PokéStats: 2018 Dallas Regionals

Dates: January 27-28
Location: Hyatt Regency DFW, Dallas, Texas, USA
Attendance: 1091 Masters
Format: Expanded BLW-CRI

This was the largest-ever Regional Championship to date. 38 Masters advanced to Day 2 and 6 Day 2 Swiss rounds were played.

Day 2 metagame analysis

Top 64 final standings

"Trade" was the name of the game as
broken combos led Zoroark-GX to
domination of the largest-ever Regional.

Riley Hulbert, Lonzoroark/Red Card
Isaiah Williams, Zoroark/4 Exeggcute/2 Hex Maniac
James Taylor, Lonzoroark
Kidd Starck, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX/Alolan Muk
Jose Marrero, Zoroark/Golisopod-GX
Jimmy Pendarvis, Drampa-GX/Garbodor/techs
Brad Curcio, Drampa-GX/Garbodor/techs
Igor Costa, Drampa-GX/Garbodor/techs
Andrew Mahone, FightingBox
Austin Ellis, Lonzoroark
Ross Cawthon, Shock Lock
Phinnegan Lynch, Night March
Andrew Denkus, Lonzoroark
Admassu Williams, Night March
Dustin Zimmerman, Zoroark/Counters
Caleb Gedemer, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX
Samuel Hough, Greninja BREAK
Hector Ibarra, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX
Ryan Grant, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX
Alex Krekeler, Primal Groudon-EX
Polo Le, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX/Vileplume
Dennis Moore, Vespiquen/Zoroark
Drew Kennett, Wailord-EX
Jonathan Paranada, Shock Lock
Xander Pero, Zoroark/Counters
Jason Annichiarico, Night March
Austin Bentheimer, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX
Azul Garcia Griego, Drampa-GX/Garbodor
Travis Zabala, Gardevoir-GX
Connor Finton, Night March
Ian Robb, Gardevoir-GX
Treynor Wolfe, Gardevoir-GX
Wesley Hollenberg, Gardevoir-GX
Jalen Jones, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX
Greg Kerien, Zoroark/Golisopod-GX
Cody Graham, Archie's Blastoise
Andrew Michaud, Zoroark/Golisopod-GX
Noah Sawyer, Zoroark/Golisopod-GX/Seismitoad-EX
Ricky Gao, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX
Israel Sosa, "Gucci Gang" (Tapu Koko/Necrozma-GX/Dusknoir BCR)
Kaleb Sommers, Sableye/Garbodor
Jonathan Crespo, Wailord-EX
JW Kriewall, Straight Zoroark
Pablo Meza, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX
Travis Nunlist, Zoroark/Counters
Josh Marking, Straight Zoroark
Andrew Munoz, Wailord-EX
Brendan Boe, Wailord-EX
Zachary Bokhari, Zoroark/Magnezone PLS
Jackson Pech, Lonzoroark
Nolan Freda, Wailord-EX
Kirk Dube, Wailord-EX
Alexander Elisalde, Zoroark/Golisopod-GX
Jay Lesage, Wailord-EX
Peter Kica, Night March
Gage Roach, Gardevoir-GX
Kian Amini, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX
Charlie Lockyer, Wailord-EX
Jimmy Zhang, Straight Zoroark
Brennan Andrews, Wailord-EX
Cody Kressman, FightingBox
Tony Morgan, Primal Groudon-EX
Joseph Whittlesey, Wailord-EX
Pearce Blend, Lonzoroark

Day 1 final standings

Stream matches
Critical Hit provided a stream for this event. The TCG commentators were Michael Canaves, Emily Engle, Ross Gilbert, Jeremy Jallen, and John Kettler.

Round 1: not streamed

Round 2: Roberto Lozada (1-0-0, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX) def. Alex Schemanske (1-0-0, Primal Groudon-EX) WW watch

Round 3: Sam Chen (2-0-0, Shock Lock) def. Conner LaVelle (2-0-0, Gardevoir-GX) WLW watch

Round 4: Jay Lesage (3-0-0, Wailord-EX) def. Simon Narode (3-0-0, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX/Ninetales DEX) WW watch

Round 5: TIE: Xander Pero (4-0-0, Zoroark/Counters) & Kaleb Sommers (4-0-0, Sableye/Garbodor) (entire match was a single game that did not finish) watch

Round 6: Brad Curcio (5-0-0, Drampa-GX/Garbodor) def. Zachary Bokhari (5-0-0, Zoroark/Magnezone) WW watch

Round 7: Ian Robb (5-0-1, Gardevoir-GX) def. Austin Zettel (5-0-1, Zoroark/Maxie's Gallade/Flareon) WW watch

Round 8: Riley Hulbert (7-0-0, Lonzoroark with Red Card) def. Cody Michael Graham (7-0-0, Archie's Blastoise) LWW watch

Round 9: Andrew Mahone (6-1-1, FightingBox) def. Parker Greenwald (6-1-1, Vespiquen/Flareon/Zoroark-GX) LWW watch

Round 10: James Taylor (7-1-1, Lonzoroark) def. Admassu Williams (7-1-1, Night March) WW watch

Round 11: Kidd Starck (8-1-1, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX) def. Greg Kerien (8-1-1, Zoroark/Golisopod-GX) WW watch

Round 12: Andrew Denkus (9-2-0, Lonzoroark) def. Sam Hough (8-0-3, Greninja BREAK) WLW watch

Round 13: Phinnegan Lynch (9-2-1, Night March) def. Igor Costa (8-0-4, Drampa-GX/Garbodor) WW watch

Round 14: Jimmy Pendarvis (9-0-4, Drampa-GX/Garbodor) def. Ryan Grant (9-1-3, Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX) LWW watch

Round 15: Andrew Mahone (10-3-1, FightingBox) def. Austin Ellis (11-3-0, Lonzoroark) WLW watch

Top 8: 5-Kidd Starck (Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX/Alolan Muk) def. 4-Jose Marrero (Zoroark/Golisopod-GX) WW watch

Top 4: 3-Isaiah Williams (Zoroark/4 Exeggcute) def. 2-James Taylor (Lonzoroark) WW watch

Finals: 1-Riley Hulbert (Lonzoroark) def. 3-Isaiah Williams (Zoroark/4 Exeggcute) WLW watch

Notes

Winner Riley Hulbert began playing the TCG in 2016 (after a stint in VGC); his first significant finish at a major tournament was a Top 64 at 2017's Fort Wayne Regionals. He joined Team No Limit Gaming and took a Top 32 in Memphis in December. This event marked his first Regional placement higher than Top 32, and he went all the way to the trophy with an undefeated record (his one loss was a scoop to boost an opponent's record, since he himself was already locked for Top 8).
14th-place finisher Admassu Williams was banned from competitive Yu-Gi-Oh for cheating. Polo Le played Williams in Top 32 and said he was a "cool guy but extremely shady... he kept touching [his] discard unnecessarily." (This should be taken as an informative comment, not a witch hunt.)
@timmony_tcg on Twitter compiled some statistics regarding the three Top 8 matches on stream: the Ability Trade was used 91 times (24 in Top 8, 33 in Top 4, and 34 in the finals), and the Ability Propagation was used 78 times (3 in Top 8, 35 in Top 4, and 40 in the finals). This is relevant with many players at all levels of the game calling for bans or erratas regarding those cards, Zoroark-GX and Exeggcute PLF. Those cards clearly had a massive impact on the matches in question, with the same action (Propagate + Trade, rinse, repeat) being performed an unprecedented number of times.

Decklists and analysis

Riley Hulbert, 1st - Lonzoroark

Isaiah Williams, 2nd - Zoroark-GX/4 Exeggcute

James Taylor, 3rd - Lonzoroark

Kidd Starck, 4th - Zoroark/Lycanroc-GX

Player notes:

"Caleb Gedemer made the deck and it's really good. I lost to Riley [Hulbert] in Swiss and Top 4...the only times all weekend when I felt like there might be a better deck than this one.
"[Pokémon Communication] was very good. I used Eggs to trigger it a lot. Increases the odds of turn 1 Lele."
View Seagrove's video on the list featuring Rukan Shao: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVQpIickX_M

Jose Marrero, 5th - Zoroark/Golisopod-GX

Drampa-GX/Garbodor/techs - Jimmy Pendarvis (6th), Brad Curcio (7th), Igor Costa (8th), Azul Garcia Griego (28th), and Ryan Sabelhaus (155th)

Notes:

Five of the best players in the world decided to take these 60 cards to a 1091-Master tournament, and three of them made Top 8.

Notes:

Mahone left his playset of Zoroark-GX back home in Ohio, forcing him to play the second of his two deck options: a Fighting Toolbox deck that seemed completely unsuited to the Dallas metagame. The deck contained no Korrina or Focus Sash (usually Fighting staples), no VS Seeker, and no Karen or Oricorio to counter Night March. Instead, it opted for extreme consistency with high counts of draw Supporters and no 1-of Supporters: as Mahone said, he drew very well under Quaking Punch and often got Ghetsis'd for 0 with a hand full of Supporters and Energy. Mahone overcame a game 1 loss to defeat a difficult Vespiquen/Flareon matchup in Round 9 of Swiss to book his ticket to Day 2, in one of the most entertaining stream matches in a long time.

Sam Hough, 17th - Greninja BREAK

Polo Le, 21st - Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX/Vileplume

Connor Finton, 30th - Night March

Player notes:

"I honestly wouldn't change a card in the list."

Treynor Wolfe, 32nd - Gardevoir-GX

Cody Graham, 36th - Archie's Blastoise

Player notes:

"When you’re hot, you’re hot. When you’re not, you scrub Day 2 at a Regionals. I started 7-0 before I started missing Archie’s plays and flipping triple tails on Tri Edge. Bad hands and a couple misplays wrecked my day.
"Tri Edge is wild, Blue Surge is crazy, and Hydro Shot lets you clean up something on the Bench (usually a Shaymin), and Unown is fantastic."
You can read about an earlier draft of Graham's deck on The Charizard Lounge here.

Israel Sosa, 40th - "Gucci Gang" (Tapu Koko/Necrozma-GX/Dusknoir BCR)