This is just a short re-cap of how my Great Ball League events went. I was lucky enough to be elected into 3 events and managed to walk in to another one so I was one of the lucky ones to play in 4 events. And I went x-1 in all 4 events, scoring a top 8 results in all 4 events, including 3 top 4 finishes, which is way better than what I've done in a long while, I haven't had consistent results like these since the ol' ReshiZard days!
I'll do a short re-cap of my 4 events, the ones I got elected in and also the ones I wasn't/tried my luck and failed in. I had to make these events count because of how bad my Premier Ball League event went. With how the points are, doing badly in a major event puts you at quite a disadvantage and I was starting the season off almost 20 points behind the main competitors so I had to do well in these events to give myself any shot of climbing my way back up the standings.
Great Ball League #1 - Goodness Gracious Games
- Date: 16th November 2024
- Status: Walk-In -> Lost Lottery
- Deck:
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| Didn't get to play this |
Well I didn't expect to play in the first event. I tried my luck with the walk-in lottery. Only 5 players got in and I wasn't one of them. But this is what I had sleeved up with me, and it might look familiar to you lot now. Because this exact list just won the Stuttgart Regional.
My friend Aarni had told me just run with his list weeks before so I had planned to do it if I got in! The deck was working well in testing, I managed to go 3-0 in a local for once too with it. Shame I didn't get in but I'll try again.
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| Blessings from the champ! |
Great Ball League #3 - Brick's Play
- Date: 24th November 2024
- Status: Elected
- Score: 4-1, 3rd out of 32 players (+12 LP)
- Deck:
Changes from previous list:
- Briar
- 4th Nest Ball
- Collapsed Stadium
+ 2nd Dusknoir
+ Cancelling Cologne
+ Lost Vacuum
I went ahead with a list suggest by my friend Luke Morsa with the biggest change being the cut of Briar for a 2nd Dusknoir which I didn't mind to be honest, I had been struggling to even use Briar in some of my previous games so another out to Dusknoir seemed a perfectly fine replacement.
Cancelling Cologne was in mainly for Pikachu ex and those annoying walling decks I suspected might show up (never did). Lost Vacuum and Collapsed Stadium I felt were interchangable and I wanted to see if I would get more use from Lost Vacuum since I didn't get to use Collapsed all that much previously.
Games:
- R1 W Lost Zone Box (Radiant Charizard with 2 TM Devo)
- R2 W Lost Zone Box
- R3 L Charizard ex/Terapagos ex
- R4 W Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
- R5 W Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
I messed up my rounds 1 (got away with it) and 3 games (didn't get away with it). The third one was especially painful, I panicked seeing time was running out and decided to gust a 2-prizer when I should have waited and go for the 1-prizer since I had the Dusknoir + Gust play ready for the next turn.
The issue is I wasn't sure if I would have a next turn since I went 1st and with how the time rule works, the person going 2nd always gets the last turn so I was kinda screwed there so I just tried to gust a 2-prizer but then he showed me he had Briar for game. Oh well. Every other game went perfectly.
I did miss the option of Briar vs the two Raging Bolts, that's how I usually won my games against them but I still managed to win without it. The 2nd Dusknoir sadly didn't do much. The cancelling cologne did get me the win against a Lost Box player and Lost Vacuum sure put in work so that one was for sure staying.
12 points to start of the Great Ball season 1, and just missing the Pidgeot ex promo by 1% but it was to my friend Nicholas so I was happy for him that he got it! There was another GBL on that day but obviously I didn't go there.
Great Ball League #5 - Cardboard Collectibles
- Date: 28th November 2024
- Status: Elected
- Score: 5-1, 2nd out of 44 players (+15 LP)
- Deck:
Changes from previous list:
- 2nd Dusknoir
+ Briar
Only change was the swap of Briar and 2nd Dusknoir, everything else was the same. Well except for some card arts, played some of the stamped Gym promo since I had switched to a new sleeve for the next few events!
Games:
- R1 W Gholdengo ex/Ceruledge ex
- R2 W Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex
- R3 L Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
- R4 W Venomoth/Froslass
- R5 W Gardevoir ex
- R6 W Dragapult ex/Pidgeot ex
Another x-1 score but yet more misplays on my side so still not the perfect tournament run I felt. I actually messed up in the mirror match against one of our best Zard players and didn't get punished because his last boss was one of the last prizes. The last game I messed up too, I was panicking again because this match was going to time.
I just needed my turn to play out but my opponent was taking a bit too much time figuring out the perfect lines for his turns and instead of making the right plays, I started panicking and went for the fastest play possible which was completely wrong. He gave me the win but then realized after that, he actually had the winning play and I didn't think they'd play Briar too so that was a big misplay on my part.
I had some close games, the first game was a scary one too, they KOed my Zard right away so I was always playing from behind but that's where Zard thrives. Against Venomoth, I needed some luck with the coin flips and had just enough. Garde was a close one too against one of our best Gardevoir players so that was always going to be a tricky one. My one loss was to Winston who won the whole thing, Dragapult Dusk is just a horrible matchup for Zard. I did have a chance to comeback but my Iono apparently gave him the perfect hand to stabilize his board.
But hey I finally got my Pidgeot ex promo at least, and another top 4 finish!
Great Ball League #6 - Agora Hobby
- Date: 30th November 2024
- Status: Walk-In -> Won Lottery!
- Score: 5-1, 7th out of 64 players (+10 LP)
- Deck:
Changes from previous list:
- 2nd Duskull
+ Manaphy
I went a bit risky this time, I noticed a number of guys were testing Lost Box and Regidrago leading up to the weekend so I felt I needed Manaphy to cover the snipe stuff. But I couldn't find the best cut and thought, let's try without 1 Duskull and see how that works.
Games:
- R1 L Miraidon ex
- R2 W Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
- R3 W Roaring Moon ex
- R4 W Dragapult ex/Pidgeot ex
- R5 W Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
- R6 W Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex
I played as best as I could but losing the first game to a complete dead draw meant my resistance was always going to tank and it did. And what's worse? It was a good matchup too! I just never got to see my deck. I did meet a Dragapult, traditionally my worst matchup, but she also had a dead hand at the start and that got me the win.
Every other match was fine, the last match, a mirror match, was a bit too close for my liking and I made some wrong calls but his Iono ended up giving me the Boss I needed for game. I kept going after all of his Pidgeots but I myself couldn't set up properly. But this was also the game where I did miss my 2nd Duskull.
Still, to go from 0-1 to a top 8 finish, I'll take it! Especially since I wasn't expecting to play today, I was one of the lucky 24 to win the lottery duck race spots. More points in the bag!
Great Ball League #8 - Happyland Collectibles
- Date: 1st December 2024
- Status: Elected
- Score: 4-1, 4th out of 32 players (+12 LP)
- Deck:
Changes from previous list:
- Cancelling Cologne
+ 2nd Duskull
After a few games with it, I realised I wasn't using the Cologne as much as I would like. Didn't even use it the last two times it was in my deck so I cut it to get my 2nd Duskull back and boy did that pay off instantly.
Games:
- R1 W Lost Zone Box
- R2 W Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex
- R3 L Regidrago VSTAR
- R4 W Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex
- R5 W Regidrago VSTAR
This was probably the hardest tournament of the lot so far. I knew every single opponent and they were all good players! I mean I hit Yong Siang first and he was back on his trusted Lost Box! I would say fortune was on my side again for all but one match, the one I lost because I had a horrid starting hand and no matter who I benched down, he had enough outs to clear out whoever it may be, be it Pidgey, Duskull or Charmander. I probably should have gone for 3 Charmanders, I didn't realise he was still on Hawlucha.
I had to make some weird plays that did end up working, and having that 2nd Duskull sure helped! I went for some unconventional plays in both mirror games and it worked in my favour. Last game was against another Drago but this time it worked out well for me.
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| The two Promos we could get! Everyone gets the Earthen Vessel promo while the top 2 finishes get the Pidgeot ex Promo! |
I went from 70th in the standings with just only 5 points to my name after the Premier Ball League to now jumping all the way up to 8th with 54 points, 21 points off the 4th spot in the standings since the top 4 will get the Worlds invite, as I did 2 years ago and I have unfinished business there so I want to make it back to the big stage.
Next up is the Ultra Ball League events, and hopefully I can play in one of them because the points payout are much bigger in those events than the Great Ball Leagues. There's just 3 of them though so not as many chances to play as the Great Ball League. There's always a chance I might not even get into one of them, so hopefully lady luck will shine on me again and if I do get in, I have to make it count.
Just in case, I will be doing a re-cap for all the Great Ball League events that happened in Singapore. Thanks for reading!
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