I'm typing this report with only 5 hours of sleep and a horrible memory, so I might leave out many important details and/or remember some things wrongly. No Clifton-style 10k word report here, although I wish I could do it :p
To be honest, I built my deck only three days before Cities, and didn't get to playtest properly. I think my Chandelure deck only played slightly less than 10 games before Cities. Thus my list was a little rushed and, as it turned out, lacked late-game sustainability. But anyway, on to the list! :D
Pokemon: 25
4 Litwick (Promo)
4 Lampent
4 Chandelure
3 Oddish
1 Gloom
2 Vileplume
2 Doduo
2 Dodrio
1 Pichu
1 Cleffa
1 Jirachi
T/S/S: 23
3 Pokemon Collector
4 Twins
4 Sage's Training
3 Pokemon Communication
3 Rare Candy
1 Professor Oak's New Theory
1 Copycat
2 N
1 Seeker
1 Tropical Beach
Energy: `12
8 Psychic
4 Rescue
If I would to change anything now, I would do this:
-1 Professor Oak's New Theory
-1 Rescue Energy
+1 N
+1 Flower Shop Lady
I always find myself coming back from a prize deficit of 2-3, so on hindsight, the 3rd N would add more disruption. N is also great late-game to prevent a deckout after all the stupid Sage millings. As for Flower Shop Lady, I find that it would help recycle energy and Sage'd Chandelure lines. Not sure what you guys think.
A note about my decision to include Seeker. I wasn't really welcoming the idea of Seeker in a Chandelure deck at first. I realised that it could potentially wipe out damage that Cursed Shadow accumulated on the other side of the field. Yet after a few games of Solitaire I decided to include it to
1) Reuse Jirachi's power should I start with it
2) Potentially get a donk (unlikely though)
3) Heal Chandelures because I don't play Blissey
So there you have it, a quick overview of my decklist. Hope it helped!
Let's get to the report rightaway. Matchups announced, I'm up against a guy I never met before..
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Round 1: Marcus [Virizion/Roserade/Tyranitar]
This guy is a new player and he's really friendly. He opens Virizion and Roselia to my Oddish I think. I managed to get Turn 2 Vileplume and Turn 3 Chandelure, but I don't get enough energy on Chandy to disrupt him with a Burn+Confuse. His 80 damage Leaf Wallop scared me abit but eventually I got enough energy to KO the Virizion. When he benches a Larvitar I get even more frightened because tanky Tyranitar could one-shot Chandy easily :( I get Dodrio, Cursed Shadow his Larvitar twice to KO it. After that he never gets an attacker rolling and I win this game fairly easily.
1-0 : Starting off at the top 50% is really great.
Round 2: Dominic [Chandelure/Vileplume/Dodrio]
He starts Cleffa and Oddish. At this point I don't know what he's playing, but when I see the oddish I immediately decide to NOT set up Vileplume. Eventually he benches Doduo and Litwick and I know what's coming. The key to winning the Chandelure matchup is to take out Dodrio quickly. Without Dodrio they have less board control because they can't Cursed Shadow twice in a row. You can even drag up their Vileplume and snipe around it.
Anyway that's exactly what I do. He benches only one Doduo, and I snipe it. I take care to set up two Dodrio to prevent him from doing the same. Eventually he benches another Doduo and I snipe it again. I get a great set up with 2 Chandelure and a Lampent. Usually I only get two Chandelure on my board and leave a Lampent for its attack, "Luring Light". It does wonders when you use it at the right time.
The game gets to him being unable to Cursed Shadow consistently, and me sniping his board like a madman. He concedes when I'm up by 5 prizes.
2-0
Round 3: Jun Jek [Chandelure/Vileplume/Dodrio]
Another mirror match. I only have Cleffa and Oddish in my starting hand, so I put Cleffa active and bench Oddish to prevent a donk. He starts with a Litwick (I think), and I'm like "stupid Oddish wasted a bench space". I played this game exactly like the previous game, getting 2 Chandelure and a Lampent, and sniping his Doduos. The "kill-Doduo-asap" strategy worked out well once again, and I end up Time Hollowing a Chandelure for the last prize.
3-0
Round 4: Huang Pei [Zekrom/Thundurus/Magnezone/Eelektrik]
As soon as I see Magnemite and Thundurus I know what's coming. I get Pichu, playground for two Oddish, Litwick, Cleffa and Doduo. I start to plan my strategy for this matchup: snipe Magnemite to prevent Magnezone from coming out. This is because
1) Magnezone provides draw power
2) Magnezone is the only Pokemon in the deck that one-shots Chandy
3) Magnezone is sooooo ugly. (just kidding)
He gets a two-prize lead with Thundurus I think, and I try to stall him by dragging his Eels out. I can't remember but I don't think he ever got a single Magnezone in play, thanks to Cursed Shadow. I also get a Turn 2 Vileplume (again). Eventually it comes down to the game-changing Seeker when he only two Pokemon on the bench: an Eelektrik and one damaged Zekrom with 3 energy. If he picks up Zekrom he can't attack me for the next few turns. If he picks up Eelektrik he can't Dynamotor. He picks up Eelektrik. I really can't remember how I won this game but I think it was because he couldn't KO Chandelure. I remember Cursed Shadow-ing his Zekrom to 90 damage so he can't Outrage for the KO, and he can't Bolt Strike because he'll knock himself out. But I think I won this game with a double Cursed Shadow on Zekrom. I really don't remember.
4-0 : Wow. Now I just need one more win to make top cut!
Round 5: Leslie [Tornadus/Thundurus/Zekrom/Magnezone/Eelektrik]
This guy is a boss. He was playing Chandelure all along until he MADE A LAST MINUTE SWITCH OF DECKS AT 4:30 IN THE MORNING THAT DAY. Kudos on making 6-1 in swiss with a deck you never playtested with. LOL.
This game was less dynamic than I expected :( I get Turn 2 Vileplume (again lol). I go on to snipe Magnemites and Magnetons so he can't sweep my board, and eventually when I drag up all his Eels and snipe around them, he concedes I think.
5-0 : This is awesome. I honestly didn't bother about the outcome of the next two rounds. Beside me was the Jeremy "Garami" Leong (Chandelure) vs Clifton "idontcareifyourunchandywithtrainerlockmyawesomejirachiwilltrollyouxd" Goh (ZPST w/Jirachi) matchup. Jeremy got the win somehow, and now he and I were the only ones with 5-0 (I think).
Round 6: Jeremy [Chandelure/Vileplume/Dodrio/Blissey/Cobalion]
He got a bad start with Cobalion active. I get a better start than him, with Cleffa active. I collector for two Doduo and a Litwick, retreat Cleffa to Litwick then Call for another Litwick. Benching two Doduo is very important against the mirror match, because you really need Dodrio for the matchup and cannot afford to let them snipe it. I get T2 Chandy after Sage-ing and discarding two Twins :( . He has a Doduo prized so he can only bench one. Naturally I snipe it off. He tries to Time Hollow my Chandy back into Litwick, but I have the Rare Candy in hand. I Candy to Chandelure, do 30 somewhere on his bench, then Eerie Glow for 100 on Jirachi. He eventually gets Chandelure up but can't do a double Cursed Shadow because he hasn't drawn the 2nd Doduo from his prizes. I take my last two prizes with a double Time Hollow.
6-0
Round 7: Lip Yee [Zekrom/Magnezone/Eelektrik]
Third Magnezone matchup of the day. She only gets a Zekrom active and a Magnemite benched. AND I GET A TURN 2 VILEPLUME FOR THE 4TH TIME TODAY TROLOLOLLOLOLOLOL. It gets to a point when she has Zekrom active with 50 damage, and does Bolt Strike to my Chandy. I seeker her lone bench up and do Eerie Glow for the win!
7-0 : The perfect Swiss round record. I was in utter disbelief. I honestly didn't expect Chandelure to be such a boss.
Top 16: Febri [Thundurus/Zekrom/Magnezone/Eelektrik]
Game 1
I get a horrible start for once. He gets T2 Magnezone, and Lost Burns the only 2 energy he has in play to my Gloom. He gets everything rolling and I don't get Vileplume up until T4 or T5. He's up by 3 prizes and I manage to set up double Chandy and one Lampent. Then I simply drag up his Eels and try to take out the Magnezone. I believe I won this game after he lost his only Magnezone. 1-0
Game 2
He starts, and this game plays out more or less like the first game. I have 4 prizes left and he has 1. His Magnezone is up front with 2 energy and confused after an Eerie Glow. He announces Lost Burn; heads and he'd win this game. TAILS! OMGWTFBBQIACTUALLYSURVIVED! I KO the Magnezone, get 40 damage on each of his Eels, KO a Thundurus, then drop Jirachi. I flip 2 heads for Stardust Song and Time Hollow his double Eels to take my last two prizes. 2-0
8-0
Top 8: Jit Min [Zekrom/Eelektrik/RDL]
Game 1
By now I'm getting really tired so I wasn't concentrating very well. I couldn't remember how this game went but I take a prize lead and he concedes. 1-0
Game 2
Basically he needs to take 4 prizes to bring it to 1-1, but I drag his Eels up to prevent him from knocking out my Pokemon. His damage is capped at 120, and he can't take prizes quickly with Chandy's 130HP. He concedes eventually. 2-0
9-0 : I was on a roll. I heard that Jeremy got his Chandy kicked out in Top 8 :(
Top 4: Terry [Reshiram/Typhlosion]
Game 1
Team Robo has a special "The Top Cut" team lol. Benny, Purvis and Jeremy were holding their phones above our playmats and vidding the match :p Maybe we should each donate ten dollars to Ujin so he can get a camera stand. :D
He opens Smeargle, gets a great start by portraiting all sorts of supporters in my hand. I get Vileplume up only by T3 or T4. To make things worse I start with a Jirachi and he has T2 double Typhlosions. I try to attach a Rescue to get back Jirachi later, but he Flare Destroys it and I lose my Jirachi for the entire game. Fortunately I get a prize lead with Chandy's awesome Confusion and some unlucky flips by Terry. He concedes. 1-0
Game 2
I really don't remember anything about this game. Check out the video for a better picture of what happened. This game comes down to me with 1 prize left and him knocking his Reshiram out with a Burn flip. 2-0
10-0 : The other Top 4 match ended up with Clifton "idontcareifyourunchandywithtrainerlockmyawesomejirachiwilltrollyouxd" Goh's ZPST/Jirachi winning against Irfan's Magnezone/Eelektrik. So I would be up against Clifton next :(
Finals: Clifton "idontcareifyourunchandywithtrainerlockmyawesomejirachiwilltrollyouxd" Goh [ZPST/Jirachi]
Game 1
Let's just call him Clifton for simplicity's sake, okay? Earlier, Clifton was bragging about his awesome Charizard ex deck that could dish out 200 damage a turn. But seriously, he doesn't realise the raw power of my much stronger and faster deck using Hitmonchan, Scyther and Electabuzz dishing out crazy amounts of damage, like 20, with one energy. Bah. But he decided to abandon his Charizard ex deck anyway and played ZPST/Jirachi. And I decided to abandon my awesome Haymaker deck and went for a lousier deck so I wouldn't pwn all the n00bs with my 1337 Haymaker deck.
This game was really a mental facepalm for me. I had the early Vileplume and the upper hand. When I Twins-ed for two cards I picked up only one and dropped the other one onto my prizes :/ When I Tropical Beach-ed to 7, I realised my mistake and the Head Judge ruled that I had an unfair disadvantage from drawing one extra card. Insta-gameloss. 0-1
Game 2
No stupid mistakes this time. But I don't get an early Vileplume and he simply drags up everything to take easy prizes. When I do get Vileplume, he's already depleted me of resources (6 psychic and 3 Rescue energy) and I couldn't possibly do Eerie Glow anymore.
I try to stall with Pichu. Playground.
Heads :/
He does Hurricane to my Pichu for the KO. He has one prize left.
I bring up Cleffa for the final stall. Eeeeeeek!
Heads.
GG man.
10-1
I have never made top cut at a major event, so my sudden 7-0 swiss record and a ticket to Finals came as a real shock for me. It was a blast for me that day! And of course, losing to Clifton didn't really matter to me because he's such a great player and really deserved the 6 Championship Points boost. Get your 20CP asap dude, and qualify for Worlds 2012!
Props:
All the organisers who made this event possible
Jeremy for his inspiring Chandelure deck and tempting me to play it Nah, I'm kidding.
All my opponents for being such good sports
TheImitationTopCut for their efforts in vidding the matches
Slops:
Playing out finals in a hawker centre with a near-dead brain and zero concentrating ability.
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I would like to thank JX aka ABC for allowing us to use his report to be on our blog. Grats to him for earning his first 5 CP! we look forward to more of your achievements!
PS. i cant unhighlight the fonts. so bare with me >.<
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