SUM-LOT Tourney #3 Tournament Report 6/8/22- 1st Place

(The following writeup is for the Sun & Moon - Lost Thunder format tournament held in the Old Format Pokemon TCG Discord server held in June 2022)

My friends and I have always played the tcg on and off, with most of our experience being in the Sun & Moon era, and the announcement of the Sun & Moon - Lost Thunder side tourney at NAIC this year sparked our interest in building decks again. We aren’t able to travel to the actual tournament, sadly, so we played in one of James’ SUM-LOT tourneys instead. This era of the tcg (Fall 2018) was right around the time we stopped keeping up with the game competitively, so things were pretty familiar to us. Me and my friend Kyle both played Blacephalon and my friend John played VikaRay. I chose Blacephalon because of its well rounded matchup spread and consistency, helmed by numerous search cards and strong draw support. Oh yeah and it can go absolutely DIESEL with Beast Ring online. I felt my list could’ve been honed better but was still confident enough to play it.

The matchups:

R1: Zoroark/Decidueye/Ninetales (ZDT) W

R2: VikaRay W

R3: Swampert Control LWW

R4: Blacephalon LWW

R1 vs Cyrus D with ZDT

I started first with Blacephalon to his Tapu Lele, I drew the nuts and benched Ditto, two Poipoles, another Blacephalon, and Lele. He Judged me next turn and didn’t get anything off it, Energy Driving me for 60. I hit him for 200 with Mind Blown on the next turn. Wish we could’ve played a more proper bo3 set, but at least I got the win.

1-0

R2 vs John C with Rayquaza/Vikavolt

I start with Blacephalon to his Ray going second, with him getting an attachment on active Ray and another Ray on bench, but no Grubbin. I had little in my hand aside from a Heat Factory, which thankfully ended up catapulting my whole hand into two Poipole on bench, a Marshadow, and another Blacephalon. And for the first time since playing this deck, I actually hit an energy off Burst GX. My Let Loose didn’t seem to slow him down as he benched a Grubbin and fired off a Tempest GX. Next turn was pretty standard blowns stuff, getting Naganadels online and using Mind Blown for 200 on his active Ray, lost zoning everything except an energy on a benched Naganadel. He responded with a Dragon Break the next turn to OHKO Blacephalon. This gave me access to Beast Ring, so I used one on my benched Blacephalon and with 3 prizes left, I Turning Pointed his active 3-energy banded Ray for 190 with the help of Beast Energy. The next turn he immediately gunned for the benched Blacephalon with a Guzma and I was stuck with a benched Blacephalon that I dropped the previous turn out of safety. This was a mistake because with his enormous hand size, he most definitely had an out to a Guzma the following turn. So I promoted the 3-energy Naganadel and tried to thin my deck as much as possible to dig for the Energy Switch I needed for game. I played a Cynthia and prayed. The first card I drew was the Eswitch and I’d never felt more relieved. Super close game, and if John got the T1 Grubbin he probably would’ve won.

2-0

R3 vs James G with Swampert Control

Game 1:

This was the set that I had been dreading, as my friend playing Blacephalon had been defeated by James in the previous round. Afraid of being locked with Counter Catcher and Plumeria before I could draw 6 prizes, I aimed to play cautiously, with my original intent being to only play Naganadels to render his energy denial tactics and Shrines of Punishment useless. This would prompt him to attack and even out the prize trade. Unfortunately, my solo Naganadel approach didn’t last long as I felt myself being forced to drop Blacephalons and Leles to keep on the offensive. Eventually his board got too set up and I scooped.

Game 2:

I was discouraged, but motivated. This game I went more aggressively to hinder his setup and  sneak away 5 prizes before using Burst GX. We went even with prizes, leading to his Ninetales’ Sublimation GX feeding into my Beast Ring turn, allowing me to KO his Ninetales with a fresh Blacephalon to bring me down to 1 prize and him at 4. The gap was much smaller than it seemed, however, as he attached a Super Boost Energy to his newly promoted Swampert with a Counter Energy to swing for 400. After my Blacephalon was knocked out, I thought the game was over, as I no longer had a way to get another Blacephalon on board and Burst GX. I played my newly drawn Sophocles and hoped for the best. A Beast Ring, 2 fire energies and an Energy Switch. I thought all hope was lost, but then I saw the out. I retreated into Tapu Lele, attached a fire energy, and Energy Switched a fire from a benched Naganadel to Energy Drive for 160 for the final prize. My tunnel vision almost prevented me from seeing the out to win the game.

Game 3:

I almost stole this last game with Spit Poison of all things. He came back from his lone Ditto start and slowly built up a solid board state while I tried to draw prizes every turn. In the middle of the game I was forced to lost zone my lone energy on my benched Naganadel and my fire and Beast Energy on the active Blacephalon to OHKO his active Lele. My hand was subpar at the time so I was forced to do nothing for a turn as he advanced his board state and got resources back with Oranguru.

Carried by Heat Factory, I kept drawing cards and thinning my deck, looking for the Energy Switch + Fire Energy out so I could take my 5th prize. I didn’t want to attach to my benched Blacephalon directly as I feared his Plumeria, and didn’t want to hold onto it in hand in fear of Team Skull Grunt. So I attached to my active Lele to retreat into Naganadel and hit his Oranguru for 80 to get him to use Acerola the following turn and at least get some use out of my energy in hand. Eventually, after several turns, I drew both the Energy Switch and Fire Energy I needed to secure the kill on a benched Swampert. Now was the time to take the final prize. Then out of nowhere, he dropped Articuno GX and Cold Crushed my 2 energy on my active Blacephalon into the discard pile. I was forced to pass the following turn, waiting for my final Fire Energy to appear. Once again, he Counter Catchered my Lele to try and get it to stick. At this point, I had 4 energy in the discard, 3 attached to the benched Naganadels, and 9 in the lost zone (including Beast Energy). The next turn, from my 3 card deck, I drew into the Fire Energy, dropped my Blacephalon in hand, Guzma’d up a pokemon, attached, and Burst GX’d for game. After three hours, it was finally over.

3-0

R4 vs Kyle with Blacephalon

I wish I remembered more from these games, but they all seemed to blend together in my mind. Such is a mirror match.

Game 1:

Blacephalon lists don’t differ very much, but one thing that was critical about Kyle’s list compared to mine was his addition of Choice Band. This gave him a second out to hit a +30 damage modifier for 180 on Mind Blown and 190 on Turning Point, along with Beast Energy. Besides that, Plumeria, and Naganadel GX, our lists were identical. I started with Lele, my first non-Ultra Beast start of the tournament, and that pretty much set the mood for the first game. Midgame I tried to stick him with a Let Loose but he drew a Cynthia out of it and continued his destruction. 

Game 2:

This game I start with Blacephalon properly, and try to go after his Naganadels to try and break the cycle of attacking, him getting Beast Ring, me getting Beast Ring, and him taking the final KO. I Guzma’d up 2 of his Naganadels in row in the midgame when he hit an energy drought and it was enough to prevent him making a comeback.

Game 3:

This was definitely the closest game of the 3.

Kyle starts with Blacephalon, as do I, and we both exchange Burst GXs (as is customary in the blowns ditto). In the midgame he gains the advantage as I’m forced to Bursting Burn for a turn. But the 20 damage from burn ended up helping in a big way, as when he took 2 prizes from KOing my Blacephalon I popped off with a double Beast Ring and Guzma’d up his damaged Blacephalon for a 160 Turning Point KO. Soon we were both at 1 prize, and I was once again forced to to Bursting Burn as he had 3 Naganadels on the field ready to Charge Up for a KO. He flips for the Mind Blown to reset the bracket, and flips tails. I have the fire energy for game, and he scoops.

4-0

Props:

-I thought my draw support and search was near perfect, as I never had a game-deciding brick in the whole tourney. And yes, Sophocles put in work.

-Patience during the Swampert Control games was incredibly important, and if I played the same way I had during my other MUs I would’ve most definitely lost.

-Guzma for being mickey

Slops:

-Because of Muk, I was basically playing with 59 cards the whole tournament. The one match it could’ve been truly relevant in (Vikaray) just moved too fast for it to function. The card is invaluable for MUs like Granbull and Hoopa, but it was just totally unnecessary here.

-A second Energy Switch is the card I would’ve wanted most in this list, as getting a Blacephalon powered up in one turn is incredibly strong for getting return KOs and against control decks. A Choice Band, 2nd Marshadow, 4th Guzma and 4th Naganadel are other options I might consider for the future. (Note: I tried Lisia in here. It did not work well.)

Is Blacephalon the BDIF? Maybe, but it also has several checks like Alolan Ninetales’ Sublimation-GX, one-prize attackers that can reliably OHKO like Granbull, and its own built-in reliance on a finite energy source. I was frankly surprised at the lack of Zoroark decks and the aforementioned Granbull, but I guess from an 8-man tourney there isn’t enough room for every deck to get represented. The SUM-LOT format is plenty diverse and a lot of fun, definitely up there with 2018 in terms of great recent formats. Good luck to everyone playing in the NAIC tournament, and I hope this writeup offered some insight.