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
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
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
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
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
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.
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