Hi there. Here is another Pokemon TCG local tournament report from me. I play the Ancient Box deck again on Dec 29, 2024.
It is the same place in Toronto I went to two weeks ago. Some cards were modified in this Ancient deck. I thought I would play again as I had plans to go for Japanese BBQ later in the day in Toronto.
Decklist
I modified by decklist to fit in more Great Tusks. The list is similar to the Champions League Osaka Japan Build that got 2nd place out of 5000 players. Instead of Brilliant Blender I use Secret Box. I use no Munkidori.
Modifications Made
I cut out the two Koraidon from Surging Sparks and added 2 more Great Tusk. Munkidori was removed as a last minute thing for a fourth Pokegear. No Pecharunt ex in the deck.
Before The Tournament Start
This was the Sunday after Christmas. There were more people in attendance for the free local tournament. The prize format was the same where it was you earn one Prize Pack Series Five for each win. If you went 3 wins and no losses then you earn a Promo card too (shown the Pikachu card in previous tournament report).
I think there were around 16 to 20 people there. There was a second group of people there for the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG tournament. That tournament got cancelled for the lack of players.
Round One Versus Gardevoir ex
Before my first round begin the opponent was being friendly and started small talk. He asked me about what I thought about rotation occurring in late March 2025. I told him that it was three months away. It is still a bit of time. Rotation changes the standard format of the Pokemon TCG where only G, H and I regulation mark cards are allowed. Any cards with the F regulation mark would not longer be legal in standard play. Yeah it is moneymaking from the Pokemon Company but it also keeps the game fresh. The old stuff goes away and newer and undiscovered cards can see play.
My first round opponent played Gardevoir ex. As I had Roaring Moon in my deck I should be favoured in theory. At the start my opponent was panicking due to the type disadavantage. My starts were poor and I could not find Professor Sada's Vitality fast.
Early in the game I decided to use Great Tusk in the Active to mill my opponent's cards in the deck. He did manage to use Technical Machine: Evolution to setup more Kirlias and a Scream Tail. He would use Scream Tail to attack my Bench.
I eventually nearly deck myself out due to a horrific Pokestop where I discard three Roaring Moons that I put back with Super Rod. I recall a kid spectator shaking his back when I played Professor Sada's Vitality near the end. It resulted in me having 1 card in deck. There was no way for me to win at that point. He had 2 Prize cards remaining versus my 4. Two turns was not enough to win. I conceded.
Looking back I think I played bad. Even though I did not have early Roaring Moons I should not use Great Tusk.
After the match my opponent mentioned that Great Tusk does bring Psychic Energy to the discard pile. Was that his indirect way of saying Great Tusk helped him out and I should used Roaring Moon more? I don't know.
After the round we were asking the judge and store associate about the conflict between Klefki vs Flutter Mane. If both are in the Active Spot then who wins and whose abilities are negated?
We wanted to know this during the game but the judge was busy with store activities. The answer was that whoever was first in the active has their ability working first. If you go first with Flutter Mane then you shut off the opponent's Klefki in the Active Spot.
Round Two Vs Raging Bolt
My second round opponent was female. She played Raging Bolt with Teal Mask Ogerpon ex. Her deck was kind of blinged out. She was playing with this special illustration rare of Raging Bolt. This card is 100+ CAD. She had money I guess.
This second round was just weird to me. She played a bit too slow to the point where we went past the allotted 30 minutes best of one round timer. Raging Bolt is known to be a straight forward and easy to use deck. Her speed was annoyingly slow with her slow shuffling, slow card searches and even deciding which energy to discard with the Raging Bolt (second) attack.
I was kind of able to keep up in terms of Prize cards. At one point it was 3 Prize cards left for her and 4 for me.
Near the end I found myself struggling to get a good endgame setup. I had Dark energy in the discard for Professor Sada's Vitality but no energy in deck nor hand. As a result I could not really powerup Roaring Moons for attacks. At this point it was past 30 minutes and was at the tiebreaker stage in which I am not too familiar with. It was turn 0 for her, turn 1 me then turn 2 for her and turn 3 me if needed.
I figured that I could not really win from here even with two Counter Catchers in hand. So I conceded. Looking back I could've played it out though.
This loss felt annoying as her slow play was something out of my control. There were spectators though watching. To my right was Snorlax Stall player playing against Charizard ex. Knowing Snorlax Stall it is not surprising that the game there went past 30 minutes. (Who brings Snorlax Stall to a best of 1 format?)
Round Three - A Familiar Opponent
I am 0 wins and two losses at this point. For some reason I was not too sad nor frustrated. I accepted my losses without much complaints. I did have a few thoughts such as "I should not have cut out the Munkidori in the deck" and I should switch to a different deck. Ancient Box does have a bit of a variance. The Radiant Greninja is the only draw engine. You are very vulnerable to Ionos in the late game.
My round three opponent was someone I faced three times before in early 2024. He played Charizard ex in those three games. It has been a while so I don't know what he was playing before this game. This familiar opponent told me he knows what I'm playing. He did watch the snorlax stall game to my right during round two. Generally players would survey the field if they finish their rounds early. This is something I am not a fan of as there is significant information gain for the watchers. It is what it is I suppose.
We start this game. At first I thought it was a mirror match as I saw a Koraidon and a Roaring Moon.
Around turn 2 and 3 I then saw a Roaring Moon ex and a Pecharunt ex. The Latias ex reveal was enough for me to confirm that it was not a mirror match. The opponent was playing Roaring Moon ex Ancient version.
I thought he played too fast as he accidentally did not have enough Ancient cards in the discard. He hit my active Flutter Mane for 80 damage instead of 90 damage. The next turn of his he gets the first knockout.
The details are somewhat fuzzy but I do recall being something like 5 prize cards left versus his 4 prize cards left. Counter Catcher was an option especially since he benched his Latias ex. Latias ex is weak to Dark types so I exploited that. Counter Catcher to bring the Latias ex to the active and hit for more than 210 damage after a bunch of Ancient cards in my discard pile plus weakness.
He then knockouts one of my three Roaring Moons with his Roaring Moon ex and the Calamity Storm attack plus Pokestop Stadium removal.
It comes to my turn, I play Pokestop do a bunch of sequencing to the point I have enough Ancient cards in the discard pile to knockout his 230 HP Roaring Moon ex with my Roaring Moon. (70 damage + 16 Ancient in discard pile = 70 + 160 = 230 damage)
At this point I am too far ahead for him. Plus I had two backup Roaring Moons on the Bench. He conceded knowing that I am too far ahead and have one hit Knockout power on his two Prize Pokemon. I was somewhat disappointed he did not fist bump at the end. Whatever. He might forgotten or some people don't fist bump when they lose. We did talk about a potential trade for next week.
I Went 1W-2L This Time
As a result from the three rounds I went one win and two losses. The two losses were long games where the first game was expected to be long as it was Gardevoir ex. The second game in theory should not have been long but the Raging Bolt player was slow. When I won the third game it was a fast game. The opponent played fast as well which made things dynamic and kind of fun.
As I won the event in my last visit and earned 6 Prize Packs, getting a bad record here was not too too bad. I did not want to go winless lol. I did earn one Prize pack. The pack (not shown here) was not too bad. Notable cards I got were:
- Counter Catcher
- Earthen Vessel
- Iono
These three cards were highly playable. Definitely not complaining here.
Anyone who plays in participating local tournaments regardless of win-loss record can earn one of Pidgey, Rescue Board or Festival Grounds. By the time it came to me there were no more Pidgeys. I got Rescue Board last time so I chose Festival Grounds. I could sell this in a year or two for 10+ CAD or something.
I would have liked at least two wins out of three. Getting one win was not too bad given that there were more people and the competition was tougher. I did not want to go winless. I could try Ancient Box deck again but with Brilliant Blender. Or I could play a different deck as a break.
After the tournament I went to do some errands in Toronto and try out Japanese BBQ. A separate post on Japanese BBQ coming out soon.