And the 2nd place goes to...The BDIF!

I'll soon run out of Landorus EX pictures!

Hello everyone!

If you are following me on Facebook or on Twitter, you already know that I finally was able to reach the Finals in our last States Championships! What deck did I play? Well, after looking at my Thursday’s blog entry, I think you can very well guess what deck I played – Landorus EX.

As I was able to once again get a good placement, I guaranteed one bye for my Nationals, which I’m very happy about, because I have played in so few tournaments compared to the other players who got the bye (all of them have played at least double the amount of tournaments compared to me).

Also, there were some VERY strange games in this tournament and I can easily say that this was the weirdest tournament; I’ve played the whole season. Anyways, let’s start with the deck list!





Pokémon:

4x Landorus ex
2x Tornadus ex
3x Mewtwo ex
2x Bouffalant
=11

Trainer:

4x Professor Juniper
4x N
3x Bianca
3x Skyla
4x Catcher
2x Max potion
2x Energy switch
4x Switch
3x Ultra ball
4x Hypnotoxic Laser
2x Virbank City Gym
1x Scramble Switch
=36

Energy:

4x Double Colorless Energy
9x Fightning Energy
=13

Card choices

I think there isn’t anything too surprising. I decided not to run Terrakion, even though I expected a lot of Darkrai EXs. However, in the end Bouffalant was a great play, because there was almost no Darkrai EXs and I didn’t face any of them. What I was the most surprised of was that I didn’t use Tornadus EX during the whole tournament at all. I struggled a lot in drawing the Stadiums (And drawing everything else as you can see later on).

The 14 supporter seemed also too low number. I struggled in drawing supporters far too often and had them clumped all the time. Probably the problem was with my shuffling and not with the number of Trainers. I’m surprised that I still can’t randomize my deck probably even though I’ve been playing 10 years competitively. If I want to win Nationals and do well in the Worlds, I really need to do something to my shuffling.

If you have any questions about the list, I’m happy to answer them. I really don’t think there is any special in the list and overall it’s pretty standard and well-functioning list. 

There was once again a very few Masters, so we didn’t quite have 6 rounds, but I was ok with that, because the less players we had, the less players get Championship Points thus increasing my chances for byes to Nationals!



The tournament


1. Round (Blastoise/Keldeo EX/Mewtwo EX)

It was the same last time I played with Landorus EX – in the first round I faced Blastoise. I opened with Mewtwo EX DCE and Laser (no Virbank), but she was able to Rush-In the other Keldeo EX in her T1. I was able to Catcher her lone Squirtle in T2 and for a moment everything was under control. She played down one Squirtle again, but I whiff on my second Catcher. I hit the active Keldeo EX and hope, she didn’t get the things needed for Blastoise, but she did. She loads the Keldeo EX, Ns me and I’m in trouble.

I bring out Bouffalant to make her go to 3 prizes, but she has a Catcher and she Catchers my benched Tornadus EX for the 2^nd OHKO. I have Laser, Mewtwo EX, Switch and DCE in my hand among other stuff. I draw… Virbank city Gym – finally! I play all the cards down and N her to 2 cards. The most crucial thing in this was that I was able to take down the loaded Keldeo EX AND counter her Tropical Beach at the same turn. She was only able to get 2 energy on her Mewtwo EX, so next turn I Catcher her Mewtwo EX and win the game. TOO close. For a while I was sure, I would lose the game.

1-0


2. Round (Rayquaza EX/Eelektrik)

I went first. I opened with Landorus EX. And he had 2 Tynamos in the opening. I didn’t have a supporter until T5, but it didn’t matter, because with 1 Catcher, I was able to take down 3 Tynamos by T2. It’s pretty ridiculous how luck-based the match-up is, because it all goes down to who starts the game and what are the opening Pokémon.

2-0


3. Round (Rayquaza EX/Victini EX/Eelektrik)

Another one of these. This was a Swedish guy and I have no idea why they came to Hyvinkää States, but it was great to see some international faces in Hyvinkää’s tournament as well! I start the game with Landorus EX, but he opens with Rayquaza. Once again, I miss the supporters and energy for like 4 turns and he gets a too good set-up.

My only option was to get an N from my prize cards (which I succeeded in) and then Catcher + N him in the late game and hope that he didn’t draw into Switch + Catcher (he had 2 prizes left and I had Bouffalant active). If I was able to Draw Laser and Catcher before he draws his last Switch, I would win the game. ‘Nuff said, he topdecks the Juniper the turn before I would have topdecked a Catcher and he gets everything with the Juniper.

Great seeing meeting you Noam and I really hope you like the SixPrizes die, because I really enjoyed the game!

2-1


Ugh, lunch break. Didn’t. Eat. Anything.


4. Round (Probopass/Garbodor)

I knew what he played, so I wasn’t in for a surprise. My goal was to run through the deck with solo Landorus EX (and not bench anything) and since  I went first, that’s pretty much what happened. He got a too slow set-up and the one Landorus EX combined with Catchers was enough to take the whole deck down. Garbodor isn’t that good against Landorus EX decks…

3-1



5. Round (Rayquaza EX/Raikou EX/Eelektrik)

Yeahh, more good match-ups. I was shocked how many Rayquaza/Eelektrik decks there were in the tournament. Especially since just 2 days before the tournament, I had written an article about how Landorus EX was the BDIF! Maybe it was reverse psychology, lol.

Anyways, I have a decent start with Landorus EX and – surprise, surprise – no supporters. I hoped that he would open with Tynamo, so I could get an easy win once again due to my horrible opening hand. However, he opens with Rayquaza and it won’t be an easy game for me, because I don’t even have a Catcher in my hand this time. Anyways, even though I don’t have a Supporter in my hand, he is forced to N us in T2, because his hand is bad as well. I draw the 6 cards, and no supporters! What the…

I kept on drawing and hitting (and missing energy drops) and only hit the supporter in T5 or 6. It seemed like a replay from round 3. Landorus EX really can’t afford giving Rayquaza/Eelektrik a set-up. Thankfully, I had two possible plans, because naturally I hadn’t used a SINGLE Catcher, even though my deck only had 15 cards. I started Catchering Eelektriks to buy time and spread the damage around. Of course I N’d him at the same time to 2, so he would have tough time drawing his last energy (he had used all the 4 Switches) at this point. I carefully avoided giving him any Lighting energy to discard pile, so he could Dynamotor his Eelektriks in case I would Catcher a new one.

Eventually, I was finally be able to draw all the things I needed to set my plan into motion and Scramble Switched Landorus EX to the active spot, Catcher, Laser, Land’s Judgement to Rayquaza EX with 5 energy on it (his Last Rayquaza EX) for the OHKO. Prizes were 2-2 and he had 2 Eelektriks with 6 damage on them and I had the Catcher and Fighting energy needed for the win. He had run out of resources and tried to Volt Bolt with Raikou EX, but it didn’t matter, because I only had undamaged EX-Pokémon on the bench and he had burned all his Catchers, so he couldn’t Catcher my Tornadus EX for the OHKO. I Catcher the other Eelektrik and Hammerhead two prizes.

4-1


One of the 4-1s didn’t get through and thankfully it was a person, who was just in front of me in the Championship Points race.


Top4 (Rayquaza EX/Eelektrik/Victini EX)

1^st Game

This was the weirdest game I have ever played in this format. It went like this:

T1: I open with Landorus EX, but only have 2 DCEs in my opening hand. I Ultra Ball for Mewtwo EX and attach DCE, Switch and Catcher for Tynamo.

T2: I attach the 2^nd DCE to Mewtwo EX and OHKO a 2^nd Tynamo

T3: I draw – and whaddya know – 3^rd DCE!!! I still hadn’t seen a single Fighting energy in this game. I attach it to Mewtwo EX, Catcher Rayquaza EX, Laser and OHKO the Rayquaza EX. I finally draw 2 Fighting energy from my prizes.

T4: She N’s me and I shuffle the Fighting energy to deck. I joke about how I’ll draw a DCE from my 2 card N. And you know what? I did… And still no Fighting energy! She sends Rayquaza to the active spot and I just go with it and attach the 4^th DCE to Mewtwo EX and X-Ball for too much.

T5: I drew a Juniper from my prizes and get the last prize with the very same Mewtwo EX…

I knew she wasn’t playing Mewtwo EX, so I could load that much energy to Mewtwo EX, but in my opinion the funniest part was that I didn’t draw into Fighting energy. I don’t know how that’s even possible, but the only time I saw a Fighting Energy I didn’t even have a chance to attach it. (Note: in the last turn after the Juniper, I didn’t even draw a Fighting energy from the Juniper…)

5-1 (1-0)


2^nd Game

She goes first and sets ups everything by T3. I don’t remember if I lacked supporters in this game, but I remember that I struggled a lot. And there was nothing I could do. I was simply crushed in this game. Never thought that Landorus EX could lose to a Eelektrik deck that bad.

5-2 (1-1)


3^rd Game

In this game I once again opened with Landorus EX(good) and with 2 DCEs in my opening hand (seriously). I didn’t have a Fighting energy once again, so I was forced to use Mewtwo EX AGAIN! This time the game lasted more than 5 turns and I eventually draw something else as well, but the problem was that she had problem set upping. If she had had an explosive start like in the 2^nd game, I would have been in trouble, but whenever she was close to set upping, I was able to KO those Tynamos. I think the game went 6-0, but it surely didn’t feel like it, because she was very close in set upping all the things needed, I and I still couldn’t get my draw flowing like it usually does. Anyways, a win is a win.

6-2 (2-1)



Finals (Reshiram EX/Victini EX/Mewtwo EX/Garbodor)



1^st Game

Ok, so I have no idea how he was 6-0 at this point, but somehow his deck worked and props for him. Obviously, I had an upper hand in the match-up as he had cards like 3-2 Garbodor(at least) and Rescue Scarfs. I knew the match-up was easy, but… Well, let’s just say that everything went worse than expected.

He mulligans 5-6 times. I draw all the mulligan cards and don’t have a supporter in my hand (wait what?). Well, he N’s me in T1 and I draw a Juniper. I was happy that I finally got out of the supportless part of the game. Or so I thought… I use the Juniper in T2 and don’t draw a supporter. And you know what, after that I play the rest of the game (which lasted about 8-9 turns after that) without a single supporter and even when he N’s me to 4, I STILL don’t draw a supporter.

What made things even worse, is that my opponent played painfully slow. He used 2 minutes per one move and since my blood sugar was pretty low at this point, I was VERY frustrated. I let it go since I it wasn’t Nationals. If I were to play at Nationals or Worlds a player as slow as he was, I would ask judge on the spot right away. If you have seen Ross Cawthon to play and think he plays slowly, feel free to come to Finland and see that we have even slower players in the top tables!

If I had at any point drawn a supporter, I would have had the game as it was very close even with one supporter during the whole game, but oh well. At least I saw I could put up a good fight even without supporters and limited resources. The next game should be still more than manageable. 

6-3 (0-1)


2^nd Game

You guessed it! He starts with Victini EX and I open with a lone Mewtwo EX and DCE and a bunch of energy. I manage to hit 40 in T1. Then 70 to his Reshiram EX, which I Catchered to buy time. Then KO his Reshiram EX. After that he top decks Skyla, uses it for Computer Search and X-Balls my lone Mewtwo EX in T3-4 since I didn’t draw a supporter or a Basic Pokémon or a Ultra Ball from my turn cards or from my two prizes… I don’t know how it was even possible, but at least I proved it IS possible, lol.

The most horrifying thing about this game is that even though you can see that it only lasted like 4 turns and I had only one Pokémon in play during the whole game, the match probably lasted over 10 minutes (and my turns lasted a total of 1 minute)! I really felt like scooping after I saw my opening hand in this game, because I knew I would be tortured to boredom while draw & passing. Thankfully the judge also noted about the slow play to my opponent, so the pace quickened in the end. Anyways, GG!

6-4 (0-2)



So naturally I wasn’t happy how the finals went, but I got a good bunch of Championship Points and had luck at some points of the tournament, so I can’t complain. The current format just is a bit too luck-based and there is nothing we can do about it. All we can do is to accept the way the game plays at the moment and do your best. And as I got a lot of Championship Points from the tournament, here is how the bye ranking looks at the moment.



Byes for Nationals…


Jari K 371 Points
Esa J 316 Points
--------------------------- 2x bye
Öjvind S 310 Points
Joni V 290 Points
--------------------------- 1x bye


As you can see, I’m just a few points higher than the 3^rd and 4^th one and everything is still possible thanks to Battle Roads. I probably have money and time for only 1 BR, so I’ll probably only get 1 bye, but that’s all I can ask since I have played so few tournaments this season. We’ll see and I’ll keep you updated!


Also, as you can see, I still don’t have enough points for the invitation for Worlds Championships, but my only goal always is the National Championships and the other tournaments really doesn’t matter to me that much. And of course, I have been concentrating for the Nationals format and metagame for over 2 months now, so I can say I’m already well-prepared for Nationals.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed reading the article and that you learned something from it, or at least get a laugh or two. I don’t know, which word is a better word to describe some of the games - funny or ridiculous. Either way, you are the judge of that!

As I said previously, if you have any comments or questions about the list, feel free to ask them. Also, as States are over now, remember to give my suggestions on what kind of articles you would like to see. I of course won’t be spoiling my Nationals deck in my blog before Nationals (just like last year) as I intend to go with a secret deck, but I want to still keep analyzing the metagame stuff, so let me know what you want to see.

Thanks for reading!