This is the second of a two part article series outlining my journey at the 2022 Indianapolis Regional Championships. If you missed part one, read it here. In this article, I will recap the tournament and give some of my personal takeaways from the event.
Round 1: Arceus / Beedrill LL
Round 1 was an absolute blur. Once my opponent flipped over an Arceus and attached a Grass Energy I knew I was in for a fight. The Beedrill flowed effortlessly from the deck both games which put on a bunch of pressure. I simply couldn't get a meaningful three Basic Energy which is important to deny the Beedrill and I get checkmated in two quick games. Oh, I also started my lone Crobat V in both games. What a way to start the day.. Any Arceus matchup becomes infinitely tougher if you go second because they have way more control of their Energy. In any case, I wasn't able to hit an early Hammer in game 2 and that was a wrap.
Round 2: Sylveon WLW
I was relieved to face a Sylveon in round two. I hadn't expected to see one, but of all the Arceus based decks this is one of the easier ones because they generally don't play as much Basic Energy as other Arceus decks. Additionally, their Arceus lines are usually much thinner which means a higher chance to whiff the Arceus VSTAR. I'm able to get the lock up quickly, hit a few Hammers and take the win in the series. I get a bit unlucky in game 2 as I run out of Energy rather quickly and he's able to evolve his Crobat into the VMAX to deny me an easy last two prizes, but I eventually win a quick game 3.
Round 3: Arceus / Duraludon LWL
This matchup was absolutely hilarious. The whole first game, I was wondering...does my opponent play supporters? Though they played maybe one draw supporter in game one, they were still able to get up the ideal win condition: Duraludon with three Energy and a Choice Belt. For the record, I don't ever think it's correct to evolve to the Duraludon VMAX since the Duraludon V can take OHKOs without Choice Belt. In any case, my opponent wins a game one while really not playing many cards! Game two I'm able to keep Energy off the board and KO the Arceus, but game three is basically a repeat of game 1 and I take a loss to go to 1-2.
Round 4: Ice Rider Calyrex / Arceus WLW
This was probably my most enjoyable opponent on the day because you could tell he was just so excited to be playing in this event. But that excitement didn't come without nerves and I had to prevent a number of gameplay errors that could have been escalated. This matchup is near impossible if they are able to stream the Calyrex VMAX as it can do 250 for only two Energy AND can be powered up in one turn with Melony + attachment. I won a game one where my opponent wasn't able to get his Bibarel up and running, and found myself in a highly unfavorable game two scenario. After his second Melony, I go ahead and scoop to a game 3 knowing I'll have to play extremely fast to take a win. I get going quickly, and he stumbles a bit. I'm able to take advantage and use Fluffball Star to KO his only Ice Rider. Turns out, only having to attack into Arceus makes the matchup way better! Game three ends in a win in Turn 1 of time.
Round 5: Arceus / Duraludon WW
My opponent here was also extremely pleasant. It's fun meeting people who know me from the stream, YT, the podcast, or Twitter. You guys are awesome. In game one, I only take a KO because he uses Arceus to power up a benched Duraludon V instead of the VMAX he got out with a SS Mustard. I am able to use Fluffball Star for 4 Energy with a Path to the Peak in play to take the KO. Knowing that my routes in this matchup become a lot easier when only dealing with Arceus, I think it's ideal to Zacian and attach to one Whimsicott in order to make the Fluffball play on a benched Duraludon T2. Game two, he doesn't find much of anything and I'm able to win.
Round 6: Urshifu / Moltres WW
Another solid matchup. This can get sketchy if they know how to play the matchup and play appropriate techs (the basic Water to attach with Inteleon SSH is a big one), but he stumbled to get much of a setup in either game. The end of game one is moderately close as he has a route to win, but ends up being one card short of the win thanks to my hand disruption. Thanks Marnie!
Round 7: Arceus / Beedrill LWL
Despite both of us playing for forever, this was the first tournament I played Xander Pero. I knew the matchup a bit after having faced Nathan and his Arceus / Bees deck Round 1 - however I prized my Zacian in my two losses! Again, if I can get the early three Basic Energy Whims, I feel pretty good as I can build up another three Basic Energy attacker with a Raihan and attachments later. I ended up going second which also put me behind the 8-ball. In any case, I find myself with a route to win/tie in Game 3. All I need to do is hit one of the two Crushing Hammer heads to prevent his Arceus from being able to attack. I flip the first: Tails. I flip the second: TAILS. Oof. Since time was called, I believe the outcome would have been a tie had the flips gone my way, but a loss hurt since it pushed me out of contention for Day 2 at a 4-3 record. But all hope was not lost! I could still get some crucial points - and with since I only needed 44 points to close out the invite, every point matters.
Round 8: Mew VMAX WW
Finally! A Mew VMAX matchup. Apparently they were all over the top tables and I finally get the chance to play against it. This matchup can get tough if they play multiple Basic Psychics (which I believe my opponent did), but the combination of Path + Whims attack + Hammers/Fans often is too much to endure. This is another matchup where Zacian plays a MASSIVE role because you can get two Whimsicott down with an Energy attached which means even if they KO a Whimsicott, you have another ready to respond. Two quick games fly by as my opponent is unable to get much of anything going.
Round 9: Sylveon WW
At 5-3, it's appropriate to consider tieing to shoot for Top 256 points. 30 points VS 40 points really doesn't mean anything at the end of the day since we don't have locals in this Covid-interrupted season. As we are shuffling, I ask my opponent if they is open to the ID. They say they'd like to see the matchup first. I oblige. As soon as I flip over a Whimsicott to their Sylveon, they extend the hand. But your boy love to play some poke and I also didn't feel like possibly whiffing points, so with a favorable matchup, I decide to play it out. I win easily to salvage a 6-3 finish.
After the dust settled, I finished at 127th place, good enough for 40 championship points! This puts me at 496, needing only 4 points to finish the invite. I'm relieved to get closer, but also disappointed at what could have been. My matchups were not particularly favorable for Whimsicott (I was hoping to face more Mew and Urshifu), but at the end of the day, I did what I could with a deck that I was proud of.
Here's how each of my opponent's finished on the day. As you can see, only two of my opponents (Xander and Nathan) made Day 2, coincidentally both with Arceus Beedrill decks! The rest of the players finished with average records, but that's much to be expected when you start 1-2 & 4-3.
Props:
Having a hotel room attached to the convention center
Fans coming up and saying they enjoy the content
Steak N' Shake
FGG booth for having every card I needed
The Columbus driving crew
Riley Hulbert for finishing in Top 16
My opponent's for being extremely friendly
The staff for a well-run tournament
Slops:
Being 4 points away from an invite!
Having to leave Indy
Steak N' Shake the day after
Thanks for reading and make sure to cop a BUSTED WHIMSICOTT SHIRT in the store ;)