that I was not only unprepared for, but that some quick mental theorymon told me would likely beat me ~99/100 games.

My opponent was a super nice guy with a really slick build. My deck just wasn't cut for this matchup.

4-4-0

Game 9 vs ID

My opponent showed up a couple minutes before play started and asked if I was cool with an intentional draw. Part of me wanted to ask what he was playing, as it had become apparent that my deck was basically a matchup dependent auto-win/auto-loss... But I just said sure. It was approaching midnight, and 14 hours of pokemon is A LOT of pokemon.

4-4-1

----------------------------------------------------

So what did I learn?

Play testing is really important!

I ran about a dozen games with a very similar build to this on PTCGO, but more testing would have told me that I had too many energy in the deck, would never attack with Latias, that benching a second strafe partner is more important than a second Palkia or possibly a second Altaria since an escape rope is both more likely and more predictable than Palkia getting knocked out, and that Spiritomb is a waste of space in this deck (I just hate G Booster sooooooo much).

Settling in and really learning the ins and outs of a deck is hard for me. I have more fun thinking of new decks than ironing out the ones I already have.

Regionals was a good experience though! 122nd out of 300+ players doesn't feel too bad considering I started playing (for the first time in 15 years) at the Plasma Blast pre-release.

I am hoping to go to Oklahoma States next month, but time availability might keep that from happening. X&Y didn't do a lot to inspire me, so I am playing with Hydreigon and a Super Meta H8r deck featuring Magnezone.

Later guys!