The annual pilgrimage to Toronto for yet another Pokemon Regionals would commence in early January this time around. I swear someone at TPCi is trying to make Canada look bad by always scheduling Toronto Regionals around times where it is difficult to fly in due to weather.

Thankfully, I was scheduled to fly out a week early to meet up with some friends and explore the city a bit. A city that would quickly become blanketed in a layer of snow.

The Deck

A list of 60 cards was handed to me by my friend Jack, who quite in tune to the meta. I looked at the list and had one thought: I really want to play Drifloon. So I cut one Arven and one Counter Catcher and added Drifloon and Counter Catcher. Now THIS is a deck :))

Drifloon is an easy way to generate a favorable prize trade against any fast deck that does not have access to free damage (i.e. Dusknoir, Munkidori). Now with Luxurious Cape, it makes Drifloon an insane glass cannon that can easily take out most of the format with just 6 energy in the discard.

The Tournament

R1 vs Mega Venusaur

Crazy round one pull. This matchup is quite favorable since their attackers are all worth two prizes and mine are worth one. We take those.

R2 vs Lopunny Dusknoir

Crazy round two pull. This matchup was quite close but Iono stuck them both games. I can also one-shot Lopunny with Drifloon which makes it a lot better. They were one card off from the board wipe on turn two in game one but I got lucky I guess.

R3 vs Gholdengo Solrock

Drifloon carries, they do not play tool removal anymore so I just get favorable trades.

R4 vs Zoroark Lopunny

Drifloon carries once again. They do not play tool removal or Darmanitan so once I get 100 damage on a Drifloon I kinda just win.

R5 vs Dragapult Dusknoir

This was against a local Vancouver player and unfortunately my deck is slightly unfavored since I only play 1 Arven and 1 TM Evo. I won game one because I drew Gardevoir ex before I got board wiped. I lost games two and three because I missed 2 turns of drawing Gardevoir ex then got board wiped.

R6 vs Gholdengo Solrock

I don’t remember this set but I probably won a long game one, lost a quick game two and then didn’t have time to finish a game three.

R7 vs Grimmsnarl

This matchup is good for Gardevoir when you play Drifloon. Being able to click the OHKO button is very effective even if they have a three-prize follow up.

R8 vs Gardevoir

Don’t remember this set either but game three ended up coming down to me needing to hit Charm off a Lillie with ~50% odds and I missed.

R9 vs Mega Absol Mega Kangaskhan

This is against the list that was 8-0 in the tournament at the time. It is the Cifuentes father and he drew quite well getting set up with Turbo Energize on his first turn both games. Unfortunately for him I popped off insanely hard and got a turn two KO with Drifloon both games. After dealing with the Absol he is left with no energy on board and it is too tough to make up the prize trade. I won both games in ~15 minutes.

Ending Day 1 at 6-1-2 gave me some confidence to finish strong tomorrow. I felt like the field was fine for my deck and although I got some lucky matchups in the early rounds, I believed that I was favored into any opponent. Unfortunately, the cold was getting to me. I was feeling a bit off in the start of the day and by the end of it I was barely hanging on. Taking tons of painkillers and water helped but tomorrow would be a rough one for sure.

I got back to the hotel and packed my stuff and tried my best to settle in for the night. When I woke up, I was still feeling very off and I could hardly speak at all. I figured I could just try my best to get through these last few rounds and hopefully get something for my efforts.

R10 vs Gholdengo Solrock

This match was against another Canadian who I have known since I basically started playing in 2008. Game one goes a bit long and I barely lose because I missed or they hit off Iono, I don’t really remember. Then I won game two and we set up quickly for a game three with just 8 minutes left. I got into a very good position after and explosive start but unfortunately they were able to just hold the position so I would be one turn away from winning under +1.

That put me out of contention for top cut but honestly I didn’t think I would be able to play more than 5 rounds today anyways.

R11 vs Gardevoir

I remember nothing. I think I held out for a tie. I really don’t remember.

R12 vs Charizard Dragapult

I was feeling rough after going to time for two rounds in a row. With just +1 turns it is rough to close out a game three. I think I scooped game one relatively quickly because I was tired of not finishing game three. This time, I was able to close it out.

R13 vs Gardevoir Jellicent

I haven’t played this matchup before so I was learning on the fly. I thought at first the Drifloon would be very good but I forgot that I can’t attach tools under Jellicent lock so I kinda goofed by benching it. I lost game one due to this inexperience. I was able to put together a strategy and take game two. We were never finishing game three but I don’t remember what happened.

R14 vs Gardevoir Jellicent

This was against another BC local. I knew the matchup now so I pre-attached charm to Drifloon. I think game one I was unable to get much energy in the discard and got CC trapped. Game two was a wash and he scooped early. Game three was very close but he played very well and I don’t remember what happened but I remember that it was very close and epic. GG.

Recap

So, my only two losses were to local BC players and over half my ties would have been wins if it were +3 instead of +1. I really have to blame the cold for that one, I was playing so slow just because it took so much more time to think and move. Still, I finish one whole tier of placements (170th, top 256) higher than my Vegas run and get a cool 60 points and half a box worth of packs.