[REPORT] by TYLER GRUND Gathering Ground in St. Louis MO. 4/10/99 (44 participants!!) I must start by apoligizing for any incorrect statements from last weeks o my mind wasnt too clear on remembering.. I will make this one MUCH MORE TRUE TO FACT.:) At the beginning of the day, Ron (the owner of the Gathering Ground), announced that this Tourny was the FIRST in the world to be DCI sanctioned. Which meant using the new rules. After he explained there would be only 20 min rounds with only ONE match deciding the game..I spoke up. I tried to explain to him that i have read on the pokegym and on the DCI page, that it was up to the Hosts of the TOURNY, if they wanted the 2 out of 3..or the one match decider. He listened, said it would now go back to 2 out of 3...THEN SOME magic judge said i was wrong..so Ron put it back to ONE game...argh. But....near the end of the tourny, Ron said we would go back to 2 out of 3 for the next tournement...appearently I WAS actually right:) TYLER'S FAR-MONCHAN DECK My deck: well, GO ahead and read my LAST tourny report, and take that deck and make it BETTER:) I used the same concepts of my last deck, but got rid of the raindance weak red, and put in more energy removals and hitmonchans...this new deck was DEFINATELY tourny worthy...hehe I RHYMED. There would be 5 rounds to the final 8 (like last week) ROUND 1: against Buck Koubek w/ i THINK a red/brown deck. game didnt last long, i had first turn hitmonchan and plenty of d of pokemon. I win ROUND 2: against Jeremy Luhring. I really cant remember his deck colors, but i BELIEVE they were blue and colorless. He must have gotten a bad hand or something....two pokemon out, and my hitmonchan cleans the board once again.(but i HAVE to give him EXTRA KUDOS for stalling the game over 7 turns with a scrunching Chansey...man, that kid should go to vegas w/that luck..lol) ROUND 3: Against Jason Waters w/mono yellow deck. This guy gave me some problems last tourny. He has been the closest to beat me so far ...so i was a bit worried. beginning of game, he sighs in disgust, and flips his 30 hp pokemon, and i flip my Farfetch'd....i go first+good flip of coin=first turn kill. GOD do i hate these one match decides round....i win it with luck....a GOAT could done as good. ROUND 4: Daniel Mayo with his PSY/FIGHTING deck. I have to give credit to this guy. I think he would have done SO Much better if he would have gotten a better draw. His deck was comprised of the great farfetch'd, the beautiful chanseys...and the TOUGH jynx. his deck had some real good thinking involved, and i think he would have gone on if it wasnt for his bad draw. sorry Daniel, you'll get another chance next week( im going to the CHicago Pokemon Mall tour!!!) ROUND 5: against David Choi with his red/brown deck. we would both get into the final 8 since we were both undefeated, but if i would have done a draw like last week, i would have kicked others out of the final 8 for sure. and since im a nice guy, i decided to play.(if im going to be good at pokemon...i want to have good sports- -manlike attitude, and actually MAKE FRIENDS through playing...unlike another certain CCG that uses MAGIC spells:) this game was quick and sweet. THis guy knows how to prolong his life! he retreated SO many times...the game lasted forever, but eventually my chansey caught up to him and won me the game Going onto the final 8 undefeated ROUND 1 of finals: against ZACK PRANAS!!! with his Raindance deck. Ok listen to this. MY FIRST pokemon tourny was a disgrace because of my misunderstanding of Haunter....but this kid was there. I felt SO bad, because the only two people he played that day was me and my Girlfriend, and we both beat him...he was just beginning. well, this time, he had gotten some practice. He started with a GOD draw in a raindance deck...and i ..well..i started with a DAMN clefairy. well..after having a gyrados AND a blastoise at Full power...I...GET...A.>>TOP DECK WIN...YES!!! it was down to my next card i draw, and i drew a oak...HA! i oaked and got like 4 energy removals, a basic and energy! it was so great...after that, i turned the game around. wow...oak is amazing. Zack came the closest to getting me this tourny.. so many Kudos to him...BUT if i would have had a better hand, and he had gotten a bit less of a god draw...things would have been different...but good job man:) ROUND 2 of finals: against Jason Waters AGAIN. Normally i wouldnt have liked to play him agian, but i felt kinda bad about the last 1st turn kill...so i played again with a good conciance. the game is pretty much mine because of my fighting vs. his electric. I fig. he did this deck to anti-raindance, but it had little hope against my deck. he had a great standoff for a while though...he had Farfetch'd...so anyone who plays with those, I RESPECT:) (my prediction is he will win next weeks tourny when im in chicago) BATTLE FOR 1st. I play DAvid CHoi again. I saw this coming, but whats odd, is that his deck isnt much more than a beefed up starter. I get the lead early on with a machop, and pretty much stay there 'til the end (with 6 cards left in deck) when fat ass chansey comes in and beats down TWO pokemon for the win. so i get 1st place out of 44 players...boy was I tired! 1st place gives me 10 packs, a video and another trophy and pic/deck in scrye... BUT...the BIG thing about this tourny win is...: I AM, AS OF RIGHT NOW, THE HIGHEST DCI RANKED POKEMON PLAYER IN THE WORLD!!! and im not being egotistic, im just proud of myself because of all the frustrating years of magic. I am SO happy Ron will be putting the 2 out of 3 mathes, for each round, back. even though i won, i felt real bad about the first turn kill in round 3, and i dont really like playing only one game. It takes out whats left of the strategy, needed to play the game.....so please...DCI, GET RID OF THE ONE MATCH THING..totally, dont even give the option. It actually pisses off the Younger kids, you aimed this to be for, more than guys like me! well, as i said, i wont be there for the april 17th tourny since ill be in Chicago on my B-Day for the POKEMON MALL TOUR AT SPRINGHILL MALL. I would love to meet other pokemon players, so, look for a tall guy with a small beard and glasses, lookn' all dorky:) TYLER GRUND Grundtyl@auden.webster.edu Tourny held at www.gatheringground.com