The Defeat of Our Glorious Leader

2011 Nationals Reports, Part One: The Defeat of Our Glorious Leader


By HeyTrainer
 

This is a "baby" tournament report for those of you guys interested. I used Yanmega Prime/Magnezone Prime:

Round 1: vs Feraligatr Prime/Kyogre-Groudon Legend. Interesting deck, but it didn't setup, and got run through fairly quickly.

[1-0]

(I went second)

Round 2: vs Zekrom/Pachirisu/Shaymin. 0/9 flips on Reversal/Junk Arm/SSU sealed the deal against me – both my opponent and I were amazed that it happened that way, but she was a great sport no matter what happened, and it was a fun game. (I lost via deck-out, actually, due to having to get rid of Zekrom one too many times with Magnezones, and two too many energy remaining in my last three prizes. Plus, due to my horrendous late game top decks and prizes, I was literally unable to Insight to start KO'ing for the win!) [1-1]

(I went second)

Round 3: vs Yanmega Prime/Magnezone Prime mirror. I whiffed the attachment on my Magnemite on T1, so he got way too much of a jump on me. I made it a six prize/five prize game, but that wasn't enough. However, I think the only reason I was ever "in" this in the first place was becaue he went an appaling 0/8 on Pokemon Reversal flips.

It later turned out that this fellah was a friend of the one and only "Monster of the Lake," as well as a poster on HT! [1-2]

(I went second, which made the whiffed attach even harder!)

Round 4: vs Emboar/Magnezone

He looked like he was getting off to a decent start, but unfortunately, his two Tepig were prized, so the deck lost quickly. Sorry, man. [2-2]

(I went second)

Round 5: Mew/Yanmega/Vileplume/techs

A relatively bearable matchup made even easier due to a god start on my part, and mediocre draws on my part. He also got some ridiculous draws, such as two Jumpluff HS/one Umbreon UD off of a Copycat. [3-2]

(I went first)

Round 6: vs Kingdra/Yanmega

He Eeeeeeek'd turn one, which was later responded to with my option to gambit with a Tyrogue KO, thus sending us both wayyyyy back on setup. As expected, this worked out heavily in my favor, since he had a Yanmega/Judge waiting the next turn, and any setup attempt made would have just been disrupted. He looked to be gaining board control, but thanks to some good flips on Thundershock, I was actually able to KO his Yanmega, and regain the lead. Eventually I got out a 'Zone Prime to his complete lack of a setup, and benched him about four prizes in. [4-2]

(I went second)

Round 7: vs Reshiram/Typhlosion Prime/Ninetales

He started Reshiram to my Yanma, and we both worked on setup. However, my setup wasn't fast enough to his, and so despite a close game, he was able to edge me out 6-4. No taking away any credit from him, though, since he played excellently. However, he got out very quick Ninetales/Typhlo (turn two I think?), so if I went first, it would have been very different due to a probable Reversal kill on the Vulpix + Judging away the doable elements in his hand.[4-3]

By the way, this was against yet another HT member: colts!

(I went second)

Round 8: vs Mewgar

I know every lostgar variant backwards and forwards, so alongside my great start and going first, this was an easy win that I've tested into oblivion. His draws were poor, though. [5-3]

(I went first)

Round 9: vs Magneboar

For the first time all tournament, I flipped heads like nobody's business, and got a very decisive win against a decent matchup. Since he had three Magnemites out by turn one and one ton/one zone by T2, my approach by default became one centered around Tepig kills. This worked like a charm, as I was able to send him into a grinding halt by T5-T6, and slowly but surely secured the win. [6-3]

(I went first)

Now, some brief commentary:

The State of the Format

*When played on a big stage, HGSS-on has quite a bit to it that I find appealing; however, going first is so monstrously unfair for most decks, it's unreal. Out of my three losses, I feel like at least two would have been won had I gone first; and for my round nine win, going second could have turned things around completely. The results of my testing have been pretty much confirmed by my experience at Nats. I can't have too many grapes, though: it was a fun event, and a very fun weekend overall. (Plus, my rating actually went up after going 6-3 for a change!)


HT's Performance

*I am absolutely amazed at how well HeyTrainer players performed! Although the glorious leader of the nation was felled, there were several long-time board members at all levels of the Masters top cut, from top 128 all the way up to first! It was also very cool to see both Jayson H. and Justin S. reppin' the shirt in the final four: Jayson's been a friend for a while, so it was great to see him do so spectacularly; and as for Justin, he not only graciously accepted the offer to rep HT with a shirt, but even seemed a bit excited about doing it! In Martin (Head of Internal Affairs) said to me over the phone, "this is the best thing that could have happened for HeyTrainer next to you winning." While I don't know how absolute that may be, I _do_ know that three HT shirts in the top four of Nationals over the past two years definitely shows that this website's forum has the highest average player skill level out of just about anywhere. This is definitely the place to be right now.

[We'd also like to congratulate our friends at thetopcut.net for a stellar showing of their own. Great job, guys, and major props to Kyle "Pooka" S. for another legendary top cut run!]

What's next for HeyTrainer.org?

With all that cheering for our most successful members this Nationals season, that leaves one question unanswered: what's next for the site?


1) More consistent /blog posts. That's why you're seeing this report today!
2) As previously mentioned, Butlerforhire and I are working on a collaborative effort to study the entire history of competitive Pokemon TCG. However, I'm currently looking to get every former and current Masters U.S. Nats winner on board with the project in meaningful ways, ranging from interviews to full-out playthroughs of their winning lists.
3) More donate button requests! The one thing that I would eventually like to give to our best and most consistent contributors is some sort of incentive for all their hard work. So even if it's a dollar or a grand, if you see an article that you like, then click that baby! I plan to be very transparent with this process too, so this is most likely not going to make me a Pokemon mogul. ;]
4) More fun stuff on the forums, such as a more frequent CotD
5) Revitalization of our site image, including a new site banner, and more Chinpokomon lovin'.

So that's that from me for now. So until the next Nationals report…Take it easy!

~J "HT" K

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