Nobody has sent in a tourney report in soooo long!! Well, I am bored right now, I will send this in for everyone else who is as bored as I am!

 

Well, with being back in college, I have had a busy schedule of late. Nevertheless I was able to go to my city’s City Championship. The only source of competition previously was games I played against my roommate Frank at school. I came home and didn’t play for the two weeks leading up until the tournament. Was that a good plan? Well, I decided to go with an oldie, but the only deck I consistently beat my roommate with. This was Venusaur and Weezing with a little sprinkling of Claydol, Chatot, and Unown G. My reasoning being that poison and burn would get around both Gengar and Dusknoir.

 

Date: 12/20/08

City: Pittsburgh, PA

Location: CCGs

 

I was excited when I got there because there was a pretty decent turnout, with 19 masters. I played 4 Venusaur, 3 Weezing, and 2 Claydol.

 

Round 1 – vs. Speed Beedrill

I was pretty excited when I saw this because I believed I could easily handle Beedrill, what with Venusaur’s massive HP and my ability to get 2-3 at a time. Well, she showed me differently. I was able to get two Venusaur early with a Claydol and a Weezing. But she also got 2 Beedrill around turn 2-3 and soon got a third. Beedrill’s free retreat hindered the poison greatly, but I was able to put a few of them to sleep with Miracle Aroma. Because of a Warp Point and Dawn Stadium, though, I was unable to KO a Beedrill for a while. She got three prizes, and I was able to sneak back and take three as the time dwindled down. Claydol enabled her to keep getting Night Maintenance’d Beedrills back, as it helped me to get back Venusaur. Anyway, eventually everyone was watching our game, and I had an active 60-damage Venusaur and see had 2 Beedrill, both with a lot of damage. Time was called during her turn, and as she had already used up her PlusPowers she was only able to put 60 more damage or Venusaur, leaving me a hairsbreadth away from a KO. I start my turn and KO the active Beedrill, capping one of the most epic battles I have ever played.

<---1-0--->

 

Round 2 – vs. Machamp Lv. X

This was not a good round at all. I started with a Chatot, which was resistant to the active Machop. I had no draw, and he quickly had 3 Machamp, easily KOing the Chatot and other stuff. I was not able to set up much all game and I seemingly only flipped tails, so I quickly lost. The only good part of the match was a monster Koffing doing 110 damage with tackle to a Machamp Lv. X (+40 for weakness, +60 for Body). Other than that, a terrible and discouraging match.

<---1-1--->

 

Round 3 – vs. Dusknoir Lv. X

This was another great match. He had the best first turn I think I have ever seen. I started with a Baltoy, Koffing, and Chatot. He started by using 3 PokeRadars and Uxie to pretty much cycle through half of his deck. I just about gave up the game there, as he got up a Dusknoir from Stormfront and a Duskclops. He also had a Claydol with Devolutor. I started, and being wary of a Dark Palm Dusknoir, did not put more than 3 on my bench. I got a Weezing, Venusaur, and Claydol, but needed to get rid of the Chatot to open up the space for another Venusaur. I retreated Baltoy, then evolved it and sent up Chatot for the sacrifice. Next turn he devolutored by Venusaur, but I then evolved it into Ivysaur. He eventually KO’ed Chatot, but my Miracle Aroma’s were very key in putting him to sleep and allowing me to set up two Venusaur. I was able to get around his Dusknoir Lv. X with Poison and Burn (yesss!!). Simply said, I was able to win this game because my coin flips were probably 80-90% heads: Sleep and Poison were key to the win. Also, he devolutored with a Claydol my fully powered active Venusaur to a Bulbasaur. I had no rare candies in my hand, so I had to rely on five coin flips. Miracle Aroma: Heads, poison for 20 between turns. Bullet Seed: 4 heads to do 40 plus 20 with weakness. This probably took any kind of morale out of him. I was then able to get my last few prizes to win. This was a pretty close game, but thankfully for me, my dice were on my side this game.

<---2-1--->

 

Round 4 – vs. Dusknoir Lv. X/Gengar

This was another massacre. He knocked out my Claydol quickly with Gengar. I should have gotten the Unown G to protect it, but didn’t. Chatot then became my main draw engine, as I could not get the other Claydol out, but he could easily snipe my Venusaurs. Basically losing the Claydol lost me the game. I scooped when he brought out Dark Palm Dusknoir and sent my fully powered Venusaur back.

<---2-2--->

 

Well, there goes my hopes for Top Cut, but I wanted to go home with a winning record, so I did not let up in the last game.

 

Round 5 – vs. Raichu/Tangrowth/Electrode

This game was a little more uplifting for me, especially since I got my dream field out: 3 Venusaur, 2 Weezing and 1 Claydol. I quickly went through his basics, because he was not able to draw into anything all game.

<---3-2--->

 

Although I was disappointed by not making the top cut, I couldn’t be too disappointed with the record, especially considering the strong play (and dice rolls) I needed to win Rounds 1 and 3. This was a much stronger showing than last year’s Cities! I can’t wait until the next tournament I go to, and hopefully I will keep improving. Good luck to everyone else in upcoming City tournaments!

 

Arbok14