Season 2 for the 2024-2025 Season here in Singapore is done and so is the F-Block rotation, we're heading into a new era in one week's time. There was a few changes from this past season, well namely one. Prismatic Evolutions brought Budew into the format and as you will see, that tiny little grass mon completely flipped my season around.
I had planned to play Charizard ex from start to finish of the season as I did last season too. But now that Budew is a thing, it's made Charizard somewhat unplayable, along with that the fact that Dragapult is now the BDIF and even stuff like Regigigas makes matchup vs Lugia a bit tougher too. So what do I play now?
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| The Red Box is showing the period for Season 2, aka Feb to March |
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| Points Standings before the start of Season 2 |
This is before we knew that the Worlds invite had been bumped up to 10, we were still thinking we'd be fighting for 4 spots. So as you can see, I've got a lot of catching up to do. I was 8th in the standings before the first rounds of Ultra Ball Leagues, and I dropped all the way down to 16th after the first 3 UBLs of this season? Why?
I didn't get to play in any of them. I got declined and then lost the lottery to join all 3 UBLs which was quite frustrating as I was feeling confident with my Charizard/Pidgeot deck but I never had the chance to show what I could do with it at a bigger event like the UBL (aka our League Cups). And as fate would have it, I would never get that chance to show it again. So with the first few GBLs starting for Season 2, I was left searching for new decks to play.
Feb 8th - Great Ball League S2 #1 - Newtro Gaming Studios
Elected: Yes
Deck: Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
Score: 4-1 (5th/32) +10 LP
- L Terapagos ex/Dusknoir
- W Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
- W Hydrapple ex
- W Pikachu ex/Regigigas
- W Gardevoir ex
Good start to the season, picked up Lugia because I felt I could play it decently. First loss was a stinker because I couldn't set up properly, and he ended up winning the whole event. Bubbled out on Top 4 due to my resistance from losing the first round.
Feb 9th - Great Ball League S2 #4 - Pikku Play
Elected: Yes
Deck: Miraidon ex
Score: 4-2 (9th/48) +8 LP (Gone due to BFL)
- W Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
- L Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
- W Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
- W Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
- L Charizard ex/Noctowl
- W Archaludon ex
Switched it up to Miraidon for this one, for the same reason as I picked up Lugia, it had great matchups against the decks I was targeting. And I did hit those decks, but I did lose to a Lugia because of his Turn 1 Klefki. My other loss was to a Charizard at R5, I mean how did I meet my worst matchup at that round? And I bubbled out again, this time out of Top 8 even though I had the same points and resistance as Nicholas (who played the same 60 as me) who got 8th.
Feb 15th - Great Ball League S2 #5 - Goodness Gracious Games
Elected: Declined and Lost Lottery
Deck: (Would have played Gouging Fire ex)
Feb 16th - Great Ball League S2 #7 - ManaPro
Elected: Yes
Deck:
Score: 2-4 (34th/64)
- W Gholdengo ex
- L Miraidon ex
- W Charizard ex/Dudunsparce
- L Milotic ex Control
- L Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex
- L Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
This was my worst ever run in a local tournament since we switched over to TPC back in 2021. Yes I've had bad runs back in the TPCi days but I wasn't a good player at that point, I hadn't really learned as much as I have now but nothing could have prepared me for this.
I picked up Dragapult Dusknoir because it was apparently the "BDIF" and I wanted the best chance to win the tournament. Well, the deck felt more like the WDIF (worst deck) because all I did was draw pass in half my games. And the one loss where I could set up, it was against a Milotic deck so I had to go with just Drakloak and it still wasn't enough. This was a soul crushing event, I was initially thinking of going to another event to try to walk in after this one but I decided not to after this god awful run.
Feb 19th - Great Ball League S2 #11 - Inferno Gaming
Elected: Declined and Lost Lottery
Deck: (Would have played Archaludon ex)
Feb 20th - Great Ball League S2 #12 - Concept City
Elected: Yes
Deck: Gouging Fire ex
Score: 5-0 (1st/32) +30 LP and Pidgeot ex Promo!
- W Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
- W Gardevoir ex
- W Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
- W Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
- W Roaring Moon ex
We go from my worst run in a TPC event for locals to my best run in a TPC event for locals. I hadn't won a Town League before so it was nice to finally win one of these Great Ball League events, and with a rouge deck too nonetheless! I was initially going to play Gardevoir but it felt like Dragapult Dusknoir, aka very bricky.
I hadn't gone x-0 in swiss in any points paying event before so this was a nice new first for me. And I earnt my 2nd Pidgeot ex promo card! But the best part is, for winning the GBL, I'm guaranteed to play in an Ultra Ball League so I won't be denied this time!
Feb 21st - Great Ball League S2 #13 - JRW Hobby Station
Elected: Declined and Lost Lottery
Deck: (Would have played Gardevoir ex)
Feb 22nd - Great Ball League S2 #14 - Agora Hobby
Elected: Yes
Deck: Dragapult ex/Charizard ex
Score: 4-3 (20th/98) +6 LP (Gone due to BFL)
- W Klawf/Terapagos ex
- W Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
- W Gholdengo ex
- L Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
- W Klawf/Terapagos ex
- L Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
- L Roaring Moon ex
I saw this deck do well in a few online events and it had the highest win rate so I thought I should give it a try and pick it up. Plus any excuse to play Charmander in a deck is good enough for me. The deck felt ok, didn't feel any different to the Dusknoir version. And once again I had some unplayable hands again which ruined my 3-0 start.
Feb 23rd - Great Ball League S2 #20 - Brick's Play
Elected: Yes
Deck: Archaludon ex
Score: 4-2 (8th/40) +10 LP
- L Gholdengo ex
- W Miraidon ex
- W Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
- W Gardevoir ex
- L Gardevoir ex
- W Ancient Box
I had never actually play Archaludon to any event before this, not even locals so this was a new experience for me, trying to learn how to play a deck as best as I can during the event itself. Deck was working fine to be fair. My two losses were to matchups I felt were not very good anyway. I did get to pull off the Star Chronos VSTAR 3 times at least!
Feb 26th - Great Ball League S2 #22 - Happyland Collectibles
Elected: Declined and Lost Lottery
Deck: (Would have played Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex)
Feb 28th - Great Ball League S2 #24 - Concept City
Elected: Declined and Lost Lottery
Deck: (Would have played Gholdengo ex)
After all was said and done, this was the standings going into the next 3 Ultra Ball League events:
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| Points Standings after GBL S2 |
I managed to climb my way back up the standings, 16th to 11th! And this is the point where we had heard the news of Top 8 in standings being the Worlds invite spot, so I'm just a few points away from the promise land, I just need a few big results in the big UBL events.
I did have one handicap, I had already reached my BFL (best finish limit) so I needed to score big points to make those results count. So even a Top 64 finish isn't really enough for me, heck maybe Top 32 might not be enough! And I went into these UBLs still not sure of what deck to play, I hadn't found another comfort deck since my Charizard/Pidgeot deck become unplayable.
Mar 16th - Ultra Ball League S2 #1 - Kreta Ayer CC
Elected: Yes
Deck: Gholdengo ex
Score: 5-2 (32nd/220) +15 LP
- W Bye
- L Regidrago VSTAR
- W Dragapult ex/Charizard ex
- W Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
- W Miraidon ex
- L Dragapult ex
- W Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
Finally got to play Gholdengo in an official event and it worked really well for me. The two losses were just super unfortunate, the first was to a Regidrago player who got the Kyurem attack Turn 2 when I had only 3 Pokemon on board that were all less than 70 HP.
The other lost was to Jun Lin (he got 3 straight Top 4 finishes with Dragapult in 3 UBLs, well done sir), I was in a really good spot with my set-up, went to do my first deck search with Ciphermaniac, and then I saw I prized my E-Switch Pro which was crucial in that matchup so there was no way I could have won that. Did enough to end up 32nd at least but still nowhere close to where I want to be, aka Top 16 at the very least.
Mar 22nd - Ultra Ball League S2 #1 - Aloft Novena
Elected: Yes
Deck: Gardevoir ex
Score:4-4 (72nd/260) +8 LP (0 LP Due to BFL)
- W Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
- W Gardevoir ex
- W Lost Zone Box
- W Archaludon ex
- L Regidrago VSTAR
- L Gardevoir ex
- L Gardevoir ex
- L Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
Well this was a disaster. To start things off, I had no real time to practice due to my Army reservist going on that week so I played the only deck I got any practice in with, aka Gardevoir. I felt I could play it but as the tournament went on, I realised I didn't know all my lines with the deck, I was just not very familar with the deck.
And also I kept losing either my lone or two Kirlias in one shot, which all happened from Rounds 5 to 8. One of my worst runs ever, 4-0 start to not even finishing in the top 64. Well off my target which is always a top 16 in these Ultra Ball Leagues. Another bad day at the office.
Mar 30th - Ultra Ball League S2 #1 - One Punggol
Elected: Yes
Deck: Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
Score: 5-3 (43rd/300) +10 LP (0 LP Due to BFL)
- W Roaring Moon ex
- W Dragapult ex
- W Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
- L Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
- L Lost Zone Box
- W Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
- L Dragapult ex
- W Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
We started this season with Lugia and I ended up this season with Lugia. So I didn't quite end up playing different decks in every event for this season, before this event I did end up playing different decks every time. But Lugia felt like the right play so I wanted to go with it. Who won the event? Lugia so I think I was right to say Lugia was a great choice.
The problem was, it just didn't treat me well. Lost to Raging Bolt due to a bad starting hand, then misplayed vs Lost Box and lost that one too and finally lost to Dragapult due to a slow start, couldn't get the double Archeops up till Turn 4 which was two turns too late.
Another bad run. 43rd out of 300 players might sound good to many others but for me, that's not what I was hoping for. And I don't score points for a top 64 finish due to me hitting my BFL already, I needed more than that. So my Worlds invite hope is starting to slip away. It was looking good at the start before the UBLs, I was 11th, a few spots behind. Now I'm 18th, with no Top 16 finish in any of the 6 UBL events so far and I'm likely to miss 1, maybe even 2, UBLs next season due to my Melbourne Regional trip and possibly also my California trip.
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| Points Standings after UBL S2 |
11th to 18th, yikes. Yes I technically did score points in all 3 UBL events but two of them didn’t count as I have hit my BFL and any event where I score less than 12 points will not count. So that’s why I kept mentioning Top 16 finish at the very least, sadly it never happened.
I do feel a bit annoyed. I didn’t get to play in the first 3 UBLs this season because I was declined and lost the walk-in lottery. At that time, I had my comfort deck, Charizard/Pidgeot and I felt confident with it, I knew I could get a good run out of it but I never got the opportunity to do so.
And now in this format, I don’t have a comfort deck, I was swapping decks every other event and never really felt good with most of them. Yet somehow this was the one I got into all 3 UBL. Luck hasn’t been on my side this season.
I will say, being forced to play different decks this time around, I did manage to score points with all but one deck, which was strangely Dragapult/Dusknoir. Yes I did technically score points with that poor Gardevoir run too even though it doesn’t count. So hopefully that proves that I’m not a one trick phony haha!
Just a small recap of how my Season 2 went:
- GBL S2#01 - Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 5th (10 LP)
- GBL S2#04 - Miraidon ex - 9th (8 LP)
- GBL S2#05 - Declined & Lost Lottery
- GBL S2#07 - Dragapult ex/Dusknoir - 34th
- GBL S2#11 - Declined & Lost Lottery
- GBL S2#12 - Gouging Fire ex - 1st (30 LP)
- GBL S2#13 - Declined & Lost Lottery
- GBL S2#14 - Dragapult ex/Charizard ex - 20th (6 LP)
- GBL S2#20 - Archaludon ex - 8th (10 LP)
- GBL S2#22 - Declined & Lost Lottery
- GBL S2#24 - Declined & Lost Lottery
- UBL S2#01 - Gholdengo ex - 32nd (15 LP)
- UBL S2#02 - Gardevoir ex - 72nd (8 LP)
- UBL S3#03 - Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 43rd (10 LP)
- Dragapult ex - 932 LP
- Gardevoir ex - 478 LP
- Klawf/Terapagos ex - 430 LP
- Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 397 LP
- Gholdengo ex - 333 LP
- Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex - 211 LP
- Archaludon ex - 204 LP
- Lost Zone Box - 198 LP
- Ceruledge ex - 163 LP
- Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex - 122 LP
- Klawf/Terapagos ex - 22.63 LP (19 players)
- Ancient Box - 18 LP (5 players)
- Gholdengo ex - 15.86 LP (21 players)
- Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR/Noctowl - 15.83 LP (6 players)
- Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 15.27 LP (26 players)
- Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex - 15.25 LP (8 players)
- Gardevoir ex - 14.48 LP (33 players)
- Dragapult ex - 13.91 LP (67 players)
- Regidrago VSTAR - 13.44 LP (9 players)
- Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex - 11.72 LP (18 players)
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