Pokemon Home

Pokedex

Price Guide Set List

Message Board

Pokemon GO Tips

Pokemon News

Featured Articles

Trading Card Game
- Price Guide
- Price Guide
- Card of the Day
- Professional Grading
- Killer Deck Reports
- Deck Garage
- William Hung
- Jason Klaczynski
- Jeremy's Deck Garage
- Johnny Blaze's Banter
- TCG Strategies
- Rulings Help
- Apprentice & Patch
- Apprentice League
- Spoilers & Translations
- Official Rules
- Featured Event Reports
- Top of the World
- An X-Act Science
- Error Cards
- Printable Checklist
- Places to Play

Nintendo Tips
- Red/Blue
- Yellow
- Gold & Silver
- Crystal
- Ruby & Sapphire
- Fire Red & Leaf Green
- Emerald
- SNAP
- Pinball
- TCG cart
- Stadium
- PuPuzzle League
- Pinball: Ruby/Sapphire
- Pokemon Coliseum
- Pokemon Box
- Pokemon Channel

GameBoy Help
- ClownMasters Fixes
- Groudon's Den
- Pokemon of the Week

E-Card Reader FAQ's
- Expedition
- Aquapolis
- Skyridge
- Construction Action Function
- EON Ticket Manual

Deck Garage
- Pokemaster's Pit Stop
- Kyle's Garage
- Ghostly Gengar

Cartoon/Anime
- Episode Listing
- Character Bios
- Movies & Videos
- What's a Pokemon?
- Video List
- DVD List

Featured Articles

Pojo's Toy Box

Books & Videos

Downloads

Advertise With Us
- Sponsors
- Links

Chat

About Us
Contact Us

Pokemon TCG US National Championship
Origins Convention
Greater Columbus Convention Center
Columbus, Ohio
240 players in age group 15+
By William Hung

This is probably the largest tournament of the year. I got there Friday late afternoon, so I only pick up my badge and say some hellos to many familiar faces. But as a celebrity, I guess I can't avoid autographs and pictures. It's all good - it's been more than a year, and it's a good thing.

I will move into the tourney report now. So the metagame is quite diverse. I saw Dark Dragonite/Dark Electrode, Rock Lock, Blaze, Hariyama ex, Medicham ex, hybrids with those two fighting Pokemon together, Zappy, and of course Ludicolo/Magcargo. Let's not forget Metagross, Dark Steelix/Milotic, and Shedinja! Yep, better be ready for anything and everything.

So I was choosing between Vileplume ex and Turbo Dark Slowking, and I went Turbo Dark Slowking all the way, because it can handle a larger variety of decks without hassle.

I don't mind if you copy my deck and bring it to Worlds, because you probably won't do well at Worlds with it without some serious tweaks. I tested this deck a lot by myself on my computer - like Apprentice, but real games are usually somewhat different, because you have many different players with different mind sets and philosophies - even within the very same deck - like Rock Lock.

Dark Ruler
Pokemon (12):
4x Jirachi (Deoxys - Wishing Star)
4x Slowpoke (Team Aqua and Magma - Amnesia) 4x Dark Slowking

Trainers (34):
4x Steven's Advice
4x Prof. Cozmo's Discovery
2x Rocket's Mission
4x Rocket's Pokeball
4x Swoop! Teleporter
4x Crystal Shard
4x Strength Charm
4x EXP. ALL
4x Pokemon Retreiver

Energies (14):
10x Psychic
4x Darkness

Concept is to get out turn 2 Dark Slowking. However, I do struggle to get energies going, and unless I start with energy (if I go 2nd), and starting Jirachi is a much better choice - assuming I have a Slowpoke.

Dark Slowking wins by controlling the opponent's topdeck - with Poke-Power Cunning. For each Dark Slowking (as long as there isn't anything shutting the power down), you can look at the top card of the opponent's deck and decide if you want to shuffle their deck or not. But this is a difficult task - you must understand how your opponent's deck work in order to figure out what they need at a specific point in the game.

If you can do that, then Dark Slowking's attack Litter will put your opponent on a "clock". If you can win the game within 8-10 turns after turn 2, then I think you will be fairly successful.

With 240 players, it is 8 rounds, and cut to top 32.

Game #1: vs. Blaze
That's an easy match-up. Everything in his deck can be one-hit KOed, as long as I have a Darkness and a Psychic energy. I took full advantage of Cunning, and none of his attackers, in particular Rayquaza ex, Blaziken ex, and Deoxys ex (Attack) can match up well.

Win 1-0 3pts.

Game #2: vs. Muk ex
Another good match-up, but got a shaky start. I didn't know he plays Muk ex, so I laid a Jirachi and Slowpoke on bench, and he went first and Taunt my Slowpoke with his Grimer. He got an early lead in prizes, but I eventually got back on track and finished everything smoothly. His Weakness to Psychic was simply too much.

Win 2-0 6pts.

Game #3: vs. 4 Corners (Gorebyss/Hariyama ex/Magcargo/Deoxys ex - Normal) I think that's his deck - not too sure about the Deoxys ex - Normal. Anyways, I had the worst sequence or strings of cards in my life. I started out okay with Slowpoke and Darkness energy.
But I couldn't get any Psychic energies until turn X. It was a long time - like I got 3 Darkness energies in a row with my Rocket's Mission and Prof. Cozmo's. Absolutely horrible! But the game wasn't over - because as soon as I get setup, I start fighting back, and at a prize count of 2-4 in his favor, time was called! Ouch!

Loss 2-1 6pts.

I don't want an early "exit" at US Nationals. So I am going to pay even more attention to detail, and stick to my game plan I came up with during my own playtesting.

Game #4: vs. Zapdos ex
Wow, I totally got lucky on this one. He went first with a Voltorb and Recharge. I got a Slowpoke and a Psychic Energy and the best I could do was Amnesia his 2nd attack that does 20 damage. Next turn, he try to get a Zap, but couldn't do it with a TV Reporter and found a Electrode, so he did Swift for 30. My 2nd turn, oh my god, I got Prof. Cozmo's Discovery and played it and got the Dark Slowking I needed to win.

Win 3-1 9pts.

I just took a deep breath, because I knew I should have lost that match right there.

Game #5: vs. Metagross
Not much, plain and simple by controlling his ability to get Pidgeot and Metagross until it's too late. His Psychic Weakness and my Weakness to Grass make a huge difference. Best he could do with his Link Blast Metagross was 70 damage.

Win 4-1 12pts.

Game #6: vs. Dark Steelix/Milotic
I think he runs Metagross with Super Connectivity as well from Deoxys. But again, because he didn't get to start with Dunsprace (I think). So I limit it to one Dark Steelix that can attack for 60+ damage, and got another easy win.

Win 5-1 15pts.

We played another game just for fun afterwards, and I still puzzled him, because he says I can't get anything.

Game #7: vs. Greg Maluk - Machamp/Magcargo I control the topdecking, and with his Weakness to Psychic, his Machamps are down really quick - and with Cunning controlling his ability to get Machamps charged up, it was an easy win as well.

Win 6-1 18pts.

Game #8: vs. Jordan Hill - Ludicargo
This was a weird game. We both didn't know everyone started for almost 2 minutes. Then the game starts to get interesting, but then turned into both a power struggle and chess match. We were tied with 3-3 prize count at one point, but now I will seriously try to pull it off. But anyways, I made sure that he couldn't comback easily, and I started playing more cards, and shuffled more.
Nevertheless, he took almost a 2 minute turn with his Magcargo once. So when time is up, I broke the tie with a KO on his Ludicolo for the win.

Win 7-1 21pts.

Wow, so tough! I mean my tiebreakers are kind of bad - 52.18%. The cutoff was like 6-2, 52.2...%, and 3 people with 6-2's didn't make top 32. That's rough.

Top 32 - from this point on, it's best 2 out of 3 games and it's 1 hour.

vs. John Wetz (Youngjohn06) - Hariyama ex Game #1: I have a strong advantage in this match-up, but he made it a game with lots of Knock-Offs and my slow start. I couldn't find the Swoop! Teleporter. He aggressively Rocket's Admins, plays Energy Removal 2's, and lots of disruption stuff. It was sort of close, even though I had a 1-4 prize lead.

Win 8-1

Game #2: He only got one Hariyama ex and one Wobbuffet, and no Battle Frontier! I can win with Cunning and I did.

Win 9-1

Time to sleep and get ready for top 16 Sunday! I was really happy and excited, even though I haven't had dinner and was starving like crazy.

I found out on Sunday morning that I have to play Jordan Hill, my opponent from round 8. That is not too exciting for me, because I know it's going to be tough to win against his deck.

Top 16 - vs. Jordan Hill - Ludicargo with Breloom (Fighting) Game #1: He went first and got a god start! He started with Dunsparce and dropped a 1st turn Battle Frontier. I can't get out my Dark Slowking until turn 3. I only mustered three prizes against him, because he exploit my deck and my strategy's weakness. I had to hold on to most of my Pokemon so that he can't one-hit KO my Dark Slowking. He took advantage of that with 2 Rocket's Admin and Pokemon Reversals. He doesn't hit most of his Reversals, but it doesn't matter because Rocket's Admin really hurts me. I don't like to go from 7 card hand to 4 card hand. Once I had a lone Slowpoke left, I checked my next card and quickly concede.

Loss 9-2

It's already at 30 minute mark, so I went first in the 2nd game, and moved quick.

Game #2: I got a better start this time with Jirachi and energies, but he also has a 1st turn Battle Frontier and because I couldn't Cunning, my push for victory came to a complete halt at 2 prizes. I know the match is starting to slip away when he finally stablized with his Ludicolo - Magcargo's. He play Rocket's Admin to make my 10 card hand down to 3! It's hurting. Ouch! The Scramble and Strength Charm, and his finally full Bench is making his comeback inevitable. I simply never recovered. I had another Dark Slowking to attack with, but again, he KOs it easily. I had one Slowpoke left, and stared at 1 card I topdecked for a LONG while, because it's my only card in my hand. I completely ran out of fuel. I can't do anything but to do a useless Amnesia and concede.

Loss 9-3

Wow, it was a bit disappointing. But Jordan did make all the right plays, and built a great deck.
I didn't expect all those Reversals and Rocket's Admin. I know he plays Rocket's Admin, but also 2 Strength Charms that really made a huge difference in both of these games. 4 Battle Frontier may sound easy to get in opening hand, but in reality, it's only about 50% at best. I've tested against Ludicargo, and I know if I can abuse Cunning, I can win rather easily. As it is, I need tweak my trainers so I can defend against Rocket's Admin. Ludicargo needs to be a match-up I win in the long run.

I know my deck's tough match-ups - Rock Lock and Dark Draggy. I was lucky I never faced those. In particular, Rock Lock is by far the most difficult match-up. But once I tweak my trainers, I should fare better against all decks.

So any comments or suggetions on my deck or strategy is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading! It was fun meeting and playing against so many great players. See you guys at Worlds!