Hi there. Here is another Pokemon TCG local tournament blog from me.
Tournament Structure
I go to A & C Games again in Toronto. The plan is to shop for stuff after the tournament. It is not like I travel out of town to go play only.
The tournament is a free entry tournament with 3 rounds. Each round has a best of one match. For every win you earn one Prize Pack Series 6.
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Decklist
The deck is the same as last time. Here it is. Archaludon ex with Scizor. (I may be off by 1 card or two.)
Pokémon: 9
- 4 Duraludon SCR 106
- 1 Iron Bundle PAR 56
- 4 Archaludon ex SSP 130
- 1 Lumineon V PR-SW 250
- 1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
- 1 Scizor OBF 141
- 1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
- 1 Relicanth TEF 84
- 1 Scyther MEW 123
Trainer: 14
- 1 Scoop Up Cyclone TWM 162
- 2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
- 3 Night Stretcher SFA 61
- 1 Pal Pad SVI 182
- 4 Nest Ball SVI 181
- 4 Professor's Research SVI 189
- 3 Boss's Orders PAL 172
- 1 Black Belt's Training PRE 96
- 3 Jamming Tower TWM 153
- 3 Iono PAL 185
- 2 Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171
- 1 Super Rod PAL 188
- 4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
- 3 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
- 9 Basic {M} Energy Energy 16
Total Cards: 60
Round One Vs Gholdengo ex
For my first round I face a Gholdengo ex player. The opponent was someone I have seen before in my previous visits. He has had good placings of at least 2 wins 1 loss or 3 wins no losses. I knew he played Gholdengo ex so going into this matchup I was not favoured. Gholdengo ex is one of few decks that is capable on large one hit knockouts. Archaludon ex cannot hit higher than 220 damage versus 260 HP Gholdengo ex.
The exact details were fuzzy. I almost pulled off a comeback by using Iono + Iron Bundle + Archaludon ex to knockout a damaged Gholdengo ex. This would have both of us at 2 Prize cards left.
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During the opponent's next turn, he rebounds from a 2 card hand to a sizeable hand. He had Nest Ball to retrieve Fezandipiti ex.
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As I Knocked out one of his Pokemon on my last turn, he can use Flip The Script from Fezandipiti ex to draw more cards. Then he uses Gholdengo's Coin Bonus in the active spot to draw 2 cards. He has enough cards to somehow to draw a Boss's Orders to target my own Fezandipit ex along with Superior Energy Retrieval for the game winning knockout for him. Gholdengo is that good in rebounding from a low card hand. As a former Gholdengo player I am not surprised by this. My opponent wins.
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Round Two Vs Charizard ex With Dudunsparce Draw Engine
My second round opponent was a Charizard ex player. What was different was that he ran Dudunsparce plus the Enriching Energy ACE SPEC card. The combo here was attaching Enriching Energy to draw 4 cards from it then you can recycle Enriching Energy attached to Dundunsparce. This way you can draw a lot of cards to increase the odds of having Charizard ex plus Rare Candy to evolve Charmanders on the next turn.
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My starting hand was bad. No Nest Ball to setup and no draw supporter like Professor's Research and Iono.
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The opponent on his first turn has an okay setup. Two Dunsparce, one Charmander and one Duskull (or something close to it).
My second turn was pretty bad too. Relicanth kind of saves me so I bench it. No draw support.
On the next turn my opponent has the game winning combo. He draws cards from Dundunsparce + Enriching Energy. Then he has Charizard ex plus Rare Candy to evolve one Charmander. He also gets a Rare Candy to evolve Duskull to Dusknoir. Dusknoir sacrifice to knockout either Relicanth or Duralduon then Charizard ex comes in to attach my last Pokemon in play. I get board wiped with no backup Pokemon left. He wins. I felt very unlucky. It was over in 5 minutes. The guy on my left was shocked lol as he did not even setup for his game yet.
To pass the time I asked for rematch just for practice. He agreed. I ended up having better luck and winning in the end. My opponent did not seem familiar with my Archaludon ex deck. He mentioned that it is interesting and asked me how I would adjust it when the Journey Together set arrives plus rotation. I told him I'd probably add Carmine for a faster start.
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Round Three Versus Stall Wall Deck Featuring Cornerstone Ogerpon ex + Milotic ex
I am 0 wins and 2 losses at this point. My gameplay was not a big issue. I just got unlucky with a unfavoured matchup in round 1 and got unlucky in round 2.
My opponent in round 3 was also 0 wins and 2 losses. (Thank you Swiss style system.) She was someone I've seen often and she has seen me around too. It is our first time playing against each other. I knew what deck she played before this round. I was not looking forward to this matchup against a stall wall deck. The main Pokemon are Cornerstone Ogerpon ex which blocks attackers with abilities, Milotic ex which blocks Tera Pokemon attacks, Farigiraf ex against Basic Pokemon ex and Mimikyu.
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In the early game I actually could not find much draw supporters or Metal Energy. I had to play less aggressive, slower and more tactical than usual. When playing against a stall style deck every move matters. It feels more like chess and poker here.
This game was long due to the deck I am facing plus my opponent seems like a newer player. Her gameplay is on the slower side. I recall knocking out a Farigiraf ex and a Cornerstone Ogerpon ex I think. She knocked out a Scizor from my side and a Lumineon V. She would have 3 Prize cards versus 2 Prize Cards left for me.
At this point the 30 minute round was up. It came to tiebreak turns. I was turn 0, then her at turn 1, then me at turn 2 with my opponent taking the final turn at turn 3. If no winner then whoever had less Prize Cards remaining won. My game winning play was using Boss's Orders on her no Energy Miltoic ex and attacking it with Archaludon ex. Since it was late game there was a high probability that there were not much energy in her deck or hand for her to retreat to safety. I end up winning.
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I kind of wanted a Prize Pack so I played careful. The Archaludon ex deck wants to be aggressive but in this matchup I had to pick my spots. So I end up at 1 win and 2 losses.
After The Tournament
This time around I got a little unlucky. I go 1 win and 2 losses.
Here are the cards I got from the one prize pack I won. No Pokemon ex pull but I am happy with the cosmos holographic Night Stretcher card. Night Stretcher is highly playable.
The result was not great but I did manage to shop for some nice cards. At a different store in Toronto's Chinatown I managed to buy some Chinese exclusive 151 and Pokemon Horizons cards.
Thank you for reading.