molerator @ los angeles

 

I should write even if I had a bad tournament, so here we go.

Preparation: 

I didn't want to play Dragapult because I am stubborn and like being different, so in the weeks leading up the event I was practicing and working on Wally.deck, which had a reasonable chance into Dragapult and solid matchups across the remainder of the field. 

  

Froslass irl 💔

I laddered this deck into the 1800s fairly smoothly once I added a second copy of Fan Rotom - why would we play just one when this guy is almost essential to deck function and a good lead attacker? + some Pokegears for increased dig. The Lucians were originally paired with a Gravity Mountain but I found in my testing that one tapping the Dragapult was not actually that important if you can just keep hitting them in the face and playing Wally to heal. Not sure if the Acerola was ever going to be good, but I was told it was strong into the beatsticks at the end of games and I had a slot, so I did my usual routine of sleeving my 60 cards at home and then bringing basically no other cards to the tournament. I boarded my airplane Friday morning, moderately excited for the weekend. Slept for a few hours, listened to music, and watched the first five episodes of Running Point which was pretty good.

Off the airplane, Yihao picks me up. I'm barely inside the door and this guy wants me to switch to his "broken deck" and swears he solved the format. 

I do not switch decks because I am mentally strong. 

Lunch is at a Korean soul food restaurant Yihao hypes up. We slightly overorder because Roger eats like a small bird but it's a good meal. I will take a moment to slander Korean metal chopsticks, which are ridiculously hard to use for no good reason. Wood clears.

There's a couple hours until Flap lands at LAX so we head to a nearby card shop to play some games which I normally don't do on Friday but there's four of us so I try to be a good friend. In hindsight there was no reason for me to play my deck into Yihao instead of Pult or something, both decks are tiny percentages, but we play and I get rolled because his deck is way better at the type of tank and heal game we are both trying to play since he has monkeys and bench snipe. In the last game before we leave I draw 9 cards + Pokegear and whiff both copies of Boss I need to win. 

I still do not switch decks because I am mentally strong.

Last draft of FrostBunny before "the incident", featuring duck. I should have played this :( 

We pick up Flap from the airport and drop off Roger and Ming at their hotel. He was going to play the Froslass deck with me, but he's abandoned ship to play Pultnoir. Now I'm stressing a bit about Pultnoir so I'm trying to find a slot in my deck to play a Psyduck, coming up with a new draft that seemed decent. At this point I am more than a little poisoned from continuous exposure to Starmie propaganda, so I agree to collect the cards to build a copy of this deck "just in case." The three of us head to a card shop and I play another set of testing games with Flap and his Pultnoir deck. I draw slightly poorly in these but pick up some trauma from a brutal Unfair Stamp Watchtower brick.

I build the stupid Starmie deck because I am mentally weak. 

Certainly a Standard legal deck with 60 cards in it! 

We grab In-N-Out for a late dinner, I botch my order and get normal fries but the burger itself is quite good. Back home I win a Bo3 against the Pultnoir deck before submitting the new deck. I shower and then have very very bad sleep.

Up early the next morning, McDonalds drive through for breakfast on the way to the convention center to pick up wristbands. No one was actually in these wristband lines for some reason so there's about an hour to collect anxiety before round 1. Luckily lists are locked so I take solace in the fact that I can't do anything about it at this point. One of the Staryu I was given is a pretty blatantly marked RH so we have to beg vendors to look in their bulk, but I do end up with a clean copy to switch in. Pairings go up and I go find my table.

Round 1

Pult Dun WLW

My opponent was like extremely chatty, I don't really engage that much because he is like turbo oversharing his life and it is 830 am, so he starts dumping it on the adjacent tables. 

I run him over in a quick G1, he promotes a clean Dreepy instead of the one on the bench I hit for 50 so I clean the damaged one up with a Munkidori and take more prizes on the way to an easy win.

In G2, I get a bad start and I start scooping as he's lining up a Phantom Dive on 5-6, but he plays boss on a Snorunt for some reason as I'm conceding so I think I might have actually won this game. 

It's fine, I go first in G3 and run him over again. 

Round 2

Pult Dun WW

I look at my hand and it has Secret Box in it so I set up perfectly before my opponent really has a chance to do anything and run him off the board.

I open the Secret Box again but also Lillie and some search cards so I opt to save the pink card for later. His setup is a lot better this time and he has a winning chance at the end of the game if he can find boss but I've removed all his draw from the board and he's not able to find it so I finish the game with my own copy of Boss. Yihao was right about this deck beating Pult I suppose. 

Round 3

Hydrapple LL

This matchup is kind of unpleasant and the Celebi he finds T1 to get a Forest is really strong. I knock this out with Starmie + 50 his Meganium line, he punches me, I punch him and KO his Meganium, he KOs my Starmie, then I go into Budew and try to buy 1-2 turns to spread finish the game. I need one more turn, he Teal Dances into Boss to pick off the Meowth I started that has been sitting on my bench for 15 minutes ready to cost me the game.

Game 2 goes mostly the same, but I can't find Froslass quick enough so I'm a turn short of being able to wipe his Ogerpons at the end of the game. Oh well. 

Round 4

Lopunny Froslass WW

I learned yesterday playing against Yihao that this matchup is super free, I repeatedly Larry down my hand to neutralize the threat of his Mega Froslass and heal my Starmie with Wally/Munkidori while I'm pressuring his board with Jetting Blow. He can't keep up and I get my 6 prizes fairly easily.

G2 I get off to a decent start but my opponent randomly bricks off his Lillie for 6 in the middle of the game and can't find a Mega for multiple turns, so I win this one easily too. 

Thought I had a smooth round? Guess again. I left my deckbox at the table when I went to turn in the match slip. 

Round 5

Raging Bolt LL

I arrive at my table, and find out that my deckbox is not in my bag. I let my opponent and a nearby judge know, and I am directed to lost and found which is on the actual other side of the hall. I walk all the way over there, find nothing, walk back expecting to concede. Luckily my deckbox has magically found it's way to the table and I get away with just a late penalty.

My Budew is KO'd by Kang, so I get to hit the active with my Starmie and establish double Froslass. My Opponent Whiffs the 350 KO on Starmie so I get to hit the Kang again and get down a Munki-Dark. I've stacked a ton of damage on the Latias as well so I have 5 prizes lined up after my Starmie goes down. Unfortunately I've prized my 3rd Snorunt so I have to settle for a Staryu as a backup attacker. Some bad board management leaves me in a damage deficit on my last turn, but I definitely messed up and should have healed both my Munkidoris instead of just the active like I chose. Because of this my benched one is too low and is KO'd by my own Froslass to finish the game. Oops!

I opt first so I can be aggressive, but my opponent is holding maybe the greatest hand ever. After not even starting Waterpon, I see Ultra Ball Meowth Crispin Trumpet Eswitch Teal Dance come down and my Budew and Staryu are pumped leaving me with no guys. Should have drawn another guy, that's my bad.

Round 6

Mega Gardevoir LL

My opponent flips over a Frillish while I set up my board. I remember screwing up by forgetting to play Ruins before I bench my basics. I pass over to him and am very surprised to see a Ralts come down. Frillish gloom locks me, but importantly I use the gifted 20 to KO his Ralts off the bench. Not having Ruins damage does cost me though, because I can't camp the next 2 Ralts with Boss and a Mega Gardevoir comes up through Grand Tree and floods the board with purple energy. I'm on 3 so I feel reasonably confident about being able to finish the game, but I am wrong and bad because my opponent is able to double Ultra Ball their hand down to nothing and KO my Starmie so my Froslass is not able to respond. I concede and opt first.

His start in G2 is very weak and if I find a Starmie on my first attacking turn I am probably going to win by clearing his board of Ralts. Unfortunately, I lost my only copy of Starmie (second prized) off my Carmine the turn before so I whiff off 8 cards and he sets up again. Once the 360 Mega goes up with a smallish hand I have no real way to win. I play out because I plan on dropping after this loss. We have a brief conversation about his cool deck before he takes the slip to the hive.

Round 7 

Festival Lead (forgot to drop) 

I run into my friend Keva after I lost and they (also eliminated) ask if I want to drop and get food. I agree and click some Drop related buttons on my phone before we head to a chain udon place a short walk from the venue. On the way there I get a text from my friend Matt saying we paired? I open Rk9 and find one last confirmation I didn't finish clicking through so I text him back and tell him I'm not coming / congrats on the +3 match points. I'm pretty sure the judge made him wait the 10 minutes anyway but I'm not that sorry.

I have nothing to do except wait for my friends who are better at the game than me, so I find a spot to wait for them while I stew about my bad tournament run. Once they're finished we find a Ramen restaurant to eat at, we have enough car spots to facilitate multiple bed locations. The food is solid, even if KK again gets one shot by spicy ramen that he claims he didn't order on purpose. We drive home and I have much better sleep on the couch but I offset this by forgetting to charge my phone. 

The next morning I pack my bag and have a Chinese rice roll for breakfast, before we head to the venue. I look at vendors, buy nothing, and regret not bringing my 2010 box. KK drops after losing his 3rd game and we sit there on our phones sharing one basically dead portable charger the whole day. After games are over we head to a Chinese BBQ restaurant and have a good lunch even though I'm like 90% sure the steamed buns we are served are the same ones sitting in my freezer at home. We hit an ice cream joint in a neighborhood that looks like everyone owns a boat, then play a bunch of a co-op card game before heading to the airport. My flight is delayed and then cancelled and then rebooked, but I make it back to Chicago at 6 am the next morning.

The tournament might have sucked but I had a fun weekend and I learned (the hard way) not to mess with my deck on Friday. Hopefully I can do better at Indy because that city is way worse than LA to have nothing to do on Sunday.

molerator @ baltimore

 

Hello everyone, I haven’t played irl in a few weeks because I’ve been busy with life stuff. LA is in a week and I have no idea what to play so that post will probably be a crashout. Regardless, I wanted to post something so I dug up this really old tournament report from my first major ever. Hopefully it’s enjoyable even if it’s Snorlax. 

Preparation:
I didn’t really know what to play and I wasn’t very good at the game, but Azul played Snorlax to Worlds in this format and he explained the deck and some potential changes on his stream so I figured it was probably good enough for me as a first timer.

Azul's list with Lugia tech package

 

My improved(?) list

I cut out all the Lugia tech to be a little stronger into Regidrago and added a third fan to beat Gardevoir (not sure why I thought this was important) - I didn't know about Kirlia suicide, if I did I would have just punted on Gardevoir and added either another Artazon or Mist. This Charm/Vest split was also pretty bad, 2 charm would've been better. I don't remember using the Iono for anything either, maybe that could've been another slot saved.

The reason I attended this tournament in the first place was because my parents offered me free flight if I visited home for a few days before and after the tournament. I worked from the house for a few days, then got a ride up to Baltimore Friday afternoon. This venue is horrible, there is no light and it is in the actual basement, so I try to get my friends to leave as soon as possible. We have a locals meetup at a locally renowned seafood restaurant and I get to eat some delicious fresh crab slathered in butter. We uber back to the hotel which has a really weird wallpaper of a dog and I fall asleep trying not to look at it.

Wake up, walk to venue, find table, chat with opponent, you know the drill. 

Round 1 Drago WW

This first opponent didn't seem to know the matchup. I see Jamming tower instead of Sinnoh on one of my peek cards so I figure it's safe to mist a Mimikyu once he burned cologne and the Vstar. He also discards his Mew with a research which was definitely not right. He realizes this Cape Mist Mimikyu is unbreakable but keeps playing for a while before he scoops.

Game 2 I hit his cologne early with Eri and he never really pressured me.

Round 2 Bolt WW

Game 1 was easy, his answer to Mimikyu was Flutter which takes way longer than Sandy Shocks to set up. I was able to discard switches and then Penny loop my two HP boosted Mimikyus with tools while gusting his 3 retreat Raging Bolts. He used his pal pad on something besides Sada and just runs out of energy. 

Game 2 he opens Flutter and I get behind and actually need a misplay to win. I notice early in the game that he attacks a Snorlax with Flutter instead of retreating so I thought he might not know how the abilities interact. Later when I need to buy a turn I gust the flutter into a Snorlax and Instant charge. To my delight he doesn't retreat. To close the game I hit double heads on Cyllene and put two counter catchers back to rip off his pokestop (I prized my other 2 counter catchers and a boss) and he wasn't able to retreat his Bolt again.

Round 3 Miraidon W

I open Rotom and he flips over Squawk. He grumbles a bunch and then squawks his opening hand away including 2 switch carts and a prime catcher. He then grumbles again when I start benching Snorlaxes on my turn. He actually managed to get decently setup otherwise but playing against block without any switches seems impossible.

G2 I spread his energy out with Fans and Ogerpons (only Iron Hands can touch Cornerstone) and he couldn't take enough prizes. This opponent did a good job setting up a board of viable attackers both games but wasn't able to energize all of them. 

Round 4 Drago WW

This opponent also doesn't know the matchup and plays a little too fast, he reaches with his Vstar for eswitches and has to pass with no dragons to copy. I'm then able to burn away cologne and some switches and he scoops it up.

Game 2 I catch Kyurem off a flute, he tries to Turo it away but doesn't discard it so I Erika it back out.

After the games we looked through trade binders (which is kind of weird for me because I usually don't carry extra cards but this was a long time ago) and I got one of those cute promo Charmanders. 

Round 5 Moon LL

This opponent knew exactly what to do against Snorlax and owns me pretty quickly. Both games they got Pecharunt, baby Moon, Moon ex within 2 turns and there isn't much I can do.
In game 2 he sets up the perfect board again so I Penny up my lone Mimikyu and sign the slip. I take some time to wander the venue and get an overpriced but solid hot dog.

Round 6 Tina LL

Game 1 Despite prizing Erika and whiffing 5(!) flutes I actually fight super hard and manage to spread all the energy away to prevent my final mist Mimikyu from getting shredded by Giratina V but he was holding temple to star requiem it. A few turns into game 2 we realize he had previously used his vstar with FSS and I would have decked him out. I'd already marked the slip and we'd started the next game though so Oops.
Game 2 he plays his jet energies to take prizes and there's not much I can do.

Round 7 Bolt WW

Game 1 he discards Sandy Shocks and I put down a Mimikyu against a full ex board. Scoop, G2.

 Game 2 he gets the Shocks out but I'm able to Penny loop my stuff while gusting Bolts. My last Sisters hits Switch Pal Pad Retrieval Retrieval and he decks out.

Round 8 Lugia W

I am super unhappy to see a Lugia here because losing or tying means I'll be out and I cut all of my techs hoping to dodge. 

Game 1 I manage to lock him out of rats and Penny loop his Flutter mane (only cornerstone answer because he evolved both his Lugias for some reason) with handheld fan until he runs out of energy and concedes. At one point his Lugia Vstar has 3 DTE on it so my Rotom is invincible. 

Game 2 starts with about 10 minutes left and is always going to hit time so I try to force my opponent through 6 Snorlaxes. My flutes are kind of insane and I deny him boardspace for Archeops so he's manual attaching to a rat to try and take his prizes. When I go to heavy ball for my 4th lax I find it but am holding too many cards to put my prizes back and we realize I set out 7 prize cards. Oops. Judge resolved, I get a DPL and suddenly I could feasibly lose game 2 if he plays a Jet every turn for the rest of the game. I have an Iono ready to make it more difficult but he doesn't find any Jets and can't win. 

If we started a game 3 I would probably have to give up the gentleman's agreement because the matchup is so bad. 

Round 9 Charizard Dusknoir WLW*

Opponent gets board locked game 1 and scoops quickly. 

Game 2 I was one Penny turn short of clearing my board off and my cape Mimikyu gets double dusked and my last stray Snorlax is bossed for game.

Game 3 my setup is pretty good but we are for sure going to time. We finish +3 with him with ghosts ready to go against my two tooled up Ogerpons. My opponent is adamant that they can win off this board but I am very doubtful because he doesn't play any actual way to break my cornerstones. We go back and forth and eventually I just refuse to concede with my double cornerstone board and he gives me the win.

My locals that were watching my game take me to a restaurant that's attached to a nearby hotel bar to get some celebratory beers and burgers, then go home. I resleeve my deck and fall asleep after pretending to analyze some of the stream games from the day.

Round 10 Ancient Box WW

I sat next to this guy during day 1 and saw Sada and dark types so I thought it was another Moon ex and I was going to get farmed again. Luckily it's not, it's actually free for me :)

Game one I get going a bit slow and he makes his board 4x flutter and 1 Moon, but I hit a tusk on a flute and took it. I thought I could lose to milling but realize he doesn't want to play his supporters and churn his own deck so I just play my mill cards and do it for him.

Game 2 he hits Pal Pad Super Rod off a Pokestop spin so I grab Eri with FSS Pidgeot and deck him out again.

Round 11 Drago LWW

I get donked game 1 with lone Snorlax. They retreat their Cleffa start with cologne and use Apex Dragon. This game probably should have clued me in that I should be choosing first against Drago btw, I lost every flip and they all wanted first so I should be stealing it from them and maybe getting an extra Instant Charge.

Games 2 and 3 I figure out they have no Sinnoh so I mill cologne and then go down to lone mimkyu with mist after the Vstar is forced. He spends a few turns trying to power up a Radzard I fluted but that seems impossible.

Round 12 Drago WW

 

G1 I mill the cologne and cape a single Ogerpon with no mew on a benchlocked board and he scoops. He maybe could have threatened me a little more, not sure. 

G2 He mills his cologne with an early Vstar and doesn't grab it so I go down to solo Mimikyu with cape and mist and he scoops again. No Sinnoh in this deck either.

Round 13 Drago LL

I talk with one of the other players at 10-2 and find out that basically everyone at this threshold is a Lugia or something worse, so it doesn't look great. Pairings go up and I see a famous name and a surprisingly okay matchup. This list also doesn't play cologne (which I didn't know) but it does play both Jamming tower and Sinnoh, 2 very annoying stadiums for me. We get tagged for stream and I answer some questions on the way to the table. I want to preface that I remember very little of being on stream, everything about this game I'm about to write is from rewatching the stream. My brain was absolutely liquefied by the white noise in the headsets and it shows.

I win the flip and choose second because I like going second, but obviously I am supposed to go first to get extra time to set up before they start attacking. I get immediately punished because my opening hand is dead and my one Snorlax gets easily KO'd by Apex Dragon on his T2.

After this happens I choose second again because I am very smart. This game is just a disaster, there's like a five minute video somewhere on youtube of all the stuff I did wrong. I probably should have tried to get Cape/Mist Rotom to stabilize my board but I was scared off by him hitting me with the baby drago v’s bench damage. Instead both my Snorlaxes are knocked out under Jamming Tower with Dragon Laser x2. I gust a blank Drago V for some reason instead of a Squawk or even an Ogerpon, and he instantly loads this one up too and KO's my Rotom with a Boss. I find a Penny to get into a Mimikyu but I have no way to get my 1 copy of Mist out of the deck and Mew finishes the game.

Losing causes me to bubble out of top 32 which is sad, but to date this is the best I've ever done at a tournament. If you made it this far thanks for reading, I'll post more when I play more. 

molerator @ orlando

Hello dear reader, I played in Orlando this weekend and obtained another Top 256 finish to add to my growing collection of mediocre finishes. Before I start whining I want to acknowledge that making it to Phase 2 multiple times this season is an achievement and a sign of growth, but I have been consistently disappointed with my level of play. Anyway, despite my unhappiness I think this is a deserved result.

5.0

I locked in Flapixty 5.0 very early in the week (Tuesday?) because it felt good at the cup I played and Flap sent a decklist submitted screenshot. Ladder had rotated, I don't really like playing on tcgmasters and I'd also played a major worth of games on a worse version of the deck. I asked him about some changes (Bundle, eswitch) but he seemed uninterested so I just submitted the list too. On Friday night after reading the Hedrick report we talked briefly about Shaymin since that was the third "allowed" change but decided against it after some deckslot and win% math. We get dinner across the street from our hotel at something like a Panda Express with more options then resleeve and go to bed.

We wake up early on Saturday morning, walk to the venue, beat the line for wristbands, then play Go Fish while eating breakfast for a clean R0 W.

Round 1
 
Dengo WLW

I set up 2 Froslass 2 Munkdori and a Grimm line behind Itchy Pollen and am delighted when my Budew is KO'd and a Picnic basket is played early. A Lopunny comes in the active so I hit it for 180 and then take a million prizes the next turn.

Game 2 I open Snorunt pass and my opponent Secret Boxes for Solrock donk.

There's a decent amount of time left so I'm not too worried, and they return the favor from game 2 to me by opening Lunatone pass. On my turn I learn all 3 Imps are prized, but they actually have no playable cards in their hand under item lock so I just play Froslass Munkidori and KO Lunatone before another Pokemon hits the board.

Round 2

Alakazam WW

I set up cleanly behind a charmed Budew and am able to use my Spikemuths reactively to bump Battle Cage. His board quickly crumbles to Froslass Munkidori pressure and I win game 1.

Game 2 is less smooth for me and I have to use my Spikemuths proactively to play the game. I get stalled a bit by Battle Cage and his Budew, but I decline to initiate so this Budew stays on his board until I decide its time to go. His board is horrible because of Budew + Fan Rotom so hes not able to KO my Grimmsnarl after Iono and I close the game with my last Spikemuth and a second Grimmsnarl.

Round 3 

Zoroark WLW

I sit there Budewing my opponent for a while while setting up MunkiLass before he decides to go in and KO my Budew. I respond by Shadow Bulleting into his Zoroark since I have candy in my hand so I don't mind if this Grimm is knocked out. He plays a bunch of cards but eventually drops a nest ball for Fez. I'm trying to figure out why it isn't Pecharunt or if he can Janine Eswitch to use Cruel Arrow when he tries to draw 3. I try and stop him but he's seen at least 1 card, maybe a second. We call for a judge and can't get the attention of one for a solid two minutes. We finally flag one down who takes 10 minutes to give the obvious DPL even after we explain the situation super clearly, then we get a 5 minute extension which is not quite the same as 12+ minutes of the clock. He scoops the game basically instantly anyway after he can't knock out my Grimmsnarl.

In Game 2 I'm a bit slow and can only make one Grimm line at a time since I'm playing heavy MunkiLass. This line gets boss KO'd twice but I'm still piling damage on his side so it's most likely fine. When I finally get to a Grimmsnarl I play the turn pretty poorly. First I almost deck myself out with Lillie since I only have 8 cards left, but I'm able to avoid this by taking some prizes with Munkidoris (I also could have played this Lillie and rodded back some energies) but I don't find the Devo in my prizes I would like to use to wipe the Zoroarks out. Thinking about this game after the round, I realize that I could have used all my Munkidori triggers on the benched Zoroark and knocked out both at once with a single Shadow Bullet. The benched Zoroark is promoted and KOs me with a modifier for game. Oops!

I get a strong start again in game 3, and my opponent is quickly bleeding out. I go down a bunch of prizes but manage to Devo all 3 of his Zoroarks. He's bossed my Morgrem 2 times this game too, and I neglect to rod or stretcher a copy back even though I have an Imp on my bench ready to close the game. I get almost punished by Budew and some rebenched Zoruas, but I'm able to convert the Pecharunt and Budew into my last 3 prizes because he's not able to find Turo to force a tie. I got away with one here, kind of, which is not the last time.

Round 4

Absol LL

I said I kind of got away with one last round, but I get the deserved punish by pairing into Absol and drawing a horrendous hand. I lock him out of Trolley but I'm sitting there drawing dead cards and announcing Itchy Pollen while he uses Run Errand every turn and eventually he has a board and I have nothing. I decide that forcing him to take all 6 prizes is correct in this matchup so I let him claw me 6 times instead of scooping.

I go second, play a draw supporter and miss Budew and a followup supporter! I watch the Trolley Energize go off and then sit there and get clawed 6 more times. I use his Town Store to get TM Devo out of my deck and offer it to him every time but he never takes it. Fun opponent, bad games.

Round 5

Gardevoir WW

I set up a decently strong Munkilass board even though I lose 2 Budews to Frillish + Munkidori and take out Frillish + Monkey Dark with Shadow Bullet. His Fez finds him a draw supporter but doesn't find Candy Gardy or Kirlia so he Mind Bends the Grimmsnarl. I establish a 3rd Munkidori and evolve my benched Impidimp into Morgrem. I think for a bit then decide I think I'm winning the slow game, use my Monkeys and pass. With no Fez draw he can't really do anything except evolve to Kirlia and mind bend again so I make a second Grimmsnarl and he concedes before I decide how to attack his board. I ask him about the pass, he isn't super sure but thinks I should have flipped for confusion.

I again feed a Budew to the Frillish while whiffing Froslass. He sets up a Gardevoir and a Munkidori, but on my turn I draw 2 Froslass off my draw supporter so I'm able to delete his Munkidori out of nowhere with only one Adrena-Brain + Shadow Bullet 30 since he left damage on it. I quickly get up to 2, then 3 Munkidoris and he can't keep up even with Diancie. My active Grimm goes down to Garland Ray so I push my other one and take my last 4 prizes with CC on Gardevoir Kirlia Munkidori.

Round 6 

Grimmsnarl WW

My opponent plays a Research early in the game and is slow making monkey darks so I decide not to respect Boss and go into a Bravery Charm Budew to slow him down more. I get to 3-1 Monkey advantage and steamroll him with CC Munkidori + 4th Monkey Dark  after he finally KO's my Budew.

In game 2 I go into Budew again after he misses Monkey Dark. I manage to force him to initiate down 2-0 Monkeys so I establish a 3rd and Shadow Bullet into his Grimm. The game ends quickly as I overwhelm him with Adrena Brain triggers.

Round 7 

Zoroark WLW

I get double Froslass going against his board and chain Grimmsnarls. At one point he decides not to or forgets to use his Munkdori so I take it out with the Shadow Bullet ping and continue working on his Zoroarks. He takes a long combo turn to KO my first Grimmsnarl but his Fez and Pech have been on the board so long that I can just Munkidori both of them to finish the game.

My start is bad, he gets a lot of energy on board even through Budew and I see him lining up a Boss with Darmanitan so I concede to leave lots of time for Game 3.

I again create double Froslass but my Devo is Prized, so I take 2 on a Zoroark with Shadow Bullet. He responds with Boss + Night Joker Flamebody Cannon, but I've absorbed enough damage at this point that it doesn't really matter. I use Munkidoris + Shadow Bullet to KO the active Zoroark and the Darmanitan to go down to 1 which is good, but the rest of this turn is poor. I rebench Snorunt to create a Froslass threat which is okay, but I use my last bench slot on an Impidimp in case my Grimmsnarl is KO'd, which is pure fanfiction given the obvious incoming Iono to 1. My hand that turn also contained Bloodmoon Air Balloon Dark Energy which would create an on board checkmate. He Ionos me to 1, KO's my Grimmsnarl, and I bailout topdeck Nest Ball for the Bear.

Round 8 

Crustle LL

Pretty typical Grimm vs Crustle game, I whiff CC or Bravery Charm deep in the game and have to suicide my Budew on the double spike Crustle to maintain item lock. I might have been able to win if I had one more turn to spread but not sure.

I brick and play no supporters for like 7 turns in a row (~2 energy attaches + 4-5 Crustle attacks). On one of my last turns I flip my topdeck over so we can both see if it's Iono. It's Iono! I whiff the Bear to tank a hit so I pass and ask my opponent nicely not to attack, but he declines and announces Superb Scissors for game instead.

I will again chalk this one up to delayed justice after I attempted to throw the previous round. Deserved!

Round 9 

Grimmsnarl WLT

I win a lopsided game 1 with heavy Munkidori advantage, then we sit in a long game 2 with a really weird stalemate. Both of our opening hands are terrible but contain Budew Bravery charm so we sit there with our single Munkdoris poking each other. He's moving the damage to my Munkdori so I decide to hoard the damage for myself. Eventually my Budew goes down so I push my Snorunt in the active since I know he doesn't have Boss and eat 6 more Itchy Pollens. At this point I have to do something and we both have Grimmsnarls and 3 Munkidoris. I decide to use 80 out of my 110 available damage to KO one of his Munkidoris off the bench with Shadow Bullet, but this activates CC and he's able to Iono check me multiple times into missing recovery so I slowly lose the battle. Reflection and discussion after the round makes me think I was supposed to move 80 onto the Budew to go to 5-5 instead of 4-5, evolve a Froslass and pass with my Grimmsnarl or the Froslass in the active. In this hypothetical line because I'm the one evolving the Froslass I will have 20s on my turn while he only has 10s and I can gain an advantage this way and avoid losing a Munkidori to Counter Catcher. This mirror is very cringe because of Budew Charm and no Boss. Devo should give me an advantage but it never came up.

We start Game 3 with less than 10 minutes (maybe my fault for staying too long in g2) and we decide a conclusion won't happen without a scam so we tie.

After some deliberation, I go to hotpot with Yihao KK and Roger. We also manage to coax Flap out of the hotel room to join us for an excellent meal and "cultural exchange" even if I personally have to do a lot of plate cleanup work because no one else except Yihao eats adult portions. We Uber home and go to bed.

We wake up kind of late and I have to do some hotel checkout not checkout nonsense since I'm staying an extra night but my reservations aren't linked which is kind of an L for the group entirely on me. Flap then attempts to give us a R0 L by Ubering us to the wrong address, but we get another driver who is highkey speeding and understands the convention center area and make it to our tables on time.  

Round 10 

Raging Bolt WW

I check Limitless and am slightly unhappy to find several Raging Bolt entries. I greet my opponent and we set up for our game but a judge comes by and tells us we're being deck checked so we surrender our cards and make small talk while waiting. My first hand was kind of bad! The decks come back and we start setting up again but more judges come by and want to deck check us too. We inform them we just got checked so they huddle up and use their collective power to decide we dont have to do it again.

My opponent grumbles and opens Iron Leaves, and cant get an attachment down so I know im safe behind my Budew for a turn. I have to research a CC and a stretcher but get Snorunts and an Imp down as well as a Monkey Dark. My Budew is KO'd by Crispin baby Bolt, and I have a gut check Research: Super Rod Double Grimmsnarl but I evolve double Froslass and a Morgrem and Itchy Pollen again. Baby Bolt KOs something off my bench (I think Munkidori?) but I find my other CC and last Night Stretcher to get a Grimmsnarl out of my discard pile so I can KO Ogerpon off the bench + a Hoothoot to go down to 3. My opponent uses Raging Bolt ex to take out my Grimmsnarl but I convert the Fan Rotom with MunkiLass and have Bloodmoon + Energy in my hand for the Bolt.

He thinks about first or second for a bit and I'm honestly not sure, second is probably better for him to donk check + play Crispin? He goes first though and opens Iron Leaves again (lol). His board is pretty bad but I miss Budew off my draw supporter so he's able to find an Ogerpon to play the game. I respond to his fan Rotom KO with Candy Grimmsnarl CC Ogerpon, but I whiff Froslass so it's just 180. He gets through the Grimmsnarl with Crispin + Teal Dance + attach but it costs him 2 Noctowls. On my turn I'm finally able to find double Froslass so I use Budew to KO his Teal Mask which leaves him with an unplayable board besides Fan Rotom KO Budew. I misplayed a bit here, I ultra balled away my charm instead of a dark for the next turn since my hand was dead but there were 2 darks and an Iono (Ogerpon prizes were Dark + Iono) in my prizes and charm Budew was extremely broken in this spot. On his side he can't really do anything besides bleed to death though so it's fine, I convert the rest of my prizes with MunkiLass.

Round 11

 Zoroark LL

My hand is super dead so I topdeck a few times then flip over my prizes after his board is set up to reveal 4 supporters. No wonder.

I prized double Grimmsnarl in a game I think was super winnable if I got to announce Shadow Bullet. He has Turbo Energize and double Munkidori, but I have Double Froslass going so I'm working on a Devo wipe. I manage to CC Reshiram Iono + Devo 2 Zoroarks but there's a clean Zorua on the board and since I use a Munkidori to do this I lose to Adrena Brain Budew + Air Balloon PP Up Scratch. If I attached to Morgrem and used that to Devo instead, I would have demanded one more energy out of him to finish the game, but maybe that was enough cards to go for win since I don't know if I could have converted the board without 2 Munkidoris the next turn. I was planning on Bloodmoon CC Fez but maybe Shadow Bullet was enough? Not sure, and I didn't unprize a Grimm anyway.

We can potentially add this to the list of delayed justice, maybe all throwing must be punished.

Round 12 

Gardevoir WLL

I get 2 Grimmsnarls and 4 Munkidoris after my Froslass is Scream Tailed and my opponent scoops it up.

Game 2 is going less well, but I have a Grimmsnarl and Froslass Munkidori stuff. I ended up with 2 Lass 2 Munki but my Budew is still alive so my board is kind of weak. I get Iono CC'd here which is really bad because he gets both my Munkidoris, but whats even worse is that I say 4-6, my opponent says yes and then I draw 6 cards. The judges take forever to resolve the gamestate since I don't remember how many cards were in my hand and I hand shuffled my drawn cards. Eventually I get my obvious and deserved DPL but my hand is bad anyway so I check my topdeck then concede.

We play with urgency in g3, he mind bends 2 Budews so I CC Shadow Bullet his only Kirlia, then get mind bent. I put 2 Froslass into play this game again which is definitely not right because I dont have the Munkidori infrastructure to support this. On my last turn I thought I had a decent check given that my second Morgrem and my second Grimmsnarl are prized. I rod 3 darks back into my deck, leaving 1 in the discard pile, then Iono. I miss dark and stretcher which is super cringe, but I flip heads and take out the Munkidori which should demand a rare candy play from him. His hand (with 3 ultra balls down btw) supports Mew + Fez and he gets Box + candy which lets him candy gardy + stretcher dark and Mew copy Shadow Bullet me to close the game.

Round 13 

Pultzard LWL

My opponent gets ahead on energy attachments so is able to sneak through an early Munkidori and I get my Morgrem + Imp dive wiped. I attach Devo and look for a CC but miss off Iono so I concede.

Even though my opponent rudely Blazing Destructions my Spikemuth and Ionos my Morgrem and Froslass to the bottom, I set up double Froslass double Munkidori behind my Budew and wipe his Pult and both Drakloaks with Shadow Bullet while establishing a 3rd monkey.. He return KO's me with Charizard to go to 3. On my turn I check his Artazon for my 4th Munkidori which will give me game, but it's one of my last two prizes, so I take a prize with my first Munkidori on his Budew and let him pick which one. I flip it over and it's Munkidori, so I attach a dark and triple ping his Munkidori for game.

My hand is research candy Spikemuth and I think I just got too excited here. I retreat my Monkey after his slow start and Candy Grimm knokcout his active, but holding a Grimm behind a Budew probably would have been better. He responds with a Charizard hit for 210, and I punch into that and spread a ton of damage on his Drakloaks, but am super unhappy when they both evolve into Dragapult on his turn. A Munkidori goes up on his side and my Grimm is KO'd, so I KO his Charizard and go to 3. He KOs me with another Zard. I've had Double Froslass going the entire way so I thought I should have KO but I think I messed up my counter tracking, I don't understand how I ended up with only 20s on my last turn because my Munkidoris should have taken 20 after my turn and then 20 after his, but I miss dark energy for the Bloodmoon anyway. Maybe if I had 40s like I thought I should have I could have unprized a Dark energy for Bear (not sure) or Devo (definitely in there, 50% hit) with triple Munkdori on his Munkidori which also would have won the game by devolving his Pults down to Drakloaks which would then be in range of Froslass. With the gamestate as is though I can't take 3 and he has game on board so I concede. Weird.

Round 14 

Froslass Munkidori WW

I uppair from 22 to 23 and my opponent and I discuss how we need to have a winner since the tie is useless for me and extra useless for him. The delay for the repair happens but we don't know what's going on so we play a dice spinning game where he guesses the result of my spin, I win 4-2. Then we get one of the repaired tables and he shows me Gardy and I show him Grimm. He's happy to not play me so I assume he wasn't comfortable in the matchup, which is a bummer for me, but I repair into Froslass Munkidori which I think is a way better matchup assuming they aren't playing stupid stuff like Xerosic. 

We have the same conversation and agree to have a winner. I think he does a little sneaky manuever on me trying to get me to agree to boardstate saying he "likes to let comeback decks have a chance" but he's playing a boardstate deck and I would probably prefer prizes in this matchup! I agree to boardstate anyway because that's what I think is right.

My opponent draws really bad and I hit him with a Grimmsnarl that was evolved through Morgrem over and over and over to finish the set in about 10 minutes with 2 quick concessions. In game 1 I maturely retreat a dark off a Munkidori to play around Sudowoodo even though I've seen a few Rainbow Energy committed. I'm pretty sure I would have gotten impounded if I didn't since he instantly jams a Pad on his turn. Both games I get triple Munkidori and 2 Grimm lines with a Snorunt on the bench in case he tries to retreat lock me.

I bubble up into 256, hooray. The list was obviously good (shoutout air balloon) as one of my friends was on a win and in, and another lost a game for cash. I drew very poorly in some of these losses but I still feel like my play was extremely lacking. I was able to make several Phase 2s with Froslass decks during this part of the season, and I really enjoyed playing these decks. I can't help but wonder if I'm just not a good enough player to perform better (yet?) 

The post rotation format looks horrible, I've jokingly(?) said I'm downloading Hinge.