My Dark Deck Got Whooped

Today I played in my first Pokemon League Tournament. It was fun even though I got knocked out every round – well one was a draw. In a first, I had two of my Pokemon killed in their sleep! They never saw what hit them. Yep, out of 12 players, I almost made it into the top 10, coming in dead last at number twelve. But like I said, it was fun.

Prep and battle

On Saturday, I spent time practicing and tweaking my Dark Deck: 100% Darkness Pokemon. It’s the new rotation, so Ultra Prism to Unified Minds. After playing a couple times, I poured over my Trainers and optimized for my strategy, utilizing my favored fighters. I was excited for the coming tourney.

So I showed up with my family. Six of us entered to play. At one point I was matched against my wife who, as usual, defeated me. But it was close! Also, 4 of my sons who played ranked higher than I did. But it’s ok. They got more money from me to buy more cards, so they’re happy.

We donated some prize funds, so even though I lost, I scored a Booster Pack and a League Card! Better still, I got a good pull from the pack: Celesteela GX – Ultra Beast! There were a lot of good cards and trades going around, both from what players already had and also from some on-fire pulls outta new Booster Packs.

Better strategy next time

I would say better luck next time, but what I like about Pokemon TCG is that it’s not so much about luck as it is about strategy, picking the right Pokemon and Trainers to have a good offense and defense. Whenever I play, even in losing, I enjoy thinking through the many options and really working the deck and abilities to eek out knock-outs!

So that was some family fun for the weekend; I look forward to next time. I need much practice. And I gotta catch me some more Pokemon. Of course!