From 1-2 to Finals - My Nationals Report

Hi everyone! For those who don’t know me, my name is Dennis Seebuerger and I’m from Hanover, which is in the northern part of Germany. I’m 20 years old and I study economics. I’ve been playing the game since 2000 and I still love the game as much as I did in the early years of Pokemon. That being said, let’s move on to the main topic of this article: this year’s Nationals!

Finding the Deck

Everything started when Dark Explorers released. After a miserable beginning of the tournament season I at least wanted to do well at Nationals. Furthermore, I had already booked my flight to Hawaii so I really needed an invite. I tested a lot of things (Darkrai/Zoroark/Weavile, Empoleon/Terrakion, Eels, Troll, Sableye/Darkrai, etc) and I figured there is a ton of work that has to be done before Nationals because the format seemed to be completely redefined by all the darkness stuff.

The time moved on and Norwegian Nationals took place at which my good friend Benjamin Behrens took 2nd place. He shared his & Tord's winning list with me which I tested intensively. I was convinced by the deck and figured it would be a great play for Nationals. The weekend after their Nationals I went to Berlin to test with my teammate Ole and the other guys from Berlin. Karl Peters, one of Germany’s best players and a good friend of mine played a couple of games against me, using his secret deck. Guess what – he completely destroyed me, using just Mewtwo-EX NXD54 and Terrakion NVI99. He won 9/10 games against the Norwegian Darkrai deck and every single game against Eels. He even won against Empoleon/Terrakion. I was frustrated and fascinated at the same time. Now all my plans for Nationals were screwed and I had to reconsider my deck choice. Karl shared his list with me and I immediately built it once I got home. I was 12 days away from my Nationals and had to start again from the beginning.

The next days were followed by a lot of testing with my man Alexander Bauer, who was the only one that I told about the deck. He was skeptical in the beginning because the deck struggled against Hammertime (Darkrai-EX DEX107+ Sableye DEX/Hammer) and CMT was tough. After about 50 games he was finally convinced by the deck and decided to run it for Nationals. Having almost an autowin against Zekrom/Eelektrik and Non-Sableye-Based Darkrai builds is just too good! 😉

When we arrived in Bochum on Friday, our matchups looked like this:

• Eels: 70-30/80-20
• Darkrai (without Hammer): 70-30/80-20
• Darkrai (with Hammer): 50-50
• CMT: 55-45
• Troll: 60-40

Only Mew TM97/Accelgor DEX and Vileplume UD based decks were bad matchups. We spent the evening with friends and played a few games and I went to bed at about 11pm so I could get enough sleep.

The next morning I went to the hall after a great breakfast to register at 8.30am. I was very excited and nervous even though I had good matchups across the board. I knew if I’d win the first 2-3 rounds most of my opponents would run the popular decks I tested against. We had a total of 269 players, 164 of them played in masters division. Amigo Spiele, the distributor for Germany, did coverage with recorded featured matches and even live standings/pairings so everyone could look them up on their smartphone. At 11.30 they finally started with round one.

[decklist]293[/decklist]

Day One

Round 1 vs. Cinderella S. (Empoleon/Donphan) (1-0)

This game was a weird one to start the tournament with. My opening hand was like Mewtwo-EX + Double Colorless Energy + Pokémon Catcher and nothing else. Luckily she didn’t have anything, either. I rolled through her basics with Mewtwo-EX without her getting anything. I felt sorry for winning against her that way, especially in round 1.

Round 2 vs. Anthony T. (Terrakion/Landorus) (1-1)

I actually figured this should be easy…if I had a supporter :P Somehow I managed to not have one in my opening hand again, even though I run 11 supporters + 2 Random Receiver.

Well, I just attacked with Terrakion and we traded prices with him being able to setup and me just struggling for 5 turns without supporters. By the time I finally got one he was already 2 prices ahead. I figured he doesn’t run Mewtwo-EX so I went that way. I made a comeback and the game went down 1-1 on prices but both, my Mewtwo-EX and my Tornadus-EX DEX108 were damaged so if he had a Catcher there was no way I could prevent him from taking that last price, not even with Super Scoop Up. I N’d him into 1 card and attacked with Terrakion. He topdecked Professor Juniper to draw into Junk Arm and grab Catcher for the win.

I wasn’t happy about the loss but I knew it wasn’t my fault and I didn’t misplay so I’m fine.

Round 3 vs. Ole S. (Mew/Accelgor) (1-2)

When I looked at my pairing I was like “Fuuuu!!!”! Out of almost 170 people I had to play my good friend and teammate Ole. Not that this already sucked but I also had a horrible matchup against his deck. This time my opening hand was much better and the only thing I was missing for a FTKO was a Catcher. Ole won the flip and got T1 Pokémon Collector + See Off! Turn 1 See Off is very important for him because he is able to lock me off the game by turn 2 if I KO something and he has Twins. I N’d him and was able to take a prize but he actually drew into a Twins + DCE so he had everything he needed to lock me from now on. We exchanged prizes and I was able to keep up with Terrakion.

At the end he had 2 prizes left and I had 2 as well. My active Terrakion had 50 + poison from Accelgor. He had a Shaymin-EX NXD94 ready to attack on the bench. I had Mewtwo-EX with DCE on the bench. He figured it’s too much of a risk to attack with Shaymin-EX and did an awesome move instead. He attached Prism Energy to his benched Oddish UD and attacked me for 20 with it, which meant my Terrakion had 100 right now. Oddish has 40 HP so without an Energy I can’t KO him. Unfortunately I only had a DCE in my hand and didn’t draw into a Fighting Energy, so I could only do 30 to him. He then attacked with Oddish again to KO my Terrakion. Because of Shaymin-EX there was no possibility for me to win anymore because he is able to draw the last prize no matter what I promote and I scooped.

Now I was sad. I knew I needed to win the last 5 rounds to make the cut for sure. My plan to win the first 2-3 rounds and only get Eels/Darkrai/etc didn’t work out and my chances to be paired against another bad matchup raised. However, I didn’t give up and decided to fight for it!

Round 4 vs. Reshiram/Typhlosion (2-2)

I was simply faster than him and ran through his basics before he could setup. I’m kinda glad the game went this way because Reshiram HS113/Typhlosion HS110 ain’t an easy matchup and this could’ve meant the end of my tournament.

Round 5 vs. Tobias T. (Zekrom/Eelektrik) (3-2)

Finally one of the matchups I wanted! Even though Tobias is a good player he wasn’t able to overcome the power of Terrakion. I started attacking turn 2 and killed his Tynamo. From then on I took a prize every single turn. I began to raise my hopes again! 3 more to go!

Round 6 vs. Zekrom/Eelektrik (4-2)

Yay! One more! The game basically played the same as the one vs Tobias. Ego boooost! 🙂

Round 7 vs. Dennis M (Darkrai/Shaymin/Terrakion) (5-2)

I started with Terrakion and got Energy in game. He played down 2x Darkrai-EX early and powered them up with Dark Patch so he could attack by turn 2. The strategy he used was to KO two Terrakion at the same time so I couldn’t KO both of his Darkrai-EX. What he didn’t know was that I run 4 of them and got a third into play very quickly. You can turn the game around easily when you play down 2 Terrakion in the beginning and have him attack both. Then you drop another one and attach an Exp. Share to it. This way you will either have 3 Energy on Terrakion next turn or he kills 2 and you have another Terrakion ready to kill. You then KO 1 Darkrai-EX and Catcher the next one the turn after because he probably can’t KO your Terrakion next turn. From then on you take easy prizes such as Shaymin UL8 and Smeargle UD. This is exactly what I did. GG.

Dang! One more to go! I was so happy and had a huge self confidence boost! I really wanted to win now!

Round 8 vs. Zekrom/Eelektrik (6-2)

When he flipped his basics I wanted to freak out! I was so happy! I used my standard strategy to win this one. After the game I ran out the play area and looked for my friends to high 5 them! I made it!!! From 1-2 to 6-2! Amazing! 🙂

When the standings were released I made a top cut bracket with my friends to find out what I play against tomorrow. Top 32 would be vs. Eels so I was happy about that . However, all of the other games would be tough. I went out for dinner with everyone from Hanover (22 people) to a Greek restaurant near the hall. I was dying for some food because I didn’t eat anything for almost 8 hours. Afterwards I played a couple of games against Hammertime and went to bed.

I got up at 6.30am to grab some breakfast and went to the hall at 8.30am when Tops were supposed to start. However, they didn’t start before 10 so I was a bit annoyed. I could have gotten more sleep :P After a short introduction for everyone we were allowed to begin.

Day Two

Top 32 vs. Stefan S. (Zekrom/Eelektrik/1 Mewtwo-EX/2 Raikou-EX)

Game 1: I needed a while to figure out what techs he runs but after a while I was sure he didn’t run more than one Mewtwo-EX. So after drawing 4 prizes I switched to Mewtwo-EX to save my last Terrakion for his Raikou-EX DEX105. This worked very well and I won. Game 2: He tried to go aggressive with Raikou-EX early but I simply KO’d them with Terrakion and picked up the rest of my prizes by KOing his Eels.

My next opponent was Marc L. with Hammertime. I didn’t like the matchup. When playing against this deck it really depends on the opponents Crushing Hammer flips. Whenever possible you should avoid to drop special energy. I was very nervous when going into the game.

Top 16 vs. Marc L. (Hammertime without Fighting counters)

Game 1: This game was a blast. Crushing Hammer flips really went my way. He went first and benched 2 Darkrai-EX and a Sableye. Unfortunately he didn’t attach energy to his active Sableye. Had he done this I could have drawn an easy price as I started with Mewtwo-EX + DCE + PlusPower. Whenever you can draw a prize, do it. This is important in this matchup.

In my turn I just attached an Energy to my Mewtwo-EX and passed. I had N in my hand and Dual Ball. You don’t really want to bench any Terrakion on turn 1 when he starts. Without Energy in game they are easy prizes for Darkrai. He used Crushing Hammer and flipped tails. He did it again and flipped heads. On my turn I Dual Ball’d for 2 Terrakion and benched both. I also attached Exp. Share to one of them. I then used N to shuffle the 2 Crushing Hammer, which he just Junk Hunted for back, into his deck. I drew, attached Energy and then passed. The next turn he tried to remove my Energy but failed. He tried for the rest of the game but there was a point when I simply had too many Energy in game and overwhelmed him. 1-0

Game 2: It looked very good for me in the beginning but he managed to make a huge comeback. He won in the end when he N’d me for 2 and I drew nothing. 1-1

Game 3: Basically the same as game 1. When I’m able to set up it plays the same as the non-hammer-version. 2-1

I was sooo happy after this round. Now I was just one round away from my invite and the deck I would face is beatable, at least for me. Marc wasn’t too sad about losing to me because he knew he would lose next round against the Donphan deck I would face anyways. So after a short break I was ready to rumble!

Top 8 vs. Sabine G. (Donphan/Rocky Helmet/Max Potion)

Before going into the game I was trying to figure her list. I knew she ran only 6 Fighting Energy so my plan was to give up the first few prices to make her run out of energy eventually.

Game 1: She went first and got out 2 Phanpy HS. She attached to the benched one and passed. I started with Mewtwo-EX and attached a DCE. I Catcher’d up her Phanpy with energy and did 60 to it because I didn’t have a PlusPower. She then evolved Phanpy to Donphan HS107 and used Max Potion. Then she used Juniper and had to discard 2 Junk Arm because she didn’t have an Energy. She drew into the Energy and attacked. On my turn I used Dual Ball for Terrakion, attached Energy and attacked. The game went on like that for a couple of turns and my plan eventually worked out when she had 3 prizes left and I N’d her and she didn’t drew into Max Potion or Energy. I proceeded to KO her Donphans and won.

Game 2: I used the same strategy as in game 1 and it worked out again 🙂 So I made it! From 1-2 to Top4! I reached my goal and got my invite. Everyone congratulated me and I could finally relax. I was very, very happy! 🙂

My motivation to go on and win the next game was huge as I really wanted to win the trip now! A bit of extra money never hurts ;)

Top 4 vs. Janik R (Celebi TM92/Mewtwo-EX/Tornadus)

I knew the matchup isn’t the best. How you play against the deck really depends on what your opening hand is like. You can either go aggressive and start the Mewtwo war and N the opponent in late game and hope he misses the counter Mewtwo-EX/DCE or just pick up some easy prizes with Terrakion and Tornadus-EX (Smeargle + Celebi basically) and start the Mewtwo war when you have any even amount of prizes when your opponent has an uneven amount.

Game 1: I started with Mewtwo-EX and my hand didn’t allow anything but going aggressive. I attached an Energy to Mewtwo-EX, benched Terrakion and passed. He got out some stuff, attached Energy to a Tornadus-EX and passed. I attached to Mewtwo-EX and attacked. He countered Mewtwo with his own Mewtwo and the war started. Unfortunately, I missed on the late game N and lost. 0-1

Game 2: I started with Mewtwo-EX again and went aggressive but this time it worked out the way I wanted to and I won.

Game 3: This time I started with Terrakion and used the other strategy. I killed some Celebi Primes and did some Exp. Share tricks. We trade prizes and I held on with the Mewtwo war until I had 2 prizes left and he had 3. This won me the game.

Right after winning I ran out of the area, my friends and my mom were already waiting for me. When they saw me face they knew I won. Everyone cheered with me! I really made it to the finals 🙂

Now I had one game left to play and it was against Steven Mao. Steven is a cool guy, the prices were exactly the same, only the title differs. All the tension eased and I could play a relaxed final. The finals were shown on a big screen in the hall, just like at Worlds, and also streamed live so everyone could watch us play. More than 70 people tuned in!

Finals vs. Steven Mao (Celebi/Mewtwo-EX/Tornadus EPO98 with Terrakion & Virizion)

Game 1: I don’t really know how I did it but I somehow managed to win lol. When I thought about how to approach this matchup I thought Steven had a clear advantage because of Virizion. Seems like it didn’t make that much of a difference, though.

Game 2: I had this game under control pretty much all game but when I was down to 1 or 2 prizes he N’d me and I drew into nothing. He was able to roll through my Pokemon meanwhile.

Game 3: This game was pretty even and he again won with N.

I don’t remember the final games very well so you better watch the videos, which I will link to once they are uploaded.

So yeah, I was able to make it from 1-2 to second place with a deck that has a lot of potential in my opinion. Once you have played enough games with it almost all your matchups become 50-50 or better and if you use the surprise effect you can make even more of it. I can only suggest everyone to test the deck!

A few notes on the format: I never had so many games where both, me and my opponent, had nothing for several turns. Many others told me that they experienced the same thing. Darkrai-EX is definitely a good deck, but it has several counters. There are many other good decks that can compete for the top tier.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Everyone who was rooting for me and all the people supporting me
• My mom for paying the hotel and always helping me 🙂
• Making 2nd place
• Getting a paid trip to Worlds and finally having an INVITE!!! 🙂
• Karl for sharing the deck with me and Ole and Alex for testing with me

No cons for now 😉

I hope you enjoyed my tournament report and if you have any questions feel free to ask!