Hi everyone, I’m back today to talk about the City Championships that was held at Baydragon Botany on January 23rd 2016. As some of you may know, I decided to pilot Night March for the event. Consistent with the thought process of my previous article, the ability for little Night Marchers to knock out pretty much any Pokemon in the current meta-game is too strong to ignore.
I knew that Night March was most likely to be the highest represented deck on the day, and the remaining decks were built with Night March in mind. As a result, I played cards that allowed me to take cheap prizes in the mirror match and also cards that counter the tech cards against my deck. The biggest problems I predicted were going to decks playing Crobat and Assault Vest. Due to this, I decided that Hex Maniac and Startling Megaphone were definite inclusions in my list. For the mirror match I knew that targeting their Shaymin EX would be the way to win, therefore I decided to play 2 Pokemon Catcher, a card that hasn’t seen much play since the release of Lysandre. My reasoning for this was to be able to still dig through my deck using a supporter while using Pokemon Catcher to bring up my opponent’s Shaymin EX despite the 50/50 coin flip. Unfortunately on the day, my luck was terrible and I went 0/14 on Pokemon Catcher flips.
Round 1 - Vespiquen/Raichu (1-0-0)
This matchup was actually a bit difficult for me as my opponent did not bench any EX Pokemon. But whiffed energies along the way allowed me to take this match.
Round 2 - Gliscor/Crobat (1-1-0)
I had to read what Gliscor did and with the inclusion of Focus Sash, the matchup instantly became very difficult. I had no way of keeping up with the prize trade, therefore I lost a long game 1 before running out of time for game 2 with no way of taking all 6 prizes.
Round 3 - Lucario EX/Crobat (2-1-0)
This is a matchup I knew I would be fine with. I chained multiple Hex Maniacs via Vs Seeker to stop his Crobats and I led the prize trade all the way. I remember playing a Judge early on to disrupt his chances of setting up. He ended having to bench Lucario EX which made life easier for me.
Round 4 - Gallade/Octillery (3-1-0)
We both open terribly game 1 but eventually he top decks a Sycamore to set himself up for knockouts which I could not keep up with. Game 2 a few Judges played allowed me to disrupt him enough that he couldn’t really set up. Game 3 starts the same which me opening up with access to Judge via Battle Compressor. Gallade needs a lot of cards in order to set up therefore keeping their hand size down is key.
Round 5 - Lucario EX/Medicham (4-1-0)
He only playing for fun and he knew I needed points for Worlds so he scooped to me.
Round 6 - P Groudon EX/Landorus/Dedenne (4-1-1)
We drew intentionally knowing that we would both make top 8 if we drew. So there was no point playing this match.
Top 8 - P Groudon EX/Landorus/Dedenne
So I ended up pairing against my round 6 opponent. I didn’t expect to see Groudon at the tournament so I was very underprepared for it. Game 1 my strategy was to chain Sky Return through Shaymin EX to knockout all his Landorus and Dedenne after seeing him discard his Groudons early. I knew that none of his non EX Pokemon were able to knock out my Shaymin EX. I hindsight, I made a few misplays despite this potentially being the most optimal strategy in this matchup. I played down way too many of my cards which I really didn’t need to and used up all my resources. I ran down way too much clock in game 1, and I expended most of my resources. I ended up scooping with 2 cards in deck as I knew I didn’t have the cards necessary to take my remaining prizes as one of the key cards I needed was prized.
Game 2 started with me being really upset with myself and my lack of resource management. This game he knew my strategy and decided to bench his Groudon EX. I can’t remember much about this game but I managed to take the win just before time was called.
Game 3 started as sudden death with 1 prize each. I play Judge early to disrupt him, and we both dead drew for a few turns. He hits a Sycamore and attaches to his active Groudon. I knew I had to play Judge again to disrupt him, but unfortunately I gave him Lysandre and a fighting energy for him to knockout a Joltik on my bench. GG.
In the end, Night March won the tournament taking out Manectric EX/Crobat in the finals. This was a good sign as it showed that I made the right deck choice for this event. Congrats to Shaun Leong for winning the tournament with his Night March/Bronzong/Milotic list. Currently I am 60/200 championship points for my World Championships invitation chase. The next premier event is Palmerston North City Championships coming up late February. Hope to see you guys all there!
- Louis
Article was written by Louis Chi, the current national champion. All views expressed are only opinions and should be treated as such.
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