Baltimore, MD Regionals 2022: Learning Important Lessons
A little less than a week before 2024 Baltimore Regionals Championship we need to go back in time to 2022. I played at the Baltimore Regionals in 2022. This will be a medium sized report on the last Regionals I played at. I did not document events to the level I do now so this report will have a good bit less photos but 2024 will make up for that. Stay tuned. Let's hope to walking in on Day 0.
If you want a proper scale of being at a tournament with 1088 players here's how it looks.
So what did I play?
I'll briefly go over the games I played during Day 1 as I didn't document them very much at the time but I'll do my best from memory and these notes.
Game 1 : Mew Vmax
I had just recently been getting back into the game and didn't know every deck in the format and at the league I was going to at the time no one was playing Mew Vmax so I didn't know everything about the deck ESPECIALLY this one little attack on Mew V called Psychic Leap. Not knowing this attack, bossing up baby Mew, attacking into it but not KOing it and then they just shuffled it back in. This was a major blunder on my end. I learned something important from that game. Know the cards. Know your match ups. Lost 2-1.
Game 2 : ?
Don't remember this one but won this game
Game 3 : Mew Vmax
The only notable person I played that day was Frank "The Tank" from the Rare Candy team. I won this set. He was playing the Cramomatic build of Mew Vmax and let me tell you. This man flipped I think 5 out of 6 tails on Cram. He just had the worst luck. That's all this game was.
Game 4 : Arceus/Aggron Vmax
"What even is this?!?" Is the reaction I had at the table seeing this. This deck steamrolled Arc Pika. Also made a mistake during this game. Played Research early in the turn and then at the end of the turn played Boss forgetting about the Research and got penalized for that. I think I just got flustered over this set because the writing was so clearly on the wall.
Game 5 : Mew Vmax
This was the only tie of the day and a very close one. We each won one game. Game 3 starts and we both know there is little time in the round. This is the first time I have offered the "Gentleman's Agreement". For those who don't know, a way to avoid a tie is to offer the Gentleman's Agreements. The agreement is at the end of +3 turns whoevrer has the most prize cards taken will be declared the winner. This is to help in the long run one person get further into the tournament. This can be helpful in many scenarios but sometimes you may want to reject it. Weigh your options and do what you think is right. Also this is not something that can be backed by a judge so even if you agree to it you still don't even have to acknowledge it in the end even after the match is over. Yeah that's just kinda not cool the not do something you agreed to but important to note a judge cannot force the results of the Gentleman's Agreement. My opponent nervously agrees and game 3 barely starts and time is called. The Gentleman's agreements that I go with is whoever at the end of Plus 3 gets the win for that game. In the end it actually helped my opponent more. The entire game comes down to a cram flip. I had a poor start and couldn't take a KO but my opponent needed one card from the deck to get a KO. They flip tails and it ends with a Draw. I know I would have been able to win it if there was no time there. Also fun fact this was the only game where there were 3 judges hovering over our game as we were the last game in the round. The entire tournament was waiting on our game.
Game 6 : Arceus/Intellion
This was a very close game as well and I'd say I made my biggest mistake ever at a serious tournament. So this was a close game 3 scenario. I did not think I had this game. I thought I had guarenteed lost without a Boss and I know one is in the deck. I Research to find boss for next turn and deck out. I lose. I didn't need to Research. I could have attacked and waited and won. Pay attention to your deck size. Don't do it what I did.
Game 7 : No Show
At this point I was not going to Day 2 but I wanted to see how I could end things. My opponent dropped. Oh well. Free win.
Game 8 : Ambipom/Zoroark
This was the weird deck of the day. They also used the stadium "Gimwood Tangle" which just works so well with this deck.
One game I did get a win by getting around Ambipoms ability with surprise guest Crobat Vmax. I would just use Stealth Poison or Max Cutter depending on the attacker. Stealth Poison helped me get damage down on Ambipom guarenteed with the Poison damage making them use up more scoop up resources sooner than they wanted to getting me my game 1 win this set.
This is also the only other game where I did the Gentleman's Agreement. We each won a game and game 3 is were I offered and the agreement was agreed on. I knew I had to do this or I will tie. I knew the agreement was the only way I could get the win. The reason I did this is because I knew I could get at least 2 prizes before they can KO any of my pokemon and just properly time my Cheren for the win. I was sweating here but was able to squeeze out a win.
Game 9 : Palkia/Intellion
THANK YOU A FREE WIN. Palkia is an easy win for Arc Pikachu. The second game I didn't event use Arceus and just bosses orders Palkia twice with just Flying Pikachu. 2-0 no problem. Left the event with some Championship points and not too bad of a score for the day. Overall not the happiest with my overall performance but glad to know I'm not too bad at this game.
I ended the event with a 5-3-1. One loss from being able to play during day 2. Lesson learned from this tournament is know your match ups and pay attention to your deck size too.
Was able to stay and see Piper Lepine win this event which was exciting especially because it was an Intellion Box deck which is not easy to sequence but skilled players can use it masterfully. I asked Piper on X/Twitter if they were playing Intel box prior to 2022 Worlds because this event had Ross Cawthon pilot the deck at Worlds and put a lot of eyes on the deck concept.
Photo Credit: Josh Fernando
https://x.com/joshhfernando?t=7AaIEuP4O6Q7DssC4_EA4w&s=09
To quote Piper
"I had been playing inteleon rad zard stuff since the card release but I just edited cawthons list for Baltimore since it was by far the most refined the deck would get"
This makes sense as Ross had found a good consistent way to play the deck and Piper's build is the version I personally have built in real life.
Now let's discuss the what autographs I got at this event.
These events on the streaming stage is harder to document as getting photos of people on the stage there's a bit of distance and there is usually people in the audience watching so I'm not trying to affect spectators viewing experience. Also I'm not allowed to just walk in the stage during a game soooo………..
But 2024 is different.
If you read my Brawl City Old School Showdown report you'll know I have plans to focus on documenting retro events as these are the lesser documented sort of events that go by so easy and then the event just gone. I don't know if people care for a report on a modern Pokemon event but let me know. I enjoy doing this for any kind of event so let me know what you would like to see in the future. Anyway stay tuned as very soon the 2024 Regionals report will be here. Thank you for reading.
BONUS JONAS
I do still have this deck but I need to keep adjusting it. Just don't play 2022 too often but I think the supporters need to be adjusted and some more consistency trainers to make this deck really pop off.