Hi there. I have another Pokemon TCG tournament report here. This time around I play Gholdengo ex instead of Archaludon ex.
This one is long. Read what you want.
Deck Choice & Decklist
I wanted to take a break from Archaludon ex and play Gholdengo ex with Dudunsparce. Archaludon ex has some issues with a lack of one hit options on Stage 2 Pokemon and a lack of draw support. The absence of Radiant Greninja in the new G, H, I format hurts this deck and many decks.
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Here is the decklist I played (or something close to it).
Pokémon: 16
2 Gimmighoul SSP 97
2 Gimmighoul PAR 88
1 Gholdengo SSP 131
4 Gholdengo ex PAR 139
2 Dunsparce PAL 156
1 Dudunsparce ex JTG 121
2 Dudunsparce TEF 129
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
1 Munkidori TWM 95
Trainer: 33
4 Arven SVI 166
3 Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking TEF 145
2 Boss's Orders SHF 58
2 Iono PAF 80
1 Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171
4 Superior Energy Retrieval PAL 189
2 Nest Ball SVI 181
2 Ultra Ball PAF 91
1 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
1 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Super Rod PAL 188
1 Counter Catcher PAR 160
1 Energy Search Pro SSP 176
1 Switch SVI 194
2 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178
1 Artazon PAL 171
3 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
1 Levincia JTG 150
Energy: 11
1 Fire Energy SVE 2
1 Water Energy SVE 3
2 Lightning Energy SVE 4
1 Psychic Energy SVE 5
1 Fighting Energy SVE 6
1 Darkness Energy SVE 7
3 Metal Energy SVE 8
1 Grass Energy SVE 1
Nothing too crazy with this list. It is similar to this list.
Tournament Format
This tournament was a free tournament again. For every win you earn 1 Prize Pack Volume 6. A lot of playable cards can be earned from this. If you get lucky you can get Stamped Terapagos ex or Fezandipiti ex.
There are 3 rounds in this place. Best of one (Japan style format).
Round One Versus Dragapult ex
My first round opponent was someone I've seen before. He usually does well at this place as I see him get 3 Wins 0 Losses regularly when he is in.
He thought I played Ceruledge ex or Blaziken ex + Greninja ex as I revealed a Fire Energy and Water Energy from the 1 mulligan (no Basic Pokemon to start) in my starting 7 card hand.
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I found out soon he played Dragapult ex.
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I don't want to get into too much detail. Typically Dragpault ex stall and item lock you with Budew. They have slow setups and typically play from behind. I get early leads and the Dragapult ex player would try to stall you and counter attack you with Ionos, Counter Catchers and maybe an Unfair Stamp.
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My opponent gets the typical 4 Prize turn knocking out my 200 HP active Spot Gholdengo ex and my 60 HP Gholdengo ex on the Bench. Although I expected this I am still not happy. I could've got a Munkidori with Dark Energy but I think it was not possible.
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My next turn was a mistake in hindsight. It was 2 Prize Cards left each. I think I made some sequencing errors and missed the Dragapult ex knockout by 1 Energy. In addition I don't think I should have used Buddy Buddy Poffin to get 2 Dunsparce. I pass my turn with no attack.
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The final turn was him using Hawlucha, Boss's Orders and Dragapult ex's Phantom Dive attack for double knockout.
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I definitely did not play perfectly. My gameplay was good until the end game where I made mistakes.
Round Two Against Festival Grounds + Dipplin + Seaking
My 0 wins 1 loss opponent was someone I played before. The last time I played her she made me work for it against her Cornerstone Ogerpon ex, Farigiraf ex + Milotic ex walls deck.
This time she played Festival Lead deck. It is not a top tier meta deck but it can cause upsets if you are not careful. I knew I was in for a long one.
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Festival Grounds stadium allows for double attacks in 1 turn from Seaking and Dipplin. Thwackey along with Dipplin or Goldeen allows for a card search. She also puts in a Budew and Toedscruel for additional restrictive control. The Toedscruel in particular is very annoying as Gholdengo ex decks are heavily reliant on picking up cards from the discard pile. The ability on Toedscruel stops Superior Energy Retrieval and Night Stretcher. Night Stretcher is a staple recovery card in pretty every deck.
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I will spare the long details. Until the late game it was a lot of taking key knockouts, not overextending on drawing cards and wasting resources. What was helpful looking back was predicting what she can do on her turns. Thwackey allowed her to fetch and card she wanted which is a big advantage for her.
In the late game I make a key decision to evolve a Gimmighoul into the single prize Gholdengo. We are at 2 Prize cards left each so it was important to put a single prize attacker to balance attacking and defense. I also make the key decision to use Professor's Turo Scenario to put Fezandipiti ex to my hand in safety. The Strike It Rich attack is used to knock out her Dipplin.
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Her next turn was tricky for her. I made it tricky for her as I put her in a (near) checkmate situation. My board state was set up that she could not get a 2 Prize knockout. After 5 minutes of hard thinking she ends up using Boss's Orders on my other Gholdengo ex in order to trap it. It is not a bad play I would think from her side. Little did she know that I had a Switch in hand to switch out and I had enough Energy for the last knockout.
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She made me work for the win again. We went past the 30 minutes this time again. It was kind of an ugly win as I had to play perfectly (or near perfect).
Round Three Vs Ogerpon Tera Box
I am 1 win and 1 loss before round three. My third round opponent was someone I've seen often. Plus I have traded some cards with him in the past and have seen some gameplay from him. When I looked at the matchup sheet I think he was 2 wins 0 losses (or 1W 1L if my eyes were wrong.) I was kind of nervous before starting this matchup.
From the coin flip I think I chose to go first. Then with my opening 7 cards I got a 2 Dunsparce and 1 Gimmighoul in them. This was a good first turn setup hand.
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I had no clue what deck he was playing. At first I thought it was Raging Bolt ex as I saw a Fan Rotom and a Teal Mask Ogerpon ex. He setups with 2 Hoothoot and 1 Noctowl from the 1st turn Fan Rotom. He does not attack in his first turn (going second.)
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My next turn was not great. Not much further setup. I used Dunsparce's Find a Friend attack to get 1 Dudunsparce and end my turn. At this point I don't feel comfortable. This game was not going to be easy.
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Then by his second turn it was revealed that he had Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex. I was playing against Ogerpon ex Tera box. This matchup made me a bit nervous for the early game. The most common combo in the early game is Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex + Crispin + Sparkling Crystal ACE SPEC. This combo can hit 100 damage to your Active Pokemon and hit 120 damage to your opponent's Benched Pokemon. With no bench barrier in the Journey Together format, this combo can hit two targets in one attack. It is not easy to stop it but you can rebound after this.
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My opponent does get this combo off. Turn 2 Noctowl evolution gets him the pieces he needs for the double knockout.
I am behind in this point. Not a great start. I had to find a way to knockout his active Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex. Otherwise then he can use Crispin again to powerup Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex to wipe out my board for the win.
In my next turn I get an Arven I think. The Arven is used to get a Buddy Buddy Poffin and one Technical Machine: Evolution. The next play is so sub optimal but I need 1 energy for the Evolution attack. I discard 2 cards to retrieve 1 Metal Energy from Superior Energy Retrieval.
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Technical Machine: Evolution was to evolve my 2 Benched Gimmighoul into 2 Gholdengo ex.
My opponent's next turn was him filling up his Bench with many Pokemon. He had Area Zero Underdepths in play so he can bench up to 8 Pokemon. He got a Cornerstone Ogerpon ex, Pikachu ex, Latias ex (I think) this turn. I believe he chose to use Boss's Orders to trap my Fezandipiti ex. He hit it for 20 plus retreat lock with the Sob attack.
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My next turn was a strong pivotal turn. As I know Ogerpon Tera Box does lack fire power (no one hit KO attacks) because it only bullies out Pokemon with 120 HP and less, I have outs in this matchup. I use Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking along with Gholdengo ex's Coin Bonus twice to get one Switch and a Energy Search Pro. Switch was to switch out Fezandipiti ex to a Gholdengo ex. The Energy Search Pro was to get Energy from the deck as artillery for Gholdengo ex's attack. I had enough Energy to knockout his Wellspring Ogerpon ex. The prizes are now 4 left on each side.
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His next turn was not much. Maybe he powered up Pikachu ex with one Lightning Energy. I think he just put his Noctowl in the active trying to buy time and give up one prize.
For my turn, I start to gather dangerous momentum in my favour. I bench a Munkidori with Dark Energy. The Munkidori ability is to transfer 20 damage from a damaged Fezandipiti to Pikachu ex. Pikachu ex needs damage on it so you can knock it out. I use Boss's Orders after to target and eliminate his Pikachu ex. The Pikachu had one hit knockout power and I thought it was the biggest threat.
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It is now 2 Prizes left for me versus his 4. I am in the lead. From the 2 Prize cards I pick a second Boss's Orders. Assuming no hand disruption on his next turn then I win in my next turn. I can target a Mew ex or a Latias ex.
In his next turn, my opponent ends up attacking with Cornerstone Ogerpon ex. No Iono or Judge was played to disrupt my hand.
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For my final turn I use Superior Energy Retrieval to gather Energy in hand plus Boss's Orders to target a 2 Prize Pokemon like Latias ex. Make It Rain for enough Energy for the last knockout.
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It was digustingly good luck to get 2 Boss's Orders two turns in a row to get Prize cards 3 and 4 then 5 and the final 6th one. I am 2 wins and 1 loss.
After Tournament
Going 2 wins and 1 loss is still good even though it was a close loss in round 1 versus Dragapult ex. The opponent I lost to in round 1 ended going 3 wins 0 losses. There are times when your round 1 opponent is actually the strongest opponent in your rounds. This was one of them.
Side note: A player with no opponent gets a free win or a bye. I think this is from the Pokemon rulebook. The person who gets a bye when there is an odd number of players is usually given to the lowest rank (acc. to Pokemon Player database) or newest player at the store.
I think I got rank 5 or 6 out of something like 21 people. There were an odd number of players as 1 lucky person per round had a free win/bye due to no opponent.
From my 2 wins I get 2 Prize Packs. My pulls are kinda meh. There are a few playable cards like the Noctowl, Ditto and Tatsugiri. (Only 1 photo shown from 1 Prize Pack, the second photo got deleted)
I shop around at Go For Game TCG in Toronto's Chinatown area. For $1.50 I get 2 Dreepy and 2 Drakloak. Plus I collect some free stuff from their bins.
Afterwards I head off to Banana Games to sell some excess cards to them. I had extra copies of Iono, Crispin, Bravery Charm to sell for store credit. I also sell 1 Gardevoir ex and 1 Cornerstone Ogerpon ex. I get around $22 CAD store credit.
Closing Notes
Overall it was a good day in turns of tournament play and card shopping. Although my Gholdengo ex play is kind of rusty I can refine my gameplay, strategies and reduce mistakes to do better in the future.
At that tournament there is a lot of Dragapult ex and some Raging Bolt ex players plus a few Ogerpon ex Tera Box decks. The typical popular decks. There is a regular Gholdengo ex player that attends there but he did not show up. Instead it was me as the lone Gholdengo ex player. No one there plays Archaludon ex for some reason.