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This year is my second Nationals, but, even more so than the first year, it's been one monster of an emotional rollercoaster. To make my report special, I want to take you guys along for a ride in my PikaMobile, or Pi-Car-Chu.
Let's begin with two days before the tournament. I stay home and start to think about what kind of meta I'm going to face at Nationals. I am fairly sure that the field is full of Darkrai decks, Thundurus/Deoxys/Kyurem (hereon referred to as Plasma) and perhaps a smattering of Landorus/Cobalion to try to beat the two big decks, but knowing Singaporeans (Players like Goutham are cases in point, even if everyone except me knows he is not attending) I can expect some crazy rogues as well. With my current cardpool, I only have two real choices: Darkrai or Quad Snorlax.
I put together a standard Darkrai/Absol list and make a few changes for consistency and to fit in Tool Scrapper, then start testing on PTCGO. In the afternoon Gerald arrives, and after we both derp around for a bit, he mentions that he might be able to lend me his Plasma deck wholesale. This pretty much puts my #1 deck choice on the map (because everybody knows by now what I was planning to cosplay as at Nats).
We playtest fairly unfruitfully (since our lists were not particularly interesting in terms of the mirror match), till later when he has to leave and Jake, my best butt buddy, arrives (finally). The important thing here is when we both whip out Darkrai and go a couple of games, and he lays down Mr Mime. This is important if only because it put how annoying Mr Mime is to Darkrai (and cousins Kyurem and Landorus) into perspective to me for the first time.
Later on at night, a retired Senior contacts me for a way to play at Nationals and I volunteer to put Quad Snorlax together for him, effectively eliminating a choice.
Fast forward to the night before the tournament.
I return from work at 11pm, having tasked myself to not only decide for sure on my deck choice but also to build the Quad Snorlax. A few phone calls later, I have my deck choice decided for me as Gerald has withdrawn his offer. In a state of panic, I take out my Darkrai list and lay it out. I go over my list. First I start to increase my consistency, then I switch over to building Quad Snorlax.
After panicking more because I realise I don't have the cards I need, I mustered whatever vestiges of composure I had left and got back to my Darkrai. After spending oodles of time agonising over the loss of my extra sleeves, I realise that maxing out consistency is what I have been doing the entire season, only to have my deck malfunction on me during Premier Events anyway. Some people may know that I kept repeating this for months, but I finally decide to practice what I have been preaching and turn my word into action: "Tech big and run hot or go home." I end up teching the living daylights out of my deck, sleeve up, make the final counts for Quad Snorlax, rage over missing sleeves again, pack everything I need into my bag, then finally decide to go to sleep and hope everything Ive borrowed falls into place.
The next day, I rage over the missing sleeves again, then get my act together and go out (late) to meet the Senior. We do a lot of scrambling (no Scramble Switch was used) with Jake and Bryan (the senior; some know him as Cleffa) to get to the site was done, complemented with more scrambling to get all the cards for Quad Snorlax. I subsequently prepared my costume, then finally managed to borrow the two sleeves I need to complete my ensemble. Miraculously, thanks to everybody (shout outs to Joey, Gerald, James, Jake, Elias, Shing Lam, Soon, Zam, Benjamin and that other senior whose name I can't remember; sorry!) we got everything settled way before the swiss rounds start, so I go around terrorising everyone as Plasma Grunts are wont to do.
Game 1 against Peter Teo (Darkrai/Absol)
I open the tournament going second, but I open with a huge bang, with a hand of Random Receiver, 3 Dark Energies, Dowsing Machine, two Dark Patches and an active Darkrai. I topdeck the Ultra Ball for Keldeo, Rush In and slap down my Dark Patches, attach to Keldeo and Random Receiver into an N. The first card I draw is Energy Switch and the fifth card is Dark Claw. Though he was able to clear the damage from his Darkrai with a swiftly applied Max Potion, the psychological pressure applied by a T1 Night Spear backed by a Dark Claw was evident on his face.
He struggles to put out a Night Spear while I apply incredible pressure on his board while managing to get Mr Mime into play. This culminates in a turn where I am very much able to take both Keldeo off his board in a single turn. Knowing that he had played a Max Potion but not knowing how many healing cards he plays (especially looking at my own deck) I cash in on the Keldeos and am rewarded with an N to 2. I rip a Juniper and coast to the finish.
Game 2 against Rudy (ZekEels)
I open Sableye, Mr Mime and Absol against him, and he immediately limits his bench to 3 by laying only two Tynamo and a Bouffalant. Things choke for both of us as I Hypnotoxic Laser his active Zekrom and both of us watch the poison damage snowball while we both get set up together.
This starts accumulating to the point where Zekrom is in position to wreak havoc and does take two prizes off Sableye and Mr Mime. Already behind by two prizes and with a ton of damage on the board, I am forced to decide if I should finish charging the damaged Darkrai with an energy, or charge up the fresh one and miss the Night Spear.
Looking at the N in hand and the Dark Patches, I decide to just give up the Darkrai and N him flat later since I can easily gamble on a combination of any two of Dark Patch, Energy, and Energy Switch off my resulting 5-card N.
I Night Spear an Eel and leave Zekrom with 10 HP but that's all I get from him before he gets to two prizes by spanking my already damaged Darkrai with Outrage. However, I have the cards to execute my little gambit as I proceed to N him and charge another Darkrai, then I rip the Catcher to hurt Bouffalant while finishing Zekrom off.
The N proves to be incredibly brutal as he struggles to get anything going, relying on his Eels to charge any attackers he lays down (which was a grand total of one Bouffalant), as I chain into a Colress and get the stuff I need to wipe his Bouffalants off the board.
From there it is seemingly downhill for him, only managing a single Bolt Strike from Zekrom on Darkrai. However, that 120 damage has put me in a precarious position where a single Electric Ball from Eelektrik would end the game in his favour. Even though he has used 3 Catchers, I don't have the luxury of keeping Darkrai benched as my only other attacker is Absol which can't even 2HKO an Eel when his bench is that small. I pray hard for the whiff and rain Night Spears onto the Eels.
When he only has 2 Eels and I only have 1 prize left, he suddenly drops a Zekrom EX and I feel my innards shrinking in fear as he Dynamotors. I start to quake in fear when he plays Switch and cover my eyes expecting the impending attachment to end the game… Which doesn't happen. He doesn't have the game! I get ready to Skyla for the Catcher but I topdeck it to win the game.
Game 3 against Zam (Darkrai/Terrakion/Ninetales)
Zam probably didn't manage to secure any Absol for his deck. Nevertheless, he gets off to a fast start and I am forced to give up prizes and burn all my healing cards to set up my attackers. Thankfully, I have Mr Mime to protect my bench once again.
Eventually, I get Absol going, but not only does he have a small bench of just Ninetales and Keldeo, there's no other Darkrai in sight. His board position is precarious; if I take out Darkrai and nail him hard with an N, I pretty much have the game in the bag if he doesn't draw the Juniper and rip everything he needs to get a Retaliate Terrakion.
I hit Darkrai with Mind Jack, and he immediately retaliates with Laser and Night Spear while placing down a Sableye, plastering the Absol in the dirt. I manage to get the other Absol going and knock out the Darkrai while playing an N, pressing him down to just 3 cards.
The two prizes I take are Hypnotoxic Laser, which answers why I didn't get to rip a single Laser for the entire game thus far. However, he gets the Laser heads to nuke me with Ninetales.
At this point my Darkrai is ready to go and upon seeing his meagre hand I immediately Night Spear the Ninetales and lay 30 on Keldeo, leaving the board with just Sableye and Ninetales.He Catchers my Keldeo and Junk Hunts Random Receiver and Dowsing Machine, which surprises me and also ruins my plans to throttle him with Night Spear.
However, I'm running out of Ns, so I decide to wait and see what he does by using Energy Switch to get energy off Darkrai to retreat Keldeo, then Catchering his Keldeo, plastering it with a Laser (and rolling tails as usual) and go Junk Hunting as well for a Dark Patch and an Energy Switch in case of Catcher shenanigans. In hindsight, I probably should have gotten the Dowsing Machine, but as it turns out later I needed to Junk Hunt one more time to seal the game anyway.
Surprisingly, he doesn't even play the Random Receiver and just goes Dowsing for Juniper, where he whiffs the means to play down a Darkrai or anything else, but he does lay energy on Keldeo. Fighting Energy. He is definitely baiting Retaliate, so I have no choice but to N him the same turn I take down Sableye.
On my turn, time is suddenly called. I'm at three prizes and he is at two. I have only two turns including the current one to pull even without triggering Retaliate and losing immediately. I make a quick check of my resource pool. I had burnt only two Laser but four Catcher, almost all my Supporters (save a single Colress, which is in hand) and I have nine cards total between my hand and my deck. I Patch to Darkrai and Junk Hunt for Dowsing and Catcher, my gut telling me I need the Catcher and praying he doesn't make a big play next turn out of the blue. He doesn't and simply Junk Hunts some irrelevant stuff.
On my turn, I bust my combo, Dowsing for an N to 2, then proceeding to KO Sableye. I rip my Colress off my 3 card N, and wait for him to simply pass his turn, ending the extra 3 turns. He then proceeds to give me a heart attack by playing Juniper, and as he studies his hand extremely hard I boldly tell him that if he cannot retaliate with Retaliate I can end the game next turn.
After a bit of egging from me and raging on his part he amicably ends his turn while laying down a couple of Darkrai. Though I had Ultra Ball and Energy Switch, both which would cut the number of available cards so I could draw my entire deck, the laying of the Darkrai meant I did not have to do any of that. I carefully Colress the rest of my deck and show him the Catcher and Laser I need to finish the game by KOing the Keldeo with 60 damage.
Game 4 against XinCloft (Plasma)
I'm 3-0 and up against arguably Singapore's best player, XinCloft, who has also seen two games of my deck in action because we were sitting at the same table, but I barely know anything about his because I'm too busy intimidating my opponent with Plasma Grunt powers.
He starts Kyurem and gets early Frost Spears going with Deoxys against my slower start, but I manage to rip Mr Mime and Potion to negate his first Frost Spear, giving my bench a lot of solace. However, this doesn't stop his onslaught, as he quickly gets out the Keldeo + Float Stone combo and started chaining Blizzard Burns while charging up his next Kyurem, ensuring that any EX sent forward would be easily dispatched with a Laser, which he does, which along with my trades of his Kyurem vs my Absol puts me at 5 and him at 2.
I manage to put my Darkrai together somehow then N him to 2 and seal the deal by wiping the second Kyurem off the board. He then draws very dead while I Night Spear his Deoxys repeatedly for the win.
Game 5 against Jeremy Leong (Gothitelle and Friends)
This game is a complete crapshoot as we both draw deader than disco dead.
I manage to KO a Duskull first and topdeck a Skyla which I use to fetch Juniper on the same turn, only for him to rip an N right after. The N fetches him Gothitelle and from there the game just goes downhill for me as I fail to draw my Darkrai and second Keldeo.
By Turn 5 it's evident that I should scoop, but I play on and pretty much just cheer for him to get set up and win the match properly since Jeremy is a bro.
Game 6 against Jefferson Sim (Gothitelle and Friends)
Facing two tough matchups in a row is pretty demoralising. Even more so when you start second. Even more so when he draws his opening hand and starts showing it to his friends and being happy that it is a godhand.
And so it is, for by his first turn he's got every single basic he needs on the field and uses Tropical Beach.
I open Sableye and Absol and I manage to put out the two energy onto Absol with Dark Patch and an attachment. I don't bother with Confuse Ray since his active Mew is just going to go back inside the deck.
He proceeds to evolve everything, use Deck and Cover with Mew and send Gothitelle out with Float Stone, which is pretty bad news. I play my Juniper and get Darkrai and Keldeo with the energy, so I get to Confuse Ray. The next turn he simply Beaches, so I land another Confuse Ray while attaching energy. That's all I get as he hits with Deck and Cover the next turn, taking out Sableye.
I Mind Jack with Absol but have to accept that I'm 10 damage short of the KO with a 100 damage Mind Jack. Meanwhile I manually attach to Darkrai. Surprisingly enough at this point he just Beaches while playing DCE on his backup Goth.
I take the prize while attaching to Darkrai, and am shocked to find that it is my second Keldeo, though I keep my poker face on somewhat.
This is the turn he decides to Catcher up the other Keldeo and Deck (and Cover) it, and I instantly lay down my second Keldeo and go aggro with Mind Jack.
My Darkrai has only two energy, and he uses his Dusknoir to shift some damage around to take Absol out of the game but leaving my field damage free. I have no choice but to N for the third energy or possibly lose, and I do get it, breaking the Trainer lock.
He fails to get the Gothitelle next turn and I snowball him from there, wiping out Gothithelle and a benched Gothita together, then just Night Spearing to the finish. He scoops when I finally get the Catcher to pull up his only Shelmet on board. He tells me after the game that he had 3 Float Stone, 1 Rare Candy, 1 Gothitelle and his Super Rod prized. Lucky me.
Game 7 against Andy (Darkrai/Tornadus EX)
I start second but start fast with my T2 Night Spear and take out his active Darkrai with little resistance beyond a Laser, which was quickly cured with Potion and a hastily laid Mr Mime.
This game went on to be an uneventful one, unfortunately. I flatten his board with Night Spears until he manages to draw a Juniper and gets to search his deck with Ultra Ball… To find the rest of his Darkrai and his Keldeo prized. The game is completely unwinnable for him and I take my time to close out the Swiss with an easy win.
At least Andy is already assured of top cut at 5-2, so I don't feel too bad about that game since it basically decides our opponents in Top Cut.
Since the tournament is held in a cosplay event I make a few rounds in character (read as terrorising the local populace), watch the last few games at the bottom tables, and wait for Top Cut to be announced. After all the hoo-ha about which 5-2s get into cut (all of them actually), I finally get to see my results. I ended Swiss at 5th place so I'm feeling pretty good… Then I look at the matchup list and my insides writhe in terror. I stayed behind to help out the PTO to shut down the location, go for a good dinner with Jake, XinCloft, Jeremy, Belp, Bee Ping, Adrian, Cleffa (who managed to scrape a 3-2 despite being completely out of the loop for the entire season; well done Bryan!) and Danny Seet, and start to agonise over my Top 16 match, soliciting detailed advice on how to play the matchup beyond "Play Keldeos down, charge attacker, ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK".
I go home and write this article up until my 6-1 score, then sleep at 3am. I have the first anxiety attack in my entire life as I wake up at 6am, unable to sleep and having a terrible stomachache but unable to actually relieve myself. I guess that's how it feels to make Day 2 of the biggest local Premier Event of the entire season.
I play my 3DS to try to forget about it and tire myself enough to sleep, then get up at 10am feeling much better. I stay relaxed until 12pm when I have to go. To go and meet my maker.
I arrive at 1215 and transform into Plasma Grunt only to find that the decks haven't even arrived for deck check. The delay causes Top 16 to only start at about 1355 (as in when we flip over our Actives).
In the meantime, everybody is talking about their brackets and everybody is telling me that I have to win my Top 16. No shit guys, I want to win my Top 16 too, I need to get to Top 2 to go to Worlds.
One might ask: why do I remember the starting time so clearly? Because my Top 16 opponent is none other than…
Top 16 against Nelson Chua (Gothitelle and Fiends -_-)
Nelson is one of Singapore's greatest players, having already made his way to Worlds twice and bubbling out of Worlds Top 16 at 17th in 2011. It's an honour to play against him, and, him being armed with an amazing deck like GothLock, I have to be on my toes if I want to stand any chance at winning. This means managing every single aspect of the game perfectly, down to time.
With a 75 minute top cut, Nelson has every bit of time he needs to flatten me. The only thing I can do right now is pray my deck doesn't flatline on me and give me what I need to win.
Game 1
I start second, and he starts with a Duskull and Gothita. He searches out another Gothita and Shelmet and passes with no Beach.
This has got to be my chance. I open Sableye and Darkrai and I immediately start to press him down by attaching Dark Claw to Sableye and the energy while managing to get the first Keldeo out via Ultra Ball and Dark Patching and take the first Prize of the game.
I only have Random Receiver at this point so I pray he doesn't have the T2 Goth. He doesn't, and in fact struggles to get one going for a good number of turns.
He plays down Keldeo with Float Stone, which vaguely surprises me since I have never seen it. I slowly attach to Darkrai and play Supporters to get my energy and second Keldeo but keep drawing Trainers, though I get the opportunity to Tool Scrapper his Float Stone and Enhanced Hammer a Double Colourless, as well as repeated Catchers to circumvent his Keldeo and Lasers which I immediately burn, making my Confuse Ray do 40 damage.
After I spread 40 onto two Gothitas, I get an Ultra Ball to search my deck, only to find my second Keldeo prized. Yikes. At this point everything goes kind of fuzzy. I have a fully charged Darkrai and a half charged one, so I go for the Night Spear but I'm not sure what I hit. But there is a point where I manage to take two prizes from him. I carefully choose my foil prizes and am rewarded with a Dark Energy and my Keldeo.
Nelson expects this and activates his trap card(s): Not only does he put up a Gothitelle, he's got the Keldeo and Float Stone and Accelgor and Mew with the Double Colourless and the N. I start to choke but I don't miss my attachments and although I lose my first Keldeo the next turn I rip Juniper and get the Keldeo + Energy.
The 40 damage I put out early on tilts the game seriously in my favour as I have all the Goths in range for a one Night Spear KO. He scoops to save time on his last Goth.
Game 2
He chooses to go first (duh) and his deck performs flawlessly, nailing the T2 Goth easily with the Accelgor and Mew EX up while I struggle to get anything going at all.
I had gambled on a no T2 Goth by Ultra Balling 2 Dark Energies away which cost me pretty badly. I play down Virbank to prevent him from Beaching, but he gets set up really fast regardless, even getting the Dusknoir to complete the lock.
At this point I'm not sure if I should scoop to save time, but I never get the choice to as he quickly wipes all the Pokemon off my board due to my carelessly playing down Virbank early in the game. GG indeed.
Game 3
I get to go first but I don't really have much, though I bench the double Keldeos early. On his first search his face changes noticably, so I assume he has bad prizes though I don't know what they are.
He gets the T2 Goth but the game is slow enough that my Night Spear gets going and he simply doesn't have anything to stop me from rolling from there out other than a couple of Deck and Covers and Dusknoir, but with double Keldeo and a charged Darkrai he simply can't stop me and he gives up a turn or two once his Goth goes down. Perhaps he had 2 Gothitas prized or something equally nonsensical, but I will never know because he never shows me or at least I don't remember.
My match with Nelson was by far the most nerve-wracking of the day, if not outright the hardest games I had. Having overcome my biggest hurdle towards Worlds I heave a sigh of relief and hope that my deck is willing to push with me up to the finals. Though the game from the next bracket was going on next to me I only had a slight glimpse of their decks. Whoever won, I was going to be facing Plasma. I had only faced a single one throughout the tournament, and there was no way out. Still, I felt I had the techs to win for sure.
Top 8 against Kenneth Tan (PLASMAAAAAAA)
Kenneth was and is going to be my senior in school, so I've been getting to know him. He's in the bracket right next to mine, so of course I ask him if he made it to play against me. He says yes, so we promise each other to go far if we win.
I don't know anything about his deck but he definitely knows I have 2 Keldeo since I beat Gothitelle which pretty much screams "I have 2 Keldeo".
We sit down, set up, and play the game.
Game 1
I go first with Keldeo against Kyurem. I open Ultra Ball with an energy, get a Darkrai, Dark Patch and play N, then lay Absol and Sableye and pass.
He doesn't have a particularly good hand either and decides to use Ghetsis, only earning a card or two for his troubles while setting up my Juniper. He does get the attachment to Kyurem which puts me in the danger zone.
I Juniper into Dowsing, 3 Energies, Absol and a Darkrai. I stupidly attach to Sableye before I realise that I have the T2 Night Spear, so I have to suck it and Junk Hunt. I Dowsing for the Juniper and Dark Patch to Darkrai, and immediately regret it as it paints a huge target on my only Darkrai especially after I fill my bench with both Absol and leave only one slot left for the Mr Mime. I take the Dark Patch as Kyurem could KO Sableye and I have another Dark in discard regardless.
The second choice is a bit harder, but I decide to take Dowsing just because it's the most useful resource. If I get N'd, I get to reuse my Ace Spec again! How convenient. However he Junipers but doesn't get what he needs to Blizzard Burn, so he Frost Spears me with the aid of a Laser for 50 and 30 to Darkrai.
I decide that it's too risky to gamble on Mr Mime protecting my bench since I could get Blizzard Burned the next turn and I lay the Darkrai and play my Dark Patch before I Juniper. I hit my Potion and gleefully Potion the damage off, Enhanced his Blend, Energy Search for a Dark to attach to the fresh Darkrai and prepare to Spear. I have a Dark Claw in my hand, but I decide to save it in case of Tool Scrapper. My position is still precarious as he could simply draw a godhand and Blizzard Burn for the pain, but his field of 1 Deoxys and 2 Kyurem with no Virbank has me more or less insured against a gamechanging OHKO Blizzard Burn. In hindsight, I wonder if I should have played my Laser to force him to switch or die, but hindsight is always 20/20 and saving resources for later is always good.
He Colress Machines to Deoxys to prevent me from clearing his board of energy in a single Night Spear and attaches to the active Kyurem for Frost Spear, taking out Sableye with the snipe.
I don't have the Catcher or the supporter, so it sucks to be me, but what I can do is Ultra Ball for Mr Mime and get my troll face on, though having to sacrifice the Laser bothers me. I attach the saved Claw to Absol. Maybe a case could be made for not bothering with Mime since he's going to attack with Deoxys, but I guess getting Mime out is a safer play. Anyway with my Darkrai at 50 damage, a Helix Force backed by a still missing Virbank and Laser would finish it, so it was prudent to retreat to the bench. I go to a fresh Darkrai without Claw and am forced to Night Spear unoptimally. I just lay the 30 on the Deoxys, chasing the energy.
He has his bench severely limited, so I rely entirely on Darkrai to lay the smackdown. He has nothing, so he simply attaches and used Helix Force.
I play the Random Receiver from my prizes and am rewarded with a Juniper, burn my Laser, and go for it. Now, I draw the Max Potion, but am unsure if I should play it. I could be in a bad way if I play my Max Potion early and he does get the mad combination to KO my Claw Darkrai, so I decide to save it. Besides, I have the 3rd Darkrai and a Dark in hand, so it will let me burn some cards if he does take the KO. Anyway we're both still at 5 and I haven't used any Ns. Best case scenario he has to hit into Claw Darkrai, and I can go for the big one. He is having a supporter drought anyhow, so it's a small gamble. I guess it's one of those questionable plays.
I swap Darkrais and Night Spear, placing 30 on Kyurem so I can get 3 prizes the next turn with any Darkrai and Catcher. Turns out I fall for his bait hook line and sinker, as he Scramble Switches to a fresh Deoxys, Catchers the hurt Darkrai and Helix Forces.
Next time, I'm playing my Max Potion no matter what. -_- At this point I'm forced to choose between KOing the benched Kyurem or hitting the active Deoxys. I choose the Kyurem as it has a Water and he has the potential to make a real explosive play with Blizzard Burn to slug me in the guts. I Random Receiver into Colress, lay my 3rd Darkrai, and go for the 7 card Colress. I draw a ton of Supporters, a Dark Patch, two Energy, Catcher and of course my one Virbank. There's absolutely no way I'm putting my stadium down for him to violate my ClawRai, so I Dark Patch and attach to the fresh Darkrai then Night Spear, putting 30 on the fresh attacking Deoxys. If all goes well the next turn I can play Virbank, Juniper, get the Laser and collect my last 4 prizes. I get too hasty and annouce Night Spear before I even retreat Absol, silly me.
He has no other choice but to bring the Deoxys forward for me. All he can do is Ultra Ball for Thundurus and Helix Force. This is my chance. I draw and topdeck the Max Potion. I go full YOLO and play the Max Potion, put the third Claw on my fresh Darkrai with two energy, play the Virbank, go for Juniper and pull two Energy Switch and a Dark Patch. And of course the Laser. Double Kill Booyah!
Game 2
I open lone Absol to a Deoxys. My deck is obviously taking a snooze as I draw nothing to help me out and he T1 Spiral Forces me.
T2 he Skyla's for Scramble Switch and Blizzard Burns my poor Absol into the next century. Dagnabbit.
Game 3
I get my T2 Night Spear going first while he tries to match my pace with Thunder Knuckle. He appears to choke early on, and I play down an extra Sableye to get a bigger Colress at one point, which actually isn't so good for me as my bench is clogged with two dumb Sableguys, leaving me unable to bench Mr Mime or another attacker to charge up.
Anyway, I quickly focus down Kyurem as per normal while finding time to eliminate an Absol, and he whiffs energy for the Blizzard Burn one crucial turn. I use that turn to plaster the Thundurus and spread 30 onto Deoxys while playing an Enhanced Hammer onto Kyurem for good measure.
I then start to roll him from there on out as he doesn't have a quick and dirty way to OHKO Darkrai, giving me the ability to charge my subsequent Darkrais slowly and press my advantage.
At one point he manages to N me to 3 while blowing away my first Darkrai with a damaged Kyurem's Blizzard Burn, with a Kyurem with 110 damage out back equipped with a Plasma Energy and a Deoxys with an energy and 30 damage as well.
I draw Absol, Dark Patch and Catcher. Whoopdedoo. I proceed to topdeck N and set out charging Absol and go for N. I draw Keldeo, Mr Mime and Ultra Ball, and thinking that I don't really need Mime at this point of the match, I discard the lot of them and search my deck. I've got a Darkrai, two Darks, Skyla, N, two Lasers, and an Energy Switch. I've got approximately 2 outs to Catcher and an N to try again, but there's also one Catcher and one Juniper in my 3 prizes. Having attached to a fresh Absol, all I need to do is to KO his active Kyurem and put 30 on his Deoxys and draw the Catcher I need to win. Even if I don't immediately draw it he's still forced to have the Scramble or be able to make some huge acceleration play with 2 Plasma Energies used up to attack me. I have this.
On his turn he promotes Keldeo, attaches Lightning to Deoxys, drops his second Keldeo, then Scramble Switches to Keldeo which has me scratching my head. He then Junipers into a Colress Machine and Colress Machines for a Plasma for Deoxys. Welp. He uses the second Keldeo to Rush In and ends his turn, hoping I don't pull the Catcher.
As luck would have it, my prize was Juniper, but I end up topdecking the Catcher anyway. Shucks, deck.
Kenneth is a really cool guy and isn't really all that miffed that he got flattened due to bad luck and tells me to go all the way. I tell him that I will definitely make it to Top 2 and go all in, then after that get a bit too psyched and start yelling for my next opponent.
Over at the next bracket XinCloft has decided to forfeit the match in Jeremy's favour so there is going to be only one game played at Top 4.
There can only be one, and at this point I'm sure I am going into Top 2.
Top 4 against Alvin (PLASMAAAAAAAA)
I must admit that I got overconfident just because I had never seen him before. The fact that he even is able to make Top 4 beating out Belp, another great player, doesn't really register in my head.
This quite nearly costs me this particular match, but as it turns out it seems that either he is equally overconfident or feeling equally nervous or just plain bad.
Game 1
He opens Thundurus and starts to swarm his field with Deoxys and Keldeo. I open Sableye, Darkrai and Keldeo and search for Absol while trying to augment my board position.
The next turn he Plasma Balls, and I think in my head that if he takes the Kyurem I would be in trouble. After a long search he chooses Thundurus and I really have to laugh silently in my head as I fully intend to punish him heavily for having a full 170HP EX board. I slowroll him by playing defensively, playing Lasers, Catchers, Enhanced Hammer, repeatedly Junk Hunting. I make a lot of dubious plays like playing down an Absol and not attacking with it though since I whiffed the Dark Claw. I guess I should have just attacked to further rack up the damage on his side of the board, but I Junk Hunted instead. Proof of how stoned I was that match.
He tries to charge up Thunderous Noise which I presume is to take out Sableye so I Enhanced Hammer his DCE and keep spreading. I even forget to Laser one turn before I Juniper, which really costs me. Still, he also makes a lot of questionable plays and gets stuck but he does surprise me with a big KO on Darkrai with Thunderous Noise that I don't see coming. Eventually I get my Dark Claw Night Spear armed and ready and begin my assault.
At this point he has only 2 prizes but I have to go deep into the deck and reach for Laser or the last Energy for my Night Spear (I think :x) leaving me with only 1 card in deck. Great Scott I actually have everything I already need to win the game! I strike down Thundurus, taking 2 prizes while setting up the second Thundurus for the KO. Now, if he doesn't N me and doesn't pull some insane shenanigans to flatten my Darkrai, I win.
He Junipers to try to find a way to beat me. I decided to go all in and tell him (I sure hope it didn't sound that much like a boast) that I am going to win the next turn if he doesn't have what it takes to take the last two prizes (which I don't see a way to at all).
He does something inconsequential (I think he Thunderous Noised and removed an energy) and I draw the last card in my deck which is Energy. Everybody thinks I need the energy, and I humour them by not flaunting the Energy Switch in my hand and do the semi-humble thing to attach, Catcher, Laser and Night Spear Keldeo with 30 on the hurt Thundurus for game.
I love taking four prizes.
Game 2
He starts first and goes with Thundurus and Deoxys on bench, then quickly puts out another Deoxys and a Kyurem. The details of the game are hazy, but I remember taking a Kyurem, an Absol, and Thundurus for 4 prizes while laying 60 on Keldeo and getting backed into a corner with a Darkrai with 30 damage on bench and another with 90 damage (which I promptly Max Potion once I get the chance). And I also remember getting an early Mr Mime and him trying to Frost Spear me and me arrogantly telling him that I have Bench Shield like a prick. I mean, I didn't even get to do that the entire tournament up till now, cut me some slack.
Anyway Darkrai is at 30 damage because I was careless and didn't Potion the damage off Darkrai for some reason, instead healing damage off Keldeo, so I can't afford to leave Darkrai active. I pull it back and send Mr Mime forward, playing the Laser on Thundurus which has already taken 140 damage and just collect my prizes.
However Kyurem already has two energy and he instantly Junipers and he energises his Blizzard Burn with three Deoxys on bench. The prize count is like 4-5 to my two, but if he takes down Darkrai I lose all momentum as the only other energy on board is on Keldeo, if I remember correctly (the only other alternative is that I don't even have a single other energy on board, which means I am in for a bad time).
He stares at his hand for awhile then declares Blizzard Burn on Mr Mime. I am pretty much overjoyed, thinking that he somehow managed to whiff the possible 3 Catcher in his deck as I prepare to Juniper for the Catcher I need to pull up Keldeo and the subsequent Claw/Laser to win, but end up topdecking the Catcher so I can play the Laser already in hand to win the game.
As soon as I win I immediately grasp his deck and start to search through it and find only two more Catcher inside. I assume that it is prized, but when Kenneth starts to rage at him for not playing the Catcher to burst Darkrai down, I realise I just got obscenely lucky with my opponent's misplays. Apparently the shock of seeing his Lugia prized in Game 1 was too much for him and he couldn't play properly anymore. I myself start to think that this is ridiculous given that the only other possible opponent I could have met here is Belphygus who is packing Blastoise, the one deck in Top Cut which truly annihiliates me, and he was beat out by Alvin. Still, I'm into Top 2, so I don't complain too much. I've accomplished my aim for the tournament and am going to go to Worlds!
Still, the game must go on, for we must decide the true winner of the tournament.
Top 2 against Jeremy Leong (Gothitelle and Friends) Redux
Jeremy is understandably nervous as he really needs the travel award to go to Worlds. I'm in slightly better shape, but 2000 bucks is a shit ton of money to simply give away. But we're here at Nationals to play the game, not worry about who gets two thousand bucks. Anyway it'd be an insult to everyone I've beat to come this far (especially to Kenneth) to simply give up. We reassure each other that it's just a game and we'll still stay friends and all that stuff and we sit down and setup.
Having already faced Jeremy in Swiss and having him coach me on how to beat this matchup, it's basically simplified to this: I need to run hot enough to get double Keldeo and an attacker, preferably Darkrai, hitting him before he can instate the full lock. There is no other way to win.
Game 1
I go first and bust out of the gate with Ultra Ball for Darkrai, Dark Patch, and Juniper, then draw another Darkrai which I immediately bench and attach Energy to the same Darkrai. I need to get my Night Spear going ASAP to put immense pressure on his board but I don't have the T1 Night Spear (my wishful thinking). Still, Absol is stuck up in front, so I have to hope for Energy and Energy Switch but more importantly I need more Supporters to fish Keldeo out of my deck. I Juniper again, and Jeremy counts my Supporters for me. To my chagrin, I've used 5 out of my 10 Supporters. I'm going to have to use my Supporters more conservatively soon or risk running out before I can draw my deck. I even burn my Dowsing for Energy Search, then attach the energy, Energy Switch and Catcher a benched Gothita to begin the slaughter.
He immediately Skylas for Rare Candy into Gothitelle though, but the upside is he has only 1 Gothitelle and no Gothitas on bench. Mew and Shelmet are there, but Goth doesn't have its Float Stone. He catchers up Absol and passes though.
I have the option of N or Juniper, but I'm forced to play N to conserve my small amount of Supporters at this point, helping him out but I whiff the energy and have to pass.
He draws and plays Colress, meaning that his hand isn't all that good, though it's only for five. He Dowsings Level Ball for another Gothita, meaning that if I don't get my next Night Spear soon I'm going to have a bad time. I don't draw the Energy, and he Junipers. The pain is about to begin. He plays Float Stone and DCE and Accelgor and Beach then uses Beach instead of attacking. He probably wants the Catcher to start hitting my energy bank Darkrai. I finally get the Energy and am forced to attach it to Absol to retreat and I Night Spear putting Goth at 120.
I fear that I may be too late however. He's got the second DCE and he Ultra Balls away Goth and a N to grab Shelmet, which means he's ready for some sick resistance-free Deck and Cover. He Junipers Catcher and DCE for more cards and goes for the Deck and Cover.
Subsequently on my turn I N him again and make the energy drop but I don't have the ability to attack so I pass, which is clearly a misplay since I could have Beached.
He Skylas for Level Ball, gets Gothorita and starts to slowroll me with another Deck and Cover. I draw and Beach, since I got nothing. My Darkrai tanks and I draw the Keldeo. If I had Beached the turn that I passed I would have drawn it the turn my Darkrai died. Me and my misplays.
Anyway I have the Keldeo but no attackers so I have to send my Darkrai up to try to reduce the amount of damage. He Level Balls for Accelgor but clearly doesn't have the DCE and passes. I draw energy and am forced to go for Mind Jack to clear the Gothitelle off the board. Once again I am one turn too late and he gets the Gothorita on the bench evolved. I'm beginning to wonder if I should scoop. However it appears he doesn't have the DCE and he hesitates for a long while, evolves Duskull to Dusknoir, pulls up my Keldeo counting his odds before he plays an N, putting us both at 4.
At this time Elias (whom some of you know as RoarKiller) sits down beside me and I proceed to draw energy and Juniper while he whiffs the DCE. The match suddenly swings entirely in my favour as I attach to my active Keldeo and Juniper into, wonder of wonders, my second Keldeo. With both Keldeos out, it's time for me to begin my assault in earnest, as I immediately press him with Mind Jack. I can easily attack one more time and take Gothitelle out of the equation altogether and he does have the ability to shut down Absol with two Deck and Covers, but in the long run I have the advantage if I don't miss my attachments to Darkrai, and at this point he simply scoops to save time.
Elias starts complaining about his insane luck aura and starts to move away but I implore him to come back. Stay right where you are Elias, I need to draw big to win.
The first game took about 20 minutes to complete, which means he has all the time in the world to deck me. Still, I guess if I can stall for about 40 odd minutes I can take the first prize in Game 3 and win on time.
Game 2
Jeremy mulligans a good few times and I get an extra three cards or so. I start Keldeo and Darkrai which is pretty good stuff in this matchup. He goes first and discards two Supporters, one of them an N and I'm left thinking what he is thinking. He searches his deck and his face starts to look pretty bummed. He searches Gothita and plays Float Stone then Ns. He gets the beach off N and Beaches. I go for the Ultra Ball and search my deck carefully, grabbing the second Keldeo. I also lay a Sableye in case I need to put up something to buy time. I play Laser, attach Energy and Claw to Darkrai and Beach. Things are looking pretty up for me but as GothLock has a reputation for winning games from as far behind as 6-1 I can't get too complacent.
The Laser is important to put Gothitelle at a nice 120 after evolution, and anyway if he does have a T2 Goth I won't be able to get rid of it. He plays down Duskull, Level Balls for Gothorita and evolves out of the poison while playing down Duskull then plays Colress for five, which gets him a Mew and another Level Ball for Gothita. Looks like he isn't ready to attack as he doesn't have Shelmet on board.
I wonder what is prized and I hope to exploit his weak board significantly as he beaches to go into my turn. I immediately Dark Patch to Darkrai, and spend a little time considering my hand. I have Juniper, N and Skyla, and I keep thinking if I should Skyla. Nevertheless I dump some Trainers and Ultra Ball, and then I have a brainfart and pick an Energy Search thinking that I'm in Skyla. So I take Darkrai instead, and try to take a deep breath and focus. The game is heavily in my favour, I just have to figure out what I need to do to start Night Spearing this turn and flattening him. I decide to play N and conserve my Supporters again. I pull the Enhanced hammer on his Gothita, removing its DCE, then attach to Keldeo. I've got the next energy in hand and I don't want to let Jeremy set up too much further, so I play down my Virbank to cut off his Beach. Anyway there's no Shelmet in sight so I don't have to worry too much about getting owned by poison like in my game against Nelson.
I pass and I am rewarded with a Tool Scrapper to the face. He actually Candies into Dusknoir at this point which puzzles me, since if he evolved into Gothitelle he could slow me down significantly. This is immediately solved when he Catchers the other Keldeo and Junipers. He gets the Rare Candy into Gothitelle anyway but with no way to retreat or attack, so he plays his second Beach over my Virbank and Beaches. I'm happy but sad at the same time. This turn I am really ready to roll with Night Spear, so I attach and N, hoping to disrupt him as well as get more stuff out of my deck, then go for the Spear. Now, I place the 30 on the Gothorita, putting it at a nice 40. If he tries to evolve the Gothorita and put it in front, Night Spear will obliterate it. He's got a spare Gothita but he's already used two Candies, so the chances aren't so high that he might evolve the Gothita.
He Level Balls for Shelmet now, and I know the real match is about to begin. He Beaches. I have one more turn to do this. I draw and attached then Night Spear again. Now I face a dilemma on where to place my snipe, and I choose Gothita. Later after the match Jeremy tells me that this is a misplay as I should apply the pressure on Gothorita forcing him to evolve it instead. After thinking about it I agree that it was probably better to snipe the Gothorita, if only because it would force him to waste his second Gothitelle on an already heavily damaged Gothorita making the odds of him getting the Candy and Gothitelle for the Gothita much lower. At any rate he's not going to be dumb enough to send a Gothitelle with 40 out to be Night Speared when he can always evolve the one with 30 on it forcing me to take the 2HKO again.
Anyway he evolves both Gothorita and Gothita into Gothitelle and gets the Deck and Cover with Mew and I have a very short turn where I draw, attach, declare Rush In, retreat, and Night Spear. This time around I lay 30 on Munna which I am also told is a misplay later, but honestly speaking there isn't much mileage to be derived from laying 30 on a Gothitelle that is already in Night Spear KO range nor an Accelgor that can go back in the deck nor a Dusknoir that's weak to Dark anyway, so I guess my choice was OK. He plays N and has got very little cards left in deck, but he plays down a Mew with DCE, interestingly. He ultimately chooses to Deck and Cover with Mew, putting 80 damage on my field total. I draw, whiff energy, and just go for Night Spear.
Jeremy is on his last Goth on field which I have carefully placed 40 damage, and he takes a long time to think, but at this point there is no way out for him and he shakes my hand and flips his prizes over to reveal that he has two Shelmets, a Gothita and a Catcher prized. He had burned his last Catcher early on the Juniper and had burned the Dowsing to search out another Gothita early on, meaning he no longer had the Catchers to try to spread damage on the field. At any rate he isn't able to use Accelgor to hit Keldeo for 110 as his Shelmets are prized, meaning that he can't readily chain Accelgors and with both my Keldeos on field early, he doesn't have the luxury of simply spamming Deck and Cover until he kills an EX and takes prizes. It seems that the game was decided a dozen turns ago when I laid my second Keldeo on the field.
I've lucksacked my way into becoming the National Champion, so I can't say I feel particularly proud of myself. I'm still happy about winning though, I mean in any case it's like I've won the lottery big time.
I feel bad for Jeremy whose loss was simply because his deck shat out on him in Game 2 and also because I drew god off the 4-card N in Game 1 but as everyone reassures me that a win is a win. I put it down to the lucksacking format we have now.
Still, I collect my prizes and call my mum about the good news, have a good dinner with everyone, and go home and sleep since I basically clocked about 7 hours of sleep between both days of Nationals.
Now that we're done with my emotional rollercoaster, let's talk about what I think about every deck that I feel is in the metagame right now.
Plasma or Thundurus/Deoxys/Kyurem
Plasma is the deck to beat. It's fast, consistent, and has the staying power to go late game because its main attacker, Kyurem, is only worth one prize while perfectly capable of oneshotting EXs one after the other with the help of Hypnotoxic Laser and 3 Deoxys on bench.
It packs recovery and energy acceleration in Thundurus, and yet another energy acceleration source in Colress Machine. It's everything Landorus/Mewtwo/Tornadus/Garbodor/Friends wanted to be and more.
The only reason why you would not play this is if you don't have the cards or you have access to something better. Plasma has 50/50 or better matchups across the board due to its pure speed save for Blastoise and Gothitelle lock which are slightly worse at I would say 45/55 or 40/60. Gothitelle can be teched for, but Blastoise basically demands that you run hot and flatten it before it powers straight through you. Definitely the deck of choice for most of us but alas my cardpool is incredibly tiny.
Black Kyurem Blastoise or BKB (DOTA references >w<)
I remember way back at Cities, Jake was telling me that the Japanese actually know that the BDIF is Blastoise, but the problem is very few of them have the Beaches to actually play it, and the reason that Thundurus/Deoxys keeps winning tournaments is due to their sheer availability compared to outside Japan.
Both Thundurus and Deoxys cost about 1200 yen apiece in Japan, meaning that you would only have to shell out about about 180 SGD to get all the Pokemon you need for Plasma including Kyurems.
By contrast, Japanese Beaches cost about 200-300 SGD apiece due to TPC botching the availability and making it much rarer than it should be. The problem is the most optimal version of Blastoise demands 3 Beaches, so not many people even outside of Japan have the ability to play this deck.
Blastoise is a monster whose only weakness is its own inconsistency and getting N'd to obsolescence, and thrives on setting up and using Black Ballista to eviscerate 3 EXs for game.
It's got 50/50 or better across the board, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. If you have access to three Beaches, this is definitely the deck to play. Unfortunately, I don't have a single Beach, let alone three.
Gothitelle/Accelgor/Dusknoir/Mew or GothLock
The comeback deck to end all comeback decks, GothLock can easily come back even if it's down 5 prizes once it sets up. Like Blastoise, it races against itself, but it tests the skill of the player in knowing their deck inside out as well as how to achieve their setup. Decks have to set aside 2 or more slots to even have a chance at beating this monstrosity.
However, GothLock, more than any other deck, suffers from its own inconsistency: its main mechanism is so unbelievably big and clunky that having just one or two pieces prized can lead to inevitable defeat as my games against it have shown. Not even Beach can patch its consistency in that sense as it does for Blastoise.
This is a strictly play-only-if-you-have-Beach deck, but the main reason you would want to choose this is against an unprepared metagame and also if you enjoy intricate setups and mathematics as opposed to "Catcher EX Black Ballista, repeat 2 more times". Even against a prepared meta (which Singapore obviously is) the deck can crank out 50/50 or better if it doesn't fold on itself. The Blastoise matchup is a complete crapshoot that is entirely reliant on who gets the Stage 2 first, so it is actually Blastoise's greatest enemy.
Cobalion/Landorus and friends
I talk about this as I expected it to show up at Nationals but none of them made Top Cut.
It plays with a huge amount of Max Potions (3 upwards) and is about even against Darkrai and Plasma with ordinary lists on both ends, but completely folds to Blastoise and most builds are so Trainer-reliant for swapping attackers that GothLock can just Deck and Cover all day until they lose. Even with Garbodor or two Keldeos to support, the reliance on tools (generally Float Stone) pretty much kills once GothLock gets their Scrapper.
This is a deck that requires a very specific metagame to win, and as such it's not recommended. I've tried different variations but haven't gotten any to do particularly well even against Plasma, let alone GothLock, the Beach-deck I know will be in season, which is why I did not consider this deck for Nationals.
Klingklang is actually a highly underrated choice. It doesn't neccessarily need Beach as unlike its Stage 2 cousins a PlasmaKlang on any turn in the game can seriously throw a big wrench into the plans of any deck, if not create an autoloss condition outright.
It's got Cobalion EX to annoy Plasma endlessly with repeated Righteous Edges, and best of all it slaps Kyurem for weakness. Against Darkrai a tight control over your bench can severely neuter Absol and PlasmaKlang prevents the deck's main attacker from mauling you. Against Blastoise a PlasmaKlang can completely halt Blastoise's assault and force them to scramble for a way to eliminate PlasmaKlang while you rain damage on their board. This isn't even accounting for the mad techs you can fit in by taking a risk and including Special Energy, and Durant DRX can come in under Plasma Steel's protection and repeatedly recycle a single card for you.
The only problem is that it doesn't have a real way to fend off GothLock beyond playing enough Blends for Keldeo and hoping you draw them, but this severely limits the tech options available to you as space is very tight for all the Stage 2s.
Still, it is very much a strong contender in a Gothitelle-free metagame. It did not do well in Japan because the first-to-get-#-wins-enters-Top-Cut format there heavily favours Plasma and Blastoise who win their matches very quickly, but in our world of Swiss rounds, Klingklang is a very solid deck. Props to Joey for finding a great new way to play it.
The reason why I didn't choose Klingklang was a distinct lack of Shift Gear-Klang and also a lack of actually playing the deck. Sorry, Klingklang! I won't simply pass you up next time.
An old dead deck, ZekEels is making the rounds on the internet simply because of its ability to force the six prize game with Zekrom BLW. Bolt Strike backed by a Laser allows Zekrom to mash Plasma Kyurem, and Kyurem doesn't have the required energy acceleration engine to match Zekrom and Dynamotor. Against the other decks, it exchanges Zekroms and Bouffalants against the EX Pokemon fairly evenly. It's even got the power to OHKO EX Pokemon from a clutch Zekrom EX backed by a Hypnotoxic Laser, and the fears of Tynamos being destroyed left and right by snipe are mitigated with Mr Mime around.
While a deck to look out for, I do not feel that the deck is strong against Blastoise, whom can simply power up a four-energy Keldeo and go all day every day, as well as Darkrai, the greatest enemy of all Eels. GothLock also gives the deck a hard time if it doesn't play two Keldeo down onto an already clogged bench, and even then requiring two Dynamotors to retreat makes the double Keldeo laughably easy to thwart since each Eel only has 90 HP. Having a Keldeo doing 50 damage isn't very appealing either. These four iffy matchups deter me from playing the deck despite the even to good matchup against Plasma.
RayEels is in a more precarious position than ever before, stuck between getting flattened by Landorus or flattened by Kyurem/Thundurus. In a format where even Emolga is (easily) donkable, RayEels doesn't seem like it would do well. To top things off, both Kyurem and Absol even have the ability to plow through Rayquazas all game. While RayEels is unstoppable once it sets up, the sheer damage output of the opposition is just too much for it to ever achieve an optimal board setup. The version that won Australia Nationals ran Tropical Beach which I believe was the key to its success, due to it shutting off Virbank while providing marginal benefit to the faster decks as opposed to Skyarrow which turned Thundurus and Sableye into highly mobile benchsitters as well as cutting Deoxys' and Keldeo's retreat costs by one which is highly appreciated. However having to play Beach in RayEels turns it into a nigh-inaccessible Beach deck.
I only mention this deck because it won Australia Nationals, which was also flooded with Blastoise compared to most other areas. Blastoise is pretty much this deck's best matchup in the format now simply because RayEels needs time to set up and also exchanges very favourably versus Black Kyurem EX while Blastoise's attackers have a hard time returning the KO.
Darkrai/Absol/Sableye or Duck Rice 😛
TPC weren't kidding when they said they were going to give a lot of support to Dark-types with the Dark Explorers set. Dark Claw and Dark Patch have given Darkrai the versatility and power it needs to survive every single format it exists in and still come up on top. This format, Darkrai gets some new toys to play with, and the format even shifts considerably in Darkrai's favour with the advent of even more 170HP EXs and a new friend to help burst them down in the form of Absol. Couple this with the decline of Landorus due to the terror that is Plasma Kyurem and Darkrai is looking stronger than ever before.
However, the same problems still bog Darkrai: Trainer Lock makes Darkrai choke hard due to its heavily Trainer-based engine, Blastoise is still Black Ballista-ing hard (and even more efficiently than ever before), Landorus EX is replaced by the far more threatening Kyurem and there's even a Plasma Landorus to OHKO Darkrai even faster. Darkrai literally cannot afford to get stalled for long or it loses against all its matchups. It's like a poor man's Blastoise, and you pay for what you get. In exchange for the raw power to blow through EXs left and right, you get the unique ability to recycle Trainers and the unique ability to set up huge 4-prize KOs, letting you maximise your Ns while forcing your opponents to keep taking prizes so you can N them flat later on. You also get the ability to play slightly more techs as the core functions of the deck are achieved with significantly less cards than the other big decks in the format, and that lets you tech for widely different metagames. It's a powerful deck that needs skill to play as well as the luck to get going, but when it does it boasts a strong 50/50 against Plasma, and with the right techs it can manage a 50/50 against the rest of the field as well. Alas, the Blastoise matchup is unsalvageable unless you run hotter than the sun and outspeed it.
This was my deck of choice simply because it was the cheapest alternative. Darkrais are very close to being a dime a dozen, and Absols cap at about 10 apiece even if you're being ripped off. It also has the tools to beat everything but Blastoise reliably, and Blastoise is almost dead in the current Singapore metagame, since everyone with Beaches appears to be planning to play GothLock. Everyone except Belp.
My List
I'm sure most of you want to find out about my list. Chances are I will not be playing the exact list again, so let me just lay it down for analysis.
This is my final list:
3 Darkrai
2 Sableye
2 Keldeo
2 Absol
1 Mr Mime
10 Pokemon
4 Juniper
1 Colress
1 Skyla
2 Random Receiver
12 Supporter outs
4 Dark Patch
4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Hypnotoxic Laser
3 Energy Switch
3 Ultra Ball
3 Dark Claw
1 Enhanced Hammer
1 Tool Scrapper
1 Dowsing Machine
1 Max Potion
1 Potion
1 Energy Search
27 Trainers
1 Virbank City Gym
10 Darkness Energy
And this was what I started with the night before the tournament:
3 Darkrai
2 Sableye
1 Keldeo
2 Absol
8 Pokemon
4 Juniper
1 Colress
1 Bianca
2 Random Receiver
12 Supporter outs
4 Dark Patch
4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Hypnotoxic Laser
3 Energy Switch
3 Ultra Ball
3 Dark Claw
2 Enhanced Hammer
1 Dowsing Machine
2 Potion
1 Energy Search>
26 Trainers
2 Virbank City Gym
10 Darkness Energy
Free Spaces – 1
Before I begin I would just like to give a shout out to my good friend Soong Teck, who is now in Australia taking names and kicking ass in the scene, for his guidance ever since I migrated from the Pokemon VGC that has had a very huge influence on how I see lists. It's gotten to the point where I can predict what counts of stuff he wants to put into his deck. Of course, copying another player's list can only go so far, and I hope my analysis can help you decide what you want for your own Darkrai.
Most of the Pokemon are fairly standard, such as 3 Darkrai and 2 Absol. Some might opt to play more Absol to shore up the matchups like Plasma, Blastoise and perhaps Klingklang, while some might play less as they find it very situational. I can safely say 2 is the optimal number as you definitely need more than one in the matchups that require it like Plasma and Blastoise, but you don't want to see it at all where it is bad such as GothLock or Landorus and friends.
Sableye is fixed at 2 because you don't need to be Junk Hunting beyond the first few turns and the very last few. There were quite a lot of games that I simply didn't use Sableye other than as a meatshield to force a 7-prize game. You have to be careful with your Sableye as playing Absol creates a situation where they only KO a Sableye and an Absol and get to coast to the finish by KOing 2 Darkrai instead of being forced to go for 7 prizes.
As I mentioned very early on in my report, getting annoyed by Mr Mime in the evening caused me to heavily consider slotting it in, and I did, expecting a field of Plasma, Darkrai and Landorus generally. The prevention of the 30 snipe seriously limits the damage output of these guys and will put me ahead in mirrors which I expect to meet the most (and I turn out to be right).
I am forced to put in the second Keldeo knowing that most of the Beach-possessing players are quite fixated on Gothitelle and I refuse to take the autoloss to GothLock since I actually need to Top 2 and I definitely will be seeing at least a GothLock in cut.
The supporter lines are very standard, heavy draw as that's exactly what Darkrai needs. Last season the premier draw Supporters were Juniper and Professor Oak's New Theory, which was a shuffle draw for 6, which is what N does early game. 4 of each coupled with 2 Random Receiver ensures you get strong early game draw and keep it until the game progresses late and you still have the option of trying to shut down your opponent with N or YOLO diving for resources with Juniper.
Colress is an incredible mid-game supporter, where benches easily fill up on both sides allowing you to draw for 10, but what we need the most is early draw, and as such we play only 1 Colress. The same goes for Skyla, you only really need her when you need to fish for the missing part of a puzzle, so ideally you don't want to hit her off a Random Receiver.
2 Random Receiver is a nice balance between clogging up the deck and not having one to Junk Hunt in an emergency.
4 each of Dark Patch, Laser and Catcher are bog standard for every Darkrai deck unless they intend to play incredibly tightly, but with Catcher and Laser being such clutch cards you don't want the risk of not having them when you need them due to being prized or being belligerent at the bottom of the deck.
3 Energy Switch is practically a requirement for today's Darkrai decks as the mobility lets you retreat your Keldeo without wasting an attachment and also enabling a T2 Night Spear with the Darkrai trapped on the bench. It is also incredible in conjunction with Max Potion as you do a smaller scale version of Dark Trance/Shift Gear to heal a Pokemon while preserving a few energy on board.
Ultra Ball I have cut to 3 in order to fit more techs; unlike Catcher and Laser you don't need that many, playing 4 just means you want to start with them in your opening hand as much as possible, and you do have the space to fit it in from the skeleton.
3 Dark Claw is a requirement today as many people are playing Tool Scrapper to ruin your perfect Night Spear/Mind Jack math, but also because it makes it easy for you to get a Dark Claw out early and maximise your mileage especially on Night Spears. You're missing out if you don't play at least 3 Tools in Darkrai, even if you don't make them all Dark Claw. The third Claw is always welcome though.
At this point I reach the techs section.
2 Enhanced Hammer is a good balance between beating Plasma and not having too many shitty dead cards in your other matchups, but I feel that I just need 1 clutch Enhanced Hammer that I can Junk Hunt for. In hindsight, I don't even really need Enhanced to beat Plasma, it just slows them down slightly to make their damage trajectory that much more predictable. In exchange I fit in a Tool Scrapper, one of the most gamechanging techs in the game. Knocking off Float Stones, Eviolites and opposing Dark Claws will make matchups like Garbodor, Landorus, Plasma and of course the mirror much smoother.
Early on in deckbuilding I remove a Virbank as I feel that since almost all the non-Stage 2 decks play Laser, I can count on my opponents to play down Virbank for me, and you don't want it against GothLock anyway. The only matchup where you have to play it down repeatedly against is Blastoise, which isn't going to be all that common in my opinion, and a Beachless Blastoise will definitely fold under its own weight.
I originally played two Potions at Soong Teck's suggestion way back at Cities to beat out Landorus as well as being annoying in the mirror to cut snipe damage and reduce the damage on my Darkrai neccessitating the Laser for KO. However Max Potion is pretty important for those times when your opponent can easily 2HKO as well as for complete prize denial, so I find myself having to include it. In exchange I give up a Potion. I pretty much hope against hope they come in handy, and they very much do. Having 1 of both is really good, though I wonder how much mileage 2 Potions would have given me. Still, having a way to clear my energyless Darkrai of all the damage is very reassuring.
10 Darkness Energy is pretty standard, some swear by 11, and techier lists that have to split energy go down to 8 or 9, but 10 is a fairly safe number at any rate and lets me fit in another one-of.
Final Thoughts
I've read a lot of reports before and I've always felt pretty tilted when the writer basically hits all his good matchups all the way up and draws well to win, but it really feels good to be on the other side.
I didn't spend all my time reading reports to rage though, and I noticed an interesting trend across reports, especially those that ran standard metagame decks. Often, the winning lists aren't the one that have maximum consistency but the ones that have somehow managed to fit in the tools they need to deal with every matchup. This culminates in my new winning formula of "Tech big and run hot or go home". Maximum consistency will only get you so far, but when it comes down to the crunch, the techs will put you ahead. With so many differing lists out on the net and so many people telling you what to fit, you basically have to try it out and see what you actually like. Some decklists have very particular engines that tailor to the user themselves, so be wary when you copy others.
While the state of the game now is extremely luck-based, I feel that the luck factor is severely compounded because the internet can supply anyone with lists and the knowledge they need to play decently, so often the only separating factor is luck. However, I do not think player skill counts for nothing, and in that regard I have a long way to go especially in terms of deckbuilding. I don't find a problem with making plays, but as my Top 2 match has shown there's always something that can be improved and finetuning my thought processes for new situations, and of course like in my Top 4 match, I need to develop the mental stamina to hunker down and play for even more extended periods of time. I hope to hone my skills and show the world what Singapore is made of at Worlds. Till then, peace out.


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1 Corinthians 13 is known as the love chapter.
It's often quoted and probably used more than another scripture for weddings.
This love chapter is full of "what if's."
What if I could speak all languages of humans and of angels?
What if I could prophesy and understand all secrets and all knowledge?
What if I had faith that moved mountains? (from 1 Corinthians 13 CEV)
What if?
Our what if's could go on forever.
So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end. (from 1 Corinthians 13 MSG)
This is what perfect love looks like. But, we're not perfect and we live with other imperfect people in an imperfect world.
We only have a glimpse of perfect love. We've experienced it to some degree when we received God's gift of love, Jesus. Truly and completely experiencing this real love in this dark and broken world is not fully possible. When we finally see Jesus, then we will see, taste, and feel it like never before.
We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. (from 1 Corinthians 13 MSG)
So in the meantime… we have something to do that will help us to experience God's amazing love.
Actually THREE things.
- Trust God no matter what.
- Hope unswervingly – in HIM.
- Love extravagantly.
Most days, I do my best to trust God and hope in Him. But, I'm not so sure that I give much thought to loving extravagantly. Do you?
I think that's the kind of love that Francis Chan refers to as crazy love.
So what is extravagant love?
First I decided to look up the definition of extravagant in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary.
The Simple Definition of Extravagant
: more than is usual, necessary, or proper
: very fancy
: very expensive and not necessary
I looked a little farther at some of the synonyms and their definitions…
Excessive, immoderate, inordinate, exorbitant, extreme… going beyond a normal limit. excessive implies an amount or degree too great to be reasonable or acceptable <excessive punishment>. immoderate implies lack of desirable or necessary restraint <immoderate spending>. inordinate implies an exceeding of the limits dictated by reason or good judgment <inordinate pride>. exorbitant implies a departure from accepted standards regarding amount or degree <exorbitant prices>. extreme may imply an approach to the farthest limit possible or conceivable <extreme shyness>.
I think we're called to love God and each other excessively, certainly without restraint, and definitely way beyond what anyone would ask or expect. Yeah… that's crazy love for sure.
What would our little spheres look like if we loved God and each other that way?
So these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.
I dare you to love extravagantly this week.
Will you take the dare?
I love JoyDay! There isn't anything better than each of us sharing the good things God has done in our lives this week. Both in the happy and in the challenges.
Will you join with me in counting 'seven' from the past week?
I'll start!
Thank you God for…
- Your amazing wonderful unbelievable love.
- a wonderful new possibility.
- the opportunity to meet with a dear sweet friend.
- this bitterly cold weather.
- seeing the lake change daily and "ice up" in ways we've never noticed.
- homemade chicken soup…. I never tire of it.
- these difficult days and knowing You're walking with me through each one.
Now it's your turn!
Please join me by tapping in your 'seven' in the 'share your extraordinary thoughts' section below. I dare you!
Prayer update on baby Weston… Weston and his daddy made the trip home to AZ on Wednesday and he had another check up on Friday and he is doing really well. Thank you so much for your prayers.
My unspoken request remains…. but know God is at work.
Thank you for stopping by and taking time to leave your sweet thoughts.
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Sign up Now.

subset: commoncrawl


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zInternationalStudents Blog
Saturday, February 16, 2019
- 25
Drinking and Drugs Abroad: Things to ConsiderFiled Under: Health Insurance
Balance fun and safety when studying abroad – it's very important to pay attention to the laws of the country you're visiting when you're partying. Numerous American students are arrested abroad on drugs charges or alcohol-related offences. Think you'll be OK if you claim ignorance of local regulations? Think again.
Know the age limit for alcohol consumption. Take heed of rules regarding drinking in public places and driving when under the influence, and keep to them. Because accidents happen when you're under the influence, take care to avoid excess alcohol consumption and take out comprehensive travel insurance to cover you for healthcare abroad if you need it.
And never carry packages for anyone – if you're caught traveling with illegal drugs you could end up in jail for the best years of your life. Drug charges can be severe in other countries – from hard labor to the death penalty in certain cases. Don't use or have drugs in your possession – it's simply not worth the risk to your health and freedom.
Most of all, don't take risks you wouldn't consider if you weren't drinking or partying. Keep your personal safety in mind all the time and make sure you never need your medical insurance.Commenting is not available in this channel entry.


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Soulsville USA
Originally uploaded by Herschell Hershey.
The Hooper Chapel is the second thing you see when you enter the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. First comes a film in which Ray Charles explains that soul is a music in which church, blues and country "all intertwined, some kind of way". Solomon Burke states that "country music is soul music - it's the soul of the country". Al Bell, the former president of Stax, tries to explain the music. "It wasn't political. It was pure. It was tough." Then comes Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a stern matron in a flowery dress, knocking merry hell from an electric guitar. Somewhere, Booker T Jones makes a pointed remark. Stax died, he says, when Dr Martin Luther King was murdered in Memphis in 1968.
Walking past the chapel, we may learn that the term "soul" was first applied to music in the 1950s, referring to a blend of hard bop, gospel and blues. Before soul, there was gospel, a style which aimed for transcendence and purity of expression, in which devotion walked in step with humility, and which was made commercial by Johnnie Taylor and Sam Cooke, who sang about love as if seeking salvation. We can appreciate that, with the growth of the civil rights movement, the songs became more nuanced: Respect or Soul Man could be heard as expressions of black pride. But, as Greil Marcus has noted, Respect sung by Otis Redding is different from Respect sung by Aretha Franklin. Otis is chiding his woman, Aretha is addressing all men.
The museum gives you this, while also being full of the ephemera of soul. Here, in a glass case, are the clothes of Ike and Tina Turner. Tina's dress is yellow with silver swirls, her shoes are gold. Ike's jacket, folded beside his Telecaster, is silver. Here is Rufus Thomas's white spangled cape, his red snakeskin boots. There, the rabbit fur coat worn by Norman West of the Soul Children and the patchwork boots worn by Don Nix of the Mar-Keys.
In the case dedicated to Booker T and the MGs: Al Jackson's jacket; Steve Cropper's first amp, a Fender Princeton; Donald "Duck" Dunn's customised pipe, with his own head carved on the bowl. In the Otis Redding display, the singer's suede jacket. There, the tape recorder on which he recorded Respect. And there, Phalon Jones's King Super 20 sax, retrieved from the plane crash which killed its owner, and took Otis.
Around the corner, demanding attention, are the cast-offs of a man known to one generation as Black Moses, and to another as Chef. A reversible fluorescent cape, circa 1971, in orange and pink; a yellow suit with the man's face on the back. And - can you dig it? - a peacock blue Cadillac Eldorado with a white fur carpet: a perk of Isaac Hayes's 1972 contract.
Next to the car, a sign: "While some members of the black community criticised Hayes for the ostentatious nature of the car, the gold-plated Cadillac was, for many, a symbol of upward mobility."
When he was looking for a line to sell his records, Stax president Al Bell came up with "Soulsville". In laying claim to a genre, Bell was guilty of cheek, but his arrogance was justified. Detroit had Motown, a brand of soul which was accessible and poppy, or, to Bell, "cosmospolitan" . Stax was something else. It was hard and immediate. At a time when pop production was tending towards lushness, Stax's records were clear, compressed joy.
The word people use is "integrated". By an accident of geography, when Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton set up Stax in a disused cinema on McLemore Avenue in south Memphis, aiming to record pop and country artists, they sited themselves in an evolving neighbourhood. The area was white, changing to black. The membership of the house band, Booker T and the MGs (with MG standing for Memphis Group) was mixed, as was that of the Memphis Horns. "A lot of the artists came from this neighbourhood," says museum curator Nashid Madyun. "Booker T Jones walked up: when Green Onions was cut he was in tenth grade. He just wanted to see what a recording studio was like, and, here goes, he's a prodigy. David Porter, Aretha Franklin, Nat D Williams, all from this neighbourhood."
To this list of local talent, add the names of Rufus Thomas, William Bell, horn players Andrew Love and Gilbert Caple, plus members of the Bar-Kays, the Mad Lads and the Soul Children. 'When I listen to the music today, I feel the same way I did when we cut it. I have to fasten my seatbelt.' Another who tried to insinuate herself into the Stax family was Deanie Parker, who cut a couple of records before taking charge of publicity, sending 45s to radio announcers with a metal addressograph machine. "Stax was an incredible place for anybody who thought they had any talent at all," says Parker. "They had an open door policy." Parker played a few shows with Booker T and the MGs, before deciding that performance was not her forte. "I didn't like singing in front of large audiences. I didn't like being on the road. It was difficult, you couldn't stay in nice hotels, you couldn't eat in restaurants. You couldn't stop and use the rest rooms. It was a hard life."
Between the lines of Parker's remarks is an acknowledgement that, though Stax was integrated, Memphis and the South were still in the grip of racial segregation.
What happened? Stax expanded and the purity of the sound was diluted. After 1968, the family spirit of the company began to weaken. Integration became difficult when, after King's assassination, Memphis was gripped by riots. The studio closed in 1975, ownership transferred to the church and the building was left to rot. It was demolished in 1989.
Throughout that time, Deanie Parker had a dream. "I was afraid to share it with anybody, because I knew it would be a monumental task. I was afraid that I could never assemble the kind of support, financial and otherwise, to make it happen alone, and I had been around long enough to know that when you share a dream, people kill the dream.
"I also hurt a little bit, because we didn't get a farewell. We were put out, those of us who were at Stax Records. We were, what's that word for when you're in a home and you don't pay your rent? Evicted."
When Stax folded, Parker left Memphis, and refused to visit the derelict site. She returned in 1983, and was asked to join a group who planned to obstruct the bulldozers. "I was frozen. I couldn't do it because, to me, what was left here that was decaying, along with the rest of the neighbourhood, was symbolic of nothing more than bricks and mortar. The lives of people had been interrupted and destroyed. That was the most important thing that had happened.
"The worst part of it was that this was an organisation whose greatest strength was that it had an open door policy, that it was a mentoring environment, that there were people here who enjoyed cultural exchange. We were a seamlessly integrated organisation. We were atypical of everything else that was going on in Memphis and the South.
"You can't put that together again, you can't make up for that lost time, but the music saved us. The music is timeless. The music has made a statement. The music has given us a reason to do what we're doing today. Because, I tell you, when I listen to it today, I feel the same way that I did when we cut it. I have to fasten my seatbelt."
Parker is president and executive director of Soulsville USA, which has rebuilt the Stax studio, and which plans to use the profits from the museum to support an academy where local children can learn to play music. Soulsville is now a defined geographical region encompassing two zipcodes in south Memphis. The area, no less depressed than it was when Stax was extant, is benefiting again from the visceral power of soul music.
Outside, a few steps from the Michael's Magnificent Cuts and Styles barber shop, I meet Curtis Johnson, who used to sing with the Astors, and had a hit with Candy. He has just toured the museum, and was impressed by the reconstructed studio, which reproduces the old sloping floor, inherited from its days as a cinema. "The old control room is what got me: the way it's set up, the Billboard magazines on the floor and the Coke bottle sitting on top of the mixing machine. The same way Steve [Cropper] and the guys used to do when they were working at the machine.
"We spent many, many hours listening to playbacks after we'd go out there and record. But with the two-track system you couldn't edit the way you do now. You had to just go back and re-do it over and over, so we may sing the same song 25 or 30 times, and we had to listen to the playback each time to make sure that it was right.
"We didn't realise at the time that we were going to be a part of history. As a matter of fact, I got rid of all the old outfits and uniforms that we used to wear, and the posters. Had I known that anything like this would develop I would have kept a lot of that stuff."
Johnson's voice is heavy with emotion. "I'm just blown away by the whole thing," he says. "Deanie's dream of bringing this back and doing this ... we're in her debt forever for, in a sense, making us immortal."
I ask Deanie Parker about Dr King. She says that Stax had been trying to fulfil his dream, but at the time, Memphis wasn't ready.
"This community did not deserve to lose Stax records. This was the crown jewel of this community. It was the hope, the pride. Now we've come back even better because we're able to do something for the future. For the children who are looking for the same kind of opportunities, the same kind of attention, patience, for somebody like Steve Cropper to say, 'OK, Jimmy King …'"
It seems as if Parker is thinking about absent friends: Jimmy King and Carl Cunningham of the Bar-Kays died in the Otis plane crash in 1967: "One of the things Steve said to me when we were talking about memorabilia was, 'If you're talking to the King family, ask them if they still got that guitar that I let Jimmy have. And I'll guarantee you that if Al Jackson Jr were living he'd probably say, 'Hey, you can have these drumsticks. Carl gave them back to me, he's gone on to be a great drummer now.'"
"This kid, Carl, used to roll his little apron across his waist and come from across the street down at the corner from the shoeshine shop and sit there mesmerised by these guys in the studio.
"This is what we have to do. You reach a point where you do things and you look back and you say, 'Well, what is my life really worth if I can't share these things that have benefited me?'"
Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 926 East McLemore, Memphis, tel: 001 901 942 7685; www.soulsvilleusa.com


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What I wanted to do this past weekend but didn't have the time:
Those crafty ladies over at Lemon Tree Creations are so inspiring. I'm a big fan of candles, but not one of plain votives. So I was disappointed when the weekend escaped me and I couldn't try to make these fun little DIY candle votives of my own. I mean, seriously: that patina blue one on the left is practically begging to live on my mantle.
Next time, for sure.
June 7, 2010
2 comments:
- Jessica @ Barefoot by the Sea said...
Love these! Oh, I'm sure by this weekend you'll have nothing going on and plenty of time to make a dozen or so ;)
- June 7, 2010 at 8:43 AM
- Kim @ Frost Me! said...
omg, the twine ones HAVE to be part of my garden/bird theme party late summer! great find!
Kim @ http://frostmeblog.blogspot.com
party inspiration
- June 8, 2010 at 8:07 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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HBR's 10 Must Reads 2019: The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review (Paperback + Ebook)Leadership & Managing People Special Offer34.95A year's worth of management wisdom, all in one place. We've reviewed the ideas, insights, and best practices from the past year of Harvard Business Review...
Why Companies Are Becoming B CorporationsGlobal Business Digital ArticleUnderstanding the new organizational form that looks beyond shareholders.
Responsibilities to Investors, Module NoteGlobal Business Case Study14.00


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VP Biden to NAACP: Obama "Prevented a Worldwide Depression" [AUDIO]
Vice President Joe Biden was in Houston today to address a national civil rights convention.
Biden spoke at the NAACP National convention a day after Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney spoke to the group.
Romney was booed during his speech yesterday when he said he would repeal ObamaCare. Biden spoke to the convention about President Barack Obama saving the economy by making tough decisions.
Biden said, "When the economy was about to go over the cliff, I watched him make some of the toughest decisions any President has had to make since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He saved the nation's financial system and doing so he prevent a worldwide depression."
The Vice President also alluded to a conspiracy by the Republicans to obstruct President Obama's agenda with little to no support for many of the administrations initiatives.
Biden said of the Republicans, "Their discipline is amazing. They have never let up. But neither has my guy, neither has Barack Obama. He has not given up. He continues to be driven by the character of his convictions. Folks, in the end, that's what the presidency is all about."


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I love the shabby chic colours on the tea towels I found this
week. There are 7 and they cost me $4 the lot
This pretty yellow roses English Tea cup was $3
It was really dirty, I found it at a garage sale
When I washed it, I found it had never been used
The place mats were rolled up and tied with string
I thought there were only 2,but there were 3
I managed to get in some sewing this week
as I have had a lot of sales on Ebay for my Christening Gowns
I thought I would make some little baby dresses to use up some of
my stash of pretty fabric
This little dress will fit a new born or baby doll
and is for sale on Ebay auction for $19
I will be visiting the lovely linky parties on my side bar
Happy Week my friends
And a big thank you to Jacqueline from Cabin and Cottage
Jacqueline recently posted on her blog the Victoria Magazine
with pictures and stories of beautiful vintage linen
Jacqueline has so very kindly sent me a copy
I am so thrilled as we can't get it in Australia.
I can't wait for it to arrive.
Check out Jacquelines blog,it's so beautiful with all her lovely collections
of linens and china and more


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Any guesses as to who will win this battle for front-porch territory? The answer is… ME and the can of wasp spray I shot them all with from a safe, up-wind position (so the chemicals would not trigger an MCS flare-up). 🙂
Posted from WordPress for Android on my Samsung Galaxy S III


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VJump December Issue will give a Gatchmon chip and Dogatchmon card as purchasing bonuses. Appmon manga by Akamine Naoki will begin next month as well.
A picture of the Appmon data card game that will release this year.
The advent of Taitamon in Digimon Linkz
And seems like HiAndromon will soon be coming to Linkz as well.


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Do you own a restaurant for a commercial establishment that requires a kitchen? Maybe you are not aware that keeping restaurant equipment in good condition can substantially reduce your energy bills. Let the experts at Sterling Parts & Service Inc. in Glendale, CA offer you preventive maintenance and repair service to troubleshoot your equipment on regular basis. We stop the problems even before they start and keep your equipment working at 100% efficiency. We have been serving the L.A. and Orange County areas since 1946.
Sterling Parts & Service Inc. is the source for getting the right parts for your equipment the first time! We are licensed to serve the clients of the entire Southern California at highly competitive prices.
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For decorating the tree
For Advent Calendars
For sending and receiving Christmas cards...we keep all the photo cards from years past too!
For Kiachl (sort of like a funnel cake- served with powdered sugar, marmalade or sauerkraut)
For Baking
For Clementines
For PHOTO CHALLENGES
And for making Caramels
But most importantly, celebrating the real reason for the Season!
What special things do you do to get ready for Christmas and/or enjoy doing during the Holidays?
Here are a few more ideas that I found on Pinterest...
Perfect gift for your neighbors
THESE are so cute
THIS looks like a fun book
and a Yummy Dessert for a Christmas Party


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Julia Roberts' new Manhattan penthouse Hey, Julia Roberts, save some Manhattan penthouses for the rest of us, will ya?
So what if most of us can't afford a Manhattan penthouse -- Julia just spent $3.895 million on her new Greenwich Village digs! -- it's the principle of the thing.
And geez, Julia Roberts already has places in California, New Mexico, and uh, another Manhattan penthouse a few blocks away in Gramercy Park.
Is that really necessary?
Last I checked, Julia Roberts just has one husband and three kids. What is with all the luxurious places to live? It's not like she needs to entertain the Queen of England when she comes ... or the President and First Lady. Maybe she's just in desperate need for a tax write-off or something ... she's clearly sitting on a large chunk of change.
In my juicy fantasies where I am as rich as Julia Roberts, I like to tell myself I would still spend modestly: one house, one housecleaner, one Jaguar. But even in my imagination, I hadn't really considered I could have a rooftop terrace and my own garage in the Village. That would be pretty sweet.
So okay, maybe I would take one of those penthouse things -- or two -- one a few blocks away where the kids can't find me ...
Aha! Is that what's really going on? Is Julia planning a more permanent move to NYC where she can have a nice family home and a gigantic moms-only cave a few blocks away? Or is the well-priced real estate in this economy that's crushing many Americans just too irresistible to the rich?
How much real estate to you think celebrities really need? Why so many, why?
Image via Shelterpop


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Travel is a great activity to get energised and rejuvenated. It is a very important part of our lives when we are saturated from our daily routine and need a break. It is a simple way of recharging our batteries in today's terminology. This trip can be a great one only if you plan accordingly. A hap hazard planned trip will not be fruitful and can irritate and frustrate you as well. There are certain things that need to be taken care of when planning a world travel. The first and most important part is the travel to the desired destination. There are many ways in which one can travel to the holiday destination.
Flights, trains, buses, or even cruises can be a part of this travel. But one should check the time taken for travel along with the rates charged for it. One would not want to pay extra and reach at a destination later than usual. Therefore finding the best way to reach is very important. The next thing is the accommodation as you would spend the night at a hotel or a rented house. This is also a major contributor in the entire budget. World travel means expenses more than the usual local trips. One should get all the relevant information about the hotels and nearby accommodations to decide upon.
It is also necessary to know the tourist attractions of the destination to make the memories for a lifetime. So travelling for longer durations will cut short the time to explore more. Therefore one should make sure that they find an accommodation nearby in order to explore more. The final part where the traveller should stress is the meals. The food and different cuisines make the day of any traveller. At the end of the day when the traveller is tired and hungry; they should be able to satisfy their appetite and relish the cuisines they feast upon. The local cuisines of any destination are always a highlight in a world travel.


text: Actor Bradley Cooper discusses his Oscar-nominated film American Sniper. He plays Navy SEAL Chris Kyle who is considered to be the most skilled sniper in U.S. military history. Cooper talks about the controversy surrounding the film, working with director Clint Eastwood, and portraying Joseph Merrick in the Broadway revival of The Elephant Man.


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The GOPs big immigration conundrum, in nine easy steps
By Sean Sullivan
January 27 at 3:22 pm
The Washington Post
Demonstrators march against amnesty for immigrants in the U.S. illegally during a July 2013 rally against an immigration reform bill in Washington. (Jose Luis Magana/Reuters)
What's best for the whole is not always what's best for the sum of its parts. Just ask the Republican Party about immigration.
Coming off a dismal performance among Hispanic voters in 2012, many party strategists are hoping that the GOP will shift its posture and fully embrace a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. Their hope is to begin to repair a sullied image among an increasingly powerful share of the electorate that has lined up firmly behind the Democratic Party. And to do it before the 2016 presidential election.
The problem for the GOP? That's a tough ask for most Republicans in the House, which is currently the center of the immigration debate. For many rank-and-file members, there is no political upside to embracing a path to citizenship.
Nine numbers from the new Washington Post-ABC News poll tell the story.
Eighty-five percent of Hispanics say undocumented immigrants currently in the United States should be given the right to live and work here, according to the survey. And about half (52 percent) say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate for Congress who supports a path to citizenship for them. Just 11 percent say they would be more likely to oppose such a candidate. The 11-point error margin for the the polls sample of 97 Hispanics warrants caution, though overall opinion clearly is lopsided.
But among Republicans, we see a very different picture. Only 33 percent say undocumented immigrants should be given the right to live and work in the country. Nearly twice as many (65 percent) say they should not. Among conservatives, the numbers (34 percent/63 percent) are nearly identical.
The potential impact at the ballot box should be even more troubling for House Republicans. Forty-five percent of Republicans say that backing a path to citizenship would make them less likely to vote for a candidate. Just 17 percent say it would make them more likely. Among conservatives, the numbers once again look very similar.
Here's why it matters so much: The majority of House Republicans reside in safely conservative districts where the biggest electoral threat they face is the GOP primary. And it's Republicans and conservative voters who are casting ballots in such primaries the same Republicans and conservatives who've demonstrated little appetite for a path to citizenship.
As The Washington Post's David Nakamura reported last week, House GOP leaders have signaled that they will pursue their own immigration reform plan, even as the Senate last year passed a sweeping bill that includes a path to citizenship. The goals of the House plan are expected to address a path toward legal status. But the big question is what specifically that path will look like and whether enough Republicans can support it.
Introducing the plan after the filing period has passed in most states could help rally support for immigration reform. Still, the next House election after this one is in 2016. And some Republicans could be wary of attracting a conservative challenger next time around.
President Obama won 71 percent of Hispanic voters in 2012, increasing the his share of the vote from 2008. Hispanics also made up a larger share of the electorate. This is why it's so critical for Republicans to rehabilitate their image broadly, in the minds of many GOP strategists.
But at the level of House elections, the overarching concerns are very different. The Cook Report's Amy Walter looked last year at all of the House Republicans who represent districts where the Hispanic share of the population is 25 percent or greater. There are only two dozen such districts. And of the two dozen, 15 were carried by Mitt Romney by double digits meaning they are very conservative areas.
Immigration is the biggest legislative question mark of 2014. Leaders in both parties haven't given up hope of getting something done. Of course, that doesn't mean that something will.
And if doesn't, one of the major reasons why could be the lack of political imperative to act from the party with, well, a major political imperative to act.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ne-easy-steps/Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn
Added to Homepage with slightly amended title:
http://www.alipac.us/content.php?r=2...ine-easy-stepsSupport our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn


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So...this month I'm making a few rounds to chat about, gasp, myself and my writing and MY BOOK! If you're interested in learning more about my writing process or behind-the-scenes information about When Ash Rains Down, visit these two lovely ladies who invited me to their blogs this month!
Author Diane Burton interviewed me...find out just how badly I messed up my first manuscript and what my go-to genre is (isn't it paranormal...??)!
Author Hart Johnson interviewed me...find out how I successfully, or un-successfully?, balance out how much faith I put into my non-Christian genre books AND MORE, like who inspired my characters, is Shady Creek, WI a real place? and what's NEXT in my series?
The week of January 23 there will be a BLOG TOUR hosted through Ya Bound Book Tours. You won't want to miss it. There will be fun content shared through blogs you may not have seen before, plus, and this is the scary part...reviews. And while some have reviewed my book already on Goodreads and Amazon, some are holding out for that week.
Oh, and I know how it is with book blogging and reading and writing, mostly you'll want to hop around to the blogs that day because...


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Welcome to Tygeress's Lair! This is the online "apartment" of the newest Filthy Animal. Here you will find her bios, pics, and a lot more. Don't forget to sign our dreambook and talk to "little old me" on The Phone. Don't worry, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, visit Tygeress's Livng Room!
| Read my Dreambook!
Sign my Dreambook!