Hi there. Here is another Pokemon TCG tournament blog by me. I enter a Local League Challenge again.
A League Challenge is one level higher than a local casual tournament. From a competitive standpoint, a Pokemon TCG League Challenge is the lowest tier of competition. The matches are in a best of one format.
I visit the Hairy Tarantula store again in Toronto. I was here two weeks ago too. This store is probably my alternate second store. I don't like visiting the same one store for local tournaments. It is better for me to mix it up and face other players and decks.
Reused photo.
The tournament fee is 10 CAD which is I think standard. You get one Prize Pack Series 7 booster pack and a possibility of more if you do well.
There is a note that if there are more than 10 players then there is more prizing available.
For the number of rounds, it goes by base 2. If there are 4 to 8 players then you have 3 best of one rounds. (2 to the power of 3 is 8.) If there are 9 to 16 players, then you have 4 rounds (2 to the power of 4 is 16). At this event we had 12 Master Players (age 18+) and 3 players under 18. These 3 young players were all accompanied by their dad.
Everyone plays against each other including the kids. It is an age modified tournament. The kids are in their own division when it comes to records and prizing.
For my deck, I play Raging Bolt ex with the Solrock & Lunatone engine. This Solrock & Lunatone build of Raging Bolt ex is not a popular version. It is unknown if it is good compared to the standard Hoothoot and Noctowl builds.
With Noctowl you can find what you want but you wait a turn. With Solrock and Lunatone, you have more draw power and can attack with Solrock for 70 damage. The problem with Solrock and Lunatone is that you are limited to RNG by your drawing of cards versus choosing the Trainers in the Noctowl version.
Decklist (See image below)
Pokémon: 10
1 Latias ex SSP 76
3 Raging Bolt ex TEF 123
2 Lunatone MEG 74
1 Sandy Shocks ex PAR 108
3 Teal Mask Ogerpon ex PRE 12
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
1 Mew ex MEW 151
2 Solrock MEG 75
1 Slither Wing PAR 107
1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 169
Trainer: 16
3 Fighting Gong MEG 116
2 Boss's Orders SHF 58
1 Energy Switch SVI 173
1 Battle Cage PFL 85
1 Energy Retrieval SVI 171
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
2 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Pal Pad SVI 182
1 Penny SVI 183
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
2 Area Zero Underdepths PRE 94
1 Iono PAL 185
4 Professor Sada's Vitality PAR 170
1 Crispin PRE 105
3 Ultra Ball SVI 196
3 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
Energy: 3
5 Basic {F} Energy SVE 6
3 Basic {L} Energy SVE 4
5 Basic {G} Energy SVE 9
Total Cards: 60
My first round opponent was the same round one opponent from 2 weeks ago. My feelings were mixed at this time. I thought he played Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex again so I chose going second on my first turn. It was Dragapult ex with Dusknoir.
My opening turns were not very good. This led to below average setups for me while my opponent took his time in setting up his board.
I did find it somewhat odd that my opponent did not attack sooner. Maybe he wanted to find an opening or something. This gave me some time to catch up on setup.
In the late game, there was one turn where I missed an attack. At this point, I knew it was game over for me. There was no way I can pull off a comeback win. There was second Dragapult ex at the back for a revenge knockout win.
I did what I could but I kind of suffered from some bad luck. Maybe there were a few bad decisions from me in hindsight too.
My second round opponent was a Dragapult ex player as well.
My luck and gameplay was not too bad here for the most part. The opponent gets a super lucky Turn 2 where he evolves 3 Dreepys into Drakloaks. I can still win from here.
I did take a early lead of 3 prize cards to his 6 prize cards. Then there this one turn where the opponent uses Iono to reduce my hand size to 3 cards. These 3 cards I got were useless at the time. This results in me having a non-attacking turn. Then I lose the next turn where the opponent takes all 6 Prize cards in one turn. I am aware that Dragapult ex decks can pull off multiple knockouts but I went from having a good lead to just losing. The RNG felt kind of dumb for me.
Maybe I should have knocked out a Duskull or Dusclops instead of his Fezandipiti ex.
This section is short. After going 0 wins, 2 losses, I get no opponent. This is a bye or free win. Very nice.
It has been a while since I got a bye. I'll take it plus I won't go last.
I used this spare time to spectate a youngster with a Gardevoir ex deck against a Dragapult ex player. Gardevoir ex deck won here. The Dragapult ex player was a returning player after a year. He only practiced his deck for 1 day. This resulted in him being rusty and not knowing how the popular decks play. The kid won.
My round 4 opponent was the kid I was spectating. When I found out, I was not looking forward to this matchup against Gardevoir ex. My record against Gardevoir ex as Raging Bolt ex is not the greatest. It may be a 30% to 40% win rate. Gardevoir ex decks can attack you in different ways, abuse Counter Catcher & Iono, Munkidori and Scream Tails to win the Prize race.
My start in this game was actually okay. The youngster's start was not that good. I kind of take an early lead after 3 turns. Knockout 2 Munkidoris and a Ralts for a 3 Prize Lead in the early game.
In the mid game I do choose to knockout his Gardevoir ex with my Raging Bolt ex and Boss's Orders. The youngster was not happy by this. This meant I made a good decision. I am one Prize card away from winning. He had 4 Prize Cards left.
The opponent's next turn had Rare Candy to go from Ralts to a second Gardevoir ex and Iono. Iono disrupted my hand down to 1 card. I was kind of worried about this. This is typical Gardevoir ex comeback stuff.
I get lucky next turn as the single card was a Judge. For the turn I also drew a Nest Ball to check my deck. Playing Judge got me the cards I needed for the final Knockout and win. I got lucky at the end but I needed that.
I end up at 2 wins and 2 losses after starting 0 wins and 2 losses. At round 3, I knew that I could rebound and try to go for 2 wins and 2 losses. Going 2W and 2L can possibly get you in the top half of the standings. There was a small prize if you got 2 wins.
I end up at 6th place out of 12 players in the Masters division. This is really good given a bad start. My luck in this tournament was okay and my gameplay was good overall. I don't think I played perfectly but I don't think I misplayed that much.
Round 1 had me with a bad start and missed some key attacks late game, Round 2 was me with decent luck except for missing the one attack. Round 3 was lucky and round 4 was lucky against a deck I was kind of expecting to lose against.
My round 1 opponent had 3 wins and 1 loss going 3rd place. The round 2 opponent I had went 2 wins and 2 losses and placed 5th. The record of my round 4 young opponent was unknown as I did not check. The opponents I had were not easy. The level of play at this place is higher than the regular store I go to whenever I head out to Toronto.
Looking back at this event, I do have to fix my Dragapult ex matchup. Maybe bring back this Raging Bolt to bench snipe Duskulls or maybe even Drakloaks. Back to the drawing board in terms of changing this build of Raging Bolt ex.
Here are some prizes I got plus the bonus pack with Arven.
The one prize Pack series Seven was from the tournament fee. As I got 2 wins, I got a second pack.
The event overall was enjoyable. I do plan to visit this store again as I really like their comfortable, open and spacious playing area. They only hold Pokemon TCG League Challenge tournaments one Sunday per month.
Thank you for reading.
