Yo PoJo!
    Yep, my deck names are becoming more confusing and the decks are becoming
lean, mean tourney winning machines and this one is no exception. I packed up
"Traveling Without Moving" in my trusty deck box and the old clear damage
counters and headed off to BaM (Books a Million) on Dec. 24th. I'm hoping for
some great matches against other DCI contendors. I'm very close to the top
100 and want a big win. I cruise in grab a Cream Soda (Try Strawberry Kiwi,
its darn yummy) and find out that I would be running the tournament (And no,
they didn't pay me to endorse the Cream Sodas). I pull out my notebook and
shrug off the fact that I'll have trouble focusing on the match AND doing a
report. I get to stand on a table and tell people where to go to sign up
though which is always fun! I sign up a whopping total of 56 kids (close to
the record) and go to the back of BaM to roll a 20 sided dice for match ups.
I split the kids up into 2 brackets and set up an extra bracket for the
remaining six. I finally manage to assign opponents in the noisy room and
meet my opponent. While I'm still trying to recover from unleashing a
Pandora's Box of Noisiness on myself check out "Traveling Without Moving"
ThE dEcK
4x Jigglypuff
3x Wigglytuff
3x Scyther
1x Farfetch'd
3x Electabuzz
3x Fossil Magmar
10x Electric Energy
9x Fire Energy
4x Bill
2x Prof. Oak
2x Comp. Search
1x Item Finder
3x Plus Power
2x Gust of Wind
4x Energy Removal
2x Super Energy Removal
CoNcEpT
Its Hay with an anti metagame touch. With the PoJo's latest issue of their
magazine (Great Mag guys!) I have noticed the trend towards "fossil tech Rain
Dance" and I'm countering the big blue one's popularity that will grow out of
control soon with Electabuzz. Magmar is to fend off the current metagame of
Scyther decks and Mime decks. I went back to old Wiggly just because I want a
deck I can just totally "go off" with and turbo up. Wiggly does really big
damage that not many decks can withstand. Scyther counters Hay very well and
Farfetch'd is there for one reason, WILD DUCK POKéMON RULE! Trainers resemble
older Wiggly decks with some added ER power and Switching capability. All
around I see this as a really scary form of Hay that people seem to dismiss
at first glance, but underneath the "wimpy" mechanics lie a beast waiting to
defeat opponents in a flash of "turbo exhaust".
DeCk I'm MoSt AfRaId Of
That would have to be Potpourri. I have stuff to counter it but still, those
darn Ponyta scare the poopy out of me.
Meanwhile...
Kids can't find opponents. One of them spilt my soda. 2 kids don't have
energy in their deck. Some kids were using the Topps cards in their decks.
Agghhhhh. Save me! I resolve the conflicts and have to give a few kids a free
trip to the next round. Everything is squared away and I get to face my
opponent.
RoUnD oNe vs. Will
I get one honker of a bad hand and he hits second turn Blastoise. His Lapras
tears through my Magmar and I'm not seeing Buzz. I realize I have to put the
brakes on or I'll get smacked before I have a chance at control. I drop
Jiggly and stall with Scyther. I drop Wiggly and do the wave but I need Oak
to get it going fully. I'm down 3 by the time I Oak and come back a bit. I
Smokescreened his Blastoise early before he was turboed and see a chance. I
gotta snipe the big guy and watch the rest of his army run around like
Pidgeys with their heads cut off. I Gust and Wave "Blastie" for a big KO
putting me behind 2 prizes (he nailed a Jiggly to leave him with 2 left, I've
gotten 2). Now hes stuck with Lapras and Articuno which I easily ER and laugh
at. The tides have turned and all because of the Wiggly One. Buzz shows up
and teaches them all respect. I charge up Farfetch'd and win with him
(humiliation factor).
^_^ V (V for Victory!) Record 1-0
RoUnD tWo vs. Richard L.
Ok....I won't call this deck bad...its just I can dominate it soooo easily.
Its classic Curse deck with Hypno and lotsa Movie Mewtwo. Last time I faced
him in tournament play he had 3 Gastly (and that was all) the whole match. I
start with Buzz and he gets Drowzee. I KO the Drowzee on turn 2 easily and he
brings another Drowzee. Buzz zaps this one too but hes confused (nasty side
effect of dumb Drowzee). I Switch and blast him with an evil Smokescreen. His
Confuse Ray doesn't work and I thwack him with Smog. His last hope lays
on.....another Drozee. He pounds but I ER and Smog with poison. His turn ends
and I retreat in favor of a Farfetch'd. I drop one energy to him and go for a
Leek Slapping win. Its heads and the tradition continues.
^_^ < (Geez its hot in here, I gotta fan!) Record 2-0
RoUnD tHrEe vs. Hmm....who is this guy?
He must be one of those kids I had to advance. A silly little rainbow deck.
His opening Pokémon are Nidoran Male and Abra. I finish them both with my
scary Scyther and his last hope is Charmander. I ER to hold off Ember. Drop
Jiggly, then Wiggly next turn. I Oak that same turn to Turbo and drop one to
the Fetch'd One. I Leek Slap yet again for the win. Pathetic Match. I look
good though.
(>' ')>------()_) (Ha...Kirby chucking marshmallow) Record 3-0
RoUnD fOuR vs. John
A great opponent, but I know that my deck can handle the heat. His deck is a
little played and I've faced it enough to know its exact mechanics. Its Grass
and Fighting Hay, packed with Scyther, Pinsir, Chan, and Lee. He starts up
with Scyther and I have Magmar and a whole load of energy. I know I've got
this one locked up tight already. Scyther gets smacked before Slash can ever
happen but he recovers nicely by Oaking to pick up some fighting. I Gust in
his last Grass Pokémon (Pinsir) for a light Magmar snack and have to contend
with the Hitmon pack. By now I have many options of what to attack with so I
utilize Scyther after my Magmar bites the dust. He manages to Stretch Kick my
back up Scyther for a KO and do a major High Jump Kick with an ER packed
blast. I finish him off with Farfetch'd knowing I went easy on him late. I
still win by three prizes.
(>' ')>------->))))> (Kirby chucking fish) Record 4-0
RoUnD fIvE FINALS vs. Sean
Props to this guy. He was a virtual unknown and obviously did his homework on
metagame. Hes new here and somehow knows what I'm playing. I gather I nice
crowd for this climatic battle, some start to try to chant
"Takeshi...Takeshi" but I died down quickly as we shuffled and began
intimidation. I stay quiet for a few turns but I kick it in mid way through
the match when I'm confident hes fallen into everyone of my traps. I suffer
from a slow start and I'm plagued by weakness. My Electabuzz combined with ER
helped my to beat him down. He find out soon that my Wiggly theme has been
ripped off. His Wigglytuff seems buried in the deck and mine is on the table
awaiting a DCE. It shows up waaay after my Buzz gets KOed leaving me
unprepared but I stall with Magmar's smokescreen and draw some cards. I drop
DCE and Oak for bench support. I'm Plus Powers and start Waving him for the
win. He KOs Wiggly with mean old Hitmonchan but I've had time to play
another. He I KO the Chan but he comes right back. All of it results in a 1-1
tie and its my turn. Room grows silent. Common whispers were "Takeshi might
lose!" or "Where'd THAT guy come from?!". I study my options carefully. I see
3 maybe 4 ways I can win and decide to mess with him. I act frustrated and he
smiles. Then in a flash I do 3 retreats and drop an electric to an unutilized
Electabuzz. "Game. Set. Match"
^_^ VV (double victory sign) Record 5-0

My latest deck is probably one of my faves. It packs a nice new age feel
while still maintaining the old school feel. Its fun to play while still
being goal focused. I also really love the "going off" and setting up the
defeat of my opponent in one turn without having to go Rain Dance like
everyone else. Its also balanced well which is a major plus. So....why not
Travel without Moving sometime? Maybe you can come up with a way to Move
without Traveling. Check the Pojo section soon for my latest deck which is
currently nameless. It will feature one of the coolest cards of all time
though, Mew.
PROPZ and SLOPZ
PROPZ to Books-a-Million because running tournaments is cool.
PROPZ to Shipley's Donuts for giving me energy to hold out.
PROPZ to Wigglytuff....you the man! Err....Pokémon...whatever.
PROPZ to all of my gracious opponents.
PROPZ to Team Rocket....because they are screw up just like me!

SLOPZ to Books-a-Million because running tournaments is hard.
SLOPZ to Shipley's Donuts for not glazing donuts well enough.
SLOPZ to Wigglytuff for being weak to fighting
SLOPZ to my not so gracious opponents.
SLOPZ to Vanilla Ice....(you thought I was gonna slop Team Rocket?!)

Until next time....adieu adieu
Takeshi
icexii@aol.com