TCGONE 2004 Tournament Report 5/29/21 - 2nd Place

 

(Note: this post was originally shared to the Snowpoint Temple Facebook group)

My first swiss tournament! I haven’t been testing very much 04 lately so I just went with an old favorite, Crobyss. A few days ago I made some tweaks to my old list in order to counter control/lock decks while also maintaining consistency, so I dropped 2 TV Reporter and a Master Ball for 2 Underground Expedition and a Warp Point. I’ve been meaning to experiment with Underground Expedition for a while, as I like the option to choose what I want to grab, especially in the early game when I need to find important setup cards. With this added search option, I decided to ditch a Master Ball as I felt it didn’t impact my consistency that much. Through that duct tape and super glue supporter line I was able to fit 3 Warp Point and an ATM Rock in here. It wasn’t perfect, but I felt it was good enough to bring to a tournament. So here we go!

The matchups:

R1: (Bye)

R2: BLG L

R3: Exploud W

R4: Muk W

R5: Team Aqua W

R6: Blaziken W

Top 8: Muk WLW

Top 4: Blaziken LWW

Finals: Magma LWL

Round 1: Bye

Sweet.

1-0

Round 2: Evan Cole w/ BLG

Clamperl start, started attaching to the benched Clamperl in fear of a Gorebyss from him the next turn destroying my setup. Dropped both Dunsparce and Copycat for 3, got a Golbat, Crobat, and Psychic energy. Couldn’t hit supporters for the rest of the game.

1-1

Round 3: Starg09 w/ Exploud

Lacking a real “win” up to this point, I was beginning to doubt myself. These doubts were quickly quashed by the game that followed. Zubat start, Starg09 got a good setup but couldn’t draw into much. I was actually forced to start stacking energy on Golbat to get KOs with Gorebyss and sweep the game. He got a Bellossom up at the end but I had the Warp Point ready.

2-1

Round 4: ahoodedman w/ Muk

Clamperl start with no energy, got a Golbat out and confused his T2 Muk, which helped me buy time. Eventually got Gorebyss up after a few uneventful turns from both sides and he conceded.

3-1

Round 5: Unisonraids w/ Team Aqua

A close game up until the middle. I was surprised by how fast his Lanturn/Manectric energy acceleration engine was, and when his Manectric became active, I was 10 damage shy of a KO with Gorebyss so I retreated into Golbat. Later on I bit the bullet and hit him for 60 with Gorebyss, prepping an ATM Rock play with Golbat. He KOs the Gorebyss and I respond by KOing both his Manectric and Lanturn. By this time he has 2 Kyogre and a Chinchou on the board, so his poke-body prevented him from attacking. From this point I had a decent board state so I just Mystic Watered my way to victory.

4-1

Round 6: Jason w/ Blaziken

I was expecting this to be a drawn out game. I had a great Dunsparce start and so did he, but to my surprise instead of searching for Torchic/Magnemite/Skitty he searched for 2 Torchic and a Ditto. He didn’t get much off on the next turn so then I hit his active Dunsparce for 40 with Mystic Water. He had an energy on Ditto so I was careful enough to play around it, KOing his Dunsparce with my own Dunsparce so he couldn’t copy my Mystic Water next turn. In response, he brought up his DItto, copied my Strike and Run, and retreated into another Dunsparce. By this time my Crobat was finally online, so I Triple Poisoned him for 40 instead of getting the KO with Gorebyss. He scooped after this.

5-1

Top Cut:

Round 7: Ahoodedman w/ Muk

Game 1:

This set was straight war. I don’t want to hear the words “Energy” and “Removal” in the same sentence again. I play kinda mediocre this game, eking out some damage with Flutter Trick while Ahoodedman built his multiple Muk army. I’m down 6 prizes to 2, with 9 energy on his side and 4 on mine, with 1 of his Muk at 40 HP,  another at 50, and a clean one on the bench, along with his last Grimer. I Warp Point into his Grimer and ATM Rock to wipe 2 Muk off the field and leave his Grimer stuck active. He doesn’t have an energy in hand, so he just evolves into Muk and passes. I have just enough resources left to spam Mystic Water and take out the last 2 Muk for the game.

Game 2:

I get screwed royally this game. I could never get anything started, with my attackers getting Reversaled and my energy getting Removaled. My only Desert Ruins (which conveniently never showed up last game) gets bumped in about 0.6 microseconds and I get Slimy Watered to death.

Game 3:

We both get decent starts, while it takes me a while to get Mystic Water online as I prematurely promote a Clamperl that I was then forced to retreat with. I get Removaled pretty hard this game but my swarm is fast enough to rebound. Stun Needle flips helped. I manage to scrape together enough damage to stay ahead in the prize trade and Triple Poison his 5-energy Muk for game.

6-1

Round 8: Jason w/ Blaziken

Game 1:

In this game I committed to a gameplan that didn’t pan out in the long run. We both got great Dunsparce starts (where I found out I prized 2 Clamperl), and I started to build up Crobats in fear of one thing: Ditto. I knew Jason wouldn’t play more than 2, and I knew Gorebyss was my key to winning this game, so I purposely held off on attacking with it. Since I only had 2 Clamperl to work with, I knew I would lose the Gorebyss war. In hindsight I should’ve just bit the bullet and attacked with Gorebyss ASAP and have Crobat deal with the Blazikens and hopefully draw a Clamperl or two along the way. Jason and I both amass massive hands, which with his slower deck, is much more advantageous for him than it is for me. I get up getting wiped by ATM Rock after a lot of spread damage from Blaziken.

Game 2:

After last game’s strategy didn’t pan out I knew I had to get going with Gorebyss right away and get a swarm going before Jason could take the lead. One of the turning points of this game was Jason getting an early Delcatty with a poisoned Ditto active. He had an energy in hand that he could’ve used to retreat, but he decides to Energy Draw instead, whiffing an energy and causing the Ditto to get KO’d. This was big for me, because now Ditto posed less of a threat to my Gorebyss. Gorebyss started streaming consistent KOs and I was pretty much set.

Game 3:

I prized 3 Gorebyss this game. Great start! Thankfully, Jason was a little slow to set up, whiffing the Dunsparce start. This gave me time to evolve the Gorebyss I had in hand and build my board, stuffing his now active Dunsparce after a Warp Energy play the following turn with Stun Needle. I kept adding energy to my board while getting KOs on his filler Dunsparce while he tried to establish a board state. He failed to get a Delcatty the entire game and Gorebyss just rocked everything else. Onto the finals!

7-1

Round 9: Robin Schulz (Raichu11) w/ Magma

Game 1:

Pretty nice start from me, but couldn’t draw into much past the opening Dunsparce and had to resort to confusing the active Groudon with Golbat before I could get Crobats set up. Things were going well until Claydol showed up. After failing to OHKO it with Gorebyss, Robin scooped it up and didn’t skip a beat. All of a sudden the 2-3 card hands I was living on for most of the game were starting to fail me. I couldn’t come back from that Claydol scoop, and the two fat Groudons staring me down were gonna be tough KOs. That combined with my natural superpower of being unable to draw supporters when I need them closed out game 1.

Game 2:

Hit the gas from turn 1. T1 Flutter Trick from Crobat to discard Robin’s Baltoy was exactly what I needed. Love you too Crobat. From here I just assault everything with Triple Poison and not even Claydol can stop me. ATM Rock closes out the game, devolving Camerupt. Final game!

Game 3:

I rip the T1 Crobat again, but no energy. The next turn I make the misplay that probably cost me the game and Master Ball for a Clamperl instead of a Dunsparce. I was so focused on speed I neglected to set up my board properly, which cost me in the end. Robin knows the path to victory at this point and drops both his Baltoys along with a Groudon. My supporter allergy kicks in soon after this and I slowly lose board control and lose.

7-2

Props:

-3 Warp Point is absolutely cracked

-Crobat for being an absolute champ

-Grass energy FTW

-ATM Rock actually doing something!

-Jay and Evan’s commentary refreshing my memory for this writeup (and calling out that awful Bubble play lol)

-Gronaz, Magniloquence, and the rest of the 2004 discord server for gassing me up

Slops:

-Trying to be a speed demon and forgetting that this is the slowest format ever

-Rare Candies and Crobats clumping my hand when I have no Zubats

-Discarding 2 energy from Clamperl to retreat under Aqua Hideout during top 8 (ouch)

-Not running into any of the 1 control decks in the 31-player field when I specifically teched for them (or is this a prop? Up to you)

Might drop a Shaman for another TV Reporter/Underground Expedition as the disruption is nice but too many times I got the short end of the stick. Overall, drew gas, kicked ass, fumbled it at the end but honestly I’m just glad I came so far in a 31-player tournament with some of the biggest names in Pokemon. Crobyss forever!