Australian Nationals 2014: Naomi Murn- Top 8 interview (Yveltal/Darkrai/Garbodor)


Ace Trainer back again guys! This time with Naomi Murn, who has just finished top 8 at Australian Nationals 2014. Congratulations Naomi!


Q: Before we get into your deck choice and the deck itself, I wanted to ask you about your swiss rounds.
Who did you play vs and what was your final record?

A: “Round 1 I played vs one of your Ace Trainer friends in Anthony Smith, he was playing Trevenant/Accelgor.Both of our games were really close but I managed to come out with a game 1 win to give me a huge advantage. Round 2 I played vs T/D/K which was a convincing victory. Round 3 I played vs Ellis Longhurst who was playing Flygon/Dusknoir/Accelgor and then vs Jon Blair playing Aromattise/Plasma. In the 5th round I faced off against Brendan Vagg who was also playing Plasma and at this point I was right near the top of the standings! In the 6th round I played vs Jordan Palmer one of the undefeated player at the time, who I lost to in a very close series. The 7th round I played vs another Ace Trainer in B0ds, we tied and went to get some dinner after 6/7 hours of non-stop playing! In the final round I played vs Dale playing Yveltal/Darkrai and ended my swiss rounds with a win and record of 6/1/1 at 2nd seed!”

Q: Tell me about your Top 8 match vs Jennifer Wilson, our eventual champion?

A: “Our first game was very even, both of us were constantly staying asleep on Lazer and not being able to find supporters in our deck so it was really close. She managed to win game 1 after taking multiple Ko’s in a row with Yveltal EX! Game 2 I didn’t start off too great, I went first and passed without playing many cards. I had a colress that I had to hold in my hand for a few turns before even being able to use it. She played a bunch of stuff down onto the field and I was forced to Colress for a low number and couldn’t ever recover from being so behind!”

Q: Moving onto your choice of deck now. You’ve chosen to go with the Yveltal/Garbodor deck that has been so popular since the release of X&Y, but I wanted to get more information on your list as a whole. Why did you decide to run 2x Darkrai EX?

A: “Darkrai is an incredibly important card for me. I use to only run 1, but I found that it would be prized or I would never draw into it when I really needed him for his free retreat.”

Q: Often times you’ll only see 1 Sableye in this deck, what was your reasoning behind running the 2nd?

A: “I really, really liked starting with Sableye in all of my match ups and had to use it as much as I possibly could in the early game.”

Q: You’ve also gone with the short 1/1 line of Garbodor, did this help or hinder any match ups in particular?

A: “I really got it out when I needed it, the 1/1 line also helps at lowering the chances of starting with Trubbish which is helpful.”

Q: You’ve chosen to go with Boufallant as your alternate attacker over other Popular Choices like Druddigon or Absol, how did Boufallant go in your matches?

A: “I found that Boufallant was best suited against the Mirror and Plasma, 2 match ups that you can potentially struggle against if they run Raichu or they start with a very strong Thundurus. It gives me the option of 1-shotting them if I hit the right cards and that’s really important.”

Q: In a few of my other interviews we’ve seen that some of these Yveltal/Darkrai decks have been running a lot more supporters than what is perhaps considered to be common practice. How did you feel about having the extra 3/4 supporters in your deck that aren’t always there in some others?

A: “I don’t think that I ever dead drew (Except for top 8 but I got a Colress so it only kinda counts), but I found Skyla to be really helpful for me during the
day because it would always get me a Float stone or a muscle band when I needed it.”

Q: Did you ever find yourself needing a 2nd Lysandre at all?

A: “Not really, if I wanted to add in the chance for a 2nd “Catcher” like ability I would have changed to Dowsing Machine from Computer Search.”

Q: You’ve also chosen to go with 3 instead of of 4 Hypnotoxic Lazer, does your addition of the 2nd Sableye make this an easy number to play?

A: “If I had wanted a 4th Lazer I think my cut would have been for the 2nd Sableye! But, they were always great at getting Lazer back at any point during the game so I wasn’t really worried about using them early or running out of them completely.”

Q: You also chose to run 2 Random Receiver with your higher supporter count, did you ever accidentally RR in Lysandre?

A: “The only time I actually Receivered into Lysandre was when it was the card I was looking for, which made me feel pretty good!”

Q: Did you test Dowsing Machine vs Computer Search in this deck? Why did you decide to go with Comp. Search at the end of the day?

A: “When I was testing Dowsing Machine I would find myself having to get rid of it on the first turn of the game sometimes, which made it really awkward to use during the mid game if I didn’t have a Sableye. Plus, I liked starting with Computer Search and being able to grab DCE if I needed it.”

Q: Your 4 single copy trainer cards of choice were Max Potion/Enhanced Hammer/Professor’s letter and Super Rod, how helpful were each of these tech options to you?

A: “Max Potion was such a good choice on the day for me! I remember one of my rounds an opponent had set up to Snipe my Darkrai EX on the bench with 160 on it, so I was able to Skyla for Max Potion which ultimately won me the game! Enhanced Hammer was also great because 90% of my rounds were against Plasma or the mirror, which are the 2 match ups it’s in here for. Professor’s letter is pretty standard I think, great at discarding energy with Computer Search, Ultra Ball or Juniper. Finally, Super Rod is good fit with 2 Sableye and helped me to get back the small line of Garbodor if I needed it!”

Q: Thankyou for answering so many questions about your decklist Naomi, i’ve just got 1 more question for you! With your World Championships invite secured even before Nats, will you be attending World’s this year?

A:  “It’s pretty likely!”
Stay tuned for more interviews coming up in the next 24 hours!


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