Async League Season 8

Qualifications

As the 8th Async League concluded on Sep 26th, all stats and badges were evaluated:

4 weeks, 124 played games and 8 acquired badges!

These were the winrates per type:

These were our most active players:

The 5 badge owners with 8 total badges were randomly paired in an 8 player bracket, with each type badge being a chance to win the title of Season Champion! These pairings were played as best of 3 matches that had to be finished in 1 week.

All lists are at the end of the article!

Thank you to ItzSpooky for giving detailed reports of his matches!

Quarterfinals

CAPN (Psychic) vs. JordanM (Lightning) 0-2

ItzSpooky (Colorless) vs. CAPN (Dragon) 2-1

Game 1: ItzSpooky was able to get the Bolt combo off turn 2 and start sniping Squidman’s Pokemon. With grass being a more set up oriented deck ItzSpooky was able to limit his ability to set up and take over the game from there.

Game 2: It was a close game where ItzSpooky got Raging Bolt online turn 2 again. Squidman opened with Shaymin and filled out his entire bench on his first turn with Poffin, Bug Catching Set, etc. ItzSpooky didn’t have a route to Silent Lab and couldn’t load up Bolt enough. It was a back and forth game until Squidman put a Tool Jammer on Torterra. ItzSpooky tried to Dragonium Z it for his last prize forgetting about the Tool Jammer and lost because of it.

Game 3: ItzSpooky got a poor start, Squidman put Tool Jammer on his Budew turn 2. It stopped any Turbo Energize plays ItzSpooky could make, so he struggled to get energy into play. Squidman used Roserade aggressively to search out Boss and Guzma and the fate of the game was sealed.

ItzSpooky (Water) vs. Ron (Fighting) 2-0

Game 1: ItzSpooky was able to set up by going second and using Basculin to search his bench barrier Manaphy down to limit his ability to spread. Both players had a slower set up in this game, Ron was able to attack with Bloodmoon Ursaluna before ItzSpooky got my Wailord set up. After Wailord was up, Ron looped back to BM Ursaluna to kill the whale after a Ting-Lu spread + Hawlucha combo. ItzSpooky pivoted into Inteleon and kept up with prizes but the last turn came down to if Ron had a gust to go around LuxCaped Wailord. ItzSpooky played Iono to put Ron to one card and closed out the game

Game 2: ItzSpooky’s opening hand was all gas, having Poffin, Brooklet, Nest Ball to get everything set up without the need for Basculin/Arezu for an explosive turn 2. Ron, going second, set up his draw engine and spread damage with his Ting-Lu. ItzSpooky went in with Arezu and realized that he prized Milotic, Frosmoth, Gladion, and Drizzile, which is obviously not ideal. He still got down Octillery to draw some cards and developed Wailord, as Reversal Energy was live due to his KO’d Feebas. Ron responded with just another attack into Wailord not for the knockout but taking out the benched Snom. ItzSpooky just kept swinging and Ron fell behind by 2 prizes. After ItzSpooky had found his Drizzile, he searched Mallow and Lana plus VS Seekerd it back next turn to completely negate the two last attacks into Wailord. Ron was not able to win from there, so ItzSpooky took the game and the match.

Squidman5150 (Grass) vs. ItzSpooky (Dragon) 2-1

Semifinals

JordanM (Lightning) vs ItzSpooky (Colorless) 0-2 To quote ItzSpooky: “Jordan destroyed me lol”

Game 1: ItzSpooky went first and got Marnie’d into oblivion, as he drew no playable cards for 5 turn in a row. Silent Lab, usually a tech vs bench barriers, was up, so Oranguru+Skwovet was not possible. JordanM took a 5 prize turn and it was over.

Game 2: JordanM got a quick Electivire and Zapdos going that knocked out my Bidoof first turn, so ItzSpooky had minimal draw. JordanM skipped the Cramorant turns and so ItzSpooky just couldnt keep up.

ItzSpooky (Water) vs.Squidman5150 (Grass) 2-0

Game 1: ItzSpooky went second and got Hisuian Basculin into the active to start filling up his bench with basics. Squidman followed up with the Budew item lock and stalled ItzSpooky for about 3-4 turns, having a hand entirely full of items. Once ItzSpooky finally drew enough energy to power up a Veluza, Squidman LuxCaped his Budew. It tanked a hit and then Scoop-Up Netted it to deny the prizes while KOing the Veluza with Tangrowth. Normally, Veluza would pass the 2 energy to a benched Wailmer, but it was unfortunately prized, so he had to pass them to Drizzile. ItzSpooky used Inteleon the next turn to soften up Tangrowth and spread some damage to the bench and Squidman couldn't return KO. ItzSpooky gusted around the Tangrowth to leave it for later and they traded a few prizes until it was 2-1. ItzSpooky played Hex Maniac, put a Float Stone on his Wailord, and knocked out Torterra in hopes that it was enough. Squidman didn’t have any answer and thus lost the game the following turn.

Game 2: Squidman went second and ItzSpooky had Veluza, attach, pass for his first turn. Squidman stalled with Budew again for a few turns except that ItzSpooky had some supporters.Tthis time he was able to slowly set up under item lock. Squidman took an early lead going up 2 prizes while ItzSpooky got his attackers going. Once Wailord was active, ItzSpooky started swinging with it and brought it back to 4-3. Squidman was able to hit a crazy turn of a bunch of retreat boosting cards to unexpectedly one shot Wailord with Tangrowth. After a few more prize trades, it was 2-1 and ItzSpooky played Guzma to KO Torterra and use Float Stone to have no retreat cost, which was enough to win the second game. Sadly, Squidman’s last prize, Guzma, could’ve prevented this unfortunate end.

Final

The grand final was between JordanM, who played Lightning, and ItzSpooky who piloted his Water deck. Wailord and his friends have a very bad time versus their natural enemy Lightning, so JordanM was able to win 2-1 and take home the crown as the Season 8’s champion!

Conclusion

Thank for reading this belated article, the Season 9 playoffs are starting right now and I’ll report back to you!