A new season begins and with it comes a whole slate of new regional locations. When Baltimore was announced as the first regional of the season I was ecstatic as this was a city I had always wanted to visit. It is great when regionals are in cities of cuisine and culture. The previous season I attended my first regional in the great city of Peoria, Illinois, and while I enjoyed my time there it was definitely not a bustling city full of adventure. What made it even better is that some of my friends were just as excited as me to go. While major tournaments are the perfect place to test your ability as a player it is also an amazing atmosphere to enjoy with friends, and meet new ones along the way.

The only problem with this regional is that it would be played in the Shrouded Fables format which I have hated from the beginning. The format is centralized around Regidrago VStar which is an incredibly problematic cards, and what pushed it over the edge is Kyurem. This deck keeps a lot of the single prize decks out of the format such as Lost Box which makes the Big Basic aggressive decks go unchecked. The single prize decks that are left are pushed to be more aggressive as you can see with the tournament winning deck by Henry Chao. I didn’t enjoy the feel of any of the top tier decks going in, so I tried out every low tier deck that was semi-viable.

Decks I Considered

I tried essentially every deck in the format at one point to find anything that clicked. I am just going to cover the highlights of decks that I seriously considered at one point.

Venomoth/Froslass

This was the most fun deck I played in the format. I tend to gravitate towards decks that could be described as “Impish”. I was first introduced to this deck after scrolling through Limitless tournament results to find something that was fun to play. Through playing the deck I realized that it actually has some good matchups if it can get setup at a good pace.

The goal of the deck is to try to setup item lock turn 2 with Venomoth and pairing that with the secondary effect of confusion it is a very tricky card to deal with. The format is very reliant on item cards such as Earthen Vessel, Rare Candy, Super Rod, and Nest Ball. A turn 2 venomoth can put Charizard is a very rough position as they have draw into their Charmeleons and Charizards. The problem with this card is that the damage output is very low.

Froslass and Munkidori are great partners for this card. The format has centralized on big basics with abilities such as Teal Mask Ogrepon ex, Mew ex, and Fezandipiti ex to name a few. The win condition for this deck can be to just stall out the game until you can reach a critical mass of damage counters on their pokemon which results in multi-prize turns. Below is the list I landed on. I do not remember where I got this list, and what changes I made. If anyone could find the source please let me know!

The deck has a great matchups in Charizard and Regidrago and my win rate was very high into these decks. The grass weakness paired with the item lock really created a tough battle for my opponents. Outside of that most of the format is rather hostile to this deck. Even into those two you can still have very rocky games. I sensed that Ancient Box, Lugia, and Roaring Moon were going to have a massive uptick in the meta. These are horrible matchups for the deck and if I hit these decks a couple of times that could kill the run right there.

The other elephant in the room is that this deck is very inconsistent and the games where you can set up can go for a long time. It is also a deck that can be hard to know when to scoop with, as games often end with multiple knockouts. I hate going to time and it resulting in a tie, and it is worse for my mental than losing. Added onto this a tie is an equivalent to a loss for most players, so it is not something I can afford to do frequently. Going into the meta with a deck that no one has tested against can give you some free games, but at the same time you add time onto the game as players try to read your cards or take their time developing a strategy. At the end of the day I did not think this was the right meta call.

Snorlax Stall

Pre-rotation Snorlax Stall is one of my favorite decks of all time, and the archetype is always an option when I am trying to understand the meta. The deck also looked really good into the meta, and from talking with a friend I became very confident that we have found a good list.

This is the might be the most embarrassing part of the article due to events that will happen later. I have a reputation of being a Snorlax-head at my locals. One of my friends Kenneth Xuan was performing very well across the local scene, and that reignited my interest in the deck. From conversations with him I came to the conclusion that the deck is actually positioned really well at the moment. The deck didn’t gain much from the new set, and it is more of the shift to different wall options that made the spread attractive as an option.

Stall as an archetype is largely determined by the meta, and what options you have to answer said meta threats. Anytime you pick the deck you have to accept that it has plenty of hard counters such as Pecharunt ex and Minior. This is something that scared me off the deck, and more importantly I don’t love playing stall for 9 rounds in a day. It can be a very mentally exhausting deck, and with me not enjoying the current format it didn’t seem like a fun time.

The deck I went with I knew lines like the back of my hand, so I ended up testing and determining the counts for the above list with Kenneth. This is the deck I played the most in the weeks leading up to Baltimore, and knew the matchup spread very well. A lot of our conversations were centered around what is the right counts for the tools, and what the distribution of what the last couple of supporters would be. The last notable exclusion from the deck was dropping a Xerosic’s Machination for a third Miss Fortune Sisters. Our thought process was that in a best of three stalling with Iono is a bad strategy, and the third Miss Fortune Sisters would give you more opportunities to mill off high value item cards. Kenneth was very insistent that this was the right call, and in the end he was completely right.

Kenneth went 7-2 in Day 1, and finished the tournament in 38th place. He even played the deck on stream against Ian Robb. This was an incredibly surreal moment for me, and was the non-food highlight of the weekend. Part of me regrets not going with this list, but so much could have gone wrong. My first three opponent’s would have been favored, but I have no idea what my last 6 rounds would be. In the new format you can only take 2 losses before you are out of day 2. We made the decision to not even tech for Lugia, and it is very possible for me to hit multiple throughout my run. Large tournaments have a lot of variance, and it is perfectly reasonable for me to run into 3 auto loss matchups in the first three rounds. At the same time anything could happen such as Kenneth beating a Lugia in Day 1.

Iron Thorns

This is the deck I ultimately landed on for this event, and has been my go to deck ever since.

Iron Thorns is incredibly disrespected as a deck. It won the world’s championship in the Master’s division, but it has not been considered a serious contender in the format. Earlier I mentioned that I love an impish deck, and this might be the most impish in the meta. A solid percentage of the deck is dedicated to just disruption cards which I find very fun to play. What this deck has over so many of the other ones I played is that it is easy, fun, and a definitive list has been created.

I started with the World Champion list, and only dropped one Lost City and added in a TM Devolution. I think TM Devolution can give you a lot of interesting lines, and in matchups where it is a dead card you can Arven for it as discard fodder for your Earthen Vessel and Techno Radars. I love retro as will be mentioned later in the article and this deck is very similar to how a Base-Fossil deck can feel.

Base-Fossil is just you hitting with your dudes for small damage and rolling dice to decide the outcomes of games. Base-Fossil also has some of the craziest disruption the game has ever had. I really enjoy this gameplay and think it can create some really fun games with a lot of strategic depth. Also Lickitung and Iron Thorns have a very similar stance in their models that I find very funny. Base-Fossil has a lot of skill depth that is not apparent on the surface level, and I believe that Iron Thorns is the same. The deck is all about being efficient in how you take your knock outs, and taking calculated risks based on random chance. Iron Thorns is a deck that has a lot of randomness, and I believe that if you play the deck optimally the luck evens out over 9 rounds.

Intermission: Food and Baltimore Review

Baltimore is one of the best cities I have been to for Pokemon. It is still below New Orleans, but it is on par with San Antonio. So much of what makes a regional city good to me is the cuisine and stuff to do around the convention center. San Antonio had more fun stuff to do around the convention center, but Baltimore had the best food. If the Orioles were in town it would have actually been the best regional location.

A certain part of me cared more about getting crab than having a good performance in Baltimore. Kenneth graciously recommended a fantastic place to eat, and I had one of the best meals of my life. Nick’s Fish House had a fantastic atmosphere and the food was so fresh. Every city claims that their regional cuisine is the best, but Baltimore has had the best seafood I have ever had. Incredibly fresh and being able to see the body of water where the crabs were caught was a great feeling.

Another highlight was R&R Taqueria for the presentation of the food. However, I do not think it was functional as once I picked up my taco all of the garnish immediately fell off. Pickles Pub outside of Camden Yards was reminiscent of the bars you would see in any college town or Wrigleyville in Chicago. The beer was good and I had a rather prodigious burger called the Crabby Patty which was a double cheese burger with a scoop of crab dip on top. This was a fantastic meal to eat before a long trip home to Chicago. The Yard was my dinner on Saturday night, and it was perfectly serviceable hotel food.

The Tournament

I did not get a good night’s sleep and that would come to punish me starting at the third round. I got my ice coffee and made my way to the convention center past the giant line of people who didn’t check in the day before. Pairings were posted and I was ready to go 0-3 drop and play 2010 with whoever wanted to.

Round 1 – Raging Bolt

My opponent was new to the game, and it was his first regional ever. Your first round opponent is a massive lottery and can set the pace for the day. I had a couple mulligans and set up before the round start. We had a very nice conversation about the city and their experience with the Pokemon TCG. I love the before round small talk, so this was a great way to start the tournament.

I always pick blind first. I attach an energy to my lone Iron Thorns and pass. My opponent precedes to start Bolt and benches 2 ogrepons and passes. I begin to set up and start swinging with Bolt Cyclone and creating the engine of Iron Thorns. After I knock out his first Bolt he finally draws into energy, and attempts to Teal Dance. I politely tell him he can’t do that before he draws. He then manually attaches and passes. Next turn he scoops to game 2.

This time he lets me go first again. He then proceeds to bench 2 Bolts and a Squawkabilly ex which he realizes he can not use. I was able to take all 6 prizes before he can take his first. One of the advantages of Iron Thorns is that you can scrape by some easy wins from players who are unfamiliar of the strategy. He was incredibly nice and it was a beginning of a day of great opponents.

This is matchup that is fine if my opponent doesn’t know the optimal strategy to beat this deck.

1-0

Round 2 – Gardevoir

I got incredibly lucky this game. I go first with two thorns attach energy to the active and pass. He opens Klefki and Arvens for TM: Evolution and buddy-buddy poffin. After he evolves the two ralts into Kirlia I draw for turn then play Colress’s Tenacity for DTE and Lost City. With his Klefki in the Lost Zone, and extrapolating his Fluttermane is in the prizes I was able to 6-0 the first game.

The next game I was able to apply immense pressure and end the game in a 6-0. Another fantastically nice opponent would just had really bad luck. He was also new to the game, and ended the day with a very impressive record for his first bout. I personally believe this is a matchup that is slightly Iron Thorns favored, and I was confident in.

2-0

Round 3 – Regidrago

I was feeling good but the lack of quality sleep was really starting to get to me. I sat down across the table from another nice opponent and hit one of the most nerve-racking matchups from my experience prior. Regidrago on the surface should be favored for Iron Thorns, but players have become very keen to how to win the matchup. An Iron Thorn will be two or three shotting a Regidrago Vstar regardless of damage modifiers, and this can give the Regidrago player plenty of opportunities to manually attach the energy.

Once a Regidrago Vstar can attack with Apex Predator the matchup becomes a lot more troubling, as they can hit 200 with Rolling Iron. Now an Iron Thorns takes around 5 attacks to knock out a full HP Regidrago. The goal of the matchup is to Iono and Judge and pray which is a winning strategy for Iron Thorns in various matchups. If played well on both players parts it can be a 50/50, but it is still a matchup with a lot of variance on both side.

I did not play well at all. Game one my opponent setup their board, and he was able to Rolling Thunder me repeatedly for game. One of the tricks of the matchup is that if you hit a Drago with only 120 you have to hit it with 160 on the followup to not lose the game right there. I misplayed a bit on my end and whiffed the second Future Booster Capsule to get that knockout on his lone Drago. The next turn he was able to grab 4 prizes and the game was essentially over.

2-1

Round 4: Lost Zone Giratina

This is an auto-loss. As soon as my opponent played a Giratina V I looked at my hand and tried to brainstorm a win condition. My theory was that if I can just Judge him every turn and pray to hit heads on Crushing Hammers then I should win. I did not and was swiftly beaten! He was a cool guy though.

2-2

Round 5: Charizard

I got a hotdog between rounds and I was ready to get back into the tournament. I prefer Vienna Beef, but the venue was serving Nathan’s Famous.

This is a matchup I was hoping for all day. I was noticing that lists were starting to drop their canceling cologne which is an odd choice. Without that option they can only manually attach an energy every turn. This is too slow to deal with thorns in an efficient way. Both games were a 6-0 on my part as I was able to just apply so much pressure.

Game 2 I lost zoned three of his Charmanders and his lone charmeleon. He ended the game with Dusknoir to give me the last prize. Unless you tech against Iron Thorns you just have to pray to the heavens that the Thorns just bricks and can’t hit any heads.

3-2

Round 6: Loyal Trio Box

This was the craziest deck I played against all day. At first I thought I was up against a Roaring Moon deck and my run was in danger. Nerves were replaced with confusion when my opponent dropped a Okidogi ex on the field. This matchup took a lot of reading on my part, as I forgot a lot of damage output this deck could do. I won game one with the strategy of judge and hammers. However, I was also trying to get insights into what parts of this deck really were problematic.

The deadly combo in this deck is Janine and Okidogi ex which combine can let my opponent do 260 every turn for three dark energy. This is very problematic as it is just a two card combo. This was my undoing in game two, and as I was shuffling up for game three I was sweating hard. For decks like Iron Thorns and Snorlax the hardest matchups can often be the fringe decks where you have to think of the win condition on the fly. Luckily I ran super hot on the third game, and was able to win out.

4-2

Round 7: Raging Bolt

My opponent played this matchup to textbook perfection except for a play towards the end of the second game where he played a little greedy but I was unable to punish it. Raging Bolt has a great Iron Thorns matchup if you just play down 3 Raging Bolts, and rely on Sada and Bursting Roar to make your way through the deck. 240 is a hard number to hit for thorns, but Raging Bolt has no problem hitting 230.

Sandy Shock is also a problematic card as it sets you on uneven prizes, and can clean up a thorn if you were only able to put 210 on it. The Raging Bolt player can also motivate with Squawkabilly ex in order to recover energy on the board, and the upside of this play often out weighs the downsides. It was sad to be knocked out of Day 2 contention, but I was having a lot of fun and wanted to push for a winning record.

4-3

Round 8: Gholdengo

This is a favored matchup but it is one that I always dread to play. Gholdengo is a deck all about drawing and doing an insane amount of damage. One of the really annoying things about this matchup is that the Gholdengo player can just streamline the knockouts on just pure luck. It is a very top deck driven matchup for the Gholdengo player if they don’t run a canceling cologne which my opponent did not.

They played a build with Palkai Vstar, Greninja, and a 1-1 Scizor line which made me play the first game very conservatively as I wanted to get an idea of what he was playing with. In the first game I tried to go for an approach of lost zoning his engine pieces in the form of the Gimmighouls. This is a 6 prize game in most cases which is not an ideal for Iron Thorns as it gives them more time to draw into their outs. This ended up working, and I spent a portion of turns rummaging through his discard to parse what his list was. In the end I won and we went into game 2.

Game 2 he hit every card he needed an was able to snowball me. Game 3 was more interesting as I knew he didn’t have a cologne so I could play more aggressive. I realized that he was having problems getting energy on board, so I did a devolution and lost zone strategy to send two of his gimmighouls to the lost zone leaving him with only a scyther on the bench. He didn’t top deck the scizor so I won the round.

5-3

Round 9: Banette Bombs

This is a matchup that I believed was an autoloss going into it, but I had an epiphany while he was doing his first turn. If can keep a hand of only energy and pokemon I can win. Iron Thorns has a lot of means of getting rid of cards, so every turn I wasn’t under item lock I was trying to Arven for Techno Radar to just be able to discard a card. Another lesson I learned on the fly is that this deck is weak to Judge and late game Iono. This ended up working and I went to game two.

Game two was the opposite of what I wanted. He sent up perfectly, and was able to just hit me with an onslaught of Poltergeist and Cursed Bombs. I shuffled up and went into game 3. He bricked and I was able to execute my strategy of dumping my hand and hitting for 140 every turn for the win.

6-3

Aftermath

I ended the tournament at 352nd place which I am perfectly fine with. I didn’t prepare too much for this tournament, so I can’t be too mad with the outcome. Looking back the best pick for this tournament was Snorlax, but I don’t think I would have as much fun as I did with Thorns. 6-3 is also a solid record, and I think my loses were expected for the most part.

Interestingly enough I didn’t hit any Lugia Vstar or Ancient Box decks in my nine rounds which is very surprising as I believed they were going to be two of the most popular decks in day 1 of the tournament. I did enjoy hitting some interesting decks throughout the tournament.

On Sunday I got my morning ice coffee from Dunkin Donuts, and met up with Mark Nilson to play some 2010 World Championship format before they left for the weekend. We had some great games, and I started to get the hang of the Regigigas deck I have been wanting to learn. After hanging out for a while we were able to attract some more people to play the format with us. At peak we had 6 people in our pod just jamming out the 2010 decks I brought.

The most notable event was my hotel roomie Kenneth Xuan getting put on stream for his Top Cut win and in against Ian Robb. He ended up losing up it was such a fun experience for me to be able to cheer on a friend in person. After his match I led him back to the 2010 tables and we play some Gardevoir vs Dialgachomp.

Perhaps the worst part of the whole trip was flying Southwest Airlines and having my late night flight delayed around 30-45 minutes, and arriving in Chicago at around 11pm.