PokemanDan’s First BR Report..

Hey everybody and I am back writing for this site after a fair while. I have been extremely busy recently with re-constructing the website to fill it with as much as possible and I have completed the design, all it need is some filling up and it should be ready for launch soon. I haven’t been doing Card of the Day’s every day as usual because of this so I thought I’d treat all of you that visit the website regularly with a sneak preview on how I did at my first Battle Roads of the season before I put it into my episode on Saturday. So here goes, this is how I got on at Manchester Battle Roads.

So Manchester is actually around a 2 and a half hour trip for me, which is made easier when I half the trip with fellow player Tommy Roberts and we get there at around 12 to meet up with George, David and Scott who are all really cool guys who I usually play and chat with when not at tournaments. Anyway, long story short, we have ourselves 29 Masters at the event, which is actually quite a few for a Battle Roads over here and we also have ourselves 5 rounds with a Top 2 cut. The Top 2 cut is especially weird and should have been a Top 4 to make it a bit more interesting, but that’s just how it goes. Our 5 swiss rounds end up being 45 minutes with Best of 3, which is always good since it saves against donks and we sit down at our first round tables.

Oh, by the way, I end up choosing to play Yanmega/Cinccino/Zoroark which is a really fun way to play Stage 1s and can be surprisingly fast with the right build. My list on the day wasn’t perfect, but it worked well on the day.

Round 1 – Jak Steward-Armstead w/Emboar/Reshiram/Ninetales

So my first game of the new season is against the 2010 Senior UK National Champion who has qualified for World in every year of the game, including his first year of Masters. I know he’s a great player so it looks like it’s going to be tough from the start.

Game 1 – I get to go first and have Zorua active with a Double Colourless to his Reshiram start, perfect for this matchup. He starts with Collector which gets him off to a good start while I have to Judge to keep him slowed down and try to find myself the Zoroark I need for the KO after using a PlusPower beforehand. Unfortunately, I don’t get the Zoroark and he gets Ninetales into play, netting him some new cards. If I remember correctly, he has to Collector and use Cleffa’s ‘Eeeeek’ at this point to refresh a poor hand so I get the chance to set up a couple of Cinccino and Zoroark in the active spot. This nets me the first KO off of his active Reshiram and he starts to set up a Bad Boar on the bench. By the time he has Bad Boar swinging, I’ve already taken 5 prizes and manage to get the KO on his benched Cleffa with Yanmega for the first game.

Game 2 – Unfortunately for him, game 2 doesn’t really go well either. He uses about 3 Fisherman in this game to keep his energy flowing after Emboar hits the field, but my Zoroark is able to take prize after prize on his Reshirams while Cinccino takes the rest of the prizes with Catcher and ‘Do the Wave’. I manage to get the quick KOs I need to win the first round. 1-0

So I’m happy I managed to keep up with the skill of such a player and hope it continues in the next rounds. Unfortunately, the room we are in is extremely hot and it is incredibly hard to focus while sweating like mad, but we all do our best to stay focused. Next game, I’m afraid I don’t remember the name, but it’s another Reshiram deck.

Round 2 – ??? w/Reshiram/Typhlosion/Ninetales

So this match up is slightly harder with Typhlosion involved since it has a pretty decent attack and can get rid of my DCEs in a heartbeat so I go for fast KOs before they become an issue.

Game 1 – I don’t remember a lot about this game, but I think I start off slow while he is getting a slow start off of my constant Judging to try and get myself set up as well. We both get properly set up this game, but the slowness of his start means that I can get Zoroark rolling to take down his Reshirams after an ‘Afterburner’ and Cinccino takes a couple of prizes on benched Cyndaquil and Ninetales for the rest.

Game 2 – We have around 10 minutes left so this game is definitely going to go to time which actually bodes well for me. Unfortunately he gets a perfect start with two Typhlosion up and running by around turn 3. His Afterburner damage actually helps me out a lot and I’m able to control his attachments with it while he works off a low hand and I’m Catchering up fresh Reshirams. Time gets called when we are equal in prizes and I manage to Catcher up Ninetales, drop 3 PlusPowers and ‘Foul Play’ ‘Will-o-the-Wisp’ for a pretty outrageous KO. With his source of draw gone with a low hand, he isn’t able to return the KO and I can take another prize with Yanmega for the game.

Another Reshiram taken down and I’m glad I chose to keep the Zoroark in there otherwise they maybe wouldn’t have turned out as well as they did. 2-0

Round 3 – Charles Barton w/Reshiram/Typhlosion

Another great player who has performed well over his whole time of playing the game and another Reshiram/Typhlosion was ready for another close game.

Game 1 – I lose the flip while he proceeds to take early game control by getting 3 Typhlosions up by around turn 3 while I sit there with just a couple of Basics ready to go when evolved. Since he didn’t play Ninetales, his start was slower that normal and I was able to Catcher up Typhlosions to save time. He doesn’t really have a solid idea of my deck until we’ve taken a couple of prizes each with Reshiram and Zoroark KOs and I put Cinccino down. He quickly changes his strategy and goes for the Typhlosion route, discarding my Double Colourless and constantly checking my discard pile to see if I play Switch. He figures out that I don’t and tries to keep discarding the Double Colourless off of my attackers to keep them stuck, but I always have the energy in hand to retreat. A few retreats later and some Yanmega attacking to avoid the discarding of energy and he scoops with a couple of heavily damaged Typhlosion in play.

Game 2 – The first game went on for a while so time will be called soon which is great for me. He manages to get a Reshiram start which means I won’t be getting any prizes too early on and he starts off by hitting the Typhlosions first. This works incredibly for him since I’m forced to miss prizes in the prize exchange through lack of energy and he manages to take the last prize after being tied at one-a-piece. Onto Game 3.

Game 3 – So time is called when we are setting up which means we go straight into sudden death, something he really didn’t want to play against Stage 1s. It gets worse when he starts Cleffa and I have the Yanmega in hand to take the T2 ‘Sonicboom’ for KO. He attempts to Eeeek to stay asleep, but he flips heads and I’m able to take the first and only prize to win the game. 3-0

Feeling good about 3-0 so far and I’m on course for Top 2, but the other decks I could be playing include Gothitelle, Zekrom and another Reshiram piloted by Scott and that’s what I’m playing. My 4th Reshiram in a row..

Round 4 – Scott w/ Reshiram/Typhlosion

Game 1 – My game doesn’t get off too the best of starts, but we both get set up pretty nicely when we end up hitting the mid-game. He has Reshiram hitting constantly while I have Zoroarks ready for the return KOs. By the time the prize race is getting intense, he quickly shifts to attacking with Typhlosion which leaves me with just 2 Double Colourless in my pretty thin deck. To keep up with prizes I really need to draw the DCE after a Professor Juniper, but I fail to do so and he is able to stay that prize ahead and take the game.

Game 2 – I haven’t got long here and really need to take some quick prizes, but my deck just doesn’t want me to win this one. Scott runs a very aggressive build of this deck and manages to get Typhlosions up pretty quickly and manages to take 3 straight prizes before I scoop. Really well played and down to 3-1.

So I know I’m playing against Zekrom next which I’m really not looking forward to since my deck isn’t the best against a good start from it because of the lack of Donphan. I need to win this for chance of Top 2 so let’s see what happened.

Round 5 – ??? w/Zekrom/Pachirisu/Shaymin/Tornadus

Sorry about not remembering the name! You were a really nice guy and should meet you at Nottingham to jog my memory.

Game 1 – He goes first to my two lone Basics and manages to get the Turn 1 ‘Bolt Strike’ after hitting a double heads on Dual Ball. This puts me under pressure straight away and I struggle to set up my Zoroark as he Catchers up any Zorua that hit the bench. This one’s over quite quickly and onto game 2.

Game 2 – I get to go first to his lone Shaymin and he has a really slow start to my perfect one. I manage to get Zoroark along with some Cinccino’s ready to wave on turn 2 and 3 while he is forced to draw and pass every turn. I manage to get a KO per turn with him having no response and onto game 3 pretty quickly.

Game 3 – This one goes pretty quickly as well. The normal good start of double Yanma isn’t too good against this matchup and he is able to get Tornadus hitting pretty quickly after getting a Shaymin off of a Sage’s Training. He moves damage around freely and continues to Catcher up my Zoroark before they become trouble and it’s downhill from there.

So I end the day on 3-2 which I’m not too disappointed with apart from the lack of Zekrom counter in there that is quick enough to set up. In the end, Gothitelle actually won and George came second with Reshiram/Typhlosion and you’ll be able to hear my thoughts on the happenings of the day along with more results in Saturday’s episode of PokeClass.

Thanks for reading this report and thanks to everyone who recognised and supported me on the day while we were playing.

Make sure you stick around for the updated site soon and stay tuned for PokeClass on Saturday!