Panama City Trainer Showdown
Place: Panama Subs in Panama City, FL
Date: June 3, 2000 at 1:00 PM
Tournament Turnout: 26 Participants


This is Sonitir the Wandering Mage with a tourney report for your viewing
pleasure.  With problems occurring at the local Gym Leader's home, the
Pokemon League was cancelled for the day, but that meant that the tourney
time would be moved up.  So, got things started at 1:00 PM.  With the recent
addition of the Team Rocket set to the tourney environment, new ideas and
changes to old ones had been tried for several weeks as all those who were
normal participants at the league prepared for the first sanctioned DCI
tournament to be held in Panama City.  With knowledge that Haymaker, Wiggly,
and Rain Dance decks would be represented with the most frequency, I decided
to run one of my newest creation, Denial.  Though I call it Denial, the deck
is a form of the Dark Vileplume/Damage Swap decks that have begun to spring
up with the release of Team Rocket.  So without further adieu, here is the
deck list.

Denial

Pokemon: 21
3 Abra (Team Rocket)
2 Kadabra (Base Set)
2 Alakazam (Base Set)
3 Oddish (Jungle)
3 Dark Gloom (Team Rocket)
2 Dark Vileplume (Team Rocket)
3 Snorlax (Jungle)
3 Tentacool (Fossil)

Trainers: 19
3 Bill (Base Set)
2 Computer Search (Base Set)
3 Gust of Wind (Base Set)
2 Poke Ball (Jungle)
2 Pokemon Breeder (Base Set)
3 Pokemon Trader (Base Set)
2 Professor Oak (Base Set)
2 The Boss's Way (Team Rocket)

Energy: 20
4 Double Colorless Energy (Base Set)
3 Full Heal Energy (Team Rocket)
5 Grass Energy (Base Set)
8 Psychic Energy (Base Set)

The basic strategy for this deck is to deny your opponent of not only their
trainers, but the damage that they are inflicting on your active pokemon. 
The best way to set this up would be to get Snorlax active, with Dark
Vileplume, Alakazam, Dark Gloom, Tentacool, and either a second Tentacool or
a second Snorlax on the bench.  With this situation, not only are you able to
deny your opponent the use of their trainers (which keeps them from gusting
your vulnerable spots) but you are also able to keep damage off the active
pokemon through the use of Alakazam's Damage Swap.  What makes this more
effective is using the Tentacool trick in which you Damage Swap 2 damage
counters to the Tentacool, and then use it's Pokemon Power (Cowardice) to
return the Tentacool to your hand while at the same time getting rid of the 2
damage counters.  Then simply replay the Tentacool and it's ready to repeat
the next turn.

The trainers in the deck are mostly geared toward getting the combination out
as quickly as possible, but do have the addition of getting those pokemon
that can hinder the deck (such as Aerodactyl, Mew, or Fossil Muk) into the
active position to be taken care of.  But enough about the deck strategy, on
to the tourney report.

Round 1: Charles Johnson w/ Denial VS. John Gousman w/ Muk's Haymaker Deck

Starting situation:
Charles - Oddish (active), Abra, & Snorlax in play w/ 6 card hand
John - Hitmonchan (active) & Scyther in play w/ 5 card hand

Well, the fact that John had to start off with one mulligan showed that the
start of this tourney might be promising.  With the flip of the coin he got
the first turn.  However, the early game did not look good for him.  Early
problems with energy caused Hitmonchan to be knocked out by a fully powered
Snorlax.  By the time he managed to get more energy and more Pokemon (a pair
of Grimers) it was too late.  With the combo on the table of Alakazam, Dark
Vileplume and 2 Tentacools it was merely a matter of time as he was unable to
deal significant damage nor play trainers.  With both of these aspects shut
down and no Muk in sight, the match ended as I knocked out his second Grimer.
 Prize count was 6-2 in my favor.

Result: WIN due to knocking out all of opponent's pokemon
Standing: 1-0

Round 2: Charles Johnson w/ Denial VS. Mike Carter w/ Grass deck

Starting Situation:
Charles - Oddish (active), and Snorlax in play w/ 5 card hand
Mike - 2 Zubats (1 active), & Ekans in play w/ 4 card hand

Knowing Mike's love for grass pokemon and their status effects this was no
surprise for me.  Coin flip lands in my favor.  For the first few turns of
the game it's trading back and forth blows when we aren't paralyzed. 
However, the game turns for the better for me when I finally get my
combination of Dark Vileplume, Alakazam, Snorlax, and Tentacool into play on
about turn 6.  From here the deck begins to inflict its damage as I gain
quick prize advantage (5 prizes left - 2 prizes left in favor of me). 
However, as was expected he gets Fossil Muk down and the tide turns against
me.  I attempt to take out the Muk by gusting it out and using it's weakness
against it, but a tails flip on Alakazam's Confuse Ray spells trouble for the
late game for me.  Mike manages to gather 2 more prizes by knocking out a
Snorlax and a Tentacool, but thankfully for me time is called.  I'm allowed
to finish my turn since I am the active player but fail to do anything
productive.  Prizes are then checked and thanks to the early lockdown I
squeak out a 3-2 prize victory.

Result: WIN due to prize advantage
Standing: 2-0

Round 3: Charles Johnson w/ Denial VS. Logan Morgan w/ AeroMew with Wiggly

Starting Situation:
Charles - Tentacool (active), Snorlax, & Oddish in play w/ 6 cards in hand
Logan - Jiggly (active), & 2 Mew in play w/ 4 cards in hand

Going into the 3rd round there are only 6 people with a 2-0 record.  Logan
and I were among them.  Coin flip ends up in my favor once again and I use it
to my advantage.  Realizing that he was using an AeroMew deck I worked
quickly to get out my combo realizing if I didn't that I probably wouldn't. 
Retreating Tentacool early in favor of Snorlax, for his Psychic resistance
helped keep damage off me early.  By the 5th turn of the game the lockdown
was in place.  With no Mysterious Fossil in play as of yet, and Dark
Vileplume in place, there was no threat of Aerodactyl any time soon.  Unable
to get his combo into play, it was merely a matter of time before the combo
would where him down.  An early Wigglytuff gave him some hope, but without
sufficient bench and the inability to play trainers it did little damage. 
When all was said and done, I drew my last prize as his last pokemon in play
was knocked out.  Prize count was 6-0 in favor of myself.

Result: WIN due to all prizes being drawn
Standing: 3-0

Round 4: Charles Johnson w/ Denial VS. Juddy Harris w/ Muk's Haymaker

Starting Situation:
Charles - Oddish (active) & Abra in play w/ 5 card hand
Juddy - 2 Grimer (1 of which active) in play w/ 5 card hand

Juddy always comes prepared and it payed off big this time.  As matter of
fact, the coin flip landed in his favor as well.  The early Grimers showed me
that this would be a long game.  However, the situation at the beginning
looked promising with only 2 Grimers on his side.  As fate would have it
though, my initial premonition proves correct and the quick KO's don't come
thanks to Super Energy Removals and lack of energy on my part.  I did what I
could to get my combo out, using a Poke Ball to get a Snorlax and gradually
getting the cards needed to get Dark Vileplume and Alakazam out.  But as soon
as I lay the combo out, he drops Muk on his side of the table.  I attempt to
take it out by use of Gust of Wind and using Snorlax, hoping for 2 good
flips.  I get the first one, but when the second coin flip lands on tails, my
fate is sealed.  He retreats the Muk and is able to protect it long enough to
get a second Muk into play.  At this point I do all I can to keep him from
getting prizes while getting prizes of my own.  But with a strong trainer
advantage based on getting the necessary pokemon into position for knocking
out while denying me energy, I am able to put up but little resistance.  I do
manage to hold on for a while until for the second time of the day one of my
matches goes to the limit and this time falls in favor of my opponent.  Prize
count was 1-5 in favor of Juddy.

Result: LOSS due to prize advantage
Standing: 3-1

Round 5: Charles Johnson w/ Denial VS. Lindsey Hein w/ ???? Deck

Starting Situation:
Charles - Snorlax (active), Abra, Oddish, & Tentacool in play w/ 3 card hand
Lindsey - Ditto (active) & Ditto in play w/ 5 card hand

I'm not too sure what Lindsey's deck was as I didn't get to see much of it. 
I presume it was a Haymaker variant utilizing Ditto's ability to transform. 
Lindsey's does get the benefit of winning the coin flup though.  This game
goes back and forth for the first few turns, neither of us able to obtain an
advantage due to the fact that we both needed 4 energy to do anything.  This
helps me as it gives me time to start searching for the cards I need to get
my combo going.  Sure enough after knocking out one pokemon, I manage to get
my combo into place and from there everything's in my favor.  I go on to
knock out several more pokemon to Lindsey's dismay.  In the end I manage to
knock out all of her pokemon before drawing all my prizes.  Prize count 6-2.

Result: WIN due to opponent running out of pokemon
Standing: 4-1

Well, after some tedious games and some tough mental decisions.  I await the
results of the day to see who will make it into the Top 8.  With a 4-1 record
and knowledge that going into Round 5 there were only 9 people with 1 or
fewer losses I knew I was in.  But what I didn't know was who my opponent was
going to be.  After a few moments, I receive the computer print out of the
standings after Round 5.  Here's what the Top 8 looked like

1. Rob Cunningham (Haymaker)
2. Juddy Harris ( Muk's Haymaker)
3. Charles Johnson (Denial)
4. Craig Kelly (Haymaker)
5. Brent Miles (Fire / Lightning)
6. Anthony Muehlebach (Haymaker)
7. Tom Watkins (Fling)
8. Justin McLendon (Haymaker)

Haymaker once again proves why it's one of the top, if not, the top deck in
the current play environment.  With 5 of the 8 spots going to Haymaker it
would be a tough road for most anyone playing anything other than it.  Well,
I ended up the 3rd seed for the Top 8.  This of course meant that I would be
facing off against the 6th seed Anthony Muehlebach.

Quarterfinals:  Charles Johnson w/ Denial VS. Anthony Muehlebach w/ Haymaker
variant

Starting Position:
Charles - 2 Snorlax (1 of which active) in play w/ 5 card hand
Anthony - Hitmonchan (active), Electabuzz, & Charmander in play w/ 4 card hand

Well the situation doesn't look good for me.  Looking into my hand I see
nothing but trouble.  The match is fairly quick as I'm unable to get a hold
of any trainers with the exception of a lone Pokemon Trader.  I switch off
one of the Dark Vileplumes in my hand for an Oddish.  However, his Hitmonchan
takes out the first Snorlax, the second one which I had been powering up on
the bench is able to get 3 shots in (one of which for paralysis. Thanks to 2
Potions Anthony is able to keep Hitmonchan going and knock out my second
Snorlax even though he's confused.  He manages to retreat Hitmonchan after I
bring up Dark Gloom flipping a heads.  In Hitmonchan's place he brings up
Charmander (Team Rocket version) which after my last card draw spells my
doom.  Prize count was 6-3.

Result: LOSS due to no Pokemon active
Standing: 4-2 ( Out of Tourney)

Final Result: 6th Place finish

The last game didn't go as hoped, but everybody gets one bad hand sooner or
later.  It turns out that the Final Four are all playing some form of
Haymaker as the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th seeds continue on.  Nevertheless the
tourney was quite enjoyable.  The eventual winner was Juddy Harris as he
successfully navigated through 1 Fling deck and 2 other Haymaker variants to
eventually win the 10 booster pack First Place prize. 

Some final thoughts on the tourney:

A lot more people came prepared for the unexpected then I thought.  The deck
ran fairly well due to the variety of decks that I faced, although I did face
3 decks with Muk in them.  All of the main archtypes were represented,
everything from Haymaker to Stall to Wiggly to AeroMew.  However, I
personally did not see a single Rain Dance at the tourney.  I do believe that
there was 1 person playing it, but I may be mistaken.  The tournament was
quite a success for the first DCI sanctioned run tourney in the area.  One of
the problems with this deck right now is dealing with Fossil Muk.  The Gust
of Winds placed into the deck were thought to have helped solve this problem.
 However, the Gusts alone are not sufficent enough I believe.  Perhaps some
other Trainers like Nightly Garbage Run and Item Finder would help not only
in getting rid of the Muk but in lightening the effects of Energy Removal and
Super Energy Removal as well.

Well, that's all for this time round.  As for Props/Slops, I'm not one to
travel such a route.  However, I do feel obligated to thank Panama Subs for
allowing us to use their air-conditioned room to hold our tourney in.  Until
next time, I hope that all of your pokemon matches go well and that in the
end, win or lose, you enjoy each and every match.

Any comments or suggestions??
Feel free to send me e-mail at YoungMagi@aol.com

Until Next Time,
This is Sonitir the Wandering Mage signing off…..
:: Departs into the woods ::