Underdog Story – Autumn Battle Roads 2011 Report
West Islip, New York – 10/2/2011
Hello everyone, my name is Andrew and today I am going to be bringing you a Battleroads report from New York. First, I would like to say thank you to PokémanDan for letting me post this here. I greatly appreciate the support and hope to submit future articles here in addition to this one! Second, I would like to say that the Battleroads I am reporting on is a little old. I had decided to write a report for one of my Battleroads early on, but I wanted to wait until I finished the two I was going to be competing in. The first is my favorite, so that is the one I am going to be writing on.
Early on, I decided that I didn’t want to play either Reshiram or Zekrom at Battleroads. Despite how competitive Battleroads had become due to the addition of Championship Points, I felt that the Autumn Battleroads were still a great way to test out various deck ideas before larger tournaments started up. One idea I really wanted to try out for myself was a Stage 1 deck that involved using Cinccino and Zoroark to deal a lot of damage fast. Cinccino’s ‘Do the Wave’ attack does 20 damage times the number of benched Pokémon you have on the field. That means you can do up to 100 damage for a Double Colorless if you have a full bench. Zoroark’s ‘Foul Play’ let you copy one of your opponent’s attacks and throw it back at them for just Double Colorless Energy. You could also use Special Darkness Energy to increase the power of the attacks Zoroark could copy. That means you could potentially get a one-hit-knockout against Reshiram or Zekrom.
The biggest weakness this deck has and one I noticed right away was the fact that it was very frail. It is a glass cannon, dishing out a lot of damage quickly but not very capable of taking damage itself. The biggest threat I saw was Donphan. Both Cinccino and Zoroark 
have a Fighting type weakness, making them easy knockouts for any Donphan I may come against that day – and I don’t have Yanmega. So I had to get creative and figure out a way to counter the Donphan threat. While looking through my binder, I stumbled across an old friend of mine from Undaunted. The normal Umbreon has an attack called ‘Moonlight Fang.’ For a Darkness Energy, you can do 30 damage. If it’s a Special Darkness Energy, you do 40 damage. Then, on your opponents next turn, Umbreon can’t be attacked by any Pokémon that have Poké-Power’s or Poké-Body’s. Even though the damage output was low, I really liked the idea of using that against Donphan decks. Since Donphan usually runs alongside Yanmega, that would make Umbreon a pretty good wall to send out. Both Donphan and Yanmega have Poké-Body’s, which means that Umbreon would not be hit by either of their attacks after a Moonlight Fang.
After putting together all the cards, I saw that all I needed was a couple of Pokémon Catcher’s and one more Zoroark and I would be ready for the tournament. A week or so before, I had purchased a good deal of Emerging Powers packs to see if I could get some good pulls from the set as well as some Pokémon TCG Online codes. While I did manage to pull three Gothitelle and a few Max Potions, I was not able to pull a single catcher. I had a week left to go before that first Battleroads, so I ordered the cards I needed online. I got the Zoroark in good time… but the evening of the October 1st came around and the Pokémon Catcher’s I had ordered had still not arrived. A little bit angry that my cards hadn’t arrived yet, I went online to see what the hold-up was. To my horror, there was some kind of weird glitch in PayPal and the payment I sent never went through. I would be going into the Battleroads Tournament with Pokémon Reversals – there were no Catchers in my deck.
I know I had no one to blame but myself for not catching the error soon enough. I also knew that I would be at a disadvantage for not having any Pokémon Catcher’s in a very Catcher-heavy format. Still, I remained determined to win and played my best. My final deck design wound up running Cinccino, Zoroark, Umbreon, Weavile, and Cleffa. I got a good night’s rest the night before, woke up early to get to the Battleroads on time, and readied myself for a day of Pokémon. We had less than 32 Masters competing, so there would be no kicker points. The match-ups get posted and I begin round 1.
Round 1 – Vs. Donphan/Yanmega/Zoroark (“Stage 1’s”)
First round and I am immediately paired up against my worst match-up. He flips over a Yanma and Phanpys while I start with an active Sneasel and benched Minccinos. My hand isn’t too great either, as I don’t have a single Supporter in hand to get the ball rolling. Fortunately, my opponent’s start wasn’t that great either. My top deck was incredibly lucky, pulling a Professor Oak’s New Theory for a fresh hand of six. I evolve to Weavile to get a look at my opponent’s hand and notice he doesn’t have much to work with. I claw snag a Donphan and begin working on setting up Umbreons and Cinccinos.
Over the next couple of turns, he is able to take an early knockout against a Cinccino. However, I put up Umbreon as my wall the next turn. After that, he’s forced to take snipe knock-outs, but is unable to really do much with it as I keep evolving my bench to always keep him out of range of a knock-out. He is also unable to match my hand on a few turns, making Yanmega’s PokéBody worthless. Meanwhile, I keep powering up Umbreon with Special Darkness and Pluspower’s, boosting my low-power 30 damage attack to 50 or 60 damage attacks, always putting Yanmega in two-hit knockout range. I hold onto Double-Colorless Energy, knowing I can use them with Cinccino or Zoroark when needed. I manage to drag the game out and make a comeback. His poor start combined with my ability to stall with Umbreon gave me the game. I take my last knockout against his Zoroark – I only had to knockout one Donphan to win the game. I move ahead with a record of 1-0.
Round 2 – Vs. Magnezone/Emboar (“MagneBoar”)
I knew a lot about this match-up from what I’ve read, but I don’t have too much 
experience against it. I started again with Sneasel while she leads with Magnemite. I know that Magnezone Prime has a Poke-Power, so I start to set up another Umbreon alongside Cinccinos and Zoroarks while my opponent works on Emboars and Magnezones. She isn’t completely sure what to make of this until I sent out an Umbreon to stop her Magnezone from attacking me. She starts getting Catcher knockouts, burning two energy at a time to knock out two 60 HP basics. She’s taken a lead, but I know I can make an easy comeback if she keeps running through resources like that. I continue to wall her with Umbreon and take my first prize. I notice she puts down a Rayquaza – Deoxys Legend on her bench and had no energy on it. Seeing it as a future threat and an easy two prizes, I play my first reversal of the day. To my delight, I rolled heads, pulling up the big Legend card. I switch and sent out Cinccino with a Double Colorless Energy.
By this point, my bench is full and I’m able to hit the Legend for weakness, taking two prize. Just as I suspected, she burned through resources too quickly. She retaliates the next turn and knocks out Cinccino with another Lost Burn, but from there it’s all downhill for her. Umbreon continues to wall when needed and I get quick knock outs with Zoroark and Cinccino. I take my last prize by foul playing Lost Burn to knock out her last Magnezone. I finish round 2 at 2-0.
Round 3 – Vs. Tornadus/Zekrom/Shaymin/Pachirisu (“TZPS”)
In this match, ‘TZPS’ really demonstrates just why it’s the best deck in our current format. I start slow with only a couple of basics and he starts with a Tornadus. Immediately I’m worried that he may get a turn one knockout, but he seems to be short the energy for it and passes. I’m able to get a few more basics out, bracing myself for a very quick exchange of prizes. The next turn he takes his first knockout while I struggle to get a couple of Zoroarks and Cinccinos ready. I manage to come back briefly with Zoroark’s Foul Play, but he immediately follows up with another knock out. Eevees and Umbreons turn into hand fillers or easy prizes during this match as Umbreon’s Moonlight Fang becomes worthless. There isn’t a lot to say after this point. The pattern follows and he’s able to take six prizes while I only take three. My record falls to 2-1.
Break-Time
After round 3, we leave for a 40 minute break. I grab a couple slices of pizza and begin to wonder if adding Umbreon was a good idea. It did help me with my first two rounds, but I know that it won’t help me at all against Zekrom or Reshiram. Even though I already lost one match, I know that if I power through and win the next two matches, I can definitely make top cut.
Round 4 – Vs. Reshiram/Emboar (“ReshiBoar”)
Lunch break ends and the next round starts. He flips over Reshiram and I’m immediately 
worried that Umbreon could have the same effect this game that it had last game. Fortunately for me, his hand is horrible. I lead with a Sneasel and a benched Minccino. By the second turn, I’m able to get both Cinccino and Weavile in play as well as a bunch of Basics. His side of the board is still relatively empty with just Reshiram active. I use Weavile’s Claw Snag to reveal a hand full of Basic energy, a single Ability Emboar, and a Pokémon Collector. I immediately get rid of the Collector, leaving him no easy way to get Tepigs. He does manage to draw into a second Reshiram, but that doesn’t save him. The following turn, I get Zoroark set up with a Double Colorless Energy and retreat Weavile. With Zoroark active, I’m able to Foul Play for a knockout almost every turn using Pluspower and Special Darkness Energy. I draw six straight prizes while he only gets two. It feels like a cheap victory since I stopped him from doing anything fast enough once I removed that Collector, but that’s how the game goes sometimes and I move onto the fifth round with 3-1.
Round 5 – Vs . Reshiram/Typhlosion (“TyRam”)
At the start of the game, I learn that my opponent is the only player to have a 4-0 record that day. I know that I’m going to be in for a tough match. My worst fears for this match come to life when I start with both my decks Eevees. Things only get worse when I use Pokémon Collector my first turn and realize that I only have access to one Zoroark this game – the other two are prized. I bench two Zoruas and a Cleffa. I’m forced to pay the retreat cost to bring up Cleffa and Eeeek. He takes off right away. In a blur of Reshiram, Cyndaquil, and even a Judge, my poor start becomes even worse. Typhlosion comes out next turn. He takes six prizes to my one and I lose game 5 quickly. My first Battleroads this year ends at 3-2.
Report Wrap-Up
At the end of my last match, I did a little homework and found out that there were only two possible 4-1 players. That meant that one 3-2 player would make it to top cut. I knew I had a chance because I had a pretty high resistance. My hopes of top cut are dashed when I learned I finished in 5th place.
Still, all things considered, I’m happy with how my deck performed. The Reversals I put in did hinder me some, but I rolled more heads that day than I did tails, so it worked out well for me in the end. I’m not really too sure what to think of Umbreon. Eevee and Umbreon were at the root of both my loses, but they were also key players in my first two victories. After thinking through the first two matches, I came to the conclusion that I could have probably won round 2 without Umbreon. My odds of winning both my lost games would have also risen without Umbreon. So, in the end, Umbreon was a poor decision on my part and I should have gone for more consistency.
Still, the day made for an incredibly awesome underdog story and I learned a lot from the days experiences. That night when I came home the first thing I did was place the order for Pokémon Catcher using the Troll and Toad website. The next thing I did was remove the Umbreon line and replace it with more Weavile and trainers for consistency. It took a full 8 days for my order of Pokémon Catchers to arrive, meaning I had to play another Battleroads without them. Talk about bad luck. I ended up finishing that day with a 3-3 record. My second Battleroads experience consisted of four matches against ‘TZPS,’ a Serperior rogue deck, as well as one match against Gothitelle. This just further shows the Dominance of TZPS in our format. I won against two TZPS decks and against my Gothitelle matchup. My loses were to two other TZPS decks and the Serperior rogue, a bulky deck that my quick hitters couldn’t punch through.
While I don’t get a Victory Cup this Battleroad Season, it was an enjoyable experience and I learned a lot about the deck I chose to play these last few weeks. I’m considering testing Simisear from Black and White in it. I’ve heard it helps make the matchups against Zekrom and Reshiram easier. I’ve also decided to not worry about my Donphan counter when using this deck. While Donphan is a threat, its use has gone down a bit, especially in my area.
Thanks for reading my Battleroad report you guys. I hope to bring you more articles soon!
