Table of Contents
–Part One–
1. Pre-Tournament Thoughts and Calls
2. The List: Analysis and Explanations
3.1 Tournament Report, Rounds 1-7
1. Pre-Tournament Thoughts and Calls
As I explained last week, I was somewhat clueless on what to play. Decidueye remained a top contender for my choices going into Collinsville: Despite being the Expanded format, it was a deck I had very significant recent success with, had a ton of experience with, and knew that it had just as much – if not more! – potential in Expanded than Standard. It’s also the deck I had the most recent testing with, whereas with Maxie’s Yveltal or Seismitoad, I felt like I wasn’t entirely on the cutting edge of either of those decks’ latest incarnations.
However, I also said I thought Seismitoad-anything had real potential to do well, and certainly meant it. In some ways I was right: a Seismitoad/Decidueye and a Seismitoad/Giratina both made top 32, with the Seismitoad/Decidueye getting all the way to the top eight! I was also considering Seismitoad/Decidueye, but needed to give myself a good enough reason to play it. Here’s what I tested: a build which was a combination of several of my early ideas, coupled with some finer points made by Tyler R. a.k.a. superstarr on the boards:
For a while, I thought this might be better than Vileplume/Decidueye because let’s face it, Seismitoad EX works magic in Expanded. Despite being up against all sorts of strange matchups in our most recent HeyTrainer Online Tournament, I was able to secure victory in our expanded round robin. My red flag from those games, however, was how unconvincingly I seemed to win every single one of my games.
Fast forward to the night before Regionals. I’m now suddenly suffering from a bout of my greatest sin as a player: 11th hour theorymon. Whereas some players can work true wonders with final choices, I consistently run the risk of ruining whatever great tournament prospects I have by playing complete and utter garbage. That’s because at heart, I have always been a scrub: I like to find new ways to beat decks. In my adult years of playing the game, I’ve been able to channel this bad habit into stronger creative energies, but it’s still always there.
This bad habit of mine manifested itself into wanting to tech a single copy of Virizion EX to beat Archeops lock. With Weakness, a Muscle Band, and Emerald Slash for 140, I went nuts. “THIS…THIS IS WHAT WILL BREAK TOAD/DECIDUEYE!” I thought to myself, albeit with zero proof that it would. However, I've learned from my mistakes, so I did something 15 year-old me never would have done: I had my friend and roommate for the trip, Pokemontoya, test the matchup with me.
After five games, I went positive, but both the deck and Virizion's application were unconvincing. I never once broke open the Archeops threat by virtue of Virizion EX’s Emerald Slash. What makes matters worse is that even with the base list being “okay,” every game felt like a grind — the sort of grind I knew would have a toll on my record throughout a long tournament.
And that's when I had my epiphony:
“I miss Vileplume. If I had Vileplume, this series would have been much easier.”
So here we were, back to the deck that got me here in the first place. Like a kid calling for Mom in the grocery store, here I was again, calling for my beloved Vileplume. And thus, I decided to play the 'Plume again…
2. The List: Analysis and Explanation
Despite heavily considering Seismitoad/Decidueye, I’ve actually been messing around with Expanded Decidueye/Vileplume for quite a long time, as well…as soon as I knew I needed a 10 Grass Evolution challenge in PTCGO, to be precise!
Changes from Standard to Expanded
— Old pre-Evolutions for Oddish and Gloom. Although this is a small detail, it can be monumentally important at just the right time. Water Resistance in the Expanded format is an incredible asset, especially when Greninja is a halfway playable deck here, and when Seismitoad EX is legal. Even better, the Gloom has two very handy Status-inducing Attacks: Foul Oder Confuses both itself and the Opponent’s Active Pokemon, while Poison Powder hits for a surprisingly potent 40 and Poisons the Defending Pokemon. This second detail is important, my friends, so consider this a case of
–Jirachi EX: In all my games at Anaheim, the only truly dead hands I ever had seemed to be ones where I had Level Ball. With Jirachi EX in the list however, I dramatically reduce the risk of drawing an outright unplayable hand, and add a fourth overall consistency Pokemon to my list. Since earlier versions of my Standard Decidueye/Vileplume ran four Shaymin, I actually felt right at home with this decision.
–Computer Search: This. This right here is the key to making Decidueye/Vileplume a much more powerful deck in Expanded as opposed to Standard. If I had the choice to change just one card, it would have been this. The power to search out ANYTHING instantly makes every aspect of this deck more consistent: finding a Stage Two line; finding Energy; getting Forest of Giant Plants onto the board. I could instantly tell in my first game on PTCGO that this deck benefits incredibly by a switch, and it’s consistency you have to thank for that.
–Xerosic: Another important series of cards Decidueye gains from Expanded is a lineup of various methods to discard Tools off of Garbodor and other threats. I’ve discussed Beedrill to a certain extent, and while I may use it in the future, it’s still an overall grimy card to play when you’re starving for space in more important areas, i.e. consistency. Initially this slot started out as a Tool Scrapper, but as time went on, I greatly preferred the versatility of Xerosic: Discarding Energy is always good in a format where Special Energy thrives, and best of all, I can get it back and reuse it with Hollow Hunt!
Preference Changes
–Two Lugia EX: The one major preference change I made was going with two Lugia EX instead of one Lugia and one Tauros. First off, I rarely if ever use Mad Bull GX in this deck when chances are much higher my opponent will just find a way to outplay it. Second, Lugia is by far more synergetic with Decidueye, as Feather Arrow helps you get up to previously unheard of Damage totals. Deep Hurricane a 170 HP Yveltal EX for…150 and 20 more? Yes, please!
–Jirachi XY67: Jirachi’s Stardust proved to be an inconclusive addition to my Standard list two weeks ago, so in my pursuit of covering all matchups, I determined that Xerosic would more or less give me what I needed in most matchups. Although I would have greatly benefitted from Jirachi’s Stardust in my final match of the weekend, I know it would have been useless against the vast majority of decks I went up against (not to mention my final match was totally winnable without Jirachi – see below). In other words, Jirachi was either useless at worst or “win more” at worst, which is ultimately why I sided with Xerosic as the 60th card.
Other Ideas for Expanded
These were the ideas I thought of, but deemed either not strong enough or too clunky:
–Battle Compressors + Revitalizers. This was the obvious Standard-to-Expanded turbo engine idea, the main gist of it being to discard needed Pokemon, and then bring them back while a Forest of Giant Plants is in play. The problem here is that in a deck list with two Stage Two Pokemon, you’re already using so much deck space, making the benefits of just a couple Battle Compressor questionable. Whereas Lurantis/Vileplume benefits greatly from this call, it actually has the space to make it happen much more easily.
(Of everything I tested, this is perhaps the one idea I could most likely be wrong about. I encourage you to test it, maybe cut some otherwise uncuttable cards, and then comment on the boards what works for you!)
— Pokemon Communications are very cool in Expanded Vileplume Toolbox decks, as it’s yet another out to Shaymin EX or your Evolution lines. However, it’s important to remember that your goal here is to get out multiple Evolutions, and not just Vileplume. That means that the benefits of a Pokemon Communication are greatly diminished when you’re shuffling in a piece of your Decidueye line in exchange for the Vileplume line, while running a Level Ball could help contribute to one without disrupting the other. Perhaps one idea you could mess with is cutting Level Balls for Communications, but ultimately I’m very happy to have run Level Balls.
–Lastly, an idea I strongly considered was running Blend Energy GRPD alongside tech attackers. This is actually an idea that was incorporated in the top eight list of Alex S., younger brother to HeyTrainer’s dapiplup/Chris S., a well-known player in his own right and SixPrizes.com mogul. Running Blend actually opened up a ton of new options, like Victini NVI (V-Create to OHKO Grass mirror), Latios EX (first turn wins), and even Darkrai EX (free retreat cost that doesn’t conflict with Hollow Hunt!!!). I ultimately turned against this idea because it was mostly untested, and because I wasn’t sure if the added attacking options outweighed the increased risks I had against Enhanced Hammer, Xerosic, and Jirachi’s Stardust.
2. 3. Tournament Report, Rounds 1-7
One thing I’m glad I did was to take a screenshot of all my matchups throughout the weekend. This is something you can access only at certain events by going to pokegym.net/stadium, choosing your event category and age division, and then entering in your POP ID.
Round 1: VS Tim Duncan (Yveltal EX)
Ahhhh yes, the San Antonio Spurs great himself is here to play Pokemon with his son!
(…Well, not quite – Tim Duncan only plays D&D.)
Game One: I got out a convincing, quick lock turn one, including a Decidueye and Vileplume turn one, followed up by another Decidueye turn two. There wasn’t much he could do, and scooped promptly.
Game Two: Tim went first this game, and for the most part had a pretty strong opening with Max Elixirs. Although my follow-up wasn’t quite as strong as the first game, featuring a Dartrix and Vileplume by turn two, a lucky N on his part got me the hand I needed to explode and take control of the game to his two Yveltal EX’s. (1-0)
Round 2: VS Ian Holbrook (Yveltal EX/Umbreon EX)
This was a more unusual Yveltal build, featuring a tech Umbreon line. The whole structure of the list felt more at home in Standard than in Expanded, but I suppose you could say the same about my deck. Plus, he put up a good fight.
Game One: I don’t remember who went first this game, but I do know two things: A) his start wasn’t’ strong; and B) Computer Search is manna from heaven in a deck running two Stage Two Pokemon, as I pulled yet another incredible early game start. Just like the first round’s first game, I forced a very early concession.
Game Two: Yet again, my opponent blows up with an early lead, while I twiddle my thumbs and wait to catch up. However, also for the second time I play serious catch-up, and Vileplume results in dragging his deck’s speed down dramatically. We get into a weird spot when he Lysandre lures up my Vileplume with no Float Stone, but that just lets me set up my board, attach Energy to Attackers, and add Damage to his own via Feather Arrow. Most importantly, I was able to follow up my KO’d Vileplume with a brand new Vileplume, keeping any chance of a comeback subdued. (2-0)
Round 3: VS TJ Tranquir (Sableye/Garbodor) — streamed match
TJ Tranquir is a friend and testing partner of Drew Allen’s, who you might remember from Ghetsis’s Hidden Past piece. TJ has a reputation for playing the spiciest decks: He was a prime beneficiary of the Yveltal mirror wars last season, and has played Wailord – a similar deck to Sableye – to great success. I can’t find the video of our match, but I’ll update it when I get a chance. This may also lead to some updates in my match descriptions, as actual video footage details the match more accurately than my imperfect memory ever could.
Game One: Game one is a very quick blowout. I get out a quick Vileplume, he hits Tails on every flip to Confuse Ray, and I close it out quickly.
Game Two: This game draws out a lot more slowly as I miss an early VIleplume, but ultimately I think this came down to him having the perfect game plan to combat my counter to Garbodor. See, there are multiple layers to these interactions…
1. In Standard, he’d get out Garbodor and without a hard KO, I’d lose the Abilities forever. BUT…
2. This is Expanded, so I’ve got ways to discard his Float Stone easily. BUT ALSO…
3. Hex Maniac is still legal, and his whole deck is themed around getting stuff back. So he can use his Items even if I break Garbotoxin.
Thus, the matchup when played with perfect starts depends on whether I kill his Trubbishes and Garbodors in time to avoid his permanent Ability lock. In my early attempt to get out Plume previously, I made a greedy play using a low-card Set Up in the desire to get the lock, only to whiff the ‘Plume entirely. This may have cost me the game, as when I finally did have a sufficient setup, my bench was clogged with one more Shaymin that could have otherwise been a second Decidueye GX. Having a second Decidueye GX could have helped me in my aforementioned three-step battle because I was able to N him out of his Hex/Float Stone combo for a couple turns, coming close to cutting him out of Garbodor for good thanks to Feather Arrows. Had I had one more Decidueye on the board instead of two, I would have had double chances to Feather Arrow. However, my greed ultimately cost me, and he won the struggle with his Hex.
As soon as I established that it would only be a matter of time before he won, I scooped immediately. That’s because I had zero interest in continuing a game I was certain to lose, when I actually still had an incredible chance of finishing this otherwise great matchup with a win. So with about 15 minutes left on the clock, we shuffled up and dealt…
Game Three: TJ’s hand is very weak, to the point where he’s Sky Returning instead of being able to use Sableye. I think I won this game on turn four or five with a Lugia EX to the face of a lonely Sableye. (3-0)
In the end it worked out or me, but I think that greed game two could have cost me if things were different. It’s a strange balance with this deck between being conservative and aggressive, but I think in those key moments where you know your decision could backfire, it’s important to think through all the ramifications of digging for a Vileplume as opposed to settling for a semi-decent board position you’re certain will be good by turn two. I don’t think anyone could blame me for bleeding for a Vileplume in a matchup that’s 100% Item-dependent, but I also know I could’ve thought it out a little more carefully, even if the ideal decision was to Set Up for one.
This sort of thing is the unsung skill in the game: The art of playing perfectly vs simply not misplaying. And while I didn’t misplay, I also didn’t play perfectly either.
Round 4: VS Dimitri (Turbo Darkrai EX)
Game One: Like so many games on the weekend, I got out an extremely fast lock, forcing a scoop after some time.
Game Two: In perhaps the most incredible Darkrai start I’ve seen in a while, Dimitri goes an impressive 4/4 on Max Elixir, two Dark Patches, and an attachment on the first turn while not actually going too far deep into his deck! I think I dragged this game on much longer than I should have, accepting way too late that I was just too far behind to justify continuing this game.
Game Three: This was actually a pretty close match, with me being somewhat slow to get the setup, actually missing the turn one ‘Plume. This gives him a chance to build up his army of darkness, but I’m able to keep things from getting too out of control by following up with a strong second turn. I remember this game coming down to time, and with only the +3 left, I N myself down to two to hit a fateful final Energy card to attach to Lugia for the win. I somehow rip it, and continue my undefeated streak. (4-0)
Round 5: VS Wesley H. (Turbo Darkrai EX/Malamar EX)
Game One: I go first, draw and incredibly powerful hand, and win quickly.
Game Two: I go second, draw a horrible hand, and get blown away.
Game Three: I go first, draw an incredibly powerful hand, and win quickly. (5-0)
Round 6: VS Dean N. (Lurantis GX/Vileplume)
Ah, so this is where things get more interesting than “draw big or go home”!
Game one: he actually gets off the plume lock first, but I have a strong opening start, and am able to match his attackers blow-for-blow. This matchup gets interesting when both players set up because while Lurantis is the only card with any real one-shot potential, it is much less efficient than Lugia EX, which two-shots it easily for far less resources, and only marginally efficient than Decidueye GX, which is a Stage Two Pokemon with about the same Damage output. What makes things worse for Lurantis is that at just the wrong moment, it can be forced into a three-shot scenario against Lugia EX after Chloroscythe GX has been used: the initial Flower Supply, the Solar Blade, and then the OHKO attack. That’s more or less how the game plays out, and my attackers outmuscle his.
Game two: I get slaughtered by Item lock.
Game three: He gets slaughtered by item lock…what an interactive game! (6-0)
Round 7: (Lurantis GX/Vileplume)
Game One: My opponent has a horrible draw-pass start going first with an Oddish and an Energy. Hungry for the turn one win, I make what’s perhaps my worst play of the tournament: After Trainers’ Mailing a Computer Search and thinning the rest of my hand, rather than settling for a medium-strength Shaymin EX and keeping my options open depending on what I drew, I instead Computer Search right away into one of the two pieces I need to win – the Float Stone – expecting I hit either the second piece or a Draw Supporter off of my full-strength Set Up for six cards. To my horror, I not only whiff the Double Colorless Energy or a Draw Supporter, but draw a completely unplayable six cards! This then results in an awkward draw-pass period of two turns from both of us, only for him to draw out of his awful hand, get out Vileplume and Lurantis, and win the game! Sad!
Game Two: This goes a lot like my first game with Dean. Although it’s surprisingly rare for both decks to set up when they’re each fighting for Item lock, I think that Decidueye’s versatility and raw power gives it much more options than Lurantis.
Game Three: He gets up turn one Vileplume, and I’m struggling to keep in the game. I have zero draw supporters or Decidueye in play. However, by sheer luck and strength through Lugia EX, I’m able to keep this a super-close game, but unfortunately never draw into the Owl or the draw to close this game out. Lugias by themselves with nothing to support them aren’t enough to beat Lurantis, even if they trade well, so I lost this one. (6-1)
I was a little mad at myself for making yet another greedy play, the difference being that this one was entirely wrong and shouldn’t have even been considered, let alone executed! But considering I was a mere game away from making day two, now was not the time to get flustered. Part of playing well is forgiving yourself and learning from your bad plays…