From: <phamtom10@juno.com>


I call my deck a corrupt fire-fighting blitz deck because it has four
Super Energy Removals and four Energy Removals. Well, this was the deck
that I participated in the tournament at Eternal Elysium in Beaverton,
Oregon. There were 17 participants there. The format was four rounds
playing other people with the same records, and afterwards, the top eight
players go on in single-elimination. Here's the deck:

3 Farfetch'd
4 Hitmonchan
4 Magmar (Fossil)

4 Bill
4 Energy Removal
3 Energy Retrieval
4 Gust of Wind
4 PlusPower
2 Professor Oak
3 Scoop Up
4 Super Energy Removal

1 Double Colorless Energy
10 Fire Energy
10 Fighting Energy

Round 1
I had a bye in the first round (lucky me!) Anyway, I was watching some
games and they were pretty rough. I didn't know if I would do really well
in this tournament. Many of their decks were Haymaker but a few were
brave enough to choose to play other types of decks. Three of my friends
that were in the tournament did well in the first round and all posted up
wins.
Record: 1-0

Round 2
In the second round, I faced a Raindance deck that had all the cards in a
standard one. I started with a Farfetch'd and a Hitmonchan. He brought
out a Kangaskhan. Before I got the chance to knock out Kangaskhan, he had
a Magikarp which would evolve into Gyarados and a Squirtle. I knock out
the Kangaskhan and out comes Gyarados with one water energy. I manage to
take out his energy and start to damage him with my Hitmonchan. Soon I
would knock him out after 10 turns! Hitmonchan also didn't have any
damage either! Well, he evolved his Squirtle into Blastoise and was
looking for energy. I would take out the Blastoise with my Hitmonchan
after three turns and he took 40 damage from Blastoise's Hydro Pump
attack. Afterwards, the rest of the game was easy with him bringing out
Squirtle which were knocked out under the fist of Hitmonchan.
Record: 2-0

Round 3
I had to play against one of my friends. His name was Khoi and he won
three tournaments in the last five weeks (there is a tournament each
Saturday.) Anyway, he started out with a Fossil Gastly while I has a
Magmar. I tried to knock out his Pokemon I couldn't manage to do so. He
took advantage by attacking and using Gust of Wind to bring out my
Hitmonchans, which he would knock out easily. I tried to put energy on my
Pokemon but he kept on removing them with Energy Removals and Super
Energy Removals. Anyway, I had to concede because I had no chance of
winning. Maybe I'll versus him sometime later in the tournament...
Record: 2-1

Round 4
I was suppose to play this guy named Brian but I couldn't because he
dropped from the tournament when the pairings were anounced. So the guy
said that I would get another bye (another lucky break!) So, I was
playing other people that had just finished with their matches. So I got
another easy win.
Record: 3-1

Qualifying Round, Game 1
After the fourth round I was tied for second. Three people posted perfect
records (Khoi being one of them), and I was one of the six players that
had a 3-1 record. Anyway, the tournament coordinator asked if any of us
played the players with perfect records. Three of them didn't, and three
of them did (I being one of them.) So the guy said that we would be
having a sub-playoff. I was to play a guy named Kalvin, who also posted a
3-1 record. This game was quick. I only had a Magmar and he had two
Hitmonchans and two Scythers. The Hitmonchan knocked out my Magmar in
three turns and that was that. He had won.

Qualifying Round, Game 2
Kalvin would play this guy which was almost the deck that Kalvin had. It
was down to 2 prizes each, but Kalvin pulled away with a win. So, Kalvin
posted up a victory. So I was to play the guy that lossed to Kalvin. He
wasn't as difficult as it seems. I had a Magmar and a Hitmonchan and he
has Scyther and a Ponyta. Magmar would take out the Scyther and Ponyta
would be taken out by Hitmonchan after that. Soon he would lose because
he had four Hitmonchans and I had two Farfetch'd which did little damage.
Now I took the eighth rank and play Khoi.

Quarterfinals
This was probably the most intense game that I have ever played. In the
opening turns. We weren't able to deal damage to each other because we
kept on Scooping Up our guys. Anyway, soon Khoi would be knocking out my
pokemon. Also he only had 20 cards in his deck. I began to stall for
time. While he was trying to knock out my pokemon, I would attempt to
retreat my guys and make him draw more cards. I would get him down to
eleven cards. He had four Gastlys and I had two Hitmonchans and a
Farfetch'd. I drew another Farfetch'd and put it down. He knocked out my
Hitmonchan with his Gastly and he had only two prizes left. He would soon
do the same with my other Hitmonchan. He had only five cards left in his
deck. He had a Magmar out with two energy and I had no Energy Removals in
my hand. I would watch as he attacked with his Magmar. He didn't poison
Farfetch'd. I then retreat and brought out the Farfetch'd with full HPs.
He would do the same thing, doing 20 damage but not poisoning Farfetch'd.
I drew my card and I got a PlusPower. With only two cards left in his
deck, he attacked Farfetch'd. I was praying that he wouldn't poison
Farfetch'd. He flipped the coin. It was heads. He picked up his last
prize and won the match. We were laughing afterwards about being afraid
of losing. 

I never would have expected to do so well with this deck, especially
against Khoi. Khoi would soon beat Kalvin in the final. It took him three
turns. He had a Machop and Kalvin had the Hitmonchan. Kalvin had nothing
else in his bench. Khoi got three PlusPowers, and would knock out the
Hitmonchan, winning the tournament. I was happy placing in the top 8 of
the tournament but I was hoping to place higher in the tournament. First
place was $34 in-store credit so I was hoping as least to get 2nd, but
where I got is good enough for today. Well, this is Edward Pham, signing
off.