PTCG Celestial Storm Pre-Release (3 events): Worst Pre-Releases ever.

Celestial Storm is out now and as per usual we had the pre-releases a few weeks before the set was to be released. Unlike most of the pro players, I do enjoy these pre-release events, playing in a fun setting and making decks on the fly. But these few ones were a bit different. Celestial Storm had Metagross in the pre-release kit and a very playble Swampert too. The chances of getting them are 66.67% and I was going to three. I’m surely bound to get them in at least two events.

That never happened. Instead I got the worst kit possible two times (the Delcatty/Swalot and Manectric/Lanturn sets) on back to back Sundays. And I got nothing playable in my 4 packs to make the deck any good so I was stuck with what I got. At least I got my Metagross line on the EXT event and that might have been the best pre-release deck I ever played. Shame that was the only good thing out of the 3 pre-release events. My pulls weren’t even that good for once haha!

Event #1 @ Sanctuary Gaming (22nd July)

Deck: Manectric/Delcatty/Swalot

Game 1: Win vs Swampert/Lanturn

Lucky me most of my opponent’s pokemons only had one attack which is when I realised Swalot is not a bad counter against most of the pre-release decks since Metagross, Manectric, Swampert and Lanturn all only have one attack. I should have lost this match but my opponent wasn’t careful with his “trading” using Swamper’s ability and a late move to use Underground Expedition cost him, because now it meant he’d deck out first and I still had him locked with Swalot.

Game 2: Lose vs Metagross/Stakataka-GX

This was an ass-kicking. I got an early nest ball so I got to do a deck search to see what was prized and my three main attackers were all prized. There was no chance I’d win this game and my friend went on to swipe the field. Here’s picture proof of those horrible prizes.

Game 3: Win vs Metagross/Swampert

Once again Swalot was the MVP here. Locking my opponent till the point he felt the need to bring up a bulky Celesteela to try to deck me out but I had other ideas, using Banette to snipe the rest of his field and pick up my last two prizes that way.

So yeah that rubbish deck managed to get 2 wins out of nowhere! I even told one of the pro Singapore players (Clifton) that I had no confidence that I’d get a win out of this deck and he looked through it and told me just to play my game and I might surprise myself and I did! What he said after the event was true too, it says a lot about a player if he can get 2 wins out of what was thought to be a bad deck so that did cheer me up abit. I did get one Steven’s Resolve from my prize packs, 3 more to go till my new Metagross deck is up and running.

Event #2 @ Project EXT (27th July)

Deck: Metagross/Manectric/Celesteela

I was all smiles the moment I saw the Celesteela promo, it was a 100% sure thing I’d get my Metagross line I was after. I included Manectric in the hopes to power up Celesteela with Manectric’s attack which allows you to attach 2 basic energy cards from your hand to a benched pokemon. Already thinking of creative combos for this set and I’d get to try this one in this pre-release.

Game 1: Win vs Swalot/Delcatty

I was first up against one of my friends and we jokingly said we’d be paired up for the first round and it actually happened. I got Manectric straight away and Celesteela so the combo was working right off. I did need the help of my secret tech of a Wingull to help me get out of certain situations, namely sleep.

Game 2: Lose vs Metagross/Swampert

This was a case of who won the coin toss and sadly my opponent won so it meant he got his Metagross up before I did and I couldn’t stop it.

Game 3: Win vs Metagross/Lanturn

Another mirror match but this time my opponent could not set up their Metagross so I swept their field with mine while charging up my Celesteela for the last few prizes. I even got to use Last Chance Potion at one point!

I have to say that deck might be the best pre-release deck I ever made and played. It worked so smoothly almost everytime. The Celesteela/Manectric combo is something I might experiment with for real too and of course, it’s always good to use one of my favourite pokemon in a tournament. I’ve been lucky enough to use a few of my favourites in pre-releases (Crobat, Noivern-GX, Gengar, Ultra Necrozma-GX and now Metagross). If only Hitmonlee ever showed up in one.

Event #3 @ Brick’s Play (29th July)

Deck: Swalot/Delcatty/Manectric

The moment I saw Delcatty, I was praying for either Metagross or Swampert to show up next if not I could build my deck right away. Sadly neither one did show up so my deck on that Sunday was pretty much the same as the previous one but with an addition of Tropius to counter Swamperts.

Game 1: Lose vs Swampert/Registeel/Scizor-GX

Three heavy hitters in my opponent’s deck and I got zero heavy hitter. Quite one sided but I managed to drag that match to make it way closer than it had every right to be which was none.

Game 2: Lose vs Metagross/Cacturne

This time I was the one who decked out, forgetting I had no Tate & Liza in this deck so Delcatty was actually rather useless in this deck. Couldn’t do much about the psychic resistance my opponent had on me.

Game 3: Win vs Swampert/Kyogre

I beat my opponent in about 4 turns. All he had was a Kyogre and Mudkip and all I had was Swalot but it’s combo of moves killed the two of them off easily.

So there we go, the worst pre-release is done. So while everyone kept getting either Metagross or Swampert, I only had the Metagross line once and never got to try the Swampert line at all. I wish I could share my pulls but it really wasn’t much. Electrode GX, Scizor GX and Alolan Raticate GX from three events. Yup. On to the next one.