Hi everyone, I made phase 2 again at Houston. I'm writing this draft on my phone as I ride a bus to Dallas to see a friend, so art and sprites will be wip depending on my computer access these next few days.
I used to live in Austin for a little bit after college and people there used to make fun of Houston. I co-opted the phrase "three highways in a trenchcoat pretending to be a city" for regular use in the weeks leading up to the event. In fairness, a weekend trip centered around a convention center mostly dodges these issues, but its still funny to say. I signed up for this regional expecting nice weather and good food in case of a bad performance.
I locked in on Grimmsnarl as my play a few weeks out after banging my head against the wall trying to solve the Zoroark matchup for Pidgeot. My friends Yihao and Flapjack are really good players that know lots about Grimm so I basically just begged for lists and advice the whole month as I climbed the ladder up to ~1850. Grimmsnarl is not a very good deck but it does have extremely high power, and I was kind of tired of having to work super hard for wins playing Pidgeot and Gardevoir.
3.0
I had played most of my practice games on the Flapixty 3.0, so I was obviously unhappy Friday night when I got subjected to a classic case of Yihao's last minute deck psychosis. I had hoped that Flap would be a little more steadfast to shield me from this, but he was also tweaking and the list he submitted was very different from what I had practiced. After initially comitting to stay on 3.0, I wavered and decided I'm not smarter than them and submitted 4.0, making sure to fall asleep before Yihao finished 4.1 so I wouldn't be forced to open the builder again.
While all of this was happening I was eating with my locals at a BBQ place I thought was pretty good but nothing spectacular compared to other Texas BBQ I've had. Meat was good but sides were mid. Still a good dinner!
I wake up early the next morning and scroll on my phone for a few hours. My roommates are not quick enough to make moves for breakfast before we go to the venue, which is a round 0 L, but whatever. Pokemon Trading Card Game!
Round 1 Crustle WLT
My opponent mulligans an obvious Crustle hand and I'm immediately a bit grumpy I only play 2 Froslass. The first game is pretty easy, I evolve into double Froslass before he can get swinging and run him down with damage. I didn't play this midgame super clean because I wasnt sure when I wanted to go into Budew to deny healing, but my pressure was overwhelming so it didnt really matter. This might have been an early omen about the importance of air balloon because committing to Budew can be expensive with this deck.
I probably should have instantly scooped game 2 because I prized Budew and a copy of Froslass, but my setup is mostly clean so I stick around. At a certain point he hits my Grimm for 240 so I retreat it and use that as a damage bank for a while, but eventually I cant outpace his healing cards and lose. Very good idea to lose 20+ minutes of the clock for no reason.
I feel like the matchup is good and I'm getting more comfortable playing it so I float the idea of a boardstate gentleman's as we're setting up for game 3 and he accepts. Nice! I get quickly into double Froslass and an early Budew and start piling damage onto Crustles and have around 180 on multiple crabs when turns run out. I ask my opponent what he thinks of the boardstate and I can tell he is about to waffle and back out when he says he thinks its close. Yes dude, double Froslass Triple monkey budew is definitely a good boardstate for you. Also the Lisia in your hand cant even gust a Froslass. Anyway, we tie, which in my opinion was rather ungentlemanly.
R2 Lucario WW
Not much to say about this one, my opponent hit into my stuff multiple times to donate damage when I was only working with one Froslass. A caped Lucario appeared at one point but got picked up with Turo after I punched it with Grimm. There was also a Cornerstone I pinged down for 2 prizes.
In game 2 my hand was terrible but she played Iono and then my hand was broken. I do Grimm things and win.
R3 Tera Box LL
This was a frustrating loss because I felt like my list with Shaymin should be pretty strong into Waterpon stuff. My opponent uses their Fan Rotom to get double Noctowl which I think is super not allowed and I have an Iono in my hand to punish this. There's the good timeline where I Iono, get down some basics and maybe even a Shaymin, and he misses Noctowl and I run him over with spread damage. Unfortunately we live in the bad timeline: I brick my own hand, he draws a raw Noctowl, I get pumped 3 times and lose.
I prize my Shaymin in game 2 but my setup is okay. I make a Grimmsnarl and try to hide it on the bench for a turn while I build up some damage but obviously it gets gust KO'd by Teal Mask. A few raw Crispins are played while I try to stabilize and I get pumped for game. I probably shouldn't have evolved without attacking, thats my bad.
R4 Dragapult Dusknoir WW
Game 1 going first I play Secret Box and manage to set up the double Grimmsnarl board with several Munkidori before he can Phantom Dive. At the end of the game my opponent doesnt realize I'm going to take three with 30 on a Dreepy and 180 on his damaged Pult and lets me win for free.
In game 2, I play a poffin before getting item locked and quickly get into double Grimmsnarl, 1 Froslass 3 Munkidori, which is basically impossible to break since I can remove ghosts from the board at will with my army of monkeys. He looks at the board a bit and concedes.
R5 Ceruledge WLL
I feel like this wasnt entirely my fault but this matchup is good so it probably was. Game 1 his setup is really slow so I make a Grimmsnarl and take 2 on his Squawk, then tank a hit from Ceruledge and spread damage to walk him into a devo wipe. Normal stuff.
Game 2, I prize double Imp and Im not able to close the game after my Grimm goes down because I didnt prize check for my second devo and discarded the first off box like an idiot. With no ability to wipe i try to set up a Grimmsnarl behind a budew, but he jets out of the CC and has his last fire in hand for Hyper Blower. Maybe mildly unreasonable draws but I should have just had a devo in my deck to close.
I get divinely punished for throwing the previous game and he dumps 13 energy in the discard on t1. I literally cannot play the game through Grimmsnarl and my Froslass Munkidori setup isnt strong enough to devo wipe. He hits me a bunch of times and takes 6 prizes.
Losing here puts me into win or die which is not very good given that it is round 5. Gutter ball time I guess.
Round 6 Lucario WLW
My opponent flips over one of the rocks and benches some Riolus. I make some Grimmsnarls and some spread guys and run him over in a quick game. I note that his ace spec is Max Belt and he plays Vit Band which is kind of annoying.
In game 2 my opponent attempts to throw the game on turn 2 and hits my Munkidori with Solrock. I immediately candy out a Grimm and camp down his benched Riolu with 2 Munkidoris + Shadow Bullet. I should run away with this game but I decide to pass once instead of pressing my advantage for some unknown reason. A Lucario is eventually made and I'm in a position where my second candy or a copy of Devo will win me the game in 2-3 turns after some Froslass/Munkidori spread. I have both of these cards in my hand so I should always win. Unfortunately I also have a Lillie in my hand and it is glowing like crazy. Both my win conditions go back in the deck and I never see them again.
We start game 3 with the understanding we will almost certainly have to resolve on boardstate. We're both bricking but I am budewing his Lunatone and am a topdeck away from winning the game. I can't get it done before turns run out though, and we get to discussing. My opponent does not seem to understand we are not allowed to advance the board anymore, even with judges closing in on pur game, and keeps flipping over prize cards and topdecks. I remind him several times we can't do that, and I'm going to win the game the very next turn in all likelihood. This Lillie off your topdeck is not real, this Max Belt off your next prize is not real. All we can do is the board as is. Hes pretty stubborn though and continues to argue his case with hypotheticals. I stand my ground though and he backs down when a judge demands the slip be signed, asking if I'm "going for worlds." I decide not to explain my whole stance on invite chasing, telling him I have a decent amount of points, and he gives me the win. Pretty respectable, given that an opponent earlier in the day backed out. Still alive!
Round 7 Tera Box WLW
I sit down and ask my opponent if we can have a resolution, he agrees. He goes first and does a bunch of Fan Rotom stuff, I respond with poffin for double Snorunt, Spikemuth for Impidimp, and pad for Shaymin to which my opponent comments "You're cringe for that." I laugh and say something witty about protecting the family, then attach to my Munkidori and evo double lass. The game is over pretty quick, with no ability to control my board the damage stacks up too fast and I get 4 prizes off his engine pieces.
Game 2 I start a bit slow and give up a few too many prizes (3? 4?) before I can stabilize so I scoop to leave lots of time on the clock.
I think I chose second because I was very scared of getting donked by fan rotom but I am maybe supposed to go first? I watch my opponent Fan Call for one Hoothoot after starting Koraidon and realize he has a slight prizing issue. That's good, because on my first search I find out my Shaymin is prized. His playmaking potential with one Hoot is so low I just evolve double Froslass and start hitting him with Grimmmsnarl and he has no response because he has no owls. His board melts down pretty fast once I get two Munkidoris online. We chat a bit after because theres some fun stuff on his Limitless page I liked. He was also playing some sick energies from the retro ex era that are probably super expensive these days. Drip or drown.
Round 8 Gardevoir WW
Win and in time, I've actually had decent luck on these last few ones but obviously I'm a bit nervous. My opponent flips over a scream tail and we get going. I win the flip so I get to budew him for like 3 turns while I set up my board. I'm a little scared to see two darks come down during this time, but when I'm finally ready to go in he hasn't moved the active Munkidori so I get to take both at once. My board is Grimm Morgrem double Munki Froslass Budew, so I'm pretty happy when the Scream Tail targets my Munkidori and I'm able to evolve into two Grimmsnarls. I have to do something really weird here because I don't have an Air Balloon in my deck and I want to Budew him, so I evolve my second Grimmsnarl, load 2 on the active and 2 on the bench, then retreat the active and use 2 Munkidoris + budew to KO the Scream Tail. This creates an extremely bad situation for my opponent with 2 monkey darks in the lost zone and no good way to attack my board. We play out like 1 more turn and he concedes with less than 20 minutes on the clock. I promise to play at a reasonable pace but he understands he's in a tough spot.
I go first and get down some basics and hold a supporter for the next turn. He donates me an Artazon then Lillies into his secret box, but his hand quality is almost too good, discarding Diancie and Drifloon to get into a Evo play, but his second Kirlia is in hand so he only gets one down. He also prized his second Artazon so I know I can stick a Spikemuth for the rest of the setup phase when I want to. He hasn't managed to discard any energies so I go into Budew to buy time and set up evolutions. Eventually I have a Grimmsnarl and some monkeys + Froslass, but continue announcing Itchy Pollen. My Budew is charmed and gets mind bent by a darkless Munkidori since my opponent's Gardevoir deck is not functioning very well under item lock. I could have gone in with Grimmsnarl here, but my backup Impidimp can become a Morgrem the next turn so I decide to take a "risk" moving 50 damage off my Budew and flipping heads through confusion, putting the Munkidori in the lost zone, denying fez, and maintaining item lock. My opponent tries to work through this by taking one of my Munkidoris with Scream Tail, but I respond with an Iron Bundle and there's only juicy two prize pokemon on his bench. He thinks about the decision for a bit then concedes after I take 3 prizes on the Mew + Scream Tail and establish a second Grimmsnarl.
I made phase 2 again, 3/4 this season, which is a lot better than I did last year. I'm still having to dig out of the gutter every event because I throw too many games in the early rounds but I'm winstreaking to close the day at least. Things like eating breakfast, lunch, and drinking water would probably help stabilize my performances.
Round 9 Zoroark WW
I pair into a formerly online (now irl?) friend and I know hes on the Zoroark Elgyem list I saw the week of the event. I briefly consider looking up the exact list because I know it's posted somewhere but decide not to because it feels a bit unfair. My hand is terrible but luckily his is too. Tatsugiri airballs, I topdeck a Morgrem which I show him but I can't evolve this guy because I have to Filch. I draw something useless like a night stretcher but his Tatsu whiffs again so I Filch again and find either an Arven or a Lillie to play the game, and set up double Froslass triple Monkey while his Zoruas are just sitting there having a tea party. I play with mild LGM respect and load 3 energies onto my Grimmsnarl to start swinging. On one of the last turns of the game he cant find Iono because his Tatsugiri attracted one earlier that he needed to participate in our game, so the best he can do is Xerosic. I discard the 3 Ionos in my hand along with some miscellaneous junk and keep 3 good cards, then attach a devo and he concedes before I get to do it. Nobody ever wants to see the devo :(
Game 2 is even more of a disaster, I'm doing normal Grimm stuff on my side while Tatsugiri is pulling out stuff like Black Belt and Turo. Double Grimm Double Froslass Double Monkey goes up and the game is functionally over. I make a cool play where I take 4 prizes without triggering Fez but the board is so cooked I probably could have passed a few times and won.
6-2-1 heading into Day 2 was an okay place to be after my rollercoaster of a day. I'm happy to be playing on Sunday again after bombing in Seattle. I get dinner at a classic chinese restauraunt with Yihao and some other Chinese players and tread water trying to keep up. They offer to speak English for me but its better for me if they dont so I just try to get like a passing grade on conversation. I'm really tired after dinner and fall asleep on the floor of my hotel room.
I wake up the next morning at like 730 and skip breakfast again because I am dumb. I walk to the venue alone listening to Twice and find my table.
Round 10 Absol Box L
I look at my pairing and find a labs entry for Absol which is unfortunate, and my suspicions are all but confirmed when my opponent puts on an Absol hat before the game. Luckily I win the flip and get to Budew him out of trolley while I setup. He doesnt have Absol or Kang but he does have a loaded Cornerstone I cant hit, but I'm able to bundle this away and get ahead on monkeys. For most of the game im working with 2 Grimm lines, 3 monkeys and a single Froslass, so I can camp out Munkidoris and spread to the Cornerstone. I make a few glaring mistakes during this game, the first of which is evolving 2 Grimmsnarls. I have plenty of damage through my munkidoris, and could easily have left the second line as a Morgrem. The Froslass damage ticks eventually catch up to me. I should have read the devo line from him earlier once he stopped using his few precious monkey triggers on my monkeys and put damage on my backup Grimm, and could have slowed down or even neutralized this line by healing Grimm aggressively. I dont do this and get both lines devolutioned off the board, along with my one Froslass going to hand. I still have decent odds to win from here but I play this end game board terribly. With a snorunt in the active (CC) 3 monkeys and no imps staring down a Cornerstone, I bench 2 more snorunts, intending to try and run down the Ogre with Froslass Munkidori. I should evolve the Froslass here even if I expect it to be KO'd because its worth 40 damage (3 monkeys, 1 ping on Cornerstone) and then stretcher can help me establish double Froslass the next turn anyway but for some reason I hold the Froslass in my hand and pass. He knocks out the Snorunt and goes to 2. I evolve a Froslass, but miss the other copy off my Lillie. He knocks out my active again and goes to 1. I Lillie one more time and still miss the Froslass and end up 20 short on his now Charmed Cornerstone. Maybe I shouldn't have opted out of 40 damage on a previous turn. With less than 10 minutes left I concede the set. This was a frustrating loss to take because the matchup is terrible but I had a great chance to win. Oh well, I didnt play well enough to convert.
Round 11 Crustle WLL
My opponent flips over a Dwebble and attaches. I get quickly into the Budew Froslass Munkidori board and he concedes game 1.
In game 2 I prize a Froslass and cant get going fast enough. I kept finding myself evolving into a Grimm and putting it active in some spots but this has to be troll with no Air Balloon. I chase down a luxcape Dwebble that didnt evolve but dont unprize my Froslass so I cant bleed him out before he takes 6.
Game 3 we start with about 15 minutes but agree to resolve on boardstate if we run out of time. I get into double Froslass Budew again and have a ton of pressure but I miss a turn of Budew and he gets to Pokevital a heavily damaged Crustle. I use CC Budew on a backup Crustle that isn't loaded yet to slow down his prize taking, but at the end of the game with a few cards left in my deck I play conservatively and get owned by a 2 card (energy + boss) hand because I have a Grimmsnarl on the bench (why?) I wanted a stretcher for Budew and I had an Arven, but if I played Iono I could have hit Bundle and Stretcher which would have been 100x better since that way he could never win the next turn. Not having Air Balloon really hurt me in these games because I kept losing attachments to my Munkidoris whenever my Budew got knocked out.
Round 12 Bloodmoon Lucario WW
I pair into a guy I know is probably playing this Baby Bloodmoon deck and he shows me a mulligan hand that confirms it. I respond to a Solrock KO with a candy Grimm, then take 2 more with double Munki on a benched Riolu after another Solrock punches Grimmsnarl for 70. Baby Bloodmoon KOs my Grimm, but I evolve another Grimm, attach 3 energy, and Iono into the e-switch and take another multiprize turn. He plays a Judge, looks at his hand, and concedes.
I open a Budew, and get down an Imp with a topdecked Spikemuth. Thank god I did because my opponent uses Latias to get into a T1 Solrock attack even after I ask him super nicely to let my little guy live. My hand is kind of awkward, I have enough pieces to respond with candy Grimm CC Latias but Ill be living off a Lillie for 6 the next turn to fill out my bench beyond my 1 Monkey Dark. I decide to take the prize cards and put my 30 on Riolu. Notably I forget to prize check for second candy because I am not smart. My opponent Aura Jabs my Grimm, and I use my three monkeys (shoutout eswitch) and Shadow Bullet to smack the active for 180 and load 120 onto the benched Bloodmoon. My Grimm goes down the next turn and Im not 100% sure my second candy is in deck, but I decide to go for it anyway and Spikemuth for Grimmsnarl, then Arven for Candy and take my last 4 prizes with Shadow Bullet.
Round 13 Charizard Pidgeot WLW
Before the game I ask my opponent if his Slowking sleeves are a tell and he says maybe. It's not a tell, it's Chrizard, and he leans over to his local next to him and they laugh (at me? with me?). I have a confession, I've actually played this guy before, at Milwaukee also on Charizard when I was on Froslass, but I cooked him so bad that I didn't remember his name when we paired.
I lose the flip but my opponent prized both copies of evo so I go into Itchy Pollen on my second turn. From there I build double Froslass and double Munkidori behind Budew and he concedes once the spread quickly gets out of control.
In game 2 my hand is kind of bad so I'm considering scooping depending on some topdecks. I'm not able to item lock and the Evo goes off this time. A Dusknoir is candied out and popped on my benched Morgrem - I'm ready to scoop if a Charizard KOs my active Impidimp (maybe I was supposed to retreat or bench a third Grimm line) but my opponent grumbles and attaches to his Pidgeot so I note that both Zards are still prized. I candy my Imp into Grimm, evolve a Froslass and attach to Munkidori, and start swinging. He takes a Zard off a gust + Blustery Wind knockout, and 2 hits my Grimmsnarl. With 4 Prizes left to take, I make a pretty bad mistake and KO the active Zard, losing to Super Rod from hand + QS Zard. The second I announced Shadow Bullet I heard Yihao and Flap's voices in my head saying that passing against Zard is "lit" and to never go to 3 against Zard unless it's checkmate. I think I could have passed or Devo'd the Pidgeot + Zard safely here while I waited for the Tatsugiri to get KO'd by Froslass. Also, there must have been a way to spread damage better in the 2 turns before to take all 4 this turn, I don't even remember where my Adrena Brains went.
We have a decent amount of time for Game 3 + we agree to resolve anyway so I'm not too worried. His Tatsu sits in the active getting useless supporters for a few turns while I set up an extremely strong board behind Budew. He doesn't get a Pidgey or a Duskull down for several turns so I walk both his Zards into a Devo wipe and he concedes.
Round 14 Dragapult Dusknoir WW
I shake hands with my opponent and we talk through the situation. A winner of our game could bubble up into 128, a tie would lock up 256, and a loss would likely be 512. I ask for a resolution but he says he's okay with a tie here which I think is fair.
He flips over a Budew. I topdeck a Snorunt with a Froslass in my hand, bench Imp, attach to my Munkidori and pass. He plays a ton of search cards, poffin poffin ultra ball pad but has no supporter so he gets a Drakloak for next turn to save his 2 card hand. I show him the poffin I topdecked, then grumble and Iono us both since my other supporter option is Arven which doesn't seem very good. I play a Spikemuth, evolve into a Morgrem and get down another monkey dark. Iono + Jamming from his side and a couple Drakloaks and a Dusclops have me sweating a bit since I don't find Spikemuth off my own draw supporter, but he isn't able to find the CC off his Draw Supporter and I'm able to use my Secret box to candy into Grimm the next turn and build a classic Grimmsnarl board. He gets one last Phantom dive but I get all 3 triggers the next turn with Energy Switch and finish the game on his benched Fezandipiti. Something interesting about this matchup is if the Pult player gets behind on attachments it's very hard for them to get Munkidori access at any point during the game, and you can usually force them to waste an energy attachment with Iron Bundle.
Game 2 begins with like 25 minutes left so if he wins we're likely going to tie unless I scoop very quickly. My start is a little weak so I have my yellow button ready to go, but my Spikemuth sticks for a few turns and I'm definitely in the game. He has a turn where he's digging for the wipe, but he misses the Pult under item lock and has to settle for Dusknoir pop my Morgrem and Dragon Headbutt my Budew. I take a turn to reset as the Drakloak dies to Froslass and go back to Itchy Pollen while I evolve into another Morgrem and establish more Munkidoris. When a Pult finally comes online I'm able to hit it with Grimmsnarl, tank a hit, then knock it out with triple Munkidori. I have 3 prizes left to take but no Grimmsnarl yet, so I take 1 off the Budew to unprize my Secret box. From here I have a really obvious way to win. The active Pult has 50 damage counters on it and I have 2 Froslass. If I move 20 damage from my side to the active and use TM Devolution, then it's KO'd and there are no more phantom dives for the rest of the game and I should be able to clean up easily. Instead what I do is attach both of my Devos, move my last 20 to a random Dreepy, then Devo the Pult and realize it's not going to go down. I have 2 prizes left to take, no damage on a Pult, and my opponent has a decent chance to win if I can't close the game. He Ionos me to 2 and uses a Hawlucha to clear 2 of my Munkidoris to lower my odds of winning. Despite my attempt to throw the game, I am gifted a Night Stretcher off the topdeck to get my bundle back and take my last 2 prizes on any of his promotions with Shadow Bullet + Adrena Brain. We chat a bit after the game and he laments not benching his Bloodmoon to play around this line. I look him up later and I think he bubbled into 256, good for him.
My resistance on the other hand is atrocious (worst at 28), so I'm not surprised that I don't get into t128. I won't complain with the amount of throwing I did to end up in the gutter early on Saturday, especially after a vendor buys my 18 packs for $108 cash. I immediately use some of this at the same vendor to buy a Luxray GL Lv.X and a Regigigas Lv.X for my 2010 retro decks which is very cool.
The weekend and event were okay, I was disappointed with my play and finish but I did enjoy the food I ate and spending time with my friends.
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