Round 1 – Random Bye

Riveting, I know! I started the day with the random bye, lucky me- it gave me a chance to chill out, play a few games of Pokken, and get in the zone. And of course, scope out the competition. It was at this point that I found out Andrew Wamboldt of Charizard Lounge fame appeared to be the only other running Vespiplume, and the field was saturated with Greninja and Night March. While there were a few Trevenant running rampant, but I was in hopes I could avoid them (or go first). Flareon-EX saw much more play than I expected, but I wasn’t terribly worried about that either.

???  1-0

Round 2 – Rick Neiheiser, Greninja

After scoping out the field previously, this wasn’t terribly surprising. Much to my opponent’s chagrin, I won the flip and went first. I got the optimal setup, passed, and gave him a turn. He played Sycamore and immediately scooped, having no other Pokemon and knowing he would be knocked out next turn.

Game 2 was slightly more eventful – he went second, got a few Pokes out, and then passed. I got my setup, knocked out the active, and turned it over to him allowing him to Water Duplicates to get 2 Frogadier out – he frantically searched multiple times in hopes he missed the third somewhere, but alas, it was prized. I knocked out the next Frog and turned it back over to him – he attached, and played Judge in hopes to get a Greninja. When he missed it, he scooped this game as well.

WW 2-0

Round 3 – Dema Boatman, Night March/Puzzle/Milotic

This was the matchup I was ready for, and most anticipating. These games were much longer (and more intense) but I’ll just hit the high points to keep with the flow.

Dema wins the flip, and goes first of course. He gets a fairly optimal setup, prepared for what to come,  and passes. Much prize and energy trading ensues – when I can, I Sky Return for knockouts to preserve my few energy and keep up with the constant barrage of Night March. He is able to outpace the attacks, and with a final clutch Milotic play, gets the last energy he needs to take game 1.

Simply Maniacally good.

Game 2 I go first, but have an awful decision laid out in front of me immediately- I start Sycamore, Double Colorless (DCE), DCE, Oddish, and Toxicroak EX. I’m forced to drop the Croak and attach the DCE to it, hoping it isn’t immediately killed if I miss the Vileplume or just go unused. Off the Sycamore I get the setup, but find in my initial search my remaining DCEs are prized. This is definitely an uphill battle. Luckily I’m able to use Triple Poison to take 4 prizes before Dema can get setup, and take the energy I need to finish off the game.

Game 3 was a great end to a great series – it went very similarly to game 1, but I was able to pull ahead a bit more with better draws and good Town Map utilization to play off prizes. The game ended in time on turn 3- turn 0, I get a Judge played on me and knocked out. Turn 1, I lay down a clutch Shaymin, drop a Combee, and Sky Return the active Joltik to take Vespiquen off my prizes. At this point, he only has a Milotic left, and Vespiquen wins me the game. He passes, I use the Float Stone on my active Vileplume to retreat into Combee, evolve, attach, and end the game. Luck was definitely on my side here, even without winning the opening flip. Hex Maniac certainly made a difference in this series too, and allowed for some interesting plays here and there. 

LWW 3-0

Round 4 – Kyle Haverland, Night March/Puzzle/Gallade

This round was the beginning of a trend that won’t stop til top 4 – even seeing some repeats along the way.

I lose the flip again, and he goes first. I don’t recall anything especially different about this game, as it went very similarly to my game 1 against Dema – including losing game 1 of the round. The main thing that went different was Kyle using Maxie’s for Gallade turn 1, allowing him to control his top 5 cards for the rest of the game and use this advantage to his favor.

Game 2 went a bit more in my favor. I went first, got my set up, and passed. Not having anything, he immediately scooped to settle things in game 3.

Game 3 was… Interesting. He went first, used Puzzle of Time to see the top 3 cards of his deck and arrange them, but not play much else. He played Hex Maniac, knowing this would give him at least a turn, and passed. I was able to get about a third of the setup with just items, getting out a few Combees and a Gloom, but had to turn it back over to him without doing anything too spectacular. He got a decent turn, and we began the prize and energy exchange anew. Once I had whittled him down to 6-7 cards in deck, 1 Dimension Valley left, 1 Double Colorless left, a seemingly stranded Pumpkaboo on active and an inkling he didn’t have either in hand, I took a different route. I turned to Bunnelby to pull the rest of the weight and he took the mantle well. My first Burrow hit the last Dimension Valley, and I knew I was in safe territory. I used Burrow for the remainder of the game to deck him and take the series.

LWW 4-0

Round 5 – Dalton Fowler, Night March/Vespiquen

Seeing Vespiquen made me a little leery. I knew immediately I would have to rely on my own Vespiquen a bit more, and as such would need to get to my energy in a timely manner.

Game 1 of this series is very similar to the previous two series – I lose the flip, he goes first, and takes the first game. This had a bit less Sky Return and a bit more Bee Revenge, but he was able to edge me out of game 1 to start the series off in his favor.

Game 2, I went first, and believe I got decently set up immediately – one of these games I didn’t and it got interesting, but I believe this one went relatively quickly and we went onto game 3.

One of few non-reprints in Generations

Game 3 was rocky – he went first and started off well, and I went second and hit all the bad luck I had coming to me. I had a very unremarkable first turn, and had to pass without doing much. He started the prize exchange quickly after, forcing my top deck to be usable – luckily it was an out to get going. Getting an out to a Shaymin and getting back in the game, I quickly got the lock into place and started attacking myself. After a couple of turns of back and forth, I’ve killed off two of his energy, with two left in a sizable (approximately 25 card) deck, but I’m on my last energy. In this moment I know I have to go hyper aggressive and use Vespiquen  to try and take my last 4 prizes before he gets to an energy or I don’t stand  much of a chance. While Bunnelby was waiting on the bench patiently, this wasn’t his time, as I didn’t have a reliable out to get any energy put back into the deck. Vespiquen starts the exchange, taking 2 prizes before Dalton begins an Unown chain – Farewell Letter into Farewell Letter into… nothing usable. He then gives me my second to last prize, draws his next card, and concedes finding it isn’t an energy. I take my last prize and the game. The best part – his very next card was the DCE he needed to edge me out of the game. Had I even slightly hesitated I would not have lasted.

This game was certainly the most riveting, and one of the friendliest opponent’s I had all day. Most people get a little disgruntled upon finding out my deck choice, but he was intrigued by the concept and really liked my utilization of Revitalizer for a fallback in setting up your grass lines. After talking a bit after the game, I even find out he had played Sarah earlier in the day and she had offered him a place to crash as well. Good wrap up to one of the closest games all day.

LWW 5-0

 Round 6 – Conner Lavelle, Manectric Toolbox

Being the only 5-0 so far, we take a mutually advantageous tie, and then banter a bit about what we expect to see in our now guaranteed top 8 placements.

TTT 5-0-1

Round 7 – Andrew Wamboldt,  Vespiquen Vileplume

Neither of us wanting to play this one out just yet, we once again take a mutually advantageous tie. This match would come back around to me again, but for now, we’re both guaranteed cut.

TTT 5-0-2

Now knowing both myself, Andrew, and Conner were all guaranteed, we waited on the remainder of cut to be decided by the final rounds. Seeing an interesting set of decks make top 8 after 7^th round, we found the final top cut to be (in order):

Vespiquen Vileplume

Manectric Toolbox

Night March/Milotic/Puzzle

Vespiquen Vileplume

Night March/Gallade/Puzzle

Seismitoad-EX/Giratina

Trevenant/Disruption

Night March/Gallade/Puzzle

Coming back around to more Night March! Our top 8 was played the following day, so I had a chance to rest up and return bright and early through our dreary, Midwestern snow flurries the following morning.

Top Eight  vs Kyle Haverland, Night March/Gallade/Puzzle

Knowing exactly what he’s playing due to Swiss play, I feel fairly confident in my matchup here. I psyched myself up quite a bit the night before, just so I kept myself in check and didn’t get cocky, but I know how to play the matchup and didn’t get too overeager.

Actually winning the flip for the first time in 4 rounds, I choose to go first. This goes exactly like our second game in Swiss- he watches me get the setup, waits for me to pass, and immediately scoops to go to game 2.

Game 2 here goes remarkably close to our previously game 3 as well, with a little twist. He was able to chain Hex Maniac for a couple turns, keeping me at bay for a bit. I made a remarkably dumb misplay here that could have easily cost me the game – I started Unown, had a benched Vespiquen by turn 2, and 2 DCE in hand. I’m so used to getting Shaymin and such Lysandre’d, or the Unown killed, that I didn’t even think to attach to Vespiquen and pass and have game the following turn by killing his active Pumpkaboo with Bee Revenge. Instead, I hold both DCE in anticipation of getting a turn of abilities. He used Hex Maniac again to bide a bit more time for himself, and it’s at this point I realize my dire mistake. I start attaching to Vespiquen now, attempting to rectify the mistake, but Kyle is in the game at this point as well- going back to him, he is able to net an Ultra Ball to start using Shaymins and his trainer draw engine to get set up. He kills the active Unown now and actually gives me a turn of abilities, allowing me to set up my own field, kill his energy, stadium, and item lock him. In the process of getting the Float Stone on my Vileplume however, I had filled my bench with Shaymin-EX and put myself down to 2 cards in deck. Luckily Kyle is only able to Sky Return me, and puts out another Pumpkaboo in anticipation of sacrificing something. I take the opening, assuming without Kyle having a Dimension Valley on the field, I should be safe to Sky Return and open a space for Bunnelby on the bench. He passes, and I see my chance – I draw my last card in deck, drop the Bunnelby and DCE on the Bunnelby, and begin a Rototiller chain. I used 6-7 turns to safely pad my deck with stadiums, Vespiquen lines, and lost energy, and a Sycamore just in case. During this time Kyle isn’t drawing anything useful and is only biding his time to attach a DCE to something that can attack and Judge me. Once I break the Rototiller and knock out the active Pumpkaboo, he does just that, padding my deck even more with my approximately 16 card hand going back to my deck after the Judge was played. Having recovered any useful resources, I’m able to outpace him for the rest of the game and take the game on prizes.

WW – to Top 4! 

The misplay that I caught a turn too late is something I (hope) to learn from and not make the same mistake again. Previous confirmation bias led me to make a bit of a stretched conclusion and play suboptimally. I didn’t let it get to me however, and the game still came back around to me.

At this point I got a bit more at ease, as I started the tournament at 230 championship points, and top 4 was my primary goal. Just having made top 4 nets me 70 championship points, putting me at 300 and my invite! Not even entirely sure it’s fully sunk in just yet.

Top 4 – Andrew Wamboldt, Vespiquen Vileplume

So this is what all the buzz is about.

Anyone who knows the tournament results knows how this one goes – Andrew did not in fact lose to his own deck at this Missouri States, and ended up taking this one home.

Games 1 and 2 are nearly identical – I go first, whiff the setup entirely, and am forced to pass. Game 1 Andrew just entirely edged me out and handily took the game. Game 2 went a bit differently from here though – he also had a terrible first turn, and was forced to pass it back to me. I go deep and start to go agro to see if I can make a come back. Unfortunately, I went 1 card too deep, and took my second to last prize in the same turn I took the last card from my deck. Thus ends my run.

LL – Out

Only giving a full round to the eventual winner and creator of the deck, I’m pretty happy with my run here. I ended up walking away with a box of Breakpoint, a T4 M Scizor mat, a Mewtwo hat (sorry Finals for leaving you guys with Hoopa), just enough points to make it to Worlds and a peace of mind that I can have a bit more fun with the rest of the season without being on edge, and even making a few more friends along the way.

Kudos to you if you made it this far too! I know I’m long winded, and I’m definitely a sucker for the details.

A few new things that I toyed around with in this deck that I liked were:

Revitalizer – all around great card.  Allowed for super aggressive games against mega decks without going for Plume, giving easy access to more Vespiquen lines when needed. Not that I played any though, but it was good to be prepared. Was also the way I got the Vileplume about half the time – early discarding a 1-1-1 line gives you access to a Gloom/Vileplume it as soon as you hit one of these.

Toxicroak-EX – This was in fact great. I was mostly forced to use it against Night March, but its ability to kill Pumpkaboos going back into your turn was clutch. And if they didn’t have Valley or 9 Night March in the discard for Joltik, it can also take a bit of a beating. The Aegislash-EX tech turned utility attacker did its job well.

Town Map – Too good. I dropped Red Card for it when I realized a lot of games have to be played off of prizes when your ability to get outs to get cards gets limited by your own lock. Especially when you have Vespiquen lines or DCE prized (or both, which happens often) this card allows you to literally play off prizes as you take the necessary cards for your future turns.

Other considerations:

Judge or Lysandre. I considered Judge for the exact reason it saved me in Top 4 – when you dig too deep for the set up, you average about 10-16 cards left in deck, and have limited time to win the game. Not drawing your energy timely means this may not be enough time, and being able to Judge your large hand back in when close to deck out gives you more time.

Lysandre is just a good card to have the option of, especially when your opponent isn’t expecting such a deck to play it. 

If I could have played 63 cards, I would have certainly added Judge, Lysandre, and a third Float Stone.

Pokemon – 28 4 Combee AOR 4 Vespiquen AOR 4 Oddish AOR 4 Gloom AOR 3 Vileplume AOR 3 Unown AOR 4 Shaymin EX 1 Bunnelby PRC 1 Toxicroak EX

Trainers – 28 3 Professor Sycamore 4 Ultra Ball 2 Revitalizer 4 Acro Bike 4 Trainers’ Mail 4 Battle Compressor 1 Town Map 2 Float Stone 4 Forest of Giant Plants

Energy – 4 4 Double Colorless

While States meta varied widely state to state, I feel I definitely made the right meta call for this one. More importantly, I was well versed with the deck, having tried it out at a few Cities during the Chicago Marathon, winning a moderately sized League Challenge with it, and constantly playing test games with it to find any pitfalls that may occur and how to work around them. In my opinion, knowing your deck inside out and trusting your gut will get you a lot farther than simply playing the most popular deck around. It just happens to help if said deck is one of the stronger ones in the format, haha. Congrats to fellow TT Jay Young for making Top 4 as well, and Andrew Wamboldt for taking it all and also rounding out his invite to Worlds.

Anyway, this past weekend was a great one overall, and I hope to see some of you around at the next few weekends of States (and Worlds!).