Game 1
Trevore was essentially running a Ross structure with four Beartics as the headline attacker. I knew going into the match that it was a good match up for me, just because I believed that Gothitelle had the advantage in being able to play trainers and hit over the wall.
The first game actually turned out to be quite the chore as we both failed to set up for the first 15 minutes or so. I dropped Tropical Beach early in the game and we both made ample use of it, although I think Trevore probably came out ahead, being able to play most of his cards to set up Vileplume early and Beaching for precisely one card almost every turn.
After getting trainer locked for the first time in the entire tournament, I manually set up a Reuniclus and Gothitelle. Trevore strikes first and I made sure to punish him for it as I KO’d babies on my bench to activate my own Twins while preventing his.
With Sheer Cold in effect, I had to play out my KO’s carefully. Trevore was unfortunately forced to Sheer Cold every turn so that my fully pumped Gothitelle couldn’t one shot him. This allowed me to stack damage on Zekrom, which Outraged for the KO. Trevore only had Beartics to attack with and was forced to KO Zekrom with one of them, allowing me to return KO with the fully pumped up Gothitelle. His third Beartic reengaged the trainer lock, but I dropped Shaymin to allow me to attack with my other Gothitelle + Black Belt.
Seriously...actually, I'm cool with this one
I was now out of energies and had two more prizes to take. A failed collector showed me one more Psychic in my deck, which I later Sage’d for. Luckily, Trevore seemed to also be out of energies. His discard showed four DCEs, which meant that he wouldn’t be able to attack with just two attachments. I continually swung 90 into his Beartic, which his spread to his Gloom, Vileplume, Chansey, and Reuniclus. I held about twenty cards in my hand and was getting close to decking out. I had Jirarchi in my hand and knew that I could score both my KO’s for the win if he didn’t elect to drop the Blissey.
Even if he did drop the Blissey, I had PONT in my hand and it would probably buy enough time for me to restack damage for the Jirarchi again. However, I didn’t know if he had a Seeker available to reuse Blissey. However, this became a mute point as Trevore held out on the Blissey, most likely waiting until the last possible moment to use it, and stacked enough on Vileplume and Gloom for me to get rid of both of them with two heads on Stardust Song.
Advantage, Murray.
Game 2
After we set up, we only had 15 minutes left to play the game. I did my best to give Trevore a fair game, playing at a good pace, but not so quick that I would misplay. Trevore elects to go first and sets up Vileplume on his second turn, leaving me with a dead hand and the daunting task of setting up everything manually.
Luckily, two of his Beartics were prized and he had put himself in the position of top decking for the evolution he needed. I was Eeking every turn and trying to play whatever I could. Unfortunately, I continued to whiff on the Beach. Trevore, on the other hand, attacked into my babies with Powder Snow.
I finally get my Reuniclus up and KO my babies again with the Powder Snow damage and Twin chained for a fully pumped up Gothitelle. I KO his first fully charged (for the Beartic) Cubchoo and he pushes up the other fully charged Cubchoo. He had drew the Beartic from the free prize card that I gave him and used Sheer Cold, but I KO’d another baby and used Shaymin to allowed my other Gothitelle to KO the Beartic. With no Cubchoo ready for action and the prizes matched, Trevore had no play and I was in prime position to roll him.
Yea, we're cool too dawg
Without enough damage on the board to KO any more babies, I KO’d his offerings and enabled him to Twins for the first time in our games. However, he had to set up Beartic very slowly and I take another prize.
With the count 4-2 in my favour, time is called. With the two turns given to me, I had both KOs lined up. However, Trevore had other ideas. After I take my fifth prize, he pushes up Cubchoo and flips heads on Powder Snow to put me to sleep. I fail the sleep check and I am unable to take my final prize!
And so I’m forced to pass my turn, the third turn after time is called, and win by time out/prize count instead of a true legit win of taking all prize cards.
5-1
Top Two vs. Ricky Gao (Grudge Match!)
Game 1
It was actually funny, you see. During deck check, I called out to Ricky and said that we’ll have a rematch in the finals. Ricky pooh-pah’d my enthusiasm and said that he would probably lose to Christian as he had a bad match up against ZPST. However, Ricky managed to drop Christian to 4th place overall flawlessly and I actually get my grudge match!
My memory may be hazy, but apparently the BTCG guys will be uploading a video of the match on their youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheTeamBTCG
Ricky’s BR Report is here: http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?t=155355
Apparently Ricky is undefeated and has been winning all the opening coin flips this tournament. True to form, he goes first. I Pichu anyways and notice that he doesn’t set up Pansear. Could it be that he’s running 1-1 and it’s prized? Ricky confirms (what a nice guy!) and proceeds to catcher up one Solosis and snipes the other off the bench. I follow up his boss move with a pretty good misplay. I rare candy Reuniclus and Twins for Gothitelle and something else. I knew I couldn’t get a Twins chain going, but I was tired and forgot that I needed a Switch to get my Reuniclus out of the active spot! Whoops.
So he promotes Cincinnos and KO’s the Reuniclus and I promote Gothitelle. I’m definitely tired here as I try to set up with Solosis again, feeling safe with the trainer lock in place, but forgetting that Yanmega just snipes it off the bench. Whoops!
This does buy me some time and I manage to catch up in prizes. Ricky is ahead in the count 2-1 and does an epic misplay of his own. He calls out “Linear Attack on Gothitelle”, tapping the active Gothitelle and I stare at him in confusion. The Judge says that it’s my option if I want to let him take it back and I felt like such a jerk as I put 40 on my Gothitelle. I apologize and Catcher up the benched Mincinno and KO it, leaving Ricky with no way to take a prize on his turn.
Advantage, Murray.
Game 2
Ricky elects to go first and attaches a DCE to his active Yanma. He takes back the move and attaches to the benched Mincinno instead and I don’t say anything. Mincinno uses Last Resort on my Pichu and Ricky scores the heads for the KO.
I communicate and I’m lucky that my other Pichu is not prized. This time Ricky drops the Pansear and I know I’m in a world of hurt. However, I don’t scoop right away, as we still had plenty of time left for the whole match. Not even when his triple KOs Pichu, Cleffa and Solosis :p I play out my entire hand and get a Gothitelle active. After top decking nothing for two turns and losing the Gothitelle, I scoop.
Deuce!
Game 3
This time I start and I burn quite a few resources to get Pichu out right off the bat. Ricky benches Pansear and I unwittingly attach an energy on Solosis by mistake. I end up burning a bit more resources to get Shaymin just so that I can put that energy in its rightful place. Ricky rattles off a few Last Resorts and gets some and fails some. This allows me to Twins into a fast set up and I end up with an amazing board with a fully charged Goth active, two benched Zekroms with 40 damage and a DCE each, and Reuniclus.
I didn’t really need to prize match as Ricky was doing well to snipe my benched babies. We end up 2-2 in prizes and I get the first KO. Unable to prevent any follow up KO, Ricky scoops.
6-1
And that’s the story of how I lucked my way to first place!
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