Week 1: (20th December to 22nd December) Malaysia Regional
So I started the week with my last set of classes for the next few weeks before our break and right after that it was off to Kuala Lumpur on the Friday for the Malaysian Regionals 2019-2020, which would also be my first ever Regional. My confidence going into that one was not that high, I did very poorly at the Singapore SPE with what was my comfort deck in Turbo Zard (Reshiram & Charizard-GX).
I tested out Mewtwo & Mew-GX, thinking that's the deck I should go with for the Regional but I could tell I wasn't playing it right or optimally in the lead up to my trip so I brought along a few back up decks just in case. And in the end, I did switch my decks for the Regional, going for Charizard from Team Up, that being my other comfort deck and going for the surprise element. I knew my matchups quite well with this one, something I couldn't say for Mew3 so why not roll the dice with this Stage 2 deck.
Round 1 vs Malamar WW
Yup first matchup was the one I feared the most, Malamar! Traditionally Charizard's worst matchup ever but the combo of Hoopa and Ninetales helped me get the win out of this match. Did not expect that. My surprise tech of Victini also helped. Didn't expect that win, good start to the Regional. But it all went downhill from here.
Round 2 vs ADP/BuzzMosa LL
Not the worst matchup for me. In fact I was feeling good about this because I knew how to win this match. Sadly Zebstrika was prized in the first game and I just couldn't get out of the constant Reset Stamps. I did get close to winning but missed getting the Welder I needed. Game 2 was a similar story, kept getting Reset Stamped after taking the first big KO and once again missed the win by missing one piece, this time the Fire Crystal.
Round 3 vs ADP/Spiritomb LL
This one is an autoloss. Once ADP hits the GX, no coming back for me since I can't trade the prizes well.
Round 4 vs Dark Box WLT
This one really pissed me off. First game went smoothly, I was favoured in this matchup if he couldn't get his Guzzlord out. Second game was just bad. I kept missing pieces I needed to take out the last KO on any of his Tag Teams and that allowed him to come back and take the win. I almost lost the whole round in game 3 by having just one Bliztle to start off and passing my first turn. Thankfully a top drew a Prof Oak to pretty much force a draw. Still that should have been a win too.
Round 5 vs TurboZard LWL
My Charmanders kept getting picked off one by one in the first game. He couldn't set up while I got my Charizard up by turn 2 in game 2 to give me a straight forward win. Game 3 was pretty much the same as game 1.
Round 6 vs Mewtwo & Mew-GX LWT
Cross Division killed me in game 1, I had a hard time setting up. He had a hard time setting up in game 2 and Charizard swept two Tag Teams for the win. Game 1 took to long so neither of us could do much for game 3.
Round 7 vs Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX WLW
Finally a set where I had normal games. Got my ideal set ups in games 1 and 3 to take the games. Lost in game 2 because I took too long to set-up.
Round 8 vs Mewtwo & Mew-GX WW
Had the perfect set-up in game 1, Charizard up with 5 energies by turn 2 to take out the first Mewtwo and a quick game 1. Similar story for game 2, I got the first big KO before he could do anything much.
Round 9 vs ADP-GX/Keldeo-GX LL
Could not set-up in either games. The moment he had used his GX, I still had no answer to take out ADP.
Ended 160th out of the 282 players with a score of 3/4/2. Not what I wanted, my aim was to simply get more wins than losses and I couldn't even achieve that. Other aim was to be in top 100 and yup bottom 100. So my first regional experience was a complete let down, I just wasn't prepared well enough and didn't play well with a deck I knew so well. What made my day worse was the fact that there was another Charizard TEU in the field and that guy just missed out on a top 32 finish to get himself points. Yup, the deck was good enough to do that, I just wasn't the guy to pull it off.
Week 2 (23rd December to 29th Decemer) Japan Trip within Japan
Right after the KL Regional, I was back on the plane to Singapore to pack up my stuff just to head off to the airport on the same day to head off for my final adventure as a 20s and my first as a 30s in Japan.
We landed in Tokyo on Monday noon and just went shopping around Tokyo for the first day. Second day we were in a plane yet again, this time to Nagasaki. Really cool place, lots of history surrounding the place, most of it relating to the World War 2. I liked the fact that we were travelling around in a tram, similar to how it's like in Melbourne, Calgary and San Francisco.
Got to visit the Huis Ten Bosch theme park, for a second I thought I was in the Netherlands. The area was modelled to look like it. Windmills and all! And yes cheese too. There was even a Teddy Bear museum in there too. After that it was off to Sasebo to the observatory tower to have an amazing view from high up.
3 days later and we're off to Fukuoka. Saga was a nice spot, having a tour around one of their shrines, a must do for travellers! We were staying in Hakata and sure enough there was a Pokemon Center there. Not the biggest one I've seen but of course I had to get some stuff there. Got to visit the Dazaifu shrine, Ohori Park, Nishi-Karatsu and yup had to go another observatory, this time at the top of Mt Kagamiyama, the view there was even better. Especially as we reached there just as the sun was setting.
Week 3 (December 30th -January 5th) Osaka, Tokyo, Wrestle Kingdom 14!
Time to leave Hakata but before heading back to Tokyo we took a 4 hour stop over in Osaka. Would love to visit the place for real next time, looked amazing. Yes there was a Pokemon Center there too, and the Osaka one was easily the best Center I've been to yet, it was huge! They even had an area for TCG and held a league challenge when I was there, sadly in expanded format.
For the next few days we did our usual stuff, exploring Akihabara, Shinjuku and Shibuya mostly. Shibuya had a new mall there and it's 6th level was the best bit. There was a Nintendo Store, a Capcom Store, a Pokemon Center and a pop-up Digimon themed store! The perfect place for us gamers eh?
Didn't do much for my 30th birthday, the best part was stumbling across this amazing area in Ginza at the rooftop of one mall. There was a lazer show around the park with some lights displays to go with it. I had way too much fun with it.
Finally got into the Nintendo Store on the 3rd and well, it had Nintendo store but there wasn't much for me to get there, all I got was a pen and a pin of good ol' Mario. Pokemon Center Shibuya was alright, and of course I spent another $50 there.
And finally January 4th. Wrestle Kingdom day! The biggest wrestling even in Japan, perhaps the 2nd biggest in the whole world. It was my 3rd year in a row watching some of the best wrestling matches inside the Tokyo Dome and once again it was great. And then I'm off back to Singapore on Sunday because of...
Week 4 (January 6th-January 12th) Army Reservist Week 1 & League Cup at Project EXT
Army reservist. I had to come back a day early because of it. And sure enough on Monday my family say my favourite wrestler Chris Jericho in Akihabara. Just my luck eh! The first week of camp was a little tiring, not much happening. Just setting stuff up and down for everyone else's training.
We had two League Challenges and a Cup that weekend and of course I went into them with no playtesting or time to prepare, having not played cards since the KL Regional. The first Challenge didn't go so well with my trusty TurboZard. (2/2/1)
The second one went a little worse, again with TurboZard. Should have gone with Mewtwo & Mew. The deck just did not work. (2/3/0)
With two bad experiences with TurboZard, I decided to make a quick change to play Malamar for the Cup on Sunday, having not played Malamar in over a month! I went with the Ultra Necrozma variant thinking there might be a number of Malamar players in the field.
Round 1 vs Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX WW
That round went well for me. Opponent missed all of his Scoop Ups which gave me the advantage in both games.
Round 2 vs Malamar with Venusaur & Snivy-GX LL
It was all going so well, we kept repeating the same stuff the whole time until his VenuSnivy showed up and cleaned my entire board. That changed everything for me. I had prepared for my Ultra Nec turn until that happened. Had to play it differently in Game 2 but I really couldn't do much to stop him from doing the same thing.
Round 3 vs ADP-GX/Glaceon-GX WW
Opponent had no set-up in the first game. Second game was almost the same thing, he did get a Glaceon up but Giratina did it's job to take out the GXes. Mew helped saving my Malamars from being sniped.
Round 4 vs Mewtwo & Mew-GX WLT
First game went my way, took out his Mewtwo & Mew in Turn 2. He got the ideal set-up for game 2, Cross Division killed me. It took too long that we had no time for Game 3.
Round 5 vs Malamar WLW
I got the perfect set-up in the first game. I misplayed the second game, giving my opponent to opportunity to cross division me for his last prizes. We had a deal where whoever had most prizes in game 3 would take the game if we ended up on a tie. Sure enough, at the end of turn 3 when game was called, we were on the same amount of prizes. My opponent was nice enough to give me the win since I was the one chasing for points, really appreciated that!
Top 8 vs Mewtwo & Mew-GX LL
I was given a game 1 loss because of my sleeves. Like I said, I hadn't played Malamar in over a month and didn't notice some of my cards had double sleeves, my own silly mistake there. Sure enough the one game we played I bricked, no chance to take the game to a game 3.
So I ended up with 25 CP to my name after a 3/1/1 score in swiss rounds. I didn't expect to make top cut with a deck I hadn't played in over a month but it went so well. Malamar is a deck that I've played for what seems forever so the comfort was there. I gave up my spot in a tournament to win tickets to OCIC for this League Cup and I'm glad I made the right decision.
Week 5 (January 13th-January 20th) Army Reservist Week 2 & League Cup at PokeBar
Back to a second week of army training. It was more relaxed this time around, playing Monopoly Deal and finishing up my Pokemon Sword game. Our cohesion was at Gardens by the Bay, fancy place for that. Looked amazing as always.
And then it was off to my second League Cup. Went with Malamar again but this time with Trevenant & Dusknoir-GX and Garchomp & Giratina-GX.
Round 1 vs Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX WW
For the second week in a row, my first round was against a Gardeon in the first round. And for the second week in a row, my opponent failed their scoop ups!
Round 2 vs Malamar with Venusaur & Snivy-GX W
We did the usual stuff, Malamar mirror matches are the worst. There was a point where my opponent was about to have the game, having set up three of my pokemon to be knocked out by VenuSnivy. Then came in the big moment, the tech of Mallow & Lana healed up my damaged Malamar and pretty much gave me the win in the first game. We had no time for a second game.
Round 3 vs Raichu/Nuzzle WLT
This game will scar me for the rest of my playing days. I was happy to see Nuzzle, a pretty easy matchups if you will. I knew what I had to do. Game 1 was just the usual, he couldn't keep up with the Spell Tag spreads and the multiple KOs. The second game wasn't the best, I had Mew and Blacephalon prized. I did get Mew off the first few prizes.
I was still trying to figure out if he played the spreading Alolan Raichu or not, he didn't play that in the first game. I was wondering if I should play my Mew down that turn or not. I decided not to and that was easily the worst mistake I've ever made. Sure enough, the Alolan Raichu came down, so did Tapu Koko Prism and Electrode and he took out 3 Malamars in one shot. I was hoping he had no way to take the last prize but he did. We had no time to finish game 3 so there goes my hopes of taking 3 wins in the first 3 rounds and just IDing my way into top cut. Gotta do it the hard way now.
Round 4 vs Lucario & Melmetal-GX LWT
Sure enough one of my must win matches had to be against Adrian Velasco of all people, the top player from Phillipines who was here at our cup. Game 1 was terrible for me. Game 2 went really well. TinaChomp was my MVP, taking out the first LucMet. Used my Fishing Rod to get TinaChomp back and KO the other LucMet with GG End.
Round 5 vs Malamar with Venusaur & Snivy-GX LL
And of course my win and in match had to be against one of our best players, Jeremy. I had already lost to him in the swiss rounds last week so I wasn't feeling good about this match. I tried to play different but it just didn't work.
2/1/2, if only I had placed down that Mew if would have been 3/0/2 and into top cut for two weeks in a row. Then again, it's quite rare that I even find myself in a position to be in a win and in situation for two league cups in a row, the change in decks sure helped!
And that was my crazy month!
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