Double tournament report w/ Chandelure

I would love to play with this art

Hello to all The Deck Out followers!

This weekend was something special because it was my first real tournament weekend. I attended on Saturday in Turku City Championships and on Sunday I played in Sweden, Stockholm City Championships. I had played only in 1 Battle Roads earlier this year and if you want to check out how I did, read my tournament report.                 

The tournament weekend was also the reason for not being on a computer this weekend so sorry for the late answers for your comments!

Anyways, before even going to the tournament I knew that I wouldn’t want to play anything that included Reshiram or Zekrom. I also wanted to play a new deck so I can have a surprise factor in the tournament. That’s why I decided to go with Chandelure/Vileplume/Dodrio. I got the original list from my Japanese friend Ukinin-san and I modified it quite a bit. The final list looked like this.

Pokemon:

4x Litwick(Teleportation Burst)

4x Lampent

4x Chandelure

2x Doduo

2x Dodrio

3x Oddish

2x Vileplume

2x Cleffa

1x Pichu

1x Jirachi(CL)

=25

Trainer:

4x Pokémon Collector

4x Sage’s Training

2x N

1x Professor Oak’s New Theory

4x Twins

2x Tropical Beach

3x Pokémon Communication

3x Rare Candy

=23

Energy:

8x Psychic Energy

4x Rescue Energy

=12

I’ll do an deck analysis of this deck later because I’m pretty sure that it will achieve the tier1 spot very quickly. The deck’s idea is to trainer lock your opponent, use Cursed Shadow 2 times a turn (Thanks to free retreat that Dodrio gives you) and attack with Chandelure when necessary. Last prizes are easily picked up by Jirachi. Chandelure has the magical 130 HP so nothing can really OHKO it unless they do some tricks first. In this deck, attacking is a very important part of the strategy because auto Confusion and Burn is VERY good in this format and alongside with trainerlock. Some of you may wonder why I didn’t run Promo Litwick – the reason is simple – I don’t own any.

The other version of this deck includes Blissey Prime and is even more concentrated on only to Chandelure’s Ability. I didn’t want to go with this strategy because in my opinion it has more weaknesses and isn’t as good (excluding in the mirror). However, I will include the Blissey Prime version into my upcoming Chandelure entry as well.

Anyways, into the report. It’s a tradition for Finnish players that we play first CC / SPT in Turku and then take a night boat to Sweden where we play on Sunday. It’s the highlight of tournament season for many players and I love to go to Sweden every time when possible. However, first we had Turku City Championships. I played the list I wrote up into the beginning of the entry.

1. Round (Tyranitar Prime/Mandibuzz/Zoroark)

Well, this was something I surely wasn’t expecting. Chandelure has practically no weaknesss because its weakness is Darkness. This player had nothing but darkness Pokémon in his deck. When he opened with Zoroark and Larvitar on the bench I was very nervous. However, the game went pretty smoothly because I got Vileplume and Chandelure up in no time while he struggled with his set-up. He drew only 3 energy in the whole game which made things very easy. When the Tyranitar was ready to attack I had already 3 energy on the Chandelure and when he flipped his first confusion flip tails, I just Cursed Shadowed 2 times and took last prizes from the remaining Pokemons.

1-0

2. Round (Gothitelle/Reuniclus)

When he opened with Gothita, I knew that I was against a very good match-up. The funniest thing was that I started the game and got a T2 Chandelure. He didn’t have a supporter (excluding Twins I guess) and so I started just spreading with Cursed Shadow and tried to avoid drawing a prize so he couldn’t set-up at all. In the end I just killed his both Gothita’s with Cursed Shadow at the same time and he didn’t set-up at all in the whole game.

2-0

3. Round (Zekrom/Tornadus/Pachirisu/Shaymin)

This played had donked all the game he had won. Well, I went first, got a nice T1 Playground and he didn’t even get a T1 prize. I got a T2 Vileplume up with Sage and the game was settled. ZPST has not much to say against 130 HP trainerlock decks without Eelektrik.

3-0

4. Round (Typhlosion Prime/Reshiram)

This was one of the games were I again went first and got a T3 Plume with Twins. My opponent managed to get only 1 Quilava up before the trainer lock and no Typhlosion so he was in problems with his energy manipulation. Thanks to trainer lock he struggled in getting Typhlosion in to the game and he also had problems in getting energy in to the discard pile because Junk Arms didn’t work. This game went pretty much like all the others, fast Plume is devastating against trainer heavy Reshiram or Zekrom decks.

4-0

5. Round (Typhlosion Prime/Reshiram)

This was completely different game than the 4^th round game. I didn’t have a single draw card in my hand and neither did he. He topdecked a supporter 2 turns before I did and it gave him an edge he needed to win the game. At one point of the game I could have had a chance if he had flipped tails from the Confusion but because he didn’t I lost a Chandelure with 3 energy and wasn’t able to mount a comeback.

4-1

6. Round (Zekrom/Eelektrik/Tornadus/Rocky Helmet)

I was on 4-0 so I’ll make the top8. I knew it but the thing that made me worry was that this game was against a downer pairing. It might just destroy my tie break so I wouldn’t get through to top8. Since I didn’t sleep a single second in the previous night my playing was getting sloppier all the time. I didn’t notice any huge mistakes in this game but after the game I knew that I didn’t play at my best level. The thing about this match-up is that Rocky Helmet is so good against Vileplume IF you are able to get it before Vileplume is up. I got Vileplume up in turn 6 which was way too late so the field was full of Rocky Helmets once the game got going. Nuff’ said, I lost the game.

4-2

So I lost a downer pairing to my own mistakes and wasn’t really happy at myself. Nevertheless, when I checked the standings I was 5^th. All my opponent played very well and that’s why the last round loss didn’t’ really affect my tie break that much.

Top8 (Gothitelle/Reuniclus)

1. Game

This was the guy from the round 2. The first match went pretty much like our Swiss match. I started the game, got a T2 Chandelure and spreaded my way to victory with 1 Chandelure. I killed all his Pokémons in one turn so he wasn’t able to activate his Twind once again.
1-0 (5-2)

2. Game

This match was way more difficult than the previous games. He started and got Gothitelle up which make things difficult. Once I got rid of Gothitelle with Cursed Shadow and Eerie Glow something really funny happened. I didn’t have energy in my hand and my opponent flipped 3 heads in a row from Gothorita’s Deleting Glare. I just started spreading damage all over the field and he moved them the best he could with Reuncilus. In the end the damage on the field was just too much and I finally got a 2^nd Chandelure attacking, which sealed the win for me.
2-0(6-2)


Top4 (Reshiram/Typhlosion)

Game 1. and Game 2.

I don’t remember from these games that much besides for the fact that I won the games pretty easily. I think he had draw problems in the both games and there wasn’t just much to play. In the first game he got Typhlosions up with Candy, which I killed easily with Jirachi and in the 2^nd game he didn’t get a single Typhlosion up because I got an early Plume. The games were over in under 30 minutes.
2-0 (8-2)

Finals (Zekrom/Eelektrik/Tornadus/Rocky Helmet)

1. Game

This was the same deck than in the round 5. but it was piloted by a different player. This was by far one of the best and toughest game of the whole weekend. I had to give 3 prizes for free before I got a decent set-up due my horrid draws from the Tropical Beaches (no Twins). At this point of the day I hadn’t slept for 25 hours but I forced myself to concentrate. I won the game with only 10 damage margin thanks to 2 very important Lampent’s Luring Lights. With Luring Lights I got time to spread some more damage on the Eelektriks and took 3 prizes in the last turn of the game. I was very happy that I could make a comeback even though I had a horrible draw.
1-0

2. Game

This game was just like things should go. I only gave 2 prizes before I got a set-up and had everything going very quickly and smoothly. I spreaded the damages on Eelektriks, attacked on Zekroms and if any Pokémon had Rocky Helmet attached to it, I just Cursed Spreaded it to death. It was just like a script that went in a way it should have.
2-0 (10-2)

Top4 of Turku

Esa J. w/ Chandelure/Vileplume/Dodrio

Tuomas K. w/ Zekrom/Eelektrik/Tornadus

Öjvind S. w/ ReshiPlosion

Miska S.  w/ Six Corners(Virizion/Kyurem/Zekrom/Reshiram/Terrakion)

So after a very long day I managed to win the tournament. I was very happy and tired. However, now wasn’t the time to rest but to eat. We sought for a restaurant from Turku but all the restaraunts were full because it was Saturday evening. In the end up we ended to eat at Hesburger (local McDonald’s like place) and I almost fell asleep while eating. Well, we managed to get on the boat and strolled around the cruiser a bit. In the end I was so tired that I didn’t have energy for anything and just went to cabin and fell asleep immediately. 32 hours with no sleep has its consequences.


Araknofobia in Stockholm

The boat was in Stockholm 6:00 AM at local time and we went to a local McDonald’s to spend 3 hours. I wrote up the decklist which I changed for one card. This was because I knew that people were prepared against my deck and other Vileplume decks by teching Spinarak into their decks. With Spinarak they can just attack Cleffa all game long and because trainer lock decks don’t run Switches, they win the game when the time and +3 turns are up. It was something I didn’t want to lose to so my Stockholm tournament list looked like this.

Pokemon:

4x Litwick(Teleportation Burst)
4x Lampent
4x Chandelure
2x Doduo
2x Dodrio
3x Oddish
2x Vileplume
2x Cleffa
1x Pichu
1x Jirachi(CL)
=25

Trainer:

4x Pokémon Collector
4x Sage’s Training
2x N
1x Switch (ex-PONT)
4x Twins
2x Tropical Beach
3x Pokémon Communication
3x Rare Candy
=23

Energy:

8x Psychic Energy
4x Rescue Energy
=12

So now I was immune to Spider Web if I don’t trainerlock myself with Vileplume. The Swedish tournament wasn’t as big as the Turku tournament but we still had 5 rounds and top4. So let’s get down to the tournament.


1. Round (Klingklang/Vileplume/Cobalion/Victini)

We both had bad starts but I got a Cleffa Eeeeking for 2-3 turns. I set-upped for Plume but soon noticed that he but Oddish into his deck with Communication so gave up on the Plume idea. Klingklang would be scary if it got attacking with Gear Grind because double heads would be possible thanks to Victini. That way Chandelure would be OHKOed and I would be in trouble. That’s why I decided to kill Victini with Cursed Shadow and noticed that his 2^nd Victini was prized. He managed to hit one double heads with Klingklang but it really didn’t matter because I got another Chandelure attacking quickly enough to get the attacking Kilingklang confused.
1-0


2. Round (6-corners w/Spinarak)

6-corners is very good match-up because I can Cursed Shadow things that don’t have Outrage and just attack to Outrageing Dragons thanks to confuse. He had Spinarak which made me play carefully but I got a hyper start and started the game. T2 Chandelure with 2 energy and T2 Plume and Tropical Beach of 6 cards. My opponent looked at his hand T2 and knew that there wasn’t much to do so he scooped.
2-0

3. Round (Zekrom/Tornadus/Eelektrik/Rocky Helmet)

This was against the same person who I lost to in the first tournament. My start was once again a super good and I just crushed through his deck because his start wasn’t that decent. I got Plume before he got the first prize, which usually means that Chandelure has the game.
3-0

After the 3^rd round we had a lunch break. I was so tired because I only got to sleep for 4 hours on the boat that I fell asleep during the lunch break. I woke up for when the pairings of the 4^th round were put up.

4. Round

I completely forgot.
4-0

5. Round (Cobalion/Kyurem/Electrode)

This match was very important for me. I lost the game because I played the game just like all the other match-ups. In order to win this match-up I needed to adjust into the match-up but because it was my first time playing this exact match-up up, my game plan was completely wrong. Since I don’t run Blissey Prime Kyurem gives me huge problems and Electrode screws up my Twins engine. With Chandelure it also takes tons of turns to get 6 prizes against 120 HP Pokémon with only Cursed Shadows. It was a lesson to learn and I was happy that I learnt it in the last Swiss round.
4-1


Top4 (6-corners w/ Spinarak)

1. Game

Just like in the 2. round I got a super start while my opponent struggled with his set-up. He managed to attack with Kyurem once and when I confused it, he hit tails from the 2^nd Glaciate and scooped.
1-0 (5-1)

2. Game

Now I didn’t have to worry about Spinarak because he couldn’t use it to win on time because I won the first game. He got a good start with T2 Virizion attacking while I had 2 Lampents prized and horrible draws from every Eeeek and Tropical Beach I used. I was frustrated because everything went as wrong as they can go.
1-1 (5-2)

3. Game

Spinarak was now a real threat. I made a HUGE misplay in T2 when I played Candy before I used Communication. This almost costed me the whole game and due that mistake the whole game went to a confusion flip. If he had flipped heads from Confusion heads my whole game would have been screwed. In the end, he flipped tails which gave me the one turn I needed to set-up my 2^nd Chandelure. Of course I wasn’t happy that the game was decided on a flip but it was completely my fault and that’s why I’m nevertheless satisfied with the conclusion of the game.
2-1 (6-2)


Finals (Cobalion/Kyurem/Electrode)


1. Game

In the last round of Swiss I noticed that Vileplume disrupted me more than his deck so I changed my game plan completely. I decided not to even try to get Vileplume in to the play and just play the game with Chandelure and Dodrio. Thanks to no Plume, my deck became faster and I had so much more resources for getting Chandelure and Dodrio. This game plan proved to be a success and I hadn’t much of a problem while I was able to confuse Kyurem before much of harm was done. He also had two awful Energymites which sealed the game for me.
1-0 (7-2)

2. Game

We both had slow starts but he ended up getting few early Glaciates which made my life difficult. I never got Dodrio up, which turned out to be a huge problem. With only 1 Cursed Shadow a turn and not enough energy to attack Kyurem and Cobalion finished the game pretty quickly.
1-1 (7-3)

3. Game

We had 30 minutes left so we were in no hurry. I drew my opening hand and I had Litwick, Lampent, Chandelure, energy and Dodrio in my hand. Thankfully he mulliganed two times so I got Sage’s Training into my hand. I started the game and used Sage’s. Didn’t get a Rare Candy. He had a lone Cobalion in the beginning, attached energy and passed. I knew I was in a very strong position now, because I might be able to eliminate Voltorbs before they blow up if I got a fast enough set-up. He draw passed for 2 turns and it was enough me to set-up. I got 2 Chandelures and Dodrio up and there wasn’t much of what he could do. Tropical Beach helped me to set-up and I didn’t use a single Twins during the whole game. Once I had 2 Chandelures attacking, the game was practically over. It was a shame that the last final match wasn’t much of a game because of his draws&pass start.
2-1 (8-3)

Top4 of Stockholm

Esa J. w /Chandelure/Vileplume/Dodrio

Zenja I. w/ Cobalion/Kyurem/Electrode

Tonu T. w/ ReshiPlosion

Jouni L w/ Six Corners(Virizion/Kyurem/Zekrom/Reshiram/Terrakion/Spinarak)

Conclusion

All in all, the whole weekend was a great success. I won the both tournaments I played in and the deck worked extremely well. My hope towards the healthiness of the game rose about 400% percent because the format is nowadays much more than dull ReshiPlosion or Zekrom mirrors that are all about brainless prize racing. Chandelure vs. Coba/Kyurem/Electrode match-up is one of the most interesting match-ups in a very long time and I really feel like this season will be a much better season than it first looked like in the World Championships.

If we look at the Cities results from the Pokegym topic, it really shows the same thing. The variation in the decks is sooo much bigger thanks to Noble Victories that it’s unbelievable. I can once again call Pokémon TCG a great card game and I hope that anyone who has played in City Championships this year feels the same way.

Thanks for reading my report and feel free to comment. My next entry will probably be the second Eye on Japan article but when I’ll be releasing it – I’m not 100% sure. It will be released this week, that’s for sure. For up-to-date info about my blog like it on Facebook or follow it on Twitter!