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Pokemon TCG Battle Road Spring
Information
WHO: Pokemon Trading Card Game players and the general public
WHAT: Pokemon TCG City Championship; FREE admission, open to the
public
WHEN: May 26, 2007 - June 24, 2007
WHERE: Locations all across North America.
More information about Pokemon TCG Battle Road Spring:
Pokemon TCG Battle Road Spring FAQ
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I played in one of the Pokemon TCG Battle Road Spring
tournaments in my area. This was my second Pokemon Organized Play event,
but my first Premiere Event.
Pokemon TCG Battle Road Spring
The Pokemon TCG Battle Road Spring tournament is the last
event before the National Championships that will be held during July 7-8,
2007, at the Origins International Game Expo in Columbus, Ohio (2006-2007
US Nationals FAQ). And then it concludes at the World Championships
which will be held during August 10-12, 2007, at the Hilton Waikoloa
Village in Kona, Hawaii (2007
World Championships: FAQ).
I haven't played the Pokemon TCG regularly in years, so I'm
definitely rusty when it comes to playing with the newer cards. I met a
guy named Henry at the Pokemon TCG: Diamond and Pearl Prerelease
tournament (which he beat me in our match). He was very generous to lend
me one of his decks for Battle Road (thanks Henry!). The deck he lend me
was a Aggron ex deck, with Starmie (Delta Species) and Gardevoir (Delta
Species). For people that don't know, Aggron ex can deal a lot of damage
with Mega Burn at 100 damage (can't be used again on the next turn). The
other attack is Split Bomb, which does 30 damage to two of the opponent's
Pokemon. Also, Aggron ex has Intimidating Armor, a Poke-Body that makes
the opponent's Basic Pokemon unable to attack or use any Poke-Powers or
Poke-Bodies. Starmie has a Poke-Power called Metal Navigation that allows
me to search my deck for a metal energy card and attach it to Starmie, so
that allows me to get energy cards quick. Gardevoir has the Poke-Power
Energy Jump, which allows me to move an energy card attached to one of my
Pokemon to another Pokemon. So Starmie to collect energy, Gardevoir to
move the energy, and Aggron ex to deal the heavy damage.
So I had to learn this deck really quickly on tournament day
and Henry gave me some quick tips (I had about an hour to prepare before
the tournament started). I'm unfamiliar with a lot of the cards, so I had
to read and make sure I understood what I'm playing with. I didn't have
time for a practice match, so I had to dive into my first match having
never played this deck before.
  
First Match
I started the match with a Ralts and had no other basic
Pokemon in my starting hand (I had a Lairon, but no Aron). Using Ralts'
Collect, I was able to draw a card with that attack. That eventually
helped me to get Aron and then Aggron ex. I had the Rare Candy to evolve
it quickly, but I took a chance by using the Rare Candy on Ralts instead
so I can transfer an energy card on that to Aggron ex. I had three energy
cards on Lairon at the time, but that wasn't enough to use Mega Burn. And
my opponent had evolved Pokemon ready to do some serious damage even if I
did evolve it Aggron ex. I knew if I can attack away with Mega Burn, the
match would be over, but it would be really tough if I had to fight with
Split Bomb. So I used the Rare Candy on Ralts on the bench, and used
Gardevoir's Energy Jump, which was enough to power Mega Burn. To make
matters worse for my opponent, he had a lot of basic Pokemon out (that
couldn't do damage to Aggron ex), and even when he did evolve his Pokemon,
he didn't have any energy cards to attack. With Aggron ex all powered up,
it made quick work on the active Pokemon with Mega Burn, and did serious
damage to the bench's Pokemon with Split Bomb. So it was a quick match and
I won. The deck worked perfectly as it was intended, and I just hoped it
would work as smoothly for the rest of the tournament.
Second Match
My first match showed that getting the right cards at the
right time can mean a quick victory. My second match would be the total
opposite. I got a Gardevoir and Aggron ex in my starting hand, but I
didn't get any Stage 1 Pokemon to evolve it or any Rare Candies. I used
Master Ball twice, and still couldn't get the Pokemon I needed. So
while I was sitting there and couldn't do anything, my opponent was
filling up his bench with plenty of evolved Pokemon that was ready to do a
lot of damage quickly. I lost this match, and heading into the lunch break
my record was 1-1.
Third Match
This was the closest match I played. Again, I wasn't even
familiar with my own cards, let alone my opponent's cards. So I had to
take my time to really think over my decisions. I would sometimes draw a
card and have to read the card to make sure what the card does. I was able
to get Aggron ex out late in the game, but he was able to nullify my
advantage against his basic Pokemon by playing the stadium card Battle
Frontier, which made my resistance to basic Pokemon useless. I was able to
get rid of it by playing my own stadium card, but he had evolved Pokemon
to finish off the Aggron ex, and draw two more prize cards to leave him
with just one. I was left with two prize cards to win the match. I was
able to get a second Aggron ex out (my opponent wasn't too happy to see
it, saying "not another one!"), but I didn't have the energy cards to
power it. If I did, I probably would have won the match, but I lost the
match to drop me to 1-2. This was a much more complex match than my
previous two matches. I had to make a lot of tough decisions and I
probably made several mistakes that cost me the match.
Fourth Match
My fourth match was against Henry's wife. She played a deck
with Wobbuffet, which meant my Aggron ex was perfect against it. The
Wobbuffet couldn't attack, so instead of using my Mega Horn to knock out
Wobbuffet, I decided to pick on the basic Pokemon on the Bench with Split
Bomb that can evolve into Pokemon that can damage me. After quick work on
the bench, a few more Mega Horns and I won the match to raise my record to
2-2.
Fifth Match
My fifth and final match was against Henry, so that made
things really interesting. He had a 3-1 record, and needed a win to
advance to the top four cut. While my chances of advancing to the top four
cut was probably none (I didn't know how to calculate it, some said I had
a chance, some said I didn't). My initial thought was he would probably
have an advantage since he knows exactly what I'm playing (it's his
deck!). But Henry was really getting a good laugh knowing he's playing against me
because it's actually the opposite, he knew that his deck was weak against
my deck. So he thought of his chances of winning was slim to none. I got a Staryu for my starting hand, so I had no choice to play that. Later on I
got Gardevoir out and I was able to do some good damage with Gardevoir. I
had Aggron ex on my bench ready to come out, but Henry was able to attack
it for 50 damage with his Rayquaza ex (ouch). And when I was able to move
it into the active Pokemon position, he was ready for it with an evolved
Pokemon. So I lost the match, and finished with a 2-3 record, and Henry
made the cut for the top four.
The End of the Tournament
Considering I haven't used the deck before and this was my first Premier
Event, I was satisfied with my 2-3 record. Practice makes perfect and that's what I need. I had a lot of fun
playing, though it cuts down on my coverage. I'm able to write about what
happened to me playing, but I'm not able to take many pictures of the
event as I usually do when covering these events (which I'll still
continue to do plenty of). This will probably be the last time I play in a
Premiere Event this tournament season with just Nationals and Worlds left.
I'll probably get more into it during the next tournament season and start
building my own deck and play more. With a new modified format next
tournament season and newer cards coming out, there's plenty of new
strategies to discover and learn.
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